Seven Days

Seven days until I’m loading up my car and heading to Miami. Seven days (and fifteen hours from now) I’ll be getting on a plane. Seven days…

Not possible.

I deep cleaned the kitchen and dining rooms today. I started a deep clean on the living room. We keep the place picked up, but every now and then you need to get on your hands and knees and clean the shit out of your place. My arms ache from all the scrubbing, but the house is getting clean. You see, I hate going away and coming home to a dirty house. Granted, my husband will be here, but I’ll sleep better knowing that the shelves and drawers of the refrigerator were taken out and cleaned.

Tonight was the last choir practice until the fall for the choirs at my church. My kids sing this weekend for Mother’s Day and then they’re done until fall. The Sanctuary Choir still has about a month left, but our rehearsals are finished. Another milestone done. No more choir rehearsals until September. …well, except for my Bicentennial Choir. That keep going until June 9th. I’ll miss it; I always do. I love to sing and will keep doing so in my house, but it’s nice to have new music to learn and work on and perform. Oh well. I’ll live. Ha!

I have a migraine. It started earlier today and has only gotten worse. I suspect that this weekend might be just a touch hellish for me. Better this weekend than next weekend, though. While I hate dealing with these things, it’s nice to know I’m getting it over with now.

On the dream front, I dreamed last night that it was time to go to the meet and greet. They had up lined up in some very narrow halls with stark white walls and we weren’t allowed to talk. When it was time to go into the room, we were told to walk across without saying a word and to go where we were told. The guys were very standoffish, sitting in chairs and loudly complaining to each other about how boring these photo sessions were. I was placed next to Donnie, who refused to get up, and told that I was supposed to just sit on the floor by his feet for the picture. Apparently I didn’t follow directions well enough because before they even took a picture, Danny was yelling about where I was and I was kicked out. It was nuts…

Seven days. I’m not packed. I’ve still not printed my cruise docs. I started working on my door decorations, but when I went outside to get my kids off the bus, my youngest took a pen to my poster board. It’ll get done. I still have seven days.

Did You Miss Me?

So, you remember on Friday when I posted that wicked short blog about how I hate allergies? Yeah… Turns out it wasn’t allergies at all. I went to sleep on Friday night and, for the most part, stayed asleep until this morning. I didn’t eat. I didn’t move. I made certain to drink a little water every time I woke up, but aside from that, nothing went in.

Friday night when I went to bed, my head and throat hurt. Saturday morning when I got up with my seven year old, I barely made it down the hall before I had to sit down. When I got up again, I made it to the entryway to my kitchen before everything started to get a bit dim and I had to sit down again. I almost passed out making breakfast for him, but somehow managed to get back into bed. Was forced out of bed around 10:30 by a husband who was on a rampage because we needed to go grocery shopping and didn’t have basics in the house to make lunch. (read as: no bread or cheese) He ran to Walmart alone and when he got home, he noticed I was curled up on the couch with a blanket. Then he asked if I was going to be ready to go to the grocery store in a few minutes and I told him that I wasn’t going anywhere.

That’s the last conversation I remember of the weekend. I remember at one point the kids were talking about and begging to go to Knoebels. I know I was asked if I would eat anything a few times. The movie Primal Fear was on, but I only watched a few minutes of it. The movie Cast Away was also on…

It never fails. Before every trip to Boston I take, the movie Blown Away comes on TV. Are you familiar with it? It’s a movie from 1994 starring Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones. The brief synopsis taken from IMDB.com says “An Irish bomber escapes from prison and targets a member of the Boston bomb squad.” It would just figure that before I’m scheduled to take a plane somewhere, the movie Cast Away would come on. As I was mostly asleep during this time, I’m sure you can guess what part of the movie I saw… Yup. The crash… I fully expect The Poseidon Adventure (or the remake called simply Poseidon) to appear on my guide in the next two weeks. If you don’t know what Poseidon Adventure is about, I suggest you don’t look it up until AFTER you return home from the cruise.

