Fun Friday --Bye Bye Bugs

I love to work in the garden and be outside, but most annoying are the myriad of bugs that love to fly around your face or attack your very being. Here are some tips to keep them away. Then feel free to enjoy have a garden party, a barbeque, take a leisurely stroll or curl up with a good book and a cup of tea.

1. Plant an herb garden. Basil, peppermint, oregano or scented geraniums (especially citronella scent) will help keep bugs at bay and provide a pleasant experience both visually and "scentsibly" Both lavender and any kind of geranium, marigold and chrysanthemums work well. Geranims are said to protect better than DEET and chrysanthemums are an ingredient in a well known bug repellent. Try crushing geranium leaves and rubbing the oil on your skin. Catnip or any member of the mint family planted around your yard is reported to be 10 times more effective than DEET.

2. Ladybugs to the rescue. Lots of bugs help with other pests. Green lacewings protect against whitefly and spidermite, and ladybugs eat aphids. Plant gardens to encourage good bugs. Queen Anne's lace, Shasta daisies, cosmos, black eyed susan, white alyssum.


3.Install a bat house near your outdoor living spaces. Bats dine on mosquitoes in the evening and are a beauty to behold in flight.




4.Erect bird feeders in your yard to attract wild birds, which feast on mosquitoes. Stock the water garden or pond with goldfish or other mosquito larvae eating fish.
Wrens, warblers, hummingbirds will love the yummy bugs. Put up a hummingbird feeder or plant flowers with lots of nectar or bright colors to attract them.















5. We all know about citronella candles but evidentally, any candle will do. Mosquitos hate the heat and carbon dioxide so shy away.

6. Try an oscillating fan.

Celebrity Wednesday--Sage Advice from Glenn Close

I just came upon Good Housekeepings interview with Glenn Close, the first on my list of gorgeous women over sixty. Here is a bit of advice that I thought I would share


"All your life you think 60 is ancient," Close says, "and all of a sudden you find you're 60 and you don't really feel that different. I feel stronger and more engaged. This is the best time of my life."


Our family does a lot of triathlons," she says of her new extended clan. So now even Close, never quite the triathlete, has joined in, running the Iron Bear triathlon at Bowdoin College in Maine. "My whole goal, because I had never done it before, was just to finish," she says. "In the swimming portion of the race, I was in the slowest group. I swim with a snorkel, and I was the only one doing that. And as I started swimming, I started losing my breath and I thought, What am I doing? So I took off my snorkel and finished it doing the backstroke. I didn't care how I looked." During the race, she was dismayed to find that entrants had their ages written on their leg in Magic Marker. "Why they did that, I don't know," she says, perplexed. "So all these people would pass me on the road — 19, 20, 45." Still, using a combination of running and power walking, she made it across the finish line, and is getting ready to train for her next race.
And she doesn't seem to care about the number she'll have to write on her leg. "It takes this long to figure out a lot of stuff," she says. In fact, she now knows exactly what she would say to her younger self if she could. "I would say: 'Pay attention. Listen to your inner voice.' A lot of times what that inner voice tells you is not the easiest thing to do. But don't override that voice, because that's who you really are

Like her look. Simple and casual. A V-neck sweater in a flattering color and some well fitted jeans. Try pairing this $10 Target tee with your favorite jeans.














Other Sexy, Stunning and 60+ women
JAWS DROP WHEN THESE WOMEN ENTER A ROOM


64 GLENN CLOSE
64 SALLY FIELD
64 CANDICE BERGEN
64 SUSAN SARANDON

65 DEBORAH HARRY
65 DIANE KEATON
65 GOLDIE HAWN
65 JACLYN SMITH
65 GLADYS KNIGHT

66 JACQUELINE BISSET
67 LAUREN HUTTON
69 MARTHA STEWART
70 JULIE CHRISTIE
70 RAQUEL WELCH

71 TINA TURNER
73 JANE FONDA
75 DIAHANN CARROLL
76 SOPHIA LOREN
76 JUDI DENCH
75 URSELLA ANDRESS
76 JULIE ANDREWS
76 MAGGIE SMITH
77 JOAN RIVERS

Meryl Streep
Twiggy
Helen Miryen
Joanna Lumley
Sigourne Weaver
Stephanie Powers (69)

Savvy Sandals for a Hot Summer Day

Here I go with shoes again, but I have to say I love shoes to go with every outfit. Yet . . . they must be comfortable!!



