Good morning, Baltimore!

We had a very lovely train ride up on Wednesday.  Everything was so smooth, and we came in ahead of schedule.  We even had a a bonus feature because when we got to the train station our friends Ralph and Phyllis Mollerick were there.  We spent the hour or so waiting to board having a fun time chatting with them.  We said our good-byes when it was time to board and went to our sleeper car.  It was a smooth train ride, great dinner.  We slept well.  I ate what I was supposed to.

The train arrived early yesterday morning. and even though our car came out as one of the final ten, it was only 9:15 a.m.  We did a little shopping at the Shopper's Food Warehouse across from the train and the kosher grocery store in Silver Spring then pulled into Cindy's driveway at 12:15.  That was the earliest we ever got to Cindy's house.  So very, very nice.

At that point we just jumped in to unpacking, eating lunch, paying bills, balancing checkbooks, taking naps, and generally getting all settled in.  Cindy's house is surely our home away from home, or as she said to us last week in an email "mi casa es su casa." She's not even here as she's visiting Jackie in WV right now.

Today we are doing a little Walmart run after breakfast and a few more little chores in the house.  With any luck, Cindy will return in the afternoon from her trip out to WV in time to see us before we head over to Lowell and Emily's house for dinner.  She will be gone again to Ken's house for the weekend before we get back from dinner. We won't see her again until we return from the cruise, so we might miss her until the 21st if she doesn't make it back by 5 p.m. today.  We are hoping she can make it back in time.

I did pack my scale, but I'm not happy with what I saw.  Last Friday I reported 260, a very happy five pounds down.  Then I reported every blog that I was holding steady on a plateau.  Actually I didn't write  down the fact that Wednesday morning before heading out to the train, I was down one to 259, so being 261 this morning is extra frustrating.  But there it is anyway.  My weight this morning is 261, an official gain of one pound for the week.

As an average, though, last week I lost five, then gained one this week, so I have averaged a two pound loss for the past two weeks.  Any weight loss group support system like Weight Watchers would be cheering me on. So I'm trying to cheer myself on.  Yay me.

The mentally sick me who does not have a normal relationship with food or weight is sitting here getting depressed over tracking every calorie, eating the exact amount allowed on my LoseIt app, and gaining two pounds in two days.  I just shouted and raged at Mark, who is not the source of my rage but takes it well anyway, that if I'm going to gain weight I'd just as soon do it by eating a big bag of Doritos and have a good time.  lol  Just joking.  Maybe tomorrow morning the pounds will be gone.  It might be the sodium from the Bacos on my salad last night.  I haven't had any Bacos in a long while.

Tonight we agreed with Lowell and Emily to make Shabbat dinner a healthy one.  We bought what looks to be very healthy, very bland chicken breast cutlets with no sauce or breading or anything.  Each cutlet is about 4 ounces.  We also bought something called a deli wrap that looked like a pastry roll up filled with corned beef and pastrami. It's one piece about four inches long by three inches wide that we will slice so that each of us gets about a one inch piece in in depth and about three inches wide.  That's a big unknown in calories.  We will have that with a roasted green veggie that Emily is making although they are using olive oil on it.  There will be wine and challah and no dessert.  I can make that meal work by taking only a small amount of challah like I do at home and not drinking more than a few ounces of the wine.  Unfortunately, they bought a bottle of a sweet white wine at a local MD winery that they are sure I'm going to love just for me to enjoy tonight, so it's going to be hard not to have a full glass to show my appreciation.  Usually I take two ounces of wine on Shabbat.  Tonight I'm going to program four to five ounces. Also that pastrami roll up thing is a huge unknown that will be impossible to guess and full of sodium, but my breakfast and lunch will be at home, very low calories, so I hope things will be ok.  Of course, that's what I thought about the lemon pepper cod on the train and look where I am this morning

So that's where I am and how things are going.  I haven't decided yet about taking the computer on the cruise.  Internet is very expensive on Celebrity cruises.  We have only 90 minutes each for free, and I don't know if I'll use it for blogging.  We shall see what mood I'm in tomorrow morning when we head up to NJ.  Sunday is the day we get on the ship. I'm getting very excited.

Simchat Torah amazement

Last night we saw such an amazing thing!  They unrolled the entire Torah around the social hall at SOJC.  It made big, loose, square around that huge room.  One person held the roller from Genesis and stood still as they unrolled it. It pretty much reached all the way back to that person when it ended, and then another person stood there holding the wooden roller at the end of Deuteronomy.  All along the way,  the congregants were given two paper towels to hold it up gently from the top.  The rabbi, cantor and all those who were going to read from it, and small children were on the inside.  Everyone holding it up with paper towels were mostly shoulder to shoulder on the outside of the circle.  Three or four people were farther outside because they did not want to participate for whatever reason.  Mark was one of those.  I thought that was sad because it was an amazing sight and feeling standing there holding it and watching everyone locate their reading and then reading.

The rabbi did a "Torah Tour."  He read the first sentence to kick it off. Then various people read a sentence on the way around the circle, and the rabbi translated it and put it into context.  The sentences were chosen well, I thought, to tell the story.  Eventually the last sentence was read.  It was an amazing way to celebrate the Torah on Simchat Torah.  Evidently our previous rabbi started this just a couple of years ago, but we had not gone to the night time service here in Florida before. In addition to this amazing site, they also did the seven Hakafot with lots of lively singing and dancing.  There were tons of enthusiastic kids and teens.  There was the whole usual evening service, three aliyahs read from the Torah, and a Sundae bar at the end.  I did NOT make a sundae.  It was a lot of fun.

Today we are not going to the morning services because we just have too much to do in order to head out tomorrow morning by 10 a.m.  Last night I made a To Do list for today and tomorrow and it ran two pages.  I have to get started.  Mark's list includes taking the succah down.  Mine includes going out to get a flu shot because I think it would be better to have it now than to get on a cruise ship in October full of over two thousand people without it.  lol

Meanwhile my plateau continues. I'm 259.8 again this morning after eating 1305 calories yesterday.

I will be taking my laptop with me on the trip, but there will no blogs for the two weeks while we are on the ship.  I won't write one tomorrow morning, but I can write one Thursday afternoon from Cindy's house.

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.