Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tuesday and Succoth prep

Last week I was so excited about having Saul and Phyllis here that I forgot to write down a weight report. I went back and checked the weight from two weeks ago, and I am down two pounds since then. That's not really an accomplishment because I don't like any of these numbers. I am 250.3 this morning, but I am not satisfied with that. I had a good day yesterday, so maybe I'll be rewarded tomorrow with a slight loss. That's what happened two weeks ago.

After writing my comments about bridging the gap, I'm trying not to beat myself up so much for every day that stays the same or goes up a bit. I would like to tell myself that everyone does that and that I can pick myself up and start again. Yes, I'd like to do that, but it's so hard to do. I have beat myself up and obsessed about weight for so long, that breaking that habit is almost as hard to do as breaking the binge eating/overeating habit. LOL! Just what I need! Another habit to break.

I played Mah Jongg yesterday and won two games. I was close on a couple of others, so it was a good afternoon. I really enjoy playing and getting to know all the ladies that play. It's a wonderful group of women, that's for sure! In the evening I went to my first rehearsal of the Starliters group. They perform a big show in the spring, all music memorized. I'm a bit nervous about trying to memorize all this music, but I'm going to give it a shot. This group is much smaller than Guys and Dolls, which rehearses tonight. I really enjoy singing in these groups, which is a good thing since I'm now going out Monday and Tuesday nights for it.

Succoth is coming tomorrow night. Today Mark is going to cook a soup and a chili for tomorrow night's dinner. The broccoli soup (pareve) and the Cinncinatti chili (NOT pareve!) over pasta will be the menu, along with salad, challah, and wine. For dessert we have mini-cupcakes and honey cake, both ordered online from NYC. We have been ordering our meat from NY, despite the high price of the meat and the high price of the shipping. We find the convenience, speed, and quality of the orders have been fantastic. We really got tired of driving an hour or more to the store and not finding what we wanted. It's just easier to order online.

Tomorrow Mark will be putting up our new succah. Somehow the poles did not get moved down from Maryland. We think they might have been thrown out by the contractors by accident. We have the roof, sides, and carpet. So Mark ordered a new one and will assemble it tomorrow. It's small, so we hope we can seat five or six in there. We are having a family of three from our new synagogue over tomorrow night to join us. It should be delightful weather, but I hope the sprinklers don't mess up the succah too much and that the succah doesn't kill the grass under it. LOL! I don't think our landscapers will appreciate that too much. At least the timing is such this year that the mowers will not come on any day that the succah is standing.

In Laurel, Succoth was a big deal in our house. Mark started out with the small succah, but as the years went by it was too small. He bought a bigger one and linked the two together. We could seat 12 in there easily. Every night for all 8 nights of the holiday, we had between 8 and 12 people for dinner. Mark would cook like crazy every day when he got home from work. It was a frantic 8 nights, but every night we had a great time. We loved connecting with all of our synagogue friends. Sometimes we'd get invited to other people's succahs, and then Mark got a night off from cooking! We started this tradition before we had kids, and it continued until we no longer lived in Laurel. I have some great photos of the kids at various ages helping Mark to put up the succah. I have great memories of our friends and their kids coming to the succah, each year a little bigger, older, more mature, until they got too grown up to come with their parents anymore to our succah. Last year we were at Cindy's house while I was having chemo. It was the first time in decades that Mark could not eat all of his meals in a succah. This year we will have the new succah up for five of the eight days, and then it has to be taken down so we can start our drive back up the coast to Maryland. Even though it's an abbreviated Succoth with only one family joining us on the first night, I think Mark is very happy that he can go out and eat all of his meals in the succah. Of course, I will join him, so it should be nice.

Happy Succoth to all!

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