Smug, Brave, Naked and Mismatched Thoughts

I am Woman!

I feel superbly smug this day.

Things were freezing on my computer you know, resulting in panic. I turned the computer off, walked away and came back, opened the lid.  But Argggh!  A dark screen!

A convincing inner voice said, “You really did it now.  You wrecked the computer.   Don’t touch anything else or you are doomed.”  But wait!  I forgot to push the little  button that opens the screen.  And Voila!  It all works again and everything that was frozen is thawed!

I feel superbly smug this day.  Mystery solved.

Be Brave!

My son was counselling me on how to operate Windows 10.  “Be brave, “he said, “Be willing to try different things.  Don’t be afraid to push buttons.  You can always undo what you have done.” Without his calm and expert advice, this blog would not exist.

The last time I was brave I deleted the cache on my cell phone and managed to put it in a deep freeze of protest.    There were no calls in or out and no emails either – just a dead phone.  Thankfully, things are now restored to normal.

But I have reverted to a timid, cowering techie convinced that all connections will be severed if I push the wrong buttons.

Mismatched Eyebrows

O.K.  I admit I still want to look beautiful, even at a venerable old age.  I thought that was accomplished this morning, so while Bill was out bush hogging (that means mowing big overgrown fields with a big overgrown mower) (and I knew it was safe to indulge in self fantasy), I took a few selfies.

The glasses helped to eliminate soften wrinkles but if you look closely enough, one eyebrow is light and one is dark!  Arrrrgh!

Looking beautiful at a venerable old age is a challenge if you can’t see straight enough to make your eyebrows match up.

Naked Desperation

I just read a book about organizing one’s things.  Starting with clothing, the idea is to hold and touch each piece you own to determine if you love it or not.  If you FEEL something is wrong and you FEEL you don’t love a piece of clothing, either discard it or put it in the donation pile.

I did it!  You can’t imagine the liberated feeling there is to this exercise!

But now the problem is, I don’t have anything to wear!

I have always said, “My husband wouldn’t notice if I went out naked.”  Now is his chance to prove me wrong.

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Turning the Page on Habitual Habits

 

Image from www. vintage-ads.livejournal.com

I have suffered numerous bad habits over the years, beginning with Thumb Sucking.

My parents tried everything including rubbing something on that tasted bad.  Nothing worked.  Finally, on the first day of kindergarten the teacher announced, “Look around children.  We have a baby in the room.”  And there they were all looking at ME!  I do love commanding attention (still) but that was the last day of thumb sucking.

Then in the teen years there was the Nail Biting habit.

Would you say these habits were symptoms of an insecure personality?

In those days, long fingernails were a sign of beauty (but mostly a sign of control over one’s habitual impulses).  I proudly decided to stop nail biting and stopped.  Congrats to that determined young woman.

Smoking was another horrible habit which took hold for years until I stopped “cold turkey”.

I still feel rather smug and self-righteous about that and sincerely try not to lecture friends about the evils of smoking.

Oddly enough, Rubbing-it-In can become a habit too.

But now my latest habit involves Reading Books!

Image from http://www.the-bookworm.net

READING BOOKS?

Habitual reading maybe?

Habitual reading of special interest books?

Too much reading?

Too much of the same kind of reading?

No, No, No and No.

What happened the other night revealed  an entirely new habit to break.

The story goes like this:  I was reading a “real book.”

The definition of a real book is one you can hold in your hands and turn pages.  If you are destructive you can even write in it or turn down page corners (but this is a travesty and can be considered inhuman behavior).

Anyway, I was reading a real book for a change and suddenly found myself tapping the side of the page.

Nothing happened so I tapped again.

Then I tapped more aggressively.

Nothing happened.

Until it finally clicked in that I was not reading on my Kindle, and could not tap the margins of a real book to make it turn a page.

 I had to turn the page myself!

Talk about a strange habit in late life!

THE PAGE TAPPING HABIT!

THE KINDLE READING HABIT.

THE HABIT OF READING BACKLIT PAGES WITH NO PAPER CORNERS.

THE HABIT OF TAP TOUCHING THE MARGIN TO GET TO THE NEXT PAGE.

This habit of page tapping has become so ingrained I may need lessons on how to read a real book – the kind you can find in the library – or at least some libraries.

I hear some university libraries are doing away with real books and going fully digital.

Yikes!

Any suggestions for a cure though?

I am a Habitual Page Tapper and need help to break the habit.

 

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Happiness Is

Receiving flowers from a friend’s garden.

Thank you Amy!

Entertaining the perfect guest.

Pichu stayed with us for four whole days!

Finding a pony at Herman’s Produce.

Was he in a parade?

 

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White Pickets and Red Buds

A wedding cake kind of view from my front door this morning!

Welcome Spring!

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The Hairy Story Continued

Dor’s New Haircut

Guilt was the final feeling after I posted a blog about my new very short haircut.

I have  since decided to “bite the bullet” and grin and  share my dark haired beauteous transformation..

