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

[OnTheJourney]

Siince this is a cruise forum though....I'll add another sunset on the water pic. Sorry if I already posted this. Too many pages accumulate on this forum to try and look back to find it!  

 

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

4 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I'm just getting too old for this stuff.

Yeah I know what you mean!  Not even thinking about Christmas lights yet till Thanksgiving weekend is over. Always amazed at how the stores put up the Christmas decorations right after Halloween. Then not long after Christmas the Easter bunny'll show up.

 

Speaking of Halloween, I thought this was pretty cool. Part of the decorations in Saguaro Park visitor center. 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

16 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Nov. 22, 1963.  I was taking a history exam when the news came over the loudspeaker. 

We were shell shocked and our teacher made us finish the exam.  We all hated him for that.  Funeral was Nov. 25.  What a sad time for our country

 

Admittedly (somewhat shamefully I suppose) I have absolutely no memory of receiving notice of this while in school, although I was only 7 years old. Indeed a sad time. Country's not in the best shape right now either. 

[dani negreanu]

11 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

@sea2shiningsea your cruise photos have been beautiful.  I would have been happy if you posted more.

 

11 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I agree. Love the pics and would be happy to see more @sea2shiningsea.

 

10 hours ago, jmh2006 said:

Just finished Below Deck as I DVR it.  Worried about Captain Lee too and love seeing St Lucia!  
 

@sea2shiningsealove your pictures of Odyssey too!

 

4 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

@FromSea2ShiningSeaI have really enjoyed your photos.   I'm so happy that you had a wonderful holiday, even with the covid detour, you were able to enjoy and visits places you wouldn't have done with original plan.

Thank you for sharing everything with us🥰

 

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

@FromSea2ShiningSeaThank you for sharing your beautiful pictures...you certainly have the talent for capturing the best of all that you see.  Keep the pictures coming! 💐

 

+ 6 🌼 Thank you, Helen @FromSea2ShiningSea

 

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Hoping to finish up Christmas decorating outdoors today. Yesterday was a long day setting up the animated trees. I'm just getting too old for this stuff. My knees were hurting so bad I couldn't hardly walk last night. And then my poor shoulder working on a 12 foot ladder trying to plug in over 20 extension cords on the 12 foot tree. Pictures to come soon.

Reminds me a bit of the movie Christmas Vacation.😊

[Ozark_Kid]

We had our family get together to celebrate Thanksgiving last weekend. I sous vide the turkey and it came out great. This year there was only 1 1/2 pieces left to make a sandwich with the next day.

 

We also had some great ham.

 

Sharon always makes rolls from a recipe pasted down from her grandmother. 

 

And we always have green bean casserole and a sweet potato casserole with pecans (no pic) that was so good it was like eating dessert. 

 

We also had pumpkin pie, Kentucky Derby pie, deviled eggs and other stuff I can't remember..... oh stuffing.... 

I ate more than I did at any specialty restaurants with the UDP.  😆 I added more after the pic.

 

I guess we had peas and mash potatoes too.  As good as the meal was, getting the family together was even more enjoyable. 

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I think Royal does that on purpose hoping you will give up and just throw in the towel on your claim and forget about it. Lots of companies work that way.

I don't think their claim is with Royal.   I think they are filing with private travel insurance company to cover his surgery and hospital stay while in Canada.

[Keksie]

37 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We had our family get together to celebrate Thanksgiving last weekend. I sous vide the turkey and it came out great. This year there was only 1 1/2 pieces left to make a sandwich with the next day.

 

We also had some great ham.

 

Sharon always makes rolls from a recipe pasted down from her grandmother. 

 

And we always have green bean casserole and a sweet potato casserole with pecans (no pic) that was so good it was like eating dessert. 

 

We also had pumpkin pie, Kentucky Derby pie, deviled eggs and other stuff I can't remember..... oh stuffing.... 

