Hurricane Joaquin...where will you be this weekend?

We are scheduled to sail out of Port Canaveral on Friday afternoon and docking in Bermuda on Monday.  So is Hurricane Joaquin!  Well, maybe not going to Bermuda, he might hit the mid-Atlantic hard, so Lowell and Emily and our other friends and relatives in Maryland and NJ need to be vigilant.  Even if the hurricane doesn't hit Bermuda, and most models do not expect it to do so, it WILL be out in the ocean between Florida and Bermuda on Friday afternoon and through Saturday.  I am hoping our captain plays it safe.  Maybe we'll sail south for awhile and try to go south of it and then turn north farther east than the path of the hurricane.  I think that no matter what might happen or where we or the hurricane goes, I suspect that the seas will be very rough.  Maybe I'll pack some Dramamine this time just in case!

I had my six month check up with the radiation oncologist today.  All was well.  It's been over five years since my surgery!  It's hard to believe.  If the medical oncologist tells me in December that I can do annual visits with her instead of every six months, then the radiation onc will do the same thing.  I still am supposed to visit both once a year, so that's going up to the cancer center every six months, for the rest of my life!  I guess there's just no getting out of it once you've been a cancer patient.  Somehow "once a cancer patient, always a cancer patient" seems to be the accepted practice.

Tonight we are having four people join us for dinner in the succah.  We are having appetizers of kosher mini dogs in dough and veggie egg rolls  The main meal will be deli sandwiches, pickles, cole slaw, and potato salad.  it's going to be picnic style out in the succah because the table is falling apart and doesn't really seat six.  At 7 is the Shalom Club meeting, so this will be only about 90 minutes for everything before we all head up to the meeting.  Mark is very excited to have some company in the succah.  It's not like the old days when we would have dinner for 12 out there almost every night.  That was so much work, but he LOVED it! 

Tomorrow morning we have our monthly NARFE meeting.  Then we'll head home and Mark will take down the succah while I get a head start on packing.  By late afternoon we will be heading over to the Magic Kingdom for the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!  We have not done that since 2011, so this should be a lot of fun.  I'm sure we will be bringing home lots of candy, but I can hide it.  I hope.  I actually only weighed 272 this morning at home, 275 at the doctor's office, so I guess I'm still maintaining okay.  I'm wondering how I will do on the cruise.  I think I did have one cruise where I did not gain a pound or more a day.  I really hope I can make this one a maintenance cruise.  We shall see.

I'm taking my computer with me in order to upload my pictures every day to the hard drive.  I won't be using too much internet service, so don't expect too many blogs until after October 10 when we return.  I might write one final one Friday morning before we head to the port.  Then that would be it until we return.

If you are in the path of Hurricane Joaquin, batten down the hatches!

First Day of Succoth

Mark and I will be heading out to the synagogue pretty soon for the holiday service.  Mark's lulav and etrog will be waiting for him there.  He built the succah yesterday, so he ate his breakfast in it this morning.  It's kind of gray and very wet out there because it rained yesterday.  I will pass on eating out there.  In Maryland, we had a concrete patio where we built the succah.  Here it's just on grass, which is pretty high right now.  They will probably cut it on Tuesday but not inside the succah! 

This afternoon at 4:30 we go to Mark's cardiologist to discuss the possibility that he might have Afib.  We don't expect him to have any more information than he did the first time because none of the tests showed anything, at least we don't think they did.  He had that big attack the day after he took off the two-week monitor!  Still, I'm interested in hearing what he has to say.

Monday weigh-in shows that I am maintaining my weight just fine.  I was 273.4 this morning.  That's down two and  half since last Monday, but that weight was lost right away.  I reported last week that i was up because of some weekend dining out.  This week there was LOTS of eating out, but there were also two meals skipped in the YK fast and a day of swimming and lots of walking in the Magic Kingdom.  Yesterday I did a little bit of swimming.  I'm not that happy about maintaining a weight in the 270s, but I've been doing it for over a year.  I always used to say that i can't maintain a weight, that I'm always going up or down, but apparently I can maintain a weight.  It's just not one that I'm too happy about maintaining.  But maybe this is my set point.  Maybe after all these years of weighing more than this and less than this, 273 is my middle of the road set point that is easy to maintain.  Oh. well.

Almost week without writing. Sorry!

