Crone Cronies - Start Training for a Favorite Winter Sport - Extreme Hibernation 1/29

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Another cold morning, but it should warm up to a tolerable 20F by this afternoon. I’ll be visiting a co-op the same company I signed up for has just finished building. It will be good to walk through rooms of the same size I’m signing up for and to see their common areas. I’ll do my walk and stop for groceries afterwards.

Laura, glad you liked your cooked cucumbers! Were they still pretty wet or do they become crispy? Is this a good solution if the cucumbers are getting old in your fridge or had bruises on them? Hope you’re back to “normal” after your infusions.

Paula, I should go for a pedicure one of these days - trimming my toenails is kind of at the border of my flexibility these days . I’m a fan of corduroys also, but haven’t had any in my closet for decades! I just need a dressier pant than jeans or sweats for winter. I’m hoping my taxes are now done, but not submitting them until I’m sure nothing more is coming in the mail. I do miss my Quicken program when doing taxes, but their program has changed lots since my old computer and doesn’t work on my iPad without having a desktop version active also.

Waves to all!

Anita

[Vantreesta]

Didn't realize I haven't posted since the 28th!

Anita, I don't really think Cyric would be crazy about booties either. D'Argo would step around funny like he was stuck in gum until we got outside and he realized his feet weren't cold, then he was a happy camper. Cyric has gotten salt stuck to his foot. As soon as I realize he's limping and wipe his foot off he's fine to go again. Oh my gosh, your hair story made me feel so anxious! I can't even imagine my hair dissolving off! My hair has never been very thick. I always get jealous at races when I see girls with their hair in two braids and one is way thicker than my braid of all my hair! I've honestly been tempted to try hair regrowth supplements but I haven't. For one, since my hair has never been thick I don't know if those can make it thicker than it originally was or only restore back to that. I used to hold part of it back in a barrette all the time but then I started worrying that the barrette was damaging the strands so I rarely do that now. I do wear ponytails and use those big jaw clips if I want to hold it all up and away and I wear braids for hiking/snowshoeing/canoeing and sometimes for other reasons. I never thought about jumping rope leaving marks on the floor but I've only ever done it on carpet or outside (at my parents', watching the sun set over the mountains ).

I better go for now but will try to be back later for more personals. Yesterday I woke up with a sinus headache that went away after I was up and moving but last night a tension headache started and was bad enough by the time I went to bed that I slept in the recliner so my head wouldn't be level with my body. Unfortunately this morning I woke up with it much worse and couldn't even tell what type of headache it was! It had notes of sinus, tension and migraine. The sun is so bright today that it was really bothering me so I've been sitting in the office where the blinds are closed. I haven't even eaten breakfast. The meds seem to have helped enough that I will get dressed now and try to walk Cyric. I took him out when I got up (late) but I knew I couldn't walk him with the light sensitivity. Bonus, the real feel is actually 3 ABOVE 0!

[Laura S.]

Another gray and dark and miserable day. We haven't had much rain, but the high was at 8:00 a.m. this morning. For those with family in my area who wonder what's happening here, the ice went to the north of us (northern part of the metro area and up to Virginia) and the hard rain was to the south of us (like in Georgia and South Carolina). We just have the low cloud cover and cool temps. However, like Southern California, Minnesota temps make ours look pretty good.

I cooked for myself at lunch and am getting ready to cook for DH for dinner. None of it is very complicated, which is good. And I took DH to his PT appointment and dropped in on my chiropractor. I did some cleaning up in the kitchen this morning and there's more to do this evening.

The cucumbers softened up, not crispy. But, I had put olive oil on them, so that wasn't surprising.

Anita - It's great you are getting to see a space similar to yours. I look forward to hearing about it. I would think it might be a good way to get rid of old cucumbers. Of course, mine were mini cucumbers, but the principles should be the same. The olive oil I used was infused with garlic and I added other spices, so they tasted pretty good.

Paula - I've always liked the look of cords, but ever liked how they felt on my body. So I haven't bought any since college. Maybe they are on the runways, but haven't gone through the system yet to get to stores?

