Relaxing Day

What a nice day! We went to shul, where there was a bat mitzvah. The girl did very well, then we had a nice lunch. I behaved myself: half a bagel, small amount of cream cheese, onions, some tossed salad, a small scoop of tuna salad, and a small scoop of egg salad. Not bad. I'm right on the nose for my daily calories today. Mark also taught a class on the weekly Torah portion after the luncheon. This was the first time that he had done something like this here. The lady who usually does it is recovering from knee replacement surgery, and her usual substitute is out of town. Voila! Mark's turn. I thought he did a great job, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

When we got home, I had to go pick up my costume pieces for the Starliters show. It started to pour down the rain while I was out. Crazy! It didn't last long though. The rain was over by the time I drove home. Mark and I then took a long walk, a bit over two miles in 55 minutes. We were tired, but we had a nice time because the weather had cooled off nicely from the rainstorm.

Tonight we watched the Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris, and are now watching our weekly Disney movie, Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue, from 1954. Glynnis Johns was so young then! We ate the leftovers from Wednesday night's dinner and are just having a wonderful, peaceful time together. Life doesn't get better than this.

Tomorrow: Hollywood Studios, Epcot, a concert, and dinner out with Barb and Al. Oh, yeah! Tomorrow will be just as great as today.

Money, Money, Money!!

Or lack thereof!

For the last few years, Mark and I have owed money to the Feds for taxes. In the past, we had two deductions we no longer have: MD state tax and Evey. Last year when we owed, I sent the appropriate form to the MD retirement office asking for them to withhold additional federal tax. I sent it in April, but they ignored it. My pension has been taxed at the ridiculous rate of 9%. Combined with Mark's income, that is grossly under-withheld. Then in 2011 I made a large withdrawal from my TDA to cover Evey's wedding. Although the company withheld 20% for the Feds, combined with our two pensions, we are still grossly under-withheld. We owe several thousand on our taxes this year. UGH!

So...I sent the appropriate form in to the MD retirement office AGAIN in January. I had to email and call them because for two months it was again ignored. Finally, my deposit today shows that they took the extra tax, BUT wait! They ALSO took the extra tax that I asked for LAST year, too. A double whammy! My pension this month is now $550 LESS than I had before. I had only wanted $275 withheld. Sigh. When it rains, it pours.

I just spent over an hour looking at how to cut my monthly expenses and make this work. My plan is to live with this very austere budget for four months until my SSI kicks in on August 1. I know that it will be more than enough to cover the difference and still save most of the SSI for my big trip to Hawaii in 2014. If I can live with it all year, I should have a whopping income tax refund next year for the first time in a very long time. Then, I'll probably try to have the state modify the withholding once again to a more realistic number in order to break even each year. Craziness!

It's not like I haven't lived paycheck to paycheck and nickel-and-dimed everything most of my life because I have. I just didn't expect to do it in retirement. So far, I haven't been. We've been playing and having a good time. I've been able to give presents, eat out, and make donations to things whenever I felt like it. I can cut back for the next four months, but I don't have to like it. LOL!!

Alzheimer's Research in Tampa

On Tuesday, Mark and I went to Tampa for the NARFE Appreciation Luncheon and Tour at the Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute. We had a lovely box lunch, which surprised us with a tuna salad sandwich and a garden sandwich option. The CEO, Dr. Morgan, gave us an informative lecture about the facility and its research while we ate lunch. Then we broke up into groups for a tour of the Memory C.A.R.E floor and the research labs themselves. Unfortunately, they did not take us to the basement to see the 5,000 mice down there that are used for the research. LOL!! It's also a clinic where patients and their caregivers come for evaluation and treatment options. I had no idea such a facility existed in this area. It's very impressive.

We also had a fantastic dinner party last night. Mark outdid himself cooking. I tried to eat as appropriately as possible. I had very little breakfast or lunch, but I still went over my allotment of calories by about 350. Oh, well...it means I ate 1800 calories yesterday, so I don't think that's going to kill the week as long as the rest of the week is good.

Today I'm eating my normal breakfast and lunch, but we will eat dinner at Lakeside. I did that last Thursday, too, so I am planning to eat the same exact things. I have already programmed my day's calories into the LoseIt app on my phone, so I should be okay today.

Mark has gone to a NARFE board meeting for the day, and I'm having an easy-going day at home catching up on some things I've been wanting to get done. At 3:30 I am going to a lecture in the ballroom on economics. I'm not that interested in economics, but the lecturer is a friend of mine from Starliters. I just want to hear him speak.

With any luck, I will also get out and take a walk today. I have not taken a walk in an entire week. Not good! After all those calories yesterday, it would be a real good idea to get back into the groove of walking!

Enjoy the pictures of the Alzheimer's tour.

Almost cracking the 250 mark again!

This morning's weigh-in was as fabulous as I had hoped. I am down another 4.3 pounds to 250.9. That is the closest to being under 250 that I have attained in a very long time. I know there's still a long way to go and lots of holidays and travel on the way, but I am feeling ready for the long haul. I have now lost 12.3 in two weeks, which is phenomenal, but it also represents the first time in a long time when I stayed on my eating program for two straight weeks. That really has not happened since my surgery in September, 2010. I'm pretty excited.

