From Canada…to Canada: Discovering Liberty, Eh? – LB 08/24/23 – 09/02/23

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I started teaching in September 2000. The year 2030 makes an even 30 years for me. I told Hubby long ago, regardless of what my pension is at that point, it's time to go.

That's exactly when my wife started but she worked at a Charter school her first year before switching to public so she's a year behind as far as pension years go.

She's ready to leave ASAP but there are a bunch of variables that will ultimately determine what she does when the time comes.

8 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

But the end is definitely in sight, and that is a good feeling! 

I'm sure it's a great feeling and I feel bad that my wife can't fully have that feeling yet. Hopefully some of those variables fall our way and she doesn't have to keep going if she doesn't want to. In the meantime, she's qualified for various out of the classroom positions and when she had one last year she didn't mind it nearly as much as she does when she's in the classroom (we even went on a cheap 4-night cruise in October when she already had Monday off, and I drove her straight to work after we disembarked Friday morning, lol) so getting back out would be a big plus.

[kadmgs]

@Lovetocruise2002 I understand completely. I started in 2002 & teaching has changed so much. I teach government, so I have to be especially careful not to upset parents. It's ridiculous.

 

@OCSC MikeTexas provides a buy-in option for health insurance, but it's not cheap. I'm trying to figure out how to get my social security credits to get at least half of what I paid in before I started teaching. #thankswindfall If we lived in Florida, I'd try and get a Disney job for the perks. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

She's ready to leave ASAP

Truthfully, so am I. But I also need to at least go a few more years, same thing, for various reasons. Cruising being one of them lol

5 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

In the meantime, she's qualified for various out of the classroom positions and when she had one last year she didn't mind it nearly as much as she does when she's in the classroom

I am sure that helps. Even here, there are many teachers that take short term positions still within the board, but outside of the classroom to take a bit of a break. I never do that because I love being in the classroom. I would see no purpose in teaching if you took me away from my kids. But that is why I have kept these leaves that I take every few years. Gives me a chance to reset.

[Lovetocruise2002]

5 minutes ago, kadmgs said:

I started in 2002 & teaching has changed so much.

^^^this 100% 

[OCSC Mike]

1 minute ago, kadmgs said:

I teach government, so I have to be especially careful not to upset parents. It's ridiculous.

My wife's friend's husband teaches civics and between that and Florida's mandates (not looking to get into it but I'm sure you know what I mean), he's not exactly happy.

2 minutes ago, kadmgs said:

If we lived in Florida, I'd try and get a Disney job for the perks.

She's been working on an actual 2nd career that would be great if it worked out. But Disney is definitely an option for a lot of people.

Some of her co-workers have been working part-time or seasonally at Disney while teaching (usually just for a little extra cash and the park perks). A PE teacher at her school is some of the characters b/c she's short (a big requirement, especially for Donald Duck and some others, lol).

In her early 20's, my wife sold tickets part time for a while, but that was obviously a long time ago.

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I would see no purpose in teaching if you took me away from my kids.

She loves her kids, but Florida keeps changing so much stuff that she winds up working after she gets home and on weekends for hours on end. The whole thing is very sad and very broken.

We're financially stable and thankful for what we have but I do wish I could tell her to just quit and pursue that other career full time.

Her position last year was partially admin stuff and partially going into the lower grades to provide extra reading help to kids who needed it. So she still got to interact with the kids without having to spend all those hours re-doing lesson plans and whatnot to meet the ever-changing requirements. That said, if she wound up with an admin job like supporting teachers and lost contact with the kids, she'd probably jump at it just b/c her workload right now is so ridiculous.

[WAAAYTOOO]

24 minutes ago, kadmgs said:

I teach government

Wow !  Awesome that they still teach any kind of government/civics classes in school.  I thought that had all gone away.  Yay for TX !

[Lovetocruise2002]

37 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow !  Awesome that they still teach any kind of government/civics classes in school.  I thought that had all gone away.  Yay for TX !

They still do that here too in Ontario. We cover government in elementary school and all Grade 10s are mandated to take a civics course in order to graduate high school.

[Sweety]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Sounds like some of the nonsense my wife will be dealing with here in FL. After 30 years she can continue teaching while receiving her pension at the same time for up to 10 years (it's called DROP, whatever that means, could be an acronym, I'm not sure, lol). One of the big issues for her (aside from how underpaid tenured teachers are here) is that her retirement comes with no health insurance benefits of any kind so there's a big gap between 30 years and medicare when you start teaching right out of undergrad.

On the plus side, she almost never takes days off so she has enough saved up to get paid for an entire year without working (or cashing them out when she actually retires which is what she plans to do).

I am going to sub at my school when I retire. I can sub for 140 days with extra pay on Mondays and Fridays. The subbing won't affect my pension. 

