Much Ado About a Ton of Stuff

Here we are approaching the end of April...already?  Really?  A friend at work said 'our motto will be 'Finish Strong!'.'.  I replied 'or die trying!'.  My assistant laugh so hard, she almost had coffee coming out of her nose.

I know this time of year is always nuts and this year is a real doozy.  Where do I start....

First, the home front.

I didn't comment much about a lot of drama we've had at Casa Majah post-cruise.  Our son allowed people to stay here for days at a time - people we didn't know and didn't give permission to have sleep over.  There was evidence everywhere that people lived here - the first significant sign was the missing bag of Chloe's prescription dog food that some dog we don't own ate.  Nothing in the food that would hurt a dog - low carb so low grain - which is why it's super expensive.  We had just purchased a new bag before we left and it was gone when we returned home.  A guy who stayed over and brought his dog?  That was the story.  (I still don't know the full story but hope to figure it out someday).  

There was evidence of red hair dye in my bathroom along with long black hairs with red tips in my hairbrush.  Who uses someones hairbrush?  I wouldn't use my best friend's hairbrush - or maybe I would AFTER I'd asked permission.  

Or at least been introduced to the person.  So angry at H. that I basically didn't speak to him for a week.  Just pretended he wasn't here.  He technically was told to leave and he did.  Spent one night with a friend and the next night in a motel - which overdrew his checking account.  How did he think he'd afford a hotel night after night?  We compromised by me insisting he was no longer living here while allowing him to sleep here.  

Yeah.  That's still the status.  Only somewhere in all the drama, we also got him to finally acknowledge what we've suspected for some time:  he's in a relationship with someone - and she's technically still married.  Separated and their physical relationship apparently didn't start until that point?  But yes, she's married, two kids and older.  The same age difference as J. and I only H. is only 24 which makes her mid 30ish.  This revelation led to us meeting her (finally) and we're pretty deep into the 'getting to know you stage'.

It's going fine.  We had a nice 'family' dinner (out - we went to Strings) on Sunday - easy conversation and it was a nice time.

Then we discovered two of our credit cards were missing (or someone took down the info from them) 'cuz we had three separate credit charges on two different accounts (seldom used accounts we don't even carry the cards for much) a week a part.  Which had us feeling violated all over again.

I'm trying to impress upon H. that it's not that this friend is unwelcome - but in the absence of knowing her and him asking permission to have her be in our home often, sometimes overnight, him allowing people to bunk here (whether we're here or not) is wrong.  This is our home.  Not his.  He sleeps here but this property is not owned by him.  He has no rights in deciding who is here and when.  And him presuming he could make this home a flop house the week we were on our cruise was so incredibly wrong of him.  

I think he's starting to get that.  And I sure hope so 'cuz we just booked another cruise - to the Virgin Islands and Nassau in March, 2018 out of Miami.  And since we're traveling all the way to Florida to catch the ship, we're spending a week at Disneyworld, too!!  I can't wait!  I'm already planning to make a cruise payment monthly so it will be paid off in six months and then start paying on the Disney trip, too - with a little careful budgeting, I can pay for those over time without dipping into 'long term' savings.  I love a challenge so we'll see how successful I'll be at my goal.  I got a decent raise so it should be do-able.

Work is super busy and crazy and sort of madly fun.  We're all at the same exact place - it's the end of the year and we're frantically trying to get everything wrapped up.  I haven't started on anything even remotely 'build next year's budget' related - or rolling positions forward into the next year and all the things that go with getting things set up for yet another year while trying to wrap up the current one. It's a zoo - and it's ALL my circus and my monkeys.  

I'll keep trying to remind myself of the 'madly fun' description over the next eight weeks.  

Ramblings of a Post Vacation Mind

Norwegian Cruise Lines is now popping things into our Facebook feed every 30 seconds (it seems). 7 day cruise to the Greek Isles from Venice!  Let's do it!!  Then another one....and another one.  I dream of the two of us living on a ship for a year and THEN moving to Reno.  Maybe we'll do that!  Time will tell.