The week has been awesome.  We left Tuesday to go to All Star Movies.  Dinner was at Landry's and then we went to Kol Nidrei services.  Wednesday was Yom Kippur.  It was a pretty easy fast, and my choir did a great job again.  That night we broke the fast at the synagogue, which was lovely.  Thursday we swam in the pools at the resort and went to Magic Kingdom.  It was a fun day.  Then Friday we went to Mark's diabetes class, and those hours flew by.  Very interesting.  Saturday was low key.  We mostly stayed at home, although we did go to the Cove briefly.  I also worked with my friend Donna for a few hours on her voice and her song to audition for Guys and Dolls.  Today Donna came back for another few hours while Mark built the succah.  Then we shopped and went to the Cove again.  Now we are making dinner and will eat soon.  I'm not sure if we can go outside or not because it was raining earlier.  There is a Super Moon tonight and a full lunar eclipse.  I am hoping the clouds won't prevent us from seeing it.  The next two days will be spent in shul for the first two days of Succoth.  Always busy at Solivita.

We were in the Mighty Ducks sections of All Star Movies, so we had the hockey pool.

Magic Kingdom is all ready for Hawlloween.

Although I tried really hard to hit those targets in the Buzz Lightyear attraction, Mark beat me by over 100,000 points!

A new week. A new pound. A new chance for atonement.

I am 276 this morning, which is up a few pounds, but I know why.  At the ballgame yesterday I had a fabulous gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and a big, soft, very salty pretzel for lunch. Then we ate dinner out at Longhorn where I had two pieces of bread with butter, salad with cheese and croutons on it, salmon in bourbon marinade, a big baked potato, and broccoli.  It was delicious, but there was a ton of sodium in everything.  Today, all my meals will be at home and approriate.  As usually happens, those extra three pounds will be shed by tomorrow, I suspect.

We have a totally busy Solivita day today.  At 9 a.m. we are attending a lecture in the ballroom about Tuscan Isle, a new apartment community for seniors being built across the street from Solivita.  Then at 10:30 we will be doing water aerobics.  At 1 p.m. I'll be playing Mah Jongg in my neighbor's house, and at 4 p.m. we will be attending the Book Circle talk on the Hemingway book, The Sun Also Rises.  Tonight the new season of TV shows begins, including one of my favorites, Castle.

Wow!  What a great day this will be.

Also tomorrow night will begin Yom Kippur, the end of the 10 Days of Awe, the end of the High Holidays.  It is customary to begin one's atonement for the year's sins by apologizing to anyone that we may have offended during the year and sincerely pledge to do better in the upcoming year.

If you are reading this, I am sure I probably have said something in this blog, or maybe even directly to you, that might have been less than stellar.  I may have insulted you, belittled you, or said something that goes contrary to your beliefs.  I might have slighted you by not returning a phone call or an email in a timely fashion so that you felt you did not matter to me.  I know I am not perfect and often say or do things that might be offensive to someone.  Just ask MARK!

For all of those times, I do sincerely apologize and hope you will forgive me.  I do not intend to offend, but I often speak without thinking it through to the final consequence.  I know I do this.  Just ask MARK!  For all of this, I apologize and beg your forgiveness.

G'mar hatimah tova.  May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for good.

Good class.

Mark liked his diabetes class yesterday.  It was a small group of six people taught by a nurse who is also a diabetic.  He got a textbook that he has to read by next Friday's class.  Spouses can come next week for no charge, so I will be going with him.  He also felt that he learned a few new items of information, even though most of the people in class were relatively new diabetics.  The class started at a basic level, way below Mark's level of knowledge, but the instructor took all of his questions and was very helpful to him.  I'm so glad he went.

While he was gone to class, I went to water aerobics and also swam some laps.  Then I dropped a bunch of light bulbs off at Lowe's for recycling before heading to Michael's to have my Camden Yard picture framed.  What a shock that was.  I spent about $250 each for my other two puzzles, but I had no coupons.  This time I had a 66% off coupon, so I thought I'd pay about $100 or less.  WRONG.  The price was $318.  Crazy.  I questioned it, and he said it was because of its length, oversized. Geez.  It would have been about $900 without the coupon.  I simply would not have done it at that price.  I went ahead and did it, and it's going to look great, but it's the LAST one I will ever have framed.

