Midlife

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  Midlife Crisis Queen: It's never too late to find out who you might have been!

• Ready for another Boomer Blog Carnival?

  midlifecrisisqueen

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:33 am

  Go check out the lovely array of Boomer articles Ann over at Contemporary Retirement has put together for your reading pleasure!

• Do you feel too old to pursue your dreams?

  midlifecrisisqueen

  7 Feb 2010 | 7:46 am

  Have you ever felt like you’re too old to make a serious change in your life? Is it too late to finally get out of debt, find the kind of work you were meant to do, start your own business, find the love of your life or live your dream? Whatever your age, the rest of your life is ahead of you.  You can’t go back and change anything about your past, but you can change your future.  Now is your time to take action! It’s a very good thing these “elders” didn’t say NO to changing their lives: Henry David Thoreau was twenty-seven when he moved to Walden Pond,…

• Find inspiration everywhere!

  midlifecrisisqueen

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:32 am

  “I’m out there trying to make the impossible happen.” This is a quote from a Winter Olympics TV ad, but it’s also a great example of how you can find inspiration everywhere you look.  Yes, that young athlete is talking about getting a gold medal at the Olympics, a great goal for their abilities and stage in live. For those of us in midlife, how can we begin today to make what seems impossible right now, happen in the next few years? I’m coming from a place of recently experiencing an amazing and what I would have considered, impossible transformation of my own…

• Find your right livelihood AND your passion!

  midlifecrisisqueen

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am

  I did and I cannot believe how exciting it is!  I’m just starting to blossom in my work as a life change coach and I LOVE THIS WORK!  In fact, I have trouble thinking of it as “work,” because it is so naturally ME!  I have finally found exactly what I’m good at and where I fit into this world.  Please allow me to help you do the same! I guess there are really two ways to think about this.  The first would be poor me.  It has taken me three graduate degrees and over 30 years of searching and struggle to finally arrive where I am today and know that I belong. …

• Time for a brand new boomers’ carnival!

  midlifecrisisqueen

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:51 am

  Go see what Andrea over at Baby Boomer Entrepreneur has cooked up for your reading pleasure today!

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  The New Old Age

• Ask an Elder Law Attorney

  By PAULA SPAN and CRAIG REAVES

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:34 am

  Can a parent spend down for Medicaid eligibility and still keep her home?

• In Obama's Budget, Help for Caregivers

  By PAULA SPAN

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  The president's proposed budget sets aside more than $100 million for services provided to caregivers.

• Underused Therapy for the Heart: The Gym

  By PAULA SPAN

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:50 pm

  New research shows that a program of cardiovascular rehabilitation is remarkably effective following heart surgery or a heart attack.

• Help for Hoarding

  By PAULA SPAN

  28 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pm

  Resources, though limited, are available for helping seniors who hoard.

• Schooling the Aging Brain

  By PAULA SPAN

  26 Jan 2010 | 9:37 am

  A new study adds to evidence that the aging brain needs novelty and stimulation.

• 
  The Midlife Gals

• The Amazing Race

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:43 am

  There are so many races going on every minute of every day. Sal and I race to the liquor cabinet to see who can grab the vodka bottle for our martini first. She usually wins because she likes alcohol more than I do. But, there are bigger races going on all around us. There are probably hundreds of ‘races for the cure.’ I think they need to slow down a bit to find the cure, because they could run right over the damn thing, missing it altogether! And, what IS ‘the cure.’ Back in the olden days, it was alcohol...not that my intention is to keep focusing on alcohol, but if there was…

• WE DID IT! (No. 1)

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:53 am

  The Midlife Gals were selected to be in a national commercial!!! So, this announcement will have to suffice as our posting, because we’re shooting all day TODAY! We’re so excited, we could just SPIT!Hopefully there will be many more after this number one goal of our new year. YEEHAW! WHOOPTIE DOO! DAY’AM! I’LL BE GO TO HELL! KK***********************************************OMG!!  A NATIONAL COMMERCIAL!!  GET THE FUCK OUT!!Just like Walt Disney always said, “It’s fun doing the impossible.”Okay, this ain’t Shakespeare.  But what the hell, it’s making money by having fun and…

• Antiquing...Yes We Are

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:33 am

  Yes, with every passing day, we are ourselves antiquing. Our patinas are ripening; our chair legs are wobbly; our paint is peeling and we can be found just about anywhere. With a little regular care, some nice oils, nails in the right places and a fresh coat, we baby boomers are now the cat’s meow. Everyone wants to sell us things. But, truth be told, a few would probably like to just sell US!People are finding us in the most unlikely places. As the young’uns browse through their own life stores, they’ll see us in a dark, forgotten corner and realize our worth. They’ll come running…

• Mistakes...Let us Count The Ways

  29 Jan 2010 | 5:39 am

  Very funny, God. We love that part of our hard wiring that steers us over the edge where there be only dragons beyond. You’re sick! Just because your son screwed up doesn’t mean that you have to take that out on us. What possible reason did you have to make it so ridiculously hard for Dorothy and Toto to make it to The Emerald City? Most of you know how I feel about Mrs. Webster. Merriam has all the answers to my queries, and I’ve always felt like I could trust her. She says this about the word ‘mistake.’“To blunder in the choice of or to make a wrong judgment”And, evidently,…

• Things We Do Differently Now

  26 Jan 2010 | 6:53 am

  We don’t do things as fast as we used to, do we? It just takes longer to bend over, climb up, pick things up or date. We have to be more careful. How many times have you just turned your head too quickly, and wham, a pinched nerve in the neck! We even do exercises more slowly. Sal and I tried to keep up with a young’un on TV teaching cardio dance. She was rabid and moved in such a way that, had we followed her the way she demanded, we’d be in the hospital with blown-out knees and myo-cardial infarction symptoms!I drive more slowly now, but I can still honk at the slow-poke, blue-haired…

• 
  The Midlife Gals Videos

• Dating in the Eighties Dot Not Dot Com

  31 Jan 2010 | 9:28 am

  The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

• Happy Valentine’s Day Dammit!

  25 Jan 2010 | 7:37 am

  This if for all the single ladies. COME AND GET US!!!

• Intervention...canned whipped cream

  4 Jan 2010 | 1:14 pm

  Addicts need our compassion, not our judgements. Pity them and call a rehab place somewhere in Arizona.

• Merry Christmas!!

  22 Dec 2009 | 9:44 am

  Gird Your Loins...this one’s for you who doubt the true meaning of Christmas and maybe forgot that there really IS a Santy Claus.KK and Sal

• Blind Date - Nerd Love

  14 Dec 2009 | 7:19 am

  Money isn’t everything but it sure does help.

• 
  MidLifeBloggers

• Poetry from Midlife: Deep Bloom

  See Byline

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:44 pm

  I want to live right through to the end in full frontal engagement, awake to everything.

• My Feet Hurt

  byjane

  4 Feb 2010 | 11:35 pm

  Yes they do. Every day. In almost every way. This, as much as used-up eggs and hot flashes, seems to be a fact of my midlife. Once, in my glory days, I could ...

• Wednesday Writer’s Workshop: Writing Creative Non-Fiction

  byjane

  3 Feb 2010 | 11:30 am

  This year, the sixth annual BlogHer conference has a Writing Track, and as part of that track, there will be two Rooms of Your Own (ROYO).  If you have been to Blogher before, then you ...

• Going Home–While You Still Can

  See Byline

  31 Jan 2010 | 10:17 pm

  Time really does move faster when you're older....I just blinked and 2009 had passed me by before I realized it...and 2010 is already moving just as fast!

• Pretty, the Series: A web mockumentary

  byjane

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:06 pm

  Late in the evening when there’s absolutely nothing else on, I have found myself on occasion watching Toddlers & Tiaras. It’s one of those train wreck reality shows in which overweight parents groom their ...

• 
  Over 50 Website

• Boomer Business – Starting a Business Over 50

  admin

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:21 am

  Business Startups Over Age 50 Do you think you are too old to start a business since you have passed 50, 60, or even 70? Well, since you are reading this, you are obvously not too old to cruise the internet. To me, that means you are the type of person who keeps up with technology, the news, and business! I think that’s a great sign that you are not too old to start a business. In fact, it may just mean you are good and ready! Retirement is For Other People According to the Small Business Administration, 63% of non-retired Americans plan to work in retirement. When most of them were…

• Free Credit Reports – Good Deals?

  admin

  2 Feb 2010 | 1:46 pm

  Are Free Credit Reports a Good Deal? Hello, helloo, hello…. Can anybody hear me….? Yes, it is a very catchy jingle, and it is sung by a baby faced rocker and his group. But despite the engaging commercials for websites like FreeCreditReports.com, are they a good deal? Of course, free sounds like a good deal. But those of us over 50 know that no company spends all of that money on ads just to give away things for free. Actually the Better Business Bureau has heard over 11,000 complaints about this credit bureau owned service. It works like this. You sign up for the free…

• Own or Rent – The Ads and Disads of Home Ownership Today

  admin

  31 Jan 2010 | 10:37 am

  Should You Buy or Rent a Home? Even though the image of owning our own home, complete with a white fence, seems to always stay with us, nobody can disregard the news of how home ownership has meant financial disaster for many American families in the past several months.  Most of us, over 50, probably always assumed we would own our own residence by middle age. And many of us have bought a house or two.  How has that worked out for you? For many families, home ownership has been great. The family home has provide security and pride. For others, the home has become a burden which ended up…

• Dr. Sears of Prime Time Health – Live Interview

  admin

  28 Jan 2010 | 8:03 am

  Ask Dr. Sears Questions in a Live Interview I posted my review of Prime Time Health by Dr. Sears a while back. Now I have just been notified that we are all invited to attend a live interview. I also mentioned you can read more reviews and buy Prime Time Health at Amazonn. Here is the update: Date: January 29, 2010 Time: 2:00 PM ET Author: William Sears, M.D. Title: Prime-Time Health Publisher: Little, Brown Where: BlogTalkRadio.com BlogTalkRadio/HBG Program: Join us as we interview Dr. William Sears about his new book PRIME-TIME HEALTH, understanding the changes in our bodies, how to keep…

• Meet New People Over 50

  admin

  28 Jan 2010 | 7:48 am

  Making New Friends Over 50 I think it gets a little harder to meet new people as we get older. I know that when I was younger, I was involved in a lot more activities with people who were open to connecting on different levels. Then, when my kids were younger, I tended to meet the parents of their friends. But now, as my kids go off on their own a lot more, I tend to be stuck in a rut where I never meet anybody new. Where Have You Met Friends in The Past? The one good thing about being in our second half century is that we have a lot of experience to fall back on. So consider your…

• 
  The Boomer Chronicles

• What I Learned at My Family Reunion

  Rhea

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:29 am

  Last summer I went to a family reunion in New Jersey. It was a gathering of relatives on my father’s mother’s side. My background is Russian, Polish, White Russian, and Austrian. This particular part of my family was in the baking business in Poland. Read a bit of the history that a cousin of my compiled. I never knew anything about it before. Now I do. It’s pretty cool: The Herschlag family of bakers in Dembitz, Poland, dates back to that area to the mid-1800s.  The family name, Herschlag, is common in the Alsace (also known as the Alsace-Lorraine), the strip of land…

• BloggingBoomers Carnival #148

  Rhea

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:39 am

  The blog Contemporary Retirement is hosting our Carnival of links for baby boomers this week. Be the first to arrive.

• Friday Links Variety Show (February 5, 2010)

  Rhea

  5 Feb 2010 | 4:59 am

  Read her Valentine’s Day wish list Here’s a roundup of online appointment calendars Living the fantasy of retiring abroad Dom Perignon was 60 when he produced his first champagne. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams.

• Could You Give Up Oranges in the Winter? Peak Oil Says You May Have To

  Rhea

  4 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am

  I’ve got a big, fat honeydew melon ripening in the pantry, and a bunch of clementines piled up in an orange string bag. Could you live without fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter? If you’ve been reading this blog for the last year or two, you know I’ve talked about ‘peak oil‘, the point at which extracting the remaining oil from the ground becomes so costly that it not worth doing. In fact, oil production in 33 out of 48 countries has now peaked. What does this mean for you? It means everything that is not bought locally, and anything that has to be…

• Weird Wednesday: A New Bigfoot Report

  Rhea

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:32 am

  Every once in a while I visit the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization website to read about the most recent Bigfoot sightings around the U.S. Here’s a great report of a Bigfoot sighting from a truck driver who saw the strange creature in the summer of 2009 near Richland Chambers Lake in Texas: At precisely 1:30 a.m., on the 25th of August 2009, I was driving an 18-wheeler on CR.196 which runs off of FM.416 in Freestone County, Texas. I had just driven about 100 meters on an oil field lease road, when I spotted what I thought was a large Russian boar hog on the right side of the lease…

• 
  Whose shoes are these anyway?

• E*Trade Baby: Girlfriend, Milkawhat?

  Vérité Parlant is Nordette Adams

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:07 am

  This hilarious E*Trade commercial is from the 2010 Super Bowl, SB44, in which the Saints won. Yes, they did! I'm still smiling silly over that win.

• New York Times Reviews 'Pinky,' a 1949 Movie about Racism

  Vérité Parlant is Nordette Adams

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:19 pm

  Whether by coincidence or providence, I do not know, but tonight, after seeing a post at BlogHer.com on the complexities of interracial dating, I came across the 1949 20th Century Fox movie Pinky on cable via demand. The movie is based on a book by Cid Ricketts Sumner, a white female writer from Mississippi. Predating movies such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Spike Lee's Jungle Fever, and

• Saints Win: NOLA Sports Caster Waxes Poetic

  Vérité Parlant is Nordette Adams

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:08 pm

  The video is from WWL TV, New Orleans: Watch Jim Henderson's final commentary is an homage to the Saints fans and the City of New Orleans and the team that has helped us believe.Related: New Orleans Sees Bright Economic Future with Super Bowl.

• Saints Win Super Bowl 44! We Win, We Win!

