Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hot Hot Hot

Yesterday it was a blazing 92 degrees for the Memorial Day party. There were many many salads, burgs, brats and Bob's homemade ice cream for dessert. People pretty much cleared out around 8:15, exhausted from the heat. Thanks to Annette and Doug for the clean-up at the end.

I stayed up way too late playing my guitar and consequently got up at 10:30 today. 10:30!! I haven't done that in years.

So today was pretty much a waste: I finished tidying up the yard and did dishes and called my mom in advance of going down there Thursday when I thought I could take her to ODJFS to see why she doesn't get Medicaid. Also she has refused totally to consider moving to assisted living. I can understand this from a wanting to be independent as long as possible point of view. Moving in there is recognition that things are winding down. But she's fallen a couple times lately, because of dizziness from sudden bending over. And I know her doctor appointments keep my sister frazzled.

In a few minutes I'm embarking on some dinner: the Nicoise salad (green beans, potatoes, hardboiled eggs, olives, tomatoes with olive oil dressing) and a raspberry tart thing that has no crust and only 3 tablespoons of sugar in it. To go with some sockeye salmon that I found a very simple recipe for on the Epicurious iPad app.

Big storms on tap for tonight in advance of a slight cooling trend, which will be good for GNO tomorrow night at Connie Dipuccio's. Maybe I'll hit the Goodwill tomorrow for some appropriate tea party attire.

I did scroll through the Ohio Means Jobs website today but didn't see anything. I gotta start making lists of things to do or I will be WORTHLESS. Everyone just says take it easy for the summer, but I think if I can get through June without total panic setting in, I will be doing good.

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

whirlwind vacation

I left Sat. morning and the flights were unremarkable. Well, except that I got a text Friday afternoon that my flight out of Detroit was delayed an hour and a half. But that worked out OK as I would have had a 3-hour layover in Dallas which was then just an hour or so.

I got to LA and Anne picked me up at the airport. We went to a cantina and had some nachos and margaritas. Then she drove me out to Malibu to see some beaches and I was a very bad car passenger. One, driving with my kids always freaks me out and two, we were in California traffic on the 101. Or something. She is a really good driver but I couldn't help but jam my foot on the floor for simulated braking. Later we went out for dim sum at Bao. Then we got a bottle of Jack Daniel's Honey and a bottle of wine and went back to her place where we drank the wine.

Sunday, we had brunch at Grub, which is only 3 blocks from where Anne lives and across the street from Glen Glenn Sound. Which you old people will remember from every TV show in the 60s.

We left for Vegas about noon and I was a very bad car passenger until we got out of LA and on to I-15. The scenery is straight out of No Country for Old Men out there in the desert.

We checked into the Tropicana around 4. The whole place has been remodeled and the room was spacious and nicely appointed. We had a couple of drinks in the room and made a dinner reservation at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris resort.

We took a cab up to Fremont St. which is where some of the old Vegas casinos like the Golden Nugget are. But it has been turned into the Fremont Experience, with this big canopy over the whole street onto which is projected a light show with songs and a panoply of images relevant to the song, which in our case was American Pie.

Also up there were a man holding a poodle wearing glasses and an Irish hat with which you could have your picture taken, a balloon twisting clown, some zip line ride overhead, various vendor carts, etc. Overall, it was overwhelming. I lost my first casino money playing Texas Hold Em at Binion's. There is also this part called Fremont East that just looked creepy so we didn't cross the street to experience it. We took this agonizingly slow bus back down the strip to the Paris for dinner. By the end of the ride, Anne had had it with me and my attitude of whatever was wrong with me. I just couldn't get down with the experience. I don't blame her one bit.

We had scallops and steak Bearnaise and warm berry crumble at Mon Ami Gabi and everything went fine until I tried to pay with the only card I had brought for this outing, which turns out to be my AAA membership card, not my AAA Visa. Oh the embarrassment. So I have to take a fast cab back to the Tropicana and back with a REAL credit card. leaving Anne as collateral.

