Author: Emily

This is so aggrivating! This is truly one of my biggest big pet peeves, and it happens to me all the time! I’ll have a full or almost full can of something, and bam! it falls onto the floor and inevitably the spray nozzle breaks off and the can of stuff is useless! This time the unfortunate can is some off brand spray starch. I’ve had it happen to Lysol cans, Dow Scrubbing Bubbles, you name it, it’s been beheaded. Post photo shoot, this full can of spray starch found a new home in the trash.

Are there any inventors out there who think they can invent something that can be used to extract the contents of a hapless can, or better yet, design an unbreakable nozzle?

My girlfriend Cindy invited me to go with her to the northside of Chicago to a snappy bookshop called Flourish Studio to see Julia Cameron give a 45 minute talk and have a book signing. It was really enjoyable. I had never heard of her book, The Artists Way until today, and I also learned she was married to Martin Scorsese and had a daughter with him.

She signed my book and posed for a photo with me. I was happy! I can’t wait to begin reading The Artists Way. It has many ideas for fostering creativity.

I’m 45. Okay, we got that out of the way. I’m also overweight-actually, ‘curvey’ is what I like to call it because it makes being ‘fat’ sound more palatable. In just in the last 2 years, I have actually convinced myself through reading and rationalizing that I need to exercise. I need to do this because first of all, nothing else is enabling me to shed pounds, and two, I’ve come to the stark realization I need to get physical if I want to ward off diabetes and other horrible ailments like heart disease and cancer.

Now that I finally worked up the nerve to begin an exercise regimine, I joined my neighborhood gym and have tried to go at least 3 days a week. I’ve found, however, if I go that many days, I end up feeling so achy, I can’t get myself to go back and I end up skipping days. It never fails, if I do 2 days on the elliptical, the tendon around my right ankle begins to hurt, and it gets so painful, it literally is screamng in pain while I’m sitting with my foot up. I do the muscle machines for my upper arms and my shoulder joints are going, “Crack! Pop! Creak….” And they begin to ache me so badly. I decide to switch things up a bit, so I joined Curves, thinking it would be less impact, and since Curves is full of aging women, who can go wrong with 30 seconds per machine, twice around. I felt this should be the place for me. No such luck. After 2 months of Curves, I got bursitis in my left hip which lasted for 4 months. The doctor told me it was caused by repetitive motion. So, I stopped going to Curves. Now, I’m back at the regular gym, and I can’t believe how my body seems to be working against me. Every joint in my body aches at times, and I am so stiff. I want so badly to be able to exercise consistantly, but I just can’t do it through the pain.

My wonder is what is causing me to feel this way? I’ve been to the Dr. and had blood tests done. I suppose I’m just one of those creaky, arthritic type of people. Oh, and did I mention the fatigue? The cumulative affect of 30 minute multiple workouts totally wipe me out. I’m tired. But, as far as I know, I’m healthy. Everything has checked out fine. Today, I started something new. After thinking I was going to get in the car and drive to the gym to pump the elliptical for 30 minutes until the pain sets in , I looked down at my dog’s big, brown eyes and thought for a moment. I would try something new. Instead of driving to the gym, I’m going to walk, and the dog is going to be my exercise buddy. She needs it, too. I latched the leash on her collar, grabbed my cell and a poop bag and we were out the door headed for the walking path behind my home. Our development has a tree lined 5 mile path that curves around a creek, and behind many of the houses. It’s beautiful, and the two of us might as well take advantage of it now that the autumn is almost here. Lilly likes the smells, and I like the sights. We walked in the sunshine and stopped to watch the birds. I clocked us at 35 minutes from the time we left till the time we looped the leash back on the hook. It didn’t seam like work at all. My heart was pumping, and I worked up a sweat-just like I do on the elliptical. The beagle’s nose was delighted. It was fun! I think Lilly and I are going to do this again tomorrow, and again and agan, throughout the fall until, of course, my feet start aching me so badly I had to stop.

