The Next Adventure!

Here it is, Saturday morning again. The first waffle is cooking and I'm here, in one of my favorite places to be. In front of my computer in the kitchen. Two solid weeks away from my kitchen, laundry room and family has made a big difference in my outlook. I don't know for sure that the teenager missed me, but he seems a little kinder since my return. Or less surly. And I know he missed my weekly waffles!

I am still not caught up on putting things away and all the other deferred housekeeping stuff. They did fine with laundry and groceries while I was gone, but two weeks made the dust worse, as well as the kitchen floor and counters, the bathrooms, and on and on.

I plunged into my business clients as soon as I got over the worst of my Montezuma's Revenge. I'm happy to report that I picked up a new client this week and the possibility of one more. I'm feeling very encouraged by the demand for my services. If that just pays for our vacations, I'll be very happy indeed. A new kitchen floor would be great, too. So far I'm in the hole when I compare my spending with my income, but it'll be fine.

Part of this money hole I'm in is due to the cruise I booked this week. We'll go to the eastern caribbean - St. Thomas and St. Maarten toward the end of June. I'm so excited because our son has wanted to do this for a long time. I think he was hooked from Titanic. Go figure. The Travel Channel cruise shows and of course, the cruise line commercials have reinforced this desire. Royal Caribbean has great programs for teens, including rock walls, basketball courts and a teens-only dance club! The girl who helped me at CruiseOne has a 10th grader, too, and she's done this very cruise. She said her girls had the best time and always make good friends they stay in touch with. Who knows, there could even be a shipboard romance! He's too young to remember The Love Boat (can you hear the theme song in your mind?) There are things like Johnny Rocket and a Seattle Coffee, so I have a feeling we might not see him except at night in the cabin.

We lucked into a great balcony stateroom special! After my group trip to Brazil, the idea of time to myself with coffee on the balcony is heaven to me! They also have spa special on the port-of-call days, so I'm premeditating on the idea of heading back mid-day to take advantage of the spa. Also heaven. I need to start back with my walking so I can keep up with the guys on the sightseeing. We'll be gone a whole week, and my husband isn't thrilled about missing a whole week of work and I know it will kill him not to be able to check messages from the ship, but I know it will be good for him and I also know they'll manage without him. He hasn't given me any flack about it, so I know he's happy.

I have lots to do before then. If you're thinking of a Cruise and need help (I was totally overwhelmed by things like triple occupancy and all the choices), let me know and I will give you the wonderful CruiseOne girl's contact information. She made it SO easy and had lots of good tips. What are your vacation plans? I'd love to hear!