Please Help The Animals!!!

This came from my DIL's blog and I'd like to ask my readers to do the same, please take 20 seconds and click on the link below.

THANK YOU!!!

All you animal lovers:
This is pretty simple...  Please tell ten friends to tell ten today!  The Animal Rescue Site is having
trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated
every day to abused and neglected animals.

It takes less than a minute (about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food
  for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to
abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Here's the web site!  Pass it along to 10 people you know.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3

Terrific Contest at Hochstadt

Head on over and enter this contest, there are prizes for everyone!

Hochstadt Contest

Yesterday I experienced problems online

For some unknown reason, my husband and I experienced problems viewing my (and periodically other) blog from our iMacs. That's odd because there was no problem whatsoever viewing it on my MacBook. Now, the only thing out of the ordinary that happened yesterday was a power outage of about 6 minutes (which would not have affected my laptop since it was running on battery power).
This morning after hours of frustration last night, the issue appears to have resolved itself - thank goodness.
I find it so bizarre at how important a computer is to my everyday life!!
Oh, in case you are wondering, my husband is one of those blog lurkers....he looks at the comments made on my blog and goes to your blog to read about you......oh well, makes him happy and gives him something to do besides pester me.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

The day started out with heavy clouds and then WOW, the Sun decided it was time to shine.

I love the sky at sea.

Visit Wiggers World for more spectacular sky photos - join us each Friday.

Look How Big He's Getting!!!!

Here is a new photo of my Grandson Rudy.  He's bundled up because the photo was taken this past weekend in New Jersey while he was visiting his other GrandParents.

Thirteen Questions to Ponder

1. If you were born to your spouse's parents, how would your life be different?

2. If you were born the other gender, would your occupation be different?

3. What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

4. What would I do if there were nothing to fear?

5. What is a loving thing you could do right now?

6. What is the most important aspect of life for you to focus on right now?

7. What's the most important thing you can do now that will impact the greatest number of people in your
life?

8. Knowing what you know now, what would you go back and change?

9. What would $8.00 per gallon gasoline do to your life?

10. If money were no object, where would you live?

11. If you could only take 10 items with you from your home, what would those items be (not people)?

12. Is the person you trust the most a friend or member of your family?

13. Under what circumstance would you leave your spouse?

ANSWERS

1. I would be of Mexican American decent, I would speak Spanish fluently, I would have been born and
here in San Antonio, I would have had dark hair and dark eyes and probably a darker complexion.

2. I certainly wouldn't be a mother but without a doubt I'd be a father.

3. I would have become a doctor.

4. Sky Dive.

5. Forgive my mother for the hell she put me through in my life.

6. The most important aspect of my life right now is my husband.

7. Making sure I don't smoke anymore. Of course this is most important to myself but it's also
important to anymore I come in contact with now or in the future. The longer I stay well and alive
the more time I have to impact the world I live in positvely.

8. I would have tried harder to finish my education.

9. I would stay home even more than I do now, I would eat less expensive food, I wouldn't travel.

10. The California wine country.

11. My computer, my 4 large boxes of photos, my watch, a box of clothes, my purse, my camera, my ipod.

12. My husband.

13. Abuse - spousal, child, sexual.

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Do You Believe In Love At First Sight?

Not only was this not what happened with my husband of 31+ years, I don't believe in it, nice as it sounds.
I'm not trying to constantly talk about sex but it's going to sound a little like that now as I tell you that the first impressions of my husband were that of lust.......he was good looking, had a nice body, and a sly smile, I figured we'd eventually have great sex.
Because I wasn't the kind of girl that went out with just anyone who asked, it was "I" that checked him out once he asked me out, I wanted to know if this stud could be trusted. I was told he was tame, yeah right! Well, the first date with him was anything but enjoyable and those sexual thoughts went right down the drain/toilet, he was BORING. I managed to trudge through the date bad as it was and convinced I wouldn't spend another hour with this man - EVER.
Surprisingly, he asked me for another date and without wanting to sound like a total bitch, I accepted, knowing all too well that it wasn't going to happen.
The date came and there I sat at my apartment feeling like a total mean bitch, the guy was dull, boring, but he wasn't a bad guy and he was good looking.........he came to the door and when no one answered after about 10 minutes of trying, he left.
I continued to feel horrible, after all, this was the first time I had stood up a date.
So, I went to his apartment the next evening hoping to find him there, he was. I made up some excuse for standing him up the night before and apologized profusely.

