Spirited and Lively Older Women Thread

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  • QCA
    QCA Member Posts: 1,539
    edited November 2011

    Great news about your mammo, L_C!  Big sigh of relief for you, I know.  Mine's coming up at the end of this month, right after Thanksgiving. 

    Marybe, love you in your fangs!!  My DD and DIL are into Twilight, but I'm not, in fact haven't ever seen the show.  The Death by Chocolate cake looked to die for, that's for sure.  Chocolate is one of my vices and I always buy chocolate Halloween candy so I can eat it between doorbell rings, plenty of it too.  This year I must not have gotten enough or we had more kids (or I ate more) but by 8:15 we were out.  We're in a small development on a dead-end road and it must be a good trick-or-treat street since we always have caravans of cars with multiple kids in each.  The little ones are so cute, but by the time they're 6' tall I think they need to stop!

    My lasagna also comes in that red Stouffer's box but I do like to make homemade chicken pot pie.  Nobody likes it except me, so I rarely make it.  I do make a beef pot pie during the winter which is very good, out of left-over beef stew.  Just heat it and put a pie crust on top and bake.

    Kathy

  • Dilly
    Dilly Member Posts: 655
    edited November 2011

    Thanks QCA, it's always a bit of a scarey time on the mammos these days.  I appreciate your good thoughts. Sometimes I feel like I'm living or planning my life in 180-day increments... other times I'm just glad to have a life, and try to quit sniveling.

    We don't get trick or treaters, living out like we do -- the kids have a couple of community parties instead.  I miss the little ones, they're always cute. But as you say, the big kids need to find something better to do.

     We had a bit of snow Saturday night -- just enough to break off the biggest branch of the apricot tree we planted a couple years ago.  Apricot crops are iffy at our elevation anyway, but we had hoped to have a healthy tree to work with.Sigh.  At least the peach had lost all its leaves and withstood the extra wet-snow-weight.  

    Isabella, I didn't know you had so many hens!  How do you manage all that too?  I hope your new Alsatian settles in nicely.  My boy is a sable, much shorter hair than the normal "saddle" of German Shepherds, and he is an indoor/outdoor dog.  He sheds so much, and I am so glad to have wood floors to just dustmop but I sort of wish I had trained him to be more of an outside dog.  I just don't know how you manage all your creatures! I like your idea of phone shopping and having it delivered.  Believe me if we had that type of service, I'd do that.  We were in the shops on Friday afternoon (I usually go early a.m., figuring I'll miss at least the sluggards)... and it was so crowded and noisy I got claustrophobic. .. I wish you the best with your DS & family.  I haven't heard from mine in a couple of years and only get second-hand news.  Like you, I'm cutting way back on Christmas gifts - it's just reality.

    It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us.  Tight purse strings this year, and some imagination is called for. I wonder where my imagination went to???  I'm doing the family get-together -- just my DB & his family, but still....  Plus I'm doing our annual library group Christmas luncheon.  Holy cow I better get busy soon - as slow as I am, it'll take weeks to get ready.  The good dishes haven't been used for a couple years & all need hand-washed, etc.etc.  I do like to set a pretty table for a group, even if the food is plain.  I've been cooking for a family since I was 10 and get tired of it, but I don't like most store-bought or eat-out foods so I'm pretty much stuck cooking for myself.  

    Have a good week all - take care of yourselves; I hope each of you finds some improvement in something; and many excuses to laugh.

    and thanks for the nice comments on the pie.  It was good.

    edited to add: both pie-pix when I first posted, were big - almost screen sized.  Then I logged off (they were still "too big") and went away for a few hours and when I came back and checked back in, both pix were small.  Computer pixies at work I suppose.

  • lassie11
    lassie11 Member Posts: 1,500
    edited November 2011

    I'm working on an inexpensive gift for my grown up children.  There is a gadget at the office supply store that will translate slides or negatives into jpeg format (It was about $100). Now there is a reason for having saved in a somewhat organized fashion the negatives from the children's growing up years. Eventually I will be able to put it all on a flash drive or DVD so that they each will have in a very tiny format most of the photos from their childhood - instead of that great huge collection of albums in a cupboard.

    I put some tunes on the computer, have my coffee, my pjs and do some whenever I feel like it. If it isn't done by this Christmas, it will be by the next.

  • elimar86861
    elimar86861 Member Posts: 7,416
    edited November 2011

    My husband (gadget lover) got that for himself and transferred about half of our kid photos before quitting in the middle of that project.  May your project make it to completion!

