Pentagenarians & Beyond: W?B 10/30

Deb, at least the doctor is willing to think of other ways to work with this and some alternatives. Hopefully this helps you out. Here is a link to the stew http://www.noshtastic.com/beef-and-butternut-squash-stew/ I will be out to the school early tomorrow.

Valerie, leveling would be tough. The stones will be so much better as the retaining wall. I never understand how these programs and apps pick up on things. I was sinking my phone with the computer to download pictures and the reports that my doctor had texted to me so that I could get copies right away. I had pictures that I had deleted from text messages and photos and even magazine covers show up in my photos. I deleted them all from the computer download and went back to see if I could find them on my phone. They were not there. It is so weird. When I go to settings and try to block it from automatically doing some things I get this warning that I may mess up how the phone is supposed to work. Mentioning climates and homeless people reminds me that my husband said there was a lot of homeless people living up and down the beach in Hawaii. He was staying there for 6 months before they sent him to Afghanistan. He mentioned that the weather was never too cold or too warm so that was a good place for them.

Carolyn, I have several different recipes for chili that are similar to a stew. One has bacon and butternut squash in it. I made an interesting one that had pineapple in it. I was surprised at how good it actually tasted. The Wild Diet has a chili that uses beef stew meat and ground beef in it. I was just looking at Paleo OMG and she has a beef stew with butternut and sage in it. The recipe may be in one of my cookbooks of hers. I probably have looked at it before but bypassed it because I didn't have wine to put in it.

Lynda, it doesn't seem to take much to pick up skunk odor. Just running over a recently dead one can stink up the whole house when you park in the garage. My daughter had her dog tangle with a skunk and then run through the doggie door into the house. They had to work to get the smell out.
I have the 20# weight vest. It makes my neck and shoulders hurt when I wear it very much. I got it when I was doing STS. I think maybe it irritates the degeneration in my neck that I now have verified from the neck ct scan. Still I think it is better than putting a really heavy dumbbell over the shoulders. I used to do LIS a lot too. Most of the low impact step workouts now include some weights to get the heart rate up. That is okay once in awhile but when so many of the low impact workouts started using light dumbbells to get the heart rate up I figured there would be more overuse injuries of the shoulder area. I really try to avoid this somewhat. Low Impact Circuit cardio only premix is not too bad.
 
Back from our ride, 26 miles. 2 hrs 20 min.
Yes Lynda, you are right, mental health is a big issue too. I remember thinking this homeless business was a 'California" problem. we always had a few winos in downtown seattle, but now there are thousands of people scattered mostly up and down along the interstate. lots of people camp/sleep under the freeway because it's dry.
driving the freeway, it's getting to look like a third world country along the sides. traffic is so awful now that one has a good opportunity to see the details.
When we got to the parking area for our ride this morning, two vehicles were acting suspicious and we think we interrupted a drug buy. it's endless! I'm getting very good at looking at license plate #'s and writing them down. saw multiple homeless people and panhandlers on the way to the trailhead. it's so routine these days. depressing and seems like no solutions that work.
 
Good morning,

No workout yesterday, not a good day. I am only taking the meds every other day, to wean myself off of them. I hope that is not a sign that I can't go off. I have had many bad days even while on the meds daily, so I am trying to convince myself that this was just another one of those days. There are not many "good" days anymore.

Valerie, no sense keeping a food log....everything I eat seems to bother me, and I have been sticking to a low acid diet for over 2 months. With the homeless etc problem you have there, I can understand why you would want to have a home in another area.

Carolyn, I forgot all about the tri-set workouts in the Low Impact Series. Maybe its time I looked at my DVD's again. I would think that the meetings and support would help as well.

Lynda, good that the combination of peroxide and baking soda worked. I think the soaking in a tub helps too. Most times a bath for a dog is just a spray down, soap, and rinse. No changes in my diet that I can pinpoint. It could be related to stress, which I don't feel I have. I mentioned to the DR that I had a stressful job for 42 years, then retired. Why am I having effects from stress now? He jokingly said maybe I have to get a job.

Diane Sue, great workouts! too bad about the DVD and freezing. I didn't know you could take them in to be fixed. Thanks for the recipe link...it looks really good.

