WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2017

Lanette - Cracker and Tux are very good buddies, too. But, Tux looks very disappointed when Cracker gets to 'run inside' and he has to 'stay out'. But, he gets under the house through a vent hole; that we don't put a cover over. If he gets upset, he runs in there. He can climb a 40' pine tree in about 2 seconds flat! He is a lover; and, so is Cracker. During winter he usually weighs over 20lbs, and, we laugh when he tried to jump through it like he can during the summer months when he isn't nearly as heavy.

He does 'his job' very well; and, sometimes he will make it a 'presentation'. One morning I got up and opened the door; and there was a 'mouse' on a bed of grass! I guess he thought he needed to make it look better so I would not chunk it over the deck railing. Our last dog, a JRT would play catch with him with the lizards we have around here. Tux would get upset when Shorty would kill them once they got dazed. Pets do some very strange things. DH says that 'if' Cracker could 'actually' talk, we'd never be able to shut her up. She is so stinky spoiled rotten and is very animated.

Lenora

OK! I seriously messed up the bold thing tonight. I thought about trying to edit it, but then decided it was not worth the effort. Goodnight, my friends!

katie bug - I'm so glad you get your DH as that complement was tricky!

Dr Katiebug - MEN! Congrats on the smaller size. I too had to get a smaller size a while back. I was hesitant to buy the smaller size as I was afraid they might not fit.

Speaking of that I can't get my mind to accept even now the difference that losing 90lbs makes it what clothes I can wear. I still look at clothes in my closet and think that they are going to be too small yet. Then I try them on and find that they are either perfect or even too big in the waist. My jeans that I bought last year really need to be replaced as they look way too baggy in the bootski and I have to wear them with a belt. Next paycheck I'll be out shopping for some new clothes. It feels so good on two fronts that I can do than - one because I can afford to and two because I'll be buying a smaller size.

I am going to look for a financial advisor to maximize my income while I can. This job is scheduled until the end of June and there is no guarantee that I will have another one by then so want to do what I can now so i don't find myself in the position I have been in the last 5 years.

Kim - The idea of putting down ideas for what you want to occur this year takes me back to college writing class. I used to come up with the general idea for paper then keep a small notebook and write down ideas as they came to me - even in the middle of the night or while I was driving. By the time I needed to work on the paper I had lots of choices to choose from which was so much easier than trying to come up with them all at once.

I tried to send a PM to someone tonight and got an error message so hit to 'go back' and tried again. same message so hit the 'go back' again and left it sitting there. I will try again later so i don't have to rewrite.

Love the picture of London and the comment regarding Mary Poppins.

Today has been a rest day. I slept when I wanted to and stayed in PJs all day. Then I ordered pizza because I could. Did not get in my walking today because then I would actually have to get dressed but am doing my kitchen counter push ups and calf raises. Looked at a cute website today about exercising in your kitchen so will be dancing as I do the dishes tonight! If I really get down and boogey I may burn more calories than by walking!

Allie - thinking of you

All of sudden felt like singing this so hope you all enjoy this https://youtu.be/Edwsf-8F3sI

My word for the year FORGIVENESS and it starts with me!

Janetr: I love the snow photo. :bigsmile:

Rita: I'm happy to see that you take vitamin D3. It is good stuff, especially combined with exercise & light. I've bumped mine up to 6000IU for the time being. When the days start getting longer I'll drop it back to 4000IU. :flowerforyou:

Sherry: It is good to hear from you. You have many friends here. (((HUGS)))

Canookie: I love the pets.

Pip: Great calorie burn today!

Chris in MA: It is great to hear from you.

Mia: I'm glad to see you posting again! Did I already mention that? I'll probably do it again, too. :bigsmile:

Dr. Katie: Your DH is good at opening mouth and inserting foot. :laugh: I feel for him because I have that same "talent" and sometimes it pops out to embarrass me.


It has been a quiet day at home. We have snow on the ground, although it isn't very deep. I've been reading books and watching some TV. I didn't even go out and ride the trike in the garage. I'll get that onto my priority list for tomorrow.

Katla in Beautiful NW Oregon

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison

I am trying my best to check in regularly. So far, so good

Katla - thanks for the support and the Hugs. I love hugs although I have a problem with people getting inside my bubble. I've really been working on that.

