WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2015

Happy Hanukkah Ladies!

Allison - I'm glad you made it! Enjoy every moment!


Mary from Minnesota

Cherie, lovely display.

Happy Hanukkah! Happy Diwali too! Lights are such an important part of our winter solstice celebrations, whatever the religion! I have not hung any lights this year because I cannot remember where I put them away last year! I thought they were in my walk in attic, but no, not there. Big sigh.

Happy Hanukkah. I completed all cards and online gift orders, so now just need to deliver a few goodies to colleagues at my home office. Leaving for New York and Midland, TX tomorrow. (Lisa, this is quick trip but in future will plan it so I can be free to meet you for lunch). Our corporate party is Tuesday afternoon and will include dancing and Karaoke. I usually dance to all the latino music. The weather is supposed to be warm, so I'm looking forward to walking thru Bryant Park and down 5th Avenue to ogle all the store windows and Rock Center tree. Christmas in NY is spectacular.

DH saw his plastic surgeon on Friday. Margins are clean so now we are just waiting for skin to grow over the entire wound bed. He has a hole on his forehead that would fit a silver dollar. We'll be back to the doctor next Friday so she can monitor his readiness to take a skin graft. I really hope we can keep the next surgery date of Dec. 23rd. She is the first doctor who has suggested to him to get a primary care physician from their senior center. We stopped in and got the forms and number to call to schedule an appointment. I will be so thrilled if he does go through with having a full physical. He's avoided doctors for well over 25 years and is behind in all the tests we normally take to benchmark health.

Friends, I wish you lots of strength as the stress of the season starts to set in and tempting treats turn up everywhere we look. Stay well. We can do this.

Rori
Colorado Foothills

DJ, very funny. The dead dog is really another turtle but his legs were so fragile he has to dry upside down. Probably has to fire that way too. They were using up scraps of clay making little animals and stuff. One of those things is a tadpole (I'm told) and one is a stingray. One girl made a deer, but it promptly fell apart.

Today it rained all day long. I went to Joplin to do some shopping but it was raining so hard I finally gave up. The only gift I got was a kareoke machine for DGD#1. I wanted to get her a sewing machine but my son said she would hurt herself.

We took the dogs out walking even though it was raining and Spot had so much fun running through all the puddles. The other two think he's nuts. They want no part of getting wet if they can help it.

Well, I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Sylvia

I love everyone's day today. So much going on, choirs singing, wannabe people singing and being appreciated like they should be. It takes courage to get up there and do that. So many parties, some of you super duper good and some like me not so. Glad Heather and Katla are feeling better. Rori, so so glad DH margins are clear. Plus he is going to get a physical!!!

We had our children's/youth Christmas program tonight. I'm not sure if all the kids have a say into writing it or just one teenager. She wrote last years also. Her little sister had a major role and she is just amazing at how her part is perfectly memorized and when the person next to her falters she helps them. She not only is perfect in memorizing, she is perfect in how she presents the part. She truly sounds like she is jsut talking to some one. I love to watch her while we are in choir practice. She is in the sanctuary with us and is the only child. She usually brings a doll or book but she dances all around the sanctuary. She has taken ballet and dance and she will make up her movements to our songs. Plus she is just as cute as a button. I don't know if anyone has ever listened to Adventures in Odyssey or not. It is on our christian radio station and it's a children's adventure show. So I think this play was based on some of that and then some of Dr. Who. They used a Tardis to take them back into time to see events leading up to and including the birth of Jesus. Now on Adventures of Odyssey they take a machine to go back into time but this machine wa a replica of the Tardis. Plus they had breaks that a radio broadcaster brought them news of the NFL game which was the pastor's favorite team and another. The pastor's team lost dreadfully. Then we had our annual Ginger bread competition. The rules this year was that there were no rules. so the most creative was a house made of 3 pieces of toast made into into a lean to with a spice jar of ginger sitting in the house.

