Mark and Carol DAY!

My brother Mark and his wife Carol are arriving at the Kissimmee Amtrak station this afternoon.  We will pick them up for their first visit to our house, and they stay until Sunday afternoon.

Just to be clear to anyone reading who doesn't already know EVERYTHING about my past, Cindy, Kip, and Mark are my step-siblings, but I NEVER refer to them that way.  In my heart they are every bit as much my sister and brothers as my biological sister Flyn.  I have known them their entire lives.  I remember when each was born, many dinners in our house as I was growing up, and babysitting them occasionally.  When my dad married their mother, they ranged in age from around 10 to 16, I think.  I could not love them more.

We have a little challenge with Mark because he's completely blind.  He began losing his vision at age 12 when he was first diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosis.  It took him decades to lose all of his sight, so he was able to get his bachelor's and master's degrees in Psychology before that happened.  Now he lives a wonderful life of leisure in Myrtle Beach, a block from the beach, where he can go out and swim whenever he likes.  Carol, his third wife, is, in my opinion, the BEST WIFE!!  The whole family loves her, and I'm thankful that she is shepherding him onto the Amtrak train at 3 a.m. this morning to bring him to our house for this five day visit. 

We are going to take them on the Air Boat ride (pictures of him holding Fluffy, the alligator, will be here tomorrow!  LOL) and to Jelly Rolls at the Boardwalk to hear the dueling pianos show.  We are also hoping it's going to be warm enough on Friday or Saturday to hang out at the pool.  Still, I never realized how much what we do at WDW and other places relies on sight to enjoy. 

Friday night is Tu B'Shevat and we are hosting a seder for Mark and Carol, who aren't Jewish but should enjoy it anyway.  We are also having our friends Jonathan and Susan come over.  Jonathan is Jewish and Susan is considering conversion.  They have not been to a Tu B'Shevat seder before and Jonathan is also losing his vision.  He has very little sight left, so I thought he and Mark might swap stories.  We'll see.

There is a lot of fun and love coming up for the next five days. I hope to keep writing blogs, but with company, trips, Jewish holidays, and lots of hanging out talking, I don't know how often I will sit down at the computer.  If it takes until next Monday for me to get back to the blog, please accept my apologies! 

Meanwhile, yes, I haven't forgotten that it's weigh-in Wednesday. It's 266.4, the same as two Wednesdays ago and still up two pounds from when we went to go on the cruise. I have lost one pound since we got home on Friday.  Well, I have no one to blame...  Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch at the new Cohen's Deli. I had corn chowder soup and a hot corned beef sandwich on rye.  Fantastic, but probably loaded with sodium. I guess I should be happy I am not higher. 

I have to make a correction on something I said yesterday. I thought the whole hotel was kosher because it leads you to that opinion on the website.  I also thought there was a butcher shop like in the old store because their logo still says Cohen's Butcher and Deli.  Both are wrong assumptions.  There is no shop.  They said we can phone in an order 24 hours in advance and then come pick it up.  OK, but not helpful for yesterday.  Also they said they plan to open a store eventually.  Second, there is a Starbucks and an Uno Pizzeria in the lobby.  The pizza place had pepperoni and sausage pizzas on the menu, and I suspect they meant meat, not pareve.  So....I guess the WHOLE hotel is not kosher.  LOL! 

Still, the restaurant was great and quite a few people were there.  They have three kitchens: meat, dairy, and pareve.  When we went in to be seated, they asked if we wanted meat or dairy.  We wanted meat, but we also saw some people having pizza on the other side of the room in the dairy section.  It was really quite reasonably priced and delicious.  There were three ladies at the table next to us who did not seem to be having fun. I knew them from Solivita because one of the ladies sings tenor in the Guys and Dolls and Starliters groups.  She was the only Jewish woman of the three. I could overhear some of their conversations, and it didn't seem like their orders were done properly.  They sent things backed and complained about a lot of what they had.  I guess they won't be back.  In the restaurant's defense, our waitress did say it was only her second day working there.  The chef, who I assumed was working there a lot longer than two days, actually sent out a whole sandwich to me when I ordered the soup and half sandwich special, but they said just keep it at no cost.  That's the way to build a customer base, I think.  I happily ate the whole sandwich, and I thought it was GREAT! 

