I was really looking forward to going to services this morning because everything would be different. I realized during the service that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it all because I certainly did, but I found myself missing certain things.
First, I missed Cantor Phil. I like our new Cantor Doug's voice a lot, and we are used to his regular Shabbat morning service now. Still, Doug sang almost no tunes that we recognized. I especially missed Phil's Hineni A LOT! Doug had a totally different tune, and he did not walk up from the back of the house to the bima. A lot of the drama of the piece was missing. Although to the credit of this congregation, no one walked out during it. I also missed many other tunes that Phil would regularly do that got the congregation singing along or that we enjoyed listening to. The Una'tana'tokef (no idea how to spell that!) was another one that had no drama to it today. No one sings that like Phil! I guess after a few more years here I will start being able to sing along with Doug and get used to his tunes, but today I was just missing Phil.
Second, it turned out I missed the choir! Last year I went to Rosh Hashanah and listened to the choir. I remember thinking they didn't do very well that first year without me. I'm sure they were much, much better this year. During today's services, I kept thinking, "Oh, this is where they would be doing this song or that song..." I thought about them a lot and missed them. At one point, a lady across the aisle came over and commented on my singing. Then, out of the blue, she said, "You should start a choir here!" Whoa! I bet my eyes widened. I told her I had been a synagogue choir director in the past. She said she was an alto and was going to move permanently to this area and would love to be in a choir. Hm...something to think about. There are many good singers in this congregation who regularly make up nice harmonies to the cantor's melodies. Of course, you never know if they would turn out for rehearsals. Also it's a 45 minute drive each way to this synagogue, and I'm already spending Monday and Tuesday nights out at choir practice in Solivita. Do I really want to try to start up another synagogue choir? Well, probably not, but it sure was enticing me today.
Third, Mark and I really missed our friends. After 35 years at Mishkan Torah, it was a pleasure to walk into the building and know literally everyone, greeting most everyone by name. It would take us forever to leave the building just saying hi to all our friends. Today, we knew virtually no one. There are just a handful of people that we remember by name and face from the Shabbat morning services. Of course, those folks were friendly and wished us L'shana Tovah, but most of the time we sat looking around at strangers, listening to strange tunes we could not sing along to, and missing the old days.
Fourth, I missed Mishkan Torah's cadre of shofar blowers. Here only one man blew the shofar every time. He did have two different shofars, a little one and a huge one, which he alternated using. He was very good at it, but I missed the variety of different people. I especially missed the cacophony created by the entire cadre performing the final Tikiah Gadola from all around the sanctuary. One guy alone on the bima just didn't do it for me. Mishkan Torah, you have spoiled me.
On the plus side, we used a prayer book that we did not know but enjoyed. Last year the synagogue decided to use the new Rabbinical Assembly high holiday prayer book. They have encouraged congregants to purchase their own copies, so Mark and I did. Because the book was new, we had plenty of interesting new readings, translations, and explanations to read to ourselves. I enjoyed that.
Another plus is the new rabbi. He is only 28 years old, which I learned today when he announced that in his sermon. He has a two year old daughter and an 11 day old son. For a young man just graduated from rabbinical school a few months ago, his skills are just amazing; of course, he is the son of a rabbi, married to a rabbi, and his sister is married to a rabbi. He is a product of the Solomon Schechter day school education, a year in Israel, and graduate of Brandeis University before attending the Jewish Theological Seminary in NY. For a young man, he has tremendous presence on the bima, and we enjoyed his sermon today. He also sings harmony along with the cantor and has a great sense of humor! Amazing.
Tomorrow we will go back for the second day of services. I'm looking forward to hearing the rabbi's second sermon and having time to read some more of the side bars in the prayer book. I'm also going to wear shoes with toes in them, socks, a long skirt, and a sweater! We were freezing in there today. This place has two things going for it all the time: excellent air conditioning and a great sound system. Today the sound system was really loud and the AC was cranked! I'm going to dress warmer and sit further back tomorrow! There are no assigned seats here unless you want one and pay extra for it. We decided not to do that. We have always liked sitting in the back anyway.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Where did the time go?
Several people have called it to my attention, via private emails, that they are missing my daily blog entry. It's already Wednesday, and I haven't written since Saturday. My only excuses are busy and lazy. So here is an update on the last few days.
Sunday we went to see a Steve Carell movie, Crazy, Stupid, Love. We went to it for the same reason that we went to see Spy Kids 4 last week: it was one of very few offered before noon at the reduced price of $6. It turned out to be MUCH better than we expected. We were laughing out loud, tearing up, and genuinely enjoying ourselves. Our typical Sunday continued with lunch at Bongos Cuban Cafe, just across from the theater. Mark has been there twice before, but I had never been there. We used our Tables in Wonderland card, so we got 20% off the check. It's almost time to renew that card, so we just did some quick calculations and realized that we more than made our money back on that! A quick trip into the Magic Kingdom to turn in another contest entry and buy some baby clothes at the Emporium turned into hours and hours of waiting for buses and driving around. We thought we would catch the bus to Saratoga Springs on the way back to our car at Pleasure Island. We never saw that resort and the bus was right there waiting. Big mistake! Saratoga Springs is HUGE with multiple bus stops. After stopping at four or five bus stops, we got off at the main one by the pool. Then it was nearly a half hour wait before the bus to Pleasure Island came! Sigh.
Monday was wonderful! It started off with a Brit Milah at our synagogue. Our new Rabbi and his wife, also a Rabbi, had their second child, a baby boy, the Monday prior. The whole congregation was invited to the brit Monday morning, so Mark and I got up early and went, along with our gift of three Disney outfits! It was lovely to meet their families and have a nice bagel breakfast with everyone.
We went straight from the brit to the dentist. Mark had an appointment to meet with a periodontist about some potential gum surgery. He does NOT want to do it, but after meeting with the dentist, he probably will go through with it. He can be sedated for a deep cleaning around the roots and then again for the skin graft and surgery. It will be multiple trips to the periodontist, but otherwise he is going to lose a tooth in the front of his mouth. I know he hates and fears dentists, so I'm proud of him for meeting with the periodontist and considering actually having this cleaning and surgery. Part of it is that these dentists and this office is really wonderful and put him at ease. Part of it is that our dental benefits are really, really good, so it won't cost us an arm and a leg to do this.
While I was there, I asked about making an appointment to get my temporary filling replaced with a permanent one. They said, "How about right now?" Whoa! I went right in and got my filling. Nice. No problem and no charge! She also adjusted the new crown that she put in two weeks ago when I said it was still bothering me. This dental office really is great.
The day wasn't over! After the dental visit, I went straight to my neighbor's house to play Mah Jongg. I was very sleepy because we got up so early to get to the brit by 8:15, so I just knew I wouldn't play well. This was the largest group of women that I had seen there so far, 11. Maureen set up a third table. I lost every game, but I was not surprised by that. When I got home, I blew off going to the gym with Mark in favor of a little nap. Possibly not my smartest move, but I just didn't have the energy for the gym at 5 p.m. after such a busy day.
Now I'm up to "Weigh-In Tuesday." I didn't even want to write about it yesterday because it was so bad. I was 252.5 in the morning, a two pound gain. I was shocked. I guess it was no exercise all week and eating out again. Bongos was tasty, but high calorie. I behaved pretty well on Tuesday and was rewarded by only being 249.3 this morning. Whew! Still, it shows that I'm barely able to maintain now. My whole life I have always said I have never maintained my weight. I'm always either gaining or losing, which is why over a ten year period I managed to get up to 322 pounds without even realizing it. I didn't have a scale that went that high, and I just ate what I wanted. Obviously, that was a bad combination.
Yesterday, Mark and I also tried a new water aerobics class. It was at 10:30 in the morning for 45 minutes. We both liked it a lot, and although it's offered five days a week, Monday through Friday, due to the High Holiday schedule, other obligations, and our travel schedule, we don't think we can get back to it again for at least two weeks.
We also had the Wine and Cheese Social for new residents of Solivita. I thought it was last Tuesday and we drove all the way up there before I realized I had the wrong date on my calendar. LOL! This time we did make it up there, and we ate cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine. We sat at a table with three other new residents and had an enjoyable hour of sharing move-in stories and the difficulty of learning how to drive around all these confusing roads in the community. After an hour, I sneaked through the ladies room from the restaurant, Mosaics, to the Starlite Ballroom for the Guys and Dolls rehearsal. I'm now in an ensemble to sing an extra song, "Route 66," which meant staying an extra 20 minutes after the main rehearsal. I really do get such enjoyment out of singing with this group.
My three month follow up appointment with the opthamologist to check on the healing of my retinal repairs was moved from this morning to next week. Now we are free to go up to the Ballroom for the New Resident Orientation at 9 a.m. I don't know if we really need it, but we're going to go see if there's anything we don't know. That will be followed by "The Works" at my favorite salon. I'm having the mani/pedi, hair trim and dye, and full face waxing again that I did before the wedding. I really like doing this, but it takes three hours and nearly three hundred dollars, so I'm going to put it off for at least two months before doing it again. Of course, the mani/pedi will always be every two weeks. I can't give that up!
Tonight begins the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I'd like to wish everyone a very healthy, happy, and sweet New Year!
Sunday we went to see a Steve Carell movie, Crazy, Stupid, Love. We went to it for the same reason that we went to see Spy Kids 4 last week: it was one of very few offered before noon at the reduced price of $6. It turned out to be MUCH better than we expected. We were laughing out loud, tearing up, and genuinely enjoying ourselves. Our typical Sunday continued with lunch at Bongos Cuban Cafe, just across from the theater. Mark has been there twice before, but I had never been there. We used our Tables in Wonderland card, so we got 20% off the check. It's almost time to renew that card, so we just did some quick calculations and realized that we more than made our money back on that! A quick trip into the Magic Kingdom to turn in another contest entry and buy some baby clothes at the Emporium turned into hours and hours of waiting for buses and driving around. We thought we would catch the bus to Saratoga Springs on the way back to our car at Pleasure Island. We never saw that resort and the bus was right there waiting. Big mistake! Saratoga Springs is HUGE with multiple bus stops. After stopping at four or five bus stops, we got off at the main one by the pool. Then it was nearly a half hour wait before the bus to Pleasure Island came! Sigh.
