WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2015

Happy Monday, everyone! Thanks for the reminder about the Serenity Prayer -- that is really the gist of living, isn't it? I have come to the conclusion that weekends are my weak point diet-wise. Did okay at a party on Saturday, but really wanted some muffins from the store on Sunday morning. Imagine my shock when I saw that with 2 Wegman's muffins I had already reached most of my 1200 cal for the day...back to the weekday food schedule for me.

drkatiebug - The bug eaters kind of fascinate me, while grossing me out right down to the ground. The thought of the legs... yeah. I'll stop there.

Mary from Minn and Michele in NC – thanks for the compliments, my writer’s ego laps them up like a kitten with milk… *sigh*

Peach – Happy Monday back...

Pip - loved reading your adventures and seeing your pictures. You live your life to the utmost, and it shows.

To all of you... I do read all the posts, but feel distinctly unqualified to advise on most of it. I respect those who do, and chime in where I can, but mostly shut up because I feel I can do nothing more than add more sympathy, which everyone gives with great generosity.

---

I’m a third of the way through copy edits on the second book I’m trying to get up for publication this summer, and it is so not my bag, dude... Copy editing, for me, is like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you finally stop.

And… writers who aren’t writing are much like cranky, sulky children with a head cold. Too annoying to be around, but not quite sick enough to take to someone else to take care of for you, or to drug into submission.

So I stopped long enough to go on a quick wildflower hunt with the DH yesterday. Which triggered some horrible allergies, but I got my run in before we left, so I was able to just sit and quietly sneeze and blow my nose for the rest of the evening. A few results of the ride are below. Hope it is visible on mobile and tablets without too much scrolling around, but will probably show up best on a full-sized screen.

You can see we've had tons of rain, and everything is blooming like mad, and greener than I've ever seen this country.

Now, back to my copy edits for 30 more minutes, I promised myself.

Writers’ workshop tonight, which always cheers me up, even if it is a 45-minute drive to get there.

Oh, and my weight is stalled, which makes me cranky, but at least not going up, which makes me clinically insane. Small blessing.

Lisa H in West Texas

Good morning Ladies, Happy Monday!

I've been really busy, but able to keep up with everyone just not enough time to say "hi". Definately not enough time to respond individually but know I send hugs to those who need it and hearty congratulations to those who earned it.
I had the first of my 2 major social events on Saturday, a surprise birthday party for a dear friend. Like Joan (BTW, so proud of your choices), I stayed with the good choices and walked away from the bad ones, except for the cake. It was so good and I enjoyed every bite. Next weekend is a wedding on Cape Cod (or "The Cape" as we refer to it) and it is a 3 day event. I will enjoy but not overindulge as I have in my former life. I decided that I would stay away from the scale until the middle of June. I will continue on my food and exercise plan with modifications on those event days. There is no point in making myself crazy with that number and the real point is that I am happy with how I look now.

Hope everyone has a great day.
Chris in MA

looks like I will be riding to wk from the gym and from wk to home a lot this week, supposed to be in the 70's all week.

Good morning ladies. I have a 4:00 Dr appointment for tick bite. I will ask for blood test. I don't want to take meds if it isn't necessary. The house inspection is being done now. I hope there are no problems.

Pip welcome home! I love it when I get home from vacation. Your mom is the same as mine. You're right they always will be. Too bad about leaving the liquir behind.

Kim- glad you are back on track! Your goals are perfect. Remember that we are here for you.

Barbie- I don't think that I could keep up with you. You really must have a lot of energy.

MNMargaret- thanks! I didn't think I would make it through the day. I am going to the dr tomorrow. I have to be more like you when I come inside. I will have to try your essential oil blend.

Joanmitchelamena- good job making healthy choices. One day at a time and you will get there 2222222

Michele- I got a message from a young man 3-4 weeks ago saying the same thing. I thought it was creepy.
I think you are right, don't get involved!

Katla- I hope your back gets better.

