We had barely gotten past Halloween when the onslaught of “holiday” commercials began. I think it was a Walmart ad. All I remember clearly was the personal panic that immediately set in. It must be my age. Every year I now face the “holidays” with increasing dismay and trepidation instead of the usual joy. They make me tense and uncomfortable instead of those visions of sugar plums I seem to recall from my ancient past. I used to absolutely love Christmas, what happened? I guess it was a combination of good old American hard sell in their desperation to…
Midlife
-
Midlife Crisis Queen: It's never too late to find out who you might have been!
-
I’m beginning to dread a lot about Christmas…
20 Nov 2009 | 9:54 am -
After the kids leave – long distance loving
17 Nov 2009 | 5:44 amBecause I have no experience with an empty nest, and this issue is such an important part of many baby boomers’ midlife transition, I asked my friend Quinn to share her own feelings on her son’s 25th birthday. Quinn is great at capturing the emotions of missing your kids as they venture out on their own: After the kids leave – long distance loving, by Quinn Tomorrow, my son is celebrating his 25th birthday. A group of his friends have booked a private room at a Sushi restaurant followed by a surprise party at his house. His Dad and I will not be at the party because… -
Michael Jackson’s “This is it”
14 Nov 2009 | 2:17 pmI went back and forth about seeing this movie. As it turns out, I’m very glad I saw it! I didn’t realize until halfway through it, why it was an important film for me to see right now. I knew I would love hearing Michael’s music again. He really was an amazing song writer and performer, a Baby Boomer with an astounding amount of energy and passion! But what the audience gets from this film is an up close and personal view of the vast amount of creativity and just plain hard work that goes into producing one of the largest, most complex multi-media productions ever… -
What is wrong with our health care system…
14 Nov 2009 | 7:35 amIn the past two weeks, I learned in full detail what does not work about our health care system, and why it is most certainly killing people. Here’s what happened to us: Mike woke up last Monday (two weeks ago!) with serious difficulties breathing. He saw his GP twice last week, receiving a chest x-ray and a useless dose of antibiotics. Next we saw a pulmonologist twice. He offered one additional chest x-ray and a stronger dose of antibiotics. When those failed to help, they gave up and sent us to the emergency room. It was only after SIX HOURS in the ER, many tests,… -
One woman’s search for her passion
13 Nov 2009 | 6:18 amWe have a Colorado-based writer who likes to give talks about finding your passion. Shari Caudron found herself at a crossroads when she turned forty. She tried out many new activities, but could not figure out what she loved to do. She tried Scrabble, showshoeing, Buddhism, and bridge, just to name a few. She said, “Through all these years…and hobbies, nothing ever took hold and swelled into a grand, all-consuming, get-a-load-of-this obsession. Once I hit forty, I was no longer obsessed with finding a job, snaring a mate or buying a house–I’d done all that, …
-
The New Old Age
-
The Continuing Car Key Debate
20 Nov 2009 | 10:05 amOlder people restricted from driving at night had half the crash risk of those that were not restricted, a study found. -
The Bright Side of C.C.R.C.'s
6 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amOne couple's rationale for moving to a C.C.R.C. -
'Mom Always Liked You Best'
3 Nov 2009 | 10:41 amWhy the favored child, not the most qualified, becomes the caregiver. -
Limited Mobility of Another Sort
28 Oct 2009 | 12:28 pmIn a continuing care retirement community, the nursing home is close at hand, but that doesn't make it easy for residents to move there. -
Maybe Grief Isn't So Bad After All
22 Oct 2009 | 9:30 amAn optimistic new book finds that grief is something people cope with "often more easily than they thought possible."
-
The Midlife Gals
-
Less & Less...Unless....
20 Nov 2009 | 5:56 amThe Midlife Gals are all about ‘less,’ but I’m confounded about the definition of the word, unless. Wouldn’t you think that un-less would just mean, ‘more?’ Well, it doesn’t. It means, “except on the condition that...” For example, A middle-aged woman could use eye liner, unless there is so much eye-lid skin that it would appear as if she tried to ski over several small crevasses, leaving dots and dashes where the liner would otherwise have stayed. We love the word less, and here’s how we use it...less exercise, less rules, less dieting, less caring what other people… -
Lie to Me
17 Nov 2009 | 5:47 amI really like the TV drama, Lie to Me, about people who fight crime by studying people’s faces for untruths. They’re REALLY good at it. I wouldn’t last 5 seconds in front of them were I telling a lie, because I suck at it. My whole body might as well be a neon sign saying, “I AM LYING TO YOU, CAN’T YOU TELL, STUPID!” I get an odd expression on my face, sort of surprise mixed with complete lack of confidence and squirting facial perspiration...all rolled into one.I know good liars. I’m related to one and been married to more than one. In an odd sense, lying is an art form, and in… -
Coming Home
13 Nov 2009 | 5:55 amWhen I moved back home to Texas after many years in New York City, I was overcome with happiness. I do think that everyone should live in Manhattan for three years. Beyond that time frame, “there be dragons.” I just didn’t anticipate having to physically move into my mother’s house. I’d been a renter all my life. When something went wrong with my abode, I just called the landlord and poof, it was fixed. The Ancient One’s house was built in 1944. That’s older than I am, and like my physical body taking on a middle-aged ‘hue,’ the house is beginning to break down. The charm of… -
Creativity...One Woman’s Trash is Another Woman’s Treasure
10 Nov 2009 | 5:54 amSal and I were thinking of ways to have a creative, ‘cheap’ Christmas this year, so off we went to one of those paint-your-own-ceramics studios. Have you ever been there?? Amazing! The only problem is that you don’t really know exactly what the end product will look like because, after they fire the pieces in the kiln, the colors change and are much more vibrant. This could change your whole notion of how creative you thought you were.I tend to be creative with the left side of my brain...organization, alphabetical order, right angles. Sal goes wild with her right brain...fashion… -
Couples Therapy - Will He Go??
6 Nov 2009 | 6:58 amWere I still happily married to Mr. Three (and that number should give you pause regarding any couples advice I might espouse), I could speak to the success of couples counseling. Would that this approach had helped.Trying to get your male partner into therapy is like persuading him to ask for directions...the perfect metaphor. When...not if...he gets lost, he’s bound and determined to fix that problem all by himself. No matter that you graduated with a Masters degree in Directional Road Intelligence or that you’re southern, which allows you to sweet-talk ANYone into helping you no matter…
-
The Midlife Gals Videos
-
Incontinence...Seriously?
16 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pmWith all the other indignities of middle age, must we REALLY have to worry about this?? Apparently so! -
Belly Dancing for Boomers
9 Nov 2009 | 8:09 amWith enough bangles and beads, The Midlife Gals can do ANYthing! -
Eat at Your Own Risk!
9 Nov 2009 | 8:00 amWho says we’re too old to have fun? Well, you’re probably right., but still..... -
Caregiving The Ancient One
19 Oct 2009 | 9:16 amOh God! A star is born and she’s ready for her close up!!! -
Laughter IS the Best Medicine
6 Oct 2009 | 8:31 amTickling should be done every day!
-
MidLifeBloggers
-
Jane’s World-Famous Award-winning Best-Ever Pecan Pie
20 Nov 2009 | 11:54 amOkay, gather 'round while I give you The Secret... -
Wednesday Writer’s Workshop: Purpose, or Why Do You Write?
18 Nov 2009 | 1:11 pmWriting isn’t some mysterious phenomenon that happens when the good fairy graces you with her presence. It isn’t some arcane procedure that only dead white males (and a few chosen, but robust females) are truly ... -
Dialectic: Poetry, Philosophy, Collage
16 Nov 2009 | 11:14 amThe walls of human understanding have various purposes, textures, designs. But their intent is often to keep something...safe from challenge and on-going discovery of the truth of inherent polarity. -
Wednesday Writer’s Workshop
11 Nov 2009 | 3:51 pmI got the idea for starting a Writers Workshop on MidLifeBloggers when a friend, Merlot Mom, wrote on her blog about finding her own way to write rather than bowing to conventional wisdom of ... -
Breast Cancer Bonanza: Stop the Greed
9 Nov 2009 | 12:16 pmStop the greed. Please take a minute to tell Eli Lilly to “stop milking cancer” .
-
Over 50 Website
-
Do Any Diet Foods Actually Work?
20 Nov 2009 | 7:21 amWhat Diet Foods Actually Help People Lose Weight in a Healthy Way? Well, if you have been to the grocery store lately, you know that you can select from dozens of foods with labels that advertise them as “LITE”, “DIET”, “LOW CARB”, “LOW FAT”, or “LOW CALORIE”. But since we Americans have a weight problem, and since we buy a lot of these so-called diet foods, we have to ask if diet foods work! Diet Foods That Do Work Doctors are studying the types of diets that actually help people stay healthy, feel satisfied, and keep weight in… -
Medicare Health Supplements 2010 Changes
4 Nov 2009 | 7:53 amWhat’s New For Medicare Health Plans in 2010 Change isn’t always well anticipated by Medicare beneficiaries, but you can be sure that CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid) is working for seniors and other Medicare recipients. Most US Seniors do rely on Medicare for their health insurance, though many purchase a private supplement to help manage costs for things that the basic Part A and Part B do not cover. If you do have a Medicare supplement, it is important for you to stay updated on your plan and your options. Finding Medicare Health Insurance Quotes and Information You can… -
Cheap Meal Planning Ideas Contest
28 Oct 2009 | 2:45 pmJoin the forum discussion on this postDo You Have Cheap Meal Planning Ideas? Do you have any great ideas for simple and inexpensive meals? If you don’t have any ideas, or if you feel as if yours are overused in your home, would you like to get some more. Frugal Mavens is running a contest you may really enjoy. I know that my family is stick of spaghetti, but I still make it once a week because it is inexpensive, affordable, and quick to prepare. The general guidelines ask for affordable, simple, and healthy meal plans. Beyond that, you can come up with anything that you think other… -
Who Needs A Website (at your age)?
25 Oct 2009 | 8:52 amJoin the forum discussion on this postAre Websites Just For Younger People? Do you need a website at your age? Well, you may be surprised to know that lots of middle aged, and even retirement aged, people are starting websites. It is pretty easy these days, and costs little or even nothing to get started online! One great way to make extra money by building upon what you already know is through publishing a website or blog. A blog is really a website, it is just built upon a type of content management system that makes is simple for non-technical people to publish articles. Did you know that… -
Home Business For Seniors
15 Oct 2009 | 6:51 amCan Seniors Make Money From Home This is the first year in decades that social security beneficiaries have not gotten an increase. There is talk that Obama is pushing another $250 one time payout to retirees, but this may not go that far when many seniors spend 1/3 of their social security checks just for medicare health plans. So is there anything that older people can do, even if they have limited mobility, to make some extra money? I started thinking about this after I read this article about simple home business ideas. That article was intended for a general audience, and spoke to…
-
The Boomer Chronicles
-
Friday Links Variety Show (November 20, 2009)
21 Nov 2009 | 6:59 amDo you have to live in an RV in order to retire early? Bicyclists: here’s a blogger who says running red lights is not safe (I think it is safe in certain circumstances) A sweet little video about a New York woman who travels to chilly Gloucester, Mass., harbor in the middle of November just to take a dip in the water Should couples separate for a while in order to jazz up their lives together? -
What Does Dr. Susan Love Think of the New Mammography Guidelines?
19 Nov 2009 | 8:42 amDid the new mammography guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force come about because a review of the scientific evidence shows that there is no data to support the idea that the benefit of mammography outweighs the risks for women between the ages of 40-50? Or was it a political decision? Whenever I’m confused about what to think when it comes to breast cancer, I always check what expert Dr. Susan Love thinks. Her response is too nuanced to summarize here, so I will direct you to her website so you can read her post on the current controversy over mammography. Here’s… -
An Ode to My Dentist: She Rocks!
19 Nov 2009 | 7:37 amI’ve been going to a very cool dentist for the last, I don’t know, eight years or so. A friend recommended her. She’s Marilyn McDevitt (first photo), 53, and she has a nice office in Boston, right at the base of the Prudential Center. Marilyn is not your average dentist. She’s fun, funny and happy. Oh, and she’s a good dentist, too. And she posed for this pic. Here are some other photos that I took this morning during my six-month examination and cleaning. (The woman in the last pic is Marjorie Madera, dental hygienist.) -
The Economy: We are So Screwed
18 Nov 2009 | 7:26 amThis morning I read a piece by Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University, that was astounding. If you think the economy is going to turn around anytime soon, you are mistaken. Above, I’ve linked to Roubini’s entire piece and I recommend you read it. In the meantime, here are a few highlights: …We can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and… -
I Admit It: I Was a Home Depot Addict
17 Nov 2009 | 7:41 amWhen I bought my first house in the summer of 1994, I would venture out several times a week with a friend to the local Home Depot. I would spend scads of money and come home after dark with a car full of stuff — paint, concrete, plants, light fixtures, and on and on. It was fun and exhilarating. I was one of that rare breed: someone who actually loved working on the house and spending money on it. I’ve since sold the house and have no place to work on since I’m renting. I can’t wait to own again. And I’m sure I will be haunting the aisles of the local Home Depot…
-
Whose shoes are these anyway?
-
New Orleans Native Michael Lewis and His Book, The Blindside
20 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pmNew Orleans native, Michael Lewis, author of books such as Liar's Poker, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, and Home Game was in New Orleans last night. He joined actress and New Orleans home owner Sandra Bullock for the premier of her movie, The Blind Side, which opened in theaters today. The movie is based on a Lewis's book by the same name.While the movie is being criticized by some -
My Big Crush for Old School Friday
20 Nov 2009 | 11:20 amI'm trying to stick to my favorite meme, Old School Friday, because it gives me the opportunity to share personal details sometimes about myself, something I usually avoid. This week's theme was kind of hard for me. It's "I Had a Crush On" and it left me in a quandary. See, the only singer that I went totally crushing insane for was Michael Jackson, and that was when I was nine. After that, for -
Novelist Bernice McFadden Resists 'Seg-book-gation'
19 Nov 2009 | 8:37 pmCritically acclaimed author of multiple novels, Bernice McFadden, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her first novel, Sugar, landing on bookshelves, and she's asking potential readers to save African-American literary writers. ... Read more at the African-American Books Examiner. -
U.S. District Court Rules Against Army Corps for Katrina Flooding
19 Nov 2009 | 3:48 pmIt's being called a "landmark decision." A federal judge ruled November 18 in favor of New Orleans residents and one business, the plaintiffs, and against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a Hurricane Katrina flooding lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood R. Duval, Jr, decided that the Corps failed to maintain the levees that breached during Katrina, flooding St. Bernard Parish and the -
Father Executes Son, Gunshot to Head, For Weirdness with 3-year-old Sister
19 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pmI don't know what to make of this story, but BlackVoices reports a man shot his 15-year-old son for lying down on top of his 3-year-old sister. No rape was involved, says the mother, Lazette Cherry, but the son ended up begging Jamar Pinkney, Sr. of Detroit for his life. "He got on his knees and begged, 'No, Daddy! No!' and he pulled the trigger," she said. "There wasn't nothing that my son
-
Twenty Four At Heart
-
Camera Fever
21 Nov 2009 | 12:05 amI've already remembered/relearned so much from my long lost photography days. I'm loving my new camera. I've been so busy I haven't had nearly enough time to play with it yet, but I'm sneaking in a few minutes each day as I brush up on my skills. It's probably better for my arm to take it slow anyway.Blog traffic is always lighter on the weekends so I thought I'd bore you with post a few more of my first photos with the 7D. It's only been a week since I took these, but I already look at them and think about what I would do differently given the… -
Don't Eat Bambi - Santa Might Need Her
20 Nov 2009 | 12:05 amYesterday afternoon I decided to have a quiet lunch out on my patio. It was a beautiful, warm, afternoon. I took my new camera with me. I thought I'd read through some of the camera instructions and maybe even shoot a few photos while I was outside. I had the feeling I was being watched. You know that feeling when someone is staring right at you? I tried to shrug it off. I've had a stalker harassing me lately so I *might* be a little on edge.The feeling would not go away. It started creeping me out. I glanced at my retrievers. They were snoozing nearby and… -
Facebook
19 Nov 2009 | 12:05 amI'm still on pain meds - but I *think* I'm making more sense today. Honestly? I was drugged out of my mind yesterday! I have never, ever, before attempted to write with that level of drugs in my system.I apologize. (Even though a lot of you wrote to tell me you laughed quite a bit at yesterday's post!)By tomorrow I, hopefully, won't need to be taking pains meds anymore. Today I'm still a little looped, but I'm only taking one pain pill at a time ... which is still a lot because they're very strong, but not as much as yesterday.Rambling much?Last… -
Please Excuse This Interruption ...