Passover starts in just a week and a half. That's a really a hard time for me to stay on track. There's plenty of food to eat that is low-carb/calorie, but there's also lots of matzo and margarine. I LOVE that stuff! Matzo gets picked on for being tasteless, but that's not true. I think it's great, especially covered with margarine, or butter, or jelly, or cheese, or tuna, or gefilte fish or...you get the idea. It's really easy to overeat on Passover! Our dinners at home normally consist of the same three elements: a 300 calorie or less main dish, a salad, and a low-cal veggie like broccoli. On Passover, though, we have a variety of carbs on the menu. There's not just matzo but also matzo ball soup, potato kugels, kishka with gravy and other yummy things, not to mention the macaroons, kichels, candy and cakes that we already bought. I am hoping the dessert items mostly get eaten up by the guests at the two seders.

The year that I was scared about dying from the hernia I got through Passover just fine. In fact, I lost weight that week. I got the news about the hernia the morning of the first seder, and the meal was already planned and cooking. I went to the table that night prepared to eat some of everything but not much of anything. It worked, so that's my plan for this Passover as well.

Meanwhile, tonight we have two couples joining us for dinner. Mark has been foiled all along with tonight's menu. He had wanted to make the delicious brisket in Merlot that he made when Rudy was here. He ordered a brisket last Wednesday, but on Monday he got an email from AviGlatt saying it was on back-order. Yesterday when it still had not come, he decided to switch to a turkey cutlet recipe. He drove up to Whole Foods because that's the one place that regularly carries lots of fresh and frozen kosher poultry. NOPE! No turkey cutlets. He bought four pounds of chicken breast cutlets instead. He came home with the chicken wondering what recipe to use, but I think he can just substitute the chicken for the turkey and be fine. He agreed. So tonight the menu is a home made tomato soup that he will start soon, chicken cutlets baked in Cajun seasoning and potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and parsnips, homemade cornbread, and a salad. For appetizers there are eggplant dip and hummus with veggies and crackers for dipping. He's making fruit crepes with berries for dessert. Yeah! That's a LOT of calories for dinner tonight. I need to approach it like the seders, eat some of everything but not much of anything.

Another way to make today work is to keep breakfast and lunch super low. My breakfast is usually the same, 200 calories. I can cut that a bit by either not eating the yogurt to save 80 or cutting one sausage link for 40 calories. Lunch will be at home, so a salad with some canned tuna for under 200 calories will be it. I can face dinner having only had between 320 and 400 calories. My plan allows up to 1450 calories per day, so that leaves a tad over a thousand for dinner.

I happen to know that one guest is bringing several kinds of wine. I'm sure she will expect us all to have some. Depending on the type of wine, a four ounce glass will be between about 100 and 175. I'm not a big fan of wine anyway, so one glass will be more than sufficient for me.

So that's enough of a blog today! I have to do some housecleaning today to get ready for the guests. The floors need some attention plus some general tidying up. I also have a mani/pedi at 2 p.m. That should get me home by 4:30, ninety minutes before the guests. A busy day ahead!

Wish me luck on sticking to my plan! Tomorrow I will right about our interesting trip to the Alzheimer's Research Institute in Tampa with NARFE yesterday. Right now it's time to get started on today.

Pesach Shopping

Our day of shopping yesterday was very successful but also very expensive. Last year we did not really know where to go, so we were running around for days on end looking for things. It was tiring and frustrating and time-consuming. This year we had a plan!

We left the house about 9:30 a.m. and headed to the farthest point north to Kosher Kats, the only kosher grocery store in Orlando. It's really north of Orlando in Longwood. This is the place that is owned by the daughter of Frank Pearlman's friend, Dave Unger. In fact, we were able to take Frank up there to visit with his friend last year. When we got there, we learned that Dave is not doing well. He has kidney failure and congestive heart failure. He has lost is short term memory. His daughter said that after someone visits, although he might know who they are at the time, he does not remember they were there as soon as they are gone. He had been in the hospital for a long time and has now been in a rehab center for about a month. His daughter asked us to pray for him.

I included pictures from our trip up there last year. Frank and Dave enjoyed their visit very much. I also included one picture of me with Frank because I was amazed at the change in my hair since this time last year!

At the store we were able to pick up a box load of things from our list for a total of approximately $205. Our next stop was the Publix just two miles down the road. This is where we were able to get a frozen turkey and Passover edition TV dinners. We also picked up some traditional Passover things like matzo ball soup mix, jars of gefilte fish, and upscale paper plates and flatware for the seder. The bill for this store was approximately $233.

When we got home, Mark put in an order to AviGlatt.com in NYC for the rest of our items for another $150. No one ever said Passover was CHEAP! This is for one week of food, and we are not done. All the fresh food, some frozen vegetables, and more plastic and paper products will be purchased just the day before. On the other hand, there will be plenty of leftovers, especially turkey, that should provide some more dinners after Passover, and we are serving 6 people for the first seder and up to 8 the second.

When we got home, I only had an hour before heading to the Starliters rehearsal. It's going very well. I think the show will be great. Unfortunately, ticket sales are not going great! I hope some more people buy tickets in the next three weeks. We have worked two nights a week since last October to prepare this show. I think everyone, especially the director, will be disappointed if it is not a sell-out for all three shows.

Today Mark and I are heading back to the Tampa area for another NARFE activity. NARFE's main charity is the Alzheimer's Association for Alzheimer's research. We are going to have a box lunch and a tour of the Alzeheimer's Institute in Tampa as a NARFE Appreciation Day for support in the past. It's for all the local central Florida chapters. It will be another day like yesterday. I'll have about an hour when I get home before heading out to the Starliters rehearsal.

Busy days are good days!

I am excited to get on the scale tomorrow. I have not walked much this week, maybe only once, but my calories have averaged between 1300-1400 every day for the week as long as I behave today. My breakfast and dinner will be at home and planned, but the box lunch at the NARFE event is an unknown. I hope it's gong to be something reasonable. I will report on it tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Lowell!

