Saul's Installation Shabbat and Birthday

Today in Boardman, Ohio our good friend Rabbi Saul Oresky is having his installation Shabbat.  It's also his birthday.  Congratulations, Saul.  So sorry we could not make it out there for this big day.  I know your family is there and the Rosens and some other friends have made the trip.  I can only imagine that this day will be fabulous.  Enjoy every minute of it!

I have no idea if he will ever see this because I doubt if he reads this blog, but I posted something similar on his Facebook page, so I know he'll see that.  I really posted this for myself so if I ever wonder when it happened, I can look here. 

Our progressive dinner last night was a LOT of fun!  We ate a delicious homemade zucchini soup and  a salad with challah at the the Sterns' house.  Mark's crock pot roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli, with challah and wine was fabulous at our house.  Then we had a huge selection of desserts at the Goldbergs' house.  We started at 6:30 and got home shortly after 11.  It was so much fun.  We all agreed that we should do this again in the fall, maybe late October, so that we can each take a turn at serving one of the other things.  Then we'll do it a third time next spring.  Everyone wants a turn to do the two things they didn't do last night.  It really was great.  It also super well here because we all live in Solivita only a short drive from each other.  I just love living in Solivita.

My weight is the same this morning as it was Monday morning.  That means I have not lost any weight this week, but I haven't gained any either.   Today should be a good day because we are eating all of our meals at home.  Tomorrow should be tough because we will have the wine tasting opportunity again as well as a huge meal out at the restaurant.  Well....what can I say!  This is how our life goes.  LOL!

Not sure what is happening today.  We probably will go to shul although I'm feeling tired and lazy.  I guess I'll let Mark take the lead on this.  When we get back, if the weather is good, we'll probably go to the Solivita pool to hang out with Rudy.  This is the last day he can go to the pool.  Tomorrow we are going to the Keel and Curley Winery with him and then Downtown Disney for dinner at Paradiso 39.  On Monday we will finally hit Sea World and then he heads north on Tuesday.

I think I forgot to report that Evey and Eric made it safely home from Peru.  They were both glad to get home and, as she said in a text to me, "eat some local foods and be surrounded by our native language."  LOL.  She also said she would be happy to eat raw veggies and ice cubes without worrying about their safety.  Sounds like Peru had some wonderful moments but also some really bad ones.  On a positive note, she also got her Apple watch when she got home and is enjoying learning how to use it.  I want her to bring it to Hawaii so I can play with it and decide if I also want one.

Progressive Dinner Party

Yesterday was double-feature-Thursday.  Mark and I went to Downtown Disney to see the new Disney film, Tomorrowland.  Then in the evening all three of us went to the Solivita ballroom to see Interstellar.  They were both interesting, but I didn't love either of them.  I actually kept dozing off in Tomorrowland, but it could have been because I got up at 5:40 to go get an early morning blood draw.

Today we are having a normal day in that we will go do water aerobics for the first time in a week, and then we'll work in the library.  The progressive dinner begins when we get home.

Tonight three couples from the Shalom Club and also the Theater Group are doing a progressive dinner for fun.  Judi and Peter are serving appetizers at 6:30 at their house.  Then we will all head to our house for the main dinner.  Mark is making a fork tender pot roast in the crockpot along with mashed potatoes, broccoli, challah, and wine.  We will make the Kiddush at our house.  Then when that's over, off we go to Susie and Ed's house for dessert.  Should be a blast!  I'm very grateful that today is the cleaning lady's regular day!  I know the house will be nice and clean when we return this afternoon from the library.

Yesterday's switch up.

As we were driving up to Sea World, Mark decided to check on a possible discount ticket for Rudy.  He found one that he could buy online for a weekday, which it was.  It was a significant savings, BUT it had to be printed out.  Well, a quick change of plans ensued.

We are now going to Sea World on Monday, so yesterday we went to Gatorland!  It is by far the best bargain in Florida for seniors at only $10.80.  We had a low key day, strolled around to see everything, low crowds, nice temperatures, no rain....couldn't ask for a better day.  When we were done, we tried the new nitrogen blasted ice cream shop in downtown Kissimmee called Abracadabra and then dinner at Chef John's.  Outstanding day.

Today Mark and I are heading over to St. Petersburg for a NARFE meeting and then a shiva minyan in Winter Haven this evening.  With luck, Mark will have time to do some grocery shopping in between those two things.

Rudy has decided to stay until Tuesday and then take three days to drive home.  He's heading over to Cocoa to look for winter housing.  I think he's doing that today and staying over there for a few days.

Here are some pictures from Gatorland yesterday.

