WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2014

Meg- I'm so sorry to hear what you are going through with your daughters. It breaks my heart. I remember all the agony my son caused when he was a teenager (and well beyond). I didn't think I would live through it. Almost didn't. I remember my hubby coming home early and finding me in the garage with the engine running. Please don't internalize it like I did. Hugs!

Here is the joke of the day:

:happy:



Once upon a time there was a famous sea captain. This captain was very successful at what he did; for years he guided merchant ships all over the world. Never did stormy seas or pirates get the best of him. He was admired by his crew and fellow captains. However, there was one thing different about this captain. Every morning he went through a strange ritual. He would lock himself in his quarters and open a small safe. In the safe was an envelope with a piece of paper inside. He would stare at the paper for a minute, and then lock it back up. Afterwards, he would go about his daily duties. For years this went on, and his crew became very curious. Was it a treasure map? Was it a letter from a long lost love? Everyone speculated about the contents of the strange envelope.

One day the captain died at sea. After laying the captain's body to rest, the first mate led the entire crew into the captain’s quarters. He opened the safe, got the envelope, and opened it and... The first mate turned pale and showed the paper to the others. Four words were on the paper; two lines with two words each:

Port Left

Starboard Right

:laugh:

Sylvia

Renny – great pictures! I understand that you don’t care for the “heavy” picture, but you grandchild leaning in to Grandma is precious!

Michele – yeah “regular” is one with chlorine – the only kind I have ever swam in or heard of… so is it as salty as the ocean water? That is really cool that it doesn’t need all the chemicals… My mom has a pool and for years as a kid my Saturday job was to clean the pool; and every afternoon after school I had to test and adjust chemicals in the pool – Now she has a “pool boy”….:laugh:

Barbie – good for you to just hop back on track…

Jill – a Woodstock romance! How neat!!

Sylvia – sorry the show was slow; but glad you enjoyed everyone.

Sue – what a small world!

Eileen – enjoy your family – good thoughts for your dad.

Meg – great walking! Take care of yourself with the hypoglycemic and migraines!

Heather –New hubby got the prize and the ex lost out! You look great!:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Cynthia - my heart breaks:brokenheart: for you, it is so hard to have our furry friends do badly.

Milagros – You have a lot of stress – sending you good thoughts… Just look at the logging as the first change maybe don’t get on the scale for a few weeks. Have you considered a grief group? There are ladies here that have recommended them and a couple of books.

Bonnie – beautiful flowers and so different from our CA ones….

Lin - love your tag line “see you all lighter”

Katla – fushias are my favorite plant! But in my area they are not supposed to live, too dry and hot – BUT I have a small spot I have packed 4 into and they do well there – wish I could see them from a window.

Meg – what a tough go – don’t hang up your mom card, just breath and re-group. You and hubby can get though this too. Do the kids have other family who could help too? I’m the god mom and when the going has gotten tough I have been called in to see if I could help – sometimes another adult re-enforcing what the folks say helps, one of the god kids won’t call home if things go bad at a friends but will call me. And Gloria is right they are of the age to make decisions sometimes bad and it is not your fault! :flowerforyou:

Sylvia – I am so glad hubby came home when he did!!!!!

It is cooler here today, so I am going to work for a bit and then out in the back yard - I have the front ready for next weekend, but have a bit I really want to get finished in the back - I worked on my yard plan last night and in re-reading the application for the rebate it says ALL plants have to come off their drought tolerant list; and the area has 2 mature trees - that are not on the list - so I have to call on monday and see if that will disqualify me - if it does I will still do it just not on their time schedule. Either way it is a good motivator. The list has some really neat plants on it, a California Gooseberry that you can make gooseberry jam from - there are pictures and it has a pretty fushia-y looking flower - I am hoping I can find it at my local nursery.
well back to the embroidery!

Kim in N. Cal

Beautiful Sunday to you wonderful women :flowerforyou: It's a very sunny 77* out there. Perfect day for a walk outside.

