![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming, or the moment of truth in your lies
It's Hump day! Thank goodness, we're halfway through the week. This week and the three days next week are just going to drag on forever.
Yesterday was a quiet day. I spent most of it trying to fill a cardiac MRI, but I swear, no one wanted it. Fortunately, one of my coworkers finally filled it in, because I was ripping my hair out. I swear, I called over 45 people. Half didn't answer the other half felt like July was just fine for their heart scan. After that, I tried to start filling the Cardiac Schedule for Columbia, but the stystem wouldn't let me, so I'll need to wait a bit for that to get fixed.
After that, with everyone's stomachs behaving themselves, I ran out and got some Italian food from a place that opened nearby. The food was very good but lord, we have so many leftovers. I'm planning to have my short rib ravioli for breakfast. Sadly, I ate the shrimp scampi appetizer, but it was SO good.
We got another good report card for Yoda, which was nice. I really like this place. They send twice daily "report cards" which are usually kind of cutesy and positive, I'm sorry pawsitive. Even the corny, cutesy stuff makes me inordinately happy. He seems pretty good, but I've been a little worried that he was stressed, and that's why he was being such a total love pig to the staff, because we hadn't seen a full body picture where his tail was up. well, yesterday's pictures alleviated that worry with this picture.
He looks so happy! I nearly cried. I'm missing him something fierce, but that did help to settle my nerves that they're the right people to leave him with.
Then, we sat down and watched the rest of the video series of the British couple taking the same trip we are, which was very nice and relaxing.
It was kind of surreal watching the videos and realizing that in just over a week (8 Days!) we're going to be walking those decks and eating that food and taking those excursions.
It still hasn't sunk all the way in, I don't think. I booked this over a year ago, and yet somehow, here we are. The only thing for me to pack is my medications. The rest is all set. I'm waiting to see if my sister's adopted niece is willing to make a few extra bucks to come over, check the house and get any packages in while we're away. Otherwise, I need to see to getting someone to do that.
I need to confirm with the car service that's taking us to the airport and finalize the pickup time. I'm looking at 3:45am. Our flight leaves at about 7am, so that'll get us to the airport about 3 hours prior, just in case TSA is busy. I bought us day passes to the airport lounge to relax and get some snacks pre-flight. It's better than sitting at the gate for three hours. Maybe then it'll feel real.
One thing I'm very excited about is Glacier Day. We're not going to Glacier Bay, which is one of the popular itineraries. Instead our ship goes up Endicott Arm to the Dawes Glacier. It's apparently one of the more active glaciers, calving frequently. Also, it's bright blue. It looks gorgeous and I can't wait to see it from our balcony hot tub, though I will get dressed and go on deck so that I can get my traditional cup of pea soup that they hand out. Or, I could just go to the Grand Dutch Cafe and grab some pea soup to have on the balcony. I'll see how I feel.
I've made a new friend. One of the people on our sailing's facebook page had messaged me after I mentioned my spouse to let me know that normally on embarkation night, there's an LGBT meet up. We started talking and it's been nice. He's been on a few of these cruises, so he's had some tips. We're going out to dinner with him on Friday night before the movie. It's him and his two friends, all gay guys. We have committed to pre-dinner drinks on our balcony one night as well, and his two friends are going to fill out our private whale watching excursion. If we get on well in person, I might invite them to our vow renewal ceremony, we'll see. We're allowed to have up to 10 people, I believe.
That's one bit of uncertainty. They have to work it around the captain's schedule, so we'll have no clue when it will be until we board as far as I know.
I'm also debating on switching our one dinner reservation from the steakhouse to one of the other specialty restaurants after watching the last video. It looked really good and I'm debating if the slightly more fancy food would jive with my BIL's palette. I think they would? He'll probably be over one day this week now that we're not in pukeville, so I'll run it by him. Jess and I my sister seemed onboard with it. The steakhouse looks good, but I can get steak anywhere. I'm sure it's very good steak, but the French place has steak for BIL and more interesting things for the rest of us. So I'm considering that.
Otherwise, aside from Jess' delayed by nausea packing session, we're pretty well locked in. All there is left to do is live it. Yup, still surreal. A year, so many hours of watching videos, and soon it'll be us doing it. I know, even if it's not perfect, it'll be an amazing time, and everyone will have so much fun and will make so many lasting memories.
Once we get back, I'll sort through all the pictures, and I may have one of the landscape pictures made into a big canvas to go over the couch. Maybe of the glacier, or of the snow capped mountains. We'll see. I think in addition to our pictures, we'll be also taking pictures around the ship. Their professional photos are expensive, but it would be nice to have some posed shots as well. Plus, when you get off the boat, there's costumed mascots to pose with! How can I pass up that cheese? Also for gala and dressy nights, we could get some nice semi formal pictures done.
