WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR SEPTEMBER 2012

mazaron

Another lovely Saturday morning – I am relaxing in my living room with coffee and the lap-top.

However… before I could relax I had to clean up the mess J’boy left :grumble: cracker crumbs and goat cheese splats all over the couch (thank goodness it’s leather), the coffee table and the computer. On the bright side, he ate the rest of the crackers, so no temptation for me. On the brighter side, he chose the goat cheese for a midnight snack. :noway: What kind of 15 year old boy does that? Mine, that’s what kind.

Farmer’s market today. One of the gardeners sells bouquets of flowers and she promised to bring me one of sunflowers. It’s going to be beautiful on my “bought it in France” sunflower tablecloth.

I have a parcel waiting for me at PO across the border (new shoes and a sports bra, beat that for fun!) and I think I will add to my list of motor-bike experiences by riding down to get it. I can’t wait to pull up to the crossing in all my miniature bad-girl gear! :laugh:

JB – It might be the last camping trip of the year, enjoy the company – freeze the tomatoes.

Gail, it sounds like you are going to have a busy weekend – cinder blocks, stacking blocks, gravel and all! :explode: No need to go to the gym when you are working like that.

Lila, feeling AND looking good! :flowerforyou: Oh me oh my, the Netherlands for years? That’s a heart wrencher. Also a great excuse to visit Europe!

Kate, researching fall fasions? Oh yeah. :ohwell: The story of your drive & the geese brought a lovely image to mind. Thanks for sharing it. Looking forward to hearing about your fabric haul.

Amanda, I just made a brief side-bar trip to Monkey World, and it does look like a lovely venue. I take back my original suggestion of safari suit and pith helmet. Do tell us what you finally decide to wear…no better, post a picture! Hope the knee is feeling better soon.

Jane, I am sending all the good vibes I can for your husband’s job at Walmart, and thinking it does stink that his education does not = a job.

Stardancer! A Bruce Springsteen fan, oh, my kind of girl. :glasses: What a great feeling, give away the summer clothes and rock on!


Nancy

September goals:
No bedtime snacks, no second helpings!
Get the routine chores done – no procrastination!
24 hours of exercise in the month. Total to date: 22.5 I might just make it after all!
Be a role model of healthy living for my students.

janehadji

We bottled our wine yesterday, which was a lot of fun. As I was leaving with my two cases, they said "try to use it within a year." Twist my arm!! Actually, I don't think I can do that. That would be a lot, as I usually only drink 1-2 glasses each week. My husband is funny -- when the kids still lived at home, I would have 1-2 glasses a month, since I didn't want to set a poor example. Hubby is now convinced that my huge increase in drinking is cause to worry that I'm becoming an alcoholic (he drinks WAY more than I do!). I just tell him that my husband drives me to drink!! :laugh: Which may very well be true.

Meg -- Congrats to you and your partner on another great week! It does feel liberating to have it out there. I looked at an approximately 300 lb. European woman in a red bikini on the beach one day, and thought how wonderful it must be to be that comfortable with your body. We're so obsessed with body image here, with not aging. I wish that I could just feel comfortable with myself instead of always feeling the pressure to be better.

DeeDee -- What a sweet granddaughter you must have, and how special you must be to her, that she wanted to write about you.

Gail -- Are you going to do all of that yardwork yourself?? What a workout that's going to be!

Sasha -- What is your daughter going to be doing in the Netherlands? It's exciting for her, but I know that it must be really hard for you to let her go.

Kate -- I had to laugh reading your post! Forgetting your wallet when everything else was perfect just sounds so much like something that I might do.

Amanda -- Isn't it fun to shop for kids? I can still remember, right after my daughter was born, when I discovered that it was so much more fun to buy clothes for her than for me. She had an amazing wardrobe as a baby! :flowerforyou:

Deb A. -- Technology these days is challenging, especially when there is nobody to teach you. We're still learning how to use the i-pad that our daughter gave us as a gift. The laptop is so much easier!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! Our kids are coming over for a last family night before my daughter moves away next weekend, so I'm marinating chicken to grill for dinner.

