Peaceful Saturday

We took Evey and Eric to the airport yesterday.  It was sad to send them back after such a great week.  When I went home, we had lunch and then both Mark and I took a long nap.  I actually slept THREE hours from 3:40-6:40 in the chair in the living room.  Crazy.  I guess they wore me out more than I realized.  LOL

Today we plan to watch TV most of the day with a brief break to go to the gym and take a walk.  I really need to get back to normal eating and exercise.  I have gained almost six pounds in the week that Evey and Eric were here. It's not their fault!  It's all the eating out and then Thanksgiving and leftovers.  From today through December 11, I will be eating all my meals at home, and I'm determined to make them lower calories than they have been recently.  I started off by NOT having pie for breakfast.  LOL!

Here are some pictures from the week with Evey and Eric.  These are all from my phone, and Eric showed me how to move them from the phone to my Picasa program so that I can save and share them on the blog.  Yay for Eric!  He is very smart and helpful. I'm lucky to have such a great son-in-law.

Eric, Stitch, and Evey at the Ohana character breakfast at the Polynesian Village Resort.

At Disney Springs

Outside Living Seas at Epcot.

In the Gaylord Palms lobby

Waiting for the Cirque show to start

Seeing Moana Wednesday afternoon

Checking out the drone in the theater, the type used for the new drone light show at Disney Springs.

Saying good-bye at the airport

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday today.  I certainly am.  I am spending the whole day at home, watching the Macy's Day Parade with Evey, Eric, and Mark, doing the annual family holiday present drawing with Evey, calling family members on the phone, and hosting dinner for the four of us and our friends Ed and Barbara W.  We have a traditional menu planned of roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, broccoli, and peas.  Ed and Barb are bringing an orange-cranberry relish and apple pie.  There is also pumpkin pie.  Our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast will be cinnamon rolls and Sara Lee Pecan Coffee Cake.  Lunch is a smorgasbord of six kinds of cheeses, salsa and chips, two kind of crackers, and fresh veggies with ranch dip.  YES, there will be a LOT of eating today, but isn't that part of this particular holiday?

Yesterday was also a wonderful day! We did everything I wrote about in yesterday's blog except that instead of pizza at the Bistro, we went to Citrus Garden for Chinese food followed by cones at Twistee Treat for dessert. Moana was a really great film that I'd recommend to all and would watch again and again.

I forgot to take my camera yesterday, so I only took pictures on the cell phone.  Unfortunately, I no longer know how to download the pictures from the iPhone to the computer to put on this blog.  Hopefully, sometime today Eric is going to show me how to do it.  Then maybe I can post some of the pictures tomorrow.

Tomorrow the kids leave, beating the holiday rush, which is very smart.  We don't have to go to the airport until noon, so at least I'll have them for the morning hours.  Today I am not going to think about them leaving tomorrow.  I'm just going to be thankful that they are here and enjoy every minute of this beautiful day.

I am thankful to spend this week with Evey and Eric despite the temperatures!

We had a great time at WDW with Evey and Eric even though I had to wear a sweater AND a hoodie sweatshirt.  It was cold at night!

The D23 event was interesting as always.  Evey and Eric went to the pool on Saturday in the early afternoon when it was still in the upper 70s.  Then they enjoyed Disney Springs where we joined them for dinner and shopping. Sunday they went to Animal Kingdom all day while we went to D23 and then Magic Kingdom.  It was only 49 degrees out as we waited for the fireworks.  BRR! We spent the whole day together at Epcot on Monday before checking out of Old Key West and coming home yesterday.  Today we are going to Gaylord Palms for viewing their decorations and a short Cirque du Soleil style holiday show before seeing the new Disney film Moana at Disney Springs.  Then it's Thanksgiving.  Wow!

It's also Wednesday.  Although we walked a lot yesterday, I ate way too  much every day and mostly just sat all day at the convention over the weekend.  I weigh 274.8 this morning.  That's up 3.6 pounds for the week.  All that walking cannot compensate for way too many calories.

Today we are eating lunch at Q'doba's, one of Evey's favorite places. Unfortunately for her, there are none where she lives.  Dinner will be at the Bistro for pizza.  Then there's a BIG dinner tomorrow for the holiday Yikes.  Guess I'll get back to healthy eating on Friday.  Oh, wait...the leftovers!

I am very thankful for everything in my life--my husband, kids, family, friends, health, and prosperity enough to allow us to live comfortably in our retirement years.  I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous Thanksgiving Day and every day thereafter.

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Waiting for the D23 event to start

Sponsored by Ethan Allen and its new Disney collection

Mark is ready for D23.

Tree at Disney Springs Saturday night

Playing on their phones at Paradiso 37 Saturday night

On the Christmas Tree trail

Sunday night at Magic Kingdom

Heading into Adventureland to ride Jingle Cruise with our special D23 fastness.

Monday morning at Epcot...Evey with her favorite character, Stitch

Waiting for the best seat on Soarin'

Hanging out in the DVC Member lounge

Lunch in The Land food court, always on our phones

Evey with her manatees!  She has always loved them.

Giant holiday tree at Epcot

About to ride the new attraction in Norway with Fastpasses

Chilling' out in Germany

All day Evey was thinking about this sweatshirt and she finally bought it on the way out of Epcot.  

These two are just so adorable!

