WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR AUGUST 2019

Boy, am I glad it's Friday. I think I'll hit the gym tomorrow during that time of day when it's almost deserted and then I get all the machines to myself. muwahahaha. Oh, I bought a pair of arthritis gloves. They compress the finger knuckles pretty well but don't seem to offer any wrist compression. Maybe this brand is just kind of loose... I did measure my hands. I'm a bog standard Medium. Other exercise this weekend will consist of helping my husband repair some of the planks in the deck and fix the washing machine. I like the gym better. LOL

Gothchic- Who knows the products vary so much now of days that some don’t fit the way I remember them...guess they found out it’s better to be redesigned than what our Moms y Grandma used to use
Amber Tx

I just want this week over. I drove 150 miles to the all day meeting on Wednesday only I was the only one to show up, the meeting was Thursday. So came home arranged for coverage and went back yesterday. Then got home in time to take two of the DGD's to Jach Williams and it was so loud. So working a 12 hour shift today and want to just go home and go to bed. Just feel really dumb about the mix up. DH just laughed it off and said no big deal.
At least it has not rained for several days. But sounds like tonight and tomorrow is rain. Poor fair runs until Monday night. Know the numbers are down and they are giving anyone who rides one of the buses from tha mall free gate tickets for next year.

Luci--I am diabetic and my AC1 in Aug was 5.3. I take meformin and so far I have done well.
Connie--Glad you got good news on your mom's tests. Keeping you all in prayer for the treatments she does have to have.

Teri--beautiful quilt. What a nice gift.

Penny--Glad to see you post. Sounds like you are keeping busy.

Dana--Sorry to hear DD is having trouble getting her divorce done. Sometimes those ex's drag things on just to be a pain
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Barbie--Sounds good and healthly, glad DH is getting to enjoy his garden.

Up to page 96, but out of time for today. I am off the weekend and work Monday, 12 hour shift a lone. I am looking forward to having a day to catch up little things and get ready for the week.
Blessings, Vicki GI NE

Bananasandoranges – the retirement was for one of my department heads. I can retire under civil service at any time (and I turn 65 in November). I will most likely retire in early 2021-have a couple of long term things I would like to finish. I use malware bytes on my MacBook Air. Helped take care of some adware junk that popped up.

JanetrOKC – sorry they think revision may be in your future. I know people have to have them for artificial joints—I am hoping my two hips don’t ever need that. But-if I have to to keep active, I guess I will. Hope they find alternative.

HeatherUK – why not just save memoirs on laptop (or a flash drive) and forget OneDrive?

Doctor visit went well today. Numbers are good. Blood pressure is great. Vitamin D is right at the borderline so we decided for me to start back on those supplements (calcium and vitamin D). My thyroid meds mess with that. Of course, 23 years ago when I was first diagnosed they didn’t know how much. Doc thinks good idea to just plan doing that as maintenance from here on out.

Talked to doc about good weight for me and if current plan to end up with maintenance range between 135-140 was a healthy level. He asked “Do you have an appetite?” Yep, no problem. “Are you tired a lot?” Nope, do 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day, light workouts, work full-time. “Are you eating fairly balanced and enough?” Yep-following MFP, try to eat up to net calories. Have been losing .2 lbs to .6 per week.

Turns out my doc, who is near my age and tall and lean uses MFP! He said with my bloodwork, how I feel, and using MFP to track and make sure I eat enough, he has no concerns. Said the way I am handling it is just what you should do. He said he is comfortable with my goal, it will keep me at healthy BMI (upper to mid-range), but probably don’t want to go for a 20. Gave the sensible doctor advice of “try not to have too many empty calories” but you don’t have to deprive yourself either (he’s making s’mores with grandchildren tonight and will eat them!) Reminded me my kids may get concerned because my cancer is always in the back of the mind. Also said he believes some folks who will comment that others are “too skinny” (when they are really at a healthy weight/bmi) is because our views of normal weights has changed. Of course, if I lose my appetite, loose more weight than I want or start feeling unusually tired, I need to go see him. On the whole a good visit. Except for thyroid meds (which I must take) and the vitamin d/calcium, no medications!

Hope everyone does something relaxing this weekend. I am visiting a child at hospital tomorrow, then going to son’s for a grill out and meet his new lady friend. Think I will pick up a couple of things to cook on grill for my meals this week. I love grilled meat, and winter will be here all too soon.