The Jumparoo Show.

Sleepy Florida panther.

One of the best things about yesterday was the baby birds.  So many birds build their nests around the alligator breeding pond.  It was just so cute to see the babies.

We even saw a mommy on her eggs.  She stood up several times when the daddy brought her a new twig to add to the nest.

Our lunch buddy.

Sleepy bobcat, Osceola.

Mark's favorites are always the white gators.  This is Chester.

Mark and Rudy with Fierce Ghost.

The gator wrestling show featured a really feisty gator.

Close up of Osceola when he came over to wait for dinner.

Chester woke up!

At Abracadabra getting sugar free ice cream.

Memorial Day and second day Shavuot

Mark is reading the haftarah portion this morning, so we cannot stay too long at home.  We can't be late to shul this morning!

Because it's the second day of Shavuot, it means we will say the Yizkor service today.  That's an interesting juxtaposition of holidays since Yizkor is a memorial service for the dead.  I wonder how often it comes out on Memorial Day?

We had a great crowd Saturday night for the SOJC Shavuot service and 9 stayed all the way to the end, which ended up being AFTER midnight!  That's the latest the shul has EVER gone.  Mark was very, very pleased.  Then we stayed up until dawn at home.  Well, he stayed up.  I stayed in the chair, but I was pretty much sleeping from 3:30 to 6:30!  At 6:30 I ate a half a bagel and went to bed, sleeping until noon.  Mark slept until about 3 p.m.  It really makes the whole day a little out of sorts when you stay up all night like that.

Weight has been terrible this week.  I had some good days and days with exercise, but starting Friday there has been no exercise and lots of overeating.  I was not surprised to find that I had gained three pounds for the week.  I am 275.4 this morning.  Clearly, I am not going to make my goal of 240 or even 250 by the time we fly to Hawaii.  Since we got home from Maryland, I have now lost only 8 pounds.  That's 8 pounds in six and a half weeks.  Not too good.

Well, today begins a new week.  Today I start over.  I will eat all my meals at home, no unplanned snacks, but probably no exercise either.  I am going to shul and then going to play Mah Jonng.  Tonight we will be home watching TV.  Tomorrow we will eat lunch and dinner out because we are going to Sea World all day with Rudy.  At least there will be miles and miles of walking to help with the eating.

Evey and Eric's trip to Peru is almost over.  They are flying from Arequipa this morning to Lima.  Then tomorrow evening they leave Lima and end up at home on Wednesday.  It's a long flight for them from Lima to Newark to San Francisco, then an hour drive home from the airport. I hope they are up for it. Yesterday she texted me off and on most of the day.  They both got very, very sick with what was probably food poisoning.  They were supposed to hike down into a canyon, which they did.  The hike was much more dangerous and difficult than they anticipated, taking five and a half hours.  They were both feeling poorly before they started.  They had a meal at the base of the canyon and then decided not to stay and hike the next day down in there.  Instead they rode a farm bus back to the top and spend all day yesterday being sick in their hotel.  I haven't heard from them today, but last night she reported they were both feeling better at last.  So sorry to hear their trip ended on a sour note.

I also finished my jigsaw puzzle yesterday.  Georganne gave me two puzzles for Hanukkah on the last Hanukkah that she was alive.  I finally finished the first of the two.  These were similar to the one that Emily gave me a few years ago.  When you finish the murder mystery puzzle, you read a booklet and try to figure out who did it.  Fun.  I read the booklet when I finished, but I did not figure out who did it!  This booklet didn't tell either.  I have to log in to their website to find out.  This one was a lot of fun to do.  Now my dilemma is which one to do next!

Busy Week.

Rudy arrived Tuesday night as I said he would.  Wednesday and Thursday were just busy, busy, busy.  Short version of the two days is that I exercised on Wednesday, ate very well, went to a choir rehearsal at the synagogue.  It was a perfect day.  Thursday Mark and I had dental check ups that were perfect, shopped, and hosted a wine tasting party for 8 of us.

Today will be water aerobics, weight lifting, and working in the library before a wonderful Shabbat dinner tonight.

There were two unfortunate episodes in eating, however, to report.

First, when Rudy arrived on Tuesday he brought pecans.  In his defense, he called and asked if we liked pecans, and yes, we do.  I did not expect him to bring chocolate covered ones, salted ones, and cinnamon covered ones in addition to regular plain ones.  I ate about half a bag of the salted ones Tuesday night along with a handful of cinnamon ones before bed time.  So yeah, up that .8 pound that I had just dropped!  Then Thursday the party didn't go well for me either.  I had planned a few small snacks along with the wine.  Unfortunately, I did not stick to the plan.  I tried very hard to add up the calories of last night's party.  If I am even close, it was over 4,000.  If you are a lot of those pecans along with home made shortbread that one of the guests brought along with lots of delicious cheeses, among other things, well...it's not hard to add up to over 4,000 calories.  Also there was no exercise yesterday other than an hour and twenty minutes of strolling slowly through Publix as we shopped.