I had lunch at Panera.  I ordered the Pick Two, a small Caesar salad and a cup of vegetable soup, which comes with a roll.  Delicious.  I was proud of myself for saying no to the offered 99 cent dessert.  Then I was sabotaged when the manager distributed FREE chocolate chip cookies to everyone at their tables!  So good.  Then I stopped off at Twistee Treat on my home and got a medium vanilla waffle cone.  Also delicious and only $2.99.

Today I'm up two pounds.  LOL!  No surprise there.

We are relaxing at home today.  We will watch two movies during the day, our weekly Disney movie, which this week is The Fox and The Hound, and then either a Hobbit movie or a Planet of the Apes movie.  Later we will go to the Cove for some swimming and water aerobics if it's not raining.  At 7 p.m. we are meeting Ed and Barbara at Lakeside for dinner and dancing.  It's Sixties Weekend at the Cove, so there's a band coming to play lots of 60s music.  It should be a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, off to Tropicana Field for a game between the Rays and the Orioles with good friends! 

I hope everyone else is having a great weekend!

Mark went to class.

This morning Mark left very early to drive to Celebration Health for a Diabetes class.  It will run 9-3:15 today and then again 9-2:30 next Friday.  The copay for this is $100 for the pair of classes.  Ironically, if he was already on Medicare, it would have cost him nothing.  We kind of joked that maybe he should just wait another six months until he goes on Medicare, but he decided to keep these appointments and get it done.   When he saw the new endocrinologist, Dr. Coleman, one of the questions on all the paperwork was if he had ever had taken a class on diabetes.  He marked no.  A few days later, he got the call from Celebration Health saying his doctor had referred him to this class.  That was the first we heard of it!  He's not sure he's going to learn anything, but you never know.  I did encourage him to go.  He had to fill out reams of paperwork for the class, bring his $100, a bottle of water, lunch, a jacket because they said it would be cold in the room, his testing supplies and monitor, and snacks.  Sounds like it's going to be quite the day!

Meanwhile, I am going to head out at 10 to the Cove for water aerobics and lunch.  In the afternoon, I'm heading up to The Loop to go to Michael's craft store.  I finally glued my Camden Yard jigsaw puzzle yesterday, so I'm taking it up to the store to be framed.  At least this time I have a coupon for 65% off.  I hope they take it.  When I did the alligator and the manatee puzzles, I didn't have a coupon.  It was almost $500 for those two, not to mention the price of hiring a handyman to hang those huge, heavy pieces!  Still, it will be worth it, and it's going to look great hanging over the French doors out on the lanai.  Thanks to Emily and Lowell for giving it to me!

All glued down and ready to go.

I haven't reported my weight for awhile, but I'm maintaining the low 270s, as I have been for nearly a year.  This morning I was 273.5.  Over the two days of Rosh Hashanah, with so much salty food like the matzo ball soup and the chopped liver, plus lots of delicious desserts and challah, ballooned up to 277.  I wasn't really worried because I figured the extra would drop off just as quickly, and it did.  I have had two pretty reasonable days, not super low but reasonable, so that helped the extra pounds leave. 

There are many restaurant meals coming up in the next week.  We are eating out Saturday night at Lakeside with friends Ed and Barbara, lunch Sunday at Trop field and possibly dinner out on the way home, Tuesday night at Landry's to start Yom Kippur, Wednesday night is the break-the-fast at the synagogue, and next Thursday all three meals out at Disney.  Wow!  Almost like being on vacation.  I will see how I do!  Then it's the holiday of Succoth with a lot of eating followed by 8 days on a cruise ship!  Lots of fun and lots of chances for overeating!  It should be interesting to weigh in again on Monday, October 12 after all of this and see how I did.

First day of the New Year

Rosh Hashanah was especially lovely and spiritual this year.  My little choir of 7 (six on the second day, including me and the Rabbi!) did a great job.  Our rabbi had a few wonderful ideas for the second day, and everyone loved them.  They were long days.  We left the house at 8 a.m. and returned home close to 3 p.m.  Our Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner with Marilyn and Larry was also delightful.  I used all my good china, which looked beautiful, but it's tedious washing it all up by hand afterwards.  The beauty of it on the table and the good memories from my mother and many years of using this china makes the chore worth it.

This morning we are heading up to the ballroom for a Solivita breakfast with Ed and Susie.  It should be a lot of fun.  Then we were going to spend the rest of the day relaxing and swimming at the Cove, but the forecast is for a lot of rain starting around 9 a.m.  I guess we will play that by ear.

