WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR OCTOBER 2013

Happy Monday Ladies –

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. It certainly has turned brisk here. We’ve had frost on the ground a couple of days now. I’m more partial to spring and summer, but do enjoy these cool days. I’ve been doing a better job of logging my food these past few days, just need to keep on top of it until I leave for vacation as I am not planning on logging while on my cruise.

I’ve also been doing well with my exercises, except on Saturday I did not hit my step goal. After we did our little ziplining adventure I was pretty exhausted. It was a different kind of workout, my arms really got a good workout. I was thinking to myself as I was going through the ropes course, if I did this 2-3 times a week I would have killer arms!!! I really enjoyed the GoApe course, it was well put together and well run, you never had to wait, but never felt rushed. The hardest part (for me) was making myself step off the ledge (which at some points was 50-70ft in the air), although your all harnessed in, it’s a psychological thing to actually make yourself step off in to thin air, but it was quite a rush. I would definitely do it again. Thanks everyone for your nice comments about the picture.

Heather – my MIL from my first marriage was from the UK and I use to love her Christmas cakes. She passed on many years ago, but I still remember what a great cook she was.
Meg – I bet all your new carpet makes the house look brand new.
Michelle – thanks for the cookbook info, I’ll definitely have to check it out.
Sandy – congrats on the weight loss, happy dance for you!!!!
Geri – saddened to hear about Charlie, it is so hard to lose a pet, they are dear members of our family.
DeeDee – hope you have a quick recovery from the flu, I don’t know how many people I’ve heard of who had the shot, but still get the flu. I’ve always heard that the flu shot will help minimize the symptoms if you do get it, so hope that is the case for you.

Enjoy,
Suzy

Happy mon.
Weighed myself on my son`s scale,which is 5 lbs different.But I think I might have lost 2 lbs as last week,I was up 2 on his scale.
Trying to watch what I eat,kinda hard when you aren`t responsible for dinner meal.I`ll do the best I can.Brought fixing for salads and have my own cereal and green tea here.
HUGS
jane

Good morning. I'm having some joint pain this morning, so not doing much. This time it's my wrists and hands. Even pulling up my pants is agony. I had to carry cereal bowls to the table with my forearms because it hurt too much using my hands. I'm typing right now with one finger. I often have pain in various joints for no particular reason. Knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, feet. This time my wrists won the lottery. I have been diagnosed with arthritis in my hips and knees, so when I complain about other joints they just call that arthritis too. I was tested once for carpal tunnel, and didn't have it. It was cold and foggy this morning, so maybe weather has something to do with it.

My weight has been stuck at 219.2 for several days. Darn. At least it hasn't gone up, so I'm trying to be happy about that. It could always be worse. Usually I'll hold for a few days and then suddenly it will go down. I feel really bloated though, so I might take an extra water pill today.

I hope everybody is having a good day.

Sylvia

Tere it sounds like you need set some limits. If you host your family holidays, will others be helping you? Is your daughter going to help in her wedding any? How old is your daughter and does she have a job. Traditions have changed and parents don't always have to provide a wedding anymore. Both my daughters did most of the planning for their weddings, we all made the flowers together and had a wonderful time. I have MS so they knew ahead of time that they wanted Mom to enjoy herself and not be at home connected to an IV or in a wheel chair.

Our extended family is very close and holidays are very important. I dont' think it would matter where Mom and Dad lived. Holidays were at their home or at least in their town. When the family got to big for their house it came to ours. My sister and I live in the same city and she is still in their small starter home even though they have been there since 1972!!!! So everyone comes here. She has fibro, I have MS but my house still holds the family. It's pot luck and the younger kids are now the ones in the kitchen doing the preparation and us older 'girls' play with the grand kids. Now I do have to make sure the house is clean. Everyone knows it won't be sparkling clean but will be clean. I don't decorate much but it's still a good time. Both Mom and Dad are gone now but as long as my house houses the Skittles game which is a Christmas tradition, everyone will come. We tried having Christmas one year at a large faciltiy. Yes it was nice that we didn't have to clean, decorate or anything. But when dinner was over and [resents were unwrapped, everyone went their own seperate ways. My house has a family and living rooms, two TVs so there is lots of room for everyone to find their own space and bedrooms for the kids to rst if needed. But we have set limits through the years and I wouldn't have it any other way. You want to enjoy yourself.

