Last week I got all excited because my period was late and I fantasized that I'd entered menopause and was never going to menstruate again. Anyone who thinks menopause is very uncomfortable and I'm crazy to want it, here are two points: 1. Menstruation with fibroids...
My 28-day cycle ended earlier this week. Wednesday should have been day one of my period, but it didn't happen. It still hasn't happened. It's so wonderful to not get my period! Is it possible that I've finally reached menopause? Oh, I hope so. I would love it if I...
I was at a party on Saturday, talking with a group of women who were all over the age of 50. One of them had recently recovered from a terrible bout of food poisoning. It had taken her the entire summer to regain her full health because of complications. She looked...
I'm writing this post to make one thing clear about the website How Old Do I Look? On this website you can temporarily upload any photo and it will make a guess as to whether the face(s) in that photo are male or female and how old that image appears. The program...
Someone from the Midwest Institute for Minimally Invasive Therapies commented on a recent post and sent me a link to the Chicago Fibroid Clinic. I'm passing it on for anyone who is suffering with fibroids and considering a hysterectomy. What I forget is that the...
So, I've been battling horrible menstrual cramps for months now and I've gone as far as I can with acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal supplements, diet, meditation and exercise. After eight months of drastically changing the way I eat and getting good results, the...
Today I turn 49 years old. I love my birthday. Each year I throw myself a party, and tonight many of my friends are coming over. I'm particularly excited about this party because it falls on my actual birthday. That doesn't always happen. Happy birthday to me! I'm...
My hair stylist recently made a comment about her children's definition of "old." She seemed to dislike their idea that she was just a couple of years away from being old, but I disliked her dislike. I said, "I don't think there's anything wrong with being old." She...
During my protracted spinsterhood (didn't marry til I was 41), I did a lot of online dating. Being single-never-married felt like a benefit, or at least a neutral quality, when I was in my late 20s and early 30s, but that changed. By the end of my 30s, being...
Previous post on weight & health: Get fit, THEN exercise My progress towards a cramp-free life seems to have slowed. The cramps I suffered during my last 28-day cycle were better than others since I stopped taking the pill last summer, but things still got pretty...
This post is for everyone who actively dates, but I'd like to direct it mostly at middle-aged men (my dating pool). If you're on a first date and you're talking and your date's eyes start to glaze over, switch to asking your date questions and get her/him to talk...
It's not hard to make my hair go 80's (taken on 2/21/2015, before the party) A couple of weeks ago I went to a 1980's party that took place at a bar downtown. The '80s were my coming-of-age decade: I was 13 on January 1, 1980 and 23 on December 31, 1989. My high...
HBO's four-part series Olive Kitteridge is one of the best things I've ever watched. Frances McDormand is perfect in the title role, a middle-aged Maine native with layers of memories and emotions underneath her severe expression. It's based on Elizabeth Strout's...
I've been battling monster menstrual cramps since Sunday night. Cramps that are so bad they make me miss work was the reason I went on the pill in 2008 and I was really hoping those days were over. But I went off the pill in July because I wanted to get rid of...
I get frustrated with people who try to tell me I'm not middle-aged. Do they think they're being nice? I think they're being delusional. I often say, "What do you mean I'm not middle-aged? I'm 48. How long are you planning to live?" Middle-age traditionally refers to...