Happy New Year! 2019 in review.

Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a wonderful time over the holidays.

I thought I would have my first blog of the year 2020 be a review of the highs and lows of 2019 that I encountered.

It seems that my life was rather boring during the first half of the year, but things really picked up when the countdown to our August Carnival Dream cruise got near. Of course, things were really busy leading up to the cruise and we truly enjoyed our time away. I plan on doing a more in depth review of our cruise including the scrapbook pages I will be making to coincide with this cruise.

Immediately following this cruise, sometime in late August, early September, my mother fell in her apartment while trying to reach something in the cabinet above the refrigerator. It is important to know that my mother has vascular dementia and she definitely does not think things through. By this I mean, she was using a dining room chair with rollers to try to reach whatever it was that she was looking for and fell. She finally told me about her fall several days later when her back was hurting her so bad, she could not stand the pain. I took her to the emergency room to be evaluated and she ended up there for several days then transferred to a rehab facility. Needless-to-say, she has now been moved to an assisted living facility less than a mile from the house. Definitely the first low point of the year.

At least the month of September ended with a celebration for my youngest granddaughter’s 3rd birthday! She is just so precious to us.

Then October rolled around and my husband had another birthday. So what did we do? We spent time cleaning out my mothers old apartment!!! It was a family affair and it took a lot of work. I can honestly say my house is busting at the seems. Well, at least my craffice is, LOL

Up next for October, my one and only grandson broke his arm. His right arm. The one he uses for everything. He was definitely a trooper during the entire experience and we are so grateful that he did not have to have surgery. Being the Mimi that I am, I immediately went to the store and got him one of the large pie size cookies for him to enjoy.

Unfortunately, October didn’t end so well as my first granddaughter had to have an emergency appendectomy. And to make matters worse for her and her mother (my daughter) was very sick and not able to take her to the hospital. I was more than happy to take her and make sure she got the proper care she needed. The procedure was done as an outpatient so she was able to go home after she started to come out of the anesthesia.

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On November 15th, I booked another cruise. This time we will be going on an 8-night cruise on the Carnival Freedom. I was so excited to book this cruise and I was able to keep it a secret until we had family birthdays with his family on November 17th. I asked his sister Sharon to give him a folder that had the cruise information in it. He had no idea. This will be the second cruise we have gone on that does not go to Cozumel. But it is also an itinerary we have never done.

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Thanksgiving was spent decorating my mothers apartment for Christmas while she was at her sister’s apartment. I am so happy she loved how everything turned out. I made the garlands that were on her front door and over her windows.

What is December without taking your fur babies to have a picture made with Santa???? Somehow I didn’t get very many pictures of Christmas, but I do know that we had a wonderful day spent with family.

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Which brings us to today. And the only thing I can say about today is that I have re-started Noom. And I had to work. But that’s ok. I love my job. My plans for the new year are to work on scrapbook pages, take more pictures, and enjoy every day.

Why we have never sailed on Royal Caribbean.

It all started 17 years ago when my husband and I were planning our honeymoon cruise. When we first started planning our honeymoon cruise, we did not limit ourselves to only sailing out of Galveston. However, we were strongly considering a 5-night cruise on the Carnival Jubilee, in a suite and the cruise would be going to Cozumel and Calica. We were excited to be going away on what was my husband’s first cruise and my fifth cruise (third with Carnival).

At my parent’s request, we went with them to a cruise & travel show one day. They wanted us to know all of our options before we actually booked our cruise, just to see if there was something else that caught our interest and would prefer to do.

Once we got there, we walked around and stopped and spoke with a travel agent that was very eager to sell us a cruise on Royal Caribbean. We told her what we were interested in (suite) and where we were interested in going to. We were not limiting ourselves to sailing out of Galveston only. What she was offering was a 7-night cruise to Key West and the Bahamas. Jim and I both had been to the Bahamas before and at that time, I had no desire to go to Key West as that is somewhere we could travel to anytime and not just on a cruise. So, what the travel agent wanted us to buy was this 7-night cruise out of Galveston (to destinations we had no interest in) in an interior cabin for almost twice as much as our suite on Carnival. She never offered any other itineraries, which we all know Royal Caribbean has more than one sailing out of Galveston. When we told her what we were looking at with Carnival and our desire to be in a suite, she told us to just go sail with Carnival and see how that works. And that we would not be happy with Carnival as we would be getting what we paid for and that wouldn’t be much.