Now I'm starting a new year again and making resolutions.  Hey, Jews get to do that TWICE every year.  LOL  I always make the same ones about eating.  It's so hard.

Small changes are all I need.  More exercise, less snacking, less desserts in restaurants.  Really, if I would get back to walking or swimming five or six days a week, three days in the weight room, and stop drinking sugary cocktails, ordering appetizers, soups, desserts, and eating the bread basket when we are in restaurants, I'd be fine.  LOL!!  All easier said than done!!

L'Shana Tovah and the Height of Irony

First of all, I want to wish anyone reading this blog, friends and family far and near, Jewish or not, a sweet New Year full of happiness and health.  The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, starts tonight at sundown.  We are making a HUGE meal and have another couple coming over to join us.  This is a couple new to Solivita from upstate NY.  We have much in common with them, so it's nice getting to know them.

Second, karma is a bitch sometimes and irony isn't always funny or amusing.  Mark wore that stupid, irritating heart monitor for two full weeks.  He took it off Friday afternoon and mailed it back to the company.  So, of course, he gets a HUGE episode of whatever it is that he gets while we were in a restaurant last night.  As he has always said, it's triggered by a big meal and alcohol.  Too bad it didn't get triggered Monday night when we purposely ate and drank a lot at the Grand Floridian Cafe.  But, NO, nothing that night while he had the monitor on.

He sees the heart doctor in about two weeks, so we will mention this.  There are only two things that I can think for him to do.  One is go to an ER WHILE he is having an episode and get an EKG during the episode.  That's all that heart monitor would have done anyway.  The second is to have a chip implanted under his skin that will monitor him for up to two years.  The doctor mentioned that when we were in his office the first time, but he wanted to try the least invasive method first.  That makes sense, but it didn't capture any useful data.  Or at least we don't think it did.  I will keep you posted on his progress.

Meanwhile, he is busy cooking and I am busy cleaning and setting the table for tonight's dinner and company. 

L'Shana Tova Tikatevu.

All's Well.

My appointment, although an HOUR past time to call me back, showed everything was normal.  Breathe a big sigh of relief.  The cyst that had been there for years was gone.  The lining of the uterus was normal.  All the tests they did for infection showed nothing. 

I had intense discomfort/pain for about 8 days.  Then nothing at all until yesterday.  While I was taking my shower, the pain started up and lasted all day.  I was in discomfort in the doctor's office.  She poked around on my belly, but since all the tests showed everything was normal, she concluded it was not a GYN issue.  She thinks it's digestive and asked if I had ever had a colonoscopy.  Why yes, just in May, and it was all normal, just like the previous FOUR over the last twenty years have been. She also said I should go to my primary care doctor.  I have an appointment with the PC on October 29, so I will talk to her about it then.  Meanwhile, if I get any more seriously bad attacks, I might just take myself to an ER. 

I am going to take the food thing more seriously.  I guess it could have been diverticulitis.  I do have the diverticuli pockets, and they flared up once about 15 years ago after popcorn.  I have gotten a little lax on eating what I'm not supposed to.  They tell you not to eat popcorn, seeds, or nuts.  Some doctors also say corn.  I usually never eat popcorn since that's what sent me to the ER years ago.  I do eat all the rest fairly regularly.  The last few times we went to a Solivita movie, I ate the free popcorn.  Maybe that was a bad idea.  I am going to stop that.  I'm also going to give up nuts and corn for awhile, too.  Maybe that's all it will take.

Today we skipped shul and went to the pool.  I did 30 minutes of aerobics/swimming.  After jumping around about 15 minutes, the pelvic area started to hurt a bit, so I started swimming and doing no-impact things.  Then the pain immediately subsided.  I have not felt anything else all day. 

Tonight we are going out to dinner with some friends to a fish house called Harborside in Winter Haven.  I think it will be great, and I will not eat popcorn, seeds, nuts, or corn.  I promise.

GYN Follow Up

This afternoon at 2:40 I have my consultation at the GYN's office to go over the results of the ultrasound I had last Thursday.  I have had no discomfort or pain at all this past week, so I have no idea why I had a terrible week the week before that, but I really don't expect anything bad to come out of this.  I also don't think they will have any idea why I had pain and now don't have pain.  I suspect they will say to come back in a year or come back if I get pain again.  I should be home by 4 or so this afternoon, and I will come back onto this blog and make a new report.  Or if I get busy or forget about it, I'll post it tomorrow.