This morning, I had a few sips of coffee. Shortly after lunchtime, I had a piece of toast. Just before eight tonight, I made a chicken wrap. At first it tasted alright, but a few bites in and it started tasting like vomit. Needless to say I didn’t finish it.

The real excitement of today was getting a shower. Now usually I get my shower in the morning. I took one Friday morning, but slept through Saturday. Today, in an effort to help myself feel better, I decided to take a nice, long, HOT shower. Not so much. The shower was warm and the steam helped clear my sinuses a little, but I could only stand there long enough to get myself clean and get out as quickly as possible. I hope for a longer shower tomorrow…but at least I’m clean!

Fortunately, I am feeling a little better today. I’ve been awake all day and have even moved around the house a little! My head and throat still hurt and I made hubby take our daughter to bell practice tonight. I’m not going to my Bicentennial Choir rehearsal tomorrow night. I don’t have the voice for it. I didn’t go to church today, either, which is a rarity all in itself.

On the plus side, one of my last pre-cruise milestones was passed while I was unresponsive on the living room sofa: the local amusement park opened this weekend! We’d been planning on going, hence the kids pestering to go this weekend, but that obviously didn’t happen. I hope to get over there next weekend, and as of now, I think we’re planning on Saturday. Then again, I could have dreamed that day. Back when this blog was started, Knoebels was open, but at the end of the season. At that time, it was only open weekends, and then it went into the Halloween season. The park closed at the end of October and at that point I knew when it opened again, I’d be really close to leaving. I wish I could fangirl over the approaching departure date, but I don’t have the energy right now. I’m just too tired, too run down, and too sick still to think about it too much. For now, I’m just going to sit here and get better. In two weeks, I’ll freak out appropriately with the rest of you.

The Long and Short

What a weekend!!! I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon grocery shopping and then cleaning and rearranging my boys bedroom. Then I went out to lunch with my dad. There was a LOT more that happened on Saturday, but it’s family stuff and I’m not really going to get into it here. Just trust me when I say that Saturday was a VERY long day, and even more so for my sister and her husband. (we’re all fine, it was just stressful)

Today was Easter. I did up the baskets before I went to sleep last night (this morning) and the kids were up at 4:30 asking if they could play with their new toys. My husband and I were NOT happy. We managed to delay them until just before 8am. I rolled out of bed, started coffee, made breakfast, and tried not to fall asleep in the kitchen. By the time the coffee was ready, the counters were clean and I was starting my dough for the dinner rolls. (yes, I make my own bread for big meals) Once the dough was done, I made Rice Krispy treats to have for dessert. The morning flew by; we missed Sunday school and barely made it to the service on time.

Church was nice, but it was raining when we left. That meant that the Easter egg hunt at my in-laws was postponed. I spend the afternoon cleaning and cooking instead of rushing about. My sister-in-law and her kids came over. Then my mom came over. We had a nice meal and my body hates me right now for eating so much.

Easter is over! Another milestone has passed! Another month is gone! By the time you’re reading this, it’s mostly likely already April. Three months gone from this year! A month and a half until we’re Miami bound. We should be getting cruise themes soon, and by soon I mean REAL soon and not NKOTB soon. We ALL know what I mean. It’s coming down to the wire!

Can you tell I’m excited?

I’m also very tired. While it’s the end of the weekend, it was a busy weekend. My kids have off school tomorrow and we have a TON to do. School pictures are on Tuesday (our school does fall and spring pictures) and my kids need haircuts. I meant to do it last week, but I kept forgetting. Also, my daughter’s lenses keep falling out of her glasses, so I hope to order her a new pair. This pair she’s had for a while and neither myself nor my husband think they were ever made correctly, as the lenses have always popped out.

I’ve a lot more on my plate for tomorrow, but my stomach is seriously turning. Time to guzzle some water and go to bed before I get sick…a sure sign that I ate too much. Ugh… And I didn’t really eat that much!!!

