Beach Club Anniversary

This morning Mark and I are going to the gym for our weights, and then he has an appointment for a haircut.  Boom!  Chores are over by lunch time.

After lunch we are checking into the Beach Club at WDW for a one night stay to celebrate our anniversary. Last year we stayed at the Polynesian, which was a lot of fun.  This year it will be the Beach Club.  The Beach Club is known for having the best pool facilities in all of WDW, so this is our first time to stay there and use those facilities.  We're lucky because today is going to be near record-breaking heat, upper 80s.  Tomorrow it plummets into the mid to low 60s for a high, but that's ok because we are spending tomorrow at the Animal Kingdom and the Hollywood Studios.  A cool day is perfect for that.

I will be taking lots of pictures, but I'm not taking my computer. I'm determined to make this little overnight trip very light, so I'm only taking a backpack.  I will upload and post the pictures Thursday night when I get home.

Now for the bad news, the weight is the worst yet.  This morning I hit 269.  That's a very scary number.  My back has been hurting; my knees are starting to groan.  It's all the weight.  I hit my lowest point in January of 2010 at 205 pounds.  Now just three years later, I have regained 64 pounds, more than half of what I lost.  Why?  I eat too much; I am not trying to control anything;  I do not take daily long walks; I do not write down what I eat.

Today we are eating lunch in our favorite little bar because it's near the hair salon.  I can choose a salad with grilled chicken (yes, I occasionally eat non-kosher chicken or turkey out, usually when I'm counting calories and it's the lowest calorie thing on the menu) or I can order a kosher hot dog with fries.  This place has the BEST fries, and it's rare to find a big kosher dog in a restaurant around here.  Obviously I need to pick the salad. 

Tonight we are eating at a buffet restaurant in the Yacht Club, the resort right next door to the Beach Club.  As Mark as often said, "the buffet is your friend."  It can also be my worst enemy.  I can go through the line and load up on salad and veggies and skip the desserts, breads, pastas, and potatoes.  But will I?  I can drink black coffee and water instead of alcohol.  But will I?  Lately, I have done a lot of talking about what I should do, but then I get there and I don't do it.  I am a mess when it comes to food.  Food is my addiction and right now it is winning. I have fallen so far off the wagon I can't even see the wagon anymore.

What to write....

I had a blast with Mark and Carol.  Then it's back to reality.

It's always hard to go back to normal after a vacation or visitors.  Yesterday, I kept extremely busy.  I had volunteered to sell tickets from 10 a..m. to 2 p.m. at the Farmer's Market.  The tickets were for a concert to raise money for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.  My team is the Solivita Cancer Support Group.  That was my second day up there selling, and the concert is this Sunday afternoon.  Then I played Mah Jongg, winning only one game.  After that, I went to the gym for my weight routine and a brief walk (20 minutes), dinner, and a Starliters rehearsal from 7-9 p.m. 

I cut the walk short because from about noon until I went to bed I was feeling light-headed and somewhat dizzy. I have had that feeling before, and it usually goes away and doesn't interfere too much. I've been having it off and on for two years or so.  Sometimes I like to blame residual effects from chemo since I never remember having it until after that.  I told my family doctor once and he sent me for carotid artery sonograms, which were normal.  As long as I don't pass out and fall down, I can just live with it.

Today I'm going out to lunch at a restaurant in Haines City called The Port. I have not been there before, but my Mah Jongg ladies wanted to go as a group. I think there are eight of us going.  My neighbor, Luanne, is driving, so I'm riding with her.  I saw the menu and it looks great!  Mark and I really enjoy finding all these local restaurants.  Someone I met in Solivita once was complaining about the lack of good restaurants in the area.  Mark and I thought she was CRAZY because we are finding SO many more fun places to eat out than we ever had in Laurel, MD.  We especially appreciate all the wonderful places that serve fresh grouper and mahi mahi!  In Maryland, it was always about crabs.  LOL!

Meanwhile, tomorrow, when I report for Weigh-In Wednesday, it will be extremely BAD. I have gotten quite out of control.  The old binge-eating behaviors are taking over my brain. It's so hard to get out of that, so the weight is on an upward spiral. I will bravely report it accurately tomorrow.  I thought I was going to do ok yesterday, but I snacked at night too much.  In fact I did that the last two nights in a row. I hope to break that tonight. 

