WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2017

Sue B great pictures.

Cheryl LOVE,LOVE,LOVE the rug.

Dana do you have access to a pool. I have whenever I can do my PT exercises in a pool. Knee and foot definitely improving. It turns out the foot problem was caused by my shoes. I need more arch support. On Saturday I went out shoe shopping with that in mind. I was able to find a great pair of running shoes on sale with my discounts for $30. NSV!

Margaret

wessecg – Yes, much better – size-wise, it draws the pieces of furniture together. I think you can see that it is centered from each sofa and the sofas are each about equal distance from the edge of it. It is a great size for showing off the rug and the new furniture. If it had been any larger; you would have needed to measure out from the wall to place it. We have an oriental rug; and it is 11' x 14' and basically has 4' on each side off the walls; and 3' off the FP wall. It is centered on the fireplace. We had old, large furniture and our chairs and sofa legs are right up at the edge of the rug. I hope that you can 'see' the difference between this rug and the rug you first had. It makes the sofas and chairs look more in scale in what I can see of the room. Being able to see it ‘in person’ and not from a photo, it is a little hard to judge the color of the wall against the color in the center of the rug. Unless you have something that is painted that color that you could lay down on it; it really looks like it is in the same family; maybe with a bit more pink in it. Therefore you probably would not have to paint the walls, if you like the color and not really looking forward to painting it at the moment. If you still have some of the paint; paint it on a piece of something white; and, put it down on the center part of the rug. You should be able to tell if they look like they are in the same family, even ‘if’ it is a little darker shade. But wines and rusts can go together even though one had more pink than the other. My rug is wine colored; but, I have a platform rocker that is covered in rust-colored suede and it still looks good in the room. I also made a pillow to go on it that has both wine and rust in the fabric.

Then when you get ready to paint the wall, since the furniture and floors are relatively dark … I would pull out that beige (light beige or the shade darker in the rug) or try that color (sort of a celery looking color) that is a ‘diamond’ shape in the band in the middle; that might make the floors pop [since it looks like they have a bit of a green cast to them] and also the green in the table top. Your beige should be in a ‘yellow’ tone; versus picking out a ‘taupe colored’ beige. Try several patches of colors from the rug; and paint about a 1' square on the wall over the sofa, give it a few days before choosing a color, so you can see what it looks like at different hours of the day (and night). If you have a paint chart book (some paint stores, like Porter Paints) will actually give you a book, or maybe charge you $5 or $10 for it. Spread it out and pick a color you like. Then chose the shade that is 1 lighter in color because it will dry darker on the wall; especially since you will be painting it over a dark wall. You might want to get them to ‘tint’ a primer the same color, so it will cover it and not bleed through any light touch of painting. I would recommend this; you are already going to have to paint 2 coats on the walls to cover that dark color anyway. If it has baseboard and crown moldings, a color that my husband uses a lot of from Porter is called “Velvet White”; it is not ‘stark white’ and goes with most colors on the walls. But, you do not have to paint the trim in a different color; you probably would not want to do so if it will be a distraction from what is ‘in the room’. A trick to painting moldings in a room so that it looks crisp and even is to paint the lip of the moldings (whether it is crown or floor; dragging the brush along that lip. That way you don’t have any wavy lines. If you are going to have it painted by a professional; I would ask friends about his dependability. Louis asks for 1/3rd up front; 1/3rd during the middle; and expects the last 1/3rd when he has finished. If you want the painter to do something other than what you have talked about, then ‘expect’ to be charged. It’s not ‘oh, while you are at it will you paint the ceiling’? Painting a ceiling in a room means they have to cover all the furniture. More than they would if they are painting just the walls. Regardless, they should use drop clothes so they don’t get any paint on that pretty flooring you have. Or, at least use painter’s tap on it. See what you think of their rooms he/she has painted. It is just a little ‘off-white’.

