All Posts By 60plus&lovinglife

When your dog is sick…

My poor boy George was unwell yesterday. Dogs can get really sick really fast and then recover just as quickly. He had been nibbling at some grass at the park in the morning which made me wonder if he was not feeling great.

I went to the gym mid morning and stayed for a double class. I stopped for a coffee on the way home and as soon as I opened the door I was like hmmmm, that smells a bit funky!

George had had a couple of bouts of diarrhea on my bed and on the floor in the living room and he had also vomited on his dog bed. It was a bit of a smelly mess. I gave him lots of pets and used my most soothing voice to reassure him that it was all ok and to rest up whilst I cleaned up.

Thank goodness for latex gloves, paper towels and my mop! I stripped the bed and put the sheets in the wash, I scrubbed the mattress and then sprayed it liberally with Glen-20. I scooped up all the loose poop on the floor and the vomit on his dog-bed and threw it all and the gloves in a trash bag and flung it in the bin outside.

He had to go outside a few more times to poop and I just hosed it into the grass, there was no scooping of that loose mess!

I washed his dog bed, but it’s not ideal, the cover doesn’t come off and it’s been shoved in the machine a few times over the last few years and it’s become all lumpy and hard.

I decided we needed to go to his favourite pet supply store and buy him a new bed. He came for the ride as the store is pet friendly and he’s allowed inside on a leash. Bit of a risk as he might have hurled on the back seat, but he just lay down and napped. He perked up at the store, it’s his favourite place to visit (that and his doggy daycare).

We looked around for beds and chose the one in the pic above. It’s one of those calming dog beds and it has a removable cover, so it can be washed easily and the bed itself will maintain its structure. He sniffed it suspiciously when we got home, but you can see he decided that he does love it afterall.

He only drank water for the remainder of the day and didn’t seem to want food. I gave him a small handful of dog kibble this morning and he has brightened up considerably.

It’s good to see him back in top form and he was all a-gallop at the park and played with a couple of his doggy friends. If he’d been sick during the night it would have meant a trip to the vet, animals can get dehydrated really quickly, but because he got up in the night to drink more water I figured whatever had upset his stomach had passed and he was ok.

Share this article

And it’s 2023!

Happy New Year! 🎊💃🥂🕛🎇

I spent NYE dancing and managed to last the distance until midnight! It was a long haul!😂

The last hour was tough and a few of my friends bailed before the midnight hour! My partner is always really keen to make it to midnight on New Year’s and I was determined to not just make it, but still be dancing and laughing all the way. I guess for sure it’s a sign of getting older that staying out late is not so appealing. Usually we hang around dancing for a good couple of hours, then leave on a high note.

I love dancing with my partner, we have a great rhythm and sync really well with our dance moves and we are just so comfortable dancing with each other. Rock & Roll and Jive are our favourite styles. But we also love the slower waltzes and shmoozy dance tunes. Progressive dances are always a hoot as well, especially now that we actually know all the steps to them and no longer step on or crash into other dancers!

They have progressives and line dancing when the band take their breaks. I love watching the line dances, but I’m not that adept at them (yet!). I did jump in on the Chilli ChaCha and the Fireball, I had most of the steps, but still managed to turn the wrong way now & again. There was a lovely lady in front letting me know which way to turn and when to wiggle in the ChaCha!! Her wiggle was awesome, mine was way more awkward, but still it was fun!

Then they put on Nutbush City Limits just before midnight, it’s a real Aussie dance routine, the minute the opening bars start playing literally everyone will jump on the dance floor and join in (check out the link if you are not familiar with it). It’s great fun and was the perfect song and dance routine to end the year before wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

I sometimes wonder why it’s so important to wait for the clock to tick over to the new year. However, I will say I did feel quite emotional this time and also quite hopeful that 2023 will be a gentler year for everyone. I wish you a happy, healthy, fulfilling and kind 2023!

 

 

Share this article

Christmas Day 2022

Christmas Day was fairly relaxed and chill. We spent the day with my partner’s family and my daughter 🥰

We all got there around midday, however the in-laws on the other side got stuck in a freeway jam for a couple of hours which was unfortunate as they were bringing a lot of the main lunch food! We had all the desserts and salads.

In the meantime because we were all getting a bit hungry, we snacked on cookies my daughter brought and had a few glasses of champagne! By the time the rest of the party arrived (flustered and hot), we were all a wee bit merry! We got them to have a glass of champagne, sit down and relax whilst we organized plates, food and serving utensils.

