For Her: Welcome to your 40's!

I have always felt that it is so unfair to be female, particularly every month during our fertile years.  Males NEVER have to deal with the crap of bleeding for one week out of every stinking month from middle school age until their 50s.  Apparently this ‘great divide’ in equality continues as we age.  When we finally get to the beginning of the end of these monthly pain-in-the-asses, a whole new slew of problems arise due to our hormones going away.  And when menopause becomes official, which can apparently take up to 10 years, an entirely new set of issues develop, such as brittle bones, lack of sex drive, and lubrication issues, to say the least.  Ahhhh...Life.

The following conversation occurred yesterday between my friend (who is a wonderfully laid back woman with a fabulous sense of humor) and her gynecologist:  

Doc:  So tell me what is going on with you?

Lola:  Well, one month I won’t have my period and then the next month I’ll have 2.  I am tired all of the time.  I could sleep 14 hours a day and I’m gaining weight.   

Doc:  Welcome to life in your 40s.  Tell me about your periods; do you have blood clots?

Lola:  Yes, like I’m dropping hamsters.

Doc:  Definitely sounds like your 40s.

Lola:  I have no sex drive.  My husband wants sex and I just don’t want to be bothered with such nonsense; that is 2 minutes of my life I will never get back.

Doc:  You’re perfectly normal.  I will put you on birth control pills to regulate your period.

Lola:  I was truly hoping for a pill so I would NEVER have another period again.  We can send a man to the moon and yet can’t stop my crazy periods!!   I’m 44 years old, have had my tubes tied for 10 years, I don’t have sex, and NOW I get on birth control pills.  Really.

Lola (after her appointment):  I had to get my thyroid checked, so they drew blood.  Apparently the only thing in me that doesn’t want to bleed out of control is my veins; that tiny needle hurt like hell.  So ladies welcome to your 40’s.  Life is grand.  It gets better, I am only peri-menopause now, I have 10 years before the party that is actual menopause starts.  YEAH.

Laughing Along This Journey,

Me

Motivational Moment:

May you have good friends to share laughs with as you travel along your life's journey.

For the Love of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ever since going gluten free (GF) about a year ago, I have been on the hunt for the perfect GF chocolate chip cookie.  If you don't know, I am quite the lover of all things chocolate, including brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  One of the hardest things about going gluten free for me (besides the most obvious loss: bread) was losing a delicious brownie/cake/cookie option.  Most GF replacement flours result in a baked good that is NOT moist and delicious; the end product is more like a dry, thick substance that feels like a ball of cement in your stomach.

Hence my GF journey has involved many cookie recipes from scratch (with different replacement flours) as well as boxed mixes.  My family has (not-so-willingly) accompanied me on my journey.  In fact, my daughters have asked me: "Can't we ever have gluteny brownies or cookies?!".  One of my first GF recipes literally looked like a flat piece of paper with chocolate chips sticking out of it. It actually tasted ok, but was not aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Apparently gluten is the 'glue' that holds breads and cookies together and makes them moist - because let me tell you - without gluten, cookies and breads just crumble apart when you pick them up. 

I am still quite the amateur at GF baking; however, I can tell you what tastes delicious and what does not.  This past week, I tried this Betty Crocker recipe and was very pleased with the results! 

 The baked cookie actually looked just like the picture on the box AND was delicious. 

I was so excited about my close-to-gluten chocolate chip cookie find, that I was, of course, inspired to blog about it.  :)

I will note that these GF cookies need to be kept in an air-tight container or else they go stale within a few days (but then again - I'm not sure that my baggie constitutes "air-tight" storage).  Oh well...the absolute best time to enjoy any cookie, whether gluteny or gluten free, is fresh from the oven (with chocolate ice cream on top!).


Sighing Contently with my newly discovered, yummy GF Cookie Mix (Thank You Betty Crocker!),

Me

Motivational Moment:

May you have simple little pleasures in life that bring you joy.

