Feb28

What Mother Didn’t Tell Us…

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Your arces are going to fall!

As I sit here in my office chair pondering life’s changes. I realize there were so many things Mother never told me . Who else would, or could tell us things no-one else would venture telling us?

Things like, as you age your nose, and ears grow…..what? That’s right, haven’t you seen a little old man with a nose bigger than his feet? Well, next time you’re out and about check it out.

I pick on old men because, well I don’t want to pick on women. We are sensitive, and we try our best to keep ourselves as lovely, and beautiful as possible, and we do. Men just don’t care if their nose its larger than their feet, or they are aging without grace! Their bellies hang out! Their nose hangs out! Their shoes are falling apart! Their clothes might be stained and dirty, they just don’t care!

On a different note, what’s with the scales all over the body? That’s right scales! It starts with just one or two on one of your legs or arms, then…..all of a sudden there are a dozen more all over the place. I can’t tell you what the final place will be until the end. I can tell you I now have one on my forehead. At least this one is under bangs. It seems that I’ve gotten these so called scales only in places that have been effected by the sun. And a few that haven’t even seen the sun.

Maybe you don’t have any scales, but you might have something else just as annoying. Note to the young women, Make sure to use sunscreen everywhere!

Now this is something I’ve learned through experience. Always wear good supportive shoes. It seems that if your shoes don’t support your frame properly, after a while your knees start to turn in. If your knees are turning in, your toes are moving to one side. This has only one meaning, your arches are falling! If your arches are falling, everything else is probably starting to fall as well. This is not good! I’m sure someone somewhere is laughing like crazy. But it isn’t funny, especially if it’s happening to you….

Remember when an old car is falling apart? There are so many things going wrong with it that you don’t know where to start fixing it. They are all important things, and that’s why it’s so difficult to decide where to start!

Well it’s the same with your body. So when your arches start to fall, don’t think it’s just your arches because it isn’t just your arches! It’s everything connected to the arches that fall as well! So along with the arches are your knees, hips, back, and everything else even the boobs! They are all going to fall!

Never think you will escape any of this. If it isn’t this, it will be something else just as bad. This is not a threat, but a warning in advance from someone who knows!

There are so many other things Mother didn’t tell me. In regards to pain, having children, getting married, compromising in ways you never thought would be necessary. Don’t get me wrong, none of this is easy, or even fun. But to keep from being in tears 24/7, you have to see the humor in it. When you finally retire you’d better hope and pray…..pray that you can still have the energy, health, and desire to step outside your home to go anywhere.

It sounds grim, and for some it is, but I choose to laugh it off. Think of it as a puzzle game. It’s all hit and miss. If you don’t get any of these things, you’re lucky.

If you do get some of these things, you need to learn how to think of the ride as an adventure. Good luck on your trip!

Thank you for stopping to read my blog, I wish for you health, happiness, and the energy to laugh at yourself. Much love to all of you. Karen

Feb14

Cookies, Cookies, And More Cookies!

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Do you ever have an off day? A day that for whatever reason doesn’t go smoothly. No matter what you do, try as you may, nothing goes right.

Well, that kind of a day makes you want to go back to bed….for the rest of the day. Am I right? A wasted day without a solution, or any hope. It sounds so grim, but I have a solution for those ugly days!

Cookies, any kind of cookie will do. I say go back to bed with a large box of yummy cookies of your choice. You also must grab a cup of tea or coffee to wash down the crumbs just in case there are crumbs.

There isn’t anyone in your household that will understand, not even the dog or cat. But who cares, it’s your Personal Day for care and recuperation.

You may feel guilty, but don’t. Ask yourself how many times you have put someone else first and yourself last. You deserve it.

You could also send yourself flowers….just because you deserve it! Who else will?

Well, I appreciate you reading my blog, and putting up with my silliness.

Take good care of yourself, I’ll see you soon. Karen

Jan31

How to Reduce Hooded Eyes Naturally

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I found a You Tube video for Hooded Eyes, and I thought it a valuable thing to look at. When I went to copy it for the blog, it wouldn’t copy.

I know the format has changed. But darn it I just don’t feel like sitting for hours learning how to embed it into the blog. I need to be fresh in the morning, and it isn’t morning. So my apologies for being a tired blogger this time.

