WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2013

Hello dear friends. I’ve had a nice day today; went to the garden store and bought a few more plants to fill some spots in, went to the bird store and spent some of my money there, and got 2 new tablecloths for company next week. We’ll be using the dining room with both leaves in the table and I didn’t have a single cloth to cover it! Got the last chapter on the textbook out of my hair and rode the bike for 15 exhausting minutes!

DD#1 arranged for this guy (a body shop guy who is a friend of our builder) to come replace her hood today and guess what? She was at work. So here is how our texting went: “The guy is here to fix your car”. “I know.” “Why aren’t you here to deal with him”? “I had to work” (we had told her before not to do that!). “Where are your car keys, he needs them”? “They are with me in my purse.” “How are you going to pay him?” “Oooops didn’t think about that.” OMG I know she’s my daughter, but OMG come on. Thank goodness the guy was nice and fixed her car anyway and he’ll stop by tomorrow to get her check. He did it here to save her ½ the price of taking it to the body shop where he works.

M3x43: it’s hard to spend the time and effort trying to find something that works, isn’t it? I’m a formula person myself.

Suebedew: omg I am so glad you and yours are all alright! That must be terrifying! You are so right about being thankful!

Michele: I thought about a heart rate monitor too until DH said “Good grief you’re a nurse…can’t you take your own pulse?!!!!???”

Barbie: I’d eat back my calories too if I did as much as you do!

Grandmallie: we have literally no snacky things in the house other than fat free pretzles. So snacking and grazing is not an option for me unless I graze on produce!

Cityjane: YAY for arms!

DrKatie: UGH you reminded me that there are bills to be paid! BLEH

DeeDee: hope you got all your plants in and had the time to admire them! That is one of my many summer plans; to sit on the deck and just enjoy. Unfortunately with the birds nest by the door I’m afraid to put out the awnings for fear of freaking out mother robin. Now we have Seymore, Fos****, AND Shelton! There may be a fourth one too, but today I got to see 3 of them!
Jb: jealous of your asperagus. We had it at the old house, but no room here as the entire yard is landscaped.

Rebame: I have not been to a circus since I was a teen! I bet you had a blast

Brooke; actually no I hadn’t thought of that! Thanks I’ll give that a whirl!

Katla: maybe I shouldn’t tell you this but my DH gives me a massage nearly every night! I know, I’m spoiled, but I hope you got a good one!!!

Yardtigress: YAY you are back! We surely missed you here!

I had a hard time sleeping last night too. The fitbit agreed with y assessment. Hopefully I will be tired and sleep well tonight. Gotta run and wash the hair dye out of my hair; I looked like an old bag with 3” of silver roots showing! Night all and take care, Meg from Omaha where the weather has been devine.

Just a quicky for my vit fs.

Dad is doing better after his stroke, but long way ahead yet. Thank you for all your kind thoughts and words.

Trying to fit everything into my life right now - could use an extra few hours in the day. Excuse me if I don't post much - but I am still logging daily which keeps me honest.

Love to all.

Amanda x

Yay for Tenderland! Today my scales crept HALF a lb under 11 stone, so my plateau has budged and I am now 10st13.5lbs! 153.5 !!!!:bigsmile: :drinker: :happy:
Half a point to go to normal BMI.
My shoulders are sore from scrubbing the patio table and chairs yesterday, but not so long ago I would not even have attempted it. DH did it last year. I am not afraid of injuring myself so much, so will have a go at things. I brought the chairs out from the garage and lifted plant pots. It is a great feeling to trust in your own body to support you.
I have not been in Tenderland since 1990. But I do remember when I was in my twenties and early thirties I thought this weight was really fat and went to a slimming club and lost 2 stone - 28 lbs! !!!:noway: I do not want to be that slim this time around as I fear looking scraggy at 63. I never believed I would get this far. - really only wanted to get back to what I was when I met DH in 2003. That is 7.5 lbs behind me now. - he can hardly believe it, but is mainly delighted for me for the health benefits. Yesterday he said he was amazed how I was able to rush about doing stuff when last year I would have been exhausted after five minutes and have to retire to lie down in a darkened room! :laugh: I didn't feel too tired for the rest of the day, but was happy to greet my bed and slept well.
For those who have trouble sleeping. - I tend to do a Barbie and move into the spare room and read. I can't decide whether it's better to read something interesting so you don't mind being awake or something boring so it sends you to sleep. Haven't solved that one!
Love to all. I will be preparing the dessert today for our guests. The casserole is in the freezer. A bit of cleaning is in order, but I will get DH to wield the vacuum cleaner. I am better at bathrooms.
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
Just read the two previous posts. Amanda, strength to you to be there for your dad.
Kathy, the shootings must have been terrifying! Get that nap in

