Today is a Gift!

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since I've blogged. I've been busy but mostly I've been lazy. I try every morning to have my quiet reflective time and I've not been very diligent about doing it the past few weeks. Much like dieting I slip and fail to make this quiet time a priority and today I watched a video from a Facebook friend and was once again inspired to get back to my morning boost.

The video is amazing and I invite you to watch it during your quiet time http://michaelhyatt.com/the-gift-of-today.html

I guarantee it will move you and remind you to take each day as a gift. As we start this wonderful Christmas season, it's a perfect time to be reminded of the gifts we are blessed with. The gifts are in everything we encounter each minute of the day we just need to open our eyes to enjoy them.

Here are four ways you can transform today, taking it from ordinary to extraordinary.

(taken from the above website)

1. Notice the gifts around you. Whether it is the natural beauty that surrounds you, the interesting people you encounter, or the simple beating of your heart, everything is a miracle—if you have eyes to see it.
2. Open your heart to receive them. It’s so easy to feel entitled and become cynical when we don’t get what we want or feel we deserve. But if we receive everything as a gift, designed for either our enjoyment, our transformation, or both, we open ourselves to new possibilities.
3. Express your gratitude for them. This is one of the things that makes humans unique and sets us apart from the animals. But we have to speak it to experience the power of it.
4. Bless someone else. Let your gratefulness overflow into the lives of those you encounter today. It doesn’t have to be fancy—just offer them a smile, a touch, or the simple gift of your presence. (You could also share this post with them!) 

I want to remember that Today will never be repeated. It is unique among all the days of my life. My gratitude can transform simple things  into something to be remembered. I am thankful for the Lord above who protects me when I am too stupid to listen and learn from the last time I tried to do it on my own. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who loves me in spite of my flaws. For my children and grandchildren who give me a joy beyond words. For my friends who are always there when I need them. For my health which is amazing since I've abused it most of my life. The opportunities I encounter everyday to witness God's presence in others. 

I could go on and on, but I want to hear what your Thankful for. Did your feet get you out of bed this morning? Were you able to turn on the coffee pot and get a hot cup of coffee? Will someone you encounter make you smile or did YOU make them smile? At the end of today, count your blessings and get ready for another Gift of tomorrow.

Isn't life wonderful!

Warmest wishes from Your Friend Darlene.

Life Should Not be Measured....

My favorite quote is...

'Life should not be measured by the Breaths that we take but rather by the moments that take our breath away!'

I am not sure who wrote it but it was my email tag line for years, it's on the wall of two of my bathrooms and in my kitchen window sill. I still look at it and remember how blessed I am.

I have had so many moments that took y breath away such as meeting the love of my life, Richard, the birth of my 3 kids, the weddings of all 3 kids, the births of my 8 grandchildren and on and on.

There have been so many times that I've also had sadness that took my breath away. The sudden death of my mother at 53 years old, the loss of my dad and 3 good friends in the same year, the loss of my mother-in-law last year. 

So the things that take our breath away is not always happy times, they can be sorrowful times as well. But, what I realize is that this is life. You take the good and the bad and measure the moments. It's not how long we live, it's how we live in the moments. 

Love unconditionally, forgive easily, forget the careless things that people do when they hurt you, love those who forgive you when you hurt them, spend time, time, and more time with family and friends as if it were the last moments you have with them because it might be.

Sadly, my very good friend, Melanie is  probably losing her twin sister very soon. She's on life support and although I know God works miracles EVERY DAY, the truth is, she's dying. She may last a few hours, a few days or she could rally and be with us for many more years, BUT we need to prepare for the loss of our loved one. It's a moment that will take our breath away once again.

For those of you reading this...I love you! I make no excuses or apologies for caring about you so much that it takes my breath away. I want you all to know that you are special and have been  given so much talent and wealth compared to so many, use it wisely and generously because you cannot take it to the grave.

