Living in and around fabulous fifty!

For many having a part of your family leave for extended duration's intermittently is very difficult. When we learned our son had to leave again for several months we reflected on the last few times and what we had learned. Things our son and our family had to consider: Transportation to and from where he was leaving Where his vehicle will be parked during his leave (extra keys) How will his bills be paid Will there be communication during his time away Do we have a financial plan if something goes wrong with pay (it happens) What is the address and if we can send mail or packages Make sure his school is informed and taken care of In our case, he works with his dad so who will replace him during this time Make sure the girlfriend understands to be supportive and not negative (its real)        Being a part of a parents group for military families has been a great help. We are able to share and glean from other families who have been through this transition. This tim

Paleo Update: Okay here is the scoop 8 weeks in to following the Paleo diet. I have lost 10lbs! My husband has lost 5lbs. Now let me be very clear, while many people I have discovered lose weight as a bonus side effect of Paleo eating, some do not. Some people it takes awhile to see the weight lose. Example, my husband has always lost weight easily and the opposite for me, I have always had to work at it. Generally speaking, I do not pay close attention to lbs but rather size instead and my clothes are looser.      Eight weeks in we have leveled off a bit with the high cost of Paleo eating now that we have the basics in the kitchen. My husband and I also have our favorite recipes down. We have found that the cost is in all actuality the same or less expensive than the standard way of eating once you are completely eating the Paleo style. This is especially so for us, since there was a drastic reduction in eating out.      Paleo eating is very time consuming but the trade off is

Don't miss out on the little moments! As many of you know raising teens is not easy. We have been through our own trials for certain. In fact our daughter turned 18, wrecked the car and moved out all within a couple of weeks. We were shocked! That was a teary eyed day for sure. My heart broke as she walked down the drive way carrying a load of her belongings and she looked up at me and said, "I love you mom and hope you will be at my graduation". My goodness I hadn't even gotten that far, I was still reeling from the moment. Since then my husband and I have worked and prayed hard to keep our relationship alive with our daughter. While we feel it is very important to stick to our convictions, we also do our best to let our baby girl know she can come home and we love her very much. I reach out to her regularly with invites to come over or go to lunch. So when she mentioned she wanted to take pictures for her announcements, I was on it!     Each moment we have to

Wylee Wylee has many stories and our favorite for this on the go pup happened while we were living in Texas. We had just moved into a small subdivision called, “Royal Forest”. It was literally a forest of very high thick trees that had roads carved out with little patches carved out just wide enough to place a small home. You could not see beyond the trees unless you were looking straight down a neighborhood street or straight up in the air. This took awhile for us to get used to. The nights were so muggy and hot because the breeze could not get past the trees. Many residents would take walks or golf cart rides after dark and there was an intense smell of the woods, BBQ and bug spray all around. Steve and I decided to take walks in the evenings too with Wylee right along side of us. Now this is when it gets interesting. While taking one of our walks several people passing by waved hi, to Wylee! LOL! We did not know them but, apparently our mischievous pup did. See, Wylee

"My baby is gone!" "I don't care how old you are or that you are a Marine your still my baby and I worry". Yep, I said those words to my 6'1 Marine who is 21 years old. I know he is not a baby obviously but, I worry about him as if he is. Now having said these words to my baby girl of 5.3 and 18 years old was when I got the reality check. My little 100 lb baby girl turned around and looked up at me and said, "mom, I know you worry about me but, if you hadn't done such a good job I wouldn't be able to be out on my own". Wow! A compliment and a slap at the same time. I did such a good job she is gone. I cried, yep just like a baby a big ugly cry.       When your children leave either for good or just for college or military training its not easy. In fact it sucks big time. On the bright side you can keep an open communication with them and LEARN to appreciate the good side. Like when you see them succeed! Or when they come to you for adv

"Go easy on me coach" These words came out of my mouth! I can't believe this. As a former fitness trainer (a long time ago) I do have a little pride and couldn't believe I had said this as I was entering the UFC cage area to take a Jui Jitsu class. I wanted to yell out my age as an excuse. I was excited and nervous at the same time. Oh my goodness, what did I get my self into? I was looking at all these other people in the class and then I spotted a woman who looked close to my age and felt a sense of comfort. I told myself if she can be here I can too. The coach could tell I was nervous and he smiled at me and grabbed a very young girl with a blue belt and paired her with me after the instruction. I thought yeah right a 20 year old with a blue belt and a 48 year old with nothing this is going to work out. I laughed to myself and got down on my back in guard position, she sat over me between my knees and grabbed my gi. Then she said, "Its okay sweetheart le