After lunch and endless desserts (Christmas cake, pavlova, trifle, chocolates & more cookies) everyone played a hectic game. I had never heard of it before I met my partner. It’s got a few names including “Christmas gift stealing”, “white elephant”, “stealing Santa” and Google tells me it’s a version of “Yankee Swap”. Here’s a link that explains how the game is played. However, the version we play is a roll of the dice game – get a 6 and grab a gift from the centre pile. At the end of 5 minutes, you keep rolling the dice and if you get a 6, you can grab a gift from someone else’s pile. Everyone ends up in fits of laughter. Then at the end we unwrap the gifts and we usually end up swapping them with each other!

After that my partner and I throw on some Rock & Roll tunes and have a dance around (and yes, we were wearing matching Christmas vests!). It was a good way to work off all that food!

 

Share this article

Happy Christmas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND WISHING YOU A FABULOUS 2023!

It’s Christmas Eve and sweltering hot in my neck of the woods! I’ve just turned on the air con as I’m starting to melt. I usually leave it as late in the day as possible and generally prefer the ceiling fan.

It’s not as hot this year as the last few Christmases have been, but still it’s mid summer and toasty!

Not sure what your plans are this year, but I hope you have a delightful and happy Christmas whatever you choose to do. And if you are alone this Christmas, my thoughts are with you and sending you love and hugs…

It can be a beautiful time of year and a challenging time of year and I’ve had both types over the years. So I understand if it’s your happiest day with family or your saddest day with no close family to spend the day with you.

I’ll start my Christmas Day with a 5km run, nice and early to beat the heat. It’s my way of settling myself for the day. A reminder that I am fortunate to have a body that functions well and allows me to get up and run. It’s a mindfulness and gratitude setting time, whereby I run and recall all the good things in my life, enjoy the beauty of the morning, listen to the birds and greet the odd person who also gets out early on a Christmas morn.

My sister is recovering well from her kidney cancer operation. She lives on the other side of the country, so I won’t see her for Christmas, but she is surrounded by her children and grandchildren and her Christmas day will be filled with joy.

My daughter and I will be going to my partner’s family for Christmas this year. There’ll be lots of food, wine, laughter and games to play with the kids. My favourite Christmas treat is Christmas cake or pudding – dark, rich and fruity! It is literally the one thing I anticipate on the day (foodwise) and it’s always a delight!

We all bring something to share, so that no-one is burdened with all the preparation and cooking. We each have a Secret Santa gift for another person and then share in the cleaning up at the end of the day.

Then it’s a wrap for another year!

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

 

Share this article

Impulsive decisions…

Eyebrow lamination!

Is something that I had never heard of until this week! I have my eyebrows waxed and eyelashes tinted every few weeks. The brows because they can look a bit wild and woolly if I don’t and the lashes as it saves me spending time putting on mascara – because I can’t be bothered with fussing to go out or go to work.

I had my usual appointment on Monday night with the woman who lives around the corner from me and has her own home beauty business. As it’s a week out from Christmas, she said why don’t you do something different?

And because it’s close to Christmas and I can have a tendency to be a tad impulsive I said sure, what did she have in mind? She said why don’t we do an eyebrow lamination and tint and an eyelash curl and lift and tint.

I’m like “go for it”. Then I said, wait, what exactly is eyebrow lamination? Laminating to me is a thing you do where you heat plastic sheets to preserve documents or pictures and I couldn’t quite get my head around having something like that done to my eyebrows.

Kim, my beauty therapist, explained that it was a process whereby the eyebrows are treated with a straightening chemical and then brushed into place. So ok then.

The whole process took almost two hours! To be honest I can’t say I loved the eyebrow look, they certainly were dramatic (see pic above). I’ve never had such dark eyebrows and I felt they looked absurd.

The eyelashes on the other hand, I did love – they curled up and looked longer! Cute….

I was a bit nervous going into work the next morning, but I actually got a lot of compliments on my brows. My beloved partner did not notice at all! 😂 😂

Anyway, not that this was challenging in any real way, but it does prove that you can try new things when you get older. The outcome may be great or not so great, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a bit of fun for the festive silly season!

 

Share this article

My little garden

It’s taken a while!

I moved into my unit 15 months ago. I changed things and added things to make it truly my home.

I have a rear courtyard and I had a patio built so that I can sit out there any time of year. I also put up bamboo fencing to improve how the space looked and for more privacy, as it’s higher than the original fence behind.

I bought some outdoor wall art, outdoor furniture and an outdoor heater for the winter months.

I have plants in large pots including a Meyer lemon tree and a miniature nectarine tree. There’s a mini frangipani and a couple of other plants.

The whole area is warm and welcoming, private and beautiful. Great for me and my dog or for entertaining friends.

