planktin

I did this a while back, so it won't let me do it again. I got some really nice things from them, though. :)

My husband and I took a B2B transatlantic/Med cruise in Apr/May and we brought only carry on bags. We were gone five weeks total (one week post cruise in Paris). We checked bags on the way home because we bought a lot of souvenirs:D. The link in my signature has photos of the cruise and a post on what I wore. Good luck! One day I hope to leave home with a carry on and come home with the same bag (no extras LOL). :)

lhanson38- I didn't know if you were referring to me about the addiction since your post was right after mine. I may have taken it personally :o but then I saw you refer to something Brooklynfc posted so I took back my comment since it may not have been me you were "not buying." :eek:

If this is a conversation of intellectual adults I will step back and continue lurking, since I think I just proved I'm not...

Good luck to all of you. I'm still cheering you on. :)

...

I have been reading this thread for over a year now and have not commented because I felt I didn't really have anything to add to the conversation.

BACKGROUND: I'm a 36 yo woman. I have struggled with my weight for pretty much my whole life. I was always overweight but I had an alcohol addiction that kept my eating somewhat in check. It's hard to gain too much weight when I needed to spend that money getting smashed and I couldn't get as drunk if I was full of food. :( I was a binge drinker and I could go a couple of weeks without drinking (usually after a really bad hangover), but then LOOK OUT- I could make up for "lost time" like nobody's business.

Four years ago, I had enough. My life wasn't my own anymore and I felt like I was out of control. One day, during one of my "dry spells", I realized I didn't have to start drinking again. So I didn't. YAY! Right? Not so much... I transferred my addiction into a compulsive spending habit and overeating. I then made the transition from overweight to obese to morbidly obese.

This went on until about a year ago. I lost my house and had to get rid of most of my stuff. I was heartbroken. Everything I worked for...just...gone. Family and friends came to pick over the remaining bits of my life. It made me happy that my stuff would have a good home (LOL) but it pissed me off that it wasn't mine anymore. I made the best of it and I'm in love with the life I've made now. But it took hitting the proverbial "rock bottom" to figure out I don't need lots of stuff. I figured out my food addiction for myself (my intense need for stuff included lots of food. I had a great storage place for it!:o) and worked on finding something that worked for me. I wouldn't have stood for someone telling me how to do it, I had to do it for myself.

Sorry for the long backstory, I just wanted to let you know that I know about addiction and am supporting you, Brooklynfc. You have to decide for yourself when the time is right to take the full plunge. (Others telling me to do something, even if it's what I myself want to do, kind of makes me resist.:()

I have found something that works for me and with my addictive ways. Those who have never had a food addiction (or any addiction, for that matter) don't know the intense and unrelenting physical hunger that comes with it.

Stay strong. You'll get there. :)

Thanks for sharing. Your strength and grace are amazing. I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Is the wifi decoder sort of like free to air satellite receivers? That would be interesting... (We had an FTA a loooong time ago and it was wonderful! Can't now because we are surrounded by trees :() If it is, I can see where it would be legal- even if it's a grayish area. Thanks for the info! :D

My husband and I were on a 16 day NCL repositioning cruise in 2006. What could be better? We had beautiful weather except for one sea day near the end of the cruise. It rained for about 4 or 5 hours.

In the buffet there was a group of very vocal Californians, so loud that they were talking over us two tables away. We know where they were from because that's how they introduced themselves to their tablemates. "Hi! We're from California... Can you believe this ship? Ugh!":confused: They complained about the food ("Terrible! Just terrible! It has no flavor!" If it has no flavor, how can it be so bad? lol), the rain ("You'd think the captain would've known about this! He drove us into the rain!"), the national holiday that had a lot of things closed in Barbados ("You'd think they'd open [shops] up for the cruise ships!" Because the tourists are most important than your national holidays...:().

It seemed nothing was good enough for them. They said they'd be glad to get home. I couldn't wait for them to get home, either.

To all the petty complainers out there: If your home is perfect, stay there! I'd hate to see you disappointed.:D

I like the spreadsheet with color blocks. I may borrow the idea...:) I used to use a packing list until I found polyvore dot com. I pick out clothes I already own, or very similar, (you can import your own photos) and mix and match outfits there. It's easy to see what only gets worn once or twice. For our trip in April I'm making a cork board version with photos torn from catalogs (I'm a Lands End junkie) and magazines. I guess this only works if you have photos of your clothes. I tear out pictures from magazines/catalogs to take shoppping with me just to keep focused:D, so I have the pics already. Just an idea for those of you who need to actually see what you need to pack, like me...:o