Today is Lowell's birthday! Once again we cannot be with him to celebrate it, but that is not all that unusual for adults and adult children. He is turning 33 today. Oops! If he's reading this, I hope he didn't mind me giving away his age. LOL!

I hope he has a fantastic day today. He's really been having a fantastic weekend! He and Emily joined four other friends Friday night for dinner out. Then yesterday he and Emily went to see her school's theater production of Beauty and the Beast followed by a big dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, The Melting Pot. Today they are going to the movie Hunger Games and having pizza for dinner. Emily is also baking him a cake. Nice. It sounds like he is well taken care of for his birthday.

Mark and I have sent him some presents that I guess he will open later today. Still, I do miss him. We love living here because it's beautiful, has a better house, has better weather, and offers a plethora of great activities...BUT, I miss Lowell and our other family and friends. Sigh....that's how all the neighbors feel, too. We are not alone in that feeling. I will console myself that we are going to see him on June 14 for a few days and then again in July when we are up for a visit.

I hope you enjoy some of these pictures I included of him today. I even had one baby picture of him with me, Flyn, and my dad. If I have time someday, I'd like to scan in more older pictures. Not today, though.

So...Lowell, once again, if you are reading this, I wish you lots of love and happiness and a wonderful birthday. I hope this upcoming year is full of the best of everything!

UGH! This morning I woke up with a runny, stuffy nose and no sense of smell. UGH! I do NOT need this. I went to bed at 10:30 last night and slept in until 8:30. That's crazy for me.

This morning I am supposed to clean the fridge and pantry for Passover because when I was supposed to do it Friday morning, I didn't. I was too tired. As soon as I realized that this morning was open, I moved it over and spent Friday morning being lazy. Now I'm thinking this cold was starting to come on. It's also gray and rainy today, which isn't helping the sinus pressure headache that I feel coming on.

I just made this job easier by deciding NOT to do the pantry! Haha! I will put the Passover food somewhere else. And my wonderful husband is over there right now throwing food out of the fridge. Passover is such a good time to purge the outdated, moldy, half-eaten crap that mostly we just ignore. LOL! When he's done, I'm going to wipe down the insides of the vegetable bins, but closer to Passover I will need to line them with aluminum foil.

I'd like to blame Mark for my cold, but it's not really his fault. He did have a nasty cold that ran on for about two weeks, so we tried not to kiss or share glasses. He was good about coughing and sneezing into tissues, bu these things just happen. As long as mine only lasts two weeks and doesn't turn into a bronchial infection or bad laryngitis, I'll be okay. My show isn't for another month yet.

Except for cleaning the fridge, today can be sort of low-key. Yesterday was low-key also. We went to shul, but then we just mostly relaxed the rest of the day. At 5:30 tonight we have tickets to see a show called "The Redneck Tenors." You can google them! They are going to do a long stint in Branson, Missouri soon, but right now they are touring Florida. I can't believe that Solivita snagged them and for such a cheap ticket price. We have been seeing more shows at cheaper prices since we moved down here than we ever did up in Maryland. Before we had moved here, we wondered if we'd have the opportunity to see much live theater since the Baltimore/Washington area is so full of them. NOT TO WORRY! We are doing better here, much to our surprise.

Ah...the rain has subsided and the sun is out! Got to love the changeable summer weather patterns in Florida. The sun is making me feel better already. I've had breakfast, a Cold-Eeze lozenge, and a cup of coffee. I'm about to go take a hot shower and have a second cup of copy. Life is still good in Florida, even with a cold and missing my son.

Happy Birthday, Lowell!!

Another two busy days have passed.

The trip to the guide dog facility on Wednesday was so much fun. We learned a lot about how the dogs are bred, raised, trained, and ultimately given to a person as a guide dog. The puppies need socialization, so anyone can come and play with them between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. several days a week. After around 8 weeks old, they are given to a family to raise before being returned to the facility between 14 and 18 months old. Then they spend an intense 6-8 months in training learning up to 40 commands before being paired with the perfect person to being their career. It's impressive. We were especially impressed with commands like "Find my car." Hey, we could all use a dog to do that!

There are only 12 centers like this throughout the entire USA. This one is the Southeast facility and serves people in all the southeastern states of the U.S. People with visual handicaps come and live in the dorm there for about a month, free room and board. During that time they are trained to work with their dog before going home with it. At that point the dog is their own forever. When the dog gets too old to work, the owner can keep it "retired" and get another dog for work. There is NEVER a charge for any of this! These facilities work entirely from donations, and the Lions Club is one of their biggest supporters. It's truly an amazing program.

In the evening, we had a great time going to the Lakeland Center for Young Frankenstein. That center is HUGE and includes an arena, a beautiful theater, a convention center, and a fourth space that I can't remember. It's outside of the main part of town, so it's surrounded by huge parking lots. Very nice. They set one of the big convention rooms up as a restaurant on show nights. We had a big buffet dinner. I ate only hot veggies and salad with cheese. Mostly because they didn't serve any fish, only three kinds of meat. I skipped the corn on the cob and the rice. Mark and I did share one piece of cake, but I tallied up all the calories carefully and still stayed within my allotment for the day. The show was a HOOT, following the movie closely. What really surprised us was that this theater only presents each show ONCE. It seems like so much work to set that staging up and do it only once. Oh, well...

Yesterday was also a great day. After attending my cancer support group, I spent the whole day at the pool. Mark and I ate lunch out, and we both ate appropriately. Dinner was at Lakeside for free wine followed by the movie In Time. We didn't care much for the movie, but at least it was free!

