Hello Hello Fresh

I've got myself in a small financial situation that I am not happy with. I did a lot of work keeping my credit card in check and paying it off every month. It felt good. I felt like an adult. 

Recently, though, my credit card is at a limit I am unhappy with. See, Sherrie and I had to pay for our cruise and our flights and our excursions withing a couple of weeks of each other. That added an amount to the card that didn't allow me to pay it off by the end of the month. 

Now, my credit card balance is small in comparison to the average US citizens credit card balance. The average household carries around $7-$8 thousand in debt. I'm not near there, could easily get there, but my plan is to not get there.

Naturally, I start to look at my budget and find areas I can pull in the financial belt a little. The first thing that YELLED at me was my monthly grocery bill. 

See, I like cooking. And I like cooking new recipes all the time. I tend to have a goal every year of how many new recipes I can try. It's great fun and I've made some really great meals. I've made as many equally gross meals too, but that's not what's important here. The point is, cooking new recipes every night of the week costs $$. And as a single person, it's harder because when you need one ingredient, maybe a tablespoon of it, you have to buy the whole jar/can/package. AND, since I don't particularly like leftovers, it feels like a lot of $$ going to waste. 

I started thinking about where I could cut there and came to a couple conclusions: 

1. There's no need to cook a BRAND new recipe each night. I could cook some old recipes and possibly some favorite recipes. 

2. I need to use what I have. I inventoried the freezer and pantry and will focus on recipes that use up those items. 

3. Consider a service, like Hello Fresh.

I did Home Chef back in 2017 and I loved it! Mostly. It was still new and I think they were still figuring out quality. I had some terrible tasting beef a couple of times, which limited me to just getting chicken/pork/fish. And frankly, I got bored with their options. There wasn't a ton compared to now. 

So I figured I would give Hello Fresh a try. 

Here's the thing, my grocery bill was anywhere from $200-$250 per week. That's insane for a single person who doesn't like leftovers. So my goal was to drop my grocery bill to be no more than $150 per week. To do that, I felt I had to get creative. 

I was surfing the Interwebs and an offer for Hello Fresh came up. I took a gander and for three meals, for 2 people per week it's around $70. So I figured, why not give that try and supplement the other three meals by using what's in my pantry/freezer and seeing if I can get my grocery bill less than $150. 

I was not as successful as I thought I'd be today, but I can say my total bill (including hello fresh) was less than $200. That's progress to me. 

Tomorrow starts the first Hello Fresh meal. I'm excited to do this. It makes so much sense as a single person to have this type of set up. The ingredients you need are already measured out for you so I'm not buying an entire jar for just one tsp for a recipe.

The recipes will all be shared over on my cooking blog, but I may check in here to let you know how it's going. 

Scrapbooking and how it’s part of my identity

You all know the story of how I started scrapping. TLDR version: In 1998, my aunt Jean showed me one of hers and I was hooked. Now some (gets out calculator) 27 years later and I’m still going. Scrapbooking has changed tremendously in that time, and I love it more today than ever. It’s a huge part of my life and definitely part of my identity.

I started scrapping with the idea that I would somehow tell the story of my life so that one day my children could look back and see how cool their mom was. It was what scrapbooking was about then. The Mormon’s started it with the idea to document the history of the family. Makes sense.

About 15 years ago I had a moment where I realized I wasn’t going to have kids to share these with (though my niece has become the kid I’m sharing these with.  I joke with her that her inheritance is hidden in my scrapbooks and she has to look through them all to find it). I had a crisis on my hands. Who was I scrapping for then? Maybe this was all for nothing. I took a couple of months off to deal with this mental crisis. I started thinking this was a waste of time and I should just hang up my scissors and move on to another hobby.

When I finally got down to asking why I wanted to still do this? To what end? I discovered that I fell for the story the scrapbook had told us, we’re doing this for our family history. That the entire reason we do this was for someone else. But that’s not the case, at least for me. I realized that I scrap because I WANT to scrap. I took a completely different view from “having” to scrapbook to “wanting” to scrapbook. I took some time to write down the pros and cons of scrapping and realized there were some very definite reasons I still wanted to do this.

The Story of Me
Let’s face it, we all like to talk about our accomplishments and about our lives. Scrapbooking allows me to tell the important stories and the mundane stories. Frankly, I kinda like the day-to-day stories. You know, like what kind of coffee you get from Starbucks on the regular. Life isn’t about the BIG stuff, it’s about the little stuff. All the little things that come together to make us who we are. Mom’s death taught me this. I miss all the little stuff with her now.  And the best part about scrapping the mundane, day-to-day life, my older self can look back and marvel at just how far technology and life has come. The “remember when” moments is something I’m looking forward to.

