The Spring of my Discontent...

 

 Hubby took me for a long drive today, deep into the countryside, past the fields and the animals, the old barns and the farmhouses, a trek that normally brings me peace and contentment, but not today, for me today, it was just unsettling.  I did snap a picture of this cow, she was looking right at me, and I do love a good cow picture. 😀

I’ve had a difficult spring this year and it all boils down to one thing, I’m homesick for the days of my childhood.  It would do me no good to revisit where I grew up, where my grandparents and family lived, everything has changed, I miss the way it was when I was a little girl, not the changes that have come with time.

Today was filled with flashbacks to those earlier days.  I can vividly remember the sound of the glass rattling in the front door as it shut and the creak of the porch swing where I spent many hours.  I can even remember the feel of the uneven boards against my feet as I pushed the swing. Mother’s Irises lined the driveway and they would be in bloom now, all thirty feet of them planted in a row like soldiers by the side of the driveway and the smell was wonderful.  I’ve always loved the smell of Iris, even better than roses.  I love honeysuckle, too.  We had a tall tree stump in the backyard with a mass of wild honeysuckle growing on it.  Oh that smell, there is nothing better in the evening after a spring rain than the smell of blooming honeysuckle.

In my mind I can hear the sound of the back screen door slamming as I carried a dishpan of vegetable peelings to the chickens in their pen.  I miss the lay of the land and the trees now long gone.  Cherry and apple, maple and my favorite cottonwood tree.  I loved the rustle of it's leaves and the puffs of cotton that blew in the wind.  And of course, my beloved ditch.  The rushing water so clear you could see the stones in the creek bed and my very favorite childhood place to play.  I miss my faded lavender striped sheets, always fresh from the line on Saturday night and the clean, outdoorsy smell of them as I tucked into bed.

I even miss the birds.  I’ve only seen one red-winged blackbird this year in middle Tennessee.  Its my favorite, we had so many in our trees at home, and I loved their bird song.  I think of the June bugs and how I would chase them at dusk and put them in a Ball jar to glow in the dark, I loved taking long walks on our dusty country road and coming home to a glass of syrupy sweet tea in an aluminum glass, the green one was my favorite, the tea so frosty cold that it would hurt my teeth.  I miss mother’s Sunday dinners, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy,  home canned corn, Bunny Bread Brown ’n Serve Dinner Rolls and her bird egg beans.  They were the best, those beans, oh how I enjoyed them.

I just miss living alongside nature and the natural rhythms that come with it.  I have access to the country, but I don’t live in the country.  I can no longer step outside my door to total quiet, with just the smells and the sounds of nature and the occasional sound of the train winding down Appel’s hill.   Many times I’ve had LC take me to the country road I lived on as a young girl, turn off the car, roll down the windows and just listen to the sounds of my childhood.  

And so I shake off these memories and get on with living, not quite understanding why this year it has been so bittersweet for me.  But this too shall pass and tomorrow I won’t be so nostalgic.  It’s a good life I have now, but oh those memories, sometimes they just come back and tug at your heartstrings… ~ Jan

 

If your hair is thinning, you need this!

Okay, sharing my very favorite finds from this past year.   Yeah, I’m a little late to the game, I keep forgetting (it’s age related) 🤨  We can’t be like Maxine and wear a ball cap, there has to be a better way, well there is and I found it!

First is dry shampoo.  This stuff is seriously, seriously awesome.  I first started using it last fall when I purchased Herbal Essence Dry Shampoo.  I was using it on day old, or two day old hair since I no longer shampoo my hair daily like I have all my life.  Shocking, isn’t it, but now that I’m older, it’s dryer, the texture is different and I just don’t have to.  When I started using dry shampoo  I immediately noticed my hair looked thicker and it smelled wonderful.  I have tons of hair in the back, it’s just the top and the sides that are thinning.  You know how it is, your part just keeps getting wider and wider.  And you think it’s hopeless, but it isn’t.  Read on...

We were on our way to Lexington to visit Ryan’s family and I realized I had left my Herbal Essence at home, so hubby took a quick detour, I ran into CVS and they didn’t have it.  So instead I grabbed a bottle of Beach Babe and it was a total game changer.