The blue jays returned!  They vacated their property in the neighbors trees when they were trimmed (the trees really needed the trim and we are so excited to have a little sun in our yard again). Yesterday, a mama jay popped herself onto the garden table just outside the study window looking for peanuts.  I went out shortly after and obliged her by filling the tray - and then enjoyed multiple mama jays feasting!  I'm so happy they are back - I missed them and feared they headed away forever. They were just vacationing somewhere nearby, I guess.

J. and I spent quite a bit of time outside yesterday working on tidying the yards.  We seem to gravitate towards working out back because it's what we see from our office - but we did some work out front late yesterday 'cuz that's what the neighbors see.  Our gardener had knee surgery apparently so he hasn't been coming - pissed me off since there was no mention of that in his monthly invoice - the front is an overgrown mess and J. is going to mow out there today.  We pulled some dead plants out of the beds and I did a little pruning.

More of that today, I think.  The pool pump is non functional ($272 repair) so J. is also having to net the pool and spa as much as possible.  So far, my monthly raise has gone for repairs of things and/or vet bills for Chloe but hey! that's OK 'cuz we're covering those things with 'regular' money vs. savings so that's a good thing.

There has been a parting of the ways here with H. - he has been asked to leave...and that's working out about as well as you'd expect.  He ended up paying for a hotel room one night when the friend he was staying with couldn't let him stay there. (I ventured to the bank login linked to the kids accounts because one of our credit cards is on that 'link' and only that link (it's in my name) and noticed his checking account was overdrawn - and saw the hotel charge).  I didn't realize this friend doesn't rent his own apartment - he's renting a room - so when H. has been staying there, it's sleeping on the floor of the room the guy rents - not sleeping on the couch of the apartment the guy rents.  Last night, he slept here because he had nowhere else to go.  I'm not sure how this is going to go - obviously.  Not the way we'd hoped. He has another friend who is supposedly getting an apartment 'any day now' and when that happens, H. will have a place to go every day that isn't here...but until that happens, he will migrate.  Living like a nomad with occasional stops in your 'home bed' will have to do for now.  He is well aware that he has burned every conceivable bridge with his parents at the moment - not that we don't love him, 'cuz we do - but that we are done with enabling him to treat us badly over and over. To breach our trust over and over.

H. says 'when her house sells any day, she will get an apartment and I can stay with her'....only I 411'd her address and the home isn't listed - so it's not nearly as 'soon' as H. thinks it's going to be. I can't decide if he's gullible or not bright.  Love....makes things seem rosier than they appear.  

We aren't allowing him access to the car either so he doesn't even have a car to sleep in - homeless takes on new meaning and I'm a bitch but I'm not so much of a bitch that I literally want him to sleep outside somewhere.  (He has a horrific cough and looks like he's sick and I will be mentioning that today as well - that he might want to get to a doctor to get the cough checked out. Though smoking everything imaginable will do that to a person so....there's that to consider as well.)

It's a quagmire of crap at the moment and it's hard to live in all the 'tension' but it is what it is.  I hope he can stay with a friend tonight.  And at the very least, he is organizing his 'stuff' to identify what will go and what will stay when he is able to officially 'no longer live here'.  Those were the words I used when I gave him permission to sleep here last night - yes, you may but you don't live here anymore so you need to attempt other arrangements nightly.  Every single night.  Forever.  This is not your 'home' anymore.

Gulp.  Those were hard words to say but they needed to be said...if for no other reason than it needs to sink in just how egregiously he violated our trust for (what I hope will be) the last time.  (It won't be...we all know that...but a girl's got to dream, right)?

I did find a room to rent for him in Antioch near school and we're going to talk about that today.  He's got just enough money to make that work for enough months to finish school?  So maybe that's the best approach.  We'll see.  I plan to broach the subject today.