Monday was wonderful! It started off with a Brit Milah at our synagogue. Our new Rabbi and his wife, also a Rabbi, had their second child, a baby boy, the Monday prior. The whole congregation was invited to the brit Monday morning, so Mark and I got up early and went, along with our gift of three Disney outfits! It was lovely to meet their families and have a nice bagel breakfast with everyone.
We went straight from the brit to the dentist. Mark had an appointment to meet with a periodontist about some potential gum surgery. He does NOT want to do it, but after meeting with the dentist, he probably will go through with it. He can be sedated for a deep cleaning around the roots and then again for the skin graft and surgery. It will be multiple trips to the periodontist, but otherwise he is going to lose a tooth in the front of his mouth. I know he hates and fears dentists, so I'm proud of him for meeting with the periodontist and considering actually having this cleaning and surgery. Part of it is that these dentists and this office is really wonderful and put him at ease. Part of it is that our dental benefits are really, really good, so it won't cost us an arm and a leg to do this.
While I was there, I asked about making an appointment to get my temporary filling replaced with a permanent one. They said, "How about right now?" Whoa! I went right in and got my filling. Nice. No problem and no charge! She also adjusted the new crown that she put in two weeks ago when I said it was still bothering me. This dental office really is great.
The day wasn't over! After the dental visit, I went straight to my neighbor's house to play Mah Jongg. I was very sleepy because we got up so early to get to the brit by 8:15, so I just knew I wouldn't play well. This was the largest group of women that I had seen there so far, 11. Maureen set up a third table. I lost every game, but I was not surprised by that. When I got home, I blew off going to the gym with Mark in favor of a little nap. Possibly not my smartest move, but I just didn't have the energy for the gym at 5 p.m. after such a busy day.
Now I'm up to "Weigh-In Tuesday." I didn't even want to write about it yesterday because it was so bad. I was 252.5 in the morning, a two pound gain. I was shocked. I guess it was no exercise all week and eating out again. Bongos was tasty, but high calorie. I behaved pretty well on Tuesday and was rewarded by only being 249.3 this morning. Whew! Still, it shows that I'm barely able to maintain now. My whole life I have always said I have never maintained my weight. I'm always either gaining or losing, which is why over a ten year period I managed to get up to 322 pounds without even realizing it. I didn't have a scale that went that high, and I just ate what I wanted. Obviously, that was a bad combination.
Yesterday, Mark and I also tried a new water aerobics class. It was at 10:30 in the morning for 45 minutes. We both liked it a lot, and although it's offered five days a week, Monday through Friday, due to the High Holiday schedule, other obligations, and our travel schedule, we don't think we can get back to it again for at least two weeks.
We also had the Wine and Cheese Social for new residents of Solivita. I thought it was last Tuesday and we drove all the way up there before I realized I had the wrong date on my calendar. LOL! This time we did make it up there, and we ate cheese, crackers, fruit, and wine. We sat at a table with three other new residents and had an enjoyable hour of sharing move-in stories and the difficulty of learning how to drive around all these confusing roads in the community. After an hour, I sneaked through the ladies room from the restaurant, Mosaics, to the Starlite Ballroom for the Guys and Dolls rehearsal. I'm now in an ensemble to sing an extra song, "Route 66," which meant staying an extra 20 minutes after the main rehearsal. I really do get such enjoyment out of singing with this group.
My three month follow up appointment with the opthamologist to check on the healing of my retinal repairs was moved from this morning to next week. Now we are free to go up to the Ballroom for the New Resident Orientation at 9 a.m. I don't know if we really need it, but we're going to go see if there's anything we don't know. That will be followed by "The Works" at my favorite salon. I'm having the mani/pedi, hair trim and dye, and full face waxing again that I did before the wedding. I really like doing this, but it takes three hours and nearly three hundred dollars, so I'm going to put it off for at least two months before doing it again. Of course, the mani/pedi will always be every two weeks. I can't give that up!
Tonight begins the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I'd like to wish everyone a very healthy, happy, and sweet New Year!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Yesterday was not fun.
Short version: I have a new root canal. I have no more pain.
Long version: After seeing my regular dentist on Wednesday, I scheduled the root canal for Friday at 12:30. On Thursday, they called me and asked if I could take an earlier appointment at 10:45. I said OK. It was a long drive up to that part of Orlando, so we left yesterday morning around 9:30 since we didn't really know where we were going. It took a bit under an hour, so I was signing into the office at 10:25. It was a nice office, and we were amused that they were running the movie Princess Bride in the waiting room. The movie was just starting up, but about 10 minutes into it, the guy to Mark's right decided to watch something else on his phone or other handheld device. He turned it up ten times louder than the TV and did NOT use ear plugs. I have never seen anybody be that rude in a waiting area before.
I waited until 11ish before my name was called. She asked me for the paperwork I got from the regular dentist, and that's when I realized I had left it all out in the car. That was embarrassing. After sitting in the office for nearly 40 minutes without the papers, I then had to make THEM wait while I went out to the car to get them. OK, they now had the stapled packet I had been given on Wednesday, but it didn't include the proper referral so the visit would not be covered by insurance. What? I told them I didn't realize a referral wasn't stapled there because they actually said, "Be sure to take this referral and these xrays with you to your appointment." Then they handed me the stapled packet which had copies of the xrays in it and some generic paper including this dentist's name and number. I thought that was the referral. So, I told them to call the other office and get it faxed over. They smiled and nodded and told me to have a seat and wait.
That process took over an hour. Finally it was about noon when they called me back to the chair. I sat and sat and sat. I texted Mark a few times. I checked Facebook. About 12:20 the paperwork came through, so I signed all the papers, paid my $20 copay, and finally the doctor came in to give me the shots. It was now 12:30, my original appointment time. Ironic.
The doctor gave me SEVEN shots, but only two hurt. It was weird, but the two that hurt weren't from feeling the needle go in or anything. It seemed to set off the tooth and give me the big toothache feeling I had earlier in the week that precipitated this whole thing. At any rate, the doctor seemed surprised by my reaction. After the shots, he gave me another few minutes to let the novocaine work before he started.
I must say, that if I'm counting correctly, this has to be my 9th root canal. It was by far the best and easiest. The doctor did know what he was doing. I was done and in the car at 1:30 and it had not hurt a bit. Those seven shots did their job! I have only a temporary filling in there, so I'm not allowed to chew on that side or eat anything hard or chewy until I get a permanent filling put in by my regular dentist. I also was advised to take 800 mg of ibuprofen every six hours or as needed for pain. I took a dose when I got home and again after dinner. This morning, it doesn't seem like I will need any.
Except for the extraordinarily long wait to get the process started and my own adrenalin pumping from dread of what was going to happen, it was an easy root canal by a skilled dentist; however, there was a new wrinkle thrown into the mix. Halfway through the procedure, the dentist stopped and started to talk to me. They had to take all the stuff out of my mouth so I could talk back because I had to make decisions.
Apparently, there were a few problems and I had to decide what to do. I have a "three-tooth-bridge" on this side. He drilled down into the bridge to do the work. He said it might damage/crack/destroy the bridge and it would have to be replaced. I knew that going into it. What I didn't know was that there was a huge cavity in the tooth hidden from xrays by the bridge. He found it, cleaned it, and hoped he got it all. He couldn't tell if he got it all because the bridge hides it. So my options were, stop the root canal, go to my regular dentist, have her remove the bridge, look at the tooth to see if he got the whole thing, put in a filling, and make a new bridge. OR continue with the root canal and hope for the best. I asked him if I would be in pain when I left the office if he didn't finish the job today, and he said yes. So then there was no option. I didn't want to go out in pain. Who would? I told him to finish the root canal and hope for the best. I have to go back to the dentist anyway to get a permanent filling put in since I only have a temporary one right now. I can talk to her then about other options, but at least the tooth is dead and should give me no trouble for awhile. I might yet lose the tooth, he said, if he didn't get all the decay. It might spread and get down into the bone. Then I'd feel pain again and lose the tooth. I'm taking that chance. We'll see. Meanwhile, I'm pain free and that's a nice place to be.
The High Holiday season really gets rolling tonight. It's Selichot, the time to start singing the holiday melodies and start asking God and our friends and family for forgiveness. We are going to the late night service at SOJC tonight. It starts at 9:15 with some refreshments and a study session lead by the Rabbi. Another synagogue is joining us, so it should be interesting. As the High Holiday season begins, it's traditional to ask for forgiveness, so let me say right now to anyone reading this blog that if I have in anyway offended you, or upset you, or done anything to you that I should not have, please accept my most sincere apologies. I would never want to do that to anyone. Please forgive me.
L'Shana Tovah to all!
Long version: After seeing my regular dentist on Wednesday, I scheduled the root canal for Friday at 12:30. On Thursday, they called me and asked if I could take an earlier appointment at 10:45. I said OK. It was a long drive up to that part of Orlando, so we left yesterday morning around 9:30 since we didn't really know where we were going. It took a bit under an hour, so I was signing into the office at 10:25. It was a nice office, and we were amused that they were running the movie Princess Bride in the waiting room. The movie was just starting up, but about 10 minutes into it, the guy to Mark's right decided to watch something else on his phone or other handheld device. He turned it up ten times louder than the TV and did NOT use ear plugs. I have never seen anybody be that rude in a waiting area before.
