I Pulled A Muscle Running Errands

I am more than a little embarrassed to share with you this very sad and very true story...........

I pulled a muscle while running errands in my car!

The Facts:

• I spent three hours driving from store to store, running errands. Dropping pants off to be altered at the tailors, picking up beautiful wrapping paper from my favorite paper store in old town Scottsdale, searching for the perfect gold/cream-colored poinsettias for the front entry pots and finishing with a stop at the grocery store for fresh fish and vegetables for dinner.
• I exercise every day.......hour-long early morning walk with Wrigley and friends plus I go to the Village Club and workout at least three times a week.
• I despise running errands and always have, but I also like supporting local shops and feel the need to touch and feel items myself.  

  So, one minute I am a busy little bee, hopping out of my car in rapid fashion and the next minute, I cannot maneuver the car door and my legs at the same time!  Is this one of those "special empty nest moments?!"   I refuse to accept it!  So, the next day, I head out for more shopping, a run to the hardware store and back to the grocery store.  Only this time, I can hardly move.  Flinging the first leg out was so hard. I am pretty sure people around me heard the grunts coming out of my mouth.    And while I am not much of a swearer, my vocabulary choices were guttural at best.

Well, I am here to tell you that while Congress is studying whether a ban on all telephone use in the car because of it's inherent dangers, they should also research the dangers of running errands!  Maybe a ban of running errands is just as valid...... 

Now, here's the part where YOU come in.......Tell me I am not alone: please tell me that you have done something like this before.  I beg of you to share your stories of pulling your muscles while doing mundane, everyday activities.  And if none of you have never had such a ridiculous experience in your life, will you at least appease me with a wonderful little white lie?  Thanks, I love you, too!

3:33 AM Thoughts By The Christmas Tree

3:33 am, sitting in front of the Christmas tree in the den, wondering just how many of my empty nest friends are also awake, staring at a Christmas tree.............................

Insomnia, that terrible four-letter word. Just imagine what all of us 50+ women could do with a week's worth of sleeping through the night!  It would be downright amazing......

And as much as I love my followers, I will end this post in a New York minute if I feel a "sleepy storm" coming on.  I have my priorities..........

That didn't come out very nice, so I apologize for my middle of the night snarkiness....which isn't a word (my spell check suggests my kinkiness). I can honestly tell you I feel nothing kinky at this moment, so it's Beth-1, spell check 0!

So, why are YOU awake at this ungodly hour?   I hope it's for good happy reasons.  Part of the reason I sit typing by the Christmas tree is due to a lot of new, exciting news for Bill and me.  Pretty soon I can share with you what's going on around here, but suffice it to say, there are some big changes for the better for both of us.  With a little luck, things will be really looking up.  But the moments in our lives just before big changes, can be filled with anticipation....sometimes anxiety....sometimes prayer.  Me? I just wake up in the middle of the night and think.....and think, and think, and think.  Oh, and waste a bunch of time tweeting, reading online stuff, and blogging!

Well, whatever is keeping you awake this evening, I wish I could help you.  I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be just fine.  No need to worry.  Go back to bed; the doctors all say, we will lose more weight and have better general health if we can sleep more often and for longer periods of time. That's easier said then done, isn't it?  I will try to take my own medicine and head back to the bedroom.  I will turn off the glowing lights on the Christmas tree now.  I will try to shut down my mind and all the thoughts still rumbling around up there. 

Nighty night.........................

Phantom Way and Our Bedrock Clan

 It was a Yabadabado kind of Halloween for the Southworth clan. It starts with one person saying they are going to be Fred and Wilma and then moves into full Bedrock territory.

Getting Bill to get dressed included a bit of trickery and the promise of possible later evening "treats"......all well worth it.  I have never seen a more adorable Barney in my life!  He said it was like wearing two bathroom mats, that smelled almost as bad. 

Then, the youngest in our clan, Jackson, was some kind of warrior or Jedi.....(when your kids are grown up, you no longer have to know the characters). But he looked great and watching him enjoy the festivities was the best.  At age 5, he could care less about the candy and had the best time actually giving out the candy to the kids after he was done trick-or-treating himself.

 I should tell you a little about D. and K.'s neighborhood.  The road is called Phantom Way and its residences take this name and Halloween very, very seriously!

Halloween decorations start sometime in August, I think, and everyone sets up outdoors in front of the house.  There are fog machines and music.  There are spider webs all over everyone's homes.  Almost everyone is dressed up. 

It also happens to be one huge adult cocktail party which brings a whole new aspect to the evening.............beware of the neighbor offering a "brains" shot, it's nasty!

