Crone Cronies - Minnesota Isn't Just Cold in December; It's Arctic. December 15

[Laura S.]

The Cronies is a place for women who are mature in age or attitude. The group is highly diverse in that we have ages ranging from 30s to 60s, some are moms, some are single, some are teachers/professors, and some have jobs and work outside the home and some don’t. We do our own thing and are happy when life doesn’t get in the way too often. Some are training for a marathon, some don’t even do vids, you get the picture.

Life and exercise are what we report. A thread is started every Sunday. Some report every day, others whenever they can.

Bottom line: we are a diverse group and very supportive of each other’s goals. Oh, and we’re funny as heck. If you’d like to join us, just come on down.

[Laura S.]

I stole Anita's theme from last week. I assume it's still valid - even if in recent memory.

We'll be getting ready for the trip today getting stuff together. We may go look at Christmas lights tonight.

Everyone have a good day.

[sciencelady]

Thanks for getting us started, Laura! We may not be as arctic as last week, but its still cold here! Glad you got rain instead of snow! That much rain would likely yield about 6" of snow!

Today I'm planning on just putzing around here - Gus gets his walk, of course. The party last night was good! The hosts dressed as Christmas elves in 5" heels and we had a guest as a reindeer and one pair as Mr and Mrs Claus - gotta love the circus imagination!

Paula, I'd probably disqualify to have gotten my shingles vaccine because of cortisone - don't remember how close it was to the vaccine and shot time, but they'd be somewhat together. Of course I went to a walk in clinic in a drug store to get my shingles vaccine, my regular doctor doesn't know about the cortisone shots, and my orthos don't know about anything else going on in my body . Even among the orthos I have a shoulder guy and a knee guy - now I'll likely add a hip guy and ankle guy. I think the only ones that have my full medical history are my insurance people, but they don't talk to the doctors.

Waves to all!

Anita

[Paula]

Good evening. Just a gentle workout today, a short Yin Yoga for IT band and Hips with Bret Larkin Yoga and a little more IT band exercise with Caroline Jordan.

Laura, thanks for getting us started. When do you leave on your trip?

Anita, the circus party sounds like lots of fun. I guess it's no surprise circus people really get into the spirit. I was getting my shingles shot in a CVS. They had me fill out a form and one of the questions was whether you'd had any cortisone in the last 7 days or something. When I checked "yes" the pharmatist came out to talk with me about it and said I should wait a week. Like you, my doctors, aren't that up to speed on my medical history or that great at keeping up records.

[sciencelady]

My internet at home was out this morning - don’t know if it’s back. Posting from the WRC.

All is good- obviously I’m at the WRC. Otherwise planning on walking Gus and putzing around today.

Anita

[Laura S.]

It was a super busy day trying to get stuff together (which means stuff is out everywhere) and getting ready for the cleaners tomorrow (which means tidying up. We have two tables where we have dumped everything and we'll tell them to ignore the tables. We're supposed to leave on Wednesday. DH is in a lot of pain and not feeling very well, so we'll see if we actually leave then. We're acting as if we are.

Anita - I hope your Internet is back at home!

Paula - How is your IT muscle doing?

[Paula]

Good evening. Workout today was another Yin Yoga for the IT band - this one was longer and by Elena or something like that. We went to Dana Point and walked in the marina - not our usual hilly walk, a flat, level, and slower walk. Met a friend for coffee, so all in all a good day.

Anita, internet problems are the worst! It was within my lifetime that no one had a computer at home and couldn't see why they would want one. Now we'll all addicted and go into withdrawals when we're denied internet access. Life is strange.

Laura, yeah, I know the feeling of planning for what you think will be an easy trip and having stuff out all over the bed, the desk, and parts of the floor. One reason I quit using a cleaning service was I was picking up and tidying up for them before they came and they still always put stuff back in the wrong place. I also was never that impressed by the job they did and ended up redoing things, so I finally decided it wasn't that much more work to do it myself.

[ddj]

Paula, I'm sorry about your IT band. And Anita, I'm sorry about all your working (or nonworking) parts! It sounds like you have some real issues. Maybe I should hush about mine.

Laura, I hope you have a great trip. Seeing family is always great, but all the planning and travel - bleh. At least for me. I wish I could snap my fingers and be wherever I wanted to be. Or be transported like they do on Star Trek.

Last Thursday I had one of the strangest doctor visits ever. The pod people took over my endo. We talked about my symptoms (which have never been alleviated by meds) and my labs (which couldn't look any better in her estimation) and then we hit my weight. But this is what she said: Have you lost weight? I know you're always trying. Oh, you lost five pounds. That's great! (Actually, I weighed a whopping two pounds less than in July. I don't know where she came up with that number.) I think your weight is perfect, but I know you're not happy with it. (Um, excuse me? You're the one who is always harping on it.) Really, your BMI is just fine. If you lost five pounds it would be okay, but you're great just where you are.

Alrighty then. As I said, pod people. I don't know if she's been getting pushback from patients about her critical nature (which never worked for me) or if she's losing patients (there are two new endos in town) or if she took some sort of bedside manner class. All I know is you could pick my jaw up off the floor.

Yesterday's weather was crazy. Temps in the 70s and high winds. My mom said it seemed eerie, like something was going to happen. I told her not to borrow trouble, we have enough of that. But I guess she was on to something. At 9:30 last night, the storms hit. Thunder, lightning, rain, high winds. A power surge knocked out our WIFI and shorted out some of the (very expensive) under-the-counter halogen lights that we just spent a fortune replacing. All is calm today. But there is a spec house going up two lots over, and there is a pond in the front yard today. They will have to be careful not to show the house during rainy seasons.

