[meowee]

It is that time again . . . a fresh new month and a fresh new start . . .

GOLDEN GIRLS

We are about Fitness and Quality of Life after 50...
We are about Fun and Friendship after 50...
We are the Golden Girls...

There is Value in us
There is Power in us
There is Wisdom in us
And Laughter....
We are a rainbow of unique wonders,
There is love in us.
(poem by Dorothy Holmes)

Tell us a little about your life, family and goals. What keeps you motivated? What is the best thing that's happened to you since you past the 50 mark?
Friends laugh, cry and stand by each other, we'll be that to you!

[meowee]

Good Morning . . .

I woke up feeling quite a bit better this morning (stomach-wise . . . but now I'm sneezing a lot ). Thought it might just be a great day for a little shopping since I've been housebound since Wednesday -- but then I looked outside and then I heard the weather warnings -- six inches of that gorgeous, fluffy white stuff is predicted for the day along with cold, dull, and very windy. Guess I'll put that idea aside at least until tomorrow. It's never a good idea to be on the roads during the first major storm of the season.

KAREN . . . I tend to think of the Gazelle as a cheaper, beginner-level elliptical. If you take a look at some of the reviews in the "Fitness" area of 3FC, you'll notice that time and again, the girls comment that you pretty much need to get an upper-level elliptical for it to really be any good. Someday, I'd like to get one -- but I'm a long, long way from outgrowing 'Gadzella' just yet.

MICKEY . . . I agree that posting stuff on here in the 'Challenge Thread' seems to help me, too. Whether or not one for December will be a go remains to be seen since it is such a difficult month and November really seems to have fizzled out for most of us, too. Think we will let Lynn decide.

DEBBIE . . . Good to hear from you and hope the pain dies down really quickly. Have fun with the DGD's.

LYN . . . Glad to be hearing from you, too. Although my ticker reflects a pretty good November, overall, I imagine it is lying right now because of the last few days. Such a tough time of year coming up too.

MARYLYNN . . . Will be looking forward to eharing how you aced the marathon.

Hi there to everybody else, too . . . I discovered some interesting little food-related quizzes in my in-box this morning and put a link into a separate thread. They are pretty interesting and one sort of just leads into the next, so I hop you all get a chance to try some of them.

Better get going. Hope to see you all later . . .

[the slim me]

Good Morning ladies, I looking forward to coming here every morning and seeing how all of you are doing. I do still feel like the "new kid on the block" but I am getting to know all of you a bit better. I am learning all the time how you do things too. I didn't know untill now about the chalenge. Exactally how does it work? Linda mentioned we may not do it for Dec.?

Lynn, I need a hair cut too. And I need some color to cover these gray hairs trying to stick up. Where did they come from?

Cathy, Welcome! Junp right in and start posting soon. I looking forward to getting to know you,

Linda, I'm glad you are feeling a bit better. Hope that the sneezing doesn't lead to anything else.

Karen, Isn't it funny how we still try to medicate with food when we get sick. My husband gets sick and he loses weight. I get sick and gain. I guess that's what sets us apart and is part of the problem. You can tell you're getting sick when you start craving chips. i know i'm getting sick when coffee doesn't taste good any more. And I know I'm getting better when I want a cup of coffee again.

Marylynn, YEAH for you Girl!!!! I'll be thinking about you running that marathon today and cheering you on! I've read also that the first step of aging is losing muscle tone. That is why weight bearing exercise is so important. And upper body muscle is the first to go. That is why I lift weights.

Lynn, I know you will fight that 3 lb. gain and do better this month.

Debbie, Good to see you back again. I'm sorry to hear that you are in so much pain and hope you feel better fast. Especially before those grandbabies get there. You know they expect a lot of attention from us grandma's (or for me, mema's). I know what it's like trying to feed them. i keep my 2 , 2 days a week. They are very pickey eaters and I have to plan my meals around them those days.

Mickey, I envy you girl!! I have only just began my shopping. Long way to go yet! We will just have to work extra hard to make this a "losing" month for everyone!

Everyone have a good day, Freda

[ladyinweighting]

Hi Everyone,

Happy December,

Hi Linda - Sorry you've been under the weather - literally and figuratively. Feel better. How are those kitties doing?