The insomnia made its way to my house this week. I have also had a couple of restless nights. Last night I was tired and yawning in the chair, but could not fall asleep in the bed. Up at midnight, 1:30, 2:15, 4 and up from the bed by 6:30a. Guess I'll sleep well tonight. I think mine is from to too many hours in the office and not enough at the gym or walking about.

Really dreading next week as I will be in Monday-Wednesday, then returning the following Wednesday after the Memorial holiday weekend, BUT... my boss is leaving on a 2-week family vacation the Tuesday before I get back so there is a TON of work to be done. I expect I'll go to the office some tomorrow to try and get a grip on my things so I can focus on his stuff. You just never know if it will be calm or chaos when he is away. They are going to Italy. Really glad for the family as he just does not disconnect from work and I think you need that. Literally, the man works 80-100+ hours e-v-e-r-y week!! (And you know what that means for the rest of us...)

I'm making some steel cut oats for breakfast today, so those are bubbling away on the stove. Good for a dreary, cloudy morning.

Going to my friend's place for the day today. We were going to a festival, however the rain may change that plan. We'll find something!

Unexpectedly down another couple of pounds... not changing the ticker til it proves permanent.

Gail, dreary and showery metro ATL

Liz_mfp: Thanks for the good wishes. The drive was long and I survived. DH gua sha’d my shoulders last night and that was a big help. :bigsmile: It felt good to visit the cemetery and leave flowers for family members. :flowerforyou:

Michelle: I hope the party went well and you had a chance to enjoy yourself, too.:flowerforyou:

Barbie: I get up if I can’t sleep, too. There is no point in getting myself into the habit of being awake in bed. :noway: I either take my book to the guest room as you do, or haunt the internet. The book is better at getting me back to sleep. :bigsmile:

Meg: Talk about productive! I’m impressed with all you were able to accomplish. Finishing the textbook is a huge accomplishment. Your daughter sure lucked out with her mechanic. Sounds like a great guy. I’m also impressed that you didn’t rush in to fix things for her. DH did give me a massage using the gua sha method the acupuncturist taught us. It worked dandy. :bigsmile:

Amanda: I’m glad to hear your dad is doing better. I miss seeing your posts here and when things stabilize a bit, I hope you’ll be able to be back more often. :flowerforyou:

Kathy: What an awful way to start a weekend. Gunfire in a peaceful neighborhood is very distressing. I wonder where the bullets ended up. Glad no one seemed to be hurt and your property wasn’t damaged.:flowerforyou:

Cityjane: Congratulations on tenderland! Celebrate—buy a flowering plant, or new clothes.:flowerforyou:

Gail: Congratulations on the lost pounds! :bigsmile: I don’t understand about changing the ticker. :huh: Do you just not log the loss into MFP? My ticker updates automatically every time I put in a weight.


We got our Memorial Day cemetery visits done yesterday and I’m hoping to go on a boating trip with our sailing club over Memorial Day weekend. DH has not been much of a boater the past couple of years, and I miss it soooooo much! MS is not highly compatible with floors that don’t stay still, to put it mildly. I understand that the boat has become an uncomfortable place for him, but I still love it and miss being on the water. :brokenheart: If I’m going to make that happen, we need to get the dinghy out of storage and put it in the water, otherwise the dog will have no way to get to shore for “personal business.” On another topic, I saw some rattan style chairs made from a plastic material at Lowe's yesterday. I sat in one and liked it. I'm thinking of buying some for the deck. Has anyone used these? How durable are they?

