Signs of Aging 11/The "M" word....

Sunday afternoon, I met two of my best high school friends, Kathy and Debbie, in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan. We had hoped that LaBecca could join us, but she lives in California and wasn't able to make it. (She doesn't know this yet but we are planning a trip there to see her at some point!!!!) We had a wonderful time...but it seemed that much of our conversation revolved around the "M" word...menopause!!!! None of could imagine being as "old" as we are! We laughed until our sides hurt! It seemed we all had our own stories of "M" and they weren't all pleasant, but certainly worth a lot of laughs! All three of us are now school teachers and mothers and grandmothers....but once upon a time, we all spent countless Friday and Saturday nights "riding" around the square in Anson or driving to Abilene to ride around Mac's! We talked about High School romances, our children, our crazy lives and the conversation always seemed to get back to "M"!

Kathy was able to get us a fabulous room on the 9th floor overlooking the atrium....we had our very own little balcony! We ate a delicious meal at the Texas Sports Bar. Our only upsetting event was when we returned to our room, Debbie couldn't find her camera! I referred to Signs of Aging/Forgetfulness...which is a sympton of "M". We called but no one had turned in a camera, so we fled back to our eating spot and luckily found the camera on the stool where we were sitting! We laughed all the way back to our room and found our way out to the balcony with our cokes and diet cokes where Kathy shared her Fiber One bars with us! This made us all laugh to realize that we even needed FIBER!!!! We watched people scurry around on the bottom floor of the atrium....just enjoying themselves as we were!

We stayed up until 2:00 a.m. until we finally fell into a deep slumber (all but Kathy!). This morning we ate breakfast and drank coffee and then shopped in the boutiques in the Gaylord. After we packed up we headed to Grapevine Mall and shopped some more! I found two adorable shirt dresses and my favorite find...elle perfume!

It was wonderful to spend time with two beautiful friends.....it was great to share pictures of our children and grandchildren and to share stories of grownup women....who were all dealing with "the menopause"! Hopefully, LaBecca can join us on our next adventure and we can reminisce more events! I was reminded of one of my favorite lines in the play "Dearly Beloved"...."You are going through the change! Look at you...mood swings, weight gain, and that unsightly facial hair. You're having "the menopause". What's the big deal?" Well, it is a big deal and luckily we had each other to laugh about our "M" stories as well as our past stories.....our future is ahead of us! I can't wait to see them again!

Elle....finally found!

I'm sooo excited! I finally found my favorite perfume! It's elle by Yves St. Laurent and it smells divine! I bought my first bottle about a year ago and I quickly went through it. I wanted more for Christmas but Dillard's and Macy's had discontinued it. I was shocked and upset! I finally found it today at a Perfumia shop in Grapevine...and I got it at 1/2 price!!! I had found some on Amazon two days ago and ordered that, too...so now I'll have two bottles of this amazing perfume and also a bottle of the elle lotion! I have just sprayed and sprayed myself today! Yummy....I smell good!

Signs of Aging 10/Gray Mare

The Old Gray Mare...she ain't what she used to be! That's me! I'm just exhausted! Is it because I'm so darn old??? I don't even know why I'm blogging...I'm so tired. But these have been some exhausting past few weeks!

1) I was in a play last month and we practiced like crazy! Night after night....and then we had seven performances. We sold out 3 of the performances and added an additional one on Tuesday night. I wouldn't get home til 11:00 on the night performances. It's always a little depressing after the play is over because you develop such great friendships and I always miss my "new family". But it was lots of fun and maybe I'll be rested by the next time I decide to be in another play.

2) Monday morning, Tracey Bullard and I decided to start walking AT 5:30 IN THE MORNING!!! So we walked Monday, and dumb a$$ me thought we were walking Tuesday morning, so I got up at 5:15 and about 5:45, after Tracey didn't show up, I remembered we weren't gonna walk that morning. Ugggggggggghhhhhh! I put on a pot of coffee and watched some scrapbook show on HGTV! So, this morning Donald and I were up before the roosters and walked with Tracey (wearing her Bucky Beavers)....So now I'm tired cause I had to work at Crossfire tonight!

