for fun: Do/Would you still put on all your makeup and decent clothes if you are quarantined

[Lois R]

46 minutes ago, awhfy said:

Lois, MIO drops are right with crystal light but you can adjust how much flavor you want

Ahhh, ok. I will look for them the next time I am in Publix. 

[cruisemom42]

I can't believe how fast the time has gone these last two weeks. I've compacted basically all my Christmas shopping and preparation into them and it has felt rushed for sure....  I thought maybe I would find a few "gifts" in Rome but really didn't do any shopping other than for some chocolate. 😈  Amazon and UPS basically have me on their daily delivery route at this point. 😆

 

DS and I will be driving to Florida as usual -- I'll wave at @Lois R in passing. Then I am on a New Year's cruise thru the Panama Canal on Oceania leaving Dec 29. It ends in LA and I am staying an extra day there to visit the Getty Villa museum -- the one that was built to resemble the Roman Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

[awhfy]

49 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I can't believe how fast the time has gone these last two weeks. I've compacted basically all my Christmas shopping and preparation into them and it has felt rushed for sure....  I thought maybe I would find a few "gifts" in Rome but really didn't do any shopping other than for some chocolate. 😈  Amazon and UPS basically have me on their daily delivery route at this point. 😆

 

DS and I will be driving to Florida as usual -- I'll wave at @Lois R in passing. Then I am on a New Year's cruise thru the Panama Canal on Oceania leaving Dec 29. It ends in LA and I am staying an extra day there to visit the Getty Villa museum -- the one that was built to resemble the Roman Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll love, love the Getty museum!!!

[slidergirl]

Holy Cow Cynthia!!!  You are taking retirement seriously!!!  I had no idea you were taking another cruise so quickly.   When I lived in LA, I would drive past the Getty up on the bluff from PCH (aka Coast Highway) to/from work when I worked up the coast a little ways in Camarillo/Westlake.  I never visited the mansion, though.  It's impressive from the road.  At one point, it was in danger of falling down the bluff from all the erosion and rains.  

 

2 days off.  Mostly owners in-house the rest of the holidays.  Hopefully, that will make it nice.  

 

OOTD:  yesterday, a checked long tunic, leggings and my tall boots.  Today, joggers & a Tshirt.  Not doing anything today.  

[Lois R]

Cynthia, I didn't realize you were going on another cruise so soon either......Congratulations and I hope you have an awesome time😃

[PurpleHays]

On 12/19/2023 at 12:02 PM, sjb317 said:

On 12/19/2023 at 12:02 PM, sjb317 said:

Don’t you just love health care games, Christy?😂. The unit I worked in for 27 years is going through a difficult time.  Upper management reduced the size of the pediatric unit  causing several of their experienced nurses to leave so now they have mandated cross training for the post partum staff. As a result, several friends have decided to retire and others are leaving for jobs elsewhere.  So of course, they been swamped with new babies, they are short of help, and management is having to pay bonus to bribe staff to come in extra.  Fun times!

My ASC has been crazy stupid busy every Nov/Dec I've been there. We were down *seven* positions last year (out of 30-something) and it made it even more miserable than usual. This year, November wasn't too bad, but December has once again sucked the life right out of me. I normally work three days a week, worked five in a row last week, including our one Saturday a year, after I was coerced into working an extra day. We're only down a couple of positions this year, so it's easier in that aspect, but case loads are all of a sudden in the upper 30s/day (25 is about average the rest of the year). I'm going in extra tomorrow, and there were 40 scheduled. Our record is 47.

 

We do get compensated for extra time--any extra shift is time and a half, and the Saturday was double pay. Last week, I got to 41.5 hours (it's usually 25-30) with about a third extra pay. A nice chunk of that is going into my new cameral lens fund.

 

Hell week #1 is in the books, Hell week #2 in progress. I haven't actually looked at next week's case load, but I'm sure it will be Hell week #3. 

[MrToblerone]

Oceania are great enjoy your cruise Cynthia .

Are you on their new ship Vista ?

[cruisemom42]

19 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Holy Cow Cynthia!!!  You are taking retirement seriously!!!  I had no idea you were taking another cruise so quickly.   When I lived in LA, I would drive past the Getty up on the bluff from PCH (aka Coast Highway) to/from work when I worked up the coast a little ways in Camarillo/Westlake.  I never visited the mansion, though. 

 

 

18 hours ago, Lois R said:

Cynthia, I didn't realize you were going on another cruise so soon either......Congratulations and I hope you have an awesome time😃

 

I did go a little crazy this year, what with the restrictions of both work and Covid in the rearview mirror. I hadn't really planned on this cruise, but it presented itself during a great sale and I couldn't say no. 

 

 

10 hours ago, MrToblerone said:

Oceania are great enjoy your cruise Cynthia .

Are you on their new ship Vista ?

 

Hi -- no, I'm on Insignia, the same ship that I took to Iceland/Greenland earlier this year. I really like smaller ships and very much enjoyed Insignia, so I am delighted to be back on her again.

 

I have my doubts, though, as to whether I'll continue to sail with Oceania -- at least not in areas where itinerary changes would be a big disappointment. They seem to have a lot of issues in that area....

 

(Sorry to hear you & family have Covid. 😢 Hope you all have mild cases.)

