WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2015

SelenaP63 wrote: »

OK... I hope you don't mind me sharing this but I'm excited and it's late and who else can I tell?

It was a long day and even though I was away from home, I had a really good day as far as staying on track with eating & such.

Well, got home tonight just before 10pm and checked my email. Copy editor sent part of the book for us to proofread but his opening comment was, "I've been thoroughly enjoying this story. I sometimes have to remind myself to edit it!"

Yay!

Thanks all for listening
Selena
Utah

Hi Selena:

That is so cool about your book! I have been putting notes together for a while as I would like to write a book at some point. I've had other articles and so forth published, but a book is so much larger in scope. What genre is your book?

Happy Sunday, all, and off for my run. Going to try to break three miles this morning.

Had to get my article for the newspaper finished this morning... and since I wrote about food and lifestyle changes this morning, thought I'd give y'all the preview. They don't pay me to write them, I kinda do it out of love for the whole small-town newspaper vibe. However, I am finally putting a set of them together--these are the op/ed columns I write under the heading of "Thinking Out Loud" that I'm collecting for the next book, which I'm trying to have out by June. Hope you enjoy it, and hope everyone has a great week!

Lisa from West Texas
___________________________________

No eyeballs for dinner, chicken for breakfast

Have you ever noticed, when you can’t do something, it’s all you think about? Or is it only me and 5-year-olds do that?

Well, as I have been all up in the middle of dieting, excuse me, “changing my lifestyle” of late, I’ve been thinking about food a lot. While I was happily pulling the legs off a shrimp the other night, and yanking it out of its shell, I got to thinking about how much it looked like a bug.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I pretty much won’t eat a bug. Bugs are not kosher, either with those who actually do follow kosher law, or with me. Now, shrimp aren’t actually kosher, either, but I love them, and make my own cocktail sauce.

The recipe is three tablespoons of Heinz Chili Sauce to one tablespoon of cream horseradish. Stir. If your face explodes at the three to one ratio, you can thin it down with some ketchup, you big sissy. Or is it spelled catsup? I never know. If you want it hotter, you brave soul, increase the level of horseradish a little bit at a time until it makes you say “hoo!” when you eat it, and just a teensy tear come to your eye.

But I digress.

Now, I loved lobster, or at least I thought I did, once upon a time. A century ago, my ex-husband took me to a swanky restaurant for my birthday. They didn’t have lobster tail, which is the only part of a lobster I’d ever eaten before. They did, however, have whole lobster, so I ordered one. I was trying to figure out how to eat the monstrous beastie, which was hanging all over the edges of the plate, and accidentally flipped the thing over.

All I could see was legs. Hundreds of them. Okay, not hundreds, but lots. Looked to me like the biggest dang bug I ever saw, and all of those legs were pointing at me. I completely lost my appetite, and that was not easy, as I was way chunky at the time. That $50 lobster we could not afford went down my ex-husband’s gullet instead of mine.

Haven’t ordered any form of lobster since.

I’ll try to get back to my point, and I’m sure I’ve got one here somewhere besides the best and simplest cocktail sauce recipe ever. Why did lobster freak me out and the acknowledged resemblance of shrimp to bugs didn’t bother me one darn bit?

Could be the di- sorry, lifestyle change. I was hungry, and while I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have eaten a cockroach, that was still shrimp. And there was cocktail sauce. So I ate it.

I think it may have also been the fact the lobster was presented with its head still on. Not fond of my food looking at me. Seriously--you have to read menus carefully. When I see “whole fish” on a menu, for instance, I know to avoid it, ‘cause that thing is going to come out looking at me, eyes accusing me of murder with every jab of knife and fork.

I’m well aware I’m a carnivore. But I’m perfectly OK with not having the cow looking at me while I’m inhaling my hamburger. It will, of course, be minus the bun. I can sometimes have cheese, and all the veggies I want. Hooray. Think about it, though. If you eat a hot dog, you could end up having a pig, chicken, cow and turkey looking at you. And what if all that was staring at you was the parts they used to make it? Pass. Ew.

Even with shrimp, I don’t mind peeling the shrimp shell and legs off, but won’t buy the ones with the heads still on. Yuck. No eyeballs. Or feelers, thank-you-very-much.

I honestly don’t even like it when they serve two sunny-side up eggs looking up at me like big old yellow eyeballs. That might be a hangover from my hangover days, before I was old enough to realize alcohol and I didn’t mix well.

Now I’m the designated adult. It’s much easier on my system.

Speaking of eggs, while I’m thinking out loud about food, why don’t we eat chicken with breakfast, like in omelets? We eat every other kind of meat in omelets; we eat steak and eggs, even chicken-fried steak. But you never see chicken with breakfast.

Does the chicken look at you funny if you do?

“You can have my egg, but you’ll never touch this thigh!”

Lisa~ how bout' chicken and waffles? do they consider that breakfast or do you order that at dinner time?lol
skyped with my DGD for a bit but our video wasn't working couldnt see her went and checked out the house for sale up the street, they did a beautiful job staging it... and has a lovely view of the river from there... That will be sold in no time.. they are asking 294.9 for it.. and I hope they get it, as it will be good for when we sell ours.. visiting for a few minuts with the neighbors next to them, and she showed me around the house.. they did lovely job doing over there house..

