Cruising on to Another Adventure

Logan is on his way back to the states. From the graphic on the left, you can see where Logan's Carnival Cruise ship The Inspiration is headed at 2:25pm EST. [Right click on the diagram and then hit your internet's back button to return to blog.] I was happy to see that Gustav stayed out of his path. I'll be happier tomorrow a.m. when he calls to say "I'm back!"

But the fun does not end there.

I understand that Bill and Logan will spend the day and night in Tampa and enjoy themselves at Busch Gardens. Me - I'm thrilled to have one more day to put the finishing touches on his room as he will be beginning school two days after returning. We'll be reunited on Sunday late afternoon/early evening and then on to two enjoyable days together as I took off next week to be there for him when he starts middle school. Now that's the adventure I'm talking about - Middle School!

Got That Monkey Off My Back

It has been five years or 60 months or 260 weeks - oh heck! - a long time since my marriage was dissolved. I'm not talking about when the papers were finalized. I'm talking about the day Bill and I walked out of court knowing it was over and agreements had been made and signatures given. Most interesting is that when the process first began 23 months earlier, we had sat together at what is called a four-way. No,nothing sexy about that. The players were Bill, his attorney Phil Sands, me, and my attorney Arthur Giorgini formerly my mother's lawyer in my parent's divorce. [Sidenote: Dad had me call him as soon as he heard what was going down.] At this conference, it was laid out what Bill wanted and what I wanted. In the end, it pretty much went down that way when figuring out time with Logan and final costing of both attorney's fees. If we would have agreed then, the money would have been divvied up between Bill and me not the lawyers. Anyways...

It has been five years of a cloud hanging over my head, my finances, my emotions, and anxieties. With the help of some loved ones, I was able to save some and borrow some more but finally get that monkey off my back. What a relief!

Bill & Logan are still away but Bill will come home to a small windfall. Irene and I are wondering how much will go to the new costs of Jets season tickets, a new car, and/or maybe a down payment on a house. What would I do with so much money? Oh, well, that is something I will have to work on when Dad hits the lottery. In the meantime, I am blessed with a job I love, a home that is celebrating its liberation from a matrimony-choke-hold, and the ultimate prize...living in a peaceful household with our amazing son. Looking back, it was all worth it!

I'm in the zone! (The green zone that is!)

I had a busy week with my lap band. On Tuesday I saw my doctor who scheduled me for a follow up on Friday. My port area has been a little sore and he wanted to make sure that my band hadn't slipped. It hasn't. I then met with P.A. Gabe to discuss where I'm at and if I should sneak in a fill. (Truthfully I was scheduled last Friday for a fill but I didn't think I needed it and was just as happy not to lay out another $100 for a fill.)

Good news - I was right. I did not need a fill. Gabe and I discussed how I am satisfied with three meals and that I don't have hunger pains between meals. [Right click on chart above and back button to return to blog.] He would prefer only three meals a day with no snacking but I did confess that I do a snack twice a day - one on the train and one after dinner - and he had no objections. I'm losing an average of one pound a week and that is what they look for. Now that I've added a daily 30-minute walk in the mornings (so far six days in a row!), this should up it between 1 1/2 - 2 lbs weekly. That works fine for me.

I did make a follow up appointment in October because even though it looks like I hit my Sweet Spot, this will change as I continue to lose weight. You might remember from an earlier post that as you lose weight, the internal fat pad will thin out and allow the band to loosen. Think of a ring and how tight it is when you retain water and when you lose that water how the ring slips around a bit. That's what happens with the lapband. It is at those times that you need to tighten it's hold on the stoma (top of stomach.)

It's been 4 1/2 months since surgery and over 5 months since I began the pre-op diet. And let's add the months before that when I first met this group back on January 9, 2008. For all these months, I've been waiting for the lap band to be at its most effective point. And here I am...at the Sweet Spot.

Back to my Walking Queen post: it's been six days since I turned a new leaf. The second I wake up, I take care of the animals, throw on some clothes, put on my iPod and I'm out walking. I try to vary it up each day. The first two days I went the same way just reversed it on Day Two. On Day Three, I laughed when I saw my 30 minute (okay, okay - 27 minute) walk took me only 20 minutes. No, I didn't increase my speed by 1/3 but made a left instead of a right and took a shorter street. On Day Four, I took Kris' advice of walking 15 minutes out. Well, that took me two blocks from a main road, so I added the two blocks. Round-trip that makes an extra four blocks. That ended up being a 37-minute walk. I'll perfect it eventually. The best piece of advice that I had in a long time.

