SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 11:14 AM
Sounds way too hot for me as well!

The gallbladder isn't a filter. It's a storage place for bile which is produced by the liver.
The bile aids in digestion of fats.
Without a gallbladder there's no more storage but the liver still produces bile which is then directly dumped into the digestive tract.
When it comes to eating I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever.
But then I must say that my fat intake isn't crazy either.


I'm nibbling on beef jerky, YAM!
Supermarket was out for days and I asked about it 2 days ago. He immediately ordered a new batch which was in today :D
Me very happy, hihi.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 10:39 AM


To add to my post above ^^^^
What you then get is many women deciding to go and stay solo.
I'm on the verge of doing that as well. Zee says she's done that too.

Women are very good at living solo. Men not so much.
This is also physical, I'm not 100% sure of the reason, but if memory serves it has something to do with a hormonal change in men.
That's also why men often enter a new relationship directly after leaving a partner.
Women generally cannot do that. We need time to heal.

Again if memory serves, the reason we can go solo and lead a totally fulfilling life also has to do with something hormonal, the way we're wired.
You see this happen more and more these days as there simply aren't a lot of quality men anymore who are rooted & anchored in their masculinity.


I agree Crystal, for the most part, men these days IMO seem unwilling to bend.. we have to move to them, they've laid roots and ours don't seem to even come into account.. there is not even a discussion of compromise..

to me there's no balance in their masculine & feminine side.. yet the women I know seem to balance out..
I've always felt like a "she-male" (not speaking about sexuality, in that regard I am ALL woman) I'm speaking to my connectedness with my masculine side, that I can handle doing both types of work AND use both sides of my brain.. be it male or female oriented (old school descriptions).. and possibly one of the reasons why I make friends so easily with men.. I can relate on many levels.. however.. lots of men seem to not be able to relate on a similar level with women.. many do not seem to have the empathetic gene nor can they pick up on clues given by women.. also, in my experience, men who relate to my masculine side, seem blind to my feminine side..

all this to say YEAH, I've come to accept being single for the balance of my life because I have yet to meet ANY man that can live up to my expectations, even WITH compromise, of what a relationship shud be.. I've given quite a few the chance to prove me wrong but.. hasn't happened yet so figure it's not gonna.. ohwell

When in touch with a potential partner you have to be in your feminine.
A man cannot feel anything romantic nor fall in love when you're in your masculine.
That's another problem these days: many women being too much in their masculine, oftentimes so much so that they don't even know and argue till they're blue in the face that they're not.
You need polarity for romantic feelings to come up and there's no polarity when the woman is in her masculine.

There are a lot of other things women tend to do that put men off. Especially now that we also have a lot of men in too much feminine energy.
These men talk too much, can whinge, are needy etc.
A quality man listens to the woman talk. The woman should talk more than the man. And she should talk about her feelings as that raises her oestrogen which in turn raises the man's testosterone. Men can smell oestrogen. Which is also why men often cannot fall in love with an older woman because she a) is too much in her masculine energy and B) doesn't have oestrogen anymore.
He can then be friends with her but he cannot fall in love with her.

Another thing women often not do is ask a man to do things for her. Not necessary big things. Just things that take a few minutes, and then show that you're grateful he did that.
That raises his testosterone. Men need to do, give, serve (not on a 3D level). He should give to his woman. That makes him feel better.
Thing is, most women don't ask anything of their man because she can do it herself, sometimes even better. Big mistake!
And often women give or do too much for their man. Even go as far as to solve his problems for him.

You know, there are a ton of things like that and most people don't even know!
We were never taught any of this as in the past you married, stayed married. End of story.
But the knowledge is out there. That's how I learnt, but most people cannot be @r$ed to educate themselves.

Jake Woodard, excellent coach although he presents himself as motivational speaker, even offers webinars and/or courses for men so they can learn to become quality men & partners as opposed to lame @$$ed Beta men.
He's really good, doesn't beat around the bush either. Stuff like, "If you do XYZ she doesn't want to F you anymore because...."

