Anniversary Cruise about to commence!

Yes, we drive down to Fort Lauderdale today, and tomorrow we will board the Celebrity Constellation, cabin 3108, for a four night cruise to Nassau and Key West to celebrate our 38th anniversary.  Our actual anniversary, December 21, is Saturday, a sea day.  PERFECT!  We also bought the drink package, which basically lets us drink all day long, every single day, as long as all the drinks are $8 or less.  It even includes the tax and gratuity.  Oh, yeah!  There WILL be drinking.

Cabin 3108 is where we spent 29 days onboard going to Hawaii and then through the Panama Canal back in the spring of 2010 to celebrate my retirement.  I have been looking forward to getting back to this ship ever since then because it had a huge make-over just two weeks after we disembarked.  I really want to see the changes to the ship, and I want to spend the time in our old cabin.  This is going to be a BLAST!

AND....two couples from Maryland are joining us, the Oreskys and the Herschlers.  We have been friends with them for nearly as long as we have been married!   This is just going to be a wonderful cruise.  For Saul, it will be his first cruise EVER!  I hope it's a fabulous one so that he will want to do it again.

Now, I must turn to some less pleasant news, my weight.  Last week I reported a fair-sized loss, down to 232.4.  I was so happy with that.  I also reported some big challenges coming up for this week, but I had hoped to stay the same, at least.  Well, that did not happen.  Right away on Thursday of last week, I reported a gain of over three pounds.  Instead of trying hard to get them back off, I added more. 

This has been a week full of fun, but also full of eating out and overeating at home.  As has happened to me before, once I start overeating, whether it's at a party or a restaurant, it often triggers a binge.  So this week, I started eating out of control almost every day.  I had too much for lunch or dinner and ate too many late night snacks.  I was grazing non-stop a few nights. 

Old habits are SO hard to break.  Even when I think I have worked on the new habits for so long and have it all under control, my mind and body revert to the old habits.  I still do not understand all the underlying problems, whys, or wherefores for this behavior.  Evey has suggested more than once that I should go to counseling for this binge-eating disorder, but I have never tried it.  I always think I can control it. I'm sure a lot of alcoholics and drug addicts say the same thing before they finally go to AA or rehab.

Here's the weight, 238.4, a gain of six pounds.  I gained a bit over three during the first 24 hours of the week, and the next three over the rest of the week.  No matter when it happened, the HOW is obvious.  I ate too much!  Did I have fun?  Yes, but today I'm sad.  I'm even one pound HIGHER than the day I left for our cruise on the Carnival Imagination back in October with the Larsens.  On that cruise, I tried really hard not to drink or overeat. I wanted just to stay the same during that cruise.  My efforts brought me a SIX pound GAIN!  And that was when I was trying to behave.  Geez, I can only imagine what this cruise is going to do to me when I am planning to PARTY and DRINK.  LOL!

I am not taking my computer or using any internet time on this cruise.  I was be returning Monday evening and weigh myself Tuesday morning.  I promise to write a blog on December 24 to report the damage from the cruise.  I also do not think I can do much about it until the second week of January.  The Herschlers will be returning with us after the cruise and staying until Saturday, Dec. 28.  We will be eating out a lot while they are with us.  Also on Dec. 29 we are taking off on another cruise, 8 days on the Holland America Ryndam out of Tampa with the Solivita Travel Club.  We return on January 5.  So.....guess what my New Year's Resolution is going to be?   Hahahahahhah!!!!

Meanwhile here are a few pictures to hold you until next week.  We went to see Universal Studios on Sunday to see the Macy's parade and balloons.  Then we went to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios on Monday to see the Osborne Lights.  At the end are some pictures of the Celebrity Constellation from our cruise in March of 2010.  Enjoy and talk to you on Christmas Eve!

We had lunch at Emeril's, at Universal's City Walk, using my gift card from Lowell.

It was chilly and gray on Sunday evening as the parade went by.  Felt like being in NYC.

Even some Rockettes were there to dance before Santa lit up the big tree.

Monday we took a friend from Solivita with us to WDW.  She had not been there in 10 years.

We had lunch at the Beast's castle.

This is a gingerbread cupcake that Joan and I shared for dessert for dinner at the Commissary in the Studios.

