No coincidences with God and a few other thoughts

I had 2 quite amazing things happen to me over the past couple weeks.  The first happened during my adoration time.  In our church we have an adoration chapel. An adoration chapel is where the body of Jesus Christ resides.  At our parish, we signed up during different hours throughout the day to spend time with the Lord. It is a time of reflection, prayer, and reading.  I call it my date with Jesus and although I always look forward to it, I wondered am I making a difference.  I was in prayer and asked for a sign of sorts to see if what I was doing made any difference.  As I was praying a woman walked in, clearly upset and was praying fervently.  She then asked if we could pray together. As we were praying I got to find out what was on her mind and heart. It was something I could actually council her with.  We had a very nice time working through her predicament, so God meant for me to be there when she needed somebody.  A few weeks ago I was going through an old box of pictures and found one with me and my best friend in 8^th grade. I wondered whatever happened to her.  She came into my life when we moved and I had to change schools after school had started for the year and being 13 it was a little tough. To have her befriend me was one of the best things that happened to me that year.  Well about a week ago she found me on Facebook. It is a time in my life when I need her as a friend. We spoke on the phone and it was as though no time has passed, she sounded exactly the same as she did 30 years ago. And there was something that drew us together then, that holds true today.  We are in similar lines of work; we have the same religious beliefs and the same political beliefs.  I look forward to renewing that friendship. Are there coincidences with God? Maybe they appear that way to us, but probably not with Him.

I added to the loss log page or maybe I need to call it the gain page this week.  It was a hectic week not a lot of meals at home which is a major culprit. We weren’t up in weight much, and fluctuation is going to happen so am I concerned? Not really, but if I am up again next week then I will be. Life happens and you have to just go with it at times.

I also added to the recipe and fashion and beauty page.  Speaking of fashion, it should be time for the annual fashion bible to be gracing our mailboxes. Yes, I am speaking of the September issue of Vogue.  I have looked forward to it every year since I was 12. Fall is the best time for clothing in my opinion and I have a feeling this year will not disappoint us. I wish you all the best week.

As always Breathe Chic

Uncle Ted and the importance of earplugs

This past week, I got to go see Ted Nugent.  The last time I saw Ted was in 1978, I think, at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.  Ted is a little older, but his music still sounded the same. LOUD. Although I cannot believe it, I am a little older, too.  I know unfathomable.  We had earplugs with us. Walt was holding mine. The girls and I went down to the front of the stage, while the guys stayed in our reserved seats. I was not going to give up my place to go back and get the earplugs. Normally, I take very good care of my ears. I always wear earplugs at concerts.  Even as a teenager, I never played my music loud.  Yes I was THAT irritating friend always turning down your music and telling you how you would have early hearing loss. So there I was about 3 feet from the speakers listening to Motorcity and Cat Scratch Fever.  I will digress for a moment,  my youngest child actually got this disease when she was little. You get it from cat scratches. When the doctor told us that is what she had I actually answered, “I thought that was just a Ted Nugent song.” As I was saying, there I was 3 feet from the speakers, caught a guitar pick too! When the show was over and the sound turned off, I felt as though I was under water. 3 days later, I still have some slight ringing and muffled sounds. The moral of this story is:  Protect your ears, especially when you are young, but more importantly when you are old.  Then you won’t be like me this week and keep repeating, “Huh?  What did you say?” I am annoying myself immensely and most likely those around me. Okay so more than usual.  But this is important.  Sound levels at concerts can be in the range of 120 to 140 decibels (db), well beyond the 100 db normally recognized as the threshold at which short-duration exposure can cause hearing loss. The loss is caused by damage to fragile tissue strands within the cochlea. These strands resemble tiny hairs. They move with the fluid in the cochlea to stimulate the electrical impulses in the auditory nerve. The hair cells become damaged in the presence of loud noise. To understand better, it’s like stepping on your grass, doing it occasionally your grass can recover, but if you have frequent traffic (or in my case a dog that uses the same path for his morning chase the chipmunks) and the grass becomes permanently damaged.  Damage to your ears happens the same way.  So even if you do not want to appear uncool or lose your place at the concert get those earplugs in.  It will be more enjoyable during and after the concert.

I have also updated the loss log, recipe, fashion and beauty pages.

As always, breathe chic

Like sand through the hourglass.......

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a Catholic Jew.   My mother was Jewish, my father Catholic. I always like to say I got the best of both worlds, and double the guilt. I also like to feed people, or as my husband would say overfeed people. I disagree, I do not overfeed people, I just make sure there is enough food that nobody leaves hungry. The importance of me bringing up this background is because I just found out one of my daughters is getting married. This is wonderful.  I am so happy for her.  She was on vacation and called me to tell me the news.  She also made the comment that I didn’t sound too excited.  It wasn’t that I wasn’t excited. My mind was churning. The Jewish half kicked into full gear, I was already planning the menu and location and where would be the best place to go bridal gown shopping. For a brief moment I forgot she was on the line, I also forgot I am not the bride but the mother of the bride. I am going to have to keep my Momzilla of the bride in check. It is exciting however, another page in life and then my thoughts turn to her having kids, guess I should wait for the wedding first. However, I cannot be totally to blame, some of the guilt falls onto her. I mean, she is the first one of the girls to get engaged! I have so many questions for her and have to wait until she comes back from vacation. That is really unfair and it should be worth me having my say for at least one thing in the wedding.  The really odd thing to me is how is that I have a child old enough to get married, I feel like I am only 25. Time just blows by. It seems it was only yesterday that she started kindergarten. Corny and cliché I know. But it is true. Speaking of feeling 25, I always get comments how great and young my skin looks and what do I use. In my opinion, part of what helps is what you apply your makeup with.  The right tools are so important.  Whether you are a mechanic or a makeup artist, the tools make all the difference in the world.  Invest in good brushes.  Good doesn’t have to be synonymous with pricey.  I find good brushes at Ulta, Sephora and Target. Sonia Kashuk has a line of bamboo brushes at Target, they have gotten great reviews. I have a few brushes from Origins that I have had for 10 plus years. They are still in great shape.  The reason why is that I take care of them. By taking care of the brushes you also take care of your skin.  Brushes are a breeding ground for germs and bacteria. You do not want to apply germs onto your skin. Every evening I clean the brushes I used that day with a little bit of baby shampoo and I rinse in warm water then let them air dry.  This also helps with your eye shadows, it keeps the colors true.  Speaking of eye shadow under the beauty tab is a great eye shadow primer. I also updated the loss log and fashion page.

As always Breathe Chic