Bermuda Here We Come!

Monday, May 2
Here we go!  Our Bermuda cruise vacation started yesterday.  We had to get up at 4:15 in the morning to leave the house no later than 5:30.  I had everything ready the night before to load into the car except the bathroom things. 
Mom and Dad are on the trip with us, along with another couple that we know from being very good clients of Hubby’s, as well as becoming friends of ours.  They are the ones that told us about this cruise they were going on and invited us to join them.  Don and Kay are about the same age as my parents - mid 70’s. 
Mom and Dad picked us up at exactly 5:30 and we headed out for the 3-1/2 hour drive to Allentown, PA, where we caught up with Don and Kay. We then transferred to a bus that took us directly to the Holland Cruise ship at the New York pier.

Mom checking the schedule at the bus station

We were already delayed by one day.  We were supposed to leave Sunday, but we got notice that the ship was delayed by a day because it wasn’t ready.  Then embarking was slightly delayed on Monday because the ship’s computers weren’t set up. 

l-r - Kay, Don, Mom and Dad - waiting some more at the cruise ship terminal in New York

A lot of "hurry up and wait".

Finally, we embark and set sail at about 6:00 pm.

 We’ll have two nights and one day at sea and land in Bermuda on Wednesday morning. We sailed past Ground Zero,  Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty in the New York harbor, which just seemed so appropriate and a little moving on this day after Osama Bin Laden was finally captured and killed 10 years after the terror he brought to this nation and to this very city.

The sun was setting quickly as we sailed out of the harbor, and this is the last picture I was able to get.  I don't know what New York City bridge this is.

We enjoyed the evening listening to live music being played in many locations around the ship, browsing the shops, playing a little bingo (didn’t win!), and watching a live show in the beautiful showroom. 

By then it was 10:00 at night and the long day had taken it’s toll on me.  First of all, I was freezing cold all day.  I need to get to some warm weather!  And they keep this boat too cold for my liking!  I was also overly tired from the days of preparing for the trip and the early and long day yesterday.  I now have laryngitis.  I think I just need to get some sleep.

Don't Mess With Me, Calli!

I'm off schedule!! Oh No!  I try to stay organized and on a schedule or I don't get everything done.  Sometimes that's hard to do.  It throws me for a day and then I re-group.  Yesterday just wasn't going as planned.

Usually on Tuesdays I do office work all day. This consists of mailings, letters and computer work for our Financial Planning business.  (My real work that actually makes some money, as Hubby reminds me).  I had already figured that office work may not get done this week because we are leaving Sunday for a 7 day cruise to Bermuda.  I'm very excited, especially to get out of this chilly, rainy weather we've been having.  Although I must say, yesterday was beautiful here and today's not bad.  This beautiful blue bird now comes to visit me twice a day.

 I ended up working in my garden all afternoon yesterday.  I had to! It felt so good!  It was too nice to not be outside and the gardens are still a mess from being buried under old Autumn leaves and then snow on top of that all winter. That was my Tuesday afternoon.  My Tuesday morning was a complete disgusting bust.

I walked downstairs first thing Tuesday morning to feed Calli, my cat, and to bring my storage boxes of summer clothes upstairs to decide what to pack.  I've never been on a cruise and I've never been to Bermuda.  I have no idea what to expect in the way of activities, weather (it better be nice!), and comfort.

Yesterday was supposed to be the start of the packing.  But instead, I woke up to a smell in my basement, which is a finished family room.  Hubby and I decided it was cat urine.  Our cat, 16 year old Callie, lives down there since she doesn't get along with the dogs upstairs and she sheds so much. I used to limit her domain to the furnace room, but fairly recently I started letting her occupy the whole downstairs.  She loves to just lay on the  couch, which I have covered with towels and sheets.

 Well, for some reason she had just recently peed behind the furnace. At least it's a concrete floor and not carpeted there.  She's never done that!  What was that about?!  She's an indoor cat and doesn't have claws so I can't just keep her outside all the time.  Anyway, I spent all morning scrubbing, bleaching, and washing the furnace room.  I was mad, in tears and ready to put her down.  I even called the vet and asked her about it.  Then I cried some more.  I know, it sounds like no big deal, but I can't stand the smell of cat urine and it is so hard to eradicate.  Then the cat goes back to the same place to go again if the smell stays there.  I just can't have that!  I got to thinking, though, that we had company over the weekend and my cousin and his son slept down there.  They invaded her new space and she got mad!  Once I decided that may be the issue, she got a reprieve!  She's old but she's healthy and the thought of just making that decision to put her down because I was mad at her made me so depressed.  And I don't think I could find another good home for her because she's a 16 year old cat that maybe pees where she shouldn't and doesn't love a lot of people.  Who wants to take that on?

So that  has been my quandary for a few days and it's just been making me sick.  But after the big clean up and the company has left we seem to be settled down again.  Now, though, we're going to be away for a week and my neighbor is going to come in to feed the cat.  How is she going to react to that?  The neighbor has done this before for us but Calli is getting funny in her old age.  If I come back to a smelly mess I'll need to do something.  Any suggestions?  I know this maybe sounds trivial and dumb, but it's a big deal to a clean freak like me, but yet loves her "babies".

Now in writing all these thoughts down, I think for now anyway, I've maybe answered my own question.  I'll just keep cleaning whenever I have to and let Calli live a happy spoiled life until she dies an easy natural old age death.  If she starts to suffer, versus me suffering, then I'll make that hard decision!.  That's my feeling today!  Yesterday was, and tomorrow possibly could be, a different story!

