WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY 2024

Machka9 · February 29

Last night's thunderstorms resulted in 1500 lightning strikes in southern Tasmania.

I read that a street very close to where we live "was woken up by a big bang shortly before midnight when lightning hit two trees, with residents anxiously watching as crews raced to put out the blaze above their homes."

I was awake and watching the storm when that happened!

A big lightning bolt hit something just over the hill behind our house. I counted to 3 (one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three) and the thunder came so it was about 1 km away.
A second big bolt did the same thing, just over a bit.
A third big bolt sizzled out of the sky with a house-shaking BANG and the thunder rumbled immediately.
I'm guessing that third one started the fire although the other two might have as well.

("Your distance from a thunderstorm can be estimated by measuring the time between seeing the lightning flash and the hearing the start of thunder. The length of this interval in seconds can be divided by three to give an approximate distance in kilometres." https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/thunder-and-lightning/thunder )

Thankfully no tornados, however! Sorry for those who are experiencing them.

I worked from home today and felt sleepy-tired all day. Not sure what's going on but I feel like I've been rushing around too much over the past few weeks.

I didn't do much exercise today. Just a little walking. I did think about it, but just wasn't in the mood.

And a question ... how do people buy a house?

From my experience over the past month or more ...
- you make your list of what you want.
- you determine what you can afford.
- you look and look and look and look and for the longest time, nothing seems even close.
- finally something comes on the market that ticks 80-90% of the boxes. I've yet to see one that ticks them all.

Around here, usually houses come onto the market with quite a high price so you don't want want to leap right in. If you wait a bit, the price often drops. The second the price drops you put together your offer ... and you miss out because someone noticed the price drop before you did and got their offer in first.

On the rare occasion that something comes on the market with a reasonable price, before you can even go look at it, a stack of other offers have been made and they've closed it to offers.

And then there are the places that quietly collect offers and pick the best one. But when you put yours in, you have no way of knowing if yours is best or not. And there's no negotiation.

It's no wonder I've never bothered with this nonsense before. Grrrr.

Doesn't help that I don't like filling in forms. I'm starting to wonder if I can do some computer magic to autofill those forms.

Machka in Oz

LisaInArkansas · February 29

Good morning, my dearlings, from the pre-dawn, just freezing darkness of the Arkansas River Valley,

Cor's alarm woke me this morning, couldn't go back to sleep. Was in bed early, though, and slept well. Always grateful for that.

The organ recital from yesterday, and a belly laugh (so to speak):

Well - The upshot was that, rather than the initial thought to put me on Skyrizi ($20,000+ per 30-day injection) they're going to put me on Stelara ($27,000+ per 60-day injection). Skyrizi has not been FDA approved for ulcerative colitis, and although the APRN believes that the scan showed Crohn's, that's not how they put the diagnosis through to the VA. They put it through as ulcerative colitis. Stelara is a biologic that has been approved for both.

Please note - I had to tell her that about their own referral diagnosis, and then she had to go confirm it with the gastroenterologist. Frustrating, but kept us all from weeks of trying to get through a medication that the VA wasn't going to pay for and I certainly can't afford to pay for. Stelara is in the VA formulary, so as long as they check all the right boxes it should fly. There are some good data as well as good anecdotal reviews for Stelara and my symptoms, whether they're Crohn's or UC, so I'm at least mildly optimistic.

Anyway, I looked at all the lab tests last night and this morning, and so far so good. So, for yesterday's funny - because if I don't find this stuff funny, I'm going to start crying...

Please note: This is WAY too much info, so I've buried it in a nested spoiler. Don't hit the spoiler button and just scroll on by if you gross out easily. Also kind of a long read. Anyway:

I knew when I left the gastroenterology department to head for the lab that I was going to have to have blood taken, but more importantly, that I was going to have to have a stool sample as well. I really didn't want to take little sample cups home and march back through the hospital lobby to bring it back, but was resigning myself to that fact.