Another quote I read awhile back was something to the effect of...The journey to the grave should not be that you want to look your best in your coffin but to look like you've worn yourself out by enjoying life. It's not how good we look when we die, but that we've used up every ounce of our being to enjoy this life! We'll get enough R&R in heaven.

God Bless you all, and may his warm loving arms give you peace and security for ever.

Your breathless friend Darlene!

Every Day is a Blessing

Good Morning, good Day and Good Afternoon!

When I began this Blogg I thought I would post every day, but so far I've not and that's probably a good thing! I don't want you to get tired of reading how I am, what I'm doing and how the world is treating me.

Today is good, the last few days, Not so good. I'm having challenges with motivation, inspiration and follow through on every day goals. Too much time on my hands or just age related Blahs....is that a technical term?

As I'm aging, I feel a need to do something with my life. Something important like cure cancer, save a life or something that people will remember me by when I'm gone. Write that awesome book, give a child a home that has none, or create something people will use forever. Does that make sense? I don't want to just exist. I don't want to shop just for the sake of shopping, go out to eat because I'm too bored to cook and I want to feel better about how I spend my time. I want to make a difference and I don't know how YET, but I will continue to pray for direction until I find something.

I want to say Thank You! Thank you friends and family for always touching my heart at the right times. For always laughing with me. For being who you are and making me a better person.

I'd like to share my Daily word with you (I promise not to be too spiritual too often).

From Joyce Meyer's "Starting Your Day Right"

Be Slow to Speak - Have you ever regretted something you said as soon as the words were out of your mouth? You can't take back the words you speak to others - and words can damage relationships. The Bible says that if you can control your mouth, you can control your whole body (see James 3:2)

Before you respond to people quickly, stop and listen to what the Holy Bible has to say about your situation. James taught, "Let every man be quick to hear (a ready listener), slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry" (James 1:19). Commit your mouth to God's service and use words that speak healing to others.

As we all know, i speak too quickly and often regret not taking more time to think about what I say. I've never deliberately said something unkind or hurtful, but I know that I've regretted the words spoke in jest but wounded someone deeply. My Tag line on my personal email is...

Harsh words may not break bones, but they do break hearts!

I pray that I never break your heart, lose your trust and break any promises I make to you!

Have a wonderful day and may you find peace and joy in everything you do!

Is it the Hair?

Written this morning but posted this evening at 5:30pm

So it's about 3:30 am and I woke up and can't get back to sleep so I thought I would Blog. Doesn't it sound like a cool movie? Sleep has been a real issue as I'm aging, BUT that's another Blog for another time.

Hair, remember when hair growing out of different parts of our bodies was a BAD thing? Now I have to remember 'when ' was the last time I shaved my legs, underarms and bikini areas. It's almost like having Alzheimer's or an old movie like The Lost Weekend.

Any ways. I remember when I was in Jr. High and after begging my mother for months to let me shave my legs and underarms, like all the other girls, she finally relented. Back then as most of you remember, we had to use dad's double sided razor. I think they've been outlawed now.  These razors were deadly to a woman's body. No underarms, bikini are or legs went un scarred, but thank goodness we were still too young to worry about the Bikini area at this age as our experience with these razors would have probably made us barren. I still have nightmares about running with these razors and falling in a pit of them…Ugh!

Now I was a pretty hairy girl in my younger days (including last year). Not a large gorilla, but small chimp would be about right. When mom said okay, I was giddy with excitement and even though my mother warned me that "Once you start shaving, you never stop", I wanted this.

I shaved my arm pits first then sat on the side of the sink and shaved my legs next. I don't think I cut myself then, but I can remember the legs looking like I had been in the war or attacked by the chainsaw crazy killer who preyed on young couples in parked cars.