Alongside the side of my unit, facing the shared area with my neighbours is a garden bed. It was empty when I moved in and each of my neighbours have shrubs and groundcover in theirs. Mine looked bare and a bit sad and boring.

It’s taken me this long to decide what to do with the space. A friend of mine has a little business called Gardening Gals. I messaged her around a month ago to discuss her planting a garden for me in the garden bed. I trust her expertise and knowledge of plants and I said that I wanted native plants that are drought resistant and would attract birds. 

I said I really wanted Kangaroo Paw plants as they are local, native and look amazing when fully grown. She came up with a plan that would have higher growing plants at the back of the garden bed that will grow to give that area more privacy, interspersed with, and a little in front more low lying plants and groundcover.

Red Kangaroo Paw

She came on Friday with her offsider and they prepared the soil with soil improver and Saeasol and then put in my new plants. I have red, yellow and black Kangaroo Paw. Grevillea in red and yellow and a variety of different groundcovers that will look glorious when they sprawl out and flower!

Share this article

Waking up sad…

Mornings can be hard…

It is reasonably common for me to wake up feeling a bit sad, down or flat. I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling this way. There is no particular reason or rationale as to why this happens. I just wake up and don’t feel so great.

If I’m up at 5.30am for an early gym session, the sads don’t have much time to take hold. I am up, in my gym gear, grab my water bottle and towel and head out to the gym. Usually by the time the session starts and most certainly when it ends I feel absolutely fine or fantastic depending on how the gym class goes.

The other mornings when I don’t have to leap straight out of bed or when I wake earlier than I need, then it’s like existential dread drops like a veil over my mind and emotions. Sometimes I just go with the sad feeling, get up anyway, lace up my running shoes and head out the door for a 5-6km run. Again, I usually feel better once I’m on my way – says something about the power of exercise on mental health and wellbeing.

Other mornings I just can’t. And that’s ok too. I’ll stay in bed a while longer, feel like crap (again no real reason as to why) and then get up and get on with my day whatever that may bring. I always try to take my dog to the park as it’s good for him and my spirits lift when I see him galloping around with his ears flapping in the air!

Sometimes my spirits may lift as the day progresses, occasionally they do not. So I just sit with the sad feelings knowing that they do pass.

Occasionally I wake up feeling wonderful, happy and full of joy. Again, no idea why that happens, but I am more than grateful when it does.

To counter the waking up sads, I exercise every morning, which really helps me re-set my mind. For the mornings where it is more of a struggle I try other things like positive affirmations & gratitude lists – I have varying success with that.

On one of my favourite podcasts (click the link to go there if you like) I heard about another podcast/app called Wake Me Up: Morning Meditation & Motivations (click the link for the Spotify version or this link for the Apple version). The guy talking you through the sessions is Tyler Brown (he has a lovely soothing voice) and there are a series of meditations, motivational sessions or yoga/stretching options. The free version is great, except you have ads at the beginning which can be a bit jarring. There is a subscribe option, but I’m sticking with the free for now.

I don’t know why, but I find (and I’ve only been using the app this week and I’m not getting paid to say any of this, just offering options for people who may feel bleh in the a.m.) that it actually helps. The sessions are only 10-15 minutes long, so not too long to interfere with getting your day on the move, but long enough to refocus and re-set your mind and emotions for the day.

Give it a go and see what you think 🥰 🤗

Share this article

You really never know what is around the corner!

Sisters…

My sister went to have her bloodwork done a few weeks ago. When she got the results her doctor thought her liver enzymes were a little unusual and sent her off for an ultrasound.

She had the ultrasound done the following week and fortuitously the results found that her liver looked fine. However, the doc said that she had a small lesion on one of her kidneys.

My sister then had to book in to have a biopsy of the lesion to determine whether it was cancerous. She had to reschedule as she caught a bad head cold the week prior to the biopsy and was still unwell the day before.

They got her back in within the week, which indicates that they were fairly concerned about the lesion. My sister wasn’t too freaked out as she trusted the urologist and oncologist, mostly because they kept her informed and were reassuring. She was a little nervous the night before and the day of the procedure, which is understandable.

She finally had the biopsy last week and got the results a couple of days later. That appointment was via Telehealth because in her town they still do a lot of online medical appointments due to another wave of Covid.

The outcome was that the lesion was cancer, more precisely it was a renal cell carcinoma – you can read about that if you click the link. The good news was that it was very small and had not spread anywhere else. The specialist is booking her in for surgery in January to have a partial nephrectomy which is surgical removal of part of the affected kidney. Again you can read about that procedure if you click the link.