  Vérité Parlant is Nordette Adams

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:56 pm

  I have warned everybody in my house, "Do not toss out tomorrow's newspaper." Yes, the Saints won Super Bowl 44! Final score, Saints beat Colts, 31 to 17. Both teams gave their all.Tracy Porter's interception of Manning's pass for a 74-yard touchdown had me screaming at the top of my lungs, and did anyone notice when the clock stopped at 4th Quarter 44 seconds? I hear shouting in the streets,

• Mitch Landrieu's Win Is Not About Black vs. White

  Vérité Parlant is Nordette Adams

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:16 am

  When news came that Mitch Landrieu had won the New Orleans mayor's race, I was reclining on my sofa with a headache, watching a horrible made-for-TV SyFy Channel movie. (Maybe that was making my headache worse.) And I was thinking about how I'd be watching the Super Bowl Sunday even though I'm not into football. Come on, it's great news for the city.Anyway, I read the news that Landrieu won in a

• 
  Twenty Four At Heart

• Call Me Exhibit A

  Twenty Four At Heart

  9 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am

  Last June, I underwent breast reduction surgery at the urging of my shoulder surgeon, Dr. Schobert.  He felt it would help me with my post-car accident arm/shoulder/neck/upper back problems.  My arm/shoulder is doing much better now than it was pre-reduction, but I can't say definitively if my improvement is a result of the reduction or not.  In any case, I now have smaller, perkier, breasts and less pain than I had pre-reduction.Oh, I also now have bionic nipples which are both a blessing and a curse.If you've been reading Twenty Four At Heart for awhile, you know I became friends with…

• Forming A Plan

  Twenty Four At Heart

  8 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am

  I've gotten so many emails, I feel like I need to respond publicly.  I don't want any of you to worry about me, I'm fine.  Before we move on to other topics (and tomorrow's post is a good one!), I just want to assure you I'm picking myself up and moving forward.  Last week's drama was a surprise ... a sad and heartbreaking surprise, but oh well.  It certainly isn't the first time in my life I've been disappointed or hurt by a friend.  Such is life.I'm seeing my doc/surgeon this week.  I've decided to wait and discuss my future PT with him before I make any appointments.  If I were…

• Rainy Weekend

  Twenty Four At Heart

  7 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am

  I'll be at a Super Bowl party today.  I'm hoping the rain stops, or at least slows down, so we can enjoy being outside for part of the day also.  It has been a wet, wet, weekend.(This is a stock photo, I didn't take it.  I don't want to get my equipment wet!)© Twenty Four At Heart  

• Focusing on the Positive

  Twenty Four At Heart

  6 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am

  © Twenty Four At Heart

• Emotional Hangover

  Twenty Four At Heart

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:05 am

  Have you ever felt hungover just from stress?  Or from emotions running intense and high? Well, yeah ... that's where I am. I'm wiped out, drained.You guys were awesome yesterday.  Your comments, emails, tweets ... all made me feel like there really are good people in this world still.  I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to each of you individually yet.Did I mention I'm emotionally drained?There are two parts to my break up with The Torturer.  I'm trying to adjust to, and digest, both. First, there's the fact I've lost my long-term physical therapist.  Many of you have been lucky enough…

• 
  Anali's First Amendment

• More Than A Baker's Dozen - A Giveaway For Bakers

  Anali

  6 Feb 2010 | 11:37 am

  The term "a baker's dozen" has always intrigued me. A baker's dozen is 13 instead of 12.It appears that the term goes back to the 13th century and comes from an English statute from the time of Henry III (1216-1272) called the Assize of Bread and Ale. A baker who was found to have given customers less than a dozen could be severely punished. Possibly losing a hand to an axe. So to be extra careful, bakers gave one more item than necessary. Just in case. Why have I been thinking about dozens and baking? Because I have a giveaway for you! Dozens and dozens of Eggland's Best eggs and more! You…

• Happy World Nutella Day!

  Anali

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:09 pm

  This year I couldn't get it together to create a new Nutella recipe. You can still try my Nutella cookie recipe though.But as you can see from the post below, I've been feeling rather poetic. And the rules on how to particpate in World Nutella Day include poetry. So, I created a Nutella inspired found poem. The poem was found in the blog post Two Drops of Oil on Paulo Coelho's blog.A Nutella Found PoemA table laden with the most delectable dishes.It was time. His eyes fixed on the spoon. Did you notice the taste that I entrusted you?Looking down at the spoon, the young man realized the secret…

• A Found Food Poem

  Anali

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:39 pm

  Ever since I first learned about found poetry, I've been fascinated with them. For some odd reason, I was inspired to try one today after picking up the current issue of Hannaford Supermarket's fresh magazine. Words jumped out at me as I was reading A Pocketful of Flavor, by Keri Fisher. I'm not sure that this poem is any good. But it was fun finding it. A Found Food PoemFoods surprise.Crowd-pleasers,pastries,filling.Basics inspire combinations.Recipes easy--freeze set dough.Olive oil stars instead of butter.Savory... Enjoy.Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2010. All rights reserved.This…

• Happy Groundhog Day!

  Anali

  2 Feb 2010 | 12:46 pm

  1. DSC_0866_edited, 2. 33/365 Happy Groundhog Day, 3. groundhog, 4. little groundhogDid you see your shadow today? :)Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2010. All rights reserved.This Post’s LinkLike what you see? Subscribe to this blog by clicking here

• When Race, Culture, & Food Clash

  Anali

  1 Feb 2010 | 1:33 pm

  I thought this exchange on the Myers + Chang website was very interesting. Since I have some very smart and thoughtful readers, I was wondering about your take on it. The parties are a restaurant owner, Joanne Chang-Myers, and a commenter on Yelp. Here's an excerpt:"I get it, do over-priced Asian fusion food, but why do it in a way that’s offensive? Not only is the “ancient chinese secret” thing messed up, but I also heard about the messed up commercials/ads for this place saying junk like “Confucius say ‘When man go through turnstile sideways, Bangkok!’” or something to that…

• 
  art of allowing mindset

• change your perspective, change all that enters your experience

  BZ Riger

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:47 am

  “Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change.” ~ Wayne Dyer What have you been looking at that you really want to be different? Is it your life? Is it a relationship? Is it your income? Is it your career? … How can you look at this in a different way? Make a list [...] 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 ... change your life:its time to take the wheel Who is driving the wheel on…

• your attitude possitive or negative, where does yours rest?

  BZ Riger

  6 Feb 2010 | 5:03 am

  Your attitude is one of your greatest tools or snags to your life success. If you want to be and feel  successful one essential ingredient is an attitude of openness, possibility… You must believe in your success and your ability to create it. Success comes from you not to you. And where your attitude rests [...] Related posts:earth day- approach mother earth with a new attitude and inspire each other Rejoicing and hope is the breakthrough we need not futility and fear. Earth Day, is the 22nd and the... positive thinking is enhanced by listening to your inner voice Listening to our…

• stay focused, pay attention… sometimes its hard to do!

  BZ Riger

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:30 am

  Sometimes its hard to stay focused on a project you are working on or pay attention to the steps, stages, details… of what you are supposed to be focused on. Have you ever had one of those days when you just can’t stay focused on the projects or items you wanted to accomplish that day? What [...] Related posts:content marketing: 3 focus points to leverage small business success People do business with people they know like and trust… When you do this through content marketing and attraction marketing... attraction marketing frame of mind- 10 tips to stop having a hit or miss…

• martha’s vineyard musings: new day, new beginnings, fresh start… you’ve only to choose

  BZ Riger

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:34 am

  No matter where you are in your life right now.You always have the opportunity to create a new day, new beginnings, a fresh start… It could be for the way you think, what you feel, what you want to explore or experience. You’ve only to choose- To make the choice and step into the creation of [...] Related posts:martha’s vineyard:walking buddies point to unconditional love martha’s vineyard musings walking dogs… I have two Labrador retrievers, Taza who is 8 and Luna who is 6. They... choose your own change- 3 steps to start down a new path and direction of your…

• 
  Average Jane

• What Do You Want To Know About Average Jane?

  Average Jane

  9 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am

  Everyone has been playing around with formspring lately, so naturally I had to sign up. If the other bloggers jumped off a bridge, would you jump off, too? Well...maybe.So ask me some questions. I'll answer the fun ones here later in the week.

• Average Jane's Winter Blog Lull

  Average Jane

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:52 am

  There hasn't been much to report lately. This keeps happening: And we're spending a lot of time dealing with him: Don't let the adorableness fool you. Notice the open mouth? That's from the incessant gripe-y commentary. He also has a little problem with minding his own business: Trillian loves him, though. So that's good.My husband and I did attend a very nice Super Bowl get-together at Cagey's last night. Rita and her family were there as well. As usual, the women chatted throughout the game and stopped to pay attention to the commercials. It was a good game,…

• Average Jane's BlogHer Room of Your Own Suggestion

  Average Jane

  2 Feb 2010 | 9:36 am

  I've proposed a Room of Your Own session at BlogHer 2010 called Balancing Personal Blogging & Professional Life.If you're going to BlogHer this year and it sounds like something you'd be interested in attending, please vote. Thanks!

• Be Average Jane's Fan

  Average Jane

  31 Jan 2010 | 8:40 pm

  My band, Rock Machine, has finally reached the stage where the marketing juggernaut is going full-bore. Thus, I'd like to point you to our MySpace and Facebook fan pages, where I invite you to become our friend and/or fan so I can spam you mercilessly about our upcoming shows.I'm extra excited about our logo, which was designed by Kennon James, whom I can't seem to stop name-dropping lately. I love his cartoon style and was quite giddy when he agreed to do our band logo. It's pretty cool, don't you think? Our next gig (that I know of) is going to be Friday, February 26th…

• Average Jane & the Sea-Monkeys

  Average Jane

  28 Jan 2010 | 7:15 am

  If you're a relatively new reader, you may not be aware of my Sea-Monkey Journals, which were pretty much what got me started as a blogger. They were a series of e-mails that I wrote to friends chronicling the growth and development of a tank of Sea-Monkeys that I received as a birthday gift in 2000. My friends started sending them to their friends and eventually I had a pretty big subscription list going.I re-read them yesterday and was reminded that I could stand to loosen up a little with my writing. I think I used to be much funnier.What started me on this week's Sea-Monkey…

• 
  Cindy La Ferle's Home Office

• In praise of scars

  Cindy

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:19 am

  “By the time you become Real, most of your hair has been loved off. Your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.” –Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit Earlier this week, my friend Alice posted this empowering Caitlin Crosby video on her Facebook wall and I was moved to share [...]

• Advice to writers

  Cindy

  3 Feb 2010 | 6:25 am

  The more you clean, the more brilliant your writing will be.” — Billy Collins Last week I shared Jane Hirshfield’s “The Poet” (about a writer at her desk), and in the comment section we all compared notes on where we do our own creative projects. Writers are inherently messy — in a good way. We save [...]

• Botanica

  Cindy

  30 Jan 2010 | 9:01 pm

  I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.  ~Henry David Thoreau When I was a student at Michigan State University in the 1970s, three natural science courses were required of all liberal arts students. An artsy kid, I’d nearly flunked math and biology in [...]

• The Poet

  Cindy

  28 Jan 2010 | 4:44 am

  Let her have a chair, her shadeless lamp, the table.” — Jane Hirshfield, “The Poet” The place in which we work — an art studio, a home office, a spare bedroom, or the corner booth at the local diner — is essential to our creative lives. I often hear would-be writers and artists complain that they can’t [...]

• Got secrets?

  Cindy

  25 Jan 2010 | 5:50 am

  As a culture, I see us presently deprived of subtleties. The music is loud, the anger is elevated, and sex seems lacking in sweetness and privacy.” — Shelley Berman Last week I told 325 friends on Facebook that our bedroom in this old house is torn apart for remodeling and looks like a mess. Later that [...]

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  Coming2Terms

• A Fresh Start

  Pamela Tsigdinos

  16 Jan 2010 | 9:31 am

  The new blog name came to me this morning: A Fresh Start After all, isn't that what we crave when we've come through a gut-wrenchingly difficult experience? Coming2Terms went a long way to helping me realize that women without children after infertility experience tremendous isolation. We often feel like misfits, square pegs trying to fit into round holes. That's in large part because we don't have readily available support networks, our own easy-to-locate tribe to turn to following an emotional body slam. For those who go on to parent, there are play groups, the PTA, etc., etc., What we bad…

• New Decade, New Beginnings (updated)

  Pamela Tsigdinos

  4 Jan 2010 | 5:00 pm

  Updated 1/4/2010Wanted to share a TV interview scheduled at the end of last year that took place today on the ABC affiliate KXTV. I hope you find that it moves the discussion away from OctoMom and the related soap opera reality TV shows focused on unusual fertility treatment outcomes to the more basic realities faced by couples coping with infertility. Please feel free to share. You can view the video from the KXTV website here:* * * *Original post from 12/30/2009I made my way into our coffee-perfumed kitchen yesterday morning and heard my better half in the garage. I opened the door into the…

• Yes, Virginia, There Are Lovely "'Fertiles" Out There

  Pamela Tsigdinos

  19 Dec 2009 | 6:56 am

  M E M O R A N D U M To: The Fertile Community From: The Infertile Community RE: Bridging the Chasm Caused by Infertility We're talking about you, and, I confess, it's not always in a good way. We spend a fair amount of time in the infertility community sharing anecdotes about how little our "fertile" friends, family and acquaintances "get us." You give us lots of good material to work with. Just a few days ago, The Wall Street Journal (who would have thought?) had a blog post up, The Swell Season: Haunted by Reminders of Infertility, that provided some examples of the typical casual…

• Our Next Guest: An Infertile Woman

  Pamela Tsigdinos

  10 Dec 2009 | 7:01 am

  My, my...how times have changed. Two years ago I could barely summon the courage to acknowledge at a BlogHer holiday meetup that I blogged about infertility. Now, I'm practically wearing a sash. I now chat about infertility with such ease that I sometimes forget that those outside of the infertility community need a little time to wrap their heads around the complex set of ideas we routinely discuss online. For the uninitiated I have to take a deep breath, slow down and move with them through Phase I -- aka the "awkward phase" when someone first attempts to contemplate what infertiles face.

• The Game of Life

  Pamela Tsigdinos

  29 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pm

  Anyone out there remember playing the board game LIFE? It's been years since I spun the wheel of fate, but during a visit with friends who have a seven-year-old daughter and nine- and 11-year-old sons I was invited to put a pink peg in a car and see what life had in store for me. On the living room floor in between turns I watched college football and snacked on cheese, nuts and assorted spreads while the other adults relaxed on the sofa and chairs.The game didn't take much concentration since the kids were content to move my car according to my spin result and keep the pay day cash coming my…

• 
  Diary of a Midlife Crisis

• Good morn... wtf?

  Midlife Virgin

  6 Feb 2010 | 8:41 am

  This is what I came out to this morning. Got to love California in the rain. Well, I guess Bette Blue needed a bath...

• Four years ago, life began...

