It's almost my birthday!

Lordy, Lordy-look who's 40... (gosh I wish!) haha, I will be 46 on January 15th. I can remember back when I celebrated turning 30 with a heavy heart, looking for new wrinkles in the mirror. Then 40 came along and it was even worse. I'd become middle aged. Hubby teased me terribly (he's 4 1/2 years younger than me) but his day soon came!

Now that I am over 45, and headed toward the big 50 I am even more bummed. I know I shouldn't be, but I've always had this fear of being old. Knowing me, I am probably going to spend the day looking at old photo albums dreaming of days long gone. Older and wiser? Maybe... but I just wish someone would discover the Fountain of Youth and give me a drink!

My bones creak a little more in the morning, and I get tired easily. I'm overweight and pre-menopausal lol... dealing with the wonderful symptoms of my body getting ready for big changes that lie ahead. They say you are only as old as you feel, and there are times I feel mighty old. It scares me to see friends and family also aging along with me-but time stops for no one.

So come January 15th I will celebrate my birthday as I should, with family and friends, a cake and thinking how grateful I am for having one more year that I am celebrating here with everyone. And even though my laugh lines are a little more pronounced now and I have a few sags and bags in spots that were once perky and pouty-I'll celebrate my special day with a smile!

It's almost here... Happy New Year!

In about 2 more hours, we East Coasters will be celebrating the beginning of 2012-the start of a new year.

What plans do you have in store? Do you have any resolutions made? I almost always make a resolution... and then break it a few weeks down the road. :( Just wanted to pop on and wish you all a happy, healthy new year!

I wonder if there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow? We tried to find the end, but unfortunately never quite made it :)

Take time to enjoy life, cherish what you have, and look forward to the future. As 2011 is almost over, I look back and see it was a rough year health wise for me, but I am hoping that with positive lifestyle changes I will have a better 2012.

Work has been busy, I've been busy wrapping those last gifts up and getting them ready to put under the tree I have yet to buy. Normally I am not this late, but it looks like we will be getting a tree a few days before the holidays and keep it up until just after New Years. I am leaning towards a smaller, fake tree this year (Oh the horror! hubby says lol) We shall see :)

Enjoy the rest of this busy week, and enjoy the holidays with friends and family...

Some Guatemalan Architechture

We took this pic this past July in San Juan Sacatepéquez where hubby's daughter lives... It was a nice ride from the city to the highlands, the views were gorgeous-if not a bit dangerous, lol... I was always thinking our car was going to plunge off the ravine with no guardrails!

The region is known for growing flowers-actually my husband's daughter is married to someone whose family business is flowers. They own two stalls in the Guatemala City Central Market, and do quite well. I just don't envy them having to drive every day to work in bumper to bumper traffic. (at least no snow, sleet, or freezing rain to slow them down!) We got there around 9 am, and the market was in full swing. Lots of gorgeous flowers, food, and veggies for sale.

I have to admit though, that I did get a few looks being blonde, but nothing out of the ordinary. Though I do think they wonder what on Earth I am doing in a truck full of Guatemalans with no other Gringos nearby. I was shocked to see the residents wearing gold jewelry and chains-something you don't do in the city if you value your life. It was explained to me that they have their own justice system, and think nothing of lynching you for being a thief. I guess the week before I was there, two women had come from the capital in the hopes of passing fake money around in the market. They were soon discovered, stripped nude, heads shaved and beaten by the crowd before the police took them away. Guess they will never show up in that town again! (and to be honest, they are lucky they made it out alive.)

One hint, this region is also known for wooden furniture. Their work is gorgeous! The closer you get to the city the higher you pay of course, but if you are willing to travel a bit and have a truck, you can score a good deal on handmade wooden furniture. I've already told hubby I'm bringing my mother in law along when the time comes for me to buy some furniture... she can bargain pretty darn good!

