laurspag

Melody, you must be so tired of surgery on that foot!! I hope it works for you. Once you get to February 8th, are you still to remain off of it for a while? You took some great clothing choices on your cruise, Margaret. What did you think of the ship, itinerary, etc? It sounds like it was rather cool overall. I'm already thinking of outfits, lol. Just mentally...I'm not getting anything out and comparing jewelry. Yet. I think both of the Chico's Off the Rack dresses are coming. The purplish one will be likely accessorized as I described previously with gold sandals and that bracelet. The orange dress I will wear on a casual night when my husband wears his SU shirt. Probably tropical night, because it is his first tropical shirt. I got it for less than this thru Fanatics for Christmas. https://www.amazon.com/Wes-Willy-Hawaiian-XX-Large-Syracuse/dp/B08WRGM8T7/ref=asc_df_B08WRGM8T7/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=508343016624&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3682512899609480813&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9005074&hvtargid=pla-1344544905770&psc=1&region_id=674469 I've never taken classes on board. How did the gym look compared to other cruise lines and ships you've been on, Margaret?

I'm trying to remember...we're you getting the same dress? I'd love to see the links!

I think I need to upgrade my tshirt dresses, but the ones I own I've gotten so much out of. Scoop neck, V neck, maxi, below the knee and above the knee. They are mostly from Target and have been great for the price. I'd love to find a few better quality/weight ones.

Margaret, I'm glad you posted the link to the scarf. I wear them a lot as they keep me feeling warm and add some detail to my outfits. The think is, almost all my scarves have brown and orange in them. I need some variety. I had forgotten you had a cruise you were going on, so it is fun to see your clothing choices. Tshirt dresses are great. They are so versatile, aren't they? The denim one looks fun.

Hello! Small world, isn't it?? Have a great cruise! My TA has had very mixed reviews on YVE. I have stayed at the Marriott Biscayne before. From the front, it was a heavy city traffic area. There is a little mall attached with some restaurants. The pool was closed when we were there, but the bar was really nice.

I really liked the dress quality, 57redbird. It's an easy to wear dress, if you know what I mean. Let me know what you think! I love that I can dress it up or down.

Here is the link to the dress, with some different views. The material is really great quality. It has enough weight to lay well and hide imperfections. It is not fitted, but has a nice shape to it. Twist-Neck Knee-Length Dress - Chico's Off The Rack - Chico's Outlet (chicosofftherack.com)

I've emailed my TA with some thoughts, and we will see what she comes back with for me. I saw a hotel called YVE and it caught my eye. It is very close to the cruise port, and seems to be very well located as far as places to eat and so forth. I'm going to see what she can find out for me. It's mostly about transportation to the hotel, and then hotel to cruise port so I will deal with a taxi. I'm still open to suggestions. Melody, I have started to look at the Blue Lagoon hotels. I admit that I love having a nice view, and being able to get out and walk around. That was a really thing about Galveston, because once you are at the hotel, you have this beautiful view, and you are right near everything. Even crossing the streets and what not are easy. Melody, I forgot to mention but the new terminal is not in walking distance, from what I understand. When we checked in to Harbor House, they said they had a shuttle but we walked because it was so close by, as you know. So, I'm thinking about my outfits a little bit. I love when we go to a specialty restaurant and I feel kind of dressed up, without being over the top. I was thinking of wearing this dress: and adding my gold sandals with this bracelet, and maybe matching earrings. Does that seem over the top? I kind of look at the accessories as bringing it up a notch, without making it formal. What do you think? already have the dress, and it was somewhere around $25.00, I think. It was on clearance through Chicos Off the Rack. The bracelet is currently on sale as Macy's for just under $21.00. I also have a star rewards so it is really just $11.00.

Hi all, We are looking for a one night hotel stay in Miami, close to the port. We do not want to rent a car, and are hoping to stay someplace with a nice bar/lounge, with restaurants in easy walking distance. If there is a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, even better. I would ask about shuttles to the cruise port, but that seems to be harder to find these days. I found YVE when searching. Has anyone stayed there? I believe it is very close to the port, but I don't know much else. I think a hotel that can quickly and easily call you a taxi for transportation to the cruise ship is pretty important. As you can tell, I have been staying at hotels that have shuttles for quite some time! I want a clean, relaxing place to stay where I can walk a block and have a choice of restaurants and the like. Thanks in advance!