We're kind of playing things by ear for most of the trip. We're going to only do what we feel like doing, so some towns may get explored more than others. Juneau, I rented a car for the day, so that we can go out to the Mendenhall Glacier, so that day probably will only be moderately tiring. Skagway looks nice, but there's not a ton that I feel like I must see there. We'll probably go walk around for a little bit, then do our train ride, then we'll be done and head back on the boat. There's a couple of good restaurants, but that's it. Then, Glacier Day will be chill, but Ketchikan there's a lot that I want to see. We have our crab feast first at noon, then we should be back to town by like 2:30. I'd really like to see Creek Street for souvenirs, but we'll see how tired we are. Also, I may try Jellyfish Donuts. They have a glazed salmon donut that's supposed to be quite something. But all this is dependent on how well bodies and brains hold up. If I'm huring, I'll err on the side of taking it easy. I am taking my cane for extra support in case my knee gets bitchy. Or my back.
I said to Jess last night that with all my meds, including two injectables, TSA is going to love the hell out of me.
Tonight I have to go pick up some meats so that I can make the dogs food. I've got lamb and goat and chicken gizzards and livers. The stinkier the better for Yoda. I'm going to go on a cooking spree over the next few days, so that we have enough food for his kennel stay. I need 24 packets, and I usually get 7-10 packets our of a batch, so I've got at least three or four cooking sessions between now and Tuesday. I also need to make more of the food to hold him from Friday night til Tuesday. By the time we take him on Wednesday morning, I will need to have made at least 36 packets minimum on hand. IT might be slightly less, because I still have some in the freezer from the last time I cooked.
So tomorrow, I'll start cooking and vacuum sealing. They like us at the daycare, because we bring pre-portioned food that makes it easy for them to dump and go. Also because we have "the sweetest dog," who is "a pleasure to work with." Go figure.
The good thing is that aside from sealing, the cooking isn't that labor intensive. Throw meat into pot at 7:30am with water to cover. Boil until 10am, when you pull the meat and bones and then throw in veggies and rice. (he's especially fond of sweet potatoes or butternut squash and green beans) Boil them until tender/done and put the meat back in at lunch time. Cover, and portion and seal it after work.
On Friday, a spa that we have gone to is opening a new location near us, so after work, we're going to go visit, and have free seated massages. Then, it'll be off to get a dog who will. yell at us.
We're going to have a quiet weekend, and tie up any last little things that we need to do before we leave.
Okay, time for me to hop off and get myself ready for work. I've only got 6 more work days before we go. They're going to feel super long and dragged out, I know. Everyone have an amazing Wednesday!
Yesterday was a quiet day. I spent most of it trying to fill a cardiac MRI, but I swear, no one wanted it. Fortunately, one of my coworkers finally filled it in, because I was ripping my hair out. I swear, I called over 45 people. Half didn't answer the other half felt like July was just fine for their heart scan. After that, I tried to start filling the Cardiac Schedule for Columbia, but the stystem wouldn't let me, so I'll need to wait a bit for that to get fixed.
After that, with everyone's stomachs behaving themselves, I ran out and got some Italian food from a place that opened nearby. The food was very good but lord, we have so many leftovers. I'm planning to have my short rib ravioli for breakfast. Sadly, I ate the shrimp scampi appetizer, but it was SO good.
We got another good report card for Yoda, which was nice. I really like this place. They send twice daily "report cards" which are usually kind of cutesy and positive, I'm sorry pawsitive. Even the corny, cutesy stuff makes me inordinately happy. He seems pretty good, but I've been a little worried that he was stressed, and that's why he was being such a total love pig to the staff, because we hadn't seen a full body picture where his tail was up. well, yesterday's pictures alleviated that worry with this picture.
He looks so happy! I nearly cried. I'm missing him something fierce, but that did help to settle my nerves that they're the right people to leave him with.
Then, we sat down and watched the rest of the video series of the British couple taking the same trip we are, which was very nice and relaxing.
It was kind of surreal watching the videos and realizing that in just over a week (8 Days!) we're going to be walking those decks and eating that food and taking those excursions.
It still hasn't sunk all the way in, I don't think. I booked this over a year ago, and yet somehow, here we are. The only thing for me to pack is my medications. The rest is all set. I'm waiting to see if my sister's adopted niece is willing to make a few extra bucks to come over, check the house and get any packages in while we're away. Otherwise, I need to see to getting someone to do that.
I need to confirm with the car service that's taking us to the airport and finalize the pickup time. I'm looking at 3:45am. Our flight leaves at about 7am, so that'll get us to the airport about 3 hours prior, just in case TSA is busy. I bought us day passes to the airport lounge to relax and get some snacks pre-flight. It's better than sitting at the gate for three hours. Maybe then it'll feel real.
