Bermuda Cruise Vacation Re-Cap Part 2

When I wrote Part 1 yesterday, it look a long time to upload all the photos and then figure out what to say. So today to finish it up, I just put up a ton of pics all at once and will write up as I go....so the pics are definitely out of order, but hey, I saved a lot of time.

Near where the ship is parked in Bermuda, there is a bunch of shops and artists (pottery, glass blowing, etc). This was at the glassware studio. High prices but beautiful stuff.



This vase cost $195. I did not buy it. But it sorta reminded me of my .25 pink FTD vase bought at a yardsale.


My .25 pink vase:



Another grocery store pic:



At one of the midnight buffets, there was this weird mermaid/mer-man??? that they must drag out every week. Take a look at those man-hands! And the 5 o'clock shadow.


This was cute though:


I tried to remember to take a pic of my dinner food everynight (using my cellphone so the lighting/focusing isn't that great:













It was a 2 story dining room:


The first day when they said I had won a Crown & Anchor Society prize, I thought for sure they were going to give me this crown that they had enclosed in glass at one of the lounges. Mousepad shmousepad - don't they know who I am? But now that I think about it, I do prefer crowns that have more diamonds.


Me, wearing a bathsuit at the beach. Yes I was, but trust me, you don't want to see it.


Thursday morning, the day we got off the ship, I woke up at 5:30am and took this pic - so you'd better appreciate it. It happens to be a picture of *the* best nuclear power plant in Maryland - all lit up at night. Picture was taken with my cellphone. Had a nice conversation with a bathroom cleaner from the Phillipines who held the door open for me so I could get the picture. It was very windy and I couldn't go out on the deck. I do find it kinda cool that here there are cruise ships passing practically by my house and I've never seen them (since the Chesapeake Bay is pretty darn big).


Inside the cabin:


Baltimore bridge:


Last night at dinnertime - the waiters/busboys/cooks sang a song.


One of the many towel animals that our cabin steward - Wanda from Nicaragua made for us:


Playing the adult scavenger hunt - Quest. My sister and I played with another couple - the guy was very into it. We had never played it before - and people are secretive about it so I didn't know what to expect. Our team # was #17. He's wearing my bra and purse, and lipstick.


I asked Tom if he wanted me to email him the pictures. He said no. He didn't want his adult aged sons to see it. I wonder if his family ever go to yardsales....or yardsale websites...


Tried taking a picture of the menu's one night:


Bermuda is so pretty they don't even have garbage. They have litter.


I may still add some pictures/videos later on sometime. I haven't seen the pics my sister has taken. And I really haven't looked at the videos that I took with my cellphone.

All of my previous cruises were out of Miami or San Juan so it was different leaving from Baltimore. Most people were from Maryland and Virginia so it wasn't a big mix of people. Too many people wearing Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens attire. When you cruise out of from Miami etc, you get people from all over. I wasn't impressed with the Port of Baltimore - it was raining when we had to drop our luggage off, but it took 1.5 hours to drive from one side of the parking lot to the other due to the low number of baggage handlers they had working (in the rain). You couldn't park your car and walk the luggage to the drop off area, you had to drive to it and it took a ridiculously long time. I'm thinking the luggage handlers all called in sick due to the rain.

I think the next time I cruise, I will go get a prescription strength patch thing to wear behind my ear. I tell you, that first day at sea was really bad. Never been on a cruise ship with such rough seas and rockiness.

But other than that, it was a great time. I'm hoping the next time I go to Bermuda, the Salvation Army will be open. I could have gone back the following day, but we had other things to do and had to be back on the ship by a certain time or else they would have left without me.

Finally - Bermuda Cruise Vacation Re-cap Part 1

Ok, as promised, finally here is a re-cap of my cruise vacation to Bermuda that I took a few weeks ago. Was a 5 night cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda on Royal Caribbean. Paid $715.23 (including taxes, fuel service charges, insurance). I really don't think that's a lot of money if you consider if you were to fly to Bermuda, you'd probably pay at least $400 or more for just a round trip plane ticket. Tips for the cabin stewart, waiter and bus boy was an additional $50.

