Martinca, as my screenname implies, I have four kids. My belly has not seen the light of day in years. I too am not overweight but do have a tummy bulge sag as a result. I don't wear low rise anything but I do wear mid-rise pants, etc. it's a bit of a quandary b/c I need to make sure my tummy is covered while at the same time, make sure my butt isnt overextended like it would be in mom jeans that are high waisted. This skirt is not low waisted. I just put this skirt on to be sure (and golddust, I was wrong - I don't have the charcoal color but rather the gray one and a tan one) and it sits much higher in me than in the photo, about an inch below my belly button. For my own body type, I've found that pants,etc that hit me sort of in the middle of my tummy actually look best. Anything that goes higher then creates kind of a bubble effect where my belly is by cinching where I'm smaller - so rather than suck me it, it makes it jut out, if that makes sense. This is especially true in skirts that zip and button on the front. They don't hold me in if the button is higher and above my belly fat. Hard to explain but it just works for me but I'm for sure not exposing myself like in the photos above! And I have the hardest time with bathing suits! I love tankinis in theory but it is so hard to find styles where the top actually comes over the top of the bottoms rather than meeting at the top. One move and my belly is showing! I love the designs of the Athleta suits but unfortunately nearly all their suits have the "meet and greet" rather than full coverage. And now bathing suit is nearing...ugh!

It sounds to me that your husband's comment was less about YOU and more about how to get the most out of your exercising. I say that because he suggested P90x, which is the dvd set that is often thought to be the "gold" standard that gets excellent results (or in your husband's words, whistle inducing results). You responded that you were too old for the whistles, and your husband basically said that age doesn't matter if the body is "perfect." Maybe it was his use of perfect that offended, but I would take his comments more just to mean that if you are serious about exercising, why waste your time on the lesser exercise systems--and instead just go for the gold.

My experience with HD and Stonemark has been excellent. We had originally decided to do a quick kitchen facelift after my kids bought me a kitchenaid mixer for my birthday, lol. I really wanted an undermount sink, and so our journey began. We initially wanted to go with Wilsonart HD laminate but I wasn't too fussy for the sink choices and I felt their colors were more designed to go with SS appliances, which I didn't have and wasn't interested in. At the kitchen design store we then saw Granite Tiles. Hmm, I was intrigued and I must admit they looked gorgeous in the display. When we rec'd the final quotes for install (no DIY) we were a tad taken back. So things stalled. My husband happened in HD one snowy day in January and called me about a sale there. So just to placate him I jumped in the car and met him at the local HD to look at Granite. , knowing I would be disappointed, we never considered Granite at all due to the budget. So I started browsing, the great price was on the 2cm granite, not the 3cm. The selection of 5 choices, well none of them wowed me. So I start looking at the 3cm samples and found a few that intriged me. Well that made the price jump from about 47 dollars a SF to about 79 a SF. However it was on sale as well, 10% off, additional $300, and free upgrade on the edging. And of course the sale was over in 3 days. The rough estimate including the installation of an undermount sink in a B sample actually was only 300 more than my quotes on HD laminate and the Granite Tiles!! I left with my head spinning, and the next day went to another HD. Again looked at samples talked to him regarding 2cm vs 3cm. Went through the sample box from Stonemark and found one they did not have on display, Vecchio Oro. Really really liked it. My main concern was dealing with HD. Is the quality there? Will they be there if something goes wrong? Will they still be in business in a few weeks, lol? During this time is when I happened upon GW site. Drank a lot of coffee and read, read, and reread all the great posts on Granite. We went back to our original HD, and I asked about viewing the slabs. We live in Western NY, the fabricator for HD was Innovative Stone out of Syracuse. We were told we could go view the slabs. Wednesday afternoons only. Since Syracuse is 2 1/2 hours away and it was the middle of winter, We decided not to, I held my breath as I wrote the check. Then I went home and started to second guess myself. True to what I was told at HD the fabricator called me 3 days later to come and template, I had to stall as I hadn't even picked out a sink and faucet, they were gracious and just told me to call them when I was ready. So 3 weeks later I called them and they were here 48 hours later to template. The guy was very nice, I asked him every question in the granite install post by buehl, he explained everything as he templated, and measured. What they would do at the install, what was my responsibility. First he measured and templated by hand, and then used the laser template afterward. There are more positive points in this templating that I won't go into as its already a novel, for my first post, lol. 2 weeks later my install, of granite I never really saw. I was nervous when they pulled up and had to keep myself from running out to the truck to look as soon as they pulled up. Let me tell you the 2 guys from Innovative Stone were absolutely wonderful. The color of my granite was a surprise to me. Yes I could see it was what I had picked, but there was more gold in it then the 3 inch sample. But the good news is that I absolutely love it. They had a few obstacles to overcome in my 20 year old kitchen, but they worked quietly, explaining everything to me as they did. I think the install took them a couple hours more than planned, but didn't leave till everything was perfect. Its been about 5 weeks now, and everytime I walk in my kitchen I am just so thrilled my kids bought me a kitchen aid mixer and led me to this. So totally an impulse buy with great results! Now if I could only decide what color to paint the rest of the kitchen, but that's another novel, lol.

"....we live next to a large waterfall" !!! Now that's what I'd love to see: something Ca. suburbanites cannot begin to imagine. I love the pics of 3dogs home with it's "a river runs through it" front lawn. Now here you are with a waterfall! (Horses too, at one time? Sigh!) Any pics you'd like to share?....(please):>) As for the clocks: love the ones shown here, and agree it's not a bit odd...whatever you choose. As for feng shui, I'm not a big believer. For example, I think the foot of the bed is not allowed to face the bedroom door. When my bed is dressed in it's prettiest finery I am sorry my room won't allow me to see it front on as I enter the room. Unless there's a beautiful view, the nicely made bed is usually the nicest thing to see in the bedroom.