Some interesting odds and ends

Yesterday we bought two new shower heads and two new pieces of luggage.  I chose a 25 inch soft side spinner bag; Mark chose a 24 inch.  We had read that in Japan no one uses large bags, and taxis and buses are not prepared to handle large ones.  In fact, people will stare at those with large bags.  Also on our China Eastern flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai the checked bag weight limit is only 40 pounds, not 50 like on US domestic flights.  We have gigantic bags and regularly are very close to the 50 pound limit. I'm a terrible packer, always taking things I never wear.  

So we decided we need smaller bags and need to pack lighter and smarter.  We are going to use this Canadian cruise to practice for the Asian trip.  We shall see if it works!

Picking new shower heads is harder than it sounds.  We have had some horrible ones in hotels.  I tried to read reviews, but I didn't want to go to stores like Bed, Bath, and Beyond that are far away yesterday.  I didn't have time to order online.  So we only wanted to get what Walmart had, which wasn't much of a choice.  We finally chose a Waterpik PowerSpray+ with a 5 foot hose.  I don't think a 5 foot hose would be long enough if I really had to be seated on our bench after surgery or if I was infirm, but fortunately that is not now the case.  It looks reasonable, so we shall give it a try.  Abdul will install it when we are gone. I hope it's better than what we have now.

We will be going to shul this morning soon.  Mark is reading haftarah.  There's Yizkor to say, and we change from praying for dew to praying for rain.  That's always interesting.  Then this evening we will pick Jonathan and Susan up at 5:30 up and go back for the evening Simchat Torah services.  SOJC does a very interesting thing, which we've never seen.  I'll write about it tomorrow.  They also do a  make-your-own-sundae bar, which I plan to avoid entirely.  All of that will be for tomorrow's blog.

Finally, there's my weight plateau.  Oh, yeah, I've hit my first plateau since Memorial Day. I called it Friday because I had dropped five pounds in one week.  Here is how the last four mornings have gone.

Friday, 260 after eating 1100 calories Thursday

Saturday, 259.8 after eating 1315 calories Friday

Sunday, 260 after eating 1387 calories Saturday

Monday, 260.4 after eating 1375 calories Sunday

So except for last Thursday when for some reason I was significantly under the limit, I had a good amount of calories each day, I have just hung right around the 260 mark.  That's a plateau.  At this point in my weight loss, I am probably going to have to get more serious about adding in some aerobic exercise like walking.  The good news is that my joints aren't hurting and neither are Mark's.  In fact, this morning Mark's leg looks normal.  No swelling at all, and he says no pain.  He's planning to go without the compression stocking today for the first time in over a week.  So we both feel like walking can come back into our lives.  Haha.  Probably not today or the next few days because we are just too overbooked, but definitely on the cruise and on our shore excursions.

Last dinner in the succah last night.

Our dinner in the succah was wonderful last night and so was the show.  It was really nice to have some company over  We had bought a new table, finally, and it is a little bigger and far more stable than our decades old one.  It was easy to put six people around it and have room for all the food.  The sun was low enough not to be blasting us with too much heat and a breeze was blowing.  Delightful.

Lunch today is the last meal in the succah for this year.  It was a lovely season.

Today we are heading over to Walmart to buy some new, smaller luggage for the Canadian trip to practice packing lighter and smarter for the Asian trip.  I'm also buying two new shower heads.  The one in the guest room has never been great.  It's the one that came with the house.  We used to have it in the master bath, too, so I remember it wasn't great.  I replaced it when we remodeled our shower and put a hand held in. I did not choose a good hand held, so I'm replacing both of them.  While we are gone, our cleaning guy is going to install them for us.  I hope I pick good ones this time. It's so hard to know when you can't try them out.  I'm going to read up on them and read reviews this time.  I'd still like to get hand helds, but I want them to have strong water pressure with good coverage and have the same coverage and pressure when used as a hand held, too, without having to be difficult to make it be a hand held.  And also not cost a fortune.  Is that too much to ask?  I'll find out soon.