For some reason, my body took those 4,000 calories and only added about half a pound to me this morning, 273. 2 this morning.  I confess that I was relieved when I saw that!

Today I will be back to good habits.  Then I will face the next challenge, the two day holiday of Shavuot.  We study Torah and eat tons of dairy products.  Mark made a low carb cheesecake and some special ice cream sandwiches, both from Diabetic Living.  I have added them to my phone app program, and hopefully I will work them into my program appropriately and eat only one serving on any given day.  The pecans have been stowed away and out of sight in the pantry.  They need to stay that way!

Going as planned and Rudy arrives.

Yesterday went as I describe it.  I kept my calories to 1372, exercised off 459, net 913 for the day.  I did all the exercise I said I would, which was fun.  I ate the two hot dogs that I planned to eat and one bag of chips that came with it at the dinner.  I did not touch the gigantic cookies or the popcorn.  For this effort I was rewarded with a .8 of a pound loss, down to 272.1 this morning.  I'll take it.

Today I am going to go to water aerobics and swim laps again.  This afternoon I have a mani/pedi scheduled.  Tonight, if we feel like it, there is an interesting program at the Travel Club meeting.  Sometime during the day, Rudy will also be arriving for the next 10 days.  I guess I had better tidy up a bit for that.

All my meals will be at home today, so the calories should be perfect.  I currently have only 1000 planned, so I'll probably add some fruit as snacks along the way.  I think another great day is coming up.

I booked the last of the flights for our Hawaiian trip yesterday.  I had done the RT flights for the kids, but Mark and I had no way out of Honolulu!  Ah, like that's a hardship?  LOL!!  Well, now we are flying to LA for the D23 convention and a few days in Disneyland before flying home to Orlando.  That's going to be an amazing trip!

Also yesterday I had the great pleasure to talk to Evey on the phone from PERU!!  That was so cool. She called using the Facetime Audio feature on our iPhones, which uses Wi-Fi and not phone signals.  I talked to her as she was sitting on the screened porch of their hotel on a private island in the middle of Lake Titicaca in Peru.  Really!!  That is SO COOL!  Technology may be blamed on a lot of things, but it also allowed us to do THAT!  Amazing.  They are having a trip of a lifetime, and I was so glad to talk to her while they were so far away.

Time for breakfast.  Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Disgusted and Frustrated

The title says it all.  I have to report that for this week I have gained a half pound, up to 272.9.

There are weeks when I would be pleased with that because I knew I ate too much.  Not this week.

I put my calories for the week in yesterday's blog.  Yesterday was an exceptionally great day.  I did not eat even one morsel at the Flower and Garden Festival.   I had a perfect breakfast and dinner at home and my usual Subway lunch.  My Lose It! app showed that I ate a total of 1463 calories with an allotment of 1550.  The bigger news is that because we went to Downtown Disney and then Epcot, I walked over 14,600 steps, over six miles!  I sweated buckets and drank gallons of water.  I was actually excited to get up and check my weight this morning.  Then I stepped on and felt that extreme sense of disappointment.  At first I wanted to scream and then I wanted to cry.

Yesterday I tried to blame the gain on sodium because I did have higher than I would like Saturday night.  Sunday's sodium was under the daily recommended amount.  My average sodium for the week is also under that amount.  So...I'm not blaming sodium for this gain.  And, in fact, gaining a half pound for the week is almost like just staying the same.  Well, the last two weeks should NOT have found me staying the same.  I cannot find a reason why there would not be a great weight loss.

Mark thinks that tomorrow or the day after will finally bring a big drop.  He might be right.  Maybe next Monday I'll report three or four pounds down.  Wouldn't that be nice!  I'm not confident though.  The last two weeks were pretty great.  I had two bad days the week before last, but this past week was as close to perfect as possible.  Unfortunately, this upcoming week has several very big challenges.  Tonight we are going out to dinner at the Shalom Club for a hot dog dinner and a movie in the ballroom.  I can probably keep the calories in check, but the sodium from the hot dogs will be high.  Rudy arrives tomorrow and he always wants to eat out, breakfast at Denny's being a favorite.  I can say no most days, but as the hostess, I feel guilty denying him this every day.  Thursday night we are hosting a wine party for eight people.  Not only will we be tasting four different wines, but also there will be cheese, hummus, crackers and chips, fruit, etc. to snack on.  I am REALLY BAD at staying away from snacks that are sitting right there on the table all night.  Also, it's in our house, so that means leftovers lingering around the house.  That takes serious willpower that I have never developed.  THEN, there's a two day holiday of Shavuot next weekend.  There will be dairy foods like cheesecake and ice cream at both the synagogue and the home.  Again, a situation where willpower is the answer and I suck at that.