Melody, there are usually lots of hotels that offer a shuttle, so I have a bunch to choose from. That isn't the case this time. Generally speaking, almost ever shuttle from the hotel to the port that I've taken has been less than $10, so it hasn't been expensive at all. My husband I aren't big fans of Uber or Lyft. My daughter and I used Lyft when we needed transportation from the airport to the hotel, and I think again from the port to the airport. One driver was great, the other was so-so. We have time to figure it out, but I like to plan early. I will check out the hotel you have referenced. Thank you for the suggestion! We will probably end up with Uber or Lyft. How is your weather? We have a little bit of snow today. We have had up and down temperatures, but it is almost always dry when it is colder. We got lots of rain during the week. It has been a strange winter, for sure. I can imagine Anita is enjoying the Florida weather! I am hoping that she and her husband feel more like themselves again. I recall they were having some muscle issues, I believe.

How is everyone? It's been quiet here. We've been working on putting away all our decorations, and taking care of some things. I always say that I am not a New Year's resolution person, but there is something about being just past the holidays, home a bit more, etc. I always feel the need to organize and take care of things. Last weekend, in addition to starting all the disassembly of four trees and a lot of decorations, we went and got a new fireproof box. I have folders set up with everything related to wills, health care proxy, life insurance, where our accounts are at, etc. I've had all this stuff for a while, but it wasn't organized the way I wanted it. I have always said that I don't want my family guessing or struggling to find info. My husband and decided we needed to do this and while it was hard in a way to think about, I felt so relieved after. We will be making some small changes in the near future, but I love that things are in one spot so it is easy to maintain and review. Since going to the gym has become almost impossible at times, I decided to invest in an elliptical. It will be here Monday, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will fit in the spare room, but I can already see it is going to be rather tight in there. We will make it work. It is a clean, bright room and I will be able to play music or put in a small TV if I wish. Question for you all: have you sailed out of Miami recently? My daughter and I did back in May, but I understand the hotel no longer has a cruise port shuttle. I almost always have transfers set up from the airport to the hotel, and the port to airport. I choose a hotel with a cruise shuttle. For some reason, there doesn't seem to be many options. My TA has let me know about three airport based hotels that all provide transportation to the cruise port. Since we are low key the day we fly in, we don't look to rent a car and go all over - we usually try to walk to a local restaurant. A nice bar at the hotel means we can have a drink or two while we catch some sort of game on TV. I haven't found much info yet on the hotels, but I'm not sure we can just walk to a restaurant from any of them. Have any of you stayed at these places? I'm going to check the board here and do some more research. These are the hotels my TA suggested. Like I mentioned, it was hard to determine if we could walk to a restaurant. A few of the placed offered breakfast, like many hotels do. I confirmed a bar at another. But that is as far as I've gotten. Springhill Airport South Marriott Hampton Inn Miami Airport East Four Points Miami Airport

Happy New Year!! Well, almost! We are low key for this holiday. We ran errands this morning and went to Lights on the Lake tonight. Then we drove around to see all the decorated houses. Nothing like mid 50s a week after it was below zero, lol. I always mKe homemade pizza with a few munchies. We generally force ourselves to make it to midnight for a champagne toast, and then we fall to sleep right away. Tomorrow I'll make breakfast and use the rest of the champagne for mimosas. I'm making lasagna for dinner.