In preparation for today's big lunch out, I'm skipping breakfast.  Maybe that's stupid, but I'm just thinking about calories. I'm also not hungry yet, and I've been up for nearly three hours.  I guess all that late-night snacking is still in there digesting.  My big meal will be the restaurant today because Tuesday is always frozen dinner night so I can run off to Starliters at 7 p.m.  Mark buys me a frozen dinner that is always under 300 calories and I had a salad or a vegetable.  Then I just need to try to curb that late night snacking while I watch TV.  I'll let you know tomorrow how that goes!

Here are a few pictures from our last few days with Mark and Carol and our visit to the Magic Kingdom to have our picture taken with some of the Long Lost Friends.

Going over some last minute things about Mark's computer so it will talk to him.

On a walk around the lake.

Getting on the train.

With the Three Little Pigs and the big Bad Wolf.

With Ludwig von Drake and Scrooge McDuck.

Sharing my Mickey ice cream bar with Goofy.

Enjoying the rest of the ice cream in a rocking chair on Town Square.

Waiting for the tram to take us to our car.

Epcot with Mark and Carol

Our day at Epcot was nearly perfect!

It started off by being able to park in the very first row of parking spaces because Mark has a handicapped hang tag and we were REALLY early at arriving.   Then the bag check guy was singing songs to us about checking the bags.  It was funny, so we got a magical feeling at WDW right away.

The ticket-selling booths tried to kill that feeling by being slow and not getting things right, but we didn't let it bother us too much.  We were IN Epcot by 9:08 a.m., ready for a marvelous day.

The weather was perfect and the crowds were light.  Mark had a Guest Assistance Card which meant that we could bypass any lines and go in the alternative entrance.  The lines were short that we didn't even need the special pass for anything except three of the bigger rides: Mission Space, Test Track, and Soarin'.  Even THOSE rides had relatively short lines (15 for Mission Space, 35 for Test Track, and 45 for Soarin') but we used the card anyway.  Mark and Carol rode every ride and attraction in Future World except Living with the Land and Captain EO.  We ate lunch in The Land food court and dinner at the German Oktoberfest buffet.  Everything was great.

When we finally left Future World, we went to listen to Off Kilter in Canada, then the British Revolution in UK.  We shopped in France, looked at Morocco, listened to the drumming show in Japan, listened to the Fife and Drum Corps and Voices of Liberty in the American Pavilion before going in for the big show inside.  When that was over, we walked through Italy and then got to our dinner reservation in  Germany early.  We got in quickly, enjoyed the buffet, and the Oom-pah band that played while we ate.  The weather stayed warm and nice, even as we walked back to the car.  When we got home, it was still early enough that we say and watched the DVD of our "It's a Wonderful Life" show in November. 

Today we slept late; Mark S. worked on Mark W.'s computer some more to make it talk to him; we took a walk around the lake; we had a late breakfast/early lunch.  Soon the trip is over.  We are driving them to the Kissimmee Amtrak in just a few minutes.  I'll miss them!  Love you, Mark and Carol!  Come again soon.

Tu B'Shevat seder

Drinking Coke products at Club Cool

Off Kilter

Waiting on the curb to hear the British group

The globe from Illuminations behind Mark

In Italy

Me and my bro waiting for Carol and Mark S to shop at Mouse Gear

Relaxing day with Mark and Carol

Yesterday was simply delightful.  Mark S. did some morning grocery shopping while I took Mark W and Carol up to the gym at the Palms. Mark likes to walk on the treadmill, or as he calls it, "pushing cars."  I took a picture of him on my cell phone which I have included in today's email.

We had a lovely afternoon around the pool, swimming, sunning, hot tubbing, and eating dinner out.  At night, Carol went to bed early while Mark, Mark, and I enjoyed home movies of my dad.  Mark really enjoyed hearing Bill's voice again.

Today Mark is helping Mark W get his computer to talk to him.  Mark would love to be able to have a computer that is blind friendly.  They have gotten it farther than ever before, but it's still a bit frustrating. 

