WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR SEPTEMBER 2017

Hi ladies,

Lenora, sorry your dishwasher bit the dust. I have a bucket list too. It always seems to get longer instead of shorter! Hope the PT helps your dizziness.

Rye, I like the cabinets. Your kitchen looks so homey and cozy.

Barbie, hope Jake’s appointment goes well and he doesn’t need another surgery. Back pain is the pits. My husband had it and went to Dartmouth to do an intensive 3 week program(7 hrs/day, 5 days/wk). That did help him. His problem was arthritis. The house looks lovely.

MicheleNC, the applesauce trick sounds wonderful. I’m going to pop one in tonight.

Mary, my heart goes out to your godson’s new baby. I’ll send lots of good thoughts as he works through his first life struggle.

Machka, another interesting fact about bees. Hope you get sunshine soon.

Allie, I think Janetr said it perfectly. Be very proud of yourself and all you have accomplished. Welcome to the club. I go to the dr tomorrow for a bladder infection. Lots and lots and lots of water. (boy I’m tired of going to the bathroom). When I move I don’t settle anything about pictures or furniture until I have lived in the place for a while and get a feel for it.

Janetr, what imperfection? The Amish always put one intentional imperfection in their quits because they believed that only God made perfect things.

Wendy, the picture only shows part of your garden but I can image the rest is spectacular. I love the way you show who you are.

Sharon, glad to hear you are not a drug addict. Give your body plenty of rest. We take longer to heal when you are over 50. Please respect yourself enough to not take the abuse. Yes, it is abuse, both physical and mental. When my daughter was in an abusive situation I kept asking her “Do you want to be in the same place next year at this time?” I just kept asking her the same question over and over again. This is a decision you have to make for yourself and I’m glad you have a therapist that you are working with. You know that we all support any decision you make. We will be here anytime you need someone to listen. ((((HUGS))))

Ok, back from running to the bathroom (AGAIN!)

Lisa, what a long trip!

Carol, glad you are having a better day. Isn’t it amazing what a difference just one day will make. Glad the dishwasher will be fixed.

Meg, glad it was just a mild stroke. At least you are just looking awful (which you probably aren’t) and not in a fetal positon in a corner. You are doing well coping with all you have on your plate.

Katla, hope your daughter joins MFP. Chamomile tea is great for helping you sleep.

Yvonne, sorry to hear you father is having problems. It is so hard when the roles get reversed and you become the parent to your parent. I hope you can come up with a plan with your sister to help out. I’m sure she would appreciate the help.

Lanette, ifyour cleaning lady wasn’t cleaning the way you wanted, you were wise to let her go. Remember “Have a clean enough house to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.”

Kate, I like the white cupboards. I’ve thought off and on that I would like to paint mine.

Heather, Sounds like you found a good new jeweler.

Becca, sorry to hear you are having a down day. You have been stressed lately and that will make anyone depressed. It will pass and you will be back on track.

Terry in VT

What a day. So busy at work. It's 1:30, and I've not taken a break. Ran out the door without eating breakfast. Didn't have time to stop for coffee. We had a small celebration at 9:00, so I had a small piece of cheese cake without the graham cracker crust and a sugar free swiss miss cocoa, and I'm drinking a G2, and that's it for today. I'm not even hungry. I do have a banana and some oatmeal I may eat later.

Be well.

Felicia
Willamette Valley, Oregon

langman22 wrote: »

Hi ladies,

Lanette, if your cleaning lady wasn’t cleaning the way you wanted, you were wise to let her go. Remember “Have a clean enough house to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.”

Terry in VT

Terry - Love this saying! Very true! Glad to hear you are going to the doc for the bladder infection. Hope it clears up quickly!

Mary - oh yes, we often would have half the cleaning done before the cleaner would arrive.

Becca - sorry to hear about your DH's toe. Glad HE had it checked out. Hope Owain is on the mend, poor kid. So happy to hear you've been able to make contact with him after the initial long dry spell. Keep on making that well-rounded soup. I am so glad you are in this group, you always cheer me up even when you don't feel so cheery yourself

Wendy - that's right, it's Machka from Canada who now walks upside down, lol. I bet you do have an interesting blend of accents!

Heather - sounds like the painting is moving along and I bet those earrings will be wonderful.

