One Day At A Time

Tomorrow is ninety days.  Three months.  It seems that June came at us and past us with the speed of a freight train.  I am almost afraid of July.  What do I need to do, yet?  Well, I don't know, because I have been trying to ignore all of it so completely that I haven't even made a really good list...and I am a major list maker.  I have spent my time chatting with my Italian Facebook friends, surfing the internet, reading Italian blogs, and day-dreaming about the trip.  Maybe the first step should be making a list?

Ok, so what sort of things do I have to do?  Let's start at the beginning, always a good place to start.  First, categories:

1. Things I need to do at home for while I am gone
2. Things I need to do for the trip
3. Things I need to do for "traveling" (what goes in the pack)
4. Things I need to leave at home.

So, in the first category, I am putting:

1. Finishing my living trust and will
2. Setting up automatic bill pays
3. Arranging for someone to put my checks in the bank
4. Making sure everything in my room is organized for company to stay there (OMG-there is ninety days worth of work)

Number two includes:

1. Buying the train passes
2. Checking on the ferry tickets
3. Making reservations for Venice/Padova
4. Reservations for sleepers
1. Amsterdam to Munich
2. Munich to Vienna
3. Vienna to Venice
5. Reservations for Cinque Terre (if we can decide when)

Third, the pack:

1. Completely pack the pack. 
2. See what I forgot to pack
3. Unpack the pack and pack it again
4. Ok, what did I forget?
5. Maybe spend the last five weeks wearing only what I am taking?  That could get really boring, especially when it will end up ten weeks in the same clothes.

Fourth, what I want to leave behind.  This is really the hardest one, and the one I have to commit to the most.  I don't want to take:

1. 30#
2. Well, at least 20# (let's get real)
3. I want to leave behind my cellulite, belly fat, bat wings, double chin, grey hair, and wrinkles. 
4. Too bad I also have to leave behind fantasy

I do want to be in shape for the walking, and we have talked about this so much.  I have started walking many times, and last about four days before life gets in my way.  I have to stop letting it happen.

I also have done a pretty good job of losing weight, but I have also done an even better job of putting it back on.  The way it stands now, I have about broken even, maybe a pound or two less. 

So, number four, with all of its self-inflicted challenges, barriers,  procrastinations and excuses will be the hardest to deal with, and that is the main reason I decided to blog this.  I want a public (well, as public as a blog that nobody reads) forum in which to air my dirty laundry, and hopefully to also record my successes...and maybe, just maybe get some encouragement.

Allora, as the American song "Tomorrow" says "Tomorrow...you're only a day away", or maybe more accurately as the Italian song "Domani" says, "domani è già qui" (tomorrow is already here).

Dee

Cento Giorni

ONE HUNDRED DAYS TO GO!  And more than a hundred things to do.  I guess that is only one thing per day :)

Dee

Surviving an OMG! Moment

My fun summer project this year (aside from planning the trip of a lifetime) was to begin to ride JR, my cart pony.  I thought it would be fun to get back in the saddle again since hauling the cart in and out has become a bit of a physical chore.  I sent him to a trainer for a week to get him started, hopped on a couple times myself and all was going pretty good.  I did come off once or twice (actually twice) but no harm, no foul.  He's not very tall and it's not very far down.  Both instances were preventable and not simply vicious on his part.

2 weeks ago I went over to my friend Patty's place to trail ride with her. It would be our 3rd trail ride - the first two being simply fantastic.  While mounting from a plastic mounting block, I inadvertently moved my leg into JR's right side and like a good boy he moved away from it - which is what he is supposed to do.  However, it caused him to step into the plastic mounting block and tangle his rear leg(s) in the block.  Short story.....a rodeo ensued and I ended up on the ground rather hard.  I knew it was different from my other falls immediately and moved slowly.  I decided the prudent thing to do was to have Patty take me to the ER and get my hip checked which we did.  All was well, so I hobbled home, and got on ibuprophen, ice and vicodin.   A week later I went to the chiropractor who straightened out the problem with the right leg, but two days later the left began to H U R T. Since then...about 6 days now, I have been unable to use it without serious pain and resorting to my cane to get around.  Went back in to the ER again Sunday, re-xrayed and still nothing shows broken. BUT I'm telling you, this H U R T S!

Bottom line is that my summer now will consist completely of working to get back into condition to walk Scotland and Italy without pain and/or a cane.  No riding for me this summer :(.   I'm very sad about that, but priorities are priorities.  Oh, and just for the record let me tell you that 60 year old plus-sized ladies don't fall worth s**t.  Wish me well.

Becky

"Would You Like A Little Cheese With Your Whine?"

Ok, so I am going to bring it up one last annoying time, and then I won't mention it anymore.  Here it is, the timeline from one of the all time great poor planners:



Zucchero's last concert tour, 4 years ago
Zucchero's current tour, started early May 9, 2011.
Zucchero's Italy leg of the tour... now
Europe and Italy until August 4, 2011.

Our trip September 29 to November 2.  Bad timing number 1.

Nomadi's tour season: November 2010-September 11, 2011 (Yes, an entire year.  37 official performances so far in the past 6 months.  There are at least another 31 scheduled for the summer. And this is their way cut back schedule from past years because of the heart attack of their lead singer.)
Did you notice that there are no concerts in October...Yup, good timing number two.

Nomadi's cruise to Spain for fans:  October 26 to November 4, 2011.  Number 3.       

        

OK, now Zucchero's schedule for October?  North America.  Yup, number four.

Now for what set off this rant?  Well, Zucchero's birthday is September 25. I just found out he has added two big concerts at the Arena in Verona for the 25th and 26th, and is inviting a lot of his friends to come perform, including...  Yup, you've got it...  Number five. 

Così vicino, ma così lontano... (so close, but so far away)

I can only hope for Becky's sake I can do better with the train schedules or we may never even get to Italy.

생일 축하, 루크

Well, I hope that says "Happy Birthday, Luke" in Korean.  If not, I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have offended, and I would love to know what I actually said...and shame shame, GoogleTranslate!

In any case, this is (as they say these days) a shout out to my nephew (and incidently, Becky's son), Luke who is serving in the US Army in Korea, and whose birthday is tomorrow (but today now for him there-ok, so this is a compromise).





(Gee, Becky...even our children travel more than we do.  Now granted, where they go isn't exactly where we would chose to go, but hey, they are traveling, aren't they?)

So, in any case, I hope you have (or ARE having) a really happy day {I am soooooo confused}.  Maybe if you get some time off in October, you could pop on over to Italy and say hi...or maybe next deployment, try for Germany and we will force ourselves to go there to see you.

Buon Compleanno, il mio nipote.  Abbi cura di te [see previous post :)]

Zia Dee