Do it first thing in the morning and get it over with!

Genius! Pure genius!

"Cruise Logan Cruise" (Run Forrest Run)

Tropical Storm/Hurricane Gustav is travelling a similar path as Logan's 2nd cruise.

TOP PHOTO: Logan was stopping at the Caymans today (above 'b.') and on to Cozumel tomorrow (above 'a.')

BOTTOM PHOTO: That is where the Carnival Inspiration was today.

As many of you know I try not to borrow trouble. After all, my day-to-day living has enough troubles lately and I do not need to find unwarranted worries. That being said...I'm worried.

I wasn't really concerned until a colleague at work came out to say that Gustav is on the way to her Jamaica vacation spot. No worries for me there. Then I got a call from a Financial Advisor who is trying to get a client home from the Caymans and thought my department Meeting Services could help out. Hmmm! Little worries churning.

I casually call Carnival Cruises to see if they have any changes in their itinerary. Nothing at that time. Still uncomfortable, I call Bill's parents and ask if they've heard anything. They hadn't. We left off that if Bill calls them that they'd call me and let me know all is fine. No news yet.

So here I am sitting at my computer and pulling up the Gustav path map. Side by side on the screen I have the map of the Caribbean and the weather map Guess what? According to my observations, Gustav is only an inch away from Logan.

Another call to Carnival Cruises and I hear they're on still on schedule. I asked Iris -- my cruise guide -- if they'd change the itinerary. She said they would but only when Gustav would be closer. I asked her "isn't one inch close enough?" She laughed and told me a resounding "no." Funny thing - I wasn't joking. I did feel better though when she said it wasn't hitting the Gulf until Sunday. That was I felt better until I computed in that not only do I have to be anxious about the cruise but I can also be concerned about Logan's return flight. Yippee! I love cruise season! {{{heavy sarcasm}}}

Walking Queen

See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the 'walking' queen

Once again Super Mom a.k.a. my mom (translates to Mamma Mia)came to the rescue. After a nice conversation with my mommy, she pointed out such an obvious solution to me being so tired and having no energy after work to walk. Her suggestion -- hold on to your seats for this one -- to walk in the morning before I even shower. Am I that thick (again no pun intended) to not have come up with that on my own?!? So after putting the dog out and throwing on some capris, I hoofed it around the neighborhood for 30 minutes enjoying -- another seat gripper -- the "Mamma Mia! Soundtrack" that has taken over my auditory world.

Did you know that if you listen to this soundtrack again and again that you actually think you are in Greece and are expecting three hot older men to come to your side and either adopt you or get involved with you? Really. Ask my sister and mom who are also addicted to this enjoyable set of songs.

On the home front, I spent the afternoon with Tina's family and enjoyed a Sweet 16 BBQ for Lindsay six weeks early. Lovely time as usual. The kitchen is done with only one box left to unpack. It's something in my nature that stops me from doing this...but I promise to do It by tomorrow. What is that all about? Let's delve into that in my next blog but only if I don't get to it tomorrow. Until then!

One if by land, two if by sea...

Okay, I'm not Paul Revere but it was a good title. Logan has left for his cruise with his dad. At the same time the kitchen was finally completed. While he cruises through warm waters, I will be organizing the kitchen. Might not sound like too much fun, but I am so excited to clear out the living room from the boxes surrounding my arm chair. Hence, one by land and two by sea!

While he's gone I have only two things to do: organize the house for the new school year and work, work, work. It's a great opportunity for me to catch up at the office while everybody and their mother are on vacation next week. Traditionally Merrill Lynch executives take off the last two weeks in August.

I haven't really seen any friends recently as we all have so much going on. Kerry's mom is on the road to recovery but that puts stress on her free time. Kelly's busy trying to keep three busy children busy. Tina is trying to get through the days with full-time children around and taking care of all else including a big Sweet 16 party at her house. Michele is busy with baseball, tennis, and family activities. Karen is working and I'm not actually sure where she's at. All-in-all it will be nice when school begins again and we can reclaim some adult time together. I tell you if it wasn't for the great group of people I work with...I'd go batty. I can't say it enough "I love my department!"