[Sweety]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

They still do that here too in Ontario. We cover government in elementary school and all Grade 10s are mandated to take a civics course in order to graduate high school.

I have been teaching Civics for years. Last year the new mayor of Chicago came to my class to talk with the students. We are going to the DNC in Chicago with students.

[Cruising Granny]

My heart goes out to all of you teachers! 
I retired in 2012, taught part time for 3 more years then said that’s it.                   Taught in FL and GA. Too many changes! Retirement is great!                            Y’all will get there!

[Sweety]

15 hours ago, Cruising Granny said:

My heart goes out to all of you teachers! 
I retired in 2012, taught part time for 3 more years then said that’s it.                   Taught in FL and GA. Too many changes! Retirement is great!                            Y’all will get there!

You are my hero. Thank you for your service. My Mom retired 10 years ago. She gets up every morning with a smile.

[Robert M]

unless I missed it did the girls collect all of the Effy bracelet ropes? we gave up after 3 lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, Robert M said:

unless I missed it did the girls collect all of the Effy bracelet ropes? we gave up after 3 lol

They got them all, except one. The shoe. It was a good life lesson for them. They showed up on time, did not want to sit for the talk, thought they had it figured out and left for a bit so they could skip the talk. When they went back, everyone was gone. That’s how they missed it lol

[SweetPea]

On 9/2/2023 at 12:41 PM, SweetPea said:

 

Batman checked in for our Oasis cruise this month and didn't notice the "you have 3 upcoming cruises" banner. He knows about Oasis obviously. He knows about Symphony in May. Hmmm, what could the 3rd be? 

Full disclosure: i hid his readers before he started check in.   

I'm reviving this blog to report that I've just been found out. Batman went to take his selfie for boarding and asked about the 3rd cruise.... 

I should've videoed my Olympic efforts to try to get him to the selfie section myself.

He does not know we're in a Grand Loft, his favorite I'll save that gem for later. But for now, we're still married. So there is that. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

On 9/22/2023 at 2:25 PM, SweetPea said:

I'm reviving this blog to report that I've just been found out. Batman went to take his selfie for boarding and asked about the 3rd cruise.... 

It might not matter even if he found out. The week after this Liberty sailing, Hubby sat me down, with his spreadsheet (I hate those things!) and very sternly said that he doesn't want any more surprises. He said he wants a breakdown of every cruise we have booked into the future, final payment dates and all. 

This morning I just reminded him that final payment for Odyssey NYE sailing is coming up this week. First there was the "surprised look", then there was the, "How much?", followed by the head shaking. You would think the spreadsheet thing that he made me fill out with him didn't even exist. I am willing to bet that on Friday when I make final payment, I will get this whole response all over again...SMH.

 

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

You would think the spreadsheet thing that he made me fill out with him didn't even exist. I am willing to bet that on Friday when I make final payment, I will get this whole response all over again...SMH.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Meanwhile I'm sitting here waiting for my wife to decide if she wants to take a couple days off next month and squeeze in a 5-nighter that covers a Friday when school is randomly off and a weekend. She doesn't care about taking days off, it's the work involved with planning for a sub she can't stand. Have I mentioned teaching here is awful? *sigh*

We have it on hold until tomorrow.

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

it's the work involved with planning for a sub she can't stand.

It's true. My teaching partner and I always say that teaching is one of those jobs where it is actually more work to be away. How many other jobs are there out there where you have to put in extra work to plan for a supply, and your class, when you are away?

[FireFishII]

25 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Meanwhile I'm sitting here waiting for my wife to decide if she wants to take a couple days off next month and squeeze in a 5-nighter that covers a Friday when school is randomly off and a weekend. She doesn't care about taking days off, it's the work involved with planning for a sub she can't stand. Have I mentioned teaching here is awful? *sigh*

I have the same issue with my teacher husband.  So, that means for me, no traveling between Sept to May, unless I go solo.  Anyone up for a trip???  LOL!

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, FireFishII said:

I have the same issue with my teacher husband.  So, that means for me, no traveling between Sept to May, unless I go solo.  Anyone up for a trip???  LOL!

The worst part for me is that she needs the vacation more than I do but she's the one who may decide against it (I'm expecting her to say no, have been from the day I found it). Obviously I'd rather cruise than not cruise, lol, and I wouldn't have it on hold if it wasn't a good price, but still. Just sad.

[teddy]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It might not matter even if he found out. The week after this Liberty sailing, Hubby sat me down, with his spreadsheet (I hate those things!) and very sternly said that he doesn't want any more surprises. He said he wants a breakdown of every cruise we have booked into the future, final payment dates and all. 

