WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2014

Good afternoon! Due to illness, lack of time, and computer consuming posts, it's been awhile since I've said much. I'm finally feeling like I might survive this infection! I don't think I've ever had a sinus infection make me feel this bad. The congestion has not been as bad as it could have been, but the feeling bad part has been terrible.

First of all, thoughts on aging...When I was younger (much younger), I always said that I would grow old gracefully and never color my hair or anything like that. Well, having a child at the age of 36 finished changing that self-promise! My sister-in-law (whom I sat behind in first grade) has a grandson the same age as my son! :noway: :noway: I never wanted to be mistaken for his grandmother so my hair color is still a nice auburn. :laugh: Also, as I've gotten older, I know that if I ever want to get a "real" job, looking my age is not going to help me any! My daughter remarks occasionally that I don't dress my age (whatever that really means) and that her friends and co-workers think it's great--that I don't look silly, just somewhat stylish. I'll take it! :bigsmile: On the other hand, my mother was just flat old at 54! I see pictures of my former classmates on Facebook from time to time and they look (to me) much older than I am. As I've gotten older, I am much bolder. I have made a conscious effort to avoid letting fear direct my life. I purchased a magnet for myself a year or two ago that states, "Destined to be an old woman with no regrets." Most of the regrets in my life have to do with what I didn't do rather than what I did--I don't want to live that way any more. I also made a wonderful friend about 18 months ago who has encouraged, and sometimes pushed, me into having confidence in my abilities and self worth. I still fight with that, but I'm making progress. I've been told by some that I have grown younger over the past year and they don't attribute all of it to the weight loss. They say that my outlook has changed and they see more confidence. I, too, still feel like I am much younger in my mind than my body indicates. Well, most days. Sometimes I feel like Methuselah in both body and mind. I want to be an old woman to be reckoned with!!

I had an incredibly busy weekend with church activities. I was at church at 7 a.m. to go to Pinehurst (those of you who are huge golfers may recognize that as a golfing mecca) for a Spiritual Enrichment Retreat. If it tells you anything, I was the baby of the group. :ohwell: The main reason I signed up, though, is because our bishop was the guest speaker. She came to our church last October and I was incredibly impressed with her and wanted to hear her again. She did not disappoint! It was a wonderful day. When I got back to the church, I spent another 1 1/2 hours doing prep work for a training session that I conducted yesterday. I was one tired puppy! Yesterday, I had to stop on my way to church to buy drinks for the youth lunch after church and then go to a local restaurant to pick up the breakfast that someone else had ordered and paid for for the youth. I had been "volunteered" to feed the youth lunch, so immediately after worship, I commenced to cooking hot dogs and pulling everything together for that. Luckily, another parent offered to help because I was a little overwhelmed. It does take some extra time and effort to be sure my son's food is not cross-contaminated with gluten so I have to wash my hands a LOT! Of course, between the time I put four soft drinks and a gallon of Hawaiian Punch in the fridge at 8:30 a.m. and the time I got ready to serve the lunch at noon, someone(s) had drunk almost all of the soft drinks!! It worked out because there was leftover tea from a dinner the night before, or I guess a lot of them would have been drinking water! By the time I cleaned up afterwards and the meeting was over it was 2 p.m. I went home for 30-45 minutes then back to set up and prep for my training session at 4 p.m. I got away from that at 6:10 p.m., dropped my son off at home and was at work for a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Left there and picked up my son so that we could go to the grocery store. Let me add that I have not slept more than 4-5 hours a night all week because of being sick. I am still exhausted (even less sleep last night)!

Now for the good part!! Since my son is a senior, he and the other senior were in charge of the "sermon". My baby boy gave his responses to the "conversational" part of the sermon with barely a glance at some notes and spoke intelligently and articulately about what the youth program needed from the congregation. He had two main points: 1) We are in dire need of an associate pastor who can work with the youth, and 2) we need more intergenerational activities that allow the youth to interact with the adults in the church and for the adults to talk to them in a mentoring type capacity. After that, he and the girl senior each gave a short talk on what the church means to them and how it has shaped them. My Sweet Pea had the entire congregation in tears!! It was a time that I will never forget. I am so proud of him! After the service, he was standing at the back to greet everyone as they left and he was sobbing as folks came through and affirmed him and told him how proud they were to have seen him grow up. Even the latecomers to the congregation who have seen him only as he is now, were trying to figure out who he belonged to and so many of them made an effort to congratulate me on a job well done. Yesterday was a true gift!

I promise that I have read all of your posts and am keeping up, but I didn't make notes. Please know that your troubles are being prayed over and your successes are being celebrated!

