Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Sunshine3601]

5 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

She is such a cutie! 

OMG!    I just typed the same response before I read yours - LOL!

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

And good luck getting your insurance to cover it.... it's an expensive one!

I heard that. Even the knee stem cell injection is not covered by insurance. Cost will be about $5,000.

[Sunshine3601]

@dani negreanu Thank you for the sharing the beautiful photos.    Happy Golden Anniversary - Congratulations!!!🍾🥂    Cheers to your Hubby's Birthday.   

Looks like you had a wonderful trip with great food and weather. 

Continue on with many many wonderful years.   You look Beautiful🥰

[Luckynana]

@dani negreanu  Dani, wishing you and your DH a Happy Golden Anniversary! 🎉🥂🎉 I'm sorry I missed it by a day.   Beautiful pictures of a wonderful and memorable 50th, shared with special friends.  You are Blessed!💕

 

Also, belated Happy Birthday wishes to your talented DH.🎂

[Ozark_Kid]

19 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

OMG!    I just typed the same response before I read yours - LOL!

How can you view that pic and not think she's a cutie? 

[grapau27]

Belated happy birthday wishes to your husband too Dani.

 

[dani negreanu]

4 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

How can you view that pic and not think she's a cutie? 

 

+ 1 @DaniDanielle 😘

[Ozark_Kid]

15 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I heard that. Even the knee stem cell injection is not covered by insurance. Cost will be about $5,000.

I have been having a hard time with taking statins. We are checking to see if insurance will cover a shot called Repatha.  

[Momof3gurlz]

7 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

I hope you enjoy it.  After you read, please post what you thought of the ending.  No spoiler alerts here.

I also finished The Boys From Biloxi - John Grisham.  I was not a fan of this one and the ending left me unsettled. I seem to remember @Momof3gurlzDeb stating the same.   I'm waiting for the newest Women's Mystery book by James Patterson.  Library doesn't have it yet and I'm too cheap to buy also!

 

 

Yes it was me who said I thought it was slow moving and barely held my interest.  Glad I’m not the only one!

[MJSailors]

Re  : no spare tires in new vehicles. 

We bought a 2022 Honda Accord last March. It is a hybrid that doesn’t need to be plugged in to charge the battery. It recharges as the car is driven. Has lots of safety features which I appreciate.

However it does not have a spare tire,not even those temporary (doughnut) tires. There is a kit similar to a fix-a- flat product in the trunk.

There is no way I am dealing with that. I will either call Honda Roadside Assit or AAA. But then again, I have never changed a flat on any car.

Because of the battery that is stored under the back seat area, there may not be room to store a spare tire of any kind. Or it could be a cost cutting measure for the car manufacturing companies🤷🏻‍♀️

MJ🙋🏻

[Momof3gurlz]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

We're back after a night spent in a hotel near Old Jaffa, celebrating our golden wedding anniversary (and DH's b'day BTW) with a dinner with dear old friends.

 

After a lot of time spent on researching for the right hotel, we decided to remain "locally". The hotels I've researched in Jerusalem were in the range of 700-800$ per night, with a check in at 3PM and check out at 11AM. Or, as DH said, every breath we'll take will cost us a dollar...

 

Especially, we wanted an historic hotel, like the King David, where all the US presidents visiting are booked. And King David wasn't even the costliest one.

 

My BFF and her DH [on the right side] celebrated theirs a year and a half ago at an 5* hotel [paid for by their kids] and suggested to check the rates, even if we knew they're over the top.... and we were pleasantly surprised to find a "winter mid-week deal" for a "mere" 342$ a night [the cheapest basic room], with a check out at noon!!! Hurray !!!

 

Their stay included a meal at the hotel restaurant, which we decided to enjoy too. My BFF, her DH and my BFF's 3rd cousin, who was actually "responsible" for our meeting, were to join us for dinner. With the cousin I go back to my early days at the new immigrants school, and he took my under his wings.

 

We started the celebrations with an Eggs Benedict b'fast at our "to go to" establishment right on the Med beach. We were really blessed with wonderful weather. You can see old Jaffa in the background.

 

 

Christmas and Hanukka are still on....

 

 

 

Then, after a few mins drive, we arrived at our hotel. Pleasantly surprised that we were upgraded to their best room, with a balcony and with a sea view [I might have mentioned our golden ann. when I've booked by phone directly with the hotel...]

