WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MARCH 2018

Rye - we're living in a mixed household at the moment - two large dogs, and two chubby kitties. Ordered a $20 thing from Amazon called a Door Buddy door latch. It's hard to explain, but it works really well. It keeps a door open enough for a cat to get through, but the dogs can't. Allowed the cats a safe space (the garage) where they can go and their litter box and food are out there where the dogs can't get to those either. It's made things significantly more peaceful. We were also able to put it up high enough that the three-year-old can't get in the garage, either, which was a bonus. My daughter's cat will allow the German Shepherd to haul him around by the head - never hurts him, but when he's tired of it, he goes in the garage. My cat, Egg, won't tolerate him, but figured out the escape hatch very quickly, spits and hisses at him, and then goes and curls up in the garage and goes to sleep. Much less stress on all concerned.

Long day, three more to go... traveling all day tomorrow, working all evening, then the main event on Wednesday. Thursday is just meetings all day and recovering in between. Friday I'm back across to NC.

Love y'all,
Lisa in EP for now, NC Friday, Arkansas in mid-April

Allie Yay! Congratulations on getting that behind you. If my mom was still alive, she would say: "Go forward with a fierce heart!"

Karen in Virginia

Caroline, you teach 17 year olds! What an honor. Yes, it is your responsibility to give those wonderful young people those life skills. I admire you but would not want to be you at all, I would have no patience for them at all. Having 2 teenagers at the same time in my home was almost to much at times and they were my daughters.

Kylie, I love your floors and you did a wonderful job. You should be very proud of yourself and I hope your next renter appreciates it. I also just admire you to,

Well we have been busy today. Charlie was on the phone with his niece as to how he could help but not do it all. Then he called the funeral home to set up a time to go in and give them a check. So I got the idea that this was a perfect time for us to do our funeral pre-planning. Charlie doesn't do to well with spur of the moment spending of large amounts of money but this was the perfect time. Karen died with no planning and her family not only had to decide what tondo with her remains but pay for it also. So now both of us have our funeral plans made down to the flowers and songs sung. Our only problem is that Charlie doesn't want to be below ground and I suppose I want a traditional burial just because that's the way it is done. I have never thought of a crypt. I have seen them and your casket is in what i perceive as a drawer. I suppose we could have adjoining drawers. I just always invisioned our children coming to the cemetary like I do with my parents plots. They have a lovely headstone with a Mr and Mrs on it. It is under a tree and we hear the birds singing and see the nice green grass. It is such a nice pastoral place. I just can't see going to a wall of crypts and k owing that you are there talking to your parents. The director and myself tried to explain that with the embalming process, your body is dead so he doesn't have to worry about being buried underground in a vault and then finding that he is alive and there is no way of letting people know. I suppose I will be the one to give in because I want is together. So now we need to move forward in getting those and also making our wills.

So my mind just can't concentrate on anything right now, like I don't know what Lenora means about our names. I assume also since I can't concentrate and my mind is al befuddled, I shouldn't make my will.

I am proud of my husband and his brothers,, they have all taken care their sister. When their sister initially went to the funeral home, they made some initial payments but left a good amount to be finished. So all three brothers have finished. And one of my SIL even personally bought an urn for her. I didn't know you could buy an urn on Amazon. I just hope that since the brothers did do all of this that the niece doesn't see this as a constant source of money when she has a strong. Karen could really come up with stories when she would ask for money. When Charlie called his niece Brittney he did tell her that that is want family is for, when you need help, family comes through. I cringed when he said that.

My brain is empty tonight so I will just say goodnight. Oh Allie, I am so glad it is now over. Sleep,well tonight

Joyce, Indiana

Congratulations Allie! :drinker:

KJ - what fantastic fun!

Tired now. Bed soon.

More possible titles - Eyes of a Child.
Patterns.
I Am, I Am, I Am.

I quite like the last one. All would have a subtitle. Like - A father. A daughter. Innocence betrayed.

I like the last one too, Heather. With a judicious choice of font it can be tweaked in directions ranging from desolation to triumph over adversity.

This is unrelated, but it reminds me of a cover of The New Yorker that showed forms of the verb To Be on parade through the streets of the city. My parents have it framed in the loo at their cottage.

An assertive "I am". A joint, emphatic "We are". A timid, sidelined "Am I?" A dejected "I was".

Must run. Heading to mainland Norway later, and the grandkids are joining us out on the island for Easter holidays. Will be busy!
/Penny at the

Joyce – when you think of it, Jesus Christ was laid to rest in a crypt of sorts. It was a large rock with a boulder in front of it. So should you be laid to rest in a crypt, you’re in the final resting place like Jesus.

The 6” cookie cutter came in the mail yesterday. Why they don’t do better packaging, I don’t know. It was probably manufactured in a perfect circle, but it came in an envelope (not padded) and I’m sure in the transport to our house, it probably got something put on top of it or whatever which is what caused it to be slightly bent. In the end, it’s not that bad and can be bent backwards. But from the reviews, some people’s can’t be

Michele in NC
who is off to do her HIIT now

Kelly ~ I got a happy laugh reading about your dog and the kittens.

Carol in GA

Budgeting one thing I do is ‘virtual shop’ I go to a site and add everything I want to my shopping cart. But I don’t check out. If I go back in a couple of days I usually don’t want to really spend my money on much if any of the stuff I put in my cart the other day.

