Goofin' Off With a Return in 2018

Well, it’s been months…four months to be exact since my last post.  The time has just flown by.  Thank you to those who have contacted me to see how things are going.  I appreciate your care and concern.  Everything has been just great the past four months in the Goofin’ Off household.  There have been a lot of great things happening here, but I’ll get to that in a little further down in the post.  I know a lot of you are just here for the project updates, so let’s get started there. 

I did manage to finish the quilt top for the Toy Story Woody quilt.  It’s a happy little quilt.  Now all I need to do get it all finished and sent off to the recipients.  

Woody/Toy Story Quilt Top Finish

Mickey and Minnie "Love" This Finish

Mickey says it’s a happy little quilt.  He is very pleased with how it turned out.  Now all I need to do get it all finished and sent off to the recipients.  I had hoped to get this done months ago...but...well, life gets in the ways sometimes.   

In my spare moments the past few months, it has been easiest to work on my cross stitch project, so this is where I have made the most progress.  Mickey and Pirate Friends is coming along quite nicely.  I didn’t always take pictures as I finished each section, but here are the latest sections I completed.  I am excited because the corner of the pirate flag is beginning to show in the bottom right corner.  

Mickey and Pirate Friends Cross Stitch - 01/26/2018

Mickey and Pirate Friends Cross Stitch 02/14/2018

In my last blog post, I had mentioned that I was excited about landing my dream job as a travel agent/travel consultant with a company that specialized in Disney travel.  I was supposed to begin training the first part of November…then it was middle of November...but it was really the end of November before training began.  It was a bit disappointing that training took so long to get started...one of many red flags I should have seen...but the bright side of that was a trip Mr. Goofin’ Off and I were able to take to Disney World in mid-November…at least I didn’t have to do training while I was in the happiest place on earth.  

Our visit to Disney World just happened to coincide with the transition of decorations into the holiday season.  As you can see from a few of the pictures I took, when Disney does decorations, they do them big…quite literally. 

Life-Sized Gingerbread at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel

The Detail of the Gingerbread House - The "Frozen" Window

Giant Christmas Teapot

We had a great time and enjoyed the warm weather while it rained and poured back home in Seattle.  A week after I got home, the training for the dream job began…but would it really be my job? 

The first week I became certified to sell Disney travel.  I was in heaven.  I was an official graduate of the “Disney College of Knowledge.”  Certifications to sell vacations to Universal Studios (and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) came next.  Then certifications to sell Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines…all in all, I was spending 40 to 60 hours a week doing training and became certified to sell all of the major cruise lines, all-inclusive resorts, and tour companies. 

The paperwork I signed had indicated we (myself and the other three trainees) would be allowed to actually sell with the company about three weeks into the training.  More than three months later, I was getting excuses from the back office as to why I wasn’t able to sell despite the fact that I had clients waiting to book and was OK to sell according to Disney and the cruise lines.  They suggested I send my clients to one of their other travel agents.  I asked if I would get to split the commission since I brought the client.  Nope.  I had enough, and they had breached our contract already several times, I had lost confidence in the company, so I said a goodbye to the them.  This was mid-January. 

So what have I been doing the past month, you ask?  I have been working on projects which gave me some time to think about what I wanted to do.  It’s amazing how much I can focus and think things through when I am working on a project. 

Even though I hadn’t personally booked my clients, I went ahead and worked with them to book their trips on their own.  I saved several of them from $500 to $800 from what they had been able to put together on their own.  I was hooked.  This is what I had always intended to do…provide people with the vacation they want at the best price I could find.  So…after interviewing several new travel agencies, I signed on with a new one on Monday and should be able to start booking my clients within two business days.  Yippee!!! 

Rest assured, this blog will be all about my stitching, quilting, and love of Disney…not selling (although I will always be happy to help my blogging friends book their trips – fee free). 

Thanks for allowing me to ramble today and catch you up on what has been going on.  My life is returning to a semi-routine normal again, so I should have blog updates more often and hopefully will be able to join some stitch-a-longs and quilt-a-longs.  I have missed you all more than you can know.