Gettin' Old Ain't for Sissies

[Margret]

My cardiologist prescribed some socks "available by prescription only" that I'm supposed to wear to bed, to cut down on the edema in my legs.  Turns out they aren't prescription only; they're not only available OTC in just about any pharmacy, they aren't even behind the counter in the grocery store pharmacy, so you can get a pair even if the pharmacist isn't there.  The brand name is Jobst, and these are the white knee socks.  There are also some tan "nylons" style knee socks; those are terrible.  They crease quite painfully at the front of the ankle.

The ones he prescribed had to be washed a couple of times and stretched out with my hands before I could put them on without pain, but now I wear them pretty much constantly, at least in the winter.  I splurged (and I do mean "splurged" -- these things cost $40/pair!) and bought two pairs so that one pair could be in the laundry while I'm wearing the other.  And they have cut down immensely on the edema.  I'm finding it difficult to feel sorry about splurging (though I do regret the money I spent on the tan ones.)

Margret

 

[ganesha0]

Water weight counts.  Especially as far as your feet are concerned!  I've managed to drop 40 pounds over the last couple of years (and without any major changes other than switching from sweetened tea to just tea with lemon, WHO KNEW?)  Celebrate EVERY OUNCE!  I get a little tickled when I hear "just water weight."  We've been led to think that, somehow, water weight isn't a real thing, as if there were some secret water resevoir separate from our bladders, where water weight is stored and that it isn't part of our body mass.  Nope.  It is stored in our cells, including fat cells, and bulks us out as much as the fat cells do.  It is, to be sure, the easiest to get rid of, but it is every bit as "real" as weight from stored fat cells.  YOU GO GIRL!

Not tea.jpg

• Mamanyt1953
• Mar 11, 2017

I am SO in touch today!

Is that a Devon Rex?.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I'm not entirely certain, but either a Devon Rex or a Cornish Rex.  The differences are subtle.

 

[ganesha0]

I'm not entirely certain, but either a Devon Rex or a Cornish Rex.  The differences are subtle.

Looks a bit more like a Devon to me. Any way, either Rex is extremely affectionate and sweet.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

We had snow here this morning!  In southern coastal North Carolina, that's a BIG DEAL!  Well...it fell, and lots of it, but up until yesterday the temperatures were in the 70s, so it didn't even stick to the trees or the car tops.  However, it was SO lovely to look at!  I sat out on my porch with a cup of coffee and watched it fall, and even went out on the walk to let it kiss me.  I stayed until Hekitty was pawing the window and yowling for me to come in.  She was right.  By then my socks (yes, I was out in my sock-feet) were soaked and my hands were numb.  I may pay for this later, but it was so worth whatever happens!!!!!  

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

 
We had snow here this morning!  In southern coastal North Carolina, that's a BIG DEAL!  Well...it fell, and lots of it, but up until yesterday the temperatures were in the 70s, so it didn't even stick to the trees or the car tops.  However, it was SO lovely to look at!  I sat out on my porch with a cup of coffee and watched it fall, and even went out on the walk to let it kiss me.  I stayed until Hekitty was pawing the window and yowling for me to come in.  She was right.  By then my socks (yes, I was out in my sock-feet) were soaked and my hands were numb.  I may pay for this later, but it was so worth whatever happens!!!!!  

No sock feet...  Take care of yourself.  We can't afford to get sick. LOL not funny really.

I'm looking forward to the snow tomorrow.  I"m all set.

I can't believe that you got snow before us. wow. lol

smooches to Hekitty. Be well - and put shoes on. hehe

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

 
Water weight counts.  Especially as far as your feet are concerned!  I've managed to drop 40 pounds over the last couple of years (and without any major changes other than switching from sweetened tea to just tea with lemon, WHO KNEW?)  Celebrate EVERY OUNCE!  I get a little tickled when I hear "just water weight."  We've been led to think that, somehow, water weight isn't a real thing, as if there were some secret water resevoir separate from our bladders, where water weight is stored and that it isn't part of our body mass.  Nope.  It is stored in our cells, including fat cells, and bulks us out as much as the fat cells do.  It is, to be sure, the easiest to get rid of, but it is every bit as "real" as weight from stored fat cells.