It smells like coconut, and at first it was overpowering, and like perfume, use it a few times and you barely notice it.  But using this dry shampoo gives you so much oomph, yep, thats the only way to describe it, your hair looks thicker and it has oomph.  I quickly went from using it the next day to using it on wet, freshly shampooed hair.  Then I dry it and I spray even more on it.  And wahlaa, no more limp straggly hair, I use a root booster first on my wet hair, then spray the front and sides liberally with Beach Babe and my first day hair looks decent, the next morning I spray again before styling and it looks even better.  The third day, spray again and it’s FANTASTIC!

This is the root booster I’ve been using, it’s a good one, I’ve tried a lot of them and when I use this with the dry shampoo I think it’s magic.  But wait, I forgot a step.  When my hair is freshly shampooed the first thing I do is to apply Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oi & Restore Leave-In Conditioner.   
 

I did a review of this, and here’s the link for you.   You might want to click on my link and watch Elle’s video, she explains it really well.  At first I only applied the Shea Moisture to my ends, thinking that if I put it all over it would make my hair flat like conditioner tends to do, but one day I took a walk on the wild side and applied it to the top of my hair and sides as well.  And it didn’t make it  flat at all, it just made it feel thicker.  After doing this I used the root booster and my holy grail Beach Babe Dry Shampoo and it looked even better than when I didn’t use it.  So now that’s the first thing I do, and I apply it liberally.  This Shea Moisture might not work for you if your hair is very fine, but if it isn’t, give it a try and see what you think.

I know, this is a lot of product to put in your hair, but it’s totally worth it.  Be realistic, this isn’t going to make your hair look like it did when you were young, but it will make what you do have look noticably thicker and not be limp and flat.  Hubby took a new Facebook picture of me yesterday, and you can see that the top of my hair doesn’t look too bad.  But if you could see my hair without any product in it, you would quickly understand what this does.  This is second day hair, I didn’t do much with it, just twisted it up, and also my hair is really long. Middle of my back long, and I debate daily as to whether or not to cut it.  I would never wear it down, I look like a hag, but it’s so quick and easy to just put it up and go, and it’s off my face,  I look at pictures of myself from five years ago when I had a bob and I realize that this makes me look older, it’s not trendy, but I am older now. And that bob with bangs didn’t look so great either, Abby would always tell me, “Grammie, your hair is floppy.”  Out of the mouths of babes...

These products are very inexpensive, you can purchase all of them for under $25.  If your hair is driving you crazy, too, give this a try, I bet it will work for you, too.  ~ Jan

Oh, links, I have links for you.

Beach Babe Dry Shampoo

John Frieda Root Booster

Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Leave In Conditioner 

Frozen Candy Bars...

A little nostalgia this morning for a favorite summertime treat.  I always ate frozen Snicker Bars as a kid, probably because there was no air conditioning and the chocolate would melt.  I remember them being so hard, you practically broke off your teeth when you bit into them.  I also loved frozen Baby Ruth’s and my all time fave, Zero Candy Bars.

Update to 2016 and my old(er) age, when I avoid sugar 80-90% of the time.  Frozen candy bars have been on my mind lately, so I went to CVS yesterday,  bought Mini Sugar Free York Peppermint Patties, came home, stuck them in the freezer, and oh, my...

These are just as good as if not better than the frozen candy bars of my childhood.  Something about the frozen mint, it just does it.

So, bring out the kid in you, pick up your favorite candy bar of choice, freeze it and dig in.  It’s a cheap thrill.   ~ Jan

So this is the family...

I have such a nice family and we had a long overdue family picture taken Mother’s Day.  Our favorite photographer, Adam Brennan, took great photos of the kids and grandkids.   I’m a firm believer that nobody over fifty should have their picture taken, we are always our worst critics, but Little Miss Merry Sunshine should reboot and just be glad that hubby and I are still kicking!

And now it’s July 4th weekend, the days fly by, my sweet little grandkids are growing so fast, family is coming home today and life is good.  Have you had a family picture taken lately?  Carpe Diem, one of my favorite sayings.

