WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY

Hi I just started and feel happy to have found this group.

:flowerforyou: Welcome! :flowerforyou: You will find lots of support and inspiration here.

Rose, I am thinking about you and little Connor.

Donna, thank you for sharing about your children. You are a brave woman. It can be healing to share some of the pain. I can vouch for the fact that raising children is not for sissies.

☼ It was a beautiful day in paradise today and I went bowling with some friends this afternoon. Then out for some yumyums and a walk by the sea. Have not caught up on all the posts, but do try to read them all. I am so impressed with how you all tackle your lives and yet keep your sense of humor. You are a strong bunch of women!

My TV broke down so I can't do my dance DVD for now, but if the weather co-operates I will ride my bike to work again. If not, I will hit the gym. Notice I say WILL and not SHOULD. I want to be firm in my resolve.

Hope everyone has a great week and will make good choices.

Rebel

Hello All:flowerforyou:

Michelle,
Saying a prayer for PJ, and for you and yours. I know you will do what is best for PJ, but I feel your pain.

Renny,
Loved your comment about "not"--how true it is. Told myself today, I will NOT have two beers. It must have worked--I had THREE:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Wait a minute..maybe it DIDN'T work so well after all...:blushing:

Donna,
Sounds like your kids gave you plenty of challenges when they were growing up and haven't stopped doing so.

For what it's worth, you might look into the support group associated with AA. I realize your son is still drinking, but this group, called Al-Anon, is for FAMILY members--not the person with the drinking problem. The website for more info is :
http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/english.html
They can help you deal with how his issues are affecting you, and it is anonymous, and, as far as I know--free.

As far as your 36 yr old daughter is concerned, a swift kick to her posterior is probably out of the question,:noway: but I bet it would make YOU feel better!!!:bigsmile: :bigsmile: Seriously, I don't have any brilliant advice for that situation. Maybe she will get older and wiser and realize life is more than material things. We can only hope. Good luck!!
******
Today I spent a pleasant afternoon at a riverside tavern/restaurant with some friends enjoying the sunshine and a little beer on their patio. The crows are very bold. As the waitress brought our fish and chips, one of those pesky birds dived toward the plate in an attempt to steal a french fry!!!:noway: Guess he was trying to help me avoid temptation, but I had already planned to let one of my dining mates have the fries. I ordered a side salad and a baked potato to go with my fish.

I took advantage of the one day sale they had today at Sears. About 2 wks ago I purchased flax colored jacket that was 1/2 price. At the time, I noticed they had slacks in the same material, but I decided to pass, as I was afraid they would end up too big, and they were full price. Today, with them being 1/2 off + 20% off

To Donna and our other dog lovers, I am posting below the 2nd part of the what people foods that are good to feed your dog. Maybe that new puppy will benefit.
Here is a link to the page:
http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/10-more-people-food-dogs/9241


"10 More "People" Food for Dogs
Food you can share with your dog
By By Laura Scott and Elizabeth Pask
Are you looking for more ways to add a bit of excitement to your dog’s mealtime? Or are you looking for new ideas for tasty treats? Well look no further! Here are ten more people foods that will give you just what you’re looking for and will help boost your dog’s nutrition.

1. Rice is good to feed when your dog has an upset tummy and needs a bland meal. There are a variety of different types of rice. Brown rice is a little higher in protein and a little lower in fat when compared to white rice. White or instant rice is an easily digestible carbohydrate which makes it a good source of energy when your dog has an upset tummy or if you are feeding an older dog.
2. Squash, like pumpkin, can be added to bulk up his stool and is a good source of betacarotene (provitamin A). Hint: remove the seeds and then slice and freeze the squash to make it a fun, crunchy snack for your dog.

3. Popcorn that has been air popped with no butter or salt is a great lowcalorie treat for your dog. Popcorn contains potassium as well as the bone-building minerals phosphorous, magnesium, and calcium. So snuggle up and share that popcorn with your furry friend next time you watch a movie.

4. Lean meat (chicken, beef, or pork) with no visible fat and no added sauces or seasonings can be a great training treat or can add a bit of good-quality extra protein to your dog’s diet. Lean meat is an excellent, balanced source of amino acids, the building blocks of muscle in your dog’s body. Meat is also a great source of B vitamins (Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Pyridoxine, and Cobalamine). These vitamins are involved in energy metabolism in the body.

5. Liver is available freeze-dried in most pet stores and it is a great training treat. You can also buy it fresh in the grocery store to feed at home. Fresh liver can be cooked and then baked to make your own liver treats. Liver is an excellent source of B vitamins (Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, and Folic acid), Vitamin A, and Vitamin K. It is also a great source of iron. Warning: Too much liver may be toxic to dogs because of its high vitamin A content. Therefore, it is best to limit the amount of liver fed to your dog to not more than 1 g of fresh liver/Kg body weight per day.

