Sara's Musings

The family went to the 31st annual Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville (about 1.5 hours from our house). We had so much fun.

John and I haven’t been to the Ren Fest in about 14 years. This was the children’s first time to go.

The theme this weekend was “1001 Dreams”. From the program guide:

“From the Magic Realm, from Stonehenge,

and from Avebury
Come join us now be ye Elf, Hobgoblin or Fairy
We’ll play for you whatever theme her Highness deems
May we present. . . One Thousand and One Dreams.”

“Fantasies come alive as our unworldly friends bring birthday gifts for the Queen from the outside realms. Wizards, elves and fairies will enchant New Market’s avenues as well as the Queen’s imagination.”

Sionna thinks fairies are “butterfly girls” and so she really enjoyed seeing so many people with fairy wings at the festival. We bought her a little pair of wings.

Connor wanted to try the bungee/trampoline activity, but was a little scared. After he finished the first time, he wanted to go again, but we made him wait a while. He did it 2 more times before we left.

We had fun in the Amazing Maze, riding a pony, riding an elephant, petting animals in the petting zoo, riding the carousel, seeing the shops, eating. . .

We thoroughly enjoyed the Scottish Highland Games in the Arena and Arsene (juggling, magic, comedy, mime) in the Odeon, but a real highlight for us was “Cast in Bronze” in the Cloister. This masked musician used a Carillon with huge bronze bells to make beautiful music.

It was a great family day!

John and I just returned from a 4-night cruise to Cozumel. Our ship was the Carnival Elation. This was our first cruise and we’re already planning for the next one!

John’s company, Simdesk, gave several employees a free cruise as a bonus. Spouses paid our own fares. Not bad though, about $420, considering that all meals are included.

Our cabin assignment was Main 87 – toward the front of the ship, the 2nd-to-lowest passenger deck, interior cabin with two twin beds that combined into one larger bed, and two pulldown beds – which I hit my head on twice during the trip – while the beds were up against the wall!

We were assigned the 5:45 p.m. dinner in the Inspiration dining room – this is just way too early to eat dinner! We were seated at a table with other Simdesk people – Pete & his wife Beth, and Corey & his wife Kathy. We had the same table assignment for the entire trip – it was great to spend time with other couples. Beth, Kathy and I began our friendship.

Day 1, Thursday, 29 September – departed from Galveston about 4 p.m. I was worried about getting seasick (packed the Dramamine), but was happy to feel great! Explored the ship a little. Loved the 24-hour pizzeria at the back of Tiffany’s Bar & Grill. Had to do the lifeboat drill – those lifejackets are incredibly uncomfortable – very heavy and feels
like it’s choking you (think Chris Farley in Tommy Boy :) Forgot my allergy meds – the infirmary gave me some generic Claritin for free.

Day 2, Friday, 30 September – spent all day at sea. Spent most of the day exploring the ship. We bought fountain drink cards – we drink a lot of soda and not too much liquor :) That night, I got really seasick after dinner – had to take the Dramamine. [Note to self: do not take this medicine when you drink wine with dinner!] I was feeling pretty loopy. We found out that the Simdesk crowd was doing Karaoke in the Cole Porter Club – had to go check that out! We don’t sing – at least never in public – but had a lot of fun watching everyone else do it!

Day 3, Saturday, 01 October – arrived at Cozumel about 9 a.m. We originally were going to take the planned excursion to the Mayan ruins at Tulum (on the mainland), but the trip was cancelled because there weren’t enough people to go on it. Very disappointing!!! So we took the highlights and shopping bus tour instead. We visited El Cedral – the oldest settlement in Cozumel, which featured the first church and a small Mayan Ruin. Of course, there was a little row of shops there, where I bought some jewelry. Then we went to a windy, rocky beach (don’t know the name of it, but it was where Rasta’s restaurant was). We stayed here for all of 15 minutes while vendors tried to get everyone to look at stuff. We got off the bus, took a few photos and got back on. Then we went Downtown and got dropped off with strict instructions about meeting the bus at the museum for the ride back to the ship. John and I wandered through some shops, buying some little things here and there. Then we came to Goodmark Jewelers. Goodmark advertises a line of real alexandrites (not lab-created), and I wanted to see them. The alexandrite is my birthstone, I have always wanted one, and it’s always been way too expensive. I really loved a little ring that was one of the least expensive, and yet barely in our price range – John gave it to me as a belated anniversary gift. It’s a .24 caret alexandrite surrounded by 10 small diamonds (.31 carets). It’s a delicate and beautiful ring. I had to get the ring sized, so we walked over to the museum and took a lot of photos there, then told our tour guide that we’d miss the bus back. Goodmark paid for a taxi back to the ship. [If you go to Goodmark, ask for Pablo Carranza – he was a very nice, informative and *not* pushy salesman.] As we walked from the taxi through the dock shops, we bought a few more little things – like some cool color-changing t-shirts and tequila-filled chocolates. We got back to the ship, ate a late snack, dressed for dinner, then went to enjoy more karaoke. [more dramamine, more seasickness]

