• Confessions,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Working On My Fitness

    Rebalancing.

    January 26, 2015

    Making it through last week felt like a huge victory for me because, well, you probably read all about it already. Besides the moving parts of my life over which I have no control that I ever-so-vaguely mentioned, the other main source of my internal crisis was a repeat offender: hormones. THANKS, MOM. KIDDING, MOM. I took some action over the weekend and reached out to a friend who is a wellness coach and so smart about and active in treating things holistically that one of her nicknames is “Witch Doctor”. This is NOT my thing. I’ve always been skeptical of the healing properties of oils and other natural—what shall…

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  • Blessings,  Confessions,  UGH.

    This Week: 1 Melisa: 1/2

    January 23, 2015

    This week has Kicked. My. Butt. I’m not talking about your average, run-of-the-mill, short-term butt-kicking. I’m talking about nearly a week’s worth of stress-induced, anxiety-laden, sleep-deprived, frustrating, often tearful minutes that crawled by as if they were hours instead of sixty-second increments. To say out loud that it’s “been a tough week” seems ridiculous to me because it’s such a massive understatement. The cause: too many moving parts in my life, many of which are currently out of my control. At my lowest point earlier in the week, I sobbed heavily into Jim’s arms, stating rather dramatically that I just don’t know why I can’t be a “normal person who…

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  • Confessions,  I'm Apparently Old.,  UGH.

    Mr. Sandman, Bring Me A Dream. PLEASE.

    January 13, 2015

    Take a look at this, an arrangement of just a few of the products that are involved in my pre-bedtime routine. It wasn’t always this way, my having to bring in reinforcements. Way, way back when I was in my twenties, I could brush my teeth, use the bathroom, get into bed, snuggle up to Jim, pull the covers up to my chin (I always loved being cozy under the blankets!) and fall asleep nearly immediately. I’d stay asleep until morning and even if I “only” got seven hours, I felt so well rested! These days, in my midtolate forties (to me, forty-six is not mid- and not late-; it’s…

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  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I've Got Mad Skillz

    Just Give Me A Second And I’ll Figure It Out.

    January 5, 2015

    Unfortunately, all of the answers can’t be found on Google. I mean, LOTS of them can…but often there are questions or problems that can’t be resolved by typing in a query. Here’s what I do when I have a dilemma: I call someone to talk it out. Now, you might think that when I say “talk it out”, I mean that I’m calling that person to have a two-person exchange about my issue and then hang up feeling triumphant because we have figured it out together. Good job. That’s what I thought I was doing too, for a while. Not so. I mean, that’s my INTENTION, but that’s not exactly…

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  • Confessions

    Google Is My Middle Name.

    January 3, 2015

    I am a curious person by nature. I ask lots of questions, all the time. I usually come up with more questions too, depending on the answers. It’s the main frustration Jim always has when he takes care of any calls that need to be made regarding our house or family (contractors, doctors, in-laws, etc.). He hangs up his phone and my interrogation starts immediately. Usually the conversation ends with Jim sighing and saying, “I didn’t ask THAT…” I ask so many questions that I annoy myself, truly. (Really Jim, I do!!) When it comes to facts and figures, I am constantly feeling ever so grateful that I live in…

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  • Confessions,  Favorite Things

    God Save The Queen (And Her Corgi)!

    December 2, 2014

    One of my very favorite things in this house was given to me a couple of years ago by my friend Sue, followed a year or so later by Sue’s gifting of another one of my very favorite things in this house. They are Queen Elizabeth and one of her Corgis. Not the REAL Queen Elizabeth, silly. THIS Queen Elizabeth: To say I’m a British Royals fanatic would be a massive understatement. You can get an idea of my crazy, and I highly recommend you do, by reading my live blog of William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, which is (along with the comments) still hysterical (to me) three and…

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  • Blessings,  Confessions,  Family Fun

    New Old Holiday Traditions

    November 26, 2014

    If there is anything for which I am well-known, it’s that I’m not a huge fan of the holidays and holiday traditions. Wait, it’s that I have a Type A personality. Wait, it’s that I love tea. Wait, it’s that I’m a very cheerful, optimistic person. Wait, let’s go back to that holiday thing. I’ve explained it many times before; it’s not that I don’t like the holidays in general. It’s more about not fully enjoying the pomp and circumstance that comes with the holidays: the decorations, the fuss, the clutter, the stress, the “we have to do THIS and THIS”…I’m a creature of habit and it all gives me…

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  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Friends,  Fun in Chicago,  I've Got Mad Skillz

    Just Noh.

    November 19, 2014

    I’m in a mood this afternoon, because I scheduled a workout for 4:30 p.m. and one of my least favorite things to do is drag myself away from whatever I’m doing to go take an afternoon class. I used to do my workouts mostly in the evening or at 5:30 in the morning almost exclusively, so it’s not like I’m new at this, but I’m a creature of habit and changing up my schedule today hurt. I’ve grown quite accustomed to doing my 8:30 a.m. class and then being finished for the day. Actually, the fact that this is bothering me so much really tells me that I probably need…

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  • Confessions

    Ring Ring

    November 15, 2014

    You know how you wake up on a Saturday morning and although you have a busy day of baking planned, you’re excited to write your NaBloPoMo Day fifteen blog post but you decide to get some of your other necessary tasks out of the way first, like working out and some of that baking? And you know how you end up being in the kitchen for five hours in the afternoon because you forgot that the very worst part of participating in the Chicago Food Swap (something you haven’t done for a year because it wasn’t meshing well with your schedule) is that you simply lack the ability to ignore…

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  • Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Confessions,  Jim Has Mad Skillz

    Stepping Out.

    November 13, 2014

    I am all about stepping out of my comfort zone these days. I haven’t always been that way and it’s still not always easy but I firmly believe that many of the things I have and things I am able to do have resulted from my “getting uncomfortable” at times, and setting things in motion somehow, by either taking action or just putting the ask out there. I just realized that this week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the day I put the wheels in motion for the thing that has affected just about every element of my life ever since: my marriage. Thirty years ago this week I ended…

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