Why I Cry when I hear "Jesus, Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood

I've seen a meme on several blogs called "All About Me in 30 Days!"  I really enjoy reading the responses to the 30 questions and getting to know the bloggers through their answers.  I thought it would be fun to join in and do this meme myself, so I started a blog post and got totally caught up on the first question..."What is my favorite song?"  I love so many songs but picking just one song was going to be kind of tough.  I sat back and started thinking about my fav's and what made them my favorites, then it hit me.  There is one song that has the power to make me cry, or at least tear up every single time I hear it.  So instead of answering 30 questions, some of which really have nothing to do with me, I decided to just answer the first question in a post all by itself.  As I get more time I will work my way through the other 29 questions in future posts, but here is question #1.

What is My Favorite Song, and why?

Jesus, Take the Wheel, by Carrie Underwood. 

Why...because the first time I heard this song I was driving and began to cry so much that I had to pull over.  It made me reflect back about 6 years earlier to the night that my daughter and I was in a pretty serious car accident.  

Let me tell you about the accident...It happened in September of 2000.  I was driving in the mountains of Southeast Arizona on a very dark night.  It had just begun to rain so I was only going 55 mph instead of the marked 65.  My only passenger was my teen-aged daughter, Whitney, sitting in the front passenger seat beside me.  I swerved slightly, to avoid hitting a wolf that was standing in the middle of the road staring at me, but not moving.  The car went out of control, and felt like it was spinning left, then right, then left... but I could not see anything because it was so dark.  I tried to get control of the car but each slight move I made of the steering wheel felt as if it was throwing the car in the opposite direction.  I knew that I needed to get control of the vehicle because to the left of this two lane road was a drop-off into a canyon and to the right was a rock mountain that went straight up into the air.  After what seemed like several minutes, but I am sure were mere seconds, I knew that I was not going to be able to get control of the car.  I remember saying out load, "I can't get this car under control, I don't even know which direction I am going...Oh Jesus, please just don't let Whitney get hurt."  Then I let go of the wheel. 

The next thing I remember was my daughter standing in the driver-side doorway, saying, "Mom, you have to wake up, can you get out?  Mom are you okay?"  She was pulling on my arm, trying to get me out of my seat.  I was not okay. I could not even hold my head up, or stay conscious for more than a few seconds,  much less get out of the car.  We were in the middle of nowhere and it was a pitch black night and there were no street lights out this far in the mountains.  I remember asking her if she was okay.  She said yes.  She said she could not see well in her glasses though.  I did not have my glasses on, so every thing was a blur to me.  (as it turned out, my glasses where thrown into her lap, and her glasses where thrown out the window so she accidentally put on my glasses and that is why she couldn't see well, lol.)  We did not have a cell phone at that time, so we were stranded until someone drove by.

Moments later we saw the lights of a car approaching.  Whitney walked out into the road to flag them down.  They stopped and I remember hearing them telling her to get out of the road.  The driver of that vehicle just happened to be an ER doctor, and the front passenger was an ER Nurse.  What are the odds of that?  While they checked my vitals and stabilized me, the third person in their vehicle called 911 from his cell phone and comforted my daughter until the ambulance arrived.  Not one other car passed while we waited the 15 minutes or so for the ambulance to arrive.

I was taken to the hospital where they discovered I had a concussion.  I remember the ambulance lady talking to the hospital on the radio and saying that the patient may have a head injury because she keeps asking the same questions over and over and losing consciousness.   They also discovered that I had a pretty severe neck and back injuries (whiplash), at least one broken rib (from impact with the arm rest), a sprained ankle, burns on my face from the air bags, bruises on my chest from the seat belt, a huge eggplant colored (and sized) bruise on my right butt cheek (from a water bottle that had somehow gotten behind me and was crushed from top to bottom against my body) and I had extremely sore muscles throughout my body that would spasm every few moments and send me into extreme pain to the point that I could not breath.  The pain and spasms lasted like that for weeks after. 

My daughter was also examined at the hospital.  She had some light burns on her nose and cheek from the airbag, some bruising on her chest from the seat belt, and nothing else.  It was hard to believe we were in the same vehicle.  The car was totally crushed on every side except the passenger side.  According to the police report, the car took the first impact on the drivers side at 55 mph against that rock mountain I mentioned.  Then the vehicle bounced away, spun around then the front of the car impacted again with the rock mountain, then bounced away again, spun past the passenger side (where my daughter was sitting) and hit again on the rear of the vehicle, then bounced away one more time, spinning again until we now faced the same direction we were originally driving in and slid sideways towards the rock mountain again but stopped about six feet before the passenger side would have impacted the rock mountain yet again.