You can go to You Tube and search for Hooded Eyes. Valeriia Veksl is the Registered Nurse that talks about solutions. She has many other videos that are quite interesting as well. Also, there are many different people with videos that talk about this, and they might be better for you. Apparently, there are many things you can do to correct them, or at least diminish them. This is without having surgery. For me, any bit will do!

I’m sorry about not having a video to show you, I’ll try to do better next time.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, I hope it helps. Karen

Jan17

Happy New Year

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Well this year snuck up on us quickly didn’t it? I feel like my life, or what’s left of it is flying right by before my eyes.

We had a quiet, happy Christmas with part of our family, and a really quiet New Year. On the eve of the next year we always watch the New York Ball drop, so it’s New Year somewhere, and we don’t worry that it isn’t 12 o’clock here. Then after scanning the channels for a while, or even watching a show that doesn’t last more than an hour, we give up and go to bed. I usually promise everyone champagne, and I still have the unopened bottle in the frig.

How about you? I hope your holiday was special, with New Years sliding in uneventful. Did you do anything special, or was it a quiet evening like we had?

I always think all the crazies were out drinking, so we just stay home and quietly have a nice dinner, and watch a movie on TV.

Don’t get me wrong, we use to be wild and crazy, but those days have long gone, and now the wildest and craziest thing we do is check out the stars, and watch a movie.

I hope everyone had a safe, and quiet New Year, with lots of hope, prosperity, and good health for 2026.

Thank you for stopping to read my blog. I’m just about up and running again. I’ll be back soon. Karen

Nov29

If You Were Stranded on an Island….

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We’ve all had dreams of being on a tropical island while Pepe the Cabana boy waits on us hand and foot! But what if we really were stranded on an island, and without Pepe, what would you need to survive?

It might be a far stretch to think you’d be comfortable, however your resourcefulness would be a determining factor on this adventure. Maybe you have a friend with you…that would be fortunate. Someone that could take care of everything you couldn’t. And, you could do the chores that they were unable to. A division of necessities!

What would be the essentials you might just happen to have with you that would help surviving be just a little more comfortable. Maybe how you got there would be a factor. What could you salvage, presuming your boat ran aground, or drifted off course….Or maybe, an emergency (soft) landing on the sand was necessary, and unplanned!

What would you do for food and shelter? We are going to say, this adventure would be on a tropical island, with lots of fruit dripping from the trees. Then food clearly wouldn’t be an issue, but what about water? With all the lush fruit, there must be a water source. But where?

This is where your resourcefulness comes in. Remember when you were a child, and you had a very active imagination? Pretend you were once again playing with your friends in a big wooded back yard. Your imagination soared, and you could come up with all kinds of things to do, and games to play. This is the time you need to pretend you were that age again, and find water, food, and something to build shelter out of. Shelter might be the easiest thing to do. What would you need to do all this?

There are things to be salvaged from a boat or plane. Maybe pillows or a blanket or two. There could be all kinds of things to salvage that had never occurred to you as being of necessity. But then you’ve never been stranded on an island before.

Ok, so a knife, preferably a big knife, or a machete. That would come in handy cutting fruit off trees, and cutting palm fronds to make a shelter. It would probably take a bit of time to get organized and put all that together, but once you did…just think of how good you would feel to have accomplished shelter for yourself. Maybe while you were at it, before you collapsed out of exhaustion, to help your friend put together their shelter as well.

If I were doing this today, it would take me years to accomplish. But remember this is fantasy! And both or all of you will have enough energy to face each day, harvest food, make a shelter, and, still look for water.

While thinking about this, never go into the jungle alone! Mother was right, always use the buddy system. “Safety comes in numbers,” Mother would say, and I now believe Mother was right. This trip is not for sissies, and we are all bad ass women, but safety really does come in numbers.

Just about the time you’re about to give up, you hear something. It sounds to me like a waterfall, or running water. Thank heavens, water! Did you find anything to put fresh, clear, cool water into? It might be a good idea to keep something with you to keep water in should you actually find clean water to drink. So that’s another thing we will most definitely need….a container to keep fresh water in.