I'm afraid I'm dreading the holidays now. I love my lights and all, but it's hard to enjoy them with all the issues I have. I won't go into them. It just makes me look silly. I go through this every year. But then I only have January and February to look forward to, the coldest months of the year. Looks like I'll be dragging until the spring.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

[boakley]

Hi All! I went MIA again there for a bit huh? Sorry about that - it's been a busy but FUN month. We have been making more of an effort to DO things, and our pot luck was a great success on the 7th - everyone we invited came It was quite a bit of work to get ready for it, but very enjoyable. This past weekend we went out with our dear friends for drinks and food and had so many laughs as we always do! Yesterday I had banked time in lieu that had to be used so I took the day rather than the pay and had lunch with a friend who retired in June - GREAT catch up with her. Then back home in the afternoon to finish off the food gifts for my parents - I decided one of the easiest ways I can help them out is to cook and freeze meals for them. Now there are three 4 serving lasagnas, five 2-serving chicken tetrazzini, and two different soups - roasted butternut squash, and a Red Lentil. It was a lot to do in a day, but feels good knowing it's done. I will do cookies on the weekend, probably only 2 kinds. I miss hearing about Lexy's cookie adventures at Christmas. DS will be finished exams on Thursday and comes home that evening weather permitting. Exercise wise I've been doing some Leslie walking vids off YT, as well as stretching, foam rolling, and hip/core strength. I was a bit down that the 5K Santa Shuffle caused me grief, but I'm rebounding and feeling better about things at the moment. Almost daily meditation is back in the mix too!

Paula - sorry about the hip/IT band issues. I literally FEEL your pain! I'm working on hip mobility. I like some of Caroline Jordan's YT stuff too.

Dede - That's funny about the endo doing a 180 in attitude - I'm guessing she got hit in the pocket book in order to make those changes.BUT I really think you should take her new attitude and comments to heart as best you can - you ARE absolutely fine where you are on the scale. I'm heavier now than I've ever been except when pregnant, and while fat loss would be nice, it's not my priority, and even if it were, the scale number I would be happier with today is very different than the number I was reaching for 10 years ago. I'm finding myself letting go of a LOT of those old attitudes and ideals I used to have. I hope you get a warmer winter than you're expecting

Anita - No Internet??? OMG!! LOL - being in IT things like that cause a HUGE uproar!For instance if I lost mine at home I couldn't work from home I hope you too get a warmer winter this year. We have had some colder temps lately, but nothing like yours. Yet. Knocking on wood!! Glad the circus party was fun!

Laura - I hope your DH is feeling better and the trip is a go as planned - safe travels! I've been trying to talk DH into letting us get someone in to do some cleaning but he's not going for it.

OK - back to work! Waves to you all!

Beth

[sciencelady]

Good afternoon! Yay! My internet is back at home! Saw the service truck in my neighborhood and he stopped by after he replaced the area modem - all is working now! My original appointment was for tomorrow, but guess they figured out our entire area was out of service. I'm hoping I don't get a charge for this repair. I logged on to 63 emails waiting! So much for being offline for 36 hours!

Well today I walked Gus and got a Menards run in - I had a list of two items and came home with about twenty! (lots of holiday snacks!). As I had a lot of spare time not having the internet, I did some house cleaning and vacuuming this morning. I'll be going to circus to work in a few hours - likely my last session this year as my Saturdays have been cut out and the next two Tuesdays are holidays (Christmas and New Years Eve's).

Laura, you clean up before the cleaners come ? I can understand picking up dirty socks and underwear from the floor, putting away your toothbrush or something like that, but I'd not vacuum or mop before they come! I'm hoping your trip is still on and DH feels good enough to travel!

Paula, I'm glad I don't have a lot of things on internet controlling my house. I know some people have their heat/cooling controlled by online access, and I noticed my TV had a hard time getting info (I'm not subscribed to special channels coming over the internet). I don't have a house security system using internet and no Alexa box. I'm deliberately avoiding too much internet control in my house. How's your IT band doing? Is yoga helping or is it putting the IT to work too much?

Dede, I'm hoping my brother and his wife come up in January but glad I don't have to travel down there for the holidays. I hate living out of a backpack and camping on a sofa there - my brother and his wife get an entire furnished apartment to stay in here. Well i'm glad your doctor gave up on yelling at you about your BMI . I'm up in weight but about where I was before the knee replacement - being lighter might help my joints, but losing the weight takes lots of time compared to putting it on . Our news mentioned the TN weather last night - glad you made it through without too much damage compared to the tornado affected people. I'm keeping my Christmas decorating pretty low key - I'm happy about it! I get overwhelmed when I see extravagant decorating in every room.

Beth, good to see you again! I'm glad you're enjoying the holiday cooking - the gift of prepared meals will certainly be appreciated! I thought that in retirement I'd be taking the time to cook and bake more - nope! Most of my meals are microwavable ones ready in 4.5 minutes - taste fine, but I'm not doing the cooking and may actually downsize some of my large cookware pots as they don't get used by me any more. What happened at the Santa Shuffle? Did you not finish it or just cause pain from trying to walk it? Weather wise we're way below the average temp (mid 20's F) and then the next week, we're way above - hard to plan ahead... We've been in negative temps some nights and up to almost 40s some days... I'm glad I can do a nice walk with Gus outside if we're not in the single digits (sub-zero F and I'll pass on walking Gus outside).

Waves to all!

Anita