Post Chemo Spa & Shape Up

Hey Tina, Carol...nice to see you!!! Had a busy weekend.  A friend..an old friend that we had not seen for quite a while, died a week ago and there was a memorial party for her on Sunday at her favorite club...she died very suddenly.  Was dx'd with lung cancer just a few weeks ago.  Well it was a nice get together with old friends...bagpipes, photos (she was Scottish), and we made some new friends.  DH & I were her housemates years ago and that's how we met.  She was getting on in years so her death was not entirely unexpected and we're glad it was all overwith so quickly.

What a georgeous spring!!!  We have some enormous rhododendrun bushes blooming in two shades of pink, the purple irises are also in full bloom, more majestic than ever, and several lilac trees chiming in.  Remind me that June 1 is the most beautiful time to be in Michigan and never to leave  here then.  A great time to have people visit!

Hey Tina, like you, we did some drinking over the weekend, but things are much more under control.  We have a new rule...only beer at home, which is a natural break because I can never get more than one and half down at one sitting.  For special events...in restaurants & so forth where the tab is our budget, we can have nicer drinks.  Last weekend I had a shot of Quentro plus a shot of JB...my total for the evening in one glass.  Yum!!!  We call it a French kiss. 

Talked to Puppy too...she got her package and loves everything...I sent her one of my lacey vintage nightgowns along with some turbans and a long light brown wig.  She will be going for rehabilitation this week, but doesn't find out how/when/where until tomorrow.  Sends her love to everybody.  She sounds great, better than ever....she still has her stitches in and no hair and her head is too sore to wear even the turbans, and she sleeps almost all the time.

I'm can't wait to hear from Mary and to find out how her vacation went!!!

Time to check in, lovelies!!!

Leonora

XXXXOOOO

Hi Miz,

I am so sorry to hear about Puppy's set back.  I will keep her in my prayers.  Please tell her I was asking for her, she sounds like she is very strong in spite of all that she has been through.  Carol 

Hi everybody!

I've been off the wagon because my MIL has been visiting the last 2 weeks.  Every time I have house guests my diet and exercising routine gets messed up.  Must be my lack of self control.

I'm trying to do more water aerobics and yoga - school is out tomorrow for my 7 yr old son.  Luckily, I work out at the "Y" so he'll have something to do while I'm there.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Good evening ladies.

I LOVE it! Miz Linora, indeed very southern and very sexy!

I am so sorry to hear about Puppy's set back.  I remain convinced that she will be fine and when I next go to Pittsburgh I will stop in Morgantown and she and I will toast all with a first rate cosmo or margharita!

Last night I went with a girlfriend to see Sex in the City.  More power to those ladies for letting their 40 something faces be twenty feet high.  Crows feet, larger pores, blems and well, face it, they were still plain gorgeous and hot, hot, hot!

My friend PJ and I had two marvelous cosmos before the movie. Um, um good.

I finally got my garden into the ground.  The beans, corn and rudabegas are coming up and it looks like all the peppers and tomatos will flourish. The carrots and greens are finally beginning to take off.

Today I was pretty indulgent, a 90 minute massage. It was so very nice and the best part of it, a company perk.  Sometimes it pays to work for oneself.

Tina,

Glad to hear you are progressing with the buttons. Post some pictures when you are done.

Re triceps: I agree with Raye, push ups give you a lot of bang for your buck but lying on your back, positioning your shoulder and elbow at ninety degrees with a weight in your hand and extending your elbow is also pretty good.

Carol,

Are you finally well healed and able to exercise?

Cathy,

Glad to see you back.  I too love my MIL but wow, two weeks....

Let us know how the exercises are going.

Hi Tina, Casey...so nice to see you.  Can't believe it's already Saturday evening.  The weekends just go by to fast!!!

Tina, it is so cool to see a picture of you....you look like fun, just the way you are here.  Thanx for the new name...no more sissy wissy!!!  I'm a big girl now!!!

Casey, you know, in my whole life I have never had a massage because it seems so super indulgent.  But I know I deserve one, and you did!!!  What do we have here...a Workout Gal...like Jackie?   You can be my team leader anytime.  

I am worried about Puppy too.  Haven't talked to her since last Tuesday and and I don't know what's going on.  But I'll try again Monday.

That movie Sex in the City looks good...I'd love to see some 40 somethings being sexy!!!

Miz (Linora that is) 

Wow Tina...that's a lot of hair for one year.  My hair might be as long if I hadn't had a hairdresser chop too much of it off 3 months ago...!!!

The makeup thread looks like fun.  I'm going to check it out.