  Midlife Virgin

  29 Jan 2010 | 11:17 am

  Four years ago today, my new life began officially.I got my tattoos, which I still adore to this day. Destiny on one side of my wrist, and a Buddhist chant for blessing and enlightenment on the other side of my wrist.Oh, and my divorce became final.I don’t know why this day - this fourth anniversary - is so heavy on my mind. And I don’t know why this quote from (god help me) “Xanadu” keeps running through my mind: “Well, maybe just one moment. Or forever. I keep getting them mixed up.”One moment or forever.That’s what it feels like.It feels like just yesterday that I sat in our…

• Opening weekend

  Midlife Virgin

  17 Jan 2010 | 10:47 pm

  Great opening weekend for "The Jamb". I love my cast. It helps to work with two of my favorite men on earth - Kerr Seth Lordygan and Brad C. Wilcox. They are not only great men and great friends but amazing actors who bring intelligence, grace and dignity to every part they perform. I wish I could play with them all the time. And Garrett Liggett and Kenlyn Kanouse are just icing on the very wonderful cake that is my cast.The play by J. Stephen Brantley is full of amazing words and amazing characters and gave me so very much to work with. It was great that he was able to come out from New York…

• Another opening...

  Midlife Virgin

  15 Jan 2010 | 1:13 am

  My new play, the world premiere of "The Jamb" by J. Stephen Brantley, opens today - Friday, January 15 at Eclectic Company Theatre in North Hollywood, CA. Featuring Kenlyn Kanouse, Garrett Liggett, Kerr Seth Lordygan and Brad C. Wilcox. Directed by yours chumly.Tuffer (Kerr Seth Lordygan) and Roderick (Brad C. Wilcox) are turning forty. Neither wants to face it.While Tuffer continues to smoke, snort, and screw his way through Manhattan's much younger gay male population, Roderick's gone as straight as possible for activism and martial arts. With the arrival of Tuffer's latest boy toy Brandon…

• Blackout

  Midlife Virgin

  11 Jan 2010 | 12:11 am

  “She laid her heart and soul right in your hands/but you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans…”Keith Urban on an endless loop tonight. “Stupid Boy”. I almost let you back in. Almost. This close. Was going to send you an invite to the new show, thinking that maybe I should reach out to you, try to close the gap, try to let you back in, in whatever tiny way I could. Let you share in my life for a second, see what I’ve done, see what I’ve accomplished, who I’ve become.“She never even knew she had a choice/and that’s what happens when the only voice/she hears is…

• 
  DuchessOmnium - Island to island

• Floating service station

  Duchess

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:58 am

  We were all running short of diesel, coal, gas and toilet fluid, because first Dusty was stuck in the ice at Duke’s Lock, and then he had to go north to reload his boat.  So everyone was glad to get his text message the other day. Squirrels are searching out their nuts for a nibble, but you get Dusty’s nuts delivered. Rock on Tues, Thrupp Wed, and Dukes plus Oxford Thurs/Fri. You don’t need to nibble at my nuts – buy them by the bag. Yesterday evening around half past five a bell jingled, a boat tied up alongside me, and I went out to greet Dusty.  He loaded eight bags of coal onto…

• Blogging for beginners part 2 (post 101)

  Duchess

  1 Feb 2010 | 5:16 pm

  My elder daughter tells me I gave up on Twitter too soon.  People get interested in your life, she says, if you just keep going.  That’s probably good advice for blogging too, and for life in general.  Success is mostly about showing up.  I admire those like Ruth who always have ideas and themes and structure.  When I don’t manage, and then say nothing at all, later it seems to me that I should have at least mentioned what I ate for lunch. So here’s the latest on my life, in case you got interested: Last night I tucked my radio under the bedclothes and listened to the late…

• Down the pub

  Duchess

  29 Jan 2010 | 2:58 pm

  The new year is beginning to feel old, which, I guess, is a way of saying I am beginning to feel at home again along the tow path.  I have a new neighbour (Mr Badger) and the swan family has changed, but otherwise things are pretty much as usual:  Ratty emerged from his boat for the first time this morning (that is, the first time I have seen him since I got back), off for a toilet run.  He’s still banned from the pub.  Ferret, working on the new boat, has broken up with Dina, but she still shows up at the pub now and then, never ever without her head covered. Wheels finally got his…

• Fire and ice

  Duchess

  22 Jan 2010 | 8:51 am

  There’s a guy who cruises up and down the South Oxford Canal filling boats with diesel and delivering coal.  In the way that people call each other after their boats, he is known as Dusty.  I have his real name on a bit of paper somewhere, for when I write the cheques, but I think of him only as Dusty the Coal Man.  When he is on his way he sends text messages to everyone along the route, reminding us to fill up.  The texts are usually vaguely suggestive: “Dusty – your man for hot nuts, exotic red juice and whiffy gas…Nice! Rock on Tuesday, Kidlington Wed, and on to Oxford…

• Since you asked

  Duchess

  20 Jan 2010 | 3:57 pm

  Okay, Jan asked. So here is my little grandson, four months and a day old when the picture was taken last week in Seattle, just before I left for the airport. Little Julian and Big Julie Young Julian is doing well, thank you, and giving his parents exactly enough bother to make his grandparents smile and remember that revenge is sweet. I maintain that he is a particularly pretty baby. One school of thought declares that I am biased, which might just be possible. Or we could simply agree that he is not only unusually attractive, but also shows signs of extraordinary intelligence. Here, he…

• 
  Good & Plenty - Candelaria Silva's Blog

• Sometimes love goes missing.

  Candelaria

  6 Feb 2010 | 6:29 am

  Sometimes love goes missing.  When it does – go find it!  Did it get trapped in the pages of yet another book you’re reading? Is it stuck in the keyboard of the computer that’s become an appendage to your fingers? Is it hiding among the kids and their demands? Will you find it at the board meeting or volunteer event you’re at? Is it at the church or the club? Does it live in the television programs you watch so frequently? Love can go missing not only because of infidelity or major disagreements. It can go missing because of simple neglect – it is easy not to be…

• The Hills are Alive...a Walking Observation

  Candelaria

  31 Jan 2010 | 5:59 am

  The hills are alive, okay, not really hills, it's one hill and if it feels alive because it seems to change or at least my experience of it changes.  Read on.  I face the same hill nearly every day that I leave my home on my walk to Ashmont Station.  At the top of the hill, there is a small church, Calvary Baptist Church.  Whenever I make it to the church, I always think, “I made it to Calvary.”*  Some days I bound up the hill almost unaware of the experience because I'm emeshed in my thoughts and not concentrating on the walk.   Other days, every step…

• Source of Strength, Source of Pain

  Candelaria

  27 Jan 2010 | 5:10 pm

  I admit it.  I’ve often avoided facing history.  Especially history from the period of  African-captivity known as American Slavery.  I’ll read history but avoid seeing history, especially this period, because of the pain that it conjures up in me.  So, it was with some trepidation that I went to see the play Harriet Jacobs, presented by Underground Railway Theater, playing until Jan. 31 at the Central Square Theatre in Cambridge (Massachusetts). The play is inspired by the autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. I went because…

• Sufferin' Succotash - the MA Senatorial Election Debacle

  Candelaria

  20 Jan 2010 | 4:35 pm

  “Sufferin’ succotash,"  Sylvester the Cat said when he was  distressed usually after having  failed, once again, to catch Tweety-Bird.  He said it with a stutter and plenty of spit.  (Daffy Duck also uttered the phrase but it was Sylvester’s originally.)I’m stuttering, sputtering and shaking my head in dismay at the outcome of the special election to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. Unlike Tweety, Martha Coakley, did not outrun her nemesis, Scott Brown.  In fact, she didn’t even run a campaign.    I wonder…

• It Ain’t All About You – Communication Issues with Friends

  Candelaria

  19 Jan 2010 | 7:03 am

  It Ain’t All About You – Communication Issues with Friends My friendships with a couple of long-term friends are in an inactive phase, either because we are no longer physically located near each other or because we’re in a different phase in our lives so that the things that brought us together – a job, children, hanging out at the same places – is no longer providing glue for the relationship. We just grew apart.  It happens. This distance doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t still care for them.  I do and so I try to be in touch on a regular basis. With some friends…

• 
  Granny Sue's News and Reviews

• Stormy Weather

  Granny Sue

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:25 am

  Today is visitation, tomorrow the funeral. Two feet of snow remain on the ground, and another foot or more is on its way. What is a difficult situation is now also a challenging one, and many people who want to come cannot be here because it's just too risky. If you are one of them, we know your heart is with us. We can honor Jon's life later, in other ways.For now, be safe. That means more to us than having you by our side today and tomorrow.My love and sincere appreciation to all who have sent messages. Keep us in your prayers and thoughts.

• One Step at a Time

  Granny Sue

  7 Feb 2010 | 8:25 am

  Like many others I wondered how people moved forward after the loss of a child. I am learning a lesson I never wanted to learn. I will tell you that it is the hardest journey I have had to make, and we've only taken the first small steps.There is still joy--we tell "Jon Ford" stories about the many memories we share. I have learned much about my son in the past few days that I did not know because he had many friends in different walks of life, and of course his time with his family here has created a pool of adventures and experiences I knew only in part, because I live six hours away. It's…

• Jon

  Granny Sue

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:43 am

  Jonathan Scott Ford, 39, of Leesburg, VA passed away on February 2, 2010 from injuries received in an auto accident in Grundy County, Iowa.He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Jennifer Effland Ford, daughters Jordan Ford-Smith, her husband Ethan Smith and granddaughter Cadyn Smith of Ripley, WV; Kathleen, Cassidy and Allison Ford at home, brothers George L. Ford and wife Cassandra of Maysville, WV, 1st Sgt Derek R. Ford of Ripley, WV, Aaron Ford and wife Jaime of Fairmont, WV and Larry T. “Tommy” Holstein of Morgantown, WV; parents Susanna Holstein and Larry Holstein of Sandyville, WV…

• My Son Jonathan: Rest in Peace

  Granny Sue

  2 Feb 2010 | 2:54 pm

  My son Jonathan lost his life in a traffic accident in Iowa today. We will be leaving in the morning to go to his wife and children in Virginia. Please keep us all in your prayers. The photo is Jon at Thanksgiving with his granddaughter Cadyn.

• The Mystery Hole Flash Fiction

  Granny Sue

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:26 am

  Yesterday Susan posted this as the writing prompt photo on her blog: It's West Virginia's very own Mystery Hole on Rte 60 near Hawk's Nest State Park!Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to write for Susan's Microfiction Monday, but I did drop a little ditty on First 50, where Virginia also posted the Mystery Hole photo and prompt.The stories people have come up with for this photo are fun reading. Go visit Susan and First 50 to read what creative ideas were inspired by the photo. Maybe you could write a story or poem yourself about it? Here's what I wrote on First 50: He was an old-style…

• 
  It's a Mad Madge World

• last madge post

  Madge

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:11 am

  i decided to go home to my first and fav blog - slow panic. please come see me there.

• I'm trying veganism. Stop freaking out.

  Madge

  12 Jan 2010 | 10:54 am

  Yes. Yes I am being vegan. Did you know vodka is vegan? See, it's not so bad.People do kind of freak out and think it's radical, that I can't get enough protein, calcium or vitamins. No, I don't have all the stats on how much protein or calcium I need, but I'm going to figure it out here in the next week or two.Here's what happened. I read Skinny Bitch. I love this book. They tell you how it is and take away any excuses not to take care of yourself. Yes, I pretty much skipped the chapters on the slaughtering of animals 'cuz I was already pretty much vegetarian and I figured I didn't need the…

• Poem Thursday on a Friday

  Madge

  8 Jan 2010 | 6:29 am

  It's either a couple of poems or I tell you that I'm going vegan..... Both of these are by Jeremy Voigt. The first appeared today on The Writer's Almanac One NightThe car crossed two lanes of trafficand a grass median before plowinghead-on into me, killing my wife,unborn child, and myself. BeforeI died I touched the shoulderof a policeman, felt the sure strengthof his muscles, heard the only wordhe spoke, "Jesus," and I smiledbecause I stopped believing in himlong ago. He mistook my smilefor something positive and not listlessirony, and I tried to correct him,but my throat stopped. Red…

• The Burpee Seed Catalog

  Madge

  2 Jan 2010 | 11:58 am

  Every year right around December 25th I get one of my favorite things in the mail. The Burpee Seed Catalog. I set it aside until the madness is over and then I pour over that catalog, dog-earing pages and day dreaming about the amazing garden I'm going to have.Eventually I toss it into the recycling without ordering one seed. But this morning as I went through the catalog I made a list of seeds to order. I haven't placed the order yet, but I'm going too. I'm starting small -- some herbs, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, carrots.Damn. I guess I'm not starting small. The thing…

• NYR #3 through yeah like that's gonna happen

  Madge

  1 Jan 2010 | 12:45 pm

  OK I don't actually have a third resolution. I have more like three million more. I can't help it. It's a new year, I just managed to somehow survive the crazy holidays, which even when they aren't crazy are still just a little to crazy.So of course I have a zillion things I want to do differently. Of course I want to lose weight, exercise more, spend less, save more, not watch t.v. so much, knit more, sew more, write more. Spend more time with my friends. You get the idea. And it all seems so easy today doesn't it? Most of us aren't working today and we still have the weekend ahead of us.