This morning I just reminded him that final payment for Odyssey NYE sailing is coming up this week. First there was the "surprised look", then there was the, "How much?", followed by the head shaking. You would think the spreadsheet thing that he made me fill out with him didn't even exist. I am willing to bet that on Friday when I make final payment, I will get this whole response all over again...SMH.

 

My wife is the cfo in our household complete with spreadsheets and a calendar.  
 

Last week it dawned on me that next month we’re going to be on Explorer as well as just getting home when a couple final payments are due.  I mentioned my concern to her. If she was an emoji, this would’ve been her face…

I said “I guess we’re all set with scheduling final payments, huh?” and was told to go back into the garage.

[LandstromCruise]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It might not matter even if he found out. The week after this Liberty sailing, Hubby sat me down, with his spreadsheet (I hate those things!) and very sternly said that he doesn't want any more surprises. He said he wants a breakdown of every cruise we have booked into the future, final payment dates and all. 

This morning I just reminded him that final payment for Odyssey NYE sailing is coming up this week. First there was the "surprised look", then there was the, "How much?", followed by the head shaking. You would think the spreadsheet thing that he made me fill out with him didn't even exist. I am willing to bet that on Friday when I make final payment, I will get this whole response all over again...SMH.

 

Sounds like someone is in trouble .  That sounds like me with my wife every time a new Amazon box shows up at the door 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Yep.  Dan and I had that “come to Jesus” meeting as well.  Now that we are both retired (for the most part), we just can’t do the big, expensive cruises any more.  We have lots of cruising scheduled but only 1 biggie….the rest are far more low-key than in the past.  When I was working, I paid for all cruising.  That worked great back then. Dan was oblivious to how much it was costing.  Now that I don’t have the big bucks rolling in, it is more of a shared expense so he had a bit of a reality check…not in a good way.  Lol. We’re working it out but those big “surprises” can’t happen anymore.

I can relate…

[FireFishII]

18 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yep.  Dan and I had that “come to Jesus” meeting as well.  Now that we are both retired (for the most part), we just can’t do the big, expensive cruises any more.  We have lots of cruising scheduled but only 1 biggie….the rest are far more low-key than in the past.  When I was working, I paid for all cruising.  That worked great back then. Dan was oblivious to how much it was costing.  Now that I don’t have the big bucks rolling in, it is more of a shared expense so he had a bit of a reality check…not in a good way.  Lol. We’re working it out but those big “surprises” can’t happen anymore.

I can relate…

And that is how a great marriage work - realizing that your lives change and how to adjust for those changes.  Great job!  And I hope you win PowerBall so you can take more BIGGIE vacations. 

[OCSC Mike]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:22 PM, OCSC Mike said:

The worst part for me is that she needs the vacation more than I do but she's the one who may decide against it (I'm expecting her to say no, have been from the day I found it). Obviously I'd rather cruise than not cruise, lol, and I wouldn't have it on hold if it wasn't a good price, but still. Just sad.

I wasn’t sure where to post this but here seemed appropriate…

With less than an hour left on our 7 day courtesy hold, after MUCH going back & forth, my wife made sure her friend could sub, insisted that she work a half day on embarkation morning before leaving for PC, and finally said… BOOK IT!

T-29 days…

We cobbled together some plans but since it’s so late, we’ll be winging a lot of it, which is definitely not my style.

I’m still wondering where we’ll wind up parking since Terminal 1 will temporarily be home to Wonder, Indy, and Allure at the same time as our Allure cruise overlaps Indy before replacing her at PC.

I’ll figure out if I’m blogging later. Just wanted to share.

P.S. We’ve also already been a bit uncharacteristically UNFRUGAL in @SweetPea’s honor.

[SweetPea]

9 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I’ll figure out if I’m blogging later. Just wanted to share.

P.S. We’ve also already been a bit uncharacteristically UNFRUGAL in @SweetPea’s honor.

Oh, you're totally blogging. Especially about the UNFRUGAL part, because what's the saying? Misery loves company? That doesn't exactly fit here but you get my drift (did i just revive a saying from circa 1972?)...

[OCSC Mike]

39 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Oh, you're totally blogging. Especially about the UNFRUGAL part, because what's the saying? Misery loves company? That doesn't exactly fit here but you get my drift (did i just revive a saying from circa 1972?)...

1. I wasn't even close to born in 1972, lol, but I am obviously familiar with the saying.

2. My idea of "unfrugal" is going to be vastly different from yours.

- I was ORDERED to book Giovanni's Table b/c it has always been our favorite restaurant (especially picky wife's) and with more and more Kitchens popping up (which we will try once we get our D+ BOGO's), she wasn't sure we'd see one again. Interestingly, this was the same logic she used on me when we sailed on Indy last year... twice! But hey, this cruise is mostly for her, happy wife, etc. Needless to say, $100 meals are not our usual idea of dinner plans.

