WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR APRIL 2025

Hey kids,

Got a video done, not sure I'll be happy with it, but will leave it sit for a bit before I decide. Working on a project too, of course, and staying inside to avoid the storm that split and went around us at 9 a.m., and may or may not do the same at 11 a.m. Hope everyone's doing OK that's in the path of it north and east of me, like Kylia and Ginny.

I worked myself silly yesterday outside, but it needed doing, and the rain is supposed to be on and off through the weekend, so I wanted to get the first mow done. Paying for the physical effort, but it was worth it. If the rain does show up, the wildflowers and grass would have been knee high by Sunday. By the time Corey gets home in the evening, he's too tired to do a two-hour job…

The physical part was less in the riding around on the big mower, and more on the outside work on the little house, at least the part that's visible from the road. Had to mow it with the walk-behind, too many things hiding in the grass that are invisible from the seat on the big mower. Will be able to maintain it with the big one, but had to get the first mow done at ground level.Still waiting on the city for the next move, but there are a number of things I can get done in the meantime.

Machka - LOVE the poems, and went and followed Bilston on Facebook. Wonderful humor in very tight turn of phrase. Really enjoying your 3D pieces. Love the treehouse in particular.

Lanette - Yeah, it's gone far, far past gutjob and on to teardown, but there are a few legal issues swirling around. For now, cosmetics on the bit that's visible from the road, and the rest will wait. A few months to build up a bit of cash reserve wouldn't hurt at all. If you look at the last picture, that's our wood privacy fence, and it will all be coming down now. Lots of work on Corey's and my part in the offing, but we'll get there, in the end. Just lots of "Patience, McGillycuddy," as my husband reminds me.

Ah, and I looked at the video, and it's a teardown as well, tried out a ring light that I bought years ago. I look like I'm from outer space. You can always tell if someone's using them by looking at their eyes in the videos - they have rings of light around their pupils. Very weird. And if you're wearing glasses, the bounce off of them is unbearable. Life is so hard as a YouTube sensation, you know. 😂 Maybe. I'll let you know if I ever get there… 😹🐈‍⬛👀

Love,
Lisa in AR

My school year group. 19 turned up.

LLove Heather UK xxxxxxxx

Heather-Yes, the less I go out, the more I don't want to. Although, when I do go, I nearly always have a nice time. It's just much easier to sit around in comfy clothes where no one sees me. Nice photos of your classmates.

Welcome, Janette in Phoenix. 15 pounds is commendable in that short of a time. Sometimes we hit a plateau and just need to change something about the routine to kick start the loss again. Don't give up!

Lisa-I think burning is the best solution for the house, unless you really want a big project. It seems overwhelming for me, but I am not a fixer upper kind of person.

Rebecca-I hope all goes well for your son.

Kay-Hugs to you. That's a lot of stuff.

Machka-I love those colorings. The 3D ones are very nice. I should try that. I like to color and I need something to do while watching baseball. I enjoy puzzles too, but I'd have to contort myself to do them with the house in such a messy state (there are no surfaces where I could put anything down) right now and I am having enough back pain already.

Sending melting wishes to those who still have snow. I can and cannot believe that's still happening in April. Though, we're having weird things too. We've lived in this house for 15 years and have been watching the critters for the entirety of that. This year we've had hummingbirds getting along and up to 10 at the feeders at one time. Usually they get territorial and chase each other away. We saw a finch eat the oriole nectar. And for the first time, I saw a tree squirrel in the yard. We have lots of ground squirrels, but I have never seen a tree squirrel out there. Also, for the first time, I have not actually HEARD the orioles. I saw a couple, but still haven't heard them. And it's been a cold, rainy, and much more windy than normal spring. It's been weird.

Tina in CA

Sending good vibes to you all, especially Kay. Wish you and your family peace in this difficult time.

Mo: Have FUN. Hope you playback hard as you work.

Speaking of work, I'm heading out the door to work my 3rd event in 3 nights. My glutes feeling it. Lanette I need to get back to using bands while walking. Thanks for the reminder.

Rori

Colorado Foothills

Dr. Katie when my husband died from self-inflicted illness, the doctor who worked with us and arranged for him to be taken off life support said "When a loved one dies, the reason does not matter. It is someone who is gone from us and our lives will never be the same." I experienced the same thing when my SIL died several years prior. She was a wonderful woman but sick with a disease that she could not shake. If people die of cancer or something like that they are treated better-but it is still a death.

Heather - your school group really looks good!

Waiting for another round of the storms tonight. Moderate chance of tornadoes. Storms currently predicted to start around 11-11:30. I am hoping I will sleep through them. One cat will go under the bed, the other will be in my bed.

Take care all,

Ginny in Ohio

Thank you all for your kind words regarding my SIL. Yes, Ginny, it is still a loss, and her husband and children will grieve - not only for her, but for what might have been if things were just a little bit different.

