WOMEN AGES 50 + FOR NOVEMBER 2017

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  • barbiecat
    barbiecat Posts: 16,972 Member
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    :) Lunch with our out of town friends turned out great. They arrived about 10 AM so we sat around the table and talked for awhile. Then we gave them a choice of five restaurants that we like and they chose one which happened to be the one we like best. After lunch they headed south on their way home and we took our nap. I spent more time working on the pattern for the hat and scarf I'm going to knit and skipped doing my scheduled strength training.

    Stats for today:
    *13,000 steps
    *164 minutes walking Sasha and Bessie
    *84 minutes riding the exercise bike

    <3 Barbie
  • coastalgosgal
    coastalgosgal Posts: 2,900 Member
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  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,126 Member
    edited November 2017
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    The Christmas shopping has begun! Got a good long walk in at lunch today. Visited several stores I've either never visited or rarely visit. And came away with one small thing. It's a start. And a couple of those stores did present some interesting options I'll have to think about.
  • clowe1028
    clowe1028 Posts: 134 Member
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    Karen, I retired in July at 64. I don’t plan to collect Social Security until next October when I turn 66. I was debt free when I paid my house off in May. I am living off a savings account and hope not to have to use any of my 401K.

    I love retirement! I was able to avoid Thanksgiving traffic by driving to my Mom’s last Monday. I came home on Friday and brought my Mom with me to visit until Wednesday. She has been able to spend more time with her great grand children while she is here. The weather has been great, sunny and in the seventies.

    I volunteer twice a week in my grandson’s first grade class and find that very rewarding. I have always admired teachers, but even more so now.

    Tomorrow evening I am scheduled for a MRI. I have never had one. It is the final screening to participate in a clinical trial as a healthy subject. If I am chosen to participate, it will require a 4 day stay in a medical facility in early December. You are compensated for your time. This particular trial pays thousands. The drug is a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s. I am probably unusual for my age in that I have no health issues and take no medications.

    I am up a few pounds, but only have 9 lbs to go to reach my goal weight. I discovered an alcoholic beverage called RumChata on my road trip in October and have been sharing some with my Mom.

    Kelly, I would love to be included on a get together when you are in the area in January. Joaquin is adorable!

    Cathy, Arlington, TX
  • drkatiebug
    drkatiebug Posts: 1,946 Member
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    I know Michele, Buying 12 boxes of crackers is not very practice just for one. LOL. I guess my point was that if they’re on Amazon, maybe you can find one box locally. Even then, though, sometimes a box of specialty crackers is $4 or so. Still a lot for one cracker. Really, if you had a Christmas tree shaped dish you wouldn’t even need a star on top. Or there’s no rule that the star even has to be edible.

    Whatever you decide, we need pictures!
  • Katla49
    Katla49 Posts: 10,385 Member
    edited November 2017
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    Wendy: Congratulations on completing your half marathon. WTG!!! :star:

    Becca: Thank goodness you finally got the pills you need for DH! WTG!!! :flowerforyou:

    Lanette: Arrow came over to greet me when I entered his paddock today. I was pleased and surprised. He was also a remarkably agreeable and cooperative horse today during my lesson. I guess that absence makes the equine heart grow fonder--sometimes. Or he was bored and thought I'd provide him something to do. :smiley:

    Karen: If you enjoy your work, keep working. If you are not enjoying your work, retire at the earliest reasonable time. :star: I retired early because I could, and DH's health was unstable enough that he needed me at home. My school district was encouraging those of us with long tenure to take early retirement & paid for my health insurance until I was eligible for full retirement benefits. I was lucky and my timing was good. The two essential things to my way of thinking are adequate income and good healthcare benefits. Good luck with your planning and decision making. :flowerforyou:


    DH was grumpy this evening and went to bed early. :ohwell: I hope that tomorrow will be better.