- Then as we were watching TV in bed last night and discussing the cruise, she seemed to get concerned about what she would eat for the other dinners because of her pickiness among reports that there was no more cook to order pasta/wok station in the WJ (that was always her go to dinner). We wound up preferring WJ to MDR (long before the menu change). She wound wind up ordering boring caesar salad and grilled chicken 4-5 nights out of 7 b/c she wouldn't eat anything else and I like to eat too much for the portion size (yeah, order multiples, I do, but it's mostly not great anyway).

- With no Playmakers on Allure (one of our new favorites b/c we both like it and it's not expensive) I got creative. We had dinner at Sabor once ever (Harmony in 2022). Despite my wife not actually liking Mexican food, she did enjoy the chips, the yucca fries, and 2 of the desserts (healthy dinner I know). The only entree on the menu she'll go near is a plain cheese quesadilla... which she thought was terrible. My entree was bad also (some poor excuse for a burrito) but I loved the guac, 2 of the apps (our family reordered apps like 5 times so no one cared about their entrees except my wife), and the desserts. So I asked her if she wanted to give the quesadilla another try and we ended up booking Sabor for the final night. Here's the logic... we'll see how the WJ/MDR is for her at the beginning of the cruise and then decide if we want to cancel Sabor or not.

- This is an odd 5-nighter that goes to CocoCay & Labadee just so it can get Allure on schedule to do the normal 4/3's to CocoCay/Nassau after that as Indy departs PC for Miami. I have no idea which night will be what theme in the MDR or WJ other than assuming night 3 is formal night b/c it's the one sea day in the middle. So that's when we're going to GT (wife won't eat anything from the French night MDR menu with the beef tenderloin or whatever it is and I don't ever need to go to the MDR).

Probably should have just started a blog early with all that rambling but I'll just leave it here.

[SweetPea]

5 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I wasn't even close to born in 1972

Sure, rub it in

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I’ve been away from the blog for the past week with just a quick glance here and there.  My mom has had dementia for the past 5 years and the last few have been very difficult.  Each time I was planning (or on) a cruise or land vacation she was always on my mind, especially more recently, as my siblings and I knew her days were limited.  Sadly she passed early Monday morning so today I decided, before all the “stuff” begins, to take a few minutes to “veg” and I chose to visit here!  

Thanks for the chuckles about hiding cruises (some of you know I am guilty of that) and also the new reality checks of retirement and spending (I am also in that category)!  Any laughter I can find right now is healing to me!

I am thankful my husband is a head shaker too…he gets his point across.  Just yesterday he again asked me ok…what plans do we have the rest of this year and next year.  I gave him all the plans and he said, “ok no more surprises and no more plans!”    Well, our cruising friends came by to spend time with us last night.  They just returned from a Carnival cruise (which, by the way, they had wanted us to join them so this is the one time I am very thankful I said no)!!!  We are cruising together on Utopia next September so he proposed a plan to disembark on Sept 13, grab a hotel overnight and board the Mardi Gras the next morning!  Perhaps my husband knew I am currently in a very emotional state…he gave it some thought and kind of agreed!   After they left he asked me to disclose once again everything we have planned for next year.  He shook his head and said, “ok…let them know we will do this BUT after that we need to slow down”.    
 

I think I needed this outlet this morning and thanks for reading my jumble!  Hope everyone has a great day!

 

 

[Xaa]

Sorry for your loss @PPPJJ-GCVAB

 

[Neesa]

@PPPJJ-GCVAB wishing you loads of strength and I am so sorry for the loss of your mother. You are in my thoughts and prayers, Denise

[Lovetocruise2002]

@PPPJJ-GCVAB Hugs to you  I am very sorry about your loss.

[OCSC Mike]

Sorry for your loss. @PPPJJ-GCVAB I'm glad the wonderful blogs here were able to provide a temporary distraction.

[Ampurp85]

@PPPJJ-GCVAB I am sorry for your loss. Dementia is a very rough process, especially when they no longer remember you and then they have moments of lucidity that break your soul. 

[SweetPea]

@PPPJJ-GCVAB, just wanted to share my condolences.

[asquared17]

@PPPJJ-GCVAB so sorry to hear about your mom. you are in my thoughts and prayers

[WAAAYTOOO]

Sorry to hear of your mom’s passing, @PPPJJ-GCVAB.

[FireFishII]

Prayers for you and your family, @PPPJJ-GCVAB.  Be sure to remember all the good times you had with your mom.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

On 9/27/2023 at 11:00 AM, Ampurp85 said:

@PPPJJ-GCVAB I am sorry for your loss. Dementia is a very rough process, especially when they no longer remember you and then they have moments of lucidity that break your soul. 

You are spot on!  
I thank everyone for your kind messages.