Well, we sailed on Carnival for our honeymoon and have sailed with them several times since. Never once have we considered a Royal Caribbean cruise all because of one travel agent’s bad attitude.

We have friends and family that love sailing on Royal Caribbean. We have not. We have even been invited to go with friends. But we didn’t go.

First impressions go a long way. And I have never forgotten that one person that really left a very bad impressions with us. An impression that has lasted for seventeen years.

Now, Royal Caribbean will be doing something big in Galveston which interests me as we love to go to Galveston just to be there. It is my understanding that they will be building a new facility that will be capable of handling their Oasis class ships. This will definitely be good for those that are loyal to Royal. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. At least not yet. But it will take a very good deal.

I will never say never, but I will always remember that one person and the impression she left on me.

Carnival Triumph 2014 – Installment #6: Cozumel, Mexico

One of my favorite things about cruising is cruising into Cozumel. My heart always jumps for joy when we sail past our favorite hotel, The Melia Golf and Beach Resort! I always take pictures of the hotels on the North end as we make our way to Puerta Maya.

Today, we had another Carnival ship sailing into Cozumel right behind us! Plus, we were also able to get pictures of the pilot boat coming to our ship!!! This is definitely a first for us!!!!

We made our way to the buffet for some pre-breakfast appetizers and found the Lido deck had been invaded by towel animals. They were EVERYWHERE!!! Definitely the new generation of chair hogs!!!!

This really makes the day start off great!!!

Of course, on our way off the ship we had to stop for the KELLY NEEDS A PICTURE FOR THE SCRAPBOOK photo. Jim and Dawson should know this is a requirement of every port we stop at.

Our plan for today is to have breakfast at the museum then walk around the square to do some shopping and make our way to Tony Rome’s Embassy Restaurant to visit with Tony and his family. We made it to the museum in the rain!!! But even with the rain, the view was still fantastic. Jim and I usually enjoy breakfast at the museum but this time was different as Dawson started getting a headache. The food was great, but the rest of our plans had to be put aside so we could go back to the ship.

Once Dawson was appropriately medicated, Jim and I got off the ship and walked around the shops at Puerta Maya. You never know when I will find that one or two things I must have. It is also an opportunity to pick up souvenirs for our family at home.

It is always sad to leave Cozumel. But I know that I will return again. Fernando and his friend Rowdy hit up the their own personal happy hour in the smoking section. They really should sail together again sometime.

Sunsets on a cruise are always fantastic. I can’t get enough of their beauty. And then there is the dinner entertainment that we love. Especially when our waitstaff is spectacular.

And so the evening ends doing the normal walking around on deck and going to the smoking section. We really are very boring people. But at least we are relaxed!!!!

The next installment will be about our last sea day.

Carnival Triumph 2014 – Installment 3 I’m ready to get on the ship!

As with every cruise I have ever been on, sleep the night before was minimal at best. I was up early on September 22, 2014 and I felt that my family should be up too! We needed to eat something for breakfast… well, they needed to eat. I was too excited to eat much. I just wanted to leave the hotel and go to the port!!! I really so no problem having that attitude, LOL!

This is the first cruise that we purchased the Faster To The Fun just so we can get on the ship quick! But first, we have to check out of the hotel, drive to the port, drop off our check bags, drive across the street to Galveston Park N Cruise to park our car in the covered area, then walk across the street to get in line to check in for the cruise. Is it just me or does this one process of going on a cruise seem to take F O R E V E R??? As usual, we did have to wait for a while before we were able to board. But that was okay! We had the opportunity to meet and visit some fellow Anchor Clankers. That definitely helped pass the time away.

After the wait, we were finally walking our way towards the gangway. But first, we had to stop for our traditional Welcome Aboard/Bon Voyage photo. It is one of the necessities I must have for our scrapbook and it should never be skipped!!!! Walking onto the ship means that the vacation has really begun. We will be totally removed from social media and cell phones for the next 5 nights.

