WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2021

barbiecat

In my world the days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder, and my husband and I are entering our 21st month of sheltering in place. Thus, I am grateful to be in the company of all the friendly and encouraging women on this thread.

If you are new, I hope you will keep coming back and join in the conversations.

Be sure to bookmark this thread so you can find it again.

It helps if you sign your post with a name or nickname and some sort of geographical location.

I look forward to a good month with all of you.

Barbie in NW WA

OregonMother

Love you, Barbie. You are such an inspiration.

Thank you for organizing us each month.

Flea
Willamette Valley, OR

okiewoman510

Thank you Barbie for always giving us a clean slate to start each month.

Okie in the TX Hill Country

pipcd34

Went to moms today to do some chores for her and put up her little Christmas tree

exermom

Flea - you are doing so well and deserve that trip. Hope you have fun

Tracey feel better fast


Pip looks like everyone had a great time

Heather wonderful article. Thanks for posting it

Vicki sorry about your friend

Kj thanks so much for the ideas

Katla safe travels

Allie best thoughts for the mri

Jess took the test. Of course she doesn't think she did well but I'm sure she did. She's going to invite Denise to her graduation but I don't think Denise will come and I know that will hurt Jess, even if she doesn't say it.

Trying to exercise every day. Didn't today since Vince wanted to leave early. Was only able to use elliptical and treadmill, but that's better than nothing

Will write more when we get home.

Thinking of everyone

Michele now in Kentucky

GodMomKim

Thanks Barbie for keeping us together we are a critical source of strength for one another -

Kim in N. California

Snowflake1968

Barbie - thank you for another month.

I read the rest of the November thread while doing my self treatment to help my hips and back. I have to lay in a certain way that doesn’t allow for typing so I didn’t take notes.

Long day today trying to get payroll ready to go. Still have some more to do in the morning.

Just saw that the new season of This is Us starts on January 4th. That show makes me cry at the best of times and the 4th I was my Dad’s birthday.

Tracey in Edmonton

Machka9

December 1 - First Day of Summer!

Hot day! We reached 30.4°C = 86.7°F
And now, later in the afternoon, a thunderstorm is moving in.




Machka in Oz

margaretturk

skuehn48

cityjaneLondon

Thank you Barbie!

Yesterday, while my friend and I were walking back to the train station, she fell over on the pavement (sidewalk). It was quite a tumble, and an older gentleman came to her aid, but she got up OK, and seemed fine, if a bit shocked.
Of course, when she eventually got home, she realised she had twisted her ankle, sprained a wrist, and has probably cracked a rib! The pleasures of age.

My legs were troubling me yesterday, but I think I am recovered. I did probably two plus hours of walking, plus my usual morning exercises, but I was unexpectedly having difficulty.

Love to all, Heather UK, still pondering what to do about the balance payment for her cruise. I have read that if you pay the deposit with your credit card, the rest is automatically covered. Must check if we did. I think we did.

cityjaneLondon

We did. Just going to check again if what I read this morning is correct.

