HAVE FUN WITH YOUR
MIDLIFE



 I asked my readers to show us (in pictures and stories) what they are doing to
make their midlife more fun! Here's some of the responses I got!
Okay, you asked for it!

I've attached a picture of what I'm going to be doing in 2006 to make my life better.   I started this hobby when I turned 40 and I'm now
into my eighth year, and loving it more every day!

Hope you have a "cool" 2006!....LM

Dee,
Well I am 52 now, and have felt like that as well....nobody wants me now.....:(  but! this Christmas I got out my old cake decorating skills and put my creative juices together and came up with cookie bouquets for my family. Why barge thru the malls?? and go thru all that massive traffic. Just make tasty treats for gifts. They are fun! and look great! and believe me..... you feel so good when the compliments come rolling in. These work for any occasion.Thank you for letting me share...Maryann

While I don't have a picture, I do have a story to add.  In 2005 after 32 years, I got on a stage and auditioned for a play.  I didn't get a part the first time, so I auditioned for another play.  And I got the part!  The next audition was for a leading role and I got the part.  Having rediscovered my passion for theater after letting it sit idle for 32 years (every year that passed I'd think "there aren't parts for people my age/weight, etc."), at 52 I am back to auditioning and acting and being involved once again.

I just keep thinking about the saying that says you should "dance like no one is watching". The Best is Yet to Come, Vicki in IL
 
  TAKING CARE OF THIS YOUNG LADY...ANGEL...
PUTS "FUN" IN EVERY 
DAY OF MY LIFE!  SHE 
IS MY SCHIPPERKE "DAUGHTER"!
TH


The Red Hat Society
Great thing to join at our age, you have to be over 50 to join and we wear red hats of course and purple clothes. Ladies under fifty CAN join (but they only get to wear mauve clothes and pink hats and accessories). If you look at the pic. you will see a pinl hatter with her head out the bus window...The young ones DON'T  REDUATE , until they are 50. Something for them to look forward to at 50 instead of to dread the day. All started with a poem called WARNING by Jenny Joseph.

We are a group of ladies who have formed a sistership and get together and go out and have fun outings on a regular basis. There are chapters all over the world. Our group in in Gosford N.S.W. Australia. We have a lot of fun.This pic was taken when our Chapter went on this big red double decker bus to our local wineries. All had a great time. We have picnics, lunches, dinners ,ten pin bowling comps etc etc etc. all kinds of outings and get togethers.  It is know as a disorganisation OR (Growing Old Disgracefully) ....Hope you think this idea is good enough to go on your page. Bye for now, Judi,  A Red Hatter

Hi all. I learned how to ride this motorcycle when I was 56 . It was something I count as my best accomplishment. I have a small camper too and sometimes I go off all by myself camping just to get away. It helps everyone for me to get away when I have those miserable I hate everybody days. I'm also learning how to play the harmonica!! 

It helps to stay busy thru this awful time they call menopause! I've been going thru this for 10 years. Good luck to all my sisters just remember you can do anything you put your mind to!! Dixie Rose
 
The funniest menopause tshirts are here!

I don't have a picture to send but I got a very neat Christmas gift from my hubby, that I just love!  He gave me a heated face shield for my snowmobile helmut!!  My husband and I  took up snowmobiling at the age of 51 (we both turned 57 in December) and are having a ball enjoying our great Michigan winter wonderland.  We also took up four-wheeling that year, so we have toys for the summer and winter.

It's funny that you mentioned 30 years would put you at 87.  Well, 30 years will put me there as well, and I expect to still be an active person, indoors and out.  We are only as old as we keep telling ourselves.  We need to think and act young in order to stay that way.

We are planning a 45-day RV trip with our good friends, for February 2007, to the Baja Peninsula.  None of us have been to Mexico.  RV'ing is the way we travel, now that our kids are grown.  This will be the first trip after our retirement.  All of our vacations have been two weeks at the most.  We can't imagine what it's going to be like, to stay away from home for 45 days.  No phones to answer, no traffic to fight, to get to our jobs.  WE CAN"T WAIT.

Love your newsletter.  Keep up the good work.  THINK YOUNG!!!!!  Gale, Farmington Hills, Michigan

More midlife fun!
This was the great Minnie Pauz MeltDown Cruise in 2003! What a fun time we had!! All 
the younger ladies at the top are daughters of us "Pauzers". 
We sure gave them a different view of menopause!
ODE TO MINNIE PAUZ
Copyright Linda Kenney All Rights Reserved

Are you suffering from the red hot flashes; 
Mopping up the sweat and underarm splashes? 
Trying to recall those memory lapses; 
Staying close to the loo for those urgent dashes? 

