WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2014

Rosie5151

Merry Christmas ! I hope you all had a wonderful day or if its just started it will be! We celebrated the night away last night and continued this morning. I was able to watch my grandchildren open their gifts from Santa. So fun! Just what I needed.
On the food front.. well, the ham and potato's won me over. I made a vow I wouldn't go over board and so far so good!
I know the scale will say a few pounds over just from the sodium. I'm ok with that. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm back to work, that always helps me to not stray.

Enjoy your day,
Rosie from Mass

mollywhippet

Merry Christmas everyone!

The kids came over early and loved all their gifts. Lunch was really good, but I ate way more than I intended. I even ate four small pieces of fudge. Tomorrow I have to get back on the wagon, but today I'm going to enjoy it. Tomorrow is another day.

I hope you are all having a great holiday.

Sylvia

grandmallie

afternoon and Merry Christmas to all I havent seen today.. we had a good morning, Tom finished caulking and washing the windows it was cool and breezy but ended up going to the pool.. ahhhh to float around in an 86 degree pool on Christmas day,is heaven to me...
we will be off in a few minutes to the pot luck at the Park here.. it is always a fun time and lots of food, but I will pick and choose wisely.. bringing my big 36 oz insulated glass of ice water with me.. well ta ta for now. and Heather your lunch looks like it came right out of a fine magazine..

Vickil57

Merry Christmas beautiful ladies. Hope peace and Blessings for each of you. We were at DS's last evening with their children and the great grandson's. Watching the little ones open gifts was so much fun. I am working until 4 today and so DH is going to DS's#2 for dinner and then they will come over to our house this evening to open gifts.
Didn't make it to church last evening. By the time we got done over at DS's I was tried and knew I had to get up at 4:30 this morning, so just went home to bed. Not going to beat myself up over it.

Love all the puppy pictures, they all sure look well loved.

Heather--I so enjoy sharing your life with you. You have so much talent and taste.

Sylvia--You are so right to enjoy the Blessings you have and tomorrow is a new day.

Well ladies I pray great things for all of you and the peace and comfort as needed. Thank you for your friendship and support. It means more to me then I can express.
Blessings, Vicki GI NE

Lestan48

Boxing Day here and logged food at 2211 cals and printed sheet out. Thank goodness Brian said to enjoy Christmas and have what I planned.
Had my toast and banana and walked for 1 hour then breakfast. Circuit A (back, tris and booty soon) then protein shake
I wish I had seen Brian 12 months ago instead of fat dietitian. I see him again in a week and have to print out my food and exercise sheets oh my. Is what it is. Also weigh and BF% morning and night and record. I gained a pound yesterday, not surprised as cals were 2502 sigh . Did enjoy the meals though.
Will see what a week brings, has to be better
Lesley in Tasmania

ssmalt

Hi everyone,
rejoining after being gone awhile. Hope to get back on track.

ssmalt
Western NY

exermom

Did 45 minutes of Paul Katami's ASAP Band Fitness worrkout DVD. Going to try out one of my new DVD's tomorrow, just not sure which one

Cynthia - happy birthday to you son! Sure do hope you're feeling better

Jan - I knew that your daughter NEVER missed Christmas, I just meant that sometimes she missed it on the exact day or with you all together. but I KNEW that you would never have her miss it.

christmas miracle - Bryan called and I actually got to talk to Diana!!! They got presents from Diana's mother. Evidentally packages from inside the EU aren't scrutanized as much as packages from outside the EU. We put about 250 euros into his paypal account.

We opened our presents. As I had hoped, I got some more DVD's (truthfully, I would have like more!). You know, after we opened the presents, for a few years now, it seems that Denise is depressed. Even Vince mentioned it. It's as if she's expecting more. Vince even said to her "well, you got everything on your list and a few other things, too". It seems that she gets disturbed when we mention Kris. We suspect she feels we should be doing more for Pete. Well, she sent a list of what he'd like and one of the items cost $100 and the other item cost $200. We got him a gift card to GameStop. We're going to pay $200 for someone who has never once come down to see us, who we had to pull teeth to get to come to Jess' for Thanksgiving. I don't think so.

I just uploaded videos of our Christmas decorations onto Facebook. if anyone wants to take a peek, I'll be glad to "friend" you. I don't think you can post videos here on MFP

flowerbaby - how wonderful next Christmas you'll have a new grandbaby. How old will he be then?

ssmalt - welcome back!