We really lucked out with the weather. The drive home Friday wasn't thrilling, but it got considerably worse a few hours later, which would have been my normal time to leave work. I am so happy the bank closed early on Friday. It was a complete white out. Now Buffalo...you've heard. My sister lives in Buffalo. She has health issues, as well as my husband. My niece ins in retail, so my sister was babysitting the twins, who are just 16 months old. Her daughter could not make it to pick up the twins, as the weather was so awful. She ended up turning around and going home. My sister was so scared...she was worried about what if something happened to her or her husband or the grandbabies. Fortunately, they did not lose power, but they are both unable to shovel and it was not the kind of weather event where you can go out every two hours, and shovel to keep up. Their son and a friend were able to create a path yesterday to the house, and my niece made it to be able to pick up the kids. I"m not sure, but I think she parked a few blocks away and walked. The inner city where most of the poor live is the last on the list for plowing. It's a mess. I'm not sure they could have done anything differently, other than perhaps place plows in strategic areas so that when it stopped snowing and blowing enough, they could be working on the whole city. In reality, your highways and main roads are always done first. Ideally, you branch out from the main roads like a spider, going into different directions. That hasn't happened, but the last I knew of, they were close. One thing you learn in an emergency is that we hear so much about negative, bad things. The helpers are there too though: the neighbors that call you constantly to make sure your oxygen supply is okay, or that you have food. The barber who lets people stay in his shop because they have no heat. There are lots of good people out there. I read today that there was a local snowmobile club where the members were driving to areas not yet accessible to bring medicine and what not to those in need. Melody, it looks like you had a great Christmas! I didn't see too many coats! We were well below zero from Friday through Sunday, with strong winds still. It was the wind chill that was the issue. Air temps got down to about 6 degrees at one point, and the windchill dropped everything to around -14. My poor puppies. I put older towels in the dryer and then put their coats on to take them out. When they come back in, they get wrapped in the warm towels! It's much better now though. I really wanted to see what wrapping paper and gift bags were on sale, but I haven't had a chance to see if anyone has anything left. I'm a big recycler - I've used some gift bags for at least 10 years now. Do any of you do that? I get torn between wanting everything looking pretty and coordinating, and then there's the practical side that says to reuse that ugly bag and put a new tag on it, lol. I can imagine Michigan had to feel adventurous, Margaret. You mentioned using extra caution on the roads. While I do not have a family gathering planned for my side of the family, we got together with my husband's side of the family a bit early, a few weeks before Thanksgiving. It can be hard to coordinate everyone sometimes. I miss Lord and Taylor too. There are so many stores I miss. I was telling my husband the other day that we go to the outlet mall around once a year, and that is it! All my shopping is online, and I miss shopping in person. We had a Bon Ton up the street that I loved, before they kept trying to reinvent themselves after they started to have financial trouble.

The weather is underway here too. We started the morning in the 40s, close to 50. We are currently at -11 with windchill. We were fortunate - we didn't get a ton of ice in the transition. The white out is really something though. One minute, you can see, the next minute, you can't. They let us out of work at 3:00, as a lot of local places were shutting. We have no plans to go anywhere tonight. We are going to just relax, watch sports or movies, and I will figure out what we will have to eat because as I already mentioned, we aren't going back out! I have everything for the holidays, and plan to start cooking tomorrow. I might make a few dips for tonight, such as french onion and the cucumber dill one that I have...just because. Where there's chips, there is dip, right? Stay safe, everyone!

Wonderful pictures, Melody! I hope you find that were able to catch up a little after coming home. Having a trip close to a holiday throws me off too. I am not sure I would do that again, mostly because I love the holidays. I love cruising too, but I can choose from many other dates. I know this was a bit of a reunion type cruise for you, right? Well, we are about to get this storm that they have been talking about, starting tomorrow. My husband and daughter are both off, but I am not, sadly. We should miss the majority of it, but midday, the temp is going to drop over 30 degrees and the windchill will kick in. We will go from rain to snow so we will likely have some ice to worry about on the roads. Yesterday we went to the liquor store and today we went to the grocery store so at least when I get home from work, there is no pressure to go anywhere. I have everything wrapped, and only made two types of cookies. I am making two desserts, and cooking both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I really like that everything falls on a weekend. If the bank was open Christmas Eve, I'd be there until 3:00 and then I would be returning to work bright and early the day after Christmas. We have Monday off so that will be nice. Honestly, I want a relaxing, laid back holiday. I don't mind cooking at all, but just having us makes it simpler. (by us I mean me, my husband, one daughter and dogs. My other daughter and grandson will be by for a while on Christmas day.) I hope everyone enjoys whatever they celebrate. Share your pictures after the holidays, Melody!

