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I promise I'll throw in one or two WW related things into this post! In
fact, I'll start off with one: I did my weigh-in Sunday morning instead of Monday, since we were
leaving the house at 5:30 Monday morning and there was no way I was
going to be able to read a scale that early in the morning! Sunday the
scale said 220. I was pretty sure I'd be wearing those fancy
pants at the party Wednesday night, although I packed another pair just
in case. My trip was... unusual. There was a lot of stuff to do and I got a
total of 3.5 hours of sleep Sunday night. We got to the hotel and
started setting up the hospitality room, and I went to put out some of
the many, many dozens of cookies I had baked for this. where are
the cookies? They're at home, on the deck, being kept frozen.
All that baking, and the cookies are at home. most of them
will get packaged up for the Christmas Lights Tour next week, some won't
package well and I don't know what I'll do with them - hold them back
for company I guess. Okay, no problem, we'll put out the snack mix.
Hmm, where is it? There's a box of stuff missing, and it must
still be at home. Called a relative, who went to my house and confirmed
that yes, there was a box in the kitchen with the snack mix. And the
trays to put the cookies on, which wasn't a big deal since they were
still at home anyway. Okay, well I'd be buying stuff when we were out
shopping the next morning. I'm really not usually this incompetent. In
fact, to be fair, I was in charge of decorating the bus and there were *4* other people who were supposed to be loading the supplies onto the
bus and none of them thought to get the cookies, or the missing box. So
there - it's not my fault! Okay, well since I'm in charge I guess that
overall yes, it is my fault. But I'm not beating myself up over it. I
did, Monday night. I took it very badly in fact. But I'm in my happy
place now so everything's okay . Dinner Monday was at the casino
restaurant - ribeye steak special for $12.99 but wait! I have a coupon
for $6 off! Ate a little more than half the steak, asked for another
bun (got 2) and then sliced the remaining steak, put into the buns and
took it back to the room for lunch the next day. Went to the exercise
room and worked out on the treadmill and then went for a swim before
bed. Total sleep Monday night: 5 hours; 8.5 hours total over 2 nights
so far. Tuesday when I was with the group next I broke the news to them about
the cookies, and told them that we'd be buying stuff that day for the
room. Several of my passengers also bought stuff, and in fact we ended
up with much more stuff than we needed and I had to bring some of it
home. Insane! If you're in the US and old enough to do this then I highly recommend
going next year to Target's special Senior's Christmas Shopping Day.
The event was a little quieter at our usual Target this year, mostly
because their carolers had a schedule conflict. It's a very nice event - you get 10% off your purchase, they have dainties and refreshments,
free gift wrapping and door prize draws. Sometimes they have goody bags
available when you leave the store, ours didn't this year. The drawback
is that it's only for something like the first 2 hours of the day,
meaning that it started at 8am. We were staying 45 minutes away from
the store, so we had to leave the hotel at 7:15. Another early
morning! Oh, and no I'm not old enough to take part in Target's event
on my own, but because I'm escorting a group of seniors I get in to it
too Lunch was the leftover steak bunwiches from dinner the previous
night, Dinner Tuesday was at the buffet where it was really hard to keep
even close to being OP since they have so many wonderful things there.
I'm finding though that even if I wanted to, I just can't eat the way I
used to - in terms of type of food or amount. This is a good thing!
Went to the exercise room and worked out on the treadmill and then went
for a swim before bed. Total sleep Tuesday night: 7 hours ;
Total over 3 nights: 15.5 hours. Wednesday I had morning meeting with someone from casino marketing, a
few other things to do, and then getting ready for the party that
night. Got up at 8am, so that wasn't too bad. Went for a late
breakfast (noon) and then spent about an hour decorating our banquet
room for the party. Played a little on the machines, got changed - yay,
the pants fit and look good! DF's comment on my outfit: "You look nice
dear". Took the dozen or so boxes of gifts and prizes down to
the banquet room and set stuff up on tables, finished just in time for
when my passengers started arriving. Had a great party - the food was
wonderful (traditional turkey dinner) and the casino totally outdid
themselves with the desserts. Last year we had trays with assorted
desserts on them and the guests got to pick one. This time they came
around with trays of pie - lemon meringue, strawberry cream and apple.
