Monday Musings

Back to reality.  I'm back to standing in the kitchen in my fuzzy bathrobe yawning while I make multiple lunches...   I think I'll bullet point some thoughts and observations from the past week.

* Lisi got three vaccinations a day and a half before we left.  She then started to limp and shake and wouldn't walk.  So the night before we left I'm calling an emergency vet and lying on her dog bed feeling very, very sad for her.  Thankfully, she got over it within a day and I will never, ever give her more than one vaccine now (the mandatory one).

* Cruise ships are famous for ample food presented in spectacular fashion.  The MYP had bulging eyes at first and soon their stomachs were.  A couple items I noticed they don't serve on buffets.  Chips of any kind and pickles.  Not sure why.  Just an observation.  Seafood and chicken dishes were very good.  Pasta was so-so.  It's never as good as real Italian that I make and enjoy at the relatives.  Beef?  Nope.  Never liked it much.  We are spoiled here in the Midwest with good beef.  Ample salads were offered.  They were delicious.  Desserts were presented in beautiful fashion.

* On board, they work very hard at customer service.  Our wait staff was flawless in both the room and at the restaurants.  We had two that served us nightly.  Nilesh from India and Mina from Serbia.  The Chairman was most interested in Mina's country since he's well-versed in anything historical.  They chatted about the four recent wars and the sorry state their country is in.  Mina is an English teacher but doesn't have enough money to bribe authorities in her homeland.  Sad, but she was just like a dear friend when we left.  Seven months on a cruise ship seems like a floating prison cell to me.

* In normal life, I'm the one serving others.  It was nice being served for nearly a week, but it actually made me feel almost queasy after awhile.  I wanted to jump up and help clear the tables at times.  Yes, I'm weird.

* We paid just a wee bit extra to have a balcony room.  It was worth every penny and more.  A perfect place to read in the morning.  A perfect place to watch the sun rise and set.  A perfect quiet place to visit with my beloved.  A perfect place to watch sea turtles bobbing in the water.  I think you get the point.

* I have heard about bucket lists but I've never really had one.  However, if I did, I would have had snorkeling on my bucket list.  I've only gone once before in Jamaica many years ago.  I wanted to go out near coral and see the deep blue sea and the life beneath the surface.  I was not disappointed.  It was just like swimming in a gigantic fish tank.  I'm snagging a photo off-line since we didn't have underwater cameras.  But this was exactly like what we saw:

* I really like to let my hair down and get crazy on vacation.  Two of the nights I was back in the room by 9:30 reading the itinerary for the next day in the coziness of the bed.  Thankfully, the Chairman was on night watch and made sure our MYP were safely tucked in at a decent hour.

* And after disembarking, we drove home to dairyland.  All 1400 miles of it in a medium-sized car.  It tested the mettle of the family, but we came out unscathed.  The Chairman drove each and every mile even with a bit of nudging on my part to get out of the driver's seat.  As we were going through civil war locations, the Chairman was telling son #1 minuscule details about the war and the mountain we were passing.  This is what I observed from the back seat.  Riveting stuff to him.

* We watched the seasons change before our eyes as we came north.  At one point the temperature dropped 35 degrees in about two hours.  I'm kinda wondering why we live here right now.

* We were stuck in a construction traffic snafu in KY that lasted nearly two hours.  After that, the Chairman drove like we were really, really late for something.  Thankfully, I found the "Waze" ap.  It tells you where the cops are hiding!  Really!

* Seems being on vacation causes people to lose abilities. I found this post-it-note on the kitchen island this morning. 

* There's a 'whitest teeth challenge' going on here at the Chairman and Co between a couple of the MYP.  I'm not sure who will win, but I'm glad to hear the toothbrushes humming away quite often each day.  

* Someone really missed us...

* Well if you are the primary laundry person in your home, you probably know that a family of five can produce a very large amount in a weeks time.  I have piles to fold before I sleep...  piles to fold before I sleep... (apologies to Robert Frost).