WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2015

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain! arrrrrrrrrrg! Was suppose to have my interview today but there was a wreck on the freeway so even though I left early to get there I could not make it in time and the attorney had another appointment right after mine so had to go back home. Rescheduled for Friday but I've been thinking that this may not be the right job for me. I think things happen for a reason.

One of my goals for this month is to smile and laugh more and I have been really working on that - except when stuck in traffic on the way to an interview - I tried but couldn't even fake one then - anyway it has been working. Eventually I hope it will just be normal and not a conscious decision. Ane starting out the day with AFV has been working - how can anyone argue when you're laughing!

Michelle NC - I keep meaning to ask where you get all those exercise DVDs. Are they yours or do you get them from the library?

DrKatie - I'm sure those who have been on forever know the answer to this but I don't - are you an MD or a PHD?

Took DGS#1 to pre-op appointment today - they are yanking out his tonsils and adenoids on Monday. His tonsils are the size of bratwurst and constantly has post nasal drip. With all the times I had him to the doctor for strep tests it took a new doctor to say that his tonsils look like they've been swollen for years. I am not looking forward to this because the doctor said to expect a very cranky child and I was thinking how can he be any more cranky than he already is. Please pray for me that I survive this without losing my mind! Oh yeah - smile and laugh

Lenora wrote "Pip34 - I've never know anyone other than my Mother who could reach around and fasten her bra. I end up buckling mine in front and rotating it around to the back and then putting my arms in the arms of the bra. Not so bad, unless bra is a little snug; or if you haven't dried off completely. I usually use my hair dryer to dry my back so this won't happen." I have always reached behind my back to fasten my bra, just seems like a lot less hasssle

I went to water aerobics early, went by Ulta (makeup/fragance/etc. store) as I had a 20% off coupon. Bought myself , for Jack to give me for Christmas, a bottle of La Vie est Belle perfume. Julia Roberts advertises it on TV. I love it. Came home and wrapped all the Christmas presents I have so far, had to run down to the Dollar Tree to get a few more boxes. When I finished wrapping I rode the stationary bike for 30 min. By that time it wasn't long until time to fix dinner. I'm worn out Back to water aerobics early in the morning, then will come home and bake more cookies and put them in the freezer.

Love to all,

Janetr OKC

Mary - Congrats on your achievement, way to go. You are such an inspiration to us all.

Janetr OKC

janetr7476 wrote: »

Beth - I too love teacups. I'm always picking them up in all sorts of shapes and size and colors. I love to go to "tea" at our tea houses and pretend

Oh Joyce you sly one, throwing in that last quip. Poor Syliva

Heather I have so enjoyed your pictures and descriptions of the south of France. Thanks for taking time to share with us. I'm really trying not to stress. I'm going to start cooking and baking and freezing for both the holidays with the family here at home and for the trip to AZ. I can't possibly take enough precooked food for a month so I am just going to do some things that I would not normally do in the motor home. Other than that, it will be simple meals made in the RV. That's when I really have to watch the food tho, it's so easy to eat things not particularly good for me and to snack on junk. There is a heated pool at the RV Park we're staying at so I will be taking a couple of swimsuits and my water hand weights and plan to go most every morning. I'll have to be careful for sure.

Janetr OKC

bwcetc wrote: »

Becca ...that took a long time! I thought first class mail moved faster than that!

Janetr... I remember now!

Beth

Hi Ladies,
Happy day today mostly...started off w breaking into the 220's. 229.5 to be exact. I'll take it! That's an official 25 pounds since Aug 6. I would Love LOVE to be under 220 for my departure Feb 8 for Florida for 12 days. That's almost nine weeks away. That's my new goal. I am going down to see my son in Fort Meyers tues the 8th till sat the 12th, picking up my SIL (she more importantly my best friend) and we are driving through the Everglades for the day and spending the night in Homestead just outside of Miami at the tip of Florida. Then Sunday we are driving through the Keys all the way to the end and staying in Key West for six nights! Anyone down that way? Has anyone travelled to any of those places and could make suggestions? We mostly do excursions such as Kayakking, horseback riding (but might not this time as she may not make the typical weight limit this time), we will try snorkeling though I am afraid of sharks wicked, and day walks through sanctuaries and botanical gardens. We want to go on a sunset cruise too but haven't decided on the type of boat yet. The International Boat Festival is that week a few island back towards the mainland. We will prob spend a day checking that out even though neither of us are boaters I suspect it will be an interesting and beautiful spectacle. I am quite enamored w giant sea turtles and would love to see some. Two years ago we swam with a herd of manatee on the crystal river in a sanctuary where we had special permits. Last year we went to California's Big Sur, went to Pfifer falls (it's a special waterfall that empties onto a beach and travels through protected amethyst beds so the beach has swirls of purple sand. Quite beautiful. We rode horses on Monterey Beach and Kayakked in Elkhorn Slough just north of Monterey where we paddled through groups of sea lions and were cicled by sea otters. They are much bigger than you might think. Great trips. Jeez ewe saw a play too and I CRS anyway it was fun. Oh and if you go out that way check out Cannery Row. A big but quaint shopping district on the seaside where we ate at Bubba Gumps and pedaled a surrey bike built for two to Lovers point and sat and watched whales playing and spouting off shore. I kid you not! Nice times. Ah well thanks for letting me reminisce.