…although I did have two Rice Krispy treats.

Fast

I can not believe how fast time is going! It hit me yesterday that we booked the cruise six months ago! SIX MONTHS!!! How did that happen? I realized this because I’ve written 180 blog posts! Another thing that’s been flying by!!! It’s amazing! Can you tell I’m excited tonight?

Today was the final performance of Flood Stories, Too. It went VERY well and I was sad to see it end. One of the stories that was included was about two men who worked flood relief and, to ease the stress, would spray each other with shaving cream. At the end of the show today, the cast came out for curtain call with shaving cream on their heads, faces, hands, outfits, etc. It was high amusing. In fact, I will even go so far as to say that it was difficult to sing the final song knowing that they were all there covered in Barbasol.

Another milestone passed. The last two weeks have flown by! It’s insane! I really feel like we just started rehearsing the music for Flood Stories and now it is over. Now my Bicentennial Choir moves back to our regular music. Now I can move on to the next milestone: the final payment.

How did this happen? How is it already St. Patrick’s Day? Ten days and I will be paid off. I will officially be on the boat. Then I can start worrying about packing and spending money and last minute odds and ends. Until then…

Sorry. I really just don’t have much to say tonight. My husband and I watched Wreck It Ralph tonight. It was cute! I recommend it. I’m tired, as I haven’t been sleeping well. So, I’m off to bed. I’ll attempt to put more effort into a post tomorrow night.

Crowds and Comedy

Humor can be found in anything. It might not always be appropriate, or seem that way, but it’s true. Take the flood that Flood Stories is based on. By all rights, this should be a VERY depressing topic. However, there are many points of levity in this show! But you can throw jokes until you’re blue in the face. If you don’t have the right audience, you may as well be talking to the wall.

Today was a day of opposites. I won’t get into the dream I had last night too much, but I will tell you that Jason Isaacs (one of my favorite actors) was working at an amusement park undercover while researching for a movie role. He and I met and then ended up at some movie and music award show where he introduced me to Michael Jackson and Donnie Wahlberg. There was A LOT more to it than that, but that’s the basics. So I started my day on a strange note, having woke up from that bizarre dream, and had a perfectly normal morning. Ate a nice breakfast, folded some laundry, and then had lunch. After that it was time to go to the theater.

The weather was gorgeous today! When I got out of my car to walk to the theater, I shed my coat and took my time walking. Actually, I had my windows down on the drive into town. The crowd for the matinee just sort of sat there and watched the show. They chucked a couple times, but there was no energy there. It was still beautiful between the shows.

The night performance was a complete opposite. Packed house. Lively crowd. There was a pulse in the house that we fed off. It was great!

Then the show ended and I went outside. It was COLD walking back to my car! I turned the heat on in my car! Now I’m home an exhausted…again. Sunday school and church tomorrow….or rather today, as I just realized it’s after midnight. Then home for lunch and to relax for a while before heading back to the theater. Doing this show is making me realize just how much I miss the stage. I was actually talking to someone between shows tonight about how to become more involved. We’ll see where it goes. In the mean time, week one of Flood Stories is almost over. One more week and another milestone will be gone!

And just FYI, ten weeks from right now, we’ll be partying on deck!!! WOO!!!

First of Many

Today I went shopping. I was in need of white shirts and dark pants. I also went to the grocery store, but that’s because I needed veggies for my stir fry tonight. I ended up with four shirts and no new pants. I’m going out tomorrow to see if I can find some. But why, you ask? Simple!

Back in 2011, my town was devastated by Tropical Storm Lee. The way the town came together after the flood was nothing short of a miracle. The community theater is doing Flood Stories, Too, which is opening on Thursday night. Tonight was the first dress rehearsal, and it went rather well, if I do say so myself. However, because I remember what it was like to be on stage and under all those lights, I purchased short sleeve shirts. I forgot that this stage is about half the size of the high school stage. I also didn’t take into account the fact that I will be mostly stationary for the duration of the show. Therefore, along with the pants, I will also be on the hunt for a white sweater.