Hi Freda - You wrote - "I need some color to cover these gray hairs trying to stick up. Where did they come from?" You know, every once in a while, I pass by a mirror and am shocked at the old lady looking back at me.

I started out the day with good intentions - my df and I were to walk the canal. We got out there - did 15 minutes & decided it was just too cold (we were not dressed for the weather). Ended up with a 30-minute walk instead of our usual 90-minute one.

I have no plans for tomorrow - supposed to snow here in the morning. I think I'll just have a lazy Sunday.

About the challenge - I think we should skip December & have a great big one in January.

For November - the winner is - ??? I need to do some checking, but my guess is Linda (Meowee) is our winner. I'll post a separate message when I figure it out.

Happy Saturday,

Lynn

[meowee]

My biggest problem since I've lost some of my excess weight is (as I think I said in a very old post) that my triple chins are turning into 'turkey wattles'. I've been noticing more and more of those little sparkly hairs too, but they still don't jump out at me as much as the wobbling neck area.

BTW, FREDA . . . the really nice thing about the Challenge routine on Age 50+ is that everyone sets their own challenge(s) and then whoever manages to come the closest is the winner. The only group requirement is to post an update everyday. Look back through some of the earlier ones and you'll get the idea.

Well . . . this storm wasn't too bad throughout the morning but it is howling like a banshee out there right now. Can't tell if it's still snowing or just the older stuff blowing around. Whatever it is, I'm glad I'm not out in it. Better go feed the five hungry cats -- number 6 (Blizzard) is spending the weekend at the Vet's -- just his little neutering 'oppy', but when you've got five housemates to contend with, and a couple of them haven't completely decided if they like you yet, it's better to have a couple of extra days of peace and quiet to get back on your game.

See you all tomorrow . . .

[Dulaneycat]

Hi Everyone & Happy December!

Linda-Meowee we share turkey necks. My dad had that as well, did the plastic surgery thing and would you believe, it came back! I'll just ignore mine. It's a part of our charm! Stay warm & enjoy some hot tea.

Shopping? Oh dear. Maybe I should get started.

Freda have fun with the coloring. I'm seriously considering going natural if it's not too scarey. Am using rinses until the old blonde grows out. Been coloring since I was in my twenties & frankly, tired of it. Ultimately I'd like to have a decent head of platinum silver hair. My luck it's going to be a head of haystack but there it is. How's your back?

I DID IT! It took 6 hours & 45 minutes but I finished that Marathon! It was easily one of the top 10 hardest things I've ever done in my life but golly gee I did it!

Off to dinner in bed. Might not get out of it until sometime next week.

Everyone take care & have a wonderful evening! Consider yourself hugged.

Marylynn

[Karen31]

Marylynn!!! Way to go!! Congratulations!! Here is a right back at you! I too used to color my hair but I got tired of it about 4 years ago and just stopped. And Like you I hope to have a nice platinum silver color one of these days but for now it is that old "dirty dishwater brown with gray streaks" Still trying to hold out a little longer before I "help" it along to the platinum silver!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend--- you sure deserve it!!

[LindaD]

I can't believe it rained here on Friday and Saturday. We sure needed it. I even had the fireplace going. It's supposed to warm up next week so I'm enjoying the cooler weather while I can. I haven't been feeling well and had to host a woman's meeting in my home last night. At least my headache went away by the time it started. Everyone left by 9:30 pm and I put on my pajamas, took some medicine, and went to bed. Today, my ears are still stopped up and my head is hurting again but I didn't do anything but rest. I don't think I'll be going to church in the morning so I'll keep taking medicine and drinking hot tea. Hopefully by Monday I'll feel well. I can't miss work because I have a lot of work scheduled so I hope all this resting will help.

Linda: Congratulations on the win for the November Challenge!!!! I'm glad to hear you are feeling better.

Marylynn: You are so awesome! To finish a marathon and survive is a real success. I'm very proud of you. Your picture is beautiful.

Lynn: I also think we should skip the December challenge. I have so much going on and every weekend is booked at church, volunteering, Christmas parties, etc. I don't plan on gaining weight but I don't think I'll be losing much either.

I'm going to see the New York Rockettes next week at our local performing arts center. It's the first time they have been in Orange County. The show is their Christmas special so it should be good.

It's getting late so I should get ready for bed. Have a nice day tomorrow and I'll check back in on Monday.