3) This year we decided to complete Solar System projects IN CLASS.....so many of the kids don't have anyone to help them and sometimes other parents spend too much money on them. We just want to see something the kids do, so we worked on those this week. Now, mind you that's 32 projects in my class! But the kids did a great job and I loved seeing their creations. Some of them made posters and the rest used Play-Dough and made the Solar System. I'm just plum tuckered out though from bending over and cutting and pasting and hanging planets!

Those are just three things that have made me tired lately. Next week is Spring Break and I'm really looking forward to it! I think I'll go see Maddie and Hillary on Saturday! I plan on going to the Gaylord Texan on Sunday night and meeting two of my best high school friends. I can't wait to see them! Tuesday I'll go to Dillan's baseball game and then Wednesday I'll head to Austin to visit with Cari and Tristin for a few days. Then it will be back to H-town to work Saturday night at Crossfire. Maybe Denver and Averi can come over on Saturday or Sunday for some backyard baseball and tricycle races!!! Wait....just reading that makes me even more tired! But it will be a fun tired....a week of sleeping late...and playing with old friends and my grand babies! This old gray mare better eat her oats!

Acadamy Awards...

i'm feeling a bit underdressed as i sit watching the academy awards. unlike those on stage....i am wearing nike warm-ups and an old red hoodie that one of my daughter's "accidentally" kept from school many years ago. i've somehow managed to pull my hair back in a pony tail. i can't imagine sitting in that audience with all those people all dressed up in clothes that i can only in my wildest dreams imagine wearing! but IF i were there, perhaps waiting to receive an award from the film that i'll star in someday, i would wear BLACK. you just can't go wrong there...it's classy and slimming....i need both of those "sewn" into the dress i'll wear! but tonight i'll sit back and imagine what it must be like to walk the red carpet, wearing this Victoria Beckham black wool and silk blend.....i love it! not sure how it would look on me, but....i'm just dreaming! night-night...i hope this wool blend doesn't itch!

F.Y.I.

F.Y.I......Very good after a long week and a hard day at work.....F.Y.I....very good when you are with friends you love.....F.Y.I.....very good when you are needing a better outlook on life....F.Y.I.....very good. Period.

Poetry from a Jr. High Girl named Cheri

When I was a young girl, I, like many others was horrified of writing. Way back then, in 1969, I was a scrawny buck-toothed girl in the 8th grade. My English teacher decided to teach a poetry unit. Now I was just a West Texas tom-boy. I was only about 4 ft. 10 in. and barely weighed 80 pounds soaking wet! I had no desire to write a poem...my interests were in shooting baskets with my flat basketball! However...I had been given the assignment....WRITE A POEM. I was not a happy camper....what would I write about??? That very evening as I sat in my den watching "The Smothers' Brothers" show on TV with the family, I heard them sing the following song...

There is a season - turn, turn, turn And a time for every purpose under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep To everything - turn, turn, turn There is a season - turn, turn, turn And a time for every purpose under heaven A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones A time to gather stones together To everything - turn, turn, turn There is a season - turn, turn, turn And a time for every purpose under heaven.

Once they finished, a light bulb went off in my head...(a dim light bulb)....I could write a poem about that song...I had never heard of plagiarism.... I went right to work...

To everything there is a season.
A time to love, a time to hate.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time for war, a time live.
A time to laugh, a time to cry.

yada yada yada... it went on a few more verses....I can't really remember them all now. I was just happy to get that blasted poem written. I wrote it in my best cursive and even drew a cute little picture to illustrate my new poem. I went to bed that night relieved and quite proud of myself. The next day I turned in my poem. I just knew Mrs. Harper would love it....and what was that? She was calling me to her desk. I quickly approached her as she sat primly in her double knit suit...dark black bee-hive hairdo....wearing dark red lipstick that rubbed off onto her front teeth....She looked at me, smiling ever so slightly, her dimples were so deep set in her cheeks, I wanted to stick my finger in them to see how they felt....."Cheri, did you copy this?" I was shocked....had she watched "The Smothers' Brothers" show?? "Oh, no. I didn't. I wrote it." I hadn't "copied" it....I had merely heard a song and "used" the idea!!!! She looked down her nose at me and questioned me once more. Smiling at her I assured her I had written the poem and not copied it.......

