Year 4, Day 305, “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 3/01/2025. The Wellington – Drywall finishing continues with spackling and sanding of second coat. It is so dusty that I wear a mask full time in the house now.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/4hQIPgd12 Black Wall Hooks: I just put a few of these up in my master bedroom closet. The perfect solution for hanging up belts. These are the sturdiest little hooks and look fantastic. Watch and see where they will be appearing next in this house. Great for hanging coats, hats, towels, cups, bags, etc. The list is endless – Use your imagination.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 304, “Living the Dream”. Friday, 2/28/2025. The Wellington – It is a beautiful high in the 50’s sunny day. After a healthy breakfast,
the sanding and spackling continued.
Everything in the house is dusty even with the wind blowing the dust out the door. Thank goodness it is a warmer day.
I spent a little more time foraging in the attic. It is like going shopping, but less expensive. The sunlight shining by the attic door calls me in the mornings.
We picked up four five gallon buckets of USG All Purpose Joint Compound. We have used 14 in the house so far. We are estimating we will have used 24 buckets total when done with this house. The buckets of joint compound are $20.28 each.
In the last five days 1,250 feet of drywall joint tape has been put up. Also ordered four more gallons of Kilz2 all purpose primer. In one week the painting will start.
While Steve showers after work, I go to work sweeping and cleaning.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/4hQIPgd12 Black Wall Hooks: I just put a few of these up in my master bedroom closet. The perfect solution for hanging up belts. These are the sturdiest little hooks and look fantastic. Watch and see where they will be appearing next in this house. Great for hanging coats, hats, towels, cups, bags, etc. The list is endless – Use your imagination.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 303, “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 2/27/2025. The Wellington – The treadmill is cleaned up and ready in the bar room for the morning. Woohoo, back to some daily 5am walking with the best field views. Happy days are here!
The corner bead is all up in the main living area, hallways, and foyer.
Time to do some research and planning for our 2027 vacations. Cape Horn you say!!
Then you think of the things you miss when you work through retirement and travel.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 302, “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 2/26/2025. The Wellington – The yard is all dry and it is a beautiful day. So we changed our focus and cleaned up the outside pile of scrap building materials. Two trips to the transfer station and the pile is gone.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 301, “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 2/25/2025. The Wellington – It’s a high drywall spackling and taping work in the foyer day. Work is a little slower in these high area.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 300, “Living the Dream”. Monday, 2/24/2025. The Wellington – Work started at 6:30am this morning.
We are starting to see the finish line and are getting more speed up.
We have never seen spackle dry this fast. It is almost dry as soon as it hits the wall. The ideal indoor humidity level is usually between 30-50%. Ours is between 21 and 25%. Miss Piggy is back on the job today.
We have no where to watch Tiny House Nation. So now after work we are listening to Led Zepellin. OMG what year is this???
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 299, “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 2/23/2025. The Wellington – Out for breakfast and then back home to tape and spackle. Another high job.
I was fired from the job after only a short time. Lol, I was never fired from a job before and my husband is the one to fire me.
So it is back to the designing, purchasing, cleaning, and doing laundry. I also have cooking, foraging in the attic, and unpacking to do. Additionally, I’ll be documenting our retirement journey and vacation planning.
Our living room has a bunch of big spackle contractor bird poop all over it this afternoon.
It is much warmer now at 45 degrees Fahrenheit. The snow is almost gone. We are back to green pastures.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 298, “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 2/22/2025. The Wellington – It feels like it is one step forward two steps back. Our living area is all torn apart again until the the spackling and painting has been completed. The carpet is up and we are back to living on the plywood floors. No more afternoon watching “The Tiny House Nation” for awhile.
Even the plants have to make an adjustment. More sun and a crowded area. But they will be making new friends with this transition. Every change in our life gives you an opportunity to develop a bond with a new person. New bonds can provide emotional support, companionship, and a sense of belonging, which are vital for mental well-being.