Kate - bet it's good to be home. I looked up your Greek supper dish from last night (can't remember the name right now!) Anyhow, looks like something I'd like to make with the beef and onions. Bet it was yummy.

Machka - I saw a special on Tasmanian Devils the other day! I imagined you biking down the road and seeing these little guys.

Beth - (((HUGS)))) things will eventually settle down into a normal routine. Would you be able to take a little time for yourself in the near future like a spa day with a girlfriend or even a little weekend trip somewhere? A change of pace sometimes helps.

Lanette
SW WA State where it's 85 right now.

Yes ... Wendy is the American living in New Zealand with her beautiful horses and bees ... and is training for a half marathon.

I (Machka ) am the Canadian living in Australia (OZ) who has an office job, attends university, and is into long distance cycling.

Hi Gals,

So I just did a disheartening thing – or maybe a motivating thing… I have not needed to dress up in at least 20 years… business casual has been enough; but I may need to wear something more “cocktail” dress for an event at Christmas, - not really my cup of tea – but I got in the back of my closet and pulled out the 2 things I have; the good thing they both are in fine shape and would be ok – the bad thing neither fits… one will take a good long bit of work, the other 5-10 lbs should do it. Which is doable in 2 months + BUT I’ve not been able to figure out how to up my exercise. The two things that stand in my way are money and time….. I live in a crazy expensive part of the country and a “cheap” gym just opened and it is only $55 a month plus $1k annual fee… Not so cheap. The closest Y with a gym is 55 min each way drive away (although free). So I really need to be able to do this on my own.

My legs and arms are in pretty good shape, but my core is in Plump shape - LOL

What I do now is walk the dog 2.5-3 miles a day and garden, I garden about 3 hours 5 days a week, but it is really random, some days are heavy lifting, others not much at all, today I trimmed lavender for 3 hours. Better than 3 hours on the couch but not as much of a burn as the day I moved 60 lb bricks for 3 hours. And on Wednesdays I take a 1 hour yoga class – I LOVE this but it is only offered one day a week at our senior center ($4 a class) everywhere else it is $20 a class…

I got (thanks Barbie!) the Strong Women Stay Young book, but got overwhelmed at how to figure out what weight weights to get and how to do it on a major financial shoestring… and being honest… I only read about 1/3 of the book and decided it was outside of my league from just a finance side. So any hints on how to figure out what weight weights you need? Or where to look for such a thing? I honestly have no idea where to buy weights… It’s all outside of my sphere of knowledge. And I am a big bit afraid I’ll hurt myself if I do try to any weight work, but it seems that it would be the least time commitment.

So I have about $50 saved for something - maybe weights are not the answer, any other suggestions?

Smiles

Kim from N. California

I POSTED THIS IN TWO PARTS … YOU MIGHT HAVE TO SKIP 4 PAGES TO GET TO THE POINT OF READING NEW POSTS. I’M SOMEWHERE BETWEEN “ATLAS SHRUGGED” AND “GONE WITH THE WIND”

Sue – Does the machine cut all the way down go the ground like cutting wheat or does it just cut off the tops like soybeans or both? I find it difficult to figure out how they got just the tops; but, with the description I looked up I now understand it. Down here we’re known for our peaches, pecans, cotton, and peanuts. The way they do the pecans is they shake the trees with a tree shaker; and, then run a machine that blows out all the leaves and only pick up the nuts. Peaches are usually hand-picked by migrate workers and/or family members. This year we did not have a very good year, not enough rain or cool weather when needed. We rode by several groves where normally they’d have leaves and fruit and they were totally bare; but, the next time up they were covered with leaves, but, just about 1/3rd of the peaches that should have been on them. Usually they are weighted down. After picking, they cut the tops off the trees for some reason. I’m sure it has something to do with either ‘how’ they produce peaches or to make them easier to get to. Cotton is spayed so that the leave dry up and die, then they run a combine and it strips off the cotton and bolls … then they go to a cotton gin to separate them and then baled up to sell. A lot of time they blow some out and it makes for a mess along the roads, it looks like a really bad hail storm has come through. Peanuts are legumes and grow under the grown, so they are basically harrowed up and form a pile – the picking off the nuts are pretty much like the cotton is done; usually they are loose in the trucks that run behind them. Wheat is also grown and when it is ready the tractor has a baling apparatus behind it that bails them up and wraps them in a strong plastic. Our neighbor use to grow it and had someone doing all the work; but, now he has planted pines and they are just getting tall enough to be able to see them. We have a good stand of pines which have been thinned twice. I doubt it will be cut in our lifetimes. When they come in to thin them, they have a machine with a tool that looks like a cutter that you’d use in your flower garden. It cuts them off pretty near to the bottom and another set of bars about 10’ above the corner clamps around the end of the tree from where they were cut off to hold it in place and then they take it to a pile and they lift them up into a truck that only has ‘sides’ (rails actually) and drive them down the highway to a lumber yard. I don’t like to be near one … not following one or passing one. One of my BFs in HS and a couple other of us were driving to Macon around a pretty sharp turn and it lost it load. Thankfully it was where we could run off the road and miss them … scary; but, he did not have the load properly chained and the weight of them broke the rails as he tried to maneuver the curve. A neighbor of our when we lived in Albany who has a son that was in Trey’s grade was driving somewhere with her sister and their 4 children; and, it wasn’t marked with a red flag on the longest one and he stopped at a RR crossing and she couldn’t see his lights and she ran into the back of it; killed the two toddlers that were sitting in the middle of both front and back seats; and she and her sister and the other 2 children were hurt – the adults in the front, more so that the children in back. I think this son was born after that.

