Well, I guess I haven't done a very good job with keeping this blog up to date. I don't think hardly anyone comes around to read it anyway. A lot has happened since I last made an entry. Been super super busy, went on a trip to Ireland, and our daughter got married August 9th. This summer has gone by in a blink of an eye, which I knew it would. I don't have the wedding photos yet, just a few that friends took. Here's one of the cutting of the cake...

I'm feeling a little down today, I'm not even sure why. It's just one of those days when I feel beaten down, and everything seems like such a battle. I'm frustrated and disappointed with the extra pounds that are so hard to lose and the older face that looks back at me in the mirror. Some days it's hard to be enthused about "the second half." But there is no choice... you either have to except it or be miserable for the rest of your life. I feel like I'm in a transitional phase, and I look forward to the day when I've excepted getting older and am at peace with it... does that happen? I'm hoping so.

They say April showers bring May flowers, but where I live it still snows in April... and no flowers yet. Spring is slow to arrive here. At least the grass is finally green and the trees are budding, soon they'll have leaves. It's supposed to get into the 70's today... that will be wonderful! We're getting some of our windows replaced, so I'm camped out in the office with our dog so she won't bark. As long as I stay with her she's quiet. They started the work yesterday and should finish tomorrow. We're also completely redecorating our bedroom, and that is a very long time coming! We've lived in our house for five years and hadn't done anything with the bedroom yet. The previous owners had installed horrible grass green carpeting, and thank goodness it's finally gone! We've also painted the walls a nice warm color and will be getting a new bedroom set. We've been living with a hodge podge of hand me downs for many years. I'm very excited to finally have a beautiful, relaxing bedroom retreat, it's long overdue!! I'm continuing to work on getting myself trim and healthy. At this stage in my life I'm more concerned about the health part than in the past, not that I don't care about wanting to look better, I just realize the importance of the health part now as I age. It's such a battle... when I was younger I used to starve myself, and that doesn't work anymore, it just ruins my metabolism. I'm discovering that I can lose weight by actually eating more, and getting lots of exercise. Eating more during the day (making sure I eat breakfast, which I used to skip) not eating in the evening, and exercising are the key things. I've started working out with a personal trainer two times a week, but I have to do more on my own, those two times just aren't enough. My daughter is getting married in August, and I want to lose about 20 pounds by then. It's slow going with the weight loss, and the time is getting shorter, so I need to step it up quite a bit.

As I'm writing this I can hear a distant train... I love that sound, I always have, comforting for some reason. It's wonderful to finally have the windows open, the weather here is still fickle... we get teased with a 60 something day, then it's back to 30 something, and so on. I ache for spring to take hold. Anyway, if you happen upon this, welcome to my new blog. I've had one before, but decided to start fresh. This blog is about my journey through the second half of my life... I am fifty, and life is not over.