WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR SEPTEMBER

Greetings to all from Rhode Island! Went to a cookout at my daughter's new home!:happy: She has a huge yard and there were people swimming in the pool....while some were playing football behind the pool...others were playing horseshoes next to the pool...the other side of the pool was a net set up for badmitton and I was sitting on this lovely cement patio while my SIL was cooking on the grill...on the deck next to the kitchen. I just sat there taking it all in and thanking God for the gift of this new house and my wonderful family! How lucky we are to be all together and have such a wonderful spot to have a family get together! I'm feeling very grateful for all that I have! I hope everyone's Labor Day was as special as mine! My food was a little messy but I've been on the treadmill daily so I'll burn a lot of it!:laugh:
I'll eventually get to reading the posts but haven't been checking them since Friday:blushing: so I have some catching up to do!!:noway:
Have a great day!
BirdieM

Will the laptop gremlins return? Let's hope not!

Update on my Scotty: Angus's bloodtests showed something wrong with his liver: either cancer or a disorder. His vet did not recommend a CAT scan (:laugh: does anyone find that as amusing as I do - a CAT scan not recommended for my dog?) because of the expense and his age (10) would not merit surgery if he had cancer. Anyway, he recommended changing Angus's diet and giving him meds that would treat the disorder. If the numbers drop when he has another blood test, he has the disorder. If not, it is probably cancer, and, well, I will cross that bridge when I get there!

:flowerforyou: I pray for all of you whose parents are going through difficult times. I know that feeling of always wanting them there and as healthy and active as they were when we were younger!

Sister Veggie Queen: I am rooting for root veggies now that fall is in the air. Can you (or any of you HEClers, a.k.a. healthing eating club members) tell me how to prepare one of my favorites? I love parsnips but don't eat them now because I always prepared them with lots of butter & sugar, carmelizing them. How can I enjoy them without the "bad things"? Also, I have never cared for beets, but someone told me that is because I have never had them prepared correctly. Anyone know how to prepare beets so they are healthy AND tasty?

Off to try & download photobucket (Thanks for the info )

Take care,
Bec

Rose - how I wish I could have seen those Christmas decorations. When we lived in PA, we used to be able to get a lot. Now down here in NC there are practically none. Vince decorates BIG TIME, and I do mean big time! I'm always on the lookout for something different and unique (especially outdoor decorations). Let me know if there are some decorations that you want to get rid of, really, anyone let me know. I'm always on the lookout.

Erica - I certainly can understand how you feel about your daughter being so far from home. But look at it this way....at least she's on the same continent as you! Bryan will leave the 19th, so you can be assured of tears and my dumping on you all then. I know that I'm going to be in bad shape. At least now he's on the same continent...heck, he's even in the same time zone. But I've had him at home (much to his dismay) for 4 months. He wants to do some shopping today (Mon) for some things for him to take with him (the heartbreak is starting)

Amanda -- woohoo! 2 pounds down. That's great. Congrats to all the other losers. Congrats on your anniversary!

Well, we went bowling today. One game I actually broke 100. OK, that was an anomoly. I'm usually around 70-80. But that's better than 35! Next Monday I'll go see the trainer again just to be sure that I'm not forming any bad habits. Also, we'll probably start to work on a 4-step approach, right now I'm only doing 2 steps. Before I didn't do any, so this is a bit of an improvement.

Robin - have a great weekend!

We have a Newcomers general meeting tomorrow (Wed), so after the meeting I'll go do a downloadable spinning workout. Did 1 hr of the Lalofit (weights) DVD today. I think it's time to get some more DVD's....I get bored so easily.

You can count me in as another one of those that can't eat bread in moderation. So I've been trying to avoid it. Amanda - there are days when I feel the exact same way...like a recovering alcoholic. There are days when I admit that I do fall down, wonder if that's how an alcoholic feels? Probably not...an alcoholic can't stop, I feel that I can stop if I want to, just that I really don't want to.

Amanda - at the rate you're going, that coat WILL BE too big by the time your daughter has the twins.

Peggy - I'll keep praying for a good outcome for your dad.

Kathy - congrats on going over your goal! That's awesome!