I'm not trying to second-guess your knowledge of anatomy, but I don't think it's really water.  Remember when you got your first cat?  At first she wasn't allowed up on the table.  Later, you relented so she could stare out the kitchen window, and you'd just wipe the table down before supper, and not allow her on the table while you ate.  As time wore on and more cats arrived, you were no longer so finicky.   You'd still look at the butter dish cross-eyed, checking for stray hairs, and back then you actually picked them out before fixing your toast.  Fast forward a dozen years or so to sitting there at lunch trying not to disturb the cats while you ate as much of your grilled cheese sandwich as the cats would let you.

Old age has come to all of us, or we wouldn't be reading this thread.  You no longer feel the need to examine every morsel - there's no need... you know there's cat hair in it.  Now give this a little thought.  Cats cough up hairballs.  You, on the other hand, have never coughed up a hairball.  How long have you had cats?  Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years?  Now don't get me wrong - I love reading your posts - but, "water weight?"  Bless your Heart.  That's not water weight - that's just cat hair.

.

 

[artiemom]

@2Cats4everLoved  I was swallowing some water while reading your post. I very nearly spit it out, Laughing!!  

so funny!

 

[arouetta]

Oh no!  It's happening!

Went upstairs to do the laundry, looked at the clock in the bedroom, 2:30pm.  Said "Oh no!  I've got to start the stew right now.  Even on high it'll still be 4 hours."

Went downstairs, grabbed the crock pot liner, chopped up carrots, chopped up potatoes, dumped some frozen peas in.  Opened the fridge to grab the stew meat.

And saw the spiral cut quarter ham that I looked at around 12:30pm and decided I'd be making that for dinner instead of crock pot stew.

Oops.

Since everything is already cut up, I'm wondering if I can leave it on all night and make the meat super tender or if I should put it in the fridge and start it in the morning so the veggies don't dissolve.

(Btw, why does my bottle of bay leaves have a shaker top?)

 

[Margret]

 
Oh no!  It's happening!

Went upstairs to do the laundry, looked at the clock in the bedroom, 2:30pm.  Said "Oh no!  I've got to start the stew right now.  Even on high it'll still be 4 hours."

Went downstairs, grabbed the crock pot liner, chopped up carrots, chopped up potatoes, dumped some frozen peas in.  Opened the fridge to grab the stew meat.

And saw the spiral cut quarter ham that I looked at around 12:30pm and decided I'd be making that for dinner instead of crock pot stew.

Oops.

Since everything is already cut up, I'm wondering if I can leave it on all night and make the meat super tender or if I should put it in the fridge and start it in the morning so the veggies don't dissolve.

(Btw, why does my bottle of bay leaves have a shaker top?)

I think I'd leave it till morning.  Overcooked veggies are horrid.

Your bay leaf bottle has a shaker top for one (or both) of two reasons:

1. Somebody decided it was cheaper to make only one kind of lid.
2. No matter what we may call them, they aren't "Senior" moments.  They happen to everybody.

Margret

 

[Margret]

 

 
We had snow here this morning!  In southern coastal North Carolina, that's a BIG DEAL!  Well...it fell, and lots of it, but up until yesterday the temperatures were in the 70s, so it didn't even stick to the trees or the car tops.  However, it was SO lovely to look at!  I sat out on my porch with a cup of coffee and watched it fall, and even went out on the walk to let it kiss me.  I stayed until Hekitty was pawing the window and yowling for me to come in.  She was right.  By then my socks (yes, I was out in my sock-feet) were soaked and my hands were numb.  I may pay for this later, but it was so worth whatever happens!!!!!  

No sock feet...  Take care of yourself.  We can't afford to get sick. LOL not funny really.

I'm looking forward to the snow tomorrow.  I"m all set.

I can't believe that you got snow before us. wow. lol

smooches to Hekitty. Be well - and put shoes on. hehe

It's been dry and warm and windy here.  March is supposed to be our biggest month for snow in Colorado, but this year we've barely had enough to measure.  The rose bush I planted summer before last has already begun leafing out and I'm watering it (with a watering can) every day, because it has no place else to get moisture.  If I use the hose we'll have frozen pipes when we finally get an end-of-winter blizzard.  All our big weather alerts lately have been about high fire danger.  The temperature this Saturday is predicted to be 80º!

Margret

 

[arouetta]

 
The temperature this Saturday is predicted to be 80º!

Margret

80 in March.  I can beat that.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=23188&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

This was how I spent my Christmas Eve in 2015.  And it wasn't even the warmest place locally that day.

Usually it was chilly to downright freezing in late December in that area.