When we left the house yesterday at 10 a.m., we had an ambitious agenda of ELEVEN errands.  We got home at 4:30, drove 75 miles, and accomplished 8 of the 11 stops.  We just ran out of time and energy to do any more.  We are now going out shopping this morning for some things for Mark and Carol because that was one of the three errands we didn't do yesterday.  The other two stops, Publix near WDW and Whole Foods for meat we didn't get at Cohen's, can wait until next week.  We got enough at the Super Target by the Millenia Mall to hold us through Mark and Carol's visit.

To end today's blog, I have posted pictures of Mark, Carol, my Mark, and me in Florence, SC last summer.  We were met for dinner as Mark and I were driving up north.

Meeting for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Florence, SC.

Clowning around at the Penney's hat department!

Mark and Mark.  Or I could say M and Ms.

I think the guys look better in their hats than Carol and I do!

Bundle up if you're up north!  It's cold up there.  Brrr!  It's only going to 69 today.  Geez!  I'm sure no one up north wants to hear me whine about a number like that.  LOL!

a-shopping we will go

It's meat shopping day, and that's saying something in Central Florida.  Our plan is to go to the new kosher hotel near WDW.  The kosher deli, Cohen's, in Clermont, moved to the WDW area in October.  They bought an entire hotel, WorldGate Resort, and made it over to a kosher place.  The restaurant is kosher and there is also a deli and meat market.  We haven't been there since it moved, but it is a much closer drive for us now.  We are hoping they might have a bigger selection of stuff than they did in their old, small location.  We'll see. (For those who might be interested, here is a link to their website, http://kosherhotelflorida.com/)

If we don't find all we want there, we also have several Publix stores around the area, each of which carries a different selection of kosher products, a Super Target, and a Whole Foods.  The problem in this area is that you have to go to three or four places because each one only carries certain things.  So sometimes Super Target has a steak, or ground beef, or deli meat, and sometimes it doesn't; Whole Foods only carries poultry; Publix mostly has frozen food items.  There is no one single place for all the kosher food we need down here.  Sometimes we ship things down from NYC because it's just easier than spending a day driving over a hundred miles to hit up all the stores.  Today we blocked out an entire day for the driving around because we actually want to go visit the new Cohen's Deli in their new kosher hotel, so that's  making it a fun day.

Last night I was supposed to go to Starliters, which I had not been able to do last week due to the cruise.  Then around 5 p.m., while I was at the piano practicing the music, I got an ocular migraine. I now keep a diary of those migraines, so I know I had not had one since mid-November.  Usually they last about 20-30 minutes and just make my vision annoying, but occasionally they leave me with a pounding headache, nausea, sensitivity to light, all the classic regular migraine symptoms.  Yeah.  That's the one I got last night.  I laid down on the couch and waited to see how it was going.  Around 6:30, it was still bad, so I basically called in sick to Starliters.  I felt bad doing that because due to cruises and company and holidays, I'm already missing about half the rehearsals.  I have to work twice as hard at home to learn and MEMORIZE all this music.  I really can't afford to miss any of the other rehearsals.  Sigh.

Tonight is another rehearsal, so I just hope we get home from our shopping by 6 p.m. so I can have a quick dinner and get on up there.  It all depends on how many stores we have to visit to get our entire shopping list complete.  Wish us luck!

Inauguration Day

It's been 8 days since I wrote a blog.  I never wrote anything during the cruise because we were just having too much fun!  Many of you have already received the four albums from the trip. If you didn't get them and would like to see all the pictures, just shoot me a private email and I will send you a link.

The cruise was one of our best ever.  We had forgotten how fantastic the Disney cruises are.  We took the Disney Wonder in 2000 with Evey and Lowell and the Disney Magic in 2003 with Evey. It's been a decade since we did a Disney cruise.  It is a quality product!  Even if you don't have kids, or even think you don't like kids, I would recommend a Disney cruise.  The food, the staff, the service, the decor are all exceptional.

At the end of the blog I have posted a few pictures.

Of course, I gained weight during the cruise.  I gained about three pounds in the six days of the trip.  I have taken two of them off since we got home.  Still I'm pretty high.  I started this cruise already too high, so I really need to do something before the NEXT cruise in February.  Crazy. 