6. Pineapple can be a special treat for your dog. Pineapple contains mostly sugar but it also contains calcium and potassium. Frozen pineapple can be a fun summer treat for your dog.

7. Cottage cheese is high in protein and calcium and it’s fairly bland, so it can be a good way to add some extra protein to your dog’s diet. Cottage cheese is a dairy product and some dogs don’t do well with dairy, so make sure you start with just a small amount.

8. Parsley has long been thought to improve doggie breath, so next time you are baking treats for your dog, try adding a few tablespoons of chopped parsley for added flavour and colour. Parsley can also be a good source of calcium, potassium, and beta-carotene.

9. Peanut butter is a healthy, high-protein treat for dogs. Try smearing some inside or on one of your dog’s toys, or let him lick out the container when it’s almost finished.

10. Peas can be added right to your dog’s food, frozen or thawed. Peas are a good source of the B vitamin Thiamin, phosphorous, and potassium.

*The foods listed above should be fed as an extra treat in addition to or as part of a balanced diet. Extra foods shouldn’t make up more than 25 percent of your dog’s diet. Just be sure to try out new foods one at a time until you’re certain that they don’t upset your dog’s stomach."

REGARDING POPCORN--may dogs have a sensitivity to corn, despite the fact that it is a common ingredient in cheaper dog food. Despite what this article says, I do NOT think it is smart to give a corn-sensitive dog popcorn, although they will probably love to eat it. My late Shih Tzu, Dreyfus was allergic to corn, and he LOVED to steal popcorn when it fell on the floor. He liked corn so much, he once grabbed a small corn cob off a discarded plate at a picnic, and swallowed it before I could stop him. He itched like crazy from the allergic reaction and then threw up the cob.

I've been stuck the past 2 weeks. I stopped filing in my food diary. Have to start again. Perhaps that will help. It is easy to forget what you put in your mouth

I am discouraged and upset wit myself for falling off track.

susan

:flowerforyou: Susan, I must confess that I am in the same boat as you. I started this day right and intend to keep it up throughout the day. We CAN do this. Let's just keep on keeping on!!:happy: Have a great day!!:flowerforyou:

Just a quick post about tummy fat.

DD lost 3 sizes since her surgery on 3/15, but only lost 2 pounds. Her core routine started at 10 curls, 10 bridges and is only up to 20 curls, 20 bridges with 10 side planks (with knees down) each side. She was parading around in size 8 jeans yesterday in front of me reminding me (constantly) that size 8 is my goal size.

So, any one want to guess what I started doing this morning?

Donna - I agree with Barb's advice on finding an AA support group. It will help you with your son. The only thing that will help him is himself and there is nothing you can do about it.

I forgot to take notes - so good thoughts to the little grand baby with Jaundice. Everything should be fine in a few days.

Jeannie

Hey, I'm back from my camping trip.

Cindy,
Hope you enjoy your day, despite the rain and the "arrangements" you were mentioning. Welcome back to the thread. I was wondering where you had been.

MacMadame,
Welcome back. Hope you had a dry trip.

Memo to self. REMEMBER how caffeine affects me. Last evening, since I didn't want to have another beer, and I was bored with water, I had a diet pepsi with a lemon while I was out with my friends--MAJOR mistake!! Couldn't fall asleep until about 4am, and I feel like toast this morning.:grumble: I am hoping a bath will "revive" me and help get the day started.

Just a quick check-in. Today is going to be a busy day. Another lunch, this time with a friend. But I know what's on the menu and should do fine. Plus, started off the day with a good walk. I'm definitely going to be exercising today to get back into the groove. This afternoon, I head back to Placerville. I'm always torn - love to be in the Bay Area with my family and old friends, but love Placerville too with it's open space and lower-keyed lifestyle. 'course most of the grandkids are there too!

Ainslieglen, I treasure your support and friendship too. MFP has opened up a whole new world of connections to some terrific women like you.

Donna, my sympathies to you. Raising kids is tough. Mine have all had their challenges - and sometimes still do. My older daughter needs to lose 170 pounds and my heart hurts for her. It took me so many years to get clued in about weight, it's hard to know the best way to help. (And it sure does help me empathize with MY folks!)

All we can do is love them the best we can. In some cases, that means setting healthy boundaries and sticking to them, like you are doing with your youngest. I wonder if Al Anon might help. Sometimes getting support from people who are going through similar things helps. (Like with MFP.)

Donna- I suspect the counselors aren't bamboozled at all. If they are former addicts, they've said the same thing to their counselors and they know what BS is it. But they also know change has to come from within and there isn't much they can do about it, if he's not ready to change.

