Trying to keep up with the weight loss wagon......yet again (new title, same journal)

[dvccruiser76]

Hi Sue! The decorations were just amazing this year. Maybe cause it was so warm, but I feel like they are getting back to the levels before the recession. There were poinsettias everywhere! We haven't done it in a few years, but we loved the Stitch breakfast at O'Hana! Too fun! Crystal Palace with the Pooh characters is nice too, but a little crowded and chaotic I think. There is so much to see walking around the BW, I bet your DS will love it! Fresh Market (can't remember if it is at Swan or Dolphin) does a really nice breakfast--no characters, but very relaxed and very yummy! They give a DVC discount I think.

Oh, I didn't realize that the Fresh Market was there. Maybe we'll grab a quick breakfast there one day on our way to either DHS or Epcot. Thanks for the head up

Aww this is the pic that I like from your signature. It looks so nice bigger on here where it's easier to see. You look great Rose

I can't wait to hear more about the tour. DS is only 2, but when he's older I was thinking about the sunrise safari. Maybe I'll look into this one too.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Soooooo, I am in a gluten free vegetarian funk. I know it won't last forever, but I am just having a day or two of feeling burned out on the whole cooking, not being able to eat what I want, having to spend a fortune on food, wanting to make homemade pizza crust with real flour, or anything with real flour for that matter, wanting real pasta, wanting, wanting wanting real food. Yep, just a little funk. I know the answer is to keep working on finding new things I like. And to keep planning. Reminding myself that I really am grateful for feeling so much better. Just grateful because I have a really good life. Not every day is going to be g-f perfection. But it's all good.

 

[dvccruiser76]

Soooooo, I am in a gluten free vegetarian funk. I know it won't last forever, but I am just having a day or two of feeling burned out on the whole cooking, not being able to eat what I want, having to spend a fortune on food, wanting to make homemade pizza crust with real flour, or anything with real flour for that matter, wanting real pasta, wanting, wanting wanting real food. Yep, just a little funk. I know the answer is to keep working on finding new things I like. And to keep planning. Reminding myself that I really am grateful for feeling so much better. Just grateful because I have a really good life. Not every day is going to be g-f perfection. But it's all good.

Hi Rose

I can only imagine that it's rediculously hard. I was crushed when I got gestational diabetes while pregnant and I only had to watch what I ate for 7 months. I can't begin to understand how hard it must be on you.

Don't worry, you deserve to be in a funk now and then

 

[Rose&Mike]

Hi Rose,

I am finally caught up on your report. I loved seeing all the decorations. How amazing some of the detail is. The safari trek looks like the coolest thing ever. I cant wait to hear more about it.

Thanks Lindsay! The safari was very cool. I am going to post some more later today! I got a little behind.

There is a family tour that we did when Tom was little. I don't know if you all would be interested in it or not, and I don't know how much it has changed. But if you want to hear more about it, let me know. We still talk about it.

Oh, I didn't realize that the Fresh Market was there. Maybe we'll grab a quick breakfast there one day on our way to either DHS or Epcot. Thanks for the head up



Aww this is the pic that I like from your signature. It looks so nice bigger on here where it's easier to see. You look great Rose

I can't wait to hear more about the tour. DS is only 2, but when he's older I was thinking about the sunrise safari. Maybe I'll look into this one too.

Thanks Sue! I love that picture. I have it as my fb profile pic right now. Are you on fb???
Fresh market has a nice buffet--I never got the buffet cause when I was losing I didn't want all the carbs, and now I can't eat all the carbs! But the juices were really good! They have a juicing station. I can't have the juices now either cause of the wheat greass---it's a touchy one with g-f. Might be ok, might not. But I loved it when I could have it! They do make some yummy scrambled eggs with fruit!

We were in there one time with this family that was so awful--their kids were sooooooo poorly behaved and the Mom was a screecher. The server would come over to our table and we would just laugh. It was so bad it was comical. Then we saw them later on a bus--and they were just as bad. I don't know whey I remember that...And their kids had all these weird names....but other than that, the restaurant is usually quiet and very pleasant! They also have an ice cream parlor at either the swan or dolphin that usually isn't as crowded as B&C. And Mike likes it better!

Hi Rose

I can only imagine that it's rediculously hard. I was crushed when I got gestational diabetes while pregnant and I only had to watch what I ate for 7 months. I can't begin to understand how hard it must be on you.

