Tag Archives: Sugar-free

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FastPass+ or Slow, Frustrating Pass?

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Day 369 in my planning my way to meeting my pal Mickey

Today’s plan was put into motion at 11:01 pm Central Standard Time last night.  That’s when my Walt Disney World vacation became only 60 days away.  Disneyphiles will know that because I am staying at Disney’s Old Key West, a Walt Disney World resort,  I at that moment became eligible to schedule our FastPass+ picks.  (For those not in the know: FastPass+ is a system that lets you basically preregister for attractions and shows.  it allows you re sign up for three a day.)

If I hadn’t gone to the gathering to show love and support for a friend yesterday, I wouldn’t have realized that this was the case.  I would have gotten up at 6:00 am CST this morning and gone online to schedule FastPass+.   But a church friend who was there is going to The Happiest Place on Earth at the end of September and she made me aware of this particular fact: the system updates at midnight Eastern Standard Time which is 11:00 pm where I live,  (Thank you, Ann!)  So I started my scheduling at 11:01 pm and I finished at about 1:35 this morning.  zzzzzzzzz

Here’s my one gripe: even getting on it as early as I did, I could not get FastPass+ for Seven Dwarves Mine Train nor Toy Story Mania.  Argh!  Something is seriously flawed with the system…SERIOUSLY!  That is so-o-o-o-o frustrating!!

But even at that, I am very pleased with the selections we have.  Here they are:

FastPass+ for the Jarvi/Carmichael Clan

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 – Magic Kingdom® Park

  1. Peter Pan’s Flight®—9:15 AM – 10:15 AM
  2. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad®—10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  3. Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid—11:35 AM – 12:35 PM
  4. I’M VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT WE COULDN’T GET SEVEN DWARVES MINE TRAIN.

Thursday, October 15, 2015 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios®

  1. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith—11:35 AM – 12:35 PM
  2. Voyage of The Little Mermaid—12:35 PM – 12:50 PM
  3. Muppet*Vision 3D—1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
  4. WE REALLY WANTED TOY STORY MANIA.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 – Epcot®

  1. The Seas with Nemo & Friends®—9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
  2. Test Track® Presented by Chevrolet®—10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
  3. Spaceship Earth—11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  4. SERIOUSLY, WE CAN’T PICK TEST TRACK AND SOARIN’???

Sunday, October 18, 2015 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park

  1. Kilimanjaro Safaris®—11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  2. Festival of the Lion King—12:30 PM – 12:50 PM
  3. Finding Nemo – The Musical—3:30 PM – 3:50 PM
  4. I COULDN’T GET DINOSAUR IN A TIME THAT WORKED FOR US.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios®

  1. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™—10:05 AM – 11:05 AM
  2. Star Tours® – The Adventures Continue—11:50 AM – 12:50 PM
  3. Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage—1:30 PM – 1:50 PM
  4. ONCE AGAIN…WE REALLY WANTED TOY STORY MANIA.

I think we’ll get the chance to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  At least I hope so.

So that’s how it all shakes out, Dear Readers.  I am so excited; we are 1 month and 29 days away from out trip.  Woop, woop!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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Putting Myself Out There

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Day 368 in dealing with my hang ups on my way to meeting up with Mickey

OK, here’s the deal.  I have a nervous stomach.  I always have had it.  Today I am invited to a friend’s condo to help celebrate another friend.  I’ve never been to my friend’s condo before.  I have known about this event for a couple of weeks, so I thought I would be ready to go.  Now, however, my stomach is tied in knots, and I have diarrhea just thinking about it.  Whenever I have to drive to a new place, my system reacts this way.  I don’t know why.

When I was a little girl, my mom would wait to tell me we were going on vacation until the last minute.  Otherwise, I would become so excited that I got an upset stomach…every time.  Maybe this is the result of those early days.  I don’t know.  I just know it happens every time.

Today’s plan is to suck it up, get in my car and drive myself over to the gathering.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV  I believe that verse, so I am going to step out in faith and believe that God will guide me and be with me.   This does not come easy for me.  Fifty pounds ago, I would have found an excuse to not attend.  I don’t want to be that sedentary, closet eater (not eating closets, but hiding and eating) anymore.

I really want to attend this particular event, because I want to show my love and support for the Guest of Honor.  And once I am there, I know I will really enjoy it.  So, Dear Readers, into the fray I go!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Fuel and Motion

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Day 367 in my determination to reach Mickey in a healthier state (2 months and 1 day to go)

Today’s plan was to begin again: to eat healthier meals and snacks and to move more.