What do they say - the rest is history.
It wasn't love at first sight, it was lust though and eventually it was like, and then love but real love took years to develop, long after we were married.

Post Menopausal Sex

I've found that I'm sure enjoying sex again, more so in my 50's than I did in my 30's, and 40's. I'm definitely more comfortable with myself and my body. I'm not so skinny and boney (the way most men "think" they want their women) like I was in my early 20's when sex was an animalistic action. I certainly wasn't "making love" in my early 20's it was raw, animal magnetism.
Sex now is more meaningful, it's done with precision and finesse. My body although not fat, has it's curves rounded and full, it's sensuous, even to me. I know what I'm capable of doing, in the bed, out of the bed, on/under the table, on the floor, inside the shower, and yes even inside the car (now that's reminiscent of my younger days).

Some years ago, I remember seeing seniors (on a cruise in fact) look at one another in a strange way, I saw the woman look at the man, take his hand and instantly they both looked younger as they headed off in a hurry........now I know what was happening, I know why they were happy, I knew why they looked like they were made for each other - Because they were made for each other, the sex way great, again, finally!

If You Are Considering Quitting

If you are a smoker and think you'd like to quit and are thinking about the different quit medications out there, please read take the time to read about Chantix at this blog.  The woman that writes this blog, Maggie, she was my rock when I quit and the first person I starting blogging with.

Nicotine replacement would not have worked with me, part of my problem with smoking was the nicotine, I didn't need it while I tried to quit.  For me personally, Chantix was my drug of choice.  I could feel something different immediately after I starting taking the medication (you continue to smoke when you take it), I just didn't want to smoke as much/often, and by the third day of taking the medication I thought, shit, I just don't need to smoke anymore.  I threw away the pack and never went back to them again, just didn't need them.

Yes I had some of the side effects, vivid dreams (not nightmares), some weird head feelings (I personally didn't drive for the first 2 weeks just cause driving was a trigger and that was probably smart in more ways than one), and bad gas, yes I farted almost constantly (not stinky ones but noisy ones to be sure - LOL).

Do research before you see your doctor (but keep in mind that you will read about some real bad side effects, you may be like me and alot of others that didn't have that happen) and talk at length about whether this drug is right for you.

I love being smoke free, love not being tied to the nicodemon anymore, but I do have sympathy for those still smoking, it's tough to give up.

I Just Have To Scream

I've gone over 5,000 cigarettes that I Have NOT smoked since I quit back in September 2007.  This is such a HUGE Accomplishment for me, that after 36 years of smoking that I was able to quit with the help of a medication called CHANTIX and with the support of blogging friends I met during the early days of my quit.  This is such a Wow thing.

If someone had told me this time last year that I wouldn't be smoking a year later I would have laughed myself silly - I loved smoking, loved it, loved the process of walking outside, sitting back and lighting up.  I went through the motions more than 20 times a day for 36 years and all I can say is......"YOU DUMB ASSED BITCH, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

My quit is still hard, I still have triggers and some are worse than others and sometimes an entire day is rough but with the help of these same people, I make it, one day at a time.

I'm thrilled as the days and weeks and months pass but what really impresses me is the sheer number of cigarettes that I Have NOT smoked - it floors me, bowls me over, I never realized how much I was smoking..........I can estimate the number of cigarettes I Did Smoke at around 259,000 cigarettes - Yes you're reading that correctly, more than a quarter of a million cigarettes this Dumb Assed Bitch Smoked.