  • lassie11
    lassie11 Member Posts: 1,500
    edited November 2011

    oh gosh!!  Here I was feeling pretty smug about my progress. It turns out that the organization of the negatives stops with 1986. Not at all coincidentally, that is when #3 child arrived.  From then on they are all jumbled in a cardboard box. Most certainly this project won't be completed for this Christmas!  I did manage to scan 30 years of my father's slides a few years ago and gave those ones to my siblings. 

    Next project after this is to figure out how to digitalize those old family videos. Clearly it will be some time before I get to that one.

  • Gingerbrew
    Gingerbrew Member Posts: 2,859
    edited November 2011

    Oh, I have my mom's photos and mine oh too many too many. I wonder if someone will do this by the hour or something? Then to go through them on line could be not such a huge job.

  • lassie11
    lassie11 Member Posts: 1,500
    edited November 2011

    It's  one of those things I do instead of knitting - or eating.  With the slide project, it was just a half hour or more as it suited me.

    Prior to that, my first project was scanning into text some old family news letters written by six siblings, their parents and some aunts and uncles weekly from  the late 1940s through to the early 1970s. I haven't ever printed it off as the whole document is a few thousand pages.  Eventually I put them on a CD, inserting photos from the times of some of the letters, and made them available to my siblings and cousins.  It took a few years to get through all of it because I was working at the time but it was interesting reading.

    It's easier not to think of how long the whole project will take but just to go at it when it's fun. If it ever gets to be a job instead of entertainment, I will shelve it.

    No doubt someone would do it for pay, but given the number of hours involved it would be pricey. I don't save every photo any more than every one of them made it to the photo albums.

    The ramble through family history is interesting to me.

  • 3jaysmom
    3jaysmom Member Posts: 4,266
    edited November 2011
    lassie; that sounds wonderful to me!!! im really so techno not savvy; im struggling to download my "present" pictures to my computer, and organize them!hahaha i DID manage to get some old photo's scanned into the comouter, but spen t ALL night trying to figure out how to get them into folders in Picassa. going by a book, is no fun! but, as i can't afford the lessons, and don't get help from my kids, i'll struggle till i get it im sure.........3jays
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2011

    Barb, Surely you are back from your cruise by now....are you resting up from it?

       3jays....what can I say?   And Isabella, you too, but at least your DIL invited you even if she did probably think you would not go because of pets and all.....the other child, well, maybe one day she will grow up or else be the talk of the town as the old women who dresses like a teen.  I am always inviting people for holidays since my family is so small and sister is so far away we never get together.....we are going to my Dad's this year for Thanksgiving and I will invite my single friends there and his cousin and I hope to use that weekend for decorating for an Xmas party at his house and sure do hope I am up to a party the beginning of Dec.   As of now, no treatment plan since the onco in TX is STILL waiting for the correct records and reports....I went there again yesterday and told them what he needed and just left the place really tired after having someone show me mounds of paperwork and what they sent.  In the meantime my imagination is going wild and I am feeling new aches every day.....now I have one under my rib cage and could not sleep on my side last night.  I had an appt with my financial advisor yesterday and told him what is going on....plan on working as much as I am able until the end of the year and then will apply for my SS and take money out of the IRA as needed.  I have resisted this for a long time, but think the handwriting is on the wall......I also need to see when I can get started with that other onco here at home.....hopefully he keeps better records than the current one..

    So far as my pics go....I have albums and boxes and drawers full of them and they are probably all going to end up in the garbage one of these days.  Anything from the last few yrs is in the computer.  I really do need to start cleaning out all those boxes of stuff in the basement. 

    Have a good day ladies.....today is my early day at work.    MB

  • Elisimo
    Elisimo Member Posts: 1,601
    edited November 2011

    I checked into having someone transfer all my pictures from the last 40 - 50 years into a digital format and the camera shop would charge $75.00 per hour which is way more than I could afford and there are tons and tons of pictures from when I was a teenager to the time when I had grandchildren and started using digital camera which was almost 12 years ago!  Now I just have about 20 CDs filled with pictures of each grandchild and famly groups.  At least those are fairly well organized.

    Marybe - so sorry you are having new pain issues and hopefully the new onco will be able to get everything sorted out and find the cause of your rising numbers.  I do wish that the current onco would get his act together and send the right records to the dr. at MDA.  Is there anyway the dr there can requset the specific reports and test results that he needs?  Seem like your asking them to sent information is not working.  There may be a request for records that you would have to sign for him to be able to request whatever he needs.  Or you could call the Medical Review Board for your state and tell them the problem and see if they can resolve the issue with your current onco's ability to send the appropriate records.  My prayers are with you my friend. 

