WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2016

Thanks for the good wishes and sympathy, everyone! The CSI team was still working when I left so I will wear jeans and sneakers to work tomorrow for clean up. The cleaning service was coming by as I left to vacuum glass so that I won't have to that part. I will take this opportunity to clean out my office since someone pulled everything out for me to go through, anyway! After working there for going on 27 years, I've got plenty to declutter.

Congrats to everyone doing so well! I am still staying on track with calories even though I ate a cupcake today. I missed breakfast due to the mess at work so I had even more calories to work with. In addition, I was up and down the stairs all morning showing the police around so I have some exercise calories to work with.

Since I've arrived at my other job, all of the adrenaline has gone and I just want to take a nap!! I may need to go walk up and down the hall for a few minutes to get the blood flowing again.

Off I go...

Carol in NC

KJLaMore - Yeah; when chemo starts her taste buds will be totally 'screwed'; she ought to have what she desires now, during this 3 - 4 weeks of waiting because it probably will make her sick. I remember as a child, getting sick on creamed corn - you can imagine what it looks like when you vomit. Worse coming up than going down; but, I was an adult before eating it again. My Mother could make the best creamed corn and macaroni and cheese (with the real cheese). Maybe she will be more to the liking of healthy food by the time she gets to the chemo part of her treatment. Boy, she had to give up a whole lot!

Was on cancellation list for dentist - got to be there at 8:00am - 30 minute drive; but, got to have him check my teeth and clean them before I can have another 'night guard' for my TMJ made. DDnL#2's dog got it out of our bedroom when we were there in August and pretty much chewed it up. I took an emery board to it to knock off the rough edges; but, apparently, I could not keep it in so it went into the trashcan.

Still trying to get up the nerve to tackle my kitchen cabinets (pans and such that doesn't hang from the pot and pans) ... like 3 different sized crock pots. None of them do I want to get rid of; but, they sure take up a lot of room. Cooking collards for supper for tomorrow night. Need to check to see if I have some cornbread mix (I think I do); and then decide what type of meat to go with it. Ham or pork? I see what mood hits me on the way home.

I bought some meat that I 'thought' was hamburger meat with Jalapeño peppers; but, when I got home to make the patties, realized it was sausage. Did not make any difference - we like both - just more calories; and I had made hamburger sized patties. Almost ruined the pan I chose to cook them in. Normally, I'd use one of my iron skillets to cook sausage (very little clean-up); and cooked them in the pan I inherited from my MnL (whole set) of waterless cookware from the 40's. I scrubbed it and then I put a dryer sheet in it overnight and it 'finally' came clean with a lot of scrubbing. Won't make that mistake again. HA! Also decided, what the H***; doesn't sit flat on the surface of my stove; so I banged it flat again with a hammer - that did it. Surprised! I love these pots and pans. Especially since DYS absconded with my best 'rice' pot. Now since there are only the two of us, the small pot works just fine, unless we are having gumbo or bean soup.

Yep, we'll have to have a small drizzle in our sink for the next few nights. Last year we had a faucet that froze; thankfully not inside, just outside the house. Need to get some insulation up under the house. My feet stay cold all the time.

Sylvia ~ In our first house the washer/dryer were in the garage. We learned when we were going through freezing weather to load the washer up with dry towels and that kept it from freezing up.

Thanks Joyce, I'm sorry to hear about your fibro. I know how much that can affect how you feel, and know it can really make caregiving more of a pain (pardon the pun). In many ways we are lucky that we have had this additional time with him. I am not sure which is worse: sudden death with very little lead time, or this long drawn out weakening to the end. There is no easy way.

We celebrate what we can. My daughter's family is coming over this evening and he has said that they will have to go upstairs to visit with him. His hospice nurse doesn't want him to walk the stairs. Before, he wouldn't want the kids to go into his room, but today he is looking forward to it.

KJLaMore wrote: »

Need some advice on a family situation/disagreement. I mentioned that my sister has a brain tumor. It is a grade 4 glioblastoma and with surgery and treatment she has one year to one and a half years to live. She had the surgery to have most of it removed and that went well. She will start chemo/radiation in three to four weeks, as long as her health/recovery continues to improve. Here is where there is disagreement. My sister is a snacker. She likes her treats. She eats whatever meal is put in front of her, so with us cooking healthy meals for her, she is eating healthy options. BUT: Her kids and my brother want her to give up her snacks. Her chex mix, her popcorn, her cookies... Since being diagnosed with the tumor at Thanksgiving, she has given up smoking, drinking, coffee, soda, and chocolate. My philosophy is: Let her have whatever she wants because once the chemo and radiation starts, she won't feel like eating anything! Or many foods she would normally like, will make her sick. So...as her personal shopper, do I buy what she wants? or appease the kids and siblings and buy only healthy stuff?

You have my total sympathy. Your sister is at the beginning of a difficult journey. She needs to be in charge of everything that she can be. Let her enjoy what she can enjoy. That means if she wants to eat junk food, go for it. If she wants to go the health food route, go for it. Once chemo and radiation starts, she probably won't feel like eating much and her tastes will probably change. Rebecca Katz has written at least 2 cookbooks for cancer patients. One is "One Bite at a Time" and the other is "The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen." I found some good recipes in them, though my son wouldn't try them. He was always a picky eater and his cancer is oral cancer so eating quickly became a major problem. We liked them though.

