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Diane's DiaryJune 5 Saturday I have done pretty well on my diet so far- I've been on it about a month and so far I have lost an inch on my waist, hips and thighs. I think I've lost about 10 pounds but it's difficult to tell as I don't really have a scale. I'm happy with the weight loss but would like to lose some more. I will follow the diet until we leave to go cruising again. At that time, I'll have to eat carbohydrates, as I can't bring all the food I need to stay on the diet since we don't have the refrigerator space. We went to the flea market here at the marina this morning and sold a few things. It was extremely hot, as we couldn't get a spot in the shade so we were standing out in the broiling sun. We made about 90,000B at the tag sale - mostly due to Larry's stuff. After lunch, I lay down and took a nap for about an hour and read. Then I defrosted the refrigerator in the afternoon and the temperature seems to be holding nicely. Hope that's all the problem was and we don't have any others! We had a nice dinner out in the restaurant. We did have a bottle of red wine, which was just awful and got me sick. June 6 Sunday I had a very bad hangover today. I really didn't have too much to drink but I think that the sulfites in cheap red wine really makes me sick as I have had this problem in the past. I have never had the problem when the wine is good though. Anyway, I didn't do anything for the morning since I wasn't feeling well. I played dominoes this afternoon and scored a 330. On the last hand I got stuck with 80 points so my score would have been a lot better than what I ended up with. There was a heavy threat of rain in the air all day long but it only rained a little. We borrowed several DVD's from Sylvester and watched a Vin Diesel movie- we didn't realize we had already seen it but we still watched it another time and enjoyed it. Larry really likes action movies so he enjoyed this one but I thought it was stupid. June 7 Monday Larry continued to work on the windlass- it looks like this will be a long project. I helped him with some things for it but mainly he is doing everything himself. This is not going to be an easy task for him! Anyway, I vacuumed- we are getting so much dust in the boat I need to do it every several days. I made a chocolate cake as Elias is coming over for dinner tomorrow. I made a chicken and olive tagine in the pressure cooker for dinner and it came out pretty good. I spent the rest of the day working on my logs so I could catch up. I walked at night and also worked out with weights- the pool is closed every Monday for cleaning so it was closed today. June 8 Tuesday Norma from Happy Hours and I went to Plaza Mayor by taxi today. We were going to take the dinghy but decided not to as it looked like it was going to rain out. It never rained in the morning but we did have some very bad thunderstorms in the afternoon. Elias came over for dinner and I made homemade spaghetti and meatballs, which I know he and Larry both enjoyed. I stayed on my diet - I want to get this weight off. I feel so much better already but want to continue taking the weight off. Anyway, Elias stayed until 9:30pm and we all had a very good time just sitting around talking. June 9 Wednesday I didn't finish all the dishes last night since there was so many of them so I had to finish them today. We watched the ER that we recorded last night. I then washed some throw rugs also as they were filthy. I walked over to Sylvester to pay them for some eggs they bought me. I also paid our marina bill until July 15, I was able to get a rate of 3000B by using a check. I probably was the last person to get this rate- afterward the rate was 2800. I finished my new J. Kellerman book, A Cold Heart, I brought back from the US. It was OK but was not up to his usual standards. June 10 Thursday I hand washed some more rugs this morning. I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on my logs- I am far behind on updating them in the computer. I swam, walked and did the free weights later in the day. We watched the DVD "League of Extraordinary Men" we borrowed from Sylvester. We didn't finish it but it was only fair- not a great movie; I'm glad we didn't buy it or go see it in the movies. It rained out again this afternoon. June 11 Friday I again washed the throw rugs this afternoon. They are really bleeding a lot and I've had to soak them to get all the stains out. I lost another inch off my waist and hips on my diet so I am very pleased with the results. Just hope I can keep up this progress but I know it will slow down considerably- it's just in the beginning that you lose a lot than it slows down. I did some cleaning around the boat also. I called around for the exchange rate and it's down to 2800 now. Chavez is dumping money into the economy to get re-elected in August so there's not enough demand for dollars on the black market. I don't want Chavez to get re-elected but I certainly want the USD to go back up again- it's costing us a lot more this way! June 12 Saturday I wasn't feeling well this morning so I took my medication but it takes a while to kick in so I relaxed and read. We just bought the new movie "Shrek 