I like to refer to it as reaching the point in life, where you start replacing miscelleneous body parts. (smile)

Life has always been hard, now it will be less hard, but you will be less physically able to cope with it, so I guess that's somewhat of a trade-off.

Being....is not all that much fun, after all. The world would like us to believe it is fun, special, and important....but in the end, we are all forgotten very quickly, once our time is past.

Rick - that would fall under the heading "be careful what you wish for" in my life. For me - "I Want to be (left) Alone" is one of those wishes that always have a flash of foreboding following the thought.

But I don't ask the questions in my post with a gloomy overtone - but one of curiosity and comraderie.

Hehehehe, you could be describing me, the majority of my friends and relatives my age, lol

We start losing moisture and the *padding* in our feet (skin in general) in our thirties

I have a daily thing of washing and massaging my feet with Aveno, exfoliator and lotion right out of the shower.
Pumice and foot file once a week or they would look like some Arizona mountains, lol

I don't feel comfortable in crowds because of my hearing, lol
Some restaurants are real worse than others, lol
I can hear across the room but not what people are saying at the table, lol

With what I'm going thru, everything upsets my stomach, but I can't and won't give up my coffee
My oldest DD brought me a new folgers coffee called Simply Smooth and it is better

I hadn't noticed missing "padding". Why doesn't that happen to our butts?

This may be a stupid question, but how do you apply exfoliator to your feet without exfoliating your fingers?

I'm thinking of trying some decaf teas for breakfast - just because I'm not crazy about coffee, it's just a habit. It makes me even more jittery than I am naturally. Has anyone tried rosehip tea? One of the health mags recommended it for something or other.

Have you ever looked into your vitamin drawer and not known why you are taking most of it?

I have just been told that a lot of major spas use hair conditioner for crusty feet. I haven't tried it yet, but plan on soaking my feet in it beginning tonight.

Hehehe, very good question, why don't we lose our butt pad, lol

The aveeno is a gel/soap/gunk with grit. It makes your hands real smooth after massaging your feet

I drank rosehip tea the first time I got sick but I don't live close enough to a place that sells it now.
I quit taking all of the vitamin except a women's one a day

I've been falling apart for a few years now.
It actually came on suddenly for me.I was robust and gung ho about everything, then suddenly I'm not able to do much of anything anymore. I've got a few replacement body parts now from dead folks....they don't need them anymore!
My hearing is awful...can't make out the words of songs anymore, or 1/2 of what is said on TV. You can say anthing you want behind my back, cuz I won't hear you.
I go have a pediure once a month. It's heaveny. My lady charges $35 & I give her a $5 tip.She is worth every penny. George goes to her for a pedicure too. None of his croneys dare to tease him.
I get my eyebrows waxed ($10) once a month too......I can't see to pluck them anymore.
Do I even want to bring up "gas" & flatulance??????
My mom always told us girls didn't do that....

Carrie, I put conditioner on my Dogs pads, never thought about putting it on mine, lol

Bev, my girls used to call that *Gammy Spooties* they say all GM's do that, lol

I was in very good shape for 60 until they said we should not take premarin any more. Then everything went to pot. Wrinkles and sagging skin every where, almost over night I got old lady thin skin.
About 10 to 12 years ago I had a bone density test. They were amazed that my bones were so dense they were off the chart and could not be measured. As part of the testing prior to my back surgery they did another and I am at -3. I really believe it had to do with the quiting premarin. I felt a lot better while I was taking it. I had been on it for about 15 years.
As far as we know no one in my family has had osteporosis. Back in 1966, before we knew the connection, grandma had a broken hip, so maybe she did.

I have had low back pain since I was about 12 years old. Since surgery, I have zero back pain. I am assuming that straightening the upper back took strain off the lower. It is like a miracle.
Now if I could just get over this danged pneumonia.

Kathy, I am so glad you are not having that horrible back pain.
I have to agree, They put me on the lowest mg of Premarin in 85 and then after the radical hysterectomy 1.25mg
I felt wonderful. After I quittaking it I have started aging faster, lol
Seriously

Aren't there bone-drugs that do not contain hormones?(if that is the premarin problem). If it isn't too personal - why would you not be able to take the premarin? I have never taken hormones, even though menopause hit overnight 15 years ago. So far no skin changes (except the feet)but I seem less strong. I had heard that overweight people have more girly hormones - is that true? I've got about 30 pounds of those
hormones stored up then.

When they first put me on Premarin, they said, it would help prevent osteoperosis, breast cancer, other things, I can't remember, help or eliminate hot flashes, headaches.
Come to find out it contributed to these problems plus more

I've read about overweight people have more estrogen but I've never read a completed study on it.
Are you taking vitamins, iron and calcium?

I can't remember exactly now, but several years ago "they" decided to take post menopause women off premarin.

Here is a link that might be useful: 2004 premarin info

Premarin is a horse hormone, made from the urine of pregnant mares.