  1. I picked the best foods available to me today.  For instance, for lunch I had a Boca veggie burger, some mini-carrots and some grapes.  At dinner I made sure to include a salad of greens with our chicken and boiled carrots.  My snacks today: an banana and a Greek yogurt.
  2. Moving more was easy.  While I was away over the last five day, my office was carpeted.  So today I moved things back into my office, not all at once, but every hour I walked down to the storage area and moved a few more things back into my office.

I am tired and a bit sore, but it was a good work day.  AND I slept so much better last night.  Halle-J-lujah!  I am one grateful woman tonight.  I stayed sugar-free today, too.  I am going up to bed to fall asleep and dream sweet Disney dreams: Mad Tea Party, Journey of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast: Live Stage Show, Spaceship Earth, Festival of the Lion King and my very fave, it’s a small world.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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It’s Time…Again

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Day 366 in my quest to meet up with Mickey in October

Today’s plan is to begin again.  I am exhausted from five poor nights of sleep, but I am back home now after my trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  So tonight I will sleep in my own bed, hoping against all hope that I get a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow morning when I wake up I begin again.  One year and one day after I began this blog, I will begin again.  My goals are to make the best food choices possible (including getting back to sugar-free) and to move more.  Tomorrow I will move around five minutes every hour while at work.  I miss moving more, and now that my body is well on its way to healing, I am ready to move it more again.  So now just two months out from our trip to Florida, I am ready to dive in and immerse myself in healthy foods and more walking.

When I get to Walt Disney World, it will be what it will be.  But I am ready to take it seriously until then.  So whatever happens I will be in the best shape that I can be…for the age that I am…in the condition that I am in.  🙂

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Work and Play

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Day 360 in working toward a healthier me to meet Mickey

  1. Today’s plan was to up the physical activity factor at work today.  New carpet is being put in my office on Monday.  Mike and I are leaving town tomorrow evening (Thursday) for a family reunion in Michigan.  So I have been purging and moving things out of the office most of today.  My neck is sore, my back is bit achy, even my wrists and ankles are complaining.  🙂  But I have been VERY physically active today.  And, thanks to my rescue inhaler, I haven’t gotten out of breath and wheezy.  Yay!  I’m liking this new me, and I’ll like it even better when I am moving around more.
  2. On a side note: Be Our Guest, a restaurant at Magic Kingdom, opened reservations today for breakfast.  They used to only serve lunch and dinner.  I thought, “Great!  We can change our reservation for there rather than Crystal Palace, since we’ve already eaten breakfast at Crystal Palace.  We’ll try something new.”  Well, I should have been online at 6:00 am, but I didn’t remember until 9:00 am, so guess what…no reservations available.  Figures.  It’s a good things we like Crystal Palace.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Moving and Breathing

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Day 351 in working my way back to you, Mickey!  (Think The Four Seasons melody) Today’s plan is to firm up our grocery shopping list for our vacation in October.  This evening Jake and Eliza (our son and daughter-in-law) will come over for dinner.  While they are here we will finish up our grocery list, so I can send it off to gardengrocer.com.  It’s important to send the order early to get on their delivery list.  They only take X-amount of orders for each delivery day.  I hope to submit our list tomorrow morning.

Today we had a lovely breakfast at Eggsperience Cafe in Bannockburn.  They make a most delicious Eleni’s Egg-white Scramble: two egg whites with roasted red peppers, spinach and onion, served with fresh fruit and a piece of 9-grain toast with butter.  The presentation was beautiful for this healthy choice breakfast.

Then we were off to Great Clips for a $14 haircut.  I was in and out, before Mike had a chance to pay for his new swim suit at Dick’s Sporting Goods nearby.

Then I WALKED to Pet Smart at the other end of the strip mall to pick up an order of kitty food that I had ordered and paid for online.  I walked it!!  Thanks to my rescue inhaler, I actually believed I could make that walk, and I did it.  This is huge for me!  I walked it and kept drawing in deep, lung-filling breaths.  It was spectacular!  Mike moved the car to Pet Smart.  (Thank you, Honey!)