On the plane gonna get ready to fly back to Washington! Gotta turn off now

Ah, grandmallie... I had never even heard of chicken and waffles 'til about a year ago, and have no idea when anyone would eat them, 'cause the idea of syrup on chicken makes me twitch... but to each their own. Perhaps I was stretching a little too hard to try to be funny. I obviously missed the mark.

Ahhhhhh! All caught up!

Didn't I recently say I would never get behind again? Never say never! I didn't take notes so not going to comment as much as usual.

WELCOME NEW LADIES! This group is great. They never judge and are good listeners. I do much better when I check in with them daily.

Someone asked about my Y closing (Katla?) - There are several Y's in middle TN. The organization claimed they had lost over a half million dollars from the 3 facilities that they closed. Our Y building is about 40 years old. The up keep of the pools and facilities plus a very high percentage of discounted memberships led to big expenses. It is so sad for this part of the city. A friend and I are going to a 7:00am water class at a different facility. We are going to have coffee and hang around a bit to let the rush hour traffic clear.

Joan - I am a retired teacher, too. Taught 7 years of second, 9 years of first, 16 of third, and 1 of 4th. What did you teach?

Sylvia and Pip - love the pictures! So glad you are having/had such a good time.

I join Heather in a group (((((HUG))))) for so many of you.

This has been a very hard time for me and my eating has been very emotional. Kind of dread the weigh in tomorrow.

Love y'all!

Toni in Tennessee

Hi! It's 10 PM and we just got back to our room. We left at 8 am and walked all stinking day long! Most of it uphill both ways! We racked up 26,832 steps / 11.19 miles. A new record by far! It makes me feel better about the chocolate dipped croissant from a sweet little bakery we found when we were lost, and the ice cream cone after we left the Gaudi House Museum and park which was practically straight up the side of a mountain. I had to stop at a pharmacy to get Tylenol because my feet/hips/back/head hurt so bad. It helped with the headache, but the rest was hopeless. The pharmacy was neat though. She typed Tylenol into her computer and a sort of robotic machine went to a spot on a huge collection of shelves and brought it down and it came out a slot in a window. I've never seen anything like that.

We went to a history museum where I took lots of pictures of ancient pottery. Got some good inspiration for pots to make back home. I love old pottery!

There are no words to describe the Gaudi park. It was one visual delight after the other. I'll post a few pictures tomorrow.

We get up at 6am tomorrow to start the trip back to Madrid on the train. We've really enjoyed Barcelona!

By the way, this morning I wore my new size 8/10 capris that I got at that thrift store, thinking how tickled I was that they still fit after all I've been eating, and hubby said he thought they looked a little loose! Darned if he wasn't right. The waist was indeed loose. By the time I wore them all day they were downright baggy! (It's good to know he's paying such close attention.)

I hope you are all having a great night!

Sylvia

Hello ladies! I think I am sick from the wood tick bite. Last year I got annaplasmosis which is very similar to Lymes disease. I have the same symptoms as I had last year. I feel really lethargic, my body is achy and I have a headache. The place where I got it is still itchy and red. It is about the size of a nickel. It has been one full week since I got bit. Although it sounds like a few of you have been having issues. So maybe I just have a virus. If not better by tomorrow morning I will go see the doctor again.

Sharon-you could be really tired because of your blood sugar. Did you like the movie insurgent? We have had rain for about five days. It would be nice to see the sun!

Cynthia-hope your cold goes away.

Allison-taking it easy is a good idea.

Naomi 2015 - once you get back to exercising and logging you should be fine.

Heather- thanks for the group hug. .You do eat very unique food items. They sound delicious.

Kayla - too bad about the critter on your boat! You're right he could have done a lot more damage.

Vicki - have fun at the graduation party!

Maineapple - coconut oil pulling is where you take 2 teaspoon of coconut oil and squish it between your teeth for 20 minutes. You do it on an empty stomach. It dissolves plaque and helps to detour gingivitis. It whitens your teeth, give you fresh breath, get rid of the bacteria on your tongue and dissolves plaque.

Lisa-thanks for sharing your article it was very amusing!

Becca- you and I are having the same thing for dinner! I know I'm going to enjoy it I'm sure you will too.

Aleta- welcome to this site! I am not doing the 98 the contest or the BF FM. I am lifting heavy. It seems like a lot of the ladies are walkers and bike riders. A lot of them do strength training. Even getting up and just moving more than you used to is good.. It sounds like you have good goals and a good exercise plan.

TNToni - have fun swimming at your new Y!

Sylvia- it sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. I can hardly wait to look at your pictures.

Drkatiebug- you did have a busy morning. Sorry about your friends DH.

Have a good night everyone!