Day 4, Sunday, 02 October – another day at sea, another day of dramamine. It turns out that the heavy waves causing my seasickness were from Tropical Storm (soon to be hurricane) Stan swirling in the Bay of Campeche. Got up at 7:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. pedicure in the spa. Very nice. A slow and lazy day doing nothing. Got our bags ready for debarking. Another nice dinner, more karaoke.

Day 5, Monday, 03 October – we arrived back at Galveston around 8 a.m. We had breakfast, waited for Main deck to be called for debarking. FINALLY around 11:30 a.m. we got called to debark. We were *so* ready to get off the ship. Had to wait about 30 minutes to get through customs, then another 30 minutes for John to get the SUV from the parking lot and bring it back to the terminal to load the luggage. Finally we were on the way home.

All in all, a very enjoyable trip, even with the seasickness. Now I know that I have a problem, can take the meds early, no longer a problem.

We’re thinking now about a family cruise on Disney next year.

I just clicked on the blog link from my website, www.buntyn.us, and realized that I haven’t posted in months. Where does the time go? So, I’ll try to be more consistent in the future.

We just had a very lovely traditional meal of ham, black-eyed peas and cornbread. Traditional New Year’s day food in my family anyway.

We spent an enjoyable New Year’s eve at the home of friends, Carlos and April. Some mutual friends, David and Julie, whom we had not seen for nearly three years, since they moved, were staying with April. Also there were April’s sister, Michelle and her husband Jamie.

We had a very nice evening of appetizers and finger foods, poker, tv, and talk. The kids, 6 girls and 2 boys, all had a good time.

We didn’t leave until just after 1 a.m., getting home around 2 a.m. Could we sleep? No – so we stayed up at least another hour, before finally going to sleep.

Well, we knew the snow wouldn’t last!

This morning was cold and clear, absolutely no snow left to look at. We opened presents. We ate Christmas dinner and enjoyed all the family time.

The kids received, as anyone could have predicted, a lot of new toys. Connor was especially thrilled with 2 new large Imaginext sets, and a travel lite-brite. Sionna seemed especially happy about the “rocking horse” Pooh bear her aunt and uncle gave her, although she doesn’t want to rock on it, just hug it all day!

What a peaceful day!

Well, my washer and dryer were finally delivered! Sears had informed me that the delivery would be made between 5 and 7 p.m. tonight. The delivery truck came at 6:45!

The guys attached the pedestals to the machines outside on the street, then wheeled them around the very long driveway to the back door. We had successfully shifted the freezer earlier in the day, so they had no problem putting the new machines in.

Mom noticed a scrape on the top of the dryer (the enamel was scraped off the porcelain) and the washer had a couple of minor scratches. The driver said he could call it in and Sears would negotiate a refund with me, or I could get new appliances.

Since I had already been waiting over 2 weeks for these, I wasn’t about to ask for new ones. I’m the only one looking at these appliances every day, and minor cosmetic damage doesn’t bug me.

So, Sears is giving me a refund of $160 (12%) on the washer and $120 on the dryer (15%). Those checks are going directly to pay the Sears card!

My very first laundry load in the new washer — my king-size comforter — really showed me the awesome capacity of this machine.

