WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR JANUARY 2012

:flowerforyou: Snow----Day 2----It’s not that snow is any sort of a novelty for me or that our snow is any more impressive than snow anywhere else, it’s that there are many “firsts” going on with this snowfall. It is exciting at age 65 to be enjoying “firsts”.

:flowerforyou: It snowed overnight and most of the day---not hard but steady. This is our first year in our new house/neighborhood and the first year that I’ve made a commitment to myself to walk the dogs for at least an hour every morning no matter what. It’s my first year with really good boots designed to keep my feet warm and dry and my first experience using a heart rate monitor to really see how many calories I burn when I’m doing something. So each day is a new adventure.

:flowerforyou: Yesterday Jake and I took turns with the shovel to clear the driveway and sidewalks. When we were almost finished, the shovel broke. We have joked about fighting over who gets to use the shovel, so today we drove into town, took the dogs to the dog park to run in the snow and stopped at two different hardware stores to buy “his and hers” snow shovels----mine is blue. We cleared the driveway when we got home, and they both work great…..and with both of us shoveling, neither of us has time to tell the other how they could be shoveling better. :laugh: The high temperature today was 27 so there wasn’t any thawing which should minimize the chances of icy roads in the morning.

:flowerforyou: I stayed in bed late this morning because I thought the roads would be icy after the brief thaw yesterday afternoon and woke instead to new snow and perfect conditions for the usual dog walk…….actually it was an amazing workout because the snow was deeper and we walked almost exclusively on the trails and meadows that had about seven inches of snow. I walk along the streets only when it’s dark and we need the light from in front of the houses to see where we’re going.

:flowerforyou: Mary, I love your dog. How big is she?

:flowerforyou: :bigsmile: Chiclet, glad to hear your good news……take it one day at a time and believe that there are good things in store for you.

:flowerforyou: Robin, I love the Rainbow Bridge story. Thanks for sharing it. We have many pets waiting for us.

:flowerforyou: Jeannie, I’m glad to hear from you and sorry to hear that your son is having more problems.

:flowerforyou: Genealace, I am so glad to hear that your furnace is finally working. When we bought our house, the furnace was 30 years old and we were worried that it would quit on us in the middle of winter…..do you have a fireplace for an alternate heat source?

:flowerforyou: Jb, thank you for the info about Omega 3…….I was so excited to read about walnuts because most of what I knew was cold water fish…….I got right up and weighed a serving of walnuts and had them for a snack.

:flowerforyou: Cathy, I loved the snow when I went to college in Southern Minnesota and lived on campus and walked everywhere I went and I love it here where I am retired. I did not like it when I lived in Maryland and had to commute to work.

:flowerforyou: SuzyQ, I have been doing an hour of financial paperwork every day….it’s a discipline like exercise and housecleaning.

:flowerforyou: I have a friend coming over in a few minutes so I’ll be able to sit and relax with her. She is following a careful eating plan so when she comes over we drink water and talk.

Barbie from NW Washington

January goals:
*keep walking the dogs for an hour or more every morning no matter how cold, wet, or snowy.
* do yoga three days a week
*100 squats a day