Fun and Games!

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

Enough said. 

Go play, and happy Labor Day!

Wait!

Before you go, tell us your favorite way to play.

Photo: A favorite way to play for the Youngers:  the North Carolina State Fair, where I snapped this photo last October.

Giveaway: Holiday congratulations to Barbara of Texas, who won the copy of The Guest Book.

Baby News: Baby news is my grandson is taking his time. He needs to get himself born so he can start playing with his toys and all of us!

The Think Quick Forever Love List: A Game for Menopause and Other Occasions

Think quick!  Name as fast as you can, in random order, ten things you have loved since you were two (or so):

1. Dolls

2. Pretzels

3. My mother and father

4. Peter Rabbit and Tom Kitten

5. Icing (on cakes, cookies, spoons, beaters, and in the middle of an Oreo)

6. Coca-cola

7. Raincoats, umbrellas, and shiny boots

8. The beach (early days spent in Ocean City, Maryland)

9.  Lying flat on my back in green grass

10.  Flannel pajamas and  nightgowns, especially brand new ones

Mine’s not an overly creative or unique list, but I played by the rules and wrote it fast.  And don’t forget, you have to list things you have loved ALL your life, as far back as you can recall.

If you’re sad or angry or confused or if menopause is getting you down, make your list!  Focusing on what you have always loved will remind you that you’re still in the game, loving still, never stopping.

After you make your list, write it on your heart but POST it on your refrigerator and your Facebook page. Give those who love you the chance to bring you a bag of pretzels, a pin for your doll, a photo she took years ago of your dad, or whatever is on your very own Think Quick Forever Love List.

In a group setting, this game makes a fun ice breaker and also works nicely for the beach vacation when conversation is running slow after five days. (Cold beer helps motivate the players.  Substitute fudge if you aren’t a drinker.)  Share your lists and analyze away. Be nice though.

Photos:  The dolls are Kathy (on the left) and Bunny, two favorites from childhood.  Kathy is the naugty one. She’d even sneak my mother’s cigarettes.  Bunny is her sidekick.  The pretzels are brand new. Cliff loves them too. Open a bag and the Pretzel Eating Race is on!

Puzzled: Putting the Menopausal Pegs Together

For those of you just approaching menopause, who are technically in the years known as “perimenopause,” there’s a bit of advice at the end of this post (and hopefully others will chime in with some too).  One of the most confusing aspects of the whole shebang to me was figuring out what symptoms might be menopause and what symptoms might be signals of a serious health concern.

It’s majorly weird when things are going on with your body and your mind, and you’re not sure what the deal is.

New, odd stuff would be happening to me  (bugs crawling up my arm (read it here) being the strangest).  Could this be menopause?  I’d go to one of the lists such as 34 Menopause Symptoms, and I’d usually find it it there.  Yep, it’s menopause.

Women should come with personalized instruction books.  Now there’s an idea!  If I could run the world, I would institute that plan (and give each book a funky, upbeat cover).

Menopause is a puzzle. For me it was one of the biggest puzzles of my life.  A physical puzzle.  A mental puzzle. An emotional puzzle.  I love puzzles, but not being a puzzle whiz, it took me a while to get my pegs in a row.

And so the bit of advice:  expect to be puzzled.  Expect to have some worries.  Expect to feel like, yep, you’re riding a roller coaster.  And as you work to put your pegs into your very own puzzle, be patient.

Photo:  My Puzzle-Peg game is a version of peg solitaire.  A Wiki history says peg solitaire games probably go back to the days of Louis XIV. The first artistic rendering of someone playing peg solitaire dates to 1697.  Here she is:  Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Soubise, in the engraving you see below.  I don’t know what ya’ll think, but The Princess looks menopausal and puzzled to me: