Weekend Miscellaneous

Happy Monday everyone! The beginning of another week..yay! I am blessed to have woken up to 50 degrees in Pittsburgh! Kinda crazy but also kinda wonderful!!!!

This past weekend I had nothing planned and it was nice to chill at home most of the weekend. My Stelara shot came so I gave myself my medicine. For those that do not know; I have psoriatic arthritis. It causes my joints to ache a lot and without my meds, I am covered with scaly red patches all over my body. This medicine allows my skin to be clear so I no longer look like a leper...for real...the meds have saved my life! It is so tough going through life watching people cower away from you like you are contagious. Thank you big pharma for this win!

I got a little stir crazy over the weekend with no plans so I decided to make my own. So many of you commented on my beach posts and asked why I do not go to Lake Erie since I live in Pittsburgh. So, I thought, I don't know why but I thought it was time to check it out!

So I put it in Waze (I use Waze to get EVERYWHERE) and found out that it is over two hours from my home. So, off I went. I figured I could find lake glass since it was cold and there would be no one else there.


I arrived and made my way to the Presque Isle State Park. I found the first beach and parked. I started walking up and down....nothing except rocks and plastic trash. I used my plastic bag that I wad going to collect glass in to collect trash! It filled quickly...it was actually pretty sad...

I moved to another beach further down and the same thing happened. I guess it is true what they say about balloon releases being bad for the environment...I can not tell you how many of these old, popped Mylar balloons I picked up!

So, I walked all the beaches down the peninsula and did not find a single piece of lake glass but I collected a lot of trash. Maybe I did not go to the right place to find glass but it was definitely disappointing.  Very beautiful but apparently not an area where people appreciate nature...UGH to people!

Another shot of beautiful nature...

Twice over the weekend I was stuck in stopped traffic for accidents. The first day....police stopped traffic both directions on a major route because someone was texting and crashed into the car in front of them and the then someone rubbernecking that accident crashed into the car in front of them. We were stuck for about 30 minutes not moving AT ALL!!

Then the next day this happened...There was another accident and the police again stopped all traffic to clear it! I can not stress it enough...please don't text and drive! I see people doing it everywhere here and it is a disaster waiting to happen. I now zip my phone in my purse so I cant see it when I am driving. If i need to make a call I don't start the car until the call is on Bluetooth in the car. It is so senseless!!!

My neighbors have been feeding a colony of strays that live in the woods near our condo. They took me yesterday to see them...I am in love! There are four super cute kittens, probable about 6 months old. I contacted a friend that does catch, neuter and release and we are hoping to get them spayed and neutered so they don't create more. Maybe they can actually be homed - they are super cute!

Lastly, I got free play for the Meadows again this weekend. I was not going to go use it but my home group meeting was cancelled Friday night and I was super bored so I decided to try my will power. I promised myself that I would use the free play and then leave no matter how fast it was...I even left my wallet and debit card at home just to be sure! HA! Guess what happened....



In the end I won $376.19 with a $1.00 bet!!! Within five minutes of getting to the casino too. So that was it, I took the money and ran like all of you told me to do. The entertainment value was pretty low but I was super happy to leave with that money!!! I used up the last of the free play and cashed the money out!!! YAY!!!

Thanks for the recommendations! I felt good sticking to my guns and leaving up $350. I hope my luck holds out today - my barre studio had it's grand opening and I am hoping to win one of the giveaway baskets. I think they are picking tickets today - fingers crossed?!?!?!

I never planned on watching the Superbowl since my Steelers are not in it. I was, however, rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to win! I worked in Kansas City for about three months last year and all the employees I worked with are super excited that the Chiefs made it to the end!!!  So I have to root for them also!!!  

 

 

As far as the game goes, I only watched the halftime show and I loved it! 

 Jlo is 50 and Shakira is 40...man they can shake for their age!!!! I was seriously impressed - plus I loved all the music! If I looked like them; I would let it all hang out! HA HA!

I hope everyone has a happy and LUCKY week!! HUGS!!!

 

Today I am joining in with The Flynnigans for ...

 

My monthly goals are very simple...

drink my water everyday
Exercise everyday (at least a walk if not doing Pure Barre)
Lose weight and build muscle!!!
I am very focused (for the first time in a long time) on my weight less goals and what is necessary to get me to the end!

Here is my mantra...everyday ….all day!!!!

 

Do you like Chinese auctions? How about bingo? I LOVE bingo and have not been in forever! How was your weekend? Did you watch the big game? If so, any good commercials?

The Clarks at the Meadows

Happy Monday ya'll!!!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!!

We had very weird weather this weekend and I chose to stay home and out of the cold most of the time. It was a weekend spent hunkered under a blanket and surrounded by my cats with the exception of mornings at Barre class and one night out.

The Clarks (A very popular local Pittsburgh band) was playing at the opening night for the new lounge at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino.

I am a very addictive person so I normally steer clear of the casino as much as possible however, I really wanted to hear the band so off I went to the Meadows around 8:30 after my home group meeting on Friday night.

The awesome part of this story is that I decided I would spend $40 since there was no fee to see the band and I don't drink alcohol. I Put the $40 in a machine and bet each 50 cents with each push. I guess I did that about 10 times with little monetary gains or nothing each spin.  I was almost down ten dollars within 2 minutes so I just sat there and listened to the band a little and then cashed out and moved to a new machine. I put the money ticket in the machine and this happened with the VERY FIRST bet of 50 cents...