American women are taking so much of it that male fish downstream from wastewater treatment plants often develop female attributes.

Since that alarms me & grosses me out, & since it never seems to me that "Premarin women" look any better than anybody else, & since the method of getting Premarin is cruel (mares are kept pregnant their entire lives, often suffering swollen, painful feet & joints from being permanently confined to stalls & suffering infections to the urethra from the catheter permanently inserted to collect the urine, & newborn foals, merely an inconvenient byproduct of the pregnancy, are slaughtered for dog food), I won't take it.

I did briefly take some other kind of hormone, a synthetic, but I couldn't tell that it made any difference, so I stopped.

So far, so good.

Stronger bones & muscles than I had in my 20's, skin's as good as it was before, hair thinned a little in my early 40's but hasn't gotten any worse.

OMG! I did not know that. I am certainly glad I no longer contribute to the problem.

I just recently realized that my thin hair has gotten even thinner. I would take gray over thin any day, but I do not have gray.

Sylvia, thank you for posting about the cruelty to mares and foal - that is why I never took Premarin.

I have taken estrogen for over 20 years. I used to get a monthly shot that helped me a lot. The shot was banned a few years ago. Now I take estrace, It doesn't help me much, but because of my "bad bones" I have to take it. I also take Boniva & calcium for my bones. They fracture very easily and are desolving.
My mom had good bones, so do my sisters and they're all smaller boned than I am. I am big boned...not supposed to get osteoporosis!

A friend of mine swears by soy tablets, since soy contains a vegetable estrogen, very mild, not likely to cause side effects.

I was just this morning listening to "The People's Pharmacy" on KERA. They had a doctor on, Tricia (?) or Trina Lowdog, that is an M.D. that has studied alternative medicine, such as herbs, for 25 years. They discussed menopause, Black Cohosh, and soy. There has been a lot said recently about soy, both good and bad. There are some people claiming that soy is actually dangerous, at least the highly processed soy products such as soy milk, and those soy burgers and such. Her opinion was to avoid those pill, because they contain concentrates of isoflavons much, much higher than one would get in the normal diet, and may not be safe to take. There haven't been any studies about them yet. She felt that eating soy was safe, if it's not the only thing one eats. I figure the best way to get soy is by eating the nuts, tofu and tempeh - the way that people have been doing for years. One other thing she said is that only about a third of people in the West have the ability to convert soy into estrogen like properties. There are further studies planned to figure out why some women are able to process it into that and others can't.

Sally

Well, I look in the vitamin drawer, and wonder why I can't remember to take them. I threw away about 15 bottles of expired vitamins last week.

Somehow, when I gained my weight, the extra hormones were deleted. Therefore, I am now growing a mustache, chin whiskers, and that fuzz all over my face. I am a natural blomd (as tho y'all hadn't realized that already, LOL) and the fuzz is real light, but looks weird as hell when the light hits it a certain way.

Also, I could perm my eyebrows! I used to have lovely eyebrows. Now, I have what could be described as 'an eyebrow', and the hairs are very long and wavy. DH plucks the eyebrows for me, I can't see to do it either.

I do hope he is doing a good job.

I can't exfoliate the bottoms of my feet, as I can't reach them. I have lost 19 pounds tho, and I expect that sometime next year, I should be swelt, slim, and supple. You know, able to reach my feet. I will probably find that they are cracked and snaggy, and I didn't know it.

Janie

Janie, it is so hard to loose weight - good job for what you've accomplished!

Sally

just remembered a funny thing I read on another forum.

Someone asked something like, "When you're in the garden & you have to go to the bathroom, do you
a) run thru the house in your gardening shoes
b) kick off your gardening shoes & run into the house barefoot or
c) kick off your gardening shoes & put on more house-friendly shoes?

One reply was something like,
"Sometimes I change my gardening shoes for regular shoes, & sometimes I just sneeze & save myself the trip."

LOL! Had to have been a woman that answered that.

Years ago, crossing the street from church, my great aunt slipped in mud and fell. As she fell, she peed on herself. Being 83 years old, she was more mortified over that than falling.
Having been born in 1894, she was of the generation that acted like women did not pee, let alone discuss it.

Once I was taking her for a ride to see the wild flowers. We came around a curve and there was a man peeing, in the wide open. I glanced at here and her mouth opened and shut a couple times, but she said noting. I could not resist and said, "I guess it's been a few years since you shave seen one of those". she was quite a few seconds and then just died laughing.

Kathy!!!

Kathy, you killed your grandmother!? Well, at least she died laughing. :-D

Sally

Hehehehe, y'all are crazy

This was my great aunt. But she was sooooo cool for her generation.
Their first child died at age 10 months in 1915 and uncle said he was never going through that again. So he said they would not have any more children. My GA said well I intend to have children and have the grocer, the butcher and the milkman waiting the the wings, so make up your mind.