Well tomorrow is Charlie's appointment with the hand specialist and it is at 8 AM. I wish I could capitalize 8 to emphasise it but you can't. We do not do 8 AM. I don't know how you girls get up at the hours you do. We are just getting to sleep at the times you are getting up.

Love you, Joyce, Indiana

Michele - the roll of shame is a move to protect you when you don't have a spotter during a bench press. If you start to fail you gently lower the barbell onto your chest roll it down to your hips and as it gets to that point raise your feet off the ground to swing upward then back down to get momentum to raise your torso off of the bench to continue to roll the barbell onto the floor. Google it. Every lifter should know how to do this. I plan on practicing with an empty bar then I will slowly add weights. I lift at home with usually no spotter. How did your cake tasting go?



Mary from Minnesota

csofled wrote: »

Celebrating the last (8th) night of Hanukkah in our home. Love surrounding our menorah with my smowman collection, especially the ones that have candles. From our home to yours wishing all a happy and healthy holiday season!

Cheri NE Ohio

Absolutely love your photo. It captures lots of love and warmth.

Best wishes to you and everyone on this fantastic site.

The gingerbread bake was a washout, I'm afraid. It was at the home of someone I don't know. I had the address (sort of) but didn't manage to find the house. I couldn't call either, because I didn't know her last name and couldn't look it up in the online directory. I wandered along the entire road – admittedly only half a kilometer long – but no luck. In the end I got cold and went home.

On arrival I checked the thermometer and found that it was just as cold outside as it is in my freezer, so no wonder I got cold! Four years I've lived here and it still throws me a bit when the outdoor temperature approximates freezer temperature.

I did a good deed, though. You remember the new choir member who was so negative about everything? She had misplaced her water bottle, probably at choir practice last Wednesday. We suspected somebody would have put it in the kitchen, but the church kitchen wasn't open during the concert. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a problem: she could just wait till next rehearsal, but she's moving on to another position in England, flying out today. So she'd resigned herself to losing her trusty Nalgene water bottle with stickers from the sailing club and the running club back in California. No great loss, she said, though of course she griped at length.

After the concert I wished her Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and have a good life. But I lingered for a while (trying to figure out where the gingerbread bake would be) and lo and behold, someone opened the kitchen! I went in and there was the bottle. I grabbed it and dropped it off on my way. (I knew exactly where she lived.) She was overjoyed.

Heather – I really liked your description of bliss: doing nothing much with the man you love. That's what I want for Christmas!

Allison – Good to hear you arrived safely and are taking a break. (At last!) I get what you say about needing cruise control. That's definitely an asset in the US where people often drive for miles and miles. But in Europe it's mainly the top-of-the-range cars that have cruise control. You can drive great distances in Norway too – the roads often follow the fjords so to get to your destination you have to drive twice as far the bird flies. But since the roads are so crooked you're constantly adjusting your speed and cruise control doesn't really help much.

I enjoy driving in Norway. It's like a tame version of rally cross and no matter which road you choose, it's the scenic route.

Mary - Thanks for the description of the "roll of shame". Fortunately the bench press I have access to right now has cross bars that would keep the barbell from crushing me if I dropped it. But I guess they don't all have them and I ought to learn that maneuver too.

Here's a bit more Christmas stuff for y'all. Norway's main dairy company pulls out their special milk carton design this time of year. Around mid-January we'll get back to the usual packaging, which features specific dairy farmers, their families, and their cows. But for now we've got Santa's elves.

/Penny at the

Good morning. I woke up at 3AM when Spot was in the living room barking his fool head off because of another dog barking down the block. I never got back to sleep and finally got out of bed at 4:00. We have a broken doggie door which is gaping wide open and I was afraid a skunk or something would get inside. Besides, it was cold in the laundry room (where the doggie door is) and kitchen. So I closed the door and sat up in case any of the dogs needed to go outside. None did.

Besides that, I had a tense conversation with my son yesterday and couldn't stop thinking about it. He is convinced he is dying this week, and he has not made any firm arrangements for the kids. I was kind of nagging him about it. He said their mother and the other grandmother don't want them, so apparently I am elected.