In my case, my daughter is going through what I went through at her age when I chunked up and I am doing my best to make sure she doesn't get started on yo-yo dieting and end up dieting her way into MO like I did. Luckily, society is more accepting of a bit of belly fat on a young girl these days. I am just trying to teach her good habits -- finally got her to pack a lunch for school most days instead of eating out with fast food -- and hope that when she shoots up in height at the other end of puberty, she'll slim out like I've seen so many other young girls do.

My son is rail thin and I actually worry about him more because he's a picky eater and his diet is mostly grease, salt and carbs. I keep telling him that he can't eat like that forever, but he doesn't believe me.

With both of them, I have never forced them to eat -- I don't want them to become members of the clean plate club. So they will stop eating when they are full which I think it is a major part of the battle. However, I haven't done a good job of teaching them what a healthy meal is and how to cook for themselves so they are mostly eating processed foods. We are working on that though. At dd's school, a lot of the kids are into cooking and make their own food all the time and she's learn to make a few things herself too.

Hi Rebel
I use my laptop whenever I'm not near a TV - - you can create a playlist of videos on YouTube - - including exercise videos,
:happy:
Randy

:bigsmile: Thanks for the tip Randy :bigsmile: Yes I do have a laptop and will give that a try. I think a new TV is out of the question for a while, so I have to have a plan 2

Rebel

So Dh was up in the middle of the night with the flu. he was home again today. I hope he goes to work tomorrow. I have had a headache all day and I look really tired. I was still able to workout and burn 1254 today but I don't feel all that great. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.


Rose - I hope you aren't too sore tomorrow after you slip.

I hope everyone is having a great day and an even better tomorrow.

Happy Monday Evening,

Donna- our children give us all joy and tears and we love them anyway. Will add your son to my prayer list and you as well that you will know the peace that only the Father can give,:flowerforyou: ..

Rose - keeping Conner in my prayers:flowerforyou: Hope you have no lingering effects of your fall:huh:

Renny - you are so dedicated, even when things break down you still aim to get in the exercise:drinker:

Susan - don't get discouraged, we all at one time do the slide but you can start up anytime and we are here to encourage you!

Jeannie - I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO DO THOSE EXERCISES THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF THIS TUMMY !:noway: That sounds amazing, so for your next post please give more details. Thanks in advance

Cindy - congrats on the special meeting of 30 years ago:flowerforyou:

Robin - sorry to hear you and your's are under the weather:sick:

Michele - glad the PJ came through okay, our four legged kids are just as important as the two legged one:ohwell:

For those of you that are struggling, hang in there:drinker: we all have those moments. For those that have lost, drank the water, exercised and succeeded recently YEAH YOU:drinker: :drinker:

Wound up working late and then hubby said lets go out, so I think I was good but didn't get the exercise in, do will do more drinking of water and tomorrow is another day. We will be getting things ready over the next several days to get ready to leave for Oregon on Friday. I'm exhausted and we haven't left yet:yawn:

Everyone have a good evening and continue to fight off those pounds:drinker:

Laura

Hi! I'm new to myfitnesspal and just love it! Is there something special I need to do to sign up for this topic?

Hello All,

For those who have been around here long enough to have read this story before when it posted in July 2009 in the Golden Sneakers Thread, well, ya get to read it again, if you wish!! :bigsmile:

Tomorrow is a very historic day in SW Washington. Thirty years ago on May 18, 1980, our grand old lady --Mt St. Helen's blew her top, and became a real "pain in the ash" to a lot of people, and deadly for 57 who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Below is a story about my own personal experience with her activities. The first story didn't take place on May 18th, because all the ash blew to the east of the mountain and buried the Yakima Valley/Central Washington, Spokane, Ritzville, Pullman..etc under so much ash it looked like midnight at noon. As I recall, this incident happened a few weeks prior to "the big one.".....

......I remember Mt St Helens very well. She sits less than 50 miles north from where I am sitting as I write this. The wind direction at the time of the "Big One" on May 18, 1980 was such that all the ash went east, to northeast.

There were lots of other smaller ash filled eruptions, and I remember a night when the company I worked for was throwing a shindig at the Marriott in downtown Portland. I was chauffeuring a male co-worker from Utah to the wing ding, and when we got ready to leave, I walked out of the hotel and suddenly my black coat looked like someone threw flour on it from one of the balconies.:noway: I soon realized what was going on, as it was not the first time.