• 
  Jan's Sushi Bar

• RTT: Snow! Tongue! Video Games! Restaurants! No, I Can’t Get Any More Random Than That

  Jan

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:44 am

  How the  blue blazes did it get to be Tuesday already?  Well, you know the drill, folks – grab the purple button, link back to Keely and get your random on. It’s snowing here…again.  We got between 12 and 15 inches last Friday and Saturday – a great deal less than my friends Stacy and Irish Gumbo got, but that’s a lot for this Texas girl.  And they are saying we could get between another 6 and 12 inches by tomorrow. Well, at least we’ve got heat now. Beloved called me from California yesterday (where he is wearing short sleeved shirts, the fink) saying,…

• Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

  Jan

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:10 am

  I’m not a big bread eater.  Oh, every now and then I’ll get a hankering for a good sandwich or I’ll have a piece of toast with my Sunday brunch or a warm roll with dinner, but I’m not one of those people who can’t do without bread – to be honest, I’d miss cornbread way before I’d miss sandwich bread or dinner rolls. Nor are Beloved and the Young One all that fond of bread – they both enjoy a good sandwich (more than I do) and those warm dinner rolls (again, more than I do), but that’s about it.  There are weeks I buy or bake bread…

• HEAT IS GOOD

  Jan

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am

  Well, since it’s Friday and I have a great deal to do I thought I’d join in on Happy Hour Friday again this week.  Because while my week has been really, really stressful there is still so much I have to be happy about. As you might have guessed by the title of this post, I am absolutely doing-the-happy-dance THRILLED that we have heat again.  See? It took two young men almost 7 hours to install the new furnace, but it was soooooo worth it.  They’ll be back next week with the water heater and I’m ready for that, too. I am also happy to report that before he left…

• Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

  Jan

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:56 am

  Tuesday evening Beloved was in the living room watching something on television (probably either Cops or America’s Dumbest Criminals Trying to Flee the Authorities and Failing Miserably), The Young One was in the kitchen looking for something to eat (30 minutes after dinner) and I was sitting in front of my laptop, playing a game (and using my earphones so I didn’t have to listen to the drivel on the television), when Beloved said, “What’s that sound?” “What sound?” The Young One and I both chimed in.  I didn’t notice anything, what with the…

• I’m Just a Little Peeved

  Jan

  3 Feb 2010 | 4:45 am

  The subject of this week’s Spin Cycle is pet peeves. Where do I begin? There are plenty of people who are complaining about the butchering of the language, especially this new “texting shorthand” – the use of things like “u r” for “you are” and “ppl” for “people” – so I won’t add to it; let’s just suffice to say that it irritates me to no end.  The same goes for the proper use of “they’re”, “their” and “there.” Beloved will tell you that his biggest pet peeve…

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  Midlife's A Trip

• A New Direction on My Midlife Trip

  Karen

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:08 am

  This is my last post here on Midlife’s A Trip. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been blogging here for several years now. Funny – when I started I was so green, a real “newbie” as they say online. But as I look back, I realize that not only did I learn how to blog here [...] Related posts:Some Changes at Midlife’s A Trip For the regular readers at Midlife’s A Trip, you may...The Evolution of Midlife’s a Trip I’ve been blogging here at Midlife’s a Trip for over...Happy Moments in the Life of a Midlife Blogger Today I’ve been…

• 50 Plus Woman Does a Disco Christmas

  Karen

  25 Dec 2009 | 5:23 am

  If you’re 50-something like me, you probably remember disco dancing. When I hear that music it brings back fun memories of my younger days. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to create this crazy disco, celebrate the holidays, celebrate my fifties video. I hope you enjoy it and the spirit of this wonderful holiday [...] Related posts:Christmas Dinner–A Bittersweet Meal I had Christmas dinner with a very special family.  It...Deck the Halls, No Joy in Your World As the holiday season is upon us, does it feel...10 Ways to Avoid Holiday Overwhelm As we head into December,…

• What Would I Do Without Sisters?

  Karen

  26 Sep 2009 | 9:52 am

  The story below was posted today on Facebook by “Irma” and it’s just the amazing kind of woman’s wisdom I like to share here on Midlife’s A Trip. Let me know how it resonates with you: “A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. [...] Related posts:Age is But a Number Yesterday evening my sister and I took my mom to...Being Big Sister This week I had to pull rank on my sister. ...Meditation Can Lower Blood Pressure I am the daughter of a woman who did Transcendental... Related posts brought to you by Yet…

• The Fork in the Road

  Karen

  22 Sep 2009 | 6:03 am

  Do you feel like you are the proverbial “fork in the road” these days – vulnerable, uncertain and not sure which way to turn next? With the current economic situation still so volatile, many people around the country are just plain afraid about the future and wondering:  “Will I be laid off tomorrow? Will my [...] Related posts:Choices Several weeks ago on a great sunny Saturday afternoon,...The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors One of the most popular news articles in the last...The Absence of Fear–A Midlife Perspective I’m the person who’s deathly…

• My Latest Eco-Accessory

  Karen

  13 Aug 2009 | 10:18 am

  As I continue on my path to green up my little piece of the planet as much as possible, I’ve made a firm commitment to bring my own bags when I go shopping – anywhere. I don’t need another plastic or paper bag in the house. And frankly, lots of retailers are offering very cute [...] Related posts:Trader Joe’s Comes to the Little Screen I’m a self-confessed Trader Joe’s fan.  Who’s Trader Joe?  Well...Menopause Mommy My sister is the menopause mommy–52 year old first time... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

• 
  Midlife Slices™

• Good Things Come To Those Who Procrastinate

  Midlife Slices

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:57 pm

  I knew if I waited long enough, my sister would post about our most recent ordeal.  Tah dah!  You can read about it here but then come back because I’ve got a little bit to add.  *drumming fingers on the table* x x Back already?  Wow, you’re a speed reader for sure. x O.k. so now you know [...]

• Has It Been That Long?

  Midlife Slices

  3 Feb 2010 | 10:06 pm

  It’s been so long since I’ve visited my own blog that even after reading the title of my last post, I had no clue what I’d written about. X I have an excuse. X I’ve been waiting on my sister to thaw out and write about the whole ordeal but she’s probably waiting on me so I’m not sure [...]

• Boxers or Briefs, Mattress Dancing and Birthday Confusion

  Midlife Slices

  18 Jan 2010 | 8:16 pm

  Exploding underwear!   If I hear another word about exploding underwear, my head might explode.  At least I didn’t say my underwear might explode. The other night HBL and I are trying out our new damn bed by watching a little television.   The 10 p.m. news came on and all they could talk about was exploding [...]

• Confession Time

  Midlife Slices

  12 Jan 2010 | 9:54 pm

  I have a confession to make.  I like to watch television and I’m easily hooked on a show even when it’s garbage.  Hoarders is garbage.  Literally.  It’s like watching a train wreck and I can’t take my eyes off the screen nor turn it off or switch to another channel.  I even have my DVR [...]

• 10 Things…..or maybe 12 or 15

  Midlife Slices

  8 Jan 2010 | 7:33 am

  Life of Privilege posted a meme that I really liked and so I decided to steal it for myself so I could share 10 things that make me happy,  with all of you.  For the record, my husband, my children, grandchildren, family and great friends are and will always be at the top of that [...]

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  Nanny Goats in Panties

• This Ain't No Goat Blog

  Nanny Goats In Panties

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:45 am

  Anybody who tries to call Nanny Goats in Panties a goat blog is severely mistaken, according to a recent Google Search. I Googled "goat blog" and NGIP does not appear even once in the results! Of course, I only checked the first four pages, but still. Not a goat blog. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am, however, that people around the globe have come to my blog while searching for the following terms in the last month: buddha sex with skulls pissing contest all you can eat panties son of a gun from nannygoatin' there once was a man with a bucket  a mean old nanny goat doesn't…

• Goat Thing of the Day: Goats on the Ground, er, Roof

  Nanny Goats In Panties

  3 Feb 2010 | 2:13 pm

  Ever been to Door County, Wisconsin? I haven't. Which is why I'm glad I have you people to tell me about goats the world over. Like the ones that hang out on the roof over at Al Johnson's Restaurant. As seen on Ruth's Visions and Revisions (via JD at I Do Things) So now when you see this next photo, you will know that they are standing on that roof. As seen on Eat Wisconsin (also via JD at I Do Things) Fellow blogger Kathy (who blogs at On a Chicken Wing and a Prayer) sent me a picture of a kid with her kid. Buddy and Andrew, circa 2005 According to Kathy, Buddy the goat became enormous and…

• Jim McCormick: The Bernie Madoff of Snake Oil Salesmen

  Nanny Goats In Panties

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:22 pm

  How much would you pay for a magical bomb detector that can sniff out explosive devices as far away as 1 kilometer? Boy, THAT sure would save a lot of lives, wouldn't it? And how much would you pay if this magic bomb detector came with a set of memory cards, each one detecting different items, like, say, oh, I don't know, elephants and 100 dollar bills? I mean that last feature alone means it would pay for itself, right? Because that HAD to have been the clincher for why the Iraqi government spent $60,000 each on what some people refer to as dowsing rods. Behold, the ADE-651: The ADE-651. In…

• Goat Thing of the Day: Up, Up and Away

  Nanny Goats In Panties

  30 Jan 2010 | 11:48 am

  Beth (of Be Yourself...Everyone Else is Taken) was at Peck's Farm Market in Spring Green, Wisconsin when this goat... ... started climbing... ...and climbing... and climbing until.... Ta Da!!!! Beth's Blog Post about the Farmers Market (featuring MORE goat photos)

• Retro Desserts: There's a Cake For That

  Nanny Goats In Panties

  28 Jan 2010 | 8:45 am

  When you're looking for a real hot and romantic night on the town with your Significant O, your first thought is probably: teenage birthday parties in the suburbs! Right? I know mine is. I don't have kids, so I'm totally out of touch with what's hip and trendy and phat and sick and yo and dope and whatever is the kids are saying these days. Turns out not much has changed since I was a youngin' in the 1980s. What a relief we felt when we discovered at a recent suburban teenage birthday party that kids are still observing at the Altar of Ms. Pac-Man even though we're living in a brand new…

• 
  Not What it Seems

• Snow and its attendant woes

  Denise

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:26 am

  Each winter when I lived in the snow belt I thought, I will not survive this winter. It was more than pleasant to leave that fear behind when I moved to the island. The last two winters have been very mild with a dusting here and there that quickly melted.This winter we have had two snowstorms. This weekend I experienced Post-Traumatic- Snow-Disorder. As everyone here (unaccustomed to snow) searched high and low for sleds and traded recipes for snow cream, I felt that fear again. Walking down the stairs and glimpsing the field with its white blanket, I shuddered and thought, "I cannot live…

• Missing

  Denise

  28 Jan 2010 | 2:58 am

  I have been missing. My children, family and friends are wondering where I've been. I've been wondering too. When I do have time to talk to people, I am usually sleeping.I've been setting up various appointments for my husband and working as much as I can in order to be out the house. It's not really what I need or want, but I have no escape from him otherwise. I have not been alone in my own house since perhaps the end of August. That is excruciating for me.Today, usually the lightest day in my schedule will begin by running in to work to do a bit of paperwork, an ENT appointment for my…

• Denial

  Denise

  24 Jan 2010 | 4:31 am

  Definition Denial is the refusal to acknowledge the existence or severity of unpleasant external realities or internal thoughts and feelings. Sounds nice, doesn't it? It might be if both of us were dwelling there. I was feeling very optimistic for a few hours last week after talking with my husband. I forgot that we cannot stay in the same place in our heads. I realize that he is struggling, and very frightened. I don't know how to make that better.His denial is so strong, and so wrapped in the lies that he tells to himself and everyone, that it is sometimes more than I can bear. I don't want…

• Questions

  Denise

  21 Jan 2010 | 3:47 am

  If I believe, as I say I do, that there are some things we are not supposed to understand, then I must accept that there is something I am meant to experience or learn from the issues with my husband.I put a deposit down on a little apartment. Following my trip to NY, I was told that it was not a safe place for me to live. I went over and got most of my money back, even though I was afraid.But I had already told my husband what I had done.I also told him why, and how heartbreaking it is for me to watch him disappear. He was quiet, but did finally admit that he knew that he was experiencing…

• 2009

  Denise

  29 Dec 2009 | 8:32 am

  2009 has been both better and worse than I'd imagined and I am more than ready for it to be over. To me it will be remembered as The Year of the Rains, the year the beach was destroyed, the year green mold grew on everyone's houses and cars. The island remains sodden, some houses still looking as though they were built in the middle of lakes. It has been a year of decay and destruction. That can be a good thing, as it forces one to rethink before rebuilding, to reassess the contents of the toolbox, reexamine the blueprints, to think carefully about what is necessary. The powers that be at the…

• 
  Out On The Stoop

• Love In the Spirit of The Sun Magazine

  Gena

  8 Feb 2010 | 4:58 am

  With that dang book about compromising on a marriage partner still bouncing around and other folks are fighting to get into and out of marriages it makes me almost proud that i am single woman.Yes. I'm holding out for the relationship thing. I was re-evaluating my thoughts on free range thumpety thump. If it was just the sex we'd all be perhaps not quite so tense.The Sun Magazine has heart pounding writing. Each and every month there is gold coming out of North Carolina. Sy Safransky is the editor and publisher.Sy has been known to write about his wife and his feelings about her. There is a…

• The Gift of Permission For the Imaginary Box

  Gena

  7 Feb 2010 | 2:14 pm

  This is one of those moments that smacks you upside the head. I have had a mental loop of a scene in a movie that comes back to me from time to time. The movie is The Devil in Miss Jones. The link is to the specific scene in the movie and nothing more.For those on work lock down it or otherwise video prohibited it is the scene where Miss Jones is about to be enroll in the School of Carnal Knowledge. Miss Jones meets "The Teacher."The Teacher removes the inhibitions that probably caused Miss Jones to take the express train out of life in the first place. The scene has always been my favorite…

• Prelude to Gifts I Should Remember to Give Myself

  Gena

  7 Feb 2010 | 9:25 am

  I have decided that I'm going to do February 14th differently this year. I was staring to get irritated with the VD ads for underwear, chocolate and the implicit messages, instructions and tutorials on how to please your man. I don't have one, a man I mean. It is not like I can stroll into JCPenney's and flip the racks in the men folk's department until I find the guy that fits.Now if JCP decided to get innovative and have a registry where you could obtain a vetted and verifiable man of your desires I do think it would brighten the profit outlook of the chain. Then again, the return policy…

• All Night Long on the Finally Friday Freakout

  Gena

  5 Feb 2010 | 8:00 pm

  Keely Smith? I had never heard of the woman until I stumbled into a video. Keely was performing during the transition time between the poodle skirt and the mini skirt. Think of the Mad Man years. In between was Keely. This is Keely singing All Night Long.For a time she hung out with a cat named Louis Prima who was a force a nature by himself. This was classic fire and ice and sometimes you had to work out which was which. Usually Keely was the ice as Louis was burning up the joint. This is their rendition of Don't Worry About Me. Mr. Prima passed away in the 1970s. Keely Smith is still…

• Accidental Love Song on the Finally Friday Freakout

  Gena

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:00 am

  I am going to start with a song cuz this guy has nothing to do with the current cultural angst about getting married. He is a singer. It is his job to sing songs of love, love lost and found again. It is a love song of a young man.A song that continues the tradition of a line of people crooning you are the one and only with the added kicker of "I'm not about to let you go." This is Andy Kong with Accidental Love Song."Accidental Love Song" by Andy Kong from Eugenia Loli-Queru on Vimeo.Love doesn't seem to have much to do with marriage anymore. Maybe it never did. There is a never ending bar…

• 
  Seasonality: The Common Sense Guide to Living the Good Life

• LUCKY LUCINDA & RON THE FLOWER GUY

  Hill Country Hippie

  9 Feb 2010 | 6:09 am

  My cousin Cindy told me recently that she is now working at a floral shop. That reminded me of my days with good ol' Ron, back in Midland. When my children were mere tots, I had a part-time job with my friend Barb, who was a caterer. Back then, I wasn't much of a cook, so mostly I just helped out in the office. Occasionally though, I would help serve at some of her big oil baron shindigs, and it was at one of those that I met Ron.Ron was THE florist in Midland, back in those days, and to say that he was a colorful character would be the understatement of the century. We always got such a kick…

• RANDOM GLEANINGS FROM STORIES FROM THE HEART V

  Hill Country Hippie

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:20 am

  The rash of blog-inspired book deals is probably over. Turns out, they didn't sell all that well. At least, not the ones that were just a re-hash of what you'd read in their blogs.1 in 4 females, and 1 in 5 males, will have been sexually abused by the time they are 18, and incest is not nearly as rare as you would think.Writing heals.You can have "clouds" of categories on the sidebar of your blog, and there is also a place called "The Cloud", where back-ups can be stored.Adding video to a blog is probably not as difficult as I have been imagining.There is a gizmo out there that looks just…

• AND THE WINNER IS...