Joyce

evening ladies,
ate ok, but way to much sugar today.. will tone it down tomorrow. not losing anything ,but not gaining either. wish it would just melt of like Butta:huh:
I can keep wishing, Ive gotten this far just have to haul my butt in gear more...
DD and DGD got home safetly,but DD is really sick, she probably has the flu... she is stick thin, run down and trying to take care of a 5 yr old,and work... she doesnt drive so she walks to work and boyfriend picks her up. she doesnt have health insurance right now and cant afford a dr, she scares me sometimes..
she didnt get much rest while she was here ,sure wish we could get her down to florida and get her in the sun and fresh air down there... cant afford to do that either...

I've read all the posts but can't respond tonight. DH and I had a DPT shot on Saturday and I'm feeling really wonky. Arm is red and swollen and I feel weird. Sure hope it's the shot and not something else. We also had flu shots so it could be the combination.
Stay strong and believe in yourself. I'll be back tomorrow.
Sue in TX
By the way, the doctor thought DH had whooping cough last year so that's why we took the shot.:grumble:

Grandmallie - sorry to hear about your DD, she has so much on her plate.

Joyce - congrats on the fit bit. I absolutely love mine.

Suzy - wow zip lining looks amazing. I'd love to try and do something like that

Pat - I'm so sorry to hear you are struggling. I completely understand that feeling of things haunting you. Sometimes depression makes everything hurt. Be gentle with yourself.

I took a rest day yesterday and got some much needed housework done. I skipped the aqua fit class as I was just plain exhausted. I made a roast in the crock pot and cooked a chicken. Enough to protein to last the week. I just have to cook veggies when I get home from the Y each night.
I finally emailed my ex to find out if he was going to agree to a divorce. I would hope so since he's living with someone else :noway: For some reason he doesn't want to tell me where he's living as if I'm going to stalk him or something. I just want to know what area of town to avoid :laugh: . Now I have find the marriage certificate to file it with divorce papers. I'm hoping he will agree to a joint divorce so I can do it myself. No joint property, no kids, no support payments.. should be easy.

Early to bed tonight, have a great night all

Sandy from ON

Joyce - hey, starting off with 2 two pund weights is a good start. Before you know it, you'll be doing 3's, then 5's. When I'm doing squats, I just keep the weights at my sides. Good luck tomorrow!

katla - we have a condo in Florida. Really, it isn't much taking care of it. To be honest, it sits empty for most of the year. We do pay a maintenance fee so the grass is cut, etc. We just have to take care of the inside repairs if any are needed. And like I said, it's empty most of the time so there isn't much maintenance. Many times when I get a recipe for a muffin, I make mini-muffins for the exact reason you stated. It's a portion control thing. I remember seeing something on TV "Not My Mothers Meals". Bobby Dean made a chicken pot pie but instead of a thick pie crust he used filo dough. Wonder if that'd work in a pie? hmmmm.....maybe something to try out.

Sylvia - you poor thing!

Tere - boy, do you have a lot on your plate! Jesica is "having" Thanksgiving again this year, and that just translates into "mom brings her entire kitchen". But I do want her to get experience doing these types of things. I agree with Joyce, sounds like you need to set some boundaries. I know that it's tough for me to do, and that might be tough for you, too.

Joyce - what is the Skittles game? Never heard of it. Congrats on your purchase!

I ordered a glass tea pot from Amazon. I just can't find any in the store around here. Anyway, Amazon used to have free shipping for orders over $25. Well....they increased it. Now the order has to be over $35. I couldn't understand why I was being charged shipping when I knew the order was over $25. Then we realized why

Did about 20 mninutes of yoga today, held my plank for 2 min 30 seconds and then did the extremepump class. Tomorrow I'll do some incline intervals at the Y on the treadmill. I do need to renew my membership at the Y so that is one of the rasons why I'm going there tomorrow.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice weather. Vince is talking about turning up the heat in the spa so that he can get into it and do something to close the drain. We were going to go to the movies to see "gravity" but we will probably do that another day

Played mahjongg here tonight, mainly so that the girls could see the Halloween decorations. I only maj'd once but that's OK. For some reason, I really didn't mind at all.

Renny - let us know what the doc says. Isn't there some sort of cement that you can have injected between the discs?

