Back from the cruise and Weigh-in Wednesday

Let's start with the news almost too good to be true.  It seems that I lost weight on this cruise.  I don't know how or why because I sure felt that I was eating a lot.  I recorded that I weighed 267.9 on the Saturday before we left for Miami, and this morning I weigh 260.9, a loss of 7 pounds.

Two Wednesdays ago I reported a weight of 259.5, so that would seem to be a gain of 1.4 pounds for two weeks, but Thanksgiving happened, which added the extra pounds.  So even though I'm not back to the weight of two weeks ago, I'm happy because I have lost the Thanksgiving holiday weight and did not gain more on the ship.

In other news, I saw the shoulder orthopedist on Monday.  My MRI did not show a rotator cuff tear, and that was great news.  The doctor thinks it's the bone spurs from the arthritis that is causing the problems.  He gave me a cortisone injection and a booklet of exercises.  If exercise and cortisone don't help, then he recommended arthroscopic surgery to shave off the bone spurs.  Since the injection can take 3 days or so to kick in, I don't know yet if it's going to help or not.  I've had good results from those injections in the past in my heel and both knees.  I expect the shoulder will respond well, too.

Our Cove Singers holiday concert is tomorrow night.  We had a good rehearsal yesterday afternoon, and I was pleased that I could stand up over 90 straight minutes to lead the rehearsal.  Tomorrow it will be twice as much because there's a morning dress rehearsal at 10 a.m. and then the show starts at 6 p.m.  It should be a lovely event.

Today we are going to Susie's house to book up some shore excursions and dinner reservations on our New Year's Eve cruise on the Norwegian Epic.  Then I will finish my present wrapping and box up Evey and Eric's things to ship out.  Hanukkah starts next Tuesday night!  I need to get their things to the post office today or tomorrow so Evey has her stuff by then.

Then tonight we are going to the Lemley's house in Lakeland for the NARFE Board Meeting and Holiday party.  We are taking four kinds of delicious cheeses, Bacon-flavored Ritz crackers (YES!  They are kosher and dairy!), and a veggie tray with dip.  If I stick to eating the things we brought, I should be okay and call it dinner.  That's the plan anyway.

Now for the cruise. It was wonderful.  The weather was so great that we never felt any motion in the ship.  We had a pouring down rain the day we were docked in Roatan, so all the shore excursions were canceled and money refunded.  We did not buy any shore excursions for the entire trip, so that didn't bother us.  Our plan had been to walk out to the beach, but we didn't go onshore at all.  The only time we went off the ship was to go to Cozumel for shopping and lunch at Pancho's Backyard.  This was a relaxing cruise and just what we needed to interrupt our terribly busy life at home.  We just enjoyed all kinds of things on the ship like lectures, movies, the thermal suite, and trivia contests.  Of course, I booked this cruise in order to add another Ship-on-a-Stick to my "fleet."  We did it on the first trivia contest of the entire cruise, Morning Trivia.  It was about breakfast foods, and I won with a 13/20.  Those were some hard questions, and I was thrilled to win my statue right away.

Calling Lowell from these cool rocking chairs by the kids splash/spray zone.

Amazing Tile statues in the spa area.  We bought the unlimited thermal suite pass.

Sail Away drink.

Enjoying the view the first morning at sea.

My trophy!