Robbery on Cruise excursion in Puerto Vallarta

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/26/world/mexico-cruise-robbery/index.html?hpt=hp_t3


"Twenty-two Carnival Cruise Lines passengers were robbed of valuables and their passports during a shore excursion in the Mexico seaside resort of Puerto Vallarta, cruise officials said late Saturday.
The passengers were robbed Thursday during a guided trail excursion, according to a statement released by the cruise line."


Very interesting.  Wayne and I went on a very similar cruise, to Puerto Vallarta, Maztlan, and Cabo San Lucas, in March 2010.  Wayne even went on a big shore excursion with probably twenty people, on a bus.  Now I can see that the crime and violence has gotten worse in the past 2 years.


Another interesting paragraph said:

"The 3,000-plus passenger Carnival Splendor set sail February 19 from Long Beach, California, for a seven-day Mexican Riviera cruise that included stops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, according to the ship's online itinerary.
The travel warnings and reports of increasing violence in Mexico have caused many cruise lines to curb their itineraries, either eliminating and shortening stops.
A number of cruise lines dropped Mazatlan from itineraries last year following a spike in violence."

So it looks like lots of cruises don't even go to Mazatlan anymore.

Cruise Feb. 2012 to the Bahamas Part 3

Wed. Feb. 8, 2012 NASSAU, BAHAMAS

We got off the ship at 9:30 am and met Joe, with his lovely airconditioned tour bus. There was only 6 of us, it cost $40 each, $240 total for a 4 hour private guided tour of Nassau.

“Island Marketing/Nassau Private Island Tour”, Bahamas local phone number: 242-424-8294

At Fort Fincastle in Nassau, Bahamas

We got out and toured Fort Fincastle, walked down the Queen's Staircase, then got back on the bus. He showed us all the government buildings, then drove us to Atlantis, the huge casino/hotel complex.  Back in the van, he took us to the docks under the bridge, similar to a farmer's market for fishermen, and he bought a live conch. 

The fisherman whacked the shell with a hammer, then stuck a knife in to kill it, then Marilu got to pull the conch out of its shell. 

Eewww!  The conch looked like intestines.

Here is a photo as the fisherman was cutting up the conch.  Notice the dirty old plywood table on which he is chopping the meat.  Notice the white plastic container, that was filled with water and he kept washing off his knife in it, also rinsing the meat off in it.  I can't believe Wayne ate here!

We could watch the guy slaughter it, but it made me sick to look so I got back in the van. Joe, Marilu, and Wayne each ate some raw conch chopped up with onions and peppers. DISGUSTING.

Then Joe took us through the slums of Nassau, and on to the fancy rich neighborhoods. We saw Cable Beach, where the first telephone cable was laid under the ocean from Jupiter, Florida, to Nassau.

Wednesday night we went to see 2 comedians, Azeem and William Troxler, both were funny. Marilu, me, and Wayne played cards in the buffet, “Up and Down the River”, that has become our favorite card game lately, ever since the De Oliveira's taught it to us. At 11 pm the Mexican buffet started, so we ate that and then went to bed 1:00 am.

Thursday, Feb. 9 AT SEA

Went to debarkation training, then Wayne and I walked all over the ship for exercise.  There was a chilly wind so we couldn't stay outside long. At one point we cut through the buffet, and the desserts looked so good we had to stand there and eat a few (defeating the purpose of us exercising.).

I started feeling a little seasick, so I went back to our room. Wayne went to the hot tub for his only time there.He never swam in the pool at all, every day was too cool. He also went to a Magic Show with his mom.

We had another great dinner, but I ate so much it was painful. The overfull feeling mixed with the rocking of the ship, and I got very nauseous. I had to go in our room and go straight to sleep. Luckily, I felt better just in time to go to the theater and watch the production show, “Ticket to Ride”, with the ships dancers and band. It was a tribute to the Beatles, and I had been looking forward to it. 

However, it was a big disappointment, one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Lame “acting” to the words of “Eleanor Rigby” and “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Lovely Rita Meter Maid”, too much sexually suggestive dancing, and thong underwear under all the short skirts costumes so they looked like bare bottoms when they twirled. 

