Back to life

After being on vacation it is always tough to get back into your routine. You know, doing laundry, cooking a meal, and most of all... back to WW. So I finally went yesterday and weighed in and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I gained a total of 1.2 lbs and that ain't bad! So I started back counting today and did great all day until Lindsay had a pregnancy craving for Fuzzy's and decided to go get some tacos and brought me my very own queso. Dang it! Have you ever had Fuzzy's queso? Its made fresh, not from liquid canned cheese, but from Monterrey jack cheese with a sprinkle of cheddar and pico de gallo on top. It is like ambrosia from heaven. It is probably my favorite food in the entire earth. So I ate it. All of it.

So my start to new week with Weight Watchers is rocky. On the upside I did try a new banana creme pie recipe from my Weight Watchers cookbook and it was really good. Not great, but good and healthy too. I also made Nani's King Ranch Chicken and it was also scrumptious but not diet at all... I think I could make it a little more diet friendly so that will be my next try. I'll keep you posted.

Our Family Cruise

We were obviously excited about our Cruise. Despite the fact that it had been down graded from a 5 day cruise stopping at 2 ports to a 3 day cruise to nowhere, we were pumped! So pumped in fact that Jay had to take a nap. When the news came in that the cruise was being shortened we decided to go anyway. We were already packed so why not? Plus they were giving us a 50% refund on this cruise and 50% off the next one - who could resist.
We drove to Galveston Wednesday morning and I couldn't wait to get on the boat! We had heard that embarkation was a breeze. You were simply to drop your bags, park your car, and walk your happy rear onto the boat. Hmmmm... not so much. Because of Gustav (grrrr) the hurricane, our boat, the Ecstasy, was late getting in. That was very evident because people were still getting off the boat when we were supposed to be getting on. The other thing that gave it away was the 2 billion people in line. If you have ever been to the port of Galveston, the line extended the whole length of the building, and wrapped back around. It was pretty miserable. The real drama came when Granddad and I-ene showed up. I had arranged for a wheel chair to be available and of course, in all the craziness, no one had any idea where a wheel chair was. Arg.
So enough complaining, we finally got on the boat after about 3 1/2 hours and the fun began. We stayed on the Empress deck, which is the deck you arrive on. That was really nice and convenient. I am not sure it was worth the extra 100$ to ensure we got it but it was nice. Since I-ene has a bad knee it was really nice for her to not have to walk quite so much. Our room was very nice and clean. The fake window was my favorite. Every night we had a new towel animal for our enjoyment. This was Elephant night.
We ate dinner each night in the main dining room. The food was very good. We tried lots of appetizers, srimps (that's how my gramma says Shrimp), fried mozzarella, gazpacho, chilled strawberry cream soup (which tasted exactly like melted strawberry ice cream), portobello mushrooms, sweet and sour shrimp, and pumpkin soup to name a few we enjoyed. The entrees were excellent as well. The first night I had a strip steak and was very pleasantly surprised that it was really a nice cut of meat and cooked perfectly. Other nights we had lobster, fish, pasta, and more srimps. To follow that glutenous list of food, we had to have dessert every night! The Chocolate melting cake was a huge hit but I chose to try other treats. We tried Black Forest Cake(Excellent!), Tiramisu, and cheese and fruit plates. All very very good. Our waiter was named Margo and was from Indonesia. He didn't say much but was very goofy and had the most tired jokes but they were somehow still funny and entertaining night after night. Probably because I have a silly sense of humor too. The waiters and Maitre d' did some performing each night during dinner. These performances included a rendition of O Sole' Mio sung by a bevy of international waiters - most of whom spoke many languages - but not Italian. The second night they did a dance to some song that I can't recall. Margo wasn't much of a dancer, but I enjoyed a lot of the other Indonesian waiters who mostly looked like they were gettin jiggy wit it in da club, as opposed to dancing in a dining room. Ain't nuttin wrong with a little bump and grind!
I kept forgetting to take pics. Unfortunately my "time with mother nature" occurred simultaneously with the cruise so my head was not quite on straight. We had fun on formal night. We all dressed spiffy and took a picture as a family at one of those prom style spots and it was awful so we didn't buy any. We enjoyed the captains reception. There is a pic below of me and Granddad waltzing on stage. If you know me - I'm never one to shy away from a stage and Granddad isn't either. Afterwards several people came up to us to tell us how cute we are and we even made one lady cry. We must be great dancers!

My favorite activity on the ship was probably the Love and Marriage Game. It was like the Newlywed game, but with a couple that had been married for 50 years, one for 4 years, and one for 1 day. We laughed our heads off! My favorite form of relaxation was definitely the pool and laying out. I was shocked when I dunked my head under and my eyes immediately caught on fire from the salt water that I was not expecting. I had heard that it was salt water but I guess was just not thinking. The hairy chest contest was funnier than I expected it to be. It was sooo nice to just lay out staring at miles and miles of water.

The family enjoyed playing a little bit of slots in the Casino and singing along with Angela at the Piano Bar. As I mentioned earlier, I was born for the stage, so singing along with the piano as she played my requests was right up my alley and come to think of it, everyone in my family had no troubles with it either. We ate in the buffet for lunch, and I ordered a BLT from room service one day for lunch when I was in bed with the cramps and it was SCRUMPTIOUS! I highly recommend it.

