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My husband and I are planning to travel to WDW in either Jan or Feb of 2015. My husband and I used to travel solo once a year in early-mid May. In 2013 we took our 10mo in October and enjoyed Mickey's not so scary Halloween party...

We would like to return in January 2015. We picked January for a few reasons...

1. We're in new england, so it might be nice to see some green on the trees and get away from our gloomy grey skies.

2. - While we love swimming and exploring the water parks, we really don't enjoy the heat! It might be fun to do some exploring around WDW in cooler weather.

3 - The MAIN reason for picking Jan is because I hear it has the lowest crowds. I hear to avoid new years day, MLK, and marathon weekend. Our ideal travel date would be a few days after MLK day..

Now I'm asking Jan vs Feb because I just read that there are a lot of south american tour groups that crowd up the parks in January. I don't know if the source where I read this is very reliable. Apparently South America has summer break in January and this is the cause for it being so crowded. Does anyone have experience with this? And is it any different in Feb? .... Are the crowds unbearable? Don't want to go during January & have it be more crowded than we're used to if my top reason is lower crowds than we're used to.

I'm not sure how to pack.. we'll probably do 1/2 jeans 1/2shorts & do laundry if need be (We did laundry on our last trip and it really wasn't that tedious of a task...and almost necessary with a 10mo)..

I'm a stay at home mom, formerly a pre-k teacher. I've done a lot of 'long term/regular' nannying jobs and have been doing 'short term' babysitting jobs since I was 13!

I'm a stay at home mom on purpose. I have been getting requests from directors at locak preschools to come and work, but I'm not interested right now. I'm okay with doing an occasional weekend or evening babysitting job, when my husband is home, but I am NOT interested in taking my son babysitting with me and I am NOT interested in any 'regular basis' jobs! People just are not getting this!

I had a nannying job this summer and it was a nightmare! I've had a few day time babysitting jobs where I brought my son, again - a nightmare. Just totally not enjoyable, very stressful, and not worth the very small amount of money that I make doing this.

As much as I try to say no, or make myself unavailable, people seem to guilt me into babysitting. People seem to think it's crazy that I'm home, they need a sitter, and I just don't want to.

Sorry, but I enjoy my freedom to take my son for walks, go to the park, the zoo... whatever it may be. That's why I made the CHOICE to be a stay at home mom.

Now, how do I turn people down politely? These are friends and family friends, so I really don't want to hurt our relationship. It seems that "I'm not taking any babysitting jjobs right now" isn't sufficient enough.

Hosting a little get together this weekend... doing meatballs with marinara (w/little toothpicks)...pigs in a blanket, cheese & crackers, fruit platter, veggie platter, chips & dip, cupcakes & cookies...

Just wondering what 'easy' things others look forward to when they go to a party?

We have someone coming to our home tomorrow to do a good deep cleaning. I am a stay at home mom with a 7 month old and have not done a good cleaning since I was 'nesting' right before the baby was born. ... It seems crazy but even being a stay at home mom, I just can't seem to get it all done! I get the necessary stuff done - dishes, laundry, vacuum, mop, dinner, baby is cared for, but I hardly have time for dusting, windows, etc... It'll be fantastic to have someone help me!

I'm not quite sure what to do while she is here though! I wanted to take the baby out for a walk but they are paving our road tomorrow! I did get a small kiddie pool so that I can spend time outside with the baby and the dog & not melt in the eat - but the baby has to eat & nap inside & I'm afraid that I'm going to be an annoyance.

I've never had anyone do work like this at my house, so any suggestions are appreciated!

My husband and I want to have a little appetizer/drink type cook out towards the end of the summer. Something very casual and relaxed!.... Ideally I'd like to set up all of the food indoors and sort of just "set up and go" - doing a little bit of re-filling/clean up every so often. A "help yourself' type thing. Every time we have a get together, my husband and I are running around like crazy and don't get to spend time with our friends and family.

Aside from chips & dip, what other 'picky foods' can I leave out for a while without worrying about them spoiling?

Again, the food won't be outside in the heat - it'll be indoors.

My 9 month old will be attending an out of state wedding with my husband and I this summer. I have searched in many stores for a reasonably priced formal outfit for him, and can not find one. This trip is going to be hard on us financially as it is, and I really don't have the cash to spend 50$ on an outfit that little one will wear only once. I was hoping to be able to find a short sleeve white button up, but can't even find one online. I'll continue to look, hoping that maybe as summer approaches something will become available.

Would a white polo shirt with tan pants be appropriate wedding attire for an infant if I'm unable to find a short sleeve white button up?

I live in Connecticut and would really like to start a little 'container gardening' this spring. Are there any flowers that I can get that will survive in a pot (outdoors) and will come up each year?

I do NOT have a green thumb and I tend to kill every plant I get my hands on. This is a shame considering I love plants! ....