Don't worry, you deserve to be in a funk now and then

Thanks. It was a bad week, but I am feeling more optimistic!

****
Yesterday I made a lemon poundcake that tastes good! It doesn't taste like a "substitute" which so much gf stuff does. And no weird ingredients other than the brown rice flour.

And I finally ordered some pasta online. It will be shipped next week. I ordered cheese tortellini, butternut squash ravioli, spinach and cheese ravioli and a couple of other things. Yum, yum, yum! It was expensive, but we save so much by not eating out, that I think it will be worth it!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Day 4, Wild Africa Trek cont.

Let’s see where was I. After the hippos we headed further up the trail and the guides talked some more about the part of Africa we were in and the importance of rivers to the ecosystems, etc. After walking for a little bit we came to the next exciting part of the trip—the suspension bridge(s). For some reason I had it in my head that there was one bridge—I’m not a big fan of heights. But there were two bridges!

We were in the back again, so one of the last to go. Tom went first, then Mike, then me. I made the BIG mistake of telling the guide that Tom was not a huge fan of crocodiles. Ok, actually he is very afraid of gators/crocodiles. And of course it came back to bite me in the butt later!

Anyhow, here are some pics of the bridge crossing. It was pretty cool. I tried to look around and not just spend the whole time looking where I was stepping. Even if you fell, you were tethered in and there was a net below you. So what could go wrong?

This is me looking back at Mike.

Yep, that is crocodiles down there!

After the bridges the guide made this big deal about Tom and being a little nervous about the crocodiles. I really thought he was going to kill me! But the cool part, next we got tethered in and were able to get close to the crocs just like we did with the hippos. Again, it’s all boys in there. Less issues without the girls! Plus I’m not sure they want a bunch of baby crocs!

When we were finished viewing the crocs we hiked a little bit more and then boarded a special vehicle for the savannah portion of the tour.

We saw giraffes and most everything else you see on the savannah.

And these guys—who I really don’t think I ever saw before on the regular safari.

And cooler than cool—two baby elephants! A juvenile elephant was keeping an eye on them and the Moms were around too. I love elephants. They are so loyal.

This is a picture of the view we had when we stopped for lunch.

Lunch was great! Mine was slightly different, since it was gf and veggie, but it was still delicious! And I was even able to eat the chocolates! One of the chocolates had salt on the outside. I’d never had that before—yum! And the flower was edible too!

This is part of what Mike and Tom had:

This is part of mine—the hummus was yummy! They said the food is from Tusker House so I think we are going to go there next time we are at Disney.

The cookie is a macaroon—naturally g-f!

Another picture of the view.

After lunch we drove around the savannah a bit more and saw the cheetahs and the lions. It was a beautiful day so the cats were out in the sun. Eventually we headed back to the base and took a group photo and that was our day!

It was a really great tour! I think especially if you had a big group it would be a lot of fun. Mike and Tom loved it. I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it.

We hung around AK for a bit and did a few more things. On the way out a very nice cast member fixed our Tables in Wonderland card. We thought about staying for the parade, but knew we would be really stressed for time for our dinner reservations, so instead we headed back to the room to relax before dinner. My foot was a little tired and I needed to get off of it for a little bit.

There are more pictures on the disc Disney mailed us, which at some point I will upload and post a few.

 

[Rose&Mike]

December 24th--continued again!

Christmas Eve ended up being a very busy day for us. After the fun at AK we headed back to the hotel for some Sports Center and to get ready for dinner. It's a good thing I like sports, cause it was on a lot during this trip! Mike and Tom love talking sports and I often find myself singing the lala song in my head, which is what I used to do when they talked math.

It was one of those nights where I put on 20 outfits (or combinations) and wasn't happy with any of them. My foot was sore, so my shoe choices were limited and I was feeling bloated. I'm pretty sure I had a pre-drinks before my before dinner drink! Does that make sense?

We decided to take a cab, cause honestly the bus to MK from the Boardwalk resorts is just not fun. And I was a little stressed out. We got to Grand Floridian and walked around and looked at the decorations for a bit. The Grand Floridian is beautiful. And I used to think I wanted to stay there. And maybe someday when the DVC is open, but at this point I prefer BW or BC or even OKW for that matter! I like to visit the GF, but I’m happy to go back to my resort afterwards!

Here are some holiday decorations. The resort was gorgeous! The gingerbread house—amazing!

The tree

The jazz band—which was lovely!

The gingerbread house.

