I’ve had a Prime membership for nearly two years now.  Prime Shipping is so convenient — and it was great around the holiday season.

Prime Shipping allows customers to order products and have them delivered to your doorstep in 2-days for FREE.  You don’t need to meet any minimum orders …. I’ve often looked up an inexpensive paperback book on Amazon for my children’s schooling and press the order button and it’s at my door the next day in some cases — often faster than I can get to the store to buy it myself.

Stop by Amazon and give it a trial run.

I had asked for this as a Christmas gift but every store was sold out.  I thought for sure that after the holidays the stores would be restocked but I’ve been searching online for Wii Fit since Christmas day and no one had them in stock.

Then magically this week Walmart.com had the bundle with the accessories for $128.00.  I figured I would probably wind up buying the accessories eventually so I purchased the bundle.  I received my confirmation email today that it has shipped.  I was going to do the ship-to-store option for free — but I didn’t want to stand in that long line at my store …. and it’s freezing out there.  Besides, the shipping was quite reasonable.

If you are still looking for a Wii Fit be sure to check out Walmart.  I have also heard that Amazon has the Wii Fit with Balance Board in stock from time to time — you have to keep checking throughout the day.

Save on Top Brand Electronics at Walmart.com!

I’ll be doing the laundry and have a whole blog post running through my mind — only to forget half of those great words when I go to write the post later on in the day.   Sewing is also a creative outlet for me and great ideas come to me as I’m sewing.  Unfortunately, I don’t have my laptop with me during these creative moments.  I do employ the use of a pad of paper in my pocket to jot down great ideas. But, still … I look at those notes later on and say, “what was I thinking when I wrote this?”

I’ve often thought it would be great to have a tape recorder attached to me so I could get all these good ideas recorded for later transcribing.  Well…. someone has actually gone a step further than that! And that’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard or Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred.

With this program there’s no need to even type — it does it for you at a speed up to 150 words per minute. I’m a great typist but still can only type about 90 words per minute and that’s when I’m not trying to think of what to say at the same time.  Imagine your blog post being typed at the same time as you are thinking of its content.  All those great ideas captured as you are thinking of them.  It’s like a digital camera in your brain getting word images straight to your blogging platform!

Seriously, this program has me sold.  I can see some major benefits to having this program.  For instance, all that time I spend doing mundane tasks like the dishes, laundry and even walking on the treadmill or cycling on the stationery bike can be put to great use.  And, I believe my writing will be more creative and more deeply thought out — making it easier to share with everyone.  As a busy, working mom, I’m a master at multitasking — this program will make that job even easier!

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?  It’s when the median nerve (which runs down your forearm into your hand) becomes pinched or pressed — and your wrist hurts — usually, alot!  Now, that may not be a very good scientific definition — but the majority of people know what it is when they experience it.  If you have pain in your wrist that occurs even if you are not moving it may be carpal tunnel syndrome — especially if you are one of the 180 million Americans who work at a job which requires repetitive movements regularly.

I noticed lately my wrist is beginning to ache again — I should make a doctor’s appointment to get this checked out.

If so, you may want to check out several different hosting companies before jumping into any contracts with any one company.  There can be a lot of differences among the large variety of hosting companies available for bloggers.

It’s important to ask someone you really trust about their web hosting.  Searching online you will find plenty of ‘reviews’ of various hosting companies — but often these reviewers have a financial stake in your choice.

His old Nissan was towed away last week after receiving several parking violations.  It had failed inspection because of a power window that would not go up and down any more (can’t believe they failed him for that).  It would have cost $350 to fix it — and the car had other problems as well.  It just wasn’t worth fixing — it was 17 years old and had nearly 200,000 miles on it.  It sounded like a time bomb ready to explode.

He needs a good, used car — cheap!  He’s had a few leads on a used car — first a Infinity that was just a bit out of his price range, then a Honda — it too out of his price range…. now finally he has a possible lead on a Chevy Cavalier — that would be under $2,000.

I am a small business owner  — and so is my husband.   We need a reliable computer.  As we began our computer shopping experience we decided to try a computer that had a large screen and didn’t have Vista.  The computer had issues from the day we bought it — it crashed on the second day after I had loaded everything we needed on it.  Since we purchased it at a warehouse that has a generous return policy I was able to return it for a refund.

Finally, I decided Windows Vista was the way to go because all the new computers designed for the small business owner had it — and besides, if it didn’t work out I could return the computer.

I’m here to say that it’s been over six months now and I really enjoy Vista — and have not experienced any of the problems others told me about.  Our new computer has provided reliable service since the day we plugged it in — and it gets a thorough workout every day.

I said I wouldn’t do it this time … but I did. I ate too much while on vacation. I did all that walking and working-out prior to our vacation — and then pretty much destroyed it by eating way too much food at Disney.   All those pricey meals were just too much to pass up since we were on the Disney dining plan.  And — those desserts —  Ah, it was vacation … but now it’s time to get back to work.

I’ve got to say doing all the walking prior to vacation really did help — I didn’t feel so worn out while doing all that walking at the parks and running from one attraction to another. And I’ve been walking every day since coming home. But, I need to kick things into high gear and go to the gym and use the weight equipment. I’ve found it’s the only way to lose weight and keep it off — and helps with losing inches all over.

Besides, it’s so hot out these past few days it’ll be a pleasure to go to the gym in the nice AC.

Auto Train from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida Experience, Part 2

Part 2 of this tale begins at about 9 p.m. when it’s basically time to settle down for the night. The kids were pretty tired and seemed to fall asleep within a few minutes — while my husband and I attempted to watch a movie on a video ipod. It’s just not the same watching a movie on a 2 inch screen — but it worked and I soon feel asleep.