Heather UK xxxxxxxx

evie1958

Barbie, thanks for getting us started on another month!
I sincerely hope this month goes better for me than last month, my eating was totally out of control! Have now gone two days without snacking after dinner and only had an orange this afternoon, so feeling pretty good about that!
I'm going to try to remember a few things that I wanted to comment on in Nov:
Tracey, LOVE your ceramic Mr and Mrs Claus! Also looks like the house decorating went well. I have to start mine soon.
Katla, when you were first talking about going to meet your new grandson, it seemed that you were going to be there for a long time, but now you're back home already! Time truly does fly!
Lisa, loved the photo of your daughter and Levi, that kid is so very photogenic! Also happy that you managed to avoid whatever stomach bug the kids were suffering from, that's all you need! Happy to hear that you are starting to feel better!
Flea, so glad to hear that things are going well with you!
Beth, your pup looks like such a sweetie, I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding him a good home where his energy will be better placed. Happy to hear that you seem to be healing well!
Kelly, so very surprised that your son and hubby didn't seem to think anything of exposing you to Covid! All I can say is "men! Argh!" Hoping that the interaction was brief enough to not be a problem.
That seems to be the extent of my memory today, but as always, please know that I do read every day, just don't always have time to comment. I laugh and cry with all of you too.
I finished making all my bead crafts, I will post a pic eventually.... time is just getting away on me these days! And starting next week, we will have our 2 year old granddaughter with us on Tuesdays! I'm looking forward to that! It's going to be a challenge in many ways, but it will be nice to have one on one time with her. I will also, hopefully, be picking her 5 year old brother up from school those days, it will give their parents a few more hours to get stuff done. Our son is working for himself now, starting up a bookkeeping business, so it does make him pretty flexible to be available for the kids when our daughter in law is working, but he still needs time to get his stuff done, so I'm hoping this will help him a bit. I was asked whether I want Rosalie here or to take care of her at their place, uh, here please! I hope to be able to get a few things done while she's here, I know I'll have to pay attention to her, and all drawing/writing/coloring instruments will have to be well out of her reach unless she's supervised! But, I should still be able to do stuff like handwashing a few dishes and maybe baking something. She can help with that!
It's getting late, so I really must head to bed! As always, hugs for those needing them, congrats to those celebrating and welcome to the newbies!
Evelyn, on soggy Vancouver Island, part of an even soggier British Columbia....

spikeyhair

Thank you Barbie for Dec thread, you are a hero

Kate UK ❤️

KetoneKaren

cityjaneLondon

Some of you enjoyed my DH's Round Robin one Christmas past, so I'm posting his latest in the spoiler.

Another round robin…more of a ragged robin really…2021 as seen from Hove
As a result of the runaway success (at least one person ran away on opening it!) of last year’s effort I’m trying another. Keep a bin handy if it’s not your thing!