That show made up my mind, I will never sail Carnival ships again. Their choreographers and costumers are too lewd for me.

Friday, Feb. 10 Charleston, SC. Debarkation.  We took Cindy and Mother to the Charleston airport and dropped them off, and then drove home.

Sunday: Marilu and Wickie flew home.

Cruise Feb. 2012 to the Bahamas Part 2

Monday Feb 6- KEY WEST FLORIDA. Wayne went with his mom and Marilu, they walked all over Key West.

Cindy, Mother, and I took the free Conch Tour train to the center of town, and paid $15 to go inside the Ship wreck Museum. It wasn't worth $15 but it was interesting. I wish we had paid $12 to go inside the Mel Fisher museum, one of our tour guides said it was the best thing on the island.

Then we walked through the Truman Complex and looked at the outside of the Little White House. Then we found the Curry Mansion Inn and had a self-guided tour. It was amazing! Everything I ever wanted in a home tour. I especially loved that we were able to take photos. (The two homes we toured in Charleston didn't allow any pictures.)

The Curry Mansion Inn at 511 Caroline Street, Key West, Florida

The interior was JUST GORGEOUS!

                Photo of Cindy coming out the trapdoor in the roof onto the widow's walk.  We could see all over Key West!  We were 5 stories up.

The owner, Edith Amsterdam, must be the most trusting woman in the world, because we were all over that house, looking at her beautiful antiques and family photos and knick knacks, with no one watching us. It is a bed and breakfast, so the occupied beddrooms were locked. The rest of the house was well worth seeing. What a gorgeous bed and breakfast!

Then we went back to the ship....

Usually the formal night is a night when you are at sea, and have time to get dressed up. However, the Superbowl messed that up, so we had formal night that evening when we got back from Key West.

We convinced Wayne's mom to get lots of portraits made, and we bought one of her alone and also one of her, Marilu and Wayne.

Wayne's mom

 Wayne, me, my mother, and my sister Cindy

Me, Wayne, his mother, and his sister Marilu

We went to the big dancing and singing show, and were disappointed that the female dancers wore thong bottoms with their costumes, you could see their whole rear ends. The men danced really gay and had really gay costumes (shirtless and little bikini bottoms in some numbers.)

Tuesday Feb. 7- FREEPORT, BAHAMAS. Wow, what a disappointment. I had read on the internet that this port was really depressed since Hurricane Wilma had wiped out a bunch of high rise hotels in 2005?. But it was a complete loser of a port for me. I could have stayed on the ship and had more fun.

Wayne and Marilu and Wickie rented a car for $70, and paid $20 for gas. He had to drive on the left side of the road 20 miles to Lucaya National Park Beach, and they absolutely loved it. I don't like beaches so I am glad I didn't go with them.

Cindy and mother convinced me to take the $10 each round trip taxi bus out of the port area to go to Port Lucaya. What a waste of money and time. It was just a little collection of junky souvenir shops. I bought one $4 deck of cards and we got back in the next bus and came back to the ship.  I spent a couple of hours on free wifi in the port.

To Be Continued

Cruise Feb. 2012 to the Bahamas Part 1

Wayne's mother and sister, and my mother and sister, came with us.

First, we all stayed in Charleston.  We went to historic Charleston, and toured the Aiken-Rhett house, which was not restored. It had all original interior that was deteriorated, to show it the way it was donated. Then we toured the Nathaniel Russell house, which had been restored to its glamour. It had a floating spiral staircase which was amazing, only supported by the landings on one side.  It irked me that they wouldn't let me take photos, because I really love historical home tours, they are my favorite.   

We also rode the ferry to Fort Sumter, which was great because I have studied extensively about the Civil War.  It is always good to visit historical places because then I can picture where everything is.

Sat. Feb. 4- We got onto the ship "Carnival Fantasy" at 12 noon. 

Cindy, my mom, and me. 

Carnival Fantasy is the only ship that sails out of Charleston. We picked this ship because it is the only one available so close to our house. We were able to drive to Charleston in exactly 5 hours, and on one tank of gas. So we were really glad we didn't have to pay for airfare.