This morning I have an appointment with the radiation oncologist.  I have still been checking in with him every six months, but I'm hoping today he is going to cut that back to annual or even not at all.  I don't feel that I'm having any problems related to the radiation.  We'll see.  The worst thing is that I know I'm up about 8 pounds since I saw him six months ago and up 15-20 pounds since I was having the radiation in 2011.  That's embarrassing.  (OK, I'm finishing the blog after the morning's doctor appointment.  He said I'm fine, but he still expects me to come back in six months.  Sigh.  At least he didn't comment on the weight!)

I'm also thinking about Obama's second Inauguration today.  Four years ago it did not turn out on a Federal Holiday (MLK Day) so I was sitting in a classroom at Catonsville High School watching it with students.  I might miss more of it today than then because I'll be at the doctor's office, running errands, and playing Mah Jongg!  I have also been thinking about that weight because four years ago as I sat in that classroom, I weighed 322 pounds.  I could barely move.  That day I decided to lose weight and got down to 295 by April 8, 27 pounds in about three months time.  I'd love to lose 27 pounds in the next three months.  322 on Inauguration Day of 2009 and 265 today.  I guess I should be happy that I'm down 57 pounds in the last four years, but I know that it really means I have GAINED 50 pounds in the last two years.  (Update since it's now afternoon:  I won three games of Mah Jongg and heard the President's speech partly on the car radio and partly at home.  Now I'm waiting for the parade to start.)

Yesterday we had a blast going to the Canada pavilion in Epcot for the Winter Wonderland.  We had our picture taken with some characters, which I'll put up today also.  

Here's a picture of us with the characters in Canada and a few pictures from the cruise. Enjoy.

Duffy and Admiral Duck in the lobby atrium of the Disney Dream.

Mark and Duffy found our cabin.

Every princess needs a throne!

Sharing my drink special with Duffy at the Sail Away party!  Hm....is that legal?

Mark loves Sail Away parties, but especially ones with Disney characters.

A pelican friend in the buffet area, Cabanas.

Playing Goofy Golf while docked at Nassau.

I got a hole-in-one on this shot!

We played Foos Ball after golf.  Although I took an early lead, Mark won by one point.

At Atlantis

In line to ride the Aquaduck

We enjoyed the spa. Here's Mark using one of his salt scrubs in the medium heat steam room.  Very nice.

Very relaxed after the spa!

Dinner at Animator's Palate the second night.

Duffy is soaking up the rays on the beach at Castaway Cay.

The water was kind of cold, but it didn't stop me from swimming.

Aarggh!  Duffy is ready for the Pirate Deck Party.

I'm ready, too.

I think Mark is MORE than reaady!

On our last night, we splurged with dinner at Remy's, the special French restaurant.

Snow White was quite a talker!

I don't think my friend requires an introduction.

from Country Inn and Suites

I have about two hours to kill in the hotel before catching the shuttle to the ship, so I thought I'd write a little blog.

Last night's dinner at Grill's Riverside was amazing.  We both had blackened grilled tuna steak, which was superbly done.  It came with a delicious side of grilled mixed vegetables and creamy red skin potatoes.  The Parmesan garlic toast was fantastic.  We also had a piece of key lime pie to share and black coffee.  The bill for all that was only around $55 with tip and tax, which was thought was excellent.  I would highly recommend this place and want to come back in the daylight so we could see the river views.  It wasn't like Annapolis at all, in that it was more in the middle of nowhere, but there was a small marina attached.   We are considering having dinner there again on Thursday because it's not far from the Brevard zoo, which closes at 5 p.m. anyway.  That would be nice because it would still be daylight.

YEAH RAVENS!!!  Just had to say that.  What a game last night, wining in double overtime.  We saw some of it on the TVs in the restaurant.

This morning we had breakfast with four couples from our NARFE chapter who are going on the Freedom of the Seas this morning for a week's cruise to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, raising money for Alzheimer's Research.  We would have loved to have been on that cruise with them, but unfortunately, we found out about it too late and already had the Disney Dream booked.  They are planning another one in January of 2015, so we are holding that month open to join them then.

Meanwhile our shuttle is scheduled to take us to the ship at 12:30, check out is noon.  I am getting so excited!   Here are a few pictures from this morning to tide you over until I get back and can upload the rest. 