Saturday morning - picked up my sister at the airport, since she was flying down to Baltimore from NY. We had a little bit of time to kill so we went to that big enclosed place that has many stores under one roof which is near the airport. Trying to remember the name.....yes, I remember now. It's called a shopping mall. Arundel Mills Mall to be exact. Bought a clearanced shirt at the Bass outlet for $4.44.

Then had my first experience inside a Costco. Didn't buy anything. But now I can say that I've at least been in a Costco. We're members of BJ's Warehouse but don't have a Costco nearby.

It was a beautiful day in Baltimore, so we headed to the boat. Just look at the gorgeous weather we were having.

\

People at the muster drill. On the first day on the cruise ship, you have to attend the muster drill, where you put on your life jacket and stand too close to people.



Going under some bridge outside Baltimore:


Here's a picture of our waiter, Reynold Pipe from Trinidad.



The ship was beautiful inside.








When we got on board the ship, they had informational booths set up to tell all about the different programs they had on board. Like if you wanted to do a tuxedo rental. Order flowers for your room. yeah right. Anyhow they had some raffle drawings and both my sister and I won prizes. I won an exclusive Crown & Anchor Society prize. Sounds swanky, doesn't it? I had to go to the Crown & Anchor office on one of the other decks to receive it. It was a mousepad. My sister won Ben & Jerry's ice cream for two. They had a small Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor on the ship (that you had to pay for).

Monday - a full day at sea. A very rocky sea. It was bad. Really bad. Nearly everyone on the boat was sick. I was very glad I didn't have Jacob with me. I didn't even feel like eating or drinking any of the liquor I had smuggled onboard (nothing major - just a few mini bottles). I tried walking around in the morning and even tried the line dancing class thinking that maybe moving around would help. Saw people vomiting in the restaurant.

In the afternoon we went to an art auction since they were giving away some artwork and we had gotten free raffle tix the previous day. So we found a spot and just relaxed and closed our eye lids and tried not to be sick. My sister ended up winning one of the pieces of artwork, supposedly some $500 value. Art auctions on cruise ships are such a racket. They've been doing them for years and they must be some big money maker for the cruiselines since they keep having them. My sister had to pay $35 to have the artwork shipped to her house. Not original artwork, but a numbered copied of one.

In the evening we did go to the show - the place was nearly empty since everyone was sick. Did see a very entertaining juggling show by Mark and Marlo and also saw a comedian who was pretty good. I give Mark & Marlo credit for their performance, it looked hard enough to do what they did on land, but to do it on a very rocky ship is something else. The following day, I met them both when we were taking a ferry ride in Bermuda. Somehow I managed to turn the conversation to yardsales and ebay. It's doesn't matter who I talk to, somehow I always manage to work "yardsales" into the conversation. I guess it's a talent I have. haha. Mark and Marlo were very nice and later on in the cruise, I went to their juggling class.

Tueday - yeah! We made it to Bermuda. So nice to get off the ship. Kinda weird how immediately you feel better when the ship stops rocking. Ate a huge breakfast (on the ship of course). We bought a 2 day bus/ferry pass for $20, so we didn't use taxis or go on special tours or "excursions".

Took the ferry to Hamilton - the main city in Bermuda. I was hoping to see something, anything, that made me remember my first trip to Bermuda back in 1986, when I spent a week there. But it didn't happen, didn't really recognize anything, except the second day we went to one of the same beaches I had been to before and we also went to an historic church that I had been to before. Of course the look of Bermuda was the same, picturesque pastel colored houses everywhere you went.

We browsed the stores, bought some postcards and went to the Salvation Army. But it was closed. Did peek inside though (since the door was open) but they weren't open to customers.



Salvation Army from above:



We met Bermuda shorts, knee sock wearing Carl, who gave us directions to Fort Hamilton, which had a nice view of the area.



We still got lost, and ended up near some really nice houses that had great views:



Finally found the overlook:


Bermuda is full of beautifully colored houses, churches, etc. You could take pics like this all day long.