I waited until 11ish before my name was called. She asked me for the paperwork I got from the regular dentist, and that's when I realized I had left it all out in the car. That was embarrassing. After sitting in the office for nearly 40 minutes without the papers, I then had to make THEM wait while I went out to the car to get them. OK, they now had the stapled packet I had been given on Wednesday, but it didn't include the proper referral so the visit would not be covered by insurance. What? I told them I didn't realize a referral wasn't stapled there because they actually said, "Be sure to take this referral and these xrays with you to your appointment." Then they handed me the stapled packet which had copies of the xrays in it and some generic paper including this dentist's name and number. I thought that was the referral. So, I told them to call the other office and get it faxed over. They smiled and nodded and told me to have a seat and wait.
That process took over an hour. Finally it was about noon when they called me back to the chair. I sat and sat and sat. I texted Mark a few times. I checked Facebook. About 12:20 the paperwork came through, so I signed all the papers, paid my $20 copay, and finally the doctor came in to give me the shots. It was now 12:30, my original appointment time. Ironic.
The doctor gave me SEVEN shots, but only two hurt. It was weird, but the two that hurt weren't from feeling the needle go in or anything. It seemed to set off the tooth and give me the big toothache feeling I had earlier in the week that precipitated this whole thing. At any rate, the doctor seemed surprised by my reaction. After the shots, he gave me another few minutes to let the novocaine work before he started.
I must say, that if I'm counting correctly, this has to be my 9th root canal. It was by far the best and easiest. The doctor did know what he was doing. I was done and in the car at 1:30 and it had not hurt a bit. Those seven shots did their job! I have only a temporary filling in there, so I'm not allowed to chew on that side or eat anything hard or chewy until I get a permanent filling put in by my regular dentist. I also was advised to take 800 mg of ibuprofen every six hours or as needed for pain. I took a dose when I got home and again after dinner. This morning, it doesn't seem like I will need any.
Except for the extraordinarily long wait to get the process started and my own adrenalin pumping from dread of what was going to happen, it was an easy root canal by a skilled dentist; however, there was a new wrinkle thrown into the mix. Halfway through the procedure, the dentist stopped and started to talk to me. They had to take all the stuff out of my mouth so I could talk back because I had to make decisions.
Apparently, there were a few problems and I had to decide what to do. I have a "three-tooth-bridge" on this side. He drilled down into the bridge to do the work. He said it might damage/crack/destroy the bridge and it would have to be replaced. I knew that going into it. What I didn't know was that there was a huge cavity in the tooth hidden from xrays by the bridge. He found it, cleaned it, and hoped he got it all. He couldn't tell if he got it all because the bridge hides it. So my options were, stop the root canal, go to my regular dentist, have her remove the bridge, look at the tooth to see if he got the whole thing, put in a filling, and make a new bridge. OR continue with the root canal and hope for the best. I asked him if I would be in pain when I left the office if he didn't finish the job today, and he said yes. So then there was no option. I didn't want to go out in pain. Who would? I told him to finish the root canal and hope for the best. I have to go back to the dentist anyway to get a permanent filling put in since I only have a temporary one right now. I can talk to her then about other options, but at least the tooth is dead and should give me no trouble for awhile. I might yet lose the tooth, he said, if he didn't get all the decay. It might spread and get down into the bone. Then I'd feel pain again and lose the tooth. I'm taking that chance. We'll see. Meanwhile, I'm pain free and that's a nice place to be.
The High Holiday season really gets rolling tonight. It's Selichot, the time to start singing the holiday melodies and start asking God and our friends and family for forgiveness. We are going to the late night service at SOJC tonight. It starts at 9:15 with some refreshments and a study session lead by the Rabbi. Another synagogue is joining us, so it should be interesting. As the High Holiday season begins, it's traditional to ask for forgiveness, so let me say right now to anyone reading this blog that if I have in anyway offended you, or upset you, or done anything to you that I should not have, please accept my most sincere apologies. I would never want to do that to anyone. Please forgive me.
L'Shana Tovah to all!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Root Canal Tomorrow
Yeah, that's not fun. If you saw my own comment to yesterday's blog or my Facebook post, you already know that the dentist said I need a root canal in the tooth under the bridge. Turns out the molar at the back under the bridge already has a root canal in it, so now the other win will, too! LOL Pretty soon I'll have no living teeth at all. I think I've already had seven or more of them.
Our regular dentist does not do root canals, so she referred me to the endodontist that is part of their bigger practice. He has an office in Kissimmee not far from my cancer center. I called, but since he only has hours there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I could not get an appointment for two weeks. I told them that was OK, but what should I do if I find myself in severe pain and cannot wait. What is the emergency procedure then? Their answer was to go to a different office. Wow, no problem. So I'm going to have it tomorrow at the office about an hour away near Universal Studios. I don't mind driving, and Mark is going with me. I just am NOT looking forward to it AT ALL! Having had so many, I know exactly what I'm in for, and it's not going to be pretty.
Other than that, yesterday was a lot of fun. Not only did the new handyman clean out our dryer vent up in the attic (which apparently it needed desperately), but he also cleaned and bleached the floor under the washer and dryer, took out the stupid plumbing up to the fridge water supply and installed it correctly, and installed my new shower head. He's going to come back and take out the water filter that is under the kitchen sink. It's useless and takes up half the space under the cabinet. I might even get another shower head for him to install in the guest bathroom.
I also spent some time wrapping up lots of things for Evey and getting them shipped out. She had sent me home with a small box of things from the wedding that she didn't need to take on the honeymoon, like pairs of shoes, the Lenox cake topper, and some other odds and ends. Also in the house was a big box of objects, mostly glass or ceramics, that used to be in her old room. Somehow that box got overlooked when she was moving to California and ended up coming to Florida. I also had a large black hassock that was hers. All gone! Shipped off to California! Yay! Another little chore accomplished.
The Republican dinner last night was amazing. Herman Cain was a good speaker, and although we left early so I wouldn't miss Survivor (LOL!!), we got the gist of his speech. Because he is a presidential candidate, the place was packed. I even bought an autographed copy of his book to learn more about him. He's certainly no front-runner and probably won't get the party's nomination, but he was still interesting. Better yet, I ate only two small pieces of pizza and a small amount of the Greek salad. I don't like Greek salad anyway, so that was no hardship. There was supposed to be ice cream, but we had to leave before he finished speaking, so no ice cream for me.
I'm about to go to my cancer support group in 10 minutes. I haven't been there since the end of July, so it will be fun to see everybody again. I also have an eye doctor appointment at Lens Crafters for a regular exam and possibly buy new glasses. I saw this doctor last August and liked him a lot. Last year my eyes had not changed sufficiently for a new prescription, so I just got the exam and left. This time I think it's time for new frames, so I'll probably get something today. I hope they have something I like that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
No movie for us at the Starlite Ballroom tonight because we've already seen it. We will have both lunch and dinner out today, so I'll do my best with the calories. I also will do my best to keep that tooth calm. It started to act up last night, so I took a big glass of whiskey again at bedtime. The dentist prescribed 800 mg of Motrin as needed for pain. I'm not going to bother filling that prescription since it's just as easy to pop four regular ibuprofen pills for the same effect. It definitely helps, and so does the whiskey!
In addition to all of this, if it's not raining this afternoon, we hope to have a few hours by the pool after the eye exam. Whew! Are you exhausted reading all this? Sometimes even I can't believe how much I do each day.
Our regular dentist does not do root canals, so she referred me to the endodontist that is part of their bigger practice. He has an office in Kissimmee not far from my cancer center. I called, but since he only has hours there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I could not get an appointment for two weeks. I told them that was OK, but what should I do if I find myself in severe pain and cannot wait. What is the emergency procedure then? Their answer was to go to a different office. Wow, no problem. So I'm going to have it tomorrow at the office about an hour away near Universal Studios. I don't mind driving, and Mark is going with me. I just am NOT looking forward to it AT ALL! Having had so many, I know exactly what I'm in for, and it's not going to be pretty.
Other than that, yesterday was a lot of fun. Not only did the new handyman clean out our dryer vent up in the attic (which apparently it needed desperately), but he also cleaned and bleached the floor under the washer and dryer, took out the stupid plumbing up to the fridge water supply and installed it correctly, and installed my new shower head. He's going to come back and take out the water filter that is under the kitchen sink. It's useless and takes up half the space under the cabinet. I might even get another shower head for him to install in the guest bathroom.
I also spent some time wrapping up lots of things for Evey and getting them shipped out. She had sent me home with a small box of things from the wedding that she didn't need to take on the honeymoon, like pairs of shoes, the Lenox cake topper, and some other odds and ends. Also in the house was a big box of objects, mostly glass or ceramics, that used to be in her old room. Somehow that box got overlooked when she was moving to California and ended up coming to Florida. I also had a large black hassock that was hers. All gone! Shipped off to California! Yay! Another little chore accomplished.
The Republican dinner last night was amazing. Herman Cain was a good speaker, and although we left early so I wouldn't miss Survivor (LOL!!), we got the gist of his speech. Because he is a presidential candidate, the place was packed. I even bought an autographed copy of his book to learn more about him. He's certainly no front-runner and probably won't get the party's nomination, but he was still interesting. Better yet, I ate only two small pieces of pizza and a small amount of the Greek salad. I don't like Greek salad anyway, so that was no hardship. There was supposed to be ice cream, but we had to leave before he finished speaking, so no ice cream for me.