I took Duffy to breakfast with me.

We had breakfast with our NARFE chapter friends.

I look like I need some more coffee!

View from our window after breakfast.  Our Disney Dream is between the Carnival ship in the background and the Freedom of the Seas in the foreground. If you look closely, you might spot the red smokestack of the Disney Dream. 

We're on vacation, AGAIN!

I feel like it was just a month ago that I wrote almost the same blog.  Oh, wait...it was only a month ago. LOL!  In that blog, I said,  "Don't hate me!"  I still mean that.

Later this afternoon we will drive to Melbourne, FL to have dinner in a restaurant recommended by Florida Travel and Life magazine called Grill's Riverside.  It is on the Indian River with beautiful marinas and docks to stroll around.  It will be dark when we get there after Shabbat, so we are hoping it's still pretty to walk around at night.  It sounds like it might look a little like downtown Annapolis, which is always pretty at night.  I'll let you know.

After dinner, we will check into the Country Inn and Suites near the ships in Port Canaveral. It's the closest hotel to the docks and provides free shuttle service to the ship as well as free parking at the hotel for your car.  Throw in free breakfast and it's a deal that can't be beat. 

Sunday morning we are boarding the Disney Dream for four nights of magic, visiting Nassau and Castaway Cay.  In December, Mark was in a fetal position in the bed, after vomiting all night, while we were in Nassau, so we lost our shore excursion to Atlantis.  We booked essentially the same shore excursion again, a guided tour of everything over there.  Finally, on our fifth trip to Nassau, we are going to Atlantis!  (cross your fingers, knock on wood)  The only other stop is Disney's own island, Castaway Cay.  This is our third time to the cay, but it's the first time without one or both of our kids.  This time we plan to go straight to the adults only section and just relax all day on a chaise, read, swim, drink something with an umbrella in it, and chill out!  When we get off the ship on Thursday, we are extending our vacation by visiting the Brevard Zoo before driving home. 

The two stops are basically just interrupting Mark's fun!  For him, it's ALL about being on the ship.  He wants to do these things:
1. ride the Aquaduck, the big water flume that goes out over the ocean;
2. view all the Enchanted Art, art work around the ship that senses you are looking at it and then starts animating itself;
3. play the Interactive Detective Adventure Game that goes along with the interactive art and sounds a little like the Sorcerer's of Magic Kingdom game;
4. enjoy the Magical Porthole, "portholes" in the inside cabins that not only have a live video feed of outside the ship but also have animated characters swimming by waving at you periodically;
5. book unlimited use of the Rain Forest room, sometimes called Persian Gardens on other ships;
6. check out all the Adults Only bars;
7. eat at Remy's, the exclusive specialty, adults only restaurant on the last night;
8. dress up like a pirate for the Pirates in the Caribbean Deck party on the night we leave Castaway Cay;
9. watch the FIREWORKS on one of only two cruise lines (Norwegian just added it last week) that shoot off live fireworks as part of the Pirate party night;
10. play mini-golf on the Sports Deck, a special course designed by Goofy and his son Max.

These ten things don't even include the four nights of big shows, Disney movies in the theater, or any of the other many fun activities we will discover in the daily Navigator placed in our stateroom each night.  I don't think we can get it all done in four days!

As for my weight, I am boarding this ship UP a pound from when I LEFT the last cruise. Obviously, that is NOT what I should have done.  I got on the Carnival Valor at 261 and off at 263.5, feeling pretty good that I only gained two and a half pounds. I proceeded to lose them very quickly, too, but weight is tricky. It can find you again.  This morning I weighed 264.4.  There's just nothing to be said about this that hasn't already been said. I'm out of control; I've been out of control for two years!  I actually dreamed last night that my giant hernia popped out of my belly and that I had to have that surgery again, but I wouldn't go to the doctor because I knew he would tell me I was too fat to have the surgery.  Geez, actually been there, done that.  So sad.

OKAY!  Enough whining now. I'm on vacation and have lots to do today to get ready. I have to paint my own nails because my appointment last week was  cancelled when my technician got sick; I have laundry to put away; I have packing to do; and we have some TV to watch before heading out at 4 p.m.