Katla in NW Oregon

Yikes! I got lost in space. My computer would not go past May 13 on here and once the topic was locked, it did not show the "continued at" link to the new page?? :grumble: So I had to do some searching....and I have found you It is still not one hundred percent okay, but I'll mark my spot here and hope for the best.

I am busy packing today and heading to Ontario for our son's masters convocation from Mcmaster University. We will be gone for 10+days....will I fnd you when i get back? And that is 10 days with little control over meal selection:noway: Here's hoping for making the best choices with what is available.

Have a good one ladies.

Glenda

Hello all you wonderful ladies out in MFP land....I miss you all a lot but my life is way too busy at the moment to spend much time on the computer except for work. Hopefully things will be back to normal by the end of the month. I will be taking a couple of weeks of vacation then to help my daughter pack up for the move to Ontario. She has received a wonderful $105K grant to complete her PhD and so will be completing it at York U in Toronto. YAY!!!! At least one will be here in Canada (still a long way away though).

JB - love the flower photos. My bulbs and Forsythia have just finished and the rockery plants are blooming like crazy. I do have lots of Columbine though like yours. I'm hoping to get my vegetable garden planted this weekend but it's kind of drizzly so I think the rototiller will just churn up mud. I'll hope for a sunny day by Sunday or Monday (long weekend here). In the meantime, I'll get my patio boxes and planters underway.

Cheryl - thanks for the horse photos, something about horses just makes the heart smile. Glad you found the FitBit. I'm off to get a pedometer this weekend. Mine has not been working well so I think it's time for a new one.

For those of you with squirrels - I never see any around the yard here but I certainly have bulbs blooming in very odd places. Alliums for some reason pop up in very strange places. At least I don't feel bad about plucking them for the house if they are where they shouldn't be.

My house is full of white lilacs at the moment. Last week was the purple ones, this week I have five bouquets of white ones. I'm O-Ding on them because when DD1 was still at home, she was allergic to them so I could never have them in the house. So now I can have masses of them.

I've been a bit of a slug on the walking lately. Every time I go out I run into bears (probably the same one) and I guess I will have to stay on the sidewalks in the residentIal areas even if it does make for a boring walk.

for those who asked about the turkey meatloaf - it was really good and here is the recipe for those who wanted it
1 small onion chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic chopped
(or you can just put the above all in a food processor and pulse until they are mid-range chopped - don't get too fine)
add to
1.5 lbs ground turkey
0.5 cup bread crumbs
0.25 cup low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
mix together and bind with
1 egg
1Tbsp Worchestershiire sauce
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
add herbs and spices as desired (I used tarragon and thyme)
salt and peper to taste (1/2 tsp worked for me)

Form into a loaf or put in a regular loaf pan

Cover with glaze (I found this made a LOT of glaze, I only used about half of it but it was useful for the leftovers heated up the next day)
0.5 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Bake at 325F for about an hour, makes 4 large or 6 regular servings (280 cals large, 190 regular)

Have a great weekend and if I get the chance I will check in again.

Lila, in the so-so Kootenays, BC Canada

I have trouble sleeping also but a lot of it is because of the cat. She was a rescue cat and lived in a foster home for while before we adopted her. Some of these foster homes have numerous animals just because that's what four legged foster families do! Her hubbie worked night shift and this scared little cat was kind of scared of staying in the rest of the house with all the other 11 animals so she slept on foster Moms bed. So I have kept the habit. The few times my previous cat had slept on my bed she was up near my pillow. Melody stays down at the foot of the bed. He favorite place is the middle. That means I either have to have my feet on one side or the other. Sometimes she sleeps on the right side but that means that she walks over my legs to get there. So last night I pushed her to the left side but when I got up to go to the bathroom she had moved herself back to the middle. I was sleepy enough I just dealt with it..

My fat is made of super glue:grumble: No matter how well I eat and exercise I stay the same. At least I haven't yo-yoed in the last two days. But 204.4 every day. It's been over a month.

Joyce, grumbling in Indiana

Katla, not updating the ticker just means I am not logging in the new weight until it seems permanent. Since I weigh daily theoretically I could be changing it every day, but I just do it once I seem to settle at a new place.

12's, 12's, I bought 12's in slacks today -- hooray!