I ate more than I did at any specialty restaurants with the UDP.  😆 I added more after the pic.

 

I guess we had peas and mash potatoes too.  As good as the meal was, getting the family together was even more enjoyable. 

That sounds wonderful.  Getting the family together is the best part too.

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Siince this is a cruise forum though....I'll add another sunset on the water pic. Sorry if I already posted this. Too many pages accumulate on this forum to try and look back to find it!  

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos.

[OnTheJourney]

1 minute ago, Sunshine3601 said:

thank you for sharing your beautiful photos.

Thanks for your kind words. 🙂

[lenquixote66]

6 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Today would have been my Mother’s 94th birthday.  We always celebrated her birthday during our family Thanksgiving celebration when all of our close and extended family would gather at our house.  We had hoped to restart that extended family Thanksgiving this year, but circumstances have delayed that now for another year.

 

Much like Susan’s mother hated celebrating her birthday, because it fell on 9/11, my mother hated that her’s fell on the anniversary of JFK’s assassinatIon.  I still remember that date.  That Friday, I was at afternoon recess when the news broke.  

I was at work that day.Somebody came into my office to tell me about the shooting .I was shocked. I could not believe it.

[DaniDanielle]

Captain Lee sure looked exhausted.  He should have passed on this season until he was better.

[DaniDanielle]

I was a freshman in high school when we got the news.  The bus ride home was a sad one for sure.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Admittedly (somewhat shamefully I suppose) I have absolutely no memory of receiving notice of this while in school, although I was only 7 years old. Indeed a sad time. Country's not in the best shape right now either. 

For those of us who were adults on that horrible day we will always remember that day with clarity as we have with every assassination afterward.The world stood still that day.

[Arzeena]

12 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

When I've wanted to do this, I go to the restaurant (not just the tables on the Promenade, but the actual restaurant) first thing after boarding and ask... the person at the podium often has to get their boss, but I've never had them say no.  

They have to charge you then, b/c the coupon disappears after the first day or two, but then they make the reservation for your desired day/time.  If they say no, they say no.... but you never know if you don't ask. 

Anthem is very steadfast in saying no. 😀. But they have bent if nothing is available on d 1 or 2.

[Ozark_Kid]

25 minutes ago, Keksie said:

That sounds wonderful.  Getting the family together is the best part too.

With 7 grandchildren it is getting louder each get together but hey, I can handle that and they have so much fun together.  The SIL's got together and cleaned up after the meal too. 😃 

[Lionesss]

Update on whats going on.

 

ALL GOOD NEWS!

 

And it is truly amazing how one phone call can change your life.

 

To begin with it all started in September when I knew it was time to  start moving and stop using COVID as an excuse to not walk and become a couch potato.  

And besides I want to look good for the Bella's cruise.

 

I started walking one lap at the Mall and was major "winded" the first few days.

After a week I was upto 2 miles.

I currently walk 5 mall miles 5 days a week.

And no problems, love it!

 

Then I noticed my hair was falling out.

My thick beautiful summer slut blond hair was shedding.

So what does one do.

Google hair loss.

Three choices:

--Post COVID side effect

--Hereditary

--Thyroid dysfunction. ( I already take a prescribed supplement and hoping that was the cause)

 

So it concerned me enough to move up my yearly doctors exam.

So after some blood work and minor testing I was major under recommended lab value for thyroid.

So increase that med.  No problem easy fix.

 

Then I get from the doctor, but their is one thing that really concerns me.....

So now the warm rush, and panic rush.......................... He goes on......................

 in addition to that I was told I  had a significantly elevated Calcium level.

Well, that usually means grim and dim.

 

So after many visits to the doctor, and significant testing, I was being prepared for a medical condition as a Parathyroid adenoma, or cancer some where else.

 

These last few weeks have been full of walking and thinking as well as crying when husband was at work.  Yup, nurse curse, pulled out the old medical books and well, that was not a good idea.