I was so excited to go to school the next day to show off my clean shaven legs, (I didn't show anyone my armpits, just didn't seem right). My girlfriends were excited for me. Much like boys when they have a 'right' of passage to becoming a man, this is a woman's right of passage second only to the period (sad isn't it!). So here I am in school telling my girlfriends the good news and showing them my legs when one of the girls, I've forgotten her (Charlotte – hated her) asks me why I didn't shave the backs of my legs. Dumb founded I had to think quickly. Back of the legs…Damn, I only shaved the front and there are TWO sides…crap! I said the only thing I could come up with…"Hummm my MOM wouldn't let me!" She didn't want me to shave so she said I could only shave the fronts for now and if I did okay I could shave the back later" Stupid girls, they bought it! They even felt sorry for me that my mother was so strict. I still feel kind of bad about blaming my mother for that and many other things which again are for later issues that I will need to discuss on my Blog. Maybe I do need a therapist. Don't they usually tell you it's your parents fault?

So I ran home and shaved the backs of my legs and began my 49+ years of SHAVING!

Back to the present day.  Last January I was helping my friend Patty (Hi Patty) on some stuff at her house and she gave me a random present. You know how fun it is to get Random presents? Sometimes there really cool random gifts that you go "Oh wow!" and other times there just like" Oh, thanks", that's nice and move on? Well Patty always gives cool random presents and this time she gave me a 10X hand mirror for my purse. Now I have a magnifying mirror in my bathroom that I check every morning for stray hairs and it works good. BUT this 10X sucker is amazing! One look and I realized that I had been walking around with a forest on my upper lip and chin for years! Wow, so how long has my face been a forest? What about that job interview I had 5 years ago, was it there then, did the interviewer see it? Does my dentist have to throw up after I leave his office? It really made me start to look back over the years and who were close enough to visit the forest. Talk about needing therapy now!

Now I've had the 'stray' 1 inch long hair on my face before and said "How the heck did that get there?" Believe me I checked my chin every day and no way that hair was there this morning. It must be those vitamins and hormones I now take or something. Kind of like the 10ft woman who grew overnight, some hairs are just like that.

The mirror is great and it goes everywhere with me (I had to draw the line at having it out in church…just wasn't appropriate) but Patty, you should have included a pair of tweezers with it. If you're going to give a gift like that it should be complete with tweezers so people can get to work on the forest right then and there! I was in agony running to the bathroom every few minutes to borrow tweezers to see if I was able to complete the deforesting or if the hairs had suddenly grown back. BUT I will say it was a cool gift.

I've always had angst about hair on my face (and other areas) because as my mom aged, she quit shaving and tweezing. I often felt embarrassed for her and ashamed when I was out in public with her.

I didn't know how to talk to her about it. She also got to where she wouldn't go out in public much and let herself go. I loved my mom and I miss her terribly, I don't want to become my mother, but I can see where she just got tired of clearing the forest herself.

So, as my friends and my daughters, I want us to promise one another that if we see a forest growing on our legs (only counts if we're wearing shorts or skirts), faces and armpits (I'm too old for the full bikini but …yes event the bikini IF I am in a swimsuit) as we're aging, we will be united in reminding each other to get a 10x mirror, a good razor and therapy if needed!

Have a wonderfully free Hairless day and may no wild hair appear unless it's an urge to go play Bingo!

God Bless

BINGO! That's Right I said it.....BINGO!

Good Morning Friends,

So yesterday, my sweet husband drove me 40 miles one way to Polson MT to go on a Bingo Cruise. We left early and walked around town, had lunch and did some DMV stuff. Nice day in town.

At 5:30pm we lined up with 70 other people to board the boat that would take us on a 3-hour cruise on the Flathead Lake. We've not been on this end of the lake before so we were seeing a new side from the water.

Now, most of you know that Richard IS NO BINGO PLAYER but he did have to pay to play so I played his packet and he stayed on the top deck with the captain all evening.

To say the boat was crowded is not descriptive enough. 72 people jammed into an area that should have not be set for more that 50 and even then most planners would have asked for a larger boat.

We jammed our bodies at banquet tables which were 5 people deep. Now, I know I am too big and am embarrassed that when I sat at my seat (luckily I had an aisle seat) my boobs hung over the table. I glanced at the more endowed woman and marveled at how they managed to get into their seats. I can only suspect they do this kind of thing often.

