My apologies for not writing sooner.

Today is the day after Christmas or the second day of Hanukkah.  Your choice.  LOL!

The last blog I wrote was December 11, so that means it has been two weeks and a day since I wrote. That's why I'm apologizing to those who might check today to see if I finally got around to it.

Yes, I've been busy.  That is nothing new.  Life for us in Florida is always busy, in a good way.

Yes, I've been eating.  Ridiculous.  Everyone eats during the holidays, but I totally excel at it.  On Dec. 7, I reported my weight at 269.8, a lost of five pounds.  Well, sit down and hold on to something.  Today my weight is 286.8, a gain of 17 pounds in two and a half weeks, AND the highest weight I have hit since I started losing weight in January of 2009.  Ridiculous.  On August

In between my last blog about meeting my high school friend PattiPark, I have had a ton of fun including directing the Cove Singers Holiday Concert on December 15, spending three nights at Saratoga Springs with Mark for our 41st wedding anniversary, Jewish Christmas of two movies and Chinese food, plus two nights of Hanukkah with video chatting with Evey and Eric to watch her open  her presents.  There has been a ton of meals in restaurants, but there has been a lot of snack food at home that I've eaten.  That's how you gain 17 pounds in just 19 days.  In fact, I guess it's like being on a cruise because they say that the average person gains a pound a day on a cruise.  I've managed to do it at home.  Now, in less than two weeks we are going on a two week cruise.  I MUST not gain a pound a day on that cruise on top of these 17 pounds.  That would be ridiculous!  Just Ridiculous.  On August 17, I weighed 261, so that's a gain of 25.8 pounds in 4 1/2 months.  Now I need to LOSE that amount in about the same amount of time.

Here are some pictures of our fun over the last two weeks.

We spent an afternoon at Universal Studios for the Macy's parade.

The first day of our anniversary celebration was at Hollywood Studios where Mark got to pose with Darth Vader.

On the second day we took a "backstage" tour of our home DVC resort, the Grand Floridian.

That night we had dinner at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort.

On Wednesday, Dec. 21, our actual anniversary, we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and had dinner at the new Jungle Cruise Skipper Canteen.

The chef brought me the Lion Fish entree to try.  The quills are edible, crunchy, and similar to potato chips.

Back in our room that night, Mark surprised me with this gift.

On our last morning, we enjoyed breakfast on our balcony even though it was quite cold out.

We split this day, starting out at Animal Kingdom.

Around 5 p.m. we went to Sea World for their Holiday celebrations including the whale show.

We always enjoy the ice skating show at Sea World.

The hundreds of trees all lit up are beautiful at night.

Chef Mickey and PattiPark

On Thursday Mark and I joined 48 of our closest friends in the Solivita Disney Fan Club for a late lunch at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary Resort.  We stuffed ourselves on delicious food and mingled with all the characters who came by our table.  Then we took the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge to check out the Christmas tree and decorations.  We had never seen those decorations before.

Around 6 p.m. we met my high school girlfriend, Pat Park Miller, at Epcot.  She was visiting for her anniversary with her husband Terry and her daughter Lara.  We had only 10 minutes in the DVC lounge.  We did not know that it closed at 6 when we arrived at 5:50.  Ridiculous.  So then we just chatted and got caught up as we walked out of the park.  They had an early morning the next day.  At least we exchanged all the pertinent contact information and made a pact to try to get together again next year when they come for a visit.  I had not seen Pat in almost17 years!  Hardly seemed possible.

Yesterday we enjoyed a half hour presentation of Japanese Taiko, drumming.  There were about a dozen drummers giving an awesome performance.  Then we had dinner at the home of our friends Jonathan and Susan S. at the Cove.  They had recently spent two weeks on a music tour of Cuba!  They share photos and videos of their trip, which was a lot of fun.

Today I finished all of my present wrapping and boxing.  All the packages are ready to go to the post office tomorrow morning.  Then we drove up to Winter Garden to see A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Garden Theater.  It was an adaptation of the 30 minute TV cartoon. They made it last 47 minutes by having some Christmas carols before and after the show.  Took us a lot longer to drive up and back!

Solivita Disney Fan Club at Chef Mickey

Me with Barb and Susie

All of us in red!

A Goofy selfie

Good doggie

The Chef himself

Donald has always been Mark's favorite.

Wilderness Lodge lobby

Me and Pat in the DVC Member lounge

Me, Pat, Lara, and Terry

Saying good night

Pearl Harbor Day

It's been a week and a half since I posted.  I have been extremely busy with concerts, and now I'm also sick.  I was up multiple times this past Friday night with a fiery sore throat.  By Sunday it was moving up into my ears, and Monday it settled into my chest as a nasty cough.  I'm sore all over from so much coughing.  Still, I have not skipped any activities.  Hm...could be why it's still lingering.  Anyway, I'm sure it will be gone by next week.  I have lots of OTC meds to dose myself up with. Unfortunately, although I've tried to be careful, Mark has a sore throat and the sniffles this morning.  Sorry, Mark.

Tonight is the cast party for the Guys and Dolls concerts.  We had dress rehearsal Thursday night and three shows, Friday through Sunday.   I sang very well through Saturday night, but Sunday was a bit dicey.  There may have been some lip-synching going on.  LOL!  Monday I played both Mah Jongg and Rummikub.  I kept using lots of hand sanitizers so as not to infect the tiles.

Tomorrow I will play Mah Jongg in the morning, run off to the Contemporary Resort for a late lunch, which they called brunch, at 2 p.m. at Chef Mickey with the Disney Fan Club followed by a trip around the monorail resorts to look at the holiday decorations.  If we have any strength left when we get back, we will go up to the ballroom for the SoFEES party to listen to some carols, eat some snacks, and donate some kids underwear.  The SoFEES is a Solivita group that collects school supplies and clothing for local elementary school kids.  I think it used to stand for Solivita Friends of Eastside Elementary School, but lately they have expanded to other local elementariness.

I am also 269.8 this morning, down five pounds since I reported two weeks ago.  Mostly it's just getting back to eating at home and maybe all the extra calories burned in four nights of performances!

Meanwhile, it is Pearl Harbor day.  Mark and I visited the Arizona Memorial in 2010, and I was so moved by it that I insisted our kids and their spouses go when we there together as a family in 2015.