"On My Own"

I guess I should say on OUR own.  Mark and I are alone in the house for the first time in over a week.  It's nice.

The original plan was to go to Epcot to see the rest of the countries exhibits for Holidays Around the World and then go to Magic Kingdom for the parade, castle show, and fireworks.  Then the forecast went bad. It's supposed to be rainy, even thunderstormy, all day and drop to the mid-40s in the evening.  We decided to scrap our plans and just chill out all day in the house.  In fact, I decided to stay in PJs all day.

We both slept in until 9:30!  We almost never do that.  Then I watched three hours of Survivor online so I could finish the series. I have just missed so many episodes.  Later I hope to do the same thing with Amazing Race.  Mark has caught up on his Disney TV shows and a Roy Rogers TV episode.  After lunch, we plan to watch the Dr. Who Christmas special from England.  We love that show, and the Christmas episode is always one of the BEST.

The weather hasn't been as rainy or as cold as predicted.  In fact, it's sunny, warm, and humid right now, although blustery. At any time, we could change our plans, dress, and head to the parks.

NAH!  Not today.

Company Leaving, bring on new guests. LOL

Dave and Evey, the parents of the groom, were scheduled to fly out tomorrow night, but the weather in Maryland on Saturday is going to be snowy and treacherous, especially for someone in a walker.  Yesterday they changed their flight up from Saturday to Friday at 5:30.  They are sad to leave early, but they know they are doing the prudent thing.

We have really enjoyed hosting them as well as the days before them when we hosted the Os and the Rs.  I hope they all come back!

Yesterday we had a fantastic time.  The morning was slow and relaxing.  Then after a light lunch, we headed over to WDW again.  We strolled through the Grand Floridian to see the gigantic gingerbread house and all the holiday decorations.  Then we walked around the grounds for awhile, including going out to their upscale restaurant called Narcoossees.  Mark and I are considering eating dinner there for our anniversary when we stay at the Beach Club in January.

After the Grand Floridian, we went to Downtown Disney and did some shopping in Basin and window-shopping in Arribas Brothers glass works until it was time for our dinner reservation at Raglan Road.  What a place!  It is most definitely one of our favorite places to eat at Disney.  We used a very generous gift certificate from Lowell's girlfriend Emily's parents.  Thanks Phil and Pat!  Mark and I each ordered a flight of whiskeys.  Mark's was a variety of different Irish ones, including Potters, which he has had before. I ordered a super expensive one called Triple Crown, three Crown Royals: Black, Cask 16, and Reserve.  Amazing.  Then we each had a shot on the rocks with dinner.  Crazy. 

The Irish dancers performed twice while we there and then the guitar player and fiddle players came out.  So much fun!  Eventually we just had to leave and go to Private Island ice cream so they could experience the build your own flavor and have it flash frozen with the liquid nitrogen.  So much fun.

It turns out the owner/operator there was a Music History major and a big fan of musicals. He started up a conversation with us about "Les Mis!"  So much fun AGAIN.  He told us about a YouTube video of one man, Nick Pitera, singing ALL THE PARTS.  We went right home and watched it.  Awesome.  Then we stayed up until after midnight watching about an hour of the anniversary concert version from 2010. I want to finish the rest today if I can.

Even though the Hs are leaving today, our fun with company isn't over.  We have a couple from Solivita coming for dinner Sunday night; we are going to the big street party in the Village Center on New Years Eve, and now we are meeting a friend from MD at the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Day!  Lots of fun in the near future.

It's my step-mother's birthday today. I doubt if she reads my blog, but I will wish her a happy birthday anyway.  Happy Birthday, Jackie!  I hope it's an enjoyable one out in WV.

Wednesday...sad weigh-in

Let me start the blog with something positive.  We LOVED the movie, Les Mis, and the Chinese restaurant, Ming Court.  Everyone that comes to visit us now might just get dragged up I-Drive to eat there.

Today we were all tired, so we just slept in and had a relaxing time getting ready.  Around 11 we took Dave and Evey on the tour of our neighborhood, although because Evey's foot is in a boot, she didn't really get out and look at the gyms or stroll around like we usually do with guests.  They were interested in the model homes, so that was fun.  We only looked at four of them, but they fell in love with one of them.  They even met with the real estate agent to get all the information.  I don't know if they'll ever actually move here, but they are doing their research and Solivita is looking good.  Evey is already retired, and Dave plans to retire in one more year.  This is the time to do the research.