So, let me walk you through the process quickly as I want to lead you up to how I was almost kicked off the boat. The staff checked our names off at the dock but we paid for our packets inside. Inside were 3 banquets on the right side and 4 on the left side. A total of 72 seats were sold. Now we had to line up in the aisle which is barely 2 people wide to pay for our packets. This took me 20 minutes or more, a very slow moving line.

The food was jammed in the corner on the left and the built in bar is on the right side and the Bartender, Teri, either worked in housekeeping and filled last minute or was taking so many antidepressants that she didn't know she was even on a boat with 72 people who actually wanted a drink. I went from feeling sorry for her to feeling like I was on a hidden camera and would show up on YouTube later that night. If Teri was pouring a glass of wine, she COULD NOT answer any questions. The 1-drink advertised was non alcoholic but no one knew that and finally everyone just got drinks and some paid some did not, I never figured it out and I doubt that Teri ever did.

Now I have my packet, daubers and snack. I head back to my table while dodging others. Richard eats quickly and escapes to the upper deck. I should have gone with him.

Once we get started things start out okay. I actually Bingo'd on the last game of the warm ups. Along with two others I received $22.00. I tipped out $2 and feeling pretty good. Meanwhile I am trying to keep the table cloth from pulling everything off the table as I try to breath. The man behind me (in his 40's) is with his mother (did I tell you she looked older than me??) and his wife. I encountered them at the bar earlier and ...you know how some times you just know that this person is going to be trouble? Well, listen and learn.

Someone Bingos and he also calls Bingo. When they check 'his mother's card' she had actually Bingo'd on the previous number. They explain to him that she has a late call and her Bingo isn't valid. He protests that she had tried to Bingo but no one heard her. Now, my hearing is getting bad, but this man and woman are literally at my head and when they swallow I hear them. So although he protest that they are going too fast and need to slow down as his mother can't keep up (did you see the story change here?). The caller explains that he's going at the correct speed and he suggest nicely that he try and help her keep.

YEP, that was 1 of 3 times this happened. AND every time he complained. Now he's ordering the helper around like his personal PA and demanding free (not complimentary) cocktails and he is getting them! Can you see how he's getting on my nerves?

So here's the fun part, ready? So We're looking for a double Six Pack. I am getting closer and I just feel it's going to happen. I need I24 for a six pack. They call G55, then a miracle.....on the screen is
I24....MY NUMBER! I wait patiently and when the caller says I24 , I yell Bingo with a loud confident voice and started counting my money. A the same time, the lady across the aisle from me calls it, the man sitting across the table from me calls it and YEP the man behind me calls it. The helper comes over and passes me by to take the 'Mother's card' to be checked first...it's Not A Valid Bingo! She Bingo'd on G55. The 'good'  son proceeds to get loud and says G55 is still flashing and it's still a good number. The caller and helper talk and say okay we'll let her have it.....I come un glued and began to rant (along with others) No Way! You called I24, I24 is the number for Bingo NOT G55 which although still flashing isn't a valid number...That's BINGO 101 (I didn't say that part).

The caller and helper talk again and realize the error of their ways and agree that I24 is the correct number.

So Good son complains again that his mother tried to call it before he said I24, so she should get it. He says "So your saying it's 3 times now? So 3 times (it's actually 4) she's wrong. I will be talking to the management about this.

Ready? So the man across from me has his Bingo checked and it's Not a Valid Bingo..he didn't have (2) Six packs he only had (1). Ooops! Now I look at mine and realize I also only have (1) of the (2) six packs needed. Darn it. My only response now is ...Never mind....My boobs got in the way and I miss baubbed ...I now refer to it as the nipple Daubbing mishap. 

Can you believe the man actually says, "So she gets the Bingo right?". I think that's when they wanted to throw me off the boat. "NO! You don't get the Bingo! Is this man crazy and am I on a hidden camera? Is this a new Reality Series and we're all just pawns in a game of Bingo? I need to know.

