Dawn Princess Apr 9, 2005

[donnajohn]

Hi guys!
I started a new thread. I think they got rid of our old one!
Yes, it is hot here in Chicago also, but today is starting to cool off a bit. Yesterday was 99 degrees with a heat index of 112 ! Yikes

Oink - good luck in the job search. The pay for anything that is available is AWFUL. I know - I work retail.
I make about 1/2 of what I used to make and Ron makes about 1/3
How we are supposed to save for retirement is beyond me. It's all we can do to pay our bills.

Hope everyone finds this thread.
Freedom - haven't hear from you lately!

Donna

[headusher]

Hello Donna & Ron,

I guess our old thread has been eliminated!!!

Yes Oink - Good Luck & we'll keep you in our Prayers & thoughts!

To all my football Buds:

The sounds & fragrance of college football is in the air.

Go Penn State!!

Might as well start this thread out right.
headusher

[donnajohn]

Hi Ralph

I hope the others find us here! Are the temps improving in your neck of the woods? It's been cooler here - in the 80's.

Gotta run - will check back soon

Donna

[CruiseLunatic]

I found the place. Hope you are all doing great. Good luck Oink.
Hi Ralph, Donna, and all.
Just stopping by. Good thing I did. New posting.
Be good,
Matt

[headusher]

Matt & Kitty,

Glad to see you found us. I hope the rest of the Buds do!!

headusher

[Oink]

Hi Dreamers! I've been chatting away on another thread from 2004 that was also closed and moved to the new "Friends of Cruise Critic" board. We all thought it was peculiar that nobody from other old threads posted there. Now I realize that everyone (except us) started their own new thread.

Here in Atlanta, we've had 3 solid months of above average temperatures. Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to go down into the high 60's! What a relief.

Later....

[kruisinkris]

I'm here, too.

Sigh. It just goes to show you. I wanted to post about what a wonderful time we had with Ralph and Ann Marie, and Rick and Sybil, but I kept procrastinating.....heck... it feels like we were there just a couple of DAYS ago... and it's been 2 months!!...over 2 months!!

and now....

how are ALL of our Dawn Dreamer friends going to know about my "land cruise"?

Oh, well, so far Ralph and Matt and Oink have found it, Donna, along with me. So there's hope for the others.

I'm excited to tell you all about what's been going on in my life, starting with our "Virginia Land Cruise" in May. I'm going to have to do it installments.

Here's my Girl Scout Pledge (except I was never a Girl Scout, just a Brownie.... but I DO LOVE Girl Scout cookies.... and dark fudgy brownies)
ANYWAY..... I pledge to post at least once a week on this thread... and more till I've caught up.

Kris, the krummy poster, ie Lurky Lou, ie the I'm changing my tune, ie I change songs and tunes a lot!

[kruisinkris]

Oh... just one more thing... before we left, Ann Marie made some brownies. We had one or 2 at their house. She also packed a couple for us to eat on the plane (or at the airport).

I can still smell and taste those brownies. Yum, yum, yum. Delicious!

We got so spoiled. THAT's why I call it a "Land CRUISE".

Kris.... who wants to have her cake and eat it, too..... but prefers dark, chocolatey, brownies.

[kruisinkris]

Originally Posted by Oink

Hi Dreamers! I've been chatting away on another thread from 2004 that was also closed and moved to the new "Friends of Cruise Critic" board. We all thought it was peculiar that nobody from other old threads posted there. Now I realize that everyone (except us) started their own new thread.

Here in Atlanta, we've had 3 solid months of above average temperatures. Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to go down into the high 60's! What a relief.

Later....

THE 2nd 1 more thing:
How do I spell relief? C. R. U. I. S. E. F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

When I've been in the dumps in the past, just reading all your posts helped cheer me up (even though I wasn't posting and just lurking)

[donnajohn]

Love you Kruisin Kris

Anybody want to join us on the Emerald Princess - 10 dayer April 6th?
Quite a few buds going (Kris and Ken included)

It's a 10 night with a nice itinerary. Prices should be falling soon.

Bye for now
Donna

[headusher]

WOW! The gang is starting to show up here.

Chris, don't forget to post the pictures of you in your angel garb at the lake & you as a soldier at the battlefield.

We had such a great time with you & Ken. When ya comin' back??

Donna, Since this year's cruise is a bust we'll have to look at the 4/6 cruise.

Oink, we'll be near Atlanta (Marietta) for the Labor Day weekend visiting the grandkids.

headusher

[kruisinkris]

Originally Posted by headusher

WOW! The gang is starting to show up here.

Chris, don't forget to post the pictures of you in your angel garb at the lake & you as a soldier at the battlefield.

We had such a great time with you & Ken. When ya comin' back??

Donna, Since this year's cruise is a bust we'll have to look at the 4/6 cruise.

Oink, we'll be near Atlanta (Marietta) for the Labor Day weekend visiting the grandkids.

headusher

Hey, Ralph, I'm NOT good at posting pics.... at ALL.

DEFINITELY plan to come on the 4/6 cruise. What we're doing is saving our $$$, so as soon as we see the fares drop, we can say "Book it Dano" (except our TA isn't named Dano, of course). Right now an inside is just over $1k pp, but I figure it will go down at least another couple of hundred dollars, so we should be able to get a cabin for $900 max pp, just like the Sun Princess was. Donna, having previously been a TA, and who is good at looking out for deals, seems to think it will be even lower. (crossed fingers)

There are 3 ships going at the same time, but we're planning on the Emerald. Why? I LOVE PRINCESS! Every single cruise with Princess has had the "small ship feel/large ship amenities" they advertise. I LOVE THE ITINERARY! While we've been to many of the islands before, they are most of my favorite ones! Many of the features I liked on the Sapphire are also on the Emerald. And I LOVED THE SAPPHIRE (the only way that cruise could've been better was to have some of our crazy friends cruising with us...like the NoVa gang and Donna). Aaaaand I've read some reviews on the Emerald and they are saying the same thing. AHHHH!!!!!

And with 3 ships leaving at the same time, it should help lower the prices. (fingers crossed again).

We had such a good time visiting with you and Ann Marie and Rick and Sybil. You all took such good care of us, I was feeling like I was on a cruise! (with out being on the ocean, though). So it was a LAND CRUISE!

Kris

[headusher]

Hello everyone,

We had a little excitment here a little bit ago. A 6.0 earthquake!!! My office was rockin' & rollin'. The quake was centered in Rick & Sybil's hometown. They are fine. I spoke with them.

I first thought our HVAC was destroying itself, then I thought one of our buildings exploded, then I realized it was a quake. We're near Dulles AP so some thought a plane was headed into our building. I was about 1/2 way under my desk when I realized I was suppose to run outside, LOL.

Eveything is calm now except for the roads. DC evacuated -- should be an interesting drive home, LOL

Now we get ready for the hurricane this weekend. Never a dull moment around here.

headusher

[donnajohn]

Ralph
Glad you are OK. I was checking in to make sure after news of the Quake!

Donna

[Oink]

So happy and relieved that the No VA gang survived the rare East coast earthquake. Crazy, huh?! I may have felt it myself down here in Atlanta.

I was sitting in my tiny den, searching though the job boards on my laptop (my daily routine), when I suddenly felt the corner of the room rumble. I turned thinking it was one of my cats jumping off the window sill. But no cats were in the room at the time! I shrugged it off until I heard about the quake. I once felt an earthquake when I lived in Akron OH. It was in the summer of '79 or '80, I think. They said it was a once in a lifetime event for NE Ohio. Maybe not!

Okay Ralph, next you've got to prepare for Irene. Really sucks, doesn't it? That's one of the few things I don't miss about living in Florida....hurricane season.