I found the most comfortable pair of sandals at JCPenney before the cruise - I think I mentioned that in a pre-cruise post.  I loved them so much that I purchased two more pairs - one in a 'denim' color and the other is a backup for the original pair.  And score!  They were still on sale, and 25% off AND $20 more off for the rewards we received from our big pre-cruise shop!  I'm keeping an eye out for a couple swimsuit coverups and/or some 'long dresses' to wear in the evenings - 'cuz 'Freestyle Cruising' is very casual and yet ladies did 'dress' for evenings and I sort of want to do the same on our next cruise.  Might even decide to get out the sewing machine and make a caftan or two...'cuz I'm short and I'll likely have to alter any store bought items anyway.

Spring is here and I'm itching to wear shorts, tank top and sandals daily - but it's been windy and the wind is bitter cold (still).

I didn't work Friday afternoon 'cuz of the drama here at home - boss was incredibly kind and supportive...but I need to attempt to get to the office for a few hours this afternoon - it's a board prep week looming and there's so much to do...

My 'vacation brain' needs to vacate the premises for now 'cuz my work brain has to be back in high gear from now through June.  It will return in July when I take a couple weeks off to hang around the homestead (B. will be home in July at some point, we think).  But for now, cruising is a mere memory and I've got to get back to my work focus.

The struggle is real.

Truth

Pending Posts

We dutifully put our suitcases outside our room on Saturday night, having set out clothes and toiletries we would need to get ready to go home.  Seemed risky to leave luggage out in a hallway but then I realized 'where is anyone going to go?'.  We were at sea all night.

Sunday morning dawned early and we peeked out the window to confirm we were in the San Pedro harbor - same berth we left from.  The evening before we arrived, you go pick what time you want to leave and get the corresponding colored luggage tags.  Our room steward must have been hoping we would be departing earlier 'cuz he kept checking with us - I finally told him 'we aren't leaving until 9:30AM' - and then he returned with our room charge bill shortly after and we never saw him again.

We marveled at (once again) the efficiency of the cruise operation.  They announced 'colors' throughout the morning and people proceeded in an orderly fashion to the exit on deck 7.  When it was finally our turn, the lines weren't too long and we made it through fairly easily.  Once off the ship, we had to go through customs - where the agent asked (somewhat suspiciously) 'you don't have any liquor'?  or tobacco?'  I replied 'no' to both - I saw a lady buy 15 huge bottles of booze on Saturday at the gift shop so people stock up at the 'duty free' shop.  We're not really sure what 'duty free' means 'cuz her purchase most certainly exceeded the $800 exemption allowed - but anyway.  I said 'no' because we made no purchases of those items - and all we had purchased was clearly listed on our claim form.  Souvenir stuff mostly.

J. did remind me that we did have a bottle of champagne which I'd totally forgotten about (part of our Romance Package from our anniversary!) but that had also been listed on the form so....another confirmation he was marveling that we hadn't stocked up.

I thanked God at the site of the porter with a cart who assisted us with our carry ons and the two huge suitcases.  She took us all the way back to where we boarded the ship a week earlier to hail a cab. The ride back to the hotel where our car was parked was uneventful though the cab driver had never participated in the 'stay and park' with this hotel.  He didn't understand that we weren't paying him - we did tip him - but he seemed concerned that we weren't paying the fare on his meter.  I went in to the hotel to tell them we were safely back and the cabbie seemed concerned - and they took it from there.  He got paid - just not by us.

We made it home - no car issues (thank goodness!).  We went 99 as planned - a route I've never taken from So. Cal. home - marveled out how more developed and populated it is vs. I5.  I5 has always been a barren nothing for most of the drive - vs. 99 which has tons of things to look at and towns to pass through along the way.  We made a stop for lunch just past the Grapevine and another quick stop for gas and bathroom break.  We pulled in just after 5PM which wasn't too bad.  99 takes a little longer but it was worth it for the peace of mind knowing that if we did have car issues, we had plenty of places to be towed within our 100 mile tow allowance from CSAA.