This was our second cruise, we went with my Mother in March 2010 for her 80^th birthday (on the Princess Sapphire). When I found the price of $435 per person in November 2011, we opened it up to both sides of the family, but these 4 people were the only one who decided to come with us.

 I wore seasick prevention wristbands the whole time and never felt seasick until the last evening. 

Sunday Feb. 5- AT SEA:  It was the SuperBowl Sunday night, so all the lounges and theaters in the ship had big screen TV's showing the game. They were serving fingerfood everywhere, so lots of people didn't go to the dining room for dinner. Also, because of the Superbowl, there was no big show tonight.

I got the impression that the reason this particular cruise was the cheapest price of the year was that it was SuperBowl Sunday.  I can imagine that every husband said to his wife, "I don't want to go on a cruise that week!" and so most people chose another week to go.  So they had to put this week on a special sale to fill it up.

To Be Continued

Just what I needed to see...

Great.  Just the image I need in my head.  I was worried enough already that the Euro and Dollar are going to crash while we are gone.

This happened today near Italy.

Books I read on the Cruise

I read these books while I was gone:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Absolutely outstanding. This will go into my list of favorite books I've ever read. It is a novel completely written in letters (kind of like "A Woman of Independent Means"), and you get to know the characters through their letters back and forth to each other. The main character, Juliet Ashton, is a writer just after World War II, who finds out about the German occupation of the channel island of Guernsey, and writes letters back and forth to the people there. The suffering they went through was heart-wrenching.

I adored each and every character in this book






Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I have to say that I liked this book less than I liked a similar Austen-rewrite, Sense and Sensibility and SeaMonsters. But that is natural, because I really really enjoy the original Sense and Sensibility better than I like the original Pride and Prejudice.

Both of these re-writes are fascinating and funny, because of course we all know the original plots, and it is so hysterical to see the "P and P" plot mixed in with a zombie invasion, or in the case of "S and S and S", all sorts of maneating octupii and sharks.






Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

This was just a bit of fluff, quite enjoyable though. The main character is a woman from 2010 who suddenly wakes up in Regency England, living the life of a woman in a Jane Austen novel. I loved the contrasts between what she was used to in our century and what she had to go through there (no baths, no toilets, strict social conventions, class boundaries between commoners and gentry, marriages of convenience.)

Fun Times on the Ship

Photos: Walking around on the promenade deck. Eating dinner at the first formal night, which was Sunday night. (I bought a strappy black formal and a black lace jacket. Then I wore a nude-colored Tshirt under the strappy formal, so it looks like skin showing but it isn't. )

I really enjoyed the entertainment on the ship. Every night we went to either a production show with singers and dancers in the theater, or to a comedian in one of the lounges. I really liked the comedian Carlos Oscar, and the comedian Steve Moris.

I also went to the ship's Trivia game, and while there I heard these dumb jokes:

A blonde and a brunette jump out of an airplane. Which one landed first? The brunette. The blonde had to stop and ask directions.

Did you hear about the new Divorce Barbie? She comes with all of Ken's stuff.

What do you call a cow with 3 legs? Tritip.

Cow with 2 legs? Lean beef.

Cow with 1 leg? Steak.

Cow with no legs? Ground beef.

Where would you find a dog with no legs? Where you left him.

What do you call a donkey with 3 legs? Wonky.

Why don't cannibals eat clowns? Because they taste funny.

What is green and red and goes round and round? A frog in a blender.

What do you call a dinosaur with one eye? Doyouthinkhesaurus

My brother Larry sang in the "Princess Idol" preliminary competition, but didn't make it to the next round. He sang "Marguaritaville".

Go Backwards for more photos

IMPORTANT: I got on the computer last night and added some photos to all the blog posts I wrote about the cruise so far. So go back clear to March 23 and you can see the pictures that go along with each day.







We had fun dressing up for the two formal nights on our cruise. (Sorry, I still don't know how to turn a photo using this Mac.)


Wayne says his favorite 12 hours of the whole week was the day he spent sailing in Long Beach Harbor with my brother Jamey.