Take care....

[kruisinkris]

Ralph, Thanks for the update on Rick and Sybil. I was about to log off my computer yesterday to pick up my grandson from school, and the earthquake news caught my eye.

When I 1st saw the news on the computer, it talked about the center being about 40 miles northwest of Richmond, and I thought to myself "that sounds close to Rick and Sybil". And, well, later, found out that it WAS! OMG!! Glad you were able to talk to them. I tried calling today, but just got the "leave a message" thing.

Being that it WAS an earthquake, you did the right thing. When I was growing up in California we used to have "earthquake drills" and had to get under our desks. Good thing my desk now is bigger than the ones I had in school!

Glad you and Ann Marie are ok, too. Did you or Rick and Sybil have any property damage?

Sure would be nice if Irene could fizzle out and die a quick sea death....yeah, I'm a dreamer. You're far enough inland that it shouldn't be too scary, though, right?

Boy. Ken and I DID come at just the right time to see Virginia, huh? I keep waiting for more of our group to find this thread, so I can brag about it and how great the 4 of you treated us. Ahhh!! The yummy breakfasts Ann Marie cooked! And the Italian dinner you cooked! And the brownies! BTW, have Rick and Sybil ever taken you to the Anna Cabana? They had the BEST sweet potato fries and the BEST crab cake I've ever eaten. It was so good, I started writing a song about it. It goes to the tune of the "Pina Colada" song... the one that says "...if you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain...blah, blah, blah...".... ANYWAY.... MY version goes... "At the Anna Cabana...." (well, just ask and I'll do the rest).

Oink, Good to hear from you again. I've been through 2 earthquakes, too, but they were also mild ones. I mostly remember one where I was in bed and it started feeling like one of those kind of beds that you could see in the 50's and 60's in cheap hotels where you'd put a quarter in and it would start vibrating. Freaky.

Kris ..... who between the earthquake .... and a hurricane (which reminds me of a twister).... is going nuts thinking of another song. Sorry. It's just the Beatles.... "Shake it up baby, now (shake it up baby), twist and shout (twist and shout), ......" They sang it on "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Ok, I'M really twisted (a twisted brain is a terrible thing to waste), and while I'm trying to keep things light here, I TRUELY DO hope none of the NoVa gang have any property damage.

KRAZY Kris

[Oink]

Krazy Kruisin' Kris....oh how I've missed your silly, funny, rambling posts!! Always a treat to hear from you, Kris.

[donnajohn]

Ralph - Hope you escape Irene with little or no damage!
Keep us posted.

Ms Oink - so nice to see you posting - what's happening in your neck of the woods?

Krazy Kris - keep on being crazy - that's what we love about you!

Donna

[headusher]

Greetiings from Mother Nature ravaged No VA, LOL.

Getting ready for round 2.5. Had another 4.5 earthquake the other morning (Counts as a half round). We thought it was an aftershock but were told it was its own separate event!!

Irene is bearing down on us. Luckily we are inland far enough to only be getting tropical storm weather - 30-50 mph winds & rain predicted so far. Just hope the power stays on!!

Rick & Sybil had minor foundation damage & a lot of her antique bottles fell off the shelf & broke. Kris, those are the ones on the walls in her kitchen. I also heard Rick lost a mounted deer head - OH Well - he'll get another one!!!

Their church had significant damage & the schools in Mineral may not be able to be opened this year.

Anna Cabana - yep been there many times with them - great place.

We'll let you know how it went after this weekend. And for anyone else in Irene's path - STAY SAFE!!!

OH - AM had gall bladder surgery yesterday. Doing good- home resting.

headusher

[Oink]

Hi Dreamers! I wanted to check in to see how the No VA gang and Uncle Matt & Kitty weathered Irene. I think Virginia got the brunt of the storm. Please let us know how you're doing Ralph & Matt....once you get your power back!

Later....