Yardtigress

Gads it's afternoon already? I have been cleaning the bathrooms this morning, and I got under the sinks and in all the drawers. OMG I threw away stuff, I had forgotten was under there. I found tons of nail polish and files. I even found the glass file I bought at a craft fair. I have been looking for that thing everywhere. Now the draws are less crowded and I can see what I have. I was sweating up a storm, bending over and toting trash out. Next is my office, LOL. I have to wait cause I don't want to fill up the trash to early in the week and have no where to put it.

I ate a little more yesterday than normal, and watched the blood sugar. It stayed good, I will see what happens..

Gail- of course we don't like really loud music, it's called getting older. LOL Remember your folks always yelling at you to turn down your darn music.

Oh well, just making a short visit, and marking my place. Tigress

exermom

Well, the concrete was poured yesterday. Shortly after they had finished, it started to rain. Had it started 15 minutes sooner, I don't know what would have happened. As it was, they put plastic over the last part that was concreted. We needed 4 concrete trucks.

Gail - that's one thing about the exercise classes that I take -- a lot of times the music is so loud. To me, that's DEmotivating. I know some people find it really motivating. What I've found that I do when I take the extreme pump class is when this one gal is teaching, I wear ear plugs. To me, she has the music so loud and her microphone so loud, then she yells into the microphone, it was actually starting to hurt my ears. So I just wear earplugs. As a matter of fact, the first time I wore them I found that I was able to lift higher weights.

Lila - thanks for reminding me that some people celebrate Thanksgiving in Oct. Wish the US did. To me, it's just so much, Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years. All in like 2 months' time. To me, providing at least water for the workers is the absolute least I can do. Also, I love to bake and try new recipes out, expecially things that Vince won't eat (which is a lot of things), so they get to be my "guinea pigs".

To all my Canadian friends - happy Thanksgiving!

Kate - at least you knew where your wallet was! I bet that lady has fabric that you can't possibly buy any more. I remember a while ago I was looking for a fabric in a 50's or 60's type of theme, and I couldn't find anything.

Amanda - I can certainly tell how much you love those grandtwins, they are so lucky!

Went to yoga today, tomorrow I'll do some balance games on the Wii. anyway, since I got there (the Y) a little bit early, I glanced at the schedule. This other person is teaching yoga on Wednesdays before the water aerobics. Yea! I'll go to that class. Guess it can't hurt for me to do a little at home on Mondays, take the class on Wednesdays and then again on Saturdays. The only down side is that by taking that class, I won't get to the water aerobics class early and do some laps. Well, that'll just mean that I'll have to work that much harder.

Liz - I usually have a salad with my dinner, too. Vince has to have a lettuce or coleslaw, but I usually have okra and mushrooms and cucumbers or squash, whatever I have in the refrigerator that I want to use up. I figure "hey, I can get lettuce during the winter, but I won't be able to get okra". I don't think I'd allow a whole free day. I admit that I used to, that was when I would count calories during the week and not on the weekends. Then it turned into where I started counting on Sundays but not Saturdays. Then every other Saturday. I just found that eventually I got to the point where I felt "yuk" when I ate everything, I was craving good things. So that's when I started counting every day. When I'm not counting, I'm still mindful of what it is that I'm putting in my body. I don't think I'd have a free DAY but maybe a free MEAL.

Terrible as this may sound -- we're getting a little bit of rainy weather, which means the pool guys won't be working. But that also means that I won't be baking, which is good for me.

jane - have fun at the shower! Congrats to hubby

Going to post this to mark my spot. Hope everyone has a great day!

Michele

glendalight

Good afternoon all. so many posts to respond to today.