The true frustration is that I have known this week was coming.  I was hoping that this upcoming week would be a good week by staying the same.  I had expected to be down another four or five pounds before this week got here.  Sigh....

And the last thing to say on the subject is that my phone app is pushing my goal farther and farther away.  The program lets you say what weight you are heading for and how fast (up to two pounds a week max) you want to get there.  I said 240 is the goal, so that's what it's working on.  It keeps getting further and further away.  The last time I checked it was Sept. 5, after Hawaii.  Now it's Sept. 11.  Since I do NOT intend to diet in Hawaii because it's a special birthday celebration, that goal might as well be a year away.  

So...I took a little break from writing this and looked up some of my old diet diaries.  Yes, I have a drawer full of them going back years and years.  My most successful year was 2009 when I dropped from 322 to 220 from mid-January to mid-September. I went on to go down to 205 by the exact one year mark.  Why was that year successful?  I tried to look at some of the things I wrote.  I walked a lot, almost every day.  I also went to the gym for weights and some swimming of laps about three days a week.  Well, I am still doing that more or less.  I swim less laps, but I do more water aerobics.  I still do the same weight routines essentially and walk, but there is less walking right now for sure, not counting the six miles yesterday which is truly an anomaly.  I was working then, so maybe just being at school and more active in the weekdays in addition to the exercise could have burned more calories.  I was only 58 1/2 to 59 1/2.  Now I'm 64 1/2.  Maybe my metabolism has changed more than I know at this point.  Also, and THIS is probably the most significant thing, I was keeping my calories in the 1100 to 1250 range on average instead of the 1550 Lose It! gives me.  THAT is probably the single biggest thing that was different other than age. 

Well...that may be the answer.  I cannot lose on 1500 calories despite what the program says.  Apparently, even with lots of exercise, 1500 is my maintenance number.  Years ago, it used to be more like 1800, and that's even hard to stick to when you eat out a lot.  I'm going to try really hard this week to go into the 1200 range instead of 1400-1500.  Maybe that's the answer.

Meanwhile, I will be going to water aerobics this morning and weight lifting in the afternoon.  Then I will eat kosher hot dogs at the Shalom Club meeting, and I will try my best to record it all as closely as possible.  I have not given up yet, but I will admit that early this morning, standing on that scale, I was very close to saying "Screw this!"  Hm....not a healthy decision, I know.  I won't do it.  I will suck it up and go on.  Maybe next Monday's report will look better.

And now for some pictures from yesterday's time at the last day of this year's Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.

A new garden this year was Prehistoric plants, and it was so cute with the plastic dinos in the pots.

Always my favorite part of the festival, floating gardens in the water and the great reflections of the flowers on the bank.

Butterfly house.

New this year were Anna and Elsa topiaries.

Lowell and Emily have a reservation at this French restaurant for their first wedding anniversary on July 12.

He's 67 and still full of energy and sounding good.

This year's massive sand sculpture.

Year of the Sheep in China.

This was one of my favorite flower beds.  It is in the trial garden where they test out new plants.

It is very hard to lose weight at this age.

We got home from the convention Friday around noon, grabbed a quick lunch, and went to the Cove to work in the library.  At 4 p.m. the weather was perfect, so I exercised in the pool for half an hour before we came home.  Saturday was a good day, too.  We went to shul.  Mark read the haftarah beautifully; there was a speaker from Israel about the JNF; we stayed for the luncheon sponsored by two of my choir members; and then we helped another congregant out by driving him back to Lakeland because he had a flat tire and no spare.  We got home about 3 p.m. and Mark promptly fell asleep until 6!  I napped about fifteen minutes on my rocking chair on the lanai, then I worked on my jigsaw puzzle for a long time and made a lot of progress.

Today we are going to see the Helen Mirren movie Woman in Gold, having lunch at Subway, and going to Epcot for the last day for the Spring Flower and Garden Festival and to hear Herman's Hermits perform.  It's going to be another wonderful day.

So why the title about being hard to lose weight?

Well, because it IS!