Feelings of dread and being very low. 
Hairs on the chin and loss of libido. 
A waistline suddenly wanting to grow: 
Just where did all your confidence go? 

Already you're a tired insomniac 
Shocked to be a raging maniac 
When your hubby asks (without any tact) 
That he'd quite like to have his old wife back! 

All these symptoms are the menopause. 
It's a relief to know that there is a cause. 
You haven't got personality flaws, 
Just join the website MinniePauz!

So are you behaving a little crazy? 
Have you put your keys in the fridge lately? 
Please don't despair, we have HRT 
That's Humour Replacement Therapy!
 

I have started a new career in Real Estate where I am in charge of myself and my direction.  I am out and about not sitting in an office waiting for Saturday to roll around.  I hated wishing my life away just for a day of freedom. This week one of my clients said to me that the thing he like best about me was that I am a teenager at heart.  I have discovered that the spirit doesn't age just the body.  "MadeInScotland"

The Prancing Ponies were formed in May. We consist of 4 ladies who were thrown together by a series of unfortunate events
all of which you would not believe. Anyway, none of us could afford THERAPY so we began The Prancing Ponies. I came up with the name because our husbands attend a men's Bible Study and the name of their group the The White Horse Fellowship. I guess you figured out the connection. Plus, I love The Lord of the Rings and it's the name of a Tavern. We meet every Thursday at different homes. We share dinner, wine, tears and laughs. I don't know what I would do without my dearest friends. My life is indeed richer with my Pony girls! Every woman needs their own version of the Prancing Ponies to be real with.



Danna, one of my cyber friends, sent these pics of her gal pals enjoying themselves!


This was the original group of ladies I showed my first cartoons to!
They're called the "Older Women's Bulletin Board" or OWBB
(I even designed their shirt for them)




This is the group of Detroit area Pauzers that went to see Menopause the Musical with me!
Part of the Minnie Pauz  group that went to see "Menopause the Musical" at the
Gem Theater! It was great fun with lots of laughter, just the kind of activity that Minnie Pauz loves!

Hi Dee...at the beginning of the year, you put a note in your newsletter, asking for Pauzers having fun to let you know what we are doing.  You also requested a photo if available. About 4 years ago - while STILL hot flashing my way through life, (actually, it has been 14 years thus far) I decided I needed to add more exercise into my daily routine.  I don't like exercising, besides the exertion triggers MORE hot flashes than the 20 -30 I have everyday as it is.  But, I DO love to dance - all kinds of dance, so I decided I would try a Hula class being offered by our Parks and Recreation Dept.  I have continued taking classes along with a group of other women, and according to our instructor - a "Pauzer" herself, we know over 30 dances, Hawaiian as well as Tahitian.

Within the last year or so, a few of us have combined to form our own little group for the purpose of performing at fundraising events etc. - as requested.  We have put on several performances, enjoying the fun, exercise and muscle toning dancing the Hula brings.  We all look forward to our weekly dance classes, performance rehearsal sessions and the "celebrations" we share occasionally - as we have all acquired a new set of friends along with new dancing skills.

Attached is a photo of 2/3's of the group members.  I don't want to identify them specifically, but if you use the photo, please just note that we are all Pauzers, over 55 (except for the slender blonde, second from the right) from the Southern California area.  Our instructor is the dark haired woman in the center.

Thanks mucho for keeping up this site and sharing the good, bad and the ugly of this time in our lives..........MM


http://www.badgirl1.com/PMS.htm

"What do I do for fun ~ once or twice a year I go camping with 6-8 girl friends... We take a motor home and a tent.... I love sleeping in the tent... we go different places, to the coast, to the desert, last year we camped in a cow pasture.... when we went to the desert ~ we went for a late night soak in the the hot springs....  at the coast we flew kites and gathered shells.... at the ranch ~ we all got to learn how to ride quads without any men around to instruct us...  got to wake up to the cows bellowing outside the tent...  we let our hair down and talk about life... cry a little and laugh a little.... we all worked together driving school bus until we lost our jobs 3 years ago to a contractor.... all of us are over 50 except for one....but I feel she will have an easier time with menopause from hanging out with us... learning from our mistakes".....Mollie

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