  Hill Country Hippie

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:56 am

  Duh, duh-duh-duh, da-dah...Kathy Gerwig! Congratulations Gus! Now all you have to do is decide whether you want your cozy to be sage green with dark teal trim, sage green with a rusty-red trim, or multi-colored in shades of soft yellow and coral (though I have to say, the pretty pattern of the stitches gets lost in a multi-colored yard). Oh yeah, and you have to promise to replace at least one Diet Dr. Pepper a day with a cup of tea! Love you Big Sis. Glad you finally won something!

• GOING...GOING...

  Hill Country Hippie

  7 Feb 2010 | 2:32 pm

  Alrighty! It's good to be home! Almost time for that drawing I told you about, and you've got two different ways to get your name in the hat tonight, before it's too late. If you have not yet responded to my informal census survey, all you have to do is leave a comment containing your basic vital statistics (minus real name, of course). I'm just curious as to the general makeup of my audience here. OR, you can leave a comment telling us about something you have done, cooked, made, read, explored, etc., that was inspired by something you read in this blog. Winner will receive a FABULOUS…

• MAJOR GAB-FEST

  Hill Country Hippie

  5 Feb 2010 | 7:35 am

  Woohoo! The Story Circle Network conference hasn't even officially started yet, and already I'm having a blast! Left home about 4:00 yesterday and drove into Austin in the pouring rain. Stopped at Mama Fu's for some potstickers and seared ahi tuna (3-6 is happy hour and all appetizers are half-price!), then came and checked into the hotel. Had a few minutes to get unpacked, then it was time to head downstairs for the bag- and folder-stuffing party over in Susan's suite. Finally got to meet Linda Hoye, whose blog (My Own Velvet Room) I've been reading for some time, and who is heading the…

• 
  Telling It Like It Is

• Chicago Vacations – Things to Do in Chicago

  Lin

  8 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am

  What are some cheap and fun things to do during family vacations to Chicago? Anyone who has been to Chicago during the winter months knows that taking a Chicago vacation requires bundling up with warm winter clothes to offset the cold, blustery, freezing temperatures and winds from the Windy City. There are a lot of fun and cheap things to do in and outside of Chicago, indoors and outdoors, including things to do in the suburbs for families, kids and adults of all ages. Looking for fun things to do in Chicago during the summer or winter? Chicago has a lot to offer tourists and vacationers…

• Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Book Review and Video

  Lin

  5 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am

  This is a book review guest post of Hush, Hush: The New York Times bestselling book by Becca Fitzpatrick. The “Hush Hush” novel is a very popular book among teens and young adults, including a Hush Hush fansite “Fallen Archangel” at fallenarchangel.com and a Youtube video trailer. In Hush, Hush, Nora Grey meets Patch Cipriano. Patch is mysterious, attractive, a bad boy, and the school’s newest transfer. Nora is brown-haired, smokey-eyed, an only child, and a columnist for the school’s eZine. In the biology class they share together, Patch seems to know way too much about…

• Reality Steve Bachelor Spoilers vs ABC The Bachelor Mike Fleiss

  Lin

  4 Feb 2010 | 5:56 pm

  Our favorite snarky and sarcastic reality tv blog-master Reality Steve has Bachelor producers in a dither because of Steve’s bachelor spoilers. Reality Steve, aka Steve Carbone, just might need to watch out for the Israeli secret service to come knocking on his door, according to an interview executive producer Mike Fleiss had with EW. Really ABC? I just bet that Reality Steve is shaking in his Texas boots right about now. Not likely. While Bachelor producers are going about their business of preparing for the upcoming wedding of Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney, to be aired on March 8,…

• Apple iPad Reviews – Is the Price of the iPad Worth the Hype?

  Lin

  4 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am

  When the Apple iPad was unveiled last week by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, gadget geeks were anxious to learn what all the hype was about. Who will want to buy the iPad and what all does it do? Is the iPad application device worth the hype that has been built up? Whether or not the iPad will crush or slay netbooks and e-readers like the Kindle remains to be seen. The iPad is an application device and not a computer or a laptop, so why there is talk about the iPad crushing netbooks sounds like nothing more than hype and geek jargon to me. After reading a ton of pro and con reviews about the Apple…

• How to Talk to Teenage Girls – Things NOT to Say to a Girl You Like

  Lin

  3 Feb 2010 | 3:00 am

  What is the best way to flirt with a teenage girl you like, without coming on too strong, if you are a teenage boy? Sometimes teenage guys say stupid things to girls and end up regretting it, especially if the dumb thing said leads the girl to slap the guy in the face. Young guys in the process of becoming a man sometimes learn valuable lessons the hard way, and learning what things not to say to a girl they like or have a crush should rank very high on the list of learning “how to talk to girls”. A young, 17-year-old teenage guy contacted me the other day, telling me the story of…

• 
  Hot Flashes

• Power Struggle Over the Thermostat Between Husband and Wife

  fabmom

  1 Feb 2010 | 6:01 am

  We've had colder temps than normal here in Houston this winter, (Note: If you read this blog from outside the Texas area, our winters typically consist of 60's and 70's mixed with the occasional "cold front" where temperatures dip way down - but it is very temporary and before long, we are using the air conditioner again) With those colder temps, the thermostat power struggle between husband and wife is waging on in many households. Or is power struggle too mild a term? For some, it is all out war. Normally, the husband adjusts the thermostat to cooler temps, with the wife jockeying for…

• Enablers Unintentionally Cripple Their Children/Significant Others

  fabmom

  25 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  Some call over-involved parents "helicopter parents" because they hover over the most minute details of their children's lives. There is a lot of disdain among experts for this type of parenting, but many of us are guilty of it to some degree.I too, was a bit hovering, a bit over-involved. My children, now adults aged 22 and 25 still complain sometimes that I don't realize their ages when I insert myself in a "helping" mode. That's when I know to back off, because despite my parenting style while they were growing up, I did not keep them bound to me. They are off and running on their own…

• Am I The Only Snuggie-free "As Seen on TV" Buying Addict?

  fabmom

  19 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  Am I the only human who doesn't have a Snuggie? You know what I am talking about - those thin fleece things with sleeves that are supposed to warm during cold winter months while glued to the television or reading a book. In the meantime, if I did want a Snuggie type thing, I would probably buy or try to make a thicker one on my sewing machine. My daughter has a Snuggie and it is ridiculously skimpy-thin. It's surprising that I don't have one because I have a huge assortment of things that are sold on TV. I am such a sucker for those pitches of wonder items.I have a kitchen full of regrets -…

• Friends Rally Around Woman Looking for a Kidney

  fabmom

  14 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  After writing this story for the Neighborhoods section, I started counting my blessings of health. This woman, through unfortunate genetics has advanced kidney disease - the same disease both her parents were afflicted with and died of in their fifties.Since I am around that age, as is the woman Sallee I wrote about, I think it is far too young to have a health issue about a failing organ, particularly when you have taken care of yourself.I must say though, what she lacks in health right now, she is wealthy in the friends department. Her friends, particularly Lisa, are doing all they can do…

• A Real Life Blind Side (Adoption) Story Right Here in Houston

  fabmom

  4 Jan 2010 | 6:00 am

  We, like everyone else it seems have seen the movie The Blind Side and have been tremendously moved (to tears) at the generosity of the Tuohy family taking in a homeless child and making him part of their family.  In fact, after I walked out of the movie, I read everything I could about this remarkable family and found out that much of the movie information is true, with the exception of Big Mike not knowing anything about football. There are true life stories every day of the week about loving, generous people who take in less fortunate children. Some provide loving foster care, others…

• 
  Baby Boomer Talk & other stuff

• The Storm Isn't Over Yet

  BeverlyM

  5 Feb 2010 | 1:13 pm

  Last weekend, a snowstorm swept across North Carolina. We got about six inches. Schools were closed and city services came to a halt for a few days. Most of the snow is now gone, but the storm isn't over yet. Right now I am storming mad over the fact that the City seems to be dragging its feet on a hazard created sometime after the snowfall.OK here's the story....... My daughter came home from college today and discovered the storm drain cover in front of our house had been removed. Upon further investigation, my husband discovered that the storm drain cover had broken in half. How could this…

• Let There Be Light

  BeverlyM

  29 Jan 2010 | 6:04 pm

  About two years ago, I called City Hall to ask them to send someone out to repair a street light that had apparently blown a bulb. At that time, someone said they would take care of it---but never did. I called again several weeks later and was told they received tons of repair requests and would get to mine as soon as possible.Time passed and I forgot about that light until today. Much to my surprise there was a repair truck in our neighborhood right in front of that light. When I approached the repairman I told him I couldn't believe it took them over two years to finally answer my call. He…

• Whose to Blame When Children Fail?

  BeverlyM

  22 Jan 2010 | 4:23 pm

  This week a former principal in my community died from an apparent heart attack. Earl Pappy was 51. I met him once in 2008 when I brought actress Bern Nadette Stanis to his school to speak to the drama students. (pictured on the left of Ms. Stanis). My first and only impression of him was he was nice. But that's not what this post is about.Mr. Pappy was forced to resign last year because of his school's continued low academic performance ranking. Of all of the high schools in the area, Hillside was dead last. The school had been on the steady decline for several years. Mr. Pappy was supposed…

• The Challenge of Raising a Black Male

  BeverlyM

  9 Jan 2010 | 7:27 pm

  My daughter returned to college this week after a three week holiday break. Having her home gave me a much needed vacation from her three-year-old son. But now I am wearing the mommy/grandma hat again and dealing with a growing, inquisituve and challenging little boy. At three, he is now starting to test his limits and testing my nerves. This means he is beginning to defy authority and assert his growing independence. Everything I've read indicates I should recognize that this is a developmental stage. Frequent eruptions and disobedience can be a sign of a strong-willed child, the experts…

• Ugly Sweaters at Christmas

  BeverlyM

  22 Dec 2009 | 1:10 pm

  It's that time of year again when we decorate our homes with a beautiful Christmas tree and festive lights. Then you have some of us who choose to decorate ourselves with some of the ugliest sweaters ever seen and then parade around town as if we were in a fashion show.Today while shopping at Costco's I saw some of the most hidious looking sweaters I'd ever seen--and they were all worn by baby boomer women! I obviously didn't get the memo on this one and if I did, I'm glad I didn't read it.One woman actually had on a sweater with blinking light bulbs. To top things off, another woman wore her…

• 
  BOOMER WORLD

• Baby Boomers Don't Read Blogs

  BeverlyM

  31 Jan 2010 | 12:26 pm

  I'm a baby boomer and I write blogs. As a matter of fact, I have more than one active blog. I also read blogs written by fellow boomers but, according to the latest research, I am in the MINORITY because the majority of baby boomers don't read blogs. The study claims the number of blog reader/writers is below 10%. Although 49% of boomers use online reviews and recommendations on a retailer’s site to make their purchase, only 9% looked to other blogs or communities for recommendations.Another interesting statistic involves Twitter. The study also showed that Twitter is not very popular with…

• Baby Boomers Give a Thumbs Up to Fox News

  BeverlyM

  28 Jan 2010 | 5:16 pm

  More than 1100 baby boomers nationwide say they watch and trust Fox News more than any other news network.According to a new poll by Public Policy Polling, 52 percent of Baby Boomers say they trust Fox as an informed source for news--while CNN comes in a distant second at 33 percent.Why do you think that is? Unfortunately, this survey does not break down the numbers to determine the number of white males polled versus women and other ethnic groups. I will point out that 1151 people surveyed nationwide is merely a small drop in the a very, very large bucket but I'm sure FOX News will get…

• Baby Boomers Beware of Free Trial Offers

  BeverlyM

  12 Jan 2010 | 2:00 pm

  Have you ever been the victim of a "free trial offer"? This is where a company offers you a sample of their product or service for a limited period of time.Not long ago, I had to cancel my credit card and have another one re-issued because I became a victim of the free trial offer. I heard about a particular product on the radio targeted for baby boomer women and decided to try it out. All I had to do, they said, was give them my credt card number to cover the nominal cost of shipping and handling. I was also advised to call them within 30 days if I was no longer interested in receiving…

• Sex and the Single Baby Boomer Woman

  BeverlyM

  6 Jan 2010 | 3:39 pm

  The Shady Lady Ranch in Nevada has been given the go ahead to hire the state's first legal male sex workers. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in the history of the world that male prostituion is being made legal.Brothel owner Bobbi Davis was quoted as saying, "I personally feel, as do the many other women who have made contact with me since I started this, that this is a service whose time has come." No word yet on the MO of the women she will market to however here's a statistic that might help her:57 million American women 45 and up, nearly half—25 million—are unmarried. And…

• My Weird News Stories of 2009

  BeverlyM

  29 Dec 2009 | 7:21 pm

• 
  Boomer Diva Nation

• 5 Tips To Make Customers Come To You

  Beverly

  3 Feb 2010 | 5:19 pm

    1.  Determine who your customers are and what their needs and wants are.  Know how your product or service can satisfy that need or want.  2.  Make sure you select the proper medium to carry out your message and choose the proper location within that medium.  3.  Direct your message to where your prospects are listening, viewing [...]