My Favorite Room

I have three rooms that I consider my favorites:  My sewing room, my loft and my tea room.  I consider these rooms my favorites because they are the only rooms in the house that I decorated the way I wanted, without any thought of it being too feminine for my husband.

I'm showing my tea room today only because the other two need a little cleaning and straightening first.  They are not photo ready!  I've shown my tea room before at Christmas time here.

Here's my very "me", froo-froo, feminine, room in the Spring.

Notice the little chandelier above the piano.  You all know how I love chandeliers.  The piano is at least 60 years old, passed down to my mother from my grandmother, and then down to me.  We've all taken piano lessons on this same piano, including my two sons when they were young.

The fainting couch was given to us by my sister-in-law.  She had it re-done and it's very old and beautiful.  The arms come down so that it lays flat.  When SIL was re-decorating her home she no longer had a place for this and knew it would go perfect in my room.

I have a small collection of red transfer-ware plates.  Some are hidden in a cupboard, but I love to see these hanging on the wall.  The small counted cross stitch quilt  of a piano next to them I made several years ago.

A hanging cupboard holds tea cups, a miniature crystal collection, and a Maude Humphrey collection.  The little purse necklace hanging on the door I knit from crochet string and beads.

This cupboard holds more teacups.  My better ones.  I also have a small collection of antique fan and floral vases.  The pillow on the floor is a cross stitch that I made.

More tea cups on the tea cart, along with a pewter coffee service that was given to us as a wedding gift by my cousin almost 32 years ago now.  Those rhododendron bushes in front of the window are almost ready to pop open and will be a beautiful purple any day now.  I'll get a picture of that when it happens.  It's so pretty, but they just don't last very long.

I made this tiny little Tea for Two quilt that sits on the tea cart.  My mother decorated the old antique silver spoon sitting next to it.

Now I need to get my other two girly rooms cleaned up and ready for their photo shoot.  Keep checking in.  My darling loft has yet to make it's pictorial debut.

Linked today to Show Off Your Cottage Monday
The Plumed Pen's Tuesday's Tea for Two
Lady Katherine's Tea Time Tuesday
Martha and Terri's Tea Cup Tuesday
A beach Cottage - Good Life Wednesday

Easter Without Kids

This Easter feels a little different than most since none of my kids will be here this year.

 I think this is the first year I haven't colored eggs.

I didn't buy my favorite marshmallow peeps.

I did buy a bouquet of tulips for my entrance table.  They brighten up the dreary  weather Easter weekend a little bit.

Hubby didn't want a bunch of candy sitting around just for us, but I did get some nonpareils with colored sprinkles to set in my candy dish.

My cousin, his wife and children came over from Harrisburg and spent Friday evening with us, so I did make some bite sized, raspberry filled brownies.  They are just a package mix and then I iced and sprinkled them.  They are (were) really good!

Tomorrow we'll go to church with Mom and Dad and then to the Lakeview Restaurant for brunch.

It will be a nice and pleasant Easter.  It's just different without my kids!

I wish a Happy Easter to everyone!

Powder Room Reveal

Here it is!  It's done!  Well, almost.  The side splash to the vanity top isn't in yet, but I tried to camouflage  it with a plant for now.
This remodel came with it's share of frustrations, as most remodels do.  From the huge hole in the wall behind the old light fixture to the plumbing pipe that had fallen down through a large hole in the bottom of the cabinet and into the floor.  You notice all the shortcuts taken by builders when you take on a job like this.
Hubby became very frustrated over these things because he insisted on doing the work himself.  My frustration came when I would ask him if I could call someone, such as a professional electrician and plumber.  His response to me would always be, "I can do this myself!".  O.K., O.K. but is it worth all this frustration?  Well, I now must say, he did a great job.  Much better than the original builders!
I showed the before pictures in a post several weeks ago, but I need to show them now next to the "afters".

Here's the "before" bathroom.  Not horrible, but very basic and low grade building materials.  Notice the solid green walls.

After:

The marble top, copper vessel bowl, faucet, toilet paper holder and towel ring were all ordered through Lowe's.  They were very helpful and knew their stuff.

Before:

After:

The Tuscan wash paint and murals were done by a professional painter/artist friend of mine.  As you can see, I didn't want to go with a basic bathroom light fixture.  I saw this little rusted metal chandelier and fell in love with it.  I already had the mirror and little "powder room" plaque.

Here was the big hole left behind the old fixture.  This was partway through the drywall patching that Hubby had to do.  It was just one big hole!

This is the cabinet before:

I asked Brenda, my painter, to make it look like a hand painted old piece of furniture.  That's exactly what she did.  She even put two little legs underneath the front.

Then came the new valance, from Lowe's

The new rug, from Wal-Mart

Just yesterday I finished up with accessories.  The rusted bronze vase and eucalyptus are from Wal-Mart.

I found this picture at Ross for $9.99.   It looks like Tuscan scenery to me and I just loved the frame. 

These wall sconces are also from Ross and they are hanging on the wall above the toilet.

Here was the old plastic wastebasket and basket for magazines.

This is the new magazine basket and wastebasket, from Ross for $4 and $5.

Much more Tuscan looking, don't you think?

I also wanted to change out the old plastic switch plate cover, which wasn't an easy thing to do.  The configuration of it is not a popular one and the only place I could find one to replace it was on-line.  I had it in a few days from Switch Plate Superstore.

There it is!  I'm very happy with it and find myself just turning on the pretty chandelier and just standing in there looking at everything!  

I'm linking this post to Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage Monday

and also to Creative Bloggers Party