I don't know what's with me lately. I have this pair of pants, they were marked a size 14 but they fit me, so I think in reality they are a size 4. Today they were tight pulling the zipper up. I know that lately I've been doing baking, but I've tried to log all of my food. Yet, it seems that for some days I've been going over my calories. I've been watching my sodium. I've been drinking anywhere from 70 to 100 oz of water/day. Don't know what this gain is all about.

Welcome Dora! How great that you want to exercise in the water, and it's not even heated. You are burning extra calories there alone. You bet you can depend on us for support!

Have a great evening everyone!

Michele

Hello everyone, (BE PREPARED, THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A VERY LONG ONE!)

Haven't been able to post as I have had a number of pitfalls lately. I have kept up on reading them though and posting my food. I notice when things went wrong that I just couldn't seem to eat my full 1200 calories. I know this is going to mess things up for me on my weigh in day. When I eat less than that I don't lose as much.

Mimi:flowerforyou:

Wanted to thank you for your answers to my many questions the other day. I did read them and jotted some of it down. I bought some whole grain-multi grain wraps the other day. They were so yummy and the texture was a little rough like you could taste the "grains" in it. Actually made me feel good eating it because of that. Today I bought feta cheese and will be trying it on my wraps maybe tomorrow with some veggies for lunch.
I had a really nice male friend a year ago that "exposed" me to positive thinking. He sent me all kinds of web links and videos about people who program themselves into believing they will achieve something if they believe it, say it, and visualize it. I have to admit initially I thought he was crazy, but I couldn't ignore what I thought was him being lucky, what seemed like all the time. During the time I dated him he had me practicing it and I did notice little changes in my life back then. He had so many years of practice and had such a positive attitude, that nothing got him down. If he lost his job, he immediatley found a new one with better pay. He played poker, and black jack and was constantly winning. He was a total over achiever. Eventually we went our separate ways, but I still have the CD's he gave me on programming yourself to think positively. I listen to them once in awhile and when I do I always feel much lighter and better. I really need to listen to them more, and your "reprogramming language" reminded me of that. Thanks!:bigsmile:

Bec:flowerforyou:
I am so sorry you are dealing with medical problems with Angus. I am hoping it is just a disorder or something that can be treated with medication. The liver can be kind of touchy and is one of the first organs to warn you of problems, so maybe that will be all it is. I will think positively and send well wishes to Angus.

Marilyn:flowerforyou:
I have the same problem as you with the knees. I can exercise my upper body just fine, but when it comes to squats, walking, marching in place or any bending exercise I am in excrutiating pain and it will travel up to my lower back. My doctor says as I lose weight I will be able to put more pressure on my joints (knees) and has told me not to get frustrated, but i get discouraged because I know I can lose more weight if I could at least walk a couple of miles like I used to.:frown: I have lost almost 30 pounds and to me it seems to be getting worse, not better! Very frustrating!!


:indifferent: I didn't have a very good week or weekend. Issues with my mom, her insurance and her progress is getting me down. My mom still cannot walk or get out of bed on her own yet, but her health has improved and she is much more stronger now. Unfortunately, the insurance company wants to see progress with her physical therapy, but when I spoke to her therapist he said that because she was so weak she wasn't able to progress very far without becoming exhausted. Now when she is finally developing her strength and can do her physical therapy, the insurance is saying they want her to leave the rehab facility because they feel she has not progressed enough. If she is not allowed to do her therapy then I can't get her down to California. What a mess. I am going to argue some more tomorrow.