Michele in NC

bjkidfun

Merry Christmas everyone. Today I woke up to an inch of water on our 1st floor, we had wall to wall
water. We have to replace the hot water heater. Took us to after lunch to get it all up using a ship vac. Luckily it was nice outside because we had to take most everything out to dry out. Our
daughter had a tough day without her husband. It will be 5 months on Jan 5th since he died, other than that we had a good day. Tomorrow I'll call the plumber, no way I was going to call today and pay holiday rates.
Brenda from md

terri_mom

DH and DS are home. Mom-in-law made ham and scalloped potatoes. She sent home ham. DS left with 2 bowling balls and returned with 3. Not sure why, but since I don't bowl, I will probably never understand.

Brenda - sorry about your water heater, and all the hassle. Happened to me and ex one year, and it is a LOT to handle, especially during the Holidays.

Janet - I lived until age 18 in the Chicago suburbs. Then I moved to Winona Minnesota until about 7 years ago, when we moved to the Milwaukee area. So, I'm used to the weather. But I am looking forward to retiring somewhere that is a little less cold and snowy during the Winter.

I empathize with all the Mom's that have to tolerate a deviation from tradition. My DD recently decided she is wiccan, and (in my opinion) is too afraid to get too far from her dad's house, because if she makes him mad he will stop loving her. I only believe this because it is the way I interpreted her dad's relationship with his mom. Anyway, my immediate family has always worked in some sort of customer service or owned a business that required being open during Holidays, so we have our traditions in what ever manner we can. This year it was DS and DH in Minnesota (his dad passed away Dec. 26, 2013) while my sister and hubby visited us for snacks yesterday, and my Dad and I went to a movie today. We spent plenty of quality time reminiscing about my Mom, who passed away in 2010, and my Sister, who lived with us until she passed January of this year. And my youngest sister, who visits Christmas Eve with her hubby, needs to leave early, because he comes from a huge family that does not negotiate their tradition. If we want her to spend time with us, we take what we can get and don't complain to her. Change is hard, but it makes us stronger. I just do my best to make the best of whatever situation I have from one day/week/month/year to the next. I don't always like it, but I truly don't have much control over anyone except myself, and being angry or unhappy is exhausting. It's hard enough to be an employee, wife, Mom, and dieter. That's all the energy I can afford to expend.

So, I enjoyed the middle of the bed. Enjoyed the vegetables. Enjoyed not having to watch anything except what I chose on TV. And, I allowed my Mother-in-law to spend her first Christmas as a widow with her eldest Son and youngest Grandson. That in itself, feels like a gift I gave to her.

Now, after all the extra sodium the last few days, I am trying to drink extra water, and look forward to getting back on track to healthy eating and a little exercise again tomorrow. One of my co-workers suggested 3 sessions of 10 minutes on the exercise bike, so I'll see if I can get to work at 6:15am tomorrow, ride during lunch, the ride a little after work. I think I can do it

Hugs for Everyone ! ! !

I convinced my DD to take a picture yesterday. This is her fiancé Justin, my daughter Kaitlynn, and my son Payne.




Terri in Milwaukee

bwcetc

Toni ... your words struck a chord with me ... "be content with what you have." Thank you.

Heather ... lovely menu.

Jan ... I hope you were able to enjoy today.

Terri ... a very nice photo.

Margaret ... sounds like a successful day!

Lesley ... will be interested to see how you progress with a sports nutritionist ... I do my best with my trainer/gym provided guidelines ... but they're not tailored to me personally.

I over ate but enjoyed every bite! Holiday eating is officially over at this house. The uncured ham was delicious ... different. Not very salty and you could taste the smoke. Not convinced it was worth the money, but we enjoyed it.

We went to Christmas Eve services last night ... odd time ... 9:00. Service ended at 10:30, which means we didn't get home until nearly 11:00. After taking photos, opening one gift and having a snack of crab dip (sons insisted) ... I didn't get to bed until nearly 1:00. I am no nite owl!

Fortunately, no one was chomping at the bit to see what Santa brought, so we had a leisurely morning. Once again we went overboard. My boys were very generous in their giving. Younger son bought me a toggled sweater/jacket for when I get cold in the evenings. Very pretty. It just fits ... I could stand to lose a few pounds for it to look better. In private, I asked DH how it looked ... his response? "You don't look like a fat lady in it." Such a sweet talker ...

I hope all of you had a wonderful day!
Beth

barbiecat

We enjoyed our lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I ordered my favorite chicken dish with brown rice and brought half of it home for tomorrow. Later I went with a friend to have supper at the hospital with our friend who works in the emergency room. She recently split up with her husband and was feeling sad. The hospital serves a great holiday meal but I just had the half Cornish hen and green beans. In between Jake and I watched a movie at home. Being healthy at the emergency room can certainly make a person feel grateful.