Evey and Eric are here! Off to WDW.

We picked Evey and Eric up at the airport around 11 yesterday.  Evey even had time to do the TSA pre-check interview for overseas clearance.  They are going to Iceland for a week on her birthday, so she wanted that to make it easier to get back in the country. Eric already had it.

They were pretty tired since they both worked Thursday and then took an overnight flight, but they are troopers.  They stayed awake and did stuff with us.  We had lunch at the Bistro, took a mile walk in the indoor track, and even checked out the progress on our new pharmacy and sundries store.  Mark and I did our fifteen minute weight routine while the kids played on their phones in the Palms lobby.  Then we had a nice Shabbat dinner and watched a Disney movie from 1989, Cheetah, before heading to an early bedtime around 10.  We got up at 5:30 because we are heading out at 7.

This weekend is the D23 Fan Club weekend at the Contemporary Resort Convention Center, so I booked us three nights at Old Key West with my DVC points.  That was before I knew E and E would be here, so they are happy to share the room with us and play at the parks.  This morning while we are registering at the convention, they have snagged an 8:40 a.m. Character Breakfast Buffet at Ohana in the Polynesian Resort.  Then they plan to check out all the Christmas displays in the three monorail resorts before checking in to OKW, maybe swimming in the pools in the afternoon, and then exploring Disney Springs for the rest of the day and evening.  We will meet them for dinner at 6:30 at Paradiso 37, and sometime in the evening we will see the new Drone Lights Display and Music which is being shown three times a night for the holidays at Disney Springs.  There's also a Christmas Tree trail to see.

Sunday while we are at the convention they will do Animal Kingdom all day.  Monday all four of us are going to Epcot.  They got us Fast passes for the new Frozen attraction and with luck we will make rope drop for Soarin'!

I am not taking my laptop on this trip, so there will be no blogs or pictures here until Tuesday night.  I will probably post a few pictures on Facebook when I can.

See you Tuesday night.

Weighing In

The last time I reported my weight was October 26.  At that time it was 270.2. The morning I am up one pound to 271.2.

Of course, I have continued to jump on that scale every day, so I know that I have fluctuated from as high as 276 to as low as 269 during these few weeks.  Yesterday morning I was 273.4, so I dropped three pounds in one day.  That was simply water weight.  I had been eating a lot of high sodium foods as well as lots of completely unnecessary snacks.  I had a very good day yesterday, so that was reflected in three pounds of water being released.

Today all my meals will also be at home, so I anticipate a good day.

In addition, once the last performance of Art and the cast party were over Sunday night, Mark and I went back to exercising on Monday.  We went to a delightful Coffee Talk about backyard wildlife and turtle rescues.  Then we went to the gym followed by a mile walk.  I'm so out of shape and fat that I had to break up the mile with a 15 minute rest on the bench.  Tuesday we walked a mile, but I only waited on the bench about 5 minutes.  Today I hope to walk a mile without sitting down.  My back just hurts too much from carrying this weight to walk very far.  I also ran a two hour rehearsal and then sang a different two hour rehearsal yesterday, which expended plenty of energy.  It all contributed to that three pound loss over night.

After my morning mani/pedi, I plan to go the gym again for the weight machines and then do that mile walk.  Hopefully, this all happens.

Friday Evey and Eric arrive.  Saturday we check in to Old Key West for three nights, which means a lot of meals in restaurants.  Then it's Thanksgiving!  If I could just keep my weight the same through the next week or so, I will consider that an accomplishment.

Art

The fall play here in Solivita opened Thursday night.  Mark and two other great Solivita actors, Peter and Dave, star in Art, a three-man show.  It's very funny but also has a deeper message.  Mark plays Marc, a character brought to life by Albert Finney in London and Alan Alda on Broadway.

This is the first time in a long time that the fall play did not sell out, but each of the past two audiences was very appreciative.  They got a standing ovation last night!  Two more shows to go and our lives can return to normal.

Post Election Stress

I couldn't write a blog yesterday.  I was too depressed.

We have a new president.  It wasn't mine.  I cried.

My candidate has lost before, but I never felt like this.  This person--I can't even bring myself to put that name in the blog--is not someone I can rally around.  I believe he is despicable, misogynistic, narcissistic, out of touch with the common person, a chronic and pathological liar, and a generally BAD person.  He will spend a good bit of his presidency in court as there are about 30 civil suits still pending against him for things he did before he was elected and several criminal cases as well.

I do not live in the country that I thought I did.  My country is apparently dead, so I wore black and mourned all day yesterday.

It's going to be a very long and stressful four years during which most of the strides forward in rights for women and minorities will all be undone.  That's a good reason to mourn.

ELECTION DAY

A lot of people thought today would never come.  The long, and sometimes hateful, campaign has gone on for over a year.  Now it's time to go vote.  Mark and I have not voted early or by mail-in.  We actually like going to the polls on the actual day.  I'm about to go up to the Solivita Ballroom in about 10 minutes and vote for a woman for President for the first time in history.  I was very excited to vote for our first African-American President eight years ago and again four years ago.  I certainly hope he goes down as one of the best Presidents ever.  That's how I feel about him.  Now I will go vote for the first woman.

I don't have time to write too much more.  I will be VERY BUSY today and mostly out of the house, starting with voting.

All I can say now is that "I'm with her"!