I’ve been watching TV this winter. Not a lot, just occasionally. But since I don’t usually watch television, it feels like I”m spending too much time in front of it lately. We started watching PBS’s Downton Abbey on Sunday and it is great! Sort of like the old Upstairs, Downstairs, which I used to love. That was back when I was a television addict. Seriously…I was! Here’s a confession that I’ve never made publicly before: At the height of my TV addiction, I was also at the highest weight I’ve ever been. Son was in kindergarten then, and I used to drive him to school. Every day, on the way…

…not so much. I celebrated the birth of 2012 with a couple of glasses of Layer Cake Pinot Noir (which was fabulous), shrimp, and another viewing of the movie I found in my Christmas stocking. Midnight In Paris has officially knocked Independence Day off the pedestal as my favorite movie. I just realized that means that I haven’t truly loved a film since 1996. I’m not sure what that says about me. Or what the fact that I’ve graduated from a sci-fi apocalyptic story to Hemingway’s Paris says about me either. Maybe that I’ve grown up just a little? I’d like to think so. I hope growing up means I’ll…

I’m guest blogging at the Bettyverse today, folks. We’re talking about my scary trip to the ER and why it’s probably better to listen to your body (and a good friend who realized things aren’t right with you), rather than run to the Internet when things feel “off.” Come on by, talk to me.

…is my favorite time of the year, even though I’m often restless and sad in the fall. It’s an ending in so many ways, particularly this year. We’ll be taking the boat out of the water this coming weekend and then probably closing up the cottage in the next two weeks. So our next couple of lake weekends will be busy with scrubbing the boat and getting it to storage, packing perishable  items that can’t stay over the winter so we can take them home, storing linens, and winterizing. The saddest thing is leaving our new friends. It’s odd, but all summer, the lake has felt like our real life…

I had another conversation yesterday with a friend about weight and weight loss and being disgusted with our bodies. Why do we do this to ourselves? How can we possibly expect to be healthy inside our selves if we’re constantly dissing the outside of our selves? A couple of months ago, I did a guest blog for the Bettyverse on this subject–loving who you are right now. I pulled it out and reread it yesterday afternoon. I’m reposting it here because one of the comments I received about it really hit home: Anyone with a daughter needs to show them this post. That comment made me wonder what we are…

…and sometimes win. Eleven years ago, We began a battle with a bureaucracy here in our community. At the time, the worst battle I’d ever fought was with my mother over marrying Husband. So I had no clue how to fight—no armor, no skills, no information. I only knew that our home was in danger and we’d worked hard to make this home what we wanted it to be. I wasn’t about to see it ruined for what I believed was no good reason. The general gist is we live on a small two-lane U.S. highway and the state department of transportation (DOT) had decided they needed to expand it…

…and my back yard is just gorgeous today. Everything is lush and green.  Purple clematis climbs over the arbor by the gardens, vibrant red lilies peek around the pampas grass, which is already taller than me.  Basil and rosemary and lavender fill the air with their pungent scents. Husband just finished the mowing and the trimming, I’ve weeded the gardens, and now we’re sitting on the patio under the umbrella watching a rabbit nibbling in the grass and feeling quite satisfied with ourselves. Later, the neighbors will walk over for our weekly glass of wine and catch-up session. We’ll light the wine-bottle oil lamps, put out chips and salsa, chocolate, …

I’ve had a cantankerous relationship with food my whole life.  Since I became an adult,  I’ve been some level of overweight from really overweight to “you need to lose a few pounds.” And for most of those years, I hated my body. It was fat. Not the American ideal, but curvy and round—not one bit skinny.  For ages, all I wanted was to be THIN. Oh, I’d say, “I just want to be healthy,” but it was a lie. I wanted to be THIN. And I tried every way there was to get THIN–diets, exercise, fasts, laxatives, fiber, you name it…outside of radical chemistry or surgery, I was there. Sometimes…