I'm about to go to my cancer support group in 10 minutes. I haven't been there since the end of July, so it will be fun to see everybody again. I also have an eye doctor appointment at Lens Crafters for a regular exam and possibly buy new glasses. I saw this doctor last August and liked him a lot. Last year my eyes had not changed sufficiently for a new prescription, so I just got the exam and left. This time I think it's time for new frames, so I'll probably get something today. I hope they have something I like that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
No movie for us at the Starlite Ballroom tonight because we've already seen it. We will have both lunch and dinner out today, so I'll do my best with the calories. I also will do my best to keep that tooth calm. It started to act up last night, so I took a big glass of whiskey again at bedtime. The dentist prescribed 800 mg of Motrin as needed for pain. I'm not going to bother filling that prescription since it's just as easy to pop four regular ibuprofen pills for the same effect. It definitely helps, and so does the whiskey!
In addition to all of this, if it's not raining this afternoon, we hope to have a few hours by the pool after the eye exam. Whew! Are you exhausted reading all this? Sometimes even I can't believe how much I do each day.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tooth Ache
I've been feeling some odd sensations in an odd place in my lower jaw for a few weeks, but it was just odd and always went away. One reason it was odd is that there is NO TOOTH in that spot. I had a problematic tooth there years ago. In fact, in 1974, it was my first root canal. In the early 1990s, that root canal went bad and was replaced. BTW, NEVER do that! That was probably my worst dental experience EVER. Then in the early 2000s, THAT root canal went bad and the tooth was pulled. So WTF??? Why is there pain there now?
The two perfectly good teeth next to the pulled tooth were ground down to nubs in order to put a permanent bridge on them. Basically I got two crowns over good teeth with a fake tooth in the middle. It has looked, felt, and worked really well until now. The strange sensations started up months ago, actually, but I have been busy and ignored it. Also, I just couldn't understand how there could be pain in a nonexistent tooth.
Now I can't ignore it. I think it's probably the tooth to the right side of the bridge. The previously perfectly good tooth has probably gone bad. One reason that I didn't want to deal with this is that it's going to involve that three-tooth bridge. Maybe I need another root canal, but I dread that. I've had seven of them, and they are NOT fun! The other worrisome thing is that maybe it's some infection in the jaw bone. The pain is deep down there, too. Yesterday after lunch I was in extreme pain. I took four Advils and went to bed for a few hours until the whole area calmed down. After dinner, I took four more Advils to get through choir practice. I drank a double shot of whiskey before bed. This morning, I can feel it throbbing, but it's nothing like yesterday afternoon yet.
The other odd thing is that I had a dental check up in early June with a complete set of xrays taken, and I was pronounced in great dental health. A few weeks later, the tooth on the top broke off, necessitating a new crown. I just got that crown put in last week, and it's still giving me some issues of sensitivity with chewing and to temperature extremes. NOW I have to deal with this more painful issue on the other side. UGH. Not happy.
And of course, dealing with stress and unhappiness triggers bad eating habits. Ha ha!! With this tooth pain and sensitivity, eating is hard, so maybe this will actually help the bad eating habits. At least for a little while! LOL
Yesterday I only had 1100 calories, partly from tooth pain and partly by design. I did have a good "diet day," as my father used to call it. I dropped one pound today back to 249.5 from yesterday's 250.8. Tonight we are going to the Republican club meeting to hear presidential candidate, Herman Cain, speak. We have never heard him (or heard of him, truthfully), so we thought it would be good to go. There is a pizza and salad buffet with it. I will do my best to eat a lot of salad and limit the pizza.
My new dental office takes walk-in emergencies. I found that out when I broke the other tooth. I called up to get an appointment, but they said just come on in any time and sign in as an emergency. I got there when they opened at 7:30 a.m. and didn't have to wait too long to be seen. Today I have a handyman coming to clean out the dryer vent up in the attic. He's coming at 10 a.m., so I can't go to the dentist until after he's gone. I might have gone over at 7:30 except that Mark has to leave in a few minutes to go to Lakeland for a NARFE meeting. He's now going to be on the board of that chapter, so I think today he's having a transition meeting to learn the duties of the new job. At least, I think it's something like that! LOL At any rate, I didn't want to be at the dentist still waiting to be seen because Mark would leave, and then no one would be there to let the handyman in. I bet I have to wait a long time if I go in there around lunch time, but I'm going to do it anyway. I cannot go through another day like yesterday. It was too painful and too scary.
The two perfectly good teeth next to the pulled tooth were ground down to nubs in order to put a permanent bridge on them. Basically I got two crowns over good teeth with a fake tooth in the middle. It has looked, felt, and worked really well until now. The strange sensations started up months ago, actually, but I have been busy and ignored it. Also, I just couldn't understand how there could be pain in a nonexistent tooth.
Now I can't ignore it. I think it's probably the tooth to the right side of the bridge. The previously perfectly good tooth has probably gone bad. One reason that I didn't want to deal with this is that it's going to involve that three-tooth bridge. Maybe I need another root canal, but I dread that. I've had seven of them, and they are NOT fun! The other worrisome thing is that maybe it's some infection in the jaw bone. The pain is deep down there, too. Yesterday after lunch I was in extreme pain. I took four Advils and went to bed for a few hours until the whole area calmed down. After dinner, I took four more Advils to get through choir practice. I drank a double shot of whiskey before bed. This morning, I can feel it throbbing, but it's nothing like yesterday afternoon yet.
The other odd thing is that I had a dental check up in early June with a complete set of xrays taken, and I was pronounced in great dental health. A few weeks later, the tooth on the top broke off, necessitating a new crown. I just got that crown put in last week, and it's still giving me some issues of sensitivity with chewing and to temperature extremes. NOW I have to deal with this more painful issue on the other side. UGH. Not happy.
And of course, dealing with stress and unhappiness triggers bad eating habits. Ha ha!! With this tooth pain and sensitivity, eating is hard, so maybe this will actually help the bad eating habits. At least for a little while! LOL
Yesterday I only had 1100 calories, partly from tooth pain and partly by design. I did have a good "diet day," as my father used to call it. I dropped one pound today back to 249.5 from yesterday's 250.8. Tonight we are going to the Republican club meeting to hear presidential candidate, Herman Cain, speak. We have never heard him (or heard of him, truthfully), so we thought it would be good to go. There is a pizza and salad buffet with it. I will do my best to eat a lot of salad and limit the pizza.
My new dental office takes walk-in emergencies. I found that out when I broke the other tooth. I called up to get an appointment, but they said just come on in any time and sign in as an emergency. I got there when they opened at 7:30 a.m. and didn't have to wait too long to be seen. Today I have a handyman coming to clean out the dryer vent up in the attic. He's coming at 10 a.m., so I can't go to the dentist until after he's gone. I might have gone over at 7:30 except that Mark has to leave in a few minutes to go to Lakeland for a NARFE meeting. He's now going to be on the board of that chapter, so I think today he's having a transition meeting to learn the duties of the new job. At least, I think it's something like that! LOL At any rate, I didn't want to be at the dentist still waiting to be seen because Mark would leave, and then no one would be there to let the handyman in. I bet I have to wait a long time if I go in there around lunch time, but I'm going to do it anyway. I cannot go through another day like yesterday. It was too painful and too scary.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Love it/Hate it
I'm talking about loving and hating Tuesdays. I love it because tonight it means choir practice again. It was very enjoyable last week, and I expect it to be the same tonight. When I finish the blog this morning, I'm going to go practice my music. I haven't sat down at the piano since we moved into the house, so it will be nice to hear it play a few notes here today. I'm also loving this Tuesday because at 5:30 this evening, Mark and I will attend a Wine and Cheese Social at Mosaics for new residents. We were invited to one last fall when we were officially new residents, but I called and asked to be invited again later on. Last fall we were in Maryland and in no position to be attending a social. Thankfully, they did hold our names and re-invite us to this year's social. Mark can then literally walk through the bathrooms to the ballroom and attend the Travel Club meeting while I leave the social about 15 minutes early in order to go back to the car and drive to the Palms for the choir rehearsal. It's going to be great!
Why do I hate Tuesdays? Loyal readers will know. It's weigh-in day and today it's not pretty. I'm up three pounds this week. It started out well last Tuesday and Wednesday with exercise and reasonable calories. I dropped about a pound, but then starting Wednesday night with the Democratic lasagna dinner, I started edging up. We ate dinner out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We also had some breakfasts and lunches out. I think I might have been able to hold my own if I had also exercised more or eaten less snacks.
The WORST thing I did was go shopping at Beall's. This is a store I have heard a lot about and have wanted to go to for awhile. On Friday, Mark picked up his car from the repair shop and took it to the car wash while I went to Beall's. I had seen it from route 192 when we drove by. I didn't know it was part of a shopping center that reminded me of the Laurel Mall, dying. Most of the stores were closed. The three big stores, Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, and Beall's, were surrounded by mostly closed up shops. Beall's was also closing and most of the stock was gone. Everything in the store was 40% or more off. I found a great pair of shoes that I wore the next day on the trip to Winter Park. That was a great find because I can almost never find heels that work for me. These were white, leather slingbacks on a two inch cork wedge that were surprisingly perfect for me. I wore them all day on Saturday feeling great.
Well, back to why it was the worst thing to do. Candy! Oy, I love candy and I love bargains. They had solid chocolate alligators, a typical Florida souvenir at rest stops and gift shops. They also had boxes of coconut patties in key lime, orange, and mango flavors. I've had the key lime ones before in Key West and from a rest area driving to Miami. I have often bought them and brought them back up north as gifts. I had never seen the orange and mango flavored ones, so of course, I bought a box of each of the three flavors as well as four chocolate alligators. I rationalized the alligators as something I could put out in the guest room for company. Later I realized that most of our company that is coming up shortly are diabetics. Dumb move. And the WORST is yet to come. As if four chocolate alligators and three boxes of coconut patties wasn't enough, I bought a box of salt water taffy and a box of chocolate covered pretzels. I really LOVE both of those.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. It just gets worse. I ate the entire box of pretzels, all 12 of them, before I got home. Now that's the food addiction coming back. Hiding food, eating alone, eating all of a box meant for more than one person, eating when it's not appropriate, etc., etc., etc. are all symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder. I also ate about one third of the salt water taffy on the way home. The rest of the taffy was gone in the next few days as I grabbed a handful every night watching some TV.