Today I have to get back to some real work in the house. Passover is coming, so today's plan is to reorganize the pantry to make space for the Passover food. I'm also cleaning the fridge, purging old stuff, and trying to make some room in there, too. It's pretty hopeless in there, I think. Mark shopped yesterday for the week, so there's more than usual. He's making a huge, gourmet dinner for SIX this coming Wednesday night at our home. We're excited about that, but the food is taking up sooooo much room in the fridge. Our plan is to shop on Monday morning for most of the Passover stuff up at the one kosher market in Longwood, then go to the Publix close by up there for some more stuff. Whatever we don't get Monday, we will go out next Friday to our local Whole Foods and Publix to get. Then we still have time to order online from Avi Glatt in NYC for the rest. That means I need to make space in this kitchen TODAY!

I was pleased with the weight loss for the week. I have dieted enough times to know that the first week is the easiest because a lot of water weight is lost. I walked 32 minutes yesterday at my fastest pace yet, almost a 20 minute mile. I went 1.52 miles in 32 minutes. I hope to get to the gym and walk today also. My calories have remained under 1500 each day. I'm very happy with the tight control I've been able to keep. Let's all pray I can keep it up through Passover, always a difficult time for weight loss.

So busy. DOWN 6.9 on Wed. morn!

The last post was Saturday, and here it is Tuesday night. I've barely had a moment to turn around in between. I've been to shul, practiced piano a half hour every day, practiced with the flutist, ate an appropriate amount of corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day, went to WDW for a ballgame and a concert, practiced more piano, cleaned up some areas of the house, met with the cantor to start a mini-choir at SOJC, went to Starliters rehearsal, practiced another song with another lady for a recital in April, exercised, walked, swam, and went to another Starliters rehearsal. Are you exhausted? I am!

The pictures today are from Sunday, our trip to the ballgame at Champion Stadium in WDW and fun with Barb and Al later at Epcot.

I have decided that Al and I are soul mates, in a way. He and I understand food addictions and binge-eating disorder. He has also dealt with many of the same issues. It was good to talk those feelings over with him at the restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes. (Great restaurant, BTW. Same as the salad place we went to in Cupertino!) Anyway, I am not alone. There are others out there fighting a food addiction. I just don't think there is enough out there to help us. Diet and exercise are two thirds of our problem. Sometimes, we are strong enough to work on those. There's certainly a lot out there about it. The mental piece is the third part, the one that is rarely addressed. I know Weight Watchers tries to help with it somewhat. People do try to psych you up at meetings to get motivated and to work hard. Certainly having a group to support you is helpful. It has worked for me very successfully twice, but it has failed me at least six other times when I joined and just couldn't do it. It was that mental discipline that I couldn't find that time.

I'm happy to report that I'm holding my mental attitude in line right now. I've been exercising and eating right. We ate at Subway for lunch on Sunday and I ate very well for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, nothing high calorie and no large portions, except for salad veggies! Tomorrow morning is Weigh-in Wednesday, and for the first time in weeks, I'm looking forward to the day.

Mark and I have an INSANE day tomorrow (I KNOW! Many of you are rolling your eyes and saying every day is insane in the Silverstein household!) because we have a two hour drive to the Tampa area for a NARFE event, a tour of a guide dog facility. We have to be there at 10:30, but we will get to pet the dogs! How cool is that? We will eat an appropriate Subway lunch before high-tailing it back to Solivita where the bus leaves at 4 p.m. Starliters has a bus going out to dinner and the musical Young Frankenstein in Lakeland. We won't get home until midnight.

So, don't expect much of a blog tomorrow! LOL! I promise to post my weight loss, though, because I'm going to be VERY PROUD of it!!

Playing Piano

I am practicing a classical piano piece again. Wow! I haven't done anything like this in DECADES! A friend of mine is revisiting his flute after a long dry spell, so he is taking lessons and is interested in performing a few pieces publicly. A few weeks ago, we went to hear him play a couple of Teleman duets with his teacher. He sounded GREAT! The other thing about Jonathan is that he has almost no eyesight left. He can see some things if they are very large and very close, so he looks at the music briefly to study it and then tries to memorize it right away. It's such a hard thing to do. I really admire his tenacity.

He asked me a few weeks ago if I could accompany him on a Faure piece. I said that if he had asked in 1972, I would have said SURE! Instead, I said I didn't know. I took the piece and I have worked on it a half hour each day for the last 8 days since I got the music. I have surprised myself really because I'm not doing too badly. My left hand has sort of forgotten what to do sometimes. I can play everything with the right hand, but not always with the left hand and definitely not always both hands together. Of the six pages, I'm good for the first three but making plenty of mistakes on the last three. Still, he came over this afternoon, and we practiced together for ninety minutes. Wow! It was fun. I'm not ready for a public performance, but he and his wife are snowbirds. They are leaving for the north at the end of April and will return in October. His idea is to find some time to play this somewhere in the fall, maybe October. I think I should have it pretty good by then.

He and his wife are joining us for the first seder on April 6. I invited them to come early so we could practice. Hopefully, we will find one more time together before they leave. I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to come close to playing this after only 8 days practice. I'm sure I'll have it by October!

