Monday, April 23, 2007

Single Digit Dance!

I LEAVE ON SUNDAY! Well really this Saturday really early so we can drive to Tampa. 6 days from now I'll be leaving the late night show and going up to the Lido deck to see the moon's reflection on black water. I will then wig out for just a second because there will be zero land around me. Then I'll get another drink and life will be good again!

I am also excited that I won't have to cook or clean up after myself for a week! I am ready for my lobster, snapper, shrimp, lamb and duck. I am ready to scarf down some yum sushi and eat red bell peppers till I pop (they are on the salad bar, I love them). I am ready for someone else to make my bed and vacuum. And I'm ready to be in a non-firing, non-reorging, non-adoption, non-kitty environment for a week. YAY

And I bought new clothes! And I get to pet sting rays and strap a miners helmet on my head and float through caves. That's a high quality vacation right there! Not to mention, I just found out the Legend has a beer and bathrobes party late night. How funny is that? I don't drink beer on the ships because it's so expensive (I just can't bring myself to buy a $4 bottle of Bud) so for me it will be a foo foo and bathrobe party. I'm going to take what I call my red "Obi-Wan" robe, it has a hood. These are not the droids you are seeking.

AND the new 2008 off season codes come out on Friday. I have a good chance of getting a discount on the Sept cruise. Plus I want to take the kiddo on a shorter cruise to make sure she's ok with a boat before we head out on our 14 day adventure at the end of 2008. I am thinking Feb 2008 should have some good inexpensive rates. Boy would it suck to get her out on open water and have her just freak out. I think a practice run would be marvelous!

Do you know what else? Where are my Carnival commercials? I had to go out to this really annoying website and get what I call "The Carnival Song" to add to my blog to get my fix. Nothing hypes me up like hearing that song playing on my TV!

Look at some of the pictures I found online - click to see larger version :)


It's midnight-thirty and I am going to try to sleep now. Too excited!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

There she is!

The Legend was moved to Tampa last week. Tampa has several webcams but the weather was so bad, the shots of the boat weren't clear. Today is a lovely day in Tampa and here she is!



This time next week I'll be checking in and will probably be very annoying with my excited chatter hehe

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Is it time to leave yet?

I am so ready to leave the state. TN is all fine and dandy but it's where work is and it's where my baby-less nursery is. I need a break!

I leave a week from today at the crack of dawn to head to Tampa to hop on a boat. I've had this trip planned forever, it's going to be me and Michelle, I've been trying to get her to go on a chick trip for years. I think I've spent as much preparing for the trip as the cost of the fare. I don't think I bought any work summer clothes last year (was in super frugal baby saving mode) so I ended up buying 5 new capris type things that I can wear to work too. I also got new a new pair of birks on ebay for just $27 shipped. They are cool, they are brown leather strappy ones that are "bedazzled" with amber beads and silver studs. I am trying to "win" another pair in black, people please stop outbidding me! :)

I have reworked my group cruise. I was going through Carnival and just for the 12-6-08 cruise they wanted $300 per person deposit. I redid it through a travel agent and now it's just $25 pre deposit with $300 due in JULY 2008! The balance isn't even due until Sept 2008. How cool is that? I don't think I'll have enough people to do the 11-30-08 6 day as a group so I am going to book a cabin for me and the kiddo next week with another group I know of online. That will give us the back to back cruises that I want and I can just meet up with everyone on the second leg :)

If you want to go, you are welcome to join the group. With tax & everything it's $650 a person. You get $100 per cabin credit as a group benefit (so really, $600 pp). You'll also get a goodie delivered at sailing (like champagne). I am putting a hold on 24 cabins (16 inside, 8 outside) and if all those are filled we'll get a lot more loot. Instead of putting out all the trip info here, this is the Carnival link. We have until May 25th for the $25 deposit then it goes up to $300! Depending on the number that get booked (I have several people at work who want to go) I will probably book extra cabins in my name to hold them then do a name switcharoo when needed. Since you can cancel up until Sept 2008, I think holding the cabins for others who maybe didn't know about the trip is a good idea. I'd love to get all 24 full, we'd get the $100 OBC, free cocktail parties, fun stuff like robes & totebags and a lot more. Email me if you want to go, little kiddos are welcome, I'm bringing Natalie with me :)

For those who have never been on a cruise but want to go, I have some information on cruising in general if you want me to email it to you!

