WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2016

Lenora - Actually my daughter is almost 25. We had a beagle jack russell that lived to be over 16 years old. Her name was "Precious" and she was indeed precious. I was so attached to Precious. It's going on 2 years since we lost her due to cancer. My daughter felt like "poor mom" needed a puppy and I guess maybe she was right. My DD found her online at a rescue in OH. Poor little puppy, she and her sibs were dropped at a goodwill store in the bottom of a box under clothes. Sad, but we were happy to rescue her. All of the siblings were adopted too. We have a cat that is 10 years old and she has already showed the puppy who the boss is! I know that you are enjoying your Cracker as much as we are enjoying our new pup!

miriamwithcats - That ottoman belongs with the whole set of furniture that my kids think is ugly! I love the print and the furniture is very comfy. Hopefully Lacey (the pup) won't chew it up. We have gotten her lots of toys and stuff to chew on and so far, so good. We are crate training her because we work during the day and I don't relish the thoughts of cleaning up after her all over the house. She is doing well at using the potty outside. Still a few accidents, but she is still a baby!

Peach - what a cute Pom!

Katla - who would have thought that a dog could be a match-maker?! Love that story!

It is very very windy and cold here in the mountains of WV tonight. Low of 9 degrees expected! I made a new recipe this evening, Cajun Chicken Pasta, with some roasted broccoli. The pasta was delicious and I think it was around 225 calories per cup. I had to eat an extra 1/2 cup cause it was so yummy!

Gotta get a shower and get pumped up for work tomorrow!

Snuggle up and keep warm everybody!

Donna in WV

Is there a way on MFP where you can enter the ingredients of a recipe and (maybe) find out what the calories are in it per serving? I had gained .5 of a pound; and, I think it was because I cooked twice this weekend and ate 3 meals out of it; put the rest in the freezer.

One was a recipe that I had thought I had lost years ago. Was decluttering my kitchen shelf and found some loose recipes. Thankfully, it was in that pile of loose recipes that I came up with both these recipes. One was for a beef casserole and the other was for Spicy Bean Soup. So this next week I am going to take my diet products and act like I am not on the 'modified' diet plan and see if that jump starts it again. I hope I have not hit a plateau.

I've worked for 2 days trying to balance my stupid checkbook, have not been able to balance it for 3 months. Usually, I can balance it right down to the penny. One thing I found was that I apparently did not enter a debit card purchase, I've got another debit card purchase for $25 for gas and it has not cleared for some reason. I forgot about a check that I have put in the front of my register because it has not cleared since I wrote in back in April. I know they aren't supposed to be honored after 180 days; but, as soon as I add it back, they'll send it through to try to collect.

Well, since I wrote a book the last time; I will give all of you a rest; read, but not post any. LOL! I tried the side-by-side again; but, I'd rather have the MFP community so that I don't have to use the scroll bar at the bottem.

CHOW!
Lenora

nite peeps

Good Golly Miss Molly. Such a chatty group! I love it! I've been reading for hours and am only starting on page 34 now. I decided I would post now before my laptop battery dies and tomorrow I will try to read more pages!

I love the introductions. Normally, I would just kind of skim and skip because i'm so far behind, but I am so engrossed in learning more about everyone that I just can't do it this time. Great idea, Sylvia!

I am 55 years old (56 in March). I am married for the 2nd time to a wonderful man. Together we have 6 kids, 17 grandchildren and 1 great-grandson. We have a black lab named Jack who is getting up there in years, slowing down a bit, but still going strong. I had gained weight and decided that I had to stop blaming it on the fact that I had twins, since those twins are now 34 years old! I went on the 17-Day-Diet in 2011 and lost over 25 lbs in about 3 or 4 months. I felt healthier than I had ever felt in my adult life. Well, a few months later I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. I had bilateral mastectomies, went through 5 months of chemotherapy and 6 weeks of daily radiation. I had several surgeries over the last few years for reconstruction. I take some medications now to stop the estrogen in my body since the cancer was feeding on estrogen. To make a long story short, being thrown into full blown menopause has given me a very large tire around my belly. I weigh about 170 lbs right now and should weigh about 125. I'd be happy if I weighed 145 actually. I am struggling with losing anything on all these medications and hormonal therapies so I do get frustrated and depressed a lot lately.

I hope to end this month lighter than I started it. My goal this month is to log into MFP faithfully and change my habits. I just had knee surgery so I am not getting much, if any, activity right now, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to start walking soon and do it without a limp or pain! Wouldn't that be new and different?