After about 4 months I had recovered all I was going to be allowed to because my savings  had run out and I had no health insurance (I was a hard-working single mama), so I went back to work waiting tables.  I did not fully recover for about 7 or 8 months after the accident, and still to this day I have issues with pain in my neck and shoulders if I do anything that requires I hold my arms above my head for any length of time.  

One day about six years after the accident, I was on my way home from work and I heard that song, "Jesus, take the wheel" for the first time.  It took me back to the day of the accident and all of those emotions welled up inside of me.  I had to pull over because I began to cry so much I could not see the road.  Still to this day, I tear up every time I hear it.  It makes me so thankful that on that day we did not go down in the canyon; that my daughter was not injured; and that we had ER trained medical staff driving by us moments after I was so severely injured to the point I could not even move.  

Listen to the song on YouTube... 

Do you have a favorite song, that moves you this much? 

Nannys Giveaway Link-up ~Add Your Giveaways!

I really enjoy entering and especially Winning Giveaways.  I learn about all kinds of new products, some of which I end up stocking in my store, and others I just buy for my personal use or as gifts for others.  I follow hundreds of blogs so that I can find out about all the new products when they post a review and/or giveaway.  So I decided to add a Giveaway Linky to my blog so that I could come to my own blog to find and enter all the great giveaways.  I am calling it "Nannys Giveaway Link-up" and I would love it if you added your giveaways here too!

I am starting it today and leaving it open until Wednesday, but starting next week I will post a new Linky each Wednesday and leave it open until Friday so we Review-Reading, Giveaway-Entering Mama's have all weekend to browse the Great Giveaways and enter at our leisure. I hope to have a cute button to go with this new linky by the time my next one is posted.

I love looking through images much better than reading text lines to find the giveaways that I want to enter so my giveaway linky will have thumbnails of the item that is in the giveaway, not just the blog button.

Here are the 5 simple rules for adding Your Giveaway in Nanny's Giveaway Linky:

1) The giveaway item must be family oriented, no 'adult-only' giveaways please.  That doesn't mean the giveaway cannot be something for a grandma, or adult in general, but it cannot be on a site that requires you to be over 18 to view the page, if ya know what I mean.

2) The url link must take the reader directly to the giveaway post, NOT to your blog in general.  We don't want to have to search around for the giveaway post.  That takes valuable time away from our entries :)

3) The image you include must be of the item that your are giving away or the company logo, NOT your blog button.  If the giveaway item is a service or gift card then include their company logo.

4) I allowed 90 characters to describe your giveaway so please follow this format: Name of your blog (or initials if it is too long) ~ Name of Giveaway Item ~ Date giveaway ends.

5) No Spam, advertisements, etc. this is for legitimate giveaways only.

I will be entering these giveaways myself, so I will be checking that each giveaway link has followed the 5 simple rules above and I will delete any that do not.

Alright, lets have some fun...Show Us Your Giveaways!

Please tweet about this new giveaway linky...the more people that know about it, the more giveaways will be added so you don't have to hunt all over the internet to find great giveaways!

My Countdown to Post-Menopause

Every month I think, "Maybe this will be my last period...the beginning of my Countdown to Post-Menopause." My menopause symptoms keep increasing in intensity, frequency, and in the number of new symptoms that I discover with each passing month.  But all the 'symptoms' in the world (see the list of 34 below) don't mean that you are near Post-Menopause, because you can have these symptoms for 10 years before you are Post.  The only indicator that my doctor is even concerned with is my monthly menstrual cycles...or rather, the lack there off.  My menstrual cycles had been quite regular...you could almost set your clock by them, but in the last two years or so, they have become quite erratic.  Sometimes they come as soon as 11 days before my next cycle is due, but rarely am I ever late by more than a day or two.

Here is a list of 34 Menopause Symptoms that I found on a website (by the same name), that I found to be a great resource for useful information.  Each symptom is linked to the website and gives a description of that particular symptom, so feel free to click on any that you want to know more about.

I put a * next to each one that I have been experiencing myself -I think I have 22 of the 34, Wow!  How many do You have?