Fastforlife- with cardio I lost 38lbs. But it took 6 months. Almost a full time job! With SL 5x5 I lost then gained then lost but I haven't eaten clean and I increased calories by 260. I lost 17 1/2 inches during that time period. And really tightened up. I wish I would have started with lifting. Throw the scale away. Track calories and measurements. You will see a huge difference in your body. I now only weigh myself every 3 weeks. Not worried about that number just measurements. I do some of the 8 hour diet concepts and kick box on rest days and swim for fun. I do not worry about having to get the cardio in though.

Joyce- I am glad that going to church made you feel better. I always feel better when I go too. I tried melatonin but it didn't work for me.

Allison- I hope you feel better soon. If it's allergies they can be pretty bad.

Lillian- lawns can be extremely expensive to care for. I will be happy to down size.

Lisa - thanks for the flowers!

Have a great day everyone!

Mary from Minnesota

Hello, all! We just got into Madrid, on the train from Barcelona. We checked in, then went to find some dinner. It's hard to keep our normal eating schedule because here the people eat dinner starting at 9pm! Hubby is taking a nap, and I'm resting. My feet and back are killing me!

They don't eat lunch till 2 or 3 here, and eat very little in the way of breakfast. We went into a grocery store and they sold TWO kinds of breakfast cereal, both some kind of high fiber stuff. And they do not drink milk here at all. They use milk for coffee drinks, but not to drink by itself The first time I tried to ask for a cup of milk, the lady looked puzzled "Cafe con leche?" No, I said, just leche. She proceeded to fill a coffee cup half full, then heat it up. Hot! And she gave it to me with sugar packets and a spoon. So the next time I tried, I asked for Leche Fria, meaning cold, but they do not refrigerate their milk, so it was room temperature. (the milk in the grocery stores is just lined up on the shelf in plastic bottles that look like large water bottles.) Still it was better than hot. And they don't seem to have skim milk. Or if they do, I can't figure it out. And they don't refrigerate eggs either. I don't know how these people survive without food poisoning.

Things are different here. In the restaurants they don't put ice in drinks. Hotels don't have ice machines or ice buckets. They have refrigerators in the rooms but the settings are permanently set on a high setting. So the cokes in the minibar are room temperature and the chocolate candy is melted. Not that we would pay $6 for a candy bar or coke! Nothing has cream filling, like pastries, or cream sauces, like Alfredo. The national treasure of Spain, as far as food goes, seems to be Iberian ham, which is VERY salty, VERY fatty, and VERY dry. I didn't care for it, but they are very proud of it.

It's fun to watch the people here. Fashions are somewhat outrageous, at least for women. Wild colors and prints. (Which I secretly want to take home.) Everything seems to be skin tight. And tiny, thin little tops. Of course, most of them have the bodies for it. I don't think they have any morbidly obese people here, or if they do, they are locked far away so nobody can see them. People walk a lot here, and ride bikes, and jog, and roller blade, and skateboard. I saw a middle aged man in a suit and briefcase skateboarding down the sidewalk. At the beaches they had outdoor gym equipment, like ellipticals and weight resistance. Dogs are everywhere, and even go into stores and train stations. It's kind of funny. The people tend to be quite aloof (sometimes rude) and seem bored all the time. Their kids and dogs are the same way. I even saw a puppy that was acting bored. I think they had that puppy on tranquilizers! If you smile at a little kid, or wave, they just look away, like "you don't exist to me". Remember, I come from a small town in Kansas, and we smile and say hello to everybody, especially strangers, so that was an adjustment for me.

We had a good time in Barcelona, but it was a little discouraging to see "tourist go home" and "tourists are the true terrorists" scrawled on posters and walls around town. They didn't mind taking our money. And I noticed the anti-tourist stuff was all written in English. Apparently they don't mind the busses full of tourists from Japan and China.

I tried to attach some photos, but the wifi is slow and the pics are too big, so I'll need to resize them. Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to Toledo WITHOUT a tour group, so I hope we make it back.

I hope you are all having a great day.

Sylvia

Sylvia-your trip sounds very interesting. Especially visiting a different culture. Here in the United States I don't believe we realize how good we really have it. Back in the 30s my DMIL told me stories of how they lived and it sounded very similar to what you were describing.

