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The 7 Best Ways To Find Your Christmas Spirit When You’re A Grinch
In spite of my newfound, VERY mature thoughts about the insignificance of consumerism in my life at this time here, I have launched myself full throttle into Christmas. Living room with full of Christmas decorations. To be honest, I’m a bit of a Christmas tragic. We were fortunate to have a mother who made the…
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Isn’t It Funny How Our Priorities Change With Age?
The old man opened the vault last week. Last month was the first time he didn’t lose a ton of our money since he became an investor and it triggered un uncharacteristically generous response. Of course, I leapt at the opportunity to spend. Photo from Sophie Elvis on Unsplash.com I’m sure I must have mentioned…
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I won’t be getting sober anytime soon but I am “drinking smarter”
Photo from Damir Spanic on Unsplash I was a grown-up last weekend. The old man and I went on a date night to a swanky restaurant and I chose to drive. In my last post I talked about the necessity of making choices in middle age, and prior to last night, I would have looked…
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Middle Age Is About Making Important Choices
I knocked back some paid work last week. Not that we’re rolling in money and I can pick and choose the hours I want, but this time my choice was based on my health. I knew that working five days a week in three different fields would have undone all of the good I got…
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It was the small, magical moments during our holiday to Hawaii that mattered most
Forgive me for my recent radio silence, but I’m struggling to get back into real time since our return from Hawaii. No doubt, some of you will be interested to know how we fared, having spent so much time reading about my angst in relation to where the fuck to take an anxious, middle-aged man…
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When You Don’t Feel Peopley Due To Anxiety
Mood-wise, I’ve experienced a bit of a crash over the past few weeks. That’s not unusual as you navigate menopause and anxiety, but it’s frustrating when I was about to launch myself into full holiday mode. Photo by Talles Alves on Unsplash I know stuff is serious when I’m not feeling peopley, because as a…
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17 Signs Your Dog Is “A Princess”
Did I mention that WE’RE GOING TO HAWAII in a couple of weeks? Of course I did. And, as you can imagine, it has been hard to contain the feverish excitement of the old man at the prospect of shopping in Honolulu, taking long, guided bus tours with complete strangers, and our first Luau. But,…
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It’s Okay To Man-Hug
Photo by Thiago Barletta on Unsplash We caught up with some friends at the weekend and when the husband and the old man did that awkward shuffle as they greeted each other, our male friend launched into the story of how he had tried to hug his elderly father once, who froze and brushed it…
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5 Life Lessons To Take Away From “The Sopranos”
We’re grieving in our household because we’ve just completed the final series of The Sopranos. The Sopranos boxset available at Amazon. But before any hardcore Sopranos fans jump in with an “I told you so” assumption that our grief is linked to THAT final episode – trust me, it’s not. The old man loved the…
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21 Pieces Of Advice I’d Give My Teenage Self…
An article in “The Times” last weekend and my coming birthday inspired me to think seriously once again about what I’ve learned during my half-century. I’ve written posts in the past on the topic of the wisdom gained in middle age – mainly in relation to the advice I’d give NC, my daughter, but amazingly…
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Empty-Nesting: How awesomely liberating is it doing exactly what YOU want now?
It’s my birthday next week, and as has been our agreement for a number of years, the old man and I have a process in place for the event when it comes to presents. It goes something like this: I negotiate a budget (that usually works in my favour because he pretends to feel some…
LOUISA SIMMONDS 