LIST OF THE 34 MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS

Common Symptoms *1. Hot Flashes *2. Night Sweats *3. Irregular Periods (early or late, longer or shorter) *4. Loss of Libido *5. Vaginal Dryness *6. Mood Swings Changes *7. Fatigue *8. Hair Loss *9. Sleep Disorders *10. Difficult Concentrating *11. Memory Lapses 12. Dizziness *13. Weight Gain 14. Incontinence *15. Bloating *16. Allergies 17. Brittle Nails 18. Changes in Odor *19. Irregular Heartbeat *20. Depression 21. Anxiety *22. Irritability 23. Panic Disorder Pains 24. Breast Pain *25. Headaches *26. Joint Pain 27. Burning Tongue 28. Electric Shocks 29. Digestive Problems *30. Gum Problems *31. Muscle Tension *32. Itchy Skin 33. Tingling Extremities Others 34. Osteoporosis

My doctor says that some women have all of those symptoms while others may have few or none of them.  She said that regardless of those symptoms, I will not be officially post-menopausal until I have gone 12 cycles without a period.  I told her that I will never go 12 cycles without one, because mine are coming earlier!  She explained that having them early is just as significant as having them late...it is an indication that the cycles are out-of-sync and may just suddenly stop.  She told me that she has known some women who have had their cycles stop for months and then suddenly start up again for no apparent reason.  And she has also known women who had no fluctuations at all, then one day they just suddenly stopped...not more periods -Period!  I wish there was a reliable way to predict when you would actually be 'Post-Menopausal'.

Well, I am late this month. I was due 4 days ago...that may not seem like much, but like I said, I am rarely late more that a day or two, so four days and no indication that I am going to start -not one pre-menstral symptom at all.  So who knows, maybe last month was my 'last' month and I didn't even know it.  So, for fun I created this Ticker to start my Post-Menopausal Countdown.  Now if I start before the 12 cycles are up I will have to create a new ticker, but it seems like a fun thing to do in the mean time.  

To make your own ticker click HERE.
Isn't that a cute ticker?  That is me just strolling along with my red bag (mine is actually blue), walking towards my goal of that lovely sunflower.  Daisypath has lots of cute tickers for vacations, pregnancy, baby age, events and more.  You can make your own ticker by clicking HERE.

I am going to post my ticker on my sidebar for all the world to see.  If someone clicks on it, they will be taken to this post which will explain why I have a Post-Menopausal countdown ticker on my blog.  They will also get the idea that I am pretty excited about reaching the status of Post-Menopausal.  Ya know, come to think of it, I think mild, temporary insanity might also be a symptom that you are entering menopause, LOL, I better make that Symptom #35. 
 

I've Got Jury Duty!

I've got Jury Duty! That exclamation point is not meant to be an upset or disgusted shout, it is happy shout.  Okay, now you probably think I am a nut..."Does anyone really want to go to Jury Duty?" you might ask.  Well, yes they do, and I am one of the 'they' that does want to attend Jury Duty.  I have wanted to be called for years, but they have called everyone around me, but not me.  They called my husband when he was working out of state for 2 months.  They called my daughter, 6 months after she moved out of State.  But they never called me.  I even asked them once if I could volunteer...apparently they frown on that.  I was told that a volunteer might be a 'plant' for a particular case.  So I just have to wait until I get MY letter.  And it finally came!  Next Monday I get to go to Jury Duty.

One reason I want to do Jury Duty is because it is my civic duty.  As a Natural Born American citizen of this Great (while sometimes stumbling) Country, I have a duty to serve.  The other reason is because my favorite books are true crime, courtroom setting stories.  Non-fiction preferably, but a well written fiction has the same effect on me.  I totally love it.  Perhaps it was my grandmothers influence...she introduced me to the Perry Mason show back in the 60's, lol. 