I was never around my grandparents that much except as a real little kid. Even at that, I remember a great grandmother. She was a little scary, being 6 feet plus tall with a long white braid. She also smelled of chewin tobackey (tobacco).
She lived by herself in a little house in the Oklahoma hills. I had heard stories that she had gone looking for her errant husband (I never met him) and ended up in Montana. She had twins there, born a bit early, and had to put them on the oven door to keep them warm. I think she was quite a bit of Native American - because of the braid and the mocassins. She cooked good pies. I always thought it was strange that we have the name Spears and Blades in one branch of the family. But I think those are English in origin.

The house next door was spookey too. The people who lived there had just vanished, and for quite a while you could open the door and see their cups and plates on the table where they left them. I guess the police weren't very curious around there.

Ok, that's it, time for a Halloween thread!

I'm a goin' there now.

Sorry Kathy. For some reason, I read Great Aunt as Grandmother. I don't have any idea why I did that! She sounds like she was definately a very special lady.

Txgardenlady, your great grandmother sounds interesting, too.

Sally

Has anyone else experienced the liberating effect of "I don't care any more"?

I was talking with a friend last night about how things have changed for us, & that was one of the good surpries.

Her husband is beyond nice-looking, & women sometimes swarm him.

She told me she used to wade into the middle of the swarm, toss her hair, flare her nostrils, "take possession", etc.

Now, she says, she just lets them enjoy themselves.

I thought I was at the I don't care anymore stage...until Thursday. I was tired of driving into town (22miles one way) to get my hair cut, so I went to a new one near my house. She cut it so short that I can hardly get the top around a curling iron. Most men have more hair than I now have. I am supposed to go to a housewarming for my DS and DIL on next saturday. I may have to go with a paper bag over my head.

Do hairdressers go on a big nutso ego power trip when they have a pair of scissors in their hands?

A couple of things you can do:

1. Use a gel or mousse to add volume, which will give the illusion of more hair.

2. Blow your hair dry or nearly dry before you use the curling iron. It'll add some volume, too.

Thank goodness you have a week to experiment.

Just in case, I just ordered a wig from Paula Young. A whole whopping $24 on sale and paid $8 to get it here no later than Thursday.

Ok, y'all got me doing weird stuff.

As I was putting lotion on my pore ole feet, I found myself poking them, checking for dehydration & loss of padding.

Next thing you know, I'll be messing with the volume on the tv...

...Tina (purplegardens) will be bringing some of her loofah soap to the Ft Worth Swap on the 4th.

I *love* that stuff!

She splits a dried loofah gourd lengthwise, then cuts it into sections like watermelon slices ("smiles") &, uh, well, there I kind of lose the program.

I think she dips them into her melted soap mixture & allows it to set.

so you have a smile-shaped "bar" of combination soap/exfoliant!

Mine's Berry, smells luscious.

In 1969 a neighbor gave me a bag of what he called vining okra. He said just fry it like regular okra. It was really good.
Years later I realized it was immature luffa/chinese okra.

I guess you could scrub yourself inside and out with those "okra".

I've pretty much given up on my feet. When I was a teenager - not the typical teen, mind you, I went everywhere bare foot. Even in the summer. The problem was that where I lived at the time, the lawns all had goat head stickers, but the pavement was 120 degrees, or hotter! Did I do the smart thing and put on shoes? Of course not - I wanted tough feet, so I chose the hot pavement over the goat head stickers. I think I must still have calouses left over from those times.

Sally

Sounds like you lived on the same stree I did! I have gone barefoot most of my life. I think when he stretched my spine during surgery it affected my nerves in my feet. Now they are sooo tender. Still calused and ugly, but tender.

When I was about 10 my friend would get a sticker in her foot and sit down and cry. When I would offer to pull it out she would scream " no, don't touch it". There were times I would just walk off and leave her there.

Shocking what happens to our bodies isn't it? (At least it was for me!) I could "prolly" sand wood with the bottom of my feet.)

One day walking thru the mall I glanced up into a shop window, caught someone's relfection and thought to myself, "Well, that ol' lady has on an outfit just like mine" only to realize it was ME!

My rear hasn't gotten any bigger- just looks like it's been hit hard with a very flat board & never recovered it's shape. Reckon there's a plastic surgeon who could remove a big circle of skin on the top of my head, gather it up, pull real hard & yank some parts back up where they used to be?

Nursing babies took a toll on the 'ol boobs; weight loss only furthered their demise.

Despite parts that protest my moving them with creaks, moans & groans, I'm thankful for the ones that still work once jump started with morning coffee!

Suzi

Suzi, where you been???

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD

1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you
once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

Love the Great Truths!

DH "ain't been doing so pretty good", so haven't had much time to hang out here. A quick read's been about all I could manage, but have tried to keep up with what you big girls are up to. ;)

Suzi