I love a good sale. 🙂 I have had to buy some new things, as not everything fits anymore, sadly. It's been very different, as my husband's flare ups mean a lot of time at home. We have been talking though, as our gym membership is quite expensive. We have weights at home, and I think I am going to add a few mats and get an elliptical. I am kind of particular in that I like things to have their space. I don't love the idea of putting it in the spare room, but it makes sense because I have the room since I haven't purchased a small dresser yet. I figure that this is a way to give myself a workout space, which is part of the overall plan for later on anyway. I've wanted to create a home gym, but didn't want to give up living room space, etc. I also don't like having stuff like that in my own bedroom or whatever. I figure that eventually, my younger daughter is going to be focusing on getting her own place. I will have an empty bedroom to make into a gym at that point. Of course, with my husband struggling to get around, I have talked to him a bit about the idea of going to something one level. I wouldn't call it downsizing, as I think we would both like to have a similar amount of rooms. It would just be easier to eliminate the need for stairs. All bedrooms and the full bath are on the second floor. The den on the first floor could be converted to a small bedroom, but there is only a half bath on the first floor. My husband really feels that the stairs are okay for now. He can't make a lot of trips, but he can do it. In addition, this is due to a flare up. Assuming it settles down, then he is fine. I am just going to focus in making them as safe as possible, so I want to get a stair runner. Right now, there are just the oak treads. I love the slippers that you gave a link to. I love slippers, and live in them in the house. I have the fancier LLBean slippers right now, but I admit that I don't think they are all that they are cracked up to be. They are wonderful, don't get me wrong...but I wear things out quickly, and I tihnk I would get my money's worth out of something cheaper. On the other hand, my husband would never wear slippers, and I got him a pair last year from LLBean. He doesn't go a day without wearing them. His look much better than mine, even though they are older, lol. I haven't purchased from Land's End before. Do you like the quality, Margaret? I'm just thinking that Melody should be getting home soon, I think. I wonder how Anita is doing also. And I miss Sally too. I think the holidays make us very reminiscent, and we think about people who are no longer with us, or that we don't hear from often. My plan for the rest of the day today is some baking and household chores. I don't bake a ton of cookies anymore. More daughter is making cutouts with my grandson, so I am going to make peanut butter balls and white trash. I really wish they'd come up with a different name for that, lol. Anyway, those are two items that everyone likes that also keep well. The big plus is that my husband loves them. Getting closer to Christmas, I'll make the cranberry bread recipe I have. It's make with cream cheese, so it is kind of like a pound cake. Christmas Eve, we are going super relaxed and casual. It's a Saturday, and we aren't going to anyone's home nor having anyone over this year. I am actually looking forward to it all. I will make things like bacon wrapped scallops, homemade spinach artichoke dips and other things to much on. I always pick a special cocktail for me and my daughter, so it will be some sort of fun martini. Dessert will be some cookies. We will watch Christmas movies all evening. Christmas day, my grandson will be over in the morning before he goes to his Dad's. I am making breakfast strata and that is when we will also have the cranberry bread. I will probably pick up a fruit salad too. No lunch - we will have cheese and crackers, maybe expand it to a little charcuterie board. Dinner will be around 3. That will be beef tenderloin, smashed potatoes (not the kind you see on Pinterest - these are mashed potatoes make with some sour cream and chives with skin on red potatoes) then popovers, a veggie, and make another side. Dessert is an ice cream cake from a local ice cream shop. I've contemplated making a cheesecake, but it is fun to support a local business too. I was thinking that if I wanted, maybe I could make the bite sized cheesecakes to go with the cookies? This is a whole lot of cooking, lol. But I love it, and I know how much my husband loves all these foods. I do wish I didn't have to work until 6 on Friday, but with being off Saturday, it isn't a big deal. We are normally open until 3 on Christmas Eve so it allows me the time to do all this. We are going to miss this round of snow. Thank goodness! We got a lot between Thursday and Friday, sort of. It kept going from snow to rain so it didn't end up accumulating a lot, but it made for some yucky driving.

And I decided to update my profile picture. This was taken when I was on vacation with my daughter in May. The other picture had gotten pretty old! I would probably do this more regularly, but I always have to resize the pictures.

I'm a little late here, but have a great cruise, Melody! I've never ordered from Chico's before, but the fabric on both of those dresses was so nice. I think they will both be great on a cruise, and I really could wear the purplish color one to work, if I wanted. I really never wear dresses to work, because it is just too cold there. I hope to get to Costco soon to look at those shirts. My husband has been having a bad week or so with his health. The issues seem to come and go to a certain degree. It never really goes away, but as you know, he did really well when we were on vacation. I actually learned a lot this week about his health. At one point, my husband had told me he doesn't have RA (rheumatoid arthritis) so I had not paid attention to that. When we were talking, he told me that the specialist he goes to changed his diagnosis to severe RA. He never told me. He said he didn't think it was different. Well, that changes everything. Now his symptoms all tie together. RA is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks and creates inflammation. That is why he can wake up with knees so swollen he can't walk, and why he is having all the digestive issues. It explains the fatigue, anemia, and so forth. Sometimes, his temperature will spike and it's just like he is coming down with the flu or something, only to have the fever go away 3 hours later. I looked up some info for him, and we are looking to see what we can do to help keep the symptoms under control. Unfortunately, there is no cure. He is currently having trouble with both his stomach and his joints at the same time. He is managing to go to work, but barely. I feel helpless. There are a few different medications they use, and he has tried a few of them. Currently, he takes meloxicam but I don't know if it is doing anything for him. I'm going to keep learning all I can so that I can try to help.

