It's Not Easy Being a peri-Senior Citizen!

Lately, it has been dawning on me that I am approaching that age where people brush you aside as being old and irrelevant. It's sad. I feel like there is still so much more I need to accomplish but it is also time to get realistic.

I was taking a cardio fitness class at the YMCA last night. It is basically a combination of kickboxing, strength training and interval training.

There were about 12 people in the class at the beginning but the number tapered off a bit when the instructor continued to ramp up the workout.

Well, it came to the part of the class where she has us put two of those stretchy exercise resistance tubes with handles around a partner and try and pull them back as they attempt to run. Apparently this is a good ab building exercise? It is also a form of torture.

There is a girl who I have seen in several classes. Never spoke to her but she seemed friendly enough. So it was time to partner up and she and I were the only ones near each other. She immediately said, "you may want to find another partner because I like to pull really hard." - translation - you look like an old weakling who will cause me to have a sucky workout.

She asked the instructor if the instructor would partner with her but the instructor balked since she was having abdominal pain. (She actually  had to leave the class early it got so bad - hopefully not appendicitis) But I digress. That left me with the twentysomething. Ends up I was able to hold her back just as well as those who weighed more than me and were younger.

Bottom line: Never underestimate someone's strength - or intelligence. "Old people" need love too. Chances are I'll see her again. But will not partner with her :P

Kittens on the Brain - Redux!

Happy Belated Mother's Day! My mom is in town for the week - we met up at a festival on Saturday where VC was juggling. A very hippy festival. Full of happy people. Convinced me that living life on a treadmill of stress is not the way to live. We shouldn't take everything so seriously - and we should embrace color!!  More on all this later....

VC is pushing for us to adopt a kitten. If you recall, we went through this over a year ago, but ended up deciding not to adopt, in part because of a psychopath that was exerting an influence in our lives that imploded during the kitty adoption period and was related to the kitten adoption. Long story.

Anyway, VC loves kittens/cats. He has become something of a kitty whisperer. He reallllly wants a cuddly pet of his own, now, at age 17. He has never had a pet beyond the fish that lived for less than 24 hours. I have not had a pet since my pet fish and gerbil close to 40 years ago.

This is a BIG decision. Which cracks me up since we have given more thought to getting a pet so far than we did when we were deciding whether or not to have a child!!

Here's where you come in. All kitten advice is welcome. Do you have a cat? What have been your biggest joys since adopting. What have been your biggest frustrations? Can a recovering anal person like myself adapt?

It will in essence be VC's pet, but I will obviously be in charge whilst he is away at college. In all honestly, I have been looking for a "fuzzy replacement VC" to keep me company when he leaves. A new "little buddy." Could this be the perfect companion - or is a kitten likely to give me the brush off??

Matron of Honor Duties Executed Flawlessly - but with one BIG wrinkle!

Months ago I wrote about being asked to be a Maid of Honor for an acquaintance who I met through my husband. (and then one of my wise blogging buddies reminded me that it is technically "Matron of Honor") Her and her new husband's reunion after many years apart is quite a story. They originally met when she was 13 and he was 18. Fast forward 40 years and they reunited and got married yesterday. Obviously they were destined to be together.

The bride gave me free reign to pick out a dress as you may recall, but in the end - when I realized it was going to be a small outdoor ceremony (ended up being 25 guests), I got up my courage to ask her if I could wear a satin Calvin Klein dress that I already owned.

Luckily she was agreeable, so I wore it yesterday. I remembered how easy it wrinkled the one other time I wore it, so I thought maybe I could put it on when I got to the location, which was a campground meeting revival place. The wedding was to take place in the arbor on-site.

Knowing there was no running water, I wasn't sure if the "tents" that look kind of like cabins out of a wild west movie would still be shuttered.

MB convinced me to go ahead and dress ahead of time.

Well, by the time I got there the dress looked like this:

Holy Wrinkle Batman!

I had no idea it was so wrinkled until I saw the photo :-( not that there was anything I could have done about it... Aside from this, it was a beautiful ceremony. Here is a photo of the wedding party

I rested my broken toe during the week so I could wear my fancy new shoes!  And another good thing: My hair that has a mind of it's own

didn't look too shabby!!

