Interview with Mr. S

I would like to see more of these interviews on here! I mean husband/wife. Very revealing.

What is something I always say to you? "Love you"

What makes me happy? The spa or soap.

What makes me sad? Not going to the spa.

How do I make you laugh? You always gotta look at soap no matter where we go In a gift shop, there might be a little thing of soap way in the back and you'll find it.

What was I like as a child? Cute.

How old am I? Fifty FORE!

How tall am I? 5 7? Or are you 5 8? You used to be 5 8, but I think you slouch down an inch.

What is my favorite thing to do? Play games on the computer

What do I do when you're not around? Play games on the computer (followed by lots of laughter from Mr. S)

If I become famous, what will it be for? I think soap commercials (more giggles)

What am I really good at? Computer games.

What do you do on the computer? Check sports scores and see what Freddy's doin.

What am I not very good at? Cutting grass. I've seen you cut grass and you miss a lot. You do lots of strippers.

What is my favorite food? Coffee.

What makes you proud of me? The way you praise and worship God.

If I were a cartoon character, who would I be? All I can think of is Olvie Oil. (laughing)
Why? Because sometimes you remind me of her. (More laughing)

What do you and I do together? We go to Disney.

How are you and I the same? We both have the same last name and we live at the same place.

How are you and I different? You have funny looking clothes.

How do you know I love you? Because you've been getting up and making me breakfast.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

About the pics and a warning

The hotel was built in 1902-lots of warmth and furnishings. Dishes are the Pocono Manor's own pattern. How cool is that?
The pic of the undiscernible sunrise (about 5:30AM) is the Pocono trees from our corner room. It had windows on 2 sides to look at the mountains-nice.
Oh, yeah...that is me and Mr. S on those horses. I am on Casey, a Belgian quarterhorse and Mr. S is on a thoroughbred Clydesdale named Emmy.
The man with the guitar is Mick-owner of the stables. He was a-strummin' when we got there. Added to the experience our first horsie rides. I regret not takin a pic of our terrific trail guide-Denise.
The Buskill Falls pics are from the big trail, the one that goes through the forest.
Let me post a warning--that particular trail is not for the faint of heart, toddlers, or the very obese. I totally enjoyed every step.
There are strangers in some of the pics, they just could not see their way clear of moving out of camera range. How rude.
The one of me on the bridge is the main falls. I jumped up and down when I saw it.
We were quite safe at the Pocono Manor, as the Knights Templar were there with us. Protectors of the Catholic Church secrets and all. Very spiffy outfits. If you like to see a man in uniform (I do), these guys are the best. Swords, plumes on their hats and nice looking medals. I wanted to say "ni" to them, but I started to imagine they could unscabbard a blade upon my head.
This was my best vaca ever.

Poke a Nose

Huwo, long time, no blog.
Here are the pics from our trip...see?
The massage at the Laurel Spa was the best!

Sometimes God says "NO COOKIES FOR YOU 2."
We had asked for an extra special treat of a tray of fresh baked cookies, which were supposed to be delivered to our room upon check in.
These little things mean a lot to us and we look forward to stuff like that.

When we got there, the check-in clerk repeated our specials we paid for.
"Cookie Tray & Spa and Shop Package." "Yes", I anticipatingly agreed.
At that time, nothing was given to us for any of the extras. The shopping part was to be $25 each at a local outlet strip mall.
We had gotten a nice early check-in & figured the cookies would be delivered after 3PM (standard check in time). Maybe the outlet deal at the same time?

We hiked around the hotel and got back about 3:30. NO COOKIES.
So I called the front desk.
"You did not get them yet? Okay."
Told her we were leaving again and they could put them in the room. "Okay."

We stayed close to the hotel most of the time so we were in and out of our room repeatedly throughout the day. Each time we entered the room we expected those cookies!

I also stopped at the desk and asked for our shop package. The girl reached behind the desk and gave me 3 coupon books. The kind you buy at the outlets for $5 to get 10% if you spend $50 at a store and all that. Lists about 3o stores with various deals-all designed to make you spend more to save a teensy bit.
This did not look right to me, so I said "Is this our shop package of $25 off at the outlets?"
"Yes."
My mind was racing with negative thoughts. Rip off!
How in the world can they value that at $25? Depending on what you spend, could be more/less. Made no sense, of course. But I decided to let it go and address it at check-out.

Day 2.
Surely we will get that fresh-baked tray of cookies today! And they will probably be super yummy 'cause we had tried all 3 of their restaurants. Possibly they make them each day around normal check in time? Practice your patience.
NO COOKIES by 4:00.
I called the desk. "I will look into that for you", she said with conviction.
No cookies by 5PM.
The expectation was becoming a fantasy. We wanted reality!

I also stopped at the desk in person. She gestured with a sigh and indignation at the invisible, responsible party. "You mean they STILL did not bring you your cookies?"

Day 3
I decided a $10 (UPDATE AS OF 5/22/09-Mr S says it was not $10 tray, it was $15) tray of room-delivered, mouth-watering, freshly-baked, and delightful-tasting cookies was not worth pursuing any more.
It was clear God had decided we were not going to get them. I do not argue with the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Controller of all things.

When we checked out, I did decide to tell the assistant manager my cookie story and the shopping disappointment. She expressed that the hotel was sorry.

She got into the safe boxes and produced the VISA gift cards-good anywhere they take the card -not just the outlet. She removed the cookie charge and also discounted our room for our troubles.
She sincerely asked if we would please come back.
I said "I was thinking not. But since you handled it well, we will reconsider."

In actuality, even though we ended up with a good deal, we feel we would have rather paid full price and actually eaten those invisible cookies.