A workout, maybe a nice treadmill walk to get me back into it...

Any plans for the weekend?

Take care,
 
I am back from grandparents day. I was delighted when my 16 year old granddaughter came to her brother 5's grandparents day and hung out with me. She was taking pictures for yearbook. When they did the picture with the grandchildren I had both with me in it:) I plan on doing high reps lower body in a little bit. Maybe some yoga or stretching too. No cardio today. I don't want to have to go get another shower.

Deb, I am sure that it has to be frustrating still having the bad days. Maybe it is not too much acid and something else entirely. I wish you could find what works for you. I had one of the Cathe dvds that has 3 workouts on it freeze up like that and I mailed it to a dvd repair place. It cost me 7 dollars and it came back looking and working like new. I think that Family video does it for something like 5 dollars. I am going to check on it. I also think I saw someplace that you can buy a device to do it yourself.
 
Hi everyone--

This morning I did live You Can Do Anything for a Minute (50 min.). I really like this one, probably because it gets everything done--cardio, weights, upper and lower body.

Deb, I really hope you get some kind of a breakthrough on this. How frustrating! If anything is causing stress, it's the heartburn and not knowing what to do about it. Glad you enjoyed the photo. Kim put out his night camera, triggered by movement, and caught him with talons out on a descent. All the chickens are gone now, so no more worries about predators until the spring and the first batch of chicks.

Diane Sue, a 20 lb. vest would definitely be hard for me to handle with a 30 lb. barbell on top. Grandparents' Day sounds fun for everyone. I wish I knew a place I could take this DVD I bought when I was down at Rancho la Puerta. It was made by one of the instructors I liked--very dancy--so I brought it home and it froze after 20 min. I even had a hard time getting my dvd player to eject it.

Valerie, I vaguely remember hearing or reading that a lot of Californians were moving north where a lot of tech jobs with Microsoft were available. I guess the homeless decided to go as well.

A Rural Lands dinner on Sunday, but otherwise a quiet weekend here for me.

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
This morning I did 35 minutes of spinning followed by a short stretch. I ran a few errands after that. I've been craving something with pumpkin all week so I am making pumpkin butter now. I will add a couple of tablespoons to Greek yogurt. I'm not ready to bake anything with just the two of us here.

Hi to everyone.
 
I finished High Reps Lower Body premix, 36 minutes, 160 calories. I usually would have gone heavier but I did not go all that heavy. I started out with the 25# barbell, then 35# for the squats. I decided it was too much for the neck and shoulders so switched to 15# dumbbells. I stayed with this for everything but the deadlifts that I used 20's for and where Cathe used 8's I used 10's. My neck has been much more painful since the lymph node biopsy. I read up on it yesterday to see if all of the pain and bruising was normal. Supposedly it is normal although I already have degeneration in the neck and some of the lymph tissue had bits of cartilage in it. I don't want to do much in that area till it all heals and then I told my doctor I want to address what I can do with it. I have been doing some reading on it myself an some gentle traction stuff off of the side of the bed and lying along my foam roller rolling side to side. That seems to help. I like the upper stretch that Suzanne Bowen does as well. I did that yesterday and I think the spot where I do not see her switches sides is where she reaches an arm across while in child's pose. I swear she does not do both sides. My sleeping positions are bad. I took some more water out of my Chiroflow water pillow so maybe I won't roll my head forward and down from the side. It really hurts and the bad side of the neck is the side I tend to sleep on. I try to stay on my back but always wake up hurting on my side.

Lynda, I can take some of the weight out of the 20# vest. It has always been uncomfortable on the shoulders and neck though. It is like all of that weight is pulling down on it. My husband has a big 20# vest as well. I don't know where it is though. It is more like a jacket without sleeves. Mine is like Cathe's. Really I can use 25# on the barbell and wear the vest and use the 2# weighted gloves and get quite a bit of weight without putting a barbell up overhead and placing it on my shoulders though. I am just not so sure about the safety of that. Grandparents day is always a fun event. They set out tables in the halls full of pastries and cookies with coffee and juice. The media center is always packed with grandparents and children purchasing books. I do wish they didn't add all of the toys though. It takes away from choosing books together when the child wants to head for the toys and plead for that instead. Most of my grandchildren has a love of reading. I watched all of them and took them to the library all of the time. We read together and we entered the summer reading programs just like I did with their parents. This younger grandchild likes books but gets sidetracked with the toys. Also my preference it to pick a good story and not one from the latest children's movie.
That is great that the college encouraged those that used the Weight Watchers Program. One of the doctors offices that my girls worked at offered monetary incentives for those that went to the gym. The other clinic some of them worked in had a drug rep that did boot camp groups all of the time and a lot of the staff would do it. Although I could never understand why the drug reps would load them up with junk food and there was always jars of candy in the office. I guess they finally quit buying the favor of the office with food and junk though.