Wessecg - My feelings exactly about the mammogram " If they were asking a man to do this...." :grumble: And congrats on being in the 160's. Wish I were joining you today!

Barbie - hope your weekend retreat is fabulous!

Linda - thanks for the info on the sleep deprivation. It makes total sense.... I always feel more vulnerable to mindless eating when I feel overtired!

jb - ah, camping and beach time sound lovely. hope you have great weather and enjoy it all.

Kate - you know you did well on your September goals in spite of less walking. good work! And all that fabric sounds amazing. you will have to let us know how it goes. I have a bit of a stack myself and one of my winter goals is to work through it or give it away. There, now I have said it out loud....now to do it!

Jane - i have always been intrigued by the winemaking places. A friend gave me a bottle of orange chocolate port that she had made and bottled- delish!

Michelle - So much baking!! how do you do it. I am such a spoon licker - I thought of you yesterday while I was making cookies for the boarders. but I think I must cheat at the cookie dough consumtion more than you do!!:frown:

Meg - It is so cool to hear the benefitsof your contest. It is kind of like being on here - share triumphs, an understanding ear, encourage each other, and less opportunity to be in denial! Good work

Lila- the 'launching' of children is always a difficult process. We have been responsible for them for so long and it is hard to release that responsibility. But you will make it - and so will she. Do you have family in Holland?

Micki - I am SOO excited about your trip to Israel!! I have gone for the last two years with two of my sisters in a similar sized group (maybe a bit smaller) It is an AMAZING trip - so much history, culture, biblical sites. I absolutely loved it and would go again in a minute! I don't think you have to worry too much about food. The Mediterranean diet has lots of vegetables, little deep frying, always a fish option and, partly because of Jewish diet laws(no dairy and meat together), few heavy sauces. We stayed in hotels that catered to tour groups and had breakfast and dinner buffets included. I ate well but had no trouble eating healthy. And combined with the amount of walking, I think I actually lost weight the first trip! Hey, maybe I should go back!! When are you going? Oh, I am jealous:happy:

I started the physio exercises this past week and frankly am back to limping :frown: I told my therapist that I cut back on the reps so I could still walk - and thankfully she agreed with the strategy. Not sure I like this.

It is a beautiful sunshiney day, and as much as I love chatting with you all, I think I am heading out to enjoy some of it! Great weekend to all.
Go well, stay well. Glenda

megblair1

marking my spot! I need a nap as evidenced by needing 4 attempts to spell "spot". see you later, Meg

wessecg

Liz - I think many many folks have misconstrued the "free day." From what I understand it's supposed to be a full calorie day, not a "go wild" and eat anything you want day. So if it takes 2500 calories a day to maintain your weight and you're eating 2000 a day for a 500 calorie deficit in order to lose a pound a week, it has been suggested that one day a week you should eat the entire 2500 calories - not all the calories you want. Is this really working for your friends? I know that I could easily eat enough calories to gain a pound in just one day (unlimited chicken wings comes to mind - or maybe all the Hagan Daas I could stand)

junekaatz

Hi Ladies,

Popping in midday as tonight could be busy.

Today I met with the sweet little 88 year old lady who needed to give away her fabric stash. She was waiting for me by the door with a huge suitcase of fabric, one large plastic bag and the rest was bound up in a pink bed sheet. It looked so promising I got quite excited but in the light of day when it was spread all over my cutting board it was less so.

What I recognised was a lifetime of sewing, of memories, of unfinished projects and bits saved from every project including decades of hemming draperies. There was a little mending and the occasional remnant still in its wrapper from a now defunct store which was too good a bargain to pass up. Nothing was ever thrown away in her era; there were scraps left from a baby quilt, upholsteries, suiting, unfinished costumes and an evening gown from her own youth she was perhaps restyling for her granddaughter.