Mary from Minnesota

"Lesley - what is the main ingredient in your sugar free protein balls? Are you using a sugar substitute so that is why they are "sugar free"? What are the "pumpcakes"? Pumpkin????"
Protein balls uses MALT
Pumpcakes
7.5 oz pumpkin
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup buck wheat pancake mix
26 g vanilla protein powder
4 egg whites
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix and add to frypan, makes 2 pumpcakes, taste awesome
1 cake = 292 g, 25.6 g protein, 41.6 g carbs, 2.3 g

I signed on for tom venuto's BIG BURN this morning
Food = 1555 cals
Training:
Wii Gold's boxing - before breakfast
JJ Cardio kick-boxing and JJ Circuit A - after breakfast
walk dog 1 hour after lunch

Lesley in Tasmania

I have a new blog on "The Beauty of Tracking" if anyone is interested. If you read it, vote for me! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/fastforlife1

Did an hour of baance games on the Wii today. The plan for tomorrow is to do another segment of the 10 Minute Tummy Toner DVD, hold my plank, then do Stephanie Vittorio's Body Target DVD.

Jane - glad you mom is home and really hope the meds work

question for barbie or anyone else - how can you find out more information about a person? I was sent a friend request from someone called natcol619. His picture looks like he's in his 30's. He said the reason he sent me an invite to be friends, that the thing that attracted him to me was "my picture". I'd be almost twice his age, he is probably about the same age as my son. But when I went to his profile it just says that his profile is viewable by his friends only. Something deep inside of me is saying "don't get involved", but what if he's a lonely person looking for friends?

aleta - welcome. Isn't that Tom Venuto's plan? Or am I mistaken. I wish you all the luck in the world. Keep us updated. When do you start?

Sylvia - I KNEW that you hadn't gained, and those capri's just confirmed it. Congrats!

Mary from MN - hope it isn't anything real serious

pip - our mothers may exasperate us, but they never stop loving us. Glad you had such a good trip but especially glad that you're back.

JoanMichelle - awesome choices!

Michele in NC

This has been a low energy, pain in my neck day. Literally. :ohwell: DH thinks I strained it during my riding lesson Friday but I was fine yesterday morning, so that can't be it. I may have strained it yesterday afternoon cleaning up the mess in our fishing boat after something got in there and ate all the granola bars, leaving shredded boxes, wrappers, and tiny bits of granola bar stuck to the rear passenger seat. I went back and finished cleaning up the mess today. I put in a new supply of granola bars, enclosed in a plastic jar with a lid and then inside a tool chest. I think the food stash will be safe now. DH is diabetic and we need to have emergency calories available. We don't know for sure what got into the boat and looted the food supply, but I'm betting on a raccoon. There are lots of them around here, and the other likely suspect, a river otter, would have left a wet mess.

Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon

Welcome JoanMichelle, what a lucrative career you had! Do you know what it does to non teaching members of a family when a gathering goes all teaching talk???? LOL, My Mom was a teacher, no formal education, just a love for preschoolers, especially those who come from low income homes. My sister was brave enough that she actually taught in the school Mom was director of. My sister had a bachelors and masters in early childhood but enjoyed working for a church based preschool not making much money. But because of her degrees, Mom was able to have that on her advertisements about the school. My sister is very strong willed but when your Mom is the director, she is the boss. I think the rest of us had a lot of teacher in us. Teaching was my big passion when I was a nurse, my Dad and one brother are ministers and my other brother was in the navy and when he finally got off the submarine, he wrote a lot of the books used in the training facilities. But he is way to dry to actually speak to teach.

Well, just as I said, church did make me feel better today. I think the subject has just been mutually dropped today. I was looking up this clinical trial and remembered when I was being interviewed for a clinical trial for my psoriasis, they had strict rules, like what shampoo to use. My husband is not a rules kind of guy. I think if it were up to him, he would just leave the whole ulcerative colitis alone, take his Pepto Bismol, Simethicone and Immodium and not bother with any treatment. He doesn't realize though that that would mean surgery. I am just going to do some research myself and try to find out the cost of the infusions. I will also ask the doctors office if we are supposed to call the research people or wait until they call us. So as usual, the wife does all the leg work and the husband just goes to the office at the appointed time. To be fair, he does his own laundry, empties the dishwasher, does all the lab work, changes the oil and all car maintenence.

You know i had been having trouble sleeping. Some one suggested Melatonin to me. It comes in 1 mg tablets and I read about suggested doses and it can be quite varying. But 2 mg is quite safe. You should see my fit bit sleep tracker with that 2 mg dose. I dont see anywhere on the fit bit flex to push to start my sleep so I start in on my iPad and then put the iPad on the floor, turn over and pull my covers up. In the morning, I get up, pick up the iPad, open it up, and say I am awake. Those are literally the only sings of activity in my sleep record. It used to be way over the top. But I do feel it gives me some what of a hangover. This morning I was really ready to go take a nap but I know that upsets me at night. So is the not feeling totally rested my MS???? Could be. I still haven't gotten the courage to call my neurologist and tell her I stopped my MS medicine. Maybe I should do that at the same time I call and schedule my annual boob squeeze???? My poor family doc gives those prescriptions to me every year and I told him I wallpaper my bedroom with them. That's about how often I actually have them done.

Love you guys. It is comforting to know that you are always here.

Joyce, Indiana