I still have the satisfaction of ‘shopping’ but I get less junk and save my money. lol

Happy World Theater Day!

"The theater has been one of the most popular forms of entertainment since the Greeks, and the acting industry today is a hard but potentially prosperous career. If you have ever been in theater or seen a live show, you know how fun theater can be."

Wendy - What an interesting challenge, to make learning to ride safe for someone who processes information differently! Hope the lesson goes well!

Allie - Congratulations on having that behind you!

Betty - Glad you are still hanging on. You're in my thoughts.

Michele - Loved your plan for the flooring! Be sure you service something nice and stain-inducing! My Irish Wolfhound had the same effect on people as your Sheepdog. He was obviously very friendly, but nobody in their right mind would try something with 150 pounds of dog standing right by my side. I love Luna, but I do miss having a giant dog.

Rye - I've had dogs and cats together for nearly 40 years, including a regular parade of foster greyhounds fresh off the track. In my experience, only a small percentage of dogs can't learn to be cat-safe (at least with indoor cats). I know some cats never learn to be dog-safe either although all of mine have been good. I don't take Luna with me when I stay at my sister's house because one of her cats is a total butthead and terrorizes the dog the entire time she's there. Anyhow, I do it by making sure the cats have the advantage and not encouraging them to be "friends." It's cute if they cuddle up on their own, but I'd rather have safe cats than dog-and-cat best buddies. I make it clear from the beginning that dogs are not allowed to mess with cats in any way, and if there's a scuffle the dog is the one that's going to get in trouble. (The cats know this and take advantage of it sometimes by deliberately antagonizing the dog.) I give a sharp verbal correction if a dog shows undue interest in a cat. Sadly, neither the dogs nor the cats can be trusted with the birds unattended, so the parrots only get supervised free time.

Trisha - Gorgeous dogs! You've got your hands full there (in a good way) with such a high energy breed!

Lanette - Sometimes my teeth get that way, where I have sort of a non-specific pain but I can't pinpoint it to a single place. Sometimes a bite adjustment helps. I wear a bite guard at night to which reduce night-time tooth grinding, and remembering to consciously relax and massage the jaw muscles now and then also helps.

Lisa - Oh, I'll have to check out the Door Buddy! There are times when it would be useful to be able to keep the dog out of a room while allowing the cats to come and go.


It's a grey day here. Nice day to sleep in or spend the day reading (neither or which is in the cards). Tomorrow morning I leave for the probate hearing so today will be spent getting as much done as possible before my time off.

-Yvonne in TX

Barbie - Allie, what helps me the most with budgeting and living on a very modest income, is writing down everything I spend. It helps me see where my money is going and helps me decide which expenses I could have done without. It helps also, to wait a day to buy something so you have time to think about it. I frequently ask myself "How could my life be better with less?" Good luck on this new chapter in your life.

Good point, Barbie! We were living on a very modest income several years ago and recording EVERY expense was an eye-opener. After a few months, I was able to forecast recurring monthly expenditures and gave myself and DH good discretionary allowance which was used for gifts, books, clothing, etc. But it set a limit.

It made it easier for me to tell people who wanted me to purchase items from their Pampered Chef and similar parties, "Oh shucks, I already blew my budget on things like that for a couple months." I will admit I still go overboard at Christmas but again, I budget for that or at least try to.

And, budgeting protected savings. Big expenses like car tires, car repairs, etc. are paid from what we have in savings and I no longer have to dip into it to buy groceries!

Allie - good luck, I know now you have all kinds of expenses that you really cannot control right now but once it gets smoothed out you'll be good to go I know. I also believe the universe provides!

Rye - love your idea about putting items in the cart on Amazon and but giving it a few days. I was going to buy a couple 8 gig thumb drives a couple days ago and did just that. Then I rummaged through drawers and guess what - I found 2 of them right off. Felt good to delete them from the shopping cart.

Cats and dogs.... we've had some that get along very well and some that didn't. Most recently, we moved here with a couple little older mixed breed doggies, then got a kitten who was murder on them! Would attack and scratch them and I swear sent them to an early grave. THEN I brought home Sophie the schnoodle when that kitten was nearly full grown, and the tables were turned. Sophie terrorized that cat big time! Didn't mind the claws and would jump on her, sit on her, pull on her tail. Finally, they would relax together on the sofa - not exactly cuddle, but really liked each other. We'd take Sophie on a walk and the cat would follow along!

Turn clock forward ten years. Enter Rosie the mini schnauzer pup. Kitty and Sophie are now "elderly". Rosie lives to torment that cat -she's more "terrier" than Sophie and is pushy, yappy, and snappy. I think the cat loves it but doesn't tolerate it for long and certainly doesn't sleep next to Rosie on the sofa, tho she might at some point.

Here's a photo of Sophie as a pup and Kitty taken about ten years ago:


OK ladies, time to suit up and get a walk in!

Lanette
Drizzly SW WA State

coastalgosgal wrote: »

Thanks Barbie! You're amazing! And.... I love ya!

March Goals
-log my food daily
-drink 64 oz of liquid a day. (Wine doesn't count... Jk!!)
-exercise nightly
-read daily

Get beads every week! Each bead is a lb lost. When I lose it, I put it on a bracelet!

Tonight I'm kind of hungry! I got this!
Becca
Oregon coastie with the mostie!

Just starting my plan and was trying think of some good goals to start with. Using yours! And I love your bead and bracelet idea. That is awesome! Thank you!