Michele in NC

Dr. ordered X-rays for my back, so we will see what shows. He thinks it may be Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) Being active is key. High impact is not, so the jazzercise will have to be low impact.

See you all later,

Renny
Vancouver Island, BC

DDIL has disc issues and has gotten so much good out of theraputic pilates that she's now training to be an instructor. Perhaps something like that would help you. Yoga certainly helps me with my aches and pains.

Michele, how do I describe Skiddles????? Well it's played on a table or if everyone wants to sit on the floor you can play it there. It's this wood box with little 'rooms' in it. You take the provided long string, or with ours you use old shoe strings. You wrap it around this top that will spin real fast, according to how well a spinner you are. It will go through all these little 'rooms' and knock down pins. Each room has different point values since some 'rooms' are easier to get to than others. When you are done you just put everything back in the wood box and store it under the bed. That's tradition!!!! It was under Mom and Dad's bed in their home, Mom's apartment and now at my home. I guess I could put it somewhere else but it just wouldn't feel like tradition. My SIL, well, ex SIL, said that the keeper of the Skittles game has to be the family gathering hole. So that's why I got it. It is tradition after everyone opens gifts and gets their initial play out of their toys that you all get on the floor and play Skittles. Even the little ones can get the knack of yanking that string and spinning the top. And the animals get to barking and the cat wants to chase it and there is just laughter all around!

Well my husband opened Pandoras box, or rather the bag of Halloween candy. It had set on the kitchen table like the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk abut. I knew that once it was open I couldn't resist. At first I ate just one of those little mini bits. But then he went downstairs to watch TV and let me up in the living room with the kitchen right next to me. I'm sorry to say I only logged one. But I ate many more. And knowing me I will feel like I have to go out and buy more of the exact kind and replenish the bag so he won't notice how much I ate.

Joyce

OOPS, I think I am spelling it wrong. I think it's Skittles instead of Skiddles.

Renny - hope you're feeling better soon. Back pain and foot pain are the worst, IMO.

Can't recall who was talking about the winter light -- since exercising regularly over the past 2-3 years it doesn't bother me as much, if at all. Perhaps you'll have the same experience.

The bed was so hard to get out of this morning -- it was perfectly comfy and warm between the flannel sheets and electric blanket!

DH got home last night from his trip. Had a meal of chicken, stuffing, sliced tomatos and we shared a sweet potato. Delicious! Sunday I made a big pot of beef and vegetable stew that is all divvied up for grab and go lunches or dinners.

Off to get ready for work.

Gail, metro ATL

Good morning again. I hope everybody is well today. I think I may have the flu. My wrist pain grew till every joint in my body hurt, and then I got a fever and coughing has started. And my nose is running a little. I had a flu shot. This is not fair.

Joyce - we had a game that lived at my grandparents house under their bed. It was Carroms, which is a big square wooden board with pockets in the corners. You put it up on a table to play. You have little red and green wooden donut shaped pieces that you shoot into the pockets using an unpainted donut called a taw. There was also a black one that you tried to save to the last. Two people can play, or two teams of two. We used to have so much fun with that game. When my cousin got engaged and she brought her fiancée out to the farm to meet the grandparents, my grandmother told us that the game had to stay under the bed during his visit. She did not want him to think we were a bunch of hicks. Of course, we pulled it out anyway, and he had as much fun as the rest of us. I want to get one of those games to have here for when my grandkids come over.

As far as sweets, and baking cakes goes, I really like the 321 cake idea. I had one just last night. You can make just one serving, so you don't have a big cake calling to you. You mix a dry angelfood cake mix with any other flavor of dry cake mix. I put it in a gallon ziplock bag and store it in the pantry. When you want cake, you mix 3 tablespoons of the cake mix with 2 tablespoons of water and cook in the microwave for one minute. I like to put some frozen cherries in the bottom of the bowl to make a cobbler. It takes a few seconds longer to cook with the cherries. It's just enough cake to satisfy my need for sweets. The calories are in the database too. That bag of cake mix lasts a very, very long time. I have a tiny cake every week or so.

It's raining and cold here this morning. Bruno is not sure he wants to go outside. It looks like I am going to have to go out with him.

Have a great day!

