We went to a Halloween party this past weekend and had a groovy time. Since our costumes were more like stuff we wear now plus a few added accessories we had to get even more creative for the full effect. We carried a portable cd player with us and chose 'White Room' as our entrance song. We also played it while doing our little strut in front of the judges (fathers and other relatives of the host and hostess who didn't dress up) for best costume. No, we didn't win (gift card for a local store), but had a blast acting like a couple of old hippies. We're not that far off. haha
So, what do hippies take to crash at someone's pad for the night.... a tray of *brownies*, of course. Okay, they were actually a gluten-free variety and instead of using a certain *secret* ingredient I just rolled up a baggie of oregano and laid it on the tray. But one can pretend....
I didn't have to buy too much for our costumes... The peace sign bandana was from the craft store and the knitted pouch was a new find at a local hippie shop. The beads, necklace, sunglasses, rings, jeans, shirt, scarf... all mine. My son gave me the little peace sign pendant necklace as a gift when he was in grade school. I did buy the flowery nail decals but the big silver blingy pendant was from a key chain. It worked quite well as a necklace. I got Ron a tye dye shirt from that hippie shop but my shirt is one I've already been wearing.. got it at Boscov's about a month ago and it has a twin in brown. Everything comes back in style, right?
I must have been feeling happy... my little pinky mood ring turned a good color!
We made a poster board sign to carry in with us. We're all about peace and love, baby.
Yup, the incense came right out of my candle drawer. It's been awhile since I burned any... might have to start again though... it smelled so sweet and funky.
I bought Ron a peace bracelet for $5. The Jimi Hendrix cd is from our son's collection.
The hippie names we chose for the night were 'Free' and 'Flower'.
Party host (Ace Frehley, Spaceman) and hostess (wicked Queen) are very good friends. It's always a good time at their home.
So that's what me and my man did this weekend. Can you dig our heavy threads, man??
Such a bummer that I haven't been able to visit you all lately. :(
SCHOOL IS KICKING MY ASS.
If I see one more Excel spreadsheet I will surely lose my mind.
The good news is that the course is almost finished. Am I a little too old for all of this? Hell to the yeah!! Trying to keep up though. I go to bed at night formatting a freaking column in my mind and wake up thinking about how to apply conditional logic to a formula. Sad, my friends, so sad.
Hoping to do one big giant catch up real soon. Miss you all so much!! {HUGS}
September is upon us and it seems everyone is excited about Fall. Yes, I do love that whole season but let's not rush it! My girlfriend is already getting her Halloween party invites ready and I'm sure she has at least half the menu planned. Heck, there are people posting 'Countdown to Christmas' posters on FB already... relax, people! For right now though, our little backyard garden is still putting out and we're so thankful for it's bounty. We've given bags of goodies away to family, friends and neighbors.
Our furry friend, Rev... and Ollie, too. He's hanging out in the crate in the corner of our porch.
We went to our daughter's for a BBQ on Sunday. Our pretty princess is always happy to get a photo with her Mimi.
And Alex is always ready with a pose, too! He had been sick with an ear/throat infection so it was nice to see him having fun.
My cousin and his wife visited us from Virginia recently and we took them on a driving tour of Philadelphia. Ron suggested we get out for a quick photo opp. Right before this one...I got one of them under the LOVE sign, but since VA is for lovers I'm sure they have plenty of their own signs and weren't too impressed. We had such a nice visit with them though. It had been many years since we got together. Too many! I was happy for the time we spent together.
Fun with food. Yup, we're still grillin'!
In other news....
I'm taking a course at a local college. Microsoft Office Specialist is the name of it. My resume is a bit lacking from too many years as a SAHM so I'm hoping a few classes will help. I'm not interested in a career at this point but want steadier work/money than what my jewelry biz has provided. Not to say that if I decide to take a couple additional business classes/seminars and learn a better way to market the home business that I wouldn't do it. It just hasn't been as profitable as I need/want it to be so I had been looking at ads for office jobs and found that my skill set there needed tweaking as well. So... back to school for me.