It was pretty awesome!! After I realized how much it was going to be I thought of you guys and started taping it! HA! I won $169.35 with a 50 cent bet!! So exciting and then I thought..."Wow! It must be my lucky night so I better keep playing and I will win a ton!!!!!" 

Well, that did not happen and that is the Not So Awesome part of the story. 

I played a while and just kept losing...then I promised myself that I would only lose until I was down to $40 so I break even for the night! Then when I was down to $40 I figured that I would keep trying to win again since I was planning on spending that anyway and ....

JUST LIKE THAT....

My winnings were gone (the whole $169.35) as was my $40 initial investment! I was so sad :-(

I just reminds me of why I should not gamble! I have a horribly addictive personality and I could feel the excitement when I was there...I don't know how to quit when I am ahead! UGH!

Oh well, easy come, easy go, right?

I went home sad and defeated thinking I should have quit while I was ahead! The rest of the weekend was spent snuggling my cats and doing barre! It was nice to stay in and get little stuff done too though like water change for the fish tank and sewing a tear in my couch.

That's it for my good fortune story for the week...now I am off to hear about your weekends!!!

Do you guys ever gamble or play the lottery? Why? Have you ever won big? What was your weekend like? How was your weather?

Day 3 - Monday - Beach day Arikok Park and Rental Swap Out

Happy Monday ya'll!!!

I am happy to report that until I went to write this post, I had no idea what day of the week it was. I believe that is amazing!! Yippee...I am feeling so relaxed-most of the time.

Soooooo...this morning started with another amazing breakfast! The Renaissance Aruba (Marina) has a phenomenal breakfast buffet!! It is delicious and has so many great options!

Today I had oatmeal and fruit!! Yummy!!! 

 Here is a photo of the buffet!! Crazy huge, right?!?!?!

 Here is a picture of the sweets and yogurt section!!!  

 After my delicious breakfast I took the boat over to the private island.  I got to my spot and it was empty...yippee!!!!! Except for this guy...I shared the area with him (or her) HA!

 Another picture...such a cutie, no??? 

 Here is my view...it should look a lot like yesterday's! I don't like change...I ran for my empty spot on the end!!

 Little selfie!?!?! 

Today I noticed another few visitors in the water. My hammock is on top of a large rock formation... apparently fish like swimming around these rocks and I did not notice.  Just laying there today I saw this guy come around...he is in camo!!!  Can you see him?!?!

Sideways shot...see him swimming sideways to eat algae off the rocks...  

And then this red guy came by...

See him better in this on?? 

Here is camo again... 

       And a few iguanas...  

I had to make a run to the airport to swap out my rental car around 3PM. So I left the island around 2PM and went back to my room to eat my leftover pizza for lunch and head to swap the car.  After I got the new rental;  I decided to run through the Arikok National Park to check it out. I went to the caves and did a quick look around and then headed back home. Here are the pictures...

 Another... 

 Another...

 Another... 

 And another... 

 Ont the way out I encountered these wild goats...soooo beautiful!!! I love to see nature as God intended...free and roaming the beautiful landscape!! 

I do not have a lot of detail about the park since it was not a very good experience for me.  I was not going to put this in but I really want to show my entire experience and not only the good ones.

 So my new rental car is a little Chevy spark. It is a compact little car. You can rent a big four wheeler jeeps here to drive through this park as well. I was driving through in my little spark.  I stopped at the visitor center to pay my entrance fee to the park. It is $11 for a non-resident to drive through the park. I look at that as a donation to the park it's self… Great price for this experience. I came out to drive into the park and up Behind me came a group of people  in two separate jeeps.

 The first jeep had a guy and a woman and three  kids around 10 or 11. The second jeep had three guys  probably around mid 30s.  They were traveling together because I saw them purchase all of their tickets into the park together. They had to stop in the restroom so I pulled into the park before them. They all came behind me and apparently I was going way too slow for them. You cannot pass in a national park and it has speed bumps every half kilometer to keep you from going over 5 miles an hour.  We had to drive for about 3 miles through this park and winding roads ( again speed bumps every half kilometer ). We got to a section where you turn right to go to the caves. I started to turn and then pulled off to the side a little so that the impatient man and his jeeps could go around me. The first car with the woman and the guy in the kids went past me no problem… The second jeep flew past me and m we got to a section where you turn right to go to the caves. I started to turn and then pulled off to the side a little so that the impatient man and his jeeps could go around me. The first car with the woman and the guy in the kids went past me no problem… The second jeep flew past me and  and laid tire into my car! We are on a dirt road! My entire car filled up with rocks and dirt and smoke from the dirty road! The guys in the backseat of the jeep turned around laughing. 

 I was so ticked off that I follow them to the caves. I couldn't believe that this family that have these little kids with him did this.   The guys got out of the jeep and seem shocked that I followed them to the parking lot for the caves. I followed the family in as they tried to hurry away and  said " that was really nice (Sarcastically)"  and they flipped me off. In front of their children! I was so angry I didn't wanna say anything I regretted  it so I just said " you need to grow up"  and I got back in my car and left the caves. 

 Please know that it took every bone  in my body not to kick or key their rental jeep! I was so ticked off! But I'm not going to give him the power to ruin my vacation… It's just sad that there's so many a-  holes out there! And you really don't notice it until you're all by yourself… Because the families can really overpower you here. Ugh!!

 So then I came back to my hotel and walked to subway and got dinner and ate my sub in my room. Then it was off to the casino - put $20 in and walked away with another hundred dollar profit! I guess there's an upside to everything! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday!!!! Tomorrow morning is my half day Jeep tour...I'll have fun pictures from that!!!