WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JULY 2025

Kay … Jasper is a cutie! Family drama is exhausting. Hope it settles down sooner rather than later.

Ginny … a tornado! Glad you are ok.

Tina … 70% increase in health insurance? My budget wouldn't sustain that without major modifications but I also wouldn't be without health insurance.

Celebrated my mom's 94th birthday this week and it didn't go as planned, but then when does it ever? My mom had digestive issues after eating the lunch we brought her (lots of sweet and sour cabbage), the dietary staff had been uniformed about the cupcakes (oh no! rolling eyes), aides were put out that the cupcakes were for the dinner service instead of the lunch service (shift change at 3:00), etc. For pity's sake. Honestly, this facility is usually more on the ball, but I think they were discombobulated with a Medicare/Medicaid recertification group that was on premises (which I learned they passed with flying colors).

Getting blood work done today before next week's doctor's appointment. Not sure what we'll see this time around. Since my son decided to get fit (he's losing on avg. 2.5 pounds/wk), we've all been eating healthier. I haven't been losing weight though.

Have a good weekend,

Beth near Buffalo

they have her named as baby girl. We won’t keep that name. Originally we had the plan making the next dog we got would be named boo boo.

, because we had yogi, like the cartoon character. Now that yogi is gone, I was telling Kirby we don’t have to name her that. Because we have Lucy, I mentioned that we should call her Ethel like the I love Lucy show, Kirby is down for that.lololol he now wants to call her officially “Ethel Merton Schlotterback”.

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Ange - If you can add a post, like you just did, you can add a pic as well. There are other ways, but I use copy and paste the majority of the time.

Terri - Happy 59th anniversary, dear friend! What an accomplishment!

Beth - Well done to your son! That's a lot to lose in a short time. Sorry your mother's celebration didn't go as hoped.

Margaret - You look lovely in that picture, very relaxed and very happy.

Tracey - Thanks for your comment on the purse. I'm looking at making some mini-granny square out of thin thread, I've seen some very cool patterns lately. I love the idea of what your brother's done in terms of a house. Michaela's just an old soul, born 50 years too late...

Pip - Absolutely love the idea of "Ethel Merton Schlotterback." Really loving all the painted pieces you post as well.

Michele - Love the woodie wagon…

Kay - He really is a cutie! Sorry, too, about family drama. I walked away from that a LONG time ago.

Barbara - Thanks for the compliment on the purse - are you still teaching an exercise class or was that a one-shot deal?

Dropping into a reasonable routine, where I go outside to water, and move it every ten minutes to another place - flowers, garden, Corey's patches of new grass, etc. While they're getting watered, I work with hand loppers and my little chainsaw clearing the space down around the old terrace wall we found under the jungle between the houses.

I only get about two feet cleared each morning that I'm out there, but it's better than not getting it done… It's too steep to put the tractor or the lawnmowers on it, so the original clearing of underbrush just has to be done by hand. The wall is probably 50 feet long, or so. So most of the rest of the summer at this rate… good thing I'm not in a hurry.

Before I started that, I got the sheets and towels on the line to dry, as well. Already 83 F at 10 a.m., with the "feels-like" at 96 (35 C) and that feels-like temperature is supposed to be well over 100 by mid-afternoon. Other than bringing in the sheets and towels, that's it for outside for me today! Going to finish cooling down, get in the shower and then do some more work on the two projects that are in progress. I'm making a pillow out of that same metallic yarn - it's unbelievably soft.

OK, getting uncomfortably cool as my shirt and pants are both soaking wet with sweat, and while the skin dries quickly inside, the clothes do NOT. Shower time!

Later, my dears,
Lisa in the breathlessly hot Arkansas River Valley

Terri - Many congratulations on getting to 59 years married! Enjoy your dinner out. 💝

I've been watching a lot of videos recently on 'elegant living'. Great fun, as we are not at all elegant. However, they have inspired me to get out my fabric dinner napkins, which I basically purloined by accident from various hotels when I was acquiring breakfast stuff for lunch. I've washed them, and I'm going to iron them, and use them next time we have a guest. I also burrowed in the wardrobe and found my grandmother's tablecloth, which has panels of handmade crochet lace. I hope I will get an opportunity to use it. It used to be on my dressing table in previous houses. I love napkins, and always have a paper one for meals, but fabric ones give me great pleasure in hotels and restaurants.

A small thing, but a bit of fun!

Love Heather UK xxxxxxxx

Last night I was going to go to my car to get something, came around the corner and there was a pretty SKUNK, eating the catfood dh put out at the garage door for the stray cats. Decided I did not need to go to my car that bad and turned quickly and went back in the house as the skunk ran under dh's car.

Last weekend when I was at mom's, I went to see my aunt who lives just one driveway from where we used to live when I was a little kid. House was torn down many years ago- it was condemed /well contaminated that is why we had to move and moved into my grandparents house for a year while we built our new house. They have really cleared the property- There used to be a huge pile of hop poles covered with blackberries. There was a pump house near the back of the property. It is still there.
Here is a picture taken almost 60yrs ago and one now- just the pump house is the same.I am the one in the middle

not officially here yet.

