Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

The world needs all of our power and love and energy, and each of us has something to give.  The trick is to find it and use it, to find it and give it away, so there will always be more.  We can be lights for each other, and through each other’s illumination we will see the way.  Each of us is a seed, a silent promise, and it is always spring.
 
Merle Shain

Good morning

Sandra- my oldest girl is 43, and stable, but between the two of them both working entry level jobs, they barely make it paycheck to paycheck. Rob will be 40 in Dec and he is the most like me. They are financially stable, have a beautiful home and are the parents of Lucia, who will be one next week. His only problem is that he has married his father, personality wise, and she makes mountains out of ant hills multiple times daily. Tracy is 37, an alcoholic, is living with her ex husband, but swears there is no love connection. She has an excellent job, but has her fathers personality- very negative outlook about almost everything. Jamie is 33 and has emotional and psychological issues from her first two years of life (before we adopted her) and her life is always a mess. She has gone thru some pretty traumatic stuff as a teenager as well, so given the circumstances, she is okay, it is just really hard for her to see things from any other prospective, which has left her siblings wanting only a limited relationship with her. Tim will be 29 this weekend, but is still a baby in a lot of ways. He had ADHD, some OCD, with a touch of oppositional defiant behavior as a child. He has grown out of the worst of it, but still tends to live by the motto: I want it and I want it now, so make it happen. When it doesn't happen, he throws his version of a two year old temper tantrum, then when that doesn't work, comes back to reality. All of that said, individually they are great, and when all 5 get together, can have a great time for a limited time. It's when they insist on pointing out the splinters in their siblings eyes, while ignoring or justifying the planks in their own eyes that the problems start.

Jackie- one of the things I have liked most about living in Fl is that our major weather threat is hurricanes. We always have a lot of notice before they hit. We have had some devastating ones over the years- Andrew, Wilma and Katrina, for ex, but we have the time to prepare or leave. I would take hurricanes over tornadoes or earthquakes anyday.

Today, we start out trip to Fl from SC, so Lucia can show her Daddy how good she can walk, and we can all celebrate her birthday together next weekend. 

Have a wonderful day.

Anne

Ha, ha. I spent hours hanging clothes on the line. We had the long pole too. We didn't have a dryer, only a washer and felt lucky to have that as some of our neighbors used tin wash basins and wash boards. My grandmother still used the wringer washer on her back porch.

I remember loving to hang the clothes up but I never wanted to be the one to take them down! Had to mess with the clothespin bag and whoever took them down had to fold them. When I was smaller I loved running in between the lines of sheets but if you got caught, not much fun. I hated hanging up the undies when we didn't have sheets to hang out with them.

My daughter is 36 and has clotheslines! My mom was a big influence on her as a homemaker so she was "familiar" with them growing up. She has four children and since they live in the country, she thought they should learn certain things like planting a garden, collecting their own eggs and lo and behold, hanging clothes on a clothesline!  Of course, she's one of those moms that's into discipline, church going and limiting TV/computer/phone/Kindle time. Oh yeah, she has a weird habit of making them play outside, water hose in the summer and sleds in the winter and whatever sport they choose. They are avid readers, great in school and have learned "in trouble anywhere means in trouble at home" and heaven forbid never say you are bored! I truly do not know where this woman came from because her mom was never that good. I don't like to cook or garden, obviously I'm on my computer too much and you can't shove me out the door when it's hot. But she makes me proud as a pickle so I know I did something right. I'm just surprised to watch her when I go visit as she was supposed to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, that was her goal. God had a different plan for her and it seems to be working out!

Anne, families are just freaking weird. I am on a hiatus right now from my sister. Too much negativity and when people kept telling me it was affecting me in a bad way, I knew I had to break, at least for awhile. I admire your patience. So glad you have the little ones. Enjoy...

I was 10 when we got a dryer but my mother insisted sheets had to hang outside. They did smell so fresh.

Jackie,  thanks for the quote about expectations.I learned to not have those when I had my babies.Instead of fretting over feeding or sleeping, I just kept baby with me and “expected” to be with her/him as needed.I was able to really enjoy my children and not worry about them conforming to some unrealistic cultural expectation.
Also, the quote about being present is perfect for me now.I am up at 4 am with anxiety over all thethings I did wrong this week in my course.I have 3 more classes and then I am OFF for summer – wanting so much tobe present in the moment – can’t wait to soon feel the cool beach sand beneath my feet and think about nothing but beautiful things.