The comforter fit in the washer with no problem. In the past, I couldn’t fit it in the conventional large capacity top-loader because of the agitator. [I always had to take it to the laundromat, which meant it would get used for a month, then be wadded up on the floor for the next 5 months, waiting to go to the dreaded laundromat.] I washed the comforter, dried it, and put in on the bed in about 1 and 1/2 hours. I love it! I can wash this comforter as often as I need to now, and it will never live on the floor again!

WOO HOO!

The snow has been lightly falling off and on all day. It is just thick enough to allow footprints to show (maybe 1/2 to 1 inch).

I took photos with the digital camera of the wooden bridge to the street, the slide, and the garbage can (of all things :) to remember what the small amount of snow looked like.

Awesome!

We actually have snow flurries outside at this very minute!!

Predictions are that the snow won’t last, but WOW! I only remember “snow” in Houston a handful of times in my lifetime.

How awesome that my kids get to experience snow in Houston!

We went to the zoo tonight, as it was the very last night for the Winter Wild activities. It was bitterly cold tonight, in the 30s I believe. We tried to bundle up the kids as best as we could.

This year all the activities were going on in the children’s zoo area, mostly outdoors. The carousel was playing Christmas-themed music. Sionna and I rode on a bench one time, while Connor rode on a creature (don’t remember which one – all the creatures are endangered species). Sionna was a little freaked out at first, then she really seemed to enjoy the ride. After that ride, Connor rode the carousel two more times.

It was really too numbingly cold to comfortably decorate cookies in the (outside) pavilion. Connor played with the goats in the petting zoo for all of two minutes. He also decided that he didn’t want to speak with “Safari Santa”. I asked him why not, and he replied, “Don’t you remember Mom, I talked to the Santa at Mr. Ray’s party last week, so I don’t need to talk to this one.” Ooo-kaaay!

We spent some time in the Reptile House, which was nice and warm. We always like to see the leucistic alligator, it’s really cool — it’s a white alligator with a couple of dark spots and blue eyes, which prevents it from being an albino, which is why it’s called “leucistic”.

Connor and John went to the Aquarium, while Sionna and I went to the Gift Shop, mainly to see if we could find any gloves for John. [The only gloves they had, which John *did* buy out of desperation (it really *was* cold), were black with a little shimmer. To which my brother said, later in the week – “Woo hoo hoo, we’ll just call you Michael Jackson!”]

I of course, had to buy some other stuff at the Gift Shop, but we did get 20% members discount that night.

Then we walked through Hermann Park looking at all the lights for about 30 minutes or so. We thought about eating out, but Sionna fell asleep really fast, so we just went through Wendy’s drive-through on the way home. All that exposure to cold air just really put me in the mood for a large chili!

All in all, the zoo and park were a lot of fun tonight.

We bought a new vehicle today!  A 2005 Ford Escape Limited, black exterior with black leather Interior. This baby is SLICK!

We looked at some base models, then this one, at a few more in-between models, this one again, a few more, then back to this one.  The great impression we had of this SUV grew on us every time we went back to it.

We chose dealer financing, 6.5% with $2000 cash back (down payment), for 60 months. Our payment will be $537/month.

We added a better alarm, a DVD player with LCD screen, and the extended warranty coverage to 5 years/100,000 miles.

John and I agreed that this is absolutely the nicest vehicle we have ever owned — and we are going to keep it sparkling clean and well-kept!

We bought the Escape at Mac Haik Ford, a dealership with which we have a long-standing relationship (at least 8 years). We felt comfortable with the salesman, and with the deal we made — no second-guessing for us.

As for the Taurus, the dealership wanted so much to fix it, we chose not to do so at this time.  A tow-truck driving friend of my brother hauled it home for us at no charge. [He refused to take any money for the tow — so we decided to treat him to a pool night at Slick Willie’s very soon.]

So the Taurus is parked in the backyard. My other brother thinks we can fix it for about $1000 if we do most of the work ourselves, maybe $1500 if we pay an independent mechanic. The dealership wanted $2400 – and they had not finished evaluating it at that time!

John kept asking me if I was comfortable in the driver’s seat of the Escape, which I am. He implied (but didn’t overtly state) that the Escape will be MY vehicle once we fix the Taurus and I get my unrestricted license. WOO HOO!