We had a lovely day yesterday and did three Solivita events: the estate planning lecture by the lawyer, the HEAL meeting that was a talk on Holistic healing by a local author, and the New Year's Eve cruise meeting. Then we came home and watched the Academy Award winning film, Birdman, with Michael Keaton.  It was a good day.

I had no trouble falling asleep last night, but at 2 a.m. I got up with several muscles cramped on the left leg.  It was the top of the foot, the outside of the ankle, and the shin.  Those are crazy muscles to try to get relaxed.  I walked about 10 or 15 minutes through the house, drinking a large glass of water all the while.  Finally, around 2:30, I sat in my comfy living room chair, covered my legs with my Minnie blanket, and relaxed with my Minnie pillow.  Sitting in that chair sometimes relaxes my legs and helps the cramps go away.  It worked like a charm, and the next thing I knew the coffee grinder woke me up when it went off at 7 a.m.  At least I felt like I got a good night's sleep, even if it was sitting up in my chair.

Other than the doctor's appointment and Shabbat dinner tonight at home with Mark, I have no particular plans.  It's good to be busy, but it's also good to have a day when I can just plan my own time and relax.  I might start the next book in my Kindle.  One thing I am NOT doing is spending any time worrying about the results of this afternoon's consultation!

Insomnia

Yesterday was so much fun.  We learned a lot at the meeting in the morning about estate planning.  We then picked up our friend Donna and went to the British Isles event celebrating the Queen.  The food and company were both excellent.  After a nap and a quick dinner, we enjoyed the Disney Fan Club meeting before returning home for some evening TV.

Then things got weird.  I usually have no trouble sleeping.  I might wake up a few times to go to the bathroom, but I always fall asleep again easily.  I go to bed between 11:30 and midnight every night and usually wake up around 7 and 7:30.

So I'm not sure what went wrong last night.  I went to bed at 11:30, and then played some puzzles on my phone before turning out the light at midnight.  Then I lay there with no chance of falling asleep for ninety minutes.  At 1:30 I got up.  Mark was still sitting up reading then, too.  I went out to the TV room and watched House Hunters International until 2 a.m. and then two hour-long episodes of Property Brothers.  At 4 a.m. HGTV goes off and turns into infomercials.  So I went back to the bedroom, played some more puzzles, and finally turned out the light at 4:15.  I set my alarm for 8:15 and fell asleep.  Four hours of sleep is not my usual, that's for sure!

I am blaming it on the can of Coke Zero and the ninety minute nap in the afternoon.  That's all I can think to blame it on!  I noticed a few years ago that caffeine late in the day keeps me up.  I switched to decaf coffee because of that, but I was craving that cold drink last night at 10 p.m. and forgot about the caffeine in it.  Oh, well...I managed to hold myself together to play Mah Jongg this morning from 9:30 to noon.  Soon we are heading up to the Palms for a HEAL meeting.  Then if I'm tired, I can take a SHORT nap before dinner and tonight's Travel Club New Year's Eve Cruise Meeting at 7 p.m.  I hope that sleep comes more easily tonight.

God Save the Queen!

I have several things to talk about today.

First, Mark and I failed in our quest this year.  Every year since the kids were little, we have played the License Plate game.  We try to find all 50 states from the start of Memorial Day Weekend through the end of Labor Day Weekend.  The kids have long grown up and lost interest in the game; Mark would stop easily; I am obsessed and cannot stop!  Most of the time we have found all 50. There was the notable year that we thought we would fail and then found the last one, South Dakota, on Labor Day.  This year we failed.  We did not find Montana OR Wyoming.  Wyoming is a hard one and has caused us to fail in the past.  Montana was odd because we have always seen it before. 

I must admit that it's harder to do down here in Florida than in the mid-Atlantic right next to a major army base and surrounded my dozens of federal agencies!  People usually think it's Hawaii and Alaska that mess us up.  Actually, we have always found them, and not just on the years when we were IN those states like this year.  We saw Alaska in the Disney parking lots more than once this summer.  I'm very glad we went to Hawaii this year because I don't think we would have seen it around here this time.

So...there's always next year.

Second, as I predicted yesterday, most of that weight from Monday night's dinner is gone.  277 yesterday morning and 274.6 this morning.  I'm happy.  I had a good day, foodwise, yesterday, although no exercise.

Today we are having a BUSY Solivita day.  At 10 a.m. we are attending a lecture about what to do with passwords and online accounts after someone passes away.  Sounds morbid, but seems like we should know.  At noon we are attending a special Fish and Chips luncheon to Honor the Queen with the British Isles club.  Today Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch in British History, passing Queen Victoria who had held that record.  We will have a lunch and watch video of all the British hoopla and pageantry that took place this morning in England.  I'm actually looking forward to that.

Tonight we have a meeting with all the Travel Club members who are going on the New Year's Eve Cruise this year.  That should also be a lot of fun.

Just another day in Solivita.

Day after Labor Day

Labor Day is not just a day off from school or work. It always makes me think about unions. Mark and I were both members of our unions.  Most workers have enjoyed the benefits unions have won for them, even if they are not members. 

Meanwhile, Summer Frozen Fun on Sunday was great.  We had a perfect seat for the parade, in the shade, seated, right at the start of it.  Crazy good.  The new Olaf show was very cute.  We did all of our fastpasses, enjoyed our lunch and dinner, and then left early because it was pouring down rain.  I don't know if they did the fireworks or not because we didn't wait around.  At 8 p.m. we came out of the Frozen Sing-Along show, which was spectacular, and it was pouring.  We didn't feel like waiting ninety minutes to see if it would stop and have fireworks.  We went home and watched them on YouTube instead!

Yesterday morning I worked about two hours on SOJC Choir stuff for the High Holidays.  Then I played Mah Jongg and won only ONE game.  Tough day for me, but that's how it goes.  Last time I won five games, so I didn't expect to do that well this week.

I didn't write a Monday blog yesterday, so I didn't post my weight.  It was 274 yesterday, so about the same.  This morning I'm up THREE to 277. I am not surprised because we had a HUGE meal out at the Grand Floridian Cafe last night.  I had a bit more breakfast at home than usual and a good lunch, but then I ate an entire strip of Ritz crackers with lots of sodium.  Then there was dinner.  I had all of this: raspberry mojito, glass of Chardonnay, big bowl of potato corn chowder, half the cheese plate shared with Mark, two and a half BIG rolls with lots of highly salted butter, salmon with miso glaze on a mound of sticky rice and string beans, two scoops of mixed berry sorbet with raspberries and blueberries on top.  So....that's the reason I am up three pounds.  Mark had a whiskey, a glass of Chardonnay, the same entree but he only ate half the rice, half a roll with a little butter, half the cheese plate, and the no sugar added berry pyramid which is raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries in an artfully shaped no sugar gelatin mold.  Then he got up and walked out with no problems whatsoever.  We both felt a little tipsy, so we did sit in the lobby of the Grand Floridian listening to the orchestra and then the pianist for about an hour before driving home.  Mark also took a long walk from the lobby out to the boat dock and back to see if his heart would act up, but it did not. 

I'm sure it's very good news in the long run that his heart is not acting up!  His stress test was normal, and he has not heard anything about the echocardiogram, so we think that means it was normal, too.  He sees the cardiologist again in about two weeks, so I'm sure he will be pronounced just fine.

We went out for dinner with a purpose and we failed.  Mark has been wearing the heart monitor, and he has not experience any symptoms.  He usually gets them about every other month or so and usually after a big meal.  We like the Grand Floridian Cafe, and he had an episode after eating there in June.  We thought that same big meal with a couple of drinks would trigger something, but it did not.  It did give me an extra three pounds, but I'm sure they will be gone by tomorrow.  I'll have all regular meals at home and be a little bit active in that I have a mani/pedi to go to and a Guys and Dolls rehearsal tonight.  Those are not exactly aerobic activities, but they get me out of the house for a few hours and away from potential snacks.

i am in desperate need of the mani/pedi.  I have not had one since the end of July, the week before we left of Hawaii, so six weeks ago!  I've given myself a manicure two weeks ago, and I've filed my toenails about one a week.  Still, I am really looking forward to the professional touch!

Here are some pictures from Summer Frozen Fun.

Sand sculpture at the entrance

No one was in front of us at the parade.  That almost never happens.  Anna in her carriage.

This year they have Olaf!

Hans

Elsa got her own ice float this year.

We asked for the Cowboy room at Great Movie Ride, so they gave us row one!  We never had that before.

Sure enough, we got highjacked by a cowboy.

New show with Olaf, very cute.

The Sing-Along is lots of fun.  It's in a nicer, much bigger theater now.

At the end there was literally a BLIZZARD!