Boo has not been herself much lately and her appetite was disappearing. On Thursday, when i took her out for a walk I noticed she was squating more frequently than normal. I thought, "Does she have a bladder infection?" Later that evening, she got much worse and was in severe pain. Then she started peeing in the house....blood. She was miserable and you could just see it in her eyes, the pain and the look of desperation. It killed me. I was frantically calling anyone I knew at 11:00 pm to get a ride to the emergency vet. No one was answering their phone. My best friend did finally call back, but she and her husband are not animal lovers and couldn't see what the big deal was to wait unitl morning. I kept saying she was in pain, I offered to pay for the gas, she finally said she would come reluctantly, and sneak out of the house so her husband wouldn't know. We finally got to the emergency vet by midnight. I am unemployed and not receiving any benefits and only had $150 in the bank. They wanted to run bloodwork, urinalysis, and utrasounds on her bladder. With the exam it came up to $350. I told them I couldn't pay that, so the doctor felt pity on me and charged me $150 for exam, pain injectiion, pain and antibiotic meds. He said he would treat it conservatively. If I noticed it got better than all it was was a bladder infection. Relieved and thankful I took Boo home, thanked my friend profusely, who just grunted at me and stayed up the whole night with Boo trying to comfort her as the pain meds finally started to work. Friday morning the bleeding stopped.:happy: By Friday afternoon she wasn't in pain anymore and by Saturday she also wasn't straining anymore. It looked like it was a bladder infection.:bigsmile: Then on Sunday, early morning, everything came back again. This time it was at 3:00 am and she was crying. I called my son to see if his girlfriend's mother could take me back to the emergency vet. (He lives with then now since the baby was born) He was afraid to ask, I also called my Ex to see if he could take me. I couldn't reach him. When I call him sometimes, his girlfriend doesn't like to let him answer my calls. So I asked my son to call him. Sure enough he called him back and my son told him the situation. My Ex called me and proceeded to yell at me and told me I was going to pay for the gas if he was going to do it. I said fine. He picked me and Boo up and my son showed up too and we went to the vet again. This doctor wanted to do the same things again and charge me $450! I told him no, He said he wanted to check for bladder stones. So instead of doing all those tests that would have to be redone again with my regular vet on Tuesday if she needed surgery, I told him to just take the x-ray. He did. He said she had 7 large stones along with smaller ones in her bladder. He told me antibiotics wouldn't help, and he couldn't do the surgery and I would have to wait until Tueday after the holiday. He said because she was a female, she would be all right to wait til then and all I could do was give her pain med. This time I paid $179. My mother allowed me to take some money out of her account to pay for it. So Boo suffered until this morning where I took her to my vet and he has to do surgery to remove them as they are too large and can not be treated with medicine. Unfortunately, because it was the day after the holiday and was also the first day back from vacation for him, he was swamped with patients all day and could not perform the surgery today. So Boo is alone at the vets tonight probably in pain and will have the surgery tomorrow. $600. My mom has told me she will pay for it. She loves Boo and doesn't want me to put her down. We will pay for it in 3 payments. My vet (who I have been going to since I was 18 knows my predicament and will not charge me for any lab test or blood work, just the surgery.

So for the past 6 days I have been so depressed and have been crying all the time. Especially when I was unable to comfort
Boo. I am exhausted. Today when I waited to be worked into the appointments with her, I didn't leave there until 1pm. I was so hungry, and stopped at Jack in the box and got a chicken terriyaki bowl to eat. When I came home and entered it......629 calories on top of 2 small packages of M&M's with pretzels and 2 fudge low carb ice cream bars and a slice of meatloaf.:ohwell:

Needless to say I have finally went off my "diet" after starting it 3 months ago. And you know what, I don't care.

Tomorrow is another day. This time dealing with the insurance company. I also have to go through brochures for senior housing and in-home care. What fun.

Sorry for getting poopy. But I am worn out mentally, As a matter of fact I think I am going to go to bed now all by myself....minus Boo. It's so quiet and lonely here without her. I tried calling friends so I could talk to someone, but no one was home earlier.

So once again, it is all of you. Very sorry.

Going to bed now:yawn:

Chiclet

Wednesday already:flowerforyou:

Chiclet- So sorry about your problems with Boo , hope the surgery helps and that she is back to herself real soon:flowerforyou:

****
Still hurting on my arm and legs from my bike crash, but know it will just take a few more days for it to just be the bruises. Work is stressful and I'm trying to drink more water to keep my mind occupied and not dwell on all the things I have no control over in the office....about this time (in the past) I would have been hitting the M & M's for the comfort...not anymore...now it's drink:drinker: drink:drinker: drink:drinker: then run to the restroom

:sad: When the wind is blowing the right way (we are way south) we can smell the fires burning in Boulder, so sad all the people that have lost their homes, hoping that today they can give an estimate of some kind of containment..since as of the early news it is still 100% NOT contained.

Everyone have a good day, drink your water, do some exercise and log your food...we are in this battle to WIN

Laura

Good afternoon ladies.

What a day!!! We've got rain/hailstones/thunder - you name it!