2" so we watched it tonight. It was excellent and we really enjoyed it. It was even better than the first one and we are glad we bought it. Our $75 investment in a DVD player has sure paid off as we have certainly seen our share of movies with it. It's good entertainment at night. Anyway, "Saving Private Ryan" was on TV after we finished watching Shrek 2 so we wound up watching the entire movie. It is just a superb movie and is still good to watch even though we have seen it several times already. We stayed up till 12 midnight watching it and that is a first for us in a long time. We usually don't stay up so late. June 13 Sunday I started to make a new recipe in the pressure cooker called beef olives. Unfortunately, my meat was too small and I couldn't get it to roll up like meatballs. Also, I had chopped meat rather than pork so it definitely tasted different then I thought it would be. I went to dominoes and placed third with a score of 269. That is the best I have ever gotten! I even got a free drink for placing third! We called the DVD store as they said they would exchange money. They will exchange it tomorrow at 2800- we know the going rate right now is around 2500 so we know this rate is very good. We are nervous about exchanging the money in the mall but we will only bring $500 each - I am going with Sylvester as they need money also. June 14 Monday I left with Sylvester to go exchange money in Plaza Mayor. We were nervous about exchanging it but had no problem at all. Sylvester actually brought a little more and was able to exchange $1000. I only brought $500 so that's all I exchanged but I was able to get a 2800 rate. The owner said to call him this afternoon as he may be able to exchange more. We waited till 3pm and called him again but he said to call back tomorrow. June 15 Tuesday I called the DVD store in the AM this morning to exchange money. He said call him back after 3pm today. When I called him at 3pm, he said call tomorrow. I hand washed some of my shirts as they will shrink if I put them in the laundry. I was putting water in the tank when the guy came to put on the new zinc on our prop. I watched him do it in case he needed any help. Also, I couldn't very well continue putting soapy water overboard while he was in the water right below! I also worked on my logs for about an hour. I am slowly getting caught up but typing is so time consuming. June 16 Wednesday We are still on hold to get money from the DVD store. He definitely has the best rates but I think he knew he made a mistake giving us a good rate so doesn't want to exchange any more at that rate right now. Larry needed something from the marina store today so at 3pm when they reopened after lunch, I drove there in the dinghy. I got stuck in a really bad rainstorm and had to stay in the mall until it was over. I also stopped to get a batido drink and go to the grocery store. We went out to eat dinner at the restaurant tonight. June 17 Thursday We watched the West Wing episode this morning that we had recorded last night. After, I went to call the DVD store to find out about the money exchange. A tropical wave had come in and it really started to pour while I was there. We are getting fed up with the DVD store. I don't think he wants to exchange money right now but I don't appreciate him stringing us along and saying to keep calling back. I don't like his dishonesty and don't want to patronize his store anymore if that's the way he conducts business. I have put things on hold since I don't know what's going on with him. June 18 Friday At 8:30 this morning I went to the market with some of the other ladies. I got some nice looking shrimp that we will have for dinner tonight. I spent several hours this afternoon cleaning the 3 pounds of shrimp I bought- I spent about $9 for all 3 pounds! I called Holly at Yorktown Storage this afternoon and we got a better price to keep our stuff in storage for another year. I had sent 4 emails to them but never got a response so finally called them. Anyway, we had a wonderful shrimp meal for dinner. The shrimp were excellent! Larry went to the store to buy some more boat parts. June 19 Saturday I made a big omelet breakfast for myself this morning and made Larry waffles. I also took the dinghy to pick up the laundry, cleaned the boat some, did some logs in the PM, started writing another story for the Caribbean Compass paper, and wrote a letter to my niece Amanda for her birthday. One of the cruisers is going back to the US and will mail it for us. I sent her, Matt and Mel money for their upcoming birthdays. I walked the marina twice at night and did 20 laps in the pool. We watched Harry Potter 2 at night we borrowed from Sylvester. We didn't like the first one very much but this one was much better. June 20 Sunday I defrosted the freezer this morning. Now that he fixed the refrigerator, it seems like it has to be defrosted every 2 weeks as the temperature is much colder now. I read the weekend paper in the am and went to play dominoes in the PM. I got the high score of the day with 505 points- I just kept getting stuck with lots of points in my hand every time someone went out. Anyway, I swam 20 laps in the pool but didn't walk at night as I was too tired. |