I realize today’s photo does not comport with the blog profile photo which has been up for several years.  I kinda liked the grey but with righteous living, my hair turned dark again.

And the shorter it gets, the darker!

Didn’t I tell you short hair would make you look and feel 20 years younger?

 

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The Warning Signs of Aging

From: http://www.hauteliving.com

When I was young and wrinkle free (never mind care free), I thought the first sign of aging would be a gray hair followed by a wrinkle.  I also believed the old hag image could be avoided by eating and sleeping right and using all the miracle creams advertised on television and in magazines.

Hope is a many splendored thing, but the truth is harder to take.

Over time, there were signals that healthy living and preening were not quite succeeding:

1. Police-people began to look like children. I wondered why little kids were assigned for protection.
2. My doctor was the same age as my son!  He is still the same age as my son but now they both look middle aged while I still feel 18. (?)  Who can explain this?  Note:  I didn’t say I LOOK 18!
3. Then a nice young man at the supermarket began saying, “Yes Maam.”  Was he talking to ME? REALLY?  Should I call him “Son?”
4. Then another nice young man somewhere opened a door for me.  Hasn’t he heard that chivalry is already dead?  YOUNG women open their own doors. I CAN OPEN MY OWN DOOR – THANK YOU!
5. Oh NO!  the first gray hair came and went (ouch!) but suddenly there were waaaay too many.
6. The first wrinkle was a frown line.  Oh well, that could be blocked out with photo slight of hand.  You will never see a wrinkle in my selfies!  Ha!  I got THAT down pat.
7. In airports,  people seem to think I am lost or confused.  “Do you need help?” they ask.  Hmmmmm.  It’s odd but I usually do.
8. Magazine ads stop giving beauty hints when they get to the “Over ___” category
9. Salespeople exclaim, “Oh, my grandmother bought one of those and she just LOVES it.”
10. The AARP card has some real advantages – like free coffee – even if  I don’t even have to show the card.
11. My grandgirls look the same age as I think I look until I look in the mirror.  I am considering hanging black shrouds over mirrors!

 Perhaps there is a vitamin to ward off the old hag image.  Only I know how many weird vitamin supplements are taking up space in my kitchen cabinet(s) and they are all secretly labeled “Hope dashed.  Store for later discard.”

Yes, hope is a many splendored thing, and I am still in favor of eating right, sleeping right, and exercising for energy and good looks.

I have been duly warned by the experts however, that with healthful living and of course, the most expensive beauty products, I will look 20 years younger and live long enough to enjoy 15 minutes more a day drooling in my soup.

 

 

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Beauty is Only Skin Deep

 

Peanuts Cartoon – From http://www.thecuriousbrain.com

I know.  I already told you about my swollen foot.

It is a case that should be included in the television show, Mystery Diagnosis.

But since a mildly swollen foot is admittedly a bit boring, don’t worry, it  is not really the subject of this blog post.

It goes deeper than that. “It goes down deep…layer after layer after layer!”

One of the tests they did was to check circulation via a sonogram.  Although I lay upon the table worrying, the technician went about her business and kept smiling.   And I thought, “How cruel to keep one in suspense and grin about it.”

But I liked her cheerful attitude and painful as it was to erase the worry lines from my forehead, I dutifully grinned back.

Technicians are usually secretive and unwilling to share information, but Leigh was different.

With a great big smile she said,

“You have BEAUTIFUL veins!”

Huh?  Really?

“In the business, that’s what we call them, and you have beautiful juicy veins.”

My friends, are you listening?  I HAVE BEAUTIFUL JUICY VEINS!

She went on to say there are many people who have skinny, narrow little veins with inhibited blood flow.

I was no longer really listening but was smiling smugly.

And all the way home I smiled smugly and laughed out loud too.

Now, in the looking glass I see the usual old-er, less than star quality image.  But I just have to remember this.

I have BEAUTIFUL veins!

And Mom was right again.

Beauty is only skin deep.

I  just wish I had a copy of that sonogram!

From Yahoo.com – a definition by Duude:

“Beauty is only skin deep” refers to the outward beauty of a person. Of course, we must realise that a person can be beautiful on the inside. Such a person is often referred to as a ‘lovely’ person. However, when we refer to something beautiful we are usually referring to that something’s outward appearance. What the phrase tries to emphasise is that the outward appearance of a person counts for nothing, but it is what lies beneath the skin, the actual person him/herself is what really matters. 

 

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The Magestic Weeping Willow

 

Mine is not a favorite flower, but a tree

much like a graceful waterfall

casting shade in a veil of green,

growing tall and swaying in the wind –

the magestic Weeping Willow .

 

 

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Fuzzy Colors in a Moonscape

I do not have a zoom lens and this was taken with my cell phone camera, but I like it anyway.  There are so many colors in those clouds and the whole fuzzy effect is vaguely impressionistic.

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Fence Corsage

WordPress Daily Post Photo Challenge:  From Every Angle

This week, photograph a stationary subject from three different angles.

I love this charming old fence dressed for a special occasion, calling out for admiration, “Look at me.  I’m not through yet!”

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