Allison I'm glad your doing better.

Katla, oh the Dopey Joe tales are just pawing to be told. He was the neighborhood escape and BREak IN artist. Once we didn't realize he was gone till a police car drove up the street towing him by a rope outside held by the passenger officer. Had to attend a town council over that incident. And there were more...

Mirriam? Love the day sleigh bed.

Lastly, though I had so many thoughts in mind but as I mentioned I have CRS...has anyone heard from Penny?

Goodnight gals can't wait to read you early am girls posts over my late morning coffee!

Boston Mindy

Yes.....Becca the Power ranger! I love your new resolve. It is hard to give up old friends.

Barbie, while on your car trip, remember what I said quite a while ago. I just turn my Pandora onto 60's cardio and 'dance' while sitting in the front seat. My husband thinks I am crazy but that's OK. It make me feel good and alive. Hope he has a good appointment. Glad you are seeing another doctor.

Allison, so glad you are feeling better, now pass whatever you took to katla so she can feel better also.

Miriam, love the bed. And I don't think you have to many linens. If you are using it as a day bed that will be used as a sofa during the day and bed at night, it is just fine. If you are using it as a sofa, I personally don't like all the pillows and my floor isn't big enough to throw them all down on for the night. I especially like the decoration sitting in the middle of the bed. Made herself quite at home.

Sylvia, you don't know that was a male mouse that was in that trap. It might have been a female and she was pregnant and she was just trying to eat well to feed her young. You might have killed some precious, cute little baby mice. Now don't you feel bad????

I just love to hear the stories of how determined these Jews or others had to be to have escaped the Nazis. I think I could sit and listen to one of those old people all day long. They deserved to be revered and never forgotten.

Well I had my 2 Christmas parties today. I didn't even try to write down what I ate. for lunch I just put down 1000 calories. The choir party was catered and I did eat fairly decently. I don't know what kind of sauce was on the chicken breast I did try to scrape some of it off. I had a nice lettuce salad/ranch dressing. small red potatoes and California blend veggies and a small piece of carrot cake. and they were cut small! For lunch the chicken tenders were breaded and I think were baked so I only ate one but it was big. I left the cheesy potato casserole off and also the bread and butter. I did eat a deviled egg to get some protein in. We asked in Sunday about bringing salads and teacher said to bring desert, they had everything else taken care of. No salads except a cranberry relish and the eggs. So, lots of deserts. And you know Baptists, We are known for meet and eat. I did eat my usual bedtime snack of cottage cheese and pineapple. So I was a bad girl today. I will not be a bad girl tomorrow. We played a bingo game at the Sunday school lunch and everyone gets a prize and the cover all gets a larger prize. I think they get them all and the bags at Dollar Tree. At the choir party we did some silly skits. I am one that loves to read or speak with quite a dramatic flare if called for. I love to read books to children. So I was the waitress at the Bethlehem Bistro which was a modern day spoof on the 3 wise men following the star. This told the story of their wives out eating while their husbands were on this business trip. The wives were terrible tippers and bad customers and I had to be the waitress that had to take care of them. We also had to make a many words of 3 letters or more out of Merry Christmas. That is probably typical game at a Christmas party. The winner got 66 words, I got 36!

Oh, the chocolate chip, cream cheese monkey bread wasn't all it was hyped up to be. I don't know if I didn't make the dough balls small enough or what but from what I tasted, I didn't like them.