I am kind of disappointed in my pictures since I'm using this new camera that I am not totally used to. And the videos from my cellphone are in some weird format that I need to convert to a mpg or avi file, so I may still have some other videos to put on Youtube.

Took a harrowing bus ride to St. George and saw the historic church that I remember seeing back in the 80's. I think all the bus rides are harrowing....one minute you are overlooking a gorgeous harbor, and then the next you are inches away from a wall of rock.



Oh almost forgot to mention some of the stores we browsed were grocery stores. If you think food prices in the USA are high, go live in Bermuda for a while and then you'll realize how cheap prices are here.








The prices are in Bermuda dollars, which equals American dollars. So $5.05 for a package of Oreos in Bermuda, equals $5.05 USA money. I think I would have to kick my diet soda addiction if I lived in Bermuda.

Took the ferry back to the boat in the early evening. Not much nightlife in Bermuda on a Monday night in October. After dinner, we went to the party on the pool deck for a while.






Not the ferry:





Tuesday - Still in Bermuda. Hopped a bus and went to Horseshoe Beach. Beautiful beach with the big rugged rocks in the water. Water was on the cool side. Bermuda is known for the famous pink sand beaches but it's not pink pink like you would think. Just certain granules of the sand are pink. Super super soft sand.







The thing in the sky is a guy who is kite surfing:



Wow - this blog post is taking me longer than I expected it to. So.....I will continue this later.

Clutter causes pain...

As I was getting my turkey roasting pan off a high shelf this week, a glass platter fell off the shelf and onto one of my naked toes. The glass platter then broke into a million pieces inside my washing machine. My washer and dryer sit in a utility closet and above that is a shelf that I store a bunch of crap on. I was standing on a chair next to the washing machine, and had one foot on the dryer as I was reaching for my turkey roaster. And the lid to the washing machine was open. At least it wasn't some glass platter that was expensive or had sentimental value. You never realize how much you use your toes to walk until one gets hurt. I am glad I still have some leftover expired super duper prescription strength Ibuprofen from some dental work.

No, I wasn't getting the turkey roaster down in preparation for Turkey Day, it's my pan of choice when making homemade Chex Mix in the oven. Even though we are having out of town guests this year for Thanksgiving, I will probably end up just buying a big turkey breast rather than a full bird. So I probably won't even use my industrial sized turkey roaster. And I think I will buy some stuffed ham - a local food which I am sure my guests have never had.

Then all this week I was searching for that stupid Penney's receipt from my most recent purchase. Since on every receipt is a code to input at jcpsurvey.com to get an additional 15% coupon off your next purchase. The code expires after a week and time was running out. I found it just in the nick of time and was able to log in and print out a 15% off coupon yesterday. I am always mis-placing stuff.

Last night we took Jacob to Target to have his picture taken ($8.99 plus tax). I really liked the photographer who did it last year but this year, but yesterday's photographer was just so-so.

Before the pics, we stopped at Annmarie Garden - a local park & art gallery that was having a free open house and new exhibit unveiling. The exhibit is a collection of a type of needlework folk art done by British sailors in the 1800's called "Woolies". An example is on their website. Not at all what I expected when I read about it in the newspaper. I was expecting some primitive crudely made macrame or something but instead it was very detailed and beautiful handiwork.

Plus, the free open bar didn't hurt. Was not expecting that at all either - especially a free "serve yourself" open bar and plenty of snacky foods. I want to say Hors'd'duroves but don't feel like going to dictionary.com to check the spelling so I won't.

It rained this morning for yardsales but managed to find a few good things, like a Redmon basket for my collection ($4) and not one but two Vera Bradley handbags in mint condition - $5 for both. I do not like Vera Bradley anything so they will go on ebay.





Not much planned for this weekend. Good day to sit at home and watch tv. We have a DVR and record a lot of programs. New favorite show is The Mentalist. I also like Dexter, Amazing Race, How Clean is Your House?, Dirty Jobs.

p.s. cruise Bermuda pics still to come. Maybe Monday.