The reason for a container garden is that my yard is mostly shady, and the sunny spots are not places that have 'dirt' ... my walkway, my steps, and 2 decks get the most sun. I'd like to add nice color - purples, pinks, red... by hanging plants off the deck railings, and having potted plants on my steps, etc...

Any advice is very welcome! Plant names, when to start growing them..as much info as possible :)

My husband bought a million cans of progresso soups - chickerna (sp?) is what we have the most of. ... I'm tired of these cans taking up so much space in my cabinet! I checked the progresso website for recipes, but it didn't seem like a very 'user friendly' website for finding recipes that I could use with this particular kind of soup.

I'm no chef (not by any means), but ever since I started making home made soup, it's hard to eat canned soup - This is why I would like to somehow incorporate it into another recipe.

Any suggestions?

Again, I'm no chef :) The easier the recipe, the better!!

Maybe I should mention that I HATE the chicken in canned soups, so I always pick it out (silly, I know)...

I do not fry food often, but when I do I hate that the smell seems to get 'stuck' in everything in my home! I've asked this question before but I'm hoping I can come across some other tips/tricks to maybe prevent/eliminate the smell!

What I'm frying is eggplant - breaded and then tossed in a frying pan with oil as the 1st step to my eggplant parm. I don't make this dish often but my family often requests that I bring it to functions that we have...

I always open the kitchen windows and close my bedroom door (and closet doors... I once made the mistake of leaving the bedroom door and closet door open and my whole wardrobe smelled like fried food for WEEKS!...Everytime I left the house people would tell me I smelled like good food! I don't want to smell like food!) .... and I run the vent fan over the stove.

Immediately after cooking, I clean up the mess - I spray the kitchen down with a good grease-cutting spray (409, orange glow, something like that) ...the stove, counter tops, even the cabinets etc...I take any oil soaked paper to the garbage outside. .... I'll boil cinnamon and cloves on the stove top and I put little bowls of vinegar around the house to absorb the odor!

Usually it's not too big of a deal that my house smells like fried eggplant for a few days (usually 2 days or so), but this time I'm making the eggplant for company that will be coming to eat at my house! Obviously they know I'm cooking and it's not necessarily a 'bad' smell.... but I want to do whatever I can do to get the smell out before they get here!

I'm going to a birthday party for a 1 year old next week. There will be a TON of people at this party and I want to get a gift that is something other than clothes or toys, I know there will be an abundance of these gifts!

What type of gift would you have wanted your one year old to receive at his/her first birthday?

My husband and I used to keep the litter boxes in our spare bedroom... it was kind of just where they ended up when we moved in..... we never used the room, so it was out of the way and convenient for us.

A few months ago, we moved the boxes down to the basement. We are expecting our first child and wanted the litter boxes somewhere 'out of the way', and we knew that when the baby came we'd probably have a few over-night guests (out of state family who is in fact planning to come and stay here)..I don't want them to have to deal with the kitty litter in the guest room!

My husband installed a kitty door, so the cats have easy access to the basement. Everything seemed perfect..... and then came the odor.

The odor of the litter box is really strange. If I'm standing in certain spots of our house, I can smell the litter (as if the smell is going up through the vents)... We keep the boxes clean and have even purchased new boxes... I think it's because there is really no ventilation in the basement!

The major problem is that our washer and dryer are also in the basement. The clothes go from the washer, to the dryer... and if we leave them in the dryer for more than a few hours - they actually take on the cat pee smell! YUCK!... How does the smell get through the dryer door!?

I've tried to sprinkle baking soda in the boxes, I've tried using products that are specifically made to absorb the odor... none of it works.

We really don't have any place in the actual house for the litter boxes, especially now that a baby is on the way!

Any suggestions?

My husband and I have been together for 7 years, and have lived together for 5 years. In the 5 years that we've lived together, getting him to eat a home-made dinner is torture.

I'm 8 months pregnant and recently got laid off, so I am home all day. My job wasn't the greatest and my pay check was usually just used for 'extras' or savings, but since losing my job I have been feeling very worthless. One way I try to prevent feeling that way is by keeping the house clean and cooking meals. I feel as though my husband goes to work all day, the least I could do is have a clean house and a nice hot meal for him to come home to.

Well, he doesn't care if the house is clean (he would live in a pig pen if he could) and he does not eat my cooking.

I make sure that I'm cooking things he likes. I ask him what he wants and I go grocery shopping/cook accordingly. Most nights I prepare things that I personally hate, just so that I can have something here that he enjoys. But he hardly ever eats it. Sometimes he'll say something like, "Mmmm, will you make beef stew tomorrow?" - I'll make it, he doesn't eat it! I have an entire pot of beef stew in the refrigerator that's going to need to go in the trash soon (I can only eat so much beef stew by myself!)