Summer Frozen Fun, part two, at last.

Today we will finally get to Disney's Hollywood Studios for Frozen Summer Fun.  This is our third attempt!  It looks like it will be a go today for sure.  All of our body parts are functioning as well as can be expected at this age, and there is no hurricane on the horizon.  We will take our rain ponchos in a back pack because there is always afternoon thunderstorms possible.

Yesterday Evey and Eric had a lovely long hike and then went to San Francisco to see Billy Joel live in concert.  Lowell and Emily saw him in Baltimore back in July and this is the same tour.  I'm sure they must have had a great time.

Mark and I went to shul and were surprised to see there was a bar mitzvah!  We almost didn't go in when we got there so early (for us!) and the parking lot was packed, but we did go in and had no trouble getting seats.  It was a lovely service and our friend Jody was the caterer.  The food was outstanding, and as always, I ate too much.  That's no doubt why I'm up a few pounds today.  When we got home, we didn't do anything but sit in front of the TV, or on the lanai reading, or playing on the computer.  Sitting was the main activity!

Hopefully, all the walking around at the Studios will work some of that off today.  There are going to be a few new things this year.  Olaf has his own 10 minute stage show.  There's some additional special floats in the parade.  They are also showing that adorable short animation,  Frozen Fever, that ran in front of the new live action Cinderella movie back in March.  Anyway, I really loved it, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.  We have fast passes for Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, and the Frozen Sing-a-Long, too.  Of course, we will have dinner at the Commissary as always and see the nighttime fireworks.  It's going to be a lovely day.

Love Fridays. Who doesn't? And it's Evey and Eric Gaertner's Fourth Anniversary!!!!

We had our NARFE meeting yesterday, which is always enjoyable.  Then I had my sonogram, which was acceptable.  Then we went to a movie in the ballroom, which was fun.  So much for Thursday.

Today is Friday.  I have spent the morning tidying up for the cleaning lady.  Doesn't everybody?  Soon we are heading up to the Village Center to get some tickets for Jay and the Americans when they come later in the year as well as two tickets for tonight's classical piano concert.  Our friends Donna and Alan are going with us and will hold us seats in the ballroom so that we can slip in at the last minute.  It's very hard for us to get out of the library at 4, get home, make and eat a Shabbat dinner, and get anywhere by 7, even if it's only up at the Village.  Still, the concert should be amazing.  We also plan to walk a mile in the indoor track, hit up Publix for a few last minute things, and work in the library from 1-4.  Busy day, but an awesome day!

At Lowell and Emily's wedding, July 12, 2014.

Finally, Happy Anniversary to my dear daughter Evey and her fabulous husband Eric.  It's their fourth wedding anniversary.  They have now known each other nearly 10 years because they met in the fall of '05, their freshman year of college.  Some things are just meant to be.

At their wedding reception, Sept. 4, 2011.

Relaxing in the cabana in Aulani in 2015.

Here they are in the summer of 2010 in Eric's NJ backyard, preparing to head to California!

Our first visit to CA in July of 2010 when we drove her car across country for her.

Fourth of July weekend at Eric's parents' house in NJ, 2014.

update on GYN appointment

My GYN gets great marks on the websites that rate doctors, and his wife is a GYN Oncologist who came to Solivita and gave a talk on the subject of robotic surgery, which is how I got her name and then his.  Unfortunately, he's also an OB, so I ended up seeing a nurse practitioner yesterday.  I can only assume he was delivering a baby, so the nurse was sent in to cover.  The waiting room was so crowded when we got there that there were no seats left, and it's a BIG waiting room since there are three or four doctors in that office.  Even so, I was seen only 40 minutes after my scheduled time.  I admit I was sitting and waiting and thinking that I should find a good GYN who is not also an OB!

The nurse practitioner was very nice, and in general I like and respect them very much.  She listened to me, did a urine test to rule out kidney stones or bladder infections, and did an exam.  She offered me pain pills, but I declined them.  Advil is doing nicely.  She told me to stop taking 800 mg twice a day and move to 400 or 600 three times a day instead.  I didn't even take any yesterday because the pain was more of an annoyance than actual pain.  So far this morning I don't think I need any either.  For some reason the whole thing got much better yesterday.  Of COURSE, because I went to the doctor so nothing hurt!

She did order an ultrasound, which I'm having tomorrow afternoon and then a follow up visit to discuss the results next Friday.  That's all I could expect, so the visit went as I thought it would.