She was my nurse when I had my near-fatal accident back in the late ‘70’s (before the ‘80’s because I worked throughout the ‘80’s. The pines quite often have had their bark striped and they chip up the bark. We get paid for that, too.

Funny story about a ‘high priced’ stud bull that a guy I worked with at GMAC/MIC came back and told us. He’d go home to Valdosta to work about their farm. One of the farmer’s in the county had paid big bucks for this bull and was bragging about it and trying to find others who had cows. He was put outside in a pasture full of cows and he finally found one that was ready to be bred. Only problem was that he backed into the ‘electric’ fence just as he mounted the cow. Imagine ‘his’ thought about doing that again. I don’t even think he’d breed with on in a ‘breeding ramp’. He had had a bad experience and did not ‘like’ cows anymore.
We can’t have a ‘controlled burn’ unless we get a ‘permit’ to do so through the Forestry Department. If the wind is too high – they have to wait. They still sit up in towers looking for smoke to have it checked out.

Tonizach1956 and Sue – I am hoping that when I go to PT, I will be able to have BALANCE as my word for 2017. Otherwise I hope it is DRAW/PAINT. I really need to get back to it. I can’t find my box of colored pencils and I got one of those color books for adults and can’t do it. It is supposed to be relaxing. I’ll find out soon enough. I have found that the last 10 – 15 pounds has been really slow; but, I still ‘lost’ this last weigh-in period even though we were at the beach; but, I also walked with Louis a lot. One day was not good enough to go, overcast … even though we would have still gotten sun that day. But, that is not always a good idea, because you don’t expect to get much, if any … but you do. I think that Trey and Jenn have decided to keep the pool. I am so happy. Of course, we might be helping them buy a salt-water filtering system; and, if not this next year, then in 2019 – we night end up replacing the liner. We’ll make darn sure they get all the rocks out of the sand and level it off better. They’re going to have to take it down anyway. He was trying to sell it; but, nobody wanted to buy a pool that would need a new liner and filtering system. He was hoping that Jenn’s half-brother-in-law would take it in lieu of being paid cash when he borrowed money from him. I told him that ‘borrowing money from a person you are kin to, might sound like a good idea’, but rarely is that true. But, he is paying him payments each month. But, at least he did not come to us.

Marcelyn - Glad you got your car back. Each time mine has gone to a body shop I’ve been very pleased with the work; but, this man had been ‘in business’ when I was working and referring clients who have been in accidents as one of the 3 body shops we sent clients to. He did not even charge me for the damage caused by ‘someone’ other than me apparently jumped a curb in it. Tried to make sure it wasn’t ‘additional damage’ from my first wreak; but, he and the adjuster came to the conclusion it wasn’t even though I hit two curbs before it was stopped by a metal utility pole.

Rye – My kitchen is pretty small; but, our house is also a little small. I don’t have enough counter space.