Let me share an update on my banding experience. While Mom was up for two nights (one day), she joined me at the monthly lapband support meeting. I think she was impressed to see over 50 bandees (ppl)filling every seat in the house. Gabe-the-PA is the coordinator of this group. It's taking me a little time to get used to his no-nonsense ways but they are having their effect.

I think it was great for mom to see the struggles that I often talk about are echoed throughout the room. I walked away -- poor choice of word -- knowing that if I don't increase my exercise, I won't lose. My metabolism is so low that it needs to be jump started. I heard it from Mom, heard it from Gabe, and was most impressed to hear it from two successful young ladies who both lost of 120lbs in the past 15 or so months. These two ladies were overflowing with energy both positive and physical. I want that. I also realized that I haven't been drinking enough water nor eating enough food. So many little changes I have to fold into my life.

Tomorrow I'm setting two simple goals: drink four glasses of water and walk my local walk. I'll track these changes and let you know how successful I am by next Friday. Thanks for e-listening!

And as the summer comes to an end...

...at least for me and my young son. Logan is getting ready to enjoy a back-to-back cruise with his Dad. Thus ending our endless summer together. It's been a great 7+ weeks of him being able to relax and recoup from a hard year of 5th Grade. His summer was quite full: nearly six weeks of summer rec, two weeks in Florida, days playing with friends, awesome 4th of July party, another slew of birthday celebrations (his), and tomorrow we're off to the pool.

Now for me the summer was full of fun, stress, sun, stress, work, stress, and many nice days. The stress really stems from getting an old debt off my back and living in limbo as I wait for a kitchen. Well, here's the update...

The debt will be paid off on time - August 26, 2008. Whew!!! Can't take all the credit for it but it's nice to know that it is gone.

The kitchen is finished, well, I'd like to say it is. It's like 97% done. All that is left is a back board on a base cabinet, the exhaust fan cover being cut to fit, the discussion of the unhappy counter corners, and sanding a drawer to slide better. All in all, I am able to maximize my kitchen and be a normal person. Logan and I have spent some time putting away things from the living room that now seem part of our decor. After all it's been 5 months since I moved my food processor in to the corner of the room. And what's that - the Teddy Bear Cookie Jar doesn't belong next to the telephone table?!? I guess I'll have to find a place for it. Photos to follow in the next few days.

Another fine moment for this summer was having Mom once again up for a visit. I've been living it up in Mamma Love -- my own version of Mamma Mia! I got to see her when I dropped Logan down there for his visit, got to see her again when she dropped him back, will see her in a couple weeks as Rudi and Mom pass through NY for 2 nights/1 day and am very excited to spend the first Christmas in 13 years together.

This was just a quick catch-me-up blog. Stay tuned for updates on the latest with Living with the Band (Lapland that is.)

Who needs a kitchen?

It began with a stressful dripping and has now developed into an infinite promise of tomorrows. Each day I wake up thinking "today's the day." But now I ask myself "who really needs a kitchen?"

As I sit in my dining area, I look over at the beautiful new cabinets. When they first went up two weeks ago, I thought it was almost over. It's not. I'm waiting for the counters and back splash to be attached, paint to be painted, the microwave to be installed, the sink put in place, the handle-holes to be drilled, the exhaust fan to be put on, the crown molding to be nailed in place, and the switch plates screwed in.

I guess the trade-off for this never-ending wait is that I am dreaming of becoming the next Rachel Ray. I'm picturing omelets with chopped vegetables and fresh squeezed orange juice (wait-I'm not allowed to have orange juice). I can see Logan and me leaning over the counter looking at a cook-book planning out the week's menus. I'm picturing my bank account growing as we save hundreds of dollars on fast, processed unhealthy foods.

And now as I see the rain pouring onto the pool, I'm forced to wonder...is today the day? Can Marco deliver the counters or will we have to wait until next Monday when the rain is projected to stop?

The answer my friends to this simple reflection of who needs a kitchen...I do!

