WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2018

Oh Barbie! I totally forgot to thank you for starting us up for April. My mind has been in another place these days. I think that is why I haven’t been posting as much. Never think I am forgetting any of you. I’m thinking I have to focus internally instead of externally right now. Sometimes you just have to regroup. Thank you all for always being there for me day after day. A wonderful constant in my life.

Terry

Sleep well. 11654 steps! Yay! Two sick employees! Ladies day at the shop. Shelby is finally back on 4 wheels with brakes. New garage doors going up tomorrow. No we aren't doing them. Paid a contractor for that!
Prayers, hugs, and congratulations! There have been a lot of losers lately! Where else can you say that and it mean great things?

Kylia

Barbie: Thank you for another wonderful launch of a new month. My DH and I also enjoy sitting together with a baseball game on.

Kim: I'm like your mom when it comes to being touched. I really don't like it, and have to steal myself for those situations where I am around folks who are naturally affectionate. I can trace this back to my childhood where the only affection I got was inappropriate...

Wendy: Beauty is blessed to have you as her new owner. Looking forward to hearing more stories as you begin your gentle training program.

April goals:
> meditate everyday. (I use app Insight Timer which tracks my progress)
> intermittent fast daily. (no eating between 6 pm and 10 am)
> add 30 minutes of evening movement 5x per week
> 15 minutes of decluttering 5x per week
> be lighter
Word for 2018 = Release

Easter was nice. Watched a classic movie on cable with popcorn. Then I heated ham, kale salad and scalloped potatoes. I continue to enjoy being alcohol free; now if I could just exercise that same discipline with sugar

Machka: I'm still pouring energy your way.

Stay well friends. We can do this.

Rori
Colorado Foothills

First post since MFP was hacked. New account; just hope I can get back into it. If my memory suxs like it has this past week; might be redoing it again tomorrow. Tomorrow is weigh-in day; so that is when I will start tracking my food again. Been 8 weeks since I broke my wrist and still wear a splint on my wrist. But, at least this one I can take off and put on. So happy that I can now wash my own hair and style it; the hot showers have just been WUNDERFUL!!! I think I have a minimum of 1 (sometimes 2) MD appointments a week this entire month. Would not be quite as bad if I was not still on a 'driving restriction'. By the end of the month I will have had every orifice of my body violated by some sort of test. When I go for my physical in early June, all they should have to do is a mammogram and pelvic/rectal exam. Stopped one medication yesterday; will stop another on the 5th; then have to drink 'new form' of prep for colonoscopy and will also have an endoscopy at the same time. Going in to discuss 'sleep study' to rule out Narcolepsy. I don't know if my settings on my Cpap machine are working for me as I have started pulling off the mask during the night. I never did that with my 'previous' Cpap machine; but, that 'sleep study' was done at the hospital's 'sleep study' (beds a lot more comfortable; and more leads hooked up but not having to have them all rehooked each time I got out of bed. Last time, was done at a Lung MD's office and I just could NOT fall asleep, not even the 2nd night with the mask on. Ended up having them reset it so that it started off at a higher number because I was NOT falling asleep and not feeling rested in the AM. I think that is why I have been falling asleep so much during the day. Just exhausted when I get up and I never felt that way after I was first put in a Cpap machine. I don't think they got a good reading, I don't think I sleep 4 hours straight either night. I think they took the numbers off my old machine and did a modification and nothing else. Maybe went down a number. I wore my old one when I went to my sister's house for a few days; and, did not pull the mask off and slept so hard that my sister had to wake me up. I know the first time I ever slept with a Cpap, I slept 10+ straight hours and had never felt so good in so many years it was unbeleiveable. Told the guy at the 'sleep study' place that 'if' I had to have another 'sleep study' done, it would be my 'preferance' to have it done at the hospital's 'sleep study' place and that I want my Neurologist to be involved in determining what should or should not be done insofar as settings. At this point I am losing track of which MD ordered which tests, or almost where I am supposed to go next. I would guess that since my appointment at the 'sleep study' place is set for 6:30pm, they will want to keep me and do it then ... not reschedule it for some later date.

