{ Glorious rain, answers at the doctor and living life }

I feel like I've been gone for a long time, but really it's only been about a week since I've done a proper post.  By that I mean one of my usual chatty, show you photos and take you along my days, kind of posts.

Life has been insanely busy around here.

When my kids were little and in school, I used to wish for summer because I knew that for 3 months I could just relax, not have to go anywhere, not have to rush or get anyone ready.  My mornings were easy going and relaxed.

Now, even though my kids are grown, I am back to driving every day to take Jasmine to work.  She will be getting her drivers next year, she has a lot of anxiety and it has stopped her from driving.  I didn't get my license until Nick was 3 years old, and I was 32 years old.  That fear had kept me from getting behind a car for many years, so, I get it, I understand it.  She will be getting back behind the wheel next year and working on facing that fear.  She wants to be independent and of course it will help me out too where I won't need to be driving her back and forth every day.

But that is not what I've been busy with, though it does take a chunk of my morning and afternoon.

The past month or so, you know that I've been for some doctor appointments.  I've been trying to get my health figured out so that I can get on the right track and know what I'm dealing with and how to treat it.

I finally was told that I'm officially in perimenopause.  With that statement came a lot more doctor visits to make a plan on where to go from here.  It is just simply to help with some of the bigger symptoms which for me have been the night sweats, some hot flashes (nothing major just feeling really hot at times), the fluctuating cycles and some other things here and there.

For the next two months, I'll be on my birth control patch, without taking a week off for my cycle.  My gynecologist wants me to skip the next two periods and see how my body and the symptoms react to not having that week off with no hormones.

In order for any of this to work though, she had to be sure that I was healthy enough with regards to not having cholesterol or diabetes (both can cause blood clots when doing hormone replacements of any kind).

I've mentioned before that my family has a history of both of those, on my dad's side, and Osteoporosis on my mother's side.  With perimenopause and menopause comes the loss of bone density, so because I'm at a higher risk for Osteoporosis, she ordered a bone density scan.

I have spent the better part of this month at the base hospital, every other day for a doctor appointment, an exam, blood work and numerous hours wasted at the pharmacy waiting for meds.

So where are we after all this run around?

My blood work came back perfect.  No cholesterol or even an inclination towards it, no diabetes and no inclination towards that either, and my thyroid is also working as it should.

My bone density scan however, came back with a diagnosis of Osteopenia, wish bone loss on my left hip.  I was expecting it so wasn't shocked at all.  I'm now on daily doses of Calcium and Vitamin D3.

I will be back at the doctor in 2 months to see how I'm doing with the constant hormones and not having a period.  I'm not really sure how any of this is going to work or if I'll feel better or not, but my hope is to eventually come off birth control all together and not have to rely on added hormones of any kind, that stuff just scares me.

Anyway, that has been my month, but I'm glad to have answers and know exactly what I'm dealing with, so that now I can face this new chapter of my life, the best I can.

In other news, we have had the most glorious rain storms.  I thank God every minute it starts pouring down because it's been so hot and stuffy here, and this makes it more bearable.

A full week of non stop rain, and this week we have a few days here and there where we're expecting storms.  I don't know about you all but Fall makes me happy.

In other news, a ton of books have started arriving for my Fall and Winter book tours.  I have to say that I am thankful for this opportunity.  Receiving these free books for reviews is a blessing, I've come across authors I never would have picked up on my own and have even added some new favorite books to my list.

The current ones I've been reading have all been really good and it doesn't always work out that way, I've had tours where books were just ok, tours where maybe one book was ok and the others not so much, but I've never had it where every single book that has come into my hand, has been one I've loved.

Which means, any spare moment I have, and they are not many at all, I reach for my books and sink right into them.

Boy I've missed that.

I also wanted to show you my noodle board now that I've painted it white. I still want to take some sandpaper to it the edges, but haven't had time for that yet.  I do love it though :)

A couple of you had never heard of a noodle board or why it was called that.  From what I was able to research, they were used back in the day, to knead bread dough or make noodles.  Since there wasn't too much room in the kitchen, they were set atop the stove to make more room.  Now they're just used for decoration.

I like to use mine not just as a decoration to cover the ugly looking stove top, but it does help when I need extra room to place things on.

Plus they add a touch of charm to the kitchen.

Goodness I feel like I've been talking for ages, I'm sorry for babbling on, but now you're caught up and know what has been happening around here.

I better skiddaddle on out of here.