WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2015

cityjaneLondon

Vicki - Happy for you.

Karen and others - DH has composed a Christmas Quiz for several years now. It has become quite a tradition. He usually selects a theme, and then has several questions in a set. So, if the theme were colours he might have a set of questions with yellow in the answer. Then red, blue etc. He is very clever! :laugh: The quizzes are easier than they used to be so the dimmer members of the family aren't embarassed!

Done all the wrapping that's urgent. DH and I usually know what the main present is, or we share one, as we are doing this year, (fine wines), but we always have "Father Christmas " presents first thing in the morning. Small things, say five or six. I have got him two books on maths, some of his favourite chocolate, some biscotti and some sweet wine to dip them in like you do in Italy. We have got to dash off to London so we won't have much time to relax and share. :ohwell: I might get the whole hair washing thing done the night before to save time.

Janetr - sooooooo enjoyed the spinach pie. Some left for lunch tomorrow.

Love Heather UK

fanncy0626

Our new puppy's name is Shep. He is 6 weeks old. German Shepherd. I need a walking buddy and daytime companion.



Mary from Minnesota

Annr

MFP Advent Calendar
Dec 23rd~ We bring gifts to our loved ones for it's a time of mirth,
when each year we remember Jesus's wondrous birth



Hahaha...Glad you appreciated my story and didn't report me!! I have been in the military world far too long to put mental blinders on or censor my speaking (or typing) now. I think my husband appreciates me during those specific times he can be blunt, and I can find humor in it. I tell him not many women would. Maybe me living with comedians during the 1980's had a positive effect in my marriage!
I think my eldest sister has finally accepted all that is me. I think in 2002 when I confessed to her that I found attending the resort as a great thing to do, she had a prayer circle started for me, and my wicked ways! Then in 2009 to celebrate our 25th anniversary I got my nipples pierced. OK the only thing I will say to THAT is that its a nice "Life Story". Mr Pain was my world for 4 months, so live and learn. I have recognized that I am not the pierce-able type....

Some pictures of the apartment: To all that say their home is just too small, look closely. The room off from our living room is the den/library/kitchenette. The chair makes it the den, so its quite a multi-purpose area. the rocking chair is there, because there is no other place to put the thing!





Becca
Your crazy cousin/sister in Oregon

Annr

terri_mom wrote: »

Working hard again today . . .

Great Pic!!
Becca

Annr

Lenora~ Congrats on your new car! What color is it? I have a Chevy Spark...love, love LOVE mine too! I learned how to drive on it. I am a late bloomer when it comes to driving. Got my license in 2014!


Yep we drove around Astoria to find a house to match our car!
Becca

Elaine352962

Annr. I love your apartment, it looks so cosy.

Have a great Christmas.

pipcd34

ANNR - I love your apartment, looks cozy!!

fanncy0626

Becca - Thanks for making Christmas special with the Advent Calendar! Nice apartment and car!

Terri - great picture! It does look like you have a lot of fun at work!



Mary from Minnesota

Poerava14

Mary: A German Shepherd puppy named Shep...oh you ARE blessed! What a cutie.

Vicki: Thanking the lord for your DH's diagnosis. Now to get him well and strong again.

Becca: Ft. Morgan is about 2 hours east of me, in the plains of Colorado. Come visit!

Michele: Glad that Denise came clean about the airline changes. Sometimes difficult people are really just another test of spiritual principles. I know you have the skills and faith to cope with Denise and Bryan's behavior. Hang in there.

I hope everyone travelling or expecting visitors manages to avoid the weather and airport chaos. Looks like a tough time to be on the road.

Star Wars The Force Awakens was good fun, although I find all the sequels a bit formulaic. I still remember exactly where I was when I saw the original SW in 1977. Harrison Ford is still a hunk.

Rori
Colorado Foothills

janetr7476

My oldest daughter and her three kids (20, 18 ,16) are sitting at the dining room table playing a board game. I keep hearing roars of laughter. I love it. Younger daughter and her family will be here in half an hour or so. I am so blessed.

Love you all so much.
Janetr OKC

drkatiebug

Vicki, so thankful for good news re your DH.

Barbie, I'm following your car story with interest. Mine is 7 years old with 130,000 miles. It is really perfectly fine, but DH thinks we should have at least one newer, low mileage vehicle. His little truck is 12 years old, but it runs perfectly fine, too. I'm contemplating another Honda CRV, a Toyota RAV4, a Ford Escape or a Chevy Equinox. I love my Honda so I will probably stick with it, I'm not entirely convinced we shouldn't just keep the one we have, though. I really would like some of the newer features like a back up camera and Bluetooth, but I don't want to spend the money.