J.'s going to take the car in this week to get it checked out - hoping it's a simple tube or something since it seemed to be related to when the gas volume was low?  Who knows.  It will need to be hooked up to the diagnostic computer and see what it says.

So many posts pending and pictures to get loaded - so be ready for a 'scroll down' short post to alert to new posts about the cruise.  I just can't finalize them all tonight and tomorrow is back to work for me.  I've felt pretty awful the past couple days - still cold/congestion and just exhausted...but I will survive.  Trying to remind myself to drink more ('cuz a lot of the time, my fatigue is related to not enough to drink and that's especially true when I'm not in my normal work routine having a huge iced tea and refilling with water throughout the day).

The trip was spectacular and we are already planning our next cruise - same time next year to Eastern Caribbean from New York - 11 nights.  We've already prepaid deposits for at least 2 more cruises so..we just have to find the one(s) we want to do and book them officially - then we have until 60 days before the cruise to make the final payment.

It's a wonderful way to travel and we both think 'sea days' are tons of fun.  So relaxing to just enjoy the journey and plenty of fun activities to keep us busy (if we choose to be busy).  I think a nice cruise a year (maybe two!) will get me through retirement...though I miss Paris and we definitely have to go back there, too.

So many options and so many places to go -

Land Ho! (Tomorrow)

The sliding door to our balcony is open and the sea is roaring just outside.  Cruising is such a wonderful reminder of the vastness and power of the oceans.  It's truly amazing to be in the middle of nowhere, no land in sight.  It's awe inspiring and sometimes overwhelming.

Last night's irrational musing was 'what if the ship is overtaken by pirates'?  I know - it's ridiculous, right?  But - just in case - I thought about the drills we do at the schools all the time.  We'd draw the dark blinds, turn off all lights and silence everything and stay in our locked cabin until instructed otherwise.  We could even 'double lock' ourselves by sitting on the bathroom floor and locking that door, too.  Then I realize 'they can shoot through anything, you know'.  I went to sleep (thankfully) shortly after. I slept fine - just my usual 3AMish awakening with a hot flash (or two) and crazy musings until I drift back to sleep.  The gentle rocking of the ocean is something I'm starting to enjoy and might miss when we get home.

I have no idea why my mind wanders to the places it does but I do realize, hugely, that I am totally and completely overwhelmed by newness.  This entire adventure is new and I feel rubbed raw a lot of the time.  Not that we're not having a great time 'cuz we are.  But my mind feels constantly on alert and tired from all the new things to think about.  Example:  if you come out of the elevators, our room is a right turn.  If you come off the stairs, it's left.  But if you cross to the other side of the ship and forget that - and then forget to cross back at some point as you meander back, you are going to put in a lot of steps getting to/from where you want to be.

Today felt like a really busy day.  We had breakfast and I headed to the casino for a bit. Then I met J. and we played Bingo.  I WON $44 on a 4-corner Bingo - sadly, sharing the $144 jackpot with 2 other ladies but still - we paid $69 for both of us to play (including a new t-shirt) so we were only $25 in the hole after my win.  We tried for the $2000 blackout pattern grand prize but no one won.  It went back down to $200ish when it didn't hit after a certain number of calls.

After we came back to our room, we headed to lunch and from there, went straight to the spa.  We purchased the 'thermal suite' package which gives us access all week to sauna, hot swimming pool, cold swimming pool (which I won't go near), jacuzzi and a viewing deck with heated (tile topped) chaises.  I didn't really care for the chaises - weird angle for my neck - but enjoyed holding my beloved's hand in the jacuzzi and then sitting in the deck chairs watching the bow of the ship move up and down.  It's incredibly quiet in the spa area which is a nice break from the gazillion children and loud adults about.  I'm reading a great book - a real, live paper book - enjoying every minute and savoring each page.