18 Nov 2009 | 12:05 am** This post was written under the influence of serious narcotics. My pain meds had not yet kicked in when I began writing ... but then they hit me full force. Really, really, full force! Can you tell at what point in my writing I became a druggy? It's all a bit of a blur. **I am temporarily out of my fucking mind in pain sidelined. I mentioned to a friend yesterday, when my pain levels get out of control like this, it makes it impossible to think clearly enough to write. On the other hand, when I take pain meds I can write ... but I just never know what might come out of… -
Fake Butts and Tattoos For Eyebrows
17 Nov 2009 | 12:05 amA reader sent me an email asking me what the latest trends are in Money Town. I have to admit, a lot of time I don't really see my surroundings. I've become immune to the "bubble" I'm living in. Sometimes I have to be reminded to look around with a fresh set of eyes.For instance, a lot of women around here have fake butts now. I saw a woman with a very obvious fake butt at PT just yesterday.Do women where you live have fake butts?The concept is strange to me, although I can see the allure of having a perfectly formed, uplifted, firm, round ass. I see the…
-
Anali's First Amendment
-
You Tart!!!
20 Nov 2009 | 4:21 pmTart sure has a lot of definitions. For this post's purposes, we'll stick with one: "A pastry shell with shallow sides, no top crust, and any of various fillings."Last weekend I decided to bake my first tart. A few weeks before, I had picked up a copy of the October issue of Lola. It's a cute little pocketbook sized free magazine that you can find in the Boston area. I still need to grab this month's copy, which is the food issue. Lola was launched in 2007 by Boston Globe Media and is a nice little publication. It's described as "a lifestyle magazine aimed at women in their 20s, 30s, and… -
No Need For Waffle Withdrawal
19 Nov 2009 | 8:07 amI was reading the news last night and saw a story about an Eggo frozen waffle shortage. A waffle shortage? Hmmm. Okay. According to the article, one of Kellogg's facilities was closed for a time due to historic amounts of rain in the area. On top of that, a bakery in another location is closed for repairs. With the two of these things happening together, it seems that it could take until mid-2010 before store shelves have sufficient quantities of Eggo waffles. Apparently, some customers are already seeing dwindling amounts of Eggo waffles on store shelves and are considering rationing their… -
The BloggerAid Cook Book
18 Nov 2009 | 3:26 pmSome of you might remember a book that I mentioned in a post a few months ago. Well, it's finally published!The BloggerAid Cook Book is now for sale. You can purchase it by clicking here. I contributed a recipe along with many other food bloggers from all over the world. Over 60 countries are represented!Food bloggers are a very generous bunch of people. ALL the money from sales will go towards a very important cause. Read an edited excerpt from the book website below. "Food does not simply nourish the body; food also celebrates what makes the world diverse, as well as, what unites us. The… -
The Simple Things
15 Nov 2009 | 10:40 pmThis post is proudly brought to you by the letter S. Belated Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street! Watching that show when I was a kid, was a simple thing that made me happy. Here are some simple things that make me happy as an adult.Trying new sweets when I visited San Francisco.Meeting Norbert Yancy and listening to the gentle strumming of guitars.Signs in the blue sky.The smell of Leaves by Elizabeth W. One of my favorite scents.Read more simple things from other bloggers over at Soul Aperture.Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2009. All rights reserved.This Post’s LinkLike what you see? -
Banana Carrot Cupcakes + Maple Mascarpone Frosting
12 Nov 2009 | 10:11 pmThese cupcakes were inspired by a carrot, old banana, and mascarpone surplus. When ingredients are sitting around for a while, they scream to be used for something. I remembered this carrot cupcake recipe from Pro Bono Baker and another carrot cupcake recipe from Pictures & Pancakes. I printed out both recipes and started looked for the similarities and differences. Then I started marking them up with my pen, figuring out what I had available and had a taste for, then created a new recipe based on the two.I loved these cupcakes! So did my parents and my brother. These may be the best…
-
art of allowing mindset
-
change your life:its time to take the wheel
18 Nov 2009 | 6:51 amWho is driving the wheel on the ride of your life? change your life You can change your life, shift how you think and how you feel about the different things you experience. By changing the focus from what you do want to what you appreciate and want to experience more of you make a big [...] Related posts:choose your own change- 3 steps to start down a new path and direction of your choice Are you happy with the direction you are moving in your life? Did you intentionally choose the direction or do ...The top 7 ways to simplify your life so you can be in the moment, not the to-do list A lot… -
wondering, playing with possibilities gives you a feeling of aliveness
15 Nov 2009 | 5:29 amWe are inquisitive, curious adventurous by nature… The desire to experience new things, to look at possibilities and choose one. Play with it, explore the thoughts and feelings that swirl in us when we step into that possibility. THAT is innate in each one of us. It is not a trait only found in an occasional great [...] Related posts:feeling stressed, run down- 7 steps to let go and recharge your inner life Staying healthy is about being balanced and conscious from the inside out. Making choices every day that attract what...You have unlimited possibilities open to you, when you choose-… -
one little crack and resistance starts to crumble
9 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amWe each have resistance to change, to looking at things in a new way… to clearly seeing all there is to see and the Truth of who we are in our complete form. But a little crack can start a fisher in that resistance and tiny pin pricks of the light can start shinning through. For some the crack [...] Related posts:emotional stress swirling in your life? the power of positive thinking is innate to you- turn it back on Things are changing very rapidly in our world. The global shift that is occurring is affecting each of us...headlines: you create the ones in the story of your life… -
Make it a what if day from a positive focus
23 Oct 2009 | 5:12 amWhat if… we spend a lot of our time what iffing, we string together a long chain of all the things that could go wrong or make life even more difficult for us. So today lets play with making it a what if day from a positive focus. Start moving through your day and thinking about all [...] Related posts:emotional stress swirling in your life? the power of positive thinking is innate to you- turn it back on Things are changing very rapidly in our world. The global shift that is occurring is affecting each of us...You have unlimited possibilities open to you, when you choose- You create what…
-
Average Jane
-
Average Jane's Caturday Feature: Velvet
21 Nov 2009 | 6:49 amVelvet doesn't have a cool name like the rest of our cats because we foolishly thought she might be accustomed to her shelter name when we got her. I think she knows it now, but we missed our chance to change it when we brought her home a couple of years ago.She's our "middle cat" downstairs - the buffer between young Xena and elderly Velcro. Our vet thinks she's about 8 or 9 years old and she's obviously had a hard life, but she seems to be enjoying living with us.When we adopted her, we were told that she had belonged to a family that decided they didn't want a… -
Another Average Jane Giveaway
20 Nov 2009 | 7:30 amFirst of all, I'd like to congratulate Natalie, who won the GiveCard from last week's drawing. She says, "I would donate to Guide Dogs for the Blind... my mom is on her second dog from them, for 15 years she has been able to "see" with the dogs. Amazing."This week's giveaway is a gift card from SnapGifts. If you live in Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, you can get a gift card to one of your favorite local businesses. For people in other metropolitan areas, they offer gift cards from national brands.Some cards are available… -
Average Jane's Bathroom Windowsill Still Life
19 Nov 2009 | 5:37 amOne of the most charming things my cleaning lady does is to take anything tiny that I've left on the bathroom counter and line it up on the narrow windowsill.Do I have any mixed feelings about hiring someone to clean my house? Absolutely not! It costs me $50 per visit, she comes every other week, and it's worth every penny. I still need to deep clean semi-annually yearly a few times per decade, but just having someone clean the bathrooms, floors, countertops and ceiling fan blades regularly is well worth the expense. -
A Short Post from Average Jane
18 Nov 2009 | 4:11 amI had appropriated a good idea for a post today, but then I realized that it's too dark to take the photos I wanted to use. Thus, it'll have to wait for tomorrow or maybe even the weekend.In other news, I was interviewed as part of the reader interview series at J-Walk Blog yesterday, which more than tripled my traffic for a day, so hooray!If anyone is still wandering over from there, I recommend all of the recipes in my right-hand sidebar. Everything else here is just a potpourri of whatever I was thinking when I sat down at the computer that day - six years' worth, so it really… -
Average Jane Makes Dessert
17 Nov 2009 | 3:28 amI haven't made this lately, but it's a recipe that my sister and I both remember fondly from childhood. Judging by the ingredients, I'm imagining it made its debut either in a magazine ad or a branded cookbook. For something that relies heavily on packaged goods, it's quite tasty - a good mixture of sweet cream, savory pecans and tart cherries.For some reason, my mom's old recipe file was just chock-full of desserts with the word "torte" in their names, none of which actually fit the definition of a torte. Maybe it was some kind of early 1960s trend. Who knows?
-
ByJane
-
BlogWorld Expo & Not H1N1
29 Oct 2009 | 4:28 pmShuffle, shuffle...creak, creak. Those sounds are me trying to get upright and in the saddle again after several (SEVERAL!) weeks off. First, I was at BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Vegas--about which more anon. Then I was at death's door (okay, slight exaggeration) from the dreaded flu. Well--not The Flu. But some flu. Here's what I wrote before I got sick: It has become the convention for bloggers that after a conference, one writes a roundup of sorts, in which one links to all those new and exciting people one met. One does this; I, however, do not. It's just another example of how… -
The Boys Are Back
9 Oct 2009 | 4:08 pm...and so am I. At least occasionally. This is cross-posted from MidLifeBloggers but I don't know who reads that or who, if anyone, reads ByJane.People who know me know that I'm a real snippy critic when it comes to movies. Much of what the film industry puts out earns Three Snorts from me. So when I tell you I thought a movie was terrific, trust me--it was terrific. Last night I went to a screening of The Boys Are Back. I didn't expect anything special. Didn't really know much about the film except that it starred Clive Owen and had boys in it. To what end, I wasn't sure--and really, that… -
BlogHer'09: The Good, The Bad and The Meh
1 Aug 2009 | 10:28 amI liked seeing all my online friends in the flesh. Just wish there had been more time and opportunity to really sit down and talk. That there wasn’t, I think, is a function of the size and intensity of the conference. Not only is the BlogHer schedule jam-packed, but the number of outside parties and such seemed endless.The sessions—so many choices, so little time. Just wish they had been less general. I know that BlogHer prides itself on the conversational tone of their conference sessions. The emphasis for speakers is less on presentation and more on dialogue with the audience. That… -
Are We Done?
8 Jul 2009 | 1:28 pmI wasn't going to post today, because--well, I just wasn't. Then I read this by MaggieDammit and she voiced so much of what I'm feeling about ByJane and MidLifeBloggers. I offer it to you just to let you know where my mind is--sorta--and that I don't know if I'm done here forever. -
Pimp That Post!
1 Jul 2009 | 12:17 pmWhich is what I'm doing right now: pimping my most recent post for More.com....in which I whine about why I'm bad at pimping (my mama done brought me up right)--and why it's crucial to this here internets thing. The drill is this: go read the post (okay, you don't have to read it; just look at it). Click on the "I Like This" icon (you may have to sign up first but only the first time and honestly, you'll be entered in a contest to win Michael Jackson's sixth grandchild.) Then comment....and send the link to your friends... Because the more People Who Like my post, the--the--the -------…
-
carolynbahm.com
-
Almost trick-or-treat time
31 Oct 2009 | 7:04 pmAlmost trick-[or-treat time, originally uploaded by cbahm. Caitlyn, in the costume she tho\ught of and put together all by herself: Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Homemade costumes are the BEST. And Caitlyn? She rocks. Halloween, 2009, our front yard. -
10 Tips on Apologizing
22 Oct 2009 | 8:12 amoriginally uploaded by ☼emmaphotos. When is “sorry” not enough? It’s easy to stop restraining your own temper and hurt someone else because you’re tired or having a bad day. It’s often directed at the people with whom we’re the most comfortable and secure. I’ve certainly done it – usually at my mother, children, or husband. And later, what a weak, mean schmuck I feel like. So if you’re like me, you apologize and move on, right? And you get to feel all relieved, while the other person licks his/her wounds and has to just get over it. It helps if you know how to give… -
6 Things You Didn’t Know about CPAP Masks
9 Oct 2009 | 10:18 amMy ridiculous pic from the first night of the sleep study. Rocking the sex-ay. I’ll start wearing a CPAP mask and using the machine soon when I sleep; for now, I’m just waiting for the unit to arrive. My first mask will be the “pilot type” mask that covers both the mouth and the nose since I have allergies, frequently have a stuffy nose, and mouth breathe sometimes. And I really don’t want to wear a chin strap to keep my mouth closed. (Oh, I need to wear it all the time — days, too? Shut UP, y’all.) Here are some pearls of wisdom I learned from my two… -
IE vs Firefox for Viewing My Blog
5 Oct 2009 | 11:32 amWell, it looks nice in Firefox. ;o) Right now, Internet Explorer is showing the archives and categories below the last post, instead of neatly in the sidebar where they BELONG. I’ll work on it some more tonight. Grr. -
The year of the bat-o’-lantern
4 Oct 2009 | 3:05 pmCaitlyn and one of her very best friends got together in my kitchen this afternoon and made a grand and glorious mess, carving pumpkins. Who could deny them? They roasted pumpkin seeds and then cleaned up after themselves (mostly) afterward. See more photos in the slideshow here.
