Happy New Year & Daily Greatness in 2017

Happy New Year!

For once, I thought I would start the NEW YEAR all organized and ready to go. I even bought a fancy new journal -- The Daily Greatness Journal: A Practical Guide For Consciously Creating Your Days. [Note: that is an affiliate link-- you can save 5% if you are so inclined.]

I thought that would help, and I even started it last week. It's a very comprehensive system, with a daily schedule (6am to 8pm - I guess it's a day timer, literally), and all kinds of prompts and reminders and fill-in-the-blanks--

"Today I AM so grateful for..."

"My top 3 inspired actions for today are..."

"The mindset I wish to create today is..."

All very motivating and aspirational, and I had -- HAVE -- the best intentions.

It just seems, lately, as soon as I write something down, or make a To Do List, or decide on my Six Daily Actions For Success... something else comes up. Not bad things-- good things! A surprise visit from out-of-town friends... a family adventure... new ideas and opportunities... an old passion project to revive...

And maybe there's a lesson in all of this, and a case study for taking a more intuitive (some might say half-assed), approach to planning and organization.

The older and wiser I get, the less I know for sure, so we'll just go with it... and hope for the best, as always.

What's your plan for Daily Greatness in 2017?
Wishing you a truly fantastic start to it and much success, love, and happiness in the new year ahead!

For more fun & behind-the-scenes, connect with The Rebel Housewife on Social Media:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheRebelHousewife
Twitter: @rebelupdate

45 & Pregnant or... Oh.

For the ladies...buckle up, girls, for an inside glimpse of the continuing journey...

45 & Pregnant or... Oh

by Sherri Caldwell - The Rebel Housewife® - All Rights Reserved.
For more information, contact Sherri@RebelHousewife.com

I remember waiting for It to start, in a very Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret kind-of-way, with excitement and growing concern, as all my friends seemed to start before me. I was 13 when It finally happened, and then I wasn't so excited anymore...what a pain!

Thirty-two years later, after the blessing of three healthy children, I suddenly find myself at the other end of the reproductive life cycle, waiting for a period that doesn't seem to be coming. I just hope, at forty-five that it's NOT pregnancy, God forbid; with three teenagers -- we're done! But the other reality, in many ways, is just as disconcerting.

Really? Is that it? Menopause. There, I said it.

WebMD tells us menopause is the stage in a woman’s life when she has not had a menstrual period for one year. That twelve-month transition is called perimenopause, and actually begins much earlier, as the equipment gradually begins to shut down. Perimenopause usually starts in a woman's 40s, but can begin earlier.

How's this for clarity:

"The average length of perimenopause is four years, but for some women this stage may last only a few months or continue for 10 years. Perimenopause ends the first year after menopause (when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period)." -- WebMD Menopause Health Center

Well, now that I may have had it, that last period leading into menopause, it makes me sad that I didn't notice. I wasn't paying attention, and I am suddenly faced with my body shutting itself down and what...getting ready to die?

No, that is more than a little dramatic. Considering the alternative to this situation (pregnancy), there are many positives to menopause. I'm sure...thinking...

Well, for one thing, once the factory shuts down for good, Prince Charming and I can enjoy a spontaneous sex extravaganza (sorry, kids!), without the risk of another baby coming along...that’s sexy, right? (Prince Charming, God love him, assures me it is.)

If you believe those ED commercials, we'll be sexy, silver-haired seniors, humping it up all over the place -- riding motorcycles, sailing exotic locations, taking romantic bubble baths in the middle of the week -- oh!

It's not like I didn't see it coming. Just as my daughter entered her time, with all the resulting mood swings and drama, I noticed changes, enough to think it was ironic: just as she was going through puberty, I was entering the extreme after-puberty, all perfectly normal:

Hot Flashes = Check
Mood Swings = OMG, Check
Difficulty Sleeping = Hello, my 4AM Facebook crowd!

There's more, but you get the idea.

Last year, my OB/GYN said it was "much" too early, but look at my hair -- I am 100% silver. My chiropractor, who, after 16 years, is a good friend and trusted doctor, gave me some herbal horse pills about the same time, in response to my whining, and I am addicted. ProFema™ made those early uncomfortable symptoms abate somewhat, even making the mood swings more, but not completely, manageable. (No, I am not getting paid for that mention!)

You don't miss something until you lose it. I don't miss it, I am just shocked that's where we are now, trying not to feel old and used up. I am Cougar, hear me roar. Meow.

- - -

Update - pregnancy test. I've only had to take a few more in my life than I was prepared for (meaning hoping for positive results). Forty-five years old, with a senior in high school, buying a pregnancy test, as quickly and inconspicuously as possible...peeing on a stick, waiting for lines to appear: two = pregnant, hoping for the single = not pregnant...3 minutes...

Single line, folks. You know what that means -- yay?