One of my most comfortable sandals are Natural Soul by Naturalizer. I hiked all over Chicago with similar cushioned sandals and never had a blister or sore spot. The inner sole is padded suede and the sandal straps are man made but look and feel like leather. . The heel is mid--2 and 1/2 inch. The sole is a thick tread to prevent slipping on wet pavement. All in all, these sandals are a great look that can go from very casual to an evening out. I paid $24.99 at TJ Maxx



These cute sandals can be bought at Newport News--most are priced in the mid thirties.

AIRLINE FEES--I DON'T THINK SO

I’ve just returned from a delightful and refreshing mini-vacation with my future daughter-in-law to her home city and family in Chicago.
I do not fly often so when something changes, I often am surprised. One of the most shocking was a $150 per ticket fee if you change your flight. When computers eliminate the need for manual handling of this type of thing, saving money for personnel, they pass on the savings to their customers in the form of an outrageous fee. So much for customer service.

A lot of airlines, in an effort to cut costs have introduced other laughable extra fees.
While I don’t have answers for all of the fees, here are a few savings.

USE A CARRY ON—
Thanks to my travel partners expertise—we carried our luggage on, thus saving the checked baggage fees. The fee on United happened to be $25 for the first bag and on from there. Check online for the specifications for your airline. United allowed us one carry on, and a computer/tote bag. I fit my purse in my tote and saved a bundle.

HOW ABOUT A FREQUENT FLYER CLUB—
Althouh I haven’t taken my own advice because I am not a frequent flyer, they can save you money. If you stay with one airline, you accumulate points which can save you money. Some airlines will even waive baggage fees. Make sure you know the limitations of the plans. Many have black out dates or stringent rules, that eliminate their benefits.

HOTEL PERKS—
Sometimes your hotel will provide the extra perk of paying your baggage fee when you present them with your receipt. It can’t hurt to ask.

DON’T PAY A SEAT SELECTION FEE—
You can be charged up to $20 if you opt for preferred seat selection for aisle and exit row seats. Check in online before the flight is due to avoid these.
An adequate time to do this is 24 hours before the flight when the most free non-preferred seating is open.

PILLOW AND BLANKET FEE—ABSURD!!
If you’re not likely to catch a catnap without a pillow, throw an inflatible one in your carryon or roll up a jacket or sweater. Need a blanket, Carry a warm sweater and you’ll avoid feeling like a popsicle if the air conditioning is too much. Savings up to $7.

EARBUDS PLEASE--
With all of our technology, invest in a cheap pair of earbuds to keep in your purse or pocket. This can save you up to $5 not only at the airlines, but how about those computuer you might want to use on vacatoin, either at a library or at the hotel.

MY STOMACH IS HITTING MY BACKBONE—
Yup, you guessed it, gone are the days where everyone complains about airline food, because the only way you will enjoy it (or not) is if you pay for it, and even then the selection is minimal. Brown bag it!! Throw a few munchies in your purse, but don’t forget the no liquid rule, fill your water bottle after you go throuh security.

SOUTHWEST STILL LIKES TO SERVE ITS CUSTOMERS—
Southwest Airlines still allows up to two checked bags with no charge—amazing!!

NOW GO AN ENJOY YOUR TRIP

Fun Friday on Saturday

You think English is easy??? Read to the end ... a new twist

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row ...

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? (Notice how this word could also be read as in tim ate ?)

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat? Some tim es I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on..

English was invented by people not computers and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why when the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are out they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick' ?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this .

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP'

It's easy to understand UP , meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other tim es the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UPexcuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP . We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your tim e, but if you don't give UP ,you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP...

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP , so........it is time to shut UP !

Are You Fit?

