The Post Christmas Blahs.....

Another Christmas has come and gone...64 of em' for me, and frankly, they all seem to blur or morph into just a few....

We spent last weekend with son Hal, Lisa, and Grandson Kasyn, along with most of Lisa's family in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area...visited the Newport Aquarium, ate a meal along the banks of the Ohio River on the Kentucky side, then spent the next 20 hours at the Sharonville(Ohio) Radisson and Co Co Key indoor Water Park....a nice time, the motel and water park were our Christmas gifts from Lisa and Hal, and Patricia and I had a great time, she did especially with the K-Man at the water park....she hit big tube slides on a handful of occasions, I limited mine to one backward slide down, on the back side of the double inter tube with her.  In this case, once was indeed enough.

On the negative side{and there were several}....my neck seemed to get out of whack.  Not sure if it was from the side, the unfamiliar bed, or what?...but 5 days later, it is still out of whack...as is my
weight.  Here I spend from the Kokomo Vietnam Reunion until Christmas week, losing 13 pounds in 3 months, and {no shit} I gained half of it, a full 7 pounds, back in 4 days....and frankly, although I did eat more, and less healthy, than normal...no way I should have packed it back up to 195.

I have been doing well over the past 4 plus years....dropping down from my post {heavy} weight lifting days of 225 pounds, down to 180 in May of 2010...most of those lost in the period from September 2009, when I was discovered to have Pre-Diabetes 2 until May of the next year...nearly 45 pounds.  Back to weight lifting I went...then in 2012 on my 63rd Birthday, I was put under the knife and had Carotid Artery surgery on my neck's right side...eventually I went back to weight lifting and have been pretty steady with that...my weight popped up a bit, back to near 200 by the time Mid-September and Kokomo came around...determined to get back to 180, I began a not-so-radical return to a sane diet{perhaps too much dark ale and beer, but......

what the Hell?}, and was within my goal of hitting the 180 mark by the time I called my first pitch in late to middle March and the beginning of baseball season....this week's set back and next week's New Years Day get together at Rick's place in Indiana, has bumped me back a bit....but I am determined to make that goal....and see no reason not to do just that.

Christmas Eve was held at sister Marty's House....all those family members that were not in Florida, were there....Sam was home from Chicago, neice Mikki in from California, and the rest drove lesser distances from Michigan and locally....Hal, Lisa, and Kasyn, the 95 miles from Centerville...prior to heading across town, we had our gift opening at our house, with Anissa, Sam, Hal, Lisa, and K-Man....we then ate, drank, played cards, and watched the 3 youngest{mom's Great Grandkids} open presents and wear themselves out...before heading home.

Christmas Day we never left the house....and ate some more and watched the annual rite of passes "The Christmas Story" 24 hour marathon on WTBS....Sam headed back to Chicago land at 3pm{had to work yesterday} and Anissa was picked up about 8pm...the only other excitement was a young female cat ran in the house as Anissa was heading out....despite having a flea collar, nobody has yet

claimed her, and she remains in the garage area....another pet I don't want or need, but I won't let it starve either....that is not my way.

Today it's back to basketball for one day...working a Holiday JV Double Header up at Elida...game this afternoon, the 3rd place and championship games in the Junior Varsity division, a nice payday and early home....meanwhile Patricia headed to Centerville and is watching K-man for the day...and part of this evening, as Hal and Lisa will go out to dinner, with the gift that Sam got them for Christmas...

As for me....back on the diet, rest the neck and left shoulder, and see if by tomorrow I can get back in the workout room and do some lifting....but I won't rush it.

back later>>>>

Photos-Various from the Aquarium at Newport, Kentucky, the view from our Ohio Riverside Restaurant, the Co Co Key Water Park, Kasyn with his gifts and the water park with Hal, Grandma Patricia, his golf clubs, snowball the albino crocodile, cousin Luke, trying to out scream each other on Christmas Eve....