I went out this morning at 8 a.m. again and walked 39 minutes. I walked a smidge faster, too. I have tracked my calories on the LoseIt app for three days now. I'm averaging about 1400-1500 calories. According to this program, this amount of calories would allow me to average a loss of 2 pounds a week and hit 200 by October 13. If I don't stick to it entirely through the summer, which is a HUGE possibility, I guess I'll still have gotten to 220 by mid-summer. My doctor will be happy if I hit 220. My appointment with her is July 17. According to this app, I will weigh 226 on that day, so I think she'd be really happy to see that. Of course, there are LOTS of opportunity to go off track between now and then. I hope I don't! I really like both the RunKeeper app and the LoseIt app. I find them very helpful and motivating.

I want to thank Debbie and Joan, as well as Evey, for their wonderful emails. I found their comments on my last few blogs to be very helpful and motivating. It's heart-warming to me how many friends I have who care so much about me.

Here is a part of one of the emails:
Becky, I was reading your blog and I totally agree with your daughter. It is terrible watching the weight go back up and I only have your best interest at heart. So.... I am totally astounded at how often you and Mark eat out. With portions being what they are in restaurants, anyone eating like that on a regular basis can only expand their waistline (except for Mark)

And here is some of the other email:
I am so glad that you and your daughter have the type of relationship where she can tell you things, and you are ok. That is great to have that love and respect for each other.

I would add my encouragement! You know that I know. I think Evey's points about eating out are well taken, I know that it always affects me. Having to do so much work training lately and meetings with the clincal users, I still carry my lunch bag to the sessions so that I can control what I do. Because I know that I will be out of control otherwise. Even when I think making wise choices when out, the places and menus often fool you with trying to describe things in a heatlhy way, that really aren't. But that is another discussion. You do have a dilemma now that you are able and entitled to enjoy life there.

I have TOO much to talk about.

Back on December 2, 2011, I wrote a very long blog. I even broke it into "chapters" for you to read in small doses. I sort of feel like today's blog could be like that, but I'm determined to keep it shorter, if possible.

Here are some short versions of what I want to say:
1. We loved the new lady doctor and will not switch.
2. My BP was fantastic, 119/68. Yay!
3. My cholesterol was OK.
4. My fasting sugar was higher than ever, 100. I usually get in the 80s or low 90s. The upper limit for normal is 99, so it's not far from that. In fact, the accuracy might be +/- a few points, making the 100 OK; HOWEVER, the new doctor did NOT like it. She is saying the weight gain is bringing on diabetes. She does not believe in "pre-diabetes." She says that on that day I was/am a diabetic. BIG UGH!
5. I was up 6 pounds from my last visit in December, which raised the triglycerides as well as the sugar. It just shows that I was eating out of control for those four months.
6. She said to join Weight Watchers and lose 45 pounds ASAP. She will be happy if I weigh 220.
7. Evey told me about a free phone app, RunKeeper. Fantastic! I used it this morning and walked 30 minutes at 8 a.m. with my Beatles music playing. I went 1.33 miles in 30 minutes.
8. I found a free app for the iphone called LoseIt. It's similar to the Weight Watchers app with three advantages that I love: 1) It's FREE; 2. Lots of foods are in there, including popular restaurants, plus there's a barcode scanner for products that aren't pre-programmed; 3) It counts calories not points; 4) And did I mention it's FREE???

When we left the doctor's office, I texted Evey the news, especially the bad news that perhaps diabetes is creeping into my life. She couldn't respond until much later in the day due to the time difference and her work schedule, but once again, she hit the nail on the head. I LOVE HER! I got her permission again to post her email to me. So here it is along with my response.

Evey's email to me:

I got your text message, but I didn't really have anything nice to say so I didn't respond right away. I think the best thing for me to say is that I'm glad you like your doctor, and I hope you listen to her. If you are pre-diabetic maybe that will spark you to lose weight. You have been gaining uncontrollably again recently, and I don't think you see any reason to change your lifestyle right now. I have to agree with your doctor about weight watchers. Or therapy of some sort. I think you really need a personal trainer or a therapist or another outside person to be accountable to and work with you. You have shown you cannot do this on your own anymore.

I don't want to upset you, I just think it's good advice. I also think you guys eat out a lot. I know it's fun and you're retired and you can afford it, but... just because you can doesn't mean you should. Making good choices is part of being an adult. And you guys do eat out a LOT even if you don't think you do. I bet any therapist or weight watchers guide would tell you not to eat out so much.

Anyway. I hope you can find something that works for you because I want you to be around and mobile and independent for a long time. That's not in your future if you keep up your current lifestyle.

My response to this email:
Thanks for the email. Everything you say is always 100% correct. It shows how smart you are, but more importantly, it shows me how much you love me and care about me. You do not mince words, and I appreciate that. I love you, sweetheart. Obviously, my brain tells me that if I lose the weight, AGAIN, I will live longer and be more mobile. Of course, that's the right thing to do. I KNOW I'm a food addict, like a drug addict or an alcoholic. I make wrong choices. Haha!! The little Bad Idea Bears are always with me!

Well, I told the doctor I would join weight watchers. They meet every Wednesday morning here in Solivita. There's no reason not to join and every reason to do it. Still...I don't want to do that. I want to have the strength to do my own thing the way I did before. But I don't seem to be very successful anymore.

I was so scared about dying from the hernia. I'd like to hope that fear of living as a diabetic with all of those potential complications will get me back on track.

The good news is that I did extremely well today. I had my usual breakfast, then for lunch I had some cheese, four walnut halves, some carrot sticks, an orange, and some blueberries. I ate that in the car as we drove to the ball game. Then we went to Denny's for dinner where I'm always good. I got even better because usually I eat the garlic toast. This time I said hold the toast, and Dad and I split his. Then, also, he always gives me his croutons out of his salad, so he told them to hold his croutons. I bet I saved 150 calories or more by eating only half the croutons and half the bread that I usually eat.