FRICKEN auto correct! Ethel Mertz, like Fred and Ethel of I love Lucy. We already have lucy

Heather: We ate at home. Smoked salmon with Melba toast, fillet steak with stir fry veg, and most of a bottle of Prosecco. We like cooking together, and it means we can both have wine. We did have a caramel cheesecake as a dessert, but were too full to eat it. (There were chocolate truffles instead.)

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

🙋‍♀️  céad míle fáilte to our newbies 

☘️ Terri

Worked then took the mower deck to be repaired. Finally Vince is admitting that the mfgr isn’t going to do anything. Went in the pool and when I came out, they had called saying that the deck was ready. We had to give them a $40 deposit. The guy talked about putting in a piece of metal and screwing that down. In the end it’ll cost us another $20. Hope this lasts for a while.

Then went to Lowe’s to get pool salt. One of the clamps broke (I think I told you) and we lost a fair amount of water(so therefore salt), so we have to put more salt in the pool Ordered two of the clamps

Terri - happy anniversary!

Ginny – how exciting

pip – two of our cats are Barney and Fred

Got things out of the exercise room, cleaned out the dressers in the downstairs bedroom. Vince feels that C is being a bit selfish, we’re doing them a favor and we have to disrupt our lives even more because he wants a king bed. Why he can’t use his queen mattress for a few months is beyond me. But the king bed can’t be put together until the queen in the downstairs bedroom is disassembled. Guess we shall see what happens.

Michele NC

I love it! If yogi would have still been alive when we got another pet, the name would have been boo boo

I do most of those things!

(Except use the toilets in the Hobart library … most library toilets are good, those are not.)

On entertainment - we watch "free to air" TV, but I pick up movies from OP shops that sell them for somewhere between $1 and $3. Also, my husband and I have gotten each other box sets of shows we like for Christmas the last few years. If "free to air" disappeared here, or when "free to air" goes through times when there's nothing on, we've got enough to watch without signing up for anything.

I also get CDs from the OP shops because often we like to have music on rather than the TV, and I really don't want to sign up for Spotify.

And I've started using Libby rather than buying books in the OP shop. I've never (or very, very rarely) purchased new books, but my OP shop book purchases were $1-$3 * 5 books a week or so for a while there ($500/year). Since I started using Libby about a year ago, I think I've spent about $10 on books but have read a whole lot more!

We haven't purchased alcohol since before my husband's accident 7 years ago, and not much before that.

At work, I use the coffee that is supplied. Some of my work colleagues go out once or twice a day and buy a coffee, but that adds up ($5/coffee * 5 days of work) = $25 * 52 = $1300.00.

I also bring my own lunch which costs about $3-$4, rather than going out and spending $10-$30 for lunch.

Visit OP shops and Tip shops for furniture and other household items. Our dining room table is a gorgeous antique, fold down solid wood table we got for $150 rather than the $500+ you see in furniture stores. We picked up a glass-top metal table for our deck for about $30 rather than $100+.

Grow your own food.

Eat a predominantly vegetarian diet.

Cut out cookies, cakes, pastries, bars of chocolate, etc. from the grocery list and diet.

Collect rain water off the roof (and from the sky) in a rain water tank for the veggies.

Plant drought hardy native vegetation rather than a lawn - saves on water and a lawn mower.

Cut back on the vitamin/mineral supplements and eat foods with those items instead.

Use solar lights outside - for Christmas decorations, for motion detection lights.

Use the bus rather than an individual motor vehicle where possible.

If you use a motor vehicle, park for free. I do drive partway to work, but then I park for free and take the bus the rest of the way into the city. The bus costs me about $30/month. Meanwhile, those who drive into the city and park there are paying about $300/month.

For a few years, gym memberships were $2000/year for the two of us. So we decided to spend the $2000 on a piece of equipment for our home gym each year instead. We bought a good quality rowing machine and treadmill, set up the bicycles with a Zwift system, and got a Pilates reformer and some weights equipment. Now we've got what we need for years to come.

Machka in Oz

Thrifty living: I do most of the things people have suggested. Being born just after WW2 we had rationing until I was as six. Many things were scarce and we were taught to make do and mend. My mother was constantly in debt, and I grew up determined to avoid debt, and have done so my whole life. I am hard wired to get value for money, and go for good quality, and happily buy quality second hand over newer less quality. I love a bargain and will always ask for discount under the premise’if you don’t ask, you don’t get!’

One downside is that we were also taught that you don’t throw things that ‘might be useful’ away. DH and I are currently working on changing that habit as we have too much stuff, (some of it waiting for repair’) that we will never need.

Our poor magnolia is putting out a second flush of buds. It’s obviously responding to our normal summer weather after the numerous heatwaves as spring weather!

Normal Saturday. Local shopping, chores, crafting, reading, watching TV, exercise yada yada yada ….

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

🙋‍♀️  céad míle fáilte to our newbies 

☘️ Terri