I have the most awesome NSV ever! For the last 40 years I have had large cellulites dimples on my rear end. Even though I was wearing a size 5. When I got married at age 18 my husband never saw my rear end if I could help it. I would walk out of the room backwards if necessary. Spring ahead 40 years and up to almost 200 pounds last year my current husband has also never seen my rear end because of that. Today I noticed for the very first time that I no longer have cellulites dimples on my rear end. I believe that this is due to strong lift 5X5 because of doing the squats. I am now squatting 90 pounds. This weight lifting program is really tightening up my muscles and melting the fat away. I will now be able to walk out of the room and not trip over anything!

Mary from Minnesota

Howdy from very chilly Omaha! We’ll be in the 50s and even some 40s this week! Today I got my veggies planted but still need to get the herbs in and I’m trying to figure out what to do with the leftovers! I have TRAYS of food left; no one ate hardly anything! I’m dis-assembling the sandwiches and freezing them, then will vacuum seal. I have at least 200 of them and 10 bags of chips! That’s more chips than we eat in a year! Popcorn, nuts, mints, M&Ms, of course the cake, the Chinese food, the wings, the meatballs…omg.

Pip: hope you had safe travels!

Becca: pot roast sounds so much better than my sandwiches!

Aleta: welcome to the group! Fabulous pic!

Toni: the Y going out of business there? Wow that is sad!

Sylvia I am all for a chocolate dipped croissant! YUM. Great job on the steps!!!

Dr.Katie: what church do you belong to? We have an interim minister who “rides the circuit” a lot! (Disciples of Christ)

Mary: oh no I hope you are not sick from another tick bite@!

Joan; I love your attitude about living healthily!

Michele: I need to do more wii balance games!

Katla: hope your neck feels better soon!

Joyce: sounds like dh has been having trouble? I hope things start to go better! Doing his own laundry was a condition of my dh and I getting married; I would never do anyone else’s laundry LOL. Well maybe if they were an infant. The girls were doing their own laundry within 2 weeks of getting adopted! They thought it was way cool!

Alison: I’m sorry to hear you are sick! Get well soon

Lilymay: we must be yard twins!

Tere: your grandkids sound adorable. I wish people here still wore hats to church…I have a huge collection!

Cynthia: I hope you feel better by tomorrow!

Sylvia: food in other countries is so interesting isnt’ it? In Russia, no sandwiches…bad for the digestion, so they will serve you bread, with meat, and cheese all separate!

Mary: fabulous Nsv!

OK I have to go to Walmart to buy an industrial sized bag of sandwich bags LOL. See you all tomorrow. Meg from chilly OMaha

Lisa...thanks for the beautiful pictures. It's so nice to see what it's like in other parts of the country.
Mary...wonderful NSV, and that's "No Small Victory"!!
Sylvia...thanks for the travelog. I so enjoy hearing about the trip, especially the food.
Heather...would you consider sharing the recipe for fish pie? I love fish and always looking for ways to prepare it. Here in New England we have seafood pie, which is typically seafood in a newburg sauce (heavy cream sauce with sherry) in a pie crust. It is very yummy and very rich. Something tells me your fish pie is a bit different.

Chris in MA

Happy Monday ! ! !

Katla – I like the name “doofus”. I think I’m going to stop using dork and start using doofus instead. Thanks!

Jane – more hugs for mom. I’m sorry your siblings are trying to bully you into feeling guilty for not having transportation. I’m sure you are doing your best to visit. Maybe one of them could drive out to bring you? That’s what we offered to my youngest sister who won’t drive in “The City” when my Mom had her stroke. Siblings need to take care of each other, not send siblings into guilt trips. More Hugs !

Drkatiebug – hugs for your friend on the loss of her husband.

Allison – Hugs for DH’s behavior, (and your cold/allergy symptoms). My exH was like that. He was so afraid of losing me that he tried to keep me isolated. Well, that just isn’t my personality. Luckily, DH #2 is secure, so he can handle the fact that I have friends (not as many now as during my "practice marriage", but I’m still trying to have a social life, and he can choose to be a part of it if he wants). Most of our friends are parents of other athletes from DS’s sports, so he often clicks with the Dads.

