WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JUNE

:flowerforyou: Good Evening ....Everyone.
North Wales has been sunny today ...the evening is lovely, sky cloudless and blue. The chiminea is going to be lit once Mum has gone to bed ...Carer's come in 8.30pm to help , the hot tub is ...hot.... and the red wine's been opened.:bigsmile: The video monitor 's working well so we can keep an eye from outside.
I actually slept last night and woke quite refreshed. Mum also slept all night and was a devil:devil: to get up this morning. Amazing...once the carer comes she's her happy chirpy self...extra attention lapped up I think!!
DH and i will have to learn the new language she has....if you can remember the poem by Lewis Caroll:laugh:
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
enough said ...we do have a chuckle though!!

I do hope you all have a good weekend. Father's day here too tomorrow so we expect a visit from #1 son &co. #2 son &co are away in Dorset with a group of friends ....we did see them last weekend . I managed to bake another wheat free loaf yesterday for DIL. Actually read the recipe this time ...it didn't turn out bad...not good but better!! This was duly delivered this morning when I ...escaped for an hour. DH was left holding the fort without any mishap.

SusieQ ...your memories of your father are such treasures! My father is still alive but lives in the south of England
Us children were never close to either mum or dad when we were young...always at arms length as far as I can remember. I do have some early memories I treasure though ...getting up very early to walk the dog with him and collecting dewy spiders webs in a bent twig. all the dewdrops glistening like diamonds. I've inherited his love of jazz too...Sadly I can vividly remember him always threatening to pack my mums suitcase for her to leave!! Actually when my sister visited this time she put my thoughts into words when she said as children we never had the outward visible signs of being loved ie. hugs, cuddles etc from either parents ...perhaps because they were not happy. It's so nice to see how happy my grandchildren are with their parents.

Must go now ...the natives are getting restless. Mum thinks she's going shopping and the carers will be here soon.

Sweet dreams for all we hope
:drinker: Tomorrow's another day ...let it be a good one for all.
xxx
Jackie

Had a great cookout last night for my daughter's birthday. I have been taking it easy today. It feels kind of good for a change! We have a church dinner for Father's Day tomorrow, then we're going to a friend's home for our evening meal. I'm wondering how I will stay in my calories, but I'm sure that I can manage.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Mary - my thoughts are with you. At first, don't be surprised if you mom hates the rehab place. But eventually she'll come to like it. You be sure to take care of yourself, ya hear???

Did the Stairmaster today (Fri). Boy, you get some workout on that! Especially in summer I'm finding that I must absolutely take a shower and wash off all the sweat.

tiarapants -- happy proofreading!

Just finished making the sausage cheese balls. If our friends come tonight, I'll just warm them in the microwave. The rest I've frozen for a later time when I need something. Yesterday the lady brought me these squashes that someone had given her and since they were going away for a week, she gave them to me. I can swear that there are cukes and white cukes. Maybe I should take them to this guy who I buy my tomatoes from (his are so good -- but not like a Jersey tomatoe!), he's real nice and I bet he'd tell me what types of squash they were. Update: they WERE cukes. Along with some crookneck squash.

Does anyone know how to cook a crookneck squash? I have a feeling she gave them to me because she didn't know or care to cook them, but I have no idea at all how to cook them. Update: I read on the net that you can eat it raw and MFP says that 1 cup of it raw is only 25 calories. I also read that you don't have to peel them.

Am also giving Vince this tool thing for father's day. Hey, I got it for free. Then, I bought him a card and with my coupon it cost me 66 cents

Rebel - ouch that your cholesterol didn't move. Wonder why? Guess you're one of those lucky ones who are predisposed to high cholesterol. Here's hoping the doc has good news for you.

Cathy - what I've done before when I've been an overnight is I take some food with me to give to my hostess (something healthy)

Faye - I won't say positive that water exercises reduce cellulite, but it sure seemed that way to me. I tell you, the absolute worst part of a water aerobics class is having to walk past a mirror in your bathingsuit. After that, everything's a piece of cake.....lol Congrats on the weight loss! You know, I made a cake for Jessica's bf's btdy. He plays guitar and so I made it in the shape of a musical note. Anyway, after I have the cake baked (but not cut yet, thank goodness), she tells me that his favorite cake is a red velvet. So I bought a red velvet cake mix. To me, the red velvet was just chocolate cake with red food coloring. What makes it so special?

Went to yoga today (Sat). I'm really tight, need more yoga. So instead of the WiiBalance games I was planning to do tomorrow, I think I'll change to Wii Yoga.