NEVER AGAIN, not even 1 because I know that it will only take 1 to take me back to that pack plus a day habit.

What's my place in the pecking order?

I started wondering when my son decided to get married 5 years ago, where my place would be in his life, now I'm even more puzzled with him becoming a Dad himself. He is 30 and he and his family live 3 hours away in Houston.

And then there's my daughter, she lives in the same city as we do but she is 29 and hugely independent, has always been that way except when she and boyfriends she'd felt strongly for broke up, we don't see her much and I feel so distanced from her.

What should we expect from our grown children? What can we reasonably hope for?
Please don't read into this that I'm a clinging vine Mother cause that isn't so. Yes, I love my children, I love them fiercely but they were raised to be strong and independent. I don't want them to be dependent on me or their Dad, I want them to depend on themselves BUT I also don't want to loose them.

Is life one big circle of repeats?
Does life really follow Cat Steven's song, "The Cats in the Cradle"?

Saturday is all about blogging

I've so enjoyed today - I've spent most of the day reading blogs. I've come across a blog site that I didn't know existed cre8Buzz, it's a great site that has tremendous potential for growth.   I'm still so new to the site that I can't tell you how to start it up or add to the site you sign up for but there are directions and nice folks to ask.

I'm also trying to re-do my EC Drop List as some of the blogs are no longer working, some are playing dreadful music, others have moved their EC too far down the page or hidden it among other advertising and therefore it's time to be more selective with the blogs I drop on so that I can save time and have more time to read and write. With a good list and sites with their EC right up top you can drop 300 in about 15 minutes. I'm also developing a Reader List for my enjoyment, the time I spend developing myself, growing as a woman, a blogger, yep and sometimes more of a bitch (hahahaaa).

I think I'll spend more time tomorrow doing this too since today has been so wonderful.
I hope everyone's holiday weekend is fun, and safe.

To appreciate where you've been and look forward.......

My teens, although I'd rather not traverse that road again, the journey, however difficult, brought me to where I am today and that place is the place I always dreamed of being.
My teens were spent trying to deaden the pain of being the child of my parents and the sister of 6 other children. I had been raised to be obedient. I fought their control over me in any and every way I possibly could and when I finished high school, I left home as fast as I possibly could, I enlisted in the Army, I became a WAC.

In my 20's I became a wife and mother of 2 children. I thought I was prepared because I'd helped so much with my younger siblings and other people's children I babysat for - not so, I wasn't prepared for non-stop motherhood. I lost my youth and along with it, the ability to feel like anyone other than someone's mother. We were just starting out and didn't have much except each other and most of the time I was just too tired to care about that. My home was clean and there was always food on the table and clean clothes but I was slipping away from myself.

In my 30's I was still busy raising my family and moving from place to place with my husband's careers. I became involved in every volunteer job I could find, Room Mother, PTA, Girl Scout Everything, Family Support, I even tried (unsuccessfully) to return to school to use my GI Bill. I was lost, I really wasn't Debbie anymore and I wasn't the woman my husband married but I had become an outstanding mother. I made friends with my children's friends mothers and together we built a network to help our children succeed not just as students but as men and women, they were good kids, kind, smart, and safe. I thought I wanted something else during this time but in the end, what I got was far more than I could have imagined.

My 40's left me with empty nest syndrome. I had put my entire adult life up until now into being my children's mother and now they left for college and didn't need me anymore, not for anything except the check book that is. Don't get me wrong, this result is what I had worked for in my 20's and 30's but at the time it was happening I didn't understand. I went back to work and found that I wasn't prepared to put barriers in place to keep my employer from taking advantage of me (which they did). The first job I got in 19 years came on the same day my husband informed me he had been mobilized and would be deployed in 2 weeks for at least a year - OMG, was this really happening? All in all this was good, I was able to throw myself into work while my kids were in college and my husband was off in Europe. I continued to work for 8 more years and another 18 month deployment. In the meantime, both kids had finished undergraduate school and were now in graduate school and medical school.