While researching today, I came across an article by Dean Anderson listing tests you can do at home to see if you are as fit as you think. Try them out and see. Then compare your results at http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1202

The Senior Functional Fitness Test
These self-tests are not a substitute for medical evaluation and clearance for exercise, especially if you experience any pain, weakness, or difficulty with any of these activities. So, be sure to check in with your doctor and get yourself cleared before starting any exercise program. These six self-test assessments and age-related performance comparisons have been adapted from the Senior Fitness Test Manual, ©1999 R.E. Rikli and C.J. Jones.

Each of these assessments will measure one or more of the basic elements of functional fitness: strength, power, agility, endurance, balance, and flexibility. Research has demonstrated that a senior’s performance on these assessments is a reliable indicator of his or her risk for having (or developing) functional limitations that will negatively affect quality of life. If your scores fall in the “High Risk Zone” or below the average (see table below), beginning a program of regular exercise can help you reduce your risk.

Note: You can do these tests yourself at home, but several require a partner to help you measure or record your results. You’ll also need a tape measure, a dumbbell or hand weight (five pounds for women, eight pounds for men), and a watch or clock with a second hand. If you can, arrange to do this assessment in a gym with a friend, a personal trainer or fitness professional. Estimating your results or diverging from the instructions could make your results invalid.
Arm Curls: The purpose of this test is to assess upper body strength needed to perform regular household chores and other daily activities involving lifting and carrying things like groceries and grandchildren, opening containers, and more.

Description: Complete as many one-arm biceps curls as you can in 30 seconds, holding a hand weight of five pounds (if you’re a woman), or 8 pounds (if you’re a man).

High Risk Zone: Completing less than 11 curls in 30 seconds with good form

30-Second Chair Stands: The purpose of this test is to assess lower body strength required for daily activities such as walking, climbing stairs, getting in and out of chairs, cars, and the bathtub, and maintaining balance.

Description: Sit in a standard chair with a firm seat (such as a dining chair), with arms folded across chest and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down as many times as possible in 30 seconds, without using hands for support.

High Risk Zone: Less than 8 unassisted stands in 30 seconds

2-Minute Step Test: The purpose of this test is to assess aerobic endurance, which is important for walking, stair climbing, and performing many daily activities for an extended period of time.

Description: Stand facing a wall, and put a pencil mark or piece of tape on the wall at a height that is halfway between the top of your knee and the top of your hipbone. Begin stepping in place, raising each knee up as high as the wall marker each time. Step for two minutes, and record the number of full steps taken, counting both right and left legs together as one step.

High Risk Zone: Less than 65 full steps in 2 minutes

Chair Sit and Reach Test: The purpose of this test is to assess lower body flexibility, which is important for proper walking gait, balance, and other common movements such as getting in and out of cars.

Description: Sit with buttocks on front edge of firm chair. Extend one leg straight in front of you, with heel resting on floor. Bend forward at waist, keeping arms straight, reaching hands towards toes. Stretch forward as far as possible without pain. Have a partner measure the distance (in inches) between the tips of your fingers and the tips of your toes.

High Risk Zone: Women with two inches or more between fingers and toes and men with four inches of distance or more

Back Scratch: The purpose of this test is to assess shoulder flexibility, which is important for movements such as brushing hair, putting on clothes over the head, putting on a car seat belt and more.

Description: With one hand, reach behind your back and slide hand up towards opposite shoulder as far as possible. With opposite hand, reach back over same shoulder and try to come as close as you can to touching the tip of other hand. Have a partner measure the distance between your hands.

High Risk Zone: Women with two inches or more between hands and men with four inches of distance or more

8-Foot Up and Go Test: The purpose of this test is to assess agility and dynamic balance, which is important for tasks requiring quick maneuvering, such as getting off a bus, or getting up from a chair to answer the phone, etc.

Description: Measure out a distance of 8 feet from the edge of a chair, and put a marker there. Sit in the chair, and time yourself as you stand up, walk to the marker and back, and sit back down.

High Risk Zone: More than 9 seconds to complete this test

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