Calling All 8/19/06 Special Western Cruisers! AKA "The Cruisin' Castaways"

[Verandah Man]

Tina--I wasn't going to bother with putting any new countdown tickers in my sig, but I have been up since before 4am this morning, I started playing around with a couple tickers and wound up adding them to my sig after all. I still like the old countdown clocks better!!!


I got the "OFFICIAL" word before leaving work on Friday. I can retire anytime I choose, BUT and this is the BIG BUT, I will not be able to have my health benefits paid for if I retire before the age of 55. Oh well, that gives me another 5 years to add to my pension fund!!!

Today is a somber day here at our home for another reason, our daughter BJ would have been "Sweet Sixteen" today. We are doing fine here, it's just these special birthdays sometimes get a bit overwhelming. We are going to go out today and doing something special in memory of BJ.

Here's wishing everyone a WONDERful and MAGICal weekend!!!

 

[castoff]

Andy: I agree with you the other clock was much better. At least we have something. I had fun playing around with them. I guess because I knew how to do them. Chuck did the other clock for me. What a bummer about the retirement. I really do think if you book 5 more cruises in the next 5 years those 5 years will fly by. Sorry about BJ. I didn't know about your loss. Hugs to your family. Tina

 

[florida sun]

Andy: Sending my thoughts and prayers to you all today.

Sue

 

[Verandah Man]

I really do think if you book 5 more cruises in the next 5 years those 5 years will fly by.

I like the way you think!!!

Actually, I think Hazel and I are going to check out some properties near my mom on our next trip to Florida. We may even decide to but ourselves a vacation home down there, who knows.

 

[Verandah Man]

Forgot to mention, thanks so much for the kind words and

Our first DD Kristen was stillborn the day before my 22nd birthday in April 1977.

We were in the process of going to adopt BJ, but she never left the hospital after birth and passed away at the tender age of 12 weeks. We went through the last three months of the birth mother's pregnancy and was at the hospital when BJ was born, we just never got to bring her home. We made daily visits to the hospital and took care of her all that we could, the birth mother even let us bury BJ along side of Kristen, and on top of my grandfather.

O.K., it's time to have some more fun people. We have a 14 year old girl here in the house that is driving me crazy, thank goodness for Angelina, she keeps me somewhat sane!!!

 

[SeaSpray]

Welcome ED and HEATHER!!!!!

Andy: I am so sorry for your losses. *HUGS* to you and Hazel today. I had a loss but it happened during pregnancy after many years of infertility treatment, not after birth. I know how much you cherish Angelina. I am thankful every single day for Craig and Robby

On a happier, and LOUDER note, at this very minute Craig and his friends are having band practice right here in the family room, a few feet away from me. You can't imagine how loud it is in here.

John and I are going to go out and do some shopping....ANYTHING to get out.

But seriously, I am just glad that they are HERE, where I know what they're doing, if you KWIM.

Ok, John is standing here waiting for me. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE! I will finish this when I get back!!

 

[florida sun]

Hi guys

My Daughter Is Up For An "Oscar".....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well not a real one but when I came home from work yesterday and picked up the post, there was a brown envelope with her School name screaming out from it. I thought "oh no what has she been up to" but was delighted to find inside an invatation to the Schools First Annual Awards Show. Apparently Vicki has been nominated for one of the awards and all of the recipents are invited to bring along 2 guests. Vicki knew nothing about this and we have no idea what she has been nominated for, but we are very excited about it.

They are putting on a bit of a Oscar ceramony with drinks and food and the presenters will be a DJ from Real Radio and David Davies winner of the bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle at the Athens Olympics.

It is on 16th March and I will let you know how she gets on.

Now I am just waiting for the call from Valentino about the dress and Debears for the jewellery

Sue

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Andy, our thoughts and prayers goes out to your family.
I think Tina has the right idea how to handle the next 5 years

Terry: Thanks for the welcome aboard. Guess we need to chip in for some ear plugs.

Heather, while you joined the board before me, Welcome aboard too.


Nothing special going on here today. Just did a major dump run,
7 bags of trash. My DW(Beth) got a jump on spring cleaning, or was this the stuff from last fall

It's a disney day around the house. The mailman delieved two disney items today

Disney princess sleeping bag I won on Ebay for Caitlin and my tickets to cique de soleil for our Aug trip came today

 

[Verandah Man]

Vicki--We'll be waiting to hear the good news next month, I know how proud your mum feels!!!