Then the moment I walked out of the gastro offices, I felt my gut start to spasm.

I'd been through the procedure last week just to get some labs drawn, so I knew it was going to take 30 minutes before things would actually be drawn or collected:

Five-minute walk to my car
Five-minute drive to the lab plaza
Five-minute walk from that parking lot to the front desk
Five-minute wait until registration called me in
Five minutes while they asked me all the same questions they asked me last week
Then a few steps over to the lab, check in at their desk, and wait five minutes to be called...

I also knew, from the spasm, that there was no way I was going to make it 30 minutes. Not in a million years. So, as I was going through the first 15 minutes of the journey, I just let things happen, not that I had any real choice. Not a nice feeling at all, but believe me, not unfamiliar.

Instead of going to the front desk, though, I just went to the bathroom, cleaned up, changed clothes as necessary and made sure to collect that sample I knew I was going to need and triple-bagged it in the small garbage bags I also always carry with me... and put it back in my bag and zipped it up.

And then I walked through the rest of the gauntlet. Finally got to the lab desk, and the lady said as she was putting little sample cups and gloves and hazmat bags into the half-a-cowboy-hat thing that fits over a toilet, "Here's everything you need, just go in here, then put everything into the sample cups, and bring the samples back..." And I said, "I'm leaving it here."

I'm pretty sure no one's ever said that to her.

She just blinked at me a couple of times, and proceeded to tell me what I needed to do at home and bring it back. She is, by the way, slightly deaf and talks quite loudly. She still hadn't handed me what was needed, so I said again, slowly, with my hand out and a little louder, "I'll be leaving it here." There are people behind me by the way, and I could honestly FEEL the grins begin back there.

She blinked at me again, and said, loudly "Oh, do you have diarrhea?" I don't, but I just said "Yes," so we could all stop talking. So, instead of handing the bag of sample cups to me, she handed it to the lab tech standing next to her with his arms folded, smiling. She said to him, loudly, "She's got diarrhea, so she'll leave her samples here for us."

As he escorted me from the lab waiting room, I said to him, "Yes, I will be pooping here, in case anyone didn't hear that already." I heard the chuckles rise up behind me. So, he got the six blood tubes, handed me that cursed bag and escorted me to their bathroom.

I filled those sample cups without much issue (my nose stopped working a couple years ago, pretty much as soon as I walk in any bathroom). Not to put too fine a point on it, but I also deposited small amounts of poop where they would have been if I'd actually used the gloves and cowboy hat... left the sample cups there in the little hazmat bags as directed, and slid quietly out of the lab.

I called my sister after I got back out on the highway headed home and started the story, beginning with "Your older sis has become a poop smuggler... "

You can cry or you can laugh...

If you read it, I hope it made you laugh. I was able to laugh with my sis - one of my first family's gifts is that we find most things funny. Mark Twain said "Comedy equals tragedy plus time." My family has honed that to an art.

Today is just acupuncture, which I've actually come to enjoy... and with all the folderol yesterday, I actually lost a couple pounds, putting me back to where I was at the beginning of the month. Didn't hurt my feelings any.

Hope it is/was a good day for all,
Love,
Lisa in AR

Anniesquats100 · February 29

I did my ten minutes on my bike and six minutes of walking! Yay!

Annie in Delaware

1948CWB · February 29

Allie ~ Not my business but what happened to the idea of buying baby things at Free Cycle and thrift stores? I'm glad it's looking much better for the twins.

Michelle in NV ~ Happy Leaping Anniversary.

Lisa ~ Sure hope the VA approves the medication.

Carol in GA

pipcd34 · February 29

342342

cityjaneLondon · February 29

Michelle in NV - we celebrate our Meeting Day much more than our wedding day. It wasn't a Leapling day though!

We remember the day we met because it was early Internet dating. This year will be 21 years.

Feels like yesterday.