Escape From Suburbia

ESCAPE FROM SUBURBIA
by Sherri Caldwell - The Rebel Housewife®
http://www.rebelhousewife.com


The suburbs offered one form of happily-ever-after; but, at a certain point, we had to get out.

As far as suburbs go, "Stepford of the South" was very nice: big houses, two-and-even-three-car garages, enormous lawns. It was like having your own private park, front and back. Of course, the front yard was for show, purely ornamental. The back yard was for living.

Not that anyone wanted or needed privacy. Stepford was a community, a haven for People Like Us, with families and neighbors destined to become Friends For Life. It was written into the sales contract, and the neighborhood bylaws.

After all, we paid extra for upscale family storage. The corporate bosses of our hard-working commuter dads paid well to keep the family far enough away, with a large enough mortgage and household expenses, to ensure job dedication and healthy separation.

Every Monday, the husbands went to work. The children went to school. The wives kept house, shopped, socialized and maintained a busy schedule of community and school-related commitments, basically running the world from their designated PTA regiments.

In the afternoon, the children came home, briefly, and were then carpooled to their various activities. Dinner was inevitably a la drive-thru. The husbands came home late and scrounged for leftovers. Exhausted from the daily round, bedtime came early, after homework and school projects. Repeat through Friday.

The weekends were sacrificed to the Gods of Lawn Care-- Olympics-worthy competition amongst the men, all weekend, every weekend.

My Prince Charming became a commuting, work-in-the-city, weekend-lawn-warrior stranger. When I realized I was spending far more quality time with my crazy neighbor, a doctor’s wife, than my own husband, the suburban fairytale started to break down.

The big, roomy house with lots of space became too much to maintain, to clean, to keep track of young people and family pets. I realized I hadn’t seen my middle child for five years in this mausoleum.

As for the lawn... You know, the city offers and maintains municipal parks. They are generally bigger and better-equipped. And you don’t have to feed every random child who wanders through.

Friends For Life and People Like Us had been selling points, but who can stand their own company interminably, without any variety? We began to plot our escape. From Soccer Moms and Minivans, to the diversity of the city, where we belonged.

The stranger we called Daddy transformed from an exhausted commuter/weekend warrior to a healthy, happy and involved father who walks to work and is home every night for dinner. All of a sudden, he’s always there, where and when he hadn’t been before. While it takes some getting used to, we got out just in time.

--- Sherri Caldwell, The Rebel Housewife®, is an author, columnist and reviewer at www.RebelHousewife.com. After many years as a PTA Mom in the suburbs, she now lives happily-ever-after with her husband, three teenagers, and Mocha-the-Dog, in a midtown high-rise in Atlanta, Georgia.

Happy Mother's Day! $25 & Under

Happy Mother's Day! $25 & Under - Part One

by Sherri Caldwell - The Rebel Housewife®
http://www.rebelhousewife.com


As a Mom, I could easily rattle off a dozen ways, and more, in which I could be fabulously gifted on Mother's Day for under $25. (In response to a challenge from NerdWallet -- this is probably not what they had in mind, but there you go. I appreciate the great suggestion and motivation to do a Mother's Day blog post this year!)

Here's a Quickie: FIVE Best Gifts Under $25 For Mom:

1. A BOOK (my most-favorite thing!) or gift card to Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. Specific suggestion? Shameless plug: Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss! or anything by Erma Bombeck -- trust me, she'll love it.
   
2. Lunch at my favorite restaurant. You do know Mom's favorite restaurant, right? (This Mom's is La Fonda Latina - Atlanta).
   
3. Candles/Flowers (preferably plants) - so many choices! Check this out:
   Candles (BBW) -- Ooh, how 'bout them candles? (LOVE those flameless ones for outside!)
   
4. CHOCOLATE -- and not the cheap stuff you can buy in the check-out lane at the grocery store; at least go to the candy aisle and get some decent truffles. Look for Lindt LINDOR Assorted Chocolate Truffles. Yum.
   
5. Jewelry -- watches, earrings, bracelets/anklets, oh my! -- Amazon Jewelry Sale.
   My top picks -- and, coincidentally, Happy Mother's Day to ME:
   
   

There you go...easy! Now, if you want to go super-special, under-under $25, check Part Two for some other thoughts and ideas:

Happy Mother's Day! $25 & Under - Part Two

Mother's Day: Thru the Years

As a new mother, 18 years ago, for my first and five-or-so subsequent Mother's Days, I needed nothing more than TIME -- for myself. The greatest imaginable gift for those early, blissful, exhausted Mother's Days would have been a coupon book or certificate of offerings from friends, family, husband, neighbors...anyone...TIME: an offer to change a diaper; baby's hour out; nap-time for Mommy; Date Night w/Daddy; 15 minutes to go to the bathroom or take a shower; a delivered meal. All free, or nearly so, but of inestimable worth to the new Mommy. (Of course, jewelry is always appropriate, especially birth-stone jewelry or mother's jewelry -- or diamonds, always perfect! Not necessarily under $25, or under-under, but I digress...)

