My sister called today to tell me that her gyne confirmed that she, too, was peri-menopausal...and he's putting her on The Pill to aid her symptoms that I had last year (constant bleeding, etc.)

It is always so wierd talking to her on the phone because she and I have THE SAME VOICE. In fact, back in our younger days we used to fool people on the phone and have a good laugh about it. She is 4 years younger than me.

Right now she is doing Weight Watchers and continuing her excellent workouts at the gym. She's not terribly overweight but gained a bit after getting married a few years ago - that other "marriage penalty!" My theory is that some women gain weight after co-habitiating with a man becuase they eat meals with their partner who can, genrally speaking, usually metabolize more calories per day (men being taller/larger than most women), especially if they have physically demanding jobs. Since her hubby is a TV news photographer, he is hoisiting a HUGE camera around each shift and he burns right through the meals he eats. Her cooking and eating style changed and in 2 years she had gained almost 20 lbs! She's halfway to taking it all off, and I am really proud of her. In fact, since I did ALL of my x-mas shopping on Friday (yes, you can hate/envy me!) I found the PERFECT gift for her. She loves quirky "boutique-style" pocketbooks/bags and I found a cute Lulu Guinness mini-tote with the fun, colorful print on it (and reduced plus an additonal 70% off!!!yeah!). Now what makes it perfect is that the print depicts little squares each of a different color featuring an illustration of a food. For example it will have text stating "Egg" , a picture of an egg, and then more text stating "200 calories" ! Its meant to be funny, not "nagging" and basically shows a variety of low/moderate calorie foods and their calorie counts. I think she'll get a kick out of it...I wonder if she'll tote it with her to Weight Watcher meetings?