John managed to break one of the lovely glasses he bought me for Valentines Day. When we looked at them, the curve was super thin. He has got a refund from Amazon, so we have one free glass.

I made it to the shops and back, with a great deal of difficulty, but I was proud of myself. Then I wasn't feeling at all like painting. However, I had an idea in my head of an intuitive painting, so selected a larger paper than usual.
I really enjoyed 'going with the flow' and I'm pleased with the result.

Loved your poop story, Lisa.

Love Heather UK xxxxxx

margaretturk · February 29

Annie I believe mediation helps to get you in a calmer state. One theme that popped up repeatedly in the Vital summit that in many of the tips they talked about diet, exercise, sleep etc...is much more effective in helping your health when you feel safe and calm. If you are in constant fight or flight mode it makes it harder to make better decisions towards your health! The hormones and other chemicals released in your body during fight or flight for survival. Those chemicals and hormones if they are continually on create more harm than good.

When I changed my diet I lost 10 pounds fairly quickly. I stayed steady about 2-3 weeks. Scale is starting to move some again in the down direction now 171.

M Housing market the same here. Finding and buying the right home is not always an easy process. Here's hoping it works out for you soon.

Right now I plan to stay where I am living. It will take me at least a year to clear out 40 years of collecting. Already everyday something leaves the house never to return. AHHH!!!

Anniesquats100 · February 29

Heather I love that painting!

Margaret you are right. I overeat when I am upset, feeling out of control. If I can stay calm without food, that's much better. Meditation helps!

Annie in Delaware

kevrit · February 29

Busy day yesterday. Went to town with DH early for bloodwork for PC. Right after, I had to go to a different facility to get another tube of blood taken for the Renal doc. I was called to tell that a certain test either wasn’t done or ‘lost’ so had to give another tube. That went quick b/c I was able to bypass registration and go right to the lab. The girl that messed up came and apologized profusely. She was nice and we were joking around while the blood was being taken. From there, DH and I went for breakfast, then Walmart and Post Office. Got lunch at Arby’s to eat at home. Got there about 12:30. I felt whipped so didn’t do much of anything after that. Sad but true.

RVRita in Roswell. 👽

kevrit · February 29

Today is: A good day to learn something new from the Internet.

grandmallie · February 29

Good morning again..
Easier said than done..Tracy got rid of most all of the baby stuff through once upon a child . We will look there also..

ATnowornever · February 29

Sorry for being MIA. Since my son is so close now, I've been spending a lot of time at the nursing home. Plus, I've been on an awful emotional rollercoaster. It tears my heart out to see him like this. Will be back soon.

April from Indiana

GodMomKim · February 29

Allie- Check thrift stores in your area, even check to see if there is a "buy nothing" or "freecycle" group on facebook. I have friends that are environmentally gentle and got everything for their new baby (born TODAY at 12:04 am - a leapling) used and discounted, They spent under $750 for crib, toddler bed, dresser/changing table, stroller, car seat, high chair, assorted bathing items, bottle warmer, and breast pump. Then they were given 3 or 4 big bags of pass down clothing. All they asked for at their shower was money for a college fund. It was a great system. They did end up painting a few items to match their decore. You have some time. Were you able to get out and walk around your building yesterday? maybe today

Kim in N. California

Vickil57 · February 29

Tracey--I have jury duty for 3 months or 12 weeks at a time. They let you know the Wednesday before if you need to report for the next week. I am praying this is my last time.
Heather--Sorry to hear about Dave. Just again shows we never know what each day will bring.
Michelle--Happy Anniversary. Hope your celebration is everything you want.
April--Understanding it is hard to see your child like this. I am just glad he is closer.Sending hugs and prayers.
Another windy day, but temps are going to be in the 60's next few days. They update our computers at work during the night and came in this morning to a mess. I still have not gotten my directory fixed from last week. It has all my phone numbers. Wish they would just leave things alone, but they want all CHI to be on the same program. I am off after today until Tuesday.
Tomorrow is DH 70th birthday. Mine is Saturday. I brought cupcakes today for my staff and DH sent me flowers. We have a motorcycle show this weekend. So that will keep us busy. DH is putting 2 of his motorcycles in the show. Then Monday I have 2 appointments. One my yearly one with the Dermatology and afternoon one with heart doctor.
Blessings, Vicki GRAND ISLAND, NE