We ate a nice lunch at the Bistro up in the Village Center before returning home. Mark and Dave went to the store while Evey and I worked on my jigsaw puzzle.  When they got back, we watched some home movies, including the musical that Dave and Evey wrote back in the 1980s called The Last Resort.  Lots of fun. 

Tonight we are just chilling in the house.  We might watch another movie later. 

Now for the bad news.  I have done nothing but eat.  I am up 4.5 pounds from last week, weighing in this morning at 266.6.  I have not been this high in a LONG time, and it's higher than when we got off the cruise. I gained; I lost; I gained even more.  Yeah, that's bad.

Well, I had a good breakfast and a good dinner in the house. I ate one piece of cheese pizza and a veggie flatbread for lunch at the Bistro.  We shall see if tomorrow is any better.  It could be some of the weight this morning was from eating out at the Chinese restaurant last night.  Lots of sodium in Chinese food, usually.  Maybe next week will be better.  Sigh.

Here are some more pictures from Daniel and Rebecca's wedding.

This was at the Italian restaurant the night before the wedding  We are with Jeff and Sara and Saul and Phylis.

The beautiful bride getting made up for the wedding.

The bride and groom at the reception.

Merry Christmas!

This is our second Christmas in our house. Last year we were alone and went to the local Chinese restaurant next to our Publix.  This year we have good friends Evey and Dave Herschler coming to visit for the next four days!  They will arrive around 12:30 this afternoon.  I bought tickets in advance for Les Miserables at the Downtown Disney theater and made a 7:30 reservation at Ming Court in Orlando, a very elegant upscale Chinese restaurant.  This will be a lovely day, and the bonus is that the temperatures are going to the upper 70s again.  Nice.

I do have very fond memories of Christmases past.  As most of you know, I was not raised Jewish.  There was a tree and presents in my house when I grew up. I have a lot of great memories of coming down the stairs to see the tree and rip into the presents.  My father used to like to make oyster stew!  he never cooked all year, but on Christmas morning he would make this hideous concoction on the stove and slurp it up with gusto.  My mother used to like to have Sara Lee Pecan Coffee Cake for breakfast, a tradition I tried to continue for awhile but now it's impossible to find that cake.  Well, I don't need it to eat it anyway!

After I converted to Judaism in 1975, I no longer had a tree in my house, but I continued to help my immediate family celebrate their holiday.  We went to my parents' houses until they passed away, then we went to a sibling's home.  There was always a day with lots of family, what we called a Present GLUT, and good food.  I also remember that it could take all day to unwrap everything, and then after dinner we would go back and do the stockings.  My dad loved to wrap everything in the stockings in tin foil.  I have shiny memories of Christmas in his farm house.

This continued uninterrupted for my whole life until last year when we were in Florida. It's just too hard to go up north for their holiday now.   Of course, Evey celebrates with her husband's family in NJ, and Lowell is enjoying the day with his girlfriend's family in MD.  My siblings are all doing their own things, too, I think.  I know that Flyn's family is staying at home in VA because her husband Jim is recovering from recent surgery.  Mark and Carol are always in SC.  Cindy picked up her mom Jackie, so I know they are together. Kip and Denise are at her parents' house in DE.  We are scattered, just like at Thanksgiving.  I guess it's the end of the era of everyone being together for the gigantic present GLUT, but I hope they are all having a fabulous day no matter where they are or who they are with. I also hope they have fond memories of those many, many years when we all got together no matter what the weather or how far we had to drive.  Those were good years.

No matter where you are today or who you are with, I hope it is a wonderful day.  If you are celebrating Christmas, then I hope you have all the warmth, love, and special feelings associated with the day. If you are not a Christmas person, then I hope this day is a great one for you no matter what you might be doing.   Peace and love to all and a Happy New Year!

