WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY

Hello All,

By the time I submit this post, it will be the start of Thursday--a very special day--January 13th is my mom's 95th birthday!!!! You all get to listen to my ramblings, in celebration of her special day.

Wednesday I took her to the DMV where she told them she would trade in her driver's license for a state-issued ID card. Sort of a moot point, as she has not driven in the past few years--says she would be afraid to--but mentally, she is certainly sharp enough to do so.

She still cooks all the meals for herself and my dad, and keeps track of medications for both of them. She continues to do some form of exercise every day, including swimming or walking in the pool 3 - 5 days a week. She also continues to take care of all their day-to-day financial activities. She knows I am available to help with anything she doesn't want to deal with, and since it is sometimes difficult for her to understand strangers on the phone, she has me make some phone calls on her behalf.

The one duty she has surrendered to me permanently is shopping. We commiserate on the phone, and then I go out and get whatever is required.

Later today, I will go and pick up her and my dad and return to my home, where we will all have dinner and a quiet celebration. When the uncertainty of winter weather is no longer a factor, she has agreed (FINALLY) that I can put together a birthday celebration for her. The logistics will include figuring out how to get as much of her family from Canada as possible to come down for it.

For MANY years, we were always the ones travelling north. Now it is time for the road to be driven in the other direction. The biggest challenge for me will be trying to find a way to get mom's two remaining sisters (both younger) down here. I will be enlisting the help of my cousins (their children) to make this possible.

Mom has lived an interesting life. After a stint in the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, she HITCHHIKED with a fellow female veteran from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA. Eventually, she decided to relocate permanently to the USA, spending time in Alaska, and eventually settling in Western Washington, where she met my dad. She and a roommate were taking ground school training to get pilot licenses, and my dad was in the class, putting in some required time to maintain his active license. He learned to fly in the Navy.

Originally, dad was dating her roommate, but one day he showed up when the roommate was out of town, and when my mom told him she was not in, he replied "I know. I came to see YOU!!" They went ice skating on their first date, and were married within a couple of years. I showed up a couple of years later, and the rest is history......

Knowing how many people younger than me have already lost their mothers, I feel very fortunate to celebrate another birthday with her. To have both my parents at my age (and THEIRS) is really pretty amazing.

Well, it is late. "Tomorrow" is already here, so Happy Birthday Mom!!!

If you are living in an area that is experiencing the worst of our winter weather, I hope you are keeping safe and warm. We have pretty much dodged the weather bullet here. There was a lot of prognosticating about snow and freezing rain, but the snow was almost non-existent, and the freezing rain only fell in a limited area on Tuesday evening. By the time the Wednesday commute time was over, it was way above freezing and what problems existed were pretty much melted.

The real weather appeared where it always does. Those in the Columbia River Gorge ended up with several inches of snow and plenty of ice on the freeway. No winter event in the Gorge would be complete without at least one jackknifed truck, so they had that too. There was also an unfortunate driver in a four wheel drive who slid off the freeway and down and embankment and was stuck in his car, (whicg was wedged in a tree and a few feet above the ground) waiting for the tow truck to arrive. Lucky him--he couldn't escape the tv crew that was filming weather-related news in the area.

So these journalistic geniuses stuck a microphone in front of him and asked "What happened?" It would have been poetic justice if the guy had responded, "What the H3LL do you THINK happened?" or perhaps "Well driving on the freeway in a blinding snowstorm with 40 m.p.h. winds was far too boring for me, so I decided to make it more interesting and try an alternate route!!!"

That didn't happen, of course, or the clip would be all over the internet by now!!! LOL

Barb

She still cooks all the meals for herself and my dad, and keeps track of medications for both of them. She continues to do some form of exercise every day, including swimming or walking in the pool 3 - 5 days a week. She also continues to take care of all their day-to-day financial activities.

WOW, Happy Birthday to your mom! She sounds like just the type of smart lady, I want to be.

joylat - LOVE chili .... LOVE IT! I wouldn't have been able to make that though because that is my husband's specialty! I couldn't/wouldn't even try to outdo his!