One of my former careers (I've had a few) was as an independent paralegal (meaning I did not work directly under an attorney).  While other young mothers were spending their free time (when the kiddos went to school) doing things like catching up on housework, shopping, or having lunch with a friend, I was sitting at the Courthouse in the Law Library -reading.  I thought law was so fascinating.  My preferred area of study was Family Law and eventually I did my own step-parent adoption when my husband wanted to adopt my daughters.  Then I did a friends divorce, then another, then custody for a grandmother of a drug addict daughter who was neglecting her children.  Then finally I became certified and opened my own office where I actually got paid for my services.  After six years I got tired of the cases that were coming before me...parents who wanted to take custody of their children, for no other reason then to punish the ex who was now dating or married to someone new.  Or worse, the Emergency Protective cases where I submitted two sets of paperwork to the judge for signing.  One case was obviously of a serious, life-threatening nature while the other was equally obvious that one parent merely wanted to punish the other by filing frivolous paperwork and dragging them in to court.   Then the next morning I would pick up the paperwork to discover that the Judge had obviously NOT even bothered to read the case paperwork because he/she approved the frivolous case and refused to sign the one that would ultimately mean that children were going to be left or placed in a dangerous situation while the courts set a trial date for months later.

 

I became very disenchanted with the legal system in general and stopped working as a paralegal, but I still had a love of Law.  Probably because I am a real stickler for what is right, fair, and just.  So I would probably be one of those juror's who see's things different then the rest and would be a hold-out for how ever long it took for the others to see it my way.  Hmmm...this blog post might get me disqualified by an attorney representing a guilty person, lol.  Oh well, even if I show up and I am dismissed, I will still be doing my civic duty.  If I am selected, I will probably only be there for about 3 days.  We don't have big cases here in our small town.  

So during this 1 to 3 days, my brick & mortar store will be closed.  I do not have an employee to cover for me and keep the store open, and in Colorado you cannot be dismissed from Jury Duty unless you cannot read or speak English, OR unless you are the ONLY person who attends to the care of a disabled adult or child in your home.  Being self-employed and experiencing a financial hardship if you close your business for the 1 to 3 days is NOT a dismissible excuse here.  So, Monday, October 18th, I will be at Jury Duty.  

What are your thoughts about Jury Duty?  Have your served on Jury Duty? What was it like?  Did you have a really interesting case to sit for or a boring one with two parties fighting over a fence line? (I hope I don't get one of those).  I would love to hear your thoughts.

UPDATE: As per the instructions, I called to confirm my jury date for Monday and was told that all juror's that were summonsed for this date have been excused...they have no cases for us to hear :( 

A Year Ago Today Blog Hop

Welcome to 'A Year Ago Today' Thursday Blog Hop

This blog hop is hosted by'From PDX with Love', 'Mommy Only has Two Hands', and 'Wyatt Family Farm.'

To join the fun just answer the question, "What Happened to You One Year Ago Thursday?" in a blog post.  It can be an old post from one year ago, a memory, or even better -a photo (dated digital photos make that easy) from One Year Ago Thursday.  Then go to the host page (click on their button above) and post a comment, including your blog post url.  Then visit the other blogs that have commented. See the specific instructions by visiting the host blogs.

Here is mine:

One year ago today...my 10 month old grandson Russell was trying out his Turtle Halloween Costume! 

He was so cute when he crawled in the Turtle costume -he looked like a real Turtle.  Since he had only been walking about a month at that time, he was a little off balance while standing with the costume on and he sometimes fell backwards, but the turtle shell provided him with plenty of padding, lol.

Russell, my Cute Little Turtle!

Six Years ago this month I 'Married' my Daughter and Son-in-law

Well, I didn't actually Marry them...I performed the marriage ceremony, I actually wrote the vows too.  It the scariest and happiest day of my life, other than the day she was born almost  23 years earlier.

Imagine the mother of the bride not crying during the ceremony -impossible.  Now imagine the minister of the ceremonies attempting to not bawl her eyes out while reading vows- nearly impossible.  I was so honored that they wanted me to perform the ceremony.  I love my son-in-law as if he were my own son, so it was quite an emotional event.  They chose a picnic theme complete with red and white checkered decorations with black ants printed on them.  The wedding was held in the woods in the hills of Arizona where the weather was perfect.  The only potty for guests and dressing room for the bride was our camper that was mounted in the back of our pick up truck (it was a new camper and truck so visualize is nicer then it sounds, lol). 

My son-in-law, Preston, is an avid hiker (avid is putting it mildly because he lives and breathes the outdoors), and he also is a photographer, so he took his own wedding pictures...I am not kidding!  With the camera on a tripod, he set up the placement, poses, lighting, camera angles and exposure, etc, then he handed his best-man a clicker device and instructed him to squeeze the clicker once Preston got into position in the picture.  He even set up the camera to photograph them while they were saying their vows.  The pictures where as good as any professional photos I have ever seen.

