The Little Things...

Some of you might be wondering what I'm missing right now. And oh, have I been thinking about this lately. I never really thought about all of the comforts and simple pleasures of living at home- most dealing with food- until all of it was taken from me. We're not suffering by any means here, but pretty much all options are very limited- no choice in meal times, no choice in food. The biggest and most fun choices we have are what flavor 'juice', tea, or latte we want, or what to buy from the snack bar or ship shop. Over time, you sort of start running out of new options and things get stale and boring. Though, I do find new things to love every once in a while- for example- I'm currently on this HUGE Mentos and Rolos kick- Mentos started with my mom bringing some, and Rolos when a friend left and gave a bunch to me... but they're great.. for now:)

Anyway- I've made a list off of the top of my head of things I miss and look forward to having one day once again:)

Carabbas- love that place- the italian food it cranks out is just killer and un-beatable... it'll be one of the places I go to for sure when I'm home- calamari, amazing pasta, great bread with reeealll olive oil(not the fake stuff we currently have on board) and a great atmosphere....:)

Real Ice Cream- the stuff we have here is extremely soft, and it is yummy, but just not the same- I especially miss cold stone's strawberry blondie and Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby- or double fudge brownie as well.. so good:)

Costco pizza- either cheese or garbage- both are greatly missed in my mind.

Tomato, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella- in any form- I just miss that combination terribly

Pasta!!!- we have spaghetti here, which I devour whenever we have it- but I miss penne, rotini(especially), the tri-colored rotini, tortellini, ravioli

Grapes- we get them once in a blue moon, but honestly- they're not very good

Strawberries

Fresh Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries

Good seafood- we have some fish here, but most of the time, not at all prepared the way I love(just baked, grilled or broiled with amazing seasoning)- I especially miss shrimp(jumbo), scallops, clams, mussels, and crabs(I had some here and it was terrible!!)

Making dinner for me and my family- I'm tired of making food for 400+ people every day.... it's exhausting- I miss the joy of just cooking a simple delicious, fresh meal for me and my family

Making what IIIII want to eat- No choices here on that end:(

Chic fil a- what I wouldn't give for my char-grilled chicken club with waffle fries and ranch with a large sweet tea with LEMON(another thing I miss like crazy), or a number one with honey mustard... wow..:) Oh and ice cream to follow- kiddie cone:)

Making cupcakes- I've only gotten 1 chance to do cupcakes here, and they were good but not the quality I make at home- I miss it terribly.... I miss trying new crazy recipes and trying them out on my friends, I miss piping the icing especially... crazy I know, but it's a love of mine:) I especially cant wait to make my chocolate peanut butter cupcakes again.... out of this world

Mac and cheese- we have it sort of here.. but I miss it from the box- either blue box or Kirkland brand....

Meal milk- we have super pasteurized milk that could outlive us all, but I’ve had both rotten milch(as we call it), as well as curdled milch- it doesn’t do well in drinks. There is only 1 kind that has proven reliable, but the ship is out right now... there have also been chunks found in my milch before... nasty... but all we have so I suck it up.

Juice- we have apple and orange sold at the cafe, but man.. what I wouldn’t give for some really good juice... grapefruit.. cranberry...orange...apple..grape.... mmmm:)

Mlavored yogurt- an amazing crew member has been making yogurt and has opened my mind to the idea of tart yogurt(aka plain), and a good friend has gotten me loving it quite a bit- but I do miss my trader joe's raspberry or cherry yogurt...

French toast(good kind)- making it for 400 just doesn't yield proper results... not the same... it needs to be made with Texas toast really..

Good coffee- our coffee is currently being brewed with panty hose as the filters, since we're out- enough said.... I miss getting coffee how I like, or making my own pot to drink through the day. Btw- i'm working on getting myself to drink black coffee- so far, I've lowered the sugar content quite a bit... going well so far...

Eggs when I want- I miss making eggs- hard boiled, scrambled, runny with toast- I mean, I could do that here, but after cooking for crazy amounts of time, the last thing I want to do on my off hours is cook

Fresh veggies and fruit- we have lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers here most days, and a fruit per meal, but honestly- you can only eat those veggies and apples, mangoes, pineapples, or bananas so many times in a week before you just get so stinking tired of them...

Wine- we don't have it here unless you go off ship, which I very rarely get to do... I just miss hanging out with friends and sipping on wine.

Margaritas- I just like them! Hah.But, we're not allowed to have them while working on board.

Starbucks- we have one on board, but I miss the place- I miss my little Starbucks that I normally go to to get things done, do work, or just chill out with a book... I also miss my passion iced tea lemonades, my cinnamon dulce coffee, my iced coffees and so much more.

Trader Joes- oh man- that place is magic.. I miss it so much.

The Perfect Pour- I just like that store..... its really cool

Panera- what I wouldn’t give for an amazing bowl of soup, some crusty french bread and a panini on some days

Patient Life

For those attempting to keep up with me on this wonderful journey, I'm sorry. I've been terrible about keeping you posted over the last few weeks. I've had every intention of keeping you updated and upto speed, but alas, almost every moment I've had free has been spend down on the ward, with friends, or alone just simply relaxing(which has slowly turned into being plain ol' lazy).

I'll write a little something quickly to keep you all reading;)

I started a 'minor' job last week and I"m already in love with it. I've been given the opportunity to go to the ward weekly to lead an activity of any sort to get the patients doing something that will entertain them. The last 2 times, I've done games. It's really a blast. It's a 'minor' job because it's only an hour a week, but I am so wishing it was a full-time job. Honestly, in comparison my full-time job is quite bleak. I've gotten into a bit of a rut with it again- especially now that we're down to a team of 4 once again, but I"m really hoping it'll feel better soon. It's not the people, it's not the work itself, I think it's just simply the fact that my heart isn't in it and that it is just more physically demanding than my body can take some weeks. But, that's the hand I've been dealt, so I better deal with it, right?:)

I'm absolutely loving this one hour a week I get to go down and just play and play. I can do this on my down time, but this one time a week, I'm able to take games from the patient life closet and have so many resources to the ward that everyone can play a game. They love it. I walk in and they see my box and they just scream with delight. After a long day at work, honestly, it's refreshing to come down and just hang out with the patients- the reason we're here. It's a great reminder why I"m here. I"m not here just to make good food, I"m not here for me, I'm not here to have fun- I'm here for the patients.

Seeing the way the patients cope after surgery, how they interact, hearing some of their stories, seeing the nurses at work, seeing crew playing, is just amazing. I love every minute of it and wouldn't trade my time down there for anything. :)