I am sensing a new Facebook profile picture!

P.S.congratulations to Lindsey D (comment #14) - the winner of my NOVICA giveaway!

Labeling a Review a Review: No Trickery Here

A week ago, Dooce wrote this post about houses she had purchased and renovated in the past - the gist of which was whether she should buy another home to fix up or consider a new home. After looking at the beautiful photos of her handiwork on previous homes and a recap of some of the money she sank into the homes, she ended the post by posing a question to readers - asking about their experiences buying a new existing home or building one of their own.

All sounds fairly mundane, right?

That is until you get to the comment section. I love a good comment section. As we all know, comments are much more entertaining than actual blog posts.

Many of her readers felt cheated when they realized the post was in fact a *gasp* sponsored post!!

photo credit: Greencolander

They were unable to discover this until scrolling down to the bottom of the post.

Some felt that she should have identified in the header that it was a sponsored post.

One thing that I am careful with on this blog is to always identify in the blog post title if it is a review post. That gives folks the option of skipping the post entirely if they so choose.

Maybe they will read it. Maybe they won't. But at least there will not be any hard feelings.



*My Mother's Day NOVICA giveaway is still open for entries!! Beautiful hand crafted unique items perfect for mom :-)

WOW Those are Some High Aspirations!

This is exactly what I was referring to in my A Sobering Poll post. The future looks fairly bleak when our teens have discovered it is much more work to study and work hard at a job than it is to make a sex tape and get a quick buck instead.

It was announced today that "teen mom" Farrah Abraham sealed a 7 figure deal to distribute her sex tape with PRoN star James Deen.

Seven figures??? Assuming she is telling the truth - but even if it was more like six figures, it is sad that she had to resort to this level to keep her name in the news and to avoid having to possibly put to use her culinary degree.

Is this what we are teaching our kids? To take the easy way out?

So much of what made the "Good 'Ole Days" good was the lack of comparisons via the internet. Now it is not enough for a kid to be a good singer, dancer etc. because one click of the internet and you can always find someone who is infinitely better at something than you are - or someone who has achieved quick fame. Back when the world was a whole lot smaller there was a lot less to compare yourself to. Perhaps it was easier on the self esteem and perhaps it kept us focused on going to school and trying to get a job the old-fashioned way, which worked for decades...

Up until this generation of me, me, me, me. I want it now!! kids...

That combined with the general lack of respect - for anyone - including themselves, makes me think the best days may really have been in the past. Sad.

Hey, while you are here, scroll on down to yesterday's post and enter my fabulous giveaway!!

A NOVICA Giveaway! In Time for Mother's Day YAY!

I always enjoy the opportunity to highlight NOVICA's unique handmade items from around the world - not only because of the uniqueness and expert craftsmanship, but also because of the opportunity to support these talented artists so that they can continue to do what they love.

In time for Mother's Day, I've handpicked some of NOVICA's handmade Mother's Day gifts that your Mother (or mother of your kids) will love:

First, this cotton hobo handbag "Summer Sonnet" - perfect for spring/summer - makes me smile!

Another great gift idea for the Mom who appreciates fine art, a blown glass vase "Saint's Day" - beautiful!

and for the mom who loves jewelry, these cheerful gemstone flower earrings 'Andean Bouquet'

Did you notice how well these gift suggestions coordinate with each other?? (pats self on back ;-) )

Hurry and enter the giveaway - for a $40 gift code to NOVICA:

To enter:
(1) Leave a comment about something not shown above from NOVICA''s Mother's Day Gifts that you would like to give as a gift

(2) Tweet about the giveaway and provide the link

(3) Subscribe to my blog feed

*Please leave a separate comment for each entry

Giveaway ends: Sunday May 5th at 8:00 PM

Full Disclosure: I was provided with a gift code for the purpose of this review.

A Sobering Poll

Watching CBS Sunday Morning (as I've written about plenty of times before - me and the 80 year olds) - and there was a very sobering poll this morning - on the Future themed episode:

Best days are in the:

Future  35%
Past  49%

There are plenty of days I think that I was meant for simpler times...so I have to agree with the 49%

What about you?