In early May we are going to Atlanta for a Yanni concert! I am soooooooooooo excited!!!!

Just been lurking lately on 'social networking' sites and sort of 'laughing' about my sister and the blow-back she has gotten. Had to really laugh when she admitted she was a 'flaming liberal'. She leans so far left she is almost horizontal; yet does not think others should ever disagree with her. She made some comment about calling someone an 'idiot' and then got called out about it and tried to apologize; but, FB would not post it. She posted that she wanted to know how to stop receiving posts from people whose political beliefs were 180° from hers. Whoa, it about blew my page up with remarks from others. She did put in an apology in a post right above that remark; not that the person will ever see it. I love her dearly; but, she thinks her way is the only way. I know we aren't supposed to discuss politics here; but, I really feel for my sister because all she sounds like is a 'sore loser' or 'sour grapes'. I guess politics in South Florida are a lot more ... mmmmm, can't even think of the word I want to use; but, according to her DACA is a big issue and she said 'not unless you lived in south Florida would you even have a clue'. Mmmmm, the SW states, I would think have the same issue. But, that is the extent of my 'political rant'. Just wish she'd back off with her comments. I emailed her a 'joke' and just because it had the words 'liberal media' in it ... she blasted my socks off ... using language that she knows I don't like. I wrote her back with a comment that it wasn't necessary to comment on that subject in the manner she did. She called and I just let voicemail pick it up. Then she called the next night and I picked it up, and she asked what I had been doing? "UGH, in the hospital for 4 weeks straight; how about you?" I have come to the conclusion that cell phone use and being on 'social networking' sites really is an 'addiction'. IMHO!

Have a great rest of the week. Probably won't be posting too much, just reading.

Love ya,
Lenora
f/k/a GRITSandSLUTS (or "Lenora")

Morning, afternoon, and evening, all...

Barbara in S. Oregon - thank you!

Wendy - Was just sitting here grinning when you said your hubby didn't notice your new horse. This could go on for years...

Kim - Yep, I kinda figured that there was a different role model in your life, considering your warm and loving nature.

Rori - Your expressions, mannerisms and voice are so amazingly warm and welcoming that I can't say I noticed you weren't a hugger. It's not my first (or second) instinct with anyone but family--but with family, I'm the huggy aunt/grandma/mom, for sure. Oddly enough, I'm getting more easy about it with non-family as I get older. I hugged people from work all willy-nilly during this last trip, as I only see them once every few months or so. It's possible that makes it easier!

For those who are new, Rori's the reason I have my job - she only recently retired from Girl Scouts' national organization, and when Rori and I met two years ago in August, she knew the CEO of the Desert Southwest Council was looking for someone to write and manage grants. Match made in heaven, indeed... best boss I've had in a long, long time, and I am ever grateful to Rori for sending my qualifications on. Hard to believe May 1 is a year!

Quiet day yesterday, had my head stuck into an extraordinarily complex grant that was only three pages of writing, but 100+ pages of attachments, in the end... Today is generating thank you letters for the in-person donations received at the event last week, more than 50 to generate, plus another 20 cards sent to the people they honored through their donations. Busy morning... and will probably have to go get a printer cartridge to get through them all! Slog work, but necessary.

Dinner out with the hubby tonight - probably Outback for steak and shrimp again. It was kind of amazing last time, hopefully they can repeat that... We don't go out to eat much, so it's a special treat.

The scale is inching back down again... annoying that it shoots up, but creeps down. That's ok, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And... I didn't put it all on in a few days, it's going to take time to lose it... and as my husband tends to say when I whine about it, "Patience, McGillicuddy." Whatever that means!

Love y'all...
Lisa in NC for nine more days and a wake-up...