Gail, metro ATL

Michele -- good workout and busy day for you. Hope you had fun

Smwert, Hi I hope you're healing well.

barbiecat, good use of insomnia time

megblair, do you use the FitBIt for sleep often? I used it last night and forgot to look at the data. I will probably forget after I submit this note, but I hope it stays for a while so I can peek at it later. And yes, might be time for that one to leave the nest.

Rebel Renny, wow bike in the rain,. I'm glad you didn't slip. I'm afraid of falling in the rain

tiarapants, I hope your dad improves

kathyszoo - wow scary, gunfire, wow. glad everyone seems to be okay

cityjane, congrats on your weightloss ! You read for insomnia too? When I read, I get interested and read for a long time...then am sorry and really way oversleep to catch up. hard to know what to do, when :-)

deedee your flowers sound nice! the ones the squirrel didn't dig up yet.

GardenGail, congrats on the weightloss, I hope you didn't have to go in to work too long. congrats on the 12's yay

Jb pretty flowers, your efforts are paying off

Katla, I hope you get to go on a boating outing. Sorry I don't have any experience with those chairs

yanniejannie, great cardio with the "tick hunting" that might be a new entry for MFP database

glendalight, have a good trip; exciting reason to go

colograndma, glad you are ready for your second veggie bed. I need to make a first one. critters get to everything here, I'm not as motivated as I could be I guess

Sasha , you sure sound busy. congrats to your daughter lilacs sound pretty and I copied the meatloaf recipe

janemartin - happy Saturday to you too

jmkmom , I miss having cats, Good luck breaking your plateau soon

yardtirgress - sleep well, bet the garden looks nice!

I did my longRun today. PR duration. My legs are kinda tired. Good thing tomorrow is rest-day again.
I went to a graduation; it's been a while since I went to one. very nice!

Sleep well, see you tomorrow !

Got some kohlrabi at the farmers market. Never had it before. The guy said that it can be used in a salad, so I thought "hey, why not give it a try".

Has anyone used it in their salads?

Looking forward to tomorrow's salad. Got some radishes at the farmers market today, have some tomatoes left over, I think I have a cuke in the fridge, want to finish up the egg whites and will probably hard boil some more eggs tomorrow. Oooooo....can hardly wait until tomorrow's salad.

Michele in NC

:glasses: bump..... been MIA for quite awhile.... Ireland was the calm before the storm. Suffice to say I gave my notice at work and am trying to keep my blood pressure from exploding! Hope to get back one day soon. Miss everyone!

Kate

Good morning beautiful ladies:flowerforyou:

Gail Hope you had a good night sleep!!! Congrats on size 12`s…woo hoo!!!

Jb Your flowers are just beautiful !!! I know the recital will go well, you`re a fabulous teacher!!!

Katla Your massage sounds wonderful! I could go for one, I tend to carry stress in my shoulders and mine are hurting this morning! I hope you get to go sailing this coming weekend!!! I have metal patio furniture so can`t help you on the rattan chairs, if you love them I would talk to someone who works in that dept. they should be able to tell you how durable they will be! Congrats on size medium capris!!!

Yanniejannie Tick hunting:noway: , I have to say better you than me, I just don`t think I could do that. Scary about the tick being on you, and leaving part of itself when you pulled it off….ick:sick: , gives me cold chills!

Glenda How nice to see your smiling face again!!! Hope you enjoy your trip!

Connie Congrats for declining the big cupcake, great NSV!!! Sounds like your veggie gardens are coming right along!!!

Lila Thanks for the meatloaf recipe, it sounds delish!!! I love lilacs too , bet your house looks fabulous!!!

JaneM Nice to see you! How was the date with DH ?

Joyce Hang in here, sometimes the scale can be mean , keep doing the right things, it will eventually move. Have you measured yourself? Sometimes you lose inches instead of weight!

Meg Maybe your sleep was disturbed by DD#1, I know stress usually has me tossing and turning! Hope last night was better for you! Once my FitBit said I woke up 16 times and I remembered each time!

Tigress Working in the garden is a great workout!

LizMFP You sleep pattern:yawn: will show up on your FitBit account, I don`t know which one you have, I have the Ultra they don`t make those anymore, but if you the One it`s very similar.

