Please, please,please

I am taking some time today to make an information page to keep in my wallet and one to keep in my house next to the computer. I am making hard copies. This is important to me because of an incident that happened yesterday.

I called a friend and when she answered the phone I sensed something was wrong. She said "I fell" and didn't elaborate. I asked if she was up and she again said "I fell" and then I asked how she was doing she said "I fell and I don't know". I drove to her home not knowing what to expect. When I arrived, she was up and in her chair that she watches TV in. I had told her I was coming but when I got there she was surprised. Anyway, I found her to be somewhat incoherent. She was adamant that I not call the doctor and wouldn't give me any family names to call. But I did finally contact the rental office of the neighborhood in which she lives. I had to leave to finally be able to call someone.

What I am doing is making sure a paper is in my wallet that tells my phone numbers, emergency contacts, that I am diabetic, blood type, and meds I take. For the house, I am including even more. I'll have info on all of my history, Dr., health problems, allergies, phone numbers for me and all emergency numbers, meds, banking info, credit card info(but not the numbers), soc security number, home and PO box numbers, insurance info for health, home, and auto. If something happens to me that should be helpful to anyone who needs to care for me. I may include a living will with the page.

Yesterday, when I was forced by circumstances to leave my friend, I had no idea what to do. I thought of ambulance but don't know if her insurance covers it and no idea if she was bad enough to need an ambulance. But I felt personally responsible if she had been hurt again. Please, if you can, keep your info in an obvious place and instructions if needed.

Dealing

I am a diabetic. I found out in May and I've been trying to come to terms with the needed changes to my life since then. Obviously the diet must change. And after I stopped eating all of the fatty sweets, my weight dropped a bit. But I have so much more to do. The easy part was dropping the fatty sweets. Every time I think blood sugar, blindness, losing legs and or feet, stroke, etc., sweets aren't nearly so sweet.

OK to the sweets I say gbye. But what do I eat? Being fat free usually means eating lots more carbs. But carbs raise blood sugar. Which is worse? Remember blindness etc. And now I'm battling chemicals. I need to raise my metabolism and exercise. Yuck. So I consulted a list of metabolism boosting foods. What a great idea. Except-----sweet potatoes, blueberries, yogurt,

apples, oats, lima beans are carb heavy. Avocado is high in fats. Lemon is not such a good idea by itself. Nor is cinnamon, ginger, or garlic. So now I must do what I have rarely ever done in my whole life. Plan meals and follow recipes. And oh yes, exercise.

That means I'm working at getting healthy. Slowly. We'll see how well this part goes.

Been a long time since Feb

All hell broke loose on me this year. But I have found that an old dog can learn new tricks. Such as snickering when I conquer a problem and giving myself a break before tackling the next.

And men don't change much with age.

And my mind didn't change much with age but my body sure did. So why does my mind still feel 30?

And why does a newly 67 year old woman look at True Blood for the hot guys? I guess that is one thing that doesn't change.

And What the Heck is there to watch on TV right not? Oh, that's right, another rerun.

And did you know that 8 track players and tapes are being sold as vintage? And kids don't know what a vinyl recording is.

Classic music is not the music of the 60's and 70's.

Damn I'm old.

The XG#*^)WTF Medicare and Social Security

I have found an activity that ages me more than all of the sunshine, smoking, drinking, and fat ever could. I mean dealing with the Medicare and Social Security Administration. I don't understand how to read the books and booklets they send out to those of us who receive Medicare and Social Security. So I went to an insurance man who set me up with parts A and B, part D, and a perscription plan. The parts A and B plus the perscription plan were to be deducted from my Social Security. The Part D came from my checking account.

I understand that now. After paying a bunch of money I wasn't expecting to pay. No one, and I mean No One, told me about the fact that the amount the Social Security Administration charges for medicare is tied to income tax. You see, I paid income tax for a building I sold. They didn't call it capital gain, though that is what it was. An inherited building. This was in 2009 that the building sold. And I thought since I put the money into trust for my retirement, I was safe. God, I must be really stupid. In 2011 my Medicare cost me 319.70 for parts A and B. My perscription plan started at $30 per month and went to $66.40. And I still paid from my checking account for the part D coverage. But I had no idea the change was because of my 2009 sale of the building. Remember that I put the money into a trust. I was paying well over half of my SS income for medical care and had to begin borrowing from the trust.

I understand that I am lucky. My SS is about $10,000 per year and I'm lucky to have that. In this economy, any income is a really good thing. However, again, I was paying over half for health insurance. I think if I had known exactly what was going on I would have used the health insurance more, just to justify the cost. And a lot of the problem with this is because I didn't get or understand the information about the payments. After the first half of 2011 I was trying to get by on very little money and I started asking questions. I found that no one knew enough about my situation at the SS office to really help me. It was all there in the computer except for the why. So, as luck would have it, a friend told me about her health insurance which was a whole Bunch cheaper than mine. When sign up time came, I changed over. Part D and the perscription plan is about one tenth of the original plans I was on. But that didn't change the SS payment. So I submitted a 2010 Income Tax form showing my significantly lowered income and after practically camping out at the SS office, my payment was lowered to where it should be. My blood pressure on the other hand has not come back down yet.

I'm writing this blog to accomplish a couple of things. One-----If you are on SS and Medicare, please know all you can about what money goes where. And if you don't understand, don't necessarily just ask one person. Ask a bunch of questions. The man who set me up on the original policy went out of business. Small wonder.