 

So today, I got all the answers after yet another complete interview as well as review of the whole health picture ( I love my doctor he is very thorough).

Seeing him weekly for this and that test, really had my mind spinning.

 

Damn insurance, have to go through a gate keeper to get things done, unless there shows an indication for a quicker approval to have a test done.

 

The testing results, says no cancer, no Parathyroid adenoma.....

 

So what caused the scare with the elevated Calcium.

 

Well, being health conscious  I take a daily women's Centrum, and get this, the Calcium amount in there was too much for my body to handle.  Not only upsetting the Calcium level, but setting my body and mind  into major stress mode.  And of course that set off a chain of events that was not psychological, but became pathological.

 

So, I can deal with the increase in thyroid supplement, and it does seem that I am sprouting new hair growth in just a 6 weeks since the increase.

And now we are in the works of finding a new supplement with no Calcium

(Vitamin D level normal)

 

Just happy when I heard the best words of all from my doctor...."See you in a year, unless you need me"

 

And during all this I am happy to say I am down 25 pounds.

More to go, now that I got a good report, more motivated to do even better.

Some stress helped me lose some, but more-over walking and improved diet.

 

 

 

 

In closing I just want to say thanks for all the kind thoughts and prayers, I did visit cruise critic, but I think I was so self centered with my own racing mind, that I was too preoccupied to comprehend what is going on in everyone lives.

I apologize, because I know I missed a lot, and I am not going back nearly 100 pages to catch up.

 

So, I thought of all my friends here often, and just want you to know I care about you all.

 

Upcoming.

I will still be coordinating the slot pull for the Bella cruise and will review that cruise site to look back on some of the suggestions. And in January we can get more input from all who would like to share their ideas  to see how this can make it fun for all.

 

 

Take care.

Happy in OHIO

 

 

[dani negreanu]

3 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

ALL GOOD NEWS!

 

Excellent news, Sue. I admit that my heart skipped a beat when I've seen your name.. glad you put the good news at the beginning of the post 😘

[Arzeena]

Debbie,

I went to get my coffee card and I asked if I can carry it over to another cruise. Patisserie lady said yes if I am back on the Anthem (which we will in Jan). Completely different answers from last year. Good, since I am not going to be able to finish it. 
Also, I would not do the dining reservations in the manner I did before (pre pay and then change to use Bogo or voucher) since when they refunded me, they also cancelled my future reservations. So I will wait till I get onboard as suggested by gs. @Jimbo hope you will read this since I had mentioned something in a prior post. 

[DaniDanielle]

Yay Sue!

[DaniDanielle]

Arzeena which January Anthem???

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Reminds me a bit of the movie Christmas Vacation.😊

 

I do channel my inner Clark Griswald.

 

 

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

 

 

 

I guess we had peas and mash potatoes too.  As good as the meal was, getting the family together was even more enjoyable. 

 

No Egg Noodles on top of the mashed potatoes and gravy? That's what I live for.

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Update on whats going on.

 

ALL GOOD NEWS!

 

 

 

Great news Sue! Congrats on the weight loss. I'm about 6 pounds away from my pre cruise weight loss in September. Unfortunately the holidays are bad for me. I love to eat. Hopefully I'll keep the weight gain at a minimum. I'm sure you will keep on doing great in time for the Bella cruise.

 

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Reminds me a bit of the movie Christmas Vacation

LOL....I watch that every Christmas season. Cracks me up every time. "Joy to the wooorld..."  😆 and then....(fizzle) no lights!  Some of the best scenes are with the neighbors. That huge chunk of spouting ice that goes crashing through their window...too much! 

[OnTheJourney]

7 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I do channel my inner Clark Griswald.

LOL.....good one. 

[helen haywood]

@Sea Dog  In all seriousness, you would be doing yourself a favor to pay someone to put up your decorations.  No point in being exhausted and in pain over the holidays.