Small house design thought – NOT TINY
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 297, “Living the Dream”. Friday, 2/21/2025. The Wellington – Getting settled in the master bedroom closet and adding some finishing touches.
Looking at color combinations for the Living area, hall, and foyer. The Master bedroom is painted with Sea Salt.
Spent some time foraging the attic finding packed away stuff. This is a slow way of unpacking. But I brought down Heidi the Rhoomba today. At least I think this one is Heidi. Her brushes are filled with carpet stuff. She needs to cleaned, oiled, charges and get back to work in the Master bedroom suit. It is bitter cold up in that attic space. Winter gear is needed while foraging.
The main level interior doors and a lot of trim is being painted and installed. Finishing touches are so great.
It makes you feel good. We found ourselves sitting in the master bedroom closet at the end of the day. That closet is the only finished room in the house.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: ttps://amzn.to/4kcurQQOld English Scratch Cover: This is an amazing product. We rubbed this product into the wood of our 21 year old bedroom furniture with a clean, soft dry cloth. This furniture went from scratched up old garbage to a really nice looking bedroom set. Those unsightly nicks and scratches are now unnoticeable.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 296, “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 2/20/2025. The Wellington – It is a cold 16 degrees snowy day as we work on inside finishing work.
Painting and trimming windows and doors in the Master bedroom suite area today.
Then it was onto building the kitchen pantry closet.
It is unbelievable the amount of rain and how high the creek was over the weekend. Less than a week later. We have snow on the ground and it is 16 degrees going down to 7 tomorrow. Crazy Kentucky weather.
Missing Pennsylvania life. The grandkids are so smart and getting really big.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen installed. Now I have it in the kitchen cabinet. It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 295, “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 2/19/2025. The Wellington – It is a snowy day.
The master bedroom closet is completed and it is move in day.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen installed. Now I have it in the kitchen cabinet. It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 294, “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 2/18/2025. The Wellington – Just another flower filled day!!
Our favorite plan we have found so far.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen and now I have it in the kitchen cabinet, It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 293, “Living the Dream”. Monday, 2/17/2025. The Wellington – Celebrated Justin’s birthday with Rouladen and ice cream cake.
A few more smaller home designs!
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen and now I have it in the kitchen cabinet, It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 292, “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 2/16/2025. The Wellington – Headed to breakfast. When we left the house at 8:30am it was 51 degrees Fahrenheit. When we got home at 8:30am it was 33 and snowing. The temperature dropped 18 degrees in two hours. That is a quick drop with a cold front moving in swiftly.
Master bedroom closet work continued today.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen and now I have it in the kitchen cabinet, It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 291, “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 2/15/2025. The Wellington – Master bedroom closet work continues. The closet is starting to remind me of a tiny house. Or is it that we have been watching “Tiny House Nation” A LOT? You could live in this closet based on that show.
The rain has been ferocious here. The streams and rivers are all flooding.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen and now I have it in the kitchen cabinet, It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 290, “Living the Dream”. Friday, 2/14/2025. The Wellington – Happy Valentines day. We took the day off and headed to Lexington. I just read that consumers are expected to spend over $25 billion on Valentine’s Day this year. This is happening in the United States. Candy is the most popular Valentine’s gift followed by flowers and greeting cards. An evening out and jewelry follow that for popularity. United States spends the most money out of any country on Valentines day followed by the United Kingdom. I was surprised to read that women spend more than men on Valentine’s day. Also Arizona’s birthday is celebrated on February 14th. The traditional Valentine’s Day flower is the rose.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Covered flatware storage box:https://amzn.to/41rXlVW This box is the perfect dust free storage solution for your flatware. We bought this before we had a real kitchen and now I have it in the kitchen cabinet, It is perfect for keeping my flatware organized and clean. Everyone who comes to visit wants one.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 288, “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 2/12/2025. The Wellington – The hardwood floor is down in the master closet. We spent some time finalizing the closet design. Tomorrow is material purchase day and then start building the closet out.
