sunsetsoon

Ms. Mary checking in just long enough to say Happy Birthday, Sid.

On 3/1/2020 at 6:14 AM, cml4958 said:

@sunsetsoon here's the link for your new thread for the others....

 

 

I am posting to bump this thread up to page 1 in case some of my friends are still looking for me. We are meeting in the Floataway Lounge now.

Come on over to the Floataway Lounge guys.

Probably not necessary to post a link because if I found it I'm sure everyone else could too.

Yes Sandy - we are off to the Floataway Lunge. I will head over there in the morning and start a thread - and of course the title will be More musings from Ms. Mary. I will come back over here and post a link. Or maybe I will have Aprille post a link. I'm relieved and happy to finally make this decision.

It seems like I have been on a 'cruise high' for the past 12 days. I enjoyed it immensely but I sorta crash landed last night. For the first time since I got home I was totally exhausted. And all the bad news about this coronavirus thing didn't help. I sat in my recliner, in my jammies, holding my Kindle that I really didn't want to read - and pondered. I wanted to keep posting but to be honest this thread had sorta taken over my life for 12 days. I decided if this thread showed up on page 1 again I would post some more - and it did and I will - but with some self imposed guide lines for myself.

First I will stay on topic - Aprille patiently explained that the topic is cruising on NCL. That's pretty confining don't you think? But I will try and when I get off topic I will type fast as I can and get back on topic. That's the best I can promise on that subject.

I guess we will see how I do with "first" before I go on to 'second' - full disclosure - I haven't even come up with 'second' yet. Let's do it one step at a time.

I've definitely decided not to tell you about my attempt to program a TV remote. I can pretend it's because it's not on topic but the real reason is because I don't come out looking good in that one. I may or may not talk about pickles some time in the future - I can cheat on that one and it would be on topic - but just barely. It's not a great story so I am going to start with 'my favorite souvenir' but not until tomorrow.

I have lots of words but not enough words to describe how you people - with your kind comments and encouragement - have made my heart sing.

emoji singing heart

Oh my goodness JoAnn. You do such good work - both old school and digital. I'm just a little bit jealous - maybe even a lot since I don't even know how to post a picture to CC. Aprille is too far away to help but I have a niece that lives close by that can so maybe - just maybe. And since they haven't kicked me off this board yet I don't think you have any worries at all about that.

17 minutes ago, Samstress said:

This has become my happy place!  Mary...you make me smile & laugh. You have an amazing way with words.  Please stick around for a bit longer.  Cheers, Sandy

p.s.  maybe we could all share funny cruise stories.   We could be like a book club without the book!

Excellent idea, Sandy. A book club without a book - I like that. Not to mention More Musings from Ms. Mary - which will be the title of my next thread and that could happen January 2021. It seems Aprille has booked us on the Encore out of Miama on a round trip Panama cruise - 12 days no less. I will definitely stay with this thread but I have made some new rules for myself. We can talk about that tomorrow. In the meantime feel free to talk amongst yourselves and start remembering funny cruise stories. You are pretty good with words youself Sandy and even better with ideas. Cheers right back atcha my Canadian friend.

2 hours ago, Aprille said:

I can post on my tablet but not on my laptop. Emoji shrugs

Too many devices my dear. But so glad you can post now.

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I can read/post using Microsoft Edge (which I HATE to use with a fiery passion), but not with Chrome or Firefox.

'I'm using Firefox - go figure.

1 hour ago, AmyJA said:

Amy: (raises her hand and waves it) "Hello, my name is Amy and old school scrapbook."

Hi Amy. Us old school scrapbookers had just started gathering when all this stuff started happening on CC. We still have lots to talk about and pictures to post.

46 minutes ago, jaxw17 said:

Don't go swanning off to any lounges you just stay right here. I have nothing booked with NCL at the moment just with Marella and Azamara. I come on here to see my adopted Mum Ms Mary.

You brighten my day across the pond. 

I'm going to stick around for a while because you and many others have brightened a lot of my days.

And to all of you - emoji iheartu

Hi JamieLogical - so good to see a friendly face again. Aprille still can't post to this thread so I guess there are still problems. I have had time to remember lots of stuff so I will keep posting but first I will see if I can post to this thread.

3 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

Here is the link to the Floataway Lounge that you were talking about earlier. 

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/130-floataway-lounge/

Thanks for the link, Cole. Actually I had stumbled onto it a few days ago. I mostly look at it to see how many views sid_9169 has now and it's pretty impressive. I know I should probably move over there but maybe I could stay here just a little bit longer.

2 hours ago, Gappleby said:

Please be careful with your personal information.  While I’m not saying any of your friends here on CC would cause any mischief, you’ve given us your full name, approximate age and residence state.  With just those little bits of information, I’m sure much more could be found and possibly result in identity theft. 