Stupid thing is, a lot of women do do the work to grow & develop, also concerning being a good partner, feminine etc.
And men... they fiddle with the remote? Then come on here to complain about women, hihi.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 10:20 AM


I once had a relation with a woman of age 54. And I was so surprised to see the passion she had to fulfill her lustrous desires which was completely new for me. And I’ve learned a lot from her due to her experience in different acts. Now I want to know from u about the physical needs at your age. Am I wrong to expect that there’s a wild person still living in you but yeah with the great control over yourself due to maturity …?


to add to GravelRidgeBoy's list of possible reasons..

perhaps he's simply inquiring as to what "passion" feels like at a later stage in a womans life..

seems to me, now that I've re-read it, that he's asking if women older than 54 are AS passionate as a 54 yr old is, and MAYBE he'd be interested in dating even older women IF they are..

to answer that.. they don't call us COUGARS for NUTTIN pitchfork

unlike men.. we don't need a lil blue pill to start the engines bigsmile
laugh

Indeed we don't but... we do need good levels of oestrogen in order to be sexual.
As women become post-menopausal the levels drop and are basically zilch.
Also, our testosterone drops which can also have a serious effect on our sexdrive.
You can remedy that by using HRT.

Aside from all that our sexdrive (and oestrogen levels) for a very big part depend on the man:
We need to feel (emotionally) safe, we need to trust the man and know, sense, feel that he's there reliable. This goes for any woman, regardless of age.

That's why casual sex doesn't work for core feminine women --> the safety, trust etc. isn't there. Without that it's very very difficult to surrender and let go.
We have to be extremely vulnerable to open up -figuratively & literally- to allow a man to penetrate us -again also figuratively & literally.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 08:46 AM
Almost done! Just a few details left to do, which no doubt will still take me quite some time, hihi.

Changed the face a little bit as it wasn't quite right, fixed the ear as well.

Re-did the back- & foreground then started that dust. Was hard work as the largest brush that works for me isn't nearly large enough for that, but yeah... The size brush I'd need for that would cost me some $45.

Anywho, I'm really happy with what I've got now!


SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 04:36 AM
To add to my post above ^^^^
What you then get is many women deciding to go and stay solo.
I'm on the verge of doing that as well. Zee says she's done that too.

Women are very good at living solo. Men not so much.
This is also physical, I'm not 100% sure of the reason, but if memory serves it has something to do with a hormonal change in men.
That's also why men often enter a new relationship directly after leaving a partner.
Women generally cannot do that. We need time to heal.

Again if memory serves, the reason we can go solo and lead a totally fulfilling life also has to do with something hormonal, the way we're wired.
You see this happen more and more these days as there simply aren't a lot of quality men anymore who are rooted & anchored in their masculinity.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 04:28 AM
For me the reason for not finding love is -and you're probably not going to like it- most men being Beta men. Not rooted & anchored in their masculine energy.
Most men are so concerned with never investing, caring for, committing, and provided for a woman that they make it impossible. They shoot themselves in the foot with that mindset to begin with, but women aren't interested in such men either. It's not what we want as most women do have more to offer.

I am a core feminine energy woman and with a core masculine energy man I can shift into that energy, which is heaven on Earth!
With a Beta man I can't do that. I'll still have to carry the masculine load which is exhausting to a woman, causes physical stress as it upsets her nervous system. It forces her to shift into masculine energy which we do have but it's not the idea that we live in that 24/7.

Don't believe me, want to argue about it? Then educate yourself first. And once you've done that, use your new knowledge while you read men's posts. What they say, how they say it etc.
Then you'll quickly see what I'm talking about. Most say they are good men and they want love, yet they aren't ready or willing to go the extra mile for a woman. Or if they (think) they do, they don't do it the right way but still the Beta-man way.

I'm 100% convinced this is the reason many women cannot find a partner.
Women are further along in the process (this is always the case, no judgement) and don't want a whingy, whiny, demanding, needy man by their side.
So many men demand everything yet offer nothing (much).
Men demand everything of a woman, her giving up everything (when moving house for him for instance), risking everything. She must be all in, while in the meantime he makes dammed sure he always got an 'out'.

Women might have gone for that 50 years ago, but not anymore. We want a man by our side, not some wimp who's afraid to go for love.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 03:44 AM
Nah, the saddle is relatively new. And making it dark will be a problem as the horse is also dark brown.
Burnt sienna is not dark, not in paint anyways. It's the base colour of the chaps, pure sienna is the colour of the back cinch.

The chaps were actually a slightly different brown but I wanted them to really pop so I went for a base of burnt sienna :)


SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 02:48 AM


Thinking... these disappearing posts are starting to get up my nose!
Just like most emojis don't show up when you click "add smiley".
Best not go to the loo here either. Since nothing is working right they probably don't flush anymore.


:smile: :wink: laugh happy :tongue: mad :angry: explode grumble noway love ohwell flowerforyou indifferent glasses embarassed frown smokin devil sick smooched :heart: drinker brokenheart sad bigsmile blushing huh yawn rant frustrated tears :banana: pitchfork drinks drool flowers biggrin what think :laughing: smitten offtopic oops spock rofl whoa sad2 scared shocked ill asleep slaphead smile2 shades surprised tongue2 :thumbsup: waving :angel: winking

Checked all the emoji's and they all seem to be working.