It was so decorated it was almost over the top!

We decided to head into the lounge for a bit for a pre-dinner drink. We found a table and the server was so nice. She was from South Carolina—so we talked Carolina for a little while. There was this really loud group in the lounge (REALLY LOUD) and they kept making references to drunk southerners. And they were definitely not from the south. I’m sure they were Yankees. They were not being very nice and it was driving us a little crazy and the server too. I really was channeling my inner Brenda Lee Johnson (The Closer) and trying to think of some very polite yet snarky thing to say. But alas, couldn’t come up with anything.

It was finally time for our dinner. We were doing the character dinner at 1900 Park Fare. I can’t remember what it’s called. But Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and Stepmother were there. I know they all have names, but I cannot remember what they are. I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting dinner!

If I would have written this up sooner I could have given a blow by blow story of the interactions with the Stepsisters. It was hysterical. I can’t remember who came up first. I think the StepMom came to the table when Mike and Tom were at the buffet. Tom was not rich enough for her, but had potential since he was going to law school. The brunette Step Sister kept saying she saw him first. The redhead drug him across the restaurant to show her Mom and then pouted when her Mom said he didn’t have enough money. It was HYSTERICAL! The StepSisters kept yelling at each other across the room about who was going to get Tom. I wasn’t sure how Tom was going to react, but he really seemed to be enjoying it and went along with it. He posed with all of them. It was a really, really fun night!

The dinner is a buffet, so when the chef came to our table I thought he would show me around the buffet, but when he heard gf/veg he said, I’ll take of you, and that was the end of that conversation! It was pretty funny. I was not in the mood for dealing with the buffet and seeing all the food I couldn’t eat, so I was happy to sit and let him bring me a surprise dinner. I did ask him if the mashed potatoes were safe, and they were so Mike brought me a big old plate of potatoes! Yum! The chef also brought me an interesting dessert. Basically he took the prepackaged gf brownie and turned it into a little creation. Which was very nice! The brownies are not very good—c’mon I used to make yummy, yummy brownies from scratch! But it was edible and I enjoyed it.

So here are some pictures of Tom and the chef and my food!

Before dinner in our little corner of the restaurant. It’s not the most exciting restaurant, but it was a fun dinner! (That is some frizzy hair I have going on!)

Tom and Prince Charming. They had a nice little conversation.

Cinderella

StepSister

This is when she drug Tom to see her Mom, who was not impressed. That whole no money thing!

This Sister really liked Tom!

Here is my dinner. It’s a little messy. It was huge! I could not eat the whole thing.

Here’s my chef. He was a hoot!

Here’s my dessert. I love pineapple, so I enjoyed that big hunk of pineapple!

It was a really fun night! And I think it would be a fun character dinner to do with a big group. The StepSisters were so funny! I was howling! And Tom was such a good sport and I think enjoyed the attention. So often the characters just skirt by us, and I really think they spent more time with us than some of the younger kids. Lots of fun! And I really enjoyed my special dinner!

I will talk about the end of our long day in my next post.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I had to own up to the fact that my weight has slowly been creeping back up and I am not very happy about it. I am up ~6 pounds since this time last year. 4 pounds in the last month! So I am back on my fitness pal. I still don't have a good handle on calories of some g-f foods. So I eat too big a serving. Anyhow, my foot is doing ok and I am hoping with more activity and calorie tracking I will kick those 6 pounds to the curb!

Last week we ordered pasta from DePuma's in CT. They pack it and ship it in dry ice. It is really expensive--as most g-f things seem to be. I miss pasta. Not like spaghetti noodles, but pasta--like raviolis and tortellinis, etc. In order to have it shipped you have to order 5 things. With shipping it came to about $64.00. We ordered cheese and spinach ravioli, pumpkin ravioli, butternut squash ravioli, tortellini, and cavatelli. I think we will get 2 meals out of both the tortellini and cavatelli. One meal and left over lunch from each of the raviolis. It ends up being pretty pricy, but given that we rarely eat out (can't remember the last time) I am trying to see this as a treat, and still much cheaper than eating out.

Friday night we had the spinach and cheese ravioli with vodka sauce--YUM, YUM, YUM! So good. It tasted like what I remember pasta to taste like. Mike really liked it too. If you never had g-f before maybe you would notice the difference. But I haven't had pasta like this in a year and I thought it was fabulous! Right after I went g-f I found some cheese ravioli at Meijer, but they were yucky compared to this, and I haven't been able to find them again.