Carol in beautiful NC

Hi all. I'm 57 and over the past 3 1/2 years I've lost 76 lbs. I still need to lose 25 more to get to my goal weight. I've been "stuck" for the last 9 months.... and to be honest.... haven't been really focused. I'm BACK!!! Back to the gym during my lunch breaks and back to logging all my food. I have to finish his mission!!! I'm sure you all will have lots of inspiration! :-)


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

Hello gang! I am On vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got everything done at work and finished my last chapter of the test bank, so now all I’m doing with it is coordinating. And tomorrow I am sleeping in as late as I want!

Oh Robin….there is your Bodi boy! What a happy looking pooch with his mama! I’m glad he is getting better and hope he gets to come home soon. No more jumping around for him! Ritter will have to promise not to tease him.

Michele: I have to thank you for telling me about the Rodney Yee DVDs. I do like them a lot.

Anamika: I bet you lose that weight when you catch up on the water!

Heather: your gooseberries reminds me of when I had a raspberry patch. The birds pooped purple all over my white patio furniture! I had no idea about bird nets!

DeeDee: I am confessing to no water at all today, so even tho it’s nearly 8 pm and I’ll be up all night, I’m drinking now!

Patty: sounds like a great party! I saw on the news a bouncy house that was not tied down blew away….WAY up in the air with 2 kids hanging on for dear life! No one hurt but it blew quite a ways

Cindy: your hair is lovely! So sorry to hear about your former boss. Hospice will take good care of her though

Katla; what are scotch eggs?

Sylvia: I love your elevator ideas. Now mind you this was a long time ago, but once (remember a LONG time ago)….I shrieked at the top of my lungs and pried the door open and jumped out. It was a dare. I think the people inside the elevator didn’t know what to be more afraid of….coming with me or staying in there

Nena: I have the fitbit that can track your sleep. I use it once in a while, but I have used it enough for days in a row to know that I am right about my lack of sleep and what time it usually occurs.

Jill: you are 67????????? I would have never know that from our visit. I’d say you are growing older very well indeed. My fitbit clips on. I do know you can get these alligator clip things to help put your bracelets on, so you might look for one of those. I think you can get them at walmart, Kmart, etc.

Lynn: welcome aboard. I find that when I miss posting for a day or two I gain weight! I agree that it’s the accountability. Congrats on the loss. Come back often

Vicki: I bet you just love your fitbit

Carol: sounds like your church and ours have several needs in common. I know when we called our newest pastor, he had many other offers and he wanted to work most with the youth. We are trying to be an intergenerational church, but we have had a lot of turmoil in the last four or five years. One of our senior pastors left about 2 years ago and now his wife (the other senior pastor) is leaving this summer. So not much stability to work on that type of thing.

Carolann: welcome aboard!

Jane: I have been totally gray since mid-30s so hair dying is a constant. To look good I need to do it every 2 weeks because it grows so fast, but I’m lucky if I get to it monthly. So I go from haggy to nice and back all the time LOL.

Well the baby doves have hatched…apparently some time ago because they are huge. Mama has been nowhere to be seen all day. I wonder if they just take off and leave the babies to fly away on their own when they get hungry ? I have never seen her feed them. When we have Robins, they feed them constantly. Their names are Shelton III and Boston Strong.

Well take care from Omaha, Meg who is excitedly NOT going to work tomorrow!

Did 10 minutes of the "10 Minute Solution Pilates" DVD, held my plank for 2 min 25 sec (up from 2 min 20 sec), I'll be going to the extremepump class in a bit. Tomorrow I'm planning to do a Kathy Smith Step DVD.

Anamika - while I understand your not wanting to use public restrooms, you might have felt tired from being dehydrated. What is it that you don't like about public restrooms? Whenever I have to use one, I NEVER sit on the toilet, I ALWAYS squat down.

Cindy - so sorry about your hubby's aunt. Have fun at the salon

Sylvia - those things to do in an elevator are just hysterical, especially the one about you hitting yourself on the head. Thanks for the smile. You're helping to keep us young!

Lynn - welcome! Your husband is one smart cookie, that's for sure. Congrats on the loss.

After coming home from the extremepump class, went to WalMart since Vince needed milk and they'd price match the sale price from Walgreen. Then Vinc e and I worked outside. We put in the last of the landscape lights! Personally, I would have thought the first thing to go in would be the edging, then the wire for the lights and then the lights. But I'll just leave it to Vince. We got 2 pallets of lights and now we have 6 left over!

Tonight mahjongg.

oh, Joyce - how right you are, those first 2 pounds off is such a great thrill to see. And then the next 2, and the next 2 and so on. Good for Charlie getting in!