Today's Moment is dedicated to Dustin and Spencer.  If you have not seen it (which 10 million people have as of today!!), Spencer proposed to Dustin in Home Depot and it is such a beautiful display of love, I had to share it (Proposal).  Thank you both for sharing your love with us!  It is an inspiration and is beautiful!  Best wishes for a fabulous life to both of you!

Random Life Rant

Sometimes you just want more out of your life.  You feel inspired to do great things; be so much more than you currently are.  You feel trapped and burdened by your responsibilities and the drudgeries of life.  The problem is not really knowing what it is that you want to do and how to go about doing it.

I just came home from a fabulous massage at Salon Patrick's.  I love all the little extra's you get with massages there.  It starts with a hot foot soak in the relaxing, quiet, spa setting; away from all the activity of the salon.  Then you go into the massage room and you get a choice of aromatherapy.  I LOVE this little added benefit, since I love aromatherapy.  At the end of your massage, they put a hot towel on your back and your feet.  I had a wonderful experience; thank you Alison!

While I was at the spa, luxuriating in relaxation, I decided that my dream job would be to travel the country and review spa's.  I could critique their process, building layout, atmosphere; what works well and what needs improved upon to make it the ultimate relaxation destination.  I would excel at it because it is my passion; because I truly know what works and what doesn't work when it comes to a relaxing spa setting. 

I, of course, realize that everyone would love to live their passion; few are lucky enough to do it. 

After I started writing this blog, I was surfing the top stories on AOL and I came across this blog by Jessica Fox, and of course, serendipitously (and you know how much I love serendipity!), here was her first paragraph:

"The Navajos tell a story of the "pollen path." This does not refer to some allergy nightmare, as my sister helpfully pointed out, but as defined by Joseph Campbell, this is a path through life that is true to the individual and his/her unique passions. Psychologists would call this an ego-syntonic existence -- here, the outer world matches the inner one, so that each leaf, each branch along the path, and even on the ground below and in the infinite sky above, looks as if it is covered with pollen: golden, filled with possibility."

An "ego-syntonic existence".  Living a life true to our unique passions.  This is exactly what I am talking about.  What a happier world we would live in, if we all lived a life true to our passions, true to our selves.


Spa Critically Yours,

Me


Motivational Moment:

Today's Motivational Moment is dedicated to my daughters.  I asked the three of them what motivates them or what makes them happy.  Here are their responses:

Daughter A: Friends, Family (sometimes), Music, and Oreo's.

Daughter B: Books, Friends, Family, and Laughter.

Daughter C: I don't know.

Daughter C was not in the mood for my questions, although I can tell you she loves playing dolls with her sisters, playing with her friends, and watching movies.

May you live a life true to your passions!

This Summer's Home Project

I have been promising my two older daughters that we would paint a mural on their bedroom wall for the past couple of years.  Their bedroom has tan carpet, tan walls, and a baseball fan.  The previous owners of the house had a son in that bedroom (and when we moved in our youngest just turned one; my husband and I both thought that we might try for a fourth child - and possible son - for that room.  Luckily, exhaustion and being too busy raising three girls, talked us out of that crazy thinking.)

I told my daughters to sketch out what they would like painted on the wall.  Here is the sketch (even with the bunk bed drawn in for reference):

We had an open weekend at the end of July.  We figured we would take all day Saturday and Sunday and conquer this fun little family activity.  We ran out to Lowe's to pick up the paint:

It was really cool seeing how excited the girls were over getting started and painting their parts.

The Creativity Zone

After about three weeks, we were finally done with our little weekend project.  And despite a rocky start (with hubby and I having creative differences over paint colors and painting styles), I am happy to say that overall, it was a good family bonding experience.

Creatively Yours,

Me

Motivational Moment:

I found the following quote on a magnet at Barnes and Noble's, which of course I had to buy:

"May you always have enough happiness to keep you sweet; enough trials to keep you strong; enough success to keep you eager; enough faith to give you courage; and enough determination to make each day a good day!"  ~Blessing