Him & Her

My hubby is going away for a week without me and as I assured him that I would be fine on my own I got to thinking about how it works with men and women when one goes away and the other stays home.

This is what I have observed. It would seem to me that when a women goes away and leaves her hubby at home alone that he will get many invites out for supper, or out to do lots of fun things. When her hubby goes away and leaves the his wife at home there is seldom invitations to dinner or out for fun. She is usually the one who initiates the effort to fill her time with other people.

I think that it is interesting that we seem to think that women are better on their own at home than a man would be. Makes you wonder how bachelors do it. Maybe something happens after men get married, they become incapacitated with life at home. What is even funnier is that when their wives are home they can cook and clean almost as good as she can.

Anyway, just thought that this was an interesting observation. It's not a complaint, just interesting.

Since I started this blog, Hubby has come and gone. Guess what? I was invited out 2 times. It was great. I'm starting to wondering if maybe my observation may not be totally accurate. What do you think?

Random Rambling!

Hello! I'm back!

Thought that it was time to do a little rambling. It has been so long since I have been here to visit that it is hard to get my mind to work but setting that aside here it goes.

I have just turned the big 50! and I am back to the embracing my age thing. Yes, my hair is on the grow out again. I tried this once before as some of you may remember and lasted about to 3 inches of growth before I had to color it. Well, I'm at it again and this time I'm going to try a new tactic. My original thought was to just cut all my hair off to the gray, which is about an inch to inch and a half long. When I asked one of my friends what she thought, she suggested that I should get my hair highlighted with a silver blond and then let things just continue to grow. It sounds like it may be the way to go so I'm thinking about trying that.

What do you think? Think it will work? Hope that I don't look like I'm about to put one foot in the grave. Yikes!! Guess time will tell.

(Since starting this post I have seen the hairdresser and she suggested that I just cut it short and keep it that way til it grows out. So that is what I am doing and so far so good. However, I'm almost at the 3 in. again and it is getting tougher to hold out.)

Do you think that getting klutzy is something that happens when you get to my age? And do you think that it will last forever?

Today as I was making supper I could easily been on the Three Stooges with the calamity that was happening at the stove. I was making pancakes while talking to my sister on the phone. In order to keep them warm it required the oven to be turned on. I am not using my own stove and for some reason I couldn't get the oven on. After finally getting it, I went to open the door and boy was it springy. All of a sudden, bang! The door had slammed shut sending the pasta jar that sits on the back of the stove right into my frying pan with pancake batter it in. My sister stopped mid sentence to ask if everything was okay. I answered yes as I'm holding the phone on my shoulder, the spatula with two pancakes in one hand, trying to clean the mess and open the oven door all at once. (You never know with these glass pasta jars if direct heat will cause them to shatter.) When I finally got things under control my mind started to play one of those old movies with the Three Stooges or I Love Lucy. It seemed like I was living some of the things Lucy would get into. Yikes! I hope I'm not turning into Lucy.

Maybe I should drop the embracing my age with gray hair and just go straight to red?

I am still alive!

Just thought I'd drop a note to say that I am still alive and doing well.

We are still in the middle of home reno's and due to some delays will be out of our home for a few more weeks. I'd like to think that it will only be 3 weeks but at this time I have no idea how long.

Please know that when I get back home I hope to continue blogging but for now it is on hold just like the rest of my life.

I look forward to hearing from you again. See you in a while.

Why, oh why?

Here are some of the whys around going away for a holiday:

1)Why is it that your clothes don't fit when you wore them only 7 months ago?

2)Why are your clothes never the right ones for the occasion causing you to feel that you need to buy new ones?

3) Why do you always get a sore throat and cold just a couple of days before you leave?

4) Why is packing such a dreaded job? (Where are those little elves.)

5) Why do you feel as if your house has to be clean and in perfect order before you leave?

6) Why is it so hard to decided on how many shoes you should take and which ones are the right ones? (This is a biggy for me with my shoe fetish.)

7) Why is it that your suitcase always weighs a lb or 2 less than the maximum weight causing you to stress over how accurate your scale will be to the airport scale?

Even with all the "Whys" it is still worth all the effort for those 10 glorious days of laying on the beach, swimming in the pool and ocean, eating all day long and sleeping til your not tired.

"I think I'm allergic to mornings"

I have come to the conclusion that no matter how hard you try you can't make someone a morning person. If it is possible to be allergic to morning then I think I am. I notice that when I have to get up early that I show the signs of an allergy: puff eyes, watery eyes, dark circle under my eyes, headachy, sometimes stuffy nose, a bit of a sore throat, and a foggy mind.

I have had to get up most every morning the last couple of weeks by 8:00 a.m. Not only have I had to be up but I have had to look as if I am ready to do the day. Up until this time I have had very few times where on an ongoing bases I have had to start my day in this fashion. When the kids were in school we we're up by 7:00 - 7:30 each day but at least I didn't have to be out of my pj's and housecoat, hair looking half way presentable. And after they left I could either climb back into bed for another hour or slump down on the couch and let the early morning run off me. (Yes, I did feel a little guilty that my kids had to have it together so early and I expected them to do it no complaining.) All the years I worked I started work and between 9:00 - 10:00. I used to tell people at work that I didn't wake up til 10:00 and that is why I was so quiet in the morning. I simply can't think before 10. My presence was in body not mind.

