Cruising Again!

How did we get here? Where have we been? It’s had been six long years since we cruised. Life got in the way, and we thought we would try land-based Disney vacations for awhile. We really enjoyed our trips to Disney, but I missed the sea, and the price of a Disney cruise vacation was pretty prohibitive, so we did budget Disney trips. Our last trip to Disney wasn’t the greatest, so we thought we’d look to cruising again.

In the fall of 2009 I started reading the boards over at Cruise Critic and was pretty disappointed to see that the general consensus was that Carnival service had generally declined in the last few years. This was really not a big surprise because of the economy and our experience in declining services at Disney as well. We’ve been pretty loyal to Carnival, but with all the bad press we thought about choosing another cruise line this time. We started shopping for a cruise in February or March of 2010 but found the prices on Carnival were still winning out. What to do, what to do?

Then in the middle of my searching, I got a “Save the Date” announcement for my cousin Camille’s wedding. She was getting married in St. Thomas while on the Carnival Liberty in March! I’m not particularly close to my cousin—we are in the same generation in our family tree, but there are 17 years between us, so it’s not as though we grew up together. Still it’s family, and how bad would I feel if I went on a cruise and didn’t choose their wedding cruise.

I had been hanging out on Twitter quite a bit and had added quite a few Disney freaks to my list. One of my “twits” was Bryan AKA theCTA on Twitter. He’s an independent travel agent who books a lot of Disney vacations, but he also books cruises. I am an over-planner and a control freak, so I always do my own travel plans, but I thought I would go ahead and give Bryan the booking. I liked him and it costs me nothing and in this economy, I figure we should help out our buddies all we can. It turns out I was Bryan’s first twitter client! I always hesitate when dealing with somebody online, because you really don’t know what you’re getting into, but he was very professional and answered my emails very quickly. I am at my computer all day (and, okay all night too!) and it’s just easier for me to communicate through email or twitter. He was always quick with a reply to my questions, and offered great suggestions for my trip. If you’re in the market for a travel agent, I can recommend Bryan Harris at Operation Destination

So it was settled. The Carnival Liberty, March 20-27, visiting Miami, Half Moon Cay Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Now we just had to plan the week.

Free Stuff! Rite Aid trip 11/08

Another fabulous trip to Rite Aid today!


GOT:
2 M&M funsize bags Halloween markdown was 3.99 each got for .99 each. These are good little portioned treats!
1 Christmas boxes was 7.99 sale 5.39
Newspaper $2.00
2 GE light bulb 4 pks. was 5.29 sale 2.00 each
2 Electrosol Powerballs Reg. 6.49 sale 5.00 each
2 Lysol toilet bowl cleaners reg 3.49 sale buy one get one
2 Lysol Wipes reg. 3.49 sale buy one get one

USED:
Coupon for $5 off when you buy $25
$1.00 coupon for the lightbulbs
2 .50 off coupons for the Electrosol
2 .40 off coupons for the Lysol wipes (found these on the toilet bowl cleaner hangtag)
2 .40 off coupons for the toilet cleaner
Rebate coupon for $20 off at RiteAid from fall promotion

TOTAL due -.83 The wouldn't give me money back(shoulda bought more candy!) BUT
I have rebates to turn in so they will be sending me $2.00 for the light bulbs and $1 for the Electrosol SO,
I bought all this and they paid me 3 bucks!!!

I never went in to Rite Aid before I couponed or learned about their Single Check Rebates. I always thought they would be too expensive. Not any more!

Why we should have voted for the school levy.

I'm just sayin'.

Parker Tire Fire

Wow. There was a big fire in the metropolis of Delta today. Thick black smoke poured from a tire store that caught on fire. Our first thought was that it might have been the grocery store my DH works at--because that would be just our luck. Our second thought was that it was my previous employer. Nope. Farther away. From what is reported it looks as though it started after some open burning. Who burns on such a windy day?

Check out the local news coverage, including some photos by DH here


http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=6782807

News Flash

True story. If you're unemployed for about 3 months and wear sweats every day, a very strange phenomenon will occur. Suddenly all your old work clothes hanging in your closet will shrink a size. Possibly a size and a half.

Diet tomorrow. After I finish off these Doritos.

17 Very Obvious Reasons Why Same-Sex Marriage should not be Legal

(Shamelessly lifted from Facebook)

In light of the recent events in Vermont, it is now, more than ever, imperative to understand how fundamentally wrong gay marriage is.

Top 17 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

17. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

16. Gay culture is a new fad created by the liberal media to undermine long-standing traditions. We know this is true because gay sex did not exist in ancient Greece and Rome.

15. There are plenty of straight families looking to adopt, and every unwanted child already has a loving family. This is why foster care does not exist.

14. Conservatives know best how to create strong families. That is why it is not true that Texas and Mississippi have the highest teen birthrates, and Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire have the lowest. This is a myth spread by the liberal media.

13. Marriage is a religious institution, defined by churches. This is why atheists do not marry. Christians also never get a divorce.

12. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why our society has no single parents.

11. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

10. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

9. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

8. Gay marriage should be decided by the people and their elected representatives, not the courts. The framers checked the courts, which represent mainstream public opinion, with legislatures created to protect the rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority. Interference by courts in this matter is inappropriate, just as it has been every time the courts have tried to hold back legislatures pushing for civil rights.

7. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because "separate but equal" institutions are a good way to satisfy the demands of uppity minority groups.

5. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

4. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

3. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

2. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

1. METEORS and VOLCANOES.