I was also right about my weight.  This morning I"m 260 again.  When you lose five pounds in one week, the body stabilizes a little. I had a day of about 1400 calories yesterday. I planned the dinner and ate right, no seconds, measured the portions, and did not cheat.  I'm hanging in there.  I'm kind of hoping for a pound off by Wednesday morning when I get on the train.  There are things I can do at the dinner (no roll and butter, the sugar free jello for dessert without whipped cream) to make that day work) and at breakfast (take hardboiled eggs and just eat a little of their cereal with it) to make Thursday work), so things don't have to get too hard until I get on the ship on Sunday.  With a lot of walking and being careful on the ship, I hope to stay the same for two weeks.  I'd be very happy with that.

Yesterday went well except for the horrible traffic.

My day went as planned, and the MRI went smoothly.  The tube at this imaging center seemed larger than at the other place because my nose wasn't just an inch from the top!  It was bright white and more light inside, too.  Definitely not as claustrophobic and yet I was just exactly the same size as last November, just a different location.  So that was all good.

I got out back in my car. It should have been a 35 minute drive home, but it was 5 p.m. so it was a NINETY minute drive home.  UGH.  I was tired and had to pee.  lol

Then we had a lovely Shabbat dinner in the succah.  It was a beautiful day.

This morning we are heading out to shul very soon for Shabbat services.  At 5 pm. two couples are joining us for dinner in the succah.  Then we all have tickets for a singing duo at the ballroom this evening at 7 p.m.  We have all heard them before and they are great.  It will be another wonderful day.

I actually saw 259.8 on the scale this morning.  I know that .2 is within the margin of error on the scale, so I could still be just 260, but it was great to see a little possible crack under that.  Maybe tomorrow it will be a little more down.

GOAL

I made my little goal of 260 for the brain MRI today.

It also means I lost five pounds this week, which is an amazing week.  It just goes to show that eating at home and never cheating works.

From my year of dieting in 2009, I noticed that a great week like this was often followed by a week of no loss at all.  If that week was followed up by a day that might include a meal in a restaurant, as this upcoming week will, then a week with a small gain could follow.  That's how an average weight loss of two pounds per week happens.  That works well in a year like 2009 when a week with a great loss is followed by a week with a meal out and no loss followed by another week with all meals at home and a nice loss and the cycle continues all year. That's how I lost 122 pounds in a little over one year.  Unfortunately, that is not the case right now.

This upcoming week will include a lunch, a dinner, and a breakfast on the auto train.  Lunch can be Subway, which isn't bad.  Dinner on the train isn't horrible, but it's higher than at home.  Breakfast on the train is nothing but carbs. They give you orange juice, bagels and cream cheese, cereal and milk, a heavy syrup fruit cup, and muffins.  Because of that, Mark takes his own nuts and cheese.  Last time we did this, I took my own hard boiled eggs and ate some of their cereal. I think Mark also ate some cereal.  If I'm smart this time I'll do the same.  Lunch and dinner on Thursday are then off the train, and at our control.

Today I have a mani/pedi in the morning, a bit over two hours of work in the library, and then up to Kissimmee for the brain MRI.  Then back home by 6 with Shabbat dinner in the Succah.  It should be an interesting day.

So busy. So much done.

Mark and I were busy, busy, busy yesterday.  We got up and just got going on little things that had to be done.  I worked on emails for the Cove Singers and several emails for the SOJC choir.  I also had to make copies of music for both choirs, order some music and accompaniment cds online, send some files out by email to people in the SOJC choir, and prepare for a meeting today with the accompanist of the Cove Singers.  GEEZ.  Sounds like I'm still working as a choir director!  lol

Mark was doing NARFE work and doing things about our personal finances.  We even went up to the Palms to fax a form to sell 18 shares of Disney stock to pay for the Shanghai Disney resort and our Chinese Visas.  We also got confirmation yesterday that our Hong Kong Disney resort has been officially booked and confirmed through DVC.  We are slowly ticking off all the boxes on the big Asian trip for next March.