So if anyone is looking for g-f pasta I recommend DePuma's. They sell them locally in CT, but everyone else can mail order.

 

[dvccruiser76]

Thanks Sue! I love that picture. I have it as my fb profile pic right now. Are you on fb???
Fresh market has a nice buffet--I never got the buffet cause when I was losing I didn't want all the carbs, and now I can't eat all the carbs! But the juices were really good! They have a juicing station. I can't have the juices now either cause of the wheat greass---it's a touchy one with g-f. Might be ok, might not. But I loved it when I could have it! They do make some yummy scrambled eggs with fruit!

We were in there one time with this family that was so awful--their kids were sooooooo poorly behaved and the Mom was a screecher. The server would come over to our table and we would just laugh. It was so bad it was comical. Then we saw them later on a bus--and they were just as bad. I don't know whey I remember that...And their kids had all these weird names....but other than that, the restaurant is usually quiet and very pleasant! They also have an ice cream parlor at either the swan or dolphin that usually isn't as crowded as B&C. And Mike likes it better!


Thanks. It was a bad week, but I am feeling more optimistic!

No, I'm not on FB I spend so much time checking email and then hopping on the DIS that I'd never get any work done if I had FB to keep up with too

Wait, is that scrambled eggs with fruit in it

I'll have to check out the S&D when we go. We're going to Blue Zoo when we go so I figured we'd check out the decorations. Maybe we should go to Blue Zoo earlier in the week, so we know where things are instead of waiting until the last night.

Another great pic, you skinny little thing

I had to own up to the fact that my weight has slowly been creeping back up and I am not very happy about it. I am up ~6 pounds since this time last year. 4 pounds in the last month! So I am back on my fitness pal. I still don't have a good handle on calories of some g-f foods. So I eat too big a serving. Anyhow, my foot is doing ok and I am hoping with more activity and calorie tracking I will kick those 6 pounds to the curb!

Last week we ordered pasta from DePuma's in CT. They pack it and ship it in dry ice. It is really expensive--as most g-f things seem to be. I miss pasta. Not like spaghetti noodles, but pasta--like raviolis and tortellinis, etc. In order to have it shipped you have to order 5 things. With shipping it came to about $64.00. We ordered cheese and spinach ravioli, pumpkin ravioli, butternut squash ravioli, tortellini, and cavatelli. I think we will get 2 meals out of both the tortellini and cavatelli. One meal and left over lunch from each of the raviolis. It ends up being pretty pricy, but given that we rarely eat out (can't remember the last time) I am trying to see this as a treat, and still much cheaper than eating out.

Friday night we had the spinach and cheese ravioli with vodka sauce--YUM, YUM, YUM! So good. It tasted like what I remember pasta to taste like. Mike really liked it too. If you never had g-f before maybe you would notice the difference. But I haven't had pasta like this in a year and I thought it was fabulous! Right after I went g-f I found some cheese ravioli at Meijer, but they were yucky compared to this, and I haven't been able to find them again.

So if anyone is looking for g-f pasta I recommend DePuma's. They sell them locally in CT, but everyone else can mail order.

That's okay, my weight goes up every now and again and as long as you're aware you won't let it get too far out of whack Plus by sending in weights each week it keeps us somewhat accountable. Wait, I send my weight to myself

Thank for you the place in CT. A guy in my networking group told me he was GF, so I will pass that along to him. It sounds yummy

 

[Rose&Mike]

December 24 (cont again!)

After dinner at 1900 Park Faire we decided to head over to MK for a little bit. We hadn't been there at night yet, and we really just wanted to see the Castle Lights. We took the monorail which is always fun.

There were more poinsettia trees at MK.

Honestly, when we got inside we should have just turned around and walked out. It was about an hour before the electric light parade. We thought we could make it down Main Street, take a few pics and if it was crowded leave.

This is what Main Street looked like.

Mike did get a couple of castle pictures.

At that point I was getting very claustrophic and I needed a restroom! We tried to head toward Tomorrowland and finally made our way to a bathroom. I have been to MK lots of times, including New Year's Eve and the crowds were the worst I have seen them. And really the crowd control was the worst I have seen. Usually when it is that bad they have much better crowd control, but it was awful. We went to leave through a special exit near the ice cream parlor/tomorrowland terrace, and thought ok this will work. But it dumped you out on Main Street and the traffic completely stopped. People were pushing. Ramming strollers. It was pretty awful. It took us over an hour to walk in make our way down main street and then get out of the park. The security guards at the exit said it wasn't that crowded, that we should see NYE. We told them we had been there on NYE, and they were doing a horrible job with crowd control. A lot of it was very bad timing on our part, but really I feel like they should have closed the entrance if no one could get in or out.

