Feeling the cold

Hi everyone and hooray. I have eventually begun to get notifications again! Only thing is I had to change my settings to get them and now I get a notification every time anyone posts but at least now I feel more connected again. It’s been interesting reading what you have all been facing but also sad in ways. With troubles for some of you and progression foe others.

Myself I am doing ok and I remain stable. Even to the extent that at my Dexa scan the radiographer said that compared to the last one my lower back seemed to be improving. So that was welcome news. Mind, when she did my height I had lost that important to me 1/4 inch and was now 5ft 2ins!. 

Decided that I was fancying fish and chips for lunch but I wanted fried chips, oven chips just won’t cut it today! Emptying the deep fat fryer was a disaster this time. Poured the oil into a jug ok, but when I tried to transfer it into a bottle it went everywhere, I missed the bottle with a lot of it. Urgh.. what a mess just took me what seemed like forever to clean up. My hands are lovely and warm now though with being in so much hot water!

It is soo cold today and like a lot of you it makes my joints hurt really don’t want to go out at all when it’s like this. So I won’t. I shall get comfortable and read a book. I opened a tin of Roses left over from Christmas and they will be calling me this afternoon.

Daloni, you are really rocking the short hair! Hope you get some lovely hats scarfs etc and will post a pic or two of your new look.

love and hugs to all

Maggie xx

Hi Maz (and this is pertinent to all the ladies)

It never fails to amaze me when I hear how much it costs for a lady (brownie points?) to get a haircut in comparison to what a man pays. I no longer go, not much hair left so trimmers over my bonce every 6 weeks suffices. My brother really only has curtains with a few wispy bits on top and he recently paid £8, it was £6 on his previous visit. For a more stylish haircut, maybe up to £16. Would some of the haircuts some blokes have, such as footballers, be called stylish? Some are absolutely horrendous, but I'm 60 now, so is that the talk of an old man, lol? Don't see many rugby players with wonderfully? coiffeurred hair, or lines shaved at all angles.

So where's the pricing parity? My wife gets hers done in a reasonably stylish place, and when she has colour put in, instead of going naturally grey like her mum was at her age, she'll pay £75 which to my mind is horrendous. Ok, time taken will be 2 hours or a little more. Sometimes I take her, (it's a 30 minute drive away and dear knows how many we pass, but she was recommended this place by the two teachers that she works with who earn 3 times what she does!), and after 30 minutes if she has had a difficult day, I would be considering asking her stylist to keep her for an extra half hour for a little sum lol. 

Well, do you ladies understand why you pay so much?

Love,

Tvman xx

Hi Lass

gThanks for these.  Will have a good browse a bit later once this horrible sickness wears off.

love

gaynor

Hi Tvman, 

I enjoyed reading your post as it made me chuckle. I particularly liked the rugby comment because we am rugby league mad and always make comparisons with the footballers.

With regards to hairdressing costs I pay £24 for a cut and blow. I have let my hair go naturally white and use a violet shampoo and it looks fine. I have been to the barber before today and paid £6.00 as they really know how to do the short cuts. On the reverse side of the coin my granddaughter who has long hair has on occasions paid £200 for colours etc. Madness in my opinion, I prefer to spend mine on a season ticket for the rugby. But each to their own, whatever makes you happy is the order of the day.

Old at 60? never, you are bob on in your assessment.

Regards Elanora  xx

Oh @tvman. What a can of worms you’ve peeped into. 

Why do women pay so much for their hair care? And who profits? 

Similar questions include why do women wear shoes that damage their backs, legs and feet? Why do they remove their body hair? Paint their faces and nails with potentially toxic products and limit what they can do? (For example: Can’t jump in the pool with the kids because it will mess up my hair/make up. Can’t change a tyre - my nails will chip)  

Some women will say it is because they like to look good. They enjoy time at the hairdresser or salon or shopping mall. Fair do. It does indeed take two hours to do a full head of hair colouring etc compared to a few minutes for a buzz cut. It’s going to cost more.

But others would say it’s because of externally defined standards of beauty that have been internalised by women but which serve to keep women down - and make money from them. 

Why don’t men, on the whole, dress in clothes that incapacitate? Spend hours and a fortune on make up and hair? And what do men do with the extra hours they have each week compared to the well groomed woman? Why are women, on average, paid less when it costs them so much more than men to meet society’s expectations of how they should look? And who is at the head of the empires making billions out of the fashion and beauty industry? 

I’m just asking. And trying desperately not to go off on one. I’m not anti men. I’m pro equality  

xx 

Hi Alive

It’s so nice to hear from you and I’m so pleased to read that your stable with an improving back. Sorry about the oil spillage though. It’s the sort of thing I do and I feel such a twit. 

I am not going out either. Instead I’ve made a batch of salted caramel brownies and a loaf of bread. I’ve changed the bed and cleaned the bathroom. It’s the first time I’ve had any energy all week so I’m realky hoping this week off chemo I’ve got coming up will be a good one where I feel reasonably well. 

Xx

Hi Daloni, brownies sounds good and home made bread too. I have tried making bread but never get it quite right unfortunately. 

You have had a good lot of energy there changing the bed and cleaning the bathroom. I find that changing the bed makes my back so sore that I end up sitting down with a heat pad till it eases! Oh for the days when I could do it all without needing to spend time recovering afterwards.

I do hope this week you will be able to have the energy for all you want to do. Just don’t try to do too much too soon.

love and hugs 

Maggie xx

Hi Maggie.  Me too.  I have to change the bed in stages - sheets and sit, pillowcases and sit, and then the big one. Duvet cover !    

I just bought a juicer so that I can extra vitamins down me, so I’ve be3n chopping up fruit.  That’s about the limit of my ac5ivity today

xxx

Oooh thanks Lass. I can feel an afternoon of laughter coming on trying this lot out 

xx

hi Gaynor and Maggie, 

ssssh. Tell no one. I missed out the bit where I had to sit down between the various bits of the bed changing. Actually I had to lie down after putting the duvet cover on.

Bread is easy peasy. Once you get over the idea that it needs all that kneading and realise it requires just three ten second kneads at ten minute intervals, the world is your lobster. Then you can start adding seeds or cheese or pesto or caramelised onion and mucking about with different flours. All it needs is time - and that I do have. 

It’s tea time. Oh look, a freshly baked brownie. What could bd better? 

Xx