Whidislander · February 29

Snowflake1968 wrote: »

Heather- what a lot or travelling. I have done very little really, but it’s also not something I’m overly interested in except Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. I would like to go there. I hope someday you make it to Quebec. Do they stop in other places in Canada too?

Ginny - that must have been a fright to wake up to.

Lisa - I have been noticing the wrinkles starting and think I need to do something. I also have noticed that my eyelids seemed to have disappeared. There must be something for that too. I am vain as well, but I want to look much younger for getting hired into a younger persons field.

Debbie - I really wish your DH would walk away, it would be better for all concerned. The way she treats him he owes her nothing.
I’m more like you I enjoy some quiet, DH always has the tv on.

Vicki - Are you called for jury duty 12 times?

Rebecca - it just be a relief that he knows what hurt and pain it caused and that he probably won’t do that again.

Joy - I do stay on top of my cupboards but a lot of food I won’t eat so I depend on DH to eat it and then he doesn’t. So frustrating. I only buy it for him.

Allie - great news for Tracy and the babies. How is Kyle handling things now?

Had an interesting class today, we listened to a podcast where teens were given to opportunity to speak freely without fear of repercussions. They were given pseudonyms. They were given one interview in 2018 and the one we listened to was a follow-up on Jan 1 2020.
One 16 year old stated used an analogy to describe anxiety and depression.
He said that anxiety is the lighter fluid and depression is the match. It’s a dangerous combination.
Very accurate in my opinion.

This afternoon I started Kaitlyn’s scrapbook, I finished the first and last page, and have pictures placed on 2 more pages, need to decorate it yet.

She had very neutral colours for her wedding and I’m struggling with the design and colours in the layouts. Most of my papers and decorations include lots of colour.

I was going to go to ceramics tonight to make up for my missed class last Thursday, but I just didn’t feel like going out. I think I’m fighting something, I’m very tired yesterday and today.

Have a nice night ladies.
Tracey in Edmonton

Oh yes, he apologized many times to me, a bit embarrassed about it all. I said sometimes it takes a wee bit for a young adult to find the balance between total independence and the connection of family. He has grown up so much in those 5 years, and yet he is still my sweet boy.
Rebecca
Whidbey
Wa

LisaInArkansas · February 29

Happy birthday to your husband and to you, Vicki!

Whidislander · February 29

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa...... Oh my, I laughed because you have such a great sense of humor about it all. You just have to, to get thru it. Big hugs to you, for getting thru it all and taking it all in stride.
Well Lee got Athena's sore throat! He is on meds and seems to be fighting bit ok. The fact that he has no immune system to speak of which is a side effect of the anti rejection meds he's on always puts me on a sort of high alert. It harkens back to the days when he would ask me politely to watch him sleep he was so nervous and concerned.😥. I bit annoyed that the kids didn't tell me that they were getting over colds and sore throats. I guess Athena had just gotten over a sour throat and pink eye. Now poor Eli has it. He looks like he has been in a boxing match with Athena. Seems happy so maybe he won?

Rebecca
Whidbey
WA

Lee returned home from a car appointment with a Rose and a donut. He feels bad he can't kiss me. 💖🤗

cityjaneLondon · February 29

Cauliflower Cheese. Absolutely heavenly.