We just realized we have been sealing the tile grout and we don’t need to. Another lesson learned when you use this ready to use grout, sealing is not required.
Have you ever washed Advantech. Call me crazy but with the master bedroom area floors done we were tracking so much dirt into the bedroom. So today we decided to wash the subfloor. The water in the bucket was extremely dirty. Hopefully that will help. I have no problem leaving my shoes outside in the hall. Steve refuses to use tools without his work boots on. Safety first!
The wall behind the toilet is finished and the new toilet installed. Another lesson of the day: Place the base molding behind the toilet first. Otherwise, you can’t fit it in after installing the toilet. This applies to most toilet walls.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Year 4, Day 287, “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 2/11/2025. The Wellington – Started laying the oak floor in the master bedroom closet.
Used Old English on the corner of the bedroom hutch. Look at these images. One is after waxing with Pledge, but before Old English Scratch Cover was applied. The second one is after using the Old English. Love this product the difference is amazing.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Year 4, Day 286, “Living the Dream”. Monday, 2/10/2025. The Wellington – Master bathroom tile is grouted. Just the sealing of it is left to do.
There is a lot of interest in eliminating the penny in the United States. I was looking at the Composition of pennies over time. I found it very interesting and thought I would share:
• 1793–1837: Pure copper
• 1857–1864: 88% copper and 12% nickel
• 1864–1962: Bronze, which is 95% copper, 5% tin, and 5% zinc
• 1943: Zinc-coated steel because copper was needed for the war effort
• 1982–Present: Primarily zinc with only 2.5% copper
Notable pennies
• 1943 Copper Penny: One of the most sought-after coins today
• 1983 Lincoln Memorial Cents: A few pennies were accidentally made of solid copper instead of copper-plated zinc
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Year 4, Day 285, “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 2/09/2025. The Wellington – Master bedroom hardwood floor is complete.
Steve has spent a lot of time on his knees the last few days. He does use knee pads and ear canceling muffs. The Flooring Nailer is very hard on your ears.
Hardwood flooring is durable, easy to keep clean and has a really nice classic appearance. But I am just not fond of the hardness and coldness of it in the bedroom. This is the first time we have put hardwood in our bedroom. We have always done comfy soft wall to wall carpeting. We just feel like carpet traps dust and allergens, and stains easily. It is also difficult to clean deeply. Hopefully we will grow to love the hardwood. It’s going to take a little time though. A lot of time was spent cleaning up our furniture. The detail in the wood is intricate. The crevices make it very tedious to clean after it has been sitting in a construction zone. We removed the bed’s canopy top. The bed appeared very big in this master with all that top wood stuff.
This bedroom furniture has been around 21 years and has taken a beating. We are thinking this is it’s final resting place. Ordered some Old English scratch cover from Amazon to try and give the wood a little face lift. I guess it is no different than us. We have taken a little bit of a beating in the last 21 years also. Plenty of creams have been applied to keep our deep dents away. Lol.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Year 4, Day 283, “Living the Dream”. Friday, 2/07/2025. The Wellington – Master bathroom floor tile is down. Needs to dry for a few days then it will be grouted.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Year 4, Day 282, “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 2/06/2025. The Wellington – Grouted the kitchen backsplash today. Kitchen is getting completed.
Hint for grouting: never rinse your sponge in the sink. The sand will clog the drain. In a few days or next week, after it is dry, we will seal it. Then, we will caulk around the top of the counter top.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 281, “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 2/05/2025. The Wellington – Rain is moving in tonight and tile cutting is done outside on the balcony. Therefore, the decision was made to continue with tiling. Half of the master bathroom floor was tiled, instead of grouting the kitchen and bathroom back splashes as previously planned.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 280, “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 2/04/2025. The Wellington – Kitchen backsplash tiling day 3. How many tiles are on the kitchen wall? I am going to count them. Tomorrow is grouting day.
