Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Another cooler day coming up but it is getting warmer. It should be back to 80 in the daytime by Friday. This time of year it is a dry (vs humid) 80 so will be quite comfortable.

DS got home okay last night. Really a nice visit!

Mike and I spent 4 hours volunteering at the tennis invitational tournament yesterday and have another shift from 10-2 today. It is kind of cool to watch these young people competing. The top ranked competitor is a woman ranked somewhere just over 100 which is pretty impressive. We chatted with some of the players - nice bunch.

Mike is already planning the annual Thanksgiving trip. I couldn't think that far ahead, but they started a discussion at Christmas about doing something different. It looks like we may be doing a Caribbean cruise. I love cruises, but Mike had been a bit hesitant. He only went once on a very crowded Disney one though. I think we will be doing a Royal Caribbean cruise which is the only cruise line I have been on previously and I have always enjoyed them. Of course 18 days of our Tahiti trip is also a cruise but it is a sailing cruise with only 149 passengers so will quite different than being on the big cruise ships.

Time to finish coffee, take a Justice walk and get ready for our tournament shift. Have a thrilling Tuesday!

BLUE SKIES! I AM OVER THE MOON HAPPY! IT WAS COLD THIS MORNING. Car was iced over and I broke the hose trying to bend it. I couldn't be happier. It's not gray and cloudy and rainy. Bring on the cold, just keep it sunny God! We are supposed to have some rain tomorrow, but then an entire week of clear skies. OMG! I'm delighted.

I am not sure I would enjoy an ocean cruise. I have a river cruise (that we had booked and paid for in June of 2020) scheduled for June of 2025 for my retirement, but that cruises mainly at night. Daytimes are at river ports with day trips. Also, only about 150 passengers, so not a big boat. The ocean liners give me the creeps.... Not sure why, but they do.

Pups are doing well. Lulu is a very, very good mama. Kind of surprising because she is such scatter brain and fun loving girl overall. It's fascinating to see the intense focus on the pups and their care and her protective nature shining through. Most of my girls are always eager for a break from the pups by this time, but not Lulu! Maybe it's because there are only 3 and she isn't overwhelmed. Who knows, but she is making my life very easy. The puppies are GINORMOUS because they are so well fed.

I eat too many damn sweets. End of subject! I don't go out of my way to get them, but today it was a "See Food" fest. chocolate and cookies were set out in abundance today and I didn't even think twice before dipping in. But, you know me, once I start in I set myself up for a cycle. Ugh.... At least I started the day with ample water, which usually helps alleviate the sugar cravings after I have indulged.

Liz, you are doing retirement right! I am impressed by all you do. I don't think I will be as industrious as you. I think I will spend several months doing virtually NOTHING before getting motivated to be productive in retirement.

Terrific Tuesday to all.

The size of the ship is a big concern for Mike too but I assured him it wouldn't feel crowded. And his kids are excited about it.

I wasn't so busy in retirement in the early days especially since so much revolved around deceased DH. Mike is more likely to want to be active traveling and playing golf and I like the social stuff more than he does so when you add that together with visits with friends and family from both sides it does get crazy sometimes! Easing into figuring out what works for you is best. Life just morphed to where it is for me and after some constrained years with deceased DH I really feel pretty lucky to be healthy enough to do all this.

Headache! What do I have to stressed about to get a tension headache?!

I spent 6 hours yesterday and 3 today doing board stuff (maybe that was the cause). At least it feels like I'm starting to get QuickBooks and budget spreadsheets, but it doesn't mean it goes quickly... I still can't get reports to run correctly, but I know I'm doing the inputting right, so reporting will come.

Cold today, but like Peps, I'm rejoicing at peeps of sun. We had a nice snow squall come through this morning. Beautiful! And now mostly melted. The best kind of snow! Alas, I don't think we'll hit 40 today.

My dad and his wife headed off for MN today to Mayo. A few days on my own. In celebration, I am still in my jammies and haven't brushed my hair.

I will try not to overdo on food while they are gone. So far, so good.

I loved my first foray into cruising and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Enjoy your "Me" time!!!

Hi everyone, Made it back from Massachusetts last night, with a bit of weather delay, but I was in bed by 10pm, so not too bad. The weather we've all been experiencing! Crazy stuff! When we got to Boston we were stunned to discover not a bit of snow or ice, and green grass on southern exposed slopes.I always forget that even other winter states aren't necessarily like us. Saturday it rained, Sunday it was sunny, Monday we woke up to snow, and it was freezing rain by the time our flight left, which caused our delay.

Quick trip, mostly just to visit my Aunt and Uncle. We did poke around North Hampton a bit, lots of shops and a fun Brazilian cafe where I got to practice Portuguese. We had dinner at a quintessential New England Inn in Amherst, which was charming and also delicious. My Aunt and Uncle were in good spirits, and my Uncle's physical therapy has actually helped his gait improve since this summer. That was wonderful to see.

We talked about our upcoming cruise, and I'm very excited. My Aunt and I have traveled together often, in fact, she took me on my first plane ride when I was 9. She visited me in Brazil when I lived there, and she took me to Greece when I was 22 for a college graduation present. The 4 of us will do well together also I'm sure. We have very similar travel vibes.

CC, I hope your folks had a decent flight here today, its weird weather, rainy, snowy, rainy. Then it freezes in chunks, and the snow that's on the ground is soaking up the rain like a sponge so it weighs 3 million pounds so its hard to push off the roads... Just a general mess. Then it's supposed to snow again tomorrow night, but stop by Thursday morning.

Speaking of flying, Minneapolis has such an awesome main terminal. I love Boston, but Logan airport is pretty sad. Not as bad as Newark... But the bathrooms almost always smell... I like Atlanta, Orlando is fine, Tampa is awesome.. I thought the terminal I was last in in San Diego was super depressing, but maybe another part is better? What are your opinions on airports?

Cruises... I've been on 3, all bigger ships. Getting on and off can feel like a cattle call I think, but once you're on the ship, its easy to spread out. Liz, we went with a group of 14 for my parents 50th wedding anniversary, and we decided to go with the set dinner time. We had 2 tables right next to each other of 6 and 8, and each night we kind of switched it up who sat where. We choose 1st seating because we had some older folks who wanted to eat and see the shows and then go to bed. It worked really nice though, because no matter what everyone did during the day, we all met up for dinner, and everyone knew what time and where. Our kids were in high school, we ran ourselves silly doing all the things and all the shows etc we practically crawled off the ship. Your family will have a good time, and Mike will be so busy he won't notice the crowds.

Peps starting off retirement with a river cruise is genius.

Greetings all

Sunny day here and the young dogs have the zoomies. Even old Chip was pretty chipper out in the yard. The dogs get stir crazy in all the rain too, I guess. Or maybe its just that its almost dinner time.

Scrabble was good today - I won two. Our group will be interrupted by one of us having a hip replaced. Joys of aging.

Peps glad you are enjoying the weather break. Days and days of rain/overcast really affects mood. And promotes sugar eating.

Zoom meeting for the gallery tonight. One member wanted to read a nasty letter about another person and the board said no. So I will pour a glass of wine and it should be interesting. Tee Tee.

Yes on cruises though Liz I am not sure how well I would do on a small sailing ship. Seasick!!! A big old ship is fine. I have only done two in my life but would like more. The seated dinners were fun with other passengers. Peps, river cruise sounds excellent.

CC I hope that roof fix comes soon. Meanwhile, pajama day is indeed in order. And a pox on Quickbooks. Used to drive me nuts.

DD glad you had fun with aunt and uncle practicing up for cruise time.

I stopped in the studio for awhile and did glazing. Studio is back to full capacity. We could run lots more classes if we had the space. The place is in demand. Years ago it almost went broke. Great to see it so vital and lively. And solvent.

DH brought home some kind of casserole from costco. Open oven, insert pan, turn on. Go away.

Old chip is reminding me he wants dinner. Chicken from Safeway. He is not spoiled or anything.

Diane S

I love dog zoomies! Justice rarely has them now since he is more "middle-aged", but he used to have such joy flying around. He tends to get them mostly on beach walks these days.