Yardsale Blog Post - what a concept

I thought I would change it up a little and actually talk about what I bought last Saturday at the yardsales. It was a great Saturday weatherwise and I found some great stuff dirt cheap.

The new in package Leatherman tool thingy was $1 (will be an Xmas gift for DH), sewing box was .25 (mostly junk inside, except for a pair of Fiskar scissors which I will keep), Santa decoration was .50, cookbooks .25 each. New Celine Dion perfume was $1. New griddle thing $2. Easy Spirit sandals .50, new Disney 2 DVD set $5, Volkswagen book $5, Avon shower gel .25, beer sign $1, small crystal bowl- free.

The Little Tikes computer mice were $1 each, but now I find out they were recalled because - duh - if you unscrew the little thingy that holds the mouse ball inside, the mouseball becomes a choking hazard. I can return a piece of each to Little Tikes and get two $10 Little Tikes coupons.

I made it to Cake Wrecks!

When I was out doing my Halloween bargain candy shopping yesterday, I saw two horribly decorated cakes, so of course since I had my cellphone camera on me, I took pics and submitted them to the Cake Wrecks Blog

The two pics I submitted are the ones with the smushed congratulations on both for the 08' (should be '08) win.

McCain/Obama cakes


p.s. pics of Bermuda to come shortly. I promise. I did manage to put a few videos on Youtube. Unfortunately I used my new camera, which I am not totally used to, so videos came out more pixelated than they should be.

Cruise is over, so time to diet.

Oh...wait....I forgot about 75% off Halloween candy sales. How can I pass up .82 M&M's and the cute sugary chewy marshmallow guys that I like (for only .32)? Bought the DH a mega sized package of Mike & Ikes/Hot Tamales for .87 among some other stuff, like .89 packages of caramel Ghiradelli squares.



But I am stocked up on lean, healthy Perdue boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They are on sale at $1.99/lb but the store had attached coupons to each package worth an additional .75 off per package. Nope, not expired chicken, well within the Sell By date. Planning on having chicken tacos tomorrow night for dinner and will freeze most of the chicken.

Tonight we are having a 2lb package of macaroni & cheese and hotdogs/sausages. Long story. Today I went to Walgreens (candy was 75% off), then went to the old Food Lion (where I bought the chicken) and since the old Food Lion always has free samples at the deli, like cookies or cupcakes, I paused to see what they were giving out today (I ate a mini cupcake). The deli clerk said "Do you want to try our macaroni & cheese for free?" Heck yeah. She said the sell by date was coming up (11/4) so they were giving them out. Normal price is $5.99. Then I went to the new Food Lion (we have 2 Food Lions within 3 miles of each other) and saw they had the exact same macaroni & cheese on the shelf with the same date 11/4 but not free, $5.99. And their Perdue chicken didn't have any additional coupons attached.



Also stopped at CVS, but all their candy was only 50% off. Walgreens rocks.

Bermuda pictures still coming soon.....

p.s. My cell phone is driving me nuts. I think it freaked out at the time change and me being in a different time zone recently. And now the clock is 7 hours ahead of what it should be. Since I don't wear a watch, it's bugging me.

Goldtoe Socks $2.12, Spiderman Costume $2

I'll be back soon to post pics of my Bermuda trip, but before I forget I wanted to post about my deal on Goldtoe socks for Jacob. Normally $12 a 6-pack, I paid $2.12 on Friday. I had another $10 off a $10 purchase coupon and had to use quickly before it expired.

And while I'm here, here's a Halloween pic of Jacob. I bought a Spiderman costume at a yardsale for $1 - and it came with a cheesy cloth hood/mask thing. Then a few weeks later at another yardsale I found a nice spiderman mask for $1. I got the pumpkin bucket free at CVS - it was buy it for $1.99 and then get $1.99 in Extra Care Bucks back, so it was essentially free.

I've never really taken Jacob trick or treating in my neighborhood (I have my reasons). I did try taking him a few streets over to Whiskey's other mother's house, but she wasn't home. Encountered mobs of teenagers walking in center of the street in groups of 20 or more. I am not exaggerating. Then drove to my friend Sharon's house - she was my best friend when I worked at the nuke plant and even though I don't see her as often as I did when I worked full-time, I still think of her as one of my best friends. She practically filled Jacob's bucket half-full. Then took Jacob to a strip mall shopping center that does trick or treating and ate a late dinner at Chick-fil-a (yum).