Today he sent me a text message from work saying that he is putting in some over time and asking me if I could make a specific dinner. He wanted kielbasa and roasted potatoes. Easy! No problem! I had it all ready for when he got home 4 hours ago and he has yet to touch it.

It makes me feel really unappreciated. I'm tired of cooking meals that end up in the garbage. Its extremely discouraging at the end of every day when I put these meals into Tupperware containers, and even worse a week later when I'm scraping the same un-touched food into the garbage.

I've thought about just worrying about myself. I could cook dinner just for me, make what I want, enough for him to have some too..food that I know I'll re-heat at another meal if there is any left over...I tried it a few times, and he's outright said, "Okay I'm going to run to Wendy's" - (Or sometimes he'll stop at fast food places on his way home from work, stuff himself, and not be hungry at dinner time for the dinner that he requested)...but then that brings me back to the feelings of worthlessness. It's hard for me to eat a delicious home cooked meal while I watch my husband eat a frozen pizza. I feel guilty and worthless!

Any suggestions on how to either deal with him or how to deal with my emotions? Once the baby comes I will be a stay at home mom for good - until we're done having children and they're all in school full time (just makes sense for us financially). That's a lot of years to have to feel these feelings of worthlessness.

I like to bake around the holidays. People seem to enjoy getting some nice home made cookies with their gift. Usually I wait until Christmas Eve to do all my baking. It gets a little hectic and stressful, but I don't want to give out stale cookies! How far in advance can I actually bake the cookies and still have them be fresh for a few days after giving the gift (Don't want them to go stale right after people receive them either)

I don't often buy things for myself or treat myself in any way... but at 8 months pregnant, I was feeling the need for a little pampering and relaxation. I decided to stop by a local nail salon for a 'spa pedicure'.

Prior to going, I checked the spa's website and picked out the pedicure that I wanted and I also checked the price. I planned to pay for the overall cost on my credit card, but wanted to have cash for tipping. 10$ was a little bit more than 20% of the cost of the service, which was perfect because I didn't have much more cash on me than that anyways!

After the pedicure was finished, the woman who was working on me brought me into another room where they do a 10 minute massage, which is included with the 'spa' pedicure. I've never had a "spa pedicure" before so I didn't really know exactly what to expect. ... The woman passed me over to a man, who helped me into the chair, reclined it, and covered me with a nice warm blanket! (Wow! I was really impressed!) ... this man is the one who did the massage that goes with the pedicure, and I'm certain he did a lot more than just 10 minutes! He did a fantastic job!

When he was done, he brought me out to the main lobby to sit with my nails under the dryer for a few minutes, and he started doing an amazing **amazing** shoulder massage.

I definitely felt pampered. I got WAY more than what I expected, and a whole lot for the money that I spent! (Most of the nail salons in the area charge just a few $ less for a regular pedicure, that doesn't include any of the massages or anything).... I was very pleased!

When it came time to pay, I suddenly realized I didn't know how to do the tips! I only brought that 10$ for the tip, and thankfully had a few singles on me. They do not allow tips to be put on credit cards... I ended up giving the girl who did the actual pedicure a 5$ tip and the guy got a 7$ (He really went over the top with the massage & the neck and shoulder massage which wasn't even included in what I got). Both of them did such a wonderful job.... even the woman behind the counter looked at me like, "This is all you're giving them?" ...

When two people work on you during 1 service, how do you tip? Do you split the tip down the middle? Or am I supposed to tip 20% of the cost to each person? .... I'd like to go and have this done again at least once before the baby comes, but I also kind of don't want to pay 20$ in tips!

About 5 months ago my husband ripped out the old dirty carpet that was in our upstairs hallway and spare bedrooms.... This was a project he has wanted to get done since we moved in a year ago, and now that we're expecting a baby, we both agreed that the carpet had to go (we had it professionally cleaned but it was just too far gone. Pet stains and just very yucky from the previous owner.)

We spent about 3 months walking around on plywood and this summer my husband finally went out and got the hardwood! It took him two months to finish one room and half of the hallway, and he has finally admitted that he is just way too in over his head with this project. There's no way it'll get done before the baby comes unless he hires someone to do it. He works A LOT..7 days a week, mostly 10+ hour days...by the time he gets home he is exhausted and just can't physically work on the floors at that point.

I'm proud of him for admitting he needs help! He's usually a very proud person and likes to do everything himself (plus it helps that we save a lot of money this way!)

We found someone in our town who has a great reputation. He did work at my mother's house about two years ago and the job was great! My husband also knows many people at work who have used him or know of him. I was really looking forward to having this guy do the floors, but so far I'm kind of disappointed.