    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..."
  • myraknits
    myraknits Posts: 81 Member
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    Hi all! I’m gonna give MFP another shot. It worked wonderfully for me a few years ago and then things took a turn when I went through a year of treatment for breast cancer starting Jan 2016. Chemo does a number on your body so I’m refocusing to get myself back in shape. The good news is I am cancer free! I also turned 60 in Sept and up until ‘16 I always looked and felt 10 years younger than my age. That’s all caught up to me. Somehow I only gained 10lbs but went up 2 full sizes. Enough is enough. I’m ready to buckle down in more ways than one!
  • cityjaneLondon
    cityjaneLondon Posts: 12,330 Member
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    Hi all!
    I retired from part time teaching at 55 when I married DH. I have hardly any income. My state pension, very small because I paid the married woman's stamp, goes into the joint account, as does D H's, and I have a tiny teacher's pension from my few part time hours and some savings interest monthly in my own account. That's it. We have no debts. No health insurance to pay for. I pay for holidays, presents and treats from my savings, which is actually the money my ex settled on me at divorce. I am rapidly getting through that. :o Nothing would induce me to go back to work, even though I often enjoyed it - teaching adults Creative Writing. I would rather starve. :D My "real" job has been writing and I only earned a moderate amount from all my children's books. I am still writing, but earning hardly anything. That is not important. I am happier than I have ever been. :D<3

    Love Heather UK xxxxxxx
  • exermom
    exermom Posts: 6,383 Member
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    The whites of his eyes probably should have been a piece of fondant instead of icing. Oh well...live and learn. Wish I could decorate cakes as nicely as Heather does.

    Michele in NC
  • Lagopus
    Lagopus Posts: 1,016 Member
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    Joyce and Terry - Ouch! Watch out for dem bones dem bones dem dry bones. Dem bones gotta walk around for many years yet to come!

    Frankiesgirl - Sorry for your loss.

    Katla - Sorry you've been ill, and hope you're back on your way to full health and horses. Your response to Evelyn, where you describe your and your husband's previous boat trips to Victoria seems permeated with longing. No wonder you have trouble letting go of the boat. :heart:

    It sounds to me as though Katla, Evelyn and Barbie should make a date for Butchart Gardens. I've never been there myself, but my grandmother visited once, escorted by my parents and my sister (who lives in Seattle), and she talked of it for years.

    Heather - Your husband and his sister may not have known anything about each other's existence for years, but their faces are amazingly similar.

    Wendy - Congratulations on your completed half-marathon. I've also run a couple half-marathons, but they took me half an hour longer. On the other hand, if you count the time it took getting to the starting line and getting home from the finish line, I probably completed in a quarter of your time. :laugh: When you live in a place where the total road surface is only 45 km, no start/finish line is very far from home. I think I walked to the races.

    Machka - Lots of Scandinavian grocery stores have free fruit for kids. Makes good business sense, in addition to the health benefits. Nobody likes shopping around ornery kids!

    Norwegian groceries often have sample trays where shoppers can taste a wide variety of foods. In the fruit section, you can grab a few grapes from the cluster or slice yourself a hunk of pear. In the cheese department, you take a toothpick and spear yourself a precut hunk. It's a far cry from the strict hygiene rules enforced in US supermarkets, where the demonstratrix wears latex gloves to proffer a single Dorito. And as far as I know, nobody has ever come to grief.

    Will I ever retire? Having moved from one country to another, and doing freelance work much of my life, I may not have the benefits I would like. But freelancers don't follow the standard rules and are never told to retire. We just continue plodding along until nobody wants us anymore. :noway:

    A couple weeks ago I suddenly developed a pain in my left knee. It was obviously cartilage-related, not something in the joint. I could walk okay, but no squats and no running, and I had to take stairs one at a time. It really threw me for a loop because I hadn't the faintest idea what caused it. Several days later, the pain disappeared just as suddenly.

    So on Thanksgiving, my gratitude list included having full use of my knees!
    /Penny, once again fully mobile at thet07190.gif
  • spikeyhair
    spikeyhair Posts: 2,078 Member
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    I too love retiremenr. DH and I both retired at 65 I have a decent pension from last career as college librarian DH has small pension from a job he had years ago. We both have state pension. We retired debt free and were able to build up savings. No health insurance to pay which from reading your posts a lot of you have large amounts to pay out, it must be worrying. I enjoyed my job but things have changed so much in education sector and no way would I want to be there now.

    Hugs to all who have troubles

    Kate UK <3
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,126 Member
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    Rose ... yep, one of ours. :)

    38643457942_66dc8035cb_c.jpg
  • cityjaneLondon
    cityjaneLondon Posts: 12,330 Member
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    Penny - DH and his sister in the photo are not blood related. She is his adoptive sister, the natural child of his adoptive parents, eight years younger than him. She has a full brother, DH's adoptive brother, four years younger than him, who is in Australia. She and her full brother look very similar, but not really like DH.
    We really get on well. She and her boyfriend are both counsellors.