Monday was much better. We went down to the pool area around ten with some beverages from the hotel's Starbucks and lounged around. I got a sunburn just under my swimsuit top which I didn't notice for 2 days. We had some lunch at Cafe Nikki at the hotel, after which Anne went out for more sun and I went to the room to make a dinner reservation. About 6, we took a cab to The Mirage where we were seeing Cirque de Soleil LOVE. It's one of those phatasms of choreography and costuming and music and people flying through the air, all to Beatles music. It was unbelievable. We were in the front row so performers were right in our faces or swinging out over our heads.

We had dinner after at Il Fornaio at New York New York. Another example of how you have to take reviews at yelp.com with a grain of salt because people complained about the service and the small portion and the prices, all of which we thought were unfounded. We had lasagna and chicken cannelloni, both of which we polished off.

I told Anne people would be disappointed if I had not gambled in Vegas so we get $200 out of the ATM and Anne starts in on winning at blackjack. I went to a Texas Hold Em table where I was the only player most of the time. I lost a bundle. Fortunately, we cashed out Anne's $105 and went to gamble at the Tropicana. Where she continued to smoke the blackjack while I continued to lose. If I played at her table, SHE would also lose, so I went elsewhere. At 3 a.m., I had to go back to the room but she continued on and cashed out with $230. A man at a table I was at, upon me mentioning my daughter who was winning like crazy, said "Is that the stunning young lady in the black dress?" I was so proud.

Tuesday we got up and drove back to LA, where we went to the Griffith Observatory, from where you have a great view of the Hollywood sign and panoramic views of the various parts of LA. It was a lovely day. Later we went out to the Spanish Kitchen for delicious $2 tacos, like lobster and blackened halibut and pork. MMMMMMM. And half price margaritas. After which, we went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which has (spoiler alert) vampire mermaids, Keith Richards, a ton of sword fighting and Penelope Cruz. And at the end, an opening to POTC 5. Jack Sparrow had some classic lines. Including this, with Keith Richards as Capt. Teague:

Jack Sparrow: Have you been there?
Captain Teague: Does this face look like it's been to the fountain of youth?
Jack Sparrow: Depends on the light.

After the movie, I get a text that my flight has been cancelled for Wednesday. I call American Airlines and an hour later, I get a flight out at 7:20. I had to talk my way through the lines at security, waving my boarding pass showing my boarding time as 6:50 while now it's 6:40. Miraculously someone opens the cattle ropes and I'm through security and on the plane in time. And as you can see from these Google results, it's a miracle I even got a flight.

Overall, Anne did a great job of showing me LA while I was not the best guest. Like this cartoon. Her Hollywood apartment is spacious, with granite countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, which has both a shower and a tub. She has flowering trees outside her bedroom window.

At Dallas, I tried to offer my flight up for some of the people who had been at the airport for TWO DAYS and stay and see Karen Schaller but they declined my offer even though some of the standby people didn't get on the plane. THEN we get on the plane and out on the runway and have an hour delay because there are tornado warnings in Detroit. But finally we leave and I got home last night at 8:45.

Today, I did about nothing. It rained all day. I had coffee with a woman who also took the buyout at WTVG. I watched a bunch of sitcoms and this pretty hilarious movie on Netflix on the iPad called Trick 'r Treat.

I hope tomorrow will be more productive.

I filed for unemployment and got some emails and letters about it that I haven't dealt with yet. I have survivor guilt about work. I'm freaking out about not having a job, as I've had one consistently since 1968.

Big party Monday. Crystal Bowersox with the wimmens Sat. night. And then, dealing with my mom, who has fallen twice in the last week, once causing her to go to the hospital. I'm hoping she'll go for admittance to some care facility which I will explore in some trip down there after Memorial Day.

Adding pictures to this later. "Right," you say. "I've heard that before."
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Monday, May 09, 2011

Still flabby

My new eating regime has not made me one bit slimmer after one week. The dealbreakers: not walking 30 minutes a day AND still drinking. Less, but still. I like the eating part, though. It makes me feel good. I still haven't done the quantifying of the calories.

Tonight, I came home and raked up all those tulip tree blossoms and mowed the front then went to Ace and got a bag of dirt and patched some bare spots in the front lawn. WHICH I WILL WATER. There's a big dirt patch out toward the street where that sex offender with the barking dog next door piled his leaves when they were raked up in the fall that is dead. That's next.