Carol in NC - how wonderful of your son!

carolann - you sound so determined, I know you'll get there. Come here often

Meg - do you know how to handle yourself on vacation? You are such a busy lady. Glad to have turned you on to Rodney Yee.

Everyone who has to dye their hair -- how often do you have to dye it. And if I can be nosey, how much does it cost? I'm wondering if the gal who does my hair is now overcharging.

Joyce - I've never been able to view the topics on my phone nor post from there. When we go to FL I take my laptop with me and use that to post from.

Michele in NC

I was going through my e-mails and a friend sent me this, so I thought I would share

This is important information for you to read (and don't think you're too young).


A nurse has heart attack and describes what women feel when having one:

NURSE'S HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this
event that I have
ever heard. Please read, pay attention, and send it on!


FEMALE HEART ATTACKS.......

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best
description I've ever read.

Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have ... you know, the
sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest &
dropping to the floor that we see in movies. Here is the story of one
woman's experience with a heart attack.

I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior
emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was
sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap,
reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking,
'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with
my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been
in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of
water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball
going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You
realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more
thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down
to the stomach. This was my initial sensation--the only trouble was that I
hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing
motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my
aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my
sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering
CPR).

This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into
both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all
have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an
MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I
think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step
and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart
attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or
anywhere else... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I
need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next
room and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I thought I was having a heart
attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my
jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said
she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was
near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor
where they could see me when they came in.


I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost
consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination,
lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the
call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we
arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues
and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was
bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken
any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying,
or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the
Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up
my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2
side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.

I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at
least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took
perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St Jude
are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to
the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped
somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.
Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want
all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first
hand.

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the
usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and
jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of
their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and
commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn
preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when
they wake up... which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might
not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING
is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have
a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!


2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an aspirin.
Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!

Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the
road.

Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously
at what's happening with you instead of the road.

Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at
night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or
answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry
the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do,
principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal
cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated
reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or
accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term
stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly
hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can
wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know
the better chance we could survive.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people,
you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

*Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male &
female) who you care about!!!

Good morning beautiful ladies:flowerforyou:

Just saving my place today!

Sylvia Thanks for the joke! I had a really good laugh:laugh: !!!

Margaret Thanks for the info, it could save a life !

I am still feeling rather icky:sick: , but it`s time to get to the track:frown: .

Have a wonderful day ladies! Drink your water:drinker: :drinker: :drinker: and log your food!

DeeDee in NC

Good Morning, I'm at work and in my new cube, looks just like the last one. Today will be a noon exercise today, the instructor can't be here Thursday so she bumped t up. I also have to leave early today because I am training at the Y. I thought I'd have to take a half day vacation today and Thursday to train (my Y boss is on vacation) but my daytime boss is letting me just make up the hours.
After I train tonight I will be taking a cycling and rope class. I did them last week and really liked them both.
Dinner last night was nice. My DGS was all wound up and not the best behaved but having the older cousins around encouraged him as they kept laughing. He will be 4 in July, the dinner was for Bailey (the just turned 15 yr old)

I really don't have much to say, better get to work.

Meg. I heard about that bouncy house as well, so did my DD after she rented hers. She had a moment of fear and then she was OK about it. All went well.

Margaret, Thanks for the heart attack info. I am going to print it and hand it out here at the office.

Joyce IN, I agree about Dancing with the Stars. I also agree about Candice. I like her OK but she doesn’t compare dance wise to the others.

Take care all and have a great day.
Patty, Cincinnati OH

morning all,
going out for a race walk in a few minutes,
we ordered the airline tickets for our grandaughter's ,they are excited, stepmom and dad, are sorta freakin out :frown:
the girls are 12 and 14 and this will be there first flight..
we couldnt see spending almost 1300.00 for 2 round trip non stop tickets , when we got both for 764.00 round trip we have them leaving minnesota at 7:30 at night wont get here until almost 1 in the morning:noway:
it is the shortest flight, they do have to change planes ,but the gates are right near each other and at a smaller airport..
we are planning to take them to New Hampshire.. up to Lake Winnepesauckie(sp) for 4 days to my SIL parents place, we can take the dogs with us.. and then down to Hampton Beach.. they live in Wisconsin and the last time they were at the cottage, Ainsley was really little and Shannen was a baby..so I am sure they will have a ball...
well I better get my tush in gear

Hi. I've just seen this message board. Although I've been with mfp for about 18 months, I've only been making a concerted effort for 24 days. ;-) How do I join the group?