On the plus side, I have some plain white t-shirts that I can maybe bring on the boat!

For the next two weeks, I fear this blog will be a commentary on my love of theater more than my love of NKOTB. While I’m still super psyched about the boat in May, I need to get past this first. It is just another milestone on the way to Miami.

…and another milestone was just passed as I typed that last paragraph: I just saw my first Cadbury Creme Eggs commercial! Not the best quality, but you get the idea.

Anywho, Flood Stories, Too! Should you want to get a little glimpse at what I’m doing, click right here and you’ll see a local news piece on it. You won’t see me, but my choir is mentioned! Ha!

Anyway, I’m tired. Maybe I’ll post more in the morning. I actually really enjoyed writing a blog post with my morning coffee today.

Writing, But Not Here

No excuse for my lack of a post for last night. My muse has returned to me full force and I can not stop writing a story I started working on a little over a year ago. Even as I type this, I want to be writing that. It’s hard!!!

Did you all know that I write? Some of you knew… Those of you who are my HP friends know that I write. My BH sisters, though… Not so sure. Well, now you know. I write. I’ve nothing published, not yet anyway, but I write. I do have a picture in a Random House book on reality TV shows, but that’s pictures and not print.

Anyway, where is the time going? February is almost gone! Baseball season is here… I was driving around my town the other day when I realized that I hadn’t mentioned milestones in a while. In fact, the last post that I tagged as “milestones” was in November! So much has happened since then! Let’s recap.

I was in a wedding. The day was great and the pictures came out AMAZINGLY! There was a dense fog in the area all day that day, and it gave an ethereal feel to the proceedings. It was perfect and my friends had an awesome day.

My older son turned seven. I still can’t believe it, but there’s nothing I can do to change it. My little man is seven years old.

Christmas!!!

New Years!!!

My daughter is nine. As with my older son, I have no idea how it happened. Today was crazy hair day at school, so I took a few pictures of her before I took her out to the bus stop. When I got back inside and looked at the pictures, I noticed that she no longer looks like a little girl. She’s growing up on me!!!

We had a groundhog here in PA say that we’re going to get an early spring, but my family in Boston had a wicked blizzard.

It’s baseball season!!! I watched part of the Red Sox game tonight and I have to say that I feel a rebuilding year coming on. Baltimore looks good, though, which should make my one uncle happy. Ever since the Sox traded Fred Lynn, my uncle hasn’t been a Red Sox fan. He adopted the Orioles and has been a fan of them ever since.

And now here we are, less than a hundred days until the cruise… Less than 80 actually! We’ve broken 80 days!!! Time is flying. Hell, it’s almost March! In two weeks, I’ll be in daylight savings time!

I’m so ready to take this cruise. I am getting more excited every day. I want to get away, make new friends, meet the friends I have made since September… It’s almost hard for me to believe how much time has passed since we booked. Surreal. This whole experience is surreal.

I can’t wait until May!

Birthday Bash

I am officially the mother of a nine year old girl. At 12:42 in the afternoon on Sunday 25 January 2004, my precious little girl, my first born child, came into the world. Last night, she had a sleepover with a few friends and then today was her party. But let’s go back, as I am very well aware of my lack of a post yesterday.

Since last we’ve spoken, my town got about an inch of snow. It started yesterday afternoon around 3pm or so, and lasted into the evening. What began as flurries had the roads a little slick around dinner time. Why am I telling you this??? Yesterday morning, I was putting the finishing touches on the cupcakes that I was to take into school for my daughter’s class to enjoy. I baked two dozen cupcakes and let them cool over night, then frosted them and applied a generous amount of sprinkles that refused to stick without force. I had just placed the cover on the final dozen when my cell phone rang.

It was the school district.