Carolyn, I meant to mention yesterday, that I hear you on planning your trips for those events. When we lived 100 miles away I planned ahead to come and stay so that I could be there for the event.
 
Good morning,

Yesterday I did an iTread treadmill walking workout, only 30 minutes but it felt good and I had a better day. I think I need to force myself to do a workout because it seems to help with the rest of the day.

Diane Sue, maybe you can post one of those grandparent's Day pics here? Good to know about that DVD repair....if Family Video does it that would be pretty convenient. It sounds like maybe you need to try a different pillow for your neck.

Lynda, agree, the stress is "self-generated" and I need to find things that relieve it. Going off the meds is a big relief to me. I have been worrying about being on them, and probably causing more heartburn. If you still have that DVD, maybe you can take it one of those places that Diane Sue mentioned.

Carolyn, pumpkin butter..mmm...sounds good. :)

Agility this morning, and I want to get some grooming done on Kylee before we go....then later to the paint store and to pick up the light I ordered for the kitchen....

Take care,
 
Good morning ladies!

Been working a lot of hours. We have a new menu coming out so all hands are on deck between, training and marketing materials. This menu will be great. Our new ceo is bringing the food back to when our company was great. He brought back our original chef to help out. Love that he does not have an ego and just wants the company to succeed.

Been keeping up with my workouts...been doing SB's challenge and a few of JS my fitness pal workouts. Also threw in some jumping. I really love my jumpsport and very happy I bought it. It really takes the jarring impact out of your joints while getting your heart pumping. I still love my Cathe high impact workouts, but like to have options.

GiGi is exhausting! She is doing better with Nilla and awesome with house training. She has so much energy!!! Like having a 2 year old running around the house.

Deb...I always feel better after I workout. Glad it is not anything serious and the doctor is trying different things to help give you relief.

I have a 10lb Cathe vest Imbought years ago. I never think to use it! Need to pull this out.

Lynda...Oh poor Max! We had a collie that was sprayed. Took forever to completely get the smell out of his coat. Hope Max is smelling better by now! Thanks for the review of Legs on Fire.

Carolyn...I bought a spin bike a couple of years ago and hardly use it. This is the one peice of equipment I do regret buying. I enjoy it when I do but never get to it. Now that the cooler months are here I'll make it a point to do a few. :oops:

Valerie...the wall looks great! That certainly looks like a really strenuous job. But boy it looks awesome. Rock em is a great workout I can see how one could pull something. Glad no issues this time.

Diane Sue...I think I mentioned I may have a Keli Roberts Urban rebounder dvd. I haven't seen it in a while so I may have sold it. After a while I forget what I have sold off. If I can't find it I assumed I sold it!

Have a great day all! Hi to Judy, Josie and Caitlin!
 
Here is a link to the place that I mailed the dvd to years ago. I believe I read about it Cathe's forums. http://rubberdisc.com/
It is only around 3.00 a dvd but I think there is shipping and handling. Also looking up stuff most dvd rental stores have the system to wet polish the dvds. Family home video pops them into it when you purchase previously viewed videos before you take them home. No workout yet. I was looking at some barre workouts on fitness blender and thought I might do one of those with some cardio today. I did not sleep much last night. I did not get to bed till after midnight and at 2 am I woke up to a rumbling and vibration. There was a fire truck behind the house next to ours and the rumbling was the ladder moving back in. I am not sure what was going on. The back fence where the road is is very close to our bedroom. There was no siren though.