Earlier in the week, I set up an appointment for him to come out and give us an estimate. The day of the estimate he called and said he wouldn't be able to make it and asked if he could come the next morning. I let him know what time we would be home and he said he'd give us a call at that time. A half hour after that time my husband called him and left a message saying that we were home and to give us a call back so that we can arrange a time. Unfortunately, we haven't heard back from him :(

Because of his good reputation, I'm hoping that we'll hear from him by the end of Monday (if not tomorrow)..... But how long do I wait for him to come give an estimate?

I told my husband that if he doesn't come by this coming Friday that we'll need to find someone else. Is that a reasonable amount of time to give the guy or is that not enough? ...

And as far as calling him goes, should we bother calling him again or wait until he calls us? I wanted to give him one more call on Monday... is that being too pushy on our part?

I'm going to visit a friend tomorrow who just had a baby. I already brought a gift to the baby shower and my budget is very tight, but I want to bring a little something to the hospital as well. ... something small..

I was thinking a box of chocolates and a little outfit maybe? Is that too cheap?

Any suggestions?

I have a 2 year old black lab who absolutely HATES water! I feel awful when it's time to give her a bath and I don't do it often! I know many people say it doesn't need to be done often - but we take her to a local dog park and she sometimes gets a little smelly. I bought special wipes for dogs and I wipe her down after we get in, but I'd really like to give her a good wash before the warm weather is over. The last few times we bathed her, it was in our own shower.. my husband complained about all of her shedding hair and it did cause a problem with our drains (we don't have a bathtub, only a shower...and no stopper on the drain. I tried to put stuff over the drain but it just made a mess)..

Someone suggested a groomer but I feel like she would have an absolute heart attack if we did that to her. She is afraid of everything! We take her frequently to get her nails clipped and she gets so nervous that she pees on the floor every time... so I don't think she'd take well to a groomer.

It's about 90 degrees+ outside everyday, so it's not super cold.... would it be completely cruel of me to just tie her leash to the porch and wash her down real quick under the hose?

I'm 25 weeks pregnant with my first child. I've got MAJOR pain in my hips/lower back area. Sometimes when I walk, I limp! The past few weeks, my hips/lower back are so bad that if I lay down in a certain position, I actually get stuck! My bones feel like they're locking up and if I move they're going to crack or something, and it is VERY painful!

I want to see a chiropractor but I'm afraid that I have a serious problem...without being able to do an x-ray (because I'm pregnant), how will the chiropractor know how to treat me?

I'm desperate for relief from this pain (with 4 more months of it to go, I'm sure it'll get worse as the baby grows)... but I'm so scared to see a chiropractor!

(I do have the contact info for a chiropractor that a few of my friends and even my midwife used during pregnancy, I know she is qualified.. I'm still scared though!)

My baby is due in the fall and I've made the decision to breast feed. I will be a stay at home mom for the most part, so I will try to mostly nurse..but I also want to pump to build up an 'extra supply' for when I am away from baby.

I don't really know much about breast feeding other than what I've read online, through forums, and through friends with BF experience. I am going to be taking a class starting in (August that will go over some breastfeeding basics)

I have heard a few people say that they pump in the AM after their baby eats because that's when the body produces the most milk & then again at night (feed baby and then pump)...the pumped milk after feeding baby is what builds up the 'extra' supply. Does this sound about right?

My main concern is that I hear a lot about how your body works with supply and demand... if you feed the baby, your body knows that it needs to be making milk. I've heard that if you go too long without feeding or pumping, the supply could lesson or dry up.

This concerns me because once a week I have a babysitting job that I will continue after the baby is born, but the baby will not be coming with me. My husband is home from work by the time I have to go. Including commute time, I'll be away from the baby for about 4 1/2-5hours. During this time my husband can use the 'extra' milk to feed the baby, but I won't be able to pump. Just wondering how this might effect me? ..... I don't want my supply to be jeopardized because of this 5hour gap with no pumping.

Some people say to supplement with formula. If I get my baby used to 1 formula bottle a day, and get my body used to not pumping during that time..will it only effect that specific period of time? Or will my overall supply be in trouble?

I have to purchase a new couch because my cat has pee'd on my old one far too many times. I've put too much money into having the couch professionally cleaned and it's just not worth it anymore. It's disgusting. I am having a baby in November and want to start fresh.

I am afraid that the new couch will get just as destroyed as the old one, and I don't want to have to constantly keep buying new couches! I am thinking about putting some kind of plastic liner on the couch and then covering it with a slip cover.... that way if the cat does do this, I can wash the slip cover and the rest of the couch will be protected.

The walls in my living room are a yellow-ish/sunflower color and my furniture is a mahogany shade. My current couch is a sage color and it looks really nice, but sage is not an option in the slip covers I'm looking at...

The options I have are regular brown, chocolate brown (a darker shade), espresso (even darker), grey, or beige.