January…the year begins with a scammer wanting £2 to deliver something I haven’t ordered. Our local supermarket says stock cubes are out of stock! By mid-month the icing on my Christmas cake needs an ice axe to break it. One of our grandchildren has received a fart pot as a Christmas present. We didn’t have them in my day! We end the month by getting jabbed.
February…The instructions for the Covid test I agreed to take as part of trial have been written by the IKEA wardrobe department. Our first Zoom singing session is interrupted by a participant saying “I’ve got someone drilling upstairs.” The dentist gives me a temporary filling…the same status as all the rest of them then. We watch several episodes of Pointless and learn that Sao Tome and Principe is a country and Bismarck had an American state capital named after him…both pieces of information which are bound to come in useful one day, if only when the same Pointless episodes are repeated.
March…A man on the seafront announces he has gone from van driver to evangeliser. I hope he had more success with the van! Listening to the news without paying attention makes me think briefly that a small farmer, rather than small pharma, has set up a new drug trial. A guest on ‘Desert Island Discs’ takes the Complete Works of Jane Austen as their single permitted book of choice. If I’m ever invited to take part I shall choose The British Library as my one luxury item.
April…I go for a walk around the Long Man of Wilmington. No-one knows who he was…someone called Chalky is my guess. I suffer a few sleepless nights and try reading a biography of Sir Robert Peel as a sleep inducer. It works less well than apparently many of his speeches did. Later in the month Godfrey and I enjoy a walk around the Arun and Wey Canal followed by lunch at the Sir Roger Tichbourne…a strange name for a pub unless Sir Roger was perhaps especially fond of beer.
May…My architectural skills are put to the test in constructing Mr Cuddles Castle out of old cardboard boxes. The software manual for our new printer is about as long as ‘War and Peace’. We hope it will provide more of the latter than the former. Our first days of live cricket watching coincide with regular rain showers, except on the one day I decide not to go. The weather forecasters clearly didn’t look out of the window again. I buy some new black masks which Heather says look like Joe Biden’s…preferable to looking like his predecessor I say.
June…The latest pavement hazard here in Hove is men carrying 8-foot inflatable paddle boards towards you, sideways on…tempted to carry a very sharp needle. The dentist replaces my temporary filling with a “permanent” one which falls out 3 hours later. I spend an afternoon watching Euro football, club rugby and championship cricket simultaneously, courtesy of 2 laptops and a television. Who said men can’t multi-task?
July…We go for a pizza with Jack, Jess and grandchildren and end up sticking the names of animals and insects to our foreheads. Apparently some people just go there to eat. I manage to answer a question on Only Connect relating to ‘Albert and the Lion’ (the wonderful Stanley Holloway monologues for the young among you!). It’s just the sort of question I like and prompts me to think a panel game called Only Recollect would be a great hit with those of us who are getting on a bit.
August…We have a leaking gutter. While a potential gutter-fixer goes to stare up at it I do a quick google and impress him with my knowledge of sarking felt. I rescue the step ladder from the back of the shed and attempt to trim our overgrown bay tree. Once the ladder is safely stowed away a couple of rebellious branches spring up again giving the top a slight Mohican cut. I briefly consider claiming it’s topiary. Our grandchildren make snow globes from old jam jars, water, paint and glitter. Most of the contents end up on the table or the floor. We now have a pink hall…subtly pink rather than full on Peppa Pig.
September…I wake up to find seagulls have bombed my car. What they drop would make an adhesive powerful enough to hold the Titanic together. It certainly doesn’t easily come unstuck. Now that I know many of the episodes of Midsomer Murders off by heart I’ve paid more attention to the adverts that divide them. They all appear to be for stair lifts or care homes. Mind you, a couple of hours watching Midsomer Murders can make a chair lift appear more desirable. I publish another Winfrith novel, ‘The Incoming Tide’, and immediately start on another. Now there’s an idea for a TV series…Meryl Streep or Sarah Lancashire for Winfrith?
October…My new walking shoes have two-metre long laces allowing frequent opportunities for triple bows to become during the course of a walk complex knots which require considerable effort and strong nails to unravel. I celebrate being 76 with Heather’s delicious pancake breakfast and football against the grandchildren in the garden. My pace is not what it used to be, but the positional sense…that’s unmatched in any garden in the street. Checks before going to a post-lockdown dental appointment include asking ‘Are you pregnant?’ The form doesn’t leave enough space for “What…at my age?”
November…Apparently kiwis are not often seen in New Zealand. Here they seem to have disappeared altogether…kiwi fruit that is. The colour palette of our morning fruit salad is not what it was. I have walks at Ditchling Beacon and Devils *kitten*, the parking paying for perhaps 3% of our annual National Trust subscription. Our youngest grandchild thinks spraying bubbles on my bald patch will make my hair grow…speaking of which I pay my first visit to a barber for nearly two years. Vinny spends 25 minutes chatting and trimming my eyebrows! Heather is interviewed on Sussex radio and sounds both composed and impressive. We celebrate our 17th anniversary with a delicious meal out during which I eat beetroot for the first time in about 60 years. Fortunately it tastes of tarragon. The restaurant was called Petit Pois though if I was naming a restaurant after a pea variety I might go for Mangetout! On a very chilly seafront walk I follow a man wearing sandals, a red straw hat and one trouser leg rolled up…more Eeyore than Dior I conclude.
December…Has only just begun so nothing has happened yet. Christmas Eve will be a pigs-in-blankets followed by a chocolate fruit dip lunch with grandchildren. There are cotton wool snowballs to look forward to as well. Christmas Day will be just Heather and I so the plan is for Lancashire Hotpot with black pudding and kidneys to be on the menu with a home-made chocolate roulade to follow. If the weather is good the seafront and watching the determined and the foolhardy swim will beckon so I’m sure we’ll have a good day as, I hope, will all of you who have had the grace or determination to read this far…not forgetting those who just had nothing better to do for five minutes!

Happy Christmas!

Love Heather UK xxxxxxxx

grandmallie

Morning ladies
Well i slept soundly last night and none the worse for wear which is a beautiful thing..
Barbie- thank you again for being our fiereless leader and starting us off to the last month of 2021.
I pray that 2022 is better for all of us.. Ill have a new grandson and hopefully wont see a hospital for a long long time.
I wish each and everyone of you and your families health and happiness too

LisaInArkansas

Morning, afternoon and evening, all,

Thank you, Barbie, for your quiet comfort to us all. So grateful for this place and these people, and your steadfast support.