The Process
It’s not surprising to anyone that the actual process of scrapbooking is on the top of my list.  And the process, for me, goes beyond selecting the layout/paper/photos etc, it’s about the actual process of putting it all together. From organizing my photos, to organizing my stash, to tracking the outcomes ( doesn’t everyone have a spreadsheet tracking their pages?), to the data that comes out in the end. I know it’s very nerdy of me and that’s a part of my personality that fits perfectly with scrapbooking.

The Creative Outlet
THIS is the key for me. Life gets stressful and knowing I can go into my scrapbook room and be creative resets my stress levels. I never think about work, or the list of chores that need to be done, or the tires for the car I need to get, or the laundry that’s piling up. No, for me, the scrapbook room is my oasis. Even if I’m not scrapping, just shuffling through my stash gets the creative juices flowing.

The Memories
Scrapbooking isn’t about just creating a layout and walking away. No, it’s about reliving all those memories again and again. It’s not just about reliving that memory as I build the layout, but when I flip through the scrapbook I relive them again. AND since I do the smaller scrapbooks, I can relive them when family and friends flip through them.

And so I decided 15 or so years ago that I would keep on keeping on with scrapbooking. I don’t care if all these books get thrown out upon my death (I do hope they at least flip through them). I’m going to keep scrapping anything I want and keep my scrappy self happy. When I’m happy, everything around me stays happy. Scrapbooking brings me joy, helps me remember the past, and allows me to pull at those creative strings and feel proud of the pages I make. My books may not ever be viewed by other people, and coming to that conclusion opened the door for me and freed me to just scrap.

Part of my identity is scrapbooking. It defines a very large part of me. I can’t just leave it. I need it. I’m going to continue to embrace this hobby and continue to scrap my heart out. Because at the end of the day, my memories, my stories, my life is really all I have. I hope someone finds joy in these albums some day. But if they don’t, I’m ok with that. They have already given me so much.

Happy Mother's Day

Photo: Mother's day 2001, Redmon WA

 

"I haven’t heard your voice in years, but my heart still has conversations with you every day. Grief hurts and nothing or no one can replace a loved one who’s gone. It’s an emptiness that doesn’t go away."

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I miss you.

Hey Mom did you get your wings

Eight years ago today we said goodbye to mom. It feels like yesterday in so many ways and yet it feels like a lifetime in others. I miss her the same today as I did that first day. 

Those first weeks I was sure I couldn't live without her and yet here I am. The grief is continuous. Some days it hits you like a ton of bricks. Some days you just smile as a memory floats across your mind. 

I thought it might be appropriate to share the Eulogy I wrote for her to be read at the Celebration of Life in Tucson. The guy reading it got the pages all mixed up so it was a disaster when he read it. Still, as I reread it tonight, I smile at her life and who she was. 

Eulogy by her daughters, Jennifer Wraspir, Billie and Melanie

Our family would like to thank you all for being here today to celebrate the life of JoEllen, our mom. For those of you that knew JoEllen, she was not only the life of the party but often the reason for the party.  She used to always say to us kids "Don't be so serious, life is too short, just have fun".

We always knew what an amazing, generous and kind woman she was, and in these last several weeks since she passed, the outpouring of love and support has proven this to be true. Hundreds, (and that is not an exaggeration), of emails, texts, calls and messages have come to us kids. She redefined the phrase “social butterfly.” She’d be humbled at the outpouring of love, and yet secretly she’d be thrilled to know we were making such a fuss over her. Our one wish is that SHE knew she was so loved.

We probably don’t have to tell you our mother was a special woman. She embodied all of the attributes of a “perfect” mom. She was caring, thoughtful, hardworking, compassionate, loving, tough on us when we needed it and so much more.  It was so difficult to think of all of the words that described mom as a person and how much she meant to us. Our mom was our best friend, our idol and we looked up to her all of our lives. We swore as teenagers we would never turn out like mom. And now we’re proud to say we are our mother.

Mom was born on Nov 5, 1947 in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. She died on January 16^th, 2017 surrounded by her family and friends. Her life, to put it mildly, was something else.

She was a career woman her entire life. She started working at the Boeing company in the late 70’s. She struggled in the “man’s world” of Boeing, but proved time and again a woman could do the job, and in some cases better than any man. She retired from the Boeing Company in upper management and was so proud of all her accomplishments during her time there. She would use her experiences there when giving advice to us as our own careers started taking off.