Lorina 

Hey, where is everybody?!!! It's a very rainy wet day in Michigan...Erik & I got caught in a storm last night about 6 miles from home on our bikes & came back soaked...but really didn't mind because the water cooled us off.  We're hoping the weather improves so we can pack the camper, which is sitting out at the back of our very wet yard.  Not a good day to go traipsing back and forththrough the yard with bedding & clothing.

Casey..there seems to be a real epidemic of BC going around.  I am so sorry about your swim coach!!!  I heard a similar story on Sunday; one of our closest friend's daughter has been dx'd.  And last week one of my husband's co-workers was calling me about his wife who got BC right after her first pregnancy.  I am wondering...what can this be?  Fertility drugs? 

Too much synthetic estrogen going around?

Tina...sorry to hear about how your family is falling apart, but thank your lucky stars it's affecting the generation before you.  I just heard that a marriage that was a big celebration in our famiy last year is now breaking up after about 8 months!!!  Every family has its troubles...as long as just a few of them survive and carry on the family survives...

Linora 

Hey Ladies...

I'm back from Up North as they say here in Michigan...had a lovely four day camping trip on the banks of Pigeon River, and I'm back here covered with mosquito bites and a few pounds heavier than I'd like to be.  Erik forgot his hiking shoes and it rained a lot; consequently, we spent more time around the campsite than usual...eating a little more than usual.

Casey...I just love your Route 66 idea...is there anyway we could join in?  Route 66 used to be a wonderful series on TV, about two guys traveling along, running into people, getting involved in other people's lives, traveling through life.  Maybe we could make a little web forum out of it...

Mary, are you back yet?  Where are your pix?

Well, my greatest concern now is something that happened to me last week, right before we left.  I was able to put it out of my mind for a few days because we were away, but now it's staring me in the face again.  We live in a very safe neighborhood, a very pleasant place where everyone is friendly and you don't have to lock your doors...well, I should have used the past tense, because I don't feel comfortable here anymore.  Last Wednesday I took a run right before dusk, alone, and a man stopped me, some new person who's renting one of the foreclosures. I stopped to exchange what I thought would be a few neighborly pleasantries, telling him who I was and where I lived.  He kept staring at my body and  moving closer to me and suggesting that I come into his house.  Each time I tried to take off running he called me back with some new ruse to get me into his house.  I came back one last time when he called me by name, and he asked me to give him a hug.  Then I took off running and spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out how to get home without going by his house.  I found a long way around through the golf course to another sub and back to my own sub...it was just so spooky.  The guy didn't technically break the law so I didn't make a police report, and I don't want any kind of retribution from this creepy person who now knows my name and where I live.

Well, I've got a few more pix to upload & I'll be back.  I was hoping to see some posts from Puppy, but I guess it will be a while before she's back on line. 

Miz 

Hey Tina...

Where *IS* everybody?!!! I decided I wouldn't post until someone else did.  Glad to hear about your buttons.

I've been thinking a lot about hair lately.  I actually love my new hair, short.  It's about 4 inches long and I pin up the back and let the hair around my face fall in curls, much more feminine than the long draggy style I had before.  I'm looking around for examples of the old hair-rolling updos of the 30s...anybody seen any?

Well, I have a new excuse not to run.  Last week I was afraid of getting raped.  This week I injured myself moving furniture alone at home one day.  I dropped a big wing chair on my chest, right next to my heart.  It hurt a lot.  I went to emergency and they x-rayed me and fortunately I do not have broken bones and I will not need open heart surgery.  I do have a lot of bruising & am taking round the clock Darvocets, and I am so sore in my arms I can't open the child-proof pill bottle.

I've been running into things a lot lately, furniture, corners, I'm covered with bruises.  Erik says I don't live in the present, that my mind is always occupied with abstract thought.  I think I remember people saying the same thing years ago.

HOW is everybody?  Mary, you must be back.  HOW WAS IT?

It's getting awfully echoey around here...

Lonely Linora

Hey Tina..

It was a pretty freaky accident, I was moving the chair across the entryway where we (I) had installed a beautiful tile floor and decided I didn't want the feet of the chair to scratch the tile so I was under it lifting it...And no, I haven't been running since that incident, or walking for that matter either.  Pisses me off!!!  Also, I am now afraid to go the workout room alone, for fear I might get stalked there!!

I've just got to lose weight.  I was up to 134.  I am biking and eating less and am now down to 132.  I feel like a fat machine.