The street has gained somewhat of a reputation and we went through 15 pounds of candy! 1000s of kids visited Bedrock!  People from everywhere drive over to trick-or-treat here.  We did not see as many truckloads of families who don't speak a lick of English this year. (hmmmmm!)

 There were so many cute costumes to share, like Leiloni's group of mustard, ketchup and a hot dog (relish was nowhere to be found!). There were many all neon green outfits that I have no idea what they were supposed to be.  There were many kids dressed like the actors in the Harry Potter movies.  There were stars and celebrities and one real celebrity (Tom Chambers....ex-NBA superstar).  He seemed to be enjoying the night.  And, he was probably equally excited to meet Betty Rubble as I was meeting him!

Perhaps my favorite costume of the evening my our niece, Heather, who was dressed as a mime.  Cute, clever, creative, homemade.....just like Heather!

The only two sane people in the neighborhood?  It's Fred and Barney's Mom and Dad.  They came up for the festivities, eat some of Fred's unbelievable smoked chicken enchiladas, then go back home.

It just takes one person enthused with the holiday to start a crazy family tradition.  We have Wilma to thank for that.

It takes one City planner to name a street 'Phantom Way' and the start of a neighborhood tradition takes off in full fashion.  I wonder if this employee has any idea what he or she started.........Happy Halloween, everyone.  See you next year...............

I am participating in the November NaBloPoMo:

Empty Nest Party-Pooper or Betty Rubble? You Decide!

Back again!  I am here to share with you my Halloween dilemma and to ask for your advise.

For an empty nest parent living in a neighborhood that only has a few children of trick-or-treat age, Halloween has become somewhat of a non-event.  It's hard to get too excited when the door bell rings three times in the whole evening. A few years ago, we only had one lonely child..........

The door bell rang and I opened the door and looked down at this 4 foot child.  His parents were standing proudly on the street watching their son.  His head was drooped and he was sort of flapping his arms up and down.  He was covered in a head-to-toe old brown sheet.  He flapped his arms a little harder for about 30 seconds then he lifted his head and gave me this desperate look.  I said, "Well now, what are we?"  "I'm a moth"................. he flaps his arms quietly, without a smile on his adorable face.  I gave him the whole bowl of candy.

Image via Wikipedia Just two neighborhoods away,  Halloween is hugely celebrated, second only to Christmas.  People decorate their homes, starting sometime in August.  They make haunted homes in their garages.    They have spooky music playing outside.  The adults drink adult-like witches brew and the kids are filled with little kids, teenagers, a truckloads of illegal immigrants.  Seriously, truckloads!  And the Moms and Dads and kids dress up for candy.  Perhaps a few loaves of bread should be given out.  Each house needs more than 10 pounds of candy to handle the volume of trick-or-treaters.  But no one cares about that, they are all having a blast! This also happens to be the neighborhood where my husband's brother and his family live..................

Image via Wikipedia

They have invited us to partake in this very festive night. Their family is taking on "The Flintstones" theme for the house and the costumes.  Here's my problem:


My husband is sort of the Halloween Scrooge.  He doesn't want to go.  If we must go, he doesn't want to dress up and he wants to stay for just a few moments.  I could go either way.  Part of me wants to put together Barney and Betty costumes and dress Wrigley like Deno, the dinosaur.  (I've been told that Betty was the hot one!)   But, the other part of me agrees with Bill....it's a Monday night, we don't need to spend the time or money in getting costumes together, the traffic getting over there will be mad....the list of negatives is a mile long.

So, what should I do?  I have about 3 hours to figure this out.  Are we getting to be old party-poopers?  Or are we just mature people?  You be the deciders......................................HELP!

Guilted Into Writing This Post

It's a busy, blogging day to complete my commitment to the Ultimate Blog Challenge of writing 31 posts in October.  I would start celebrating, but tomorrow, I am right back at it for NaBloPoMo in November!  But I do believe that "practice makes perfect", or in the very least....makes better, so I will continue to write and write.......

Commitment can be a very hard concept for me.  Take dieting.....I want to lose this extra five pounds that have settled in my mid-section.  I am committed to losing in theory.  But, I don't necessarily want to go to the gym today and this Klondike ice cream bar makes for a delicious breakfast treat!  (Except it melts too quickly!)  I AM committed to at least trying to commit to my commitments...

Once I say that I am going to do something if I drop the ball, I start to feel very guilty.  I have this internal fight with my self.....that goes a little like this:

Good Beth: Remember, you have 2 posts to catch up to your UBC commitment.

Bad Beth: I will, don't worry.....I just want to finish reading the paper first.

Good Beth: Two hours have past. Isn't now the perfect time to sit down and write?

Bad Beth: But, it's pretty outside.....I am going to enjoy this perfect weather and trim some branches.

(And this is when Good Beth kicks in and starts layering me with guilt)

Good Beth: Okay, but you'll probably lose your audience.  And you'll be letting down the sponsors.  And once you start to fall behind, it's so much harder to catch up.  You probably more important than this silly little commitment.  And besides you don't really have an "audience", do you?

(OUCH!)

Bad Beth: All right, I will sit down and write my stupid post, BUT it's NOT going to be good!

(Boo-YA......I told her!)

Take Someone Else's Advice on Dating

Day 29 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge asks us to find an article and post it on our site....with a note from us on the bottom:

Tips for Finding Love in Your Middle Ages
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lori_Abela]Lori Abela

Whether you are single after 40 or dating in your middle ages, most of us at this stage of our lives think that finding a soulmate is the most essential thing. You begin to ask questions like how can I find love? Or how do I find love? And sometimes you even doubt that you will ever find love again. Here are some useful tips for finding love in your middle ages:

Look for someone you can understand. If you want someone who is older than you or about the same age as you, they would most likely be someone who has never been married or who has been previously married. In the process of finding a soulmate, you should be able to accept that this person is already set in their ways. The soulmate secret is in learning how to understand your partner. You have to be able to understand that each of you have different traits that need to complement each other rather than go against each other.

Know what you want. There are many people in this age category who go from one relationship to another not knowing what it is they want and what it is they are willing to be part of. If the person you are dating has been married and have children, you need to figure out if you are willing to be a parent. You also need to understand that his or her ex will always be present as long as the kids are being raised. Finding a soulmate when you are single after 40 or dating in your middle ages means having to accept that sometimes the one you love comes with a package deal. Are you willing to entertain someone with children if you your self have children? Know that it's another different story when families are merged.

On the other hand, if both of you have no children and are at this age, you have to find out where each of you stand on whether to have kids or not. If you do, would it be through surrogacy, artificial insemination, or adoption? Even though this might be too early in the relationship, you have to at least be mentally prepared to answer such questions. Both of you are not getting any younger and shouldn't waste much time dwelling on petty stuff. This is the reality of middle age dating and the soulmate secret is knowing what you want so that things are clearer and out in the open.

Be open and comfortable with the criticism of others. When you've reached this age and you are asking yourself the questions how can I find love? Or how do I find love? The last thing you should worry about is the criticism of others. So what if you are dating someone younger or older? As long as you think that this person is your one true love and he or she keeps you happy, criticisms should just go in and out of your head. Before getting on with someone who is younger or older, ask yourself if you are ready for some criticism because definitely, there will be one or two who will not be happy to see this union.

Dating in your middle ages can also be quite tough and different since the dating practices and trends have already developed through the years. What you know about finding a soulmate then might not be of use today. You know that bars won't be a good place to start with in terms of looking for real love so you have to be open to whatever opportunities that may come your way. At times you may even need to adapt to current trends such as online dating.

Be prepared. When you are dating in your middle ages and you have custody of your children, you need to have a reliable babysitter or family member to take care of your kid(s) whenever you are on a date. Once you find your match, figure out when you would be able to introduce him or her to your children. Set proper and realistic expectations with the children since they might expect you to get back together with your ex. Remember to choose your timing wisely and choose the right person before doing this exercise. You are now on the lookout for someone who would also be capable of being a parent to your children. Dating in your middle ages and finding a soulmate entails that you look out not just for yourself but also for your kids as well.

Dating in your middle ages can be quite daunting and scary for some but this stage can also bring much excitement to your life. By this time, you would have mustered enough confidence in attracting the love of others. Stop asking yourself questions like how can I find love? Or how do I find love? And start believing that finding a soulmate can be as adventurous as it was when you were twenty years younger.

Try these dating tips for finding love in your middle ages. You can get more information on finding a soulmate by visiting [http://www.manifestingmydestiny.com/]http://www.manifestingmydestiny.com Be sure to take advantage of the 6 Day Free E-mail Mini-Course and submit your name to be advised of the release of the mini e-book "Help! How Can I Find True Love?"

Lori Abela is an expert on finding true love for expats. She has finally found the love of her life in her 40s. She shares her secrets to finding true love with the readers of http://www.manifestingmydestiny.com Lori is available for coaching, speaking engagements and consultancy.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-for-Finding-Love-in-Your-Middle-Ages&id=6508509] Tips for Finding Love in Your Middle Ages


NOTE TO MY READERS: Or rather, a warning to my readers: I am not nor have never been an
"expert on finding true love".  Never take my advise on love or dating issues.  But, I would have a ball writing a post about dating.  And I just might.  But I am fearful some lonely person might actually try and USE my advice and then be sorely disappointed in the results. I do have some scruples.