Carol is about to go take a Zumba class up at the Palms and maybe use the pool again.  Then it's Tu B'Shevat tonight, and our friends Jonathan and Susan are joining us.  It's the birthday of trees! It will be so much fun.

First day with Mark and Carol

We had a wonderful visit yesterday with Mark and Carol.  Although the train was a little delayed due to Sun Rail construction between Winter Park and Orlando, we did not mind waiting at the Kissimmee Amtrak station for the extra 20 minutes. It was a warm afternoon, and we were able to scout out the local restaurants for lunch. When they arrived, we went to Three Sisters, just one block away.  It was lovely.

After lunch, we headed straight to Boggy Creek Airboats on Southport Road, not far from our house.  This is the fourth time we have gone to ride these airboats. I just love it, so we make everyone who visits go there!  Mark and Carol got the BEST ride EVER.  We saw three alligators and lots of birds. Unfortunately, it was also the first time there were swarms of gigantic gnats in our faces a lot of the time.  I guess it could have been time of day or time of year bringing the gnats out.  Still, it did not diminish our enjoyment of the ride.

Mark S. made us a wonderful spaghetti dinner.  After dinner, we had some coffee and conversation, and then they went to bed at 9 p.m., exhausted.  After all, they had boarded that train in Florence, SC at 3:30 in the morning.  

Here are a few pictures from yesterday to enjoy.

Mark and Carol DAY!

My brother Mark and his wife Carol are arriving at the Kissimmee Amtrak station this afternoon.  We will pick them up for their first visit to our house, and they stay until Sunday afternoon.

Just to be clear to anyone reading who doesn't already know EVERYTHING about my past, Cindy, Kip, and Mark are my step-siblings, but I NEVER refer to them that way.  In my heart they are every bit as much my sister and brothers as my biological sister Flyn.  I have known them their entire lives.  I remember when each was born, many dinners in our house as I was growing up, and babysitting them occasionally.  When my dad married their mother, they ranged in age from around 10 to 16, I think.  I could not love them more.

We have a little challenge with Mark because he's completely blind.  He began losing his vision at age 12 when he was first diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosis.  It took him decades to lose all of his sight, so he was able to get his bachelor's and master's degrees in Psychology before that happened.  Now he lives a wonderful life of leisure in Myrtle Beach, a block from the beach, where he can go out and swim whenever he likes.  Carol, his third wife, is, in my opinion, the BEST WIFE!!  The whole family loves her, and I'm thankful that she is shepherding him onto the Amtrak train at 3 a.m. this morning to bring him to our house for this five day visit. 

We are going to take them on the Air Boat ride (pictures of him holding Fluffy, the alligator, will be here tomorrow!  LOL) and to Jelly Rolls at the Boardwalk to hear the dueling pianos show.  We are also hoping it's going to be warm enough on Friday or Saturday to hang out at the pool.  Still, I never realized how much what we do at WDW and other places relies on sight to enjoy. 

Friday night is Tu B'Shevat and we are hosting a seder for Mark and Carol, who aren't Jewish but should enjoy it anyway.  We are also having our friends Jonathan and Susan come over.  Jonathan is Jewish and Susan is considering conversion.  They have not been to a Tu B'Shevat seder before and Jonathan is also losing his vision.  He has very little sight left, so I thought he and Mark might swap stories.  We'll see.

There is a lot of fun and love coming up for the next five days. I hope to keep writing blogs, but with company, trips, Jewish holidays, and lots of hanging out talking, I don't know how often I will sit down at the computer.  If it takes until next Monday for me to get back to the blog, please accept my apologies! 

Meanwhile, yes, I haven't forgotten that it's weigh-in Wednesday. It's 266.4, the same as two Wednesdays ago and still up two pounds from when we went to go on the cruise. I have lost one pound since we got home on Friday.  Well, I have no one to blame...  Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch at the new Cohen's Deli. I had corn chowder soup and a hot corned beef sandwich on rye.  Fantastic, but probably loaded with sodium. I guess I should be happy I am not higher. 

