WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2016

Hi all!
Just thought I must tell you about the film I've just watched about the photographer Sebastiao Salvador. His photography is well known, but I knew nothing about him. The film is called SALT OF THE EARTH, by Wim Wenders. I rented the DVD from Lovefilm/Amazon. I thought of CJ while I was watching it (lots about water shortages ), who has probably seen it, but it would interest any of you who are interested in nature conservation, or human rights, or those who love photography. Much of it is painful and moving. I highly recommend it. It's subtitled in English and some of it is in French and some in Portuguese.

DJ - I have been passionate about food since I was a teenager. I began to read cookery books at university. I just take an interest in anything food and cookery related, with no formal training. To me food represents everything - culture, history, politics, economics, health, religion, philosophy and, most importantly, sharing. I am just finishing reading a very comprehensive and academic book on the history of cheese. :laugh: I am not as obsessed with cooking as I was when I was younger and can find it a chore sometimes, but I love to eat beautifully and I am not a millionaire, so I cook it. :bigsmile: My second son is also a fantastic cook and my elder son isn't bad either, so I must have done something right.
I applaud all your culinary efforts this weekend. :flowerforyou:
My DH is probably more adventurous than most men his age, but he is a wimp compared to me. :laugh: Some things I have when he is out of the house!

Charlene - what a fantastic quilt! Wonderful!

Love to all again and thank you Barbie!

Heather UK

PS My printer prints! :drinker:

May Day, and International Guerrilla Gardening Day. :flowerforyou:

My April goals, well...I didn't walk every morning, nor do kettlebell swings every non-lifting afternoon... but I did weather a scary health crisis and a round of steroids and still drop a little more weight. And I logged everything I ate for the second month in a row, which is a win in its own way.


For May, I'm upping my calorie count by 300 a day, most days; my body isn't letting me exercise hard on the old count anymore...but I'm building in two modified-fasts on non-lifting days, so the total calorie count for the week is comparable.

My goals are:
1. keep logging everything,
2. stick to the new calorie counts--which, I stuck to lower counts for nine weeks, so okay
3. warm up my wonky hip on an exercise bike every morning
4. I'm working on a schedule for my swim classes, PT, lifting, and core work...it will come out to a good six days a week with both a more-strenuous workout (lifting, swimming) and a less-strenuous activity (walking, core work, stretching) ...the goal will be not to stick to it rigidly so much as test it and see how I feel, and adjust it and my calorie counts, so I can balance losing fat, gaining strength and function, and maintaining endocrine health.
5. And I really wanna figure out how to raise an extra $500 for a kayaking class

Good luck everyone, and have an excellent May. We got this!

Larisa in Seattle

afternoon ladies~
I can barely move.. went up to dads and cleaned the dining room... , they put up vinyl wallpaper and I washed that all, shopvaced everything and and Lord my mother collected crap...I put all the stuff in boxes under the dining table...set up the bakers rack with the microwave that I brought from my house,,, the fridge we got yesterday will go in the dining room so I had to clean stuff up.. 3 hrs later.. I am sitting with dogs on my lap and having a cup of tea... trying to figure out what to get at the grocery store..

Re the snowbird quilt: ooh, la, la looking good, Charlene!

Kim - I hope your cold makes a swift departure! :flowerforyou: No, I couldn't shoot a rabbit, which does bother me as I do eat meat. I sometimes feel I am a hypocrite. I have toyed with the idea of veganism, but comfort myself by making the best good choices I can - eating less meat, only buying organic, free range meat and being mindful when I do eat it. My main hypocrisy lies in drinking milk, which is not organic and of which I disprove of the process of production. If it were solely up to me I would go organic, grass fed, but DH would think it's an extravagance.
It's not that I disprove of eating meat, I don't, but I know that I, personally, could not kill the animal. :ohwell:

We used to live near a farm that had its own abbatoir, which was very humane and took enormous care over how it killed its animals. I liked buying from them. It also made fabulous buffalo mozzarella. I try to buy from places that do humane checks regularly, but I am under no illusions.

Currently we are eating meat two or three times a week, with the rest being fish or vegetarian. Of course, fishing is another, not so nice story. :ohwell: Just by living in this modern world we are guilty of so many sins.
After watching today's film I was prompted into giving to Doctors Without Borders, one of my favourite charities.

Sorry for the sermon, but I have been made very conscious of my footprint on the earth recently. DH's family troubles have highlighted that we are none of us islands.

Love Heather UK

My daughter graduated this morning from Regis University in Denver. She has now completed two classes towards her masters degree in Accounting, she will then sit for her CPA. Unfortunately I was not there to see her. I was, however, able to watch a live stream on-line. As you may recall, we left Wednesday morning for Denver, the first evening we stopped half way across Kansas. I received calls from a sister and niece telling us that they were predicting 5”-10” inches of snow in Denver on Friday. That evening I also was told by my youngest daughter about Tara's collapse and subsequent hospitalization. All was in a turmoil for sure. Jack and I, after much discussion and a BIG disappointment on my part, decided to head back home and not drive the motor home into a potentially dangerous situation. It then caused a bit of a ruckus with some of my family that I would not be there for the family reunion and they canceled it, which made some unhappy. I got my feelings hurt over some of it. Upon arriving back home Thursday evening and really finding out the severity of Tara's condition I lost it. I cried so hard that I scared Jack. I did cry again this morning watching Megan receive her diploma and me not being there for it. She of course understood. The graduation was held outside and it snowed on them and was very cold but they did not get much snow accumulation.

