My ears aren't pierced but I'd like to explain my wifes experience for many years ago. She had her ears pierced in 1974 at which time ear piercing was not very popular, she had been thinking about it for a while and around the time of her 16th birthday, her mum suggested that if she went and had her ears pierced, her mum, would buy her some earrings. That decided it so she went to the local jeweller in Greenford, West of London and had to make an appointment to go back the following week to be pierced, that seems so strange now with ear piercing being immediately available. the man used a device called the Simplicity Ear Piercer which effectively pushed a needle through her lobes and then inserted hinged sleeper hoops into the holes. She had to keep the sleepers in for 6 weeks weeks turning them daily. After 6 weeks she took the sleepers out and tied to get in the earrings her mum had bought her. After half an hour of prodding and poking they would not go in and so she put the sleepers back for another two weeks and went and some some studs instead. Fast forward nearly ten years and I asked her one night if she still had her sleepers - to which she said no as they had broken, but asked me why i liked them particularly. I said because wearing them would make her look like she had just had her ears pierced. No more was said, and we went on holiday a few weeks later, having arrived at the resort she handed me a little brown envelope - and said 'present for you'. Inside was a new pair of hinged sleepers which she immediately let me put in her ears and wore them for the rest of the holiday. Wow. I have asked on a few occasions if she thought about having her ears re-pierced but she always said no, one hole was enough. So I got some spring loaded silver hoops and one night when i put these on her she said she would have another hole done. So far still only the one hole, but she did wear the spring hoops in public the other week and did look so good. Not sure where the earring/piercing fascination comes from as my mum did not have pierced ears and I did not have a sister, but just wanted to share this story

Hi Catherinet - I too had Tinnitus, the ringing and buzzing in my ears. I have done some research and found that it does happen in menopause but can also be caused by a condition known as Otosclerosis, which effects the middle ear. It has to do with bone growth on the tiny stapes bones in the middle ear. The bones prevent the middle ear bones from conducting signals going to the inner ear. There has been evidence showing that HRT can be a problem when it comes to tinnitus during menopause, among other things. Of course, it becomes more common the older we get also. Unfortunately I haven't found anything to take care of this but I thought this might be some interesting information for you anyway. Sorry I couldn't be more help. Bobbi

I LOVED looking at all your wonderful projects(new babies included!)as well as your beautiful homes! I moved into my new home in '09, and am almost finished w/decorating except for some wallpapering I want to do and 'incorporating' a dressing room in the MB closet. In between everything else, I took a space in a local antique mall, and am continually working on painting furniture, searching out new 'finds', as well as changing out the space every couple of weeks. Not making a lot of money, but I get my decorating/creating fix. ;o)

Thanks for the mouth-watering recipes. I have plans for tonight, but when I return home I'm going to sit by the fireplace and take my time reading these recipes. Hmmm, which one to try first? canarybird - I especially appreciate the recipes from Mallorca. I teach h.s. Spanish and at the end of the semester I invite the students to my home for a Spanish meal. I've done Mexican food in the past, but with these new recipes, I may need to change up the menu. I have one cookbook from when I was studying in Spain but we redid our kitchen and I'm not sure which box contains that book. (plus, I hate converting from the metric measuremements to cups, teaspoons, etc.)