April - (((HUGS)))

Love Heather UK xxxxxx

auntiebk · February 29

Today’s gratitude: Relief! ;} Break in the rain for Joe to take dogs to powerline meadow before the downpour returned. Wonderful wood stove warming wet dogs.
Vicki

well then your DH is my birthday twin… if he was born in 1950. :laugh: WOW. That is a lot of jury duty!
Joy I have to keep whole wheat flour in the freezer here. The damp really promotes spoilage.
Debbie You did great getting DH outside and ignoring MIL and doing the yardwork. IMHO when she refuses to eat, just ignore it. Just my two cents but DH might want to pay for MIL’s internet just to keep an eye. Dead people coming in through the computer is a scary symptom. ((hugs))
Allie what good news! Adding my continuing prayers to Debbie’s et al’s.
Machka love the expression “leapling”

Thanks for the superfetation link, was happy to read “The odds that you’ll have a healthy pregnancy are good.” Thank goodness.
Ginny F2 on the ground for 16 miles? Sorry to hear your best man’s house is half torn away, thankful he’s unhurt and with family.
Lisa so sorry your suffering but thank you for the memes. They make me choke on my tea laughing out loud. I’m bad, I know. :devil:
Tracey beautiful bride book and pics.
Heather hurrah! May one of the new bought lottery tickets finance the next cruise!
Bravissima for soldiering on. Hope the motion finally eased your leg pain. Our library (via Hoopla) has many of Mme Sévigné’s letters, en français hélas. Found one English language compilation of letters that include her and put it on hold. Thanks! ((hugs)) about the Hairy Biker. Sad.
Michelle in NV Happy Engagement Anniversary!
April ((hugs)) words fail ((hugs))

2/28: Move mins- wii:12 PT:15 d:0 x&a:0 dogs:0 line dancing: 80 Jeopardy walking:48. Steps: 7841 yay!
Fuel: sugar in vs mfp=14 CI<CO net=814 vits=1
Live: Joe, readings, BP, AF, ptT, ptS, filing. Wt:134.5

That’s enough sittin’,
Later, lighter, lovelies!
Barbara, the Southern Oregon Coastie AHMOD

February: Move more than yesterday, fuel better than yesterday, live NOW.
Open heart and mind before mouth.
2024: Strengthen: body, mind, heart-connections.

pinh · February 29

Machka9 wrote: »

pinh wrote: »

Hi all,

Michigan had a run of crazy warm weather and I thought I would prepare for a summer item. I restore and flip furniture in spare time. I spent some time acquiring furniture to work on. My nephew was great help. I decided to be less good about my diet and exercise based on the furniture moving plan, so I had a week of no progress...unless you count the garage is loaded with things to work on. I refuse to regret the future projects...but wish I had not overestimated the short bits of hard work.

The couch 2 5k plan has done more for shrinking my hips than my waist. All is good, but makes me think I might try to do a little more work on my core. The central strength work will be good for shoving things around in the garage, too.

I really find the warm weather makes me feel hungry and I'm still on a highly restricted diet. I did much better during the colder weather with cups of tea. Now I feel strong urge to get a bit more to eat. To make sure I'm not mindlessly eating I am still attempting to distract and drink more water/tea. I am chalking it up to nice days.

Between now and the end of March I have a mini target of another 18 pounds. It will take a lot of work to achieve. Wish me luck.

-Anna in Michigan

The furniture work sounds interesting!

18 pounds in a month is incredibly fast. The recommendation is no more than 2 lbs/week which comes to maybe 10 lbs in a month.

Don't rush the loss ... slow and steady.

All the best!!

My current weight loss work is being overseen by a medical program with a dietician and a doctor. It is a hard start with difficult level of calorie restriction and medication to ensure I don't have other issues from the rapid loss. I agree that otherwise it would be too fast. This isn't any of the GLP-1 meds but it is me trying to get a very hard kick in the *kitten* as I work to improve my health overall.

If I was working on this on my own I would agree that steady slower loss represents safer and more sustainable practice.

-Anna

WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR FEBRUARY 2024

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