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2011

     Oh thank you, Amy Jo, but even though I get disgusted with the office and their lack of organization, I would never do anything to get my current onco in trouble.....I think he's gotten a bit lax with me, but I still give him full credit for keeping me alive for  13 yrs after I reached Stage lV.  I seriously doubt that he knows half of what goes on in that office. I signed the papers for release of records several weeks ago, but the people in medical records just don't know what they are doing.  I think they may have finally gotten some info that was useful to MDA as I got an email from the doctor there tonight and he was talking aobut my alkaline phosphatase and how it had risen, but then dropped on Xeloda  and he is thinking maybe the Xeloda still might work if given in a much higer dosage .....guess I was getting a low dose, although it seemed like a lot to me.  

    A lot of the election returns are coming in and it looks like we may be getting a street car here after all.....I myself think that is the last thing the city needs as it has a lot of other bigger problems.  It will be nice to not come home to an answering machine full of political messages every day. 

  • BarbaraA
    BarbaraA Member Posts: 7,378
    edited November 2011

    Oh Marybe! I missed you! And I missed all of you as well. It was a great cruise/ Well. until Sunday night when we had 15 foot seas that lasted until around 8 on Monday night. Yikes! Our room was in the front and when the bow would slam down, it sounded like the boat was falling apart! It rocked so bad, I felt like I would roll right off the bed. Didn't get much sleep Sunday due to the noise and fear of falling. Turns out, this turned into a hurricane. Nice. Anyway, it is great to be home. Here is a pic from the first formal night. This is my wedding dress, by the way.

    Here is the bar in our living room.

    The living room

    The dining room

    Unreal. Now back to reality and work. UGH!!

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited November 2011

    Looks wonderful Barbara!! I remember your pic from last year on the stairs going down. It's a slow way for us to get a fashion show from you, but we're patient!

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2011

    And I thought this cruise was not to be as lush as the last one!!  I have only been on riverboat cruises and one Alaskan and on none of those did I have a room any larger than my kitchen !!  I know you had a wonderful time.  Not too many can still fit into their wedding dresses....that in itself deserves congratulations. 

  • SoCalLisa
    SoCalLisa Member Posts: 13,961
    edited November 2011

    Hi everyone, I am back from the BCO Chatters get together in Florida, what a wonderful experience to meet so many of the ladies I have had the opportunity to chat with over the many years..

    For each of my boys 40th birthday I make a collage of their photos I have taken over the years, one more to go...

    It is so good to be back home and my own little bed..

  • jazz3000
    jazz3000 Member Posts: 188
    edited November 2011

    Well welcome home SoCal. Happy to hear you had a wonderful experience and your life has been brightened by it. Yup! Our beds - Our comfort zone. Have a great day.

  • Gingerbrew
    Gingerbrew Member Posts: 2,859
    edited November 2011

    Barb it looks wonderful Sorry about the weather you ran into though

    Lisa how wonderful you got to meet the Florida girls. Someday I hope to be able to put people with their on line persona together. 

    Dog story. I was on the phone with AT&T and needed the checkbook to change my auto pay to a WA credit union. I go into the bed room, unzip every pocket on my purse and not finding the checkbook there I go off to the kitchen. A few minutes later I am sitting in the living room still talking to AT&T when I hear, tear tear crunch crunch. I hurry back to the bedroom and here is my poodle puppy emptying my purse out onto the bed. Yes, I was still on the phone with Brian at AT&T, he was starting to feel like a member of the family today,  

    I should just stop getting purses with lots of zippers. I always think I will be better organized  with zippers but I never ever remember what I have put in which compartment! 

    Have a good day, we actually have some sun here!

    Ginger

  • momoftwo526
    momoftwo526 Member Posts: 151
    edited November 2011

    Ginger:

     Too funny about the dog and your purse!  I probably shouldn't laugh, cuz my dog will probably pay me back in kind!

    BarbA:  Wow, you do travel in style!  I have only been on one cruise, but our cabin was very small. 

    Marybe:  Thinking of you!  Hope you start getting to the bottom of things and get the right dosage of drugs.

    Phyllis

  • Isabella4
    Isabella4 Member Posts: 2,166
    edited November 2011

    Barb. So pleased you enjoyed your cruise. It sounded fabulous. I wouldn't have enjoyed the heavy seas tho'. Think I would have had to be sedated ! Back to work for you now !

    Ginger. had to laugh at your poodles antics. The puppy chewing is the only thing that gets me about dogs! Luckily my breed aren't really chewers, so don't have much of a problem....they just empty waste paper bins, and kitchen rubbish bins...sausage dogs, that is...they have fantastic noses on them and are always sticking them where they shouldn't. My Cavaliers are just not chewers at all, don't often get any trouble from them. ( they just leave me little puddles, if they are that way out, EVEN THO' the doors are wide open, and they can get into the garden pretty much when they want....very lazy dogs !!)