 

It is a very old neighborhood, and the building (150 years old) was completely renovated. We strolled around, DH took lots of pics, and... it was time for dinner. 

 

The meal itself was quite disappointing, I really can't understand all the mixing of weird ingredients one with another. Some of our dishes were quickly replaced, and the crew were very attentive to the 6 of us. We stayed over 3 hours, and the time went by quickly. At the evening end, I've told hubby that I should be disappointed and a bit sad that the meal was sub-par, but I was not, since the ambiance and dialogue between us, so old friends, was amazing.

 

 

OTOH, the b'fast this morning [supplied by the same in-site restaurant] was excellent, and, again, we choose Eggs Benedict.

 

We checked out, left our trolley, and took a leisurely stroll through the Old lanes of Jaffa, enjoying the sunshine.

 

A suspended tree --

 

 

Just look at the sea....

 

 

I want to thank you again to for the good wishes on the occasion of our double celebration 🙏

Wonderful pictures Dani. 

It looks like you had a great celebration, despite the meal being a disappointment.  
Happy Golden Anniversary and Happy Birthday to your DH!!

[MJSailors]

Re: the diabetes drug showing significant weight loss in patients taking the drug. I did see reports about that on the TV news. 

I am trying to stay away from the drugs prescribed for Type2 Diabetes by consulting with a nutritionist to follow a healthy eating plan and consistently doing exercise . I am not too keen on adding another drug to my medicine bag. I take enough for asthma,allergies and blood pressure.

The drug seems to be new on the market and side effects may not have been thoroughly documented.

IMHO,I would not be trying that medication for weight loss and I am hoping I can  get my numbers in check so  that I won’t have to take such a medication. 

 MJ🙋🏻

 

 

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I love playing guitar, piano, and singing. I'm just not sure I could pay the bills doing that. 😇

You should have asked your old neighbour to join you in a signing duo. You, like her, already have a priceless feline. Many things in common. 

[Keksie]

26 minutes ago, MJSailors said:

Re: the diabetes drug showing significant weight loss in patients taking the drug. I did see reports about that on the TV news. 

I am trying to stay away from the drugs prescribed for Type2 Diabetes by consulting with a nutritionist to follow a healthy eating plan and consistently doing exercise . I am not too keen on adding another drug to my medicine bag. I take enough for asthma,allergies and blood pressure.

The drug seems to be new on the market and side effects may not have been thoroughly documented.

IMHO,I would not be trying that medication for weight loss and I am hoping I can  get my numbers in check so  that I won’t have to take such a medication. 

 MJ🙋🏻

 

 

I know a few people who have gotten either the Wegovy or Ozempic.  They all seem happy with the results and have various success with weight loss.  I am thinking about asking about it next time I talk to my Dr.

[Arzeena]

Dani

Your anniversary trip pictures are very lovely. Happy anniversary and birthday!

[Arzeena]

Dani

Your anniversary trip pictures are very lovely. Happy anniversary and birthday!

[Arzeena]

2 hours ago, brillohead said:

I'm already planning to stop again on my way back to Houston at the end of these cruises!!!

They just keep getting in the way, I know, I know. 😁

[dani negreanu]

23 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Dani

Your anniversary trip pictures are very lovely. Happy anniversary and birthday!

Well, it was a double anniversary  😉

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

I heard that. Even the knee stem cell injection is not covered by insurance. Cost will be about $5,000.

Cash price is running about $1500/month for Wegovy, and many people only lose 10-20 pounds, so insurance companies aren't interested in such a big payout for such a small return.

[Sea Dog]

9 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Cash price is running about $1500/month for Wegovy, and many people only lose 10-20 pounds, so insurance companies aren't interested in such a big payout for such a small return.

Interesting to know, thanks.

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I have been having a hard time with taking statins. We are checking to see if insurance will cover a shot called Repatha.  

My mom's been on that for a couple years now.  She was unable to tolerate statins, and even after ten heart attacks and two stents, insurance still wouldn't give her approval.  After she had a stroke a few years ago, they FINALLY approved her for it, and it's made a drastic difference in her cholesterol levels.  

Insurance was trying to give her a hard time about renewing it this year, because they wanted to see a certain percentage drop from one year to the next to justify being on it.  Well, after being on it for a couple years, she can't get any lower (and doesn't need to -- if I'm remembering correctly, her total cholesterol is now down to 140 or so), so they wanted to deny her pre-authorization. 