“In anticipation of impending inclement weather, the Bloomsburg Area School District will be closing early…” yada yada…

REALLY?!?!?! I hate to say it this way, but it is true. When I was in school, we used to have school until it was verging on unsafe to traverse the roads. I vividly remember walking to school in four, five, or even six inches of the white stuff, and having a full day! There was more than one occasion when I and others slipped on ice on various sidewalks on our way to and/or from school. Some days, I would sit in class and watch the snow pile up, waiting for early dismissal announcements that never came. So far this year, we’ve had two days off for a total of three inches of rain, a day off for two inches of snow, and an early dismissal for flurries that didn’t even start until around the time that my kids would have been getting off of the bus. Needless to say, there are a LOT of pissed off people, parents and staff alike. A bunch of us are planning on attending the next school board meeting because this is getting downright ridiculous.

I had four girls overnight last night, and they were LOUD! This afternoon, I had around 10 kids in my house for the party. It was TONS of fun and I ate WAY too much junk. The girls had a blast! My daughter is upset that it was just one night. lol My boys were pretty good, only my youngest gave me any real problems. He wanted to be downstairs with the girls. It was too cute. They made a mess of the basement, ate a ton of food, pancakes, cake, and pizza. They went through a bottle of juice, a gallon of milk, and who knows how much water.

While I’m glad everyone involved had a great time, I’m also glad that it’s over. This was just another milestone on the path to the boat! My little girl marks the last birthday before the cruise! My husband has the next birthday in the house, and his isn’t until a month or so after I get home. I won’t have to worry about any more cake until then! I’m going to go back to watching my diet and eating and living healthy. Cruise Control, baby!!! But once I get on that boat, watch out!!!

I vow, here and now, to try new things. If something looks even halfway decent on the menu, I’m going to order it. If I don’t like it, I can always send it back and order something else! That is the beauty of cruising! All that wonderful food is included, no matter how much you want to eat!!! I’m going to try new foods, eat new desserts, and when I get to Nassau, I’m going to eat some local fish fare. …and when they have lobster on the boat, I’m having two. That’s right! TWO! HA!!!

In one hundred and eleven days, I will be in Miami. One hundred and twelve days from now, I’ll be getting ready for the first night time deck party. I don’t know what the theme will be. I don’t know what I will wear. I will be there nonetheless, and I will have a great time!!!

Another milestone gone! Another day closer! In two weeks, we’ll be in double digits!!! Let’s Sail This!!!

Football

As like yesterday, another milestone was met today. This, like the baseball milestone back in October, was one that came far too soon for my liking. Today marked the end of (my) football season. My Patriots lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game. Yesterday I celebrated the beginning of hockey season and today, the end of football. Talk about extremes! Happiness to sadness.

Oh well. Hockey is fresh and new, and soon pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training! While I don’t expect much of anything from my Sox this year (just being realistic) I have high hopes for my B’s. Either way, I’m done with football for the year…American football anyway.

I sit here contemplating another day off of school for my big kids. Tomorrow is MLK day, so the schools are closed. We let the kids stay up a little later tonight in the hopes that they won’t wake up at normal school time tomorrow morning. Even if they do, though, I have a plan. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to make French toast for breakfast!!! I can’t wait! It is a rare thing for me to make French toast, but when I get in the mood for it, watch out!!! Tomorrow night, I’m making meatloaf for dinner. YUMMY!!!

All this talk about food is making me hungry. Did you know that you can order room service 24 hours on the ship? They also have a 24 hour pizza bar on board and all the soft serve ice cream you can eat! Every night on the cruise with my dad, I would order a ham and cheese sandwich from room service around midnight. They were good, too!!! Not sure I will do that this time around, but it’s nice to know that I can. There is also a sushi bar on the ship which I might have to try out.

I look forward to the unlimited meals in the dining room. There was a guy seated at a nearby table (when I cruised with my dad) that ordered 7 lobster tails one evening! SEVEN!!! While I won’t eat that much, I might have two… I also intend to try something new because if I don’t like it, it doesn’t cost me anything to order something else! I want to sample various desserts, like cheesecake. Can you believe I’ve never really had cheesecake?