Sandra, I never visited the Riverwalk at Christmastime .But the first time I went to SA in November, Perry Como was filming his Christma special there.All the lights were on early, children’s choirs were strolling, and Perry was singing...it was such a treat!

Teacher, you are so right about the discipline issues.For some reason, my grandkids behave at my house and when we take them out. They give their parents a runaround. I don’tknow if I could speak up but you are right to ask their respect of property and people.They will be happier.

Morning gals!  Okay this is not the proper way...  You are supposed to use less clothes-pins that what is shown here..Ha!  And hang the pajama bottoms together, not mixed with the tops....  Sheesh!

And WHO would hang each individual sock?    Someone with OCD I think....  Like Monk!  HE would!  But then again, he wouldn't even have a clothesline.

And wouldn't it be fun to have a whole line dedicated to cute frilly things for all the neighbor's to see?    Ahhhh to be young once again!

Yes, I had a wringer washer also,  (It was my Mom's) through 2 Daughters, but splurged when they were about 5 and bought an "automatic!"    I remember plugging the wringer washer in one time, that was sitting next to our sink, and the floor socket must have had water in it...  So I plugged it in, and it threw me backwards across the kitchen against the refrigerator!  I was SHOCKED!  I mean literally!  I think it was about then that we got the automatic.  I STILL see stars.... Hah!  Shut up Cammi! 

....   But I hung clothes on the lines that were HERE when we moved in in 1964...   We couldn't afford a dryer until maybe 1980....  But I still have one line, that I use, just because I love the way the clothes smell.

Remember when they would freeze as stiff as a board in the Winter?  I thought they would crack! 

I do use clothes racks though STILL, mostly in the Winter.

Have a good Friday gals....

I love so many of the strolls down memory lane that we have when we come here.  Mema...how wonderful to have a "young'un " that has done so well.  You may have felt you had little to do with it but from the left behind chosen profession, it sounds like she learned a stick to it type of discipline that enabled her to FIGURE out what she wanted out of the life  and identify the exact things that would get her there.  No matter  -- you did something REALLY right.

I freely admit my parenting should have been a whole lot better.  Not meaning that I think I was horrible, but that our simple country growing up somehow didn't translate well when it came time for me to try and repeat.  First child, son......so very hyperactive and our whole life was an almost constant struggle.  He was always on the run and all around him were too.  Second, daughter, so very quiet, un-assuming and a very quick learner.....walking at 7 mos. potty training herself ( we thought it was too early ) at 12 mos. and speaking in small sentences at 14 mos.  She was easy, but anyone starting that fast at things slows later and usually makes the rest of the strides at  about the same general time as everyone does.

Alaska  welcome to our little place here.  Will have more to say down below.

Jackie

Good Morning,

We had a Texas Terd Floater here last night.  DH went to go into broom shop early this morning and buried car in mud up to the the floor board.  One of our neighbors pulled him out.

I went to the Dr. Monday for a follow up and was having problems with allergies.  He told me to get Coriceden HBP and that should help.  It didn't I called the office yesterday morning, and of course he is gone for a week.  So DH took me to the ER.  I have Bronchitis and Early Pnemnioa

On major antibiotics and codine cough syrup. I slept in the chair last night, but woke up abourt every 15 minutes. I am so tierd I could fall asleep right now.  When I lay down the cough gets worse.

Hope you all have a good day.

mommarch, I hope the antibiotics work quickly so that you can get some unbroken sleep.  It doesn't sound like the cough syrup helped much. 

jackie, thanks for the welcome, and it is very nice to meet you all!

I'm hoping that on our next trip to the Lower 48, we will be able to start working on a small garden patch and maybe a small simple greenhouse, to encourage the woman living in the house there, to enjoy a tiny bit of organic gardening despite the horrible ongoing drought there. We are starting to investigate the possibility of placing solar panels on a roof there, as well.

Mommarch, I don't know if this link will work or not, but we have the piece that is 3/4 of the way down in the link and is labeled Smile at the Rain, by Beth Logan, on our wall here.... (I like your motto):

http://www.pinterest.com/crazyinart/cu/

Hi Alaska,

Welcome to our "eclectic" group...although in Chevy's case, I guess you could say "electric."  Where do you live in Alaska? I'll be visiting just the south east part of the state on a cruise the first week of September. It's a bucket list item that we always said we would do someday...then breast cancer changed everything. The very first thing out of my mouth after hearing the diagnosis, was said to my husband. "No more waiting. We ARE going to Alaska next summer." I booked a Princess cruise out of Seattle right away, even though it was still a year away. I've had 4 surgeries since then so the time has gone by pretty fast. Now we're down to 70 days. One of our other members is going on the same cruise too, but I'll let her introduce herself to you.