Six years! Can you believe it? Well, some of my posts were so boring I made myself yawn. Others were cool because they were filled with photos! Makes up for the fact that I suck at writing. Heh!
So, I still have no theme and post whenever I feel like it... but dammit, Blogger, I just can't quit you! And I'm very thankful to those of you who come by and leave me comment love. {HUGS}
1. I have a great relationship with my sister again! Yes, we fought after our father died and didn't speak for years but with the birth of my grandson she and her husband came back into our lives and we've built a new relationship with them. That makes me happy. She's my only sibling and I love her.
2. My toenails are painted a Sally Hansen color called 'Gone Grey'. Hey, just like the roots of my hair!
In other news...
Our phones/internet at home are working again! Tech came a day early and was very nice. The problem was fixed quickly and I called Verizon right away to tell them how happy I was with the visit. My husband and I were both pretty upset about our conversations with customer service prior to the service call and we were seriously considering going with another company. The man who came out today is probably the main reason why I'm okay keeping things as they are. Verizon should give him a raise or at least overtime so those of us who have a problem on a Friday don't have to stew for a long weekend over the horrors of corporate greed and outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. Oh, don't even get me started on all that....
We have a special Democratic primary tomorrow to fill the seat of Senator Lautenberg, who died in June. I'm voting for Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark.
I'm currently reading 'The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane' by Katherine Howe. It's about a woman in modern day who discovers she has a connection to Salem and the witch trials.
Am patiently awaiting the release of Stephen King's sequel to The Shining. Doctor Sleep comes out next month!
I need to find my creative muse. She's run off again, probably sipping wine at a villa in Tuscany, the elusive little bitch. And here I am, wondering if turning my craft room into a spare bedroom might be a better use of the space. One would have come in handy last weekend when hubby's cousin visited for 2 nights. The couch was okay but a comfy little bed and bit of privacy would have been nicer.
Oh, I don't know. I have had a few fleeting moments of good thoughts about my small business lately and then I'm right back on my bed with one hand in the potato chip bag and the other changing channels to watch snippets of movies I've already seen dozens of times. Hey, that raptor scene with the kids in the kitchen at the end of Jurassic Park is really intense though.
I'll get out of my rut eventually and start creating again. Maybe just booking an end of summer home party here at my house would be one way to get good energy going again.
What helps get YOU motivated when you're stuck on something?
Will be around to catch up on all your blogs soon. Right now, I'm going to get a hot bath and treat my hair to some nice conditioner.
I started this post and then it hung out in the draft folder for awhile.... but it's better than nothing, right?!
The other day I caught a segment of Gerardo Mejia being interviewed by Katie Couric. You might not know him by that name... but say 'Rico Suave' and a lot of people will instantly know the song. It peaked at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart on April 13, 1991, and reached #2 on the Hot Rap Singles chart a week earlier. Yes, I have one of his cd's. It's not the one Rico Suave is on, however, I do have the single on my iPod. Oh you know that I do!
So he's been married with kids for quite awhile now. Last night, his family and Sisqo's family were featured on the show 'Celebrity Wife Swap' and I tuned in... well, until the torrential rains blocked the signal on our t.v. satellite.
BTW, that rain wasn't going to keep Ron from grilling. Friends were coming over for dinner and he wanted bbq. When it started to rain so hard I offered to cook the meat inside but you just can't come between a man and his new grill I guess. He took my craft tent outside....
Got a little help from our son....
And before too long he was grillin' in the rain.
It was very yummy! He did a good job. :)
Update on the hair saga....