My daughter, Jessie, wore a beautiful gown with a long tail that we worried would end up filled with pine needles.  We rolled out a satin path for her to walk down, which did save the dress from the pine needles, pretty much.  My father walked her down the aisle.  That was extra special because Jessie's father (who did attend) was not involved in her life as she was growing up (for personal reasons) and her 'papa' was like her father.  It was a beautiful ceremony and done on a budget so they (we) are not still paying for it six years later, lol.

Happy Anniversary Jessie & Preston!  I wish you 60 more Happy Years ahead.

Love, Mom

Life is like the Changing of Seasons

Life really is like the Changing of Seasons.  I think of the Spring Season as when your are born. A fresh, fragile, seedling stretching to the sun. Growing bigger and stronger with each new day. Exploring the world with our hands, mouths, and minds.  The Spring season seems the shortest to us because we grow from nothing, to young adults at such a rapid speed.  Then comes the Summer Season.  As young adults we are eager to venture out on our own, even if that means we get burned a few times by the heat of the Sun. We get married, have children, develop careers, buy homes, and try to experience everything that Summer has to offer.  Then, just about the time we become accustom to to hot temperatures and the fast-paced routines in our lives, we start to notice that the sun is setting just a little earlier each day. Change is coming, we can feel it. Our children are now grown and venturing out to experience their own Summer Seasons.

As the evenings cool and the leaves begin to change, we realize that Fall is quickly approaching.  Rather than facing the Fall Season with dread, we should take the time to really appreciate this season as we did the previous ones.  Fall is not just the end of Summer and the nearing of Winter, Fall is a whole separate season of its own.  Take the time to appreciate that things are slowing down for a reason.  Life does not have to continue at the fast pace that you have become accustom to.  Take the time to truly appreciate the vibrant colors of each leaf as it changes. I find myself entering the Fall Season of my life.  I once was an infant, a child, a teenager in my Spring, then I became a wife and mother in my Summer. Now my role as mother has changed and I am a grandmother. My name has also changed from Mom to Nanny. Instead of being depressed about leaving the Summer of my life, I am choose to rejoice about entering the Fall of my life.  I can slow down, enjoy every little detail of my life with so much more appreciation now.  Everything changes just like the Seasons. Walk with me as I leave behind my Summer Season and enter my Fall.

Relaxing Weekend ~ Entering Lots of Giveaways!

I love entering giveaways...sometimes I am quite lucky.  I even enjoy hosting giveaways, which I do quite often on my business blog.  But this weekend I am having fun perusing some great giveaways in a couple of cool Giveaway Linkys that are among my favorites.  One of my favorite Giveaway Linky's is hosted by One 2 Try, if you haven't visited their "Heaps of Giveaways" you definately should, well, maybe not, it will decrease my odds of winning, lol.

Here are just a few of the really cool things I hope to win...

I want to win this adorably mixed up plush doll called Arthur the Camelot, he is part Camel and part Oscelot...isn't he just the cutest?  He is made by Jumbies and 2 people (hopefully one of those is me) will win on of the 12 different characters they have when you enter over at Freebies and Much More Blog.  If you are going to try to win one of these (not mine) then you better hurry because this giveaway ends on October 12th.

Another cool thing I would love to win is the Sony Pocket Reader that is being given away by Living on Love and Giveaways blog.  I love to read so this would be a really great thing to have with me when I get time, like when I am the passenger on a long drive. It holds up to 350 ebooks! You have got plenty of time to enter this giveaway because it does not end until November 30th, too bad because I would love to have this for our Thanksgiving Day trip to see the grandbabies.

Another great giveaway by Living on Love and Giveaways is the Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure Didj game.  The game is designed for kids kindergarten age through 3rd Grade so it would be too difficult for my 3-1/2 year old granddaughter to play by herself, but she is so into Tinkerbell that I think she would enjoy playing around with it now anyway.  This is also Living on Love and Giveaways first giveaway so please go on over and make her first giveaway a really huge one...I guess I can deal with some extra competition in order to help Melissa get off to a great start in the Giveaway World!  This giveaway ends on October 20th so don't procrastinate or you might miss out.