My girlfriend and I rescued a couple of pieces each but the majority will go to the Sally Anne and about a third went straight into the garbage. What today accomplished more than anything was to relieve an old woman’s reticence about throwing things out (no sewer can throw her own fabrics out!), her guilt about leaving it for her children to have to deal with and more than all, giving her pleasure knowing that her thrift will benefit someone else.

All she asked of me was prayers for her family’s health. God Bless.

Kate

lizmil79

@wessecg and @Michele, Thanks for the reply I have never done a free day as such still working on correct portions, serving sizes, counting calories. I don't trust myslf yet to have "quote free day" but a free meal or eating your full calories one day of the week makes sense to me. As far as my friend I am not sure if they have loss weight doing that they look slimmer to me its what they say works for them. I am not in the place to judge that either.

I was juat curious I have heard that term use in loosing weight but didn't understand the logic behind it. That is why I put the question out there ?

Thank you,
Liz

4thoseiluv

bump

Sasha4427

Saturday and the weather was great. Got a lot of my patio clean up done and tomorrow if the weather is still nice, I’ll finish up the vegetable garden. Not much point in doing the flower gardens until the leaves fall as I use the mulched leaves as cover for the bulbs and rhizomes for the winter.

I’m still working on sorting clothing, now I have 3 piles, those I can donate now because the places want fall and winter clothing, those I have to pack up and donate in spring when they want spring and summer clothing, and a very small pile of things that I can alter. It has to be something I really like in order to rip it all apart and basically remake it because I’m down more than 2 sizes now.

Who was it that was going lingerie shopping? I have to as well as the bras are just too big to be much support now. And no one wants to wear wrinkly underwear!!

Amanda – sorry to hear you are still hurting – is it the change in the weather that does this? I also can’t pack lightly – my DD amazes me in that she can just show up with one suitcase and a backpack to stay the week and I end up with a giant suitcase and a carry on for 4 days.

Jane – the job will work out and eventually your DH will have the job he loves, teaching. Patience in all things (but we’ll keep holding that thought in our prayers anyway).

Nancy – enjoy the flowers, I don’t know anyone who can look at sunflowers without smiling. OK – what is “miniature bad girl gear”?

JaneH – 2 cases of wine in a year, I think that’s do-able and probably enjoyable too.
My daughter will be starting her PhD in medieval studies (codicology to be precise) and I am so looking forward to visiting at least 3 times a year. I keep telling myself it’s only 6 more hours away than before (but that means 9 in total and that feels like half a world away to me). And your daughter is moving away too, but the distance is not too bad and Spokane is a nice place.

Kate – what a wonderful story you drew out of those remnants. And your goose story was entertaining too – do you write?

Glenda – no, no family in Holland so Jenneka will be on her own (other than her advisor and a couple of other PhD candidates she met earlier this summer). It’s also the first time she is living absolutely on her own, no roommate or sister to share good and bad times with.

Liz – I have met people limiting their calories quite severely 6 days then having a “free” day. I don’t know if it keeps the weight off in the long term although it did seem to work for them. I’m with you about just learning the portions and counting calories. It takes so long to get a pound off I really don’t want to blow it on one day accidentally.
Hope everyone has a good Saturday night and a blessed Sunday. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Lila

JNHeff

Kate,
You are truly an ANGEL to take that sweet lady's legacy of sewing! BLESS you! :flowerforyou:

Gardengail

Kate – I have a very small sewing stash. Mostly things I want to make quilts with.

Amanda – I hope you post pictures from the Monkey World wedding. Interesting venue for a wedding!

Stardancer – sorry about your FIL health situation. I understand why someone might make that choice.

Jane – Hope your husband gets that job!

I have never liked loud music or loud anything else. DH’s TV volume drives me wild at times.

We had landscaping plans professionally done about 5 years ago and paid the fellow to do the front yard. I’d love to have him back to finish it all, but it is just too much money. So, we’ll finish up the backyard this fall and winter. Still need to work in the sideyard on the south (the one we removed sod from last weekend, and enlarged a planting bed). I guess that will be next fall.