Vicki – Hugs for the stressful job, and for the stress eating. I totally understand. More Hugs !

My doofus software for work just shut itself down. Now I have no idea who is coming in and at what time. I hope “they” get it fixed in the next 25 minutes. URRRGH!

Sylvia – Here’s to hoping all the walking counteracted all the eating.

Joyce – Wow. (((((HUGS))))) Life is not easy for you right now, but God gives you the strength you need to get through this, and He obviously is okay with you eating some M&M’s, so I hope you can also forgive yourself. Today is a new day. Let’s start again, together. If a trip to the spa is what you need, I hope you are able to find a way to make that happen. I want what is best for you, and I hope you can find the strength to make that happen. More Hugs ! ! ! Get that mammo. My sister was diagnosed at 36, and I had a benign, so I get mine every 6 months (or as close to that as possible).

Heather – LOVE the group hug. It made me feel so welcome and calm. Thanks!

Mary – good luck with the tick bite, and congrats on your butt.

Pip, Barbie et al – I was the oldest and most responsible when my Mom had her stroke and died, and my Dad and I had been her caretakers for many years prior, and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. I believe it is the reason God sent my hubby a job in this area, and why we didn’t like the manager of our first apartment, and why my Mom chose a beautiful duplex in a family-friendly neighborhood, all so I could be in the same house when she started to deteriorate. In fact, He sent my DD to us for a week, so she could also be a caretaker, and find out how good she is at it. And I know that as her Mom, I make DD crazy, too. It’s my job, right ?!?!?

Tere – size is not very important for baseball. A good coach will look for natural athletic ability, knowing that the growth spurt could come at any time. The thing that helped my DS the most at that age was a pitching fence. It is about 4x5 feet, propped at an angle, and the ball bounces back to the person throwing the ball. It works on throwing and catching at the same time. I am “pro-sports” for kids. I wish him well, and look forward to hearing about his improvements (and struggles).

Eating was NOT good this weekend. Today is a new day, and I AM going to stay on plan. The few unhealthy items I bought for DS and DH yesterday are put away too high for me to reach. The Dentist today was nice to me, but DS has to go back for 3 fillings.

DS had a successful day Saturday at H.S. baseball try-outs. He hit a high linedrive to the homerun fence. It did not go over, but it still should have satisfied the coach. Then Sunday DS and DH got Third Place in the adult/youth Doubles Bowling Tournament. Their lowest score all day was 178 (too many splits). Today is the final day of baseball try-outs, then the team is announced on Wednesday.

Now, to wrap up my day and head for the baseball field.

Hugs for Everyone ! ! !

Terri in Milwaukee

Tuesday morning here and I have done my Wii Gold's boxing and had breakfast.
Food today = 1659 Training = ~740 cals
Training later is JJ's Bikini boot-camp I and JJ's Circuit B.
Going shopping later and fish and chip treat on the wharf
My house work and gardening cals = 194, need to prune roses this afternoon.

My object for W boxing is to cut down missed punches and stay at age 21 punch age

Day 1 of Tom's Big Burn went well yesterday. I have posted 13509 steps and 8 floors for the challenge. need to take the photos today to post

Lesley in Tasmania

Hello.We are having nice weather,with rest of wk in the Sunny 70's.Great temps for getting some things done.

ALLISON......so sorry your bro is acting out.When I was younger,saw too many ppl who were lost to alcoholism,including my birth father.I learned some very valuable life lessons that have helped me in many ways.Hope you are feeling better.

Loved the pics of Wales.Was fun to Google some history on that area.Have always wanted to see Ireland,Sweden & Denmark.My Sis loves France & Italy.

DD got us a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread from a bakery........good is not the word. She said they sell out every Sat,which is the only day they make it.Had 2 slices,toasted for brfast with 1/2c of ice cold milk.So filling,I was good till supper.