We found the cat in the Osborne Lights right away.  It was the easiest spotting we have had.

If you have never been to the Osborne Lights, you owe it to yourself to go some year.  They are spectacular.

On the deck of the Constellation in San Diego for the sailaway party to Hawaii, March of 2010.

In cabin 3108 with the lei they gave us as we boarded.  I weighed only 210 in this picture and did not know anything about breast cancer.  Sadly, that would change in just a few short months.

The Constellation off the coast of Kailua Kona, Hawaii.

So much easier to put back on

Up over three pounds today.  Yeah, sad.

In one day I went from the elated posting yesterday of 232.4 to a dejected posting today of 236 this morning.  A gain of 3.6 pounds.  I am always so surprised by this!  Wow!

Of course, I shouldn't have hopped on that scale this morning because then I wouldn't know.

Also, I'm sure it is sodium and water retention.  I had a normal breakfast and a great dinner prepared by Mark.  Lunch, however, ended up being at a pizza place.  LOL! Yeah, pizza.  We had been out at the opthamologist, then Staples, then Wal Mart, then Publix, and it was suddenly 1 p.m.   We were starving.  The pizza place was right next to Publix, and Mark had recently read it was the number one rated restaurant in Poinciana.  How could we not go in for lunch? 

We each ordered the lunch special: two slices of cheese pizza and a fountain drink for $4.99.  What a steal!  I thought the pizza was delicious, but Mark thought is was just okay.  We both had to agree the slices were HUGE.  I think the two slices were half a pie!  And I ate it all.  Hm....I'm seeing a lot wrong with yesterday.  LOL!

Today I am hosting a Mah Jongg lesson with two neighbors and a friend from Solivita who is a few streets away.  Two of us are regular players on Monday at Maureen's house. My friend from a few streets away has played only a few times, and the fourth lady is a complete new-comer to the game.  She lives on our street!  I thought she should learn.  So that's from 10 to noon today. 

Around 3 we are driving to Lakeland for the NARFE Board Meeting and dinner.  I'm making my cheese, crackers, and grapes platter to take as our contribution.  Depending on what everybody else brings, it could also be our only dinner.  You never know at a pot luck!

Good Weigh-In

Last Wednesday I am sure I hopped on the scale because I hop on and off several times every morning unless Mark hides it.  What didn't happen was writing it down.  I guess I was so busy with Rhoda that day that I just forgot to write it down.

Well, I'm not about to let that happen again.  This morning my weight is a new low, 232.4.

The Lose It! program has deducted some more calories from my plan, bringing me down to 1294 calories a day.  This is the first time it has taken me below the 1300 mark.  I think it's going to be challenging to stay below 1300 every day, but I'm going to try. 

Two weeks ago, I reported my weight at 233.4, so I have lost only one pound in two weeks, but I'm very happy about that.  It's been a challenging two weeks with Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, a week with Evey and Eric and four days with Rhoda. I also had 7 nights of dress rehearsals and concerts.  I was busy, but I ate well!  I now have one week before we drive to Fort Lauderdale next Wednesday for our anniversary cruise.  Whooeee! 

This will be a challenging week of meals in restaurants before we leave on the cruise.  My goal is going to be to stay the same.  With any luck, I might drop a pound, but it will be quite tough.  Here's my schedule for this week:
Today: normal, all three meals at home
Thursday:  b'fast and lunch at home, dinner as "heavy hors d'oeuvres" in the home of our NARFE president for a board meeting
Friday:  b'fast and lunch at home, but dinner is a Christmas party for the library volunteers
Saturday: b'fast and lunch at home, but dinner out with friends at Lakeside restaurant
Sunday: b'fast at home, but lunch and dinner at Universal Studios
Monday: b'fast at home, but lunch and dinner at Walt Disney World, probably MK and the Studios
Tuesday: all three meals at home

So the week is bookended by having a day with all three meals at home, but there are a LOT of meals out.  Hopefully walking and exercise will keep me the same and compensate for any extra calories consumed.

We shall see!

The cast party for Guys and Dolls was fantastic.  We sat with our friends Donna and Al, and we all danced for about two hours!  I'm sure the dancing helped me burn off the apple cobbler and ice cream!

A Week Flies By

For my most loyal readers (and you know who you are!), I must apologize for leaving you high and dry for a full week.  I know I've done this before, and usually it's always for the same reason-- TOO BUSY!