Post-Wedding and Saying Good-Bye

The wedding was just beautiful yesterday.  The Paradise Cove venue was incredibly beautiful.  It was on a lake at the evening with beautiful lights strung all around. It was warm when it started, and later during the reception, there were heaters in the tented reception area.  We LOVED the food and danced and danced because the DJ played a great mix of music.  It was SO much fun to hang out and party with our friends.  I took some pictures of the wedding but none of the dancing.  Then we went home and just hung out and talked and talked and drank some decaf coffee with Bailey's until we got too tired and went to bed.  It will be sad to say good bye today.  Enjoy the pictures.

Mark and I arrived early to the wedding venue.

Saul and Phyllis are with us early.  Saul is part of the ceremony.

Rabbi Cohen from our MD synagogue flew down to officiate.

The bride, Rebecca G. and the groom, Daniel H. just before the ceremony.

Mark and Sara at the reception table.

The happy couple

After the wedding, we hung out at home and Saul worked on a drash.

Jeff is listening to Saul intently.

Mark looks absolutely adorable.

Phyllis is enjoying her decaf and Bailey's.

Saul is talking to Sara about the Torah.

How I Spent my Anniversary

We picked Phyllis and Saul up at the airport and then waited with Dave and Evey until he got his rental car.  There was a bit of a snafu with that, so it took awhile.  Once Dave and Evey were settled with the car, the rest of us took off for lunch at Captain Cook's in the Polynesian Resort where I finally made my own Dole Whip!  Unfortunately, I just didn't have the time or appetite to make a big one.  Sorry, Barb and Al!  I know the size of my DW will be a disappointment to you. LOL!

Then we played Fantastia mini-golf, where Phyllis was the big winner. She actually shot FOUR holes-in-one.  I got two, Mark one, Saul got none.  Still, it was a HOOT to play with them.  The sun was warm, although the wind blowing made it feel chilly at times.  Mark made us a great dinner, and the four of us had a wonderful time watching an old video of a musical that Dave and Evey wrote in the early '80s called The Last Resort.  We did it as a fund raiser at our MD synagogue in 1986.  We sat around laughing at how thin we all looked, except Mark who looks exactly the same. 

Today we are heading off to our new synagogue where Mark will read Haftarah and we will all have a great catered luncheon afterwards.  Tonight we meet up with our friends Sara and Jeff.  They are coming to the house around 5.  This is their first visit, so that's exciting. Then all six of us go to meet Dave and Evey and the bridal party for a nice Italian dinner near WDW.  What a day!  It's our Anniversary Part Two, I guess.

Weight?  Don't ask.  Not good.  We'll talk about that later.  Maybe in the new year.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

Silly Mayans

I never did believe that Mayan calendar thing that the world would end today.  Really.  Silly Mayans.  In fact, according to our tour guide at the Mayan ruins in Cozumel, who claimed to be descended from Mayans (so maybe that makes everything he said suspect.  I don't know.), the Mayan calendar, like all calendars, was just going to start over.  Hey, it's the first day of the new long calendar year in Mayan culture.  Happy Mayan New Year, everybody!

It's also Happy Anniversary to me and Mark.  On this date, at 12 noon, in 1975, Mark and I got married in Silver Spring, MD in a kosher catering place that no longer exists. Happy 37th Anniversary, Mark.  I love you more now than ever!  I'm pretty sure I put up these old photos from our wedding before, but here they are again anyway. 

Also today we are heading out to the airport to pick up our friends Saul and Phyllis Oresky.  They are spending three nights with us, so that we can all attend the wedding of Danny Herschler on Sunday.  He is the son of our good friends Dave and Evey Herschler, who are also flying down to Orlando today.  It will be nice to spend our anniversary and Shabbat dinner tonight with Saul and Phyllis.

Tomorrow we are throwing ourselves a luncheon party at our synagogue in honor of our anniversary.  It was an extravagance that I could only afford because the timing worked out right for my first Social Security check to arrive in time to cover the bill.  LOL! 

Fun at Epcot

Yesterday was Wednesday, but I forgot to comment on my weigh-in.  I was 261 yesterday morning, meaning I had lost the two and a half pounds gained on the cruise in just two days. Pretty good.

Unfortunately, I gained some back yesterday. 

This morning I weighed in at 262.1.  Hm....