We do eat out a LOT. I know that. Dad and I have talked about it. We know we can cut back on some occasions, but other times, there's just no other options. What really has to happen is that I need to learn how to eat out and make better choices. That seems SO HARD for me, but it's the answer.

Also when I was losing weight seriously in '09, I walked five or six days a week. I have stopped doing that, so I need to get back to that. As it gets hot here, there is still the treadmill and the indoor track. There's no excuse for not walking except that I don't build it into my schedule. I used to do it on the way home from work and now I don't have that built in time frame. Well...no excuses, but that's what I think.

Thanks again for the email and the love I hear in it. This is the second time you have kicked my ass in an email. Never apologize or feel bad about it. I need it and you do it especially well!!

Yes, she can kick my ass especially well, and I love it. I have included some pictures of her and me from the last few years. Love you, Evey, and thanks for everything.

New Doctor Day and the ORIOLES!

I did not pay any attention to my diet yesterday either. I enjoyed the water aerobics and then played Mah Jongg. I had one of my best days EVER at Mahj, winning four of the nine games at the table, including two closed hands! Unbelievable. The weather was perfect yesterday, too, but I ate way too much!

Breakfast was the usual, 3 links and a yogurt for 200 calories, but I ate lunch out. I had a kosher hot dog (yes, we have a place here that serves Hebrew National hot dogs!) and ate the bun and fries. Mark made a fantastic, new Hungry Girl dinner of chicken in apricot sauce with broccoli and salad. Perfect. Unfortunately, I ate everything I could get my hands on during the evening as I watched TV. Mark was gone to a synagogue committee meeting, so I was alone grazing in the kitchen. That used to be one of my WORST habits. I should have watched all that TV in the bedroom. I used to find that I would not leave the bedroom to go to the kitchen to graze at night, but if I watched in the kitchen, I hopped off the couch at every commercial. So bad.

Still, I was down today over yesterday because of time of day and clothes. Yesterday, Mark didn't get the scale out until I had showered, dressed, and eaten breakfast. That changes everything. So yesterday I said I was 263.2 and this morning, earlier, naked, and without breakfast, I was only 261.5. I KNOW....that's still not GOOD. In fact it means I'm back to the weight of January 1 before I left for the cruise. I have undone any weight loss I had during the last two and a half months. Pathetic.

Today Mark and I have appointment at 10:30 to meet a new family doctor. Our other one left the practice over a month ago, so we are inheriting a new lady doctor who is taking over his patients. We are both just having a check up to get recent blood results. Mark is hoping his A1C is lower; I'm hoping my cholesterol is good. If we like this new lady, we plan to continue going to this practice. If she does not impress us, we are leaving because we have had recommendations of much nicer practices nearby. So...I'll let you know tomorrow how that went.

Tonight we will have a LOT of fun! We have tickets to see the Orioles play the Tigers at the Tigers spring training stadium in Lakeland. We did this last year with NARFE and had a great time. It's NARFE night again at the stadium, so we should have another wonderful time.

In between the doctor's appointment and leaving for the stadium, I guess I will have some fun in the house: practice piano (that's another story!), work on my jigsaw puzzle, read my new Faye Kellerman novel on my Kindle Fire. I hope everyone reading this blog also has great weather and a good day.

Iditarod!

This was the 40th running of the Iditarod. Last night, Dallas Seavey, age 25, made history when he was the youngest musher to win the great race. Mark and I are "Iditarod Insiders," which means we pay to have the entire race streamed to our computers. We watched the ceremonial start out of Anchorage and then the actual start out of Willow. Last night, nine and a half days later, the race ended with Dallas Seavey coming into Nome around 11:30 last night EDT. Nome is four hours earlier, so it was daylight there. The second place finisher, 41 year old Ally Zirkle, came in one hour later, almost to the minute. She had been ahead for a long, long way, so it was an exciting finish.

It's all about the dogs. We just can't get enough of watching the dogs run these races. One of the most fun things I ever did was go with Evey on a sled dog race in Juneau, Alaska. It was a sled built to run on a mud track in the woods, carrying 6 passengers and a musher. Then we got to play with puppies. That was a great day and wonderful memories.

It's Pi day! I know that doesn't mean you get to eat PIE, but just saying it makes me want to go get a pie!

Mark got the scale out this morning but not until after I had showered and dressed. I usually like to get on it right away, still, I still got on it before breakfast. As predicted, NOT GOOD. In fact VERY BAD!! I have gained another three pounds, 263.6. That's about where I was when I came back from the cruise in January. That's a gain for four weeks in a row, I think. I'd have to check that, but I sure don't remember losing anything lately. Well, I did eat a lot and never exercised, other than walking around WDW a few times. I really haven't done any of the things I know I should do, so there is no use whining about it. All I can do now is start over, yet again. Depressing.

I'm leaving this morning to join the 10:30 water aerobics class. It happens every weekday morning, but I'm trying to make a commitment to go on Wednesdays. One reason we have not exercised as much lately is that Mark has been sick with his cold for about a week. If he doesn't want to go out, I tend not to go out. No excuse, really, just a fact.

Day after Mark's birthday.

The weather for the concert by Jose Feliciano on Sunday was cold and rainy and damp, yet we enjoyed his guitar playing. I have to say his voice is sounding a bit old. Still, we enjoyed getting together with Barbara and Al for the concert as well as dinner at Mimi's.