I was just getting ready to go for my therapy appointment this morning when my dad called to say that he was feeling unwell and had called an ambulance. I sent a text to my therapist, jumped in the car and dashed straight round to him (as this dutiful daughter always does!) The ambulance guys were with my dad when I got there and my dad was laughing and joking with them. I took my asthma inhaler and calmed down a bit (my asthma is always worse when I have a bad cold or similar). Anyway, the ambulanceman asked if dad thought he should go to the hospital to get checked over - that it was his decision. Naturally my dad said yes, so off we go to A&E to hang around for six and a half hours .... to be finally told that my dad is suffering from an upset tummy! I managed to keep my cool with him and not say things like - what a waste of valuable resources!! I don't know how I'm ever going to get him to stop calling an ambulance. DH said I should let him go on his own, but he knows that I never will do that. For sure, the one time that I did would be the one time that he really needed help.

Anyway, I got home with five minutes to spare before my telephone hospital appointment, which was a good thing. I have to go back to see a specialist about the pain that I sometimes get in my stomach. Most of my pre-surgery problems have gone, but this has remained ... along with IBS, although that is much better than it used to be.

I didn't get to go to the ultrasound with DD#1 so I missed waving to my grandbabies. They are now 2.5 pounds each ... which is not a bad size for just over 28 weeks. The doctor said that she wouldn't be surprised if they arrived by 32 weeks. Scary!! We would all like those little cupcakes to cook a little longer than that if possible!

Big hugs to all those who have poorly pets right now. I know how bad it is when your doggie isn't well. I used to hate it!

Barbiecat - how are you doing with your frozen bread? It sounds like a good idea, but I'd be worried that I'd just pull them out and toast them! I buy bread for DH but don't eat any myself. Sometimes it's hard when I bake fresh bread, but I don't allow myself any of it - that would definitely be a slippery slope!

Sister Veggie Queen - I like your reprogramming. An extremely useful tool!

Laura - I hope your bruising heals quickly.

Michele - I really admire your determination with bowling! I was always useless at bowling, even when I was young and we went every week.

I need to find a sweater to pull on now. It's positively nippy noodles today!

Catch you all later.

Amanda x

Hugs to all going through issues with pets. It is a hard road to care for them when they get old and/or sick.

Hugs to those caring for human family too.

Congratulations to all those holding their own and loosing or at least resisting bad choices.

Happy Hump Day to all those still working for a living. lol

Jeannie

:flowerforyou: Evening All ....I seem to have lost a day somewhere!! I missed my Zumba as I've bought back a souvenir cold from the cruise and am feeling sorry for myself now. :frown: Even sorrier for Mum as I fear she has it now! Amanda ...I hope your cold has improved!!
Still ...carry on we must and do!

:happy: A lovely day here today ...warmer out than in! The holiday washing has been done and...that lovely ironing fairy has bought it all back ...ironed!!!:bigsmile: Heaven!!!! What a lovely use for the Carers grant.

Anyway ...the scales were down 1lb today so I've decided one of my goals should be to lose 1lb per week...surely this will be achievable?? I'm not going to feed this cold ...rather starve the fever I think...but I did succumb to some chocolate. It was shouting at me from the fridge. I'm going to bin the rest!!!!:noway:

Nothing else much to report ..... so it's
BFN
Jackie

I have just found this ....enjoy

A man was walking along the beach when he discovered an old lamp that had been washed up on the shore. picking it up, he began to rub the dirt off when a genie popped out of the spout. "you have one wish." said the genie. "what do you want?" " i would like to be rich,dark and irrisistable to women."

so the genie turned him into a box of black magic

And ...I managed to get a posh frock picture on ...for a while!

Chicklet - you mentioned that you have a hard time exercising the lower part of your body. Have you ever given any consideration to exercising in the water. That is 0 impact, but you get really get a good workout! I'm so sorry to read of Boo's troubles. Here's praying for a good outcome. That vet sounds really compasionate.

Welcome shirley! What part of Canada are you in? You know, I'm always wishing that the US would celebrate Thanksgiving like Canada does -- earlier than the US. Thanksgiving runs into Christmas which runs into New Years. It would be so nice if we had a bit of a break, then we could enjoy the holiday.