    Phyllis, how are you doing ?  Taking it slowly ??  Thought not !!

    Isabella.

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited November 2011

    Isabella, can you litter-box train a small dog? Our last cat is so old that we buy cat food 2 tins at a time. The only way we'd replace the 4 cats we are just finishing with would be with a small lap dog. I don't like the high-maintenance on dogs, but if it was litter-trained......!?!?

  • mostlymom
    mostlymom Member Posts: 466
    edited November 2011

    OMG Barbe - you made me snort at the screen with that one....

  • chabba
    chabba Member Posts: 5,065
    edited November 2011

    barbe, I had a friend that lived in an apartment complex who trained her dog to use piddle pads in  litter box.

  • 3jaysmom
    3jaysmom Member Posts: 4,266
    edited November 2011

    my little chiuhauas' use piddle pads.. my divs is blind now, and has no interest in going out, unless she's in her carrier.. she spends most of the time now, in my bed. DH mur, gets her up in the morning, locks her in the kitchen, says " pishy pishy" and she goes on command.. she knows she's getting cookies as soon as she does...

        Glad you're home safe and souund, Barbara.. getting caught in a huurricane is no fun, in those big boys.. i have motion sickness for sure, everynight they blow the " ballisters?SP.. so, i would'nt have had fun..

        i thought they turned around and avoided high seas//// the suite, of course, was just as i knew it wojuld be.. congrats fitting into your wedding dress. it looks wonderful on you!.......3jays

  • Isabella4
    Isabella4 Member Posts: 2,166
    edited November 2011

    Barbe, I have never had to litter box train a dog....but understand it can be done. I start puppies off with piddle pads, then graduate to shutting them outside 'til they perform. Unless the weather is attrocious I always have an open door ( tho' I know I am wasting heat I have paid for !). The dogs have their own conservatory off the kitchen, opening out into the garden, but some of them prefer to just use a corner of the conservatory !!! I am prone to screeching at the top of my voice when I catch the perpetrator....but there are certain ones who will walk about crosslegged before they'll do it anywhere, and those who don't give a damn, and will do it where they please....just like humans ?? I get very mad with the 'bad' ones if I catch them, they will run like h*ll to get outside as quick as they can....so they know exactly what they are doing !!

    Isabella.

  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited November 2011

    Huh...piddle pads! Kind of like a period napkin...how many piddles does it hold? Do you have to replace it every day or does it hold a couple of piddles? Do they have crap carpets? or shit sheets?

  • Isabella4
    Isabella4 Member Posts: 2,166
    edited November 2011

    he he he Barbe.

    The piddle pads I use are specifically for training puppies. They are about 18"x 18"  deep padded disposable paper sheets....some more absorbent than others. Depends how the puppies take to it as to how often you change...or how long you can stand the pee smell ! I usually place pad on a same size sheet of plastic. Some puppies won't go anywhere else, some will have a fine old time tugging it about, then go do it on the doormat !  Time and patience, time and patience. ( I have all the time in the world, but NO patience ! )

    Isabella.

  • Dilly
    Dilly Member Posts: 655
    edited November 2011

    Barbe, you are funny.

    Between Ginger's delivery guy peeing in the bushes & the dog training, I've been laughing....

    My DB & SIL have small dogs & use the piddle pads for everything. 

  • 3jaysmom
    3jaysmom Member Posts: 4,266
    edited November 2011

    Yes, Barbe, they do have a green astro turf thing for dogs to go on, here.. my Diva the little blindie wouldn't use it though, its a little raised from the floor!!!she thinks ANYTHING  on the floor is where ahe's suppossed to go.. so, the piddle pads in the kitchen are perfect for her..

       we just found a dollar store that carries them, for cheap; so, they both piddle on them.. she , however, although never trained to "go" outside, will only (mostly) poop by the front door.. which is tile, so ok.. a BIG  surprise, if you don't look before walking in, though...aaarrrgggghhh....3jays

  • SoCalLisa
    SoCalLisa Member Posts: 13,961
    edited November 2011
  • Isabella4
    Isabella4 Member Posts: 2,166
    edited November 2011

    3jays...I know that feeling of aarrrgghh when you walk in the front door.!!!!!!!!!!

    I fight a losing battle with my dogs. I have been out all day and they have been locked up from 10am until now 5pm, and, my, things smell sweeter when the dogs are in the kennel !!

    My little dog died, at 1am...so I got to bed and got a bit of sleep. All brought right back in my face next morning when I had to set to and bury her ...these dogs, they will do for me. She was called Kiri, after the opera singer Kiri te Kanawa.....her mother is called Kitty, and she will be next ( the one with the heart problem )

    Teatime now.

    Isabella.

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