Around 3:30, we finally headed out to do the other big chores.  We went to the Comic book store, stocked up on the usuals at BJs, got gas (great deal through BJs), and picked up a few items at Publix.  We were going to get new luggage at Walmart, but the traffic was just ridiculous the whole way down from the Loop, nearly an hour and 45 minutes to go what's normally a 40 minute drive.  It was 7:30 when we got home, so we had to make dinner and eat it in the dark in the succah.  Thank goodness for bug spray!

Today I will play Mahjong in the morning and then meet with the Cove Singers accompanist in the afternoon.  Tonight Solivita is showing the movie Oceans 8, so we hope to go up there for that later.

Meanwhile I'm sticking to my eating plan.  This morning I was 260.8, and I think I will make my goal of 260 tomorrow morning for the MRI in the afternoon.

Also this morning I'm starting the 50 mg Topomax morning pill.  I seem to be tolerating it pretty well. I had that one episode last Friday when my right hand felt like I was holding a cactus, but it only lasted a few seconds.  Earlier this week my left hand felt like an electric current was running through it, very tingly, but again it only lasted a few seconds.  I did feel queasy for an hour or so in the morning the first week that I started these pills, but that seems to be over.  I think I might feel a little sleepier than usual sometimes, but it's easy to just work through and ignore.  Overall, none of these side effects are that bad.  This morning when I take the 50 mg in addition to the evening 50 mg, I will be at the dose that I will continue until I go back to the neurologist on November 9.  This is a very low dose in general, but I have also not had a single minute of smelling smoke or an ocular migraine either.  In that case I would have to say the pill is working.  Maybe it's helping me lose weight, too.  I can't say because I'm doing all I usually do to lose weight, watching the calories and logging it all in.  I still feel hungry in between meals when I go longer than three hours between meals.  I might talk to the neurologist about upping the dose for weight loss if she would allow it and if I tolerate this new dose as well as I have been. My friend Barbara is on more than twice my dose just for weight loss and is very happy with it.

Down AGAIN!

Eating 1350 calories more or less, all at home, works!  Even I'm stunned that today I'm an even 261 this morning, down 1.4 since yesterday morning.  I know that I'll make my goal of 260 by Friday morning when I have to go to the MRI machine Friday afternoon.  When I had the shoulder MRI last December, I was 260, and I barely fit in the machine.  They say it fits people up to 300.  They always ask your weight when you set up the appointment, but it might be tall, athletic men.  It's not short, round women!  That machine was barely one inch away from my face.  I just kept my eyes shut the whole time in order to stay calm and not be claustrophobic.  I surely did not want to go there weighing much over 260 for fear of not fitting into the tube at all.  I'm also going to a different location, so who knows if the machines are even the same size!  Maybe I'll get lucky and it's bigger.  Hm...probably not.

We had a great time at services for the first day of Succoth yesterday except that the lulav and etrog order didn't arrive on time due to flooding in the Carolinas.  It actually arrived in the afternoon, so they will be there today.  We had a lovely dinner again out there last night because it never rained all day.  We will be heading back for second day services very soon.  Mark is reading Haftarah today.

Chag Sameach

First day of Succoth, so we are off to shul.

I ate very well yesterday and all at home. I'm happy to report that I'm down a bit over a pound a half to 262.4.  Super  happy for that.

Today I'm wearing my orange dress with leaves on it. It's very fall like, so it's perfect for the Succoth season.  It's also already feeling too loose, and it's likely the last time I'll be able to wear it. I was somewhere between 8 and 14 pounds more in this picture below. This is the dress that I wore to the July wedding in Buffalo and found the lady that worked in the hotel wearing the same dress!  So funny.  She also got it in her Dia&Co. box.

We ate a lovely dinner in the succah last night.  Mark ate breakfast in there this morning, but I'm eating inside so that I can type this blog at the same time.  After dinner last night, my friend Donna came over so I could coach her to try out for a great solo for Guys and Dolls. I hope she gets it. I worked with her for an hour, and it was so much fun!

In the hotel in Buffalo!

Leading kiddish last night for the first night of Succoth.