Hall bath backsplash was also tiled
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 279, “Living the Dream”. Monday, 2/03/2025. The Wellington – Kitchen backsplash tiling day 2. The day is nice and we were able to cut the tile on the balcony.
We are using the same white subway tile we bought when we built the Williamsburg.
Yesterday, we purchased a different tile to run just above the outlets down the backsplash as a decoration accent. We ended up not using that decorative tile. Its width was different from the white subway tile. But we had a little bit of the decorative tile we used in the Williamsburg. We were able to just add a decorative strip over the cooktop. It looks awesome, much better than the strip around the kitchen would have looked.
House studying.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 278, “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 2/02/2025. The Wellington – Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. This prediction is after not seeing his shadow at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. We are back home and back to work. Adding backsplash tiling in the kitchen. First, insulation was stuffed around the window. Then, wood was used to build a sill. Extension jambs were installed, and colonial casing was added. Extension jambs are frames. They fill the depth of the wall space. This spans from the inside face of the window frame or “jamb” to the face of the drywall. These finishing touches make the room and precision is very important.
Of course the day also involved a lot of unpacking, laundry, stocking up of groceries and watering plants.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 277, “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 2/01/2025. Day 10 of 10 day Tampa to Bahamas trip (Day 8 of 7 night Bahamas cruise on Radiance of the Seas from Tampa, Florida) – Departing ship in Tampa, Florida. – We woke up this morning opened the curtains and there we are in Tampa. It is a dark cloudy morning.
We are off the ship at 8:15am and in the car driving by 8:35am. Customs was a quick walk through with facial recognition. We picked up our luggage and headed out to the parking garage. We placed luggage tag number 4 on our bags. Then we put them in the hallway outside our room last night before retiring. No porters were available when we picked up our luggage. We decided to walk it to the parking garage. The ship had departed seven nights ago from terminal 2 and our arrival was in terminal 3. The terminals are side by side with the garage across the street from both. We had parked on the second floor. There was one elevator with a long line of people with luggage. We walked our luggage up to the second level. Okay, actually Steve carried them up in two trips. Call me a weakling.
It turned into a nice sunny day. At 5:30pm we are on the other side of Atlanta on Interstate 75. Atlanta was a mess with accidents and traffic. We didn’t expect any different though. We talked about if we were flying today we would be nervous after the two plane crashes. Unreasonable fear is crazy, but it is what it is.
Last thing before I finish this post. Have you ever had Racetrac pizza. The pepperoni pizza is soooo good. It is like fresh bread so yummy. Every trip we stop fill the car up and get coffee and pepperoni pizza at Racetrac. No hotel reservations for tonight we are thinking to go all the way home to our bed.
Here’s a quick review of Radiance of the Seas Bahamas Cruise from Tampa January 25, 2025 – February 1, 2025.
1) Crown Lounge: No specialty coffee machine. Which meant the lounge was always empty. One of the good things about the lounge is meeting and talking to people in the lounge. Therefore that was a huge disappointment to us. We did get to get Starbucks specialty coffee from Lattitudes in place of the Crown Lounge coffee machine coffee
2) Bed: The bed was comfortable but the sheets were too small and did not cover the mattress. Every morning the lower half of our legs from the knees down were on the mattress. That was kind of gross.
3) Early dining: The servers were fast, courteous, and good. We stopped going after five nights to the dining room because of the pressure of eating all your dinner. If you didn’t like it or left any they kept coming back and wanting to give you more. Also once they knew you drank milk it came out warm. They poured it early and then served warm. As far as food the cheese plate cheese was dried out and hard. They were kept out too long on the counter before serving.
4) Windjammer: Good food choices and nice crew all around. Everything was kept clean and neat. Cheese was soft and good. Hamburger rolls were hard. Again left out too long.