We spent the day taking in the sights of the harbor and looking for dolphins. We also tried our very first Guys Burger. Oh. My. Goodness. They are absolutely delicious! I cannot wait to devour more while we are on the Triumph!

After the mandatory muster drill, we made our way to watch sail away from our balcony before going to dinner. We had selected Your Time dining which meant we could eat dinner anytime between 5:30 and 9 pm. We like to eat early so we were usually sitting at a table for dinner no later than 6 pm. Dinner the first night usually means the pirates would be invading the dining room!

We were tired after dinner so we did some more walking and exploring of the ship before turning in for the night.

Tomorrow will be a fun filled sea day which will begin with sea day brunch so please come back for installment #4.

Getting Carnival Vista Ready #10… Let the packing begin.

I have had plenty of time to choose my clothes, shoes, and accessories. Now it is time to start packing.

For this cruise, I decided to use packing cubes. This is something very new to me so I’m not sure exactly how it will work out, but I’m going to give try it. I started out by ordering some GONEX packing cubes from WalMart. It comes in 3 sizes and in a variety of colors. Since I would need to order some for my mother to try, I order 3 in different colors, Blue, Yellow, and a turquoise color. I received them very quickly and decided to give them a trial run. I tried rolling my clothes and I tried just folding my clothes. I have decided that these will not work for me for a 7-day cruise but can still be used for the smaller items. I next turned to Target and found some things I thought would work great for my husband and I so I ordered said items. I was able to use the extra large and large cubes to fit my clothes in.

I decided to use the large cube for what I consider daytime clothes… shorts and shirts to wear around the ship and at the various ports of call. I tried the rolling technique and the regular folding and found that regular folding works out best for me. Everything fit in the cube nicely and doesn’t feel like they clothes are shoved into the cube.

I used the extra-large cube for the evening clothes which are the outfits I will be wearing to dinner and around the ship afterwards. My cruise-elegant dresses will be packed in a regular garment bag. The evening clothes fit nicely into the extra large cube and I can probably add some more to it if I wanted to. But I don’t want to. I’m trying NOT to over-pack on this cruise. I guess time will tell if I have succeeded or not!!!

I purchased a bead container at Hobby Lobby along with some plastic bags to use for my jewelry as I have seen people on YouTube use them with great success. I was amazed with how easily everything fit into the container and now I do not have to worry about anything becoming tangled!!!

My travel first kit has been packed and is busting at the seams!!! But keep in mind, I’m packing for 9 and I feel the need to be prepared for any emergency that may come along. I am keeping everything in a cosmetic case I purchased at Tuesday Morning. Everything fits in nicely unless I think of some other items I might need.

I am using a ditty bag I found at Tuesday Morning for our suntan lotions and after sun lotion. Everything fits in nicely and will come in handy while hanging out on deck or on the beach. There is also enough room for the mosquito repellent wipes I purchased, but not for the Bugables. So it looks like I need to do some more shopping!!!

And last of this packing series, I have packed my hair care products into a cosmetic bag I purchased at Tuesday Morning. Everything fits well and will be easy to access for our pre-cruise stay.

In the next segment of Getting Carnival Vista Ready, I hope to be able to pack my cosmetic bag and also our overnight bag. Plus some other essentials I will be taking and how I hope to pack them.

My modified Keto diet day and Costco shopping!!!

Today was a busy Sunday!!! Woke up and had my normal coffee plus a couple of refills. Woke up feeling good!!! And I wasn’t hungry so I didn’t eat anything!!!! I had a couple of errands to run so I was out of the house just after noon.

First errand was to pick up some of my mothers prescriptions from CVS. I’m so thankful they have a drive-thru!!! After that was done and spent a short amount of time at her house, I headed to Costco for errand #2. I was on a mission to get one of their rotisserie chickens. I absolutely love them and I know they are something that are allowed on the Keto diet. I also picked up some other things that HOPEFULLY will be Keto friendly. The item with the black lid is actually almond butter!