Rori love your new pic, glad that you're settling in to this new phase of life.....only 1900 days for me!

Back to work, should be a quiet week, I'm looking forward to it, the calm before the stormy concert season.

NYKAREN

Good morning all! Happy Tuesday! I spent a couple of hours the past two-three days reading three different books on RA and the immune system. LOL...I haven't been ravenously reading all three; but I started one and got the history on RA, conservative medicine, and homeopathic medicine, then I opened another and got more info on foods and how they effect our immune system and bodies, the difference between suppressing and and supporting the gut and information on RA world wide as it concerns the lifestyles of different cultures. The last book I opened is more about managing pain without drugs through meditative means (mindset). The third book I closed rather quickly and plan to read it when I am done reading up to help DH. It got me thinking about how individuals handle pain. For me, I tend to lean toward a more meditative approach to pain management. I don't take a lot of pain meds (not even Tylenol or Ibuprofen), I do breathe a lot, journal a lot, spend time each day meditating, I actually meditate myself to sleep at night by going over each body part and "breathing" it into relaxation and I am generally asleep in 5-10 minutes. I am also a firm believer in foods playing a big role in good health. My DH does not follow the same ideas. He looks at me with skepticism when I speak about eating better or meditation/mindset. lol He is still in self pity mode, and is looking for a magic pill to make it all better. *sigh* I DO understand that, as of yet, and god willing-never will I ever have to deal with the amount of chronic pain in my life that he has had to deal with. ( A slip and fall accident when he was 18 and working on loading docks began 35 years of chronic back pain, nerve pain, and now into RA. ) So...until he is ready to get off the harsh drugs and try something different, I will just keep reading and trying to incorporate some of the ideas into my life. When we were speaking of changing his diet to include more veggies (the rainbow) and less cheese/dairy, he complained "It sounds easy for you, because you like every vegetable!" lol...I let him know that I have spent the last 20 years of my life forcing myself (in the beginning) to eat vegetables and foods that I didn't care for; simply because I knew that they were good for me. (Broccoli, sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cabbage, brussel sprouts, spinach, etc) Before age 30, I NEVER ate or cooked those. It is amazing what you CAN do when you put your mind to it. If someone told me ingesting dirt was beneficial to my health, you bet your a** I would figure out a way to choke it down! He's not there yet! Oh, I have also been communicating with MightyLolo (remember her?). She is dealing with an undiagnosed immune system issue which has been wreaking havoc with her immune system, joint pain, fatigue, etc. She is in the middle of a three week fast to reset her immune system. She will then start back on a keto diet. Fasting to reset the immune system has had some big success for auto immune diseases. Reports and studies have shown that the majority of subjects with autoimmune diseases (like RA) have experienced less swelling in joints, less fatigue, less pain by day 5 of the fast! Foods are then slowly introduced back into the system after the fast. Dairy, sugar, and sometimes grains tend to cause the most inflammation and pain in the most patients. So interesting! Sorry to ramble on! If you want to read more the books I am reading are: Health and Healing- Andrew Weil, MD (this is where I got the history info), Clean Cuisine- Ivy Ingram Larson and Andrew Larson (this is where I got a lot of the nutrition info), Pain Relief Without Drugs- Jan Sadler (this is the "mind over matter" book that I will read for my own benefit, later)

lol really sorry I rambled! Now all I have time for is sending my warmest thoughts and prayers to all that need/want them!
Machka -You are foremost in my mind! Wrapping you in love, peace, and strength!

Kids arriving, so I have to fly! ttfn xoxoxoxo KJ (Kelly)

Morning peeps

Not riding the bike today. Kirby made an appointment for the spine doc and I told him that I wanted to go with him. He got central cord syndrome from the Bike accident and it usually affects the right side (the side he got hit on) but says it’s starting to affect his left. There’s not much on the internet about it. Probably will want more tests. Thankfully if there are its free cuz he works there (Virginia mason hospital in Seattle). We’ll c what shakes