Here are a few pictures of the Dream that I took in Nassau from the deck of the Carnival Valor.  A preview of things to come!  I am taking my camera (DUH!) and will take many, many pictures in four days.  LOL!  I will not upload them until Friday when we get back because we don't want to buy that many internet minutes.  There will not be a blog until Friday either unless Mark gives me some minutes!  LOL!  He might.  I put out some short blogs on the Valor, so stranger things have happened.

I hope you all have as great a week as I plan to have.  Bon Voyage to ME and MARK!

After being up all night vomiting and then going to the doctor in the morning, we came out on deck and found the Disney Dream docked next to us in Nassau.  It was the BEST he felt all day, just sitting and staring at the ship.

Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious

Hm...I hope I spelled that correctly.

Mary Poppins at the Bob Carr Center last night was wonderful.  It's been on Broadway for six years, although we heard that it's closing soon.  It was in London for years before Broadway, and we have finally seen it!

This was our first trip to Bob Carr.  Yes, it took a few minutes over an hour to drive there, but it was an easy drive.  The parking was only $10, outdoors, and an easy, short walk to the theater entrance.  The theater was big, but not too big, and Mark bought seats 30 and 31 in row K, which meant we were DEAD CENTER.  Best seats EVER!!  There was only one weird thing about this theater.  It had NO center aisle.  Really.  The theater is relatively wide, and the row ran directly across from one side to the next.  We entered ten minutes before show time and had to crawl over the 29 people who had taken their seats (1-29) before we got there.  No one seemed to mind, so that was nice.  We made a mental note to arrive MUCH sooner if we go back and have seats numbered anything bigger than 10!!

I had read a review of the show in the Orlando Sentinel, and I mostly agreed with it. The sets and choreography are truly the stars of the show!  The choreography for "Supercali..." and "Step in Time" are about the best I've seen, very complicated and very tightly performed.  Well done!  The acting is often over the top broad, but the director must have wanted it that way.  Most of the voices were great, especially the young man playing Bert and the lady playing the Bird Woman, who doubled in the role of Miss Andrew.  Unfortunately, Mary Poppins' voice was not all that great.  She had way too much vibrato for my taste, and it was a little shrill at times as well.  She looked the part, acted the part, danced like a pro, but her singing just didn't cut it for me.  The two children were cute, but it was often difficult to understand what they said, so we missed a few lines here and there.

I had forgotten there are many new songs written for the stage version.  I enjoyed most of them; Mark enjoyed all of them. I didn't care for "Practically Perfect," which featured Mary and the children.  In Act One, I didn't care for it at all, but the reprise in Act Two was better.  The character of Miss Andrew is not in the movie, but I bet it is in the book. I had heard there were some elements added from the book.  In general, we were really glad we finally had the chance to see it!

On another note, I also saw my opthamologist (retina specialist) yesterday morning.  I am FREE!  I mean that I have finally been released completely from any more follow-up visits after that retinal tear I had a year and a half ago.  Yay!  He said everything looked good and I should come back in one or two YEARS, or earlier if anything else goes wrong or concerns me. I'm glad I'm finally released from SOMEBODY!  Haha!  It seems once something happens to you, the doctor visits just go on forever.  I think that when I see the radiation oncologist next time that I will get released from future follow ups with him, too, because it will be two years since the radiation ended by the time I see him again.  Crossing my fingers on that one.

Today will be a charmingly relaxing day.  I am going to my Cancer Support Group meeting for the first time in a long while, and then I'm going out to lunch with a lady I met this year in Guys and Dolls.  She is driving and picked the restaurant, so I think it will be interesting and fun.  When I get back, if it's still sunny and nice, which it should be, I'm going to relax at the pool and read my book for awhile.  This evening will be spent at home, with some time devoted to planning the clothes I need to pack for next week's cruise on the Disney Dream.  Nice day!

Mark, on the other hand, is NOT having my relaxing day.  Sorry, Mark.  He has to drive nearly two hours to the Tampa area for a NARFE Board meeting, and when he gets home, he has to do the week's grocery shopping.  Fortunately for him, the shopping list is short.  After tonight, we are not eating at home for a week!  I think he is hoping to join me at the pool later this afternoon.  We'll see.

Same old Same old

I am referring to my weight.  This morning I am 266.5, essentially the same as last Wednesday.  No progress.  This sucks.