The yardwork we have in progress is addressing drainage issues and yes, another set of slopes, this time in our backyard. The basic plan is to run a drainage channel along the back fence with the black drainage pipe and gravel, with the cinder blocks on the yard side of the drainage pipe. (This will create a narrow ditch between the cinder blocks and the fence.) Also, the cinder blocks will serve as a below-grade retaining wall. We’ll backfill the area between the blocks and the top of the slope with dirt, etc., and create a planting bed.

So after DH went to work I moved the 70 or so remaining blocks in the wheelbarrow, plus got some of them in place and leveled. The tricky part is that we needed them to align with the top of an existing raised planter. (Done LAST fall) Well, after dry fitting a double row of the cinder blocks I discovered that because of the additional slope right to left, the far end of the new planting area would be about 3’ below the top of the fence if we continued the same level all the way. A much too easy escape path for the dog and oh-so-silly looking besides. So, we’ll go with 1 cinder block layer and when we need to add a layer below to maintain the level, I’ll step it down. The cinder block won’t show since the dirt will be in front and we’ll then cap it off with the same stacking block that is on that existing raised planter – just to dress it up a bit.

My shoulders and hands are very tired tonight! I counted it as circuit training and cardio, with all the wheelbarrow trips for blocks and gravel. We are also creating another raised bed in the yard, up near the house, and that is using the stacking block and also will hide drainage control inside. Wow – that was a lengthy description!

The kiddos went on their first apartment hunt this afternoon. Haven’t heard much yet.

Well, I’m heading for the ibuprofen and heating pad. Have a great night!

Gail

wessecg

I had to post this. I've only lost 14 pounds so far, but what a difference it makes in my appearance. We rode today and myhusband took my picture. I'm wearing the same shirt I was wearing in a photo from a couple of months ago so I thought I'd put the two photos side by side. I am loving losing my weight and I can't wait to lose 20 more!!

exermom

About those mammograms -- I don't know about anyone else, but I always laugh when they say "now hold your breath". No problem at all.

Glenda - I know that my weakness is fats and sugars. when I cream the butter (don't like margarine) and the sugar, that's got to be my downfall. Then, add the rest of the ingredients for the raw dough, and I'm a gonner. I do try, tho, to be careful of how much of the dough I eat. Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't. Today I didn't make anything for the guys since they weren't here today, won't be here tomorrow. I have some things in the freezer, so that'll probably hold me off for a day or two of them being here.

Kate - what a wonderful way you have of looking at the positive of getting that fabric. Wish it had worked better for you.

Lila - congrats on being down 2 sizes, that's fantastic. I'm the same way when it comes to packing. I pack a lot of things. My daughter is the same way as yours, she went to a funeral in TN a while ago, and she took such a small suitcase! I definitely would have needed a larger one.

Gail - your landscaping sounds so much like ours, retaining walls, addressing drainage issues, etc.

Hope everyone has a great evening.

Michele

kathyszoo

Good evening all! While I did get some walking in today, it was definitely my free day eatingwise! Not junk food but lunch and dinner both out. :ohwell: Just bigger meals than I'm used to, so time to get back in the groove tomorrow! I did catch up and enjoyed reading all the posts!

Wessecg-Nice pic! In your after pic, you look so much younger than 53!

Enjoy your Sunday!:drinker:
Kathy

wizzywig

Hi everyone

Back from my "break" in Scarborough. Never ever have I seen so much rain! :noway: :noway:

:ohwell: The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that the rainy weather was everywhere in the country and not just in Scarborough. We did manage to get out and about - we made the best of it by wrapping up warmly and luckily I took my rain mac! Mum hired a scooter that came with a mac which covered her and the scooter, dad just wore his cap to keep the rain off his head (and coat too of course, but nothing waterproof) and he wonders why he now has a sore throat and a cold.