On the way home, I still was not hungry but I was thirsty so I was a bad girl and went to Starbucks. I tried to justify this by telling myself it was only because of the fatigue I was feeling and I needed to be able to function when I had to work this afternoon. I’m not sure I convinced myself, but it sure tasted good.

A couple of hours after I got home, I started getting a little hungry so I fixed me a plate of chicken, bell pepper slices, tomato’s and ranch dressing. It tasted good and definitely took care of hunger. To be honest, I’m craving something sweet right now, but I’m trying to distract myself with things I need to do to prepare for the cruise.

Tomorrow will be one week since I actually started this Keto diet, or modified diet, or whatever you want to call it. I will be weighing myself in the morning. I do not expect to see a change, but it will be interesting to see if there was a change!!!

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!!!

Is the KETO diet for me?

With a cruise coming up, I think now would be a good time to shed a few pounds. Everyone that has been on a cruise knows that a person usually gains wait eating all the yummy food provided. My intent is to shed some of this excess weight so when I get on the ship and start eating like a pig, my clothes will not be too tight!!!

I have been reading about the KETO diet and watching videos about it as well. From what I understand, it is a HIGH FAT, moderate protein, low carb diet. That sounds ok to me. I understand some things that I love, like bread and potatoes, and rice are a not allowed. I can do that… maybe. Giving up tortillas will be hard. So. Hard.

But the problem I will have is the no sugar. But I have a reason. I have allergies to artificial sweeteners. It is not fun to have something someone has made that has artificial sweetener in it. Unfortunately, it makes me sick and brings on a massive migraine. When this happens, I’m out for a couple to days trying to get rid of the headache. The so called natural sweeteners, like Stevia, make me itch. I know… I’m weird. But I have no other options when it comes to sugar.

My only choice is to limit my sugar which really will not be that hard. I use sugar in my first cup of coffee but not in the refills. I do not use sugar in my tea which is hard sometimes. I do feel that I can limit and monitor my sugar intake so maybe I can figure out a modified Keto diet that will work for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

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!!!

Shopping for scrapbook supplies and some more Carnival Magic scrapbook pages.

I knew I had to go to Hobby Lobby today to replace the scrapbook paper my glass of Cran-Grape juice fell on. I asked my hubby if he wanted to go with me and he said yes. Now, I know most women prefer to shop without their spouse. I’m typically that way with Jim, except when it comes to scrapbook supplies. Somehow he manages to find stuff that I would need, want, or could use. This trip was no exception.

Before we went to Hobby Lobby, we went to Michael’s as I had a 50% off coupon to use and I was wanting to get a refill cartridge for my Xyron Creative Station Lite. I prefer to use the repositionable cartridges because I often change my mind about placement of things. Unfortunately, Michael’s didn’t have what I wanted, but the did have the Tombow removable adhesive tape funner refill, so I got that instead!

Once we arrived at Hobby Lobby, my first stop in the scrapbook area was the adhesive section. I was looking for a glue runner eraser and I found one and only one there!!! I want to try it and see if it will really remove the excess adhesive from the pages. I then picked up the scrapbook paper I needed to replace (LOL) plus a few sheets of white textured cardstock. I told Jim we might as well look in the clearance section to see if there was anything of use and his watchful eye did not disappoint!

My middle granddaughter’s name is Victoria. I always have a hard time finding just the letter V. But today was my lucky day. My hubby found 3 so I bought them all!!! I also picked up some other goodies including a paper pack.

As we made our way to the check-out counter, I stopped back by the adhesive isle in search of something that would be a good adhesive for glitter. So far, I have not found anything that seems to work. If you are reading this and have any suggestions, please let me know.

The papers in the paper pack were actually pretty good!!

Once we returned home, I continued working on finishing up the Carnival Magic 2011 pre-cruise album, making and adding a few pages. All of the pages are now securely in the album. I do need to do some touch-up on the outside of the album cover but that shouldn’t take long to do in the morning!

Tomorrow I plan on starting the first Carnival Magic 2011 cruise album and continue working on the journaling. I know there will be more scrapbook pages made for these albums as I like to include the daily Fun Times in my albums. I have a feeling there will be at least 2 albums just for the cruise. And hopefully I can organize the contents of these boxes I received today!!!!