WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2024

Good morning ladies!

First, sending WARM thoughts to you gals east of the Rockies and Midwest/East coast of the US. Temps in the teens and below 0F are tough. Looks like you are in the big chill for sure. Heard from my sis in N. Indiana yesterday, BIL is having knee replacement next week. So she's getting lessons in running the snowblower, getting firewood stacked next to the house and other tasks he normally does. Kelly and Beth - we haven't heard from you in a while, hope you are staying safe from that lake effect white stuff.

Heather - amazing what is lurks in our freezers. Glad the fish is OK! Your new cups are beautiful.

I made some "clean out the freezer" chili yesterday, found beef broth and several containers of sliced roast beef I'd stuck in there, so now there's more room. I have a bottom freezer in this fridge and usually have to get on my knees to really dig out what's hiding in the bottom basket.

Tracey - your cards are always cute. I'll bet people keep them for a long time and set them out as Christmas decorations from year to year.

Margaret - BRRR!! Glad to hear you got things taken care of at the other house.

Vicki - Christmas probably seems a lot different this year with not having to juggle around your work schedule. Beautiful decorations and the figurines your granddaughter painted are really nice. Good luck navigating Medicare, it can take some getting used to after being on company insurance.

Kylia - I love hearing about your kittens. I agree, it can be so hard buying for a spouse when they already buy what they need. DH and I used to do the "buy what you want and say it's from me" routine, wrapping and everything. Though I'd try to find a little surprise. One year I got him a back scratcher from the Dollar Tree and he loved that most of all!

Lisa - that's a neat online store. Your bags look great, hope you get nibbles and sales. You never know what people are looking for. Despite most of us being on tight budgets, I think there are folks with plenty of disposable income who would love to have one of these!

Diana - your bean meals sound great, I'm a bean fan too. Been there with the manager stress! Good that you are dealing with it early on.

Rita - your fur kids are so cute with the ear muffs. I can read their minds... "MOM!!!". There are a few of those little free book/libraries around here too, and I've dropped a few books off from time to time. Most of the time they are already jammed full, and kid's books seem to be a favorite. The ones around here were started by a retired librarian who wanted people to have easy access to books whether they had a library card or not. Nifty idea.

Allie - have fun babysitting Delia. You are so good with babies, you'll do fine. Will the daycare be able to take her then when she's a bit older? Did your brother find a place to live?

It's been a couple days of bad news health wise for neighbors and friends. Found out my old boss - who was a gem - has been in the hospital for the past three weeks with targeted radiation for metastatic squamous cell melanoma. Mrs. Roger is at her wit's end with lymphedema in one of her legs that refuses to get better and the providers in the area have given up on her. A good pal I used to work with has a swollen and painful foot since the summer - has been using a walker for months and also has been going to podiatrists, vascular surgeons, you name it. Getting scheduled for tests like MRI and vascular ultrasounds have been hard, guess everyone is booked up with end of the year stuff since they've satisfied their deductibles and this testing will be "free" or at least at minimal cost. She's very worried.

So I decided my foot problem is pretty minor - keeping up with the stretches is helping a lot and I'm back to doing some soleus pushups (SPU's).

Which brings me to - sweet neighbor C dropped off her annual cookie and candy tray. I'm not a fudge person so it's easy for me to leave that alone. Did sample the peanut butter rice krispie treats, the peanut brittle and a couple cookies. The first sugary stuff I've had in months. Everything was very good. That's another reason for me to resume SPU's - exercising the soleus calf muscle really burns through glucose.

If anyone wants an SPU refresher, here's Dr. Hamilton's instructive video: and for an in-depth explanation of how/why this works, here ya go: https://stories.uh.edu/2022-soleus-pushup/index.html

Today I'm going to oven roast some brussels sprouts and red pepper strips, and spatchcock another whole chicken.- it was a success several weeks ago. Found a smaller good quality one at Walmart a couple days ago for $5.77 that will give me at least half a dozen meals.

Lanette
SW WA State

Starting out at -7 degrees...I clicked on site to check temp at other home...Good to go!...I decided this was one of my Christmas presents to me because it makes my life easier...The woman who helped me adjust my internet passage thanked me for being such a nice customer to work with...I thank her for helping me get done what needed to be done and for being there! Unfortunately for so many who work in customer service they are working with people who are calling because they are already frustrated. I find I do get better service because I go in with the attitude I may just so grateful they are there to help me figure out the problem. I have also learned that sometimes when someone says they have to go talk to someone else and it takes longer than 5-10 minutes they are the wrong person to help me. I just hang up and try to call again. Press 1 now press 2. A sense of humor about it all helps at times too!

711711

Today is: Ding-A-Ling Day. 🤪

Hey, kiddos,

Trying to figure out a way to be productive with the various things I've got going on, to wind them together as a whole, and NOT to stress myself out over the whole conglomeration. Stress is just lethal to my gut and to my heart, and I'm trying to step verrrrryyyy carefully around both of them.

It's kinda weird - it's like having to work around a couple of very brittle, cranky co-workers that are family - reminds me of your situation, Kylia. It's like people I actually love very much, but find a little doolally, and far too easy to tip over. Don't want to anger either one of them, but do want to accomplish a couple things that very much need their continued input. Like... oh, breathing, and staying on this side of the bathroom door, among others. 🤞🏼😽😀

Thrown into the things I want to accomplish with the shop are working on putting up video (yes, still beating my head against that wall), working with the personal crafting for my family, and my part-time job of keeping up a house for two people--which admittedly, I have honestly streamlined to the point that it squeaks. Now it just takes a few minutes of each day, with a little more time for laundry and floors two days a week.

All that said - I know that I won't keep up with any system of organization that is more work to keep up with than it is to just do the tasks. Remember the big, long, tasks list? Yeah, I don't keep up with it. I just use it as a list to run through every so often to decide whether I need to do something. Sometimes, I remember to put the date I last did it. Most times, I don't. And I never put the due date for when it's due again. Those feel like hard deadlines, and make my stress levels go up when I miss them. I need to not do that.

I do keep looking at various apps, like Sunsama, Microsoft Lists, xTiles, and other productivity organizers like them. None fit my current need. Still thinking about whether there is anything that actually would work without me having to do more work than it's worth... Playing with monday.com now. It's very visual, which is helpful. We'll see if it works for me.

Carol and Rita and anyone else who went looking - Thanks for searching out the shop! I It's amazing how hard that was, in the emotional sense, not the technical sense, to pull that trigger. Almost as scary as putting my book up on Amazon. Soooo hard to put ourselves out in the public, for so many reasons.

Tracey - Your cards are just so lovely. Makes me want to go get a Cricut. I am resisting that urge. Don't need another craft. No. I don't. I really, REALLY don't need another one! 😽😀 Beautiful stuff, so well done.

Heather - Love your joy in those cups. Use them! Make new memories with them. You'll be glad you did.

OK, I started this hours ago, and have gotten quite a few chores out of the way. Heather's description of her hamper made me hungry. Time to make lunch!

Love y'all,
Lisa in AR, which is warming up fast! No fire needed this afternoon.

Morning all. Had a hectic few days. We finally took down our drunken rowan tree. It’s now piled up an the back lawn DH is chainsawing it into small lengths. We will
Take it to DED next time we visit. She has a log burner in her lounge.

No time to comment or read this morning as I have Latin at 10am.

🤗🤗🤗 and 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 for those who need them.

🙋‍♀️ céad míle fáilte to any newbies.

☘️ Terri

Pg 9