We went back to the lounge at BCV, had a much needed drink, played some cards and watched some football. Once I got over my bout with claustrophobia I had a much better time. No more Christmas Eve at MK for us unless we get there MUCH earlier to get away from the nasty crowds.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Did anybody see the stuff in the news today about rice and arsenic? I have always been a little wary of arsenic--we actually stopped using arsenic treated lumber at out house (for outdoor stuff) a couple of years before it became an issue several years ago.

Anyhow, so now a new study is linking rice and rice products (including some baby formula) to high levels of arsenic. Why does this matter to me? Because the other thing they point out--folks on a special diet, including g-f also need to start thinking about how much rice they are consuming cause it is found in a lot of g-f products. So I checked and yep, I have already eaten at least two things today with rice/rice syrup/rice flour in it. I regularly eat rice for breakfast. And huge amounts of baked g-f products have rice in them.

I still feel like I am teetering on the edge when it comes to all this food stuff even after a year and now this. And there are lots of articles on the topic already. So what to do....Not over react, I know. But I swear, I really hate food sometimes. I hate going to the grocery store. I hate watching everyone else eat. I hate pretending that my g-f pizza tastes just as good as your really good pizza. I hate it that traveling is such an ordeal and I end up walking around hungry and cranky half the time.

I don't know who these people are that say--ooooh, I went g-f and life was perfect and I never looked back and I never missed real food.

Please....give me a break. I miss real food desperately. I miss not worrying about what I'm eating. I miss not having every meal out be a drama fest. I am sick of reading labels. Mike brought home a treat the other day and luckily I looked at it again before I ate it cause it had malt in it. And I tried adding g-f oats back in my diet--and ended up with a big old stomach ache!

I know it could be worse--it could always be worse, right? But I really did not want to hear about the rice/aresenic link today.

Thanks for listening to me whine.

 

[digiMom]

Anyhow, so now a new study is linking rice and rice products (including some baby formula) to high levels of arsenic. Why does this matter to me? Because the other thing they point out--folks on a special diet, including g-f also need to start thinking about how much rice they are consuming cause it is found in a lot of g-f products. So I checked and yep, I have already eaten at least two things today with rice/rice syrup/rice flour in it. I regularly eat rice for breakfast. And huge amounts of baked g-f products have rice in them.

Hi, Rose. There was a recent report about arsenic in apple juice and I freaked out, too, because my kids drink it almost every day. I think an important thing to figure out is whether it is something they refer to as natural/organic arsenic or the synthetic kind. Apparently natural arsenic is pretty stable and flushes out of our bodies pretty quicky. The 'bad' kind 'hangs out' in our bodies longer causing problems. That's how I understand it, anyway. So the first step is probably figuring out what type is in the products you're eating. If it's the natural kind, your health isn't compromised greatly, and you're not injesting it in large quantities everyday, it's probably fine... We can hope

 

[Rose&Mike]

Hi, Rose. There was a recent report about arsenic in apple juice and I freaked out, too, because my kids drink it almost every day. I think an important thing to figure out is whether it is something they refer to as natural/organic arsenic or the synthetic kind. Apparently natural arsenic is pretty stable and flushes out of our bodies pretty quicky. The 'bad' kind 'hangs out' in our bodies longer causing problems. That's how I understand it, anyway. So the first step is probably figuring out what type is in the products you're eating. If it's the natural kind, your health isn't compromised greatly, and you're not injesting it in large quantities everyday, it's probably fine... We can hope

Thanks! I am trying not to over react. I read three or four articles and unfortunately it sounds like they think it's the carcinogenic kind. The problem I think, is that the rice sits in water when it grows. Refined rice flour, syrup etc, is showing up in tons of food now as an alternative for folks with allergies.

I know there are countries where they eat lots of rice, so I am going to just watch this cautiously and see what happens. Interestingly one thing I read said that white rice is better than brown rice because the chemicals are found in the hull (??? outer covering) that is removed when it is refined.

I have just been really struggling the last couple weeks with the food, and I did not want to hear this today.