Welcome to Dee and East Bay Gal. One ting people haven't mentioned is the lovely white areas on the other sides of our posts. That's where all of our vents go. Some one comes by every night in cyberland and just sweeps them away. So any kind of frustrations, vents, mad at yourself, anything, just post it. There is always room for anything here.

Joyce, Indiana

Mimic - :flowerforyou : Many, many welcomes back! I've missed you! Please stay with us this time.

Rori - I thought I liked you and now I find out you are not even 60 yet! !!!!!! Don't like you any more.

Barbie - I always thought I had the least clothes of anyone I knew. You may win though. I only buy something if I really need it or love it. Then I try to throw something out. When I met my DH I couldn't believe how many clothes he had!

We were woken up this morning by a very noisy street sweeper truck going by under our window in the alleyway. At 6.33! They sweep the streets in the historic quarter every day and wash them down. It is spotless. However, the poorer areas don't get the same treatment. Like most countries there is a big division between rich and poor areas, but it always seems worse to me in France. The old, historic city centres are beautifully kept and so are rural villages and the countryside. Very picturesque! But the suburbs and the approach to large towns are a dumping ground for the dispossessed. All in huge apartment complexes. Lots and lots of retail parks that are a blot on the landscape. Luckily I can't see them from here. :laugh: But when we get on the trams we can.

Karen and Becca - I didn't pass on the hot bread, I just had a very small portion of the crusty end. Heaven! I count myself lucky to be among that group of people Gretchen Ruben calls "moderators". (THE HAPPINESS PROJECT) That means I am satisfied with just having a taste of something. What a blessing! I know for some of you that would not work at all, so I count myself extremely fortunate. Yesterday I tried a sliver of DH's tarte au citron. Just as well as he had diarrhoea very badly last night and that's the only thing he ate that I didn't. He is feeling poorly this morning and not eating at all, so we have postponed our trip to the seaside cathedral. No problem. I think it is market day there, so probably not the best day to go anyway. He is still in bed as I write.

I'm happy to have a "pottering" day. In fact my knees are a bit stiff. Yesterday I did some strength and yoga exercises and might do the same again. I brought my elastic bands with me to keep my muscles toned.

To those with mangers - I have a teeny Mexican one that I have added very tiny French figures to, called 'santons'. They are people from an old village in historical dress, so you get the onion seller, the mayor, the blacksmith etc. The full size ones were always put out in churches. You can Google SANTONS. They were originally from Provence. I got mine by mail order from Nice.

Love to all. Off to stretch a few bands.
Heather

Katla I'm going to learn that folding for my grandson's clothes. It's so frustrating when I fold their clothes and then they pull something out from under other folded things and everything ends up a big mess. This way they would be able to see everything and not have to look under stuff. You get the Best Tip Of The Day Award from me!

Rori I had to laugh at the Big 6 0. Next April I will be 70 so what the heck am I going to call it since 60 is the Big? Maybe the Lucky to be Alive 7 0?

Terri ~ Happy Late Birthday!

Miriam ~ Love your bed and especially the comforter and shams. They remind me of Laura Ashley.

Carol

Good Morning Everyone. Had a great day yesterday with the grandchildren, spent a lot of the time putting things back onto the tree. The 2yr old thought it was great fun giving nana the baubles and crackers to put back onto the tree. The 6 month old spent most of the time looking at the lights from his playpen. He has started rolling everywhere so the playpen is the safest place for him with all his toys.

Best wishes to everyone, have a great day.

Love the photo sent in by Heather, they must be having a fabulous time.

Thanks Beth, I agree with you. I try to do whatever I can to help others as I am sure people on this site do the same. It is things on the news that get me feeling anxious at times. Love and best wishes to everyone.

Gloria, I tried that technique of clothes folding with my girls, and they still made a mess of their drawers. Maybe even moreso because they would leave unfolded shirts on top of the folded ones. I don't think they could see enough of the shirt to make a decision. Maybe with boys it would be different.

I would think that any 'new' light would be better than using old ones; especially if they melted your tree branches on an artificial tree; try to imagine what they'd do to a live tree that maybe was not soaking wet all the time. Of course, I turn my lights off, Christmas and the magnifying light by my chair (because I just don't feel good about leaving them 'on' while away from the house). Looking around house, see that I need to pick up a little more; but, next week DH and DOS are going to see DYS for a hunting trip that will be a week long time with just me at the house. I think that maybe I can get a few more things done without having to try to do them, when I don't feel like it. Sometimes I am a 'real' night person and can get things done better when I am alone. DOGD comes home Friday from college; maybe she'll come over to help and earn some money to buy Christmas presents on her own. Going to look up how to do the folding of clothes to see if that helps me any. Should receive the 'other' half of the manger scene that was missing the most important pieces in one of my manger scenes hopefully this week. At the latest by next week. These last 3 weeks have just flown by. Got to get 'gift certificates' for my DYS, DDnL#2 and DSGD today. Have a couple of things that I will wrap up. So that DH can take them with him when he goes.