Happy New Year!! I have been AWOL since September. Once school started (we homeschool) my routine just hasn't been what it was. I gained about 7 pounds over the last 4 months and I am ready to get busy. I tried to avoid BP meds for all these years, but it caught up with me and I'm now taking some meds for BP. But the Doc is hopeful that with losing weight and exercising I will be able to get off of them in time. After my son's wedding in SC the middle of Dec. and my Dad's homegoing on Christmas Eve, it has been a hectic month. It's good to be back home to some normalcy. I miss my Dad, but with Alzheimer's, he didn't have a very promising future. He died peacefully and I know he is happy to be home in Heaven! Now I am trying to find ways to be a help and encouragement to my Mom. I'm sure there are many new MYP's, but I noticed several of the mainstays as well. I look forward to visiting throughout the day to keep up with my recording. Have a wonderful day!!:flowerforyou:

Catching up with posts before I head out to get rid of my "skunk head" as I call it. Some days I wish I had never started to color my hair. It just grows so darn fast it seems like I am always getting my roots done. Maybe one day I'll cut about a foot of it off and go grey. I'm hoping it will go all white and then I will be happy with it; I don't like the white around the edges, two-toned in the middle mess that I now have. :ohwell:

Barb (weaklink) - I so enjoyed hearing about your mom. She sounds a lot like my mom, except mine just made it to 89 but she too did all her own finances and most of the day to day stuff. Dad go the longevity award, he was a couple weeks short of 98 when he died in his sleep - at home. I too want to do as well as my parents. It's a lofty goal and losing the weight is an integral part of achieving it. The party you are planning sounds wonderful! We had a big one for Mom on her last bday and she loved it. :bigsmile:

It appears that we Floridians are the only ones that didn't get at least a few flakes of snow out of this last storm. I read where even Hawaii got a few flakes! :noway: I am also happy to report that my veggies are doing well under their cold frames. I have arugula, lettuce and onions that are thriving. I have been eating arugula every day for a couple weeks now. My only failure was the spinach. :grumble: I planted a whole 8x4 bed with spinach and only had 4 seeds sprout. Then I did some internet research and put a packet of seeds in a zip lock bag with a damp paper towel in the fridge for two weeks. This is supposed to help them sprout in a warmer climate. I took them out and planted them over a week ago and nothing..... Any good spinach growers on our group? I'd love some suggestions. BTW, I didn't have them under a cold frame as they like cool/coldish weather, so I don't think that was it.

I have been fighting the dreaded night time eating thing. I have decided that I need to do more in the evening to keep myself occupied. This weekend I am going to go get some yarn and a new pattern - I never did find the one around here that I wanted to use to knit the GGS a receiving blanket - and get busy knitting. I also have a 1,000 piece puzzle started, Hopefully these two activities will help.

Faye

Hello to all,

Wow snow everywhere! Good luck to all waiting for the storm to pass. Blizzard ended here late Sunday night but we then spent 2 days digging out. Today most out and about with normal winter driving conditions just a heck of a lot higher snow banks (from the digging out!). It is now very cold here but I am going to venture out later today.

Thanks to all for the good thoughts and the story sharing. I read with great interest and gain so much from all of you. I keep all in my thoughts through the day.

Sending out hopes for a healthy day,
Karlene

I think the interview went well. Keep your fingers crossed. :happy:

the phone interview went really really well. I have a contingent job offer for a contract job starting next week. After 20 months of unemployment, I am thrilled!

Yeah Robin!! Back to the salt mine for you after all this time. Now you have to hurry up and get over that bug you mentioned a few days ago.

Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes for my mom. If I don't get off this website and get a move on, we will be eating frozen halibut for dinner--LOL

Just have to pass a joke along that someone posted on the Golden Sneakers Thread. Thanks to "dayh1ker":

I just got off the phone with a friend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

She said that since early this morning the snow has accumulated to nearly waist deep and is still falling. The temperature is dropping below zero and the winds out of the north are increasing. Her husband has done nothing but look through the kitchen window.

She says that if it gets much worse, she may have to let him in.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

the phone interview went really really well. I have a contingent job offer for a contract job starting next week. After 20 months of unemployment, I am thrilled!

Woo hoo! Go Robin! What kind of work is it?