Amanda - reading about your dad's experience going to the hospital reminds me of how my FIL always wanted to go to the hospital. I kept telling Vince that his father was experiencing panic attacks, their neighbor who is a therapist agreed with me. At one point he even had me lie to the ambulance guys and tell them that he couldn't breathe so that they would come faster. To this day, I regret with all my might having done that. Vince didn't believe me. I'm so so sorry you weren't able to go to the ultrasound.

Went and bowled 3 games today. I think I'm going to take a bit of a break. But I am going to see the bowling coach next Mon. Tomorrow we're going to lunch with the Newcomers. When we first went to this restaurant, they were pretty good, the second time they were just ehhhhh....it looks like this time they have gone from bad to worse. They no longer carry the grilled asparagus, that wasn't so great the last time I had it, but they did say that I can substitute a baked potato for the french fries, so that's a plus.

A big welcome to msmarysue! You come to the right place for encouragement.

Did an hour of spinning today. Will probably do about 45 min of weight training tomorrow.

Everyone, have a great evening!

Michele

Went and bowled 3 games today. I think I'm going to take a bit of a break. But I am going to see the bowling coach next Mon.

Everyone, have a great evening!

Michele

I love bowling! Wish there were a bowling alley nearby. I am absolutely not good at it, but that is beside the point!!!

:flowerforyou: Chiclet, I'm so sorry to hear about Boo and her health problems and glad to hear that things are getting better......I know how lonely you must be right now......we're not furry and we can't sleep with you but you have lots of loving friends on this thread.

:flowerforyou: Barbie

I loved your furry comment. It's true though. I have never been lucky enough to meet any of you, but it's nice knowing that people are out there all over reading and listening and caring. I thank you all.

chiclet

Oh and I love those sandwich thins too. I do the same, pop it in the micro for a few and they taste great!

I had my roasted veggies tonight and decided to add cayenne pepper to my seasoning on my potatoes and carrots. It had just the right kick and oh was it yummy. I hust used garlic powder on all the other veggies though. They roasted to perfection tonight. A perfect way to end the day.

:flowerforyou: Chiclet
Hope Boo is home with you tonight. Just wanted to add my best wishes to you and for Boo's speedy recovery. Only just caught up after a few days and it sounds as if you have had a hard time. I don't know what I would do if one of our dogs was taken ill during the night and I had no transport to get them to the emergency vet! Ditto everything Barbie and Barb said.

:flowerforyou: Just a quick post as time is running away from me again :frown: Congrats to all who are losing or maintaining and must say (before I forget again) :flowerforyou: Jackie you look great in your new profile pic, I think you should keep it.

Well there was loads more I wanted to say, but I'll have to catch up with you all later. At least it is my last day at work for a week I have next week off so I'm hoping the weather isn't too bad. We've had quite a bit of sunshine this week.

Really must go or I won't get my exercise in before breakfast and DH gets up. You'd be proud of me ladies, I have been doing at least 10 mins aerobics every day and sometimes 30min (depending on how much time I have)

Viv

I just lost my post by accidentally closing the wrong tab. lol I haven't done that in a while.

So congratulations to all who have lost. Speedy recovery wishes to Boo.

Thanksgiving is the last Thursday in November due to pressure during the depression to get everyone celebrating it on the same day to help with sales. Some states celebrated it the 3rd Thursday and some the 4th. Back east where states are smaller families did not always have the same day off if they worked over state lines. Schools did not have the same day off either. There was quite a battle over when it would officially be and the 4th Thursday in November won out. The retailers lost out on their 'extra' week of shopping for Christmas, but American families won out as everyone was now off the same time.

I hope to get to the Y today after work and try some new to me equipment as a change from my stationary bike. Have a great day and make good choices.

Jeannie

good afternoon i have not been on so i am not sure how everyone is i will be doing some back reading . will i have to say this is not been easy trying to get back on track even my little day by day goals i seam to keep putting everything else before them.
so how was everyone gardens this pass summer? i just loved the yellow and green squash i am going to miss them our tomotoes did wonderful this year enjoying those toasted tomotoe sandwiches and on a cool day like today i make pot of vegs soup i want a green house to grow all year. ok almost time for the school bus many blessings to all debi(momof10)