You may have a lag problem with your server.

The emojis work, it's just when you click "add smiley" most aren't visible.

This is what I get, has been like that for months now:



I have very fast internet. I highly doubt that's it.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 02:42 AM



laugh I'm the door person too with my stray.. she prefers outdoors most days (when it's -10 and warmer) but sometimes I call her the yoyo cuz she'll go out, 2 mins then wants back in.. barely have a chance to walk away laugh I don't have a catflap either.. figure it'd be safer then waking to any type of critter in the house.. like -> 🦨🐿:rabbit2:πŸ¦”:rat::mouse2:

Oh yes, there's that worry to with a catflap.
Getting one that works on a chip would sort that but these are bloody expensive!



true dat.. my stray won't wear a collar tho.. so that wouldn't work for my purposes regardless ohwell door person it is laugh

My cats don't wear collars either.
I don't want them to, not even if they have so called safety clasps that open when it gets caught. I still feel it's too risky.

My cats' chips are under the skin of their neck/between shoulder blades.
I had that done when they got spayed so they didn't feel a thing of it.

Nevertheless I can't get a catflap as I have sliding doors with huge windows in 'em. Too expensive to have a catflap fitted in there and what if it goes wrong and the double glazing breaks? Would cost a fortune to have that sorted and I haven't got a fortune, hihi.
So getting up again and again it is.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 02:31 AM

Honestly... I have never had that happen..

Mainly due to I have my filters set for email, that unless your within 50 miles you can not contact me..

Solves that issue to a point..

Now I have had those that put in they live in my area.. but in reality they do not..

After I ask if they live in that area, at times I will get ohh well I'm in so and so now but will be there down the road.. Yea right.. Unless they are a truck driver or in that type of business where they travel a lot it's a no go.. And well if they are rich enough to do all that traveling they would not be on this site..jmo

My advice is set your email filters.. Anyone you have emailed will not be blocked by your filters..

It's not on here and the reason used isn't necessarily always distance.
Sometimes it's their age or height or whatever.
I cannot set filters for distance on every site and if I can I don't want to set it to 50kms as then I'll only get men from the province I live in. I'm looking for men from outside that province so I have to set a wider perimeter.
It would be helpful to me if there was a setting like "between 50 - 80kms away".

And again, distance isn't the only excuse used in such messages.

Once on some dating site you could search with a ton of specific filters so you could narrow it down to what you really were looking for.
The end result was getting this message:
You're looking for a unicorn!

Not kidding, hihi.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Wed 02/18/26 02:15 AM

I can see why a normal guy would write that, but then there are plenty of Ehmad's out there to knock the good guys down a peg or two...lol

Maybe he just wants to talk to you but he wants to be up front so there is no confusion or leading on?

He might also be fishing, like when someone says how ugly they are but they really want others to tell them how good they look, maybe he is hoping that you say that you travel near him?

Maybe he got cold feet while writing to you, so he is turning himself down before you turn him down?

I am sure there are other reasons but they all seem to be a lack of confidence on his part that I would guess, nothing to get pissed off about...lol Although I do not even get pissed off with all the scammers and fake profiles on here, it is just part of the online world that we have to deal with to be here I guess...

I also think there's something underneath it that has to do with lack of confidence. But then quite silly to make that worse by sending such messages?
The reason it kind of P me O is that I feel a sense of entitlement in there. Maybe not meant that way, but it feels like that to me. I guess that's my pet peeve. Based on women not having had a say in their love life for centuries. To then get a message that doesn't respect my free will & choice rattles my cage.
I do get such messages quite regularly. Really weird.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 03:29 PM


I once had a relation with a woman of age 54. And I was so surprised to see the passion she had to fulfill her lustrous desires which was completely new for me. And I’ve learned a lot from her due to her experience in different acts. Now I want to know from u about the physical needs at your age. Am I wrong to expect that there’s a wild person still living in you but yeah with the great control over yourself due to maturity …?

WTF?????

I second that, WTF?????

Talk about presumptuous.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 02:20 PM

Well I feel for both of y'all dealing with IBS..

I've never had any issues with food except when I had my gallbladder removed. I had to get use to eating what I had always eaten prior again..Cause I would eat certain spices/foods and it would go through me. That was bad enough.. I can't imagine what y'all deal with everyday..