Deb, I have tried different pillows. Maybe someday I will find the right one. I had a foam one with a dip in the middle. It was too tall. I still have a down memory foam one that I put away when I bought the Chiroflow water pillow. It has been the best so far but takes some work getting the amount of water that works right for me. I had a doctor years ago suggest that I just roll a towel up and put under my neck and use no pillow. It did not work because the towel would end up on the floor or somewhere else in the bed. I generally find that a workout even a light one makes me feel better. If I wake up with joints hurting I try to avoid taking anything till I see how I feel after a workout. Generally I do not need anything. I am not sure about digestive issues though. I think it helps the lymphatic system so it should help a lot of things. They will mail me the picture with me and my grandchildren. I just have one of my granddaughter with her camera and one of my grandson off playing with friends instead of enjoying the grandparents other than the original hug and going to get a cookie and that sort of thing. Maybe I will post those for now.

Carolyn, I am afraid of pumpkin butter :) I bought some at Sprouts and that jar did not last long. I mixed it into yogurt with some vanilla whey and it was wonderful. I just couldn't stop eating it. I do not mind a little sugar once in awhile but I sometimes get carried away when I start using it. BTW I am glad the m&m's snack packs from Halloween are gone now. They are not conducive to health and healing. We had no trick or treaters and grandchildren were not around so I ended up snacking on them.

Lori, that is exciting that you are working on a new menu and changing things up. There are two different Keli Roberts Urban Rebounding workouts in the URX-MT set. The one I did is my favorite of the two. Each instructor had two different ones. I have the format and moves of each written down. Some are a lot more aggressive with jumping off and on the rebounder than others. I think there is only one that does not jump off and on the rebounder. I also have one that uses special tubing that clips to the rebounder that is used for a circuit workout. I have my favorites in the set. Keli Roberts are probably the least aggressive and lowest calorie burn.
 
Hi Ladies,

Sorry for not posting often. I have been in a rut lately and don't know how to get out of it. I have been doing my usual workouts, but it feels like I'm just going through the motions. It will be 3.5 years since I retired in December and I feel like I need to do something else with my life :(

Deb, so sorry that you have not found relief. My DH is taking less of his acid reflux meds and what has helped him is the workouts with Karina and him loosing 20 pounds. Do you like yoga? Maybe that would help you with the stress. Getting a new job would not be the answer to your problem ;)

Valerie, we have a large population of homeless people around Venice and Santa Monica. They like the weather and will not move. I feel sorry for the people that have bought expensive homes in those areas.

Diane Sue, my DH is always looking for a comfortable pillow. The last one we got cost him $250.00, but it has a guarantee and so far no complaints.

Lori, I like your new boss. Bringing back the menu that worked is a great idea. Gigi sounds like handful.

Garance, I love workouts that work your whole body and take care of the cardio to. That is why I like bodypump.

Hi to Judy, Carolyn and Caitlin!

Josie
 
We did a hard hike yesterday. 6 hrs 38 min. it's about 7 miles RT, 2900 foot gain but it is way harder than it sounds. It is a very very rough trail with in incredible tangle of roots, mud, water and many downed trees to get over. the footing is atrocious. the upside is it's not busy. were the only ones there. I think it's the only way we will get away from the hordes. most of it is fairly steep with a few flatter sections scattered throughout. it is pretty much like climbing up and then climbing back down, and my arms and shoulders get worked HARD too. It was nice but I don't like to work that hard. I'd rather hike on a trail that's less demanding so I can enjoy the process rather than only the little time on top.

think my Bosch DW.... the one I've spoken about lovingly... I think the heater died...AGAIN. we had it replaced in the first few months we had it, so covered expense. it is less than 5 years, and unless there was some odd glitch the last 2 days, it's not heating the water again. it is only about 4 years old. I run it once most days. I'm running it right now so I can be awake and check to see if the water is heating but I'm almost certain it's not. dishes were very wet and last night I checked it at toward the end of the cycle, and water was room temp.
the electronics have a 5 yr warranty but not sure if the heater is considered part of that.
Lori when you do as many different things as you, you're bound to have one or two that sit idle. our spin bike doesn't get used much during better weather, but now that it's wet, it becomes regular again.

Skunk is one of those smells that stays and stays. I can smell it just thinking about it. Hope max turned out fresh as a daisy.