Well, a few years later, I was reading the Old Testament. I got to Ecclesiastes 3 and I nearly fainted....there was MY poem....in the Holy Bible!!!!!! Well, no wonder Mrs. Harper thought I had copied that poem....there it was in the Bible, right smack in the middle of the Old Testament. She thought I had copied from the Bible!!!!! I always wanted to tell Mrs. Harper my story....but she died before I ever got a chance to! So....Mrs. Harper....if your spirit is floating around...and you can somehow hear me.....I really didn't copy from the Bible!!!!!!!

P.S.....Rachel Bottlinger made me think of writing about this today...she posted Ecclesiastes 3 on Facebook....Thanks, Rachel....thanks for the memory!

Signs of Aging 9/Falling

This morning was a bit dreary....it was cold and damp. When I first looked out my window this morning, it was so foggy it caught my breath....I have a problem with fog. I can't breath in it! Honestly, I can't drive in fog...when I see fog, I can't breath. So if I'm driving I have to shut my eyes to breath...so I figure that is really not too safe, so I just refuse to drive in fog! Anyway...I was so disappointed to see such a gloomy morning! However, I knew I had to get through the day. I had school to teach and another performance of "Dearly Beloved". After my English muffin and cup of coffee, Donald suggested I take his pick-up to school and he would take my Honda to J&J's for an oil change. Didn't really want to drive the pick-up to school...it's so high! I have to hike my leg up really high...it's so unflattering...and then hop up into the pick-up. I feel like I'm trying to get into a saddle on a horse! I suggested that I take my car to J&J's and he pick me up and take me to school...then he could pick me up at lunch and take me to pick up my car. So.....that was the plan....I taught math ( geometry...plane figures) and some science (solar system....Mercury and Venus)...had TAKS intervention and then took the kiddos to lunch. Afterwards, Donald picked me up for a trip to J&J's....in the rain....yes...it was still raining! I leaped into his pick-up....I felt like a high jumper trying to get up into that truck. We pulled in to J&J's and I got ready to dash to my car. There was a red pick-up parked next to Donald's....and like a gentleman, Donald hopped out of his pick-up to open the door to my car for me. I threw the door open and got ready to make a dash in the rain to my car....and wouldn't you know...as I put my right foot on the running board, I began to fall. My boot slipped right off that wet, muddy running board...only my mind and the rest of my body didn't realize my foot was slipping. It just kept going....I realized I was falling. I didn't think I would ever stop and the bad thing was, I couldn't stop myself. I had an umbrella in one hand and a Sonic cup full of Dr. Pepper in the other. I finally landed....flat on my rear....on the wet muddy ground. I looked to see if there was anyone in the red pick-up next to me and thank the Lord...it was vacant. However, that red truck did block anyone who was driving down the highway from seeing my "graceful" fall! In fact, Donald couldn't even see me! All at once I heard him shout, "Where are you?" He ran back to the pick-up...I guess he saw the umbrella bobbing up and down. He helped me up....I was laughing so hard, I could hardly get up! Luckily I wasn't hurt...just a little wet! Falling is not fun...especially when you are getting old like me! I made it to my car without any more falls! He wanted to know how I felt tonight...and I insisted I was fine....but I believe I'm beginning to feel a bit sore! I think that fall may have jostled this old lady more than I thought! So if you were driving down Hwy. 36 today about 12:20 and happened to see my grand performance (not the one in the play!) I hope you got a good laugh! I would hate to go to all that trouble and then not have anyone enjoy it!