Yesterday to attorney about things to go into Will. He laughed and said 'trying' to set it out like we wanted to do could make it a lot easier if we just listed our desires in a separate list and attach it to the Wills. As a 'this is what we want to be done, pursuant to the dictates of the Will'. I understand one son not wanting to inherit a undivided interest in land; but, don't see it being a problem. They have a good relationship with one another and DH is taking them the 'letter' I typed out for them which spells out what we intend for our wills to mean, making it a lot easier for them to do the same. Just have to make copies to attach to both; and then take them to the financial advisor so he'll have a copy of it.

Bought a 'cute' cross bracelet yesterday to replace the one that broke. Wish I could find someone who could fix the other one. Don't know if when it broke, if any of the crosses came off. It was a stretchy band. This one is a big cross on a thin piece of leather. Buckled in the last notch. I cannot believe that anybody needing it any tighter could wear it because of the size of the cross that is on it. This one so much better made than any that I have had before. Gold outline of a cross rather than a solid cross. I have not worn a watch in several years so I am wearing it on my left wrist.

Hi all

I'm still in the land of the living but gosh it's been an awful slog for the past month. I think I wrote one single message in November, something optimistic about "Now I'm back in Stockholm and in control of my own food." Turned out that was wishful thinking.

Hectic? That's putting it mildly. I was teaching three different courses more or less simultaneously with a total of about 60 students. (I teach scientific writing at PhD level.) My computer had an accident while I was in Singapore so it had to be sent for repair. Meanwhile my dear husband lent me his, so I could teach those courses - which is important, as they will provide about a quarter of my total earnings this year. But I couldn't do much more than show Powerpoints on his computer because I didn't have administrator privileges and he couldn't help because he and I were in different parts of the world. *sigh*

"...in control of my own food". No way was I in control of my own food! Some days I was either preparing or teaching from 8 am to 8 pm and didn't have any alternative but to eat whatever I could lay my hands on. The only thing I did well was to jog to and from lectures all 10 days. (Yay me!) Nonetheless, the entire trip to Asia plus the two weeks of teaching left me about 3 lbs heavier. I'll draw a veil over November and the first bit of December, get back on board and look forward.

***

I have a mouse story of my own. This was way back when I was expecting my second child. We were spending Christmas at our summer place, an old farmhouse in northern Sweden. My father-in-law had constructed a nice cosy bedroom for us in a tiny room under the eaves, with a bed that went right up to the walls on three sides. If I got up at night I had to climb over my husband, but he didn't mind.

So we were sleeping peacefully, nice and snug under the down comforter. Lying flat on my back, I felt my husband run his fingers up from my ankle along my leg to my waist. I'm ticklish and he knows it, so I was furious! I jumped straight up to standing and yelled at him "Stop it!" He fell out of bed, turned on the light and stared, bleary-eyed and a bit insulted, because he'd been fast asleep. It was a mouse that had run along my leg!

We cornered the mouse on the bed and my husband carefully extricated it from the bedclothes. Quivering whiskers and beady black peppercorn eyes: it sure was cute! But we weren't having any more of that, so I opened the window and my husband tossed it out. This was from an upstairs window but there was a good three feet of fluffy snow on the ground so we didn't think the mouse would be hurt in the fall.

***

We don't do a whole lot for Christmas, as it's just the two of us, but I always like to have advent candles. Our four-candle advent stand is in another house so this year I'm making do with a single candle in a bowl. But Swedish tradition calls for the advent candles to be decorated with lichen, moss or greenery. We don't have access to anything like that way up here, so the last day I was in Stockholm, I went out in the woods with the grandkids and gathered material. I packed it all in an empty plastic ice-cream tub so it wouldn't be crushed en route. And here it is: twigs of fir and pine, a few pine cones, lowbush blueberry stalks, mountain cranberry leaves, dry ferns, and a couple twigs with lichen on them.


/Penny, happy to be back at the

Mary from Minnesota