Vantreesta - It sounds like you have some physical issues going on. Take care of yourself!

[Vantreesta]

I finished up my January jump rope challenge yesterday. I did 21 workouts in only 10 days, but they weren't consecutive. But I figured my body could use an easy day today so all I did was day 8 of Yoga with Adriene's Center challenge. It worked out great bc today was Melt so it was gentle and restorative.

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout this morning was Pahla B Body Shaping Day 23 Movement Stretch and a neighborhood walk with DH.

Went to lunch with friends, we were celebrating one of us retiring. She's having retirement adjustment issues, but that's typical. The first year is the toughest.

Anita, warming up to 20F is tolerable? Wow, I am a bigger wuss than I thought. I go for pedicures becausee I have such a hard time doing it for myself anymore. I need a dressier pant than jeans sometimes too. I was hopeing for cords but I'm going to have to look for something else now. If you go through the new building and suddenly decide you hate your new place - so you have an option to change or pull out?

Vantreestra, that headache sounds misterable. I'm glad you're feeling better now. My DH gets sinus problems in the night sometimes too. I wake up and he's moved into the living room to sleep in his recliner.

Laura, what you said about the ice going north and the rain going south reminded me of something my mother used to say about how your area was in a sweet spot. She said everything went around the Research Triangle area. Makes me think of my area of SoCal - we seem to be in a sweet spot for most things.

[Vantreesta]

Laura, 9500 words is impressive! I'm so glad it's coming together for you! I hate days when the high is first thing in the morning! It looks like we have some 20s and 30s coming, which will be nice. Mostly I'm just tired of all the ice we've had this year!

Paula, I know what you mean about the day's activities not sounding like much when you write it down. I try to write my accomplishments every day so I don't feel like I wasted the day. Sometimes all I have written though is dishes done. I still have my corduroys from over a decade ago! If I have to dress nice for smthg that's usually what I wear, although they are a bit tight these days. I don't care at all about fashion so I never get rid of smthg I like unless it just isn't going to fit again. I hope you can find smthg you like.

Anita, how did the tour at the co-op go?

Taxes--I need to see if we have everything and then get an appt made. I did ours for many years bc I was stubborn. I was an accounting major, it didn't seem right to not do our taxes. But I absolutely hated it, as soon as the new year rolled around I was filled with anxiety and dread until I sat down and spent like a whole day doing them bc I had to do everything three times. OCD is not a fun problem to have! It started getting harder with all the investments and stuff and we finally started having them done. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. But after that many years I still feel the dread start at the beginning of the year and have to remind myself it isn't bad anymore!

Thumbs--I don't generally have much problems with mine but I did talk to my doctor about it once at an appt bc my left one was hurting so badly. She diagnosed de Quervain's tenosynovitis. I did do some exercises for it but I discovered it was caused by how I was holding my phone. Now if one starts to hurt I pay attention to how I'm using my phone and how often.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on a game of Carcassonne this morning followed by chair yoga. I had hoped to have my orchids picked up this afternoon, but the freezing cold and winds are making that kind of dangerous for the plants, so we’re scheduling the pick up for next Wednesday. Otherwise planning on putzing around.

I did go to the open house at the co-op yesterday. The facilities look very nice! I saw several of the units, but they don’t have my unit in that building. I did see how some people personalized their units using different trim colors, adding more wood flooring, adding lights and outlets, and more shelving in the bathrooms. Gives me some ideas! I didn’t see anyone paint their walls other than the creamy white they came in - that’s something I would likely do. I did like the units and could live in one of them! Yay! This building is sold out, which is wonderful - the sales happened before Covid hit and the interest rates have risen. Our prices have increased because of the interest rates and I think it’s slowing the sales. I did learn there were some organizational issues for rooms - not putting a desk in front of a window so the window could be used for escape, but I think stepping up on my desk would be the same as stepping out the window.