Her doctor had to write a rather snarky letter explaining that the only reason she hadn't had any more (extremely expensive) strokes or heart attacks was because she was on the medication that brought her into acceptable limits, and if they wanted her cholesterol back in the 400+ range with her ending up in the (extremely expensive) ICU several times a year, refusing to let her poke herself every two weeks with Repatha was the way to make sure they were paying those expensive bills.  

Some rocket scientist at the insurance company finally did the math and realized that $6K/year for Repatha is a heck of a lot cheaper than $250K/year for heart attacks and strokes.  

[#55worktoplay]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

We're back after a night spent in a hotel near Old Jaffa, celebrating our golden wedding anniversary (and DH's b'day BTW) with a dinner with dear old friends.

 

After a lot of time spent on researching for the right hotel, we decided to remain "locally". The hotels I've researched in Jerusalem were in the range of 700-800$ per night, with a check in at 3PM and check out at 11AM. Or, as DH said, every breath we'll take will cost us a dollar...

 

Especially, we wanted an historic hotel, like the King David, where all the US presidents visiting are booked. And King David wasn't even the costliest one.

 

My BFF and her DH [on the right side] celebrated theirs a year and a half ago at an 5* hotel [paid for by their kids] and suggested to check the rates, even if we knew they're over the top.... and we were pleasantly surprised to find a "winter mid-week deal" for a "mere" 342$ a night [the cheapest basic room], with a check out at noon!!! Hurray !!!

 

Their stay included a meal at the hotel restaurant, which we decided to enjoy too. My BFF, her DH and my BFF's 3rd cousin, who was actually "responsible" for our meeting, were to join us for dinner. With the cousin I go back to my early days at the new immigrants school, and he took my under his wings.

 

We started the celebrations with an Eggs Benedict b'fast at our "to go to" establishment right on the Med beach. We were really blessed with wonderful weather. You can see old Jaffa in the background.

 

 

Christmas and Hanukka are still on....

 

 

 

Then, after a few mins drive, we arrived at our hotel. Pleasantly surprised that we were upgraded to their best room, with a balcony and with a sea view [I might have mentioned our golden ann. when I've booked by phone directly with the hotel...]

 

It is a very old neighborhood, and the building (150 years old) was completely renovated. We strolled around, DH took lots of pics, and... it was time for dinner. 

 

The meal itself was quite disappointing, I really can't understand all the mixing of weird ingredients one with another. Some of our dishes were quickly replaced, and the crew were very attentive to the 6 of us. We stayed over 3 hours, and the time went by quickly. At the evening end, I've told hubby that I should be disappointed and a bit sad that the meal was sub-par, but I was not, since the ambiance and dialogue between us, so old friends, was amazing.

 

 

OTOH, the b'fast this morning [supplied by the same in-site restaurant] was excellent, and, again, we choose Eggs Benedict.

 

We checked out, left our trolley, and took a leisurely stroll through the Old lanes of Jaffa, enjoying the sunshine.

 

A suspended tree --

 

 

Just look at the sea....

 

 

I want to thank you again to for the good wishes on the occasion of our double celebration 🙏

Happy Anniversary Dani, you look beautiful!  

[DaniDanielle]

1 hour ago, Keksie said:

I know a few people who have gotten either the Wegovy or Ozempic.  They all seem happy with the results and have various success with weight loss.  I am thinking about asking about it next time I talk to my Dr.

My son started Ozempic about six months ago for diabetes.  He has lost about 14 pounds but he is quite overweight so he has a long way to go.  I told him he needs to get those numbers down. Losing weight beats being on drugs long term!

[Coralc]

 

Ozempic is the blood sugar/weight loss medication. Sorry. Should have read further. This is the one I have been hearing about. It may be available in Mexico. (shhh)

Edited January 19, 2023 by Coralc

[Coralc]

Question for @George C ? Have you had any problems with your Subaru Outback battery? There is a class action lawsuit, and I just filled out a claim form today. We had problems with ours. The battery died twice in the first week we owned it. We had to take it back to the distant dealer a week after purchase, who replaced it with a new Subaru battery. And that one died about 9 months later. Bill was fed up at that point and replaced it with an Interstate Optum something battery. I submitted for reimbursement on the Interstate. May hear something in a few years. 🤔

Edited January 19, 2023 by Coralc