Despite his cold still dragging him down, Mark enjoyed his birthday yesterday. We had a bit of a rush in the morning to get out to a Coffee Talk 9 a.m. lecture in the ballroom. This month's topic was water management. It sounded dry, but in fact, the speaker was quite interesting. We felt we learned a lot about the water management systems in Florida, and he gave us all a water gauge to take home for the yard to measure rainfall. Cool!

We then drove off to pick up Mark's comic books. This usually takes five minutes, but they were very crowded and had only one clerk. The twenty minutes that it took yesterday made us late for our lunch reservation at the Brown Derby. We were supposed to arrive at 12:45 for our 12:55 reservation. Instead we arrived at 1:15 and were not seated until 1:35. Still, once we got in there, we had fun waiting in the lobby. There are caricatures of famous performers from the early days of Hollywood in the lobby. These are copies of the ones in the original Brown Derby restaurant in CA.

The food was expensive, which we knew before we got there, but it was very tasty. Mark had grouper and I had a tofu noodle bowl. We both had the recommended wine pairings with them. Mine was a Fess Parker Reisling, which I actually enjoyed. Then they surprised Mark with a candle in a little chocolate mousse. We sang Happy Birthday to him. It was very cool. I ordered the signature dessert, Grapefruit Cake. I never eat grapefruit anymore because of the statin drugs, but the description said it was yellow cake with grapefruit flavor in the cream cheese icing. It was way better than that description sounds, but I still don't think that amount of grapefruit could upset my drugs.

Mark had wanted to ride a few of his favorite things, like Star Tours, and I wanted to hit a few shows we never get around to, like Indiana Jones and Little Mermaid. NOPE! Too crowded. We were shocked at the crowd. It was every bit as crowded as the worst summer day, but at least it wasn't hot. Fast passes, if they were left, were for too late in the day, and the lines were ridiculously long. Showtimes weren't convenient either. So we just walked around and took pictures of Mark looking shocked at the wait times. It was pretty fun. We ran into several street performances and watched some of them for a bit. Then it was time to head out.

As we were leaving, I was asked to complete a laptop survey on our dining experience. I had been asked to do something similar in Disneyland once, so now I'm complete! That was fun, too.

When we got back to Solivita, we had just enough time to go to the Marketplace Bistro and have Mark's favorite veggie flatbread for dinner. Then I was able to walk across the street to my rehearsal, and Mark went home to relax. When I got home, he opened his presents. What a day!

One amusing thing about the lunch was the price of the wine. Last year, when he turned 60, I took him to Raglan Road, the Irish restaurant at Downtown Disney, and bought him a $60 shot of whiskey. I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be one item for $61 this year, but the wine was $16. We joked about how it was an expensive five ounces of wine, and if we reversed the digits, it would be 61. Close enough!

I am not looking forward to seeing the scale tomorrow. My eating has been pretty out of control. I have gained weight the last several weeks, and I'm pretty sure tomorrow will be another big gain. Yikes. I don't seem to be able to put the brakes on anymore. I know I'm whining, but this is my blog so I can say whatever I want. LOL!

Jose Feliciano and 12 Angry Men

Going to services was a pleasure yesterday. We had not been in several weeks, so that alone made it a pleasure. Then to top it off, there was an Auf Fruf. For those non-Jewish readers, that's a bride and groom being called to the Torah the day before their wedding. I still remember going to Mishkan Torah in 1975 for MY Auf Fruf with Mark. That was just nice to see the happy couple up there. Our new rabbi is so skillful, too. He tied the Torah portion in very nicely to a new couple starting life together. His sermon/discussion was just SPOT ON for the day.

Then we stayed afterwards for the extra little Torah study class that one of the members leads every Shabbat. She is a retired Jewish educator, having taught for 42 years. She is very knowledgeable and teaches in a very down-to-earth, easy-to-understand way. I like it. In 10 days, she is having a knee replacement, so she will miss a few Shabbat mornings. Mark was thrilled to be asked to cover for her one of those mornings. He'll do a great job!

One thing she mentioned from yesterday's portion was the "recipe" for an incense that the priests were told to make for the temple service. She then talked about how scents can really bring back memories. So true! This morning, like all Sunday mornings at home, Mark made low-carb pancakes, scrambled eggs, and veggie sausage links. The kitchen smells of the pancakes cooking and that smell brings back my own childhood memories of my grandmother cooking pancakes on a Sunday morning. Such a nice thought.

In the afternoon we relaxed at home, and Mark slept about two hours. He's fighting a bad cold, and it's really sapping his strength. I had to finally wake him up at 6:10 because at 6:40 we had to head up to the ballroom to see the Solivita Players put on their Spring play, Twelve Angry Men. Neither of us had ever seen it before, and we were looking forward to it. It did NOT disappoint. Wow! There is so much talent in Solivita. We also like running into dozens of people that we now know. We ended up sitting next to a lady who sings in the Starliters with me. When it was over, we saw a lot of our neighbors. I just LOVE this place! There was going to be a nice reception after the show, but Mark was just not up to it. I really wasn't sure he was going to be up to going to the show at all, so he rallied for that, but then he had to get home and collapse again. I hope he doesn't give it to me!

Today, after this delicious breakfast, we are going to do some household chores. Mark might even build another DVD tower if he feels up to it. I'm going to balance my checkbook, always fun! In the afternoon we are meeting Barbara and Al at 4:45 in front of the American Pavilion in Epcot to see the 5:15 p.m. performance of Jose Feliciano. He is the first one in the Spring Flower Power concert series for the Flower and Garden Festival. Except for "Feliz Navidad," which I don't know if he'll sing in the spring anyway, I don't think I know any of his music! I don't care. Mark and I enjoy going to these concerts no matter who is performing.