 I would really love to win this Little Tikes Neighborhood Market for my grandkids.  They have worked with me in my store most of their lives, only recently moving away to Arizona, so I think they would really enjoy this.  It has a cash register too to make it even more realistic.  I love all of Little Tikes toys.  We have purchased so many of them already, like the Lightening McQueen Toddler Bed for my grandson and the 2 Seater Wagon for both of them, and many more.  Fun Saving Money is hosting the giveaway for this cool prize.  The giveaway closes October 18th so don't wait too long to enter.  Also, right now she has a Discount code in her blog post to receive an additional 10% off your order from LittleTikes.com.  The coupon code doesn't expire until December 31, 2010 so it would be great for Christmas Shopping.  I am not going to post the code here...you have to visit Fun Saving Money to find it!

Well, wish me luck on these giveaways.  I will continue to add to this list as I enter more this evening so if you receive this post in your email, click on the title link above and see the other giveaways that I have added after I hit the 'post' button.

Oh Wise Post-Menopausal Women...please teach us...

Seeking the Wisdom from some Wise Post-Menopausal Women.

I am almost 50 years old and have been experiencing the lovely symptoms of Menopause for almost 3 years now.  I have no negative feelings about menopause, I actually welcome it.  I have not been able to conceive a child since I was 22 years old so what is the point of having a period every month if you are not going to bare children?  I would love to not have my 'monthly visitor' any longer, but unfortunately she still comes every darn month.  Sometimes she is a week early, or two weeks late, but she still shows up every stinking month.  I know that I have to go one full year without seeing her before I can say that I am officially post-menopausal, and I am anxiously waiting for that one year count to begin.  In the mean time I get to experience all of the lovely 'symptoms' that menopause brings.

The most common symptom that I hear women complain about are hot flashes.  Unlike most other women I really don't mind hot-flashs, I actually enjoy them.  I am ALWAYS so darned cold, (I am shivering right now and it is a perfectly comfortable temperature in this room) so when I have a hot-flash it is actually kind of pleasant.  For about 10 or 15 minutes, I think, "Wow, it is nice and warm in here...I actually feel good." Then it passes and I am cold again.   I don't care for the night sweats though.  Waking up in the middle of a deep sleep feeling like I cannot breath, feeling hot and VERY moist from the chest up is not exactly fun.  It is similar to waking up from a really bad nightmare...which makes it nearly impossible to get back to sleep.  Insomnia or waking up in the pre-dawn hours for no apparent reason and not being able to go back to sleep is another lovely menopause symptom.

The symptoms that really bother me are the mood swings and cramps.  I feel like I did when I was a teenager and my hormones were completely out of whack.  I feel angry sometimes for no reason. My moods can go from one extreme to the other at the drop of a hat, or even when there is no hat to drop...they just change.  It feels like extreme PMS, even when my period is not even due.  This combined with the extreme cramping, again even when my period is not due, is very unpleasant.  I get the worst cramping a week before my period is due, or a week after I have had one...makes no sense at all. 

The other miscellaneous symptoms are manageable so far, weight gain (if I am not ALWAYS watching what I eat), achy-ness (helped by a nice back rub from the hubs), breast tenderness (you just learn to live with), vaginal dryness (thank you Liquibeads) , lack of libido (also helped by those nice back rubs from the hubs), and the list goes on.  The hubs is really sympathetic to my plight...the plight of all women around this age.  He says that is why women were given the gift of multiple orgasms, to sort of balance things out :)~  he is a very funny guy.

So, I am going to try something new.  I read about some natural/herbal remedies for menopause symptoms and the one that I decided to try is Estroven.  They have several varieties of this product, like Estroven Mult-vitamin, Estroven Extra Strength, Estroven Energy, and Estroven Nighttime.  Since I feel such fatigue, partly due to not getting enough sleep, I thought I would try the Estroven Energy during the day and Estroven Nighttime at night.  The Energy formula was easy to find at my local Walgreens, as well as at Walmart, the grocery store, the health food stores, etc, but the Nighttime was impossible to find at any of those locations.  After driving all over town, and even to the neighboring town an hour away, I finally just bought it online directly from the manufactures website.  I don't know why the nighttime formula would be so difficult to find locally...if you know, please do share.

I just started taking the Energy formula and it says it will take 7-10 days to feel the full effects.  I have been taking it for only 3 days so far. I do feel a bit calmer throughout the day but that may be in part because I am hopeful that relief is near...or that it is a weekend and I get to relax :)  either way, I will keep you posted.  The Nighttime formula will not be delivered until late next week.  I cannot wait because I would really love to get a good nights sleep for a change.