We arrived at my car--a little bronze Honda Civic--the first brand new car I had ever owned, only 2 months old at the time, and my "baby" was grey--windows and all!!:noway: My companion started to wipe ash off my window and I hollered "Stop!!" The silica in the ash scratches paint and glass if you rub it across the surface. Instead, I stood there on the sidewalk and proceeded to blow the ash off my windshield. I was a little dizzier than usual by the time I was done, but he had been talking on the phone with me for two years and we had just met face to face, so he couldn't tell the difference!!:laugh: :laugh:

As we drove, we encountered a new problem, it started to RAIN!!:noway: So now we are driving, and it is essentially "raining mud." What a mess!! When ash gets wet and then dries it has the consistency of cement, so getting the car clean without damaging the paint or the windows was a challenge.

We were actually very fortunate. During the big eruption where the mountain blew its top big time, as I recall, the city of Spokane had to replace every police car in the fleet because the ash overwhelmed their air filters and destroyed the engines. The Washington State Patrol vehicles in that part of the state also were damaged to the point of needing replacement.

Well, that is the history lesson for today.

And here is another story....

...Another incident I remember from the 1980 Mt St Helen's eruption was the story my great aunt told. She and my uncle had a farm and raised sugar beets in the Yakima Valley in Central Washington. That Sunday morning, my uncle was out running a tractor in a field, and when he made a turn and looked west, he saw a sight that scared him right off the tractor and on his knees in prayer.

There was a humongous boiling black cloud advancing over the Cascades and into the valley. Within it were flashes of lightning (the silica particles are great conductors of static electricity), and once it arrived in the vicinity, day became night. (In Spokane, a picture in the newspaper, taken at noon looked like midnight, complete with street lights.)

My aunt was listening to the radio and when the word came of what was heading their way, she jumped in the car and went out to the field to warn him. (This was "BC"--before cellphones ) Imagine her surprise when she arrived to find him in prayer next to the tractor. He was quite relieved to learn the cause of the amazing sight was not the end of the world after all!

I remember an eruption that occurred before "the big one" where the ash cloud rose about 30 or 40 thousand feet in the air, and was easily seen from downtown Portland. I was sitting on the patio of a restaurant having a drink with another co worker, and we sat with our backs facing to the north.

Suddenly someone said, "hey look!" We turned around, and the sky was filled with boiling clouds to the north. The texture and shape of the clouds can best be described as looking like large chucks of dirty cauliflower. We sat there and drank our Margaritas and were thankful that the clouds were not overhead, but at least 50 miles away. Mercifully the wind was not blowing toward us.

The actual day of the eruption, it was overcast here on that Sunday morning, and the actual big blow probably took place about the time I was getting in my car to drive to my parents' house. Since the sound "skipped" over the areas closest to the mountain, we didn't hear a thing, but people hundreds of miles away heard a loud noise that some thought was a sonic boom.

At that time, I lived in Portland, and they were about 9 miles north in Vancouver. I was headed there for breakfast. As I took the freeway exit to their house, I noticed several people standing on the overpass with binoculars staring intently toward the mountain--only problem was it was too overcast to SEE anything.

I remember shaking my head, thinking that folks in my former hometown were really hard up for something to do. When I arrived at my parents' about 5 minutes later, I made a sarcastic comment about the people on the overpass, and my mom responded by telling me there had been a major eruption. My dad was a "Ham"--as in amateur radio operator, and he was monitoring people broadcasting information from the area of the mountain. We didn't realize until later that he had actually heard some of the transmissions from a scientist who had been staying up at a monitoring station watching the mountain. He was able to broadcast descriptions of what was going on for a short time before his position was overrun by the pyroclastic flow--a wave of superheated gas and ash and other volcanic material that pretty well incinerated anything in its path. As I recall, the scientist was one of those who were never found.

I watched a documentary last night from the Seattle PBS affiliate, and it was a trip down memory lane. There were some folks fishing on a riverbank who looked upriver to see all these logs suddenly coming at them. Before they could move to higher ground, they were both swept into the river and sent about a mile downstream, where they were able to drag themselves to a point where the logs were no longer moving. About that time, some rescue personnel on a nearby bridge saw them and managed to reach them. As they were trying to figure out how to get up away from the riverbed, a helicopter appeared and pulled them to safety. Within a few minutes, the area where they had been standing was inundated by another flood of logs and water, and the bridge that the rescuers had only recently vacated was washed away as they watched from the safety of the helicopter.

I have been thinking about our experience here often, since the Icelandic volcano started causing trouble. We had our share of disrupted air travel in the US during the initial ash cloud.

Well, that is the history lesson for the day.

Barbiecat--missed you and wishing you a safe journey home. I bet you will get a royal welcome when Brandy, Sasha, Haifa, and anyone else I might have missed get picked up from the "animal house." :noway: :laugh:

Good night all.

Barb