Hopefully this is just a media scare!

 

[Rose&Mike]

So last night, we tried another one of the DePuma's pastas that we ordered. They are made in Connecticut (I believe) and you can have them shipped. Anyhow, we had the cheese tortellini. Yum, yum, yum! Tasted like regular pasta. A week or so ago we had the butternut squash and it was a little too rich for us, but good. The cheese tortellini was perfect!

So if anyone needs g-f pasta, I highly recommend giving them a try. They are probably not technically vegetarian--I don't know about the cheese they use--but they fit my version of wheat free meat free.

 

[mikamah]

All caught up. Just what I needed this afternoon. The safari tour looked amazing. And you look so amazing, Rose. Really who else but you could pull off the harness for that tour. The Grand floridian dinner sounds like so much fun. I showed michael the pic of Tom and Cinderella and told him he need to meet some princesses on his next trip. The last couple trips he wanted no part of them, but his first trip at age 5, he was smitten with Ariel.
Yeah, Main St does not look fun at all in those pics, but the beautiful castle photos were worth the trip, I hope.

I'm sorry to hear about the arsenic in the rice. Like it's not hard enough to be gluten free and to have to worry about that too. That's great you've found some good pastas. If it's good and you like it, you are worth the splurge. Pumpkin Ravioli sounds delicious.

At work the other day we shared a gf brownie and I thought of you. It was pretty tasty, but different consistency wise, and pretty high in calories too. Guess all brownies are.

You better finish up the Christmas trip soon, so you can post the Princess trip quickly after you return. We absentee princesses won't be able to wait too long for that one.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Ok, so Kathy is right! I really need to finish this trip report. I already loaded the pictures for December 25th, so I'm going to go ahead and do that now.

December 25th

Mike and I got up and ran 3.5 miles around the BW/DHS area. It was all I wanted for Christmas. It was slow--run a minute/walk a minute, but good.

After the run we headed off to DHS. It was great! Not too crowded.

We took the boat to DHS.

And rode TSM.

Actually rode it twice. Here is the hidden Mickey in the queue.

We also did my favorite ride--TOT. Here is the hidden Mickey when you leave the ride and walk through the gift shop. I had never seen this one before. Mike found it.

After lots of fun at DHS, we headed for breakfast at Kouzzina's! I think they have the best breakfast on property. But they never seat us on time. It has become a joke. I definitely will not show up there early for a reservation again. Our server had some issues--in that we never saw her! But the chef was great and the food was fabulous!

I had g-f waffles and marscapone cheese. Yum, yum, yum! I had a really good coffee drink too, but can't remember what it was.

Here's Mike's breakfast. He can't remember what it was, but said it was really tasty!

Tom had the gluten version of my breakfast and loved it!

After breakfast we decided to head to Epcot for a bit and this is what we saw. It was a housekeeper Christmas parade.

They were singing Feliz Navidad. It was a blast! We were all smiling.

In the late afternoon we headed over to DTD. The stores were suprisingly empty, but the place was packed! I have never seen it so crowded. Folks were just hanging out and walking around, but it wasn't park guests. The weather was so beautiful, all of Orlando seemed to show up at DTD for the night. Folks were carrying around red dixie cups and drinking out of them--I wonder what was in those dixie cups? No one was buying anything. It was like being at the mall on a Friday night where folks just do laps. Before dinner it wasn't too bad. After dinner it was CRAZY crowded. Claustrophic--couldn't get through in places. Our server at dinner said he'd worked at Raglan Road since it opened and he'd never seen it like that before. We really enjoyed our dinner, but after the crowds the night before, we were just not up for more crowds.

So we had dinner and then headed back to the lounge at BCV to watch football and hang out. We really have to have better plans next year.

Here are some pics from dinner. We were at Raglan Road--right up by the stage. I wasn't sure how DS would feel about that, but he enjoyed it. My food was yummy. They made me a veggie risotto and brought out some g-f onion rings.

My drink.

Yummy g-f veggie risotto.

Veggies and g-f onion rings.

Mike had Shepherd's pie. He said it was good--but wished he would have got something else.

Our view of the stage.

I really do love going at Christmas, but think we have to have a better plan this year to deal with the crowds. I have tried being a little more laid back with the planning, but Christmas is just the wrong time to wing it.