I am back from Bermuda - did you miss me?

I got back from Bermuda yesterday. The ship left out of Baltimore last Saturday evening. Sunday was a horrible horrible day at sea - very rocky the entire day. Everyone was getting sick. On the plus side, the ship gave out free vomit bags. You know how I like "free". Oye, it was baadddddd. It was so bad that some people got off the boat in Bermuda and decided to fly home. I tried toughing it out that day and even took the line dancing class that was around 10am. I think there was about 5 people in the class. That was the first time I remember seeing a cute little couple in their 80's who danced at every opportunity. They were even at the ship's dance club at 11pm dancing it up on that awful day.

Then on Wednesday at the Salsa class, I saw the little old lady by herself. I asked her where her husband was and she said he fell in Bermuda and hurt both knees, bumped his head etc. How awful, they were such a cute couple, I hope he gets better soon.

The day we boarded, they had a few raffles and both my sister and I both won prizes. She won Ben & Jerry's ice cream for two in the ship's Ben & Jerry's, and I won a Royal Caribbean mousepad. On Monday we attended an art auction and my sister won some artwork. The art auctions on cruiseships is some sort of racket - some sort of mass produced artwork that they want you to buy frames for - for an additional $200. Anyhow, my sister got her choice of 6 different pictures. It's a good thing I poked her to wake her up for the raffle drawing. I had been dozing too, I swear the sea sickness pills just make you want to sleep. Everyone was feeling bad that day and no one thought anything about seeing someone snoozing in one of the common areas. But here is how the cruise ship makes money - you don't take the artwork with you. You have to pay $35 for shipping.

Tuesday we arrived in Bermuda. So good to get on land. We bought two day bus/ferry passes for $20. We took the ferry to Hamilton (the big city in Bermuda). We walked around and shopped a little, bought a few postcards. Then we went to the Salvation Army thrift store (it's located at the intersection of King and Victoria Street - I think - I can't find my map). It was closed on Monday, we talked to knee sock wearing Carl who work next door to the Salvation Army who recommended we walk to nearby Fort Hamilton for a good view of the city. We took a wrong turn and saw some really nice houses with a fantastic view before we got on the right street to Fort Hamilton.

After that, we found the Post Office and wrote out and mailed the postcards. It was
.70 for a postcard stamp. Then caught a caught a bus going to St. George (an historic smaller city on the island). Everything was closed there. We did find an immigration office and got our passports stamped (for the first time) - a little freebie souvenir. Then caught a ferry back to the ship.

Oh, one thing I should point out is that driving on Bermuda is crazy. The roads are narrow and some appear to be carved out of the side of hills, the side of the bus was inches away from trees, rock walls, etc. I'll have to put some videos on YouTube. Not for the faint of heart.

I was in Bermuda in 1986 - I had rented a moped for a week so I never rode the busses back then. We either rode our mopeds or took a taxi.

On the second day in Bermuda, the sun was out and we took a bus to Horseshoe Bay beach. That was one beach I do remember from my time on the island back in 1986. It was these huge rock formations in the water. The sand was super soft. Except when the wind kicked in, then it felt like you were having a full body microdermabrasion. After the sun went away, we took a bus back to the ship and did some shopping near the pier. There were artists blowing glass, bakers making rum cakes, and a wonderful little internet place that only charges $5 for 30 minutes.

So if you find yourself in Bermuda and needing an internet fix, the YSQueen recommends the Swiss Connection - located in the Clock Tower Mall at King's Wharf.

On the second day in Bermuda (Tuesday), we had to be back to the ship by 3:30pm. Wednesday was a day at sea. But not nearly has rocky as the first day, so we were able to do a lot of activities and got our money's worth of the food. You know, like having a pre-dinner dinner. Ordering a few (I won't say how many) desserts with your second dinner. Diet starts soon....