Sylvia mentioned warm milk.....yuck. But you know,back in the day,iceboxes held a chunk of ice to keep food "cold"Not sure how that worked with ice melting away.
Yet,we never heard of food poisoning,went barefoot thru fields,farms (grandparents) & alleys,wonder where all the bad stuff was hiding back then. Maybe there is something to research suggesting that some illness is caused by keeping children too clean?

This is too long,as it usually is once I get started. Welcome to newbies,good for all the losers & lots of understanding to those like myself who are stuck in a plateau. Pat

I changed things up today and did 45 minutes of Jeanette Jenkins Cardio Sculpt DVD. I'd burned that DVD and just wanted to be sure that the burn took OK (and it did). The plan for tomorrow is to do Bob Harper's cardio Conditioning DVD.

Alison - glad someone else got that request. I'm seriously thinking that I'll just tell him that we wouldn't have anything in common, I'm waaaayyyy older than he is, so for that reason I don't think it would work out. Did you say anything to him when you deleted him? Feel better fast

barbie - I asked him how we knew each other, and he said that he just saw me on the forums (??? This is the only forum that I'm on here. Oh, this is public so really, anyone can see what's posted). Then I asked him what attracted him to ME since there are so many others on the forums, he said "your picture". I'm seriously leaning more and more towards not accepting his friend request.

Lisa - thanks for the lovely pics. I especially liked the mountain pinks

tere - have fun on your vacation! Fall is the best time (I think) to do the beach. By then the water has warmed up from the summer.

Mary from MN - good thoughts that the home inspection goes well. Lately, I've found that the number on the scale really isn't moving, but my watch (which is usually a bit loose in winter) is really loose. I'm wondering if this keeps up during the summer, maybe I should have another link taken out??? Wonder how difficult that would be to put back in if I needed it? congrats on that fantastic NSV!!!!

CynthiaT - my good vibes for feeling better aren't working????? Well, then I'll just send some virtual chicken soup.

Went to ceramics and then to mahjongg. I didn't realize that the body of the snail was so large, it took almost an hour just to put the first coat on it. And here I'm thinking that I'll be able to get the first coat the third coat on the underside of his body and the tips of the tentacles. Oh well.....

Sylvia - yes, the food over there is different. And it takes some getting used to having dinner so late. That was one thing that I wasn't crazy about. The first time I asked for "water without ice", I was looked at like I had two heads! I didn't care for the ham in Spain, either.

Meg - when I have leftover food I usually can take it to the soup kitchen. Can you do that? I find that doing the balance games on the Wii, it takes so long because after every session, it'll tell you how long you went for, do you want to continue or quit, etc. etc. Sometimes I just wish I could just keep going on

Toni - I really like exercising in the water, especially in the deep end. Wish the class was earlier (like yours)

Michele in NC

Hello everyone! I had blood taken to check for tick disease. Won't know for 3days. DH is sick now so we're thinking that it might be a virus. Our house inspection went well today. There were a couple of little things that they signed off on. Now we just have to wait for the FHA appraisal. If that goes well then we will consider our house sold.

Chris in MA- I think your BFFM program is very similar to what I am doing using SL5X5. I hope you are getting the results you are looking for and have great success.

Meg- it sounds like you should have another party and get that stuff out of the house! LOL I would be all over those M&M's and cake. We freeze a lot of cake and desserts that way we can have a small portion at a time.

JoanMichelleAmena- great job on your goals! It sounds like you had fun with your DGD. I do kenpo X kick boxing from the P90x series. I started as a beginner 10 years ago with it. I love it because it is controlled movements and works all my joints. When I started it I just went at my pace and worked my way up.

Terri- don't forget to hide the ladder!
Congrats on your DS victories, I hope he does well in tryouts. Congratulations to your D H as well!

Beth- we all have a struggle with that. I'm a yoyo for the last 15 years. I'm hoping with the support from you and everyone here that will change. Also keeping track of what you eat really helps. You can do it!

Lesley- it sounds like you had a great first day!

TNToni- it sounds like you will still have a lot of fun with your y friends at the new locations. Everyone is probably as happy as the hugging man when they see familiar faces!

Michele- can't wait to see the snail! Did you finish the turtle?

Have a great night everyone!

Mary from Minnesota