Friday was the debut of Ginger and the Snaps at Howard's. We killed but no one will forward me a video of it so possibly it was not as great as people keep saying on Facebook. But there was much applause. Thank you.

Tried to book that room and Beatles Cirque show at the Mirage in Vegas but they said they were all sold out for that weekend. AND when I go online to Ticketmaster or the show's website, the closest I can get is row O which is the next to the top. I think I might just wait and try to get tickets at the Tix kiosk there. Still leaves us with no room. Gotta work on that.

Mother's Day, the kids checked in by phone and I went to Delaware where we ate at 1808 Bistro that I liked but my mom not so much. Although she did an entire 9 ounce Angus beef burger and a giant pile of fries. Then we went to the grocery for an hour where she bought surprisingly good food: beef for beef and noodles, strawberries, beets, bananas, stuff for mac and tomatoes. She declined my chicken noodle soup so I brought that home, still frozen.

Went to Optical Arts up on Central Ave. today and tried on many frames and settled on one and Thursday I have an eye exam there. They have this cool machine where they take pictures of you in various frames and then display them to you so you can see how you look in them, which is always an issue with me as I cannot see myself in the frames because I'm blind as a bat. I have been wearing my 4-year-old specs, as the last pair I got from the local guy in '09 were faulty. Which the woman at Optical Arts explained to me why. Plus I think I'll get those magnetic custom shades that are specially polarized. And I don't think they'll cost any more than the ones I got in BG.

GNO was fun at Deb's. Many attended and I held down the eating to a deviled egg and some hummus and carrots. June is a tea party at Connie D's.

Only 9 more days of work.
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Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Eating Day 4

It's unbelievable how much you have to eat to do this. I can't even fit in all the food I should be eating daily. And is that bad? Does it only work when you consume every bit of protein/carb/fruit-veg that's prescribed? And does it not work at all without 30-40 minutes of walking a day?

I do have to say I feel great, I'm never hungry and I am not coveting bad stuff. Tonight was GNO and while there were bowls of dips and pretzels and peanut M&Ms and banana bread and rumaki (which might have been OK), I had a deviled egg, about 6 cashews and some hummus and celery that I took and 1 10-calorie nut crisp with crab dip. So no more food today. For dinner I had chicken breast on one piece of bread with hummus and lettuce.

Earlier I had an egg, toast, string cheese, apple, yogurt, 3 triscuits, 1 T. pnut butter.

But I'm still not seeing those handfuls of flab around my middle disappear. But I will persevere. And try to do the walking. My life is so busy.

Next step is to get the calorie count on what I'm eating so I can make sure that, while it's all healthy, it's not 5,000 calories a day or something.

I ran across this from Yoplait Yogurt (and obviously Cheerios) that is about the same thing and includes a lot more dairy than I would get otherwise.

Cindy said tonight at GNO that she and Michael were on the Weight Watchers which has these tips for snacking that seem to be the same thing as the six meals a day snacks. She says it's no sugar, no fat, whole wheat carbs. And she's lost 10 pounds.

Ginger and Snaps flyer.
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Monday, May 02, 2011

It's not a diet

Amy and I have decided to research and implement the six small meals a day food regime. Basically, you eat a carb and protein and veg or fruit six times a day-- 3 bigger and 3 snack size. I'm on day 2 and the pounds are just melting away!! Well, not so much yet.

Mainly, this regime (1) makes you conscious of what exactly you're eating and (2) supposedly helps with maintaining your blood sugar at an even keel throughout the day.

For example, today I had:

Egg on toast and half a banana
String cheese, 3 triscuits, 4 giant strawberries
Half a chicken breast sandwich with lettuce and hummus, 6 grape tomatoes
Yogurt, 3 triscuits, an apple
Leftover stir fry with pork and veg, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, cup of steamed broccoli
Bedtime snack TBD

I would have eaten most of this stuff anyway except for all those fruits and vegetables. I'll keep you posted as I'm sure you're EXTREMELY interested.

Also, I see I only posted once in April. Maybe I'll post more once I'm out of a job May 20. The day after which I'm flying to LA to visit Anne, coming back the following Wednesday. I had a job interview at Hanson in Maumee for a project manager job. We'll see if I get a second interview. I suppose I should be looking harder for a job but I'd just like to have a month off. Is that too much to ask??

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