Life in the Middle Age Lane

In less than a week I will be turning 49 years old.  I would have thought that by this age I would know what I wanted to do with my life.  For sure by 45 or 46.  Well those years went by quickly and now I am looking down the barrel of my 40's gone by. For some reason, I want to really, really, really enjoy this last year in my 40's despite still not having a clue what I want to do with my life.  I joke with my daughter (who has been bombarded with that same question since she started college) I don't even know if I want to start a family!  Needless to say I get an eye roll with that remark. I don't know if subconsciously I think my 50's will be the start of a down hill journey or the loss of so many friends has prompted me to rethink how I live my life.  Perhaps a little of both.  Regardless, I want to do something different this year.  What if it is my last year?  Isn't it always a "last year" of some sort.  Things are constantly...

I just finished sending out about 180 Christmas cards.  This year I had to enlist John's help since I was feeling under the weather with a bad cold.  I think next year I will work on our family pictures over the summer.  Thanksgiving break is way too busy to try to get everyone together, dressed, matched, and groomed.  Not too happy with this year's cards but I can only do so much. Having to get the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving and MAKING Thanksgiving dinner while packing and prepping for a weekend at the deer lease made it very difficult to enjoy my Thanksgiving.    I realized that I add too much pressure to my life and I just need to learn to say NO more. I do love seeing these two together.  One of the best things I ever did was have these two amazing people.  I'm happy to see their relationship stay strong and healthy. Emilio was not too happy with his hair and Shelby loved her Llama sweater.  It was her idea we ...

I know it's been 4 WHOLE months since my last post and happy to report life is going smoothly. Most of you know that I exercise on a regular basis and have tried everything from personal trainers, yoga to kick boxing.  I finally found a program that in the beginning scared the beejezus out of me but stuck with it -Crossfit, going on three years in February.  I'm not going to talk about the work out session but I am going to mention the latest challenge I just completed that had me reassessing my lifestyle. The challenge was for 8 weeks and during the eight weeks, every week you were "challenged" to do a certain task.  I will touch on these in a minute but what the basics of the program is the following: 0-5 points for eating clean (basically nothing processed, Fruits, nuts, vegetables, fish, and meat) Points for taking a supplement, hydrating, stretching for 10 minutes, exercising for 10 minutes. All things that are possible and within reason.  I mean 10 min...

25 years!  From childhood to adulthood we have enjoyed every day with you in our lives. Emilio's Birthday Bash Weekend  Point West Beach rental.  Highly recommend if you have a family. Safe and peaceful.  We always travel with a couple of kites.  John's favorite part about the beach. I enjoyed Emilio's Beach Birthday Bash just as much as he did. Emilio's guest waiting for the birthday cake to be lit.  Beautiful people! Life with Emilio in 2014-2015   Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Barbecue Cook Off 2015 Thanksgiving Day 2014 Sunday dinner at our home, love when all my loved ones are under one roof. Christmas Concert at Wortham Center with the Houston Latin Philharmonic in December 2014 Emilio played first chair violin.  Beautiful performance! My lovely son, took me out for a birthday dinner.  My husband and daughter were out of town that day and he...

Time is on our side, yes it is.  Unfortunately, that is farther from the truth.  I always had the thought in my head, "there is always tomorrow".  But the fact is, that it's not true for everyone.  We lie to ourselves on a daily basis that we have time to say the unspoken, to make amends, to care a little bit more next time, or see the sunrise another morning.  We honestly and realistically don't know if that is true but we keep the faith. My father in law was a big part of our lives and I did not realize just how much until he died.  He was my tagalong, my extra child, my responsibility.  That's how I saw him.  I never knew him prior to Parkinson's.  And the days he was healthy and self sufficient, those days were spent in his beloved home town of Lake Charles.  I inherited my dad towards the difficult years of his life.  I so wish I new him prior.  But the bittersweet part is that I loved him even more because he was mine a...

John and I just returned from honoring his father's life.  He was interred yesterday in Lake Charles, his beloved home town. A hero to us all. Castle “Buddy” Cohron, Jr. passed away June 3, 2015 in Spring, TX. He was born in Jennings, Louisiana to Castle Clarence Cohron and Lydia Guillory on March 8, 1942. He attended the all boys school, St. Charles Academy where he made lifelong friends. He was a member of the Lake Charles Civil Air Patrol in 1958, graduated from Landry High School in 1959 and received a bachelor’s degree at University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1965. Castle was part of the class that founded the Green Party at Kappa Sigma Fraternity.  He proudly served in the U.S. Air Force from November 1965 until his honorable discharge in March 1971. He completed over 200 missions in an F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters for extraordinary...

Some of you know that as of January 1, 2015 I have not bought any clothes for myself.  My goal is to TRY to go the entire year without purchasing clothes.  You can read about it here .  I know I stated that I would not buy shoes as well but I retracted that when I realized that I can't go an entire year with worn out shoes.  I'm pretty hard on my shoes and do not wish to look like a pauper or have aches and pains. I have focused on making my current wardrobe pop with costume jewelry, shoes, and accessories.  All within reason of course.  I held a Premier Jewelry party a few months ago and it was a huge success.  I was able to receive over $500 worth of free jewelry for hosting.  All because of the generosity of my friends who loved the jewelry just as much as I do. I love costume jewelry, specially since I love to wear jeans, t shirts and sandals.  Changing the jewelry or throwing on a scarf really dresses it up for me. Another of...