I have been told that if you are unhappy about the 'CHANGE', are sad about losing your fertility, or dread getting older, then the symptoms may actually seem worse to you.  I, on the other-hand, am very happy about the CHANGE. I feel that it is a passage into another stage of womanhood, just like puberty was. I relish the idea of no more periods, no more hormone fluctuations, and stepping into the next stage of my life.  I just wish it would hurry up and show me some progress (like missing periods) instead of just the unpleasant symptoms that indicate that menopause is immanent.  I feel like menopause is on the horizon and I am running as fast as I can towards it, but the earth is turning in the wrong direction so the horizon just keeps getting farther away with each step I take.   


I have no one to talk to about this.  My mother and I don't speak, besides, she had a complete hysterectomy before menopause so she didn't really experienced the pre-symptoms.  My closest friend (who is in her 60's) also had a complete hysterectomy when she was a young woman, so she was instantly post-menopausal too.  Because I own a baby & maternity store, I am around young fertile woman and babies most of the time so they have no clue about hot flashes.  I am hoping that some of my new readers/followers from the Over 40 Bloggers will have some experiences and be willing to share it with me.  I would love to hear from those of you who have already 'been there done that' (you lucky women).  Please share your experiences with us women who are just entering this wonderful, natural, healthy stage of development -and haven't got a clue.  What were your least favorite symptoms and how did you deal with them? What works and doesn't work? What age were you when you were officially post menopausal?  Looking back...any other advice for us?

Well, I have to turn the heater up, where are my hot-flashes when I need them?


If you have not become a member of the Over 40 Bloggers yet, click on the cute button below to visit the Never Growing Old blog and learn more about it.  It is a really great group of ladies put together by a really neat lady called Java!

I'm Back ~ With my Future Ahead of Me

Wow, has it really been about 10 months since I last posted?!?  Time really flies by when you are busy.  So much has changed since my last post, I don't even know where to begin.  My store has been keeping me so very busy since we added the online store to our brick & mortar shop.  That end of the business has really taken off.  So much so that I am just now starting to get in the groove of processing and shipping orders.  I go in to work several hours before the store opens so I can process orders that came in during the night or over the weekend, then I stay a little after the store closes to process orders that came in during the day that I did not get time to process because I was assisting customers.  My work day has increased considerably but I am a workaholic so I just keep going and doing until my husband comes in and says it is time to call it a day.

One other thing that has changed, and it is a MAJOR one, is that my daughter, who was working with me at the store, decided to move back down to SE Arizona.  She and her husband broke up and she wanted to move down closer to him so the kids would be able to see their daddy.  My other daughter lives in that same town so at least she gets to see her niece and nephew more often now...but that means that I rarely get to see my grandbabies.  That has just about broken my heart.  I am use to having them at the store with us everyday and now I will only get to see them on Holidays, and speak with them over the telephone.  Being so extremely busy at the store, and working alone, has been a blessing in a way because it keeps me so busy I don't have time to dwell on how much I miss my grandbabies.  But that is another post in and of itself.

So, the major changes that have occurred over the last ten months has forced me to take a step back and re-evaluate what I am doing, why I am doing it, and what I want to do in the future. Getting back to this blog is one of the things that I decided I NEED to do for myself.  Writing, even if no one ever reads it, is very therapeutic for the soul.  And if someone else reads this blog and finds some comfort in knowing that they are not alone in experiencing similar events and feelings, then it is completely worth it in my mind.  I have gained so much insight into myself by reading other blogs.  Recently I read a blog posted by  Bernice Wood on her blog called 'Ramblings of a Woman' that opened my eyes to what I was NOT getting out of my life.  Her post entitled "This is your life" was so inspiring to me.  It included an image of quotes about 'Life'.  Reading the quotes made me ask myself, "Is any of that true for me?" and the answer was, "It Should be, but at this point in my life it just isn't."  So I printed the image and read it to myself every day.  Here it is:

So, with new inspiration, I read the 'Life' quotes everyday and tell myself that Life IS to Short, and I am going to live my dream, and wear my passion.  With that goal in mind, you can expect to see more posts on this blog in the near future as I try to follow my heart and do what makes me happy -instead of what I feel obligated to do.  The future is going to be about me and my needs...that will be a very different way of life for me.





I would love to meet other like minded women...so I've joined the Follow Friday 40 and Over Bloghop (linky below) as well as Making Friends Monday Blog Hop.