My House, My Rules!

When I was married, my father-in-law (henceforth known as FIL) always made me laugh. He was so stubborn about some things, especially for a pretty laid back guy. He had things he liked (my blueberry pie) and things he didn't (Cubs losing games), and for the most part he was consistent.

Or .. stubborn.

He had a thing about when the heat could be turned on and conversely, when the air conditioning could be as well. If it was September 21st and got down to 35 degrees, "Put a sweatshirt on!" and "No, I'm not putting the heat on in September!"

If it was April and got up to 88 degrees it was "Oh stop whining, it's April!" and "You know it will cool off by 5:00 o'clock!"

Living in the Chicago area, both of those temperature extremes are not unheard of. But my FIL would not make an exception to his thermostat rules, the heat didn't go on before Halloween, and the air conditioning didn't go on before Memorial Day. Seriously.

It is September. On Sunday I had the air conditioning on. By Tuesday, I had the heat on. Know why? Because I'm a grown up, it's my house, and I pay the bills now! (insert $hit eating grin)

When I was a kid, this was not the most important thing on my 'why I want to be a grown-up' list. But it should have been because hoooo-boy is it nice to control your environment so you're not subject to some else's arbitrary temperature rules!

It's also a fair reason to not share my house with a guy. Just sayin'. 

Coping - the pretty way.

Sitting in my little office room at work today, sweating like a rockstar (sounds better than pig, doesn’t it?) while my office room mate was coooooooool as the proverbial cucumber, I grabbed the trusty piece of cardboard I keep on my desk to fan myself. Bing! The light went on!

I ran over to Cynthia’s Willow Rose Studios because I knew she had just what I needed! FANS!!And PRETTY ones at that! I picked a fan and I was having trouble with the shopping cart for some reason and I thought I’d just drop Cynthia an email and let her know. Just a couple of sentences about my menopausal annoyance and her shopping cart.

A little while later I got my answer. From Cynthia’s brother-in-law Joe. LOL!!! Apparently he

does the upkeep on her online shops (her own I.T. guy no less!) and he knew what the problem

was and was able to fix it right away.

Oh – and in a follow-up email Joe said Cynthia is working on a hot flash fan and all I can say is I hope it’s big and has something funny on it so I will laugh instead of cry when I fan away that trickle of lady-like perspiration running down my cleavage. Sigh-h-h .. oh to be a woman of a ‘certain age.’

Which dwarf are you?

It’s probably a good thing not many men read my blog. Because I’m here to tell you that while I am looking forward to the many rewards of menopause, peri-menopause sucks!

I really should be at the tail end of this stage what with almost being 50 and all. And seeing as the last 10 years have seen me losing my mind and my regularity – why on God’s green earth would my body decide to get hot flashes NOW!?!?

Shouldn’t I have had that particular symptom a while back? When I started experiencing all the other things that would make an insanity defense a viable option at some point, I would have thought hot flashes would have come with the territory.

One of the girls I work with (who thankfully is older than I am) said to me “Oh I bet you’re just going to sail through the whole thing without any symptoms at all!” Today when I walked into the office with my top clinging to my back and beads of sweat popping out on my forehead I had to say “Well??!! Are you happy???”

Sure I’ve had a night sweat or two, but it’s been rare. Nothing to write home about, really. My sleep problems? A bit disconcerting because I’ve always been a champion sleeper but I’ll deal with it. Losing my mind, forgetting things (okay everything) – THAT one bothers me. But I forget why. Headaches – a few here and there, never too bad. Thinning hair – well – as long as I keep most of it I’m okay. Mood swings? Well yeah, there is that. And we won't even talk about coughing or sneezing! But hot flashes? I thought I was dodging that bullet.

I tell you what. There’s nothing like getting up on a cool summer morning with a nice breeze in the house, taking a shower, and then breaking out in a full sweat putting your lunch together before even leaving the house - to make you feel all girly and attractive! Yummy!