After the show, we are going out to dinner with Barb and Al at Mimi's, a restaurant at The Loop. In Anaheim, we had a Mimi's across the street from our hotel in 2010. We ate breakfast there twice, but we never had the chance to have a dinner there. I think it will be fun.

So...time to stop typing and time to get to chores. Breakfast has been consumed; Mark is loading the dishwasher. Now it's time to balance that checkbook! OY! It never balances, but at least I try every month.

One more thing: Happy Daylight Savings Day everybody! Enjoy the extra hour of daylight this evening and think of Springtime.

How did it get to be Friday night already?

Rudy left Wednesday morning, and then Mark and I totally collapsed for the rest of the day. We had not intended to do that. We had planned to go to the gym for weights and a long walk. Then I expected to go play Mah Jongg at 1 p.m. Somehow none of that happened. We took a long nap and sat around reading, playing puzzles, watching TV. We had NO energy whatsoever. Eventually we got ourselves out to the Purim services that night, then came right back and went to bed! Neither of us has any idea why we were so worn out.

Thursday didn't go much better, but Mark did get my scale out. So the Wednesday weigh-in got moved to Thursday. It's BAD and then this morning was even worse! I was up one and a half Thursday morning (258.2) and another two and a half this morning (260.8). Of course, last night I did eat a lot. Sadly, this means I basically weigh what I did in mid-January, so anything good that I did during February has been erased. UGH!

We were invited out and the food was fantastic! Jonathan and Susan invited us to their house where Jonathan grilled a fantastic salmon outdoors. Susan prepared a masala deliciously spiced with cumin, cayenne, and other spices as well as fresh Brussels sprouts with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. She also had a fantastic artisan garlic bread. I brought a salad, and the whole meal was just unbelievably delicious. In addition, we all had several glasses of wine each, and I had a martini while Mark drank an actual beer, not a low-carb one. Crazy night, delicious food, wonderful conversations. Thanks Jonathan and Susan!

Today I slept in until almost 9 a.m., not helpful to getting much done! At least I had time to pay some bills and catch up on a few chores in the house before heading out to my afternoon mani/pedi and hair cut and color. That took three hours, but it's always so much fun. What we didn't do was exercise, no gym, no walk. I haven't been to the gym in over a week. That could help explain the weight gain.

Now we are chilling out after dinner and getting ready to watch an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise and the Big Bang Theory from last night that we missed. Tomorrow we will go to shul for Shabbat services, which we have not done in several weeks. Nice.

Rudy is heading home today.

Rudy is heading north today. His objective is to stay overnight in Fayetteville, NC and then make it home on Thursday. I wish him safe travels.

We sure had fun yesterday with him at Epcot. We took a TON of pictures, so I can only post a few of them here. Eventually there will be a huge Picasa album coming out by email. It includes 356 items. Most of those are photos, but there are also about a dozen little videos of various things in there. I hope to have that going around by tomorrow. The photos are up and I have captioned them. I just need Mark to read all the captions to look for any typos I missed and to add captions to a group of pictures from last night. There are a lot of pictures from their time at the Treasure Tavern, but I wasn't there. I have no idea what to say about them! If you are reading this blog, want the photo album, but don't get it, feel free to ask me for it!

Epcot was wonderful yesterday. The weather was a bit blustery, but in the sunshine, it felt great. Even though the Flower and Garden Festival didn't officially open until today, all of the topiaries and most of the beautiful plantings were already out and ready for viewing. The Sorcerer's Apprentice and other characters from Fantasia were some of the main ones this year.

We did a few rides, had a great lunch, and drank some wine. The guys did the Wine Walk, which is two 2-ounce glasses of wine from France, 2 from Italy, and 2 from Germany. I'm not a wine lover, so I took just a small sip from each of Mark's glasses. I only liked one wine from Italy. Rudy was generous and bought us all a large glass of that wine! I posted that picture here.

We've had a great visit with him. I don't envy him the long drive back north. At least the weather is warm up there as well. Tomorrow in Baltimore is listed as 73 degrees. Wow!

Today is Weigh-in Wednesday, but I have not weighed in. Mark hides the scale all week, but he got home so late last night and has been so busy this morning with cooking, laundry, printing things out for Rudy, and generally saying goodbye to his friend, that he has not had time to bring out the scale. Now I've already had breakfast and been up two hours. I don't think that weight will be accurate, so I'll probably weigh in tomorrow instead. I already know it will be very, very BAD. I can feel that I have gained weight. I have not been to the gym since last Wednesday. I have not taken any long walks, other than walking around Epcot yesterday. It's been a week full of great food, good company, and lots of fun, but that is not always a good recipe for weight loss. Yes, I can feel the weight on me.

Tonight is Purim. We are going to the synagogue for the Purim services and there will be Hamantaschen. We tried to find sugar-free ones on Tuesday. Some synagogue folks had suggested that BJ's had them, but they did not. We did buy some regular ones to take with us tomorrow night to dinner. We are invited out for dinner tomorrow night, so it seemed appropriate to bring Hamantaschen. There will be Hamantaschen at shul tonight as well as ice cream after the Megillah reading. Well, it's time to get back to my routine. I need to go to the gym today, take a long walk, and NOT overeat at shul tonight.

Rudy has now driven away at about 8:30 this morning. The Google maps says his destination is 560 some miles north of here, so he's facing a long drive. I hope it goes well for him. Now we will be awaiting our next two guests. Robin will be here April 2-7 and Frank will be here April 5-16. That way they will both be joining us for the first seder the night of April 6. Fun times ahead!