~A Bitter Swallow~

    Every once in awhile, inspiration strikes me, and I can get somewhat, if not downright, crafty.   My latest inspiration smacked me in the face while debating what to do for cigarette butts.   Now, no one in my household smokes, but many of my friends and family do.  So, while preparing for my birthday party that we had a couple weeks ago, I was trying to figure out where I could have everyone put their butts that wouldn't muck up my yard.  I also didn't want to wind up with half-empty soda bottles stuffed with them (yuck!).   This came to me in a brilliant moment of smackdown.   

   It involves empty soup cans, a picture of my family's butts that we took at a previous gathering (don't ask), white paper, black Sharpie, some Mod Podge, some water sealant, and some kitty litter.  

  Tomorrow is my 35th birthday.    Let me be the first to tell you-  I am not doing good with this.   I took turning 30 just fine.   Yeah, I was no longer in my 20s, but by that time, I think I was ready to grow up some, and be an adult.  But, 35 just seems overwhelming.   At 35 they start telling you about all the things you can't (or shouldn't) do, like have children,  and a whole new list of things you should do, like mammograms.   It's like a huge stamp that says "Officially OLD" on my forehead.  I have yet to find wrinkles, but I am sure they are coming. Of course, I slather on my handful of moisturizer every night and forbid myself to even look for them.   It may just be denial. 

  I'll tell you where I do see it.  On my chest.  I cannot begin to tell you how much that bothers me.   I've always had good skin.  I keep telling myself it's because of my weight and my diet, and that as soon as I get those fixed (which I'm working on), it will get better.  Then I try and tell myself it's because I don't eat well, or drink enough water or milk.  So I started taking vitamins and drinking them with milk, and drinking more water.  Eventually I suppose I will have to face the facts and embrace the signs of aging.  However, at this point, I'm still in an absolute state of denial.  

They say that 50 is "over the hill".  35 must be when you crest it, because everything starts to go downhill afterwards, right?  Not that I think my life is halfway over.  Now, the mission is to get serious about being on top of my health.  Getting fit, if not fabulous, and staying that way.  Sometimes the other side of the hill is the lush, tropical resort, right? 

   Wow.  I am a horrible blogger.  I really need to fix that.  I know I keep saying that.  One of these days I might actually work on it. LOL

  We moved!   I'm excited.  I'm hoping that it gives me the sense of space to allow me to relax more, and therefore be able to write more.  It won't happen for a few weeks, I am sure, since I still have tons of unpacking to do. 

  But, the place we are in now has so much more space!  I can walk around without running into everything and / or everyone.   We have a large living room with a woodstove, 2 large bedrooms for the kids, a double sized master bedroom for us, 1 large bathroom (seriously- my old bedroom could fit inside of it), and another 1/4 bathroom (sink and toilet).  Little kitchen with eat-in nook, den with another wood stove, a good sized laundry area that also has room for a crafting space,  a garage, and an attached studio area that has enough room for Dustin to do his photography, as well as his other hobbies.   All that, and a nice front yard, and a fully fenced back yard complete with play structure, shed, and garden. 

  It has some quirks.  It definitely has the feel of a homeowner who took on remodeling projects themself, and didn't quite know what they were doing.  However, it's all cosmetic things, that are easily fixed or ignored.  I'm excited, and have already started the Halloween decorations.  

 Speaking of Halloween decorations, I was appalled yesterday at the stores who have forgone the Halloween decorations in favor of Christmas stuff.  I mean, it is only 3 days into October!  Six of the seven stores I went to yesterday had their Halloween stuff shoved haphazardly into a corner, and looked like they had just thrown out whatever stock they had leftover from last year, then had big Christmas sections already up and running.  The one store that did NOT do that was a Halloween supply store..  It made me want to vomit.   Don't get me wrong-  Christmas is fun, but I LOVE Halloween, and I hate the whole mega-commercialism that Christmas has become.  Halloween and Thanksgiving are practically non-existent anymore because retailers are so gun hoe for Christmas sales.  It makes me sick.

Ok... /end rant on that subject...

If you haven't seen it already, I started a new blog.  I decided to start keeping tabs on all of the recipes I try out.  I was having a hard time remembering what I thought of certain recipes, and what, if any, changes I wanted to try on them.  Now I have all of that, many complete with photos, in one location to go back through.   You should check it out if you are into recipes and stuff:    Our Taste Tests

Next week I get to go to Spokane.  I have to start getting packed and ready for that, I suppose.  It's for a conference for work.  I'm going to the WALE conference.  Should be interesting.