Then they came around with trays of brownies. Then they came around
with trays of carrot cake. And, they charged me $3 less per
plate than last year! One of the waiters, who has been there for many,
many years, came into the room while we were still setting up for the
party and told me that I look "hot" and that my outfit was "stylin'".
Now that's more like it! You have to remember this is a Native casino
and the attitude is a little more casual than say the Four Seasons would
be. Plus this particular waiter has been at the restaurant for more
than 10 years and we've established a good rapport. If it had been
anyone else I would still have been flattered, but it the comment would
have been inappropriate. Coming from Kenny, it was just cool. One of
the security guards was also flirting with me, which I found amusing and
kind of creepy. Anyway, got DF dressed up as Santa, had a security
escort through to casino over to the day care where they wanted him to
sit with the kids for pictures, and then over to the party where he had
to deal with 50+ seniors sitting on his lap. Sounds like fun doesn't
it? And a big thanks to everyone who offered advice on the Santa
padding - I still have some tweaking to do for it but it worked out
quite well. Right now he looks a little more pregnant than fat, but
I'll work on that over the summer. Cleaned up after the party, played a
little on the machines, changed and went to the exercise room and worked
out on the treadmill and then went for a swim before bed. Oh, shared
some wine with DF as it was the 5th anniverary of our first date. I was
looking forward to 7 or so hours of sleep but... The phone rang at 3:30 am. It was on of my passengers calling to let me
know that her husband was hemmoraging and could I please call the
medical people. Called the casino operator and asked for EMTs to the
room, got dressed, and went to her room. EMTs were already there and
things were well underway. Husband looked pretty good actually and was
in good spirits - insisted on walking to the elevator and out to the
ambulance. Casino provided a shuttle for my mother and I and we went to
the hospital (about 15 miles away) to keep the wife company. Got back
to the hotel at about 7:30am. Was due to get up at 8:30. Went to bed
anyway, slept until 9. Total sleep for Wednesday night: 3.5 hours;
total sleep over 4 nights: 19 hours. Got checked out of the hotel, spent a few hours at the casino playing,
having lunch and in more meetings, and then it was back to the bus for
the long ride home minus the husband and wife who had to stay back. I
stopped at US Customs and Immigration to let them know that I had 2 that
would not be returning with the bus, they didn't seem overly concered.
Okay, no problem. Mentioned on the return trip that anyone who was
interested in the Christmas trip for next year should call me and let me
know, I'd put them on the list and they could send in their $10 deposit
to hold their seat. I had brough my receipt book, and decided that I
could take deposits right then in they wanted. Between the cash
deposits from that day and the regulars who I know will send in cheques,
the bus for 2004 is already full. I can't believe it. I've never had a
bus full before the previous year even got back from the trip. Insane.
Looks like I might have to add another bus for next year! I got on the scale Friday morning and it read a gain of 2 pounds. I'm
hoping that will be gone by Monday's weigh-in, but I'm not going to
stress if it's not. I didn't drink nearly as much water as I should
have this week, and at least I know that I made some good food choices
and did work out every night. And for those that are wondering, the husband was discharged from the
hospital last night and they'll be coming home this weekend. The casino
has looked after them very well, including shuttling the wife to/from
the hospital whenever she wanted to go. The only unfortunate thing was
that the casino hotel was full on Thursday night due to a huge event and
they weren't able to accommodate the wife there for that night - they
did call around and found another local hotel (Econolodge) for the wife
to stay at. The Econolodge doesn't compare at all to the casino hotel
and didn't even had security locks on the door. They casino was full
for Friday night as well but managed to find her a room and she moved
back there with her husband once he was discharged. Because they were
without transportation they had to find their own way home - their son
was going to pick them up but he's in the military and can't leave the
country without approval and the approving officer was unavailable.
With the help of the casino they determined that they can take a Grey
Hound from another town about 30 miles away that will take them right to
Winnipeg, and the casino will shuttle them over to get that bus too.
Wonderful people at the casino. |
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Boy, what a time you've had & it's no wonder you've gained. Hope this
week is a little moresettled & you can get that bit of a gain off once
again. Wish you luck. |
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