One thing I'm very excited about is Glacier Day. We're not going to Glacier Bay, which is one of the popular itineraries. Instead our ship goes up Endicott Arm to the Dawes Glacier. It's apparently one of the more active glaciers, calving frequently. Also, it's bright blue. It looks gorgeous and I can't wait to see it from our balcony hot tub, though I will get dressed and go on deck so that I can get my traditional cup of pea soup that they hand out. Or, I could just go to the Grand Dutch Cafe and grab some pea soup to have on the balcony. I'll see how I feel.
I've made a new friend. One of the people on our sailing's facebook page had messaged me after I mentioned my spouse to let me know that normally on embarkation night, there's an LGBT meet up. We started talking and it's been nice. He's been on a few of these cruises, so he's had some tips. We're going out to dinner with him on Friday night before the movie. It's him and his two friends, all gay guys. We have committed to pre-dinner drinks on our balcony one night as well, and his two friends are going to fill out our private whale watching excursion. If we get on well in person, I might invite them to our vow renewal ceremony, we'll see. We're allowed to have up to 10 people, I believe.
That's one bit of uncertainty. They have to work it around the captain's schedule, so we'll have no clue when it will be until we board as far as I know.
I'm also debating on switching our one dinner reservation from the steakhouse to one of the other specialty restaurants after watching the last video. It looked really good and I'm debating if the slightly more fancy food would jive with my BIL's palette. I think they would? He'll probably be over one day this week now that we're not in pukeville, so I'll run it by him. Jess and I my sister seemed onboard with it. The steakhouse looks good, but I can get steak anywhere. I'm sure it's very good steak, but the French place has steak for BIL and more interesting things for the rest of us. So I'm considering that.
Otherwise, aside from Jess' delayed by nausea packing session, we're pretty well locked in. All there is left to do is live it. Yup, still surreal. A year, so many hours of watching videos, and soon it'll be us doing it. I know, even if it's not perfect, it'll be an amazing time, and everyone will have so much fun and will make so many lasting memories.
Once we get back, I'll sort through all the pictures, and I may have one of the landscape pictures made into a big canvas to go over the couch. Maybe of the glacier, or of the snow capped mountains. We'll see. I think in addition to our pictures, we'll be also taking pictures around the ship. Their professional photos are expensive, but it would be nice to have some posed shots as well. Plus, when you get off the boat, there's costumed mascots to pose with! How can I pass up that cheese? Also for gala and dressy nights, we could get some nice semi formal pictures done.
We're kind of playing things by ear for most of the trip. We're going to only do what we feel like doing, so some towns may get explored more than others. Juneau, I rented a car for the day, so that we can go out to the Mendenhall Glacier, so that day probably will only be moderately tiring. Skagway looks nice, but there's not a ton that I feel like I must see there. We'll probably go walk around for a little bit, then do our train ride, then we'll be done and head back on the boat. There's a couple of good restaurants, but that's it. Then, Glacier Day will be chill, but Ketchikan there's a lot that I want to see. We have our crab feast first at noon, then we should be back to town by like 2:30. I'd really like to see Creek Street for souvenirs, but we'll see how tired we are. Also, I may try Jellyfish Donuts. They have a glazed salmon donut that's supposed to be quite something. But all this is dependent on how well bodies and brains hold up. If I'm huring, I'll err on the side of taking it easy. I am taking my cane for extra support in case my knee gets bitchy. Or my back.
I said to Jess last night that with all my meds, including two injectables, TSA is going to love the hell out of me.
Tonight I have to go pick up some meats so that I can make the dogs food. I've got lamb and goat and chicken gizzards and livers. The stinkier the better for Yoda. I'm going to go on a cooking spree over the next few days, so that we have enough food for his kennel stay. I need 24 packets, and I usually get 7-10 packets our of a batch, so I've got at least three or four cooking sessions between now and Tuesday. I also need to make more of the food to hold him from Friday night til Tuesday. By the time we take him on Wednesday morning, I will need to have made at least 36 packets minimum on hand. IT might be slightly less, because I still have some in the freezer from the last time I cooked.
So tomorrow, I'll start cooking and vacuum sealing. They like us at the daycare, because we bring pre-portioned food that makes it easy for them to dump and go. Also because we have "the sweetest dog," who is "a pleasure to work with." Go figure.
The good thing is that aside from sealing, the cooking isn't that labor intensive. Throw meat into pot at 7:30am with water to cover. Boil until 10am, when you pull the meat and bones and then throw in veggies and rice. (he's especially fond of sweet potatoes or butternut squash and green beans) Boil them until tender/done and put the meat back in at lunch time. Cover, and portion and seal it after work.
On Friday, a spa that we have gone to is opening a new location near us, so after work, we're going to go visit, and have free seated massages. Then, it'll be off to get a dog who will. yell at us.
We're going to have a quiet weekend, and tie up any last little things that we need to do before we leave.
Okay, time for me to hop off and get myself ready for work. I've only got 6 more work days before we go. They're going to feel super long and dragged out, I know. Everyone have an amazing Wednesday!