Five years later (noting I had three children, age five & under, at this point), I treasured every toddler and kid-made arts & crafts symbol of love: the macaroni necklaces, handpainted plant pots; "stained glass" paper creations, thumbprint-decorated cardstock photo frames, ceramic handprints in clay. If my kids slapped glue and glitter paint on a stick, I loved it. I can still visualize those precious gifts, wrapped in simple tissue paper, so eagerly given by those little hands, the super-big-hugs. I still have many of those wonderful, priceless gifts.

As the mother of teenagers, 13 years later, there is a cat's-in-the-cradle aspect to everything, and the ideal gift is TIME -- with my kids. Appreciation. "I love you, Mom." A family dinner at home (without having to cook or clean up after) -- "you take it easy today, Mom." A kid who might pick up their own dirty clothes, turn their own stinky socks rightside out, even run a load of laundry -- woo! Another excellent idea for teenagers: help Mom with the TECHNOLOGY! Set up a ringtone for her; show her how to download and listen to music she would actually like, or a cool app; figure out for her why it's making that noise, or that light keeps flashing, or why it won't do what I want it to (whatever it is).

As a Mom, I can tell you-- Mother's Day does not need to be expensive or extravagant -- truly, it shouldn't be -- to be special. How these 18 years slipped away so quickly, I don't know. Everyone said they would, and they were right.

So relax.

The happiest Mother's Days are completely free: "I love you, Mom. Thank you."
I need to go get a nose-wipie (Kleenex) now...
Happy, Happy Mother's Day - Make it Special.

45 & Pregnant or... Oh.

For the ladies...buckle up, girls, for an inside glimpse of the continuing journey...

45 & Pregnant or... Oh

by Sherri Caldwell - The Rebel Housewife® - All Rights Reserved.
For more information, contact Sherri@RebelHousewife.com

I remember waiting for It to start, in a very Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret kind-of-way, with excitement and growing concern, as all my friends seemed to start before me. I was 13 when It finally happened, and then I wasn't so excited anymore...what a pain!

Thirty-two years later, after the blessing of three healthy children, I suddenly find myself at the other end of the reproductive life cycle, waiting for a period that doesn't seem to be coming. I just hope, at forty-five that it's NOT pregnancy, God forbid; with three teenagers -- we're done! But the other reality, in many ways, is just as disconcerting.

Really? Is that it? Menopause. There, I said it.

WebMD tells us menopause is the stage in a woman’s life when she has not had a menstrual period for one year. That twelve-month transition is called perimenopause, and actually begins much earlier, as the equipment gradually begins to shut down. Perimenopause usually starts in a woman's 40s, but can begin earlier.

How's this for clarity:

"The average length of perimenopause is four years, but for some women this stage may last only a few months or continue for 10 years. Perimenopause ends the first year after menopause (when a woman has gone 12 months without having her period)." -- WebMD Menopause Health Center

Well, now that I may have had it, that last period leading into menopause, it makes me sad that I didn't notice. I wasn't paying attention, and I am suddenly faced with my body shutting itself down and what...getting ready to die?

No, that is more than a little dramatic. Considering the alternative to this situation (pregnancy), there are many positives to menopause. I'm sure...thinking...

Well, for one thing, once the factory shuts down for good, Prince Charming and I can enjoy a spontaneous sex extravaganza (sorry, kids!), without the risk of another baby coming along...that’s sexy, right? (Prince Charming, God love him, assures me it is.)

If you believe those ED commercials, we'll be sexy, silver-haired seniors, humping it up all over the place -- riding motorcycles, sailing exotic locations, taking romantic bubble baths in the middle of the week -- oh!

It's not like I didn't see it coming. Just as my daughter entered her time, with all the resulting mood swings and drama, I noticed changes, enough to think it was ironic: just as she was going through puberty, I was entering the extreme after-puberty, all perfectly normal:

Hot Flashes = Check
Mood Swings = OMG, Check
Difficulty Sleeping = Hello, my 4AM Facebook crowd!

There's more, but you get the idea.

Last year, my OB/GYN said it was "much" too early, but look at my hair -- I am 100% silver. My chiropractor, who, after 16 years, is a good friend and trusted doctor, gave me some herbal horse pills about the same time, in response to my whining, and I am addicted. ProFema™ made those early uncomfortable symptoms abate somewhat, even making the mood swings more, but not completely, manageable. (No, I am not getting paid for that mention!)

You don't miss something until you lose it. I don't miss it, I am just shocked that's where we are now, trying not to feel old and used up. I am Cougar, hear me roar. Meow.

- - -

Update - pregnancy test. I've only had to take a few more in my life than I was prepared for (meaning hoping for positive results). Forty-five years old, with a senior in high school, buying a pregnancy test, as quickly and inconspicuously as possible...peeing on a stick, waiting for lines to appear: two = pregnant, hoping for the single = not pregnant...3 minutes...

Single line, folks. You know what that means -- yay?