I started Guys and Dolls last night, and it was wonderful!  My friends Donna and Esther had saved me a seat.  That was so kind and unexpected.  We sang two songs from a big Mamma Mia medley and then worked on The Impossible Dream.  It was just so much fun to sing and to be part of a big choir again.  I had skipped an entire year because last year I got that gigantic cyst on my back that took multiple office visits and surgeries to clear out.  It just made it too hard to get to the rehearsals or sit against a chair for too long.  I'm just a little afraid that if the ultrasound shows a hysterectomy is in order, I will need to drop out again this year.  I would be sad, but I'll enjoy going while I can right now.  Singing is so much a part of me! 

Today we are having a play date with Barb and Al.  We have combo tickets for the new Orlando Eye, the Wax Museum, and the SeaLife Aquarium.  I'm not sure about going on the EYE.  I don't like heights, and the thing has broken down and stranded people a few too many times.  On the other hand, the weather is perfect today and it doesn't move too fast.  There are no seats in it, so you have to stand up for the entire 20 minute ride.  Even Mark isn't sure about doing it!  The Wax Museum and Aquarium are new and right by the EYE.  They may even be owned by the same company because the website sells combo tickets to the three.  We got an outstanding deal from AAA.  We are also going to have a fun lunch at the kosher place nearby.  Mark and I have been looking forward to that because it's been about a year since we went there.

Tonight I have my SOJC choir which will be quite the contrast to last night's big choir.  I could have SIX people maximum tonight if everyone comes, but everyone NEVER comes.  We are definitely singing for the High Holidays this year, but after that, I am still not sure of the future of this choir.

3 p.m. appointment time

Today is mostly about going to the GYN this afternoon.  I don't know what he will say or what tests he might order, but I will write a second one either tonight or tomorrow morning after the appointment.  I have spent some time this morning googling hysterectomies and the recovery time for the various types, just in case.

I checked my weight from January of 2014, my last appointment at this GYN's office.  I am up 30 pounds since then, so I bet he will not like that.  Maybe I'll get lucky, and he won't care.  If I do need a surgery, I hope they can do it at this weight.  I have had 9 surgeries, but none of them were at a weight this high.  This morning I weighed 276.6.  I have been nervous and upset this week, which means I overeat.  I didn't even report yesterday's weight for Monday, but it was essentially the same as today.  That means I've gained three pounds.  That's so typical for me when I'm stressed and not exercising.

Mark and I enjoyed seeing the new ballroom.  The stage is squared off and bigger.  New curtains were installed on the sides to create a more private and nicer looking "backstage" area.  That area also hides a door to the kitchen hallway where they created a small powder room for the use of the kitchen staff as well as performers.  There is no need to go out into the house or to use the public bathroom.  On the other hand, that one bathroom will be fine for small groups or a single performer, but when 120 Guys and Dolls performers all need it at intermission, it will be woefully inadequate!  LOL.  It's clearly not for them.  The sound system may or may not be new.  Although a band was playing live on stage and using the sound system, I could not tell if it was better, new, or the same.  The bar they created in the back looks nice.  They put it where they used to set up coffee pots for club activities and where the big table for the sound engineers for Guys and Dolls would set up their equipment.  I guess they will have to set up somewhere else now.  The biggest thing we noticed that was NOT changed was the carpet.  Because I was specifically looking for new and fresh things, the ratty, dirty carpet really stood out.  In fact, this was the first time I noticed that there are three different types of carpet  and they don't even go together.  i asked if it was going to be replaced but was told it was not in the budget.  It is supposed to get steam-cleaned, but I think it would need more than that to improve its look.  We enjoyed the morning, though.  The band was good and we got free coffee and a cupcake.

Then we walked up the village street to the gym.  We walked the track.  I walked 20 laps, one mile, in 21 minutes.  I was pretty happy with that because walking makes the cyst hurt, so I didn't know if I could do it.  It didn't hurt as much as I had feared it would.  I had also taken 800 mg Advil with breakfast, which was shortly before we left, so it was definitely working at the time.  Later Mark also went up and lifted weights, but I have been doing that lately.

Yesterday I won FIVE games of Mah Jongg.  Last week I only won one game and yesterday five.  That's the way that game goes!

I can feel the adrenaline pumping because I'm nervous about going to the doctor for fear of what they will find or what tests they will order.  I'll write what happens later tonight or tomorrow.  I promise.