I know you are right and thanks for reminding me. I have read enough to know about identity theft but also naive enough to believe it couldn't possibly happen to me - but of course it could.

drumming cruisers - I love your pages. And I'm not jealous that you can post them on CC - well maybe a little bit. I'm going to keep trying and Aprille can probably cause it to happen when she gets through with income tax stuff. I have sent her some trial pictures as text attachments. And it's not easy taking a good picture with a tiny flip phone. Tiny flip phones are to carry in your purse when you drive to Borger in case you have a problem along the way. I'm going to enlist my BIL's aid. Some day I will disclose his name but not now. I'm going to do a chapter titled "what were these parents thinking" and his parents will be featured. In the meantime he will be referred to as Jay. He has a smart phone and it takes better pictures but he doesn't know how to attach it to a text. Since I figured out how to do it with my flip phone surely I can show him how.

I really like the torn paper and I really really like anything Disney. All us other scrapbookers know and appreciate the time and effort that goes into the 'old school' kind of scrapbooking - and it's still the best kind of scrapbooking. My cruising scrapbooks are a totally different style from my Disney scrapbooks but to me, they are all master pieces. I'm so happy this thread has brought so many scrapbookers into our fun discussions. And I WILL get some of my pages posted some way some how.

12 hours ago, Samstress said:

Is a PA a personal assistant?  Here in Canada we have what is referred to as Nurse Practitioners.  They are the right hand (and probably left!)  of some of our doctors here.  They have the training and ability to assess, to order tests & to prescribe some medications.   Good idea really...takes a burden off the health care system.  

12 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

A PA is a Physician Assistant. We have Nurse Practitioners, too.

Your posts caused me to take another look at my prescription card. Melanie is FNP - Family Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Hawley has 3 FNP's and 1 PNP - Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I don't know the difference between NP and PA but all the ones I have seen do good work.

I'm back and had a good time at the doctor's office. I left them laughing and that made me happy. I didn't need to tell my Dr. Handsome story - we had lots to do. Mainly fill out 5 pages of questions that doctors are now required to ask their medicare patients. I think that's why the doctor assigned me to a PA this time. He is letting his 3 PA's do that kind of stuff. Melinda did a good job and we talked about my one concern - and that's falling. She suggested physical therapy might help - my choice - and I chose to give it a try.

I'm not going to try to tell a story so late in the day. I do my best work before noon.

I'm trying to program a new TV remote and it's not going well. emoji sad face.

Aprille has a plan for posting pictures of some of my album pages but it requires me being able to take a picture using my flip phone and sending it to her attached to a text message. I did a test and it worked. Now I will have to take a decent picture which will be a challenge for sure.

It's jammies, Kindle, recliner time for me.

Later

Just checking in briefly - surely I can do "briefly" at least this one time. I have a routine doctor's appointment at 9 AM. Not even seeing the doctor but will visit with his PA, Melissa. Not sure what we will talk about - no chest pain, no heart palpitations, no shortness of breath, If the conversation gets too boring I will tell her my Dr. Handsome story. It' related to why I'm sitting there in the first place. After all, her boss discovered my condition and sent me to a heart doctor who set up that packed house heart echo which brought Dr. Handsome into the picture - so I'm going to tell her that story whether the conversation gets boring or not.

We got some snow late yesterday - very little so I don't think driving to Borger will be a problem.

Gotta tell you one more thing - I stepped on the scales first thing this morning and I'm back to my pre-cruise weight and it only took 10 days - emoji high five. Which means I will be opening my celebration box of peanut brittle some time today. It has been out of sight on a high shelf just waiting for this to happen.

I promise we will talk cruise talk when I get home. Still lots of stories to share with you from our Jade cruise. And then on to my cruise of a lifetime on the Bliss to Alaska. There's the one titled "Juneau and the Whale" and it's gonna surprise you.

Well I guess I've proven I can't do "brief". So I'm gonna quit even trying.

13 minutes ago, willowvacay said:

@sunsetsoon this review is amazing. I laughed, I cried, and I laughed some more. Hope you are going to go on another trip soon so we can hear about it!

Btw my husband and I have always loved reading about what ruins people’s vacations...of course, not that we want their vacation ruined. Just that when something small really seems to ruin a trip we get a chuckle out of it ;). Any “bad” day on vacation beats a good “day” at work!

Aprille and I are working on it. Usually it's just Aprille doing the planning but she has to do some income tax stuff and told me to work on it. We won't be cruising again this year but hopefully early next year. I may just try to keep this thread going until then. It's become my happy place.

2 hours ago, mimmy52 said:

Oh, Ms. Mary, I do hope you learn how to post pictures. I would love to see Marty pedaling on top of a fish.

 

I tried to scrapbook, but I have too many photos from each vacation. I have some huge albums, but now I’ve gone digital too.  A cousin I travel with sometimes said she doesn’t take pictures any more because when she dies her children will just throw them away. I take my pictures so I can relive a vacation whenever I feel like it, and I know my children will have to throw away my albums when I die.  They take up a lot of storage space.

Oh my goodness no! They surely won't throw them away. My albums are my legacy and I have them labeled as to who gets them. And I know they will be treasured.

I really do need to learn how to post pictures. I'm adding it to my list of things to do.

34 minutes ago, Samstress said:

I apologize for the double ...possible triple post.  I have no idea how to delete the others.  I think Mary and I might be in the same boat as far as posting photos.  Although I think I may have surpassed her goal:-)

And now back to cruising....

