When Life Throws You Challenges – Musings From an Exhausted Innkeeper

Whew! I’m glad that’s over. Ever have one of those weeks? My last week was jam packed with inn guests, meetings and special events. I mean jam packed!!

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Be Still My Heart

By now it’s no secret that I’m a Disney freak. Yes, that’s right, I love all things Disney. I never get tired of visiting the parks, reading the blog sites, flipping through the glossy magazines, watching the movies, wearing the t-shirts, all of it.

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Happy Birthday America!

To all of my wonderful followers, have a very safe and happy holiday! And, don’t forget to thank a vet for their sacrifice.

Word of the Day: Tachycardia

Fun fact about me: I love patriotic music and clothing.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, June 2016. Video courtesy YouTube. Photo courtesy Google Images.

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Good ‘Ole Southern Cuisine

When we made our decision to move to the south, there were certain things I expected to change about my diet. I anticipated that I would be eating more spicy food; foods with a Cajun or Creole flavor. I knew that gumbo and jambalaya and red beans and rice would be prevalent in most restaurants, along with sweet tea. Let’s not forget about the sweet tea. It is a southern staple. In fact, if you order iced tea and you don’t specify unsweet, you’re probably going to get sweet tea.

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Because I Love Fireworks

There’s nothing like a good pyrotechnics show. I’m not sure where these videos were taken, but . . . wow!

Enjoy!

Until next year – stay safe, be kind, choose happiness.

Word of the Day: Soutane

Fun fact about me: Seeing fireworks always makes me smile.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, December 2015. Video courtesy YouTube.

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You Sneaky Mom

Because it’s almost Halloween, I challenge all of you parents out there to play this trick on your kids.

Come on, you know you want to. Do it and send me the evidence.

Have you ever eaten your kids’ halloween candy? Do you still go trick or treating? What’s the funniest Halloween prank you’ve ever seen?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week.

Word of the Day: jeremiad

Fun fact about me: I’ve never lived anywhere where kids come trick or treating at my house.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, October 2015. Video courtesy YouTube.com.

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Land That I Love

Happy birthday America!

Bonus post by Jansen Schmidt, July 2015. Video courtesy YouTube.

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Middle-Aged Chicks Are Hot!

If you’re hot and you know it raise your hand.

Photo courtesy Google Images.

Oh, me. (hand raised high) Me, me, me, me, me. I’m hot and I know it. (This is me — in my mind — a really hot chick.)

But not all the time. Most of the time I’m the same temperature as everyone else. But sometimes, I’m raging hot. Wildfire hot. Exploding gas hot. Oh, I’m not on fire, I’m just having a hot flash.

Sometimes those hot flashes happen at night, while I’m in bed, all cozy in my fuzzy jammies. Those night time hot flashes are the worst. Wake up all wringing wet. Have to strip naked and take a cold shower. What kind of madness is this?

Photo courtesy Google Images

(This is me — in reality — a really hot chick.)

Yeah, I know. I’m as surprised as you are. What the hell happened? What happened to the woman in the yellow dress?

Well, we all age and there’s not a damn thing any of us can do to stop it so we might as well share a laugh about it — right? So, here’s a mash-up video from Chonda Pierce about women of a certain age. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to laugh out loud.

How are you aging? Gracefully? Or kicking and screaming? What do you do when “those” moments hit? I’d love to learn any tips and tricks for staying comfortable and sane through this “phase.”

Fun fact about me: I older I get, the more adventurous I get.

Word of the Day: Theurgy

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2014. Photos courtesy Google Images. Video courtesy YouTube.

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Merry Christmas To All And To All A Good Night

To all of my wonderful blog followers and friends, I wish you the merriest of Christmases, the happiest of holidays, the best of new years!

 

 

Here’s a video I found amusing. Enjoy!

 

 

Fun fact about me: Christmas is my favorite holiday!

Word of the Day: Roundel

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, December 2014. Video courtesy YouTube.

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This Isn’t What I Signed Up For

Turning 50 was going to be huge; a really big deal; a cause for true celebration. And the day itself was all of that and more. I am now a half a century old and well on my way to becoming an old bitty.

Photo courtesy Google Images

Because I like you all, I feel it’s only fair to let you all in on a secret. Here’s what happens after the celebration, when reality sets in:

Hello and welcome to 50. We need to let you know that your driver’s license is going to expire this year and because it’s been awhile—34 years to be exact—we’re going to need to you re-take that written test. But, we’re not going to give you a new picture so there is a bright side, you’ll still look 49. (And because no one ever asks, I will still weigh 110 pounds.)

Photo courtesy Google Images

To make up for the possible loss of your driving privileges you will be issued an AARP card which won’t allow you to legally drive, but it might get you a nickel discount on Depends at your local supermarket and possibly a free cup of coffee at McDonald’s.

And hey, more good news, you now qualify for a colonoscopy, so don’t forget to get that little treat down on the books right away. And, if it hasn’t already done so, your vision will be changing. That’s right you’ll graduate from slightly blind to almost completely blind which will require the use of contact lenses and bifocals unless you’re trying to read something, in which case use whatever means are available to help accomplish that feat. Good luck with that because things will start to look like this:

Photo courtesy Google Images

Of special note, just for the ladies, you will also most likely experience some hormonal changes in your body. These are perfectly natural changes that every woman endures so just deal with them in whatever fashion works best for you. You might find sleeping a challenge, and possibly have moments when your body feels like it’s on fire. These moments will pass so just smile and open a bottle of vodka. You may occasionally want to rip someone’s head of and feed it to the dog, but we encourage you to simply take a deep breath and walk slowly away from the thing causing you the stress. During such times you may want to swallow a couple of Valium with your vodka.

Photo courtesy Google Images

And finally, don’t despair when the pounds seem to pile on around your mid section and your hair starts falling out. These are natural occurrences and are not dire situations that require medical help. Add to the Valium and vodka about 140 ounces of chocolate and a dozen Oreo cookies on top of your largest mixing bowl full of ice cream. That should do the trick.

Photo courtesy Google Images

We want you to know that you can and should continue all of your normal activities, like working your ass off and paying taxes for another dozen years or so. The social security people won’t come a’knockin’ for at least another twelve years so use this time to keep putting that fifty cents into your 401(K) each month. By the time those social security checks start rolling in you’ll have amassed quite a little savings account to supplement your meager government income. And with all the money you’ll be saving with those AARP discounts, you just might make ends meet if you never go to a movie or eat in a restaurant again.

Image courtesy Google Images

Oh, and if we haven’t already said it—welcome to 50. Enjoy your golden years!

How about you my friends, any surprises as you age? Any words of wisdom to share?

Word of the Day:  Doglegs (no you don’t get them when you turn 50)

Fun Fact About Me:  I used to hate wearing shoes; now I rarely go barefoot.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, September 2015. Photos courtesy Google Images. Sarcasm courtesy Patricia Rickrode.

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