We had a tea service at 4PM (part of our Romance Package) and then canapes at 6 (also part of the romance package).  The date for the canapes was pre-booked and today just worked out to be the better day for our tea service.

Tomorrow is our first land day - Puerto Vallarta.  We are heading to Las Caletas for the day - 6.5 hours of being at this retreat where we can do as much (or as little) as we'd like.  We will be back on board in plenty of time for our departure tomorrow evening.

We booked an excursion for every land day and I think we both sort of regret that now, especially since we purchased the spa package - but oh well.  Thankfully, Th & Fri's excursions are just a few hours leaving plenty of time to return to the ship and relax.

Time changed again and we lost another hour - it's 9PM though the computer and our phones says 8PM.  Need to wind down and get some sleep - have to actually set an alarm tomorrow (crap!) but oh well.

We're already looking ahead to a 10 to 14 day cruise to the Caribbean in a year or so.  I think cruising just might be my new happy place - we think it's less expensive than Cancun (on a per day basis) and once I get the hang of the newness, it is very relaxing.  No shopping or cooking; no expensive dinners out - tons of 'help' here - a great room steward; wait staff; casino team - all ready to do anything they can to make your trip fun and memorable.

Adjusting to the Newness of it All

Greetings from somewhere south of San Diego!  We're moving at a pretty good pace this morning.

Yesterday felt totally overwhelming - and I surprised myself (not to mention J.) with some reactions to things I don't do often.  Hard to keep track of passports, room keys, etc..  Hard to adjust to not living out of a suitcase - putting things away and then having to remember 'where is this'?  Over and over.

The casino is so-so - it's honestly not very big and has pretty old machines.  In hindsight, I guess I should have expected that.  This ship arrived in port yesterday morning and offloaded 2800 people. Cleaned up after them and then boarded another 2800 - all in the span of about 7 hours.  Where does it ever find time to have newer slots installed in the casino?  Never, I guess.  There are some old familiar 'standards' and they are OK - but it's not really a place I feel much interest in spending too much time - which is good, I think given how 'expensive' it is.  Not saying I won't play at all over the next six days - but certainly not much.  There's plenty of other stuff to do.

We pulled out of port yesterday and the Battleship Iowa's staff (it's a museum now) bid us farewell over their loudspeaker.  So did a nearby restaurant.  People were standing and waving and we were on our balcony doing the same.  It was exciting.

I'm getting used to the steady sense of movement under me (always).  I don't feel nauseous at all but I do feel disoriented and I think that's partly why yesterday felt like just a huge 'adjustment' day'.  I slept pretty well (considering) and by the end of the night, instead of thinking 'what in the heck is moving under me', I drifted back to sleep thinking 'nice to be rocked to sleep'.  I think I'll survive the cruise -

We are heading out to breakfast shortly (having navigated the shower) and then have an art auction attendance planned.  We don't plan to buy anything - but we get a free serigraph for attending - nice way to pass some time and get a free souvenir out of the activity.

The food is delicious and plentiful and we are being pretty careful - BUT I enjoyed a delicious, freshly made crepe with lemon filling, chocolate sauce (from a chocolate fountain) and freshly made whip cream!

We are 'at sea' today and tomorrow full days and then it's three back to back excursion days in each port of call.

We have champagne, a dozen red roses and chocolate covered strawberries here for our 'Romance Package'.  We also will enjoy a romantic Italian dinner, hors 'd oeuvres tomorrow evening, a portrait at the portrait studio on board and tea service in our stateroom before the journey is over.

Internet works fine and there's a 'glitch' that lets us text each other for free - using the ship's WiFi. Relieved we can be in touch with H. (especially) since he's got some specific things he needs to keep us looped in on.

It's a little overcast this morning on this first day of Spring, 2017 - but it's still lovely.  Coffee this morning watching the water was a wonderful way to start the day.

From the high seas, I bid you a wonderful day - I'm with my best beloved experiencing a new way of vacationing and enjoying (pretty much, anyway) every minute -

Cruising....