I completely disagree (mostly because I was overdosed on anti-nausea medicine while we were sailing.) I loved the whole cruise experience. Looking back, I think having so many options to do at any one time on the cruise ship was great, and I loved going to dancing classes, the Ultimate Ship Tour (because I love exploring behind the scenes), and EATING nonstop. If I think of any of my other favorite things, I will let you know.
(Photos of the 40 ft. sailboat we rented for Saturday after getting off the cruise ship.)

Food, Glorious Food

(Look at this gorgeous watermelon carved so that it looks like a floral bouquet.)
I had been on the South Beach diet from January to March, so when I stepped foot on that ship I was ready to pig out. I considered that all those uneaten calories were sitting in a calorie bank account just waiting for me to spend them.

We had dinner at 5:45 every evening, at the same table with the same waiters. It was like a 5 star restaurant. Very fancy entrees, appetizers, desserts, with the plates beautifully decorated. The first night I had no idea how to order, I tried to order just an entree, and the waiter said, "Is that all you want?" and I got confused and asked him what all the things on the menu were. After that I got the hang of it, and just ordered everything that looked good. I tried to keep track of my food in my diary, here's what I remembered to write down:

Sat: Hawaiian Pork
Sun: Halibut. Dessert- Love Boat Dream chocolate mousse, raspberry ice cream.
Mon: roast beef.
Tues: French onion soup. Veal cordon bleu.
Wed: Fried chicken, cheese soup.
Thurs: Entree was Pumpkin Crepes. Dessert: Banana ice cream and chocolate mousse pie.
Fri: Meatloaf, Baked Alaska

(Plus I usually had about 2 appetizers and at least 2 desserts per meal.)

I might not be perfectly suited for cruise food, because you can see that I really don't have that fancy of tastes. I ordered pretty normal foods because I don't like to try exotic foods and I don't like seafood. The chef was from Australia, and had been trained in Europe, so all the desserts were European. I have to admit that by the end of the cruise, I began to think of things that I was missing ( warm Tollhouse cookies, tapioca pudding, pecan pie, Boston cream filled Dunkin Donuts).

But all in all, the food was DELICIOUS and I will definitely try to do this again.

AQS Magazine, Ultimate Ship Tour

Some exciting news: Chris B. from American Quilters magazine called me and asked if they can keep my quilt "Five-Thirty A.M" a few days longer and photograph it for the AQ magazine. She doesn't know if they want to feature it as a pattern or if they want to put it as the final photo featured at the back of the magazine. Either way, I'm thrilled.


Also, I want to tell about my Ultimate Ship Tour, which I took on Friday. I was lotteried in as one of the 14 people on the ship that got to be on this tour. I had to pay $150 but it was way worth it. The tour took us all over the ship, into the places that passengers don't usually get to see.

We went backstage at the theater, saw the dressing rooms and the costume storage, and the cabins of the singers and dancers. They had so many costumes that they were stored on a sort of electric dry-cleaner rack that spiralled up 3 stories above the stage, they just pushed a button to spiral the dresses around and find the ones they wanted.

We toured the photography office (they print 10,000-15,000 8x10s on each cruise), and the printers office, where they gave each of us a thick personalized notepad with "Ultimate Ship Tour" and our names on each page.

We saw the galley (kitchen) and all the frozen food locker-rooms, the refrigerated locker-rooms, the holding rooms where they stored all the pounds of chopped vegetables they had chopped for the next meal, the humongous soup pots, the holding ovens, the big grills. It was all electric, because of the danger of fire. The ceiling, floors, walls were all steel.

Everything was absolutely clean, not a smudge or piece of dirt anywhere. I was impressed. They served each of us a delicious virgin cocktail and some fancy cookies, and we got our picture taken with the chef, Loreto Bembo, and the ships purser, Georgianna ____.

They have 184 cooks and 64 galley cleaners.

The laundry was almost the best part. They had gigantic tablecloth machines, two men put in the two corners of a wet tablecloth, it went into the presser and it got pressed dry, and then the machine folded it and it came out a little folded square. The same with towels, washcloths, napkins, each had their special machine that folded them.

There were washing machines that washed 350 towels at once, and it only took 5 minutes.

We went in the engineer room, and saw all the computers and video cameras showing the engine rooms and funnels, etc. We didn't actually get to go where the engines were. They told us how the heat from the ships engines is used to distill the water for the ship. They don't load water onto the ship, all the water is distilled. The ship can distill 30 tons of water per hour from salt water. I drank the water all week and it tasted great.

They told us that the ship weighs 70,000 tons, and to go from full speed to stopping takes 5 minutes and 1.5 miles, changing engines from full steam ahead to full astern.

Then for our last stop, we got to visit the bridge and talk to the 2nd officer and the captain and have our pictures taken there, while they all had champagne and I just had more fancy cookies. The bridge looked just like Star Trek except instead of stars there was a window 50 meters across with an ocean to look at. Lazy-boy type chairs and lots of computers and instrument panels. They had double back-up on every system, but they also had a regular old style sextant and compass, etc, in case everything broke at once. All the officers lived in cabins right next door, within 20 feet of the bridge, in case of an emergency they can all get there in about 1 minute.

That was about the best $150 I ever spent, I LOVE seeing behind the scenes.

Oh, I also got a fluffy embroidered "Sapphire Princess" bathrobe and a chef's uniform and the photos included for the price.

Getting Our Land Legs

We got home Sunday night at 10:30. It is weird, I can still feel the movement of the ocean, when I am laying in bed or sitting here typing, I think the house is going up and down with the waves.

Our tile all looks good in the bathrooms, the finishing touches are not quite done but will be in the next day or two. I need to paint behind the master bath toilet before Luke can put the toilet back on.

We found out that the kids somehow didn't close the freezer door properly in the garage and all our food got thawed. More money down the drain.

I gained 6 pounds on the cruise. Now its time to get back on the South Beach diet. I am determined to get back to my skinniest weight again.

Wayne had way more fun sailing on the sailboat with Jamey on Saturday than I did. I took 2 Bonine tablets to prevent seasickness, and they put me right out. I was so close to being unconscious all day that I was a zombie when I wasn't napping.

Will tell you more about my cruise tomorrow.

News from Cabo San Lucas

This will be my last post before I get home.

By the way, I checked the AQS website and I didn´t win an award. Oh well.

We had to take a tender (a little boat) from the ship to the port, then walk through a lot of people yelling "want to go whale watching? want to go on a glass bottom boat? want to swim with dolphins? want a taxi? want to go on a jet ski?" etc all the way to the shopping district. Cheryl started screaming from frustration.

Mother loves to look in every jewelry store. Jamey bought a very expensive watch yesterday. I bought a cutesy little handmade purse, bright colors, I bet you are not surprised.



Wayne, Larry, Rona and Jamey went on a snuba outing today, thats SNUBA not scuba.

Our room is on the Lido deck, so every time I see the sign for our floor, I start singing the Lido Shuffle in my head the rest of the day..."Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack, but that was all he missed, so he aint going back....oh oh oh oh, Lido!!" and I am so so sick of that song.

Tonight is the second formal night so I will wear the taupe formal that I wore to Adam´and Tiffanys wedding, so I can dance and the big full skirt will twirl.

For the next several days, only random posts will appear, and I will do another update on Monday morning I hope. We will be home late Sunday night.

I can´t wait to see my new bathroom tile, Luke has been finishing it while we are gone.

News from Mazatlan

(Photo of the Papantla Flyers, descending from a 60 ft. tall pole with ropes around their legs. Part of the entertainment that we saw on our bus tour.)


(Photo of my mother and I at the cathedral in Mazatlan.)

I left the ship and came over here to the terminal all by myself. Thanks for all your emails, that made me feel good that you all wrote. Now I know what missionaries feel like.
Me and the girls went on a tour today, airconditioned bus for 3 hours all over Mazatlan. Wow the houses and buildings are all bright colors just like on my quilts. I want to paint my house lime green with purple accents like here.

We love the shows, and last night Wayne and I went to a big band dance and danced the swing, waltz, etc. then left that one and went to the 50's dance and did the swing and the twist and the handjive.