You know, some places have homeowners restrictions about clothes lines. Can't have them! Times have sure changed since we all were kids. I have acquaintances in Australia who are horrified that Americans have dryers. It's a sign that you've made it when you have a house and a clothes line. 

We lived in Germany for five years, '81-'86. Base housing had a long waiting list and German houses or apartments were in short supply. We were in a hotel for three months before finding an off-base apartment in a six story building. We were thrilled to have a kitchen and living room! BUT - There was one washer in the basement for the entire building and it cost the equivalent of $1 per load, which was expensive then. Each load took an hour because each part of the cycle required the water to be brought back up to boiling. The German washers are quite small too so washing was an all day affair. There were no dryers. Instead, German houses have drying rooms with clothes lines. Ours was on the top floor so it was quite a hike up the stairs for each load. The drying room was not insulated and it took forever for clothes to dry. Often I would give up and spread things on the radiators all over the apartment. I put a small drying rack on our balcony and was visited shortly by a group of neighbors who informed me this was not allowed. (Couldn't grill on your patio or balcony either. Kids were not allowed to play in the grassy areas around the building. They were to play in the Spielplatz - play place not visable from the building - but only during certain times. Never during quiet time each afternoon. And side walks were for walking, not bike riding or skating. But that's another story.) After a year, our name rose to the top of the base housing list and I was glad to leave because of the awful laundry situation as well as the restrictions on children. We moved to a typical 3 story "stairwell" building with six apartments and three washers and three dryers in the basement! What a luxury. I didn't even mind carrying laundry up and down from the third floor for about two years. After that, I yearned for a laundry room not so far away and daydreamed about American houses with laundry rooms INSIDE the house!  We've been back for 28 years and I still love my laundry room off the kitchen. What luxury.

Good Morning lovely Ladies and Welcome AA to this thread, we do like to remember times in our lives good or bad, but it's fun here and if u want to vent go ahead we listen well too.

OK Chevy I thought u'd never stop, but I made the sign of the cross and saw the ending, it does work. I'm up early this morning and actually slept 1/2 way decent last nite, maybe cuz I slept with Joey he's so snuggly and of course Ktie loved sleeping with her butt in my face, well that changed fast but she was cuddly too.

Chit I don't remember anything I read about except clothes lines, how could we have 3 pages on this subject Chevy??? I agreed with a couple of you gals on what u wrote but now I don't remember who or what it was, but about kids, I think. Chit I'm off to a good start this morning. (shut up /chevy) and I slept OK too.

My sister and BIL's surprise party is tomorrow, I'm so excited cuz then I can tell her why I've been avoiding her as much as I could-well both of them-both of them called me so often this week for odd things --well we always do--but I had a hard time cuz everyone else is calling and we're talking about it.

But I do remember clothes lines until I was tall enough to have to use them, then I hated them and my mom taught me the correct way too, Ugh It took away from play time, but I especially remember the ones when we lived in the city--they were between buildings and u hung and then moved the line, I used to watch my mom and u'd look down the gangway (what we called theem) between the bldgs. and saw all the clothes fro the second floor hanging out on Mondays. Why Mondays I don't know but everyone did that.

My work hasn't been to busy this week, just enough to miss my naps tho, now we'll see how today goes--people tend to call on Sat. Mornings and then I let them go to voicemail and call back on Monday. After all a real business isn't open 24 hrs. it took me a while to figure that out. And I did have my ringer turned off for the Drs. this week, my SIL showed me how cuz last week it was ringing like crazy at the other Drs. office Oh it takes me awhile to think about these stupid things.

OK I hope everyone has a good week-end and has happy times and feeling decent.

Do not pray for easy lives.  Pray to be stronger people!

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.

Pray for power equal to your tasks.



Phillips Brooks

Sandra, as I read your story about doing laundry in Germany, I kept thinking Sandra is a real trooper.  When I watch HGTV's House Hunters International, I think about the differences in homes ... such as the countries where people take their kitchen cabinets when they move.

Welcome Alaska.  Have you always lived in Alaska?  You mentioned gardening when you come to the lower 48.  How is the gardening in Alaska?

Hi, Termite and Mama4.

Chevy, I have never heard of browned flour.  Do you make it?  I haven't eaten breakfast yet ... that pot roast has my mouth watering.  I always thought I would have a buggy like that when I played dolls as a child but ended up with strollers ... a rather big one and then an umbrella stroller which was someasy to handle.