I was paging through my new issue of MORE magazine, and I noticed a new ad for an over the counter drug that treats chronic joint pain in women. It’s called, SheaFlex70 . I’m going to try it. I’m not writing this blog to tout a new brand of pain medication. I’m simply saying I might try it. It might give me hope. I’m tired of letting my body sabotage my attempts at staying healthy. I’m the brains in this operation and it’s time to make a change.

I’m off to order the perfect pair of walking shoes. Onward.

My husband has been saying this for a long time now, and I’m beginning to notice it more and more. Everywhere, movies, TV commercials and radio spots, you see men depicted as ditzy, inept and foolish. This really bothers me. Where I notice it most is on radio commercials where there is usually a 30 second ad-skit and the guy always, without fail, comes out looking like a total idiot. The woman, on the otherhand comes across as domineering, overpowering and of course, light years ahead of him intellectually.

This is embarrassing to me, and as the mother of 4 males, 2 of which are already young men, this has me concerned for them and how they end up perceiving themselves and how others might perceive them as well. I asked my husband why he gets so angry when he witnesses these things. Is it because they makes him feel less masculine and stupid, and his response to me was no. He doesn’t feel his masculinity is threatened, because he grew up feeing secure in his skin because of the way society was. Instead, he is concerned for young guys growing up with the new stigma of being a ditz-that women somehow have it all figured out, and if it weren’t for women, men would be walking around aimlessly, like blubbering idiots wondering what to do next, until a woman came along to direct them. That might sound a little exaggerated, but I get his point none the less.

Have any of you noticed this? I personally hate it. On the other hand, I didn’t like it that women in the past were generally treated as sexy twits, who were seemingly born to serve men, to take care of their every want and need. That, as we all know, was the general way women were portrayed in the past, and are still today. There needs to be some balance representing the sexes. Generally speaking, I don’t like the perception out there that says for me to rise to my full potential, I have to step on a man’s head on the way up and cause him humiliation. I want to get there on my own terms, and I don’t need to make a man feel dumb to achieve my goals, or more importantly, to prove I’m worthy and smart.

As a woman, in my opinion, it’s not sexy to be with a ditzy guy. I want my men to be tall, dark, handsome, strong, smart and protective. Sorry if that isn’t very women’s libby. I’m not a feminist, I guess. I’m a traditionalist with a twist.

My husband is very quick to pick up a plot leading in that direction, and he gets so pissed off at what he’s seeing that most of the time, he can’t go on and enjoy the rest of the movie. Lately, it’s as if the woman is always coming out on top and it makes the man look stupid while she’s getting there. For some reason, she’s got to out smart the guy, or come out the superior one. It doesn’t seem like the men are the smart ones anymore in movies, unless it’s a male dominated cast, then there might be a brilliant or lucky guy who is the hero. I don’t have a problem with women being portrayed to be smarter than guys, because, let’s face it, just like there are some ditzy gals out there, there is an equal amount of stupid men out there to match them. What I don’t like is how it is rubbed in our face. When it comes down to it, there’s many brilliant guys and just as many intelligent women. In the movies and commercials, as in life, there absolutely needs to be balance. I don’t want my kids to grow up with this mentality and end up being immasculated or disparaging towards men. Just like I wouldn’t want my daughter to be around chauvinistic or condescending men, it’s not right that women are taking on this attitude toward the opposite sex.

Let’s face it, if women are whitty enough to out smart men in the movies and in real life, than we should be clever enough to use our brains to do it in such a way that the guys don’t even realize we’re doing it. Now, that’s a savy chick. Imagine, we’d just leave them standing there, all stunned, but feeling smart anyway. Com’on Hollywood, I challenge you!

“There is a time of year in New York when, even before the first leaf falls…you can feel the seasons click. The air is crisp, the summer is gone. And for the first night in a long time…you need an extra blanket on your bed.” –Carrie Bradshaw

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See Rachel’s floral knitting bag? She found it at a flea market. It inspired her first ‘Shabby Chic’ fabric line.