Depending on the sunshine and light coming through it, it will look different at different times of the day; different under lamps or overhead lights. Looks like you have centered the rug to the middle of each couch – that is good; but, I might move the coffee table a few inches toward the 2 seater couch so that the legs closer in the pictures will actually be centered over the center of the rug. You might have to move the 3 seater down a couple of inches when you do this; and, then move the chair in a little bit more towards the rug. I don’t know what you plan on hanging over the 3 seater; a group or a big mirror; since the backs seem to be ‘high’ don’t hang anything where the ‘bottom’ will be higher up than about 4 ½ - 5” from the top of the 3 seater. The rule of thumb when you are hanging pictures in a room where most of the time you would be seated; you should NOT have to move your head to look at the grouping; just be able to move your eyes up and down … like this: > without having to tilt your head more than an additional 10° upwards. If you plan of hanging a group, get some paper (Kraft paper) or any kind of paper that will fit in the area over the 3 seater. Grocery bags laid out and taped together (although they are generally a bit too heavy). With Kraft paper, your grandkids can draw on it. Lay it out on the floor and put whatever you plan on hanging there (face down) and once you find a pattern you like, draw with a marker around them. Measure down to where the hanger would be (or wire if pulled up) and mark it on the paper. Then tape it with paper’s tape to the wall; and, you will have a mark in whatever you are hanging already to nail in a holder without just nailing things into the wall and having 5 or 6 holes for each thing. Then you can pull the Kraft paper off the wall and the nails and hangers should still be on the wall. I would do this before painting the walls; then have whoever is painting, paint right over the nails of hooks and fill in any ‘extra’ holes you have made with drywall spackling and sand it lightly. They just need to make sure they do this with a brush to make sure the paint doesn’t glob up and run down. It is more interesting if you are not hanging things so that they are symmetrical; in other words, not a big picture in the middle, 2 smaller ones on either side, then a pair of sconces on the outside. Black metal scones (or anything painted in the same as the legs on the coffee table, flat or glossy – they look flat black. Nothing wrong with using a pair of sconces on the outside; but using different shapes of pictures in a grouping between them would be more interesting. The frames do not have to be the same either.

They can be black, metal, and/or wood. Just make sure that you don’t have too many of the same color on one side or the other that would tend to draw your attention away for the grouping. When decorating, most times you should use an ‘odd’ number of things; like you have with 3 pieces of furniture. Same goes for things in pictures; an odd number of whatever the painting is of, should be an ‘odd’ number. That causes your eye to be drawn to the picture, roll around the picture, and then move away from the picture. A frame (or matt) on a picture should NOT be what you notice first (if at all). The picture is the important part; then frame and the matt should complement it, it also should drive your eye into the picture, roll it around and pull your eye out of the picture. Maybe a couple of rectangle items, a square or two, a round or oval [maybe a mirror]. If you plan on hanging a large mirror over the sofa; make sure it is also in scale. Probably from about 1/3rd of the outside back cushions (closet to the center cushion) and over the middle cushion, to about 1/3rd over the other outside cushion. It would be a ‘large’ mirror; you might want to get a professional to hang it; if it means that you would need to use a molly bolt to hold it up. If you ‘use’ anything ‘gold’ … don’t chose anything that is gold-gold; tone it down a little – even if you have to rub a stain over it. You don’t want to look at it and see ‘gold’ frame – you don’t want anything hanging over the picture that draws your eyes away from the room as a whole. You might also want to find something made of the black metal on the coffee table legs; either a lamp (I can’t see what is beside the chair, if anything); but, if you could find a ‘substantial floor lamp’ that might be good. Even if you have to paint a wooden lamp a flat black. I might try to find a side table to go to the right of the chair, so that someone could put a glass on it when sitting there. Maybe a matching table to the coffee table. If you find a wooden floor lamp (maybe at a garage sale, flea market, or even in a store); make sure that the lamp shade is, at least as big in diameter (on the bottom of the shade) as the base on the lamp. You don’t really have to have it be black; but, you do need to have something black to pull out the black metal legs on the coffee table. Most places where you would buy pictures and such, will usually let you bring them home and see if they look like you want them to on the wall. The grouping of the pictures should actually fit in a rectangular imaginary box over the sofa. The sconces, if you use them would be ‘outside’ of the box; but, no further out the directly above the arms of the sofa.

