Signs of Aging

This morning, as I looked in the mirror to wake up, I noticed, even more, the dark circles under my eyes. I also wear glasses which have left pressure scares as well. It seems the older I get, the more I will look like racoon! I have tried everything! Either it does nothing or I end up with hives all over my face!

I've thought of a few possible causes, besides simply getting old. One is that we live very, very close to an extremely large lake. Everyday, I am reminded that the lake is not the cleanest of lakes. The lake is a natural run off and hit is (was) HUGE. Apparently, many years ago, long before we moved here, the city has placed a dam somewhere and the lake hasn't been the same since. At one time the lake actually began to smell pretty bad, that was shortly before we moved here. To repair the problem, the city raised money to build a system that would provide the lake with "movement" so the water would not be stagant and no longer smell. All those little "specks" around the lake...those are houses! Well....that money was used to build our stadium. So, there you go.

Another possible reason for my racoon eyes is that of allergies which I have had all my life. The final possibility is that of lack of sleep which I pretty much have done all that I can to get as much as I can. I've created and maintained a system with my grandson to be as consistent as possible...which is going pretty well. The only two things that really soothe my eyes are 1) closing out the sun...horrible on my eyes! and 2) applying cold compresses as often as I can.

In conclusion, I believe...in addition to aging... these dark circles are due to allergies. My reason and plan for moving away from our previous location was that it was not a safe, constructive place to raise my kids. My youngest is a freshman in high school. The plan is to return to our previous city, but not the same location, when he graduates. Our plan has gone very well.

Apparently, the dark circles is one of the prices I am faced to pay. No fun:(.

My Birthday!

I had the most wonderful surprise last night from my daughter :). My birthday was this past friday, April 17th. I don't particularly acknowledge my birthday because I don't like all that attention. Well, my daughter surprised me with an India Aurie concert in San Diego and the House of Blues! It was absolutely awesome!

We started out by dressing up. She actually bought us outfits. Then we went to take portraits followed by dinner, chinese food and on to the concert. Most of our travel was by car and some was by the trolley. I had no idea any of this was going to happen...except that there was a surprise coming and that I was to follow instructions...lol!

India is such a high spirited, sophistacated, graceful lady. She sang with such richness and wisdom in her lyrics. And, she is fairly young! I really appreciated her style of singing considering the young people today and how they deliver i.e. their presentation from clothing to dancing to the message in their music.

We left feeling so good! We talked about it all the way home. It seemed to open up a side of her that I haven't seen in a very long time...*sniff. When we arrived home, the boys had babysat the my grandson, they had baked a chocolate cake for me! They immediately dragged me to the kitchen and sang happy birthday.

It is so nice to know you kids do love you at this age!...LOL!

Baby Did Really Good!

I took the chance and put my grandson in his own bed in my room. It went very, very well! He only woke up once :).

Poor baby, he is teething again. His bottom two teeth have come in and I think the top two are beginning to come down. So, he was just a wee bit irritable last night, but very playful. His mommie was home early evening and spent time with him before having to study, at which time she brought him to me. She put him in the bed in my room which is actually a play pen with a padded mattress for more comfort. He was not a happy trooper! So, quite naturally, Nana to the rescue as he made is discomfort known with all his baby babble...lol!

Being that he was a tad irritable, I thought I'd give him some dinner, a warm bath, a little tylenol and some warm milk. This seem to calm him significantly. After rolling around my king size bed for a while, very happy and gigglie, he fell into slumber at about 8:10 pm which is quite early for him. I let him sleep til 9 pm or so before attempting to wake him up with no success so I put him in the play pen. Very shortly afterwards, he woke up and played on my bed til 10:35 pm. He had become fussy and Nana had to rock him to sleep.

Yes, he slept all through the night in his own bed, only waking up once (not really waking up, just whimpered a bit). His Nana is quite proud of him :).

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy Today

The kids are having a very good day. Me? Well, the allergies have subsided, but I am still just as lethargic as I was this morning...lol. Fairly easy day today, so I'm not particularly bothered by it. These types of days become difficult when I have a houseful of children. Wednesdays and Fridays are those days, full house all day plus night children til 10:30 pm! Yes, makes for very long days with children. Yesterday wasn't too bad. The kids, though being "kids", did well...especially considering I couldn't take them outside during early afternoon or early evening due to the high winds and cool air. Perhaps, that is why I am the way I am today...:) I really don't think about the day before and its effects. Hmmmm.....

See blogging helps us solve even our own delimas!

Here Today...:)

I'm up and busy this morning. Not sure which direction I'm going in or where I'm going, but I'm here!...lol! Just one of those mornings. I believe this is what Ms. FFF referred to in one of her blog entries, lol! Sometimes, we feel like we are just existing, can't feel ourselves. I think it's funny to me now because, after reading Ms. FFF's blog and so many people responding to it, I now know, I'm not crazy!

I think some of what I'm feeling is the change in weather. Those high winds can kick up a lot of dust, in addition to it being Spring now. All the pollens are out there too. My eyes and ears are quite itchy. Just now took an allergy pill.

My plan is to take the day slow and easy. I will only have two daycare kids today. They are well behaved 3 year old little boys. My grandson is in much better spirits today as well. So, we will see what the day will hold for these 3 little boys..:)

One of the Great Advantages of the Wind

I have always loved hanging clothes on the line. Back when my kids were very, very young and through elementary school, I hung ALL the clothes on the line. All four of my kids wore cloth diapers. Now my grandson is wearing them. Both my kids and my grandson are quite sensitive to disposable diapers.

Love the way they smell once they are dry!

Yesterday's Wind Storm

I wanted to blog this event yesterday, but I didn't have the brain cells...lol. The weather has changed from nice, comfortable, warm sunshine to strong, fast winds and dark skies. Upon picking up her child, one of my parents told me there was a sand storm coming in from another county.

Our city is spread out and surrounded by mountains, so we wouldn't necessarily get a sand storm per se. We have a lot of very large open areas. Sometimes we do see small sand

tornados where the wind will literally take the dirt up into a small tornado, about maybe 10 stories high....nothing major.

Yesterday the winds were so strong and moving so fast, I decided to take the cover off our brand new gazebo. It seemed to be under significant distress.

Today, the sun is back and the skies are beautifully clear, but the wind is still blowing. It's not as strong, but it is definitely noticeable!