[ellabella]

Well, maybe I should say that "I'm back" since I haven't been doing much besides lurking and a little blogging for a while now. Lots of stuff going on. Not great stuff - in fact, pretty unpleasant stuff when you come right down to it, but too much stuff for me to digest, let alone talk about.
Okay, there's good news and bad news . Good news is I lost three pounds.
Bad news is that I've mostly lost it due to stress. DH was fired from his job last Tuesday. No warning whatsoever - in fact, his last review was glowing, and he got a substantial payraise. For those of you who don't know (because there are a lot of new Golden Girls and I'm an old one), DH is a software engineer who worked for a major hospital in Manchester, NH. He's also 61 years old - will be 62 next August, which is when he could have taken "early retirement" but in fact wasn't planning on doing that. We live in Worcester, MA and I work in Boston. Between the two of us we make (oops - were making) a good income that allowed us to pay rather large mortgage payments on a house - the value of which was tremendously inflated - as well as travel, buy pretty much whatever we wanted, and live - while not luxuriously, certainly comfortably enough. But it looks like the wheel spun and landed on our number - and here we are with just my income, which is $25,000 less than his (was). He'll get a check for his "earned time" - something in the vicinity of four weeks pay, and he'll be able to roll his retirement fund over into an IRA - or collect the balance in one check, half of which will go for taxes and penalties for early withdrawal, which obviously makes no sense since he could access it without any penalties in eight months from now.
So, yeah. I've lost three pounds, but only because I've simply been too stressed out to eat. Simple stress - like a hangnail or something - tends to increase my appetite. It takes some very serious stress for me to LOSE my appetite, but lose it, I have.
Oh, we will most definitely be pursuing an age-discrimination complaint, but that's likely to take forever, and our dilemma is what to do right now. It looks like our best bet is to get rid of this house - my daughter owns a duplex which is empty on one side (she hasn't rented it our for over a year because she hasn't been happy with the potential tenants) and it's a very nice house - very nice apartment - and we could easily move in there and pay her a nominal rent payment until all of this is resolved. We've actually talked to a couple in their mid-thirties - friends of one of my DD's - who would love to take on this house and can most likely get a mortgage without any problem. We won't make any money, but we could walk away not owing any. So we may be moving very soon - like by the first of the year.
I was shocked at first - I think both of us were in some kind of stress-induced state of disbelief - but this isn't something you can sit on for too long adjusting to. It becomes a question of throwing good money after bad, so to speak. We don't want to keep paying $2000+ a month on a house that we'll ultimately sell to break even.
In the meantime, DH is certainly looking at other job possibilities, but let's face it - he doesn't have a lot of employable years ahead of him. And, he's not going to get paid at the rate he was making (another probable reason for his being let go was that they could get two+ younger workers for what they were paying him).
But, of course we're far from alone in this dilemma, after all. We'll manage. Everybody has to figure out some way to manage, after all. Life goes on.
So, I'm three pounds lighter - not going to change my ticker until it stays off for a week or so: who knows? I might overdose on hot fudge sundaes this afternoon and gain it all back.

I do need to check in here more often - I see that our Marylynn is running marathons now, and everybody's getting ready for the holidays.

My son will be flying in on the 20th, and I sure am looking forward to having him home for a little bit.

LindaD, it's good seeing you back, too! Sorry you're not feeling so well.
You too, Meowee-Linda. Hope you're both better soon, and I hope yours doesn't turn into anything nasty, Karen.

It was bitterly cold here yesterday, Lynn. If it was anything comparable where you are, kudos for doing the thirty minutes walking! I wouldn't have wanted to be out there for much more time than it took me to get my groceries loaded into the trunk of my car. The wind was SO strong that I could barely keep hold of the grocery cart getting from the store to my car. And frigid. Ugh. I hate the thoughts of another winter.

Hi Freda! I'm glad you're still with us! As for the hair business, I've always frosted mine pretty heavily, and now I'm getting enough whitish-gray (I don't know exactly what color they are, but they're light) hairs in the new growth so that it's blending pretty well with the frost, which has grown out maybe three inches. If it keeps up, I maybe won't have to put another frost on - just let it keep growing out streaked the way it seems to be doing. I don't think I'll ever go all silver, although I'd love it, but my mother stayed "streaked" until she died in her eighties.