However, about 90 minutes later I was awakened by a terrible smell. I honestly thought the toddlers in front of us had gone to the bathroom in their pjs. It was an awful smell. However, after a few minutes the smell lessen and I attempted to go back to sleep. The train however was rocking quite a bit. It’s definitely not a smooth ride. There were many times when I was just about ready to doze off when the train would take a severe rocking and jolt me awake. If the train wasn’t rocking then the boy scout troop in the train car behind us was charging through the cars towards the lounge car for snacks. Those boy scouts were up all night long. The lady in front of us with her two young children was also up all night long watching a video on her laptop computer which no matter which way I turned seem to shine directly in my direction. If she wasn’t watching a movie she was rummaging through her bags looking for something to eat. And that awful smell reoccurred on a regular basis throughout the night — we finally figured out it had something to do with the toilet waste management system — ickkkkkyyyyyy.

Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep. The seats themselves were not very comfortable. They are your ordinary airline type seating — not very soft or comfortable and they did not fully recline. There is more leg room than on an airplane — but that didn’t seem to help me fall asleep any easier. Each passenger is given a very small pillow and something they call a blanket — in my opinion, it is a very thin piece of fabric no thicker than a flannel sheet and approximately 36 inches square. It was obvious which passengers were ‘pros’ on the autotrain — they brought along they own pillows and blankets.

The train did make its scheduled stop at about midnight in South Carolina for refueling. However, many times during the night the train would slow down considerably — to what seemed like 25 miles per hour or so — or sometimes stop all together for a period of 10 to 15 minutes. I’m assuming this was times when the train was passing through a town with a non-working signal — for when the train conductor gave his morning announcement he said we were delayed by two hours and would not be arriving in Sanford, Florida until 10:30 a.m. because of signaling problems — what a disappointment!

Let me backtrack a bit … before the conductor’s wake-up announcement we had the boy scouts once again trooping through the train car to the breakfast car at 5:45 a.m. — breakfast started at 6 a.m. and I guess they wanted to be one of the first to eat…. LOL. After a while, since we were all up we decided to go to breakfast too. Unfortunately the dining car was full at that point and we had to wait 30 minutes to be seated for breakfast — which was a very basic continental breakfast of coffee, milk, juice, muffins and bagels. Not much to eat after a restless, long night — and a two-hour delay to look forward to.

As we were eating the conductor came on again to announce we were about to enter Jacksonville, Florida — this is about 7:00 a.m. and it really puzzled me why it was going to take an additional 3 1/2 hours to reach Sanford, Florida. We had lived in Jacksonville years ago and the trip from Jacksonville to Sanford was 2 hours at most by car.

After breakfast we went back to our seats and I figured I would try to sleep a little since we still had a few hours before arrival. However, within a few minutes we were told it was time to collect the pillows and blankets — and this was under threat of not being about to de-train unless all pillows and blankets were accounted for. Thus, we gave up our blankets and pillows. I watched as they collected the pillows and placed them back into each of the overhead compartments — and then took all the thin blankets and refolded them and placed them all in each overhead compartment. Now… I must say that realllllllly grosssssssssed me out — these blankets we had used to sleep in all night — perhaps coughed on, sneezed on … and who knows what else where NOT BEING WASHED before being used again by the next train passengers. YUCK YUCK and DOUBLE YUCK! I have five kids and I’m not easily grossed out like this … but this was just too much for me.

Okay … end of rant … just bring your own pillows and blankets if you decide to use the autotrain … lol

Finally, at 9:30 there’s the announcement that we are almost at the station — (not a 2 hour delay after all — only 1 hour delay) YEA. It took about 30 minutes from the time we pulled into the station until we were allowed to get off the train. At that point everyone enters the train station to await the calling of your number to claim your car. This is where I knew we might wait a long time. Thank goodness our van was the 3rd vehicle off the train!!!!! — we only had to wait about 20 minutes from the time of deboarding the train to getting in our car and continuing the last leg of the trip to Disney World.

We jumped in the car and didn’t even look to see if there was any damage (there wasn’t) and headed straight to I-4 to get to Disney. We pulled up at the Polynesian Resort at 11:45 a.m. — almost 24 hours from the time we had left our home to start out on this adventure. Twice the time it takes to drive by car to Disney from our home.

Conclusion: It takes us 12 to 13 hours to drive to Disney from our door to the Polynesian’s door. It took nearly TWICE that time to travel by train — and it wasn’t a very restful or pleasant experience. We’re glad we did it this one time — our 11 year old train-lover got his taste of what a train ride is all about and has definitely changed his career plans from train conductor to something else entirely.

If you are traveling with an odd number of people know that your seating arrangements may not be idea. Bring plenty of snacks from home for eating onboard unless you want to spend a lot of money on the snacks available in the lounge car. Be sure to bring entertainment for yourself in case you can’t sleep — and plenty of comfortable pillows and/or blankets.

I hope you enjoyed the review and if you are planning on taking the autotrain any time soon I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The folks over at Tlsbooks.com have a wonderful website with plenty of printable worksheets for use during the summer and/or school year.

I also found their wonderful “My Vacation Journal” which you can print out for each of your children and have them record their day by day experiences while on vacation. This would work great for a Disney vacation — but would work for any vacation — or for recording the fun activities they might do closer to home like visiting grandma, visiting water parks, etc.

It’s a great way to keep kids writing — writing helps with reading, too! And I bet it will be something they will treasure for a long time.