The Ramblings of a Menopausal Woman

Happy September everyone! Rolling into September means this brutally hot summer is going to start winding down soon. That, and the two new skeletons on my front porch look a little less awkward today.

Between the drought and the heat, North Carolina has been pretty miserable this summer temperature wise. Personally, overall it was a really good summer. MUCH better than last year. Granted the bar was low, but this year greatly surpassed it. Fall is bringing some new adventures my way and I am very excited about what’s coming up this month.

As I have been making it through my year off, a lot of my time has been spent just catching up on life. It seems like I had spent so much time just trying to make it through the day, that everything else just fell to the wayside. I have been working on going through stuff and purging as much as possible and checking things off my long overdue “To Do” lists. If this estate company I met with actually picks up my mom’s belongings this month as hoped, that will be a massive task off my list. Fingers crossed it all goes as planned, or at least close to planned. At this point, I’m not picky.

As the boring stuff is starting to get handled, it gives me more time for some fun stuff. Recently, I was talking to someone about hobbies and I realized I don’t really have any consistent hobbies anymore. I did start writing again last year, and I have been enjoying it a lot. I am also getting back into reading full books. That one made me see exactly how my phone has changed my attention span. I used to do all kinds of things. I would go skydiving, make pottery, or even just bake for fun. Over the years, I have let those things slip away. Not on purpose, just one by one I made excuses about not having time or money, until I just stopped doing them. I’m trying to use this year to try out some new hobbies, or revisit some old ones, just to see what what sticks. I’m limiting myself to things without large startup costs, since I’m not really sure what will appeal to me most at this point in my life.

So what does September hold? On the creative side I have a few things going. I’m trying to learn how to knit. I’m currently a little stuck, but I will get it figured out. As a left handed person I have to do it mirror image of most of the videos. Something is not clicking. I called in a friend for some assistance.

I also got a cyanotype kit, because it looks kinda fun. A little starter kit was less than $20. It uses the sun and chemicals to make prints from random objects. This really appeals to the mad scientist in me. You know, I would have made an excellent mad scientist. Especially last year before I was on HRT. I would have had the mad part down pat. It’s just hard to get the kind of financing to build a spooky underground laboratory, especially as woman

Speaking of spooky, I’m also working on some Halloween crafts to have ready for decorating next month. Last year we had a leak in our Halloween storage and almost all of our decorations were destroyed. This year it’s time to rebuild! Better! Stronger! Faster? 👻 For example, I found these two skulls at Home Goods. Clay and I are each going to decorate one.

I also signed up for a cake decorating program. I love baking in general and making cakes, but decorating has always been where I struggle. I can do it, but it is not my forte. I know there’s an easier way. It’s once a week for a month and I am hoping to learn some fun tips and tricks before the holidays this year.

On the physical side, Clara and I walk 2 miles on the greenway every day (weather permitting). I also have been doing much better at going to the gym on a regular basis. A couple months ago I started going to Current Wellness. I really like their strength and weight training classes. The good thing for me is that you can buy a class pass instead of a monthly membership. For me, most gym memberships have eventually turned into monthly gym donation. This time I really like where I’m going and I have kept it up. I’m still not signing up for a monthly membership. That’s like when you tattoo on your wedding ring, it’s just not going to last.

There is one other thing that I am super excited about this month. I signed up for roller skating classes! It’s a six week course through the City of Raleigh called “Foundation to Flow” and was only $30! Since I still have health insurance, I went ahead and signed up for that one. I’m unreasonably excited about it. 😄 I actually used to roller skate quite a bit, but ice skating was my jam. I started ice skating when I was 6, and I got pretty good at it, but my ankles are not that strong anymore. It’s a six week course and I’m going work on getting that balance back. Relearn to roller skate was one of the things I had written down that I wanted to try during my fake retirement. So when I saw the class on the city’s website, I had to sign up. Especially for 30 bucks!

This month marks halfway through my year off. I’m incredibly grateful that I have been able to make this work, so far. It has been benefited me in ways I never would have expected. The one thing I haven’t really figured out is what kind of job I will look for when the year is up. That’s a problem for another day. Today’s problem: What do I make for dinner?