A few days ago we took salsa lessons and line dancing lessons. Wayne would like to be Fred Astaire someday, thats ok by me, he is a good dance partner.

I have not been in shorts or swim suit yet, it has only been about 75 degrees at the hottest but usually I have been indoors so I wasn't ever hot enough for shorts.

We looked great on formal night, we bought the portrais for our 30th anniversary portrait.

I have never felt sea sick a bit, just every now and then it feels just like being on an airplane and sways a little bit so I look drunk as I'm walking. (But I'm not drunk.)(Just wanted to be sure you knew that.)

We are having a WONDERFUL time. Wayne said the first evening, "WE HAVE GOT TO DO THIS AGAIN!!!!!!" so I am sure we will.

News from Puerto Vallarta

(Our Oklahoma relatives finally got on the ship in Puerto Vallarta. Here are Larry and Rona.)



(Carla and Kyle in Puerto Vallarta)


(Cindy and mermaid sculpture.)

I am in an internet cafe in Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. We have been on a fabulous cruise since Saturday.

Five of our group got delayed by snow in Oklahoma for 4 hours on Saturday, and arrived at the LA airport a half hour after the ship left the dock. It was so sad. The trip insurance we think will cover their flight to Puerto Vallerta and their hotel, they flew here instead and spent the last 3 days waiting for us, and they boarded the ship this morning.

I haven´t been seasick a bit.

Wayne has been stuck on Eastern time and has woken up at 3:30 am every morning, and has gone out of the room to read by the pool, or work out at the gym, or swim, or hot tub.

I am gaining weight for sure, we eat at least 7 desserts a day.

We will be in Mazatlan tomorrow, and Cabo San Lucas the next day, and i will try to find an internet cafe each time.

To my family: Gee thanks for writing to me. I got zero emails. You better write to me for tomorrow.

My Mother's 80th Birthday

This is my beautiful mother, and she is 80 years old today.

Wayne and I, my siblings and my mother are on a 7-day cruise right now to celebrate this milestone in her life. She has been a wonderful mother to me.

Sea Cruise

Tomorrow morning bright and early we are flying to Los Angeles, where we are meeting my whole family and we are going on a cruise to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday.

We will be visiting Mazatlan, Puerto Vallerta, and Cabo San Lucas, and we will be on the "Princess Sapphire" cruise ship.

I will tell you all about it when I get back.

I am excited!

Rude Neighbor, Etc.

I went out to bring in my empty trash can from the street, and discovered that some rude dogwalker had dropped a plastic bag of dog doodoo into my trash can. Now I can't put my trash can back into my garage, because I don't want that to smell up my garage for a week. I am not happy.

(Added later) If you read this post earlier today, sorry, but I thought it was too negative so I decided to add more.

Good news: Zac has found an Eagle project. He will be constructing a wooden set of rolling shelves, to hold backpacks of kids who attend classes at the Bond Park Community Center. The unit will have cubbies to hold 40 backpacks.

I found something to wear to the formal nights on the cruise. I bought a gorgeous lace jacket at a resale shop, to go with a black chiffon skirt I bought at Goodwill. Total price: $65.

I finished painting our master bathroom. This week Luke is going to start tiling all 3 bathrooms.

And I just discovered a new favorite show on HGTV. It is on Sunday nights at 9, "Sarah's House". She and her husband bought an older home, and they are renovating it. I love the way she finds bargains and ways to get very upscale looking results without spending much money.

Skinny Minnie

Announcement: I have now lost 20 pounds, from my highest weight in Jan. 2009 until now. I AM PROUD OF MYSELF.

My clothes are all baggy. I can button sweaters and jackets that I used to wear open with a tshirt under. I have gotten all new pants since last year. My skirts' waistbands are all loose.

(By the way, I give all the credit to the South Beach Diet. The principles I learned there have made all the difference in the way I eat. Mostly by eating lots of vegetables and some lean protein, and skimping or eliminating all the pasta and breads, all that weight has come off.)

The bad news: I am going on a cruise in two weeks. So goodbye baggy clothing. It was nice while it lasted.