Allison, you said this is totally Tom's decision. I'd like to point out that you should have some say in this relationship, too. You deserve happiness and love. Either he is capable of giving you what you need or he isn't. You don't have to stay in a loveless marriage if you don't want to. I think others have given you some good advice to make a pros/cons list. He has left you hanging for too long.

pipcd34

stats for the day:
Spin- 45min, 75ar, 85aw, 10-14ag, 16.9mi = 458c
walk from dome to partial way hm- 21.22min, ahr102, mhr131, 1.06mi = 111c (rainy and 16mph winds)
total cal 569

NO_Excuses_515

Hi Ladies - I've been absent from this group for a couple of months and I don't really have a good excuse - busy at work, busy with volunteer activities, etc. I have to say that I miss you all and when I came back to catch up on some of your posts, it felt like I was coming home again. I have missed you.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the shopping, the baking, the parties, and most of all, being with family. My heart goes out to those of you who find yourselves lonely over these holidays. I wish I could bring you all over to my house. We had our first Christmas with my DH's family this past weekend. We had dinner at the care center where my in-laws live so that they could be with us. On Christmas day, my father and his wife will come to our house for dinner. Then, on January 2nd, we'll have our third and final Christmas at my mother's house. I would stretch it out even longer if I could.

Penny - My heart goes out to you and those in your town impacted by the avalanche.

Becca - Your story from the laundromat made me laugh.

Allie - (((Hugs))) You deserve to be happy and loved, and I hope you are able to find that in the coming year.

I don't want to make this post too long. Merry Christmas! I love you all.

Linda/IA

barbiecat

Here is the next chapter in our car story We were finally able to agree that we could live with only one vehicle so this afternoon/evening we traded in our 2001 Ford F-150 crew cab pickup and 2007 Ford Edge and bought a 2013 Ford Escape with all wheel drive. We dealt with the same Ford dealer we've dealt with since we moved up here in 2004 and got a good deal on the purchase and the trade-ins. Tomorrow Jake will drive me to line dance, then go to the bank to get the titles of the old vehicles out of the safe deposit box and take them along with the second key for each vehicle to give to the Ford dealer along with going to the insurance company to change the insurance. One of the things we had to negotiate was whose special license plates would go on the new car---his Law Enforcement Memorial instead of my Pets, and what bumper stickers we could have on the car---my choice of spiritual principles rather than his choice of political sayings or candidates.

When we went on the test drive we drove up a road into the hills and I made a comment that the last time we'd been on that road was to go to a wedding a few years ago of a young couple who were now divorced and it turned out that the bride at that wedding was the sister of the salesman who rode with us so we chatted a bit about how well she and her children were doing handling life now.

I know I'll love the new car, but I got teary when I turned over the keys of my Edge.....I'll love the new car a lot more once I learn how to turn on the lights and windshield wiper and use the radio....yes the salesman demonstrated all of that and synched our phones to the blue tooth, but it will be awhile before I am totally comfortable with it.

Hugs to all from Barbie who is looking forward to getting to bed.

pipcd34

.

bwcetc

Barbie ... I've gotten emotional with every car I've sold or traded! What's up with that? Enjoy the new vehicle!

fanncy0626

Barbie - Congratulations on your new Ford Escape! You will get used to one vehicle fairly quickly. I had to on December 8th my Jeep Grand Cherokee died on us and we had to put him out to pasture. That's another reason for getting the puppy! Enjoy your new car!



Mary from Minnesota

jmkmomm

Barbie, you will learn to love your Escape. We have had ours now for I think 3 years. We were elcheapo with ours though. We got just a car, it does have a AM/FM/CD player and AC but that's about all, not even tinted windows. WE test drove it on a gloomy day and didn't miss it, now we do. I don't like the lip on the floor to get in the car. My MS doesn't do to well stepping over that lip. With my husbands Parkinson's we will have to watch what we get in a car now. Michelle's car is on the blink right now so she is borrowing our van since she has 3 dogs she transports around. They are going to check the car out tomorrow but won't start working on it until Monday. So we will be a one car family for several days. I don't think I could ever get used to it.

Penny, it just broke my heart when you wrote about the man's children putting presents in his casket. I just loved those colorful houses. You live in a beautiful community. A very generous one also.

Vickie, so glad to hear your husbands report was good. Now to get him feeling good.

Michele, I am not sure of your religious belief but I would say about your holiday celebration blues and turmoils just remember the reason for the season. Let those thoughts lead and rule your days. I can remember when my adult children were less than adult acting and now they are the best kids in the world. The same for both my brothers, well my sister also. We all have had kids that made us tear our hair out and now they are our crown and jewels.