Heather - Your day out and about looked and sounded fantastic.

Rita - I have faith in you. You will win the race. Have you had your B12 levels checked? My DH has a light that he uses for his SAD. Maybe that would help? Talk to us any time.

Charleen - That quilt is absolutely stunning. A friend of mine made me a table runner that you can put hot pots on. She gave it to me for Christmas but I had to give it back so the quilting can be finished. I will post a photo when I get it back.

Barb - I , too, live in brrrrr......Alberta. I find it difficult to be motivated in this weather, I so hate being cold.

Sherry - Do what you need to stay safe. It is good to hear from you. I am sorry that you weren't able to take Missy. So glad that you are as warm as a bug in the rug.

Beth - It's terrible of me but good to know I'm not the only one with kitchen disaster.

Lannette - Such a cute picture of Sophie and her friend, Ellie. Our Chico has been trying to make friends with Skittles ( my sister's cat) but he is very cranky.

Barbie - We all have our cheddar biscuit moments. I know you will work that off in no time. You are an inspiration to me.

Marni - Gret video of Wyatt playing

drkatiebug - I see my DH is not the only one who has a way with his compliments. Got to love the dears.


I was up all night with what I thought was the stomach flu. I think it might have been nerves as I started feeling fine after I called in sick and had a 3 hour nap. I am dreading tomorrow but will go especially as it is inventory and everyone's plate will be full.

Larry and I went to my sister's to have coffee with her husband who was home from Texas. The man is a saint. He works away 10 days and she doesn't even have groceries when he comes home. She asked him what he was planning to cook for supper. I keep my nose out of it and make sure he gets good birthday and Christmas presents. No, she isn't tired from work as she hasn't worked in a number of years. This is my younger sister but she acts so old.

We are destroying some old records finally. I am having a shredding good time. I am keeping a few of the receipts for kicks and giggles. Not sure if any of you care to know but in 1985 we bought a side of beef, cut and wrapped, for $370.47 which works out to $1.59 /lb. It would be nice to get that price now. It has also been interesting to see the names of people who worked for us over the years. We have kept track of some and lost touch with others. Stories come to mind as I see the names, some make me laugh and some make me cry.

There was some discussion of teas on here. I love and try all different kinds. Chai is a favourite, peppermint another. Strong brewed Red Rose doctored with milk and honey is my go to. It's a throw back to days with my Granny. Also I remember my Great Aunt Gen reading tea leaves for people. Good memories.

Did I tell you that my favourite Christmas gift was a small heater for my office at work? The place is ridiculously cold .

- Sharon ( trying to stay warm in Alberta)

SHERRY - I am so glad you are back. I missed your initial post as somehow I had skipped a whole page! Although I was not emailing you everyday I was thinking about you. I used to use Sparkpeople but left because the leader of the 300+ group never lost any weight but was the leader for years. I just could get no motivation from that. As much as I get frustrated with the food diary here I have tried others and they all seem to be more limited in the choices. I guess none of them are going to be everything we would like them to be unless we start our own! I asked MFP over a year ago to put the page numbers in the food diary where we check off the foods at the top as well as the bottom. It would be such a time saver.

Marni - thanks for the webcams. Now I know how it feels to have a preconceived notion of what it's like somewhere else shot down. I did not know that there were CITIES like Anchorage. I thought AK was all small towns and certainly not with lights all lit up like that. When I first moved to WA state in 1973 from So.CA my family thought the same thing about WA.

Somehow I missed that Barbie was going somewhere - where did she go?

Ok I need help with my skin. I have extremely dry sensitive skin along with eczema and psoriasis. The extremely cold dry weather along with dry air in the house and extremely dry air in the office is playing havoc with my skin. Sometimes my face is so bad it looks like I have a severe sunburn. Coconut oil does not help me and in fact aggravates it (I went online to find out about this and did find an explanation). I have tried OTC anti itch and hydrocortisone creams, Moisturizing lotions for very sensitive skin and hydrating my face with a wet wash cloth and vaseline (which has worked the best). By the end of the workday my upper arms, chest and face just itch like crazy. I may try olive oil tonight. Anyone who experiences this problem and has found a successful remedy please share. I may have to go back to the dermatologist again as the itching is driving me nuts.