I have to make a correction on something I said yesterday. I thought the whole hotel was kosher because it leads you to that opinion on the website.  I also thought there was a butcher shop like in the old store because their logo still says Cohen's Butcher and Deli.  Both are wrong assumptions.  There is no shop.  They said we can phone in an order 24 hours in advance and then come pick it up.  OK, but not helpful for yesterday.  Also they said they plan to open a store eventually.  Second, there is a Starbucks and an Uno Pizzeria in the lobby.  The pizza place had pepperoni and sausage pizzas on the menu, and I suspect they meant meat, not pareve.  So....I guess the WHOLE hotel is not kosher.  LOL! 

Still, the restaurant was great and quite a few people were there.  They have three kitchens: meat, dairy, and pareve.  When we went in to be seated, they asked if we wanted meat or dairy.  We wanted meat, but we also saw some people having pizza on the other side of the room in the dairy section.  It was really quite reasonably priced and delicious.  There were three ladies at the table next to us who did not seem to be having fun. I knew them from Solivita because one of the ladies sings tenor in the Guys and Dolls and Starliters groups.  She was the only Jewish woman of the three. I could overhear some of their conversations, and it didn't seem like their orders were done properly.  They sent things backed and complained about a lot of what they had.  I guess they won't be back.  In the restaurant's defense, our waitress did say it was only her second day working there.  The chef, who I assumed was working there a lot longer than two days, actually sent out a whole sandwich to me when I ordered the soup and half sandwich special, but they said just keep it at no cost.  That's the way to build a customer base, I think.  I happily ate the whole sandwich, and I thought it was GREAT! 

When we left the house yesterday at 10 a.m., we had an ambitious agenda of ELEVEN errands.  We got home at 4:30, drove 75 miles, and accomplished 8 of the 11 stops.  We just ran out of time and energy to do any more.  We are now going out shopping this morning for some things for Mark and Carol because that was one of the three errands we didn't do yesterday.  The other two stops, Publix near WDW and Whole Foods for meat we didn't get at Cohen's, can wait until next week.  We got enough at the Super Target by the Millenia Mall to hold us through Mark and Carol's visit.

To end today's blog, I have posted pictures of Mark, Carol, my Mark, and me in Florence, SC last summer.  We were met for dinner as Mark and I were driving up north.

Meeting for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Florence, SC.

Clowning around at the Penney's hat department!

Mark and Mark.  Or I could say M and Ms.

I think the guys look better in their hats than Carol and I do!

Bundle up if you're up north!  It's cold up there.  Brrr!  It's only going to 69 today.  Geez!  I'm sure no one up north wants to hear me whine about a number like that.  LOL!

a-shopping we will go

It's meat shopping day, and that's saying something in Central Florida.  Our plan is to go to the new kosher hotel near WDW.  The kosher deli, Cohen's, in Clermont, moved to the WDW area in October.  They bought an entire hotel, WorldGate Resort, and made it over to a kosher place.  The restaurant is kosher and there is also a deli and meat market.  We haven't been there since it moved, but it is a much closer drive for us now.  We are hoping they might have a bigger selection of stuff than they did in their old, small location.  We'll see. (For those who might be interested, here is a link to their website, http://kosherhotelflorida.com/)

If we don't find all we want there, we also have several Publix stores around the area, each of which carries a different selection of kosher products, a Super Target, and a Whole Foods.  The problem in this area is that you have to go to three or four places because each one only carries certain things.  So sometimes Super Target has a steak, or ground beef, or deli meat, and sometimes it doesn't; Whole Foods only carries poultry; Publix mostly has frozen food items.  There is no one single place for all the kosher food we need down here.  Sometimes we ship things down from NYC because it's just easier than spending a day driving over a hundred miles to hit up all the stores.  Today we blocked out an entire day for the driving around because we actually want to go visit the new Cohen's Deli in their new kosher hotel, so that's  making it a fun day.

Last night I was supposed to go to Starliters, which I had not been able to do last week due to the cruise.  Then around 5 p.m., while I was at the piano practicing the music, I got an ocular migraine. I now keep a diary of those migraines, so I know I had not had one since mid-November.  Usually they last about 20-30 minutes and just make my vision annoying, but occasionally they leave me with a pounding headache, nausea, sensitivity to light, all the classic regular migraine symptoms.  Yeah.  That's the one I got last night.  I laid down on the couch and waited to see how it was going.  Around 6:30, it was still bad, so I basically called in sick to Starliters.  I felt bad doing that because due to cruises and company and holidays, I'm already missing about half the rehearsals.  I have to work twice as hard at home to learn and MEMORIZE all this music.  I really can't afford to miss any of the other rehearsals.  Sigh.