Barbie from beautiful NW Washington

18,000 steps and an hour on the exercise bike

pipcd34

Day off from working out- had a thanksgiving dinner tonite. Mmmmmmmm

jmkmomm

teri, your words brought me to tears. That is exactly what we should be. As I have told my husband many times, he has only responsibility for himself, not other drivers, not our children and how they have chosen to live their lives. Negative feelings can be like cancer. You have given his Mom a wonderful gift and taught your family many things.

Michele, how wonderful about your Christmas miracle. You won't stop smiling for a long time!!!

pccd, all those awards all for your dog?? How wonderful. We had a beautiful Shelty, larger than the usual and I always wished we could enter him into competition but we made a mistake on filling out his AKC papers and I know we could have just sent it back in corrected but I realized all we wanted was just a dog for our family. And he was.

We had a simple lunch but the company was wonderful. My brother in law has his quirks, like all men do since women never do. One is that he loves the middle of the cake, brownies, etc. He says it is moister. So he made the brownies and before we got there, while they were still warm he cut out the middle..all of it.. and ate it. The pieces were supposed to be 4x4 but what he left around the edges were about 1x1/2. I guess this was good for me since I ate 2 of them. And they were hard, he had overcooked it. Oh well, it was chocolate and it took care of my chocolate urge. But when Michelle, me and my sister get together we always have a good time. All of us prevent her talking about all of her surgeries, pains, medicines. Or maybe the joy of being together makes her forget them. Then when I got home I called my 2 brothers. The brother who has the son who this Christmas will mark his one year anniversary of being heroin free and the same guy that after his girlfriend got pregnant with their 3rd child just up and left her. His excuse was that he felt like he needed to find himself. So we were wondering what is was going to be like at Christmas. He didn't feel like we would want him. I know some families would not want him but we would have felt empty if he wasn't here. So he was going to stay the night at Michelle's house but after them all being together at Christmas at my brother's house, he has stayed a good Dad all this time, he is going to spend the night with her and the 3 kids in the hotel. I hope someone packs a condom in their suitcase! The other brother also has a son who needs condoms, he also has 3 babies and not married. These are the 6 babies all 3 and under that will be here next week!

Joyce, Indiana

jmkmomm

Barbie, that was so nice of you and your friend to have lunch with a friend but at work. That is so inovative. You were working on her schedule. It is also nice for a hospital to have a nice holiday meal the public can come in and enjoy. One of the hospitals here in town, not the one I worked at had a cafe court type atmosphere for their cafeteria. There were numerous type places you could order from in a fast food style and then just pay at one common one place. One of them was a healthy food, others were pizza, grill and their was an actual Subway. It was very common place especially on Sundays after church.

Katla49

I’m in CO at DD’s house this Christmas. DH is in Eastern Oregon with his sister and her husband. Christmas with the little ones is a treat. It started to snow this afternoon and is lovely outside. I’m enjoying being warm and cozy inside. I’m set to fly out of here day after tomorrow, and hope to meet Rori for a visit before I leave. I hope this beautiful snow doesn’t make getting out of here difficult or prevent me from meeting Rori. I’m ready to be with DH and our dog.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.




Katla temporarily in snowy Colorado


“Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame.”

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


December Goals:
1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Cardio exercise at least 3 days a week.
3. Have fun every day.
4. Drink at least three glasses of water daily, preferably more!
5. Eliminate alcohol.
6. Monitor sleep.

CynthiaT60

Good morning everyone!

Yanniejannie: your oat recipe sounds like something I’d like. Would you share it? Sounds like it would be good with dried cranberries, too. Thanks for the birthday wishes; I’ll pass them on!
Sylvia: sounds like you had a good day.
Allison: keep enjoying your vacation.
Michele: “my guy” is my partner, not my son. I can see the possible confusion, though. Thanks for the birthday wishes, and congrats on your Christmas miracle!
Brenda: hope today will be better.
Terri: with you on “It's hard enough to be an employee, wife, Mom, and dieter. That's all the energy I can afford to expend.” I’m not a mom, but otherwise I know the feeling.
Barbie: how nice of you to go have dinner at the hospital with your friend.
Joyce: I had to think of all the people who love the EDGES of the brownies; there are even special pans to make lots of edges!

I FaceTimed yesterday with mother, brother and niece. My mom doesn't have a smartphone, so this only works when she's with my brother. My niece (8) spent most of the time talking to me, and I'd have liked talking more to my mom. But whatever.