I just wasted 5 minutes attempting to confirm the lyrics to the song running through my head. You know the one I mean.  It's a male vocalist but the searches come up with other songs that aren't what I'm thinking of.  Oh well.  I tried.

I always plan to be super organized about packing and preparing for a vacation trip - and it always ends up in a mad-dash, crazed 24 hours.  I'm totally itchy this morning and I feel stressed out to the max.  We finally realized we were planning an 8AM departure for Long Beach today to do what?  Sit in a hotel room tonight?  So we've ratcheted back our departure to 'whenever' 'cuz the hotel room will be waiting for us when we get there.

I think it's also harder to pack for this trip 'cuz we've never cruised before - and I do feel compelled to have 'leisure clothes' for the beach and pool and then some other outfits for dinner.  There's no fancy dress requirement on this cruise (or we wouldn't be going) but I still like to 'dress' for dinner.  After a day of time by the sea or the pool, it's nice to get showered and cleaned up before heading out to eat and then a show or whatever else we do in the evenings on the ship.  It's complicated and requires way more room in a suitcase than usual.  They say there's no room in the 'mini-suite' we booked to have suitcases out and about - so you unpack and then stash your bags (hopefully) under the bed. If not, 'your room steward may be able to stash your empty suitcases in his storage closet'.  Heh.  We have a room steward.

It's 8:30AM now and I just made my second cup of coffee and J.'s first.

We're leaving H. alone and given the drama of recent weeks (which I've stayed silent on), it's very stressful to leave him here.  Not wanting him to drive and having no way to enforce that - and he will have to drive to Modesto this week on his own for a doctor's appointment.  We are logging the mileage on his car this morning and have Map Quested the route to the doctor and that's what we expect to be added to the car when we return.  He should be able to hitch rides to school with friends and if he can't, he is OK to drive to/from school ONLY.  But there's no way for us to ensure that's what's happening - and that's just the way it is.  Really no different than when we are here, actually. He says one thing and does something completely different all the time.

But when we're here, we keep all the car keys somewhere he can't find them - and we won't be able to do that when we're gone.  (And he does have to get to school and the doctor so...).  I'm hoping this doesn't end with yet another infraction to deal with.

I also had a busy, hectic week feeling like I was getting a months worth of work done in a week. Got several HUGE projects off my list and out to the masses who needed them and my boss seemed impressed.  I just felt relieved - until I looked at the (ever) long list of stuff still to do.  There's always high priority stuff on the list and it will just have to keep until we return home in a week.

We watched a bunch of You Tube cruise hint videos which sent me back out to pick up things like small clips (to secure your towel to your chaise), etc. .  After taking 1.5 hours to do that errand, gas up my car and also get the nose pads on my glasses replaced at Costco, he mentioned something else he heard we needed - and I truly could have killed him.  I said 'I'm not going out again'.

In my defense, my sinuses are a wreck and I've been on antibiotics again for...wait for it....you know what's coming....ear infection.  I think I feel better but my head gets super stuffy and the only thing that works is Claritin D which makes me feel so 'hazy', I just can't take it everyday.  I went to the bank yesterday to get our trip money and was so dazed, I asked the clerk to run the cash through the counting machine and give me the ticket to confirm the amount 'cuz I just couldn't keep up with manually counting it.

And coincidentally, the casino I frequent north of Sacramento just sent us another 'cruise event' invite so we'll be trekking up there again on April 9th to secure another discount on our next cruise.  If we don't like our first cruise, we won't go - but if we do?  We'll snap up another offer and start planning for the next one.

Time to hit the shower and finish madly packing.  Wish us luck in getting everything in two suitcases and one carry on - OH - because as if it's not challenging enough, turns out they collect your suitcases the night before you disembark so you have to have a bag that will hold what you need for the morning -

Bon Voyage to us and wishing you a nice week.  We will have Internet and I hope to blog about the voyage when possible.