I try to be respectful of my husband's likes. For instance, I know he prefers me not to have super short hair and he doesn't want me to let it go gray. This one I am struggling with. I am in my late 40's and he is in his mid 60's ~ he always says that there is no reason for both of us to look old, and our youngest is 4 years old. My hair is dark brown and is getting harder to keep up with covering the gray. I know the hair dye contains possible cancer-causing chemicals and really burns my scalp each time I use it. I've heard there are healthier options available, but after 20 years I am ready to go gray.

Intimacy is important in my marriage because we are so busy and its a wonderful time to connect. Sheila's encouragement is a blessing ~ love her blog!

Thank you for sharing this. I haven't really listened to mainstream music in 20 years. I recently heard Angie Smith raving about her new album, so I purchased it. There are so few mainstream role models these days for girls.

That's too bad you had to miss your son's graduation, and I know that trip must have been so hard. I haven't visited that part of California in some time. It is breathtaking! As I sit here and read your blog I am in a lot of pain. It started with some TMJ issues in the side of my head and then last week I thought for sure some of the dental work I had put off was catching up to me. I had two crowns and a filling replace all in a row and my dentist said he found no evidence of needing a root canal. He feels the pain is TMJ related and due to the fact the last set of crowns were way to high. At this very moment it feels like I need a root canal ~I am hoping that it is just an inflamed nerve that hasn't calmed down since last Thursday. I am trying so hard not to take meds, but pain in the face/head/neck is just not fun. I was looking for a past post to see what caused yours. Is this a common issue for you? How long does it take to calm down? I hope you are feeling better now :-)

We are experiencing the same at our house. We buy most of our food from Trader Joe's without preservatives. I remember in the beginning most of the food tasted sort of blah. Foods we used to enjoy now taste horrible ~ especially packaged foods. I was at a birthday party last week and they served Costco pizza. The crust tasted like plastic. I asked a couple of people if they agreed and I think they thought I was nuts. My 4 year old wouldn't eat it. We have a long way to go, but are definitely on our way.