Getting Carnival Vista ready #5

With our cruise 87 days out, I have decided to get my “cruise clothes” out of my closet. I need to see if anything still fits. I need to decide what I want to wear during the day, what I want to wear in the evenings, and what I want to wear at the different ports of call. I like knowing ahead of time what I’m taking. This allows me plenty of time to change my mind which I will probably do a million times between now and when we leave for our cruise. For me, it’s must the nature of the beast.

Since we are diving to the port, I do not have to worry about the weight of the luggage so that makes things a little easier. My husband and I typically share a large suitcase and we also have a garment bag that we take for our nicer clothes. NOTE TO SELF, might need a bigger garment bag, LOL!

I work from home, so the clothes I wear daily and not exactly anything I would want to wear on vacation. I have had to purchase some shorts and some capris and I may or may not have purchased some shirts. But anything I have purchased, I do not intend to wear before the cruise unless I decide I’m not taking them. In that case, I might return any new items. I did not have to purchase anything for either formal night as I have a couple of dresses, one old that I bought when my oldest son got married that I didn’t wear and one I bought from my last Stitch Fix box. I also have the dress I wore on our last cruise formal night but I think I want to do something different this time!

I’m not sure about shoes yet, but I should be good in that department. I will know more when I narrow things down. Right now, I have 6 pairs of heels that I’m considering for this trip. I don’t get out much so this is the only time I get to be all fancy!!!!

Either this Sunday or next Sunday, I might try-on clothes I’m considering for the cruise in hopes of getting some feedback. My husband usually does not have an opinion so he’s no help. For now, these are the 2 dresses I’m planning on for the formal nights on our cruise.

Which is your favorite???

Modified Keto day 14… Family birthdays, and mom’s dementia.

Some days I feel like I’m in a rut. Doing the same things over and over and over. Like my morning coffee. Like deciding on continuing with the diet or try something else. In all honesty, today I didn’t eat anything until around 5 pm. And then it wasn’t much. But I’m just not feeling myself. I’m feeling bloated. And with that feeling comes the feeling of being defeated. Hopefully tomorrow, these feeling will be gone and I will have a much better day and week on my modified Keto journey. At least that is what I am hoping for.

Today was a fun and somewhat productive day. I managed to design our tumblers for our upcoming Carnival Vista cruise. It is the first time I have used my Cricut Explore Air to cut vinyl. I have completed one tumbler and even though it isn’t perfect, it will work perfectly for my needs.

My plan is to put things on the tumblers that are what my family wants on theirs. So the variety includes a cruise ship, a couple of dolphins, a whale, a flamingo, a ships wheel, and a 3 anchors. And each tumbler will also have everyone’s name on them. Everything has been cut but I have not had the chance to put them on the tumblers. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

This afternoon was fun. We had family birthday’s at my sister-in-law and brother-in-laws house. We celebrated birthdays for my brother-in-law, my daughter, and my granddaughter Victoria. This is always fun and there is always plenty of food.

On our way home, we had to stop at CVS to pick up a prescription for my mother. She wasn’t expecting us to come over, but when we got there she was happy to see us. She didn’t know she had a prescription ready but she told me she was out of a lot of her medications. My mother’s dementia seems to be getting worse. She hasn’t driven in over, no longer manages her medications, and does not manage her finances. But she thinks she can do anything and everything. Vascular Dementia is sad to witness. We know that one day we will have to make some decisions about where she will be living. But for right now, she is able to take care of her basic needs. She does not cook for herself but we make sure she has plenty to eat.

My mother is very excited about our upcoming cruise. Of course she thinks she needs new everything for the trip!!! While I was at her house, we did some online shopping and got her some casual things to wear in the evening. Now all she needs are some shorts and some dainty things and she should be good to go!!!

My hope for this cruise is that she makes some memories that will stay in her mind for a very long time. My mom, daughter, granddaughters, and I will be making scrapbook pages after our cruise. I hope that will help her with retaining the memories we make.

Getting Carnival Vista ready #4

Although I have been on 10 cruises (1 on Cunard, 1 on NCL, and 8 on Carnival), I am always looking for information. Not just for the ports we will be visiting but also for packing ideas, especially with things people usually do not think about. My information comes from blogs like Cruise Radio and some from YouTube videos like EECC travels, CruiseTipsTV and CruiseGear. They seem to have very concise information that really applies!!! (And I also follow them on Instagram!!!)

I recently made a shopping stop at our local Dollar Tree. When you see the pictures of what I purchased, please keep in mind, I’m shopping for 9 people!!!! My list started out looking like this…

This shopping spree is for items that can be used in all three stateroom. These are the items I was able to check off our list: Zip lock bags in various sizes (1 of each size for each room… it might be overkill but at least we will have enough to share with other cruisers), 6 mesh laundry bags, 3 night lights, clothespins, jumbo clips, and some generic type command strips with the hook, and 9 lint rollers because you can never have too many of those!!!

I also had to make a trip to Target and while I was in the check-out line, I noticed some travel size Advil so I picked up a couple of those! Just another thing to check off our long Dollar Tree shopping list!!!

At the end of the shopping spree, if you want to call it that, our list now looks like this:

I plan on going back to Dollar Tree on Friday to knock off some more things from the list.

Starting Keto slowly and shopping at Michaels!