• When Social Media Relationships Go Bad…

  Beverly

  25 Jan 2010 | 6:34 pm

    Guest Post by:  Wendy Y Bailey I’m certain you’ve met people through Facebook, your blog or even Twitter. You connect with a few select friends and followers who are genuine professionals with solid reputations in the world of social media. Even though you’ve never actually met the people in person – you connect, tweet and in [...]

• Meet Featured Diva Beverly Mahone

  Beverly

  17 Jan 2010 | 10:20 am

  Beverly Mahone is a veteran journalist, author, media coach and motivational speaker who writes about issues affecting middle-aged women in her book, Whatever! A Baby Boomer’s Journey Into Middle Age. In addition, she is a Featured Writer for Boomer Living, Bonkers and Passionate For Life Magazines. She also hosts a weekly show on BlogTalk Radio [...]

• 5 Tips on Preparing for Disaster Recovery

  Beverly

  14 Jan 2010 | 5:26 pm

  In the wake of the happenings in Haiti, this is an important post. As a woman in business, you must be prepared for just about anything because on any given day some type of disaster could strike in your community and create havoc in your business and personal life. You must recognize that your business [...]

• Unexercise Works

  Beverly

  2 Jan 2010 | 8:50 pm

  Special Guest Post by: Wendy Y Bailey We’re bombarded with so much more in life these days. Business is no different. It’s a far cry from the simpler life my parents experienced more than 40 years ago. Fewer people. Less technology. No information superhighway. Today we marvel at the convenience of plug and play, cell [...]

• 
  merlot mom

• What Goes Around Comes Around

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:57 pm

  When I was a kid, I spent my Friday nights eating Lays potato chips with a side of Oreos watching The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. Later, in high school and college, I was too busy using mind-altering substances (and then eating Lays potato chips with a side of Oreos) to watch tv.  I was making my own entertainment;  some of which was award-winning, most of which were boring repeats. Then, I got married and had kids and my Friday nights blended into every other night which meant eating Lays potato chips with a side of Oreos and falling asleep before prime time. Now, with my…

• Don't Try This At Home

  1 Feb 2010 | 9:16 pm

  It is close to 8:30.  I have just finished cleaning the kitchen.  Homework is done.  The kids are upstairs.  All is QUIET on the domestic front. I tell you this not to gloat, not to make you feel bad, but to tell you that THIS IS NOT NORMAL. Normal by this time of night is my dogs barking, my son crying, and the tv blaring. Normal by this time of night is my ears ringing, my chest tightening, and my throat stinging from screaming above it all. No, this night is not normal.  Not normal at all. My son did his homework without a fight. No sibling snark was passed with…

• Sharing A Few Funnies

  31 Jan 2010 | 2:44 pm

  After a hike with my friend and our dogs on this gorgeous LA Sunday and a run to our local Farmer's Market, I just spent the last few minutes relaxing, watching these two clips and laughing out loud. Nothing I say today can compete.  So, if you haven't seen these yet, enjoy (and pardon the lead-in commercials, the skits are worth it.) Have a great Sunday.  

• It's Good To Get Out Once In A While

  24 Jan 2010 | 10:20 am

  I forget how much I like my friends.  I spend much of my time in solitude:  writing, in my car listening to NPR, walking with my dogs.  And when I'm not alone, I'm with my family.  I'm not a total hermit.  There's plenty of time in the day with people around:  volunteering at school, carpool, play dates.  And I cherish Thursdays with my writing workshop where I am amongst a group of people whose interests are the same as my own - HEAVEN.  But, when the day is done: the dinner dishes cleaned, the next day's lunches made, the kids asleep, what I most…

• Andy Rooney's Ode to Women Over 40

  22 Jan 2010 | 7:00 am

  I was sent this by a friend and thought it, if you missed it on 60 minutes as I did, it was well worth sharing in a blog post: 60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)    As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all.  Here are just a few reasons why:  A woman over 40 will  never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you  thinking?'  She doesn't care what you think.  If a woman over  40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around  whining about it.   She does something she wants to do, …

• 
  Zen and the Art of the Midlife Crisis

• Http://

  Kip de Moll

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:33 am

  At our gig over the weekend, I met Lisis Blackston, a blogess who writes so well about creating a balance in our lives. In ways that I can identify with so easily, she writes about making changes using her own life as an example of an honest account of the ups and downs we all go through.Although we had never met, I recognized her immediately as she entered with her husband and son. After reading

• Energy Rising

  Kip de Moll

  22 Jan 2010 | 11:14 am

  In many ways this has been the most challenging week yet. My conception that healing should progress in a linear order dips once again into a feverish state.The belief that I can participate in this healing by the moderate embrace of the things I love--thinking by doing a little, I gain a lot—I focus on a little work with my Skatter Monkeys and making music. My doctor gives me full clearance to

• At the Firey Core

  Kip de Moll

  14 Jan 2010 | 7:07 am

  Yesterday, I awoke late at seven, after falling asleep early, stumbled to the couch and fell asleep again. In the afternoon, trying to write, sleep over took my scribbles again. This morning, a phone call woke me close to ten. Anyone who knows me well knows this is not me. My thoughts are scattered, simple words difficult to retrieve, sentences cut short, wandering to a dead end. My last

• Monday, Monday

  Kip de Moll

  7 Jan 2010 | 10:38 am

  On the first Monday after the New Year, the start of another decade, on Facebook and the road outside my door, people charge forward with resolution. Determination is rampant and optimism runs high. Deep from another perspective, I see for myself ahead a day of solitude, a week of finding work, a half-year of recovery, challenge over abundance. My heart flirts with both ecstasy and despair in

• Medical Report

  Kip de Moll

  1 Jan 2010 | 7:13 am

  The Christmas season has been very different for me this year, a time of disorientation, solitude and also some emotional invigoration. Preparing for the New Year under the bright blue moon, my heart dances with optimism and is sobered by reality. Forgive the gory details (or skip over them), but to properly convey my state of mind and trains of thought, the specifics of my physical ordeal are

• 
  ask allison: the middle-Aged woman’s go to girl

• It’s All Spiritual

  admin

  8 Feb 2010 | 6:35 am

  Well, folks…real estate has kept life in a blur since the end of last year.  A good thing, but time for blogging has not appeared.  I am missing it terribly though and hope life is enough on an even keel (or maybe I’m just delusional) that I can write a little, or at least publish posts written by someone else occasionally. Here is a great post from one of my favorite people, Jan Lundy.  Jan writes on all things spiritual.  I always learn something that gives me thought… I believe that everything is spiritual. Everything. Allow me to explain. You may or…

• Christmas, But Without All The Stuff

  admin

  15 Dec 2009 | 2:21 pm

  Something has happened to me.  I thought it was just a temporary condition, but I think it’s here to stay. This past weekend I went down to the annual Armadillo Christmas Bazaar.  It’s one of those wonderful events that is sheer Austin…funky, eclectic, weird, artistic.  Every December for two weeks the ACB sets up camp with 150 or so artists and artisans.  Everything from jewelry, to textiles, painting, glasswork, mixed media, mosaic, and more.  Combine that with a complete line up of beloved Austin musicians playing non stop and you can see why this ‘scene’ has been going…

• What Season Is My Soul In?

  admin

  27 Nov 2009 | 8:23 am

  Well, the holidays are upon us.  People have traveled hither and yon to be with family for Thanksgiving.  It’s the time of year we begin to think with gratitude upon our blessings. Our Spirit and Self Editor, Jan Lundy, just published a piece on WomenBloom that spoke to the seasons of the soul. She pointed out that our spiritual lives bear a resemblance to the passing of the seasons.  It makes a lot of sense to me. I am grateful for many things:  that my housemate lets me share her beautiful house so that I have a lovely space to live in, my dog Cooper is never anything but a pleasure…

• The Marriage Sabbatical: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

  admin

  17 Nov 2009 | 5:40 am

  Last 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

  admin

  30 Oct 2009 | 4:33 am

  After 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…

• 
  AARP Bulletin Today

• Man dies during Emory sleep test

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:59 pm

  Controversy in the death of a 25-year-old man has pitted a family active in the metro Atlanta church community against one of the area's major medical facilities over a procedure generally regarded to pose little threat. Family members have hurled accusations of medical negligence after Brandon Harris of Stone Mountain died in late January during a sleep study at Emory Healthcare. Renee "Sunshine" Lewis, Harris' mother, said staff did not properly watch over her son, and he repeatedly gestured for help that did not come.

• Another major storm headed to snowy Mid-Atlantic

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:26 am

  Snow blew across the Midwest Tuesday on track for the hard-hit Mid-Atlantic region, where federal government offices were closed for a second straight day and utility workers struggled to restore power knocked out by a weekend blizzard. The storm hit the Midwest early, closing schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Minneapolis and Chicago to Louisville, Ky. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago's airports as the storm moved across Illinois, where up to a foot of snow was forecast.

• Lawyer says Mireles did not kill Emily Sander

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:26 am

  EL DORADO -- 10 a. m. Israel Mireles did not kill Emily Sander, his lawyer told jurors this morning. Melanie Freeman-Johnson said during her opening remarks that Mireles was out with Sander and her friends that night in November 2007.

• City: Businesses in Old Town Cinema district fought property taxes

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:25 am

  WICHITA -- Business owners in a special taxing district surrounding the Old Town Warren Theatre have fought to have their property taxes reduced, forcing the city to cover debts incurred when the city bought land, installed utilities and built a park to spur the development. Council members who heard the news in a quarterly financial report this morning were upset and thought the city may have a guarantee from developers to ensure the debt is paid off. No such guarantee exists for the Old Town Cinema TIF, said Allen Bell, the city's director of urban development.

• The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind., Kevin Leininger column: Government nips bad idea in the bud. It's a miracle!

  9 Feb 2010 | 9:25 am

  When's the last time government -- at any level -- stopped a program before it even started after realizing that what sounded good in theory might in fact turn into an expensive, unsustainable boondoggle. Insert joke of your choice here. But seriously, folks, that very thing was expected to happen today with Allen County Councilman Darren Vogt's announcement that his plan to entice new General Motors workers with a housing bonus of $1,000 has been dropped because research indicated its expense would far exceed its benefits.

• 
  Midlife Musings

• Someone actually thought this was a good idea?

  6 Feb 2010 | 6:51 pm

  Today, I decided I didn't feel like cooking dinner, because as I rooted around in my pantry for a can of something I needed for my recipe, I sat down on the floor and started pulling out cans from the bottom shelf and discovered something disgusting.I don't know what happened, but I think a can started leaking long enough ago to make a really, gross, disgusting pile of mold on the bottom shelf and all over the cans. Ew... I mean we are talking major gross-out. It was completely disgusting. After I stopped freaking out and gagging, I threw out every can on the shelf, cleaned it up, lined it…

• Sight for Sore Eyes: Lasik Surgery

  1 Feb 2010 | 9:26 am

  For years, I've been wanting to have Lasik surgery. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've worn glasses since I was 10 years old and I was teased unmercifully. Kids can be so cruel to one another. But over the years my vision has continued to worsen, and I also have developed a bad astigmatism, too. When I finally made the decision to have the surgery done, I applied for financing, and when I was approved, I decided to move forward with it. Once I made the decision, it all happened rather quickly. That's probably a good thing, because I might have chickened out otherwise. It's really scary…

• Spam Comments

  30 Jan 2010 | 10:38 am

  Well I've finally decided I'm going to have to disable anonymous comments. I've been getting a few spam comments here and there, but mostly they've been placed on posts that are so old, no one reads them anymore, so I wasn't too worried about it. I like to give people the opportunity to comment on my blog without having to sign up for something, like Open ID or Google or whatever. Well, yesterday I got a comment on my most recent post, and it was a spam comment. I don't want anyone being able to spam my comments for even one second, so I have disabled anonymous commenting. Sorry about that,…

• Success!!

  29 Jan 2010 | 9:48 pm

  I am not even supposed to be on the computer yet, but I have to say that there aren't words for how ecstatic I am. For the first time since I was 10 years old, I can see 20/20 without correction!!!The experience was wonderful. I'll blog more later.I woke up this morning, and I could see. I could see! Unless you've worn glasses like I have for years, you might not understand.More later, but O-M-G!! I can seeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• The better to see you with!

  27 Jan 2010 | 6:50 pm

  Well, I've decided to do it.No, not that. I've not decided on the "D" word yet. (see previous posts).Tomorrow I'm having Lasik surgery. I have terrible vision and have worn glasses since I was 10 *sigh*. What a misery that was. Kids can be so mean. I was tall, geeky and wore glasses. I might as well have worn a target on my back. "Oak tree" "four eyes".... ugh.But I digress...I have 20/400 vision. Yes, that means I can't see much beyond the end of my nose except blur. Plus I have a bad astigmatism and due to my age, I have presbyopia. This means reading glasses, or bi-focals as I have now. My…

• 
  BoomerCafé ... it's your place

• Retirement Age Increases in Finland

  Cafe

  29 Jan 2010 | 2:43 pm

  Somewhat surprisingly, the average age of retirement in Finland rose from 59.4 in 2008 to 59.8 last year, regardless of the ongoing recession and rising unemployment.Experts have been rather taken aback by the fact that the average age of retirement in Finland rose noticeably from 59.4 in 2008 to 59.8 last year, in spite of the ongoing recession and rising unemployment figures.In comparison, the pension age in 1999 was below 59 years. The pension age keeps rising, as the rules have been changed and as people also live longer.The increase as such is in line with the forecasts made following…

• Saying Good-Bye to Our Parents

  Cafe

  29 Jan 2010 | 1:34 pm

  Joyce ZonanaNot every boomer spends a lot of time helping aging parents, but so many do, we thought it would be useful to read the reflections of just one, writer Joyce Zonana. What she is going through is in one way unique, but in another way it’s precisely what so many baby boomers are facing right now.The mothers of four different friends have died in the past month, and my own mother, 88, has turned her face to the wall.“I’m finished,” she says when I urge her to join me for a walk in the park that stretches invitingly just outside her windows. “I’ve had enough.” Although…

• The Man Behind Woodstock

  Cafe

  25 Jan 2010 | 9:15 pm

  Nettie HartsockLast year we started a new feature on BoomerCafé: interviews with prominent people who have changed the way baby boomers look at life. They are done by Nettie Hartsock, who has made her bones talking with authors and luminaries. In this installment, Nettie talks with Michael Lang, producer and co-creator in 1969 of the Woodstock Festival. He also has just written “The Road to Woodstock.” …..Intuition, Inspiration and Keeping Your Inbox Free…..BC: I loved the book. One of the things I read is that you said, “Money has never been my aim – always a side effect of what…