Zippy Do Dah and I was 50 and feeling pretty damn good. My husband, who, up until now was pretty much a stranger to me was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma. How could this be happening, he was the one that always exercised (I didn't), didn't smoke (I did), how was this happening to him, why was this happening to him? He continued to work using his accumulated sick leave over the next year while he had one kidney and an adrenal gland removed. His Oncologists put him on a new chemotherapy drug that was in pill form, it kicked his ass and 2 years ago he decided he needed to retire (he had the time and the pension, why not). This is when we really started living and got to know one another all over again. We were different people now though 30+ years later, we weren't the same two people that married one another blindly. We were seasoned but together and we knew that together we could face anything. He's been a trooper and has made it through without more cancer for 2 years now. There have been scares and there has been infections due to a compromised immune system but he's still, two years later on the same chemotherapy drug and still cancer free. We travel when we can and spend the time sharing the beautiful scenery, our travel of choice is cruising, we get onboard unpack and sit back to be waited on hand and foot and see a changing panorama throughout the day, everyday of our cruise. We've learned to appreciate our differences and grow closer together. This has been the best time of my life!!

I don't believe that life is meant to be easy, nor is it meant to be hard. We choose the roads we'll travel by the decisions we make and the outlook we choose to travel those roads with. We make our own reality.

I know who I am now and I'm not my parent's daughter nor am I merely my children's mother or my husband's wife, I'm me and I will continue to evolve.
I love my life and the people in it, I appreciate where I've been and I look forward to where I'm going.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

Good-Bye to the day off Dominica

Join us at Wiggers World for Sky Watch Fridays

I'm POST Menopausal

Had my every 3 months appointment this morning (fasting for blood work) and my doctor is thrilled that I've been able to stay quit smoking for 8 months already (yesterday thank you very much). I've gained a total of 3 lbs since I quit and he will talk to me about a specific exercise regime in September when I've been quit for 12 months. He said that with having smoked 36 years and there was so much damage done to my lungs and heart and carotid arteries that he didn't want me to overdo exercise. He told me that my ideal weight would be reached with loosing a mere 5 lbs - well geez louise, I can do that just by cutting out the good stuff from my diet - lol!!! I'm still taking Plavix for my carotid arteries (probably for the rest of my life) and I'm taking medication for my high cholesterol (which is now controlled) that is genetic mostly, and I'm also taking Fosomax for my bones (now that I'm post menopausal). Yes ladies you heard that right, I'm through menopause and I did it without hormone replacement. To give you some background.....I have technically gone through 2 menopauses, one was surgical when I was 27 and had a complete hysterectomy, and the second one started when I was about 44 and is now complete (I hope he knows what he's talking about).

I stand my my slogan - Life doesn't get better than this!!!!

Didn't Sleep Worth a Damn Last Night

I have no idea why but I just couldn't sleep last night. I think I slept for about 3.5 hours and then wallah, I tossed and turned for hours before throwing in the towel and getting my ass up and out of bed. I don't know how the working stiffs do it every morning, I don't know how I did it when I worked everyday. Being retired really is the bomb!
I think the impending heat of the day is one of the things weighing on me during the night. It's already gotten oppressively hot here in South Texas and I have the pool house to ready for the season. Although the pool's water isn't hot enough to get into yet, the air inside the pool house is sweltering already. Because the windows are merely screens, there is plenty that gets into the building during the "off season" and taking the furnishings and the pool toys outside to be scrubbed down and then sweeping up and vacuuming out the floor surrounding the pool takes probably a good 10 hours.
Anyway, this is what's on the slate for today and tomorrow for me and I want to get started at a reasonable hour in order to work at least a few hours in 80 something temps before it again gets into the upper 90's - yesterday's official high was 99 degrees although our temperature gage showed 103. DAMN IT'S HOT!