Ok I have some stuff I need to do today so I will write again and share lots of pics at another time. But one last thing before I go. know what you're wondering....what sort of souvenirs did you buy yourself??? Well you know me, I stuck with practical stuff. Stuff I can use everyday. Like a Bermuda grocery bag (.99) and liquor. Liquor was much cheaper on the ship, I should have had my DH make me a liquor shopping list before I left, but I wasn't thinking. And my cell phone didn't work on board. And if you smoked, you made out, two cartons of Marlboros were $41.95





The Cruzan rum was 4 for $28.95 (my sister bought 2 and I bought 2 - so we split it) and the Absolut was 2 for $19.95

Greetings from Bermuda!

I made it finally to Bermuda. Stopped by the Salvation Army store (but they are closed on Mondays....crap.

But the bars are open......:)

Careful: my shoes are inside

Well today I broke out the ole Pamela Barsky luggage tags for the first time. I bought a set of quirky and colorful luggage tags a while ago at Smile for .50 When I eventually go on my cruise, I'll be using two of the tags. One says "Careful: my shoes are inside" and the other says "I'm pretty sure this isn't your bag". I couldn't decide which ones I wanted to use since I want to use them all. I don't believe in packing light. I still may switch and use the one that says "open with caution: dirty clothes inside". So many choices. They are sold online for $12 at the Pamela Barsky Boutique

I am still in the States......for now

Haven't been out galavanting or anything. But have been busy so that's the reason behind the lack of blogging in the past week. Yardsales were bad last Saturday, so nothing exciting to report from that. And my computer has been acting funny the last few days due to some virus or something. uggh.

My bargain yesterday was at JC Penneys. I had gotten a coupon in the mail, take $10 off a $10 purchase, so I had to use it. Bought a cruise-wear necklace for $2.76 - regular price $18. Once I got it home, I thought it was too busy looking, so I took a pair of pliers to it to make it more to my liking. The cheap necklaces at Penneys are glued to a card thingy, so hard to see what it really looked like on. It was a 5 stranded necklace, so I removed 3 of the shorter strands. If I get crafty, I'm sure I could make a bracelet or something out of the leftovers. I think it will look good with my $3 dress.

Shoppers Food Warehouse Double & Triple coupon deals

Last night I was looking thru the newspaper and saw that the Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store was doing triple (up to .50) and double coupons (up to $1) starting today and lasting til Sunday.

So I stayed up late cutting and organizing my coupons and hit the store today. The pic above is my full shopping cart - when I normally grocery shop, I only pick up a few things here and there depending on what is on sale. I never have a full cart load.

My total before coupons was $223.04 and after I ended up paying $73.52 (159.52 savings)



And here is a pic of my buys. I didn't bother putting the Dr. Pepper in the pic.
That IceBreaker Strawberry gum - small rectangular containers (I got free after coupons), tastes awful. Its some sort of healthy gum made with green tea and antioxidants. Click on pics to enlarge them.

Weekend Update: DIY Projects and Yardsales

Over the weekend I did two little projects that really didn't take much time, but I had procrastinated doing for years. It felt good tackling those little projects, felt like I accomplished something.

First was painting a door. We've lived with this dirty, blemished door for years and years. The door that leads from the garage to the house. Even when it was installed, it had the discoloration in the center. But it didn't seem to bug me or DH that much since we've lived with it for 15 years, give or take. (This is the side that faces the garage). I remembered I had a gallon of some paint that I bought for a quarter years ago at a yardsale and figured anything would be better than how it was.

We are having visitors again soon, so it's time to start spiffing up the house a little (and maybe my clutter won't be noticed. Yeah right.)

So here is the "Before" door:



And here it is "After". The sign (a thrift store purchase, says "Beware of Attack Crab" was $1.) It's plastic so I glued some magnets to the back so sticks to the metal door.



Then the second project was unfinished corner cabinet that I bought in New York at a yardsale for $5. I've had it in the garage for years. It's not some exquisite handcrafted piece of woodwork that will be handed down thru the generations, but it's storage, and I have a need for storage. Cheap storage is good.