I rarely if ever felt the boat rock. Jay was a little bothered by it the first night but had no troubles after that. I did sleep very well at night with the ever so slight rocking! As for the entertainment, I give a mixed review. The comedian was very funny, witty and clean. We also loved the Mexican Juggler in the tight pants. He was a hoot. We went to the midnight "Rated R"comedy show and found it to be not funny but simply vulgar and we were disappointed. We missed the Grand Gala Buffet because we were still full and tired. I heard it was pretty! The next night the singers and dancers put on a show called "X-treme Country" and it was extreme. Extremely cheesy. They did different country songs, and the dancers and singers were good - but seeing them dance around in cowboy hats covered in sequins while line dancing was almost more than I could handle. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it so maybe I'm just a snob!

The buffet was good - I had salad and Ice Cream, in that order. I only ate there once but was pleased. The burgers were good too.

So overall it was really fun, and I think that we will definitely cruise again. I think it will be better when we get to get off the boat instead of cruising to nowhere. We'll see!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

50 is Nifty!!!!

Hurricanes are the bane of my existance

OK so 2008 has been crazy right? Wouldn't you agree? I think its been a little crazy so far and now Hurricanes are really starting to tick me off! First Gustav ruined our cruise, and now Ike is threatening to ruin our Phi Beta with husbands reunion.

We've been planning this for months and now Ashley and Tyler can't make it in because they are closing the Houston Airport and because they fly standby, they wont be able to make it.

ARrrrrrrrrrrrrrgghhh!

Oh well, we're going anyway and we will hang out and have a good reunion and Ashley and Tyler and co. will be with us in spirit. Maybe we can set up a web cam. Hmmm good idea.

I promise I will post pictures from the cruise next week and from the reunion too. And I'll put up pictures of Ike too.

(I do completely realize that people are having much bigger problems than mine, and I am definitely praying for all the people affected by the Hurricane in large and small ways, I just wanted to whine a little.)

Stupid Gustav

Well, its Tuesday, and sadly I am not cruising along on the high seas. Because of Gustav, they changed our cruise to a 3 day cruise to nowhere. We'll be leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday. I'm still looking forward to it and I know that Mom, Pop, Granddad, I-ene, Jay and I will have a great time!

We are going to Landa Pool today - a spring fed pool in New Braunfels to cool off and get some sun. We're going to pretend it is the Caribbean and that we are snorkeling.

Louisiana

Well, I know that I promised pictures earlier, but I am just a bad blogger! Things have been pretty crazy lately and I'm just now taking the time to download my pics and get them up here!

First things first, my trip to Louisiana was great! I drove 6 1/2 hours there on Saturday morning alone, Jay's dad Jim was in the hospital so we split up and he went there and I went to LA. It took me longer than I thought it would but that was probably because I stopped too much. It probably wasn't as long as it seemed, either because I was so excited! After 18 long years I was going to see my baby brother and I couldn't wait!

I got there in the afternoon and saw Austin, his Step dad Judson, and step sister too... Carol was at work still in town. It was a trip down memory lane, I hadn't been to that house in LA in 20 years... that is a looonng time. But it was still so familiar to me. The house was built by Austin's Grandparents and although they have done a lot of work on it since the last time I was there, I still remembered so much. The land out there in LA is gorgeous, green and wooded.

Austin gave me the grand tour and again I was excited to see so many familiar things from my childhood... it was very comforting! We had a good time catching up and filling each other in on the last 18 years or so. Jud, Austins step dad is a funny guy and educated me on many things including Gar Balls... that's right, I said Gar Balls. If you want to know what they are, call me and I'll fill you in.


Carol came home that night and we had a great dinner and continued to catch up. We had a great time talking about old times and old neighbor and all that good stuff. The next morning we pulled out the baby books and she made me some copies and I'll post them when

we get a scanner!) and cooked for us, again, a great big breakfast.

Austin took me through the big town of Evans and out to their camp on the river. The pics of him and the big tree are of a tree that fell in the road that we (well, really him) pulled out of the way. It was an adventure. The camp is really nice, on a sandy beach by the river and I can see why they love it so much, it reminds me of our ranch in South Texas. A nice little retreat.

Austin reminds me so much of Dad. When he was little he favored Carol and now that he's a man, he's definitely taken on characteristics of Dad... which is cool! And, he's taller than me... for real! He's getting a degree in Electrical Engineering at LA Tech in Rustin. I couldn't be more proud of little bro!

I was sad to leave and wished that I had more time. Carol loaded me up with goodies for the road... Amish Friendship
Bread starter, juice to make Mayhaw and Muskydine jelly, canned Chow-Chow, a relish for beans and such. They invited us back this fall and we are planning to go spend some time with them soon.


As for the working out, I have been bad these last 2 weeks. I had about 30 days in a row then our birthdays come around and I used that as an excuse. I've lost 9.9 with weight watchers so far and a total of about 13 since I began so that is good! I'm going to get in 5 more workouts before we leave on our cruise next week. I'm so excited about our cruise!!! We're going to Austin to help Jay's mom and dad with moving into and settling into their new house before heading to my Mom and Pops house Sunday. We'll drive to Galveston together and meet up with Granddad and Aline and sail away. One big happy dysfunctional family on the high seas!!!


I will take tons of pics and blog about our whole trip. We are planning a snorkeling excursion in Cozumel and a trip to the ruins in Progresso.

Oh Brother!

I had an absolutely awesome weekend! I got to see my little bro for the first time in 18 years!! It was really awesome to see him and Carol, and meet her hubby and daughter. I'll post some pics tonight...

Day 23

Yes, thats right, I am still chugging along! Walking, Baliwood-ing, Carmen Electra Strip-Teasing my way to skinny town. Well, I did miss 1 day but that counted as my Birthday day off.

This weekend I am going to see my little (half) brother. I haven't seen him or my Step-mom in 18 years. I am nervous and excited about it! Pray that we have a safe trip and a great time hanging out! I'll post pics when I get back!