    We are entertaining DH's elder daughter next Sunday for a roast chicken lunch. That is what she asked for, with sausages wrapped in bacon, which we call pigs in blankets. She is bringing her much younger boyfriend. She is the one who was recently diagnosed with Aspergers. I'm not sure I am altogether enthusiastic about more cooking etc., but will set to with a good will and do my best. It was my choice not to go out for Sunday lunch as I don't like muzak and she doesn't like children, who are always in abundance on Sundays, wherever you go. Last year around this time when we went out for a pub lunch together it was ruined for me by Christmas carols on loop tape. :noway: Grrrrrrrrrr!

    This Wednesday I hope to go up to London to visit my cancer friend. <3

    Love Heather UK xxxxxxx
  • Lagopus
    Lagopus Posts: 1,016 Member
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    cityjaneLondon wrote: »
    Penny - DH and his sister in the photo are not blood related. She is his adoptive sister, the natural child of his adoptive parents, eight years younger than him.

    You sure could have fooled me! I looked at their eyes and thought to comment on those alone, but then noticed they had sort of the same nose and smile. Just goes to show the power of self-suggestion. :laugh:
    /Penny, blushing at thet07190.gif
  • grandmallie
    grandmallie Posts: 9,786 Member
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    morning ladies~
    I slept well and am showered and having my tea, I will go feed Ginger and get her out... and then go walk my dogs.
    Until the divorce is done I cant tell you when I will retire, all the money I had went into our joint savings and checking.. I have a 1,300 ROTH IRA and that is it.. nothing ziltch.. nada and at 57 I cant tell you when I will retire .. so long as I can pay off my condo to have somewhere to live the rest of my life I should be ok.. but will need to really be aggressive with what I get from his 401k. It doesnt look like we will be divorced by the end of the year so taxes are gonna be a pain in the neck... but we will get through it..
    got most of my resume done.. will have to work on it more.. and then print it out and get cracking... I have trust in the good Lord that he will find me and put me where I need to be..
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,411 Member
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    Thank you for the input so far on retirement. When I read what Katla said, I realized that part of my dilemma is that some days I like work and some days - not so much. My desire to retire is directly proportional to the kind of day I have had. pondering-and-thinking-smiley-emoticon.gif

    Karen in Virginia
  • KJLaMore
    KJLaMore Posts: 2,835 Member
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    Happy Monday all! Just got back from swimming and I just wanted to pop on and say "Hi" really quick before the kids arrive. I have managed to get most of my Christmas decorations up. Still have to decorate the bathrooms, add bows to the wrapped photos on the walls. I will be putting up my countdown decoration later this week. It is 24 stockings and inside each stocking is a craft or activity that we do on that day. I will also hang a paper Christmas tree in the entry way and each day I will ask the kids "What do you want to give this Christmas?" (This makes them think about giving rather than getting) and I write each "gift" on a paper ornament and hang it on the tree. Still need to buy greenery to make a wreath or door swag and to decorate the house with. I think that will have to wait until the weekend.

    Heather- Wow! No blood connection between DH and his sister?! Like Penny, I immediately thought, "Look at that smile! That is the same smile!". Must be the power of suggestion as Penny said. You all look wonderful!

    Cathy- Yes, I have been thinking of you and wondering if you were still hanging out on this thread! I will definitely let you know when we will be in TX (sometime that first week of January, we don't have exact dates yet). So...Maybe it will be Sue, Rey, Re, Cathy, myself and possibly Joaquin. Am I missing anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area?

    Wendy- Whoot! You look awesome and wow! so proud of you for accomplishing that half marathon! I have never done a half, but even with the shorter races, it always feels better to have some one waiting for you at the end of the race to celebrate with you! Congrats, friend!

    Initially, I thought I might be retiring (at least retiring from daycare) in the next 5-10 years. But now, it is all going to depend on DH's employment. If he continues in unemployment land for a while, I will be doing 10-15 more years of providing childcare. I CAN do it; it is just getting hard on my body. Oh well, even if it is just me working; in 15 years the house will be paid off, we shouldn't have any debt; so...it will be a good time for a change.

    Ooops! Kids arriving! Will talk to you all later. ttfn xoxoxo KJ (Kelly)

  • margaretturk
    margaretturk Posts: 5,084 Member
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    Wendy great job!

    Michelle love it just the way you decorated it.

    Machka love the rose.

    :heart: Margaret

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