Hope everyone has a good day, including Kim!
Cynthia :flowerforyou:

cityjaneLondon

Oooooh I feel so peaceful! :bigsmile:
Of course, I missed the grandchildren yesterday, but DH and I had a wonderful Christmas just together.
My blini lunch, which you have all been so complimentary about, was really posted as a joke! I thought it looked so funny when the whole of the UK is tucking in to turkey and all the trimmings! Followed by an enormous Christmas pudding. :laugh: Blinis are one of our favourite things and the bonus is that it is so easy. I was very grateful this year that I was not responsible for the Christmas dinner marathon!

Today I have half a mind to go to our supermarket and buy stuff to cook ahead and freeze for our New Year guests. I just have to refresh the bedroom my son will be sleeping in on Sunday night. I've got the washing on now. I'm feeling a bit lazy though. DH will be watching all the sports on TV this afternoon up in his study, so I have the opportunity to watch my French film on my own. It is 3 hours long and quite racy, so I prefer to watch it alone! ! ! ! ! It's frosty out so I wll only drive if it thaws a bit and get back by 3pm when the sports start.

Barbie - your holiday sounded marvellous!

Joyce - you have such a big heart! :flowerforyou:

Katla - hope you get to see Rori!

Michele - yeah for Brian phoning! My DS#1 texted to say he had been, with his father's family, to lunch at the local landowner's chateau! ! ! ! ! ! (They are renting a house from him) He said it was "V posh". :laugh: It takes a lot to get him to communicate! :laugh:

Vicki - I love reading about your life too. (*) To me you are a real heroine.

Love to all. For all those who have to work today I hope it goes well. :flowerforyou: Best wishes to everyone.

Heather in frosty Hampshire UK

pipcd34

Exermom- they medals are for my husband and I. Mostly from bike riding, plus fun runs and our marathon, his 2 marathons, my one full and one 1/2. There are dog awards, medals and a ribbon for best trick mostly, there's about 5-6 of those for the kids, mostly rocky who is now gone

terri_mom

Well, I stepped on the scale at work, and I'm up 2.2 pounds. My guess is that most of it is water, so I will drink LOTS of water today, and maybe an extra cup of tea. I arrived at work early, and rode the bike for 10 minutes, will ride another 10 minutes during lunch, then another 10 minutes after work. So far this seems like a plan I can handle long-term(assuming I can get DS out the door in time when school starts again).

Joyce - "has his quirks, like all men do since women never do". L O L That whole story about the brownies had me laughing at work for a LONG time ! ! ! I thought my son was the only person to do soemehting like this.

Better get to my paperwork, or the end of the month/year will come and I won't be prepared. Hugs to everyone ! ! !

Terri in Milwaukee

bwcetc

Got on the dreaded scale ... knew it would be bad and it was ... up 6 pounds. We'll see how much is sodium in the next few days as I intend to hit the water hard today. I'm really fed up with my lack of progress since April. Time to get serious!

Beth

DamitJanit

Ladies, I love reading about your Christmases and your lives. We all have our trials and tribulations with family, work, etc., but it is somehow inspiring to hear about other's and how they handle things.

We had a very quiet and relaxed Christmas with only the two of us for the first time in 42 years. I loved not having to cook a holiday meal. Even when it's just for 3 people it's a lot of work. I bought a tomato pie from a farmer's market, where my BFF gets them and talks about them all the time. OMG it was so good that I could eat the whole thing in one sitting, but I had a very small slice. It was a nice addition to my pork roast dinner.

I got in my exercise yesterday and now that I'm doing it daily, I finally find it is getting a bit easier. The best Christmas gift for me is that I stepped on the scale this morning and rather than going up, it was down 1/2 pound. Woo Hoo!

I have to return or exchange most of what I got DH so I am going to hit the crowds and do it today. Don't want to miss the sales on the exchanges.

I was thinking about the new year and my only resolution is to keep doing what I'm doing, with maybe a few improvements. (like adding some exercises) I just know that this journey is so much easier with MFP and all of you. So I thank you, ladies.

Janet in Myrtle Beach, SC

pipcd34

found out the Y wasn't open today :0/ oh well, when I got to town, I took a joy ride for 4.5mi, cold and quiet. all you could see were my lights and hear my music on my speaker. stats will be posted after I ride home.

DianaLovesCoffee

We had such a nice Christmas. Wednesday night we had a short church service and heard from an old shepherd who told us about that first Christmas night long ago. (My father in law did a wonderful job). Then we went to hubs family for dinner. All 4 of the brothers and families were there plus a few extras so we had 21 in all. We stayed until about 10:30.

