snippetsandtidbits

[snippetsandtidbits]

Koziar's Christmas Village

**Grinch alert** Back in October, I saw a group tour advertised to go to Koziar’s in early December. The deal was to board a bus and ride for 2.5 hours up to Berk’s county, PA., then tour Koziar’s on your own and ride the bus back. Tickets were $80.00 per person. That’s EIGHTY DOLLARS per person. This fee covered the driver, the bus, gratuities and a tour guide. While they didn’t mention they’d…

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Decorating the tree

We decorated the tree today with the help of the small human living next door. He doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but he’s enthralled by all things Christmas. So, I am trying to respect his traditions while including him in ones he is showing interest in. It’s a win-win I think, because I miss my littles so much and he needs a sense of belonging. Everything is kinda bunched up front, so the elves…

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Wish (I hadn't)

I took my littles to the movies to see Disney’s newest movie, “Wish”. We’d recently had our first ever theater experience at this same facility, which is very nice, seeing the Paw Patrol movie, so I had high hopes of a Thanksgiving weekend treat for the 3 and 5 year old. I had the option to take them to the latest “Trolls” installment or to see Disney’s “Wish”. I was unsure of the Trolls movie…

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Elephant Feet... It's what's for dinner!!

Actually, if I’m being honest, this looks a bit more like an elephant foot and a small dropping. Whatever it looked like, it was what we had for dinner and it was certainly yummy. During the growing season, I love to go to a local farm stand and try to figure out how to use whatever is in season. Last year I found this…. This jumbo pink banana squash weighed in at about 14 pounds and cost me a…

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My Carpet Rake

I’m in a love/hate relationship with my carpet rake. I love it because it gets all the hair off my carpets. Who am I kidding?? It gets more hair off my carpets. This house will never be “fur free”. I hate it because I feel like a failure in the housekeeping arena, even though I vacuum every day (mostly, and when I’m here). Of course, I do have a fur farmer living here… and she’s so…

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Spinning

Isn’t this appropriate?! Btw, he’s fine. He thought it was hilarious! As a metaphor for many things in life, you spin and spin and spin until one day you fall off that cycle. I used to write here every day for months.. until I fell off. I was eating well and decaffeinated, until I fell off. I was working, until I jumped off. I was living with constant anger and pain, until I both jumped and…

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COVID Nightmares at 174 hz

*Warning – may be disturbing (it was for me!) If you poke back through this blog, you’ll see a number of posts about nightmares. I tend to have vivid and disturbing dreams, but even more so when I am sick, have taken a med that doesn’t agree or listen to certain frequencies while sleeping. I just got back from Alaska. It was a beautiful trip to celebrate my birthday and all went well until the…

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Happy Thanksgiving from Miami

That’s right. We ditched all of the family to come to Miami to sit in the heat and humidity and commiserate the fate of turkeys everywhere. Instead of pumpkin pie and eggnog, we opted for art deco and sea breezes. We rented a room in South Beach (Suites on South Beach) for a few days before our very first Virgin Voyages cruise. After many attempts to cruise together (pandemic, war,…

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Ultra Conservative

This is not a political post, it’s about my body. I am ever grateful for this container I am symbiotic with, but we’ve learned a few things about each other as we’ve traversed our time around the sun. She’s ultra conservative and I’m well, not so much. I like to go, go, go. She wants to sleep. I want to eat, she’s afraid of famine and holds on to all the fuel she can, for as long as she can. I…

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Irresponsible?

I got up and worked on a budget that I promptly ignored and bought a room on a cruise that my son has been begging me to go on for the holidays with him. Now, was that irresponsible financially, or did I see the larger picture about money affording me experiences with my son…? Does it change you opinion if I tell you that I’m going to Miami for a few days before I leave on a back to back cruise…

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Speedy Delivery

They say you should write what you know. What if you don’t know anything? Life has been flying by at an alarming rate and I’ve had every intention of getting back in here and writing blogs…. mostly because I *like* doing so. Sure it’s a bit of effort, and finding things to chatter about can be difficult, but I do like to stretch my vocabulary now and then. For the most part, life has been about…

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Letter to my dad

Letter to my dad

Dear Dad,             They asked me if I had anything to say, anything to recount about our time together. I had to think about that. I don’t remember too many specific times that we spent together, maybe that was because you were working long hours and double shifts to make sure I was safe and warm and had plenty to eat. At the time I didn’t really understand that, but I had just about…

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An Ode to Travel Professionals

So far I’m not a big fan of Priceline. And after being on my most recent travels, I’m not sure I like Viator either. I’ve worked with many travel professionals over the years. And while convenient, Priceline and Viator are making life a little more difficult for travel professionals to earn a living while not always providing the same level of service. Case in point, I just got back from a…

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Venice

Definitely a place that makes you want to return. Yesterday started off with a rainy gray bleak morning that was beautiful on the lake. My guide Carlotta and I were driven in our sleek Mercedes-Benz into Milan, where we took a high speed train to Venice. From there we were met by another swoopy Mercedes and our driver Fabian who was definitely a polite, helpful and kind Italian driver. I never…

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Stresa, May 2-3

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Italy and Odyssey

So! I’m off on a grand adventure. Today I leave for Italy and a whirlwind itinerary to help confirm preparations for the Chorus tour that happens in July (which I’m going on as well). I’m headed off to Milan this evening where I’ll be picked up and taken to Stresa, which is a city on Lake Maggiore, to take a gander at possible hotels there. Then we travel to Venice and surrounding area to check…

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Elton John on a plane

Elton John on a plane

I dream a lot. I tend to get to bed between 10 pm and 12am and often wake up at least once during the wee hours. Often the best sleep I get is just before I’m supposed to wake up. Supposed to? I don’t often have a set schedule these days, but my body responds to the light in the room, so I wake up at a reasonable hour. Two nights ago, I dreamed I had gone to a playground looking for something.…