When mom and dad married in 1981, we added to our already large family, the even larger Wraspir family. We used to joke that we didn’t have a family tree, but a family hedge.

Mom cherished her family above all. And family to her was anyone from a real relative, to friends, to members of her community. Her house was always filled with friends and family. All of our friends called her “mom”, because she was like a mom to everyone. She would talk to anyone, and any dog, most likely she’d speak to the dog first…

She was the communicator for all of us. If you wanted to know anything about what was going on with someone in the family, you called mom. That’s not to say mom shared everyone’s secrets, but she was definitely in the know. And her family loved her back – tenfold. She was the one everyone called for advice because we knew she’d tell us how it was.  She was happy to dole it out and expected you to listen. And while we may not have followed all her advice over the years, we’ve discovered that she really did know what she was talking about.

Mom loved to cook. Together she and dad would try new recipes and taught us to be open to trying new things. Entertaining and having people to dinner was one of her favorite things. Any given weekend you could guarantee someone was coming to the house for dinner. And no one ever left hungry.

Mom and Dad loved to travel. They got the travel bug when Dad was transferred to Saudi Arabia in the late 80’s. That afforded them the opportunity to see the world. And see the world they did. Together they visited England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand – to just name a few. And they traveled to every single state in the United States by RV. While they loved exploring other countries, they especially loved exploring their country.

The list of things mom loved is extensive. She loved to read, to sew, to quilt, to cook, and to play games on her iPad. She loved her animals. And she loved her Seahawks. If the Seahawks were playing you knew not to bother calling because you could guarantee she would not answer the phone.

We feel like we could spend all day speaking about mom. She was an amazing woman who taught us a lot. The most important lessons were not verbal; they were in her actions. We know we are the people we are today because of her influence and guidance.  She always worked hard, complained when she needed to and was there when you needed her. She was our mother, but also our best friend. We will miss her every day for as long as we live.

EOY Wrap Up

That's right! 2024 is being seen in the rear view mirror. I find it very hard to believe we're in 2025. My Grandma Spaid used to say time flies faster when you're older and she was right. Man what happened?

Last year, while it sped by I kept slowing tracking all my goals for the year. Now, my goals these days, are never about saving or losing weight. I gave up on those goals awhile ago and focused instead on fun goals. I mean, saving and health should always be happening, so why put it as a goal? 

I have three areas that I was "tracking" last year; reading, cooking and scrapping. Let's take a look. 

Reading

For several years I had a goal to read 50 books. I rarely hit that goal. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get in 50 books a year. If I turned the boob tube off more I may get it, but that's not likely to happen. So, I changed my goal to 45 books. 

I hit it this year! 46 books. Some good, some bad. Here were my favorites (these are based on reviewing my books in good reads and these are the ones I didn't have to open to remember the story. That tells me I liked the book. Some of the others I had really no idea until I read the short description).

Favorites - in no particular order

• The Women - Kristin Hannah - What's not to love about this book? It was everyone's favorite this year and Kristin Hannah does such an exceptional job of telling the story of a female nurse in the Vietnam war. 
• The Paper Bracelet - Rachael English - Fascinating of a nurse's life in a Ireland Mother and Baby home. Unwed women who were pregnant were sent here to have babies, and then those babies were sent off for adoption. This woman saved the little bracelets from many and with the help of her granddaughter track down some of those babies. Such an incredible story. 
• The Guest List - Lucy Foley - My new favorite author this year. This book blew me away. It's a mystery and up until the "whodunit" was revealed I had no idea. I immediately read The Paris Apartment right after this book. And while that was a decent book, I was aware of her recipe for writing and I was a bit more a ware of whodunit. Still good, but not as good. 
• The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris - wow. This one was heavy. Like most WWII stories it has some serious stuff that as a human you just don't want to read about. It's brilliantly written and such a beautiful story of survival, but the going's ons in this camp was heartbreaking. I cried and cried reading this one. 
• The Lost Letters of Aisling - Cynthia Ellingsen - A grandmother requests to return to her home in Ireland before she dies. Letters are found and the granddaughter helps uncoil some tragic events in her grandmother's past. Gorgeous story of love. And I loved the setting in Ireland.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows - Another WWII era book, this one post war. A writer looking for her next book topic. She receives a letter from a guy in Guernsey and it starts a correspondence with the writer and people from Guernsey. The literary club was set up as an alibi when members were breaking curfew. As the writer corresponds with residents she starts to understand and learn what they dealt with during the war. 

There you have it. My favorite books. 

Cooking

Now, let's talk food. 