 

[Verandah Man]

We got Disney mail today as well.....it was from DVC about the discount for our WDW Annual Pass!!!

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

One of these days maybe we be DVC members.
Thought about it a couple times, but too many bills to take on a major purchase , But I can dream Now if I can find that four leaf clover

Or the pot of Gold watch out.

 

[florida sun]

Good evening all,

As I have a quiet few minutes I thought I would just catch up with you all across the pond. The weather here today is very cold, but lovley and sunny.
I told you all about my invataion to the oscars, so we are very excited about that.

Ed: Welcome, I only just realised that I had not welcomed you aboard, sorry.Looking forward to meeting you and your family.Loved your photos. We went to the cique de soleil last August, fantastic.

Tina: How did the storm turn out, stay safe and warm.

Doreen: Hope you are feeling better.

Andy: Hope you managed to do something nice today. So sorry you will have to work on that extra bit longer, but as you said it will all towards the pension fund, and if you buy a holiday home near your mum,dont forget the extra bedroom for your newly aquired sister and niece lol.

Terry: I know how you feel, everyday is band practice in my house with Vicki and her beloved drums, can I send her over to practice with yours.

Hope everybody else is well,

Speak soon

Sue

 

[zack&alexmom]

Welcome to our new shipmates. I think you will enjoy hanging out with us. We are a fun bunch.

Andy - I am so sorry for your losses but I am so glad that you have your Angelina. I am also sorry about the about the 5 additional years but I'm sure they will fly by.

Ed - Welcome aboard and thanks for the ticker help. I added mine today.

I hope we don't get this bad storm. I have too much to do in the next 7 days. One week from today I will be sailing out of Port Canaveral. Too bad it won't be on the Magic. Oh well, good things come to those who wait. This will be fun too. 7 days of good friends, good alcohal, and good sunshine. Oh yeah, and no kids.

Hello to all that I missed. I don't know how much I will post this week - too much to do. Talk to you all when I get back.

Linda

 

[Verandah Man]

Linda--here's wishing you a terrific cruise!!! I'm praying for more rain and less snow with this next storm.

NO MORE SNOW!!! NO MORE SNOW!!! NO MORE SNOW!!! NO MORE SNOW!!!

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi again everyone

The house is quiet again. In fact, only John and I are home this evening. After band practice they all decided to go over to the bass player's house to play cards, and Craig brought Robby with him because the bass player has a younger brother Robby's age, and he asked if Robby could go over there, too. So..... Craig drove himself and Robby, and we told them they had to be home by 10:30pm. I am so glad we got the kids their own cell phones a couple of weeks ago! Perfect timing so I can call them and make sure they made it there OK.

I'm feeling somewhat better these days, although still very tired. The doctor did some blood work (I don't have the results back yet), but he is checking for a few different things, and he said it could be SAD. I'm trying to get out in the sunlight as much as I can. Thanks everyone for asking!

Sue: I bet Vicki would have a great time practicing with Craig and his friends. They're a good group of kids, and they play a variety of music, including some original songs they've written themselves. If you ever plan on visiting the Boston area you will HAVE to come to our home! Oh, and CONGRATS to Vicki on her nomination!!! I can't wait to hear all about it! P.S. When you said "David Davies" was going to be there I got very exciting thinking it was the member of the band "The Kinks", brother of Ray Davies. He has a brother named Dave Davies. I love the Kinks!

Doreen: I'm glad Jaclyn's having a good time with Karen. I can only imagine all the fun they're having! When will she be home? Does she go back to school on Monday? We are due for a BIG storm next week. I'm going to cry if the boys have more snow days!!! How are you feeling these days? How is Marty?? How did Daniel like skiing??

Andy: I'm right there with you hoping for RAIN instead of snow!!!!!

Mary: How is the weather up there in Maine? Are you due for snow next week too? We can only hope the storm will blow in the other direction, although I know that all of the ski slopes up here in New England are really enjoying the snow. Can't blame them, I guess!

Linda: Have an excellent time on your cruise!!! You'll be in beautiful weather instead of cold like most of the rest of us!

Ed: Earplugs?! Do you mean you can hear them playing all the way down there in CT?!?!? It's funny that you mentioned making a "dump run". LOL We do a "dump run" every single Saturday because we have no trash pick-up here in our little town. At first I thought that was really bizarre, but now I'm used to it. LOL

Tina: How is everything going these days? How is your son doing? It's not always easy raising children, especially teenagers, is it.