Take care all,

Played 9 holes of golf then it got too hot. Had a surprise rain/wind episode late this afternoon.
Lanette- I am allergic to adhesive tape too. Now all my records list it as an allergy and they have to use paper tape.
Janet- sorry your knee is acting up. Hope there is no damage shown on the mri.
I couldn’t sleep last night. Think I finally got to sleep about 3 am and had to get up at 6:30.
Need to know M In OZ’s sleep system.
Going out to the ranch for the Labor Day holiday. Hope it isn’t too hot out there.
SueBDew in TX

Happy Labor Day Weekend to those of you in the US!

Ginny It's great that you were a TA at OSU! I didn't have TA's much in music school, but most of my friends at UofM did. Very impressed you were that talented! It IS amazing how losing weight changes BP dramatically. My BP has gone from high to normal with just 34 pounds. I knew you had thyroid trouble, but somehow had missed that you had cancer! So glad you got a good report from the doctor!!

Michele I'm excited to get the other eye done! I have some flashing and tenderness, but tonight I can read the small print at the bottom of the news with my newly repaired eye without glasses!

Barbie Nice that Jake made a yummy nutritious lunch! Also, your line dancing sounds like fun! Great way to work out and have fun at the same time!

Donna Your pictures show such an amazing healthy change! Congratulations!!

Margaret Sorry for all of the hoops you are having to jump through getting through the paperwork!

Viv Very exciting about your new kitchen! My son is a plumber, and I agree that whoever is working on the kitchen probably has a group of people they use to do the rest of the job. I know that's how the plumbers do with other professionals.

Debby So glad your daughter and grandson are with you and safe! Brings tears to my eyes that she might not be able to get her belongings from storage. I would definitely talk to the storage manager and see if she can get personal items.

Bananas Love the cat picture and story!

Machka Nice walking pictures!

Teri Such a gorgeous quilt!

Rita Adorable puppy picture! I like the t-shirt idea.

Janet So sorry to hear the news about your knee!

Vicki Sorry you have had such an exhausting week! Hope your weekend is relaxing!

I am looking forward to waking up with my eye doing even better than it is today! The improvement during today has been so significant. Incredible how quickly it is healing! After next week's surgery on the other eye, it will be so nice to not need any glasses for distance!

Luci in WNC

Thanks Amber and no problem Heather..I decided to walk today 4.16 miles and chill the rest of the day. I’m was feeling a little down because I have an opportunity to landed my dream job (laboratory) but I may not be able to take it because how much they are offering..I will find out on Tuesday so it’s going to be a long holiday weekend. I have a small personal chef job so that will keep me busy. Good night and have a nice evening.
Donna C

cityjaneLondon wrote: »

dcolander - what shall we call you? I love your before and after pics.

Just got back from the doctor. My lowest ever 'white coat' BP reading! 130/78. Hooray! I used my Calm app in the waiting room and looked at pics of the grandchildren. I do take 10 mg Amlodipine. Normally the first reading is 145/84.

This morning I had to stop working on the new laptop as I was getting stressed. It was sending all my photos to One Drive and then telling me it was full up and would I like to pay? NO! I already have Dropbox. I only want One Drive for my memoir. So, do I have to delete them all manually? Grrrrrrrrrr! Grrrrrrrrrr! I didn't want my blood pressure up, so I stopped.
I also didn't like at all the way Windows 10 has organised my photos, just in date order. All my carefully curated folders, with labels, have disappeared, so I don't know what I've got any more. I had such a good system.
Still haven't done my docs. Hate it.

Love Heather UK xxxxxxx

Just copy and paste the photos back into the drive on your laptop. Only keep the ones that really matter in One Drive.

You can order your files any way you want in Windows 10.

Under View you've got all the options:



Select Details



Then select how you want them ordered. I have mine ordered by date in this one, but I could select any of those and it would order them ... by Type, Name, whatever.



And if you right click on that menu bar (Name, Date, etc.), you'll get this dropdown. You can tick any of those to include them on the bar, and then drag them into the position you want. So I often drag Date Modified over for my photos ...



Like this ...




Machka in Oz

bananasandoranges wrote: »

@Machka9 what does the complied sleep system consist of?

Machka9 wrote: »

Since I've compiled my personal "sleep system" 2 or 3 months ago, I've been sleeping so much better!! I went from feeling like I was on the edge of sleep all night or that I had spent the night running a marathon ... to deep sleeps, so deep I sleep right through my alarm about one morning each week.

Machka in Oz

I wrote a little article about it which will probably appear on my new website once I get it going ...

Sleep

I've made quite the discovery just recently.

I have been struggling with sore, red eyes especially first thing in the morning. And I've been struggling with waking up feeling like I've just cycled a century rather than sleeping.

I've tried different things ...
-- drops in my eyes when I wake up
-- no coffee after 5 pm
-- chamomile tea in the evening
-- putting on relaxing music late in the evening before bed and turning down the lights
-- reading something relaxing before I fall asleep
-- a sleep monitor that records what I do in the night ... maybe I do get up and ride a century!

The drops in the morning helped a bit, the relaxing techniques ensured I fell asleep within about 5 minutes, and the sleep monitor revealed I snore a little right at the beginning of the night but then seem to sleep all right.

The other night, I was dozing off and somewhere in between that wake and sleep state when I suddenly felt like my eyes weren't entirely closed. Then I got to wondering ... am I sleeping with my eyes slightly open? It is a thing. It does happen to some people.

One of the simplest solutions for that is to put drops in the eyes before bed and to wear an eye mask at night. So I went out and got a lightweight one. That night ... drops in the eyes, eye mask on ... and I had one of the better night's sleeps I've had in a while! Plus my eyes were less red and sore and I was less puffy around the eyes.
I've gone to a bigger, heavier eye mask and have slept with it two nights now. So far, I like it better.

Who would have thought that a simple eye mask would make such a difference!

But there is evidence that blocking out the light can help.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/earplugs-and-eye-masks-help-promote-sleep
https://thesleepdoctor.com/2016/10/31/5-serious-medical-conditions-linked-nighttime-light-exposure/

So these are my sleep tips for creating a Cocoon of Silence and Comfort ...

• Dim the lights about an hour before bed.
• Quiet music
• Chamomile tea (I prefer flavoured varieties)
• Sleep mask
• Headband
• Earplugs
• Separated beds
• Hot water bottle
• Nice new pjs
• Lavender (oil or spray)

M in Oz

Good morning beautiful ladies 💐💐💐!Thank y’all for the suggestions for my daughter.I will definitely tell her to be persistent with the owner.
I grew up on a farm and have gotten up before the roosters my whole life.Even when I haven’t slept well,my brain still flips the on switch and it’s time to get up.I do enjoy my peace and coffee.Although I love summer and the heat,the most perfect time(to me)is when it snows really late or really early.I bundle up and go outside and listen to the peacefulness and enjoy the beauty
Debby In Va

arg! just lost along post w lots of personals!

Here computer still acting up seriously post malware scan and quarantine and deletion. I tried deleting cookies and browsing history just now. will see what that gives

awesome news Ginny!

congratulations and hurray to all who are doing well in weight loss and other stuff and stick in there to those who are struggling with emotional or whatever eating and weight loss (like I am!)


Machka my life is always overloaded even without a handicapped spouse. I'm always struggling to keep up (not) w paperwork etc.
It has not always been like that but has been like that for the past 4 years or so at least, partly due to weird and stressful things related to work and my attempt at getting thesis as well.
(it's hard ! I wasn't expecting the extremely hard work stuff nor for my director to leave and the replacement director to turn out to be such a non-match. if I weren't in higher ed where it could really help I would (I think) have dropped it long ago.)

Achy left shoulder after gym yesterday (working mostly arms and shoulders due to knee issues). jeeze! this ageing is not easy. I had no idea that all this joint stuff was so commonly debilitating. I thought it was just some cases here and there. I guess many people don't talk about it to not sound old and boring. I knew my mom and dad both had accidents that made them use a cane but I thought it was just the accidents and not the fragility of old bones and difficulty fully healing.

Machka - I didn't want any of my photos in OneDrive, but it just scooped them up on a default. I will have to find out how to delete them en mass, rather than individually. They are also on my hard drive, but not organised in the original folders that I labelled with holidays etc. Of course, I can create new albums, but ..... I still have lots of USB sticks to put on from earlier days going back to 2003. I will have to tell OneDrive not to automatically copy them. I already have Dropbox, so don't need it.
Going to copy my old laptop onto a hard drive this weekend.

Katla - DH wants the photos on his phone, to show aquaintances on the move. He has now mastered screenshot, so is happier.
He is having sacroiliac pain, which is a nuisance for him. He won't, of course, see anyone about it.

DH 's daughter is coming down on the train from London today and we are taking her to Terre a Terre for lunch. It's an amazing vegetarian restaurant.
I'm missing my nephew's 18th birthday for it. Quite glad about that as it would be a difficult journey.