In 2023 I made 166 new recipes. I thought that was pretty close to 170 so why not make 170 my goal for 2024. When I say that out loud I'm a bit shocked. That's a lot of new recipes. I've shared this with a with friends and family and I am surprised how many of them said this inspires them to cook more.

I keep it pretty consistent throughout the year with the number of recipes. May was travel month and so you see only 3 recipes. I suspect there could have been more, but prior to travel I hate cooking for some reason. 

Year over year is an interesting stat. You can tell exactly when I started tracking and having goals of higher yearly new recipes. Covid did that. 

This next year I haven't officially decided to make it a goal, but I'll be reaching for 170 again. 

Scrapbooking

And lastly the scrapbooking goal. This one I tried something new this year and wanted to focus on using some of my stash I hardly used, but had a ton of. 

I wanted to do at least 500 pages. Completely doable when this is your creative outlit and it's how you spend a lot of your after work hours. There's something about scrapping that resets me at night after work. I tried to spend at least an hour in the scrapbook room each night. Sometimes I'd scrap, sometimes I'd just go through my stash. That seems to trigger page ideas and starts the cycle of scrapping again. 

Four elements I have a ton of and wanted to use was enamel dots, washi tape, frames and stamping. I got into stamping and had a bunch of stamps, but rarely used them. I figured having it as a goal would help and it kinda did. 

Enamel dots

These little guys are added to pages as enhancements. They're usually small and are usually tucked in and around embellishments. I had a TON of these. 

My goal was to use them on at least 20% of my pages (I could get into how I track these, but suffice it to say, I'm a data nerd and I just do). I ended up at 16%. I'm going to keep this goal again this year and really focus on using those up and, preferably, not buying any new ones (its so hard).

Washi Tape

Washi tape is just decorative tape that can be added to pages as borders, setting a platform for your photo etc. I have a drawer full and really wanted to use some of it up. My goal was to use this 15% of time. My end result was 8%. Clearly need to focus more on this one. 

Frames

How I ended up with so many frames is beyond me. I mean, I know I bought them, but not until I put them all in the same drawer did I realize what a stash I had. My goal was to use them at least 5% of the time. My end result was 6%. The ONLY goal I made. I'm going to continue with this goal as well.

Stamping

I have a ton of stamps. I took a class in stamping early in the year and that motivated me to start using them more. I learned about inks and techniques and that made it less daunting. My goal was to use stamps 25% of the time. My end result was 18%. Not great, but not horrible either. 

Month over month I really scattered how many pages I did. Again, May was a travel month so it was low. July was when I did the cruise scrapbook so that made sense for it to be so high. 

So that's it! Let's see what 2025 has to offer

Where did my fun go?

Where did my fun go? It was here one day and gone the next, at least that’s how it feels. I used to be fun. I used to go out and do things. Fun, different things.

Once upon a time, I had a fun life, I swear.

I did things. I went out and did a lot of things. I went on random adventures. I was always down for going and doing something, anything, spontaneously. I was rarely home. There were so many options for doing things with friends and spending time outside my house. I feel like I was always going and doing something with someone – no end in sight.

But then it stopped.

When was that? Did it happen all at once? Or was it gradual? Did the opportunities to go out slow down, or I did? Having fun now seems like a genuine struggle. Going out for me is always met with some resistance from, well, me. Here’s how it goes:

• Someone askes if I want to do something.
• I want to say yes. If I say “no thanks” they’ll ask why.
• So I say yes.
• Then as the day approaches, I get more and more “itchy” about going. So many thoughts run through my mind like, “Will it be fun? Can I even have fun? Will there be a lot of walking? Could I manage that? Will we eat? Or will I starve?”
• Ridiculous thoughts. Nothing “tangible” yet, there they are.
• Sometimes it ends with me grudgingly going, and sometimes I find a valid excuse and pass on the experience.

I can blame Covid. And I do think that has a lot to do with it. It forced me to enjoy being home, and by myself. Turns out I really like that set up. Maybe too much.

All this to say, that I’m going to embark on a frightening journey for 2025. I’m going to try saying Yes more often. I’m going to stop making excuses for myself and whatever the adventure is. As much as I belly ache about going out, 9 times out of 10 I enjoy myself and it’s never as bad as I think it will be.

So saying yes. That’s going to be hard. But the option is to continue to stay at home watching all the fun go on around me, without me.

Adobe Stock Photo

Politics and Friends

Its that time again. A major election is upon us. It's a shit show out there with the two candidates pushing the reasons you should vote for them. 

I try VERY hard to understand both sides of the political table. I know which side I'm on, but I like to respect the opinions of the other side. And, silly me, I try to understand their opinions. 