Darlene: Hi! How are you and Stan and Sandy doing?? Do you get a chance to speak to your DS often? Do you call him every day? I probably would! Thanks for the comment on my anniversary countdown timer!

Dori: I am jealous of your 70 degree weather!! I can't wait for the spring! And I think you're right about all of you tech people being crazy... DH John-Bob is a PCB designer, programmer, and all-around computer geek. But I don't know what I'd do without him, he's my personal tech-support guy, and the one who can help the kids with the algebra, calculus, physics, etc. homework!!

Diane: Hi Neighbor!! How are things in your part of the Commonwealth?? Ready for the snow we're supposed to get next week?? We can only hope for rain at this point! But then I heard on the news that all of the snow/rain we've gotten this winter will mean a HUGE mosquito population for the summer. Can't win, can we. LOL

Heather: Thanks for the offer to chat about SAD. I am waiting to hear back about the results of my blood work. Assuming that they don't show up anything unusual, I guess it'd be safe to guess that my symptoms are due to SAD. Do you mind if I ask how you treat it? My doctor gave me a month's supply of Wellbutrin to try, because even if you're not "depressed" apparently that medication can help you to feel better from the SAD symptoms. If you'd rather discuss this privately I will email you, ok?

Lyn: *HUGS* to you my friend I know exactly how you feel about Matt getting older and graduating. I still have one more year before Craig will be graduating but if I stop and think about it for too long I really tear up. Their childhoods really do fly by, and the older they get, the faster it goes. I really enjoyed my DSs when they were young, I can't believe they're both teens, and Craig will be 17 in March! On the otherhand, I do try to think about all the good things in our lives too, so I don't get too down. I'm here if you want to talk!!

Joanna: How are you all doing? I had to go back to page 142 to see your last post! Are you guys away this week?? I hope wherever you are, you're all having a great time Thanks for the congrats for Craig's license, he's really been putting it to a lot of use. LOL

Ok, so I think that's just about everyone. Well, everyone who has posted on the last 11 pages anyway. I hope I didn't miss anyone, and if I did, I apologise.

Except. WHERE IS THE WORLD IS CARMEN VERANDAH aka Mary Rose?? Has anyone heard from her? Does anyone have her phone #? I'd like to call her and make sure they're OK! Mary Rose, I've been thinking about you a lot, I hope you all are alright.


P.S. I just copied the above text into Notepad because after typing all of that out, I'm afraid I'll hit the "Submit Reply" button and the computer will freeze in the middle of it and I'll lose it all. It's happened before! So...here goes... *hiting the Submit Reply button now.....*

 

[8 Ears]

For the past couple of days it has been sunny and in the 20's. Not too bad, boys think they only need to wear a sweat shirt now. Not yet, still below freezing!!

It is cool at night, low sub zero's or single digets.

Sounds like we will have a Nor' easter Monday night into Tuesday.

Should think you and Andy could keep it down your way

Hope you feel better soon.....

Mary

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Yup In the town I live in you either have to pay for someone to take the trash to the dump or you do it yourself. Well its not that far to go, and I have better things to do with my money.


Drinks on board sounds like a good choice.

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Should think you and Andy could keep it down your way

Mary

Mary,

Nope Andy, and I are busy trying to put up a giant fan and push this thing out to sea. WE dont want it.


No more snow, No more Snow. No More snow.


Ok I fell better now. Praying for rain.

 

[8 Ears]

All the roads around here are now posted so the State must think spring is on it's way.

 

[sandygirl]

HEATHER!
You have a trip planned to AC? Stan and I are in Galloway Twp staying at the Renault Winery Resort for our anniversary. We are having a great weekend and just finished dinner at their gourmet restaurant. We also did some shopping at the Lenox Warehouse. Where are you staying?

TERRY - Stan and I are having a great anniversary weekend. I think we recognize how precious our time is and cherish each other all the more. I just talked to Sandy who is staying with my mom. Sure do miss her! But she is having a good time. Stan starts chemo on Wed. We are praying that he tolerates it well. Let me know how your test results turn out. I'm thinking of you.

Sandy and I will be flying to NC next weekend to be with DS and his wife and attend a memorial service at Camp Lejueane. I talk with him everyday!

ANDY - Just know we are thinking of you.

Darlene