Love Heather UK xxxxxxx

FOOD SHOPPING

I'm having a hard time not eating too much fruit! if I buy say 3 bananas and 3 apples and raspberries and a fig I can eat them all 24h, so the last 3 days I've been buying just for the day or 2: 2 small bananas (maybe one will make it till tomorrow), an apple, raspberries, a peach. that's not practical when I go back to busy schedule. the food shop is across the street and the people are nice but still it's 15-20 minutes from door to door at least. easy in many summer days, impossible every day in school period. we'll see then.

I hadn't had such a challenge w food since my early 30s. (I was worse then, though, liked cakes etc, more)

I'm able to freeze bread and that seems to work for now, I just take out 0-4 little slices on most days.

CLOTHES SHOPPING

I'm going by what someone long ago (true or false) said what a Bostonian approach : "wear it til it's good and worn and then do without".

I think I haven't bought a pair of paints for 3 years at least and I basically mostly wear the same 3 pairs of paints. the skirts I wear most are mostly jean type -ish cut skirts (usually not tight at all, on the lose side) of different colours, and of different materials) mostly are too tight to feel right. I can get into some of them but too snug, except possibly one. the pants are thus getting extremely worn out. I feel bad about fast fashion exploitation and wanted to go to a cheap trendy second hand shop rather than a commercial clothes shop but 1) I really don't like that kind of shopping that much as it tends to take longer to find something decent I don't love clothes shopping at present 2) it's not nearby at all, and I haven't made it there after week of good intentions.

there are fast fashion shops just near me all around (clothes like at Target, etc, cheap clothes) ; yesterday I finally went to one and got a few pairs of pants (trousers) at about 30 euros a shot. I feel bad about giving into participating for the umpteenth time to this contribution of exploitation of people and resources. but also, selfishly relieved to not have some not-very-old simple pants to wear finally. also got one light pullover sweater. couldn't find anything else for upper body that suits. my shirts are equally worn out and not-recently bought.

I really don't find my arms a prize to say the least. I used to have strong swimmers arms and now they are round and sagging. I'm ok w going out baring arms in my free time, and even at work in hot days or spring when it's hard to always have arms covered, but now w fall, hot days will be few and far between or non-existant for the next 7-8 months. I'm happy not to show of my arms to my students and colleagues to start of the new year. I need some long sleeve shirts. I have 1 or 2 that are ok for work and that's about it. I don't have a very light work jacket (linen or light cotton);

I really don't think about it much but oh, when I go to the changing room I have to look in the mirror to check.
I am NOT happy with my belly. As of menopause (1 year after menopause) boom! gained about 3-4 kilos and largly in belly. when I was young young I had a couple rather of heavy times/moments but I was super-athletic. so it was very muscly covered w a layer, kind of smooth and round I guess, if a bit too round. now it's all mushy and not smooth and taut at all. wins worst all-time belly so far in this life for me. on the positive side my calves aside from scaly skin if you look close are smashing and very sinewy (maybe) and my legs are not bad if you don't look to close (cellulite in thighs again). In my youth I used to get big butt and especially thighs but not anymore. (too bad they weren't trendy then and are now. the fickleness of societies taste in body types makes me laugh a lot).

AGING
I'm a bit tongue and cheek and laugh deep inside when I think and write but when I look in the mirror in the dressing room when changing, not so much! I'm sure it's partly adjusting that needs to happen, accepting ageing and continuing loss of the type of beauty that is connected to youth and partly that the weight could (age or no age) be a bit better I think. I'm not a youthful beauty cult member by any means and love ageing faces and people and so on but still it can be hard for oneself or one can be harder on oneself. I remember when I was in my mid 30s and was seeing the beginning traces of jowls and wrinkles. w my friends and sisters many of us could see our own ageing but couldn't see in others. now we can alls see it in all of us of course.

I remember at 35 a 50 year old really attractive friend that was 45 told me she saw a friend's face just sort of suddenly get old at menopause. I think there's some of that here. I don't look particularly old but I think I probably look more or less my age whereas from age 12 to about 45 I was always taken for considerably younger. not great from 12 to 25 but nice (usually) from 35 to 45. oh well! life is full of a variety of unexpected experiences to discover with any chance. I like the variety of experiences.

now I seem to be more or less caught up with my age!
glad we are in a period when older women are seen as attractive. granted the most well-known ones almost all have major work on themselves in most cases (even the male politicians get botox etc, now commonly), but even the idea of older women is much more attractive than in the past when we were kids, it seems to me. I don't know if the French president's wife and the president's rather skilful way of managing the subject makes a difference here or elsewhere, but it doesn't hurt.

ok on to other things!