When I try to have any sort of conversation with the other side, it almost always starts with the "oh ya well your candidate does XYZ".  I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just want to understand. And I've come to believe that if you don't believe like them, they don't want to explain why they believe the way they do. Maybe they don't even know. 

I've kept most my far LEFT and far RIGHT friends. I appreciate their opinions and for the most part, I ignore the crazy. Sometimes I can't help myself and I try to argue with them...both sides. It never ends well. 

In all this, I've never unfriended any one on Facebook from either side. And as far as I know I've not been unfriended. Today that changed. And I'll admit I'm a little sad and a little happy. 

I did the unfriending. It's a friend from a life long ago (high school) and she doesn't even live in the US. I'm unsure if she's a US citizen, but I know she hasn't lived here for years, decades. She has very strong beliefs towards Trump. And I respect that. 

Recently I posted on FB asking BOTH sides to be aware of disinformation and misinformation. Many bad actors are pushing bad info out there. Most of it isn't true and little research shows you that. I've noticed one side doesn't like to do any research or provide any sources for their words. Ahem. 

Anyhow, this "friend" responded with a video from Instagram where it was showing a woman trying to vote on an electric voting machine and it wasn't allowing her to vote for Trump. 

Ok, let's look into this. Because I'm sure there's NO WAY that would pass as a major situation without us hearing about it. A simple search on sites of media that are middle ground shows that yes this did happen. The voting machine malfunctioned. The woman brought it to the attention of voting officials there. They closed that machine and gave her a ballot for her to fill in manually. She even says in many of these articles that she was impressed with how they handled it. Turns out it was a faulty machine.

What the impression this "friend" was trying to imply was that the democrats were stealing the vote again. When I asked what her point was, she commented as such. THEN it got personal. 

She doesn't know me. She knows what she sees on FB. I don't post anything political and have never said I'm one side or the other. She assumed it. She made a comment about me being "blindfolded". 

That was all it took. What pissed me off, is her post had NOTHING to do with what I was saying. I was asking people to think before they post or believe anything. And for her to respond with an instagram without any context was just weird. And yet, again, she wouldn't open her little mind to have an adult conversation. 

That's the most frustrating around people who are on a certain side of the political arena. You can't have an adult conversation with them. They ALWAYS seem to bring their argument with the "Oh ya well..." and that's not what I'm after. I want to understand. I want to listen to why you vote the way you do. I may not agree, but let's at least be civil. It appears the orange man they follow, who spits out hate with every word, means that they too cannot be open and interested in understanding, listening and learning. 

Vote! Get out and vote! That's all I can say. 

Poppies

I've spent a lot of time reviewing old photos. Most of these I got when Mom passed and so many of them I wish I had seen before and could have asked about the story. Scrapbooking for me has morphed into wanting to tell the story instead of just making a pretty page. But now, I am left with a bunch of photos and no stories. 

Some of the photos I do have stories because I was apart of the event and old enough to remember what was going on. These photos all have a story. Enter the California Poppies

This is BY FAR my favorite photo of mom and dad. Taken during one of our trips to the poppy fields, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Every year Mom, Dad and I would load into a car and head out. Dad loved photographing the poppies and they felt this was a good way to spend the day as a family. I have some very fond memories of these trips. Even as a teenager I was ok with going out with them to see the poppies. 

One year Grandma and Grandpa Wraspir were staying with us. Dad thought it a good opportunity to go see the poppies. 

Grandma loved seeing them. Grandpa loved seeing them because Grandma loved seeing them. 

This particular year - 1984 - are likely THE most embarrassing photos of my teenage year. Why did mom let me leave wearing a tube top? 

I mean, really? What was I thinking?

When I look at these photos I can't help but feel so much happiness. I miss all these people in these photos and am so glad that Dad "made" me go with them. It was a tradition for us each year and I can imagine as a teenage girl I likely didn't want to always go, or I pretended I didn't want to, but I always enjoyed myself. And now, as an adult without Mom and Dad here, I cherish these memories. 

What's In a Number?

It's been about a month since I got my new hardware. It's be a ride, let me tell you. Every day an experience as I prick my left ring finger and drop a very small amount of blood on a test strip. Then I wait, and do a little finger crossing that the numbers are "ok". 

Some days I'm happy about the number. Other days, I'm excited to see how low it is only to see it higher than anything. It's frustrating. 

Along with me on the journey is a D counselor we'll call R. He and I have a call every couple of weeks now and he answers all the questions I have about glucose and what not. He helps me set realistic goals and makes sure I am aware of what certain foods do to your glucose levels. It's been an educational experience, I'll tell you that. All those things I learned about eating "low carb" no longer matters in the same way. Something that is considered "low carb" may be have a high glycemic number (bacon for example). 