I read a very interesting article last week about Positivity (Positive perspective)
They said the answer is Gratitude and Happiness and suggested the following 4 week plan:

Week 1 - Write down 3 things that go well every other day for 1 week

Week 2 - send a quick email each day to someone in your life explaining why they are a blessing to you

Week 3 - Think about things other than your stuff. A 2014 study found that people who are more materialistic are less grateful/happy. ie Focus on the pure lovely white snow falling outside, not the brand new car in your neighbor's driveway.

Week 4 - Don't forget to say thank you. Thank the person at the drive-thru for adding extra ketchup to your bag; thank a stranger for holding the door. Expressing gratitude will give you and the other person a lift!

Rita - have you talked to the doctor who put you on the antidepressant? Like other medications sometimes they have to be changed or at least adjusted. If I were feeling depressed again I would be in my doctor's office discussing this as I don't want to go back to the depressed screaming banshee I was without them. I know you will do what's best for you.

Katla sorry to see that you can't go to your friend's BD.

Becca - coming down to see you one of these days!

Carol - what a wonderful memory related to the smell of coffee. I was so touched when you shared that the smell in the morning let you know that love was in the kitchen. Actually brought a tear to my eyes. What a wonderful childhood you must have had.

Think I should end this as it's gotten very long. Thinking of all of the rest of you new and not so new on here as I read each and every post (unless it happens behind my post or I somehow skip a whole page) and sending healing thoughts for those who need them and kudos to those with successes!

Love to all of you amazing resilient women,

Gloria in it's no longer freezing WA but it is

My word for the year is FORGIVENESS, starting with me!

BTW someone asked about searching on here. Down at the bottom by the page numbers is a search icon. Click on it and type in what you want to search for like someone's name, a subject, whatever.

Hey now....

It's kinda late here but i wanted to check in before I hit the hay.

Katla - thanks for the hugs! I am so glad to be back. I missed you gals so much!

Sharon - thanks hun, I really miss my fur baby, her picture is now the wallpaper on my phone so I can at least see her cute little face all day long. But she will be with me again soon.

GLORIA - hiya sweetie! How are the boys?? Doing well I hope! I hope you and yours are staying warm and cuddly! I like MFP's food database better but have learned how to compensate for SparkPeople's lacking in that area. I think the 300+ group has been disbanded as I didn't see it in the list of groups, I may have just missed it or something. But I did find a group on there called "Done being the fat girl!" that has a lot of wonderful ladies in the group who are very encouraging and supportive and I love what they named the group, it's me to a T! I also found a group there called "ACEs", which stands for " Attitude Changes Everything" and they are wonderfully supportive and encouraging too. In fact a lot of the members in ACEs sent me bunches of the Spark Goodies, lol. I've also earned a lot of virtual trophies so far for keeping up with my goals, but my fitbit gave up the ghost already (i mean jeez, i just got the dang thing like what? A month or so ago?) so I haven't been able to keep up with my step count, I've been just guessing by distance. I know there's a formula for figuring that out but nobody told me there would be math involved LOL!! I think it sucks that person leading the 300+ group was leading it and not losing any weight, I mean WTH??? Maybe was fudging on her/his logging or just not making the effort, or there were medical conditions involved that made that difficult for that person. That person should have stepped out of the leader position and let someone else have it. Not very motivating, was it? I like a lot of SparkPeople's recipes though, I've tried quite a few and they have all been really good. Have you tried pure Shea Butter for your skin? That's what I use. There is a store in Portland that has it that ships the products they sell if I remember correctly. It's all natural with no additives of any kind and it's nothing but pure unadulterated Shea butter that is Fair Trade out of Africa. I also use African Black Soap in the liquid version that is nothing but Shea butter and charcoal from burnt Shea tree wood the has been saponified to get lathery when you use it. I use that as a body wash. It's also Fair Trade out of Africa. I like what these companies are doing to help support these poor women in Africa with the money they make off the products made there.

Well ladies, I have taken my meds, supplements and my shot so I'm gonna hit the hay and read some "Strong Women Stay Young". Hope everybody gets good sleep tonight. See you all tomorrow!

Love and hugs

Sherry