Now with contractors arriving by 8:00 a.m. this has been my schedule. I don't want them to think that I'm pathetic or something so I watch the clock and try to time myself to get everything done before they arrive. I find myself longing for the weekend to arrive when its only Tues. By the time Fri. gets here I am giving myself pep talks on how I can do this, "its only one more morning before sleep-in day". "Tomorrow I won't have to watch the clock", trying to sneak in just that last minute of dozing. I rejoice in Sat. morning and the feeling of my bed as I lay there thinking about how great it feels to not have to get up. (Isn't that pathetic?) As a matter of fact, by the time Fri evening comes I am looking forward to going to bed due to exhaustion.

I have wondered if there is something wrong with me. Why I couldn't get it changed around. Yet, in all my acquaintances over the years I have found that when you're a morning person, you're a morning person and when you're a night person, you're a night person. The way I see it is I've been created by God so why try to change what he had planned. It helps me feel better when I think this way. I'm sure that my hubby may disagree with me seeings that he's a morning person. To him morning is the best time of the day. Ugg! But, he loves me anyway and doesn't resent my sleeping in because he is just as happy getting up.

On the topic of mornings all I can say is:
"I think I'm allergic to mornings!"

Decisions, Decisions

Why is it that making decor decisions is so hard?

As you know we're in the middle of our renos and with us going away for 10 days there are many decisions that have to be made. I am now at the flooring crisis. I say crisis because it is so hard to get it just right and it sometimes feels that we may never get the pick made before the contractors will be here to install. Here are the things that I am learning about this process and about myself.

1) This week I have spent all my spare time looking for flooring and as I come to the end of the week and look back I realize that although I found a pick I like there is now the whole budget thing to factor in. (I must have expensive taste.)
That created another rush around day today looking for the right price to make the budget work. I may even have to take Mon. and Tues. to rechoose my flooring. Crazy isn't it?

2) The other thing that I came to realize about myself was that it is so much easier to pick for someone else than it is to pick for me. I am usually sure of how things will look when I'm helping a friend pick their choices but when it comes to myself I am having a hard time knowing what I will like and be happy living in for the rest of my life. (I'm under the impression that this is a one time deal.) My hubby keeps saying that "you have to be happy with it". I'm not sure if that is his line because it doesn't really matter to him or if he just doesn't want to hear me complain if it doesn't turn out. I must admit that I will be for a time, after everything is all said and done, be looking to see where I should have changed things. I can't help myself that's just the way I am.

3) It matters alot to me what other people think. I want people to come in and love our house. Ooh and ahh over how great it looks. (Vain aren't I?) There's a great deal of pressure that when my friends and family come to look they will not like it and they will realize how lousy my taste really is. How sad is that?

4) I have come to appreciate the stress that others tell about when they're in a building project. There are times when you just want a normal day, one in which you won't have to make another decision.

With all that I have just said things are moving along right on schedule which I am thankful for. I'm still having fun doing this project. It's going to look just great when it's done.

The Shaggy Dog

Have you ever seen the movie "The Shaggy Dog" with Tim Allen in it? The dog is 700 or 800 years old. Well if you have then you will understand why I call my dog "The Shaggy Dog".

When our kids were in school, I think the oldest was 12 and the youngest was 8, I allowed the household (including Hubby) to talk me into getting a puppy. After all we all know that every kid should have a pet. The gerbil had finally died, he lasted 2 years and I think that is long for gerbils to live, and the kids just had to have something that they could love. I wasn't fond of rodents and so when the dog came up for discussion, and after much calculation of how long it would live, I consented.

Here was my thought process: the youngest child was 8 and we all know that dogs live for about 10-12 years so that meant that we would have an empty nest at just the right time for hubby and I to start enjoying life. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Since I gave my consent, our youngest child is married with two small children and guess what? That's right, the dog is still alive. We are still getting a babysitter when we want to go away and we're aging fast. If we don't start to travel soon we'll be in our rocking chairs reminiscing about what?

We have talked about getting rid of the dog many times but it has never seemed like the right time. However, this year we decided to do major renovations on our house and while all this kerfuffle is happening we thought it would be nice to go on a holiday. The dilemma is "What to do with the dog?". We finally decided that maybe it was time to let him go to dog heaven but when the time came to take him to the vet, neither hubby nor I could do it. After all he is part of the family.

A couple of days ago my hubby came home from work and informed me that he had made an appointment with the vet to have the dog checked to see how his health was fairing. I thought this is a good idea and seeing that the dog was as best as we could figure 14-15 this would confirm that he was on his last legs and that the loving thing for us to do was put him to sleep and save him some pain. That was going to make this decision so much easier.

Well, we have the shaggy dog. Our vet visit was unbelievable. It turns out that we have a 17 year old dog and he is in amazingly good health. He has some plaque on his teeth and a little arthritis in his back hip area. He is going blind and he is quite deaf but other than that he is in amazing health. He does not have the body of a 17 year old dog, he has a much younger one. Our vet said that he could in no good conscience recommend that we put this dog to sleep. As we drove home there were mixed feelings in the truck. Disappointment at the loss of our freedom and relief that the dog was in such good health.

So, there you have it. I live with the shaggy dog. I think he just may live to be 700 years old. All we really accomplished in all of this was to make our decision even harder than before.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss and this is one time where I think that would have been. Sigh!

PS
We really do love our dog.