So here it is "before". Just plain, unfinished.



And here it is after a little bit of sanding, staining and polyurethaning. Not a drastic change or anything. I'm not sure what I want to put on it, but I already had those conch shells in the bathroom. It will do for now, but I'm sure it will be changed. It's too uncluttered - haha.



Speaking of storage, I bought this outdoor corner storage at a yardsale over the weekend for $10.



And I am excited that my Coke card came for my upcoming cruise. So I won't have to go thru withdrawls!

Will blog on Tuesday

I will post tomorrow (Tuesday). I just feel like vegging out now and watching some tv shows I have on DVR. Tomorrow I will post some Before and After pics of some little projects I did over the weekend. And post a pic of my yardsale buys.

Cruisewear Dress = $3

I think I can stop buying dresses now. I went to the second Vintage Value location today and bought the above stretchy knit dress for $3 ($3.18 with tax). It's the exclusive "George" brand - only available in the finest Walmart's in the country.

LOL! I do like it though. It's very stretchy so it's almost like wearing a full body girdle. Which I should look into buying anyway. Will especially need it after eating the cruise food. I have been doing good lately though, trying to ride my bike everyday and drinking that tasteless stuff called water.

The last cruise I was on was when I was pregnant with Jacob. (We got quite the deal on that one - 7 nights for $250 a person. We bought it online, on an auction website that is no longer in business).

Going on a cruise may seem like an extravagance, but believe me, I don't go overboard in spending. Haha - get it? I made a funny. There are ways to save a cruise and here's what we've done.

Don't go crazy drinking drinks. I remember the first cruise we were on, we met other couples around our age and they said this was their "trip of a lifetime" so they were going to live it up. Getting their drinks in the glasses that you keep as a souvenir (the kind of glasses I see showing up at thrift stores from time to time). Their bar bill was equal to the cost of their cruise. Meanwhile, I was saying to myself I don't want this to be a "trip of a lifetime" - I want it to be just one of MANY trips that I take like this. This upcoming trip will be Cruise #5 for me.

I don't spend my money on the cruise ship - there's many ways they try to get you to spend. The casino, art auctions, playing bingo, shopping on board. Eating in "specialized" dining rooms which cost extra, buying shore excursions, spa services and on and on. But they also have activities that don't cost anything - food demonstrations, napkin folding class (yes, I took a napkin folding class once), using fitness room etc.

Then once we get to our destination, we usually head out on our own. Instead of buying "shore excursions" on the ship, you can find pretty much the same activities but only cheaper if you wait and get to the island. For instance when we were at the Cayman Islands, the ship had a shore excursion to go to go swimming with the stingrays for an exorbitant cost ($100?? or so, I don't remember). Once you get on the island, we saw taxi drivers holding signs saying they would do the same tour for $40.

I don't really plan on buying a lot of souvenirs. I also have my free Royal Caribbean bingo shirt that I got a few weeks ago at a yardsale. And Jacob already has a pirate t-shirt with "Bermuda" on it.

Psychedelic Frog Family

Went to Smile today and bought this vintage psychedelic frog bank for $1. It will go up on ebay once I clean it. The Minnie Mouse mug in the background is a mug I bought several weeks ago (.25) at Smile. Then a day later the matching Mickey Mouse mug showed up and I bought that too.

Also bought myself a nice long sleeved black knit shirt (JC Penney brand) for $2. And for Jacob I bought a pair of navy classic chino Ralph Lauren pants for $1.50 that will fit him now.

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Toilet Paper Update

Last week I mentioned I had 114 rolls of toilet paper in storage in the garage. I lied. Today I spotted where I had put an additional 24 pack of Angel Soft high up on a shelf. So that means the total is really 138. And in the past week we haven't had to replenish from the garage (since I also have more TP stored in the bathrooms).

Well having a large supply is TP is not the worst thing to have. The other day I found a bag of tortilla chips in the cupboard that somehow missed getting eatten. It had a "best by" date of May 2008. It will go the squirrels. Makes me think of that saying "You can go broke saving money".