I have cruise fever, 7 days to go!!!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Rough Week

Whew, I am really glad the week is over. I work for Citi and as you probably heard in the news, they were laying off 17,000 people and relocating 9,000. I felt like since I am in TN (low pay) area with a high productivity that I would be ok. However I had several "head between my knees" moments as people all around be started to get fired. But Citi really had a nice severance package for the ones being let go, they just didn't say screw you, you are fired. They got 2 months of pay to job hunt, 2 weeks per year of employment in paychecks after that and a bonus based on years worked there. So say you worked there 10 years. You get 8 weeks paid to job hunt. 20 weeks of paychecks still coming bi-montly. You also get a lump sum at the end of it all for 8 weeks of pay. So 36 weeks of pay when there are a lot of companies that wouldn't of given that.

So anyway, all of this has really got me thinking about finances and money. I use to run on a bare bones budget because I was in school again. I loosened up a bit (see trip counters to the right lol) but it's still not too bad. I think I'm going back to bare bones until the kiddo is here. This is my "I'm poor" budget:
$75 power
$25 water
$50 cable/internet (internet is $40, boy does that burn me up!)
$60 gas
$17 car insurance
$22 house insurance
$52 property taxes
$8 life insurance premium
$60 food (no cokes, no processed food, pack my lunch)
$30 eating out (3-4 inexpensive meals with friends)
$35 entertainment (blockbuster account & 2 free popcorn night movies)
$15 clothes (one inexpensive new item a month, I have a ton of clothes)
$25 indoor cats (food & litter)
$25 outdoor cats (food)
So $499 if the world ends. Not a lot of fun, no trips, no trinkets or playpretties. But survival. What is your bare bones budget?

And to add to the stress of the week, my poor baby Laney was hit by a car Thursday night :( I can't handle all my kittens dying on me like this. She was such a good kitten and didn't want to go outside (I always felt really bad about that). People second guess themselves all the time, if I hadn't gone out with my friends to celebrate still having jobs I would of been home and it wouldn't of happened. She was still warm when I found her :(

I am calling the city on Monday to find out how I can get a speed bump. People fly around my curve, the speed limit is 20 MPH. If they put a bump on each end of my property line (my lot is odd shaped, very large in the front because of the curve) that would make people go the speed limit. There is a church across the street and they have kids there all the time. MY kid is going to be here all the time. So I'm officially a woman on a mission...I feel bad for anyone that tries to cross me.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

New Referrals

I feel badly for the people that got their referrals this month. I think the anger and irritation over just 2 days being processed is taking away the joy of these families. Take a minute to visit them and let them know how happy you are for them!



www.stargatetochina.blogspot.com

www.tomiawithlove.blogspot.com

http://journeytoaudrey.blogspot.com

www.DaveandAmyODonnell.com

http://www.journeytoalilynn.blogspot.com

www.thestoryofus.blogspot.com

http://chinahopejournal.blogspot.com/

www.twopearls.blogspot.com

Monday, April 09, 2007

2 Days

It took them a month to process 2 days of paperwork. Two *&#* days.

It would be different if there weren't any kids to be adopted. Are you telling me in the 2 years that I've been in this program, they have suddenly solved the abandonment issue? If they have, that is fantastic, couldn't be happier. But I just don't believe that. I think they are not registering their kids like they could. Why would they want a little kid to grown up in an orphanage instead of in a family?

I took my China counter off the page. There isn't any reason to guess anymore. I hope to have this adoption finalized year end.

Anyone considering adopting China, please still do. Just tell yourself 3 years and be pleasantly surprised if it's shorter. The thing about the wait that ticks me off the most is I could of gotten my masters during the wait but didn't because I thought she'd be here. Wasted opportunity..my biggest pet peeve.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Movies anyone?

Look at the great videos I found on youtube :)



Thursday, April 05, 2007




Crazy huh?

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Success :)

Cruise dresses!

Dress One:

(i love this dress!...i am going to find a funky wrap to go with it because i'll FREEZE on the boat)
Dress Two:

(the black doesn't show anything at all, it's empire waist with a drapy top and a band of lace above the stomach....it's chiffon too, nice and floaty)

Guys have it lucky, dark suit and they are done. They buy a new tie - big whoop. It's so much harder being a girl...I have to now hunt for shoes and some sparkle. I have 28 days..that's not much time lol