I have worked hard this week to lose weight.  I have kept my calories below the limit without exception.  I exercised a lot several days, although not every day because of the convention and Mark sleeping so long yesterday.  Even at the convention, though, there was a lot of walking because that place is so huge.  This morning I got on the scale, a day early, I know, and thought there would be something good to see.  NOT.  It showed that I have gained one pound since Monday.  I weighed 272.4 on Monday, and this morning I weighed 273.6.  That was not what I expected.

Here are my daily calorie intakes for the week:
Monday   1270 with 513 in exercise, net 697
Tuesday   1445 with 415 in exercise, net 1030
Wednesday 1416, no exercise except walking at the convention, not logged in
Thursday    1423,  same as Wednesday for exercise
Friday        1476, with 221 in exercise, net 1256
Saturday    1447, no exercise

That's an average of 1416 calories per day if you don't even take the exercise calories burned off in consideration.  My Lose It! program will not allow me to set it for more than a two pound loss per week, which I would be okay with, so at my age and current weight, it says I can have 1550 calories per day to do that.  I guess that might be true for some people, but not for me.

Today I will be eating breakfast and dinner at home and lunch at Subway.  I have already programmed in the calories, and they will be 1194 before exercise, bringing my average for the week down to 1381.  My sodium should also be well within the recommended guidelines.  I am hoping it might all work out this week after all.

I can go on a cruise ship and gain two pounds per DAY!  I wish I could keep my calories low and exercise and lose two pounds per WEEK! 

Mark is suggesting it is sodium.  We did eat lunch at the synagogue, so there might have been sodium I don't know about.  I had 1/2 cup tuna salad on a large plate of green salad with some added carrot and celery sticks, about one mouthful of challah, and 1 cup of vegetarian cholent that included lentils and beans.  Compared to what I COULD have taken, I was quite proud of myself at the buffet!  For dinner we had our usual Saturday night dinner of a griller burger on a deli flat with some dill pickles and salad.  I put grated Parmesan cheese on the salad, but I measured and counted it all.  There is a lot of sodium in pickles and cheese, so maybe Mark is right.  I got up to go to the bathroom about three times during the night, so I thought I was doing okay.  Well, there's still tomorrow morning before the weight has to be logged in as official.  I wonder if it's possible to lose three pounds today and then be able to say I lost two pounds this week?  I guess I'll find out tomorrow.  

From the Convention

It's Thursday, so we are almost done the NARFE convention.  The only thing left now is the banquet tonight and the installation of officers.  Then I will sing "God Bless America" just before 9 p.m. when everybody leaves.  We will pack tomorrow morning and head back home in time to do our library shift in the afternoon at the ANRL

It's been a good convention but very sparsely attended.  There are only about 135 people total, which is far, far less than in the past.  Nobody is sure why that is happening.  I did ok on the national anthem Tuesday night.  Mark and other said I did okay on "Golden Dream" this morning, too.  I attended Mark's training session this afternoon on legislation and other things.  He also did a great job.  So now we are relaxing in the room until the banquet starts at 6.

When we arrived, we got an upgrade from the regular king bed room we requested to part of a VIP Suite.  We have the main room that includes a large kitchen, full living room and dining room, and bathroom.  There is a pull down Murphy bed in the dining room.  It's monstrously spacious and a lot of fun to enjoy these big amenities for the same price as a regular room!

Our plan to eat breakfast and lunch in the room and Denny's for dinner the last two days has worked very well.  We have saved money, been more relaxed, and kept the calories and carbs in check.  Hopefully, the banquet tonight won't ruin the diet.  It is a salmon dinner with a fruit cup for dessert, so I hope that will be fine.  Mark plans to buy us each one whiskey on the rocks at the cocktail hour, so we shouldn't be too bad off.

Evey and Eric arrived safely in Lima and then the next day flew to Cusco.  Unfortunately, their trip to tour the Sacred Valley today got cancelled.  They had a private tour guide lined up, but he couldn't come get them.  The streets were blocked all day with protesters.  They are protesting increased rail fares.  As Evey texted me this morning, "They take their rail fares very seriously here."  It seems like they have made do on Plan B, which seemed to be wandering around Cusco and sampling local food and shopping opportunities.  Not too shabby.

The brown wall to the right is actually the pull down bed.

The bed is visible in the background now that it's pulled down.

The incredibly delicious chocolates that I got for Mother's Day from Lowell and Emily.  I spread them out over three days, so the calories were okay.

Singing the national anthem from the dais.  Jane Lemley, the president of the Florida Federation of NARFE, is to my right.

Mark was great on Wednesday giving his talk on the Legislative Conference.