-
Cindy La Ferle's Home Office
-
Why the LBD rocks
14 Nov 2009 | 6:38 amI am against fashion that doesn’t last” – Coco Chanel Anticipating the holidays, I’m running a favorite “fun” piece that originally appeared in The Christian Science Monitor (December 4, 1997) and is reprinted in Writing Home. It’s been years since I’ve worried about what to wear to holiday parties. When the occasion calls for something more formal [...] -
Rethinking the holidays
8 Nov 2009 | 7:57 amTradition is a guide, not a jailer.” – W. Somerset Maugham Over dinner with my husband’s brother and his wife last year, my husband and I broached the delicate subject of … The Holidays. I appreciated the chance to have this discussion with my in-laws. Celebrating the winter holidays, after all, is an emotionally loaded topic [...] -
Barbarian Mom
31 Oct 2009 | 6:45 amChildren are a great comfort in old age, and they help you reach it much faster, too.” — Lionel M. Kaufman Take it from a seasoned parent. There comes a time in every mother’s life when she realizes parts of her wardrobe shouldn’t be flaunted in front of teenage boys. And I’m not talking [...] -
Art, Magic, Halloween
21 Oct 2009 | 6:20 amDeep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before. — Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Like the perfect pumpkin waiting for a master carver, Halloween never fails to stir the imagination. Not surprisingly, it’s a favorite holiday among the creative souls in my family. [...] -
Fanfare for another homecoming
14 Oct 2009 | 6:06 amYou can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right. ~Maya Angelou When my son Nate first left home for college, I felt strangely out of place in my cleaner, quieter house. I wasn’t ready to call myself “an empty nester,” and my early coping strategy [...]
-
Coming2Terms
-
Moms: We Hear You Loud and Clear
17 Nov 2009 | 6:33 amUpdated to share two links revealing a reality different than what the conventional mom community experiences:Grown In My Heart, an adoption network, reviews Silent SororityA Casting Call for Drew Barrymore, David Duchovny * * * * *Ack! What's going on? If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd be convinced we were in the midst of a well-coordinated, full-on assault against those who can't or don't have children.You may recall the judgmental Orlando Sentinel Mom's at Work blog I referenced in my last post. Who knew it was the tip of the iceberg? This week Mika Brzezinski weighs in. Mika, Mika,… -
45 Years After Rossi, Mommies Propagate Prejudice
8 Nov 2009 | 6:55 pmIt's been a very long time since I sat in the Frieze Building on the University of Michigan campus taking notes in a women's studies course. While I registered mainly for administrative reasons (the session fulfilled a requirement for my English Literature major), the class had the added benefit of being thought-provoking. One of the assigned books, Strong-Minded Women, remains on my bookshelf today. I trust my prof would have been pleased to see an essay I wrote today -- prompted by an obituary on sociologist and feminist scholar, Alice S. Rossi (pictured here) -- made the cut as an… -
The Ultimate Test
1 Nov 2009 | 8:58 pmAmadeus... That's a clue for my answer to some complex questions that came this weekend from Silent Sorority readers. The ideas and emotions contained in their questions were remarkably familiar -- so much so they could have come straight out of my own head a few years ago. I guess, by now, I shouldn't be startled by the depth of the shared infertility experience. I'm sure they'll evoke some deja vu for you, too. The questions pose the ultimate test for infertiles who don't succeed with treatment -- overcoming anger and finding peace. First came this email:"I've been having a rough go of it… -
Fertility Clinic Funnies
23 Oct 2009 | 4:35 pmYou know you are pretty far along the acceptance curve when you can laugh about things that once made you want to: a) scream b) cry c) commit Hari-Kiri or d) all of the above. I offer as evidence the Open Salon piece I wrote about the fertility industry, which led to the following online exchange with that oh so rare creature -- a man who openly discusses infertility. Here's how it went:Him: As far as I could tell, the main function of a fertility clinic is to transfer money from infertile couples to the fertility clinic. They are remarkably effective at that. A fairly rare side effect of the… -
Hell Hath No Fury Like a Womb Scorned
19 Oct 2009 | 7:38 amIt's been quite a while since I felt compelled to include a blog post in the "Memo to the Fertile Community" category, but what comes next fit like a glove and then some. BTW: credit for the blog post title goes to my guy. There I was last week innocently starting my Sunday morning, feeling all it's Sunday! I was about to pour a large mug of coffee and dive into The New York Times when ... BAM. You can read what happened next at Open Salon along with some interesting comments.I also encourage you to check out Loribeth's post, The Dark Side of Positive Thinking, which highlights Barbara…
-
Diary of a Midlife Crisis
-
Who put the bar all the way up there?
21 Nov 2009 | 7:27 amSome day, maybe I’ll learn how to not set ridiculously high goals for myself.I’ve spent the last few weekends filming “Mastermind”, the one act play I directed over the summer about the amnesiac who thinks he just might be a supervillain. It’s been going incredibly well. Beth is so beautiful and feisty and incredible as Liz. And Brad as JD is by far one of the most talented and vulnerable actors I have ever worked with. They have been breaking my heart as I edit and making me so excited to get this project out into the world for everyone to see.However, we got behind because I set… -
Climbing up from the end of the rope
10 Nov 2009 | 9:51 pmIt’s been a tough couple of weeks. Money is non-existent. I mean, truly non-existent. I had to take home toilet paper from work the other day to make sure we had a roll at home. Once again, can’t pay my rent. Haven’t paid for Bette, my new convertible, and the woman who sold it to me is so tolerant. I owe the wonderful Beth money she lent me over the summer. Drowning.Drowning.Drowning.On top of that, I’ve lost two classes a week, cutting my income by $400 a month.And my father has been given three to six months to live.Fuck.Hard not to throw in the towel. All I could think is that… -
The Power of Shoes
2 Nov 2009 | 6:49 pmThere are men’s shoes sitting at the foot of the bed. That was enough to send me into a really weird place last night.I was shooting a web series/short film in my apartment all day yesterday. It’s based on “Mastermind”, the one act play I directed over the summer that I absolutely fell in love with. The original actors are returning, the writer has given his blessing and I have a fantastic crew involved. The shoot went great. Had some issues, which every shoot has, but nothing huge or panic-inducing. Just ordinary production crap.At the end of the shoot, my lead actor, Brad, was… -
Darkest days
29 Oct 2009 | 2:13 pmThe darkest days are these ones, the ones where I think it was all my fault and I deserved the treatment I got. The days where I have to fight picking up the phone and calling him, being casual, saying, hey, let’s get together, let’s talk. The days where I want to beg him to take me back, for us to be us again. The days when I think maybe I made up all the bad things. Where maybe his treatment of me wasn’t as bad as I make it out to be. The days where I wonder if I just blew things out of proportion and turned him into a monster so I wouldn’t have to take responsibility for the things… -
Embracing my dark side
20 Oct 2009 | 10:50 pmIt all started about a week ago. Brad, one of my favorite men, was sitting on my couch, talking to me about the “Mastermind” shoot coming up, working on translating the character from stage to screen. The fireplace was lit, it was very quiet in the house and our conversation meandered from the shoot to just whatever it is that two friends sit and talk about. Brad has the most calming personality yet he’s not afraid to talk about whatever is on his mind -- or mine. And we talked long after we were done with business. When he left, I could feel the absence of him in my living room.And it…
-
DuchessOmnium - Island to island
-
In medias res
20 Nov 2009 | 10:33 pmI. I am on an island 8000 miles from home, looking after my mother’s house, a bulimic cat, and two toy poodles. A wind storm has knocked out the power all over the island. The wind blew so hard that it broke the brand new dock, and the ferry captains are refusing to carry cars after dark. My one telephone that actually plugs into the wall seems impossibly old fashioned, but it allows me to receive “power updates”. A message assures me that personnel have been despatched to assess the damage and that if I see power lines on the ground I should assume they are energised and keep… -
A happy Halloween
3 Nov 2009 | 9:55 pmIn the UK they don’t really understand the US version of Halloween, and for a long time politicians, the police and the church all regularly denounced it as a tradition that encouraged a combination of juvenile delinquency and devil worship. At best it was described as an “unwelcome American import”. Nevertheless, it is catching on, bit by bit, and in many neighbourhoods these days children go trick or treating. Sometimes they are met with surprise and occasionally with anger, but usually sweeties are doled out and everyone is happy. It doesn’t always work the way you expect,… -
Spent storms
27 Aug 2009 | 12:12 pmHuricane Bill has made his way over the Atlantic, and what is left of him is blowing the trees about in an ineffectual sort of way. Bill’s rain is what the Brits like to call “wetting” rain. I know what they mean: the effort feels half hearted, but it doesn’t half soak you. I knew Bill was coming, so this morning I lugged up the tow path my two toilet cartridges – what the boaters call, “shit suitcases”. I thought I’d do it early because I prefer to stay dry when I sluice my effluent. The cartridges were surprisingly heavy, and their contents were all mine. … -
There will always be an England
20 Aug 2009 | 1:56 pmJust as soon as I find out where I have packed my knickers, I promise to describe the last hours at Hedges and my move to Pangolin. Did I say? Pangolin is the name of my boat and Hedges is the name of my house, rented as of yesterday. In the days when my ex husband and I were trying to run a business from home I thought the house - and hence the business - ought to have a more grown up address. I knew there wasn’t a lot I could do about the lines “Buckland, near Faringdon” but I was sure I could at least get a house number. With some difficulty I found out who… -
Concrete art, conceptual art, or a big mess?
10 Aug 2009 | 3:33 pmI am thinking of entering my house for the Turner Prize. In just 8 days my tenants move in. Do you think it is time to start panicking?
-
Good & Plenty - Candelaria Silva's Blog
-
A Good Death
20 Nov 2009 | 7:56 pm(This post first appeared on BlogHer.com)The father of a friend of mine died recently. Here’s how it happened. She was driving home from a board meeting thinking about the finishing touches that she needed to put on a grant. Her cell phone rang. It was her brother telling her that her father wasn’t feeling well. He’d been a bit under the weather. She rushed to his home. He was talkative and joking. A couple of hours later, he had a heart-attack and died surrounded by his children and other family members. "He died the way he wanted… -
Free Schools & Dumb People
17 Nov 2009 | 8:25 pmFree schools and dumb people is one of the favorite sayings of a friend of mine. This phrase has been front and center in my mind recently because I’ve interacted with several young people between the ages of 18-22 who have dropped out of school. That they are unprepared for their futures is an understatement. In working as a job counselor part-time for several weeks, I’ve met: Young people who’ve never worked. Young people who are under-employed and looking for better work (which they interpret fairly narrowly to mean better pay). These students are trying to take control… -
Bored or Boring?
10 Nov 2009 | 5:01 amIn the space of a week, I’ve had three separate people tell me they were bored with nothing to do. This begs the question, are you bored or boring? I find the phrases “I’m bored” and “there’s nothing to do” to be annoying and irritating. They stick in my craw for some reason. This time, they got to me so deeply, I had to write about them. I simply don’t understand this. How can anyone be bored?I can understand being lonely, being broke, being indecisive, being overwhelmed with possibilities, being lazy, being slow, being preoccupied, so on and so… -
A Diamond in Dorchester
31 Oct 2009 | 1:18 pmI met a young girl waiting on the bus in Dorchester to go to Fields Corner. (Some mornings I do the 20 minute walk down to Fields Corner but not this morning. I’m glad I didn’t or I would have missed meeting Diamond.) brought the sun out on a chilly day. She was so personable and bubbly. The conversation started when she told me and another woman standing there, that we’d missed a bus. She’d forgotten her bus pas, ran home to get it and saw the bus going down Adams Street on her way back. In between crunches of the cereal she was munching from a… -
Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are: Friends Lost Along the Way
26 Oct 2009 | 7:10 pmToday I’ve been thinking about friends I’ve lost.Some have passed on and “I’ll meet them on the other shore,” as we used to sing in church when I was growing up. Others I’ve lost touch with. They’ve moved. The addresses, emails and phone numbers I had for them no longer work. These were people I cared about, deeply. I think about them frequently. I haven’t found them when I’ve looked for them on the various social networks that I belong to. You would think that if you cared about people deeply, shared strong connections over time, the…
-
Granny Sue's News and Reviews
-
A Life Well Lived
21 Nov 2009 | 5:44 amAs I mentioned in yesterday's short post, we took the shorter but longer way home. That's not a contradiction: although shorter in miles, it was longer in time. And made longer by the fact that we stopped to take photos. At an intersection along Route 18 Larry noticed a sign that said "winery." Really? I knew of no winery in Doddridge County, so of course I wanted to find it. We turned and drove a short distance, and, unsure of where we were going, stopped to ask a gentleman working by the road if there was indeed a winery in the area.That led to one of the most enjoyable conversations I've… -
Home Again
20 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pmWe're home, happy and tired. We took the long way home, stopped to talk to two interesting men and took lots of photos. Our travels took us through back roads and over ridges, along rivers and through tiny communities so far back in the hills I had to wonder where the people who lived there worked. Any town of size would have been quite a drive.But it was beautiful. I'll have lots of pics to share in the coming days. I'll leave you with two for tonight: -
On the Road Again
19 Nov 2009 | 3:05 pmI'm on the road storytelling in central West Virginia. I'll be back Friday night with, I hope some good photos to share of our trip.No photos tonight, since I'm at my son's house and having a blast with his two children while Aaron and Jaime are out celebrating her birthday.Here are a few things from today's storytelling to share:*Preschoolers and first graders laughing incredibly at Lazy Jack, one of the first stories I learned to tell. I love going back to these tales and finding new discoveries in them. If you don't know the story: Jack's mother puts the lazy boy to work at a farm. He does… -
Wordless Wednesday on Thursday
19 Nov 2009 | 3:02 amI missed posting this yesterday, so here's my post for Wordless Wednesday, a day late:This was sunrise, Wednesday morning. -
True or Not True? The Real Truth
18 Nov 2009 | 3:56 amYesterday I posted this list and asked my readers to guess which one of these statements is not true:1. I was suspected of being a drug dealer.2. We were suspected of being in the witness protection program when we moved to West Virginia.3. I once directed an upset man with a gun to the governor's mansion.4. I had four children by the time I was 22.5. I dropped out of high school.6. A dress I made myself shrank to skin-tight while I was wearing it when I was caught in a rainstorm. My boyfriend appreciated it.7. I've been a mail carrier, security guard, betting clerk, tobacco farmer, and…
-
It's a Mad Madge World
-
i don't even know who i am anymore
21 Nov 2009 | 7:25 amYou like? It's my 18 inch pink Christmas tree on my desk. J11 decorated it. Tomorrow I'll show you my six foot white Christmas tree that's going up in my bedroom.When we get back from the beach we'll be putting the live tree up in the living room. This afternoon we're going back to the craft store to buy the boy's 18 inch trees for their room. I don't know who I am anymore. I've always pretty much disliked the holidays. Dreaded them. OK, at moments hated them. Yes, it is all tied into my childhood. No, I am not going to bore you with all that.I think I'm done with that.I KNOW. That. Is. Huge. -
ok ok OK
19 Nov 2009 | 5:55 amI'm posting already. I don't know what my problem is. That I can't come here and say something. Anything. So what's been happening?• Just survived 10 days of a sick seven year old -- not the flu, not strep, not pneumonia, but took an antibiotic to kick it•Husband has been in school since September. He's getting certified for HVAC work. We thought he would be finished in May and would be working this summer, but yesterday he informed me that if he goes to school until August he'll get a two -year degree. Yes, I managed to not throw a total freaking fit at the idea of three more months of… -
Born From My Heart
27 Oct 2009 | 1:31 pmEven though he's eleven J11 still likes a good snuggle now and then. He crawled into bed with me this morning just before it was time to get up and I wrapped my arms around him and said, "You are a kid after my own heart."He replied, "Well, I was born from your heart, so that makes sense." I hugged him tight, then carried his reply with me the rest of the day. -
October
20 Oct 2009 | 5:49 amI wrote this in college. It was an imitation exercise in freshman comp class. I don't remember the piece it was based on. It's the only thing I'm proud of that I wrote in college. Or maybe ever:In the first place, October makes me feel content. Autumn does have this effect. Autumn brings cool evenings, and it is cool evenings that relieve the restlessness of summer nights. They are not chilling, these fall nights, they are only refreshing; the air is brisk, not to mention startling, and it hurries me along to my room, even as I look up into the sky and notice the intense brightness of the… -
My Anchor, My Compass
16 Sep 2009 | 5:43 amWe read Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel every night before bed. Most nights D7 lays next to me, his head resting on my shoulder. The more he gets to know the story, the more questions he asks. What happened to the other steam shovels? Where are the pictures of Kipperville and Kopperville? What does the word "rather" mean (Henry B. Swap smiled in rather a mean way)? J11 wanders around the room getting ready for bed, setting up his Bionicles, interrupting the story. We read three books every night. D7 and I. I also try and read out loud to J11 every day. Once stories are done, they each get…
-
Jan's Sushi Bar
-
You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out (and other assorted mayhem)
20 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amIt has been a long darn week. Beloved has been working long hours out of town. I’ve been working long hours in town. I DID get the car serviced this week (if you can call $190 for basically rotating the tires, an oil change and a lube job anything other than extortion), but the dog still needs to go to the vet for his checkup, the house needs some serious cleaning (to say nothing of the inside of the refrigerator *shudder*) and while I’ve sorta kinda started putting together a menu for the week-long food-orgy that begins Saturday, the shopping this will require is daunting to… -
Enchilada Casserole
19 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amMy two grown children are coming here for Thanksgiving, and I am THRILLED. I’m proud to say that I’m close to all of my kids, and that holidays spent together are not an obligation but a celebration made even more special by the fact that we don’t actually see each other often, although we talk to each other on a very regular basis. Like, damn near every day. One of the things I do when I know the kids are going to be here is make a menu of their favorite dishes. In fact, last evening I called Darling Daughter (who currently resides in every mother’s nightmare Las… -
Everyday Heroes
18 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amThis subject of this week’s Spin Cycle – heroes and bravery – has been unusually difficult for me to tackle, not because I don’t know anyone who is heroic or brave, but because I know so many who are. Let’s face it – it’s easy (or easier) to be heroic or brave when faced with extraordinary circumstance or adversity. It’s the people who show undaunted courage day after day after day in the little, mundane things that I admire. Day in. Day out. Those who get up every morning knowing they have a job to do and doing it whether they feel like it… -
RTT: Wine, Women and Thongs
17 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amActually, this post has nothing to do with any of those things (well, except the wine); I just thought it sounded like a cool title. I guess I could have called it “Leftovers, Dog Poop and Menopause” – far more realistic, but not quite as catchy. The realization that my day can be reduced to “Leftovers, Dog Poop and Menopause” is sobering. With any luck, tomorrow will be summed up with “Unlimited Wealth, Exotic Travel and Multiple Orgasms.” But…I’m not holding my breath. Which is not to say that I won’t be experiencing one of those… -
Spinach Stuffed Pork Roast with Fruit Sauce
16 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amGood gawd, we were so busy last week that I never got around to posting a recipe. And it’s not going to get better any time soon; after more than a week with Jolly and Little Guy, Beloved left yesterday afternoon to drive to Kalamazoo, Michigan for a week to see a client. He comes home Friday night, then on Saturday Oldest Son and Darling Daughter fly in for the Thanksgiving holiday. YAAAAAAYYYYY!! Sorry – I don’t see my older kids nearly often enough. Oldest Son has to leave first thing Friday morning following Turkey Day – he has work commitments – but…
-
Growing Older, Sexier, and Skinnier
-
Halloween Candy 75% Off- Weight 100% On
13 Nov 2009 | 7:10 amAnother Halloween has come and gone, and unlike the Christmas retailers who are buying scaled down stock because of the economy, there was leftover chocolate Halloween candy everywhere! I’m usually pretty good at passing up the candy when it’s for sale prior to Halloween because I think most of the time the prices are ridiculous. After Halloween though is a weak point. When the same big back of bite size candy bars is finally marked down to what is reasonable, I usually have to partake. you know, now that I think about it, I have the same problem at Valentine’s Day, Easter,… -
Back On The Scale At Long Last
30 Oct 2009 | 5:16 pmThis was the mother of all weigh-ins today. LOL. I haven’t had a scale for almost 6 months, but now we moved into a place that had one in the garage, and it seems to work just fine. Especially since I weighed less with all my clothes on than I did the last time I weighed myself necked. It must be accurate. Actually now that we’re doing our own cooking and I’m back on fat-free cream cheese, when I use it, and the same for skim milk vs. whole, that alone can make a heck of a difference. We use Shedd Spread instead of butter and the fast food is almost non-existant. Except… -
I Was Gonna…Eat Right. LOL.