Michele, I am working out online with with Chris Sequenzia from Healthy Free Life Academy every week-day morning at 9:00. M/W are the advanced workouts and they are rep based, T/Th are the "beginner" workouts and they are time based, and F is Cardio day. They vary slightly from day to day, but the exercises on a given day stay the same throughout the month, but progressing each week with a few more reps or a few more seconds. It is essentially a warm-up followed by 3 or 4 rounds of sets of 4 different exercises - 2 upper body and 2 lower body, then a cool-down. You sign in 20 minutes prior to 9 to see a demo of each exercise and get your equipment set up. Today, for example, we did kneeling lat pull-downs, squats holding dumbbells on our shoulders, then we moved the bands to the bottom of the door and we stood on one leg and pulled the band up and across our body, then we did 12 pushups followed by lateral high knees until the timer ran out. For the lat pull-downs we did 8 reps with one leg kneeling, then switched legs and did 8 more. For the pull-across ones, we just put one leg back with you toe slightly touching to work on balance while we pulled the band up and across. The M/W exercises take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. The T/Th ones are done in 30 minutes, and Friday usually takes about 45 minutes. Usually his wife does the entire workout online with us. He does some of it, but he stops and looks at us to be sure we are doing them correctly. He calls out our names and encourages us. He has all kinds of modifications if you have an injury that doesn't allow you to do a certain exercise. Honestly, these workouts are worth the cost of my membership, in my opinion. Yes, I can do them on my own, but I don't. Knowing the other women are going to be there gives me a level of accountability that can't be beat. i have always felt like I was not doing push-ups right, even with the knee modification. Today, for some reason, they felt right. I can tell my upper body is getting stronger. Hey! Who knows? Maybe I can do them on my toes in few weeks. I always do my planks on my toes and have no problems with those.

Welcome here!

I've been losing weight since the beginning of January, and have lost 7 kg (about 15 lbs), so we're on about the same pace and doing great!!

I've been thinking the weight loss is actually happening pretty quickly. "They" usually recommend going for about 0.5 to 1 lb/week. We're about 13 weeks into the year, so a little bit ahead of schedule.

Remember that working out is one of the many things that causes water weight gain. I am my lightest on Saturday mornings, then I exercise a lot during the weekend, and will be a bit higher on Monday mornings because of the water weight gain. Then I gradually lose that during the week.

If you're weighing every day, you may see a similar pattern.

Machka in Oz

Hi All;

I worked a ridiculous number of hours, today, nibbling on my mostly meat, nuts and cheese salad. The sheet-rocking fairies came while I was at work - so the bathroom and closet areas are now fully defined.

I am kind of excited - because in discussions with the contractor, yesterday, it came up that while they were re-doing the rest of the house, I would need a path in and out of my bedroom… so, I changed up the BR plan just enough to add a door where there is currently a window. It will open to a place that will eventually become a private walled patio area off the master bedroom. It will be lovely for the times that Texas allows us to be outdoors in comfort. I have always wanted to have that space, and now I am going to. Whoot! a walled patio with some raised planters so I can have some viney flowers growing overhead for shade. Maybe wisteria? I will find the perfect thing.

Machka - the poems are fabulous. I sooooo feel the "no news day" concept. HEAVEN!

Jeanette - Welcome. DO NOT STOP. Remember - if all you EVER do is get stronger - that's a big win. There is a lot more to life than wearing a size six. When I was working out and doing the whole exercise thing - I felt so PROUD - and carrying groceries, moving around, was so much easier. I even built my own fence in the backyard - because I could, and I didn't have ten thousand dollars to pay someone else! But, the point is - it's a new life - not a diet. You just have to keep on living it and it will all shake out in the end. I kick myself over and over for losing all that I gained in muscle strength - and as soon as my house is done - I am back to the gym!

Michele - they make some auger bits that you can put on a drill that will at least break up the soil so you just have to scoop it out of the hole… you just drill it in 3 or 4 times in the space you want to break up. Other than a backhoe - I can't think of another tool… For the tile or flooring question - I just don't know, yet. We are going to do a 3D imaging thing so I can get a feel for how it will all look - whatever flooring is in there, there is going to be a lot of it - because I am going to have kind of a "great room" concept - Kitchen, Dining and sunroom will all be one big open space. I think. We'll see what the 3D imaging shows. Since the space will open into the back yard - I may want to go with super cleanable and practical… but, we shall see. For once in my life - I am splurging on what I really want - and having somebody else do the heavy lifting. I may just decide I need stone or some other fanchy thing. Who knows? We'll have to see what the budget allows.

Love all you guys - but, I have sworn to be in bed by 1am latest, so I am going to knock off, here.

Hugs and Love

Re in TX

Morning ladies

Just waiting on Dan to pick me up another ride to Yale clinic and I think one more monday..and then hopefully down to once a week and I can go to Old Saybrook

Mo- im not supposed to drive for 6 weeks,still have a few weeks to go