My 'wonderful, dear husband' was a mess tonight. Wednesday evenings we both have our own activites and it dowsn't work to have just one car so Michelle came over before work and I drove her to to work so I could have my car this evening. Well Charlie gets home much later than I do so he wanted me to Escape to church and he would take the van which Michelle is borrowing out to karaoke. He was really insistent on it and when you argue that you might be right he can get pretty mad. So I didn't argue and took the Escape. So he calls when he is out and says he did a boo boo in insisting he take the van. Sometimes he gets home at 2 AM. I should have taken the van so that it would have been here when Michelle's roommate dropped her off after work. They work together and is a roommate. Glad he could admit that.

I am torn about my present from Charlie. I really want that jewelry armoire but I know how much it costs. We just paid $339 for one of Charlie's prescription yesterday and I know I will have to order his other expensive one next week. It's $399. And I would want to buy an armoir the same price. I just can't do that. And in my mind I have my gift, him. So I am torn. I have already spent about $1000 on Christmas when I consider how much Charlie has already given Christina. He gives them $400 and thy needed the money at the beginning of the year to buy a car. They buy disposable cars, cars that cost about $500 because that is all they can afford and they last about 2 years.

Storms were terrible today but we ourselves had no damage, mild damage around town. But it is supposed to start rain Saturday through Tuesday and get around 5 inches on top of the huge downpour we had today. I am just glad it isn't snow. 6 inches of rain would amount to a lot of snow.

Nitey nite, Joyce, Indiana

GodMomKim

Hi gals,

Lisa great advice to Alison!

Ok the wish for police to be called at Christmas – wigs me out! I know you all are teasing but really lights and sirens (police and ambulance) is my Christmas reality – 2 years when my brother beat me, I called 911 - one time he beat me because I asked if he could pass the mashed potatoes- it was a bit funny to see the officer try to be calm when he was told that by my DB - So that explains why I don’t go there for Christmas.

Janetr – thanks for the invite – I wish I could come.

Well there are cards that are not getting mailed till after Christmas, but other than that things are in pretty good shape.. although there are still clients texting asking if I can do stuff tomorrow for them.. I am closed until the 27th. Seems reasonable that I should get 3 days off at Christmas.

Well need to log my food, I went over yesterday and may have today, but am owning it and logging it.

Love ya!

Kim from N. California

GRITSandSLUTSandWINOS

Becca - my new Honda is 'Champaign' colored, same interior.

Barbie - I know the feeling of letting go of a car when buying a new one. Close to being paid off; wrecked; and, making a 850 mile trip the next day. A drive in it made up my mind. 4-cylindar vs. 6-cylindar; gets so much better gas mileage but still has the pep-up and go for getting on the Interstate or passing on a 2-lane road (full of farmers with big tractors and nowhere to go very fast). At least they have to pull off the side of the road if you come up behind them or meet them.

So many people being displaced at this time of the year, so many storms all night long. Bad time for those who lost family members at this time of the year.

Mary - what type of puppy did you get? I still have not figured out how to get a picture of "Cracker" on here. She certainly brings me a whole lot of 'joy' when I am "Home Alone" most of the time. She loves DH; but, she is my 'shadow'. DGDs say she has 'Grinch feet'. Hairy feet. I'd have to agree with them.

Had our Oyster Stew tonight rather than tomorrow night as usual; DOGD is going off tomorrow and I don't think that her stepmom realized that she would not be with them for the dinner at her Mom's house. She's already upset that DOGD spent so much on her boyfriend; but, she has been saving for it all year. DDnL#1 saying that he needed to put a ring on her hand and marry her so they would not have to pay for a lot of her college expenses. DOS just rolled his eyes and said, "Not gonna happen!" And BF would have to go through him. DOGD said, 'nah, not gonna happen' ... maybe this next semester I can pay for one of the bills and maybe 'help y'all' ... DOS sat there while DDnL#1 did her "I do it all" routine. Fussing that she is having to make broccoli salad for the get together and spent nearly $60 for the ingredients. Of course, her stepfather's mother called her while she was here and asked her to bring it on Sunday. I would have said, 'we're' not coming' ... she doesn't have anything to do with her stepfather and he is no longer in the family. She spends money they don't have. Got their phone cut off today because they did not pay the bill. Peace and quiet and no ringing off the hook looking for payments. It is almost comical that they go through this every year, especially at this time of the year. Bad enough to hear it all the rest of the year. She said she was going to ask for donations towards the salad. I told her to make it and then take 1/2 of it one place and the other 1/2 to the other. If there isn't enough for everybody there, they need to take smaller portions.

I need to remember that I have a lactose intolerance problem when eating my Oyster Stew and get less stew and more oysters.