Now, for the piece de resistance, I dug into the coconut patties Sunday night because I had never tasted the orange or mango flavors. I figured just eating one of each to see what it tasted like would be ok. That probably would have been ok except that yesterday I ended up eating 10 coconut patties, several of all three flavors. I didn't feel sick as I ate them because they were spread out over several hours. The sickness came later in the day when I really began to feel "out of sorts." At first, I couldn't put my finger on why I felt ill. I played Mah Jongg in the afternoon and didn't really feel myself. (I did win one game, so that was ok, at least!) When I came home, I didn't go exercise in the gym with Mark. I wanted a nap, which I never got, but I just felt yucky. I still didn't attribute it to the four or five coconut patties I had consumed, so naturally as the evening of TV came on I ate four or five more. BIG MISTAKE.
During the night, my stomach hurt so badly I could not stay in bed. I got up and spent about an hour in the bathroom. Oh, it wasn't pretty. At around 4 a.m. I was googling coconut and candy and gastric distress. There are lots of carbs in coconut and YES, over-consumption can cause gastric distress! Ya THINK???!!!! One thing I read said drink a lot of water and just let nature take its course, no reason to panic or think a trip to the ER would be needed. Taking that advice, I drank a big glass of water, read some magazines, googled my symptoms some more, sat in the bathroom some more, and finally went back to bed near 5 a..m.
At least, I finally did one smart thing: I threw the rest of the candy in the trash before I went back to bed.
OK, there's the truth. I really didn't want to write this down; I didn't want to admit it to myself or to anyone else, especially Mark, how stupid I have been this week, how I have sunk back into my food addiction. On the other hand, if I don't keep the blog honest, what good is it. I started this blog almost two years ago the morning after a binge eating session, ironically during an episode of The Biggest Loser. I wanted the blog to set me straight and get my head going back in the right direction. I hope it can do it again now that I've made my confession.
My stomach is still hurting. I don't think all of the coconut has worked its way through the system yet. I had my usual breakfast of four Morningstar links and a sugar free fat, free yogurt plus two cups of black coffee. I'm about to drink a glass of water, get a shower, dress, and practice my music. I can control lunch because it will be in the house. The wine and cheese social from 5:30 to 7 will constitute dinner tonight. I promise to do my best to control that and then go to choir and sing my heart out. There will also be dinner out Wednesday and Thursday nights this week. I've got to be careful in those circumstances and then there will be no more dinners out for over a week.
I am really embarrassed to have to confess this eating binge. Over a year ago, before cancer, I really thought I had this under control. It just shows that addictions are truly hard to overcome. I am just thankful that I never started smoking or doing drugs. I can't imagine having to get over those addictions, and yet my food addiction is just as unhealthy and hard to overcome as those. The only thing to do after a big relapse is pick myself up and start over, one day, one meal, one hour at a time. Wish me luck!
Why do I hate Tuesdays? Loyal readers will know. It's weigh-in day and today it's not pretty. I'm up three pounds this week. It started out well last Tuesday and Wednesday with exercise and reasonable calories. I dropped about a pound, but then starting Wednesday night with the Democratic lasagna dinner, I started edging up. We ate dinner out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We also had some breakfasts and lunches out. I think I might have been able to hold my own if I had also exercised more or eaten less snacks.
The WORST thing I did was go shopping at Beall's. This is a store I have heard a lot about and have wanted to go to for awhile. On Friday, Mark picked up his car from the repair shop and took it to the car wash while I went to Beall's. I had seen it from route 192 when we drove by. I didn't know it was part of a shopping center that reminded me of the Laurel Mall, dying. Most of the stores were closed. The three big stores, Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, and Beall's, were surrounded by mostly closed up shops. Beall's was also closing and most of the stock was gone. Everything in the store was 40% or more off. I found a great pair of shoes that I wore the next day on the trip to Winter Park. That was a great find because I can almost never find heels that work for me. These were white, leather slingbacks on a two inch cork wedge that were surprisingly perfect for me. I wore them all day on Saturday feeling great.
Well, back to why it was the worst thing to do. Candy! Oy, I love candy and I love bargains. They had solid chocolate alligators, a typical Florida souvenir at rest stops and gift shops. They also had boxes of coconut patties in key lime, orange, and mango flavors. I've had the key lime ones before in Key West and from a rest area driving to Miami. I have often bought them and brought them back up north as gifts. I had never seen the orange and mango flavored ones, so of course, I bought a box of each of the three flavors as well as four chocolate alligators. I rationalized the alligators as something I could put out in the guest room for company. Later I realized that most of our company that is coming up shortly are diabetics. Dumb move. And the WORST is yet to come. As if four chocolate alligators and three boxes of coconut patties wasn't enough, I bought a box of salt water taffy and a box of chocolate covered pretzels. I really LOVE both of those.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. It just gets worse. I ate the entire box of pretzels, all 12 of them, before I got home. Now that's the food addiction coming back. Hiding food, eating alone, eating all of a box meant for more than one person, eating when it's not appropriate, etc., etc., etc. are all symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder. I also ate about one third of the salt water taffy on the way home. The rest of the taffy was gone in the next few days as I grabbed a handful every night watching some TV.
Now, for the piece de resistance, I dug into the coconut patties Sunday night because I had never tasted the orange or mango flavors. I figured just eating one of each to see what it tasted like would be ok. That probably would have been ok except that yesterday I ended up eating 10 coconut patties, several of all three flavors. I didn't feel sick as I ate them because they were spread out over several hours. The sickness came later in the day when I really began to feel "out of sorts." At first, I couldn't put my finger on why I felt ill. I played Mah Jongg in the afternoon and didn't really feel myself. (I did win one game, so that was ok, at least!) When I came home, I didn't go exercise in the gym with Mark. I wanted a nap, which I never got, but I just felt yucky. I still didn't attribute it to the four or five coconut patties I had consumed, so naturally as the evening of TV came on I ate four or five more. BIG MISTAKE.
During the night, my stomach hurt so badly I could not stay in bed. I got up and spent about an hour in the bathroom. Oh, it wasn't pretty. At around 4 a.m. I was googling coconut and candy and gastric distress. There are lots of carbs in coconut and YES, over-consumption can cause gastric distress! Ya THINK???!!!! One thing I read said drink a lot of water and just let nature take its course, no reason to panic or think a trip to the ER would be needed. Taking that advice, I drank a big glass of water, read some magazines, googled my symptoms some more, sat in the bathroom some more, and finally went back to bed near 5 a..m.
At least, I finally did one smart thing: I threw the rest of the candy in the trash before I went back to bed.
OK, there's the truth. I really didn't want to write this down; I didn't want to admit it to myself or to anyone else, especially Mark, how stupid I have been this week, how I have sunk back into my food addiction. On the other hand, if I don't keep the blog honest, what good is it. I started this blog almost two years ago the morning after a binge eating session, ironically during an episode of The Biggest Loser. I wanted the blog to set me straight and get my head going back in the right direction. I hope it can do it again now that I've made my confession.
My stomach is still hurting. I don't think all of the coconut has worked its way through the system yet. I had my usual breakfast of four Morningstar links and a sugar free fat, free yogurt plus two cups of black coffee. I'm about to drink a glass of water, get a shower, dress, and practice my music. I can control lunch because it will be in the house. The wine and cheese social from 5:30 to 7 will constitute dinner tonight. I promise to do my best to control that and then go to choir and sing my heart out. There will also be dinner out Wednesday and Thursday nights this week. I've got to be careful in those circumstances and then there will be no more dinners out for over a week.
I am really embarrassed to have to confess this eating binge. Over a year ago, before cancer, I really thought I had this under control. It just shows that addictions are truly hard to overcome. I am just thankful that I never started smoking or doing drugs. I can't imagine having to get over those addictions, and yet my food addiction is just as unhealthy and hard to overcome as those. The only thing to do after a big relapse is pick myself up and start over, one day, one meal, one hour at a time. Wish me luck!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Having Way Too Much Fun
Yesterday was nearly a perfect day of fun. We started off with the buffet breakfast at Mosaics. It's cheap, quick, and delicious. This is the second Sunday in a row that we have gone over there. Then, like almost every Sunday, we went to Downtown Disney to see a movie. The theater is offering fewer and fewer movies before noon for the cheap rate, so our choices were limited. We chose Spy Kids 4 in 3D with the added dimension of scent. In addition to the 3D glasses, they handed us a card with 8 numbers on it. When the number flashed on the screen, we were supposed to scratch and sniff. It was very lame. Most everything smelled the same, like slightly sweet cardboard. A few smelled like indistinguishable candy flavors, but most smelled like absolutely nothing. Mark said the same.
We left our car in the Pleasure Island parking lot and hopped the bus to the Contemporary Resort next. Back in May we had wanted to try the Vegetarian Cuban sandwich at The Wave, but they gave me something I didn't order. It was veggie, so I ate it because the place was very crowded and we were in a hurry. Yesterday we were determined to get it. It was great! We also had some interesting wines with it because the waitress was very knowledgeable. I drank something called a Nouveau Blanc from South Africa that was just slightly sweet and very good with the sandwich. We strolled through the stores in the Contemporary on our way to the monorail, then an enjoyable ride on the monorail brought us to the Magic Kingdom.
Our first stop inside the Magic Kingdom was the new facility to meet Micky and Minnie or the Princesses. You can actually Fast Pass a turn to see the characters, which would indicate that it is usually very crowded. Yesterday afternoon there was no wait at all, so we went in and had our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie!