I had to google all the terms as they were unfamiliar and I am now far more informed. My sister is fortunate that due to the small size of the lesion, she can have ‘robotic surgery’, rather than having ‘open surgery’. The recovery time from robotic surgery is a lot quicker and the surgery itself is far less invasive.

She has been reassured by her specialist that they will be able to remove the entire lesion and that she (likely) won’t need further intervention. Although I guess she will have regular scans to ensure she stays in the clear.

She’ll be in hospital for a couple of days and then home to recover. I am planning to send over a care package for her when she gets home. We live in different cities on opposite sides of the country, so I can’t get over to see her easily.

Please look after your health and wellbeing, have your bloodwork done (I know I am well and truly overdue for mine and will book in asap!), eat well (as much as you can), exercise well (as much as you can) and take care!

Share this article

Motorbike frog

I love frogs!

I am fortunate that at my workplace we have a garden section. In that section we have some resident fauna, including this cute little motorbike frog!

I don’t always get out into nature, so it’s lovely having a work garden to wander through occasionally and check out the critters. Motorbike frogs are native to the South West of Western Australia and they get their unique name from the sound the male frogs make when mating, which sounds like a motorbike going through it’s gear changes!

I was listening to one of my new favourite podcasts recently called “big picture science” (I’m a bit of a science geek and love to listen to science based podcasts, in addition to my favourite health and wellbeing ones). The interviewee was discussing nature and people and how we need to be more interconnected. Can’t argue with that one. However, the commentary was that people/humans see themselves as distinctly separate to nature, hence the common expression of getting “out into nature” (which is a statement I use a lot and have done pretty much my whole life) implying that we are not actually part of nature itself.

For me, I feel very much connected and a part of nature when I am surrounded by trees or by a river or the ocean. Less so when I am in the city and/or suburbs. I think that is common for most people and possibly why many people feel apart from or separate from “nature”.

Interesting discussion and ideas to think about. I like things that make me think or question things or reflect on my own concepts of how I view the world.

Spotting that little motorbike frog in the plant made me smile and brightened my day and I hope it makes you smile too!

For more information on motorbike frogs, check this link: motorbike frog

 

Share this article

Health & Fitness is a lifestyle!

I don’t do diets…

I was at dance class yesterday afternoon. It’s interesting trying to have a conversation during the class. The women move from man to man and you have 30 seconds top if you want to catch up whilst dancing (rather than before or after class!). And with some folk that’s when I do catch up with them.

I was chatting with one of the guys who has been coming along for a couple of years now. The first pass by, he mentioned he’d started a diet and I expressed surprise as he seems fairly trim, however he doesn’t have much muscle tone (I know this as dancing does involve touching the other persons arm or waist, depending on the dance move).

I asked him why and he said he needed to lose 8kgs. I then moved on to the next dance partner. However, my curiosity was piqued, so on the next turn with my friend I asked him what his motivation was to lose weight. He said that he started walking 5kms a day and had gone on a diet (I didn’t ask which one as diets are not my thing).

I said walking 5kms a day was a good thing to do for his health and fitness as it will improve his cardiovascular health. He said he was determined to stick with his diet and walking “this time”. He also said he’d taken up doing push-ups each day and has one of those vibrators  (sorry, but I snorted with laughter at this point), then realized he meant one of those vibrating plates that you jump on that jiggles you about. I’m not sure how effective those things are as I’ve never tried, but kudos to my friend for giving it a go.

His comment that he’d stick with it “this time” implies that he has tried dieting and getting fitter and has somehow “failed” previously. I am not keen on “failure” as a word when it comes to health and fitness goals. Sometimes I am super healthy and fit, sometimes I lose focus and eat crap or wake up and can’t be bothered going for a run. I never see that as “failure”, it’s just that it’s impossible to be perfect all the time and we are, after all, human with all that entails.

Back to my friend and the next ‘go round’. I said that rather than focus on  being on a “diet”, he could reframe his thoughts and see his new exercise regimen and eating plan as his now and forever lifestyle. I said that the problem with going on a diet is that at some point it ends, then people tend to go back to their old eating habits and the weight creeps back on. He hadn’t thought of it in that way and it was like a light had switched on in his eyes.

Back round again and he said that thinking of it as a lifestyle made him feel more optimistic about succeeding. I did want to talk about the concept of failure, but didn’t have the time in that lesson to continue the conversation. However, I did suggest that he not focus too much on the numbers on the scale, but to focus on improving his cardiovascular fitness with his walking and to keep up the strength training and healthy eating. He smiled. I felt good about sharing knowledge with someone starting (or re-starting) their health journey. Oh, by the way, he’s 74 – so it’s never too late to start improving your health & fitness (but check in with your health care practitioner first!).

Share this article