Vantreesta, When I had long hair it was thin also, so pretty much plastered to my skull. That’s one thing I like about my short hair - it gives some volume to my hair style. I hope your headache has fully resolved by now! Congrats on finishing the January jump rope challenge! It looks like today is one of those falling temperature days - right now comfy at 12, but it will fall to -16 tonight Brrrrrrr!. I feel like I’m pretty boring writing down my activities of the day - nothing much to report . I had a harder time with my taxes this year because I lost my Quicken program - now it’s trying to ID everything donated to charities off my bank statements - yuck! My filing is pretty much the same year to year or actually alternating years now when I don’t take a standard deduction, so I don’t feel like I need a professional to do it - I love TurboTax!

Laura, I hope you avoided the icy roads they were showing on national news!

Paula, it seems weird that I don’t hear much from my old workplace for retirees to join the working people to celebrate something - used to be a common thing! Yes, I do have an option to pull out of the co-op if I need to - I saw that one unit got returned to open status yesterday. It still is quite a ways in the future - likely mid to late summer 2024, the way things are going now.

Waves to all!

Anita

[Laura S.]

Today is another cloudy and rainy and cold (for here) day. It's supposed to rain on and off all day and the temps aren't supposed to go up much. But it's better than what everyone is getting. We've often said what Paula's mom said - we're in a sweet spot for weather. Either we don't get it or it is much weaker by the time it gets here.

I didn't do too much this morning other than interact with Polly and try to wear her out some. We're not letting her out today because of the wet and cold, and so we had a major play time this morning. She's zonked out right now, so it apparently worked... Oh, and we set up a time for a family Zoom time this weekend. This afternoon, I'll take DH to his chiropractor appointment. This evening, I may work on the book some.

Vantreesta - My husband has always done our taxes because as an HR policy person for the federal government he could read what we call "government-ese" (including IRS publications). It's funny to watch him because sometimes I know he's wanting to edit the wording of what he's reading. If it were up to me, we'd have someone do it. Enjoy NOT doing it this year.

Anita - Yay! I'm glad you liked what you saw and that you got some ideas. If it were me, I'd want more color as well. People these days talk about "pops of color". I always say I don't want a pop of color, I want COLOR! We haven't had ice. It went to the north of us, not by much but far enough away that we haven't had to worry about it.

Paula - It's nice you are in a weather sweet spot as well. It's not the usual for weather, that's for sure. Plus, it's good you could go out with ex-co-workers. Retirement is definitely a big change.

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout this morning was Pahla B Body Shaping Day 24 Met Con and a neighborhood walk with DH.

Today was DH's last BCG treatment (for now). He seems to be doing better than the last treatment, it really tires him out. I kind of hang around the house in case he needs me. I did get some housework and gardening done.

Vantreestra, I hear you about hanging onto clothes. I pulled out a sweater the other day and realized I used to wear it to work. I retired in 2006 so what's that, 16/17 years. It's still in really good shape - big heavy cable knit - perfect for winter. Somehow I don't have any cords any more - probably because pants just don't last as long as tops. When we were working we took our taxes to someone. Since we retired and changes in the tax laws, everything is easier - we mostly just take the stardard deduction. Turbo Tax makes it easy.

Anita, Glad you liked the units when you did the tour. Changing wall colors should be an easy option.

Laura, sorry Polly feels locked in the house again. I hope she's learning to think that's not so bad. When you retired, you guys launched into moving to another state and that gave you some direction and structure. I think if my friend had something big like that to invest herself in she wouldn't feel so adrift.

[sciencelady]

Good morning!

Planning on working at the WRC - we’ll be short a few people so lots more to do there! It’ll likely be too cold to take a walk - feel kind of deprived of that for this week, but hope to be at it again this Saturday. Otherwise, might stop by a drug store for some supplies.

Laura, yay on working out Polly for a good sleep . Yeah, I’m not afraid of color on my walls - hoping it will look good in the co-op unit also. I’ve talked to my previous designer when I did the house projects and she’ll come with me for decisions on colors, lighting and electrical outlets. I’m kind of glad I did do the house remodel project for the upper and lower floors of my house so I’m kind f familiar with what’s possible.

Paula, I’ve got some older clothing also, but lots was gotten rid of when I lost weight. Right now I’m not buying much clothing as a retiree, I really don’t need much. I do want some non-jean, non-sweats pants though.

Waves to all!

Anita