Finally we headed for Sam’s Club.  That place is huge!  I hadn’t quite recovered all the way from my walk when we got there, but I pushed on.  We picked up some things for my upcoming family reunion.  (OMGoodness!  I can’t wait to visit with my cousins again!!!)  We were in the store for about 45 minutes, and by the end my legs were giving out on me.  Mike ran to get the car, and I collapsed into my seat and cranked the AC.  (Don’t worry; I didn’t literally collapse.  I’m taking a bit of literary license for dramatic effect.)  😉

Dear readers, it is so-o-o-o-o good to have the energy and the lung capacity to move some.  Thank you, Jesus!!!  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Just the Everyday

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Day 346 on my way to meeting up with Mickey

Tonight we dine on delicious Weight Watcher’s Chili.  At lunchtime I had leftover pork fajita guts (sauteed green pepper, red pepper, onion and a few thin slices of pork tenderloin nicely spiced with lime juice, garlic, cumin and salt).  I didn’t used a tortilla, and it was still delicious! Oh, and I had 8 cherries for dessert.  For breakfast I had a piece of Ezekiel bread toasted with almond butter on it and some melon.  So that was my plan for today…to eat healthy meals.

Plus I re-read chapter three for my book group tomorrow night.  Tomorrow I’ll review chapter four, then I’ll be ready for our discussion tomorrow evening.  I recommend this book: “Getting Out of That Pit” by Beth Moore.  It’s very insightful.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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A Busy Day of Rest

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Day 345 in walking the straight and narrow on my way to meet Mickey

Today’s plan was to shop and then prepare a pot of Weight Watcher’s Chili to have a couple nights this week for dinner.  Then Mike and I will put together some pork fajitas for dinner tonight.

The groceries are bought and put away.  The chili is made and cooling to be refrigerated.  In just a few minutes, we will start on dinner.

We started out the day with worship, so it’s been a full day.  It takes time and effort to plan and put together healthy meals, but it is so worth the effort.  Mike and I both feel so much better eating more vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats.

Peace out, dear Readers.    Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Successful Planning

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Day 344 in planning my way to Walt Disney World and Mickey

Today’s plan–get my dinner menu planned for the week and write up my shopping list.  Mission accomplished.  It’s so much easier to stay on track when I plan a healthy menu, and then stick to it.  It also helps to eat at home as much as possible, because then I have control over the sodium and sugar amounts in my meals.

Some things on tap this week:

  1. Weight Watcher’s Chili
  2. Pork Tenderloin Fajitas
  3. Steak and Potato Cheesy Skillet

Yum, yum!!  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Disney Grocery Shopping

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Day 343 in marching toward Mickey

Today’s plan was to investigate grocery stores that deliver to Walt Disney World.  I looked at several possibilities, and then read reviews by Disney Vacation Club members who have used them.  The service that kept rising to the top is gardengrocer.com.  If you order 60 or more days in advance, then you receive a 10% discount on your order.  The delivery fee is a flat $14, but if you order more than $200 in groceries, the fee drops to $2.  There will be six of us eating for seven days, one to two meals a day, so we will definitely spend at least $200.

So now I just have to garner grocery lists from Jake & Eliza and Emi & James.  (my kids and their spouses, or should I say their spice?)  Then next week I will place our order online, and it will arrive at Old Key West on October 13th and wait for us to arrange delivery to our room.  I’m so excited!  Even ordering groceries for our vacation is exciting!

On a side note: I made some terrible choices today.  I drove home after work, but the cleaners were still at our house, so I drove to town, parked at the park and read for awhile.  Then I decided to pick up a coffee.  I went to Dunkin Donuts, and instead of ordering the iced coffee that I went there for, I ordered a Turtle Cappuccino Blast.  Surprising, I didn’t order a large like I used to do.  It’s a 90 degrees plus day here with 85% humidity, but that’s no excuse.  Then to add insult to injury, I stopped at Taco Bell and tried an order of their new Cap’s Crunch Donuts.  People, I regret it.  I feel so sick to my stomach from my unhealthy choices.  Gag!  But I refuse to throw up.  I need to experience this and remember how awful it feels.  So here I am, starting over.  Sugar-free from here forward…again.

I willingly, and with full knowledge of what I was doing, stepped into that pit!  I am not proud of that choice.  I am asking for God’s forgiveness, which he so freely gives.  I am repenting, realizing that by it’s definition, it means “to turn away from”.  I am turning away from sugar for the foreseeable future.

I move forward, not guilt ridden, but with hope for eating clean from here on.  Meet you at the Kingdom!