Cynthia, not long after we adopted our present cat, she developed pancreatitis. We had no idea what it was, all we know is that she wasn't eating and losing weight. So the vet told us to put her on this prescription moist food diet. It was specifically for GI issues but I think they also had one for renal issues. We thought that once she smelled that moist food she would go after it. I soon found out that I had to start out with teaspoon fulls. I would give her one teaspoon every 3 - 4 hours. Soon she would eagerly eat it and I knew I had to increase it to 2 teaspoons. Only problem I had with that I had to eventually wean her off so she could go back to dry food. When you are married to a guy like mine, you go with dry food. Luckily he didn't mind us feeding her Iams dry food when a lot of other brands are much less expensive. Now she is overweight! Charlie loves to give her people food and I won't let her eat it. He has a Weight watcher's fudgecicle every evening and he used to leave a generous amount of chocolate on the stick for her to finish off. Now every 3 days he brings in the Temptations for me to dole out the other days I have to use the empty can of air, you know the kind you use to clean a computer. She is petrified of it. So all I have to do is put in on the love seat arm and she scoots with her tail down. I hate to do that but she won't just sit and watch him eat it. She will if I have a rare one but she knows he is a softie even though he knows it is hurting her in the long run.

Some time I will have to figure out how to put pictures in my post and I will post a recent picture of Melody in my post and put a pic of me 2 years ago and then me now.

Meg, your situation just makes me want to go hug my daughters. My youngest was quite a pistol during her teen years but got better as the years went by. We just waited for her to come around and continues to give her all the love she needs.

Joyce, Indiana

Hello Lovely Ladies,

I had a good time at the reunion last night. I didn't eat much and was down another half pound today. I was not very attractive in high school, but learned a thing or two about hair and makeup since then, but I think the big difference is more confidence. One guy I went to school with for 12 years was shocked! He told me I was beautiful and told Hubby he was a lucky man. Ladies thank you for your support in getting the 11 pounds off. So funny this was an impromptu get together! Sorry I don't have pics to load, I don't like my picture taken. We took group pics last night. When I get my copies I will try to upload.

Renny, wonderful! Congratulations on your transformation!:flowerforyou:

Cynthia, big hugs. I feel for you having gone through the same thing with my cat and pups. It is so hard when they age and have problems.:sad:

Heather, I grieve so for my losses too! I had similar experiences growing up and had parents who neglected some of the pets and animals. I know they did their best raising 4 children. But it has made me more mindful of animals and my plants today. I take that as a gift.

Yanniejannie, I missed a post. When did you see Joshua Bell? I really like him too!:blushing:

Barbiecat, beautiful transformation!

Meg, hugs for you.

Welcome new ladies!

New quote that touched me: "Don't be sad it is over. Be glad it happened." Dr. Seuss

Hugs for everyone struggling. Congratulations on all successes,

Cindy in very warm OK :drinker: :flowerforyou:

Heather: Congratulations on a good day. I'm glad it went so well for you and your DH. You look wonderful.:flowerforyou:

Today is a definite rest day for me. Played golf 4 days last week so need a down day. We did go to church then made a huge salad for lunch. I ate half and saved the rest for dinner.
Meg - my heart aches for you. Have you ever heard the saying a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child. We are all concerned for you. Take care of YOU.
LinC - so good to see you post again. Glad they found a med that helps you feel better.

I did read all the posts but didn't take notes. Will be back tomorrow to stay on track.
Sue in TX

happy sun!!
Felt so weak so skipped church.spent the day,making mom`s day cards and birthday cards.
Thanks for all the well wishes and love.
hugs
jane

Did about 40 minutes of the aerobic portion of the Gilad 45/45 split DVD. I declare that DVD OK and doesn't need to be returned for any reason.

Tomorrow I'm planning to do one segment of the 10 Minute Solution pilates DVD that I have, hold my plank, and then take the extremepump class

barbie - you have such a good attitude when you go off course. I know you'll be right back ASAP. I was the same way when PJ was first diagnosed as being diabetic. I was sure that there was no way I could give him that insulin. Before I knew it, I had no problem at all giving it to him.

Sue in SD - hope your horse is fine

Eileen - cuddles are so good

Meg - so sorry you had that reaction. The last time I heard from Bryan at all was in January.

Cynthia - my heart breaks for you. It's so hard watching our furbabies in pain. I remember once we had to give one of our cats a medication that was supposed to stimulate the appetite. Yes, it was a pill, but you would probably be able to crush it up in a fluid.