Anyhow, we chatted yesterday and I was telling him how frustrated I was that days I felt I ate well and in a calorie deficit, my number is high. Then days I around my calorie limit, the next day the numbers are low. It confused me. 

Apparently, eating is something you have to do when you are trying to maintain your blood sugar. Who knew? It seems very counter intuitive to me that the less you eat the higher your numbers. But R convinced me. He said there are nights that I may need to eat something right before bed to get the right amount of calories! 

So, yah, that's been fun to deal with. I've been doing little experiments around what I can eat and how it impacts my numbers. R is on board with this. He says it's best I figure out the sweet spot and the only way to do that is by testing things. 

I've added to my daily walking with F too. We are committed to doing another 30 days of 30 minutes of work out (walking or otherwise). R wants me to get more strength training in, so F and I will start that next week. I've added "hills" to my walking as in I push the button that says "hills" on the treadmill and it magically changes the incline. I find I really like it. 

So the best part is my AC1 numbers have dropped by 1.1 points! That's huge! My goal is to drop 1 more point. Between eating better, exercise and meds it's totally doable. So stay tuned!

My New Hardware

I'm furious!

I'm furious that I now have this!

That my friends is a Glucometer! It checks your blood sugar levels. Which you means that I now have the big D. I wrote about this in May and have since been coming to grips (albeit not very well) with what this means. 

I knew I'd have to start taking my blood sugar, and I'm actually ok with that. What I'm NOT ok with is how my brain interprets the results. 

I feel like a failure if its too high. To be honest, it hasn't been "low" since I started this (which has only been a week). My diabetes counselor said that I should expect the numbers to stay high for now. But the data point will help us manage the diabetes.

What he didn't tell me is that I'd be pissed when it high for no apparent reason! 

I ate like a good girl yesterday. And by that I mean, I paid close attention to what I ate and whether it had a high glycemic number. I was relentless yesterday watching. 

This morning my blood sugar was 171! ONE SEVENTY ONE! Ridiculous. It should have been less than 150 based on the way it was going. I know I need to get it way down to like 120 ish, but baby steps. 

So, fine. I'll keep taking my blood sugar, but I'm telling you if it doesn't start shaping up I'm going to throw a tantrum and eat something I shouldn't. 

Travel: Yay or Nay?

It should be no surprise to anyone that I'm questioning travel. This last trip was not so great and it has me wondering if I want to wander ever again. (The "wonder" and "wander" is a shout out to mom. She pointed out years ago that I used "wonder" for both).

It's been a couple of months now and I've had a chance to reflect on the cruise in May. I've had a chance to think about why I travel and did that still apply in my life today? 

I originally had the travel but because I was curious. I wanted to see all the cool things I had only read about in books. I wanted to go to all the touristy places and say I had been there and had experienced it. I wanted to learn about history. I wanted to learn about the people, their lives and their culture. I was curious about all of it. And I wanted to fill my soul and my mind with the world. 

I started to question whether I still felt that way and was that enough anymore. 

Travel was a gift that was given to me relatively early in my life by mom and dad. With dad going off to Saudi and me going to a boarding school, travel just became part of our lives. Beyond that, being a military kid young gave me that gypsy lifestyle without being a gypsy. 

But was all this enough any more. Have I traveled so much that I'm no long curious about new places (or revisiting old places)? That's the question I am struggling with. 

Age and health have something to do with this as well. I'm not old, but my body isn't exactly in fighting form and so travel is harder. That's fixable, but even if I do fix it, am I still interested in travel? 

I really have to address that point. And I can say as of right now, I am really not sure. I lean towards not wanting to travel, but my heart aches thinking I won't travel again. 

Does travel just bore me now? Is it because there's WAY too many people traveling and travel is no longer fun for that reason? Have I seen everything I want to see? Is there really anything more that will make me stare with my mouth open in complete awe? 

Sherrie and I are planning a trip to Greece next year. I'm still on the fence. The only reason I am considering it is because Sherrie really wants to go to Greece and I promised we would. I think we have to really consider what that trip looks like now. 

So here I am. Unsure. I'm glad I don't have to make a decision today, but I feel like I need some mojo to get me interested in travel again. 

Crabby Girl Weekend 2024

I think we have a new annual tradition. Last year we went for the first time to Kathy (and Rowland's) cabin. We talked about doing it every year, but you know how life can get in the way? So I wasn't sure we'd actually do it again. 

