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middle age

Midlife Women

Be Brave & Be Open

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do that for some reason, you haven’t tried? Are you passionate about something but have not pursued it because you are afraid? As a midlife woman on this side of 50, I am working on being brave. Being open. Not automatically saying no to things. Daring to try things I want to try, no matter what others may think.

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Be Brave & Be Open

[bctt tweet=”On this side or 50, I am working on being brave and open.” username=””]

Easier said than done, but I’m moving in that direction.

Today, I am honored to guest post on Sue Loncaric’s blog, Sizzling Toward Sixty. Sue is an Aussie who believes that age is just a number and shouldn’t hold you back from reaching your full potential. I wholeheartedly agree.

You can read my guest post, Be Brave & Be Open here! While you are over at Sizzling Toward Sixty, check out Sue’s #couchpotatotofabfit community on Facebook. I’m a member and we encourage each other as we maintain our health in community. We’d love to have you join us!

 

June 16, 2016 7 comments
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Over the Moon Link Party for all family friendly blog posts
Family

Behind the Blog

Behind the Blog

It’s been raining all week here in Houston. I’m sure you’ve seen the massive flooding all across Texas on the news. We live in a Northwest suburb of Houston and fortunately, our neighborhood has escaped flooding. Others around us have not been so lucky.

In spite of the dreary weather, there have been some bright spots.

The Master Bath Is Almost Done:

Here are some before and after pictures of one of the vanity areas.

Vanity Before

Vanity After

I have SO MUCH more storage now. When I put all of our “stuff” back in the bathroom, I discovered that I had 5 deodorants! I kept buying them because I thought I was out. I wasn’t out – the bathroom cabinets were just so chock full, I couldn’t find what I had.  Has that ever happened to you? I am loving my light fixture and the mirror. Mirror from Birch Lane.

Fun With The Grandkids

Parker finished 2nd grade this week.

Parker 2nd Grade

He received an award for getting all A’s on every report card this year. We are so proud of him. To celebrate, we had both the grandkids spend the night last night and had so much fun with them.

What I Cooked:

I made Salmon Provencal from SimplyRecipes.com. It’s just baked salmon with this yummy tomato relish that has fresh herbs. The recipe says to blanch and peel the tomatoes first. Don’t let that throw you – it’s no big deal. We had enough for Friday night and then made Salmon Salad for lunch on Saturday. Easy enough for a weeknight. Fancy enough for company.

What I’m Wearing

Top from Covered Perfectly

Jennifer from A Well Styled Life did a review recently on tops by Covered Perfectly. They make tops designed for women over 40 that are super soft, comfortable and cover all the places you want covered. I went shopping yesterday and wore one of their red 3/4 sleeve tops with my new vest from SteinMart that I picked up for $20.  Covered Perfectly has free shipping, free returns and when I bought mine they were running a sale – buy 2, get 1 free.

By the way – none of the links on this post are affiliate links. I get no commission if you purchase from these sites. 

Hope you all had a good week! Father’s Day is coming up on June 19. Watch for Tuesday’s post on Gifts for Elderly Fathers!

In case you missed this week’s posts, check out:

5 Tips for Traveling With Friends

Wino Wednesday – Small Hours Zinfandel with Pairings

June 5, 2016 22 comments
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Family

Adult Daughters and #OMHGWW

 

Cathy Lawdanski with daughters Amy & Allison mysideof50.com

Amy, Cathy & Allison

One of the great blessings of being this side of 50 is having ADULT children who you can now call friends.   Amy and Allison are my beautiful, kind, hilarious and creative daughters. Both are talented artists – so talented that if we all didn’t look so much alike, I would swear they belonged to someone else! They didn’t get one bit of artistic DNA from me!

 

Amy is a stay-at-home mom who launched a wreath business last fall. She made ribbon wreaths for sports teams and deco-mesh wreaths for the holidays. All were very popular and she sold a LOT! She is about to launch her Spring line soon. Here is a bit of her inspiration. You can order your custom wreath here.

Whimsical Wreaths by Amy Spring Line Inspiration

One of the color palettes for Whimsical Wreaths by Amy’s Spring 2016 line

Spring Wreath Inspiration from Whimsical Wreaths by Amy

Amy is going to make this color combo in white burlap. I LOVE THIS!

Allison has loved to draw since she was a little girl. She could spend hours getting lost in an art project. She earned a degree in Communication Design and is the Marketing Coordinator for an architectural firm. But in her leisure time, she loves to draw – just for fun. She is currently drawing fashions that she loves. Here’s a sample. I just love her drawings.