:huh: As usual I seem to be behind with everyone's news, (I haven't read all the post from last week yet) and I think it's 1st October tomorrow Yikes where is the time flying to, it will be Christmas before we know it.

:flowerforyou: Good news, I didn't put any weight on whilst away. I'm so pleased, I did try to eat plenty of veggies etc but I did have a sweet/pudding every day too. Mind you we had a big breakfast and then nothing until tea time - no snacking in between. Just shows that all my calories must come from the snacking. Now if only I can cut the snacks now I'm back home!

:flowerforyou: Wessecg looking good, you can really see a difference. Well done.

:frown: Well time is getting on, I've got tons to do so better make a start. I've put a load of washing in and now need to get it dry, don't think I'll hang it outside today looks like - yes you've guessed it RAIN.... :bigsmile:

Chat again soon (in the October thread?) Have a good Sunday

Viv xx

carojrrn

Marking a spot for later!!!

DeeDee2211

Good morning beautiful ladies:flowerforyou:

Wessecg Looking good!!! what a difference 14 pounds make! Congrats!!!!

Viv it rained here all day yesterday:sad: , and my granddaughter was here and all she wanted was to drive the golf cart:sad: . I took her on a shopping trip instead.

Michele at least you're getting a break from baking, but I know you enjoy it!

Lila I know you'll miss your daughter, but you'll get to take some fun trips to see her!!!

Kate your story about the fabric is beautiful! I enjoyed the Geese story too, sometimes I feel like the ones trying to get into the formation:laugh: .

Yesterday was a busy day. My granddaughter got up around 6:30 or so and around 7:30, I thought I'd better make her some breakfast, I got her favorite, bacon, eggs and biscuits. I open the fridge and noticed it didn't take much effort to open the door, grabbed the bacon and it was barely cool, yup I guess when I was putting the leftover chicken away the night before I didn't close the fridge door completely , nothing in there I could save except for the wine and water, and she really didn't need that for breakfast. The biscuits were frozen so they were okay, that was her breakfast, a plain biscuit:frown: . She kept telling me it was fine but it just upset me. I spent the morning really cleaning out the fridge, wiped it all down, got everything out, well except for the wine and water I figured it would be fine. All she wanted to do yesterday was drive the golf cart, and all it did all day was rain:sad: :sad: :sad:, I took her on a shopping trip, and every little bit she would say, it looks like it might stop raining, can we go on the golf cart if it does, I told her of course if it stopped we would, however that wasn't to happen . I took her home around 5:30 last night and it was still raining! Today, I have to go to the grocery store and try to replace a few things I had to throw out:mad: . What a weekend!!!
It's now time for me to go jump in the shower, the Queen is expected to hold court around 10:00am today, so I'd best be getting myself ready to put on my tiara :laugh: :bigsmile: .
Hope everyone has a fabulous Sunday!!!! Drink your water:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: and log your food!!!

Oh, I need to report, today was my official weigh-in day, for the month of Sept. I lost 1.3 pounds , however I lost almost 8 inches:bigsmile: , so while the scale is being hateful and slow, the inches are coming off and that makes me happy!!!!

Hugs,
DeeDee

tiarapants

Good morning ladies.

I'm having a cooking day. Filling up the freezer with work lunches for DH and I for the next couple of weeks. Also, my son has come over to help DH cut down a couple of trees in our back gardens and I will be cooking dinner for the hungry workers later. Although, every time I look out of the window, they seem to be chatting and laughing and not doing much cutting! We only have a few more hours of sunlight, so they'd better get a move on!

My cousin got home from hospital last night - it's a week today since he had a quintuple heart bypass - amazing how quickly they discharge people these days. When I had my heart valve replaced last year I was home within ten days (I always take a long time to recover from anesthetic, or I would have been home sooner).

I'm going to take 'my boys' a drink and give them a little encouragement.

Love to all.
Amanda x