The second reason for this blog is----I needed to bitch. Hopefully it will help my blood pressure.

Thanks for listening.

I've found

I've found it's a lot easier to be high maintenance when someone else is paying for the maintenance.

From MSN Health

Skimping on sleep stalls your calorie-burning
You'd think that more hours awake means more opportunities to sizzle calories, but the truth is that more sleep makes for a quicker metab. In fact, a single sleepless night reduces your resting metabolic rate by about 5 percent several hours into the next day, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. What's more, the morning after skipping sleep you burn 20 percent fewer calories from diet-induced thermogenesis — —the number of calories your body uses to break down and digest food.
As if that wasn't enough to encourage you to power down your iPad early, scientists have found that women consume 329 more calories, on average, after snoozing for four hours than they do when they sleep for nine. To keep your cravings in check while preventing your engine from sputtering, try to get seven to eight hours of sleep per night.


Metabolism slows with age, but there's plenty you can do about it
It's hardly a myth that many women pack on pounds after age 40. Although experts have attributed the average annual one- to two-pound weight gain to perimenopause and menopause, they really didn't know why it was happening—until now.
A new study in Cell Metabolism reports that the dip in estrogen levels that occurs with menopause reduces activity in important estrogen receptors in the brain that control how many calories you burn. Less estrogen, it turns out, equals a sluggish metabolism— — you burn 50 fewer calories a day. Your first line of defense: Hit the weight room. Regular weight-lifting (three sets of 10–12 reps of 8–10 exercises three times per week for 12 weeks) adds enough muscle mass to burn an extra 45 calories per day. That basically makes up for the hit your metabolism takes at menopause.


When you eat affects whether you're a super burner
Ideally, you want to keep your internal fat-blasting machine running all day long. So what makes it idle? Drops in blood sugar.
"The primary fuel for the brain is blood sugar, so when it drops, the brain takes steps to sustain sugar delivery so it can maintain normal function," says Dan Benardot, PhD, a professor of nutrition at Georgia State University. "The body releases the hormone cortisol to break down tissue, including muscle, and turns it into glucose to feed your brain." In other words, low blood sugar leaves you with less muscle, which makes your metabolism drag. The fix? Eat smaller meals with 100- to 200-calorie snacks in between to keep blood-sugar levels even.
Final tip: Have a light bite before bed. It's a myth that you should never eat after dinner, Benardot says: "Blood sugar fluxes about every three hours, so if you eat dinner at 6 p.m., blood-sugar levels are getting below normal at 9 p.m." Keep your metabolism cranking with a pre-bed snack— — such as peanut butter on a graham cracker— — and you'll be living the dream: burning calories while you sleep.

I am an absolute genius at coming up with good ideas and a total dunce at following through. OK. Post it notes are needed for this one-to remind me to exercise. I used to lift weights when I was young. I didn't do it to the point of growing muscle. But now, my metabolism is moving at a snail's pace and I am going even slower. So I must do something. I have never been this fat. I have never been this unhappy about the way I look. I know that after losing some weight the skin will sag and I'll look older. But I won't be couchbound. I'll be more able to get out and not be in pain. I've got to do this. I have got to.

Look your best-at any age

 

I am often torn about how I look. I don't remember a single time when I wasn't dissatisfied about my looks. From the time I was aware that there was more than one body style, fashion style, makeup style, etc, I have felt as if I were not doing something right. So I have decided as I prepare to turn 67 at my next birthday that I'll just try anything I want to do, wear, say, see, or feel. I've earned it.

I have a 41 year old significant other. He is a nice looking man who is more aware of the things I do than the way I look. Yep, I look old enough to be his mother. And I am old enough to be his mother. But I don't want to look old enough to be everyone's mother. So this post. I am suggesting a group of things that will be fun for me to try. And they will be useful for my self acceptance.

First. I need makeup. I have found that my skin has not weathered the vagaries of time very well. I have blotches, and splotches, brown spots and lumps and bumps. All on my face, chest, arms, legs, etc. Basically, anywhere the sun has touched. My excess weight has created folds and bulges. So now I'm back to makeup. Obviously I can't cover everything. But I think I can create a simple canvas. I've pored over the Advanced Style blog. I really envy women who have been able to extablish a style and enhance it all throughout their lives. Either my attention span is too short or I have listened to too many ugly messages. So, as an artist, I am approaching makeup as if I were a canvas. First I make myself look bland. Beige makeup to go with my pale eyes, brows, lashes, and hair. But I saw a woman on TV who has white hair with pinkish skin and she is beautiful. Once again I want to try things. But one step at a time. Beige skin. My eyes are often red and I am going to try to find a light eye pencil for the inner rim so I don't look so tired.

Makeup artists suggest pink lipsticks, pink blush, soft edges, etc for us older ladies. Well, if I look at fashionable older women, many still wear red lipstick, heavy eye makeup, etc. Tammy Faye Messner was one of my favorite women and she had a good sense of humor about her mascara fixation. I don't intend to emulate her but I have to say, her sense of comfort with herself is attractive to me. So I'll use some of the makeup tips from the makeup artists. And some things that just feel like fun to me.

I have also discovered that reminding myself of my blessings is a really good piece of makeup. The smiles of the pictured couple trump any makeup available. Happiness is the best revenge for a life of hardships. I don't think anyone can get to my age without hardships happening. Because of that I don't smile enough. I've never been a smiler. I don't know if it is inherited. Probably. But I think looking your best, at any age, has a lot to do with how hard you work to smile.