The condition is called 'Telogen Effluvium' and it's very common. Pfft, I don't want to have what everyone else has, ya know! Can't it just be some exotic thing coming from way too much personality. Ha! Anyway, it can occur for different reasons...stress, hormones, deficiencies, etc. and whatever it is that happens causes the hair to go into a premature phase of rest. My dermatologist said at this point it's a waiting game. She sees new growth at the temples, and I have quite a bit of gray, so it's doing stuff... just very slowly. It still continues to come out a lot though, too. *sigh* So, I'm still wearing it in the 'hot mess' bun and some even compliment me on the style. I could spend hundreds of dollars on cuts, coloring, products, etc. and no one would say a thing or I can pull the ratty mess up and cover the gray roots with some rust and brown colored blending chalk (from my craft room for use on greeting cards) and people like it. Go figure?
In other news....
Our phone and internet are out at home. Verizon totally sucks right now. We had some rain and lightening on Friday and that's when it went out. The CSA told us it would be Tuesday until someone could even come out. AND, because we don't have a maintenance plan we may be charged extra. I see us making some changes to our service as I'm hearing more and more how bad Verizon is. Not that Comcast is all that much better in some ways.... but at this point Verizon has my panties in a bunch!
Many thanks for the comments on my last post... love you all!! xo
I'll catch up with your blogs again just as soon as possible.
I recently started a photo album at FB for 'then' and 'now' photos. One set of pics I'm NOT posting there is the issue I'm having with my hair, but I will include them here since I've already told my readers about it. Because the dermatologist doesn't know me or my hair I went thru some photos and printed out a couple to take to my appointment next week. This was from January. Thick and full.
Then it started to get thinner and a bit more scraggly looking by late May.
This was today. The crown area. Yes, I had a good cry about it.
While trying to pick thru the knots more came out, I added some of it to a bag I'm taking to the dermatologist's office next week. Then my husband came home, I cried some more, we snuggled on the bed for a little while and then ordered Chinese food for dinner. He offered to help me condition it and get the rest of the knots out but I said no. I just pulled it back into a bun and got busy with other things.
Here are some of the other 'then' and 'now' pics I've been working on. This is of me and my son during his first Christmas in 1993.
He just turned 20. I can hardly believe it!
I think I was pregnant with him in this next photo of me and my daughter. She was about 8 years old.
And here we are just recently while celebrating her 29th birthday.
Ollie was such a sweet little puppy.
And he's a sweet older dog too. I think this was from about 2 1/2 ago.
Before we were married. Ron was a romantic guy then just as he is now. Love him!!
About a month ago while at the cherry orchards.
Me holding my darling granddaughter after she was born.
And us just last weekend. She'll be 4 in a few months.
Holding my precious preemie grandson after he was born.
And I still get to hold him and he can hold me too! He's 6 years old.
Wayyyy back when... my mom's cousin spent a lot of time with me when I was young. Sadly, we lost touch for awhile.
I'm happy to say that quite a few years ago we got back in touch and have gone out for lunch and dinner, chatted on the phone, etc. She's had us to her house for dinners too and it's always a good time.
I've got a couple boxes of photos, plus many pictures on my camera discs, so there are many more to share. I should have them organized better. Maybe I'll make that a project one of these days....
First, I'm very sorry for not getting around to most of your blogs lately. I had managed to read a few posts and left a couple comments one or two days recently but then went missing again. *big sigh*
Things are fine with my family. My grandson finished up Kindergarten last month and the kids are having a good summer. My husband and son went on a last minute road trip to Georgia and enjoyed themselves. I made the best of them being away and visited with some friends, did some reading, etc.
Overall though, I'm in bit of a funk. Today has been a particularly rough day so why not blog about it, right?
The problem is... my hair is falling out.
I don't mean that normal occasional shedding that many women experience after coloring their hair or during a season change or while dealing with some stress. I'm talking about half my hair. Gone. And, it's still coming out. It's not just a bit of breakage, like you get maybe when using too much product or eating crappy for awhile. It's full strands, coming out from the root, daily. If I run my fingers through it my hands are full of hair. Sometimes it's actually too knotty to even do that because as it falls it gets tangled with the other hair and causes clumps which I then have to gently pick thru to separate.