I'm one that loves Spicy foods. Steaks I eat once in a while mainly due to cost.. Mexican food is my go too.. the spicier the better at times..



I'm actually not too bothered anymore by IBS, haven't been since I basically stopped eating potatoes/pasta/rice with my meals. Just greens and meat.

The only thing I have to be careful with is onion, leek, and now you mention it ---> spicy foods.
I never liked spicy food much because you cannot even taste anything you eat anymore. And my gut doesn't like it either.

I got that dislike of spicy stuff when I lived in Jakarta. Much over there was really bad. Asians love it, their bodies can handle it, and when something had gone off they added red pepper so they could still eat it.
Me, I remove every little sliver of red pepper if it's in a meal, or I order/buy something else, hihi.

I also had my gallbladder removed some 17 years ago, but that didn't cause me any trouble. Apart from recovering from the surgery itself. That was incredibly painful for me and took way longer than I was told beforehand, phew!

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 02:14 PM

laugh I'm the door person too with my stray.. she prefers outdoors most days (when it's -10 and warmer) but sometimes I call her the yoyo cuz she'll go out, 2 mins then wants back in.. barely have a chance to walk away laugh I don't have a catflap either.. figure it'd be safer then waking to any type of critter in the house.. like -> 🦨🐿:rabbit2:πŸ¦”:rat::mouse2:

Oh yes, there's that worry to with a catflap.
Getting one that works on a chip would sort that but these are bloody expensive!

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 02:08 PM
Do more women have this happen quite regularly?

Men sending you a message that they like your profile or photo or something and then they continue to tell you it can't go anywhere because we live too far apart or some other reason.

That always has me thinking, mate, we have never even exchanged a single word, yet you assume that we potentially have something going because you have an interest in me?????
How bout sending a message like, "I really like you/am interested but dammit, we live too far apart. What a shame!"

I never know why men do this. Is it arrogance or simply being dim?

I also never know what to think of it. Get PO or find it hilarious. I lean towards the first because well... I am a Taurus hihi, and I do find it presumptuous.

Now it this happened with great guys... but it's always men I wouldn't even want if they were the last specimen with a penis on the planet, lol.

You girls have this happen as well?

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 01:29 PM
Here's today's update :)
He's got a face. And eyes. YAY!
Face looks a bit overlit as I just took this photo and had to use the bright light that I also use while painting.
I'll see tomorrow whether I'm happy with the face or not. Am too tired now.

Will have to work on the ear.
I hate painting ears, hihi. I wished everyone had a haircut that covered the ears so I wouldn't have to paint them, lol.

The horse is done! I finally got the head the way I wanted it. Was a struggle, but now I'm finally happy with it :D

What remains is details on the bridle.
I also finished the back cinch :)


SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Tue 02/17/26 02:19 AM
Oh yes, I too have IBS but must say it's going really well last couple of years *knock on wood*.
A lot changed for me when I stopped eating and greens and meat and potatoes/pasta/rice.
Montignac said you never eat all 3 but 2 only, and one of these 2 is always greens.
So it's either greens and meat or greens and potato/pasta/rice.

I began doing that when around 2002 and my gut became a helluva lot happier!!

The only thing that still upsets things for me are onions and leek. Always had that problem, even as a teen.
Raw onion is fine, but if it's added to meat or greens and thus cooked... big problem!!


Anywho... busy with my morning fitness --> running round opening doors for my 3 cats when they want in or out. I don't have a catflap so I have to get up a lot.
On top of that it's making sure they don't eat Nila's special hypoallergenic food.
I should have super glutes by now, hihi.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Mon 02/16/26 01:13 PM
All that food for lunch?!?!
Sounds more like dinner to me, hihi.

My lunch is 1 slice of spelt bread with walnut cheese and a cup of milk.

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Mon 02/16/26 01:10 PM
Watched Apocalypse 10,5
I'd seen it before but I like disaster movies so I don't mind watching it again :)

SparklingCrystal πŸ’–πŸ’Ž's photo
Mon 02/16/26 10:21 AM
Yeah, I know.
But over here I do not have to chop wood, we have gas, gas main.
Before we had that, people used oil and/or coal.

We don't have enough trees for people to go cut them and use them for heating. As such it's not allowed either.
There are quite a lot of people with wood stoves these days but they usually buy -already chopped- wood. Quite expensive...
Nice heat though!

I actually meant, if I were to move to Canada ... then I'm not going to chop wood. Nor shovel a ton of snow. Not with my back & neck. And the chopping... I'd prolly end up with an axe in my thigh, hihi.
There's not going to be any moving unless there's a great bloke, hahaha.

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