The Tiki Room has been closed for awhile, but it has reopened. Of course, we wanted to see the new show. It's actually the old show. For years the original show had been replaced with an updated one using two bird characters from popular movies, Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from Lion King. I guess it wasn't as popular as they had hoped, so they put the original show back in a shorter version. We had just seen the original show a few weeks ago in Disneyland, so it was interesting to us to try to find the places where the cuts had been made to make it shorter.
We also took the time to do some of our favorite shows and rides just because we had the time, the crowds were low, and the weather was beautiful. We often hit Hall of Presidents and Carousel of Progress, both about 20 minutes long, when we are hot and tired. They become excuses for naps! This time we were neither hot nor tired and determined to stay awake and appreciate the shows. It was great! We especially enjoyed Hall of Presidents because it seems like it has been a very long time since we got in there. It is always impressive, but yesterday we both remarked that it was way better than we remembered. We also rode my favorite, the People Mover, and Mark picked Pirates of the Caribbean. The version in California is far, far better than the Florida one, but it's still fun.
During P of C, Evey called!! I thought it was funny that I could get a signal down in the ride, but I told her I would call back. I didn't think my boat mates would appreciate our conversation. We talked about her honeymoon trip for the entire walk back out of the park to the bus. Mark even continued the conversation on to the bus to Port Orleans, where we caught another bus back to Pleasure Island and our car. It was so much fun to hear her voice! The short version of that lengthy conversation is that they had a fabulous time but did not like the food on the ship's buffet. After spending three weeks together, 24/7, Eric is being sent to Shanghai, China on Tuesday for about 10 days. It will probably feel strange for them to be apart now, but it's a regular part of his job with Apple.
I should also mention that before Hall of Presidents, I asked Mark to buy me a Mickey ice cream bar. I have not eaten one of those in decades, if ever. It's not the kind of thing we usually get, but I have a Facebook friend who loves them. She is always posting pictures of herself and others eating them, so the bee has been in my bonnet for awhile to get one. This was the day! It was so delicious, but really I should NOT make that a regular habit.
Our ride home was easy, and then Mark made us grilled salmon, broccoli, and a baked potato for dinner. We watched the third Disney animated film ever released. Fantasia. Back at the D23 convention in Anaheim, we decided to start at the beginning and watch all the Disney movies in the order they were released. We have done Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia so far. I had no idea Fantasia was so early in the list. Next we we will watch The Reluctant Dragon. Mark and I think we've only seen it once, and we barely remember it. It's a combination of live action and animation, which makes it the first full length one like that. The Alice shorts had already experimented with that genre years earlier, but in the Alice shorts, the live girl, Alice, interacts with animated characters and objects. In The Reluctant Dragon, the live and animated segments are separate. It should be very interesting.
We followed that by our daily Star Trek episode from the Enterprise series, and then I fell into bed exhausted. We are having way too much fun down here in the Sunshine State.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Lake Placid pictures and Winter Park Theater
Today we are traveling to Winter Park with Guys and Dolls to see the show, "The Musical of Musicals: The Musical." I have never heard of it, but some friends who saw it gave it a great review.
Meanwhile I have uploaded a few of the murals from Lake Placid.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Cancerversary
This morning I was only thinking about errands and Lake Placid. Tonight I remembered that today was the anniversary of my partial mastectomy. Last year, I went into St. Agnes Hospital early in the morning, knowing I had breast cancer, yet not knowing that it would be in the lymph nodes. I felt that I would be done once I had the re-excision lumpectomy (aka partial mastectomy), do some radiation, and be all done. That didn't happen, but it's all water under the bridge now.
I thought about it tonight because we went to our new synagogue, Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation/Ohalei Rivkeh, fondly called SOJC. Tonight they had a free dinner for members and prospective members followed by services. A few months ago, before the new rabbi was here, we attended one of these free dinners and had a great time. This time we helped sponsor it by making a donation, so our name was placed on a table. LOL! We didn't even sit at that table tonight because it was full when we went in. The menu was salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and carrots. I thought it was absolutely delicious! Those meatballs were really great.
During services, this shul has the tradition of stopping and asking people what they are thankful for this Shabbat. That's when it occurred to me that I am thankful I am a one year survivor today. I announced my anniversary and actually got applause from the congregation. It was a nice warm, fuzzy feeling. When I got home tonight, I just had to write that down!
I have included some pictures from last year at this time and one from yesterday at the clown museum. I've come a long way in a year, and I'm very grateful and thankful to be here and celebrating my one year anniversary.
The pictures never show up in the order I click on them, so there's no order to them. I didn't actually have any pictures from the day of the surgery on September 16, so I just chose some representative ones from the year. At the top is a picture of me having dinner out the night before we left Cindy's house. Next to it is a picture of me waiting for the surgery to remove my port. Then there is one of my favorite pictures: me and Lowell watching TV on Thursday nights. You can tell from my long hair that this was before chemo because I had my hair cut very short before I even started chemo! It's post-surgery, by about two weeks, though. For some reason, the last picture I clicked to add shows up next, me with a clown yesterday in Lake Placid. Then there are pictures of me having my port accessed for the first chemo session, my hair just before I got a shave, getting my head shaved, being in the hospital the first time, and a radiation session.
It's been a long year with lots of ups and downs, but I'm here today, feeling good, and very, very thankful! We are coming up on Rosh Hashanah and the High Holiday season. I would like to say tonight to everyone that I hope the new year that is about to start in less than two weeks is a wonderfully sweet, healthy, and happy one for everybody.
Lake Placid was great.
I do want to spend some time writing about Lake Placid, but again today I have a lot of errands and appointments to accomplish. I'm leaving in fifteen minutes to get the day started on the first errand, going to the Farmer's Market. I don't know when I'll have a chance to get to this blog. Tonight we have a dinner and service at our synagogue; tomorrow we have a trip to Winter Park to see a show and have dinner out with the Guys and Dolls. Maybe I will write a big blog on Sunday. So far I have nothing on the calendar for that day. How odd! LOL
Suffice it to say that the trip exceeded my expectations. We enjoyed the little town, it's history, and what they have done with the murals and clown museum to make a name for themselves. Other little towns could take a lesson from Lake Placid. We also liked that two couples from our street were on the trip, so we had people we could talk to and have lunch with that we knew. I love that!! Later in the evening, we ran into those two couples and our other neighbors, Ken and Luanne. They ended up having dinner in the community restaurant, The Stonegate Grille. We had walked up there much earlier because we were going to the 7 p.m. movie. The trip ran about 40 minutes behind schedule, so we no longer had time to drive over to Lakeside, as originally planned, and also get back in time for the movie. My neighbors are great! We feel so lucky and blessed to have bought a house on Barcelona Drive!
I took a lot of pictures yesterday, and they are on the laptop but not captioned or uploaded to the web yet. Eventually that will happen, so I can post a few here on the blog after that. I am hoping to do that Sunday, if not sooner.
Evey and Eric are having their day at sea today as they sail from Rome back to Barcelona. Tomorrow they will have a long flight home, first to somewhere on the east coast, then nonstop from there to San Francisco or San Jose. I can't really remember what airports they were using, just that it was two long flights. I bet they will be exhausted but happy when they get home. I can't imagine having to get up and go to work next week after such a wonderful trip! Still, they are young! They can do it. I can't wait for those pictures to get posted either. Maybe I will be able to share a few of their honeymoon pictures on the blog. Not sure how that would work, but Mark can probably help me with that.
Sorry this blog is so short and not too full of anything interesting! I have only a few minutes left to start running around all day! Bye Bye!
Suffice it to say that the trip exceeded my expectations. We enjoyed the little town, it's history, and what they have done with the murals and clown museum to make a name for themselves. Other little towns could take a lesson from Lake Placid. We also liked that two couples from our street were on the trip, so we had people we could talk to and have lunch with that we knew. I love that!! Later in the evening, we ran into those two couples and our other neighbors, Ken and Luanne. They ended up having dinner in the community restaurant, The Stonegate Grille. We had walked up there much earlier because we were going to the 7 p.m. movie. The trip ran about 40 minutes behind schedule, so we no longer had time to drive over to Lakeside, as originally planned, and also get back in time for the movie. My neighbors are great! We feel so lucky and blessed to have bought a house on Barcelona Drive!
I took a lot of pictures yesterday, and they are on the laptop but not captioned or uploaded to the web yet. Eventually that will happen, so I can post a few here on the blog after that. I am hoping to do that Sunday, if not sooner.
Evey and Eric are having their day at sea today as they sail from Rome back to Barcelona. Tomorrow they will have a long flight home, first to somewhere on the east coast, then nonstop from there to San Francisco or San Jose. I can't really remember what airports they were using, just that it was two long flights. I bet they will be exhausted but happy when they get home. I can't imagine having to get up and go to work next week after such a wonderful trip! Still, they are young! They can do it. I can't wait for those pictures to get posted either. Maybe I will be able to share a few of their honeymoon pictures on the blog. Not sure how that would work, but Mark can probably help me with that.
Sorry this blog is so short and not too full of anything interesting! I have only a few minutes left to start running around all day! Bye Bye!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Trip to Lake Placid with Solivita Travel Club
I will post tomorrow about this trip. Just let me say that today is going to be a lot of fun, but long. We leave the house in about an hour and won't return until about 9 p.m. No time for writing a big blog today.
Yesterday was great, full of errands and driving around. I had the lasagna at the Democratic Club dinner, along with a lot of salad (no dressing), a roll with a pat of butter, and a scoop of Spumoni ice cream. I am up a half pound today, but that could also just be sodium and water retention. We also ate lunch at Chipotle. I got a salad with beans, rice, shredded cheese, and veggies. I discovered they have a calorie counter there, so you can add up everything separately and figure it out. I had 350. I was fine with that. I'm sure I had about 1700 yesterday and no exercise. Not a great day for a diet, but not awful either.