Robin - we're in the same boat, no weight loss here, either. But on the bright side -- no weight gain! Wow on the body fat! Impressive!!!!

SuzyQ - thanks for the memories of your daddy. That was so wonderful to read!

Went to the local farmer's market today. FINALLY I found some corn on the cob that is good! I suspect that the reason the corn I'd gotten before wasn't that good was because I went to the farmer's market which opened at 7. I bet the farmer picked the corn the day before, loaded it into his truck so he could get there in time. This time I asked when the corn was picked, and was told at 5:30 this morning. Vince laughed that as soon as I got it home, I cooked it. Well, you don't want the sugar to turn to starch. There are some farms around here, Vince just finds it hard to believe that some farmer doesn't sell his produce at his farm. By doing that, he could be in the field working while his wife is in the store. Guess I'll just have to keep asking around. Maybe I'll ask at the farmer's market where his farm is and see if I can't buy it there. On another note, I have a meeting to go to Mon at this gal's house. She and another gal were talking and it appeared to me that there's this farm near their house that sells its produce. I'm going to go to that farm before I go to her house, since many times our meetings last much longer and I'll need to get home to make dinner.

We're going to be celebrating birthdays at the Y this Wed. See, once a month they celebrate everyone's birthdays that are that month. Sour cream was on sale for 99 cents and I had two 50 cent coupons that they doubled. So I think I'm going to take a sour cream cake with me. Update: I was doing so well on the calories today, then I can't help it, I had to have some of the cake batter. Bad me. I do think that I'm going to make another one to have in the freezer, but I'm going to be real careful not to have any of the batter (that is, IF I can)

Michele

Wizzywig - I thought the exact same thing about SuzyQ piddling in the garden :laugh:

SuzyQ - I loved reading about your memories of your father

Exermom - I found some recipes for crookneck squash (had to have a look as I'd never heard of it and I love squash!) http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,crook_neck_squash,FF.html

I had a great day with my youngest daughter yesterday. We walked our legs off! She actually complained at one point that I had too much energy for her and could we please sit down for a while. Considering that I was using a walking stick up to February and could barely walk for more than five minutes without having to rest, I was quite pleased! I think we did a total of five hours of solid walking - a little bit of a difference. We were supposed to go to the cinema afterwards, but my daughter decided that she needed to go home for a rest so dropped me off. I immediately jumped into my own car and went down to the village. I got there just as the shops were closing and managed to buy myself a fabulous knitted jacket from the charity shop. I got it for a snip at £10.00 and was extremely pleased on two counts. One, it was a size medium (wow to that one!) and two, I had seen the jacket in a shop called Hobbs and it had been priced at £110.00. It didn't even look as if it had ever been worn. I love a bargain!!

DH has gone hiking for the day. He's also going to pop in to see his father in Arundel. I am going to stay at home and do my second proof read of his new book. Before I do that I'm going to do a good walk with Lesley Sansone (although I have to admit to being extremely achy today). I'm also going to turn the heating on - it is COLD!

My brother is actually going to see my dad today, which I am extremely thankful for. I gave my dad his father's day gifts and card yesterday. I got him a new silver cross and chain. He had been wearing an old one of my mum's and I wasn't sure that he'd want to exchange it for the new one, but he was delighted and had a little tear in his eye when he hugged me. I actually did right for a change! I also got him a little backpack to carry his camera in. He's a very talented photographer and always has his camera with him when he's out and about. I had to tell him off lately for carrying it around his neck all the time. As I told him, he's walking around with £3k worth of camera equipment around his neck and he's 78 - he could so easily become a victim to mugging. Although we live in an extremely safe area, you can never be too wary.

I had a call from my sister to say that she can't go and see my dad again this weekend (she hasn't seen him since March) because she has my bro-in-laws aunts coming over today. His aunts are both nuns - to be more precise, they are actually both mother superiors, one in a convent in Dunkirk and one in a convent in London. I know that they don't see each other very often, I just wish my sister would show a little more consideration for dad. He gets really down that I am the only one of his children that visits regularly. Every day is father's day for me! The shocking thing is that I was always the least favourite of his children. I know that sounds strange, but it is entirely true. Maybe that's why I make the extra effort.

I've just remembered that I've got a grocery delivery this morning, so I'd better make room in the refrigerator.

Have a good Sunday xx

Good morning, everyone. Now that I've found you again, I can't stay away, though my posts will have to be short. This is my weekend to pack, clean, and otherwise prepare for being away for 2 months in Nova Scotia.