 

[Rose&Mike]

All caught up. Just what I needed this afternoon. The safari tour looked amazing. And you look so amazing, Rose. Really who else but you could pull off the harness for that tour. The Grand floridian dinner sounds like so much fun. I showed michael the pic of Tom and Cinderella and told him he need to meet some princesses on his next trip. The last couple trips he wanted no part of them, but his first trip at age 5, he was smitten with Ariel.
Yeah, Main St does not look fun at all in those pics, but the beautiful castle photos were worth the trip, I hope.

I'm sorry to hear about the arsenic in the rice. Like it's not hard enough to be gluten free and to have to worry about that too. That's great you've found some good pastas. If it's good and you like it, you are worth the splurge. Pumpkin Ravioli sounds delicious.

At work the other day we shared a gf brownie and I thought of you. It was pretty tasty, but different consistency wise, and pretty high in calories too. Guess all brownies are.

You better finish up the Christmas trip soon, so you can post the Princess trip quickly after you return. We absentee princesses won't be able to wait too long for that one.

Thanks Kathy! Yep, g-f baked goods have a "different" taste a lot of times, but I am slowly getting used to it and it's becoming my norm. Some stuff is yucky, but some stuff is pretty good. Mike and I have both noticed that a lot of stuff is CRAZY high in calories. The bread we eat is 70 calories a slice and it's a teeny tiny little slice. Teeny.

I wasn't sure how Tom would act at dinner that night, but he really enjoyed himself. Mike and I were howling. Notice there are no pictures of us. Prince Charming and Cinderella were impressed that Tom knew how to stand.

I am so glad he loves going with us. He didn't want much to do with Disney between the ages of 12 and 16, but really likes going again now. I can't wait to take him and his friends in October!

 

[pjlla]

Hi Rose! I just wanted to take a minute to say HI and let you know that I try to follow your journal through my email notifications, but I don't always have the time to come over here and see the pictures, etc....but today I do!! I'm taking some "me" time to come over here and catch up with your journal and see your pictures!

I know you're away at the Princess Half right now. I hope you are having a marvelous time and I hope the run is wonderful and PAIN FREE!!

Look forward to hearing from you when you return!...................P

 

[pjlla]

Okay..... three hours later I am DONE reading the entire journal! I have tried to keep up over the past year, but I wasn't sure where your December trip report started, so I read from page one!! (Admittedly I stopped about 5:30 to make and eat dinner and then again at 7:30 to make and eat my evening treat!)

You don't do fish, right? How about canned tuna? I checked my recipe for tomorrow night's dinner and other than the tuna and a 1/4 C of flour, it would fit your needs. And the flour is just a thickener for the soup. I'll bet you could use cornstarch or potato starch instead.

Anyhow, if you have any interest in "Tuna Cheddar Chowder", let me know and I'll share the recipe.... and I PROMISE, it's better than it sounds!

Can't wait to hear how the Princess run goes!...............P

 

[Rose&Mike]

So we are back from the Princess Half Marathon and our visit to Kidani. I will do a more detailed report, but I wanted to get some thoughts down about the race.

I was stressed going into this race. And I was glutened. I got glutened the Tuesday before we left. My stomach felt yucky (kind of like the inside of my stomach/intestines was all scratched up and raw) and I was not sleeping andhaving some brain fog. I was trying to not deal with the frustration of how I got glutened--I will deal with that later.

This race was such a big deal to me--and I think maybe I had too high of expectations.....but the lack of sleep, food issues and recurring injuries just really caught up with me over the weekend.

We went to bed at a pretty reasonable time--before 9:00. The alarm was set for 2:30. At 10:00 one of our Kidani neighbors decided it was ok to let their kids run up and down the hall screaming. So I was up from 10:00 to 10:30 or so. And then awake again at 1:20 for good. I got up, flat ironed my hair, and put on some makeup. It's a weird habit I have gotten into.

I got Mike up at 2:20ish and by 2:45 we headed to Jambo house. We were kind of equidistance between Jambo House and Kidani's bus stops and weren't sure if they were sharing buses, so we just walked over and got on the bus. I was really getting excited at this point.

We checked our bag and headed to the gate going out to the start. We saw a bunch of our Wish friends and hung out until the walk to the corrals. The walk to the corrals was a lot better this year--cause we got an early start. No claustrophobia--so that was good! I used the porta pottie before going out to the corrals which worked great.