5) Ship appearance: Ship is old but the main areas are well maintained. The total ship is very clean. The rooms need updating. Showers are small with shower curtains. Tiles in shower and bathroom kept coming lose. I left them by the sink as they came lose and they were glued in all the time.
6) Room attendant: Our room attendant was very good with cleaning and taking care of anything we requested and when light was out immediately had it fixed. He did have 24 rooms to clean everyday so he was very busy. We had three towel animals out of the 7 nights. We had to ask for Diamond Plus shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and lotion amenities.
7) Crown and Anchor benefits. The Cheers with an Officer luncheon was nice with good food and wine. Our complimentary two bottles of wine were not delivered to our room until we went and saw the Loyalty Ambassador. It was provided right away. She did her job, but was kind of unfriendly.
Captain Jeffry Thomaes: His announcements were very informative. We loved that he individually mentioned by name every person on the ship that had a birthday. He wished them a happy birthday each day. That included passengers and crew. He also came to the Cheers with an Officer lunch to give a toast. That is very unusual. The captain rarely comes. He seems like a nice guy that really cares about the crew and passengers.
Embarkation: Quick and easy
9) Disembarkation: Quick and easy with facial recognition walk through customs. There were not enough porters at Tampa cruise port when we docked.
10) Bars: Waiter service at the Champagne bar was exceptional.
11) Casino: Machines were tight There was a $10.00 minimum on table games.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Year 4, Day 276, “Living the Dream”. Friday, 1/31/2025. Day 9 of 10 day Tampa to Bahamas trip (Day 7 of 7 night Bahamas cruise on Radiance of the Seas from Tampa, Florida) – At sea traveling from CocoCay, Bahamas to Tampa, Florida. It is a lovely warm day to be at sea.
Here is a video of the Windjammer Buffet this morning.
We have had a good experience with the buffet breakfast this cruise. It is nice and quiet in the early morning.
The oatmeal and yogurt bar is great.
The dining room crew is very friendly. This includes the coffee lady, the pastry lady, the door greeter, and the table cleaners. Everyone is so nice and helpful. Great Royal employees. We had a medical emergency in the morning. They closed all shops and the casino so we could position ourselves closer to Florida. Within 12 nautical miles of land, ships are governed by the United States laws. Outside that limit they come under the laws of the nation in which they are registered. Royal Caribbean ships are registered in the Bahamas. A Coast Guard ship met us to pick up two passengers in need of immediate medical assistance.
They quickly moved us after the Coast Guard pickup. We were taken out far enough from the United States to open the stores and the casino. At noon we are 17 nautical miles from Key West and I am in the Windjammer staring at this pig. It really doesn’t make me feel hungry.
This is a ship where at noon time the captain announces all birthdays of all passengers and crew everyday. It is really a nice personal touch. The captain’s announces that we will be docking at 3am tomorrow morning. Tampa Cruise port has requested us to arrive early due to dense fog being expected tomorrow morning. They want us to pass under the Sky Bridge before the dense fog sets in. That means we will be traveling at a much higher speed than normal to make this early arrival.
Found a few more interesting house designs. The bicycle one is the best. We could take our tiny house with us and travel.
Today’s Lunch and Dinner menu.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Soft Foam Professional Tradesman Pro Pads with Handle:https://amzn.to/4hvXRXY Don’t be without a few of these around the house, garage, and shed. We use them for everything from hardwood flooring, electrical work, plumbing, gardening, car maintenance, under the sink work, etc. Saves wear and tear on your knees and back.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. #CommissionsEarned
Captain Jeffry Thomaes: His announcements were very informative. We loved that he individually mentioned by name every person on the ship that had a birthday. He wished them a happy birthday each day. That included passengers and crew. He also came to the Cheers with an Officer lunch to give a toast. That is very unusual. The captain rarely comes. He seems like a nice guy that really cares about the crew and passengers.