Fashion Drawing by Allison Lawdanski Taylor

Casual Fashion pen & ink by Allison Lawdanski Taylor

Allison Lawdanski Taylor - formal fashion pen & ink

Allison’s pen & ink of a more formal look

So proud of both of these girls… I mean women.

They will always be Mommy’s girls to me.

February 23, 2016 10 comments
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Midlife Women

15 Things to Do When You Can’t Sleep

Things to Do When You Wake Up in the Middle of the Night

15 Things to Do When You Can’t Sleep

A common problem that many of us face on this side of 50 is insomnia. That is what I have been dealing with lately and I know many of you suffer from it too. I know this because I see you liking and commenting on Facebook posts at all hours of the night!

Can’t Fall Asleep Insomnia

There are two kinds – the kind where you absolutely CANNOT fall asleep, for which there are all kinds of totally unrealistic remedies:

  • Turn off the TV and get off your iPad, phone and computer.  And do what, I might ask?
  • Limit caffeine. Makes sense, but I do love a cup of coffee after dinner.
  • Limit alcohol. What? No evening glass of wine?

Can’t Fall BACK to Sleep Insomnia

I don’t suffer from the can’t fall asleep kind of insomnia. I fall asleep about two minutes after I turn on a TV show or start reading a book. I have the wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep to save my life kind of insomnia.

WITHOUT FAIL at 3 a.m., nature calls or a cat decides I need to get up. I make my way to the bathroom without turning on a light then stumble back to bed, followed by:

  1. Getting a drink from the water jug by my bed because for some reason I am dehydrated.
  2. My lips are dry, so I feel around in the dark to find my Chapstick.
  3. I am wide awake by then and turn on the light to get out my Lavender essential oil and find the Melatonin.
  4. Take off my socks to put the Lavender oil on the bottoms of my feet.
  5. Lay back down on my left side.
  6. Curse the cats for waking me up.
  7. Roll onto my right side.
  8. Stick one leg out from under the covers.
  9. Put the leg back under the covers.
  10. Curse my husband for breathing in such a way that I can hear him.
  11. Curse my husband because he can sleep anytime, anywhere and nothing wakes him up.
  12. Rearrange the pillows.
  13. Try to read on my iPad.
  14. Watch Netflix on my iPad
  15. Lay on my back and try to FOCUS on going to sleep – yeah, like that works.

By this time, it’s 4 a.m., so I usually just get up and have a cup of coffee. Rarely do I fall back to sleep.

So, since I am exhausted, I’m going to let others from the Blogosphere do the work this week. Seriously, I have found some great posts that you’re going to like.

What do you do when you can’t sleep?

From Around the Blogosphere

3 Ways to Clean a Cast Iron Skillet from the Pioneer Woman

I LOVE Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman. I DVR her cooking show. I bought 5 of her cookbooks to give as Christmas gifts. Her line of dishes and bakeware is lovely. She seems like someone who could just be your best friend.

I have a cast iron skillet that I love to cook with, but wasn’t sure I was taking care of it properly so . Now I know.

This article on Caring for Aging Parents called When You Don’t Think Your Sibling is Providing Adequate Care to Your Elderly Parents.

On this side of 50, if your parents are still living, you will likely be involved in caregiving at some point. You may be in the middle of it already.

This is a good article on ways that you and your siblings, given your proximity to your parents and your individual situations can pitch in and work together.

One book that I found to be very helpful was:

Excellent Resource for those taking care of aging parents.

Excellent Resource for those taking care of aging parents.

How to Care for Aging Parents, 3rd Edition: A One-Stop Resource for All Your Medical, Financial, Housing, and Emotional Issues.

This book covers EVERYTHING and it is in an easy to use format. You don’t have to read the whole thing. It’s divided into sections that you can refer to for wherever you are on the journey.

2 Months as a Blogger

After almost two months into the blogging journey, I can’t thank you all enough for actually READING this blog and for your kind and generous feedback. I am overwhelmed.

Here are two ways you can help me grow my readership:

  • Subscribing to the newsletter here

    One primary way that bloggers can earn the income needed to support their site is to attract the interest of potential advertisers. The more newsletter subscribers you have the better.

And it’s not just about helping support this blog. I have some exciting plans    for subscriber only benefits coming up soon!

  • Share posts

    that you like on any of your social media channels. If you like them, chances are your friends will too!  There are “share” buttons at the top and bottom of each post.

PS – If you subscribe here – watch your inbox. There is one more step. You have to click a link in that e-mail confirming that you want this blog in newsletter form delivered to your inbox.

AND I never share your information with anyone and WON’T SPAM YOU.

Thanks for reading, subscribing, sharing and commenting on mysideof50!

 

January 20, 2016 50 comments
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