Yet, we did. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 

We left Friday and headed over.  It's not a "cabin" in the sense of "log cabin". It's a small, homey house that is in a nice community around Elk Heights outside Cle Elum. 

Our road trip had us stopping in Cle Elum to get groceries and have lunch. This year we organized our dinners a bit different. Kathy and Janet were responsible for Friday night. And Sherrie and I were responsible for Saturday. But I'll get to that. 

Groceries in hand and full bellies ( we ate at the Cottage Cafe again) we got to the cabin. Such a lovely little house. I really do love it. Small, cozy and just right for us crabs.

Friday night we just hung out and did a lot of jibber-jabbering. We all spent times on our phones and then discussed nothing important. It's fun to just hang out. Kathy and Janet made tacos that were delicious. We had cheese and crackers for an appetizer and ice cream for dessert. Really a great evening. 

On Saturday we all got up whenever we wanted. I actually slept in to 7:30 ish. After breakfast we headed to Roslyn for a walk around the cute little town. Roslyn became a coal-mining town in 1886. It played a big role in Wa State history too. 

And if you don't know, Roslyn is where they taped Northern Exposure in the 1990s. The show has quite the cult following and Roslyn still hangs on to that popularity. 

We at lunch at The Brick, which is a tavern that originally opened in 1889 and then rebuilt in 1898 using 45,000 bricks - thus the name. 

The actual bar (as in belly up to the...) is 100 years old and is from England. This beautiful and unique 23 foot bar also has an operating running water spittoon. Who knew we'd have lunch and a history lesson.

And the food? Oh goodness the food was delicious. You really should eat there if you're in Roslyn.

After that, we drove up the road a bit to see the old cemetery. Well, we drove up several roads. Kathy wasn't really sure which road led there. We got a great tour of Roslyn and we did eventually find it. 

Lots of cool headstones there. The historic cemetery is quite unique. Because Roslyn was a mining town there was a healthy blend of immigrants before the turn of the century. The cemetery is separated by 26 distinct ethnic groups. We didn't really get out, just admired from the car. 

Then we headed to Lake Cle Elum to just see it. Lovely lake and beautiful drive. 

But Saturday wasn't just a weekend day. It was much more important. It was Kathy's birthday. And we did it up Crab style. 

Crab Table Cloth...duh

Sherrie and I had dinner for Saturday. I made a low carb appetizer that didn't turn out quite as I planned. Which is fine since we had more than enough food for dinner. Sherrie and I made Asian Beef Salad and roasted potatoes. 

It was quite yummy and one of my favorite salads. 

For dessert, I got us Nothing Bundt Cakes. They are also my favorite and I thought they'd travel well. But I couldn't just give her a cake...I had to make it a Crab cake.

I also got Kathy this beautiful Crab shirt. It says "Birthday Crab" on it. I figured we could share the shirt and each one of us wear it for our birthdays. It's not going to fit all of us the same, but it'll be fun. 

I think she had a fun day. We enjoyed celebrating her birthday and I'm glad she let us. 

We headed home Sunday, but not before we stopped at the fruit stand just down the hill. We did last year as well and took photos not that different from these. Such goofballs. 

So I really hope this is an annual event. Stay tuned for more Crabby tales.

The Long Trip Home

Oh my god! We made it. There were more than a couple times I thought we wouldn't. 

I had been worried about all the layover times in each airport. They were very short times and I just knew we'd miss a flight. 

We flew home Iberia from Venice to Madrid. Then Madrid to Dallas. Our flight from Venice was 45 minutes late. We only had 1.5 hours in Madrid to change planes. I thought we might JUST make it. We were seated to the front of the plane so at least we had that going for us. 

We landed in Madrid and we booked it to get to our next flight. We had to change terminals and we had no idea how long that would take. I thought, briefly, we just might make it. 

Then we turned the corner to passport control. Damn. Now we weren't going to make it. 

As luck would have it, a passport agent opened a small line and we got to pass through. YaY. Maybe we'd make it. 

Then we started the trek to the next terminal. EASILY a mile and half. I told Janet to just go. Get to the gate and see if they'll hold the plane. She was reluctant to leave me, but she did it anyhow. 

Y'all... I am not a runner. I don't walk fast anymore and certainly don't job. But I did my BEST jogging/walking effort I could and was breathing heavy and almost ready to pass out by the time I turned the corner to our gate. 

There was Janet jumping up and down when she saw me saying, "She made it!" 

We made it. 

We got on the flight and the flight attendants handed us water as we headed to our seats. One flight attendant stopped by my seat with some napkins to mop up the sweat dripping off my body. 