So when it first started, I remembered having a similar issue many years ago and saw a dermatologist. It turned out to be a slight overall thinning and I don't recall there being a specific cause at that time. Whatever it was stopped, my hair grew back and things were fine. This time though, it's not stopping. If anything, it's getting worse as I can see my scalp now in a couple places. Yes, I do have an appointment scheduled but the office is very busy it will have been a 2 month wait by the time I am seen. In the meantime, I had some bloodwork done at my family doc's office. Thyroid okay, menopause hormones about average, sugar fine, cholesterol a little high but lower than last time so alright. The only thing out of range was that I'm anemic, which can cause hair issues, but I've been anemic on and off since I was a kid so this is nothing new for me or my body. I just take extra iron when I get a bit low.
While reading online about hair loss it seems that it can be many things from diet to heredity. I did change my diet many months ago. I'm still not eating dairy, other than a little butter occasionally. Initially, I gave up grains too but am now adding some back in now and then. The weight loss has been slow and under 20 lbs. So I don't feel that I've done anything drastic to cause the hair issue. I'm eating better than I ever did. And I take a few assorted supplements for things that might be lacking so I don't really know what the problem is. My parents lost some of their hair when they got older, but not at my age and not so quickly. Other things it can be are vitamin/mineral deficiencies, toxic metal issues, stress, hormonal imbalances, alopecia, etc. etc.
As it started to get noticeable to me, I changed my hair style by just pulling it up in a pony tail or bun and having some strands hang down along the side and back. That was cute enough and since it's been wicked hot here it's nice to not have all that hair on my neck for awhile. I've been thinking all along that maybe it'll stop coming out and will grow again and I can go back to wearing it normally. But since that is not happening I'm unsure what to do with it. Thought about going to my friend's hair salon and getting a short cut but having not seen the dermatologist yet I'm just not sure what to do. It won't matter if it's short if it's still coming out. It'll probably just be more noticeable to do that. And it needs to be colored. The hair I have left is getting very gray at the roots. Cruel joke, eh?
Anyway, that's what I'm dealing with. It's hard to have such a drastic change happen and not know why or whether it'll ever get better or if wig shopping will be happening soon. Yes, I'm actually thinking that might be a possibility at some point. I can't really color the gray right now, I don't want the chemicals to take more of it away. So it's going to look both thin, scraggly and gray. Oh joy!
On one hand, I feel bad for feeling bad about it... but it's bothering me a lot more now than when it first started. On the other hand, I know I have to just deal with it. My appointment is in about 2 weeks and maybe the doctor will know right away what it is and if there is something to be done.
Hope everything is good with you all! I will get around to your blogs and catch up very soon!
Shae at C'est La Vie! nominated 11 bloggers (myself included) for a Liebster and posted 11 questions to be answered in order to accept the award.
The questions and my answers are:
1) Who was your favorite celebrity as a child?
Donny Osmond. I saw the Osmonds in concert at the Allentown Fairgrounds sometime in the '70s. The mom of one of the girls I went with made the three of us little matching purple terrycloth shorts/bib sets. The visual is so corny now, but back then we thought we were all that. Our seats weren't very close to the stage but either before or after the show I did get the program book signed by his mother, Olive.
As an adult, I got to meet him. He was as handsome, charming and talented as I remember him when I was a child. And how cute ... we were both wearing purple.
2) What is your greatest accomplishment?
Maybe to some it's no big deal, but I'm very proud of my 30 year marriage! Okay, not officially 30 until November, but close enough! Has it been easy breezy the entire time? No, it has not. We've probably gone thru many of the issues that other couples do... money, sex, children, family, etc. Love is wonderful thing though, it makes you smile when all is going well but it gets you through the tough times too. I'd gladly spend another 30 with my man.
3) If you were invisible, where would you go?
As many places as possible!! I'd head right to the airport (assuming my motion sickness also disappears), just get on a plane and GO... seeing as much of the world as I could!
4) What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod?
I couldn't find that info on my Pod (I'm not very tech savvy) so I'll have to take a guess and say something by U2. I recently added some old songs to a Playlist and this was one.