Fortunately the lady across the aisle did have an actual Bingo on I24.

We moved on and the cruise was 30 minutes late docking. See what happens when you have Nipple Daubbing mishaps?

So that was my fun adventure of Bingo Cruising on the Flathead Lake. No one can appreciate it as much as I can, you just had to be there. I was still chuckling this morning but I haven't checked out YouTube yet!

Have a great day and may God Bless you with wide aisles and plenty of room at your table when playing Bingo!

Good Morning Monday!

It is a good Monday Morning!

I can honestly say this is the best day I've had in a very long time. I woke up refreshed (not happened in ages). I slept well and can't remember if I dreamed about looking for that lost meeting room and anything related to finding something! What a relief. It's been ages since I haven't spent sleepless nights looking for lost meeting rooms, missing VIP's, missing or late caterers and almost anything related to meetings. Last night I didn't dream of anything missing! I think chasing those things made me tired every morning!

So this morning I woke up without dragging out of bed, went and did 12 sit ups (this week I am up from 10 to 12 sit ups a day), danced 10 minutes to the 50's oldies station and then after a yogurt I went for a walk on the Wild Mile with Richard. We walked 3.5 miles in 1 hr and 3 minutes. We didn't stop once and walked at a brisk pace the entire time. I was surprised when we finished as I am usually looking for the parking lot on the return leg and thinking Geezzz where is it I'm tired and ready to end this! Not this time. I was okay! I felt good about myself. I said "Self...your pretty good. Yep...I am"

YEAH! I'd also like to say that when I returned home I weighed and I am down 3 pounds from last Tuesday. Can I hear an ...Amen!

So here's to a great week. I am going to continue to eat right and do little things to keep moving. But I am not doing it just for me I am doing it for Richard as well. He's struggling with weight and he's in more of a crisis than I am. He's got diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He takes medication for all these things and his weight is a huge factor in keeping them under control. I need to not only get myself in shape I need to help motivate him to get in shape too. It's a win win situation.

An Irritating Fact of Aging ....
One of my things about those automatic online forms that we fill out with options for our DOB, what really bother me is when you have to scroll through all the years to get to yours. It reminds me I was born in the middle of the last century.....!

May God Bless you with Strength and wisdom to do the right thing today and if not, may there be someone else close by to blame it on!

DT

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday and I'm another day closer to my 60th.

For those who don't know I had a incident last week. I was going to go for a walk with my husband and as we got out of the car at the Wild Mile trail I wasn't quite up to par. I was a little stiff, walked a little funny and my thoughts were a little jumbled. My sweet hubby became concerned and after a few minutes turned me back to the car and proceeded to take me to the emergency room. I must admit that the entire few hours are in fog for me so most of what I am telling you seems more like a movie rather than real but my hubby assures me it's real.

At the emergency room they asked me questions which I remember thinking I need to really think hard and answer correctly or they might charge me double, our insurance doesn't pay for this and I'm sure the doctor knows he gets more if I answer wrong. So, "Birth date?" "Yes I do. It's every year at the same time!" I'm 59 going on 60. I'm going to blog about it with my friends when I get out of here!"...the doctor just smiles...I think he just added $$ to my bill.

After I napped a little I got to go with the nice young man on a little gurney ride around the hospital which cost a few more $$s. I wanted to tell him I had already been on a tour of this hospital as I'd been a volunteer here for the last 8 years or so but he was having so much fun I couldn't disappoint him so I just napped and kept quiet as he wheeled me in and out of the lab area where they took photos of my brain which I think was for the lobby art walk and then wheeled me back to the emergency room where the doctor said all test looked good, blood pressure fine, blood sugar good, no sign of stroke, etc. I am good to go!

Richard took me out to the car, drove me home and I slept for hours.

Now I am not sure why I had this episode from soap "The Doctors" but I am really not worried about it. My family doctor is, my husband is, but I am not. Of course I haven't got the bill for the tour of the emergency room from the hospital yet and that might change my entire perspective, but for now I am doing fine. No more slurred speech, stumbling or sleepiness but there's always tomorrow.