Sylvia

Just got back from the dr. My blood pressure is down from last week, 130/90. Not quite normal but then again I don't think I've ever been called "normal" :laugh:

NO meds and he gave me the all clear note to work with a personal trainer. :drinker:

Renny – A friend had very bad back pain and even the painkillers were not helping. After seeking the aid of a back specialist, he was told to have blood work done because even though he had some back issues it shouldn’t be causing the type of pain he was having. He could barely stand it at work and as soon as he got home he would have to take his pills and lie down with ice. Finally, after suffering for many years, it was determined that he had very low Vitamin D levels. He started taking Vitamin D and his back is so much better he is completely off pain medicine and has resumed a normal way of living. He had been going to doctors for years and no one had thought to look at this.

Gail – Great picture. It was a thoughtful thing to invite the people over and I’m glad you had a nice visit.

Linda – your little guy looks so cute in the outfit. So nice that you’re able to make them.

Suzy in DE – Way to go! That is an awesome picture and I’m sure a memory you’ll treasure.

DeeDee – Hope you’re feeling better. The flu hasn’t started making its rounds yet at work but probably won’t be long. I get the flu shot each year and so far I’ve been able to resist it. Hope that is true for this year too.

Katla – Love the skinny jeans! You look great in them.

I know I’ve missed so many others but took days just to get caught up reading after being gone for a week in West Virginia. We had a great time, the leaves were beautiful and I took too many pictures. Once I go through them I’ll try to post a couple. We almost had to cancel because the day before we were to leave my older dog (Duncan, almost 15) had a seizure. We took him to a 24 hour vet hospital and while there he had 2 more. After consulting with the Drs. they decided what would be best is for them to keep him for several days and start him on Phenobarbital and monitor him so the dosage could be adjusted. As we were planning on going out of town, they suggested to medically board him there for the week as he would have been there for 4-5 days anyway. We called twice a day to talk to the doctors and fortunately, he didn’t have any others. They ruled out various causes for the seizures with blood work so they are leading towards some type of brain tumor. We could do an MRI to see but at his age we wouldn’t consider surgery so it wouldn’t serve a purpose. He also has weakness in his hind legs and needs help getting up especially on the wooden floor.

For the trip, my DH had prepared and froze most of our food so we were able to avoid eating out. Since starting this, we have really noticed the amount of salt in foods so we stopped at a store once we got there to pick up the fresh vegetables and breakfast items. We did a lot of hiking so I think this is the first vacation where we came home actually weighing a little less than when we left. I remember someone (can’t remember who now) posted that sometime she and her DH will walk around the bedroom at night to get their steps in for the day if they’re a little low and one day after hiking I saw that I was just .2 under 5 miles by the time we got back to the truck. My DH stood there laughing when I won’t get in and started walking around the truck to reach that 5 mile mark! He is such a good sport and really is a great help making sure we’re eating right as he does the shopping and cooking.

Ok, I’ve rattled on long enough…
Tina from MD

Good evening everyone,
Tina- sorry to hear about your dog. I had so many traumas with my pets when I was young that I have decided to do without animals in my life. I love animals, but can't bear to see them suffer. And they have such short lives. Some of the suffering was caused by my parents' neglect and some was just a terrible accident. I was scarred for life!

My amaryllis has just arrived in the post. It is absolutely amazing! Well worth the money. The packaging was also a marvel!

Made the Christmas puddings this pm. There was enough gor two even tho I only used half the ingedients. They are now finished their 3 hour steam! With 2 cakes and 2 puddings I feel we could survive a snowstorm that lasted several weeks!

DH is in the throes of my cough now, while I am getting better and feel more lively. He didn't gym this morning, but just stayed in bed while I had a lovely time doing yoga in the living room with my friend.:bigsmile: We didn't go hell for leather, but took it more easily. Then he went out to take the car in for its bodywork repair and to collect the hire car. We were going to get some shopping in, but by the time we had made 2 puddings he didn't really feel like it and I couldn't leave the puddings!:laugh:

So, a quiet evening in, watching our favourite programmes and keeping half an eye out for my football team in a cup game. We are too mean to pay for satellite so it has to be on line updates! It's not really my team, but my sons' as we lived there for the whole of their childhoods and my youngest still lives nearby. He used to live on the concourse in a flat, so occasionally DH and I used to go for an exquisite lunch at their place, cooked by my gourmet son, and then toddle 30 yards over to the game. Heaven!

Lovely to feel my strength coming back. I shall so value it. Tomorrow I want yo get down to our favourite bakery to buy lots of loaves to freeze.

Love Heather UK