Seven Dwarfs

The seven dwarfs from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" are Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Doc, and Sneezy. They are among the first 100 Disney characters. This 1917 film was the first animated feature to become widely successful within the English-speaking world and the first to be filmed in Technicolor.

And so it goes for cartoon characters. But what about real life? Maybe there's a few more applicable names to tag these characters with.

The following, although directed toward later in life, could apply to quite a few different times in a woman's life . . .

One day you may get a knock at your door.

The Seven Dwarfs of Menopause arrived at my door without warning: Itchy, Bitchy, Sweaty, Sleepy, Bloated, Forgetful and All-Dried-Up. One by one they crept into my own private cottage in the woods and started to take over my life.

The first to arrive was Itchy. I developed this itch on my right calf that was so irritating, I wanted to scratch the skin right off my body.

Then Bitchy came to my door. No longer was my PMS contained to one or two days a month--it felt like constant PMS.

Then I would swing from Bitchy to Weepy for God's sake, what was wrong with me?

Ding-dong . . . it's the middle of the night and Sweaty has crawled into bed with me. Oh, yes, Sweaty brought embarrassing hot flashes and introduced me to night sweats where it seemed as if a faucet had been attached between my breasts.

Of course Sweaty brought about Sleepy, because I was tired all the time. I would wake up so many times in the night and not be able to get back to sleep.

Bloated crept in slowly, my once-svelte figure got thick through the middle section, even though I was following my weight-loss program that had worked so well for so many years!

I can't quite remember when Forgetful arrived, but one day my brain stopped working. I considered myself a pretty focused woman until Forgetful came, and I could not keep a coherent thought in my brain. Am I getting Alzheimer's? I wondered.

Last, All-Dried-Up slowly encroached upon my happy marriage. This was probably the most unpleasant of the dwarf family. Sex was no longer on the top of my list . . . or on my list at all. My husband would give me that knowing look, and I would think, "Frankly, I'd rather have a smoothie.

"The Seven Dwarfs of Menopause! What a family . . .

Some true, some not so much.

Sold

Well, Hunks and I sold a car and had a couple of beers. In that order.

First off, we sold a 1990 Audi that is in beautiful condition to a fellow west of Chicago. Being the nice people we are, the plan was to meet halfway . . . us with the car and him with the cash.

And it all worked out beautifully. We met in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at Bell's Eccentric Cafe'. We exchanged the car for cash then all of us decided a beer and a sandwich was in order.

Cool bar. That was my first impression when we walked in. There were gorgeous stained glass windows. The windows stood about 6 feet tall and covered every color in the rainbow. But the neatest part of them was the quirkiness built into the glass. Beer bottles and caps were worked into the designs. Like this first one . . . The bottoms of beer bottles are in the upper right hand corner.

Or, this one with bottles "bobbing" in the water.This one didn't have any bottles that I could see . . . I just liked it.

Well, the day went as planned and everyone seems very happy. Those are the good days we like to remember.

A Lifetime

On this day, in 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected as our 35th President of the United States.

Reading that, you probably don't remember what you were doing or where you were on that day. Maybe you weren't even born yet. But if you were alive oh so long ago and I mention . . .

. . . November, 22, 1963 . . .

. . . you are immediately transported back 46 years to the moment when you heard the news. Am I right?

And, if so, do you wonder sometimes where our nation would be now if events hadn't taken such a horrific direction on that sunny day in Dallas, Texas?

Kennedy never had the chance to prove or disprove his potential as a great president or to even possibly see where our country was headed. Those young Americans spoke about "Camelot" and how the First Lady compared their years in the White House to King Arthur's mythical throne. A lot of people bought into it then but soon became jaded with each proceeding administration.

History can only judge him on 3 short years as commander and leader; not as a full term president. And most historians would rather concentrate on that motorcade trip through the downtown area, lone gunman or conspiracy, and the Warren Report than the programs he had begun.

This November instead of thinking about the tragedy, I'm going to let my mind wander to international programs such as the Peace Corps and to moments of class and grace in the White House.

Maybe just let my inner-PollyAnna visit for a bit.

Local News

I've been busy lately doing a great deal of research . . . that is, when I'm not working my day job. And while I'm reading "local news" from the late 1800s, deep in the darkened rooms of the Michigan Library, it is hard not to giggle into the microfiche reader. Possibly disturbing more serious readers. Here's just a small sampling of news important enough to print . . .

The man who predicted a dry season had better go west.

Or,

The potato bug has been discovered by some enterprising genius to be good fish bait.

And,

It is time to do your spring cleaning, which if done in time may save a great deal of sickness.

Even,

The house-wife rejoiceth that her cistern again contains a supply of rain water.

I sometimes can't decide if these were in jest or in all seriousness. But, assuming that setting up pages for print took some time and effort sometime around 1885, it must have been only the most important news that needed to be reported.

We can only assume.

News Source

As I blog and blog-on daily, some of my articles are starting to be picked up here and there.

For instance, click on my Snowball Effect in Fowlerville article and you will see that LivingstonTalk has asked me to work with them. They have set up a blog page for me to add my two cents' worth whenever I feel like it. This particular article, along with additional pictures, first appeared in October on my Fowlerville blog.

LivingstonTalk began just this last fall with the intention of providing news and information online relating to the communities in and around Livingston County. I believe already they have hit a home run, so to speak, in the diversity of articles presented everyday. So check out their website and be sure to check out my article in the process.