Once home we opened our own small family gifts and finally crawled into beds about 1am. Up at 7:00 on Christmas day for some breakfast and Santa stockings. Then back to the big family for more gifts and food.

I received a new pair of running shoes (well for me walking for now). My old pair was 8 years old and always give me big blisters. I also got a Fitbit so I'm learning how to use that and sync with MFP.

Working today but it is quiet in the office as many people have the day off.

Diana in northeast Indiana

DianaLovesCoffee

Funny story about my 2 sons. Got them both a pair of Hollister jeans and a Hollister shirt. Younger son was thrilled with the "fancy" brand and modern fit. Older son says "Mom, please don't be offended, but can I just exchange those for some plain old Wranglers and a pack of black T shirts?" LOL. How can they be so different? Love them both!

Diana

Katla49

Michele: Congratulations on hearing from Bryan! Yay!!! :flowerforyou:


I’m happy that I’ve had the chance to spend Christmas with DD, but I’m starting to get homesick for DH, the dog, and home, too. This is my last full day here. Tomorrow I fly out for Boise, assuming the airport will be open. I hope that it will be. I also hope that I’ll have a chance to meet Rori. There is white stuff on the ground. The last time we had Christmas snow was several years ago when DS was stationed in Colorado Springs. We flew in, rented a four-wheel drive vehicle, and drove to DS’s house. We had snow and enjoyed it. By the time we needed to fly home, the airport was open but there were long lines of people who had been delayed. We made it to our flight in the nick of time. I’d like less excitement this time if possible.





Katla, temporarily in beautiful and snowy Colorado


“Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame.”

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison


December Goals:
1. Log every bite and swallow.
2. Cardio exercise at least 3 days a week.
3. Have fun every day.
4. Drink at least three glasses of water daily, preferably more!
5. Eliminate alcohol.
6. Monitor sleep.

barbiecat

The nice women in the office at the Elk's Club agreed to open the building for us this morning so we'll have line dance class as usual. I know that a lot of people won't be there because of trips and family so I won't teach anything new, just a nice combination of old favorites some easier, some more difficult.

Diana, your fitness gifts are awesome.

Michele, congrats on your phone call from your son...the best gift of them all

Katla, what fun to be where there's snow for a short time.

Barbie

drkatiebug

Back to the program today! Although I wanted Christmas cookies for breakfast, I had high protein cereal, coffee, and orange juice. The orange juice was a treat. I never drink it anymore, but I had leftover from the cake since Kroger didn't have the small can of concentrate. I've walked 5.4 miles and balanced the checkbook and budget. I left the cake at Mama's, along with most of the cookies and fudge.

Michelle, I'm so glad you heard from Bryan.

I've been thinking of all of you for whom the holiday season was not what you had hoped for. My own family is quite dysfunctional, but I try to focus on the positive and not share the dysfunction. Believe me when I say it is there, though. If I let it, it could really get me down.

I'll do an official weigh-in on January 1. I'm doing pretty good on my December goals. Water is the main one I am not achieving. I'm averaging 11 to 12 thousand steps with the fitbit and hitting my fiber goal most days.

tngram2seven

It's good to hear about everyone's holiday.

I have to share about the "gift" I received at the Christmas Eve dinner. I had wanted to have someone read the Christmas Story from Luke while we were all together. Since we didn't host dinner I decided that it might be awkward to ask so I didn't. Well - when we gathered for the blessing, Steve, the host, said he wanted us to hear something. It was a recording of the Christmas Story told by Linus to Charlie Brown! So sweet and touching for everyone. Prayer answered!

Have a great day everyone.
Toni

cityjaneLondon

Such wonderful touching stories. Love you all. :flowerforyou: X

Heather UK

Poerava14

Hi All,
Great to hear about the loving family get-togethers as well as the peaceful smaller celebrations. DH and I fall in the latter category. I made lean pork chops in the oven, a spinach souffle and cooked apples. My calories were one wine glass short of being under goal.

Now I'm stalling from doing some work that I absolutely dread. Have to get my office organized, but I intensely hate filing. I do have 2 drawers cleaned out, but find myself wandering over to my favorite online shopping sites to scope out the after-Christmas sales.

Lots of snow came down last night and we'll get about another 2 inches before the storm fully passes to the east. The sun is starting to peek through and Mars the cat is eager to get outside and play in powder. He's amazing.

Katla: No worries. I'm sure the airport will be open, and I fully expect to have no issues meeting you at DIA. Please reconfirm the time.

Mars is getting insistent now. Gotta go.

stay well.

Rori in the Colorado Foothills