22 Oct 2009 | 9:38 pmI was all prepared to come on here tonite and tell you all how well I’ve been doing and how much healthier I’m eating now that we’re cooking for ourselves in our new home. I went out to the kitchen to get something to drink before I started on this, and the significant other has made “Cheeseburger Macaroni” Hamburger Helper for dinner! LOL. God Bless him that he cooked while I’m trying to get “caught up” but good grief… So, at least it’s 1) homemade so it’s not as bad as the 400 calorie cheeseburgers we’ve been eating… -
Getting Back on the Weight Loss Track
26 Sep 2009 | 12:36 pmIt’s true. The poorer you are the less you can afford to eat healthy and take care of yourself. Here in Silicon Valley for the last week channel 5 here has been doing a special about living on $4.00 a day for food. The consumer advocate put herself on a budget of $4.00 a day because our unemployment is up over 12% and many, many people are on food stamps. That is their allotment. One of the first things she noticed was she had to switch from fresh fruit to frozen. The other thing she did was fill up on more starchy food for fullness versus healthier food. I’m not sure I would have… -
International Bacon Day
6 Sep 2009 | 7:45 amBacon on the hoof Obviously, those of us who have had to restrict what we eat (diet), understand that bacon is not diet-friendly unless you’re only counting carbs. It is however one of America’s best loved foods, and evidently so much so someone has decided it to be worthy of it’s own holiday. Sept. 5th was International Bacon Day! It seems appropriate for kicking off a 3-day holiday weekend. For many of us, the regular weekend is all we need to forget the healthy food we ate for breakfast all week long and chow down on bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, maybe pancakes, etc.
-
Midlife Slices™
-
Is This Week Over Yet??
17 Nov 2009 | 4:56 pmSometimes it just seems like everything hits at once. Sometimes “everything” is great and sometimes it’s not so great, right? I’ve been really antsy the past few weeks but yet I feel like I’m sitting in one place just spinning my wheels and going nowhere. Or maybe it’s all these sub-contractors that keep not showing [...] -
Fun Times in The Emergency Room
13 Nov 2009 | 7:48 pmHunka Burnin Love had a little construction related accident on Monday. His thumb jumped in the way of a fast-moving and sharp utility knife. I was in more danger than he because he threw down said sharp object and it bounced across the floor and hit my foot. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine but HBL [...] -
I Will Remember
10 Nov 2009 | 9:27 pmGod willing…….. x I will remember to never forget the debt of gratitude I owe any and all Veterans. x I will remember to never forget the price that was and is being paid for the freedom that I take for granted today. x I will remember to never forget to fly the American flag proudly and in honor of Veteran’s [...] -
Scary Faces of Halloween
5 Nov 2009 | 8:13 pmA Little Halloween Fun. X I was in Oklahoma so I only have pictures of the Oklahoma grands. Aren’t they cute? Scary? Freaky? Of course none of these compare to this. Oh my! x This is the Booty Shaker and I at her little brother’s funeral this week, but we still managed to find something to smile about. [...] -
A Foot On The Dash and A Broom In The Eye
30 Oct 2009 | 3:39 pmUpdate on the N1H1 and new baby crisis: All is well *so far* and as of this very second everyone is healthy. Stubborn can go back to school Monday and Buddha Belly baby is healthy and happy as a little clam. Thank you all for your comforting words and concern. Muah! x According to Hunka Burnin Love, [...]
-
Nanny Goats in Panties
-
How Do You Pronounce the Year "2010"?
19 Nov 2009 | 4:36 pmDebate about how to pronounce the upcoming years is heating up. I mean, we've been chugging along since the new millenium with "Two Thousand, Two Thousand One, etc." and all of a sudden some people out there will be changing this pattern in January with "Twenty Ten". The International Olympics Committee and Vancouver 2010 are officially referring to this winter's Olympics in Vancouver as the "Twenty Ten Olympics". And then there are those who feel the pronounciation will not convert to "twenty-something" until 2011. How did we get into such a mess? Last century we were pretty consistent… -
Goat Thing of the Day: Baby Goats Hop on Bus
18 Nov 2009 | 10:22 amLast week, two baby goats hopped on a bus in Vancouver, Washington. They broke out of their pen and followed two woman to the bus stop. And tried to board a bus with the two women. And knowing how frugal goats can be, you can bet they didn't have a bus pass. Initially, I couldn't find a way to embed the video here, and had planned for you to click on the picture below to take to you the Fox 12 Oregon News video. Or have you read the baby goat bus story on their website. Yoda and Yates. (Thanks, Sue!) But then, Owen from the Magic Lantern Show happened to send me a link to where CNN picked it… -
Have You Ever Faked It?
16 Nov 2009 | 8:11 amToday I am celebrating my 503rd post. Why? Because everyone else celebrates on multiples of a hundred and I'm a rebel, man. Also? What if you announce and make a big deal out of the fact that this is a milestone post, sending whoopie all over cyberspace and then the post itself sucks? Like, a lot. Then what? Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Neil from Citizen of the Month was talking on his Twitter feed about fake tweeting and I thought, 'Now why didn't I ever think of that?' Nothing that brilliant ever occurs to me. I'm completely incapable of thinking outside of the box. Even when I was a kid, I… -
Goat Thing of the Day: It's a Sign
14 Nov 2009 | 11:36 amI don't know if any of you remember when I showed you the Billy Goat Tavern when I was in Chicago this last summer. The Cheezeborger Cheezeborger! place. I understand if you don't. You were probably drunk. It was the Goat Thing of the Day for a post I entitled Chivalrouslessness in Thieves. Back when someone stole my notebook and-- GAH!!! I still can't talk about it, it upsets me so. Anyway, I didn't call this meeting to complain about how lame society is. Not today, anyway. No, I brought all of you here today to tell you that I thought it was odd that people would name their business after a… -
The Berlin Wall? Yeah, I Tapped That
12 Nov 2009 | 12:24 amIt was the summer of 1990. Backpacks and youth hostels and Eurail passes. I'd just graduated college at the age of 24 (I know, I know, what took me so long -- that's another story). Anyway, my friend Drew and I found out about college kids who did Europe this way and decided to flop over to the other side of the pond ourselves. At some point during July we found ourselves in Berlin, Germany, where one wall was coming down and another was going up. The one coming down was being marketed in pieces on the street for something that must have seemed outrageous at the time relative to our…
-
Not What it Seems
-
Edna St. Vincent Millay
19 Nov 2009 | 3:19 am"Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want him at the shrinking of the tideEdna St. Vincent Millay -
huh
18 Nov 2009 | 9:04 amIn an irony reminiscent of one of my first jobs (aside from babysitting) where I worked at a ski shop fitting skis and boots when I had never been skiing in my life, I now work at a fitness center, and I don't really work out. I say not really but actually, I don't aside from yoga.I keep meaning too, I truly do, but I don't. I am afraid of the treadmill. It is one of my goals to overcome that fear.And another thing... I have been plagued by this idea; did someone just fantasize about mad, deep, powerful and lasting love, then write about it and now we all believe in it, and expect it OR is it… -
Grounded.
17 Nov 2009 | 9:57 amWe talked more than is customary today in my yoga class. Everyone was feeling the stress of the Nor' Easter we experienced last week. Although much of the water has receded, and the clean up is well under way, there was a lot of lingering stress.One woman was alone, and afraid. Others were dealing with the smell and mess of marsh water and mud in their yards and homes. Some found the winds the most frightening aspect of the storm.The class managed to combine the benefits yoga provides for stress relief with the companionship and support of caring people.That is one of the most important parts… -
Bittersweet
27 Oct 2009 | 6:37 amThe fall is here. So is my seasonal nostalgia. Somebody, somewhere said the word, bittersweet, and I remembered going out with my mother and her clippers; cutting this plant and decorating the house and the front door.She loved bittersweet but always told me it was illegal to cut. Is this true? I'm not sure because she also told me it was illegal to drive barefoot. We don't have bittersweet here on the island. Our soil, if it can be called that with the high amount of sand in it, is different than that which I grew up with too. Here, when I dig I find shells. At home, my hands came out of the… -
Addiction
25 Oct 2009 | 4:07 amI have neither sympathy nor empathy for addicts of any kind. Unpopular as that opinion may be since the advent of the belief system that addiction is a disease, I cannot change my mind.Growing up I was surrounded by alcoholics, raised by children of alcoholics and watched many family members become addicts of some type or another. Even my own daughter.Underlying the addiction of most people is a mental illness. That is the disease that causes self-medication by drugs or alcohol.When you see yourself losing everything; jobs, family, friends, respect and you still indulge your "disease" you are…
-
Out On The Stoop
-
Koop Island Blues on the Finally Friday Freakout
20 Nov 2009 | 6:43 pmHere I am waiting on a man. Time is ticking and the truth is out there, so they say. Time to jump off the grid and try a new stroke. Never heard of these folks before so that is as good a reason to have them on the Freakout. This is Koop and Koop Island Blues.Actually I just want to kick back and stop being a grown-up. Past couple of weeks it has been a drag. Worst part about today? That fracken radio station jumped the gun and started that dang blasted Xmas music. It is in the stores. Office radios. Unexpected places.November 20th is not anywhere near Turkey Day. This is evil, pure and… -
Becerra Coffee Response to Stupak Amendment Question
15 Nov 2009 | 11:40 amIn this video a woman is asking questions about the Stupak amendment that would not allow a woman to have an abortion even if she is paying for it with her own funds.This is an extract from a video I recorded at the Coffee with Congressman Xavier Becerra meeting, November 14, 2009. To check what I was being told I went to Thomas.gov and looked at H.R. 3692. Here is the short version of the Stupak amendment:The amendment prohibits federal funds for abortion services in the public option. It also prohibits individuals who receive affordability credits from purchasing a plan that provides… -
Brahma Nandam on the Finally Friday Freakout
13 Nov 2009 | 6:34 pmYou take a step. And another. If you keep doing that you can find yourself in unexpected places. Happens to me all of the time. This is not a bad thing.I need a bit of soothing. Something non-toxic and coming from a heart centered place. This is Deva Premal and Miten in a 2005 performance of Brahma Nandam. -
Representative Xavier Becerra Meet Up in Eagle Rock
13 Nov 2009 | 5:17 amJust a heads up for those folks near northeast section of Los Angeles/Eagle Rock that Rep. Xavier Becerra is having a Town Hall meeting at Eagle Rock High School. I don't know if I can make it. Hopefully it will not be a shouting match but a discussion of the House health care bill.Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.Eagle Rock High School1750 Yosemite Dr.Los Angeles, CA 90041I'm not getting my hopes up about civility. But for those in neighborhood, no matter your persuasion, I hope you can attend. Hopefully civil participants will out number the disruptors who may or may… -
Seeking Biblical Scholarship over Biblical Hubris
7 Nov 2009 | 6:15 pmOn Halloween, 2009 Pastor Grizzard of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina planed to burn versions of the bible, music and other objects that are not in alignment with his church’s belief system. One of the definitions of hubris is pride of presumption. Here are the exact words copied from a cached version of the website:Come to our Halloween book burning. We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect. These are perversions of God's Word the King…
-
Seasonality: The Common Sense Guide to Living the Good Life
-
REINING IN, LETTING GO
19 Nov 2009 | 5:28 amI can't believe that Thanksgiving is just days away, and that a week from tomorrow, I will probably be draping garland and twinkle lights from the porch railing. Are you ready for this? I'm not! I am, however, in a much better place than I would have been in years past, believe you me!How did I get to this place? Since moving here to Wimberley, I have been learning, step by step, how to bring the holidays back down to size. How does one do that? Well, it's different for each family, as are our priorities and beliefs, but the crux of it is: figure out what is truly important to you...and what… -
FARMER BECK HAS AN ORANGE GROVE!