No apology needed. You only posted the picture twice and I loved it both times. The grandson on the right reminds me so much of my favorite nephew. He had that same expression on his face when he looked at the 3 albums I had made especially for him when he was 3, 4 and 5 years old. He got married 2 years ago and those 3 albums were my wedding gift to him.

19 minutes ago, Samstress said:

Awww... I am so happy that you are using my blog name suggestion:-)  I have a Scrapbook story to share with you.  My daughter decided to do scrapbooks for my two grandsons for Christmas.  Both are in there mid to late 20's & were very involved in sports.  I was amazed at how much memorabilia she had amassed over the years.  She spent many hours planning, cutting and pasting (her dining table wasn't usable for months!).  The results were incredible.   So I have seen first hand what 'old school' scrap booking is about and  it is damned impressive.  I personally take the easy route & order photo books of all our travels and family memories.  At least they're off my computer & phone!  Cheers Mary...from Sandy.  

And I am impressed that your daughter could take 20 years of amassed memorabilia and create incredible scrap books. I can only imagine how much time it took. But time isn't really important in the 'old school' scrapbooking world. It's all about love and creating lasting and beautiful memories.

24 minutes ago, rmandmm said:

Thank you!! Sorry, @sunsetsoon for planning my vacation during your thread. I hope it doesn't ruin your vacation. 😉 

No problem at all rmandmm. I have yet to let anything ruin my vacation. I do hope you enjoy your first visit to Texas.

Orange marmalade - I decided on orange marmalade for this batch of muffins. I was eating a warm one at 5:01 AM. Actually it was hot so I had to be careful.

I was so eager to bake muffins this morning I forgot to weigh. I always do that first thing each morning. I didn't think about it till I was all dressed for the day - debated with myself about how much weight would compression hose, a nobra bra and a muffin add. I finally talked myself into stepping on the scale - I would insert a thumbs up emoji here if I knew how so I will just say the words - thumbs up. I'm not bragging or anything but just 2 and a half more pounds and I will be back to my pre-cruise weight. Well maybe I'm bragging a little bit.

The muffin recipe is on the box of Original Fiber One cereal. But be advised - methods and ingredients change according to how I feel that day. I no longer even  look at the recipe. Same goes for any recipe I try. By contrast, my sister follows a recipe to a tee. If it calls for a half cup of chopped green onions she actually measures and levels it off so it's exactly a half cup of chopped green onions. Bless her heart. And that reminds me - I plan to do a post explaining how that phrase works - "bless her/his/your heart". I grew up hearing it and finally figured it out.

Glad to hear from some scrapbookers. emoji open palm slap to forehead - why didn't I know other folks would do digital albums. You can see why I don't since I've already told you I don't even know how to post pictures. But truth be known, I prefer my method. It's really not hard to paint a beach, some water, some sky and even a palm tree. Marty is the star of most of my favorite pages - because Aprille takes most of the pictures. I will try to briefly (I'm pretty sure some of you rolled your eyes when I said "briefly") describe a page or maybe two. I had a picture of Marty standing on the side of a hot tub holding a drink and leaning on the rail. I carefully cut him out of the picture and placed him on a sandy beach leaning against a palm tree still holding the drink of course. The title of that page was Beach Bum. I carefully cut him out of another picture where he was pedaling away on some pedaling apparatus. I sat him on top of a huge yellow fish I had painted and titled the page "Not my first rodeo" I do wish I could post some of my pages and maybe someday it will happen.

I completely understand how difficult it is to scrapbook when you don't have the required space. I'm lucky in that regard too. My home is a double wide but has a large living room with room for a 12 ft work table. I can work when I want to and just leave everything where it is and come back when I want to. I hate ending a sentence with a preposition but I just did it anyway. I'm going to walk away now but have plans to come back later. I'm looking through my Jade and Bliss albums and I'm sure I will find lots more to talk about.

-

I'm in my jammies and ready to read for a couple of hours. Must say I'm a little disappointed I haven't heard from any scrapbookers. I have lots more to tell you about scrapbooking and probably will anyway. I took classes 25 years ago and I have really improved the way it's done. I call it "freestyle scrapbooking". Maybe that's why I like cruising on NCL ships so much. Freestyle works really well for me.

I'm going to bake muffins in the morning - about 5 AM. The wet ingredients are measured and in the fridge and the dry ingredients are measured and sitting on the cabinet. So it won't take long to throw everything together. I haven't decided whether to add bananas or orange marmalade. The recipe doesn't call for either one but I do freestyle baking too. For me, a recipe is only a suggestion.

I'm not ready to make the move to Floataway Lounge quite yet but I have decided to use the title suggested by Samstress - More musings by Ms. Mary. I added the Ms. because I like it.

I haven't been keeping up with the news lately but caught up today - not good at all. This coronavirus is really scary and will surely affect a lot of our cruising plans. But if necessary, we can just hang together here on CC and I can tell you 90 years worth of stories. Some of them will probably be true.

25 minutes ago, deedle7544 said:

and for @sunsetsoon

 

Love it more!

26 minutes ago, deedle7544 said:

Love it!