Turns out the flight had heard of our late plane and held it for about 20 passengers that needed to get there. And we weren't even the last ones to make it. 

But this, now put us late to get into Dallas. I guess if I was going to miss a flight I would rather it be in the US. 

We landed in Dallas and I turned on my phone. I read my email and saw that our flight from Dallas had been cancelled. 

Fuck! Fuckity! Fuck. I just want to be home. 

BUT, American Airlines had booked us on another flight first thing the next morning. That means we're staying the night in the airport. 

We got our luggage and got in this massive line to drop off our luggage and confirm the flight we had. FOUR hours we stood in this line. Truth be told I had to go find a place to sit a couple of times because my back was aching. 

We finally got to the front of the line. Got our boarding pass and off we went to find a place to sleep. Our gate said it was in the A terminal so we found a shuttle outside the terminal to take us to Terminal A. 

In terminal A we had to wait until security opened up at 3:30 in the morning. By now it was almost midnight. So we found some very uncomfortable chairs and attempted to get some rest.

We got through security without any lines because, well no one was there. We got to our gate and sat and rested. Nothing was open so we just sat there. 

For some reason Janet checked her phone and we found our gate had been moved to Terminal D. WTF? So we gathered our items and took the link train inside the airport BACK to terminal D. As we came down the stairs from the link train, our gate was RIGHT there. 

We sat for a couple of hours until the stores started opening. Janet took off to get some Starbucks. I was waiting for McDonalds to open. I wanted a sausage McMuffin and hash browns. 

We both got our breakfast and was sitting waiting for our flight. I overheard these teachers who were there with a ton of students headed to Costa Rica, tell all their students to be back at the gate by 9am. That seemed odd to me since our flight to Seattle was leaving at 8:30. 

It was then I looked at the flight app and SHOCKING, they moved our gate to Terminal B. Good Lord!

Back to the link train and off we went to the B Terminal.

We got there and had about an hour to spare. 

We had center seats on the flight which was sad because I had upgraded us to First Class for our other flight that was cancelled.

My seat was in the last row of the plane. I sat myself down, buckled myself in and I was out. I don't even remember taking off. I slept for a good three hours on the flight. 

But, alas, we made it! Sherrie picked us up at the airport and listened to me grumble about the chaos in getting home. 

I also brought home a nice cold with me. Good times. Now I just want to rest and hug my cat. 

Port 9: Venice; and we're done

Here we are ... Venice. 

My stomach is a little off and a little ok. We got off the ship pretty quickly. We found the taxi line and stood there for a bit. I noticed a lady walking up and down another line offering people a shuttle to the airport. Since our hotel was near the airport I thought we'd give that a shot. 

Turned out it was 70EU each. The airport was a good hour and a half away and the taxi would have cost us a fortune. 

We got to the hotel, sorta checked in and left out luggage. Another couple there was headed into Venice via a taxi and asked us if we wanted to share it with them. I hopped on it right away. Janet thought we should take the train, but I wasn't in the mood to figure the train out. Plus splitting a taxi 4 ways was pretty inexpensive. 

In Venice we got on a water taxi to take us to San Marcos Square. Venice is such a beautiful and unique city. And, oh my god, the people. So many people. 

We stopped to have lunch since we had a couple of hours to spend before our 3pm walking tour. 

After lunch, and a potty break, we walked around the corner to San Marcos square. 

Again, so...many... people. Back in 1987 even during Carnivale it didn't feel this packed.

We met our walking tour guide and started the trek through the back alleys of Venice. One of the reasons I signed us up for this walking tour was because it took you off the beaten path. 

Its hard to fathom that people actually live in Venice. Though, according to our tour guide, you need to have serious coin to live there. That doesn't surprise me. It got me wondering what these people who live here do for a living. 

After the walking tour we had a gondola ride. I was done and was about to say no thanks (in fact I think I might have said "I'm done") but the look on Janet's face told me we had to do the gondola ride. And I'm glad I did. 

It was total chaos out on the grand canal. So many boats and gondolas. The gondoliers job is one that is passed down from family member to family member. And boy are they strong. 

Grand Canal chaos

Rush hour!

After the gondola ride we trekked back to get on the water taxi to head back to where we started in the morning. I was exhausted and so very tired of people. We took a taxi back to the hotel. I told Janet I'd pay for it because, frankly, I didn't want to deal with the train and figuring all that out while exhausted. 

We had dinner in the hotel that night and it was quite tasty. Tomorrow we head home. I'm ready to be home. As I always say, it's nice to travel but nice to go home.