It's so nice to read the newsy notes from all of you. There are so many new folks it will take me a while to figure out who everyone is, and it's nice to see some of the "old" guys, too - Suezzque and barbiecat especially. Thank you to everyone who gave me a welcome and a condolence.

Today is just another day for me, since I lost my Dad 16 years ago. I was closer to him than to my Mom, but I tried to be a dutiful daughter to her. Nevertheless, there's a lot of guilt for not having done more. The comfort is that now she's lying at peace next to Daddy, whom she missed terribly during her declining years.

I've had mostly good days this week and have been exercising and staying within my goal. I want to lose about 10 more pounds and get into a size 10 - I'm in a 12 now - hopefully by my one year anniversary in myfitnesspal, which will be in October.

Time to work out and walk!

Karen

Assuming theses are yellow crook neck squash, they are great made into a casserole but that adds lots of extra calories. My favorite way of making them is to slice them thinly and stir fry them in a bit of extra virgin olive oil with some onion, salt and pepper. Yum! If you have some zucchini and or bell peppers to mix in with them it makes a very colorful and delicious addition to most any meat. They are also good in the same combination on the grill. Just spray a piece of foil with nonstick spray, sprinkle with salt and pepper and seal them up. Love the easy clean up.

You may all wish you hadn't encouraged me in the writing department as now I'll feel free to do that here more. As for piddling in the garden, its funny how differently we all talk depending on where we are from. In the South when we just want to do nothing in particular, but be mildly productive, we piddle at something. And when we go shopping for no real reason we call it prowling.

That is also my favorite way to eat the squash, but I like to add garlic too. Sometimes I saute them, add spaghetti sauce, and eat them over pasta with a little cheese on top.

I know what piddle means, and have heard the word used both ways around here. I usually "putter" around though. However, prowling in terms of shopping is a new one on me.

Have a great Sunday, all!

Both my father and my husband's father are gone now. We have a boy and girl and they are excellent in remembering things like father's day, etc. I expect they will both call later. I consider myself lucky. They already sent a card and gift card at a local store.

Have a good day

I went back and scanned through all the posts since the last time I read them.

On living wills - my parents have them too. My Dad has been hospitalized twice since coming to live with us. The hospital sends some one to counsel me and I have to sign statements stating that I will not contest the living will instructions. So, there is still a lot of stress involved for me even though the decisions were already made by my parents years ago. The hospitals make you relive everything. It is really heart breaking as it happens at a stressful time anyway when they are being admitted. But, be glad that you did them.

LInda - I feel your pain about how your Dad treats you. He probably suffers from depression that has never been treated. I don't go to church as often as I should even though I have faith (DS has been thrown out of every church in our area because he still can't sit still). Anyway getting to the point, my cousin who is very active in the workings of the Catholic Church in our home town always tells me that I am going to heaven because of my actions, the way I live my life and taking care of my parents even though my brother was the favorite. He won't do anything to help out and sent them here to me instead. So, know in your heart that you are a good person and worth a lot.

Well, DS is not sitting still again, and I better go see what is banging. Apologies offered for not doing individual replies at all this week.

Jeannie

Hi there...

I just recently joined myfitnesspal and was surprised to see the nickname I wanted already taken... so I signed on as BarbieCat1. I didn't mean to usurp anyone else's identity, as I've been posting for years on a couple social networks as "plain" old BC, so hope you don't mind if I join you as BC1. If I used another nickname, I'd probably suffer an identity crisis.

So.... why am I here at mfp? Recently, a bit frustrated that recent attempts to shed a few pounds wasn't working, I decided to keep an honest, no nibble unrecorded dietary journal for a week. At the end of that period, adding everything up, I was horrified! I had no idea how much I was consuming in a day, much less the week. Well, any mystery as to why just trying to be good wasn't working just vanished. I'd been fooling myself, or disconnecting, or something. I'm usually a pretty smart cookie, so I was amazed at how delusional I was about something so important to my well being.

That's over... I know that I need to count calories... fad diets, highly restrictive eating plans, etc wouldn't work for me. I need to keep conscious track of what I eat and how often I get in exercise, as that helps me make good choices. I downloaded the mfp iPhone app, and found the link to this website, looked around and realized it was just what I needed. I just joined a few days ago, am religiously keeping up with my diary and wow... having some success already.

I can't wait to read through this thread and the one preceding it, as I have a feeling there'll be wonderful kernels of inspiration and information.