 

[di and bob]

I wish summer would get here so I can maybe sweat some weight off, it looks like that is the only way I can lose weight. What happened to the good old days when those few pounds you gained during the winter disappeared by summer? Oh wait I forgot, old age! My husband and I were walking into Menards after an hour long drive and a BIG cup of coffee, and i was saying "boy. I need to hit the restrooms first" He replied back "same here, oh wait I'm going now!!! I laughed so hard I almost didn't make it, that was mean!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

 
I'm not trying to second-guess your knowledge of anatomy, but I don't think it's really water.  Remember when you got your first cat?  At first she wasn't allowed up on the table.  Later, you relented so she could stare out the kitchen window, and you'd just wipe the table down before supper, and not allow her on the table while you ate.  As time wore on and more cats arrived, you were no longer so finicky.   You'd still look at the butter dish cross-eyed, checking for stray hairs, and back then you actually picked them out before fixing your toast.  Fast forward a dozen years or so to sitting there at lunch trying not to disturb the cats while you ate as much of your grilled cheese sandwich as the cats would let you.

Old age has come to all of us, or we wouldn't be reading this thread.  You no longer feel the need to examine every morsel - there's no need... you know there's cat hair in it.  Now give this a little thought.  Cats cough up hairballs.  You, on the other hand, have never coughed up a hairball.  How long have you had cats?  Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years?  Now don't get me wrong - I love reading your posts - but, "water weight?"  Bless your Heart.  That's not water weight - that's just cat hair.

.

Somewhere, SOMEwhere, I have a counted cross stitch pattern of a big, fluffy cat lying on a shelf with the legend, "In this house, cat hair is a condiment!  Your post has reminded me of it...must find and make it my next project!

@Di and Bob   Ya know, I really have to be careful reading hear!  I almost wet my own britches on that one!  Your Bob sounds like he has a wonderful sense of humor, which is the MOST important quality in a man (or anyone else, for that matter) in my book!  

Yeah, I've reached the age where Always pads are frequently on the shopping list.  Better safe than damp!  

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

 
@Di and Bob   Ya know, I really have to be careful reading hear!  I almost wet my own britches on that one!  Your Bob sounds like he has a wonderful sense of humor, which is the MOST important quality in a man (or anyone else, for that matter) in my book!  

That's absolutely true.  I'm still mad at myself for making the wrong choice when the Lord appeared to me and said, "take your pick - you can either have cats or a sense of humour."

.

 

[Margret]

 

 
The temperature this Saturday is predicted to be 80º!

Margret

80 in March.  I can beat that.

https://www.wunderground.com/histor...reqdb.zip=23188&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

This was how I spent my Christmas Eve in 2015.  And it wasn't even the warmest place locally that day.

Usually it was chilly to downright freezing in late December in that area.

1. It's not a competition (not that I believe you think it is).
2. That was 2015, just over a year ago.  In both cases, this is a symptom of global warming.  Colorado has been in a drought almost the entire time since 1990, and it's getting worse, not better, which is deeply worrisome.  Even more so because, when we do get a good, drenching rain storm in the summer, if it falls on a burn area (increasingly likely every year) we end up with floods and mudslides.
3. This is a thread about growing older, not about global warming (although, as we age global warming is also becoming an increasing concern, and we're all old enough here to remember what it used to be like).  I only brought it up because everyone else was talking about their weather.  I wonder whether we should be starting a new thread about global warming, or perhaps about environmental issues.
4. 
     And I also remember, in the early '70s, seeing it snow in Glendale, CA in August (very minor, very localized flurry, melted immediately) and getting a fairly major snowstorm in Denver on the 4th of July.  And that's just an old person remembering the "good ol' days."

I am now off for the evening; too many things that still need doing.

Margret

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

To keep this on topic, it's gettin' mighty cold here, and we've crossed the eighteen inches of snow barrier.  If any of you know where this button is located, wouldja please push it?

global.jpg

• 1CatOverTheLine
• Mar 14, 2017

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL...As I get older, I keep thinking more about the weather.  Blame it on all the aches and pains.  I think we all do.  It really isn't THAT far off-topic, you know.  Feel free to discuss anything that affects us, tickles us, maddens us so long as it applies to getting older and isn't wildly controversial.  We'll save those for IMHO.

 

[DreamerRose]

The weather really does have an impact. My hands got cold one night when I slept with them out of the cover. They ached all the next day in spite of arthritis med. Now I sleep with gloves on. Seriously.

 

[artiemom]

Oh yeah, weather  really effects my shoulder, knee, and sometimes wrist, fingers.