I was taking notes as I read and so I'm going to post those below to some of you. I'm sure I'll have more after I get caught up tomorrow, so if I'm commenting late on something, I apologize!

Sylvia: Thank you for thinking of the introductions! This is so interesting and I am enjoying these immensely. Great idea! I also want to thank you for the advice you shared with Grattracey91 regarding making a list of all the things we don’t like about being overweight and then crossing them off one by one. What a great idea! Absolutely going to do this. Not only will it be rewarding to cross them off but it will make me really think about losing weight as I think of all the reasons I want to lose it. Again, thank you.

Lisa in West Texas: I plan to check out your Amazon author page. I’m so intrigued by people who write and get published. It has always been my dream, but I could never actually do it. Congrats to you for your success.

Heather UK: I had to Google both Burn’s night AND haggis! I hope you had a wonderful time. It sounded really interesting. I love to read and have always wanted to write. I’m going to look your book up on Amazon after I get done reading about 10 more pages in this thread. I cannot imagine living in London or in the countryside of Hampshire. I’ll bet it is beautiful. I am also a breast cancer survivor and that is when this weight came on and refused to leave. I’m struggling so much since treatment.

Margaret in Minnesota: Beautiful bouquet of roses! Very thoughtful and such a pretty color too!

Janetr: Thank you for The Knot Prayer. I loved it and I really needed that today.

Vicki Grand Island NE: I smiled at some of the things we have in common. I have worked for 21 years at the same hospital in the IT department, teaching physicians. I thought I had a large family! You have me beat in the kids/gk and ggk department! My DH and I don’t belong to a motorcycle group but have a Honda Goldwing that we love taking out for nice long country rides.

Barbie from NW Washington: I love that you have a recumbent exercise bike in living room to ride and knit while watching tv! I smiled reading that. I’m so sorry to hear what awful things your mother said about your weight when you were young. I know we all say things we wish we could take back, but that had to be very hurtful. You are such an inspiration to so many now, and I thank you for that. I had to laugh at your comment about not discussing politics, religion or football! I live in Green Bay, so need I say more?

annm0213: Was it hard to start getting up an hour early to go to gym? I’m really struggling with getting gym time in and have been contemplating this but have such a hard time getting up in the morning! Are you naturally a morning person?

Becca in Oregon: Love the index card idea of great sayings that you suggested to SouthernSass. The refrigerator mantras were great too. Thank you for sharing. I hope you are feeling better. I’ve been fighting a rotten cold too and I agree that it is nice to actually be able to breathe out of my nose again! I love how your signature changes daily! You make me smile.

Kim from N. California: Thanks for the idea of listening to NPR Prairie Home Companion. I’m originally from Minnesota so I tuned in and listened and enjoyed it so much! Small northern town living in a nutshell! Love, love, love it! I also wanted to tell you I love that you have a long-term goal toward your finances. I’ve just started working very diligently at cutting back on expenses and trying to pay things off early. DH has been out of work since April due to a surgery that didn’t heal right so that is my long term goal also. Body, spirit, mind and financial health.

Penny at North Pole: I like the idea of prepping 1 lb of raw vegetables a day and snacking on them throughout the day. What kind of veggies do you eat so you don’t get bored, especially when they are not in season. I don’t live at the North Pole, but I do live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which is pretty close… I have difficulty getting my vegetables in because I really didn’t grow up eating them so don’t much like them! Looking for ideas.

Lenora: GRITSandSLUTS acronym made me giggle. Thank you for posting all the tips for posting to and following this thread. I copied and pasted into a Word document.

Walk2Health: I have one Tai Chi DVD that I like although I’m really clumsy and have a hard time doing even the easiest moves! Which DVDs do you use? Congratulations on surviving the cancer. I am 4 years out myself. It gives you a new perspective on life, doesn’t it?

SouthernSass: Congrats on the 6 lb loss! Nice job!

Clelia: Welcome! Good luck on your first goal.

Michele in NC: I’ve been thinking of learning to crochet or knit. Can I ask how you are teaching yourself? Book? DVD? YouTube? I try to quilt, but I don’t find that relaxing either!

Chris in MA: I found your story very compelling and inspiring. Thank you for sharing. I took a screenshot so I can go back and read some of the pieces over and over (like CICO) when I need to. Congratulations on achieving your goal and then some. I am sorry to hear you are troubled by some setbacks, and I want you to know I am praying for you.

Mary in Minnesota: What kind of puppy did you get?

Until tomorrow, have a great night!

Tracie in Green Bay

I think I need to stay online all day to keep up with you awesome ladies! I had 77 notifications. Just getting home. Looking forward to Thursday when I get home early enough to respond back to you peeps.

On an happy note, I lost another 1/2 pound today. Just keeping it going.

Dar in NC

Loving the puppy pics... and yep, that's me on the plank... and not the first one!

I'm having a bit of a hard time staying on track this week so I decided to look at some old pictures to see how far I've come. I thought I would share.


The picture on the left was taken about 2 years ago at probably close to my heaviest and the picture on the right was this summer modeling a thrift store find. I'm about 7 lbs. lighter now.
Posting these pictures is really a huge deal for me, I'm a really private person and don't post pictures of myself on the Internet. I don't even have a Facebook account. But you are my friends and I thought it was time you knew who you were talking to.


Chris in MA

Tracie in Green Bay....I also decided that morning exercise would be best for me because "stuff" always gets in the way after work, but I'm not a morning person. I signed up for a 6 am exercise class last summer and began "training" to get up that early. I got up 5 minutes earlier every day and got on my elliptical until I was getting up on time and ready to exercise every morning. The class has been over for many months but I still get up at 5:15am every weekday morning and get on my elliptical. This is one of the best habits I've incorporated in my life. Hope this helps a bit.

Chris in MA who has to get some sleep because 5:15 comes quickly

Mary in MN: love German Shepherds! Nice!

Chris in MA: thanks for the tip. Maybe just starting with not hitting the snooze button and then getting up 5 minutes earlier in baby steps will help. If I don't exercise in the morning, it won't get done. Great ideas there. Thank you!

17761776: You know it! I live just blocks from Lambeau field and am a huge Packer fan!

Evening ladies, although it is 12:30 AM. This is my usual habit, stay up until 2 AM, get up around 11 or so. Not a particularly good habit.

Love all the pictures of all your babies. I have many on my computer if I could just figure what I am doing wrong. I did it about a week ago but not since then. I will try to resize my profile pic.

Love all the new faces we have now. So many more ideas of what works and what doesn't and more people to tell about my wonderful grand children!!!!

Charlie saw the hand surgeon today. We saw him middle of December and he was trying to get things moving alone so he could have surgery in December when it wouldn't cost him anything. We liked that about him. Some how we were able to get a neurologist appointment the following day to do his nerve conduction study to determine if it was carpal tunnel syndrome. It was faxed to his office and that was the last we heard of him. We called his office and they said they hadn't gotten neurologist findings. Called them several times and answer the same. Neurologist office says they sent it. I know realize who was the truth. We called yesterday to see when in the world he was going to be seen. They made an appointment for today. Saw him and he read the nerve conduction study for the first time. They have some problems in their office. The guy is pretty overweight and looks slovenly, he examined his hand again and said yeah looks like you need surgery, my nurse will set it up. Goodby hand doctor. It's just an ill run office. But everyone says they have wonderful results from him. Ony problem we see with surgery is that he has to be off his blood thinner for 12 days! I know that Lovenox can be given in place of the pills but that means sticking a shot in your belly and his belly is sore enough. He has been very uncomfortable tonight, a lot of unrelieved burning throughout his whole abdomen. And his incontinence has increased. I would imagine the poor guy needs to have another colonoscopy. He has another infusion scheduled next Monday and he hates them. He spends a lot of the time in the bathroom next door. Poor guy, has the urgem the pain. He just can't have the bowel movement then he goes onto living his life and spoosh, there it comes. OK, maybe to much information for some of you. To the newbies here, my husband had enjoyed wonderful health then had heart attack, 4 stents, irregular heart beat (atrial fib), Parkinson's, sever ulcerative colitis, meningitis all in a 2 year. The ulcerative colitis has been a monster, physically and financially. We loved to travel,now we can't go the 300 miles to see our daughter. Me with the multiple sclerosis is now the healthy strong one.

I signed up for freecycle but the last post on it was Dec 13th so it doesn't look very active. I looked at out neighboring county since we live right down the road from it and it is even less active. Charlie isn't comfortable with me going to meet some one or having some one come here.

Joyce, Indiana

morning ladies~
I am just getting real peeved at myself.. I havent really made any attempt to get moving except at work.
I am trying to eat well.. but sugar is still haunting me.
I want to eat clean and get more exercise in.. and cant find the motivation..
I have to get blood work done for the kidney Dr and waiting to hear if the money is in the account ,as our insurance has changed we only have an HSA now and it has a huge deductible...
having a cup of tea... and I did download a meditation app on my phone, and tried that this morning... I will try and carve out time every morning to meditate and hope that that gets me in a right frame of mind to get moving..