• Boomer Generation Defies Labels

  Cafe

  22 Jan 2010 | 11:44 am

  Here’s a piece to remind us that not all baby boomers are empty-nesters or burgeoning grandparents. Plenty still have young children at home, including writer Morgan Petrini, who reminds us that the boomer generation defies labels.I guess you could say I’ve always been a late bloomer. Adolescence for me lasted well into my 30s. I was in my late 30s when I finally graduated from law school; pushing forty when I married my darlin’ wife Laura; and now, mid-fifties for becoming a first-time dad!Not that we didn’t want or try to have children sooner; procreational success just seemed to…

• How to Talk with Your Doctor

  Cafe

  13 Jan 2010 | 12:30 pm

  Dr. Bill RoiterWe hope against hope but sooner or later we’re going to be seeing the doctor….probably more often than we used to. The question is, as independent baby boomers with healthy lifestyles, will we take the doctor’s advise seriously? Dr. Bill Roiter says there’s a way to relate to the doctor that will keep us healthy.The holiday ads are gone, replaced for most of us baby boomers by weight loss, gym, and fitness equipment ads. It’s the season of resolutions and healthy intentions… the season of exercise, a better diet, and a willingness to sacrifice. I hope that you can…

• 
  Baby Boomer Going Like Sixty

• Geeky Animated Gif Monday (except it’s a vid)

  goinglikesixty

  7 Feb 2010 | 10:04 pm

  You might like these too...Geeky Animated Gif MondayGeeky Animated Gif MondayGeeky Animated Gif MondayGeeky Animated Gif MondayGeeky Animated GIF MondayPowered by Contextual Related Posts Be Socialable

• Book Review: Do It or Age Quickly. Going Like Sixty to Live Better!

  goinglikesixty

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:02 am

  I didn’t write this book. But any guy that designed a workout machine for Jackie Chan is pretty tops in my book. BTW: Jackie Chan is starring a new movie The Shinjuku Incident, for all you Jackie Chan movie buffs. But I digress. Do It or Age Quickly is by JB Berns. JB Berns created the Urban Rebounder. You know, the little trampoline that is now in thousands of professional and home gyms… JB Berns & Urban Rebounder I’m sure this made him a rich man. If that didn’t the Jackie Chan Cable Flex System as seen on Tee Vee certain did. I admire any Boomer that comes up…

• Circle This Day, I Was Wrong – Twice. Magic Jack Didn’t Die and My Ab Wasn’t What I Thought.

  goinglikesixty

  6 Feb 2010 | 2:44 pm

  I’ve been listening to Rex Havens – a Christmas gift – and he’s a funny guy. He notes that in understanding women, there are only two lies a woman will tell to a man: “Whatever makes you happy” and “Fine!” Otherwise, the man is always wrong, and should never stop saying “I’m sorry.” Those are the only things I’ve learned about men and women which are always true. Love does not mean you never have to say you’re sorry. If you’re a husband, love means you never STOP saying you’re sorry. Love means a husband should start…

• Oldie but Goodie Meme: You Have A Rock Band, Design a Cover.

  goinglikesixty

  5 Feb 2010 | 10:03 pm

  I haven’t seen this one around for a while, but Avitable has decided to revive it.  Then Grant did it too. Then Cynical Bastard did. So, I figured I would too. 1. Go to the “Random Article” link on Wikipedia. Write down the title of the article. This is the name of your band. 2. Go to “Random Quotations” and the last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3. Go to Flickr and click on “Explore the Last Seven Days”. The third picture will be your album cover. Internal decapitation close-knit family in another city.

• I Can Has Forum? AARP? or Very Serious, You Are on Fire, Just Kidding

  goinglikesixty

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:54 am

  *Jumping with joy* There are two new forums that I found for you. One isn’t active yet… Community will have exciting improvements in April. From easier ways to join interesting conversations to faster searches, you’ll find connecting with others more fun than ever. You’ll also discover… New technology for a smoother and more dynamic user experience Feature enhancements to support and showcase your discussions, comments, photos, and more Check out the AARP Guide Blog to learn more about the new Online Community. Or… and this is the one I am recommending:…

• 
  A Boomer in the Pew

• Bible in a Year Series: Sorrowfully Facing the Golden Calves in my Life

  David A. Porter

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:26 am

  Day #40 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time. Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Exodus 30-32.As I continue reading of God's design for the tabernacle, it unsettles me to consider my lackadaisical attitude towards God's holiness.Even as I read these passages, I can feel the struggle in my soul for self-worth as my fallen substitute for God's worth.Then, to top off my sorrow, I find myself holding these Israelites in contempt for their sinful dancing…

• Bible in a Year Series: Aaron's Priesthood, Priestly Garments, and the Foreshadowing of the Christian's Call to Spiritual Priesthood

  David A. Porter

  8 Feb 2010 | 8:17 am

  Day #39 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time. Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Exodus 28-29.One of the joys of my second journey through the Bible is that I am able to comprehend a little more this time through.  My first journey could only be described as shock and awe.  I had no idea the things that lie between the covers of this book.I distinctly remember my quandary, in my post from a year ago, as I contemplated the amazing detail that God…

• Bible in a Year Series: The Tabernacle as a Symbolic Representation of the Garden of Eden

  David A. Porter

  7 Feb 2010 | 6:40 am

  Day #38 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time. Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Exodus 25-27.Crossway Publishers, the creators of the ESV Study Bible, have done a very nice job of creating illustrations of the tabernacle, and all its components.  Click these links to view the illustrations: The Ark of the Covenant The Table for the Bread of the Presence The Tabernacle and its Court The Tabernacle Tent The Golden Lampstand The Bronze Alter Something…

• Bible in a Year Series: And They saw the God of Israel

  David A. Porter

  6 Feb 2010 | 4:48 am

  Day #37 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time. Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Exodus 22-24.I found chapter 24 to be the most amazing scene.  God has given Moses the Book of the Covenant, he reads it to the people, the agree to obey, and a most solemn ratification of this covenant is done on an alter before the Lord.Then, look at this:"Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.

• Bible in a Year Series: Fear, Faith, and Moses on Sinai

  David A. Porter

  5 Feb 2010 | 6:19 am

  Day #36 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time. Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Exodus 19-21.Yahweh to David Porter:I'm God, and your not!Mankind was severely messed up from the apple in the Garden of Eden.  At the root, we became proud, and would dream that we control our destiny, in essence, our natures are inclined to call themselves god.So how might the one true God communicate to us that we are not God?  By forcing upon us, or bringing to our…

• 
  Catskill Cottage Seed

• Lullaby

  Richard Reeve

  23 Jan 2010 | 3:58 am

  Just coming to realize that every lullaby draws is effect through the interaction of the child’s breath with the one that holds her. It’s a kind of synchronized serenity…

• Certitude and Unconscious Bias

  Richard Reeve

  19 Jan 2010 | 8:21 am

  If I had time to go in search of it, I’m sure there must be an interesting quote from Shakespeare on the dangers of certitude. Once I’ve locked reality to meet my assumptions, I’m no longer able to admit any wider possible aspect within reality that challenge those assumptions, and in effect, the power of my bias begins to work unconsciously. The bias becomes a lens whereby each and every piece of incoming data must meet the demands of given prejudice. I’m saddened by the overt racism that is leaking from so many quarters in these days of suffering in Haiti. Do you see…

• Write America

  Richard Reeve

  18 Jan 2010 | 8:06 pm

  My friend Marty has launched her Write America project in 2010. Its a wonderful process where she finds an interesting, odd, tragic, or just plain weird news item from a different State each week and uses the story as a writing prompt for either a short story or a poem. She’s three states in now, so you’ll want to catch up!

• Out of Line?

  Richard Reeve

  18 Jan 2010 | 11:52 am

  Image via Wikipedia Getting notice that another has thrown the foul flag at you, claiming that you are “out of line” provides a great opportunity to do a little inventory work. Is the issue at hand being brought up because responses were inappropriate or because the information delivered does not fit in the others expectations?  And then, if we can be honest with ourselves, can we admit that perhaps the answer is most likely in the gray area that includes a little bit of both possibilities. Often times emotional responses can be viewed as out of line simply because the anger,…

• Denial

  Richard Reeve

  16 Jan 2010 | 6:11 pm

  Image by pixn8tr via Flickr In many ways the concept of denial is a catch 22, for as I often hear explained when working at a therapeutic boarding school, it’s kind of like this: When you’re in denial you don’t even know your lying to yourself In many ways that’s a really good descriptor for the way all unconscious processes work, including projection (when we see the fault or blame for something in someone else…or all the exceptional qualities for that matter as well). To claim the psyche is elusive is an understatement.  The challenge is to provide…

• 
  Nourishing Relationships

• Overcoming Stress on Valentine's Day

  9 Feb 2010 | 7:46 am

  Couples today are dealing with huge stresses of all sorts - fears of economic meltdown, actual job loss, threats to safety and security, concerns about retirement finances, and, for Sandwiched Boomers, issues arising from children growing up and aging parents growing older. Partners rely on each other to help buffer the impact of these stresses - and, hopefully, to make coping with them a little easier. Studies have shown that for couples in love there are surges in dopamine, the chemical of pleasure, and in oxytocin, the hormone of bonding. These encourage further closeness and provide the…

• Cuddling on Valentine's Day

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:01 am

  With record snow on the east coast and heavy rainstorms on the west, what better to do than cuddle for warmth with a loved one? Last week we looked at how singles can thrive on Valentine's Day. This week we focus on couples and how to bring you closer.Contrary to the new film, Valentine's Day, love alone does not guarantee the success of a close relationship. It also takes a willingness to work on building stronger connections through commitment and communication. Remind yourselves of the commitment you made and the love you created. Plan date nights even when you don't have something special…

• Sandwich Generation: Nurture Yourself

  5 Feb 2010 | 12:13 am

  All week we've been talking about how to stay centered and nourish yourself on Valentine's Day. But don't save these practical strategies for just one day a year. Use them often and they'll become second nature.Relax and rejuvenate to relieve stress. Nurture yourself and your body through regular exercise, good nutrition and proper rest. Attend to your mind and your spirit. Practice techniques of deep breathing or your own form of meditation. And set aside quiet time to do what brings you pleasure. This sort of attitude will sustain you as well as promote greater self care.On Valentine's Day,…

• Sandwich Generation: Make it Happen

  4 Feb 2010 | 6:36 am

  As Valentine's Day approaches, you don't have to feel down in the dumps. If you're single and a member of the Sandwich Generation, do you have an aging parent who's not feeling so well or an adult chld who's going through a rough period? Reach out and see what happens to you when you bring a smile to their face.Give back some love. Go outside your normal routine and get in touch with a relative or neighbor you've been meaning to call or visit - it could brighten the day for both of you. Studies show that when you shift attention away from yourself to others, you actually feel better.Volunteer…

• Sandwich Generation: Focus on Friends & Family

  3 Feb 2010 | 7:00 am

  Just because you're single doesn't mean you have to be lonely on Valentine's Day. As members of the Sandwich Generation, focus on these tips that can reach far beyond a love relationship and perk you up:Pay attention to the positives in your significant relationships. Notice who you enjoy spending time with and what about them brings you pleasure. And remember that your personal character and qualities make them want to be your friends. Relax into your friendships as you enjoy fuller and deeper conversations.Connect often with others. Going out with a group of colleagues can sometimes be more…

• 
  Silver Planet

• The Importance of Being

  Rabbi Richard F. Address, DMin

  8 Feb 2010 | 7:23 pm

  This is a time for many of us when we begin to ask the "why" questions of life. I call them the why questions because that is how I interpret Genesis 3, in which the issue of one's mortality is raised.

• Elder’s Sense of Home Frustrates Caregiver’s Best Intentions

  Carol Bradley Bursack

  8 Feb 2010 | 1:42 pm

  My mother is in mid- to late-stage Alzheimer’s. She is in a very good nursing home, and I visit her almost every day. She breaks my heart because she keeps saying she wants to go home. What do I say?

• Older Adults Skipping Vaccinations

  Susan Hindman

  8 Feb 2010 | 10:15 am

  Unlike children, who have regularly scheduled vaccines as part of their well-checks, older adults are on their own when it comes to knowing what vaccinations would be good for their health.

• Top Five Mortgage-Related Scams in Utah

  Florence Klein

  8 Feb 2010 | 9:02 am

  Few parts of the country have been untouched by mortgage-related fraud, which shows no signs of leaving the news. These won’t sound unfamiliar—and if you, or someone you care about, are having trouble making your payments, watch out!

• Enron, the Play: A Different Kind of Spotlight on Fraud

  Florence Klein

  5 Feb 2010 | 9:43 am

  Financial collapse never looked so good, or so many reviewers imply. Inspired by the energy corporation that went belly up in 2001, this production documents the roots and aftermath of the scandal.

• 
  Aging As a Spiritual Practice

• Loss of Livelihood I

  lewrich

  4 Feb 2010 | 4:05 pm

  The fourth “great fear” of Buddhist teaching is “fear of loss of livelihood.”  It is interesting that this doctrine was formulated by monastics living a life of mendicancy and voluntary poverty.  One would think that the vow of poverty would liberate monks from the ordinary anxieties of earning a livelihood, but of course the monks [...]

• It’s All About Emotion

  lewrich

  18 Jan 2010 | 11:02 am

  Buddhist transformation is all about emotion.  Actually, that’s not literally true; a lot of meditation, especially for Westerners, is about de-constructing and seeing through the illusory world of self that thinking creates.  But neuroscience has now demonstrated what Buddhist meditators have long known: that as meditation matures, the discursive thinking aspect of mental activity subsides, [...]

• Thinking Is Overrated

  lewrich

  10 Jan 2010 | 1:17 pm

  The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.”  From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking.  The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room.  That being said, the [...]

• Fear of Dementia

  lewrich

  27 Dec 2009 | 9:22 am

  What a downer of a topic! Who wants to think or talk about dementia, Alzheimer’s, losing one’s mind? Yet it is the “third great fear” in Buddhist teaching, so clearly the ancient Buddhists wanted to talk about it. They knew that the best way to transform and dissolve fear is to face it.  Well, today [...]

• The Gift of Human Birth

  lewrich

  19 Dec 2009 | 7:54 pm

  My theme the last few posts has been the “five great fears”—fear of death, fear of illness, fear of dementia, fear of loss of livelihood, and fear of public speaking.  This week I’d like to take a break from talking about fears, and talk instead about gifts—in particular, the gift of human birth. It is a [...]