Well, I blame it all on late night snacking at Barb and Al's house.  At her house, she generously offered us chocolate-covered raisins, salted mixed nuts, pastries, kettle-cooked potato chips, Oreos (which I brought as a gift), and white chocolate liqueur.  Remember when I wrote a few days ago about opportunities to make wise choices or stupid choices?  Guess which one I made last night?  Yeah. I blame it on the salty choices and it's only a pound.  I also suspect it will go away today just by behaving reasonably.

We didn't get to Epcot until about 2 p.m., and we had to leave by 6 in order to take wine and grape juice to the shul (and first we had to go to Publix to buy it!) and then go to Barb and Al's house.  So that left four hours to eat lunch, eat dinner, and see the countries.  I'm sure you can guess that it was not enough time  We saw the Holidays Around the World show in only five countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Japan, and Morocco.  They were all great, but as everybody said, Norway was REALLY cute!  I thought China was the most boring one and Japan was a close second to that.  They were okay; they were interesting; they just weren't quite as entertaining as Norway.  Mexico was good and Morocco was good. 

We couldn't eat the curried vegetables in China after all, because it turned out not to be vegetarian.  We were stunned.  It was the only potentially vegetarian option on the menu, so I guess there is no reason to go back to the Chinese fast food pavilion again. Instead we went into the Norwegian bakery because we knew they had some other options.  We ate a delicious hot vegetable souffle and drank a coffee with Bailey's.  Yum.  Dinner was as planned in Morocco, the vegetable platter.  That includes lentil salad, tabouli, two pieces of falaffel, hummus, couscous, a salad of lettuce, tomato, and onion, marinated olives, and a big piece of laffa bread.  (Anyone who knows me knows that I IMMEDIATELY made Mark take all of those olives off my plate!)

Mark ordered Moroccan wine, which was red, cold, and refreshing.  Why do I know that when I didn't order it?  That's an amusing story.  The man poured Mark's glass, and I took the tray away and went to a table.  When Mark finished paying and joined me at the table, he said the man wasn't finished pouring. The bottle had emptied and he was opening another. I hadn't noticed that part, but the glass looked full to me.  I told Mark the glass was full enough and he didn't need anymore. LOL!

Lo and behold, the man came to our table, said the same thing that Mark had said, and brought us a SECOND FULL glass!  Crazy. I didn't expect to like the wine, so I poured some of it into Mark's glass to top it off and finished the rest.  It was GOOD!  I would recommend trying the Tangerine Cafe in Morocco and the Moroccan wine if you are in Epcot.

All in all, it was a fun day with lots of walking, interesting stories, good food, and friends.  Not bad!

Here are a few pictures from Grand Turk and yesterday at Epcot.

Epcot, Holidays around the World

Yesterday Mark and I did some chores in the house, including setting up two of the three new bookshelves in the den. It's looking nice in there.  I also rested, and I hope my cold improves soon. I actually think I do feel a little improvement this morning.

That's good because there is NO resting today!  It's back to the real world for the Silversteins.

Today we are going to Epcot to see the exhibits at the various countries.  All the countries have a little 15 minute show on how they celebrate the winter holidays. The USA pavilion actually has three of them.  They do something on Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well as Christmas.  Mark went to it last year by himself. I can't remember what I was doing, but I'm guessing it was a rehearsal.  Anyway, we will spend the afternoon there, eat lunch at the fast food Chinese pavilion and dinner at the fast food Moroccan pavilion. Then we finish off the day by dropping off wine and grape juice at the synagogue for use at our kiddush luncheon on Saturday, and then a trip to our friends Barb and Al's house to visit awhile and enjoy their amazing holiday decorations.  I will post some pictures of it tomorrow!

Here are some pictures from San Juan.

Our ship, the Carnival Valor from the San Juan dock

Mark about to enter the San Cristobal fortress

Looking out at the Atlantic from the top of the fortress

Walking the l-o-n-g walk into the other fortress, El Morro.  This is actually at the halfway point. LOL

At a look out over the Atlantic in the El Morro fortress

Sailing past El Morro at the end of the day

More time at home is delightful.

Yesterday I went no where except to the neighbor's house to play Mah Jongg.  I only won one game, and most of the games were wall games (ties), but I just love hanging out with the ladies on my street.  I feel so happy to have moved on to Barcelona with such a delightful group of neighbors.