Bonnie waiting for the blizzard

Carol, I am beside the Methodist church here in Wellman. Right before I moved here, in 2001, the church was broken in to and ALL the AV equipment and computers were stolen. Pretty brazen hauling out speakers, etc. in the middle of the night! Since then, the church has had to pay for an alarm system, for insurance purposes. I frequently see the pastor over here, waiting in front of the church in the middle of the night for the sheriff department to arrive because the alarm was triggered. It has always been a false alarm, from one group or another not making sure all the doors are closed completely. (They all have self-closers but are not always completely latched. When they finally close completely it triggers the alarm.) It is a nuisance, and an expense you would wish a church did not have to make, but it has prevented any more thefts. This is a community where a lot of people still leave their keys in their car ignitions with the car parked in their driveway, overnight! Our biggest crime wave was a boy who was joy riding in people's golf carts and then leaving them in odd places. (We have a nine hole golf course in this town of 1800 people.)

Kimses, so sorry. Sometimes NOT getting a job is a blessing in disguise. It was for me because it made me realize I really needed to be on disability - no one was going to hire me with my limitations. I was too stubborn to see it.

Kimses... I'm sorry. I'm struggling with redefinitions of my own... and working was the hardest one to let go of for me. Hang in there, keep posting.

Ok hit b and nothing happen, what did I do wrong? Thanks Gayle Minneapolis

Kimses2 ... Sorry about the job,

Gayle ... Hit b first and then type between the b's ... Just tried this btw!

Another clear, cold night here in the mountains of West Virginia. 14 now and dropping.....brrrrrrrr. Think I'll go to bed and snuggle under the covers!

Nite nite!

Donna

Did an hour of a downloadable spinning workout today. then took the donations to the soup kitchen then stopped at Food Lion. Their price of soda was too high, but I did exchange one cheese and got a new propane tank.

The plan for tomorrow is to do a water aerobics class. Hope its not too bitterly cold or at least that the water is decently warm

Lynn - you're not far from me at all!!!! I'm in Newton. So want to get together? I believe we got the riverrock for our pool area from this place in Denver.

You know, I'm going to keep an open mind about this therapist. That letter Bryan sent sounds to me like it was either written by this therapist or at least heavily influenced by this therapist. I'm just surprised she would even consider that Bryan should send it since she hasn't met/talked to me. I'm surprised, too, that she didn't suggest Skype. Then again, she might have but Bryan said that I couldn't (which isn't true, I just don't know a lot about it). I'd feel better if Vince were here mainly because I'm not a real techhy person and he is much more technologically-minded than I am so should there be any problem, he could probably take care of it.

Made 4 loaves of the pumpkin/gingerbread breads. One I'll take to this gal at the place where I take the extremepump class. I just found out that her birthday was Friday. another I'll freeze and give to the gal at the Y whose birthday is in early Feb. Another one I'll freeze and have when we have Rummikub (I figure we'll have it here in Feb.). The last one I'll take part of and give to Lynette and I just like having something in the freezer. Who knows? Maybe I'll send it to Denise. Update: yup, that's what I'm going to do

Heather - The last freezer we had was one where you had to defrost it. Even tho the one I have now uses a bit more energy, I so love the fact that it's self-defrosting. Now if I can only figure out a way to get a larger one....... So sorry about your tooth

NC Carol - how horrible about the breakin! You know, I'm supposed to help count the collection money and I feel so so bad that I can't get there until around 10:15 on Mondays. I know they want to get the $$$ into the bank asap and I'd feel terrible if something happened and I couldn't get it there. But on the other hand, I really don't want to give up my exercising

Bonnie - yes, I do have a lot of DVD's. My preference for a yoga one would be one by Rodney Yee. His "A.M. Yoga" is five 20 minute routines. But I do agree with katla, take a class if you can. I wish we had yoga classes around here, but we don't. When they did, I would take the class and then suppliment with a DVD. I did find that there were certain adjustments that I should have been making, I'd fallen into bad habits without even realizing it and unless I'd had that instructor to tell me differently, I would never have known.

terri - you know, whenever I'm walking/running on the treadmill, after about 15 minutes I have to use the bathroom. I think maybe everything gets pushed down. anyway, today suddenly after doing the spinning I had to go to the bathroom.

Oh, for anyone who does spinning (or biking), do you go by your heartrate or rpm's? I'm finding that my heartrate goes up and comes down quite fast. So I'm wondering if keeping my rpm's up would help

Heather - I don't think you're antisocial. Well...if you are, then I am too. I would much prefer to have small meals frequently than 3 large meals. I don't find much interest in cakes or cookies for dessert. But give me a piece of fresh fruit.....I'm in heaven.

KJLaMore - I'm with you, let your sister have what she wants. You're right, she will probably lose her desire for the foods, and that might even stay with her!

Lenora - never heard of putting a dryer sheet in a pan and letting it sit overnight. Interesting. What exactly does it get rid of?

NCCarol - why has your church had so many breakins? After the first two or three breakins, why didn't they get an alarm?

kimses - I'm so sorry about your interview (or lack thereof)

Sylvia - YEA YEA YEA for you putting those kisses back!! You go girlfriend!

Lynn - good for you passing up that birthday candy!

Michele in NC