• 
  AOL: Retirement News

• Retirement: What not to do

  20 Jan 2010 | 3:51 pm

  Do 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.

• Top Scams That Target Seniors

  17 Dec 2009 | 11:36 am

  Seniors are one of scam artist’s favorite targets. More than 25 million seniors were victims of fraud last year according to the Federal Trade Commission. Seniors become targets because they are easy to reach by phone, are often home during the day, often live along, and are often more willing to talk to strangers. Today, personal finance experts Ken and Daria Dolan of Dolans.com expose seven top scams that target seniors. Even if you aren’t a senior yourself, keep reading and warn the seniors in your life about these scams.

• Retirement: What not to do

  13 Nov 2009 | 9:46 am

• Social Security Payments to Stay Flat

  15 Oct 2009 | 3:55 am

  The 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 am

  Has 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.

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  RetirementRevised

• How to be a successful consultant

  Mark Miller

  8 Feb 2010 | 5:14 pm

  If your second act involves going solo as a consultant, read Richard Greenwald’s article in The Wall Street Journal exploring the factors that drive success for freelancers and solo entrepreneurs. Greenwald notes that high unemployment and corporate downsizing has made solo consulting the new normal–and a permanent condition for many. He cites statistics indicating that more [...] Related posts:Jobless rate has doubled for older workers since 2007Six secrets for a successful retirementReinvention wake-up call: Half of lost jobs are gone forever

• Reader mailbag: How to draw down savings in retirement

  Mark Miller

  3 Feb 2010 | 9:14 pm

  Q: It’s been suggested that I withdraw about 4 percent of my retirement savings ($430,000) each year in addition to my current income of approximately $3,000 per month. I am 70 and my wife will turn 64 this year. We have no mortgage payments, although we do have a $550 monthly car payment for the [...] Related posts:Reader mailbag: Working while receiving Social Security disabilityReader mailbag: Social Security COLAs and spousal benefitsReader mailbag: Rules for Roth IRAs, minimum withdrawals

• AARP offers career transition scholarships for 40+ women

  Mark Miller

  29 Jan 2010 | 12:38 pm

  The AARP Foundation’s Women’s Leadership Circle will accept applications starting February 1st for its 2010 Women’s Scholarship Program, which helps fund career training and education to women over age 40 who have limited economic resources. AARP says the scholarships are awared to “women who are entering 2-3 year technical or skills up-grading programs or in the [...] Related posts:WhatsNext.com offers free career change guideProject Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career WomenAARP award points toward best areas for 50+ jobs

• Online resource launches for intentional communities movement

  Mark Miller

  29 Jan 2010 | 8:19 am

  A national group that supports grassroots aging-in-place communities has launched a web portal to support its movement.  Village to Village Network (VTV) provides assistance and consulting services to intentional communities–a small but fast-growing grassroots movement to support seniors who want to age in place, rather than move to retirement communities. They do so by providing [...] Related posts:WSJ: Making suburbs age-friendly communitiesLearn how to create age-friendly communities at D.C. symposiumRetirementRevised Facebook page launches

• Feds offer website to boost women’s financial literacy

  Mark Miller

  29 Jan 2010 | 7:59 am

  Women tend to outlive men–but far too many face poverty in old age. That’s due mainly to the continuing income gap with men, which affects contributions to Social Security and retirement accounts. But researchers also have documented that many women have a financial literacy gap that leads to poor decisions about saving, investing and debt–all [...] Related posts:Too many women run the risk of retiring into povertyHow income annuities can boost retirement securityWomen face high risk of outliving their money

• 
  The Midlife Gals

• The Amazing Race

  9 Feb 2010 | 5:43 am

  There are so many races going on every minute of every day. Sal and I race to the liquor cabinet to see who can grab the vodka bottle for our martini first. She usually wins because she likes alcohol more than I do. But, there are bigger races going on all around us. There are probably hundreds of ‘races for the cure.’ I think they need to slow down a bit to find the cure, because they could run right over the damn thing, missing it altogether! And, what IS ‘the cure.’ Back in the olden days, it was alcohol...not that my intention is to keep focusing on alcohol, but if there was…

• WE DID IT! (No. 1)

  5 Feb 2010 | 5:53 am

  The Midlife Gals were selected to be in a national commercial!!! So, this announcement will have to suffice as our posting, because we’re shooting all day TODAY! We’re so excited, we could just SPIT!Hopefully there will be many more after this number one goal of our new year. YEEHAW! WHOOPTIE DOO! DAY’AM! I’LL BE GO TO HELL! KK***********************************************OMG!!  A NATIONAL COMMERCIAL!!  GET THE FUCK OUT!!Just like Walt Disney always said, “It’s fun doing the impossible.”Okay, this ain’t Shakespeare.  But what the hell, it’s making money by having fun and…

• Antiquing...Yes We Are

  2 Feb 2010 | 6:33 am

  Yes, with every passing day, we are ourselves antiquing. Our patinas are ripening; our chair legs are wobbly; our paint is peeling and we can be found just about anywhere. With a little regular care, some nice oils, nails in the right places and a fresh coat, we baby boomers are now the cat’s meow. Everyone wants to sell us things. But, truth be told, a few would probably like to just sell US!People are finding us in the most unlikely places. As the young’uns browse through their own life stores, they’ll see us in a dark, forgotten corner and realize our worth. They’ll come running…

• Mistakes...Let us Count The Ways

  29 Jan 2010 | 5:39 am

  Very funny, God. We love that part of our hard wiring that steers us over the edge where there be only dragons beyond. You’re sick! Just because your son screwed up doesn’t mean that you have to take that out on us. What possible reason did you have to make it so ridiculously hard for Dorothy and Toto to make it to The Emerald City? Most of you know how I feel about Mrs. Webster. Merriam has all the answers to my queries, and I’ve always felt like I could trust her. She says this about the word ‘mistake.’“To blunder in the choice of or to make a wrong judgment”And, evidently,…

• Things We Do Differently Now

  26 Jan 2010 | 6:53 am

  We don’t do things as fast as we used to, do we? It just takes longer to bend over, climb up, pick things up or date. We have to be more careful. How many times have you just turned your head too quickly, and wham, a pinched nerve in the neck! We even do exercises more slowly. Sal and I tried to keep up with a young’un on TV teaching cardio dance. She was rabid and moved in such a way that, had we followed her the way she demanded, we’d be in the hospital with blown-out knees and myo-cardial infarction symptoms!I drive more slowly now, but I can still honk at the slow-poke, blue-haired…

• 
  Fiftyshift

• We haht Millie Gahfield

  fiftyshift

  29 Jan 2010 | 1:51 pm

  Back when I wrote for The Boston Globe, there was much handwringing among editors about how to get those younger readers. Sometimes it seemed like the older, loyal readers just weren't enough for them, and so, decisions got made. They did away with things like Confidential Chat (an age-old reader-generated content feature that was its own kind of Facebook.) read more

• Dwell Hell

  fiftyshift

  26 Jan 2010 | 10:01 am

  If you're a fan (or not) of Dwell, you might like Ms. TwentySomething's new blog, Unhappy Hipsters.  

• Caregivers syndrome

  fiftyshift

  26 Jan 2010 | 9:56 am

  CNN reports that there's a name now for the exhaustion, resentment, anger, depression, debilitation, decline in income, loss of job, household stress, revisiting of childhood hurts, problems with husband, quarreling with others about decisions, worrying about money, disgust with condescending doctors and the desire to pummel a chronically ill loved one even though that would be very, very wrong. It's called Caregiver's Syndrome.

• Can't say no to Say Yes to the Dress

  fiftyshift

  26 Jan 2010 | 8:07 am

  By BJ Roche read more

• How to avoid falling and not getting up

  fiftyshift

  26 Jan 2010 | 7:32 am

  Ever since I read a story in the paper a few years ago about a single woman who froze to death after she slipped on ice in her own driveway, I've been a little nervous about this time of year. And the fear only seems to increase as I get older. read more

• 
  About.com Senior Living

• One-Stop Shopping for Senior Benefits

  4 Feb 2010 | 10:23 am

  Could you use some financial help paying for prescriptions, health care, meals, and more? Are you looking for senior housing options? Many people don't know that local, state and federal programs exist to help older adults with bills, prescription drugs, housing, Medicare and more. To help seniors find the resources they need, the National Council on Aging has developed a comprehensive Benefits Checkup site that will help you locate assistance programs and determine if you qualify for assistance. The page offers large print and an easy-to-follow format, making the process of finding and…

• Get Off Your Duff: Prolonged Sitting Increases Your Risk of Death

  1 Feb 2010 | 2:40 am

  I wish I could find a way to prop my laptop on my elliptical trainer. That's because researchers in Melbourne, Australia report that the more time we spend sitting still, the greater our risk of death. After tracking 8,800 people for an average of six years, they discovered that people who watched more than four hours of TV a day increased their risk of dying from any cause by 46 percent, and dying from cardiovascular disease by 80 percent. While researchers focused on TV watchers because they are most likely to sit still for extended periods, the real culprit isn't television--it's the act…

• Trend Analysis Shows Bright Future for Older Adults

  28 Jan 2010 | 10:33 pm

  What does the future hold for older adults? Living to age 100 will be more common, we'll depend more on the Internet to manage our health and make friends, and we'll focus increased attention on positive thinking as a route to longevity and good health. Read more...Trend Analysis Shows Bright Future for Older Adults originally appeared on About.com Senior Living on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 06:33:21.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• Prevent Elder Abuse by Caregivers

  28 Jan 2010 | 11:59 am

  Did you know that one in four U.S. households provides caregiver support to someone? Whether you choose to be a caregiver for a friend or family member--or you are a professional caregiver--you know that caregiving can take a toll on a caregiver's physical and emotional health. Read more...Prevent Elder Abuse by Caregivers originally appeared on About.com Senior Living on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 19:59:26.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• Exercises That Are Easy on the Knees

  22 Jan 2010 | 8:01 am

  A reader asked for advice about the best exercises following knee replacement surgery, and it turns out that the recommended choices are good for every older adult because they provide a combination of fitness and cardio--and they're easy for beginners or people who may not be in good shape. Read more...Exercises That Are Easy on the Knees originally appeared on About.com Senior Living on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 16:01:17.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• 
  All Articles | PowderRoomGraffiti.com

• The Catcher... | Or goddam it! | PowderRoomGraffiti

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:02 pm

  What about old J.D. Salinger leaving us then How manyof us have read that famous book, eh I myself read it at 16 and learnt how totalk American. In 1975, there was a group of schoolgirls going around sayinglsquo;flunked out' and lsquo;goddam it!' Two expressions we had never remotely heard ofbefore (these terms not being used in lsquo;The Mary Tyler Moore Show'). And it wasa novelty, training yourself to read in an American accent for the storyto flow properly. What larks!

• Another Attempt at Nerd Conversion | 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' | PowderRoomGraffiti

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:01 pm

  I've introduced you to the Nintendo DSi,I've trained you to surf the web like Laird Hamilton, and even got you making adigital you. So what's the next logical step in the nerd conversion I seemto be starting Reading Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxyseries. Now, I sense some of you recoiling and saying, lsquo;Ugh, those books areonly for male dweebs.' My argument back is to take a look at Bill Gatesand realize sometimes dweebs get things right. Read More

• Brass In Pocket | And brass neck too | PowderRoomGraffiti

  8 Feb 2010 | 11:01 pm

  I read recently about Michael Carroll, who won pound;9.7million on the Lotto in 2002. Apparently he has spent the entire amount and isnow claiming unemployment benefits. He admits to spending a large amount ondrugs, gambling and prostitutes (after his fed-up wife departed), although healso gave millions to friends and family. Read More

• The Late Clare Taylor | Waiting for late night inspiration | PowderRoomGraffiti

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:02 pm

  It'sthe end of the evening. There's nothing decent on TV, unless you count re-runsof 'Friends' on E4 that I've watched a hundred times already. I have an earlystart tomorrow, the dishwasher has already been unstacked, and the cereal bowlshave been laid out ready for breakfast to minimise fuss in the morning rush(rock and roll, baby. You know it...) So,its time for bed, surelyTimefor bed, definitely. If, that is, Iwere remotely sensible.

• Don't Farce It | Are jokes about rape ever appropriate? | PowderRoomGraffiti

  7 Feb 2010 | 11:01 pm

  Comic relief - theact of injecting humor into serious situations and social issues - dates backto Greek theater and it exists for a reason. If we could not laugh at the humancondition, we would most likely go mad. Society could possibly crumble withoutit.But are allserious social issues the same Should some never be joked about I am talkingabout rape, here.

• 
  Me and Craig ...

• Screaming and Yelling

  Dawn Hild

  3 Feb 2010 | 4:33 pm

  Normally I'm a relatively soft spoken person. Although today screaming and yelling helped... It really did!  I was on the treadmill trying to achieve a new personal best. (A faster pace and a longer run time.) But there was 15 minutes left to complete... And I felt so done. Sweat was dripping from my hair and my calves were burning. I felt like quitting so bad - and I almost did. Then I literally started yelling, "You Can Do This!" I yelled it probably 15 times through that last 15 minutes on the treadmill. And I did it... I achieved that faster pace and longer time. Freaking Awesome! I…

• What a difference a week makes!

  Dawn Hild

  1 Feb 2010 | 3:57 pm

  Today was awesome... We found out that Dillon and Jessika are pregnant with a little boy! Our first grand-baby is going to be a little boy!  Our first born son is going to have a first born son. This is so cool! Oh and by the way, that is our son Dillon and his fiance Jessika pictured above. They are so darn cute... I smile every time I see photos of them together. I know in my heart they are going to grow a wonderful family and a beautiful life together! Our first grandson... Such a blessing. What a difference a week makes!

• I Hate Mondays!

  Dawn Hild

  25 Jan 2010 | 9:07 am

  But this silly cartoon did make me smile this morning...

• Friday Link Love

  Dawn Hild

  22 Jan 2010 | 12:54 pm

  Here are some links to what I'm going to be reading this weekend... Check them out and enjoy. Todoolist:  The To-Do List Made Simple   The Most Important Question You Can Ask Yourself  5 Websites for Swapping Your Clothes and Refreshing Your Wardrobe  Simple Living Manifesto:  72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life  How to Make Extra Cash From Your Hobbies:  Three Easy Steps  Here are some freebie links, too. Free Soul Food Cookbook  Free public domain sheet music library  Free documentaries to download and watch  One free HotBook every…

• Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

  Dawn Hild

  17 Jan 2010 | 10:01 pm