I did a lot of work in the house, including emptying out the three old bookshelves in the den and taking them to the curb for special trash to pick them up.  It was weird that they would not give me a specific date for the pick up.  They said take them out tomorrow morning by 6 a.m. and they will be picked up within 72 hours.  Really?  That crap could sit out there for three days?  OK.

Today I canceled my participation in the VA Nursing Home holiday performance with some of the Guys and Dolls singers.  I am just coughing too much and have no voice.  No real point in going on that trip.  Instead, I will pay some bills, help Mark put the new bookshelves into the den and fill them up, and generally relax. I hope to work on my current jigsaw puzzle because Emily S and Lowell sent me an AWESOME new one that I hope to get to ASAP.  Thanks, Em and Lowell.

I sort of behaved myself food-wise yesterday.  I ate very appropriately for all three meals and only a few inappropriate snacks. One of our Mahj ladies brought everyone a little bag containing four Lindor Truffles.  OMG I LOVE those!  My bag was eaten before I finished two games.  The one smart thing I did was refuse more bags!  She had leftovers and offered me to take more home.  At least I had the good sense to say no to that.  I also had a big glass of low-carb chocolate milk and three pieces of fat free cheese as snacks.  That's not too bad, but it was still calories.  I lost one pound yesterday, not bad.  It's a start.  Unfortunately, I just don't feel up to exercise.  When I move around too much, I just set off a coughing spree.  UGH.  Maybe just a few more days of this...

We have our big box of Hanukkah presents from Cindy now!  Yay Cindy!  Thanks!  We will open it later today and extend that holiday just a little more.

And finally, Happy Birthday to my good friend Georganne.  I know what you are doing today, and I know there are better ways to spend a birthday, but you will be fine.  Do something nice for yourself when you get home.  Enjoy the day no matter what.  We are thinking of you today.

Here's a few more pictures from the trip:

Leading Hanukkah songs at the menorah lighting.

Sitting in the Lindy Hop (piano bar) for TV theme song trivia

Relaxing on the Chavon River cruise in Dominican Republic

Overlooking the Chavon River

in the Dominican Republic

With the larimar turtle necklace Mark bought me in the Dominican Republic

Back home. It's nice.

It is always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed after a trip.  After this trip, it was especially nice because we both had been feeling under the weather for most of the cruise.  We have lots of chores on the docket for today. I just hope I have enough energy to do them.  At 1 p.m I would like to go play Mah Jongg, but I might cancel because it's probably not fair to my neighbors to take my germs to them.  If I stay home all day, I might not even get dressed!  Mark has to go out shopping because we have nothing in the house to eat.  If he didn't have to do that, you can bet he wouldn't get dressed today either!  LOL!

As for the weight gain during the cruise, it was not nearly as bad as I had feared.  I gained 2.5 pounds this week.  Heck, I can do that in a day right at home.  I went from 261 last Saturday morning when I last weighed in to 263.5 this morning.  I actually weighed that the week after Thanksgiving when the kids left.  It's NOT a number to be proud of, but I have done worse on cruises and vacations, so I will take the 2.5 pound gain and move on from there.

We have company arriving Friday, more on Saturday, and different ones next Tuesday.  There is a big luncheon at the synagogue on Saturday afternoon for our anniversary, a dinner out Saturday night compliments of the wedding party, a wedding and reception on Sunday, and then lots of fun with the company all next week.  Wow!  Many more opportunities to overeat OR many more opportunities to practice skills like portion control and making good choices.  We shall see.

Mark got me a really cool food scale for Hanukkah. Not only does it weigh the food, but if you put some info into it, it also calculates carbs, fats, some vitamin content, and other nutrients.  I have to read all the literature on it in order to figure out how to make it work! 

Here are a few pictures from the first few days of the cruise.  I'll post some more tomorrow.

On deck of the Carnival Valor in Miami, right after boarding.

Miami over my shoulder

Sail Away party and toasting to Rudy and Georganne.

Each night of Hanukkah we had a ceremony to light the next light in the lobby.

On the second day Mark was so sick that we had to take him to the medical center.

The South African nurse took his vitals.

This was as close as we came to taking our shore excursion to Atlantis in Nassau.  Sailing away from Nassau.