Do you have a TV or something on the wall across from the 3-seater or is this room not used as a ‘den’? If you haven’t bought anything to go on that wall … this piece could also be painted black to bring it all together. Again, you might want to measure the area and start looking at 2nd-hand stores, flea markets, or garage sales; and take the measurements with you. You might find a nice wooden buffet and it could be used to put your TV on and give you storage to hide things like the remotes or a quick place to put things out-of-sight if you are having company and you don’t want it out. A couple of candlesticks or tchotchkes on the coffee table, a few magazine in a fan shape. Remember that ‘scale’ is probably the most important thing you need to keep in mind.

I think you are certainly headed in the right direction. Take another picture of the room from the vantage position from behind the chair or even better from between the sofas where they meet at the end table.

Lenora

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Cheryl in NE IL: I love the photos of you riding!

SueBDew: You and your DH look like you're in the lap of luxury.

Heather: Love the bling trainers! I could spend hours walking down the docks in the harbor, just looking at all of the boats. A dockside table for a meal is perfect. I'm living vicariously though you at this moment. Thank you for sharing!!!! We are having another rainy day here. :grumble:

Marilync1266: I tried kettlebells and was unable to master correct form, so I wrenched myself a bit. I decided to stick with yoga, cycles, and weight machines. :ohwell:

TNToni: Sending hugs and prayers. I'm glad you're back. I hope you will be able to stop by more often. (((HUGS)))


I enjoyed yoga today, and made a big pot of chicken soup after I got home. It is now cooling in the refrigerator but I'm planning to have some for dinner. At DH's request I left out noodles. I'll cook them separately and keep them in dry in their own container so we can add them to our bowls. This way they won't soak up liquid until they turn to mush. DH has good ideas from time to time..

Katla in beautiful NW Oregon

Tibetan proverb: "The secret to living well and long is: Eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure..."

Here's my story and I'm sticking to it :-)

Last July I started to lose weight without trying. This is strange because I have struggled with my weight since I was 10 years old. I also started feeling "off", just kind of out of it, in a fog and I started sleeping more. I already sleep 9 hours a night which I thought was a lot. I knew something was wrong. I talked to my boyfriend and other friends and they didn't seem to think anything was wrong with me. In fact, my boyfriend told me it was Menopause - I told him you don't lose weight when you go through Menopause! I decided to ignore everyone and go to the Dr. in August. Come to find out I was anemic (sp?) and my liver numbers were off. The Dr told me to start taking an Iron supplement and come back for another appt in Sept. Well the 2nd week in Sept I got Shingles - uggh! I had it for about 3 - 4 weeks and I can say I was probably one of the fortunate ones that it did not last too long. After my shingles, I went back to the Dr in October for more blood work. My numbers had gotten worse and I was still losing weight. She ordered a colonoscopy. In November my colonoscopy found that I have Whipple Disease. It is a disease that causes malabsorption of nutrients among other ailments. I had never hear of this and had no idea how I got it. I had to go see an Infectious Disease doctor, have a spinal tap, liver ultrasound, mri and wear a picc line for 2 weeks. The picc line was removed mid January and now I'm on antibiotics for at least a year. In all, I lost 20 lbs. I feel good which is great news! But...I'm gaining my weight back. So far, I have gained 10lbs of the 20lbs I lost. I'm trying really hard to eat healthy but my appetite is out of control and especially for sugar. Maybe this is Menopause :-) lol. Anyway, just wanted to share my story. :-)

Karen in VA … that is one big goose-egg! Hope she’s feeling better

Becca … my mom always mixed cut up hot dogs with scrambled eggs when I was growing up. We thought it was a treat. Eggs and kielbasa wouldn’t be much different. I'm not certain I could sit idly by while a child is being yelled at ...

Allie … did you wash that man right out of your hair?

Dana … swelling from a blood clot can take years … but it does lessen. So sorry you’re having to deal with this

Joyce … hope you’re feeling better today

Carol … I like the rug a lot! And Lenora ... that was a lot of advice!

Sue … looks like you had a wonderful time on the cruise!

Toni … glad to see you! Sorry you’re having stressful issues in your life …

Heather … you do just fine with selfies! Looks like you’re having a great time!

Long day today at work ... my knees are complaining which is also a sign that I need to get serious about my carbs and exercise. I know I do best when I keep carbs low ... particularly gluten based carbs ... and keep the sugars to a minimum. For some reason I keep baking cookies ... sheesh!

Beth near Buffalo