So glad you're having fun being creative.  I just "discovered" oils and have been rearranging the house and getting things extra neat because I just have a feeling otherwise the oil paint may get everywhere...already got it on the car upholstery and a chair slipcover....Oils are fabulous!  You can do *anything*.....

You know, I may change my name back.  I still feel like Mizsissy. Miss your avatar!

 Linora

OMG Casey...what is going on with DH?!!!   I bet it has something to do with the fact that you have all this distance between you.  Close the gap my dear....I would hate to see you stressed out for any reason whatsoever!!!  

That resting heart rate is quite remarkable.  My heart rate is usually much higher than that, but I freak them all out with my low blood pressure (90/52)..and I had at least one gratifying thing happen with the chair snafu...when they took the xray they told me I had very large, healthy lungs and asked me if I was a runner.  Pretty good for a former smoker who used to have chest pains just taking a walk!!!

Tina...when do we get to see the buttons?  I will post a picture of an oil painting if you post some pix of buttons.

I don't know when we're ever going to find out about Mary's vacation...but I hope not too much longer.  We finally got our vacation plans set.  We're going to spend the entire summer at home, but in early September we're going to our favorite island off Maine, staying in a small room with a shared bath, cool temps, no electricity, kerosene lamps, dinner & breakfast on the house, and lots of hiking around the wild backside of the island.  And I'm enrolling in a oil painting workshop.  Erik likes the idea, because he just loves roaming about the hills on his own...

BTW, Puppy is doing just great.  She needs to sleep a lot and rest her eyes, so she can't spend much time on the computer, but she wants you all to know she loves each & every one of you. The next big hurdle is getting her head healed to the point that she can wear a scarf or wig so she can start looking like a human being again. 

Miz 

Hey Ladies...here are some retro hairstyles I found in an old Laura Ashley catalog I have....I think the idea goes back to the 30s.  Some nice ideas for soft, feminine updos for those of us with short hair (who used to have long hair)?  What do you think? 

Most of these are tucked low in the back, where the hair is either rolled up and pinned, or you can attach a false chignon...I just love this look 

Puppy, if you're looking I think you'd look nice in a do like this once you get a little hair back, maybe a dark blond or very light brown.  You can do these with or without bangs.

Miz 

Miz - Sorry to hear about your chest problems. I hope everything turns out ok today at the doctor.

Concerning hair styles, I typically always wear mine up, because it is way too crazy down; however, I cannot get my hair into the pretty styles above, as it is not long enough to pull down in the back. I pull mine back with a ponytail holder and try to hide that with a clip, a couple more clips and I am good to good. A few months ago, I had to use about 8 clips, now I am down to about 4. Here are some (which I think you've seen - if so, sorry) -  not great I know, but better than the hair being down (not complaining here, I am very happy to have hair).

 Edited to remove photos

Wow, isn't that Raye gorgeous?  Not just the hair.

My own hair is way too curly to get to look even like that.  I wish I could wear it in a pony tail but even if it weren't so curly, it is so thick and I-don't-know-what, it doesn't flop down like a tail but sticks out straight into the air!  The only pony tail I could ever manage is at the nape of my neck.  So annoying.

BUT, guess what?  I am going to the hairdresser today, in about an hour.  I am going to INSIST that he cut some of this curl off.  He has only trimmed about 1/2" so far and I think I am ready to let go of at least another inch.  I don't see how it will even look shorter; it's so curly now you cannot tell the length.  He says he LIKES it the way it is!  Damn.  I am sick of looking like Richard Pryor! 

Miz, I do like the old fashioned looks and they would be so nice for the summer.  They are so romantic.  Are you the fair lady type?  Romantic, lace, ruffles, etc.???  Dresses, not jeans?

Well, off to check into a couple more threads then off to my appt.  I'll let you know if any progress is made.

PS Just started a thread on outsider art over in Moving Beyond.  Anyone interested?

Tina - thank you. You are going to get some curl cut off? I wonder if it will come back curly again? I think your hair is simply gorgeous - just think, in a few months you have long flowing looser curls! Your cut will be beautiful, I am sure - are you just getting a bit of curl cut out and then the hair shaped? Show us a pic of those pretty locks when you get back. The do's that Miz posted are very romantic and pretty - not really for me, I wear mostly black fitted clothing, not too many ruffles or flowers. Simple. Some bangs are about as romantic as I get.

Wishiwere - Sweetie, of course you are allowed and are very very welcome - although we haven't been talking much about fitness lately. What kind of exercise to you do? sounds like you would like to build some muscle since you are thin? I run on the treadmill and do girl pushups! ha - I want to do more, but my inclination is not what it used to be.