I want to thank all of you for your kinds words. It's a comfort to know that I have those who care about me. Still sad and wondering how a 34 year old's heart can just stop. Tara was ready for work and had sat down on the couch to wait for her son to finish getting ready for school. When he came out to the living room he discovered her unresponsive and called 911. Tara was only 15 when Antonio was born, but she finished school, got a degree and her Masters in Clinical Psychology. She had started work on her doctorate but had to drop out for a while due to the illness of her father (he subsequently passed last October) and her Mom's stroke. It still seems like such a nightmare.

Anyway, at this point I'm back on track and back to logging. I missed logging for three days. My resolutions for May will remain the same as April's. I have done well with the cardio and weight training, but did miss the last week of weights but fit cardio in several days.

Janetr OKC

Joyce ~ When I got my tooth extracted, he said to keep the gauze on it and not to swish for 24 hrs. Also, said not to use mouth wash for a few days because the chemicals in it could injure the tissue.

Raining a lot here today and we need it. The thunder scares the Pom.

Hi everyone ... just happened on the thread today and wanted to join in. Thanks to BarbieCat for starting it for May.
A little bit about me ...
... My name is Niki and I'm from NY ... and I see there is another Nikki on here, from OR ... so I am NY Niki. I've been a paid member for MFP since September, when I retired a profile I'd had on here since 2012. For the past couple of years I have been active on the threads, whereas before then I only used the app to record my food intake. I ended up spending too much time online so, about a month ago, I quit all the groups and threads I had been a member of and tried to go cold turkey community-less. However, I find that I miss the interaction of talking to other MFP members about health, nutrition, exercise, and everyday stuff ... and hope to be able to monitor my time online as I use the community section once again. The thread I was most active on had a Sunday Share habit ... and I think it's those share days I miss the most, even though, over time, that day ended up being the most quiet on that particular thread. I'm not one to give personal notes to everyone who has posted between my own visits to the pages, so please do not feel offended if my visits on here are sporadic or don't communicate specificically with you. Still, I hope I can both provide some support and receive if from you-all on here.

That all said, I have been feeling glum the past couple of months and am so ready to shed that halo of gloom and doom that has surrounded me recently, especially since I tend to eat indiscriminateldy when depressed. It's more a matter of poor food choices than eating huge amounts of food. The poor choices are more calorie dense, however, and thus the total input creeps into 'weigh-gain' territory, thus I find myself today 7 pounds heavier than I was 6 months ago. My weight chart is looking like a city skyscape again instead of a slide. On the positive side, I record everything I eat and update my weight every Monday, regardless of if I overate or not and of where the weight went. That way, at least I have a thruthful record for myself.

Goals for May:
1. Get off the roller coaster ride of food intake - normalize
2. Get outdoor activity on each dry day ... and walk in the rain at least one time.
3. Get the declutter project back on track .. the office and garage are this months goal.

Hope to talk to everyone again soon
NY Niki

ok,so i am sitting again...., went grocery shopping and the came home and took the boys for a walk and put the groceries away.. then I soaked in the tub for a bit with some epsom salts... now have a load of laundry in and will gather up the garbage.... got about 12,000 steps so far

Janetr - All that has happened to your stepdaughter and family is truly bewildering and awful. So sorry the weather also wasn't on your side. I'm sure your daughter knew you were with her in spirit. Sending another bunch of hugs. (((((*)))))

Love Heather UK

Well done Pip on all the calories you are burning up and for the registration for the marathon. Great going!

Hi gals,

Heather – I meant to comment on the movie Salt of the Earth, I have not seen it – yet- it was here last year at our library for a community event, one night which conflicted with something, so I missed it. But should rent it. If I get the gardening gig I will be taking over from someone who is all organic, non-GMO (which can be hard here in the states but is getting easier) and I have not gone that way, the gardening at my home is pesticide free, and I will buy organic or pesticide free when I can afford it. I was a vegetarian for years and years – but went back to meat, and like you it is a 2-3 meal a week – fish 1-2 and the rest vegetarian. I do love eggs and cheese and could not give that up. The milk is not something I drink so a quart lasts me a couple of weeks (I splash some in my coffee).

Janetr – I am so sorry that your family could not understand you staying out of harms way and making the choice you and Jack did. You had a very tough week ! I am proud of Megan for understanding, so this was her BS? You will make there for her Masters graduation I’m sure. Sending (((((hugs)))))))) Is there someone to be there for Antonio?

Welcome NY Niki

Pip – doing the marathon again! Wow – good job and glad the auction was fun.

Kim from N. California

Kim , there is a younger sister Lisa, 32. She will now be Antonio's guardian. She's single and has always been close with Tara and Antonio. He plans to go to college in the fall. Not sure where funds for that will come from. Tara worked as a social worker for the State, but had no insurance of any kind. I appreciate the hugs and concern.

Janetr okc

Janetr, I am so terribly sorry.

barbie - cute!!!!