My thoughts on pillows are feathers are best. I like several fairly flat pillows so I can arrange them the height I like. all foam and synthetic ones are too thick and high and give me a head and neck ache.

Josie we posted at the same time. I remember long ago all the homeless people in California. I always thought the wet weather here would prevent that but guess what... it's NOT working.

DW is DOA. I am not happy.
 
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This morning was my hair appointment then lunch. It finally looks and feels like fall around here after the 90 degree days last week.

Lori, I don't use my spin bike as much as I used to, but I am trying to work it back in to my plans more frequently. I agree with Valerie, you have such a wide variety of equipment and workouts that something must get pushed aside for a while.

Valerie, quite a hike. I am surprised to hear that your Bosch dishwasher is giving you problems. I thought that was a very good brand. It seems that appliances are not made to last very long these days.

Diane Sue, I know what you mean about commercial pumpkin butter and sugar. A few years ago I decided to try making my own for better control of ingredients. I like the pumpkin and spices and much less sugar than the brand that I buy from Williams Sonoma. This morning I added 2 TBSP to my oatmeal. I am always looking for the perfect comfortable pillow, but haven't found it yet.

Josie, I know what you mean about getting in a rut with your routine. Did you try the yoga studio that you mentioned?

Hi to Lynda, Judy, Deb, and Caitlin.
 
I looked back in my old records. Bosch made the repair guy replace all the electronics before they let him replace the heater, because 'heaters never fail". he ended up coming about 3x to get it done because had to get all the boards and finally the infallable heater. in the end, it WAS the heater. Great. so it lasted 4 years. no way will I spend $400 to fix it.
Carolyn, Bosch has the best service record of any maker according to CR. that is still a 9% failure rate. I don't know if that means any minor malfunction, or flat out not working, but it's not heating the water.
I don't especially want my appliances to last 25 years... so many improvements in that time.... but 4 years for an $800 DW is pathetic, especially as it's the same part that failed in the first few months. It took me longer to figure out what was wrong the first time, but I knew the signs this time. things were very wet in the morning, and cycles ran way onger than expected.

I rotate thru exercise equipment using one to the exclusion of others, and then moving on.

I read about Honolulu having similar homeless problems with people sleeping in beach areas and annoying tourists. they moved them somewhere away from prime tourist areas, but they are just "relocated", not gone or housed. I don't understand where all these people have come from.
 
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Today I did Tracey Staehle's Steady State Step, 56 minutes, 411 calories. I then did Jessica Smith TV lower body barre blast, 15 minutes, 30 calories. I ended with Barre Amped Strength and Stretch ball stretch and relaxation stretch, 23 minutes. 50 calories. Workout was 94 minutes, 491 calories. I tried posting those grandparents day pictures through tapatalk and they were full sized huge pictures. I will try later or wait till the pictures taken come in the mail, as these are just the ones I took with my cell phone.

Carolyn, I think making your own pumpkin butter is a great idea. It would be nice to control the sweetness. The spices do a lot for it on their own. Pumpkin butter would be yummy on some steel cut or thick cut oats.

Josie, I think working or not working we can get stuck in what feels like the same old rut. It is just finding that interest to get draw ourselves out of the rut. I have never spent 250.00 for pillow. 50 is the max I have spent. My brother and his wife got those my pillows. They like them, but I did not see anything special about them. My daughter likes her almost flat pillow. She says it is getting really old but she can't find another flat pillow to replace it.

Valerie, I don't think that they make anything to last very long anymore. Cost of repairs is way more than it is worth to try to fix them. We put a new control panel on our Maytag ourselves which saved a lot of money. I wish we could figure out fixing our microwave convection oven. One of the door switches needs to be replaced. Reading and trying to figure it out looked difficult because it is also the vent hood, so it would require a lot of breakdown. The fan in it runs when you open the door. I checked by putting water inside to see if it actually heated anything or was just the fan. I would like my appliances to last at least a good 10 years. My dryer is very old and thankfully it is in a cabinet because it is blue. I thought maybe it bit the dust here recently, but I guess since my grandson was using the electric hedge trimmer, it flipped the breaker switch. I wondered how those homeless people got to Hawaii to settle in the first place. I had mentioned that to my husband because he said they were not all people from Hawaii originally.
 

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