18 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pmEver since we bought this house five years ago, there has been a monstrous, thorny shrub growing back beside the garage, on the edge of the cedar grove. Our first instinct was to cut it down, but there were signs of a wire wrap having been placed around its base at some point, to protect it from deer. We figured it must be something good, that was planted intentionally by the previous owners. So we put up with it, year after year, as it grew and grew, and those thorns got ever more deadly, always thinking that eventually, it would prove its worth.It did not. Finally, John got fed up. He… -
DOES SIMPLE = CHEAP?
18 Nov 2009 | 5:24 amBack in my previous life, as a big-city suburbanite, I was always under the extremely misguided impression that moving to a rural setting, and trying to live a simpler life, would save us tons of money. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!True, I never, ever go shopping anymore, just for something to do. I rarely ever buy clothes, furniture, or knick-knacks for the house. I spend much less on restaurants and entertainment, and that amount will probably dwindle even further as time goes on, and we meet more people to socialize and trade supper invitations with. Also, the older we get, the less a trip into the… -
AFTER MIDNIGHT
17 Nov 2009 | 8:15 pm -
NEWS ALERT! This Just In...
17 Nov 2009 | 6:03 amRemember this sad little story about the abandoned antique shop across the highway from us? Well, they have been working on it nonstop ever since, and it has been quite a transformation. Just when I was about to pop a vein over lack of information, rumors began to swirl about town. Could it be? Wouldn't that just be too good to be true? If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know my weakness - the one kind of food that I probably shouldn't be living right across the street from. That's right, brothers and sisters! Looks like I will soon be able to step out my…
-
Telling It Like It Is
-
The Easy Way to Stop Smoking is The Best Way to Quit Smoking
21 Nov 2009 | 7:55 amThere are many ways to quit smoking cigarettes, and since I finally quit smoking, I’m here to tell you that the best way to quit smoking is by what I believe to be the easy way to quit once and for all. Any smoker who wants to quit smoking cigarettes (and those who don’t want to quit) can give you a laundry list of reasons why quitting is good for you and the healthy thing to do, to the point where repeating the reasons to quit starts sounding like a broken record and smokers want to say “Shut Up!” to family or friends with their well-intentioned barrage of requests to quit. Smokers… -
Female Body Image in the Media – The Pressure to Be Thin in Society
12 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amHow thin is too thin? If you think childhood obesity statistics are shocking, there is increasing concern about how the pressure to be thin in society is affecting girls and boys through the media, and how girls in particular are more obsessed with dieting than in previous generations. The obsession to be thin has lead to an increase in eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia in girls as young as 5-years-old, according to recent studies and surveys. Girls whose moms are on a diet are almost twice as likely to suffer from an eating disorder, according to a recent survey of over 500 teenage… -
Give Up Coffee? Why Should I Stop Drinking Coffee?
9 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amGive up coffee? Who, me? Why should I stop drinking coffee when I like the taste of coffee? Can someone really be addicted to caffeine in coffee? Maybe, maybe not, depending on which research studies and health experts you believe. Almost every morning I enjoy two or three cups of home-brewed coffee to start my day, and it’s not uncommon for me to have two more cups of coffee at night while writing or watching television, especially on cold winter nights. If drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee or two first thing in the morning doesn’t give you a jolt of energy to get your day started,… -
Earn Extra Money From Home in Your Spare Time Freelance Writing Online
5 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amDo you need to make online cash? A lot of people feel the need to make money online and if you are someone who wants to earn extra money from home in your spare time or on a full-time basis to help pay the bills, freelance writing should be at the top of your list of things to learn how to do. There are a lot of ways to make money from home, and I’m not referring to stuffing envelopes, doing paid online surveys or trying to make money mystery shopping. Nor am I going to recommend any kind of “earn money at home” job that is nothing but a scam. If you want or need to earn money from… -
Freelance Writing Guide to Freelance Writing – Get Paid to Write Online
4 Nov 2009 | 3:00 amDo you want to become a freelance writer and get paid to write online or offline as a well paid writer? Do you know what freelance writing is and how much money you can make as a freelancer? Do you want to quit your job and work from home writing freelance articles, perhaps as a newspaper or magazine writer, and get paid to write? Maybe you are a stay-at-home mom or you lost your job in the recession and want to know how to become a freelance writer and work for yourself without the stress and worry of where the next paycheck will come from. Well then, you should seriously consider the fact…
-
Hot Flashes
-
Poll: At What Age Are We Finally "Old?"
17 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amI don't know about everyone else, but when I stop to ponder my chronological age, I sometimes wonder why I don't feel as old as I am. I mean, I am over a half a century, and I know for a fact that used to be considered aged. When I look back at photos of my grandparents or their peers at that age, they seemed MUCH older. I also know when I was a teen and young adult, their age was considered practically ancient. Did they all wear those same severe black oxford shoes? No, actually sometimes they were two-toned to match their dress outfit. Here are photos of a teacher and another woman - both… -
Eating Disorders & Obsessions With Weight Between Mothers & Daughters
11 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amWhen my daughter was in fourth grade, it seemed to me that she and her little munchkin girlfriends were firmly enmeshed in childhood.So that same year when my daughter announced to me that one of her close friends - a classmate- refused to eat and my daughter referred to this refusal to eat as anorexia, I was shocked. Shocked that she knew that term, shocked that one of her peers could be starving herself at that young an age, and full of grief for the end of my daughter's innocence about weight issues and eating disorders. It was the first inkling I had that eating disorders were cropping up… -
Be Honest, How Many Sizes Do You Keep In Your Closet?
2 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amThis is NOT just a question posed for women. Men over 30, I am talking to you too. You know you keep those old jeans around out of nostalgia, in the hopes that the beer belly you gradually have acquired gets tapered down from all those sporting activities you still partake in. (Okay, that last comment was directed specifically at my husband!) As for women, I am among the legions who hold on to favorite items of clothing even though those cute clothes are a size (or two) down. After my divorce many years ago, I didn't have any appetite and lost quite a bit of weight. I was… -
Fatal Atrractions: Being Stupid By Trying to Get Some on the Job
30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 amI posted a blog not long ago about my opinion of David Letterman being a sexual predator because he was coming from a position of power in a working environment. I unleashed a bunch of anger for calling him that. But now it looks like I was right. Just read this interview to get a clue. Some of us understood what Letterman did all those years was more than "two consenting coworkers dating" as many of my commenters suggested. ( a naive blinders-on viewpoint if I ever heard one) It's coming to light, with stories such as this, that Lettman created a very uncomfortable work place for females,… -
Dream/Nightmare of Teeth Crumbling and Falling Out Comes True
26 Oct 2009 | 6:01 amI recently read on a website that one of the most common nightmares is the one I have had recurring since I was a small child. It is one where you dream very vividly that your teeth all crumble and fall out, and you wake up thinking you are toothless. This means, according to dream analysts, one of two things: I am vain about my appearance, or I have anxiety about embarrassing myself. Well, I am a bit vain, thanks to a combination of a mother who made me that way focusing on looks; and spending my important formative years being yucky looking and getting teased. So while I do care about my…
-
Talk2Bev
-
Turning a Tragedy into Publicity
19 Nov 2009 | 6:37 pmA few days ago from a woman who was a victim of child abuse and neglect more than 40 years ago contacted me to ask my advice on how she could gain some media exposure for her book from the tragedy involving little Shaniya Davis. For those of you who don't know, Shaniya was a five-year-old North Carolina girl who was found dead earlier this week after her mother reported her missing a week earlier. That same mother is now in jail charged with human trafficking, along with child abuse and neglect in connection with this case. Shaniya was last seen on a surveillence camera being carried up to a… -
A FlyLady Chat
11 Nov 2009 | 9:39 amI've said this many times before: you never know who knows who so it pays to be nice to everybody. This is especially true in social media. With Facebook and Twitter literally connecting thousands of people at a time, you never know who in that vast circle can lead you to someone you really want to know. That's what happened when I connected with The FlyLady. We were connected to the same person on Twitter and Facebook but not to each other. During a conversation with our mutual connection, I learned that he knew her and I wanted to know her too so he opened the door to make it happen. As a… -
Quality Over Quantity in Social Media
23 Oct 2009 | 6:45 pmOne of the things I've come to learn over the years is success isn't always defined by the number of people who show up for your Event. Having a standing room only crowd is what we, as event organizers hope for, but if that doesn't happen you can still claim victory if you have provided a quality program.On Saturday, October 17 at the Capital City Club in Raleigh, NC, a small, intimate audience was priviledged to receive valuable information from six of the finest women and four of the most terrific men in social media. HeatherO, Olalah Njenga, and Deidre Hughey from NC demonstrated why they… -
Does the Good Ol' Boy Network Exist in Social Media?
6 Oct 2009 | 12:30 pmCertainly, you've heard of the good ol' boy network. According to Wikipedia, good ol' boy describes a system of social networking and perceptions alleged to exist prevalently among certain communities and social strata in the United States.So, is it just me or are there others wondering if there are men in cyberspace who are trying to corner the market on social media? I see this happening on Twitter. There seems to be a certain group of men who have created a network within a network--while making it difficult for women to crack their code.The research tells us that men network differently… -
Social Media and Married Couples
23 Sep 2009 | 12:38 pmMy husband isn't really into online social networking (as you can tell by the number of friends he has) but he did join Facebook and Twitter. The other day I happened to visit his Facebook page and noticed that he was connected to his ex-wife. I immediately wanted to know WHY? He said, very nonchalantly, she sent him an invitation and he accepted it. That opened up a can of worms for me. Why would his ex wife feel the need to be connected to him online? It didn't make any sense to me and I asked him to defriend her--which I'm happy to report, he did.That incident brings me to a few points I'd…
-
Baby Boomer Talk & other stuff
-
School Fundraising Project Comes Under Fire
19 Nov 2009 | 6:55 pmIt was supposed to be a fundraiser to help the school generate some much needed money for supplies:Rosewood Middle School price list♦A $20 donation buys 10-point credits to be used on two tests of the student's choice.♦A $30 donation buys the test points and admission to a 5th-period dance.♦A $60 donation buys students test points, the dance invitation, and a "special 30-minute lunch period with pizza, drink and the choice to invite one friend to join them."♦Photo ops with Rosewood principal Susie Shepherd, the vice principal, and a home room teacher go for $75. The photos will be… -
Sad Ending to the Shaniya Davis Story
17 Nov 2009 | 9:41 amI, like many others in North Carolina, am shocked, saddened and even outraged over the death of little Shaniya Davis. This is the five-year-old who was being used as a sex slave by her mother, 25-year-old Antoinette Davis. Shaniya's body was discovered Monday in a rural area---several days after her mother reported her missing from their mobile home. Here's the timeline according to Fayetteville Police:Davis called police at 6:53 a.m. one week ago today to report that her daughter was missing.Davis told police the last time she saw the child was at 5:30 a.m. inside their mobile home.At 6:11… -
Your First Job
3 Nov 2009 | 4:53 pmViewers of WFAA-TV in Dallas got a real treat today when they got to see the Queen of Daytime TV on their TV screen. Oprah co-anchored the 5pm news. This was all a part of her "Celebrities Go Back to their First Jobs" segment. Actually, being a TV anchor wasn't Oprah's first job. According to her website,her first job was really in Nashville where she worked at the corner grocery store next to her father's barber shop. I guess the grocery store isn't there anymore.It got me to thinking about my very first job. It was for a marketing company who sent out advertising mailers to residents. I was… -
The Road Map of Life for College Students
2 Oct 2009 | 5:00 pmEver since my daughter was little, I always wanted her to see the best that America has to offer. That's why we traveled a lot. As a baby boomer mom and journalist who's been there and done that, I figured if she is going to be one of the future leaders of our great nation, it would be in her best interest to learn more than what she reads in a text book. Even now that she's in college I tell her not keep herself couped up in her dorm room--get out and explore the new town she's living in. It's not only an adventure, but you never know when you just might have an emergency that will call for… -
My Grandson's Birthday Makes Me Think...
6 Sep 2009 | 1:50 pmOn September 6, my grandson, Jarod, turned three-years-old. Just like most children, he had a birthday party filled with family and friends. What I love about my grandson is he will play with anybody. Unlike adults, he doesn't see race or sex--he just enjoys the idea of being a sociable little boy. That's why I so appreciate the fact that he has white playmates who also appreciate him for just being someone they like to play with.But here's the deal. That is going to change at some point. Jarod is going to grow into a black male who may become someone whites are fearful of for no other reason…
-
BOOMER WORLD
-
Noisy Sex Gets a Conviction
10 Nov 2009 | 7:46 pmI think you and I will agree that it's a good thing when a husband and wife can really turn each other on at midlife, right? But should your neighbors have first hand knowledge of what's going on in your home?It seems as though a 48-year-old baby boomer woman from the UK was convicted for making too much noise during her love-making sessions with her husband. The noise was so bad that everyone from the neighbors to the postman heard their escapades.A next door neighbor of the couple told the court she was frequently late for work because she overslept having been awake most of the night… -
Why We Vote
3 Nov 2009 | 5:34 pmI didn't realize it was election day until I drove past a neighborhood church and saw "Vote Here Today" signs on the lawn.To tell you the truth, I didn't see the point in voting. I mean, I spent all of my energy last year on the most important election of my lifetime and now that it's over, what's the point? Well, obviously there were many others who felt the same way as me. In a precinct that has more than 2000 registered voters, I ended up being voter #115. Pretty sad.THE POINT IS EVERY ELECTION SHOULD BE DEEMED AS IMPORTANT. The country was so focused on getting the Republicans out of… -
Walmart Saving You Money in Death
29 Oct 2009 | 5:48 pmWalmart wants to make sure they get your last dollar--literally. The leading discount store has announced it is now selling coffins online. This is good news for baby boomers who may be looking to save money for retirement and beyond. Prices for the caskets range from $999 to $1,699. Surprisingly, Walmart isn't the first to sell caskets. Costco led the way and has a whole website dedicated to the handling of this delicate matter. Here are some of the Q&A's on their site:Q: Why is Costco Wholesale selling caskets?As a service to our members.Q: If members have more questions, where do they get… -
Baby Boomers, Need a Tax Write off for 2009?