Tonight is another rehearsal, so I just hope we get home from our shopping by 6 p.m. so I can have a quick dinner and get on up there.  It all depends on how many stores we have to visit to get our entire shopping list complete.  Wish us luck!

Inauguration Day

It's been 8 days since I wrote a blog.  I never wrote anything during the cruise because we were just having too much fun!  Many of you have already received the four albums from the trip. If you didn't get them and would like to see all the pictures, just shoot me a private email and I will send you a link.

The cruise was one of our best ever.  We had forgotten how fantastic the Disney cruises are.  We took the Disney Wonder in 2000 with Evey and Lowell and the Disney Magic in 2003 with Evey. It's been a decade since we did a Disney cruise.  It is a quality product!  Even if you don't have kids, or even think you don't like kids, I would recommend a Disney cruise.  The food, the staff, the service, the decor are all exceptional.

At the end of the blog I have posted a few pictures.

Of course, I gained weight during the cruise.  I gained about three pounds in the six days of the trip.  I have taken two of them off since we got home.  Still I'm pretty high.  I started this cruise already too high, so I really need to do something before the NEXT cruise in February.  Crazy. 

This morning I have an appointment with the radiation oncologist.  I have still been checking in with him every six months, but I'm hoping today he is going to cut that back to annual or even not at all.  I don't feel that I'm having any problems related to the radiation.  We'll see.  The worst thing is that I know I'm up about 8 pounds since I saw him six months ago and up 15-20 pounds since I was having the radiation in 2011.  That's embarrassing.  (OK, I'm finishing the blog after the morning's doctor appointment.  He said I'm fine, but he still expects me to come back in six months.  Sigh.  At least he didn't comment on the weight!)

I'm also thinking about Obama's second Inauguration today.  Four years ago it did not turn out on a Federal Holiday (MLK Day) so I was sitting in a classroom at Catonsville High School watching it with students.  I might miss more of it today than then because I'll be at the doctor's office, running errands, and playing Mah Jongg!  I have also been thinking about that weight because four years ago as I sat in that classroom, I weighed 322 pounds.  I could barely move.  That day I decided to lose weight and got down to 295 by April 8, 27 pounds in about three months time.  I'd love to lose 27 pounds in the next three months.  322 on Inauguration Day of 2009 and 265 today.  I guess I should be happy that I'm down 57 pounds in the last four years, but I know that it really means I have GAINED 50 pounds in the last two years.  (Update since it's now afternoon:  I won three games of Mah Jongg and heard the President's speech partly on the car radio and partly at home.  Now I'm waiting for the parade to start.)

Yesterday we had a blast going to the Canada pavilion in Epcot for the Winter Wonderland.  We had our picture taken with some characters, which I'll put up today also.  

Here's a picture of us with the characters in Canada and a few pictures from the cruise. Enjoy.

Duffy and Admiral Duck in the lobby atrium of the Disney Dream.

Mark and Duffy found our cabin.

Every princess needs a throne!

Sharing my drink special with Duffy at the Sail Away party!  Hm....is that legal?

Mark loves Sail Away parties, but especially ones with Disney characters.

A pelican friend in the buffet area, Cabanas.

Playing Goofy Golf while docked at Nassau.

I got a hole-in-one on this shot!

We played Foos Ball after golf.  Although I took an early lead, Mark won by one point.

At Atlantis

In line to ride the Aquaduck

We enjoyed the spa. Here's Mark using one of his salt scrubs in the medium heat steam room.  Very nice.

Very relaxed after the spa!

Dinner at Animator's Palate the second night.

Duffy is soaking up the rays on the beach at Castaway Cay.

The water was kind of cold, but it didn't stop me from swimming.

Aarggh!  Duffy is ready for the Pirate Deck Party.

I'm ready, too.

I think Mark is MORE than reaady!

On our last night, we splurged with dinner at Remy's, the special French restaurant.

Snow White was quite a talker!

I don't think my friend requires an introduction.