Mike and all my wish friends were in a different corral so we said goodbye at the corrals and I headed for mine. This girl started talking to me and I thought, oh good, I will have someone to chat with, but she was in a different corral too. Once I got to my corral I didn't really talk to anyone. I tried a couple of times, but it didn't work. There were two girls off to the side who were supposed to be in F corral...not quite sure how they found their way into the corral....

I thought it was pretty cool that Mrs. America had celiac disease and talked a little bit about gf and running. After hearing a couple of speakers it was time to get started.

The beginning of the run went really well. No feet or ankle problems. The 4:1 intervals were working well. But I was very emotional. I got teary eyed a lot. And I don't remember lots about the race. I just remember kind of wishing I would have started back with Mike. I am glad to know I "can" run by myself. I just don't want to. It really is, in my opinion, a lot more fun to run with a partner. When we hit the MK/Main Street I was trying not to just lose it. I was so close to just sobbing. I really don't know what was going on. I tried very hard to smile and remember that this is supposed to be fun!

And it was fun. But after all the injuries, etc over the last year, I just couldn't believe I was able to do this again. One minute I was so grateful and the next I was so frustrated when thinking about the challenges over the last year.

Around mile 7 my itbs started feeling pretty tight and by mile 9 it was hurting--both knees. At that point I was very sad. More injuries. More pain. More being sidelined--cause I know the physical therapist is not going to like this. Mike caught up with me around 9.5 and I started crying again. My knees were hurting, but I was very happy to not be alone.

The tough part of the race was coming up--all the ramps/overpasses/sloped areas. Once Mike got there I sped up a little--so relieved to have the company. By 11 my knees were really hurting. When we got into Epcot I thought I was going to have to stop and walk the rest of the way. Then some guy near us told his wife--no walking, promise???? Which kind of pissed me off a bit. Really--is it the end of the world to walk some? I had a faster time than several people I talked to who ran the whole way. I was hurting in Epcot and really wanted to quit, but I found a push at the last minute and ran hard over the finish line.

And then I really lost it and just started crying. I was so tired and so mentally exhausted. Still am. My life is great. Really truly. My problems are minimal. I truly believe that. But it had been a challenging year. I was proud and disappointed at the same time. Proud that I finished. Disappointed in my time. Disappointed in how exhausted I was. Disappointed and upset to be in pain again.

I pulled it together for the picture. And then enjoyed hanging out with other Wishers and enjoying some of the g-f snacks that Run Disney provided. I got to have hummus and crackers! Yum! Thanks Run Disney! And a glass of champagne!

We headed back to the hotel right when it started raining, so we were lucky and didn't get too wet. We had a poncho we shared.

Was it a good race--yes. Was it hard--yes. Will I do it again---I don't know. Maybe.

We decided not to do Marathon weekend, but we might do Princess again.

That is if I can even keep running. Back to the physical therapist on Friday.

And fwiw--I am really glad I ran in a tutu.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Pamela--I can't believe you read the whole thing! Were you bored to death? Thanks for the offer on the tuna recipe. I think I saw that you posted it on the recipe thread. I don't eat anything with eyes, except potatoes.

I made two new recipes this week. They were both in the March 2012 issue of Vegetarian Times. I looked online for a link, but couldn't find one.

The first was chili-lime glass noodles w/tempeh. I made it with red beans instead of tempeh. And threw in carrots instead of sprouts. We did not find the exact noodles but found similar ones. You soak them in hot water and then stir fry. It was really, really yummy and even reheated well. I bought a couple of different versions of the same kind of noodle at Whole Foods that I am looking forward to trying.

The second was leek hash w/ polenta and goat cheese. Yum, yum, yum! It used sliced polenta (premade) and was supposed to have fresh thyme, but I used dried. It reheated great too! And was so tasty! I had never cooked with leeks before. It was pretty easy, but man the leeks were dirty. We had to take them apart in order to get them clean.

So the cooking is going well. Before we went to WDW I got pretty glutened and that was the kick in the pants that I needed to get my act together. My weight is up a little bit and it's time to get things back in order.

And on the physical therapy front--I am working with someone new to figure out what triggered an itbs flareup at the Princess and I think we have figured out what is going on. Not sure exactly why it happened, but we have a plan and hopefully a way to keep it from happening again. I really like this girl because she really listens to what I tell her and I am feeling very optimistic that it can be fixed--hopefully for good this time!

I still have plans to do some kind of trip report from the race. We have a couple of good g-f food pictures. I am just feeling lazy.

My plan is to get my meal planning done today for next week and to actually be ahead for once!