We had a lovely time with Rhoda, and she left on Thursday to visit other friends near Fort Lauderdale.  By now she is back up north in the snowstorm.  So sorry, Rhoda!  Mark and I had a NARFE meeting in Plant City that same day, where he was installed as the new Executive VP of our chapter. 

Wednesday night and Thursday night were the dress rehearsals for Guys and Dolls, followed by three fabulous performances.  They all went well, and it reminded me how much I really love singing in a chorus!  This chorus and it's director, Ellen Factor, are truly fabulous.

Then yesterday Mark bought his new used car.  He got a 2011 silver Ford Focus at Carmax in Orlando, just north of the airport.  The whole experience was possibly one of the best car buying experiences we ever had, and we've had plenty of good ones.

In Maryland, we bought our first car from Evelyn Betancourt at Sheehy Ford in Marlow Heights a long time ago.  It was the pink Ford Aspire in the fall of 1994.  She worked very hard to find that car for Mark, and she shared a name with my daughter!  We continued to work with her for the next 14 years and bought a total of EIGHT cars from her, 6 new ones and 2 used ones:  the Aspire, a Windstar minivan, a Mustang for Lowell, a Malibu Maxx for Evey, and FIVE Focuses.  On the last purchase, I joked that if I bought a ninth car from her, I should get one FREE!  She laughed but admitted that was unlikely! 

So now that we are down here, we didn't really know where to go for a car purchase.  Our mechanic at All Cars suggested Carmax and his son-in-law, Brian Berry, who works there as a salesman.  Mark got online and found a car perfect for his needs, not too old, low mileage, not too expensive.  He found the 2011 silver Focus, with only 16, 092 miles on it, for $13, 599.  He put a hold on it for a week through the website to guarantee it was waiting for us yesterday.  He called Brian, who pre-approved him for a loan at 1.9% right over the phone, and made an appointment for yesterday at 10:15 a.m.  Everything went off without a hitch once we arrived.  We loved the car, as we knew we would, and in just two hours we drove off to a celebratory lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse.  Fantastic.

This car has more bells and whistles than anything we have ever owned.  It has a three month subscription to Sirius radio included, SYNC technology to play music from separate devices, hands free phone capability, a moon roof, heated leather seats, ABS brakes, traction control, all power everything, cruise control, and more.  I'm sure many of you reading this blog have had these things for years, but Mark had hand cranking windows, a cassette player, and nothing with power!  He's in shell shock!  I hope to take some pictures of him with his new "toy" and post them tomorrow.  I'm also not sure when we will ever need to use the heated seats or traction control, but you never know.

Tonight is the cast party for Guys and Dolls, and I have a mani-pedi this afternoon.  We hope to get to line dancing this morning because we haven't been there in a long time, and we miss it.  Life is still great here in sunny Florida.  I hope all of our friends and family up north are hunkering down in the snowstorms and don't hate us too much if we go swimming in the outdoor pool today after line dancing!

Of course, I had to take Rhoda on the Boggy Creek airboat ride and hold Brutus when we were done.  I don't know why I love that so much, but I do!

Mark was installed as Exec VP of our NARFE chapter.

Waiting to perform on the final night when Mark was there to take pictures.

Singing in a large group, or even a small group, is a healthy experience for the body and mind.

There are 112 of us this year under the capable direction of Ellen Factor.

Smaller group, a women's ensemble, sang "I Say a Little Prayer for You"

Visit with Rhoda

Our friend Rhoda arrived in time to eat dinner with us last night.  Mark made a pot of vegetarian black bean chili and some latkes.  We also heated up Evey's leftover squash and quinoa dish.  Everything was delicious.  We lit candles and opened presents, played a game of dreidle (Mark won!), and watched Castle on TV.  What a lovely evening with a dear friend.