I go to Costco regularly. I need to look for those! We have an interesting house. Our family room used to be the garage, and it is always to the cool side. As a result, I tend to dress very warmly at home, or I use a throw. The throw is actually rhe kind Tha makes you feel spoiled. It's an ivory cable knit lined with fleece!! I have two more tree too. They are matching pencil trees, so same ornaments on each. They coordinate with one of the larger trees. After debating about those dresses from Chico's, I finally decided to order. I had a coupon so they were $23 each. First, the fabric on each is great. The purple dress has a bit more weight than expected, but also a nice shape. It's going to be a go to dress for sure. The orange dress surprised me. Based on the fabric description, I wasn't sure what to expect but I really like it. I could have used a smaller size, but I think I will just take it in myself, since the adjustments will be easy to do. Both are keepers!

20221127_200155.mp4 VID_77480218_070813_410.mp4

Thank you. My two big trees are very, very different. I wanted this to have just certain colors in it, but I wasn't exactly looking for a theme. My family room tree is anything and everything, and mostly very, very fun. I will post those as well. The funny thing is that this started with just wanting to be able to show different things that I like, and it was so joyful to see the bright colors. Now with my grandson at an age where he enjoys it, it has become more meaningful because I can see it through his eyes.

By golly, you can post videos! Do you want me to bore you with more videos of Christmas trees? There are a few more, lol.

VID_69350807_075023_921.mp4

I've been having all sorts of fun making videos of the trees, so you can see details up close. I'm thinking I may not be able to post them here! I'll try one, and see if it works.

Melody, I only had three pies this year. There were only four of us! It was a fun, quiet, relaxing day. I missed having my grandson with us, but he was with his dad this time. I am currently working on decorating. I take some vacation time every year at Thanksgiving. Wednesday is for baking pies and some other food prep work. Friday, it depends. Sometimes it is shopping. This year it was house decorating. Today, I have a small project to do for our decorating, but we are going to a basketball game. Tomorrow is tree decorating. I will have a total of four trees this year. It sounds over the top, doesn't it? I have found that decorating for Christmas is very therapeutic for me. I have had two trees for a while now - living room and family room. Last year I decided that I really wanted the living room tree to be more intentionally decorated, I guess you could say. There is a theme of white, a brighter, lighter green and gold. I had so much fun with it, that I told my husband that I would like to get two pencil trees for either side of the dining room hutch. Our living room and dining room are really one big room, so I figured that these should coordinate but didn't need to be exactly the same. The plan was to get them next year or the year after, but when I mentioned it to my husband, he got to talking to my older daughter, who told him they were on sale and what ones to get. He gave them to me last week because he said that it needed to be an early Christmas present so that I could set them up this year. I have them assembled, but not decorated yet. That is where my project comes in - I ordered some picks for the tree and I am going to flock them in the garage on a big piece of plastic. We have a family tradition of decorating the main tree together. That doesn't have a theme, but if is what I call a happy tree, in a room that is decorated similarly. There is a lot of traditional red and green in the family room, and lots of things that I consider very fun and ideal for my grandson. We even have a train that goes around the bottom of the tree. The fun part is that this theme emerged before my grandson was even born. I love having different styles going on in different rooms, as I don't like just one thing. Anita, if you are reading this, can you help me out, please? One time, we were having a discussion about things that have been in the family, and how we feel guilt about getting rid of them. You had a name for it and I have been trying to remember it. I have slowly been letting go of things like that. We have some Christmas items that we are very attached to, and others that we are not. So we do a little cleaning at a time. It is much easier to do when something is in a state of disrepair. Then there are a few things that we love, but they don't fit in anywhere. I consider that a personal challenge this year, in that I need to let go of the concept of a perfectly themed room. As a result, I am realizing that there are ways to do this by showcasing them by themselves on a table or something like that. I'm sure this is boring to read! But I am enjoying myself. I'll take some pictures as I finish up tomorrow. I am very excited about our next cruise, even if it isn't until September. Melody, I look forward to hearing all about your cruise. I think we all have things to look forward to!