Of course I have mixed emotions about the situation. I want them to be taken care of and have a good life, with love and stability, but I just don't know if I am up to their full-time care. We are getting old, and my health is not the best. And hubby would be saddled with the responsibility and expense of raising someone else's kids at a time when he should be thinking about retiring and having time (and money) to travel and stuff like that. The little guy is 7, so it would be at least 11 years till the nest is empty again, and probably more like 15 years. That would put hubby at 81 and me at 76. I'm not sure that is even possible or realistic.

Then there is the issue of the dogs. Bruno will be fine. He is such a loveable goof, and he loves the kids. Spot tends to nip at people (kids) when they move too quickly and he tries to boss them around, but I think he can be handled OK. (He's got a lot of herding dog in him and apparently they look like a flock of sheep to him.) Molly is totally insane and would certainly bite one of the kids if she got a chance. We can't lock her up all day every day. That's not fair to her either. She is about 9 years old, so she could last another 6 or 7 years. That's a long time. And don't even think about getting rid of her. She is our baby - and hubby's favorite. We might have to get a muzzle for her. Maybe if she got used to having them around every day she would adapt. But I couldn't really trust her.

And logistically, I don't know how we could arrange the house. We have three bedrooms but one is hubby's office and it's completely full of his desk and bookshelves and file drawers. We would have to somehow move all that out into the living room and put the bunk beds in there and put the little guy in the small bedroom. I think we need to add on two more bedrooms and another bath. We have space for that

All this stuff is clogging my brain. Hubby says not to worry about it. He says we will take it as it comes and deal with it. But I need to have plans. My mind is reeling with thoughts of making them breakfast and tucking them in at night, setting up chore lists and giving them an allowance, teaching them to sew and make pottery. Among other things. I'm pretty much totally panicked about the whole situation. I can't let myself think about losing my only child yet. That would push me over the edge, so I've blocked that out in some part of my brain.

The other two ladies with the Artist Coop are coming over this afternoon for another organizational meeting. Things are moving right along on that, and we are hoping to get something in place in January.

Well, I need to get busy. Have a great day!

Sylvia

I'm new to the group, but sounds like right up my alley! Over 50 and need/want to loose weight. Seems like I've been going backwards, but determined to do this! So my goal for the week is to up my water, exercise 3 days a week and on my breaks, get up and MOVE!

Miriam,

Thank you so much for all your advice and support. It's nice to hear from somebody who knows!

Fingers crossed that mine goes as well as yours.

Sylvia

Call me crazy but I love to see other people happy and succeeding .

Good Morning Ladies,

Rori, one of the things on my bucket list is to go to NYC between Thanksgiving and Christmas. DH is not a NY fan so it won’t be with him. Enjoy your stroll down 5th Ave and ogle some for me. So happy the margins are clear and on to the next step!

Sylvia, what fun watching Spot play in the puddles. I can just see the other two saying, “what is that fool doing?”.

MicheleNC, I’ve noticed people out early lately trying to beat the rush. It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the stores.

Joyce, the girls that wrote and performed in the Christmas play sound great. I hope you make the 8 am appointment. I used to get up at 5 am, hop in the shower and get ready for work in 30 minutes. Now that I am retired, I want an hour or two to wake up before I have to do anything. I guess it’s all in what we get used to.

Mary, it sounds like the “roll of shame” should be named the “roll of safety”. It would be nice to always have a spotter but that would certainly cut down on the available time for lifting. You are doing so great!!!! What an inspiration.

Katla, so sorry ya’ll are still ill. It won’t be fun standing in the line at the PO or UPS, as it’s getting down to crunch time for sending packages. I have to get one mailed to DD and don’t look forward to that.

Allison, so glad you slept well. I knew Florida has lots of critters but didn’t think about them having armadillos. Growing up in south Texas it was common to see them. You have a marvelous time while you are there.