Now our list is growing, we need:

  1. Knife/Machete
  2. Blankets/pillows
  3. Container for water
  4. Food/water
  5. Shelter1

The last two depend on how resourceful we can all be. What can you salvage? Think about the possibilities, think of your younger self, and how you use to play for hours on end just being a kid! Playing in a total fantasy. Kids are good at this, and I remember spending hours just playing with my sister in our huge back yard. We were always pretending we were in a jungle with wild animals lurking behind the big trees. We were clever though, we were never eaten or even attacked!

I’d say rope or at the very least string would be helpful to tie together the palms for our shelters. With enough fronds we might even be able to make sides for our shelters.

Has anyone found a radio, or a phone that might be of help getting us off this island? That too would be a huge help. It’s possible at the moment we have not been labeled as missing!

Sooner or later it would dawn on us that being able to catch fish to eat would increase our choices for food. So a pin, or paperclip, even a fish hook might help with a string tied to a pole so you could fish, that would help! None of this would be easy, survival isn’t easy. It’s stressful, and scary, but I have no doubt that each and every one of you if challenged with a survival situation would be able to survive. You’d have your moments, but it would pass, and soon you’d pull your big girl panties up, and get it done! Yes! Each and every one of you!

Before you get rescued, and you will get rescued, you will have pulled it all together, and set up a fairly decent, and comfortable camp.. It might take a few weeks to be found, but you will be found.

When the whole thing is over there will be dozens of opportunities for talk shows, and news hours will want to interview you to find out how you did it. You might even be offered a book deal. How cool would that be. It all sounds overwhelming, but again I promise you it can be done,…..by you! It could help to get your friend or friends together and write a book together. Collaborate on a book, make it fun instead of reliving a nightmare.

I thank you for coming along on this fantasy journey. Just remember, you can do anything even at our ages. Hugs to all of you, Karen

Nov15

On A Day Like Today….

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It’s rainy, it’s cold, it’s a curl up with a book, a blanket, and a pillow day. It’s a curl up with your dog day.

We recently adopted a dog. And after only three months we are still getting use to each other. She recently had puppies, and then when all was said and done, the people that owned her whisked her off to the animal shelter. We still can’t figure that out! Both of us think we were so lucky to be able to find her.

I had seen her on the shelter web page for quite a while, but after a few weeks she wasn’t there. I wanted to rescue a dog from the cold, hard life that a shelter would offer her. Luckily she was sent to another shelter closer to home. And, I spotted her on their website. The Rancho Coastal Humane Society. I can’t say enough good things about them, I was truly impressed with how clean, and caring they are.

This is our newest addition to our family. Peppa, a four year old French Bulldog.

Have you ever adopted a pet? Or, do you only get puppies from a breeder? I’ve done both, and I have to tell you I prefer rescuing a dog instead of paying for a purebred. It’s not that I don’t love getting a purebred puppy, it’s more about giving a forever home to an animal less fortunate. I can do that!

But there is a downside to all the goodness rescuing holds, the downside seems to be that we haven’t any idea what these sweet little animals have been through. These are the issues we have to deal with when giving them a forever home. Then there is the issue of personality. Frenchies are stubborn, they will outsmart you, and don’t like to be yelled at. But they will push you over the edge if you let them, and they need attention, and are high maintenance. I happen to be very calm these days, and don’t get pushed easily!

Our dear little Peppa was probably used for the puppies she could give them. Maybe this was their main form of income. Maybe they had other breeders also. We will never know, but Peppa did have some good habits I’m grateful for. I guess it doesn’t matter that she is wicked smart. She knows how to manipulate us, but we think we are smarter than she is. But are we?

She sits, stays, and comes when she is called. Could this be because I give her a training treat when she does these things, or did her previous parents teach her this? See what I mean by her being smarter than we are? We are still working on the word “Potty,” and what that means. She also gets a treat after she potties. Motivation is the name of the game.

I want you to know that our home as sweat as it is, was empty without a companion in it. My husband didn’t want another dog, or cat, but I convinced him it was important to me, and he kindly gave in. Now we both love her and get great amounts of joy from her.

She has made herself at home, and loves her back yard. She’ll even go out by herself now.

So if you ever wondered if you wanted a dog or cat to liven up your home, I’d say yes. They do bring you so much joy, and laughter. It gives us purpose, gets us up and moving. All that is a good thing, and probably it will keep all of us younger!

Thank you for stopping to read my blog, Have a Happy Thanksgiving from our home to your home, and from our Peppa to yours.