Today we are going to have an easy-going morning and then head to the Disney area for a day of Disney without ever buying a theme park ticket.  There really are a lot of things to do there that do not require a huge amount of money.  We will start off with a stroll through Downtown Disney, then we'll catch the boat up the Sassagoula River to Port Orleans French Quarter for lunch in their food court, Sassagoula Floatworks. Then back to Downtown Disney to shop at World of Disney.  We have a few gifts yet to pick up.  We are driving over to the Boardwalk area to visit the decorations in those hotels and then off to Seven Seas Lagoon to visit the lobbies in the hotels on the monorail system.  While there, we will visit all the hotel lobbies.  Grand Floridian does an especially excellent job.  We will also have dinner over there somewhere and then watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the ferry dock area at the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Center).  Except for eating and shopping, there is no cost involved in any of that.  A fun, cheap Disney day!

OKAY, small change to the plans.  Tonight is one of the special ticketed Christmas parties at Magic Kingdom, so they are not piping out the fireworks like they usually do.  We could still see them, but there would be no music.  Meh, without music there is no incentive to hang around until 9:30 to watch them.  

The weather is sunny and upper 70s!  Perfect for a day with a lot of walking outdoors.

I have not been logging in my food and exercise, although I did pretty well yesterday.  I am down a pound or so in the last few days.  I hope the walking today will take care of the calories eaten for lunch and dinner in restaurants.  Tomorrow I will report my progress.

Rhoda and Mark after lighting candles for night six.

Before and After

The hinge was put on the shower this morning in under 10 minutes, so it's ready to use.  I am very excited to try it out tomorrow morning.  It's so much bigger now, even though a seat was installed.  It is a few inches wider than before, and the all glass makes it seem more spacious, too.

Here are before and after photos.

The Hanukkah Ball was a lot of fun last night.  We danced a LOT!  I surely must have burned up some calories.

Today we have done a lot of little chores around the house, preparing for our company to arrive.  Rhoda is driving up from Homestead, FL, but she didn't leave there until 2 p.m.  We should see her about 7 tonight for dinner, candles, and presents. 

Trying again.

Last Sunday we left for Downtown Disney to see the movie Last Vegas, but we only got a few miles down the road before Mark's car died.  The car is fixed, but we have made the decision to trade it in next Monday.  Meanwhile, we have a lovely 2014 rented Ford Fiesta, which I am enjoying driving around very much.  I'm sure it can get us to that movie today!

Last night Mark sang with me at the Chimer's Holiday Concert, and it was wonderful to do that with him.  Mark, if you are reading this, THANK YOU very much!  We had a lovely time at the concert.  Our neighbors Don and Maureen sat with us and some other people we know from the Shalom Club. It was a lot of fun.  The Chimers always sound beautiful.

Tonight is the Shalom Club's annual Chanukkah Ball, a HUGE TO-DO here in Solivita.  This is our first time to go, but we were invited by a friend from Guys and Dolls to sit at her table.  I'm looking forward to the elegant, dressy affair, a salmon dinner, conversation, and dancing.

Tomorrow the glass guy is coming back in the morning to put that last hinge on the shower door. I sure hope it was made correctly this time and all goes well. I'm really looking forward to using that shower.  When it's done, I'll post a before and after picture.  Also tomorrow, probably after lunch, our friend Rhoda from MD is arriving for three nights.  She hasn't had a vacation in over a decade, so she's taking a nice long one in Florida.  She came down on Thanksgiving to stay with some cousins who live in Homestead.  Tomorrow she will drive up here until Thursday morning, and then she's going to Delray Beach to stay with some friends for a few days before flying home.  It will be fun to show off our house and our community.  She's even coming to see the dress rehearsal of our Guys and Dolls concert Wednesday night.  I'll be singing my little solo that night, too. 

Chanukkah is half over.  We opened Cindy's box of presents last night and opened four things each to catch up.  Night 1 from Cindy was a joint gift to the two of us, the game Jenga.  We never had it before and never played it before, so, of course, we opened it right up and played a game!  I lost.  That is a crazy game!  When the holiday is completely over, I'm going to take one big picture of all of our presents.  It's been a lovey holiday so far.

I didn't exactly get back on track as well as I would have liked yesterday, but I'm still down a pound today.  I probably lost a bit of water retention.  Today we are eating lunch and dinner out.  I'll see what that does tomorrow.  With Rhoda here, we will be eating lunch and dinner out on Tuesday.  We're not sure about the rest of the meals yet.  I will assess all the damage at Wednesday's Weigh-in.

Enjoy your last day of Thanksgiving vacation. If you have to go back to work, don't panic.  It's not too many weeks until you'll have a winter break of some sort!