I am not taking it lightly I am making changes to my diet and exercise. It's not easy and some days are easier than others. I am overweight and eat badly, exercise little and sleep badly. I want to thank Alice and Jan for encouraging me to lose weight and focus on getting better without being crazy about it. I want to enjoy my life but have quality of life as well.

Thank you friends and family for being so wonderful that I look forward to being with you every day and laughing with you always. I will always be silly and I hope we can all laugh at ourselves together. I know that you will always love me for who I really am, someone who loves you dearly.

God Bless you for being the best people God ever put on this earth! You make me a better person because you are in my life!

Darlene Questioning the high instance of Gas

Good Morning!  I'm a little behind on Blogging but feeling pretty good today about things. I was thinking about what to chat about and yesterday on my walk with Richard it came to me...GAS!

Now, you might say that's not very lady like and I normally would quite agree but in the last few years (during my up hill climb to turning 60) I've come to realize that I am slowly gaining the skills of a Jr High boy when it comes to being able to pass gas. I tried to hide it and shed many a tears behind the bathroom walls and now I embrace the fact that as I am getting older I am becoming my grandmother.

Do you remember being at your grandmother's (or some of you, your mothers) and have them pass gas and pretend they didn't? I can remember being in a store and realizing that an older person passed gas and kept on walking. Without saying "Oh Sorry!" The nerve of them to just pretend they didn't just fart in the aisle of the Dollar Store and now people think I did it!.

Well, guess what I am there! This is where I am laying down now as I confess to you my inner fears. I  started realizing I had fears of public passing a few years ago. Most of you know what a Mic Runner is, but for those of you who don't. During General Session Meetings, staff are often asked to be in the room and carry a microphone to people who want to ask questions of the Moderator or Speaker on the stage and you take the Mic to them in the audience. Once you make your way through the seating of chairs and.or tables you kneel down and hand the mic to the guest so they can ask their question. You wait there until the question has been answered and then take the mic rise and move to the next one. My biggest fear in my younger days was getting through the crowded spaces quickly NOW the fear is two fold. 1. Being able to get up from the squat on the floor...hoping my knees will work AND the #1 biggest fear is that I won't pass GAS AS I RISE! Can you imagine!!! Now, would I admit it and say "Oh excuse me I farted please continue! " or would I say.."Sir, would you please ask that question again I don't think they heard you?"

One more thing regarding passing gas and I will move on. When in a public bathroom, how many of you wait for the lady in the next stall to flush the toilet so you can pass gas? I am to the point where now I consider the timing and try to measure my timing to see if I can make it out of the bathroom before she does so she won't know it was me. Pee, Gas, flush, pull up pants, out door, wash hands, dry (damn air dryer not towels takes longer) and out door...too late she beat me...she passed gas!

So ladies (and guys if your wives are sharing) can you commiserate with me on this or have you not arrived yet?

Have a good day and may God Bless you with a gas less day if you have to go shopping!

Turning 60 - 286 Days

August 21, 2012

Woke up this morning feeling a little tired as usual which reminded me that with age comes less sleep and fitful unexplained dreams.

My dreams always seem to consist of 'Hunting". No, not for animals or treasures but for Meeting Rooms, missing VIP's, airports that seem to disappear from view just as I need to fly off somewhere.

I dream of missing flights, free cocktails and food. It's very tiring as I don't feel that I get anywhere but I am sure working hard to get there.It is so strange to me that I am still hunting for things and it's all geared around meetings and events...Oh, wait I'm a Meeting Planner and TD that explains it!

To my fellow TD's - is this what you dream about too? Please tell me yes, I really hate being alone in this area.

So I need to focus on how to sleep better and get more sleep without the dreaming. I dream in living Color and I can even see a pin drop in my dreams. Dreaming has been a part of me since I was a child, but of course as a child I dreamed of Prince Charming, getting my 1st Barbie and winning the lottery (wait that's my dreams now!)

