Icy Tuesday

I'm sure my loyal readers noticed that I skipped yet another day yesterday. I was busy!

The weekend really was awful in terms of joint aches and muscle pains. I took the oxycodone four nights in a row, including last night. Sunday night I also took it again around 3 in the morning. I had never taken it twice during the same night, and it left me sleepy and foggy in the brain most of the whole day yesterday. Despite that, I still had a great day. It's also tolerable because I know it's over. Once this round of Taxol works its way out of my system, no more toxic chemicals will be going in! That's a great feeling.

Because I was foggy in the brain, I made Mark drive me to Debbie's house for Mah Jongg. There were 7 of us, and we played about three or four hours. I had no luck at all! It didn't matter whether I won or lost, it was about playing with my girlfriends for the last time in a long while. I don't know when I 'll get to play with this great bunch of ladies ever again. There is a Mahj group in Solivita that plays every Tuesday afternoon in the common areas. I do plan to go there and see how it is, but I really don't think it will be as much fun as playing with my close friends in our homes. We have had birthday parties, St. Patrick's Day parties, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, MLK day, New Year's Eve, Super Bowl parties, and no reason at all parties over the years. All of us have taken turns hosting it in our homes with lunch or dinner. It has been a wonderful outlet for all of us, full of fellowship, friendship, food, and love. I will dearly miss it.

After I left, we shopped at Seven Mile Market for the lunch supplies for today. Assuming the icy road conditions don't stop them, Ben and John are traveling up from northern VA today to have lunch with us and play a new board game that Cindy gave us for Hanukkah. In the evening we met Saul and Phyllis at Caramel's, a kosher dairy restaurant in Pikesville that advertises kosher sushi. We know that they like sushi, so we thought it would be fun to eat there. We hadn't been there before, so we really had no idea what to expect. It was a bit disappointing. It's very casual, and a little on the unkempt side. Mark and I ordered the fallafel plate, and as Mark said, "This is the worst fallafel I ever had." I also ordered a broccoli calzone which was disappointing. Saul and Phyllis each ordered a raw salmon sushi plus a piece of vegetable pizza. They seemed happy with their choices and said the pizza was good. The best thing was the ice cream. Except for Mark, we all had hand dipped ice cream for dessert. Saul and Phyllis split a bow of tiramisu ice cream. I wolfed down a bigger bowl with two scoops, one pistachio and one tiramisu. Yes, that was the best thing of the evening. NO, I'm wrong. The best thing about the evening was hanging out with Saul and Phyllis. They have been our friends for over 32 years! I will miss them dearly, but we have plans to get together in the spring when they come to Florida. We will always stay in touch.

Tonight we plan to take Lowell and Emily out to dinner at Clyde's in Columbia. Her birthday is Friday, so I wanted to take them out in advance of that occasion. We've only met her once, and this is the only other chance there will be for a very long time get to know her a little better before we move. Lowell actually moved to his new home in Locust Point over the weekend. I hear that it went well. I think he's going to like the new place because it's in a more residential neighborhood, but his commute to work and grad school will be twice as long. I hope that works out well for him. I had hoped to go visit the new place before we leave the area next week, but time is running out. Our schedule is packed tight with things to do and people to see.

Of course, this is Tuesday, so it's weigh-in day. I will admit I made NO attempt at all to restrict my calories last week or even write anything down. In fact, it must have been quite the opposite. Obviously I ate a LOT because I gained six and a half pounds from last Tuesday. Last week I was excited to have dropped four, but this week I picked them back up plus more. Sad, but true. I was 245.6 this morning. Just awful.

Our time here in Maryland is definitely running out. Next Thursday we will be driving up to Long Island for a wedding, and then the following Sunday we will begin a three day drive home. I hope the weather cooperates with those plans!