Lisa, it’s so nice to hear that you have finally slowed down and aren’t under any pressure to get things done. Have you rented any spaces in the warehouse yet? Glad the roof is holding back most of the rain.

Penny, sorry you did all that walking and never found the ginger bread bake. How nice of you to get “grumpy’s” water bottle for her. I like the seasonal milk carton. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Sylvia, I’m like you in that I’d want to make some kinds of plans in the event that you end up with the kids. Yes, this is the time that you should be thinking about retirement and taking life easy and not about making breakfast, school lunches and tucking kids in at night. Unfortunately there are many people in their 70s that have been put in that position. I’m sure things will work out and I do hope your DS is just wrong about his condition. ((((Hugs))))

Sherry, welcome to a great group of ladies and the place for lots of support and information. Please tell us a bit about yourself to help us get to know you. We also ask that you sign each post with the name you want to be called and a location, either general or specific. Come often and join right in.

Today I have a board meeting for our HOA which is in the process of being turned over by the builder. Then tomorrow I have line dancing and go back to my friend’s house to stay with her for two more nights while her daughter takes a break. Her daughter said if she wasn’t able to stay alone after this week that she would take her to her aunt’s house. We think part of her need is that she is lonely. She’s been out of work and not driving since the first of August and just got her surgery Dec. 2. I don’t feel ready for Christmas but have done about all that is going to get done. We have really cut back on gifts and are having dinner at my friends on Christmas so not so much going on this year. I just really miss my DD as this will be the 2nd Christmas away from us since she moved to Oregon.

I’m sending the best wishes and warmest thoughts to all you lovely ladies. Please try not to let the stress of the season get to you. I really hope you all get well and stay that way through the end of the year. I hope all of you have a healthy and happy day.

Words I live by:
Savor. I have to slow down and savor every bite.
and
Opportunity. Each day offers new opportunities for good health and happiness if we just look for them and choose them.
I Love you,
DJ
Myrtle Beach, SC

Happy Monday ! ! !

Miriam – I can’t remember if I typed anything, but Huge Hugs and Congrats ! ! !

Allison – Enjoy your time away from The Troll ! I will keep praying that she find peace and compassion, because being so hurtful and angry must be exhausting for her.

I never cheated all weekend. In fact, out of necessity because of my schedule, I struggled to reach 1200 calories yesterday, so MFP yelled at me. My co-worker SnapChatted me a lot this weekend, so I think she behaved, too. Should be lots of stickers on that calendar soon. I am also starting to plan the food I will take to Winona over Christmas, so I’m prepared for eating at least (hotel breakfasts I usually mostly carbs, so I’ll take a few yogurt and some fruit, then have salad fixings for meals with MIL).

DS bowled well Saturday. 665 at league in the morning, then 75% fill during the High School matches. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to give the team 2 wins, but they had fun together. The second team they competed against really struggled to keep the ball on the lane, so DH put each kid besides DS into the anchor spot, just so they can feel what it is like, and DS sat almost every game. He was obviously getting bored, because right before each new game he stood next to his Dad and started singing “put me in coach, I’m ready to play, look at me, I can be, a bowler”. It took all of DH’s power to not laugh or smirk.

DS and DH struggled at the Adult/Youth tournament, so we left pretty early. I have mostly been focusing on my crochet projects before Christmas. Whenever there are raffles at tournaments, I try to buy at least a few dollars’ worth (because the money goes back to the scholarship accounts for the kids). I asked DS what he wanted to win, and he said he nothing, so I put all my entries in to win Bucks Game tickets to give as a Secret Santa gift for one of the Personal Trainers, and won, so he gets to see a NBA game on Dec. 23 ! ! ! I gave him the voucher so he can get the tickets soon, and he’s pretty excited. Plus, he wants to know my secrets of winning (it’s about crumpling up the ticket so it doesn’t bunch up with all the other tickets).

Time for lunch, and I'm not quite 1/2 done with page 24.

Hugs for Everyone ! ! !

Terri in Milwaukee (54 degrees and rain, yesterday broke records with 60 degrees)