23 Oct 2009 | 5:29 pmI stumbled across an interesting article recently called the 10 Wackiest Tax Write Offs of 2008. The author called them wacky--but upon reading the list, I thought some of the write-offs had some merit. Take the lawyer, for example, who wrote off a $50,000 deduction for a party he gave in which many of his former and present clients were invited. Certainly they were talking business while sipping on the finest champagne and eating filet mignon.After careful thought I decided to create my own list to give my fellow baby boomers some ideas on how to stick it to Uncle Sam this year:Single Boomer… -
Why Chicago Didn't Get the Olympics Bid
9 Oct 2009 | 7:10 pmLet me start off by giving you this poll: Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America 2008New Orleans Camden, NJ Detroit St. Louis Oakland Flint, Mich. Gary, Ind. Birmingham, Ala. Richmond, Calif. North Charleston, SC Clearly, Chicago isn't on the list but, no doubt, it ought to be. Did you know the number of people murdered in Chicago during 2008 was larger than the number of U.S. soldier deaths in Iraq during the same period? 314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq; 509 people were murdered in ChicagoWho would want to go to a city where their safety would possibly be in jeopardy?Do you think Mayor…
-
Boomer Diva Nation
-
The Feet Don’t Lie
9 Nov 2009 | 1:21 pmGuest Post by: Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D Two of your colleagues are talking in the hallway. You’d like to join the conversation, but you don’t know if you’ll be seen as a rude interruption or a welcome addition. You can find out if you’re welcome or not – just by looking at their feet. Or so says [...] -
Oprah is Fat, Can Anyone See That?
3 Nov 2009 | 9:40 amGuest Post by: Leslie Ungar ***The views expressed in this article are soley those of the writer’s and does not reflect the opinion of Boomer Diva Nation*** Oprah is fat, period. That’s OK. Most of us struggle with weight and end up on the losing end at some time. There are two things that are not OK. One [...] -
7 Work At Home Guidelines for the New Economy
3 Nov 2009 | 9:32 amWith unemployment in the US reaching almost 10 percent, many people are transitioning from employee to entrepreneur. According to business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, author of When The Little Things Count…And They Always Count, “Out of necessity people are establishing their own businesses. Many of these new entrepreneurs are working from home and having to be [...] -
Save Your Business During Flu Season
27 Oct 2009 | 11:26 amNo one likes to get sick. Depending on how bad you feel, you could be out of commission for awhile. That’s definitely not good if you’re a woman in business who is responsible for paying bills and feeding the family. While the official flu season doesn’t start for a few months, the H1N1 flu is already [...] -
Overworked?
6 Oct 2009 | 7:08 pmSpecial Post by: Dr. Patricia A. Farrell The Japanese have a word for it, karoshi (???). It means, literally, being worked to death by your employer. It’s been a legal reason for lawsuits in Japan since the 1990s. The first case noted of karoshi was of the death of a married worker in a major newspaper [...]
-
merlot mom
-
Don't Underestimate the Power of Your Telemarketer
16 Nov 2009 | 9:59 amI don't know about you but in the past few weeks I have been deluged with unsolicited sales calls. Did I miss something? Did the DO NOT CALL registry expire? Because literally one day my phone started ringing off the hook with sales pitches of all kinds. If you scroll down the "calls received" on my handset, there are at least twenty to thirty in one day. Not only do I receive mostly junk mail now but most of my phone calls are junk too. When this began, I answered the calls as I always have. I didn't. Well, most of the time. If I did bother to… -
Give Me The Grateful Life - Monday
21 Sep 2009 | 7:00 amI am grateful I caused no physical harm this weekend to my Bat Mitzvah-defiant, Torah portion-rejecting, non-speech writing daughter. I am grateful for Tylenol. I am grateful for Wii Fit Rhythm Boxing. I am grateful there are less than three weeks left until my life returns to it's regularly scheduled programming. -
Some Wisdom Not Written By Me So You Can Take It Seriously
18 Sep 2009 | 1:13 pmThis came to me from a friend. It was written by a woman journalist. Some of you may have seen it already but I thought it was worth passing around. Some good stuff to remember here. Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written." My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more: 1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step. 3. Life is too short… -
A Momentary Case of Mistaken Identity
16 Sep 2009 | 7:14 pmThe other day I wrote this post. It was a nice post. A sincere, written-from-the-heart kinda post. But, I am NOT the woman who wrote that post. No. That post was written by a woman whose kids were still at school. That post was written by a woman whose dogs had just been fed and walked. That post was written by a woman who was sitting in her quiet house, drinking her favorite green tea, thinking she had accomplished a great deal. That calm, reflective, introspective woman went missing a mere two hours after writing that post. When her son came home with his first homework assignments… -
Give Me The Grateful Life - Monday
14 Sep 2009 | 3:22 pmSometimes it takes a lifetime to get perspective. Sometimes it takes one phone call. I started my morning, as I have every morning lately, going through my list of "to do's". Just sitting at my desk ignites stress. The piles, the post-its. What did I forget? What more do I have to do? The lists are endless, boundless petri dishes for my type-A tendencies. And as the date of my daughter's Bat Mitzvah draws closer, I find myself forgetting about the joy and significance of this milestone and focusing more on the expectation. The obligation.
-
Zen and the Art of the Midlife Crisis
-
Under My Skin
20 Nov 2009 | 6:17 amI don't mind admitting that the chorus to this new song came to me in the driveway of my dear friend who has shown me that love does not always come in the package we want, and seeming less, can somehow be so very much more.The bulk of the music and many of the words came to me on the morning of my accident when I wanted to continue with the creativity and, against my intuition, forced myself to -
Drenched
18 Nov 2009 | 6:11 amThe first shower in a month has got to be one of the sweetest moments! Witness to others but never hurt myself like this before, I had not imagined life could be reduced to such a simple pleasure, celebrating the accomplishment of such a basic need.A month after my accident, I am doing much better, thank you all so very much, and yet am still plagued by a fatigue that brings tears to my eyes, -
Distant Shores
7 Nov 2009 | 4:17 amThe doctor made a quick assessment of the repair and subsequent healing, determining nothing for sure, but satisfied there was progression. He pressed hard on a particular spot to ensure last week’s infection was truly gone. Continuing to improve at this rate, he surmised, the first catheter might be removed in two weeks.To my complaint that sleep erections have returned and are quite painful -
Surrender
4 Nov 2009 | 9:51 amI am raised in a family of achievers.Before the age of five and entering kindergarten, I knew well it was my German ancestor, a century earlier, who had “invented” the concept that children, like flowers, should be raised in a garden of opportunities to discover, whose hand carved pony in our living room I could rock so fast. Long before a picture surfaced on the internet as proof, I believed -
Let Go, Let Love
1 Nov 2009 | 8:06 amFor a lifetime, I have had my mother to talk over the joys and pains in my world. Even with four other sisters vying for her attention, she always had an ear for me.There was the usual and customary place at the end of the kitchen counter where I stood on a little foot stool—no matter the age—and shared my stories while she cooked dinner. A great marble table was the energetic center of the house
-
ask allison: the middle-Aged woman’s go to girl
-
The Marriage Sabbatical: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
17 Nov 2009 | 5:40 amLast weekend I had a girl date with one of my friends. As we settled in cozily at a neighborhood wine bar, she mentioned that she and her husband of 20 years had been having a little trouble. Nothing dramatic, but she just felt as though lately she was the only one putting in effort. They’d seen a counselor about it and things were improving but it got me thinking. Seems to me we are so locked in to some traditional way of seeing our long term relationships. Maybe we should use a little imagination. I asked my friend, “would you ever consider moving out for a while, 5 or 6 months… -
Women And Community
30 Oct 2009 | 4:33 amAfter a long, hot, and challenging summer, I am suddenly feeling there is light at the end of the tunnel.And, I am awash in gratitude that the fog seems to be lifting.I’m getting really excited about my real estate gig and the people I’ve affiliated with, they are SUCH smart business people all the way round, I can see I’ll be learning a TON about real estate AND business in general. But, as I’ve mentioned, I also have such neat women committed to contributing regularly to WomenBloom.I will be telling you all about them, but I have this feeling deep inside that the friendships I’m… -
51 Years Old, Going On 14
22 Oct 2009 | 7:45 pmI know that whenever I go home to visit Mom and Dad, I feel as though I’m about 14 again. Mom gets all excited and asks me what I want to eat, and then cooks all my favorites. She has nice new sheets on the beds, and lets me sleep in (as well as I can since I can’t really sleep anymore past about 7 anymore but it’s the thought that counts). I admit that in this situation I let her have her way with me. I like it. I’m not stupid. But, one would think that once you hit at least your 40s for sure, your parents would finally have learned to see you as the adult you are. You… -
VERY Funny Take On Men’s And Women’s Brains
6 Oct 2009 | 1:37 pmWhanh, whanh! This is a very funny guy with alot of funny videos on the differences between us women and men. Now, we KNOW we’re different, anyone can see that, but if we all approached it like Mark Gungor, our relationships would probably be alot better. At least they’d be funnier This one explains the BASIC difference and I think we all know about the ‘nothing’ box in men’s brains Enjoy! -
Is There Simplicity On The Other Side?
1 Oct 2009 | 8:05 amMy life has been pretty simple for the past number of years. Single, no kids, parents still independent and since moving out of my house a couple of years ago to share a friend’s house, no big house upkeep responsibilities. I’m busy since I like my time full, but really that isn’t the same as being complicated. But these past months, I have had an eye opening look into just how complex our lives really are. And, I think it’s REALLY not good for us. I’ve said for a long time one reason it’s hard to find a lasting relationship in midlife is because we have so much baggage. …
-
AARP Bulletin Today
-
An anonymous complaint about her driving threatens an elderly woman's independence
22 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pmGULFPORT When it was time to go to the grocery store, Elizabeth Garrett needed 35 minutes just to get from the kitchen to her car. Here's what she did to get herself behind the wheel: Used all the strength in both arms to raise herself out of kitchen chair. Walked haltingly behind aluminum walker to scooter. -
With leaner finances, Clearwater heads down a more uncertain path
22 Nov 2009 | 7:51 amClearwater City Manager Bill Horne gave his annual report on the state of the city the other day, and it had an undertone not present in his previous eight reports. It is now clear, Horne said, "that we need to plan deliberatively for a future that will look very different from what we envisioned a few years ago. " That message about dreams modified underlay even the bright spots in Horne's speech, delivered during last Tuesday's City Council meeting. -
Cut back on trash pickups to urge recycling
22 Nov 2009 | 7:10 amCut trash pickup to urge recycling The Spring Hill letter writer asking the county to pick up trash one day per week and recyclables more often has a great idea. In the city of Brooksville, I see small businesses leaving boxes out for the trash pickup. We have a great recycling program in place and so few use it. -
Workers, employees grapple with flu
22 Nov 2009 | 1:22 amCHICAGO For under-the-weather workers, the decision to stay home or push through a day at the office always has been a hand-wringing one. Now, concerns over H1N1 flu, coupled with a lean economy, are putting workers' sick-leave dilemmas under the microscope. "Since the recession started. -
Still a month to take advantage of income tax breaks
22 Nov 2009 | 1:21 amYou have just over a month left to make moves to cut your tax bill in the spring. Besides the usual tax strategies, such as making charitable donations before year's end, you might be able to take advantage of one of the many temporary tax breaks Congress created to stimulate the economy. One of them, the popular first-time home buyer credit, was recently extended so you have more time to get it.
-
Midlife Musings
-
We only hurt the ones we love, the ones we never meant to hurt at all...
14 Nov 2009 | 8:25 pmI realized something not so nice about myself today. And I really struggled with whether or not to blog about it. It's really tough to expose the less desirable side of ourselves, because by doing so, we open ourselves up to criticism. And that? Is scary. It is for me, anyway. Operating from a position of fear is a really stressful . I feel like I have operated from this position most of my life. I was always a tall, shy, geeky kid, and my mother dressed me funny. I might as well have drawn a target on my back. Kids can be incredibly cruel, especially for someone who is in the least bit… -
Random Tuesday Thoughts
10 Nov 2009 | 4:01 pmOkay it's been awhile since I've participated in Random Tuesday Thoughts, so I thought I'd do so this week. Of course, I can come up with GREAT random thoughts when I'm driving in my car. Then I think, "I need to blog these." And then they just sort of "poof" out of my brain. *sigh*. Oh well.What was I saying? Oh yes. But before I get to that, just a quick update. My week away from Dr. Jekyll went fairly well, although I had some upset with a friend in Second Life, but life's a roller coaster and sometimes you just have to ride it out. But the week was peaceful and I LIKED it. Things have… -
Guts or Balls?
4 Nov 2009 | 1:45 pmSince we are all interested in using the right words, thought this would interest you. Guts or Balls? There is a medical distinction. We've all heard about people having guts or balls, but do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definitions are listed below: GUTS - Is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to ask: "Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?" BALLS - Is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your… -
39 Things
2 Nov 2009 | 4:41 pmWell, Dr. Jekyll left yesterday at about 3pm. I am having the best time... OMG. I hate to say it but I am just enjoying the peace and quiet. Being with Dr. Jekyll is like having a parent again. Are all marriages like this, or am I overreacting?? *sigh* I dunno. Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful comments yesterday. I felt so much better after I read them. Some of you gave me food for thought, and I am ruminating on them and will post some more later.I got a gift certificate to my favorite spa from my staff for Boss's Day last month. Sometimes it's GOOD to be King! er....Queen in my case. -
Is it bad that I'm excited that he'll be gone for a week?!?
29 Oct 2009 | 8:34 amWell Dr. Jekyll's company has a new line of equipment that is coming out, and he needs to train on it, so that when he goes into the field to fix them, he can actually fix them. Makes sense, right?Normally, these trainings are held at the main shop here in town. This time, the training is being held in their Roseville office, which is 2 hours from here and too much for commuting daily to the five-day training. Next week, Dr. Jekyll will be going to Roseville beginning Sunday afternoon and won't return until Friday afternoon.Can I say Woot?? Can I get a yahoo?? Is it bad that I'm this excited…
-
BoomerCafé ... it's your place
-
The Golden Ear Mouse
19 Nov 2009 | 7:49 pmWhen we boomers say, “We’re different from our parents’ generation; we’re more active, more flexible, more youthful,” we mean it. But are our bodies always listening? Not necessarily, at least not yet. That’s why we’re fascinated by research we read about at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. Boomer Professor of Otolaryngology Bob Frisina leads a team that has created a “Golden Ear” mouse that says, “Squeak, Squeak – Can You Hear Me Now?” And there are good implications for us! What do you get when you cross a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse… -
AARP Tries to Take Boomer Lead
14 Nov 2009 | 7:17 pmAARP has been around for 50 years, but it is only now showing Baby Boomers the weight of its influence. AARP tried and failed a decade ago. Now, the group is trying again. For most Baby Boomers, turning 50 years old and getting that membership invitation to join AARP was like getting a mean-spirited birthday card greeting — that AARP invitation must mean you were really getting over the hill. And, for most Baby Boomer joiners, membership has meant access to discounts to rent a car or hotel room or a cruise. But AARP’s mission as watchdog of public policies that affect its members… -
The Case Against Retirement
14 Nov 2009 | 7:08 pmAh, retirement! Before the 1950s it was something only the wealthy could afford to do. Everyone else needed an income, and most folks struggled to get by in the industrial economy as their faculties deteriorated. Back in the days before 401[k)s — let alone Social Security — older people faced the kind of pressures portrayed by filmmaker D.W. Griffith in his melodramatic 1911 silent film What Shall We Do With Our Old? It’s a sad tale of the setbacks endured by an elderly couple, the wife ailing, the husband tossed off the assembly line to make way for a younger worker. The… -
Remembering a First Kiss
12 Nov 2009 | 7:52 amHave you ever found that what troubles you the most is not the mysteries of tomorrow, but the nagging “things done and left undone?” That’s what Eliot Smith felt when he turned fifty. And nothing nagged at him more than the recollection of his first real kiss. Here is an excerpt from Gary Carter’s new novel “ELIOT’S TALE.” It takes place as he goes back to his hometown. Debbie was known as the make-out queen of Hope Springs Elementary School and an expert in the exotic art of the French kiss with a tongue that could reportedly tickle your tonsils. As a result, she… -
A Boomer Who’s Still 17 at Heart
11 Nov 2009 | 6:16 pmWho framed Roger Rabbit? Tim Eaton did. Eaton also inflicted multiple stab wounds on Goldie Hawn. He caused several tornadoes, too. Oh, and he sank the Titanic. “It’s a living,” he sighs. Eaton framed Roger Rabbit in a visual, not criminal, sense. Same goes with the Goldie Hawn stabbing, the tornadoes and the sinking of the Titanic. He is one of those people whose name scrolls up the big screen after most people have left the theatre — the special effects technicians who imbue Hollywood blockbusters with extra whiz-bang. He summoned the tornadoes for Twister, punctured…
-
Baby Boomer Going Like Sixty
-
How Many Pounds in a Gallon of Fat? JFGI!