I've decided to do two things each week by announcing it on my Blog.

#1  Focus - this is a challenge for me, so each week I am going to recognize (1) thing for me to focus on. Whether it's changing an attitude, correcting a bad habit, or even following up on things I need/want to do to improve myself. Focusing is important and when we accomplish even small things, we feel more empowered.

#2 Change - Repeat above

This week my Goals are:

A. Doing sit ups in the morning and today I will start with  20 sit ups. This is to help my back which hurts often. My doctor suggested it and after all she is a doctor so she must know.

B. I will change...my sit up number to 10 each morning! Now that's not cheating it's changing to fit what I really CAN do and not what I WISHed I could do. Baby steps.

Have a Nice Day and May God Bless you with energy, strength and laughter to make it through the day!

Only 287 Days until I turn 60!

Okay here we go! I am officially Blogging and a little scared that I can actually figure out how to do it.

I am writing this as theraphy. I noticed that I have had some challenges lately and wondered if it was just me OR if in fact everyone who's getting ready to turn 60 starts going crazy.

Some of you know me and already have figured out that I AM crazy so I just need to convince myself that I'm not alone in this craziness or learn to live as a hermit so as not to inflict my craziness on others.

So, hope you check out my blog every time you feel you need cheering up, taken down a notch or two and when you just want to feel better about yourself by listening to me fall apart!

I'm starting the countdown to my 60th Birthday - June 4th, 2013 is the momentous occasion and between now and then I want to try and come to grips with my ailments. Which are: weight gain, sluggishness, trouble focusing, headaches, night sweats, and other fun stuff. I will try and focus on each one and get better but I will need advice and support from all my friends and family.

Part One of two

Hi Friends and Family - I am on a count down to my 60th Birthday and I want to share my thoughts and journey with you. Turning 60 isn't the worst thing to happen but I'm not there yet and I am feeling the pain!

You can choose to not follow me and I will not be offended, but if you join me I think we can not only have some fun but learn a lot about ourselves as we're aging.

Today I went for my annual physical and YEP you guessed it I am a mess :). Overweight, stressed, forgetting things, and allergies are getting to me. So many things wrong but OH so many things right. I don't have high blood pressure, diabeties, ulcers, and many other bad stuff that starts attacking us at this age. Although I am tired a lot, don't sleep as well as I should and my middle keeps expanding and it just might blow at any time.

I am going to take each day of this count down and focus on change.

I am going to change my attitude about things starting with the following:

#1 I've learned that my physical appearance is not on the Top Ten list somewhere. The fact is no one cares how I look but me, isn't that weird?

 #2 The idea that the state of the world's financial crisis is all my fault and I can resolve it if ONLY I would spend more money. This was a big load off my mind and I think I can relax about this one.

#3 That switching to Thong underwear would make me feel sexier. Plus, the fact that my old lady panties are beginning to feel just like thong underwear as they keep riding up my butt, why not join the younger group and try Thongs for awhile...Ummmm Maybe not. I'll just buy a larger size of my grannies!

So that's my thought for now. Following my doctors advise, I am focusing on change. Hope you can commiserate with me. It's so freeing to know that others are going through this age thing. It's so much more fun to do it together.

If I can't be rich, beautiful and young...I'll just make those who are realize that it's only temporary and help them learn how this aging thing works. It's my duty to remind them often and this blogg should keep them up to date.

So share this with your younger friends and children (probably the girls only would be best especially since I plan to talk about girl things like eating chocolate without your husband or boyfriend seeing you, using a minipad to keep your underarm sweat at bay, and one of my favorite tricks, hemeroid medicine for the bags under my eyes). Send me your thoughts your suggestions and any cash you feel would help me pay for the big 60th party I plan for myself. Those who contribute will be invited to attend...those who don't contribute will be invited to host the party and clean up!

God Bless us seniors and watch out as we roller skate right past everyone!