"It always rains in Southern Cali...Florida"

Swish, swish, swish. Drip, drip, drip. Oh...what's that...we've arrived in Florida? That's right, the windshield wipers are going again and again and again and a final (and fourth) time as we drive home from Tampa airport. Mind you that is an hour car ride not eleven minutes.

But that was the only damper for this mini-mom-vacation. I flew down with Logan (see Jetblue post below) to deliver him to my family for a nice two-week stay. Lucky Logan gets to enjoy being spoiled and entertained while I work full-time to get that monkey off my back as the lien comes due.

While I was there we swam, swam, and swam. One of the high points was enjoying the movie Mamma Mia! with mom, Kris, and Logan. We were singing Dancing Queen all the time. Logan and I actually made our own aquatic dance. Not sure if Abba was the influence or our favorite show Malcolm In The Middle's dance to Sway. Either way we were spinning, floating, jazz handing it, and having a simple blast in the pool.

Logan is staying on enjoying sleepovers at Aunt Krissy's, bowling, hands-on museum, beach, pool, card games, movies, and simple summer fun. Hopefully he is blogging so we can see what he's up to down there.

The weather was actually very nice and the rain does not last long...so I guess we'll change the title of this blog to "Dancing Queen..."

Jetblue or Not Jetblue...that is the question!

You might already have heard my Jetblue saga...if not...it's happened again. We have been not Jetblued rather Jetscrewed once again. You might remember back to a cold, wet, February 14th when Logan and I were frozen to the runway. After six hours on the tarmac -- translated to 4 Law & Orders, 1 Murder She Wrote, and some Seinfeld -- we made it to Florida for a 3:00 a.m. arrival. Or maybe you remember the next time we flew out to Florida where we were delayed four hours due to a crack in the JFK runway and arrived in Orlando close to 2:00 a.m. and Logan was starting Sea World Day Camp six hours later. And let's not forget when I finally flew from the Sarasota airport which is only 10 minutes (11 max) from Mom & Rudi's home. That time I was delayed in the airport for four hours because it was windy over Chicago. Well, here is the latest saga...

After going to bed at midnight, I woke up 2 hours 50 minutes later and took a taxi to the train station. Taxi was late but the company called and warned us they'd be late but assured us we'd make our 3:52 a.m. train. We were pleasantly surprised to see many people on this train including a detective friend of ours. We then continued with the AirTrain from Jamaica to JFK. It was then that the poop hit the fan. We waited on the baggage claim line from 4:45am-5:50am before finally getting bumped to the front. You see we had a 6:05am flight.

With only 15 minutes to spare we handed over our one suitcase and ran for security since we were told they would not hold the plane for us. We flew through security after I explained we had a 6:05 flight. Unfortunately the gate was not right there but the line for the shuttle was. We jumped on the shuttle for the one-minute ride to the just-being-built Jetblue shuttle. I handed Logan his boarding pass and told him to run to our gate (the last one of course-#22) and followed huffing and puffing behind. We made it with 3 minutes to spare and then sat for 45 minutes waiting to take off.

Once we landed, we found out our luggage did not. After a bit of gentle pursuasion and holding my ground, Jetblue's Vanessa agreed to have the luggage sent. It arrived at 8pm that night. Kris picked us up, we went home for breakfast, and ran to Target for Logan's new bathing suit.

[See post above for Florida stay.]

So far the feel is "not to Jetblue" for the next go-around. Until we got to Sarasota for the return. I walked right in and had one person in front of me. I spoke to the agent and saw a man in dockers and button down next to her. When I commented on how much I loved this airport, I shared my journey down and joked about previous Jetblue experiences. He kindly wished me a better time and thanked me for flying. It was a dream. No baggage lines. Very reasonable security line. Gate was once again the last one -- always is -- and bathroom had no line. A perfect return! I waited until almost everybody boarded before getting on line. Once again I saw my new friend and we began discussing airlines and my experiences as an airline brat. As I settled in my seat and looked up, I noticed the man standing there. I figured he was just jetting to a different location or travelling as a stand-by. I was right but he wasn't just a man. he was introduced as the CEO of Jetblue. Boy, did I laugh. Only I would be so outspoken and find the perfect audience for my light-hearted but serious complaints. Glad to say that I grabbed him after the flight and told him how great their children area was.

So the answer for me...for now.."to jetblue" is the answer. We'll give the new terminal a chance and see how it goes next time.