Michele I think it`s about time I make a trip to the Farmers market, I`ve not been since last fall, the produce is so much better than what you find in the stores! You made 2 lemon cakes and you say you`re lazy:noway: , I don`t think you have a lazy bone in your body!!! It was rather warm and muggy yesterday, after a heavy rain shower here the temp dropped and I actually got chilly. I`ve never tried kohlrabi, let me know how it is!

Kate How nice to see you again!!! Please don`t let your blood pressure explode:noway: !!!! Put on that rainbow cloak!!!! Looking forward to reading your posts!

Joyce Why don`t you try to fit a couple of those mini bites of chocolate into your food goal? Maybe if you know you can have one or two you won`t crave it so much.


I replanted my flowers the bugger dug up, they seemed to be fine, I did have to scoop the dirt up from the deck. This morning all looks fine, plants are still in their pots:happy: ! I`m going to hold court this morning at the roundtable at Starbucks:bigsmile: , I`m feeling a bit bossy:devil: this morning and it will be good to take that out on the guys:laugh: !

On another note, today marks my one year anniversary on MFP:bigsmile: ! I thought I would be at my goal weight by now, however my body had other ideas:sad: . Still I`m much lighter than I was this time last year:bigsmile: !!! On to my second year now and hopefully closer to my goal! Thank you my friends for all your support:flowerforyou: !!!

Have a fantastic Sunday!!! Drink your water:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: and log your food!!!

Hugs,
DeeDee in cloudy, muggy NC:ohwell:

DeeDee: Happy 1st Anniversary! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: May it be the first of many. I hope you’ll be like Barbie and Amanda, and stick around for us after you reach your goal. :bigsmile: :flowerforyou:

Brooke: I love today’s quote. Thanks!:flowerforyou:

Kate: Take care of yourself during this stressful time. Blood pressure needs to be taken seriously. I hope you’ll be back with us regularly soon.:flowerforyou:

Joyce: I have chocolate when I want, if I am under my calories for the day. I plan it, and have bought stuff that is in packages of one serving. I do NOT like the feeling of guilt at all. :noway: :noway: Dark chocolate is health food, you know. I can’t say the same for milk chocolate, but that is because of all the other ingredients, not the chocolate. I hope you’ll be able to find a good way to ration yours so that it is a treat instead of a guilty pleasure.:flowerforyou:


DH is still sleeping soundly. I’m nearly always up first. I used to sleep in, but no more. :noway: Today I’m hoping to get more work done on the boat. The battery project is well under way, but DH has more to do. Keeping my fingers crossed that he feels good enough to do it. I do not possess the needed skills. :noway: I can clean, and provision, and run things, but I’m no mechanic, and no electrician. While I’m on the subject, we bought the battery at our local Les Schwab Tire Center. This is a chain of tire stores on the west coast. There was an issue hooking it up, and one of the guys came down to the boat to help DESPITE having trouble with seasickness just from sitting in the slip in calm water. WOW! We like this business and this particular store, but that level of service was a happy surprise.:bigsmile:

I hope each of you has a happy surprise today, too.:flowerforyou:

Katla in NW Oregon

Joyce, :flowerforyou: I'm actually quite proud of you! Admitting it is the first step towards getting those problem areas under control. Sugar addiction is horrible! I've had problems with it, too, and I know exactly what you mean about being disgusted with yourself! One thing I might suggest other than going cold turkey (which didn't work for me) is to buy yourself some expensive dark chocolate, cut it into little measured squares, wrap them all up individually, store them out of sight, allow yourself one a day. Wean yourself off of regular candy bars which are full of icky stuff. I had a problem with Snickers and Reese's, but when I started buying dark chocolate almond bark I never wanted the others again. Knowing I could have one piece a day helped tremendously, and now I don't desire it at all. If I want something sweet I'll go for fruit, a few raisins or dried apricots. You CAN make changes, you CAN get control over this. Go ahead and take a little step. Keep us posted!

Well today's the big day, I'm having my student recital at 3:00 this afternoon. I'll be busy all morning getting things ready. Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday!

jb in Portland where it might be sunny this afternoon :glasses:

PS! Congratulations DeeDee! :drinker: A full year!! So happy for you!