5) What is one of your favorite quotes? Follow Your Bliss.
It's part of Joseph Campbell's (American mythologist, writer and lecturer) philosophy... "Follow your bliss. If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else."
6) If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
Wow, this one is hard to answer. Part of me wants to say 17.. not much responsibility, dreaming about what I might want to do in life, living at home, etc. The other part would say maybe 46. Since that was just a couple years ago... I had the wonderful experience of being married, having kids and grand darlings, but didn't have too many serious aches and pains. Since the health stuff is getting more annoying with each step toward menopause I can't say I'm loving my current age but will try harder to get a better attitude. ;)
7) If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?
Sheesh, I hate to be greedy, but I think I'm going to need more than one day to climb Mount Everest. Okay, technically, if I take my time getting acclimatized... going up and down from all the camps during the month before (note to self: start exercise program ASAP) ... I could possibly (with Dave Hahn, mountain guide extraordinaire!!) summit in one day. Since descending is just as difficult, Dave is going to have one very busy long ass busting day with me, but since I have that bit of immortality, I'll be just fine. And Dave, well, he's summited Everest 14 times so I'm not too worried about him.
8) If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?
Vianne Rocher, the free-spirited owner of the chocolaterie in Chocolat's fictional village of Lansquenet.
9) What would you name the autobiography of your life?
Mimi ~ Memoirs of a Domestic Goddess.
10) What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
Watch both of my parents die. They each got cancer, 4 years apart. Terrible disease. I guess any way one dies other than peacefully while sleeping at around age 103 after a healthy, happy life pretty much sucks. Luckily, they went quick. Mom probably within 6 months of diagnosis and Dad a lot less than that, probably only a few weeks, maybe a couple months. Sad times, my friends... very sad.
11) What is your first memory of being really excited?
Hmm, there was that Osmond concert I already mentioned but to not have any double answers...I guess I'd have to say that riding the old wooden coaster 'Jack Rabbit' had to have been a big thrill. I rode it with my dad many years ago... probably in the mid '70s. It was the oldest roller coaster operating in its original location until it lost this distinction when it closed in 2002. The park where we rode it is one of the world's oldest operating amusement parks, founded in 1907. The Jack Rabbit was added to the park in 1919 at the cost of $80,000.
Now here's where I think I'm supposed to nominate bloggers for the award and then list questions for them to answer. I'm going to break the rules on this and just say that I enjoy all of the blogs I read. You each deserve one award or another. If you want to do a post where you answer questions, leave me a comment or send an email and I'll come up with some for you to post.
I got a greeting card order recently and the girl came over today for pickup. While here she added a few extra to her purchase. One of them was a shell card. Not this one specifically, but one like it that said 'Happy Birthday'. I haven't made this style card in awhile but with summer coming I might get back to them. Each little shell is individuallly glued on. Crazy, huh? I think they are unique looking though.
During a bit of drizzly weather was the perfect time to power wash the patio. Ours sure needed it! Hubby worked for awhile...
I helped while he planted his garden.
Most of the yard cleanup was on me this year. Hubby's been too busy to take care of it all. It's been alot of work for a small yard but I'm glad I made the effort. Slow but noticeable progress. More to do... mulching and putting in few plants, really just enough to be presentable out there again.
This is Rev. He doesn't love the outdoors as much as Ollie does but he did hang out with me for a little while.
Hubby had to work the day I did the bulk of the cleanup, but he brought me a juice before he left. All together now ... awww! Love that man of mine. :)
Guess who turned 29 recently???
Yes, my lovely daughter is a grown woman, where do the years go? Ah, this means I'm getting old. haha! Yup, I feel it some days. We had a nice night out. Popped open a bottle of bubbly, feasted on all-you-can eat sushi, then back to their house for cake.
I have many more photos to post, mostly from Mother's Day, and will get to them (hopefully) in the next few days.
Hope you all enjoy a very happy and safe holiday weekend. Be excellent to each other. xo