So if you are in the market for furniture, flowers, or a nice local market-head to San Juan Sacatepéquez where the locals are friendly and things can be had for a good price. :)

What's Been Happening Lately...

I realize it has been awhile since I have posted :(

It kind of stinks because I had hoped to post more but have been busy cleaning house, working out of the home (this is our busiest time of year) and dealing with health issues.

Soon I will begin the move upstairs to hopefully help with my respiratory issues. I'm going to be getting some work done by outside contractors and get some new windows put in upstairs as well. (hopefully before Christmas!)

I so miss writing in my blog, and having giveaways and things like that-I loved having new visitors and reading comments from my readers. I don't even have a tree up yet (which irritates my daughter to no end lol) because I am not sure when the contractors will be in and I have to move things around in the house while this process is going on-which means no room in the usual spots for a tree. Although if they are done before the holidays, I might end up putting a small tree in the upstairs hallway in front of one of the new windows.

I am still around, visiting other blogs as time allows, and getting online when I can. At work we are so backed up with files it is crazy-but I've got a great bunch of co-workers and while it is stressful at times, we all do the best that we can given the circumstances.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and got some great deals on Black Friday (if that is your thing lol) and I will try to squeeze in a post or two before Christmas! Have a great weekend everyone ;)

MIA!

Yes, I have been missing in action! I needed to take a bit of a break with the hectic work schedule going on currently. Plus, some of my ongoing health issues have been diagnosed. I am in the process of trying to get my upstairs ready so that hubby and I can move to the upstairs bedroom my son left behind. Our daughter is ready to go into her room upstairs as well.

We have a forced hot air heating system, and every winter I am incredibly sick. Blood tests show I have a hypersensitivity to mold dust and now things are starting to fall in place. Of course, one of the treatments is to avoid the dust and get mold abatement. That costs in the thousands and is WAY out of my pocketbook range. Hubby has taken steps to clean up a bit in the basement and add cement around the house so that water flows away from the foundation, not towards it. Snow run off has been a big problem, and for several years it has been leaking into our foundation wall... causing mold, mildew and then forcing all that dust into the house via the air ducts. In the summer, the humid, moldy smell was terrible. A dehumidifier has helped quite a bit.

I now sit in my bedroom, the heating grate is covered with cheesecloth to filter out some particles, and hubby changes the furnace filters every month or so. I have a HEPA air purifier in my room and use it daily. I see a pulmonary doctor every 6 months, and have to undergo breathing tests along with blood tests to monitor the level of damage to my lungs. I will tell you, it sucks. Some people are allergic (or as they say hypersensitive) to the mold-I am one of them. Other people it won't bother. I noticed a big difference when I was in Guatemala earlier this year, I was actually well with no chest pain or shortness of breath for 3 weeks out of the 4 that I was there.

Anyways, I have been busy moving upstairs... cleaning out things, throwing out things-but it all takes time, and I can only do a little per day with a mask on to avoid getting particles in my lungs. (Yes, my CT scan shows damage to the lungs) By keeping primarily upstairs where there is no forced hot air heat (I will be using electric heaters, there goes the light bill lol) I hope to reduce the amount of damage being done-walking away from my home is not feasible right now-but one day I do hope to return to Guatemala and at least there I will not have to use heat much-and when I do, I will use a clean wood burning stove and/or gas monitor built into the wall to take the chill off. Living in Maine, the heat is on most of the year-and then with the humid summers the mold growth really takes off, so it has become a vicious cycle.

So there you have it, I apologize to my readers for this break in posting-I hope to post again soon but it promises to be a crazy few months until I can get established upstairs. Kind of sucks being a prisoner in 1-2 rooms (though I will have to go downstairs to cook, for the bathroom etc...)but so be it as I want to be healthy. Have a great Halloween everyone!

check out the awesome ribs (the day before we had burgers and hotdogs) and of course guess who we got to see? Yup, Montgomery Gentry was playing and their bus was right behind the Coors Light VIP bus... so what do you think I did?