20 Nov 2009 | 6:43 amRemember this? What do you want for your birthday? A Henway. What’s a Henway? About three pounds. So far, I’ve lost about 11 hens. If I could somehow export my loss to Peru, I would be able to buy one of those cars I lusted after. Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru’s anti-kidnapping police. He said the suspects, two of whom were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat, told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon ($15,000 a liter). I am convinced you can Google any question and get the answer. Yesterday,… -
Total Knee Replacement: Potentially Costly Sitting and Thinking
19 Nov 2009 | 1:49 pmSince the Total Knee Replacement, (ta-da-dummmmmmmm) my physical activity is even more limited than prior to the removal and reinstallation. Since I’m dieting my lack of physical activity is even more restricted. Prior to this, my lack of physical activity was because I was lazy. Aside from mowing and walking the dogs and following Nancy around Kroger throwing Oreo cookies, cheese puffs, Miller Chill, Oscar Mayer Bologna and M & M’s into the basket, I had no physical activity. Now that limited activity is limited even more. 1. I can’t walk much and 2. I can’t eat… -
Unfriend or Defriend? Luke Russert Weighs in for NBC as Congressional Correspondent
17 Nov 2009 | 2:42 pm“Unfriend” is the word of the year, as declared by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Congressional correspondent Luke Russert (and son of St. Timothy of Buffalo) corrected the “Unfriend” report saying, “the kids say ‘Defriend.’ Oxford Dictionary should find that out.” “the kids”, yeah, Luke Russert called Facebookers “the kids.” Unfriend Luke Russert! Defriend Luke Russert! Deface Luke Russert! Unbook Luke Russert! Debook Luke Russert! You might like these too...Tim Russert is Still Dead; Young Luke Russert is MIALuke… -
Go Behind The Scenes for a Sneak Peek at Multiple Sarcasms
17 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmHuh!?! Should I be flattered or insulted that a PR flack sent me a pre-release sneak peek of a movie coming out this spring called Multiple Sarcasms? Yeah, flattered. Multiple irreverences/Multiple Sarcasms, it fits here. It’s a movie about a play about a life that is falling apart. Huh!?! I may have just moved over to the insulted side again. (Rant about a blog about a life that is falling apart?) Nah, I’m back to flattered. Any movie poster featuring a toilet is in my wheelhouse. Multiple Sarcasms is set in 1979 New York and has an amazing cast including Timothy Hutton, Mira… -
Have Dog Cheer Spreadsheet: Need Chart
16 Nov 2009 | 9:25 pmThis would make a utterly fascinating bar chart or pie chart or simple graph. Alas, I am incapable of making such a graph using OpenOffice. I used to be a whiz at making such things using Microsoft Excel. But I use Excel so little, I let the license lapse and went for the freebie. OpenOffice. (Bill Gates is a Prick) Here is the raw data of the Happiness Quotient for each dog based on the length of time we have been out of the house in minutes. Dog Greeting Style Data Set Refresher: the subjects observed to develop data… Derby Sedona Oliver Sofi Note: Oliver never goes Batshit over…
-
A Boomer in the Pew
-
The Manhattan Declaration: A Call to Christian Conscience
20 Nov 2009 | 10:55 amToday, a group of Christians spanning the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Evangelicalism have met in New York to sign what is called The Manhattan Declaration.For some unknown reason, the web site is down and is, as of this writing, referring to Chuck Colson's website.Nonetheless, I was able to log on to the site this morning, and obtain a copy of the document for you here:Download ManhattanDeclaration"The Manhattan Documents is a 4,732-word statement signed by a movement of Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders who are collaborating around moral issues of great concern. Its 125+… -
Why is the Bible so Difficult to Understand?
19 Nov 2009 | 7:01 amFor millennia, people have peered into the pages of the Bible and asked, "why is the Bible so difficult to understand?" Perhaps this question is better asked, "can the Bible even be understood?"In The Gospel Coalition's theological journal Themelios (Greek for foundations), Dr. Wayne Grudem answers this question with a resounding "yes", but offers a few qualifications.From Dr. Grudem: "Scripture confirms that it is able to be understood but: not all at once not without effort not without means (translations in your language, teachers, commentaries, fellowship with other Christians) not… -
Chinese Christians Badly Beaten for Going to Unsanctioned Churches
19 Nov 2009 | 5:25 amChinese Christians, and other Chinese religious groups are reaching out to America for help. At the moment, this voice is being heard through a small group of Chinese human rights attorneys.With all the information that is thrown at us in these modern times, it is very difficult for a story to penetrate our senses. However, these men appeared in my Sunday school class one day, and my tears were irrepressible as they shared their stories of repression, beatings, kidnappings, and torture.Testimony from Dai Jinbo:"At dawn, on September 13, 2009, more than three hundred police officers,… -
Try out our new ReBlog Button
18 Nov 2009 | 2:43 pmTypepad, the host company of this blog, has just released a "ReBlog Button". Evidently, if you like one of my blog posts, you can hit the "reblog" button, at the bottom of each post, and easily create a re-post on your blog.Sounds great!Find a post you like, try it out, and give me some feedback.Thanks! -
Grandma's Front Porch: A Place of Deep-Seated Memories
17 Nov 2009 | 9:41 amYesterday, I referenced my grandmother's front porch. Well, today I was most pleased to find photographs of that front porch from my Uncle Don in my e-mail. My uncle is now the owner of this early 1900's home, and he wanted also to remind me that those big green things are called trees. Uncle Don, along with my brother Doug, were the comedians in the family. These mammoth maple trees are also the very same trees that I wrote of collecting maple syrup with my grandfather.It is good to see this porch. I can remember my grandmother being so frustrated with me beating up my brother (sorry…
-
Catskill Cottage Seed
-
Toddler Rides White Tiger into Post Position
19 Nov 2009 | 3:20 pmIn auto racing, it’s the inside position which gets claimed by the racer who put of the fastest qualifying time: the pole position. What’s the analogy to positioning content in this arena? More and more as I observe both my own behavior with content consumption on-line and the behavior of the digital community I belong to, what stands out is that every transaction hinges on the title. The pack is full of the title gimics. There’s the “27 best ways…” and the superlative overloads “absolute best/worst/insane etc,…” In my practice day in and… -
Secret Fears
17 Nov 2009 | 7:36 am“Idealization is a hidden apotropaism; one idealizes whenever there is a secret fear to be exorcised.” – Carl Jung Ouch. So collectively, what does that say about the portrayal of woman in the fashion industry? What does that say about the fascination with foreign sports cars? How about the polarization of political ideologies? …dare we admit our fears? (p.s. I’m guest posting on social media practice over at Liz’s Blog today.) -
Rest, Not Escape
15 Nov 2009 | 2:03 pmI’ve been battling in my head about the differences between laziness and leisure. This is where I’m at: Laziness, or chillin’ as some of the youth I work with like to call it, is at root a regressive posture. It’s an escape from the particular challenges that have aligned within a life. Leisure is restful participation and by nature it tends to be creative and prospective. The lowering of stress and the slackening of pace does not equate to avoidance. In fact, it often opens up new possibilities that might have been missed otherwise. Breath deep. You’ll end up… -
Community Participation in Isolation
14 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pmThere are many ways to participate in community. Some involve large social gathering: a pancake breakfast, a conference, a college football game…thousands spread out on towels on a sweltering summer day at the beach. Community participation can take a many different forms, and sometimes it’s surprising that nobody else is even around. I’m thinking of an experience I had this summer hiking along a trial and coming upon a stone pile that was constructed by thousands of hikers who had walked the trail over many years, decades even. The stone pile called to each passerby to add… -
Undoing Frenzy within Social Media
12 Nov 2009 | 12:36 pmWhat I’m most interested in, that’s the road that leads to the most meaningful interactions with others in this space. I’m hitting upon this theme again because all the posturing in this space about “making it about the audience” is in my mind only a useful for those whose main interest is empowering audience. It just isn’t enough if it isn’t enough (pardon the redundancy). And it leads to so much banter in the social media space about “making it about you” that it feels like breathing air that is thin on oxygen…or worse, polluted…
-
Nourishing Relationships
-
Sally Shields Chats with Our Readers
20 Nov 2009 | 8:07 amYesterday, we enjoyed hosting Sally Shields, author of The Daughter-in-Law Rules on our blog. Here are some of our readers' questions and Sally's responses.When Anita asked Sally how her mother-in-law reacted to reading about herself in the book, Sally recalled how it affected their relationship:"There are 3 parts to that... first when she found out I was writing the book she said, "I know I can be a B....tch, Sally! I'm a Leo. But we're a lot a like, you know. Now go write a best-seller, or I'll kick your butt!" Then, she read the book. And well, I wasn't welcome at Christmas time... Lastly,… -
The Daughter-in-Law Rules
19 Nov 2009 | 12:29 amNourishing Relationships: We are so pleased to have Sally Shields, author of The Daughter-in-Law Rules join us today. We have so much to ask you, lets get right to it!What is the concept behind the DIL Rules and how did you derive at that name?Sally Shields: The Daughter-in-Law Rules is based on the 7th spiritual law of success, which is: the quickest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. By that I mean, be a loving, kind-hearted, sensitive person, and the world will reflect that back to you, even in the form of your mother-in-law! I loved that book The Rules: Time… -
Coping with Menopausal Symptoms
18 Nov 2009 | 7:58 amYou've likely tried many techniques to deal with the annoying symptoms of perimenopause. Here are some that many Sandwiched Boomers find work for them. Try them, if you haven't already, and see if they work for you.If hot flashes and night sweats plague you, join the gang. You can: dress in layers, have a personal fan handy to use whenever you need, sleep in a cool room at night, avoid alcohol, spicy foods and others that trigger a hot flash. Many women in perimenopause just can't get a good night's sleep. If you have a hard time falling asleep or getting back to sleep when your body awakens… -
Dealing with Menopause
17 Nov 2009 | 7:37 amYou may have trouble keeping track of all the changes menopause brings - especially when you are a Sandwiched Boomer overwhelmed by hot flashes. But there are some actions you can take to regain a sense of control over this major life transition. Here are some tips to help you move through this process.Continue to gather information. There are websites, such www.menopause.org and www.WebMd.com, which provide extensive explanations and material about treatment options. There are other resources such as books, journals, and lectures. It is important that the information is valid, the source is… -
Menopause Brain?
16 Nov 2009 | 7:02 amLast week we looked at ways to activate your brain and keep it young. But recent studies at UCLA indicate that women's brains may not function as well during the early stage of the menopause transition - women do not learn as well shortly before menopause as they do earlier or later. So if you are one of the 60% of women who notice that you have memory problems during your menopausal transition, take heart - your memory will come back once you are postmenopausal.Menopause may bring many additional changes, emotional as well as physical. The meaning of "the change" may be different for each of…
-
Silver Planet
-
Death of a Child: Learning from the Travolta Family’s Tragedy
19 Nov 2009 | 1:43 pmNo one should have to bury a child, a universal truth that will never be cliché. Nothing is worse than the death of your son or daughter. It haunts you forever.I know from secondhand experience, after my parents had to do just that when my sister died in an auto accident in her twenties. The Travoltas know firsthand. You can only try to cope. But how? What common lessons can be learned from such an unthinkable tragedy?read more -
Music Therapy Uses Preloaded iPods to Help Alzheimer’s Patients
19 Nov 2009 | 11:54 amMusic therapy on iPods: Let's start with a quote from today's Wall Street Journal article, which gets right to the point: "Ann Povodator, an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient in Boynton Beach, Fla., listens to her beloved opera and Yiddish songs every day on an iPod with her home health aide or her daughter when she comes to visit. ‘We listen for at least a half-hour, and we talk afterwards,’ says her daughter, Marilyn Povodator.read more -
New Government Task Force Will Combat Financial Fraud
19 Nov 2009 | 9:07 amSenior-level officials from more than two dozen government departments, agencies, and offices have joined to form the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in an effort to strengthen the fight against financial crime. -
Best Boomer Towns Selects Aiken, South Carolina
19 Nov 2009 | 7:59 amAiken has a nice atmosphere with lots going on. It’s only 17 miles from the famous links of Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club and has more than 30 stables and 13 golf courses nearby. A temperate year-round climate, affordable housing, and a low cost of living make this small town a top choice for retirement. -
Elder Abuse: Financial Exploitation
17 Nov 2009 | 4:18 pmFinancial exploitation is the second most common form of elder abuse. Exploitation is theft, pure and simple. Theft by strangers includes lottery scams, telemarketing and sweepstakes fraud, identity theft, and other con games. But theft by those who aren’t strangers is more subtle, hidden, and insidious.read more
-
Aging As a Spiritual Practice
-
Practicing with the Fear of Dying
14 Nov 2009 | 11:47 amIt is not easy to “call up” our actual fear of dying. Like Buddhist or Christian monks of old, we can remind ourselves each morning when we wake up, “Death could come at any time. Don’t waste time.” This is useful, though somewhat abstract exercise, though with repetition it sinks in. As one psychiatrist [...] -
Five Great Fears 1
6 Nov 2009 | 2:04 pmI have written before about Buddhism’s Five Great Fears; they are fear of death, fear of illness, fear of losing your mind, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking. I think that reason Buddhism calls these “great” fears is because each of them mobilizes the full force of our nervous systems’ threat [...] -
The Three Stages of Aging
16 Oct 2009 | 12:24 pmA recent contributor with his own health problems recently wondered at what point WE become our aging parents? In other words, when do the difficult problems we have with our parents regarding their illnesses, need for home or skilled nursing care, their end-of-life issues and losses, become OUR problems? Early on in the launching of this [...] -
Aging Parents 2
5 Sep 2009 | 4:18 pmThe last post on aging parents garnered more comments than any other in the history of this blog, so clearly this is a topic that touches many people. The experiences people have range from the touching and poignant (“Do you know who I am, Mom?” “Yes, you’re my baby”) to the heartbreaking (the father whose [...] -
Aging Parents
24 Aug 2009 | 11:08 amRecently on the Tricycle “Aging as a Spiritual Practice” forum which I moderate (http://community.tricycle.com/forum/topics/aging-as-a-spiritual-practice ) there has a been a lot of discussion about elderly and aging parents. Certainly there are a myriad of practical problems that come up—nursing homes, dementia, medical decisions, and so on—but underlying these there are more basic spiritual issues. How [...]