Today we are traveling by bus to and from Lake Placid, about an hour and a half southeast of here. I can't remember if lunch is included or not, so I'll let you know tomorrow. When we return, we will have our usual Free Wine at Lakeside Dinner (grouper, salad, and veggies) followed by the Thursday movie at the Ballroom. Tonight's movie is Jumping the Broom.
I'll tell you all about everything tomorrow, and there will probably be pictures, too.
I hope everyone has a fabulous day.
Yesterday was great, full of errands and driving around. I had the lasagna at the Democratic Club dinner, along with a lot of salad (no dressing), a roll with a pat of butter, and a scoop of Spumoni ice cream. I am up a half pound today, but that could also just be sodium and water retention. We also ate lunch at Chipotle. I got a salad with beans, rice, shredded cheese, and veggies. I discovered they have a calorie counter there, so you can add up everything separately and figure it out. I had 350. I was fine with that. I'm sure I had about 1700 yesterday and no exercise. Not a great day for a diet, but not awful either.
Today we are traveling by bus to and from Lake Placid, about an hour and a half southeast of here. I can't remember if lunch is included or not, so I'll let you know tomorrow. When we return, we will have our usual Free Wine at Lakeside Dinner (grouper, salad, and veggies) followed by the Thursday movie at the Ballroom. Tonight's movie is Jumping the Broom.
I'll tell you all about everything tomorrow, and there will probably be pictures, too.
I hope everyone has a fabulous day.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
I LOVE SINGING.
Choir last night was amazing! This group, Guys and Dolls, has 108 members on its roster. The director is another "me," in that she is also a retired vocal music teacher. She worked mostly in elementary schools and some middle schools. She started the two groups (Starliters is the other one) when she first moved down here. She told me when that was, but I have forgotten. It's probably between 6-10 years ago. They are the original owner of their house, and it's only one mile from my house.
We are working on the Holiday Performance for December 2, 3, and 4. The concert will be half secular and half holiday. I know there is a Hanukkah song in the list, although I didn't get that piece last night. She must like medleys, so there are several of those. I like medleys, too, so it was OK by me! Last night we worked on the Jersey Boys medley and three other pieces. This was only their third rehearsal of the season, and I was impressed with how much they knew.
She told me that half the group does not read music, but the other half seemed to be reading very well! She also has a ton of electronic equipment in her house, so she makes a rehearsal CD of parts for everything, like Randy does for MAD. It seemed that the group had listened to their CDs a LOT! There are tons of men with strong voices, also, so that was a pleasure to hear.
Yes, there are some flat singers and flat spots. No, there is nothing clean about the entrances or cut offs yet. Not every tricky syncopated rhythm was accurate. There is little attempt to make dynamic changes or clear diction. But, hey, it's a community chorus on their third rehearsal. They are mostly learning notes, and they did that pretty quickly. Hopefully, the rest will come by December.
I have to say that I was very, very excited to go. It did not disappoint me, and I went home walking on air! This is one of those things I wanted to do when I moved here, so I feel like I have finally arrived.
My calories were great yesterday, although I didn't do any exercise. I am down another half pound to 247.2 this morning. I'm ok with that. Today will be problematic in that we are going to the Democratic Club dinner and speaker tonight. It is an Italian buffet which includes vegetarian lasagna, not exactly low calories. The trick tonight is to eat in moderation and NO SECONDS. If I keep breakfast and lunch normal and control the snacking at night, I should be OK.
I'm excited for tonight also because the new season of Survivor startts! I love that show, so I'm happy for the new season to start tonight.
We are working on the Holiday Performance for December 2, 3, and 4. The concert will be half secular and half holiday. I know there is a Hanukkah song in the list, although I didn't get that piece last night. She must like medleys, so there are several of those. I like medleys, too, so it was OK by me! Last night we worked on the Jersey Boys medley and three other pieces. This was only their third rehearsal of the season, and I was impressed with how much they knew.
She told me that half the group does not read music, but the other half seemed to be reading very well! She also has a ton of electronic equipment in her house, so she makes a rehearsal CD of parts for everything, like Randy does for MAD. It seemed that the group had listened to their CDs a LOT! There are tons of men with strong voices, also, so that was a pleasure to hear.
Yes, there are some flat singers and flat spots. No, there is nothing clean about the entrances or cut offs yet. Not every tricky syncopated rhythm was accurate. There is little attempt to make dynamic changes or clear diction. But, hey, it's a community chorus on their third rehearsal. They are mostly learning notes, and they did that pretty quickly. Hopefully, the rest will come by December.
I have to say that I was very, very excited to go. It did not disappoint me, and I went home walking on air! This is one of those things I wanted to do when I moved here, so I feel like I have finally arrived.
My calories were great yesterday, although I didn't do any exercise. I am down another half pound to 247.2 this morning. I'm ok with that. Today will be problematic in that we are going to the Democratic Club dinner and speaker tonight. It is an Italian buffet which includes vegetarian lasagna, not exactly low calories. The trick tonight is to eat in moderation and NO SECONDS. If I keep breakfast and lunch normal and control the snacking at night, I should be OK.
I'm excited for tonight also because the new season of Survivor startts! I love that show, so I'm happy for the new season to start tonight.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday Report
I don't remember how it was that Tuesday became the start of my week for weight loss. It might have gone back to the 1980s when I first started Weight Watchers back in Laurel. I think my meeting was Tuesday nights, so that's when I weighed in. Actually, that should make Wednesdays the start of my weight loss week, but at this point I am too used to it being on Tuesdays. LOL
Last Tuesday I was driving from Boston to East Brunswick in the remnants of Hurricane Lee as it moved up the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. From White Plains, NY to East Brunswick it was just a torrential downpour the whole way, turning a one hour drive into a three hour drive. I have no idea what I weighed that morning because I didn't take the scale out of my car. I do know that I ate a hearty breakfast at the Hilton in Back Bay before we took off. Then I had half a really big medium extra cheese pizza and a bowl of gelato for lunch followed by baked grouper and potatoes in a Portuguese restaurant for dinner. Delicious, but not good for weight loss.
When we returned home Friday night, I had also eaten a large dinner that night at Logan's Roadhouse in Kissimmee, including way too many peanuts in the shells, which they have on the table in a bucket when you are seated. We had the Health Nut grilled salmon, broccoli, and salad for our entree, but we started it off with a big appetizer tray of mozzarella sticks, mushrooms, and onions, all fried, of course!
Well, then, it's no surprise that I had gained a lot of weight during the two week trip up and back to Boston. Saturday morning I weighed in at 254. Scary.
I did get right to work at behaving myself and exercising, so I'm proud to report that this morning I am 247.7, a loss of 6.3 in just three days. Obviously, that's not really a weight loss of fat; it's the water weight accumulated from all that food and sodium consumed recently. Now comes the hard work of actually trying to lose fat.
My goal is simple right now: get back to the pre-chemo weight. The day of my partial mastectomy, September 16, 2010, I weighed 219. That represented a gain of 14 pounds from my lowest point of 205 prior to retiring at the end of February of 2010, but it sure is a LOT better than today. I have been in the 240s since January, just going up and down the same 6 or pounds. Somehow the wedding did not give me the motivation to get the weight off, and eventually, I was only inspired to remain in the mid-240s to fit into the dress. The dress fit, so I guess I was successful.
I don't intend to make that goal of 219 quickly. I need to get back to good habits and good routines that bring about slow and steady weight loss over a long period of time. I know those things; I know what to do. I have written in the past about exactly what I do and how it works. The problem lately has been the focus and inner strength to stick to it.
The biggest pitfall for me lately is RESTAURANTS! I have NOT learned how to eat in restaurants successfully. I spent the summer of 2009 traveling around for six weeks with Mark in a car, eating every meal in hotels and restaurants. I LOST weight! Why? Because we ate virtually every meal at Subway and Denny's, the two restaurants I have learned to control.
Still, if we go to a nice local, non-chain restaurant, recommended by AAA, or if we go to a nice sit-down restaurant on the Disney property, I get totally distracted by the choices. I want the appetizers, the bread, the specialty alcoholic drink, and the desserts. Hm...YUM. I need to look at my habits in this type of restaurant. Why can't I say NO to these things? Why can't I be satisfied with the fish entree, salad, and vegetable? Well, because it's NO FUN!! Right? Right! Even Mark succumbs to the dark side in this kind of restaurant now and then.
So, my goal is really two-fold now. First, eat at home as often as possible because I have learned to control myself at home. (Well, it's easy because Mark shops and doesn't bring anything in for me to snack on other than what I'm supposed to have. Thanks, Mark! Really! Thanks.) Second, I need to learn to control myself in good restaurants because they will happen. I cannot go through the rest of my life only at Subway and Denny's. That would be ridiculous. There will also be holidays in the house with extra food, so that's a bit of a challenge coming up in the near future.
Today I'm going to the dentist to replace my temporary crown with the permanent one. Not fun, but necessary. Then tonight I will have some real fun. I'm joining the choir! Tonight will be my first rehearsal with the Solivita Guys and Dolls. The holiday show is December 2, 3, and 4 at the Starlite Ballroom. It's going to give me an outlet for my musicianship once again. I do miss it! I'll let you know tomorrow how it went. It will also give me several hours out on Tuesday nights when there will be no opportunity to EAT. LOL!!