Last cruise, I spent my time worrying about my dad and checking up on him every hour. I ate with him. I sat at the casino with him. If I went and did something by myself on the ship, I listened to him talk about how bored he was while I was gone. He sat in the room, with the curtains closed, and watched movies. While I had a good time, got some sun on the way back to NYC, and had an AMAZING meal in St John, New Brunswick, it wasn’t an overly relaxing vacation. This one will be.

I was talking to my friend Jenn earlier and I know it seems redundant, but this whole cruise experience still seems surreal to me. I’m going to be leaving the house BY MYSELF! I’m going to stop at Dunkin Donuts and not have a little voice chiming in from the back asking for a sprinkle donut. I’m going to be in the car for more than ten minutes by myself and be able to listen to, and sing along to, whatever the hell I feel like listening to! I can listen to Nine Inch Nails if I want to and not have to turn the volume down for the profanity!!! I’m going to get on an airplane and fly to Miami! I’m going to stay at a friend house and have actual adult conversation! I will eat food that I don’t have to share with anyone! All that BEFORE I get on the damn boat!!!

Also, I can’t wait until Tuesday!!!

It doesn’t seem possible that I’m doing this, that this is happening to me. I’m going to meet up with some amazing women I’ve come to know because of New Kids on the Block! It’s going to be AMAZING! We’re gonna get on that boat, we’re going to eat when we want to, drink when we want to, lay in the sun!!! We’re going to hear some amazing music and hit some beautiful beaches! All the food we can eat. Swim when we want. Hot tubs. The gym. Did I mention the beaches? Open water!!! Amazing new friends!!! Oh yeah! And a photo with NKOTB AND a concert!!!!! I can’t freaking wait!!!

So I sit here, drinking a beer because I deserve it, and raising my bottle to you all! Here’s to the fastest three months of our lives!!! ‘But Jennifer,’ you say. ‘The cruise is in four months!’ Why yes, it is! But you need time to shop and pack, don’t you???

Hockey

I didn’t want to get up this morning. I was nice and comfortable in my bed, under my blankets where it was warm, and I didn’t want to move. I did get up, though, and after breakfast and coffee, a friend brought her son over for a play date. Her son is in my daughters grade, though not in the same class, and they’ve been friends for a few years. His mom and I met at another child’s birthday party and we’ve been friends since. They stayed through lunch and then left around 1:30 this afternoon. Then the five members of my household went to my mom’s and eventually came home for dinner. The story is MUCH longer than that, but I really don’t want to get into it. I’m sure I’ll divulge the details in a few days, but not right now. It was a frustrating evening but it ended well.

I’d almost forgotten how stressful watching hockey could be. First off, my husband was watching Pawn Stars and we forgot to set a reminder for the hockey game. It wasn’t until 7:15 that I turned on the game, but the only thing I really missed was Rene Rancourt and the puck drop. (anyone know how many fist pumps he did today? I’d imagine he was VERY happy to be back in action.) I saw the fights, the goals, and the Boston Bruins win the first game of the season! Let me tell you, though, watching the odd man rushes, saves, checks, and all the other hockey terms that have you all scratching your heads right now, really got to me. I was yelling at my television!!!

I missed hockey. This is another milestone met: the start of hockey season. This is a milestone I REALLY wish we could have met back in the fall, but I have to say that I’m glad we got to see it at all this year. There was a part of me that thought for certain we wouldn’t have any NHL this year. It was great to see my B’s back on the ice and it was even nicer to see a Bourque back in black and gold! Can’t wait to see what Chris Bourque can do for us!!!

Less than four months to go and I have the NHL to help me pass the time! WOW! Hockey, new NKOTB music, spring training in three weeks… By the time pitchers and catchers report, we’ll be down to a double digit wait!!! It will be here before we know it!!!

Go Bruins!