As my daughter recently celebrated her 28th birthday, I was recalling the day of her 11th birthday and the ‘This is my how I got out of a speeding ticket story’.
I had been on the road performing in several states for a month or so leaving my two daughters behind with a nanny. The ‘guilty mom complex’ was incessantly nibbling at my gray matter and trying to invade my already weighty heart.
I was home for one day and fortunately right on my eldest daughter’s birthday! Just coming in from the East Coast, I was to leave the next day for LA. I just had enough time to pick up a cake and make it to my daughter’s classroom for a little birthday celebration.
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Jan
Musings
I believed those words spoken to me by my high school guidance counselor were the truth. An older woman, squishy and donning hues of gray on her bean-head, she had just asked me which career field I had planned for myself.
I want to be a fashion designer. And with all my heart I did. I had for years been cutting patterns out of old drapes, designing interesting ensembles and sewing rather magnificently with my mothers old Singer knee press sewing machine. From bright paisley puff sleeved A-line dresses to herringbone jumpers and nothing blouses, I created and I sewed.
I also sketched and painted pictures of girls in a variety of stylish outfits and hairdo’s. This is how I passed much of my time as a young teen.
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Jan
Menopause
It’s that ‘back to school’ time of year and for me, the smell of new Crayola crayons makes me giddy! Go ahead stick your head in a big box and take a whiff and tell me it does not take you right back to elementary school. For me, it’s first grade in Mrs. Howard’s class.
Donned in my new saddle shoes and “first day of school outfit”, I vividly see myself opening my new tablet (you can’t find them anymore by the way, I tried) with my new freshly sharpened pencils nestled cozily in my new Barbie pencil pouch.
I passionately loved school until about 7th grade when my hairdo and nail polish became more important than knowing how many seats there are in Congress and the House.
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Jan
Menopause
The levels indicated I was running low in ink on all four of the printers I own between my home and office, but I just kept on printing. I always figure I can squeeze those ink cartridges dry and might as well. Saves money.
I needed to print out a resume as I was hurrying out the door. Alas, I had not heeded the warning and I was out of ink…on all four printers.
Later that day my gas gauge indicated I was running low on gas. I play this game to see how many miles I can get on one tank.
As I sat stalled right in the middle of one of the busiest streets in Portland out of gas, I realized once again I had not taken serious the warning. This though, a far worse consequence…and embarrassing!
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Jan
Menopause
One midlife malady that seems to be fairly shared among couples is stubbornness; being set in our ways; no more Mr./Ms. Nice Guy/Gal; I need, I want, I feel, I need some more, etc.
The kids are out of the house and now it’s “ME TIME”. So, if you have two people sharing their lives together exercising their self-indulgent newly found freedom, what happens when the wills clash?
To budge or not to budge? Sometimes it can go beyond the tug of rope named “Compromising” to the silent but deadly “Standoff”. The problem with the Standoff is it gets extremely tiring and it is impossible to win.
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Jan
Mid Life Madness
Hysterectomy and hysterical. Any correlation between these words? I dug in and found something that seems to explain the female condition, well, mine at least.
The word “hyster” originates from the greek and latin language and actually means, “of the womb“, which fully explains the root for the word, hysterectomy. Why then would the same root word be attached to hysterical? Hmmmmm. Check this out from the Online Etymology Dictionary:
hysterical 
1615, from L. hystericus “of the womb,” from Gk. hysterikos “of the womb, suffering in the womb,” from hystera “womb” (see uterus). Originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus.Hysterics is 1727; hysteria, abstract noun from hysteric, first recorded 1801 as a medical term.
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Jan
Menopause
Memories, all alone in the moonlight
I don’t know what I’m doing here, or why I came
All is fuzzy as I wander from room to room
Talking to myself, once again.
Daylight, I awake from my stupor
Wishing I could remember, what day is today
Who am I? What is my name and what do I do?
Let my memory please be renewed.
Every day is a new adventure of confusion and befuddlement
I continue to mutter and my husband shutters
At our mid-life predicament.
Touch me, it’s so easy just read my lips
We’ll grow old together, hand in hand
As we tread these unknown waters of mid-life
I’ll remind you hey, I’m your wife
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Jan
Menopause, Mid Life Madness
Oh my goodness! I have learned so much about my own health and hormones levels in the last year while building this DVD, “Blitzed by Menopause” and I would like to share a few tips with those of you encountering mid life and menopause.
My appetite of late has been insatiable. When I was pregnant, I was told I actually had a condition called “Insatiable Appetite”…and with this condition, I gained over 65 lbs. with my first baby 85 lbs. with my second. I was starving all the time and could not feel the sensation of fullness…even after single handedly consuming a large pizza! The minute my babies were born, this condition ceased…except for a couple days during my cycle.
Hormones!!
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Jan
Menopause
I presently am wasting a bit of time at work and yet ask myself am I? Listening to my ipod in my office while the people above me sound like elephants stomping on the floor (I have no idea what they do up there but it makes me nuts),I experience one of those precious moments.
So I’m listening to John Denver sing “My Sweet Lady” and am remembering a certain someone from college, 1972, that took me to Denver’s concert. At this memory, I smile, laugh, even get a tear.
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Jan
Menopause