Well, that's about it for now. Take care, Golden Girlies, wherever you are, and see you later!

E!

[ladyinweighting]

Good Morning Everyone,

Hi Linda (Meowee), turkey wattles/sparkly face hairs/wrinkes/hanging everything - what's not to love about getting old?
Hope Blizzard has a speedy recovery.

Hi Marylynn, completing a marathon!!!!!!!! How fantastic! CONGRATULATIONS on a GREAT achievement!

Hi Karen, I love your new little clock/temperature radio. It's a little early (reads 5:57) and a little cold (20F) for my area, but I'll bet it's just right for yours. VERY cute.

Hi LindaD, I'm so sorry to hear that you're not feeling good. Take care - get better so you can see those NYC Rockettes - they're fantastic.

It did snow/sleet here early morning - but less than an inch on the ground. My dd & sil want me to go to Brooklyn Acquarium with them - I'm leaning toward a day in my nice, warm condo.



I'll check back later,

Lynn

[meowee]

OMG . . . I wish it would stop with the snowing and blowing out there. Actually I don't know how much actual snow is falling anew -- but the few inches already on the ground keeps getting rearranged. I was up very early this morning and have just now gotten up for the second time. Hate it when that happens because my whole day is turned on its ear and then I never seem to get anything accomplished at all.

Awwww ZOE . . .

See you later, gang . . .

[Craftyone]

Ella! My heart hurts for you.....What a drastic change you're facing in your lives, and I know the stress must be overwhelming. I'm so glad you have options - that always makes things seem better, but still! Only 8 months to go for early retirement, and his company does this? I'm generally not in favor of law suits cause there are so many frivolous ones, but I really think you've got a case here, and I know I would certainly go for it. You're right - it will take years.

You know, facing retirement is stressful and full of enough changes on its own, but to have this forced on you before you're ready.....I just can't understand the inhumanity of it all.

[femmecreole]

Zoe, so sorry to hear of that news. I know what a desperate feeling that can be...went through something similar a few years ago. We lived through it and are once again ok (actually better than before), but we had a couple of VERY bad years.( How do you tell your daughter she can't have senior pictures made in high school?) Of course pictures were the least of it, but it hurt.(I had also paid about $700 on her senior trip and couldn't come up with the last $150 at the time...so she didn't go and I lost the 700) All you can do is what you can do...and believe it or not, laughter does help. The worst of the worst happened to us (won't go into detail) but we learned that you can recover from anything. I know you will be ok!!! Everything happens for a reason and there is a plan for you that may be the best thing that ever happened. One door closes...


hate to change the subject, but this is why I popped in quickly today:

Pretty exited! I went shopping for some (desperately needed) new
pants today and found a pair I really liked. Tried them on and they
were a size 8! (which was my goal)
In April, I wore a very tight 16. I'm thrilled. Not one bag
of Snickers or hot fudge sundae or bowl of fettucine ever tasted so
good as this feels.

[Karen31]

Cat, Congrats!!! Way to go!! I'm so happy for you!

Zoe, So sorry to hear about the job situation there. My goodness this has been happening to so many of us that it is really scary! I've been looking at this other thread "Short Chicks" and one of the ladies there was saying that we should just start our own thread! At least you have your daughters apartment to go to, that is really a blessing. We have so much equity in our home here that we can't afford to just let someone take it over and that is what is keeping us here for the moment. I'm just hoping that someone will come along and really be able to buy it so we can get on with our plans.

Well, just popped in for a minute. I'm going to pack up the wine glasses, china and my collector plates this afternoon. It's cold and windy outside so this will be a good day to do that.

Have a great day everyone and I'll be back later.

[glynne]

Wow, November got by and I never did get any personals done. Thought I might get to this weekend, but doesn't look I'm gonna get to do more than a couple right now ~ will have to catch up on the rest another time.

Marylynn ~ that is so cool that you did that marathon ~ way to go.

Zoe ~ I'm sorry to hear about your husband's job. Similar thing happened to Karen's husband. My husband felt like that was gonna happen to him (he's 55) he had seen his company make cuts and cuts. Sure enough this fall they told him his position was being eliminated. He feels angry with them though ~ when all was said and done, they had lied to him ~ they gave his position to someone else.

I'll have to do more later ~ gotta go.

Hope you all are having a good weekend.

Take care