WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2016

DJ. - HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!

Janetr (the other Janet)

DJ, Happy Birthday!

DJ. I want to add my happy birthday wishes. It sounds like you are having a great day.

Miriam- What fun at the nursery. They are dangerous to my pocketbook.

Katla- How is your DD family? Did I miss news about a boat sale?

Sylvia- you and the studio and your pottery all look wonderful.

Carol- you are off to a great start to the week.

Kim- I really hope you get the garden job. What a perfect fit.

Chris- I so hoped you would graduate to a BFF from PB. Perhaps he will see the light.

Lisa- 2,000 miles in a week and I don't believe you even left Texas. It gives one quite a different perspective on the differing states. Both trips sounded fulfilling. Congratulations on your chair sale and the new business with your family. Another perfect match.

JOkc- a heron. How lucky to see one so close. They are such magnificent, majestic creatures.

Karen, the walk sounds like it is just what you needed to prime yourself for getting back on track.

Heather- the fuscia color is gorgeous on you. You look so happy with your friend. I hope that DH is able to share his burden with you
It will help you both. It sounds like you are ready for Mexico.

Allie- at least you will have some well-deserved time by yourself.

Michele- in addition to the hydrangea idea, you might try winterberry bushes.. These wonderful brushes get red berries in the fall that last all through winter. You don't even miss the dropped leaves because the profuse berries against the bare branches looks like a Christmas card scene. Added bonus- they attract birds and are native to the east coast. Another possibility is rhododendron. Lovely flowers and evergreen.

:flowerforyou: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DJ!!! :flowerforyou:

We opened the family pool today. All eleven grandkids plus an extra filled it for hours of screams and fun. It started to rain and they stayed in the pool during the rain (no lightening or thunder). They figured they were already wet they might as well stay that way. lol

We thought our family had escaped any flooding but one daughter and son-in-law spent today tearing out sheetrock and carpet from their son's room. They didn't know they had gotten water in the house until a very strong smell of mildew took over. It seeped in from their back yard. Not enough to cause any standing water but soaked everything four feet from the wall. They didn't notice because their son's bed is against the wall and covered it. Not fun for them but with a little help they got it all cleared out and they are drying it out. Next weekend they will be putting up new walls and getting it fixed up. They dug a trench around the back of their house to prevent any more problems like that. They will end up putting in a french drain to solve it permanently.

Caught myself eating fruit leather like candy this afternoon. I hate having a sweet tooth. At least it was fruit and not sugar but still it had a ton of calories.

Emptied out my kiln. I had three shelves that turned out lovely and one shelf just didn't do well at all. I'll be refiring some of the pottery. Some aren't worth saving.

Did 45 minutes of Prevention's Strong Slim and Firm DVD. The plan for tomorrow is to do another segment of Hot Body Boot Camp DVD, hold my pank, then do a Lower Body and Total Body DVD

Joyce - there isn't any roadside stand around here to get a lighthouse, unfortunately. Maybe I'll have to make a trip. Wonder how much it would cost for you to send one? How heavy would you say it is? What would be the dimensions of a box for it to be in? How expensive is it? Having a gnome might be nice to have by the pool. Something maybe it could be painted to look like he's looking over the pool and the swimmers. I know they make some that I can paint, I'll just have to look in the catalogues. We just think a large lighthouse right by the waterslide would look cool. And the light on top would help illuminate the steps on the slide. I do the same thing, I refill any meds for me as soon as I use up the current bottle. Vince waits until the last minute. I wonder if Bryan's wife isn't interested in getting to know us?????

Alison - feel better fast. I know if I have a whole carrot and don't chew it sufficiently before swallowing, I get a feeling like I'm about to throw up. Then it goes away. That happened to me yesterday. I just didn't say anything to Vince who had already come into the house because I knew that the sensation would go away and he'd just get all worried for nothing.

Lenora - I was not happy at all to read about the holly bush, that digging it up was a real pain. That's the bush that they put at the edge of our house and the one that if Vince needs to use a ladder to trim again this year, I'm really going to want to get rid of. It just worries me him on a ladder (on a slope) with a hedge trimmer. I found a plant (don't know the name of it) that someone as you come into our development has on their property. It was blooming the first day of spring. Guess I'll find out if that plant stays green all winter. That's another bush the previous owner had put in. I swear, they hired a landscaper who put in the absolute cheapest bushes just so that the house looked nice to sell. The holly bushes are pretty tall, wish they'd put in something not as mature. But they wanted to get the house looking nice to sell. The owner was a real estate agent so she probably thought this is something that prospective buyers would want. Not really, at least not me. We do have some bushes on the side by our garage. I have no idea what they are. I wonder if cutting them back would help them grow more "bushy"? Then again, if we cut them back too much and they don't regrow, I know Vince is going to be really upset. Right now he is so p***** at the work this landscaper did and how we have to fix his screwups. I didn't even mention that there were weed seeds in the straw that he put down so now we not only have grass but weeds also in them. We did put down weed & feed, hope that will kill them off. I'll ask my friend who is a master gardener if she know what the plant with the flowers on it is. I just found out that we're in zone 7. Goes to show you how much I know about plants!!! I'm a religious gardener -- God will take care of it. I really like the feel of the resistence of the water on my body when I take the water aerobics class. At home, to me, it's just so very relaxing to float in the pool and have the sound of the waterfall in the background. I sent in my order for the Lamictal to the insurance pharmacy. Of course, they couldn't fill it then but they said they'd fill it as soon as they can. I just wanted to send it in before I forgot

Miriam - we really don't want two rows of shrubs because Vince does A LOT of halloween and Christmas decorating. We need room to put the stakes in the gound. there isn't that much room between the garage and the sidewalk as it is, so it's just one row of bushes so there is room for the eyeballs (h), skull and hands (h), snowflakes (c) and whatever else we might decide to put there, maybe candy canes, the arches over the sidewalk need to be staked. To me, the Carolina Moonlight, Snow Muffin or Emerald Snow in the Loropetalum family look so pretty. I saw this one Loropetalum plant and it has flowers on it but it remains a bush in the wintertime. The only thing is -- I don't know if the nursery that my friend uses carries them. I looked at a picture of the boxwood on the internet and didn't even think there were any flowers. They must have been REAL small.