-
AOL: Retirement News
-
Retirement: What not to do
20 Nov 2009 | 9:24 amDo you have a solid retirement plan? Maybe not. According to Wells Fargo's fifth annual retirement survey, most people make three major mistakes when it comes to planning for their golden years. -
Retirement: What not to do
13 Nov 2009 | 9:46 am -
Social Security Payments to Stay Flat
15 Oct 2009 | 3:55 amThe Social Security Administration has some tough news for seniors. In 2010, there will be no cost of living increase for Social Security recipients, the first year without one since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. -
The Right Way to Unretire
23 Sep 2009 | 11:43 amHas a portfolio swoon put a crimp in your comfortable lifestyle? Maybe it's time to get a job. Try these techniques to help you land one that works for you. -
6 Ways to Ease Retirement Plan Costs
11 Sep 2009 | 12:40 pmMANY SMALL-BUSINESS owners are making considerable sacrifices to keep their doors open, including working a second job and forgoing their own paychecks. So cutting retirement benefits may seem like a relatively simple and direct way to eke out extra cost savings , but there are palpable consequences to that move, which could be felt long after the downturn.
-
RetirementRevised
-
COBRA subsidy tool calculates when your benefit expires
20 Nov 2009 | 8:02 ameHealthinsurarnce.com has posted a handy tool that can help people figure out when their federal COBRA health insurance subsidy will end. The tool also lets you see how long your subsidy will stretch if the House bill proposing an extension of the COBRA subsidy becomes law. Lawmakers indicated this week that they hope to take [...] Related posts:COBRA health insurance subsidy may be extendedBill to extend COBRA health subsidy introducedHouse health care bill delivers on COBRA extension -
Senior singers point to the legacy of Dr. Gene Cohen
18 Nov 2009 | 3:36 pmThe profession of geriatrics suffered a huge loss earlier this month when Dr. Gene Cohen died. Cohen, who died from metastatic prostate cancer at age 65, was a pioneer in geriatric psychiatry, and he played an enormous role in revolutionizing our thinking about aging. Cohen was especially well known for his research on the effects that [...] Related posts:Cooperative villages taking hold for senior livingPositive Aging Conference coming to a location near youWebinar will offer basics on encore careers -
How to get the most from your Social Security benefits
17 Nov 2009 | 12:54 pmOne of the biggest fears most older Americans face is running out of money in their retirement years. And yet these same Americans don’t take full advantage of one of the best resources to address this fear–Social Security benefits, which provide a lifetime income that ranges from 25 percent to 45 percent of their [...] Related posts:Social Security: The compelling case against filing for early benefitsNew calculator shows how delaying Social Security boosts benefitsReader Q&A: Social Security spousal benefits -
Marc Freedman: Moving beyond the DIY transition
13 Nov 2009 | 2:58 pmMarc Freedman of Civic Ventures writes in Business Week that we need a series of new systems and approaches to facilitate midlife transitions to encore careers. Among the needed changes: adapting educational programs, new financing, and public policy innovations. Writes Marc: “Today an unprecedented number of Americans are coursing through their 50s, bound for a dramatically different [...] Related posts:Marc Freedman wants to abolish retirement as you know itWebinar will offer basics on encore careersBoomers moving to Service Nation; are candidates following? -
Pensions expert: health reform will allow earlier retirement
13 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pmRobust health care legislation would enable far more Americans to retire at younger ages, according to one of the nation’s top experts on pensions and employee benefits. Dallas Salisbury, chief executive officer of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) predicted during a media briefing earlier this week that “if we get health reform enacted that assures [...] Related posts:Why health insurance reform will be good for Medicare recipientsHealth Savings Accounts have a limited role in funding retirement health, study saysHealth reform would cut Medicare prescription drug…
-
The Midlife Gals
-
Less & Less...Unless....
20 Nov 2009 | 5:56 amThe Midlife Gals are all about ‘less,’ but I’m confounded about the definition of the word, unless. Wouldn’t you think that un-less would just mean, ‘more?’ Well, it doesn’t. It means, “except on the condition that...” For example, A middle-aged woman could use eye liner, unless there is so much eye-lid skin that it would appear as if she tried to ski over several small crevasses, leaving dots and dashes where the liner would otherwise have stayed. We love the word less, and here’s how we use it...less exercise, less rules, less dieting, less caring what other people… -
Lie to Me
17 Nov 2009 | 5:47 amI really like the TV drama, Lie to Me, about people who fight crime by studying people’s faces for untruths. They’re REALLY good at it. I wouldn’t last 5 seconds in front of them were I telling a lie, because I suck at it. My whole body might as well be a neon sign saying, “I AM LYING TO YOU, CAN’T YOU TELL, STUPID!” I get an odd expression on my face, sort of surprise mixed with complete lack of confidence and squirting facial perspiration...all rolled into one.I know good liars. I’m related to one and been married to more than one. In an odd sense, lying is an art form, and in… -
Coming Home
13 Nov 2009 | 5:55 amWhen I moved back home to Texas after many years in New York City, I was overcome with happiness. I do think that everyone should live in Manhattan for three years. Beyond that time frame, “there be dragons.” I just didn’t anticipate having to physically move into my mother’s house. I’d been a renter all my life. When something went wrong with my abode, I just called the landlord and poof, it was fixed. The Ancient One’s house was built in 1944. That’s older than I am, and like my physical body taking on a middle-aged ‘hue,’ the house is beginning to break down. The charm of… -
Creativity...One Woman’s Trash is Another Woman’s Treasure
10 Nov 2009 | 5:54 amSal and I were thinking of ways to have a creative, ‘cheap’ Christmas this year, so off we went to one of those paint-your-own-ceramics studios. Have you ever been there?? Amazing! The only problem is that you don’t really know exactly what the end product will look like because, after they fire the pieces in the kiln, the colors change and are much more vibrant. This could change your whole notion of how creative you thought you were.I tend to be creative with the left side of my brain...organization, alphabetical order, right angles. Sal goes wild with her right brain...fashion… -
Couples Therapy - Will He Go??
6 Nov 2009 | 6:58 amWere I still happily married to Mr. Three (and that number should give you pause regarding any couples advice I might espouse), I could speak to the success of couples counseling. Would that this approach had helped.Trying to get your male partner into therapy is like persuading him to ask for directions...the perfect metaphor. When...not if...he gets lost, he’s bound and determined to fix that problem all by himself. No matter that you graduated with a Masters degree in Directional Road Intelligence or that you’re southern, which allows you to sweet-talk ANYone into helping you no matter…
-
Menopause Mafia
-
How to make it through Thanksgiving!
12 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pmMy standard MO on any given holiday is to start drinking before my family arrives. I continue to drink while cooking and throughout dinner. This makes it much easier to tolerate the drama queens, pervy uncles, my mother’s boyfriend (Du Jour) and the gaggle of screaming children. So, in the spirit of giving I’m sharing one of the family’s favorite holiday cocktails! This yummy frozen cocktail is for suitable for any holiday, but be warned, you might have to tell the relatives you ran out of the stuff or they might never leave! Brandy Slush Ingredients 7 cups water 1 cup… -
A bad week…
27 Oct 2009 | 12:27 pmYou know it’s been a bad week when these are going through your head: Alone it’s a weapon but with a mitt and ball it’s a baseball bat, so be smart when you premeditate! Is is considered going postal if you don’t work at the post office or is there another term? The three martini lunch is making a comeback…pass it on! What the hell was I thinking, fuck this career thing, I want to be a housewife! Am I the only one here breathing oxygen? Wait, I’m the only female, so YES I am. Standing up in a meeting and saying ” You, sir are a Fucktard!” in my… -
Handsome is as Handsome Does
25 Sep 2009 | 1:01 pmI recently heard a young friend of mine say something that I found disturbing. She was talking about who she wanted to date and stated “I’m only dating white boys from now on, they treat you better.” This of course freaked me out because I couldn’t see the correlation between being a particular color and having character. After all, I have only ever dated (or married) white men and we all know how well that’s turned out. The thing I want you, my younger friends, to think about is a man’s character. That is what we should be checking out. Who is the person… -
Food Porn
10 Sep 2009 | 5:11 pmIt’s never a boring night when my friend D and I venture out without her rocker husband. In fact it’s normal for us to have slightly odd nights that become the stories we tell at other peoples cocktail parties. We had one of these nights last week at our local Japanese Steakhouse (one of our favorite dinner as theater gigs). Everything’s business as usual, hour or wine and conversation in the bar and then we wander over to the table for dinner, another glass of wine and a little sushi to start. And then he showed up—on the surface he looked just like the other chefs… -
Discover What You Crave in Akron
9 Sep 2009 | 8:22 amWe’ve been seeing a whole slew of new restaurants in downtown Akron in the last couple of years, but it’s Crave that brings innovation to the city’s cuisine. The first thing you will notice when you walk into this hot spot is the decor. Trendy, sleek and beautiful with hand blown glass light fixtures and a breezy curtain wall that separates the entrance from the dinning room. There’s a giant high-top table that can seat eighteen and a sexy bar that makes you want to have a drink. All together the place makes you feel like you’re doing the trendy downtown thing…
-
Fiftyshift
-
Great websites for Thanksgiving ideas
5 Nov 2009 | 6:08 pmIt's that time of year again, people: we're in Thanksgiving territory! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I don't know whether it's the food, the family, or the "no gifts required," but I believe Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday ever created, and I know a lot of people agree. read more -
One reason to love your daughter's boyfriend (and miss Boston Legal)...
5 Nov 2009 | 10:23 amHe may be tattooed/unemployed/a video game addict/dropout. But here is what your daughter's boyfriend is not: Levi Johnston. Who, apparently, is now a tweeting Keats. At least to hear William Shatner tell it. (Update: Now Johnston's lawyer is saying the tweets are fake! Quelle surprise!) read more -
It's National Family Caregivers Month
4 Nov 2009 | 10:48 amMany of us have ended up, unexpectedly, as the primary caregiver to a sick or elderly loved one. Sometimes it happens overnight. Without realizing it, we join a vast, mostly silent majority. It's primarily a sisterhood of caregivers who do the this work in our society. read more -
Getting yourself out there
4 Nov 2009 | 9:39 amJust did a quick interview about websites and self-publishing with Francesca Rhiannon, whose terrific Writer's Voice radio show is produced at UMass Amherst, and syndicated around the country. If you're in business or on the job anywhere, it pays to think about how to get yourself out there in the media--and that means not just online, but in the so-called "old media," radio and newspapers and magazines. (In fact, we've received our best traffic on days when we've been in the local newspaper. So go figure.) read more -
Life in the blender
30 Oct 2009 | 9:54 amby Katherine Mayfield read more
-
About.com Senior Living
-
Will Boomers Age with More Disabilities Than Their Elders?
13 Nov 2009 | 4:01 amWidely reported news from UCLA suggests that boomers will enter their 60s with more disabilities than the previous generation. Researchers looked at results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) during two different time periods--1988-1994 and 1999-2004, and studied how the levels of disability changed for people who were 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80-plus in four areas: Activities associated with daily living: walking from room to room; getting into and out of bed Performing household chores or preparing meals Mobility: walking one-quarter mile; climbing 10 steps… -
My Search for Safe Cosmetics
10 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pmAfter reading news stories about lead in lipstick, phthalates in cosmetics, and trying (almost) in vain to find shampoo without sodium laurel sulphate or sodium laureth sulphate (foaming agents made from sulfuric acid, monododecyl ester, and sodium--no thanks), I decided to look for safe cosmetics that are made without known toxins and carcinogens. I started with the Web sites of my (former) favorite products but found little or no information about ingredients. I did find two good sources for information about safe cosmetics, and I'm sharing them with you: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Skin… -
Testosterone Boosters: Big with Boomers
6 Nov 2009 | 7:36 amFDA concerns about the safety of two testosterone boosters from Endo Pharmaceuticals may delay their approval, but safety concerns haven't kept testosterone sales from increasing 25 percent in the past year (while Viagra sales have dropped 8 percent), according Business Week. Despite research studies, including one from the University of North Carolina, which show that testosterone boosters do not slow aging, they are commonly prescribed for older adults. Men use testosterone boosters to treat erectile dysfunction, and women use them hoping to increase sexual satisfaction. Read… -
Remember Michael Jackson in 1969?
4 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pmWith Michael Jackson's untimely death and the debut of the hit film, This Is It--about preparations for the concert tour he died too soon to make--many people only think of Michael Jackson as an odd but talented adult. Read more...Remember Michael Jackson in 1969? originally appeared on About.com Senior Living on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 20:12:03.Permalink | Comment | Email this -
CDC Says Older Adults Unlikely to Need Early H1N1 Vaccine
29 Oct 2009 | 10:09 pmThe US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that people age 65 and older do NOT get early doses of the H1N1 vaccine, for two main reasons: Read more...CDC Says Older Adults Unlikely to Need Early H1N1 Vaccine originally appeared on About.com Senior Living on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 05:09:27.Permalink | Comment | Email this
-
All Articles | PowderRoomGraffiti.com
-
The Power Behind the Sleigh: The Power Behind the Sleigh
19 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pmDuring this time of the yearone man in particular starts to get all the attention. Yes, Santa Claus is nostranger to the limelight, but as we all know, behind every successful manstands an even more successful, understanding and brilliant woman. So who isMrs Claus And how does she feel about the supportive role she plays in thelife of her husband -
Meet Ali Armstrong: Meet Ali Armstrong
19 Nov 2009 | 11:01 pmIf you stand still for long enough in Alirsquo;skitchen, yoursquo;ll be offered refreshment. It might be a cup of coffee, or if itrsquo;safter 12, probably wine. You might get some olives marinated in oil and garlic,or a delicious slice of cake, because Ali loves providing food (and drink). Asshe bustles around her large kitchen she explains, -
Ideology Does Not Make a Leader: Ideology Does Not Make a Leader
19 Nov 2009 | 11:01 pmI held mytongue for as long as I could but there has truly been a huge white elephant withits giant, fat ass sitting on my keyboard. A week ago today, the AttorneyGeneral of the US, Eric Holder, announced that the 5 men being held atGuantanamo Bay Correctional Facility for terrorists, mass murderers and generalscumbags, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who boasted to authorities that hemasterminded the 9-11 attacks against the US, would be moved to New York Cityand tried in a civilian court making their actions criminal as opposed to theacts of war they were. They are reduced from being… -
Pelvic Floored: Pelvic Floored
18 Nov 2009 | 11:02 pmWhen I teach a yoga class, the end of thesession is one part I really look forward to. Undoubtedly some of my studentsfeel the same, albeit probably for different reasons. For me, it's the timewhen people come up and share little things that have happened, ask questions,talk about their lives, have a few tears; whatever has come up for them in theclass. I get to know them a little better, and learn more about the incrediblepotential of what I am trying to put across. -
What kind of bitch are you?: What kind of bitch are you?
18 Nov 2009 | 11:01 pmI don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that many womenare bitches, or at least have a bitchy side. I do, and I'm pretty sure thatmost women can be slotted into one of the following bitch categories:
