May 152020
 

Old women may not have a hot bikini bod but we're allowed to get old!Everyone ages, right? Even if you’re in your 30s, you look different than you did at 18. And if you don’t, I hate you. Just kidding! LOLOL But for women in the USA, it almost seems like we’re not allowed to get old. There are so many provocative headlines like “So and so has a hot bikini bod at 54!!!” They don’t give a damn about so and so, only that that ‘ole broad still has a hot bikini bod. . . but that’s for another rant. So when I recently came across a page that showed famous actresses then and now in a backhanded, derogatory manner, I was like, “Hey, Can’t a Girl Even Get Old Around Here?”

Youth, Youth and More Youth

Youth is everything in this country. Fashions are shown on very young women, if not girls. Hairstyles are shown on very young women. Shoes are modeled by very young women. That’s why folks like Kim Kardashian spend a ton of money to avoid getting old around here. I believe Kim’s not far from 40 now so she better get the BIG checkbook out. That seems to be the age where even a beautiful woman becomes an ugly old hag.

The Headline That Pulled Me In

The come-on was a pic of Jacqueline Smith back in her Charlie’s Angels days and it said something like, “She was once the dream girl of legions of men, but you won’t even recognize her now!!!” Well, Ms. Once the Dream Girl looks damn fine to me, considering she’s gonna be 75 years old in October, for pity’s sake!!! Yes, she’s obviously aged, but she’s still beautiful. I quick flipped through to get to her pics since she was the come-on pic, but then I backed up and was flabbergasted.

Why Was I Even Looking at This Crap?

It was one of those articles where they try to trap you with a gazillion ads on the page, hoping you’ll slip and click on one of them or won’t be able to find the word NEXT. I hate those things, but they lure me in just like the rest of you. As I clicked through from frame to frame I started to gasp. What was wrong with these beautiful women?

PSA: We All Get Wrinkles

I went from one gorgeous woman to the next, both then and now. Did they look different? Of course. Did they look older? Of course. Did they look good? Of course!!! As I went through the pics I got madder and madder. HOW DARE THEY? Everyone ages. Everyone gets wrinkles. And I don’t care how much money you have, those wrinkles are gonna show eventually. And, yes, plastic surgery falls, too. You can run, baby, but you can’t hide!!!

Am I Looking With Old Eyes?

Yes, I’m old, too, so am I looking with old eyes? Probably. I am definitely not looking at the now pics with the eyes of a 25-year-old man looking for a thrill. That’s for sure. But still, I see women who have aged, some better than others, of course, but still look GOOD. Of course, to society I am pure-D crazy! No old woman is attractive, hot, sexy, pretty, beautiful. . . . pick your favorite word, unless she has a hot bikini bod, that is. WE WANT THE YOUNG STUFF!!! I would tell you what you can do with that, but it’s a PG-rated blog, at least most of the time. 🙂

So Why Can’t We Get Old Around Here?

My answer to this question has a lot to do with the advertising industry. They’ve set up this youth = beauty and old age = YUCK scenario. Even older men. . . . let’s see if I can put this in a not-gross fashion. Older men think they’ve hit the fountain of youth if they score a young girl. I beg to differ. I think you just look like a pathetic old man. But that’s me. I’m just Old Busted Hotness.

PROOF WE’RE STILL HOT. . . 17 AND 67!!!

Me, then and now 50 years apart

Nov 272017
 

Today is my birthday. My 65th birthday, more accurately. I know it is because the government sent me a Medicare card. That means I’m officially old, right?  It set me back a bit when it arrived, but it got me thinking about a lot of things.

Turning 65 gets you a Medicare card

How Did I Get Here?

I honestly never thought I would reach this age. I was told three times in my life to buy the plot, set my affairs in order and get ready to go. Well, I guess I just don’t work and play well with others, though, because I refused. The last time, I was released from the surgeon’s care the day before my 50th birthday, an age I was told I would never reach. And here I am 15 years later.

So Here I Sit

What does it mean? Well, in the most simplistic terms, it means I have experienced six-and-a-half decades of living. They say that in the last half of the 20th century, more things were discovered than in all of history before that. I don’t know if that’s true, quite honestly, but there were many, many things my now-aging eyes were witness to.

What Happened Along The Way

Sputnik. Duck and cover drills. The Space Race. The assassination of John F. Kennedy. The moon landing in 1969, offset by the shocking murders perpetrated by the Charles Manson family a month later. Woodstock. I got married before that first Atari ping pong ball jumped across that line on the screen. I grew up with movies at the big theater with curtains on the stage on Saturday afternoons. Watch movies at home? Yeah, right. Phones were black boxes with curled cords. Had you told me way back when that I would be able to run my entire life from a little rectangle held in my hand, I would have laughed hysterically. I could go on and on. There was just so much!

And the technology! Some days I am sorta kinda well-versed in it. Other days I blatantly suck. There are times when I simply don’t want to learn one more damn thing. (Being officially old does that to ya! LOL) And then there are days when I eagerly suck up knowledge like it’s the best milk shake in town.

Slowly I Turn

And as much as it pains me to admit it, I am slowing down. I move slower, I think slower. I used to be a little dynamo. People could barely spot my vapor trail back in the day. Ancient history now. My skin is drying out at an incredible pace. There are lines on my face. We won’t discuss hair color as I’m still into hiding it. Maybe not for too much longer, though.

Things That Might Have Been

Regrets? Sure. We all have them. Not spending enough time with those I loved in the quest for the almighty buck. Not becoming a lawyer (something I would have been REALLY good at with my big mouth) because it took too long. Not embracing things I truly loved but embracing what I was told I was supposed to love. Swallowing too much BS from folks I honestly thought had my back. There are more.

The Joy Of It All

But you know what? There were (and are) many, many joys. Family, good friends, fun times, babies born, hugs, kisses, laughter. And I’m still waking up on this side of the sod. Does it get any better than that? Maybe, but waking up means you have another chance, one more shot at loving better, caring more, doing something for someone other than yourself.

So today I am officially old. And that’s okay. I always remember something I saw years ago on an email tagline. It was on my mind as I woke up this morning. “Never regret growing old. So many are denied the privilege.”

Please watch the video. It’s a great one.

 

 

May 262017
 

Most of my readers on this blog are well over the age of consent or, as I like to think about it, aged to perfection! However, our warped society calls us old. So, yes, I’ll accept that. I’m not sure I’d have it any other way. I will display my wrinkles and flap my arms proudly. I’ve earned it all.

Dreaming

Wouldn’t I like to be young, svelte and HOT once more? I guess somewhere in a dream state. Yeah, I was young, but I was never svelte or what was considered hot. I was me. I was a nerd. I was dependable and loyal but definitely not the object of any young man’s dreams. (Well, maybe one and I married him. LOL)

 The Brutal Attack of the Old Age Fairy

I was one of those disgusting folks who was carded in a liquor store until I was 35. I had what the relatives lovingly called a “baby face.” And I held that well into my 50s. Nobody ever guessed my age correctly, including doctors.

But when I turned 60, the Old Age Fairy attacked and waged a shock and awe campaign on this gal. 🙁 To this day, I don’t know what I did to piss her off so badly, but she hit me and hit me hard. I went from nobody believing my senior discount cards were mine to being chased by clerks trying to hit me over the head with the discount.

How old I am joke

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

The day after my 60th birthday I discovered jowls and a turkey neck. Wrinkles appeared where there were none before. And although almost every hair on my body fell out, my chin decided to make up for it. You know that song about, “Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro”. . . . well, you could substitute the word breasts for ears. And then there are those arms. I never knew I was related to Rocky the Flying Squirrel!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

The hard answer is there ain’t nobody to call. You learn to adjust. You learn to live with it. We can’t do much about getting old unless you can afford plastic surgery and that is still a temporary fix. You have to start taking a bit better care of yourself. If you don’t moisturize now, you’re gonna turn into an alligator.

Reality

The reality is that I’ve been blessed with a long life. It hasn’t always been good, but it hasn’t always been bad either. It’s been. . . life. Ups, downs, all-arounds. And so now I’m coasting on the down side. It’s okay.

So What Does One Do?

Enjoy it. What other choice do you really have? Age brings some wisdom. Not much, but some. Consider yourself lucky to have lived this long. Wake up every morning and be thankful. Enjoy your day. Not always easy, I know, but. . .

Now It’s Your Turn

When did you notice you had gotten old? What happened? What parts of you are old? LOL If you would like to share, please leave a comment. I promise not to giggle.

See ya next time!

Jul 202016
 

This girl is happy with losing weight, but it's not so easy when you're old!I’ve been fat for as long as I can remember. I was a chubby baby, a fat toddler, larger than the average bear in elementary school, nowhere near Twiggy in my high school years and. . . . well, you probably get the idea. I’ve been up and down 100+ pounds in my life more times than I’d like to admit to. However, the changes never bothered me until now. Losing weight in old age is definitely not the weigh (pun intended) to go, unless you have a drawer full of Spanx.

Let me first say that if you need to lose weight at any age, do it to get healthy. And the younger you do it, the better off you’ll be. I was told by a dermatologist that once you hit 35 or thereabouts, your skin doesn’t shrink back nicely anymore. Well, if it doesn’t do it at 35, let me tell you that you’re in deep doo-doo when you do it way, way, WAY past that point.

After struggling for 10 years or so at weight loss, I found a way of eating that worked for me. It’s slow, slow, slow but I have managed to drop a little more than 40 pounds over the past two years. Congratz are in order, right?  Not so fast.  Let’s do a pro/con analysis of the results.

The Nice Pros

I’m healthier. This is the most important part of the whole thing. My BP is down. My blood sugar is in good control. I move more easily.

I can Zumba! I love Zumba and after gaining enough weight, it became history with my mobility issues. Now I can Zumba once more. We won’t go into what I look like doing it, but I CAN do it.

I can buy clothing in the regular size department. Going from a 2X-3X to a size 14-16 is great. I’m not gonna lie about it. Mainly for access as it’s still easier to find a large than the X sizes in small town USA.

The Big Con

Everything I own is sagging, bagging or otherwise swinging. This ain’t funny, Universe!

Shall we talk flying squirrel arms? HAH! Mine will still be waving good-bye to you once you are not only out of town but out of the county and possibly out of the state, depending on the direction you’re going.

My thighs no longer rub together except at the very top. This should be a good thing, right?  Well, it would be if they didn’t slap each other about on each pass.

My neck. This shouldn’t even be discussed. Let’s just say I will give your next Thanksgiving turkey a run for his/her money.

Jowls? My basset hounds keep looking at me like, “Yeah, she’s trying to join our pack!!!”

My butt jiggles! I never had much of a butt to begin with, which is why I’m still aching from a fall two weeks ago. What I have left is now sliding down the backs of my thighs and jiggling when I walk.  Yes, join me in Ewwwwwwwwww!

And now we come to Jabba the Gut. I never had a totally flat stomach, not even close, but after multiple abdominal surgeries and the removal of most of my stomach muscles due to MRSA, the now almost empty skin slaps against the tops of my thighs and WORSE. (Best left to your imagination.)

To put it bluntly, I challenge any Sharpei to beat me at the latest wrinkly dog beauty pageant. They don’t stand a chance!!! Go out naked? HAH HAH HAH  I’d be in jail for murder as folks who saw me would literally die laughing. At the very least, they’d be buying out the world’s supply of eye bleach.

So what to do except look for ways to buy sufficient shares in Spanx to take me through the rest of my saggy baggy life?

My beautiful grandbaby will have an ACTIVE Nana!!!ENJOY IT!!!  Everything above is in fun, yet absolutely true. Still, I’m better off like this than I was before. I don’t believe you have to be thin to be healthy but, for me, at this point in my life, I’m healthier. And while I’m way past the age of worrying about keeping up with the Kardashians, my goal is to be able to run around with my new grandbaby when she is able, like my beloved grandmom did with me. Not a bad goal, actually.

 

I have a long, long way to go to be considered thin or even normal. Will I get there before I leave this earth? I honestly don’t know.  Film at 11. . .

Now where did I put that full-body Spanx?

OBH over and out!