The closet in my spare bedroom is quickly becoming a disaster area. In fact the entire bedroom is on it’s way in that direction. I have boxes in the closet that have been there since I moved in and haven’t been unpacked.

I couldn’t begin to tell you what’s there. There could be any number of things in those boxes… such as old weight loss pills, pencils, papers, cards and maybe even some trash and who knows what else.

See the picture up there? Those boxes on the right are the ones I’m talking about. The picture is only the right half of the closet. There is more junk on the left and on the shelf above. This closet runs almost the entire length of one wall.

I have got to get my rear in gear and clean out this dumping ground of a spare bedroom!

My skin is beginning to look like it belongs on an 80 year old. It’s wrinkling in places where I don’t want wrinkles. The skin on face is going in the opposite direction. I still get zits at 54 years old. I guess I should go to CVS and pick up some Proactiv acne cream.

When I was a teenager I rarely ever got a zit. Since I’ve gotten older I seem to get them more often. It makes no sense to me. I went through menopause before age 30 (I had a hysterectomy at 27) and I always thought your skin got better with age. I guess I was wrong!

I feel like I never have the time to do what I want to do. Time just seems to fly by so quickly anymore. A lot of the time I get up and then the next thing I know the time on Nautica watches say it’s time to get ready for bed and I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing.

I remember when I was younger it seemed like “tomorrow” would never come. Now not only are the days flying by but weeks, months and years just zoom by. I feel like I’ve missed so much and don’t have anything to show for all that time gone by. Is it just that I’m getting older and don’t have a lot to look forward to? When I was younger I couldn’t wait to grow up, get married and become a mom. After I had kids I couldn’t wait for them to grow up and move on with their own lives. Now I find myself wishing they were still young and at home with me. I just can’t win!

What is up with these models lately? I’ve seen an awful lot of them tripping, slipping or falling on the runway. One minute they are trotting down the runway and the next minute they are on their butts getting their beautiful Oscar de la Renta all dirty. Are they not paying attention or is something else coming into play with the tripping and falling. Is it because they are so anorexic? Could that be making them so weak that their knees just give out on them?

Am I the only one who thinks that fashion models are not good role models for our children? Would you want your child becoming anorexic because they look up to models and want to be like them? I know I wouldn’t want my grand daughter to be that way.

Because of the events of last week I missed a couple days of work. If I don’t work I don’t get paid so Friday and this coming week I’ll be working extra hours to try to make up for some of the hours I missed last week. I have work piled up so it’s a good thing to work extra hours and get caught up. I would love to be able to catch up on my work at night or on the weekend but a couple of the programs I use I can’t use from home.

I love working where I work. I love the people I work with. I love the fact that we can wear jeans and t-shirts to work every day! One of my bosses just bought himself a new Zero Halliburton briefcase. It reminds me of ones that you see in spy movies. It’s hardsided and will keep his laptop safe in case it gets dropped.

I don’t have an acne problem but I know people who do. the most common acne treatments is to do a twice-daily application of an over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide in combination with gentle skin cleansing and use a moisturizer. Wash your hair daily, especially if it’s oily, and tie it back so it’s out of your face. Avoid touching your face. Your cosmetics and creams should be water-based or “”non-comedogenic”" formulas. Be sure to take off all make-up at night.

Eat a healthy diet. Be sure to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Eat foods that contain healthy omega-3 oils such as ground flaxseed, salmon, and sardines. Drink six to eight large glasses of water a day. Vitamins A, B, C, and E, as well as chromium and zinc, play a role in reducing and preventing acne. Avoid refined sugar, fried foods, and trans fat (such as milk, milk products, margarine, and any hydrogenated vegetable oils). Some people find that chocolate, caffeine, carbonated beverages, iodized salt, shellfish, wheat and/or milk products aggravate acne.

Take care of your skin and it will take care of you.

I had a fire outside my front door the other day. I’ve been spending the last couple of days cleaning up because of the smoke and soot that got inside through cracks in the door. I vacuumed everyday since Thursday and there are still soot tracks from the firemen. My daughter is coming up from Texas this week and should be here on Thursday and I have to de-soot this place by then. I’ve been burning candles and spraying Febreez to get rid of the lingering odors.

It was a teenager that started the fire. As far as I know they haven’t caught him yet. I wish someone would put a Garmin GPS device on him and track him down and throw is butt in jail!

Yummy and quite calorie loaded… 701 calories per serving. You’ll need a diet pill or two after eating these!

2 cups fresh or jarred cherries, pitted
1 cup cherry flavored liqueur
4 oz high quality dark chocolate, shaved into curls
1/4 cup raspberry preserves
1 pkg dark chocolate Liebniz cookies, broken into 1 inch pieces
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
4 fresh whole cherries with stems

1. Drain cherries and place into a medium glass bowl with liqueur. Allow to stand 1 hour to overnight.

2. Layer each of 4 parfait glasses with the cherries, chocolate shavings, preserves, cookie pieces and ice cream.

3. Top each parfait with a fresh, whole stemmed cherry and additional chocolate shavings. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.