Tomorrow will be the last day that I count the donations at the church. I only did it for the month of April. Next month I'll go back to the extremepump class.

Oh, I did find the cable for my bike if I need it to go to the Food Lion, I have a combination lock, but I can't remember the combination. I could have sworn I had it written down somewhere but over time the adhesive on the tape probably dried out and it fell away. But I know that we have a key lock that we used on the UHaul when we went down to FL so I can use that. Just have to put more air in the tires of my bike.

Finished the third beaded banner last night. Now for the fourth and last one!

Lisa - has it been a year already???? Boy, time flies I'm so glad you're here

kimses - I like how you mix up the cardio with the weight training. Just don't do that same cardio all the time. Or the same weight training. Mix it up, that keeps your body guessing. It's always so interesting when someone says "I'm on a plateau". Makes you wonder -- do they do the same exercise over and over? If you do, eventually your body gets used to it and you burn fewer calories.

Anne - we used that stuff where you drill a hole and it eventually wears away the stump. the key word is "eventually". We didn't have very good luck at all with it and never used it again.

Welcome everyone new! Be sure to come right back

I feel badly asking Vince to always take me to the store, but we really need more vegetables. I know he doesn't care, but I'm running out. Put down a bit more grass seed in the backyard, First went to Lowe's Hardware to get some straw.

DJ - happy happy birthday! Hope you have a great day (what's left of it). You know, the hardest thing I find about this lifestyle change is when you go out to eat or even to someone else's house. Everything seems to be covered with sauces, deep fried. It's hard to get just plain veges. and when you do, it really isn't very much at all. Yet, there is all this talk about how much obesity there is. Well...look at what's being served. I still say that the price of things should be related to how many calories they contain. The higher the calorie count...the higher the price. You can bet people who are looking to save money (they are usually the overweight people) will choose the healthier options.

Becca - Vince used to laugh at me because when we'd get a new neighbor, I'd always bring over some cookies or muffins. Really, in this neighborhood I only do that for the people who are like across the street or up the street, not for the entire neighborhood. It's interesting, a lot of the homes around here were built with a front porch but you never see anyone sitting out on the porch.

I still wonder why ceramics "shiver" in the kiln and what I can do to avoid that happening.

Michele in NC

Hi gals,
Barbie – sorting pictures is a hard job! Good for you to start on it.

Michele – check on the plants to see how they do in zone 7… it will help you be sure that you are happy with them. I am glad the skype sessions are going so much better….and that you are feeling more connected to Bryan. I googled the Loropetalum and the 3 you picked are probably good choices, but be really sure to get specifically those and most of the pink and purple ones get 8-15 feet tall….


Kimses – I read that Tangerines… and though how odd that she has never had a tangerine… then opened the link… LOL - I have not done this either, but it sounds good.

Heather – great pic!

Annie – I agree with CJ that of those 2 choices grinding is best, but I had a tree die in my yard and I got the tree guy to cut the stump low but very flat,- used a level – and I put a pot on it and plant it with different things….

Becca – great story and I loved your comment about neighbors, it’s funny as I do the bring stuff to others and mostly know my neighbors and they return the sharing; but I have one neighbor Diane, that I get along with fine, but she is often complaining about the others and she thinks they should start the communications, she’ll never start the conversation, someone else has to do it and if they don’t then the must be a. mean or b. not like her…. Drives me a bit nutty…

DJ – happy b-day

So today was a garden club member garden tour, 5 members open their gardens and we get to see them… the smallest one was a gal who lives in an apt and has 6 plots that are 3”x6” at a community garden, she had done some amazing things, the largest one was 6 acres… All were low water use, and while very different they were all really nice. I’ll be watering the veggies at the 6 acre garden in the month of May as the owners are going to Europe for a month – 2 weeks in Scandinavia, 1 week in Normandy, 1 week in paris. They should have fun! And I will enjoy taking care of the yard…

Someone asked me if the gardening job would be enough financially and I forgot to note who asked, if I get paid similar to the gal who has it now and keep the embroidery business going (which of course is getting busy again) it should be perfect, I will really like having a set amount coming in each month, that is the hardest thing now, is I never know what will come in at any moment, it is very hard to budget. I’ve been living under the federal poverty line for 6 years now and this would get me closer to just poor, not so far under, so that would be a big relief.

smiles Kim in N. California

CJ - The cruise is to the Arctic Circle. In June. Mexico is next January. I am very excited about both!

Love Heather UK

Morning ladies~
slept 8 1/2 hrs..
D.J.~ Happy Birthday sweet friend hope it was a a special day... woke up at 3:30 when Tom left for work..
the birds are already singing at 4:30..I dont have to be to work until 12:30 so might go up to my dads and try and get some paint off the floor in grandaughter's room