Will says that when he and Tami either buy and remodel, or build, a house he wants to have cabinet and counter space deep enough so they would have cubby holes to put their small appliances behind them in doors. He is such a minimalist it isn’t even funny. I told Tami, that he is sweeping as soon as we start packing … like being swept out as if we have overstayed our welcome. I think that maybe we need to go at some other time than the week his birthday falls in (31st) of August. Seems like every time we go, he calls with ‘unpleasant’ news the day after we get home.

I would like to have lights under my counter. Like the ones that are run by batteries and stick to the surface and turn on and off.

Barbiecat – In this picture the house doesn’t look as bright yellow as it did when you first painted it. It looks softer … but, that might be because of the trim. What kind of flag is hanging on it?

My DDnL#1 and to some degree; but, not as bad - my DOGD, are trying to lose weight. I think Taylor is now losing; but, Jenn almost looks bigger. But, not saying anything to either about weight. To show you how long it has been since I was around Jenn … her hair was just at chin length, now it is half-way down her neck. They live next door; but, maybe I should not worry about it because I have found that she is one of my ‘stressors’ and I do much better when I don’t have to put up with her ‘whining’ about something – especially her weight. And ‘not able to go on my weight loss program because it costs too much. When I get to the point I am only going every 2 weeks or once a month … I will look for a high protein drink and a high protein candy-type of something to eat at night with my coffee. I’ve been checking them out when I go to the grocery store.

Michele – I think that was the thing that my boys liked to, about the Clydesdales. I just think they are majestic looking.

How did the final fitting go? I can remember when Trey got married to Taylor’s mother (she was pregnant – her step-mom had to sew her up in it because it had gotten too tight around her belly and she refused to try it on. I think she had to put a pillowcase to cover the gap; but, with her veil, it did not show. Kim was not, at all, happy to have a step-mom. But, she (step-mom) called and invited Kim’s step-dad to the wedding as a surprise. Never told her she had done so, in the event he wasn’t able to come; but, he did (along with his ‘new’ wife).

Allie – Just stop doing anything for TomCat … he doesn’t deserve you. Don’t let him get a toe in the door.

As for your children … they would be paying for a ‘babysitter’ if they did not live right there, just because you are the grandmother does NOT mean that you should use YOUR money in what might be a ‘tight budget’ in order to feed or entertain your granddaughter. IF they get mad, so be it. Once in a while of ‘free babysitting’ is one thing; but, to ‘expect’ you to do it … I’d tell them, ‘Sorry; but, I already have plans, can’t do it’. They’ll learn. I would offer to pick the girls up from school like I did earlier in their school years; but, now that Madison is 16; and, she refuses to drive … I won’t do it. She won’t get in the car with me driving because she and Emilee were in the car when I rolled it over. I can (sort of) understand why she doesn’t want to drive; but, they need to take her driving on dirt road and small county roads. My DDnL#1 made her drive to the grocery store; she couldn’t keep the car in the middle of the lane. I’m pretty sure that Jenn talked the entire time, which made her nervous. Now, Jenn says she needs to take her to the MD to see if he will put her on something that will calm her down. Then she’d have to worry about it making her ‘too sleepy’.

Mary - Rowan is on my Prayer List … I hope he gets better real soon. He is a handsome little one.

I still want prayers for Will and Tami (and Mallory) that they can get over their loss and move on. Whatever they decide to do ‘isn’t our business’; but, whatever they decide we will be ‘happy’ for them. Will has his family. Tami brought a child into the family and she loves him and he loves her.

If they decide they want to go through IVF again, it will mean going all they way back to "Square One" and the shots in the belly, they having the eggs removed, and afterwards, having huge horse needle shots in the butt.

M in Oz – I agree with your advice of not stopping or either calling for help. One thing is, sometimes people use a flashing light to try to get women to stop. A friend of my Mothers was driving from Athens back to Macon at night alone and a car full of men got right up on her fanny and started flashing their lights; when she sped up, they did, too … if she slowed down, they would. Of course, that was before car phones or cell phones. Finally, they sped around and passed her and she thought she was ‘ok’; then she went around a curve and they were all standing at a bridge in the middle of the road. She slowed down a bit, until one started walking towards her car. She hit the gas and just kept on going. They jumped out of her way, she wasn’t sure; but, might have hit one.