Goals for November were be lighter, be healthier, stick to the budget. Two out of three were a complete bust.

Be lighter: The last few months as I've tried to get my health under control, my weight has swung wildly from 172 at the beginning of the month to as high as 181. As of now, I'm at 176. I'm really OK with being up four pounds in November because one year ago, I weighed 209. So I'm treating this uptick in weight as a data point on a trendline that is going in the direction I choose.

Be healthier: This is the one goal that didn't fall by the wayside. I was so exhausted and afraid as November began. So I reached out to my support system, and they each wrapped their love around me and wouldn't let me fall into the darkness. Their regard, as well as getting a diagnosis and a drug that's actually working (steroid) has brought my body and my mind into a place of peace.

Stick to a budget: Yeah, no. Didn't happen. Didn't help that the prescription for the steroids I'm taking ended up costing us $300 for a ten-day scrip. Had to get it at Walmart, because past experience with the VA told me that it would take at least ten days before they would get it sent from their pharmacy up in northwest Arkansas. I'm beginning to wonder whether they'll make it before I have to go to Walmart and get another ten-day prescription filled. Working with the VA is reminiscent of nailing Jell-O to the walls. Nonetheless, and even though I am grinding my teeth when I say it, they will get it eventually. There is no malice in these people, just a lack of communication and a huge dollop of incompetence, sprinkled with bureaucratic overcomplications.

Goals for December are once again to be lighter, be healthier, and stick to the budget.

TerriRichardson112

Barbie: Thanks for the new thread.

Yesterday I had my bloods taken, my PCR test done, and my pre-op assessment on the phone for my procedure tomorrow. I'm in isolation. Taking it easy today and having an early night as I have to book into the hospital at 7 am in the morning. I have to fast from midnight, which is not a problem as I don't eat breakfast until mid morning most days anyway.

These are comments about post on Dec thread. Sorry if I have missed anything. I'm a bit distracted at the moment 😂 I will come back and do a review of the month later.

Vicki: So sorry about your friend. So many people not able to celebrate the lives of the dear departed. Sending and receiving Christmas cards is a joy. I also get much pleasure making some of mine.
Julie: You poor dear girl! What a catalogue of woes! I hope the days ahead will be better.
KJ: I'm fuming on your behalf. How considerate of all of them. 🤞🏻 Hoping there are no repercussions.
Beth: Sometimes we have to accept that some dogs are not a good fit for us, and find them another home where they will be happier.
@minicooper452 They're called lateral flow rest here, and are freely available for home testing in Northern Ireland
Debbie: 😏 What an unhappy woman Fumiko must be. Enjoy the time with your own dear mother.
Flea: I hope it all means that you're well on the mend.
Pip: Great looking spread, Pip. I hope you all had a lovely time.

KJLaMore

good morning all! Happy Wednesday!
BarbieThank you for bringing us into December!
My goal this month is to simply try not to explode. lol I have cut out all of my volunteer meetings and have taken my "to do" list off the cupboard door. I am stressed as I wait for the upcoming holiday, birth of the new grandson, my daughter's and my youngest son's birthdays, and my week off; during which I will (hopefully) be traveling to see the grandbaby. I have to remember to breathe. I know I am stressed because I am waking up sore, due to tensing up as I sleep. Even my jaw aches from clenching my teeth. Deep breaths. deep breaths.
Heather- Love Johnny's Round Robin letter! Your year in review with his added funny comments. Perfect!
Beth- I will not be one to say "rehome the dog". He is young. I bet with some training he will come around and be just fine. If you love him; work with him. If I rehomed every thing that wasn't a good fit; my husband would live elsewhere. lol

Kids will be here soon. I have to get pancakes made. ttfn xoxoxo KJ (Kelly)

Vickil57

Barbie--Thanks for getting us started on the new month.

This is my favorite time of year and doing all I can to relax and enjoy and not let myself get caught up in all the stress. I have my gifts brought and wrapped, cards mailed and decorations up. Now to do some baking this weekend and relax. This is the first year I have not been behind and stressed to get everything done.

Prayers for all of you and thank you for being here and support, it means more than you will ever know.

Blessings, Vicki GRAND ISLAND, NE