Last Tuesday I was driving from Boston to East Brunswick in the remnants of Hurricane Lee as it moved up the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. From White Plains, NY to East Brunswick it was just a torrential downpour the whole way, turning a one hour drive into a three hour drive. I have no idea what I weighed that morning because I didn't take the scale out of my car. I do know that I ate a hearty breakfast at the Hilton in Back Bay before we took off. Then I had half a really big medium extra cheese pizza and a bowl of gelato for lunch followed by baked grouper and potatoes in a Portuguese restaurant for dinner. Delicious, but not good for weight loss.
When we returned home Friday night, I had also eaten a large dinner that night at Logan's Roadhouse in Kissimmee, including way too many peanuts in the shells, which they have on the table in a bucket when you are seated. We had the Health Nut grilled salmon, broccoli, and salad for our entree, but we started it off with a big appetizer tray of mozzarella sticks, mushrooms, and onions, all fried, of course!
Well, then, it's no surprise that I had gained a lot of weight during the two week trip up and back to Boston. Saturday morning I weighed in at 254. Scary.
I did get right to work at behaving myself and exercising, so I'm proud to report that this morning I am 247.7, a loss of 6.3 in just three days. Obviously, that's not really a weight loss of fat; it's the water weight accumulated from all that food and sodium consumed recently. Now comes the hard work of actually trying to lose fat.
My goal is simple right now: get back to the pre-chemo weight. The day of my partial mastectomy, September 16, 2010, I weighed 219. That represented a gain of 14 pounds from my lowest point of 205 prior to retiring at the end of February of 2010, but it sure is a LOT better than today. I have been in the 240s since January, just going up and down the same 6 or pounds. Somehow the wedding did not give me the motivation to get the weight off, and eventually, I was only inspired to remain in the mid-240s to fit into the dress. The dress fit, so I guess I was successful.
I don't intend to make that goal of 219 quickly. I need to get back to good habits and good routines that bring about slow and steady weight loss over a long period of time. I know those things; I know what to do. I have written in the past about exactly what I do and how it works. The problem lately has been the focus and inner strength to stick to it.
The biggest pitfall for me lately is RESTAURANTS! I have NOT learned how to eat in restaurants successfully. I spent the summer of 2009 traveling around for six weeks with Mark in a car, eating every meal in hotels and restaurants. I LOST weight! Why? Because we ate virtually every meal at Subway and Denny's, the two restaurants I have learned to control.
Still, if we go to a nice local, non-chain restaurant, recommended by AAA, or if we go to a nice sit-down restaurant on the Disney property, I get totally distracted by the choices. I want the appetizers, the bread, the specialty alcoholic drink, and the desserts. Hm...YUM. I need to look at my habits in this type of restaurant. Why can't I say NO to these things? Why can't I be satisfied with the fish entree, salad, and vegetable? Well, because it's NO FUN!! Right? Right! Even Mark succumbs to the dark side in this kind of restaurant now and then.
So, my goal is really two-fold now. First, eat at home as often as possible because I have learned to control myself at home. (Well, it's easy because Mark shops and doesn't bring anything in for me to snack on other than what I'm supposed to have. Thanks, Mark! Really! Thanks.) Second, I need to learn to control myself in good restaurants because they will happen. I cannot go through the rest of my life only at Subway and Denny's. That would be ridiculous. There will also be holidays in the house with extra food, so that's a bit of a challenge coming up in the near future.
Today I'm going to the dentist to replace my temporary crown with the permanent one. Not fun, but necessary. Then tonight I will have some real fun. I'm joining the choir! Tonight will be my first rehearsal with the Solivita Guys and Dolls. The holiday show is December 2, 3, and 4 at the Starlite Ballroom. It's going to give me an outlet for my musicianship once again. I do miss it! I'll let you know tomorrow how it went. It will also give me several hours out on Tuesday nights when there will be no opportunity to EAT. LOL!!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
It's nice to be home.
Here are a few more shots from the wedding. These were on my phone, so I put them on the picasa site later on. They were taken outside about an hour or so before the wedding. I'm sure the ones that the professional photographer took will look better, but enjoy these for now.
We loved getting home last night. I felt so relaxed and happy to be in the house. This morning I could not get my act together in time to go to shul with Mark, so he went by himself. Instead, I have had a lazy morning of sitting on the lanai with coffee and my jigsaw puzzle. Not bad, at all!
I have spent some time looking at the video clip of Mark singing to Evey at her wedding. Most of you who read this blog have already received that link. Wow, it brings tears to my eyes each time I watch it. Mark was magnificent. I am glad I didn't sing because I'm sure I would have been blubbering all the way through it. I barely was able to read the poem I shared with Eric's mother during the ceremony. There is another video of all of us being introduced and the first dance of the bride and groom. I'll be sending it around to everyone later today. I hope you enjoy them. Thanks go out to our good friend Rudy for taking the videos. For those who don't know, the young couple with the baby who are also featured prominently in the video are Rudy's daughter Jen, her husband Casey, and their son Felix. Beautiful family!
I got on the scale this morning and knew I wouldn't like it. The 8 pounds I gained on the California trip and lost before the wedding have found their way back. Interesting that it's the same amount. At least I fit into the dress! Now I have to work to lose them again. I am confident that I can do it. I do NOT want to be in the two fifties anymore, for sure. I was inspired by my good friend Ron K who has lost so much weight that some people didn't even recognize him at first until he spoke. Congratulations, Ron! I hope I can do as well now.
Today Evey and Eric boarded the Libery of the Seas in Barcelona to begin the cruising part of their honeymoon. I'm sure they are having a really wonderful time. Eric is a fabulous and prolific photographer, so I can't wait for them to post all of their pictures. I'm sure I'll be able to share that link with people, too. Don't forget to check back on the flickr site periodically at www.photos.ericandevey.com because more and more people will hopefully be uploading the pictures they took at the wedding. It was a great idea that Eric had to set up this site for everyone. The wedding planner at the hotel said she was so impressed she was going to start recommending the same to other couples. Nice.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Sitting Shiva
This long odyssey of a trip began on August 5 when we drove to Charlotte, NC to attend the b'nei mitzvah of Mark's cousin Lisa's children, Ariel and Steven. Sadly, today we are ending our trip sitting shiva for Lisa at her house with her husband Allen, the two children, her brother and his wife, and her parents, Mark's Aunt Esther and Uncle Pinky.
Lisa was a great support to me through Facebook and emails when I was diagnosed and fighting breast cancer. About the time I finished my chemo, she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Unfortunately, the tumor was inoperable. Lisa bravely tried multiple courses of chemo and also radiation, but the cancer had spread to the bone and the brain. She made it to her children's big simcha and to her 50th birthday. Lisa passed away at home the day after Evey's wedding.
Lisa was a strong and loving women who will be missed terribly by all who knew her.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Mr. and Mrs. Eric Gaertner had a spectacular wedding!
I haven't posted since last Thursday because the internet at the Hilton Back Bay was not free. UGH. Then when we left yesterday there just wasn't time at the East Brunswick Comfort Inn. We were just too exhausted when we got in after 11 p.m.
Most of you who read this blog have already received my Picasa web album of photos from my camera. The picture captions explain everything. Be sure not to use the slideshow feature. It's better just to click on the album to open all the pictures. Then double click on the first picture. That gives you complete control over when to move on to the next picture. You can read the captions and look at the pictures as long as you want. If you choose slideshow, it will move too fast to enjoy it.
Just in case you are reading this blog and did not get the Picasa web album, I have posted a few shots here, too. You can also go to the Flickr site that Evey and Eric set up so all their friends can share each other's photos. It is www.photos.ericandevey.com. Check that out, too.
The link to the professional photographer's photos will be up eventually, and I'll be sure to share that with everyone. I might write some more tomorrow, but right now I'm tired again after driving in pouring down rain and flash floods all day today and yesterday. This weather is crazy now, but it was perfect in Boston all weekend during the wedding festivities.
We were all thrilled. It was a magnificent wedding; everything they wanted it to be. At this point, they have taken off from JFK airport to Barcelona, Spain for two days in Spain before boarding the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas for a Mediterranean cruise.
We wish them a long, healthy, happy marriage.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
245.3
That's a good number. It means I traveled on the road for three days and did not gain any weight. I will start having a bit more trouble now because of the restaurants and meals coming up attached to the wedding fun. This morning is breakfast in the hotel. I don't know where lunch will be, and dinner will be here at the really great hotel restaurant with Evey and Eric. Tomorrow will be the same hotel breakfast again and lunch will be who-knows-where, but dinner will be at a nice restaurant next to the hotel that specializes in fish. Then there is the bacherlorette party! Saturday will be the rehearsal dinner and then there is Sunday's reception. At least, I can dance at the reception to burn some calories. So much fun and food is on the horizon!
Today I need to learn to use my new camera. I can't put it off anymore because I want to take pictures of Evey here in our hotel room as she gets her make-up trial run. Then I should be all set to take pictures of the bachelorette party and the other events. Arlene gave me some good advice about handing my camera off to someone else to take pictures during the wedding and reception. I want to do that, but I haven't thought about who that would be yet, and I need to know how to use the camera first so I can show them!
Arlene, I know that at Evey's wedding shower you gave me several "words of wisdom" based on your experience at your son and daughter's weddings. Unfortunately, the only one I can remember right now is about the camera. Any chance you can send me a comment or an email with the other? Thanks!
Today I need to learn to use my new camera. I can't put it off anymore because I want to take pictures of Evey here in our hotel room as she gets her make-up trial run. Then I should be all set to take pictures of the bachelorette party and the other events. Arlene gave me some good advice about handing my camera off to someone else to take pictures during the wedding and reception. I want to do that, but I haven't thought about who that would be yet, and I need to know how to use the camera first so I can show them!
Arlene, I know that at Evey's wedding shower you gave me several "words of wisdom" based on your experience at your son and daughter's weddings. Unfortunately, the only one I can remember right now is about the camera. Any chance you can send me a comment or an email with the other? Thanks!
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