She stopped when she got to the next town’s Sheriff’s Office and told him what had happened. He agreed that she had done the right thing and she could go on home, he’d go check to make sure that she had not injured anyone. I think if someone jumped in my car, I’d drive it up right next to a pole of a building where they could not get out and get out my door in a busy place and RUN!!!!! I would not ‘wreck’ the car, just make it so I’d have time to run off before he could crawl over and get out of the driver’s side of the door. If he jerked open the door and told me to ‘move over’ … I’d move over and OUT of the door. He wants my car that bad, fine; but, I’m NOT going with him. I’d drive through a store’s door if I had to. Insurance would pay and I’d be ‘safe’ hopefully. Thankfully, I’ve never been in that position in my life before. Hope never to be.
Taylor is ‘tired’ of school after going full time and summers, too. She is ready to get out. Her Daddy wants her to get as much education as she can so it will give her a larger net to throw out when looking for a job. But, she is already thinking about the student loans she is going to have to pay back … and that is getting the HOPE Scholarship (funded by the GA Lottery). She’s been paying on some of them already; but, I told her to consolidate them when she is finished. The financial advisor would steer her on how to do it.

Joyce – I agree – Tax write off – businessmen do it ALL the time. No different than sending her to get training. I got sent to San Antonio and we stayed in a private room. My view out my window was The Alamo; and we stayed a week. We either got a ‘per diem’ amount or we could pay and get reimbursed. I almost always too the ‘per diem’.

Machka9 – Interesting facts about keeping bees. I love the Rainier cherries a lot better than the Bing (red) cherries [but I like them, too].

Janetr OKC – Louis and I never thought for one minute that we would have retired to the county in SW GA.

We really expected to retire to the beach, somewhere – either on the GA coast of somewhere in Atlanta – but, probably south of Daytona Beach. I know if I passed away first, Louis would stay right here until he did. But, there are times when I think, I’d pay off the land and house, divide the 2 tracts of land we have and deed them to each son. I’m sure Will would allow me to stay here with only paying the property taxes and/or very low rent. Depending on my age and mobility … I think I would enjoy a gated-over-55-condo somewhere (maybe even on the Panhandle of FL so that I’d then be about an equal distance from each of them. What I would probably hate most would be trying to find MDs and have them agree to take my Medicare and other insurance as full payment on most things. A whole lot of MDs have stopped taking them, other than for those patients who have been ‘grandfathered’ in. But, some in town have stopped taking Medicare because they don’t pay much. I had to keep my insurance from my job because Louis did not have insurance and mainly because of the costs of my medication I have to take. I hope all that is so far into the future that I don’t have to worry about it.

My BF rents a condo in a nice place that ‘if’ you did not know someone there, you probably would never know it was there. But, she is having a leak that runs down her wall in the living room (high ceilings) and apparently the owner isn’t going to replace the roof (or the owners of the entire condo place aren’t going to do any more than try to patch it. Her condo is just the right size for her. Kitchen is ‘small’; but, it has hook-ups for her washer and dryer. It seems to have good storage throughout, dining area off the living room, 2 bedrooms upstairs, and a bath-and-a-1/2 and a little area off the living room at the front for an office with a real brick floor. I would not want the stairs. They are very narrow, I’ve come close to busting my @$$ going up and down. The small step up to the office can be tricky ‘if’ you don’t know it is higher. She has a buckled up walkway and I told her she needed to get some cement mix and make it a ramp before someone fell over it. All she’d need is a small bag of mix. She knows it, she’s tripped on it before; but, she hasn’t done anything about it.

The ornament is absolutely beautiful. You could probably sell them for a lot more than what you have in them. Find a little ‘art show’ where you can rent a small booth (or tent). Set them up, take orders, and make sure you also have pictures of all you have so if someone comes by and like one in a picture, they can commission you to make them one. Get some business cards made up (you can even do that on your computer several to a page and take them to a copy place and have them cut them apart. Make them ‘bright’ so they don’t get lost in the shuffle that happens sometimes in our lives. Good Luck!!!!!
I have a Styrofoam tree about 18” … maybe a little taller that my Mother made into a Christmas tree. She drew a line from the top to the bottom and laid the line down on the edge of the material (some sort of felt) and decorated it. I think it was the first Christmas in the ‘big’ house. She let me help her – I was only about 4-years-old.

Lenora

Barbie - I'm glad that everything went well for you and Jake today! Sounds like you had a great lunch!