[Lois R]

Today was the first time in 3 weeks I did my volunteering at the hospital. I am glad I went as it was nice to be doing it again.  I forgot to mention this but on Tuesday afternoon they had a luncheon for the volunteers.....I went to that too. It is hard to believe I started doing this back in June!. Anyway, the lunch was excellent. Roast Beef (good roast beef) green beans, carrots, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. Dessert was apple pie😃

 

Then this afternoon I went to Publix........omg, the traffic was on overload. Glad I went today though

because I won't go near it over the weekend and needed to get some food.  Melody, I saw the MIO flavor packs......Publix has their own brand for more than 1.00 less so got those instead. I didn't realize those little drops are so pricey!  I actually cleaned out my frig and freezer....had some stuff that was frozen that I didn't remember being there.......very old so that went into the dumpster!

 

I was supposed to be getting a mammogram next week. The imaging place called and said the radiologist won't be there and we need to change the appt. This particular  place is very close to where I live but they have another location not too much further away and they have availability on Jan 4th.

Where the one closer to the house? No openings till Jan 31st!.......So I will go to the other facility and have it done on the 4th. 

 

 

[awhfy]

Lois, try the drops, not many at a time till you get the taste you want. We really like them

[Lois R]

2 minutes ago, awhfy said:

Lois, try the drops, not many at a time till you get the taste you want. We really like them

Hi Melody, not sure why I said I found a Publix brand but I tried a brand called STUR. It is drops too. It is ok. I think I am just a Crystal Light fan LOL....I think they had drops too and not sure why I didn't get a bottle. I will do that after the holiday. I have the regular Crystal Light and if the drops taste as good, I will be happy.😃

[awhfy]

Haven’t tried CL drops but I’m sure I’d like them 

[awhfy]

Tomorrow is our granddaughter’s 18th bday. This is her senior picture. She’s as nice & sweet as she is pretty 

[cruisemom42]

@awhfy  What a lovely pic! Your family is so photogenic that I keep expecting to see you all in a commercial!

 

 

[Lois R]

Hi Melody, beautiful granddaughter🙂

[MrToblerone]

Lovely photo Melody.

Glad to hear life is returning to normal Lois.

Lucky for us we all had covid mildly and finished isolating in time for Christmas.

I also love the smaller ships Cynthia and also got very carried away with travel this year but no regrets there!

[WELDON]

Melody, Love the photo.  It sure is different from my sr. photos. We all had to go to the same photo studio and had a headshot, in black and white. Times have certainly changed.

[awhfy]

3 hours ago, WELDON said:

Melody, Love the photo.  It sure is different from my sr. photos. We all had to go to the same photo studio and had a headshot, in black and white. Times have certainly changed.

That’s what I had for high school & college. I love this picture, it highlights her personality 

[sjb317]

Lovely picture and granddaughter, Melody!

 

Nice to see you getting back to normal, Lois! 
 

Have another great cruise, Cynthia!  
 

Christy, is there a “hell week” #4?  Our hospital tried each year to limit scheduled procedures over Christmas Eve and day but that did not go over well with the doctors.  I remember one doctor said if he had to work those days then he could schedule as much as he wanted to.  And did!

 

Melissa, glad the Covid was mild!

 

Kat, do you work over the holiday or do you, hopefully, have some time off?

 

We are currently in South Carolina with our youngest son’s family, and will go up to Virginia on Christmas.   Then will come back to SC to stay with grandkids while our daughter in law goes to Hawaii for a week.  Our son is going over there to work for three weeks so she will be there for a week with him.  We will not get back to Florida until the 17th! 
 

In case I get busy with grands, I want to wish everyone now a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year filled with lots of travel and good health!  2024 used to seem so far away but here we are😂.

 

Sherri🎄

 

 

 

[Lois R]

Hi Sherri, thanks so much.

 

Sr pictures? We had the same thing.....you went to the studio and just had a photo. I don't think it was anything special. ..It has been almost 50 years so I don't really remember but I do know the photos were nothing like the one Melody posted.  I graduated high school in 1976. Bicentennial Class.......so in 2026 it will be 50 years. Where have the years gone?

[awhfy]

Well Holland America cancelled the Panama Canal portion of our 21 night October cruise & added the same islands we’re doing (on Celebrity) in February. We opted to cancel. Received a full refund (even refunded our travel insurance as it was a major itinerary change). We’d booked our airfare on Wednesday, received a full refund there too. We’ll find another cruise after the holidays are over. 
 

Hope everyone has a great holiday season. Soup extravaganza & cookies tomorrow at our oldest daughter’s

[Lois R]

Melody, that is great you were able to get everything refunded.

So is a soup extravaganza a variety of soups?

[slidergirl]

Sherri - I'm working Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years.  I don't mind at all.  I usually volunteer for them.  It's just me here.  I'd rather work and allow a co-worker to have those days off, anyway.   It should be mellow, other than doing the linens of one owner - I told her I'd do them so they don't get mixed in with rental linens like they did last year.  

One of our guests had to cancel her stay with us in 4 days.  Family got COVID.  She has to negotiate with management to get at least a credit for a later stay.  Usually it's use it or lose it.  But, at $6,000 a night, I'd fight to get what I could!!!

[MrToblerone]

Merry Christmas from New Zealand .

Well it's still Christmas Eve here and I have just finished working at the shop ,it wasn't as busy as yesterday. My husband is in Los Angeles this year as its his turn to work but we go away on January 1st for two weeks to the lake.

Yikes $6000 a night ! must be very nice ,I thought Whistler was pricey .

Im glad you still have your cruise in February to look forward to Melody .

 

[awhfy]

12 hours ago, Lois R said:

Melody, that is great you were able to get everything refunded.

So is a soup extravaganza a variety of soups?

Lois, yes. I’m making pasta fagiole, one daughter is making lemon chicken orzo soup, other daughter is making squash soup (from her garden) & son is making Swedish meatballs (no soup for him) & about 5 million cookies & desserts!