Deb - honestly, I get bored REAL easily so I need to do different types of exercise. I know some people can, but I just couldn't walk on a treadmill and do nothing else or go on the elliptical. Glad I'm giving you ideas.

katla - I'm still convinced that the last time I'll ever see Bryan was at his wedding.

The pool was a bit too cold yesterday, but I did go in the spa. We got it up to something like 97. To me, that was just too warm in the sun. Probably at night it would be OK. Just went downstairs and got the leaves out from under the deck. I don't want to do too much since I'm dressed for going out later

Meg - you have the patience of a saint, if it were totally up to me, I'd nominate you for sainthood. You are a teriffic mother. I remember when Jessica was giving us problems, I would, literally, lock myself in the bathroom. There was a quote in the book "Get Out Of My Life but First Would You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall". It says that the more kids pull away, the harder they come back. That has certainly proved to be true in Jessica's case. You are a wonderful, wonderful mother. Never forget that.

Kim - ocean water has about 30,000/parts per million of salt. We keep the pool at about 3,000. So the water in the pool is about 1/10th salty as the ocean. When you get some in your mouth, you don't taste salt. My "pool boy" is Vince. He enjoys things scientific, so he enjoys "playing mad scientist" and then going onto the computer to find out how much CYA (Cyanuric Acid), baking soda or stabilizer or whatever is needed to put in the water

macklo - welcome! Come here often.

Went to a friend's house today. they downsized. I know that she likes to entertain, but she is quite overweight, needs to have knee replacement but the md won't do it until she loses some weight, now she has plantar faciatis. When we got there, I just jumped right in and started helping her hubby. He couldn't do everything from heating up the appetizers to getting drinks for everyone to getting chairs for people. So I helped. When we left he said to Vince "I could never have done this without Michele". When we were leaving I said to his wife that I was sorry now that I didn't come sooner and she said she almost called me (seems she had a very bad night last night). I just told her to call anytime at all.

Had abaout 4 of the shrimp tarts that I brought (something like 76 calories for two), two small squares (maybe 2" x 1") pieces of cheddar cheese, 2 meatballs (no sauce, I talked her hubby into leaving some without the sauce), one of these ham & cheese pinwheels (fortunately, they were small), and filled up on carrots and red peppers. Didn't have any of the desserts, they just didn't seem to appeal to me. she had brownies (Vince said they were good), she'd made a carrot cake, and then these phyllo shells filled with lemon pudding. Fortunately, the desserts didn't appeal to me. Had two 16oz bottles of water, tho.

Michele in NC

I promised a picture of my rock star with me, so let's see if this will post.



I will continue as if it did...

This is Ryan Star and he is one of my top five favorite musicians and an all around great guy. I love him to pieces! This picture is obviously a few years old. Let's see if I can remember how long ago...maybe 2009? I flew to St. Louis to see him play. And, to meet up with some friends! It was at that show that I realized he knew my full name. :blushing:

It has been a bit of a traumatic weekend. In addition to my my snit over providing the meal for the group tonight, the boy child got his financial aid award from the school he had sent in his acceptance to and, in direct opposition from what his father had told him, he got less than half what the other school awarded him! He was frantic and we didn't know what else to to but have him send in his deposit to the other school and hope they still have a place for him. And, of course, all of this happened after 5:30 p.m. on Friday so no answers until tomorrow! I'm really worried!

Today I had the chance to spend some time with my male best friend and he always makes me feel better, so I'm not as tense and upset as I was. I'm also loving that my new phone has FaceTime on it so that I can see my best female friend when I talk to her now.

Meg, I am so sorry about your problems with your offspring! I (cross fingers, knock wood, etc.) have not had to deal with that, but I'm not sure it's due to any parenting skills that I have. I have, however, had several friends who have had to deal with similar problems. One friend's daughter ended up in the ER near death from alcohol poisoning. I hope that you will find the wisdom to deal with the younger one in an effective manner and strength to be there for the older one when things hit bottom.

My brain has not retained much from the other posts, unfortunately. It's not that I didn't read and absorb, but my short term memory is MIA lately! :laugh: I will offer hugs to those who need them and offer kudos to those who have done well!

Carol in hot NC