And by the way, another favorite Judy Dench got her first tattoo at age 81.  Yep, she put “Carpe Diem” on her wrist.

I personally would have chosen a better font and maybe a better tattoo artist, this looks pretty blurry to me.  But kudos to this lady for doing it her way.  I’m not a fan of tattoo’s, except for that Tweety Bird I always wanted on my butt in my younger years, thank goodness I didn’t do that!  At this age poor Tweety would probably be hard to even recognize.

Enjoy your holiday ladies, wherever it takes you, and Carpe Diem, seize the day! ~ Jan

Summer's Biggest Trend, Culottes

What goes around comes around, culottes were popular when I was a teenager.  They were cute then, mine were shorter and I loved the look.  People Magazine says culottes are “in" for spring. But this is one look yours truly won’t be rockin’.

Just not feelin’ the love ladies, baggy, saggy, no thanks, I’ll stick to my fat girl skinny capris.  Women really buy into that term “skinny.”  It’s the greatest marketing ploy of the decade.  Everybody says they’re wearing their “skinny” jeans, even when they wear a plus size.

Women, gotta love em...

Boomstick Color

I’m a YouTube junkie these days.  Night after night, I watch “Mature Ladies” and their take on life, cosmetics, aging, these women talk about everything.

Yesterday I linked from Facebook to a product called Boomstick Color.  Initially it peaked my interested because Jennifer Aniston uses it.  I know, stupid, but it made me click through.  Then there is this older model that looks so much like my buddy V, it’s amazing the resemblance, but she developed this inexpensive product called Boomstick Color, it’s light, easy breezy, you use it on your cheeks, on your eyes, your lips, your neck, it’s very sheer and yours truly is very interested in this. The cost, $27 - not a huge tube, but not a huge cost either.

Here’s Cindy talking about her trio of products and applying them to an older model, and below it is another reviewer, KimTV, on YouTube talking about it.

If this interests you, here is a direct link to her website with videos for all her products.

 

 

 And this is totally off the subject, but here is a tour of of Cindy’s 115 year old Dutch Victorian house.  See what I  mean, you watch one of these videos and then you subscribe to the person’s channel and then you just keep going and going like the Energizer Bunny

 

YouTube videos are so much fun, especially on these cold winter nights.  I’m so over television, except for The Girlmore Girls on Netflix, I seldom even turn it on, instead I sit by the fireplace with Maggie tucked beside me and Boo-Boo Kitty on the back of my chair and watch the lovely older ladies of YouTube videos.

I have definite favorites, and every time they post new videos it’s like a chat with a girlfriend.  I’ll blog about this soon, this is enough for you to absorb today.

Enjoy and think spring, it won’t be long now.  XXo ~ Jan

 

 

A stocking stuffer idea...

 

It’s winter, your skin is dry, and it’s always your back that you can’t reach with lotion.  You know the area, right between your shoulder blades, and of course where you can’t reach is where it itches the most.

I found this nifty lotion applicator on Amazon, and it was $6.01 Prime, shipped to my door.  i ordered it, and it’s wonderful!  You just put lotion on it, slather it on your back and go ahhhhhhhhhhhh.  And yes, I know the tp is in the trash can, it’s where I store my extra rolls :-)

Cleanup is easy, you just give it a quick wash in the sink and hang it to dry.

I just bet some of you either need this or know that somebody that does.  It’s those little things that do it every . single . time . . .

Here’s the link - $6.01 - simply amazing….

Helen Mirren's Fall on the Red Carpet

The lady did it with grace, you’ve got to give her that.  

And why do I find this blogworthy?  Ummmm, is it because I fell kerthud out of a booth in the bar at O’Charley’s last week?  And no, I hadn’t been drinking, only a Diet Coke, but there was a step, I just totally connected with air instead of concrete and down I went.  I was with my friend, Peg, I think I scared her to death, poor woman.

And it wasn’t graceful, either!  Thank goodness it was slo-mo, I didn’t hurt myself, just my dignity.  Oh, isn’t old(er) age fun...