Starting the diet is going to have some issues. Not only with the no sugar aspect, but I already have some dietary issues due to GI issues, namely nuts. I never know when I will have a flare, like today, but I usually know what triggers the GI flares and try to avoid those things.

I did have a good breakfast late this morning that was absolutely delicious. Not only did I have bacon and eggs but I managed to add some onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms. And I added a small amount of salsa on top.

Today’s downfall happened while I was out running errands. Apparently my car new I was very thirsty and took my to Starbucks. I know that was bad but the double shot venti java chip frappuccino was delicious!

This evening I made me a salad with all kinds of goodies in it and I maybe had half of it.

While I was out running errands, I made a stop at Michaels to look at their vinyl selections. I must have timed it right as their vinyl was on sale!!! I purchased a few colors of the removable vinyl and the transfer tape plus a couple of often things. I can’t wait to experiment with an idea for our tumblers I plan on decorating for our cruise on the Carnival Vista.

So, even though I didn’t do great with the Keto diet today, I still had a great day!!! And my yorkie rescue, Dixie, went for her weight check and she has lost one pound since her check up last month! Her weight gain was 100% my fault. Now I have to be better for her!!!

Getting Carnival Vista 2018 Ready #3

Today was like any other Sunday… Lunch with family and discussing our up-coming cruise. We even looked over our Dollar Tree shopping list. We probably should start knocking some of those things of the list now instead of waiting until the last minute! We will see how well that works our for us!!!

My son-in-law brought be some tumblers today. I cannot wait to try making some vinyl decals for them. I hope I can do it!!! At least I have time to practice. I should probably go buy some plastic tumblers from Dollar Tree to practice on!!!

I currently have 4 sets of Boca Clips that I plan on taking. But since there are nine of us going, I still need to find 5 more.

I always take a flashlight and a collapsible dirty clothes hamper. You never know when you will need a flashlight!!!!

I also always take an over-the-door shoe holder. But, that is not what I use it for. I use it to keep suntan lotion, hair clips, hair brushes, and stuff like that. I will not be hanging it over the closet door. I will be getting some magnetic hooks to use. I have heard that the walls are magnetic so I’m hoping I can make it work!!! Wish me luck!

I also have some vacuum seal storage bags that I MIGHT try to use when I start packing. I’m just not 100% sold on them. I might try to look for some actual packing cubes to try.

Have you ever used packing cubes? If you have, what brand did you use and where did you find them? Were they useful???

Getting Carnival Vista 2018 ready #2

Our adventure on the Carnival Vista is a 4-generation family cruise. There are a total of nine of us on this cruise… 8 relatives and 1 friend that we will refer to as my personal wine expert!!! There will be 3 people in 3 staterooms. All staterooms are on the Lido deck. One stateroom is an interior with walkway view!!! I was so lucky to be able to grab that one, LOL. The other two are adjoining balcony staterooms. This adventure is going to be so much fun.

In the first installment, I showed the fans that we have purchased so far. Today’s installments will be some items that are essential for us. Not everything will be useful for everyone but it is for us.

Since there are 9 of us and we will be bringing on our own cokes and sprites, it is necessary for us to have our own koozies!!!! The koozies that look like tropical shirts were purchased online thru Oriental Trading. The other five I purchased at Michael’s. Who knew koozies would be near the checkout line!!!!

With 3 staterooms, I will put together 3 binders with all the necessary and important paperwork. Inside the binder will be a pencil holder to keep passports, case for tipping, and other items.

Of course, each room will have a dry erase board for communication purposes!!!! Dollar tree to the rescue.

What are your necessary cruise items???

More Carnival Magic 2011 scrapbook pages and making a change to our Carnival Vista cruise.

In my ongoing quest to finish my scrapbook albums for this cruise, today I worked on the first 2 days of the cruise adding some pages for each day. I know it is silly, but I like to make sure I have everything related to the trip in some kind of order that will flow. Since a majority of my pages are in a 2-page format, I sometimes find it challenging to create the flow I’m happy with. But, so far so good. I also completed the journaling for the first 2 days of the cruise. Hopefully, with any luck, I will have this cruise completed by the end of the week and can start on my daughter’s wedding. She’s only been married for 6 years so this is a little late as well, but at least I’m making an effort to get things caught up!!!

I have a TON of very old family photo’s that I also want to put in scrapbooks so I’m just going to be doing a little bit of everything as I can.

I’m enjoying using my Cricut Explore Air. I have had it for a few years but just started using it consistently this month. I’m kicking myself for not putting it to good use sooner.

I think I need a much bigger craffice!

As our Carnival Vista countdown continues and will continue for a while, we had to make a change. Our son Dawson has said he is not going to go on the cruise. A cruise that we booked at an early saver rate. A cruise that has been paid in full for a couple of months now. He does not enjoy cruises as much as his father and I do. So, instead of making him go, he will be staying home and taking care of our cat. Not sure about the dogs, but definitely the cat. So, I called our PVP and told him the situation and that we have a friend that we want to put on our booking in our son’s place. With early saver, you cannot just change a name. But our PVP took care of everything for me and the amount of cancel Dawson and add John was much less than I was expecting! Now the cruise will be #4GenerationsOfFamilyFun and our friend the wine expert. Our sail and sign card just might reach an all-time high!!!

I should probably make a list for things we need to buy for the cruise. At least one thing is checked off… getting my mother 2 swimsuits for her birthday! Now to start getting stuff from the Dollar Tree!!!