AND Here is a link to a great talk by Elder Dallin Oaks, one of the apostles in our church. He gave this speech to the Harvard Law School on Feb. 26, 2010 http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/fundamental-premises-of-our-faith-talk-given-by-elder-dallin-h-oaks-at-harvard-law-school

Little Seamstress

I wrote a few days ago about Elizabeth sewing 5" on my quilt.

Then I went to babysit there again, and I planned to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to know if she really liked sewing or if I was pushing it on her.

I got to her house, Thomas was napping, and Elizabeth came up to me and said, "Let's look in your bag." So I let her look at all my quilting stuff again.

She said, "My friends said I don't know how to sew, but I DO know how to sew. I want to sew!"

So I threaded the needle and helped her push it in at the right place, and then she pulled it through, and we did that all the way around---12 inches worth of a running stitch!!!!! And she didn't want to stop, but I had to knot off the thread because we were at the end.

She is 3 1/2 years old. I am in shock.

And when we were done, she said again, "My friends say I don't know how to sew. But I DO know how to sew." It was kind of a mantra with her, she was proving to herself that it was true. Amazing.

She also said, "I want to sew my own quilt." So I promised her that next time I would bring her own quilt to sew on. I guess I'll make some little patchwork thing so she can hand quilt it, thats obviously what she likes to do.


Also, I just bought 2 new shirts for my cruise. I am getting excited to go. I wish I could find a very cheap formal. I don't care for the only one I have, but it is going to have to do unless I find a good deal.

Getting Skinny

After I had gained a few pounds at Christmas, I went on the South Beach diet, and am proud to announce that I am at my skinniest since 1996!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!

I had to get down to "skinny" because I am planning to eat like a pig during our cruise and I don't want to worry at all.

Plus, I know that using the South Beach diet, I can lose it all again after the cruise anyway. It is a great diet. I first used it in 2009 and lost ten pounds. Then I stayed at that weight for a year (gaining a bit at Christmas), and now I've gone on it again and have lost 7 more. That is 16 pounds lost in all (but of course I did it in two tries.)

I think it is a very healthy and smart diet. If you've never read the book, the author/doctor explains that when people eat carbohydrates, their blood sugar goes up, their body makes insulin, and then later the blood sugar plummets, and then the person wants more sugar.

I used to do that all the time. I would feel hungry, eat cookies or candy, then an hour later I was ravenous.

With this diet, he teaches you to eat nuts, or cheese, or vegetables, (either a protein or a high fiber thing) and then it satisfies your hunger, and you don't get that spike in blood sugar that makes you hungry an hour later.

I can honestly say I feel stuffed all the time, because I can constantly eat, but it is mostly vegetables and things that make me full without piling on the calories. I lose about 10 pounds in three weeks and it stays off.

Read "The South Beach Diet" by Dr. Agatston, I learned everything from that book. But you can also go to the South Beach Diet website http://www.southbeachdiet.com/sbd/publicsite/how-it-works/how-it-works.aspx




(Sorry, politics is huge this week.)
Here is a great article: "The Incredible Deflation of Barack Obama" by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, from the US News and World Report, Jan. 22, 2010. http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/mzuckerman/2010/01/21/mort-zuckerman-the-incredible-deflation-of-barack-obama.html?PageNr=1

Here's a paragraph from the article:

Most critically, Obama misjudged the locus of the country's anxiety: the economy. Instead of concentrating on jobs, jobs, jobs, he made the decision to "boil the ocean" and go for everything, from comprehensive health reform to global warming to a world without nuclear weapons ... and the beat goes on.

This was more than the Congress could absorb and more than the country could understand. Obama, the theoretician in a hurry, made no allowance for the normal resistance to dramatic change and the public's distaste for big government, big spending, and big deficits. He didn't seem to realize that Americans understand in the most personal terms that excessive debt has real consequences, given how many have mortgages that exceed the value of a home and credit lines that are too much to carry. Yet this was what the president seemed to be getting us into. Over 60 percent of the country believes that government spending is excessive; Obama's lowest approval ratings come from his mishandling of the present and future deficits.