Two More Days!

Two more days until twin Todd and I turn - dare I say it - 60! Yikes!! 

We were able to celebrate tonight at the local Fiesta Bonita as Todd was passing through from Seattle. We exchanged gifts then the servers came to sing Happy Birthday to me! What?? Todd planned it so I had to fill in to the singers that it was his birthday too!  If I had to wear the sombrero, he had to as well!!

Have received several cards and was surprised yesterday with a fabulous Harry & David box from sis Julie. It contained my favorite - pears - along with cheese, nuts, moose munch, and assorted other goodies. 

I treated myself to some pre-birthday items - new sneakers, a Laura Geller makeup kit (first time trying it and I love it), and a sweet little felt mouse from Etsy made in the Ukraine. And when I say small, I mean TINY!  I should have read the fine print closer as I expected a slightly larger creature rather than the 2-inch specimen that arrived.  

Here's what I expected:

Here's what arrived:

As always, aside from work I've busied myself with crafting.  And that's an understatement!  When something creative or imaginative comes into my mind, it won't stop until it's brought to fruition.

Found this gorgeous angel at Goodwill
and couldn't pass it up!

Apothecary jars made to hold pictures of my mom

Painted and stacked three teapots.

Air clay mouse.

Hanging shelf made using painted teapot lids.

Another small jar filled with yarn balls along with clay knitting needles and cat.

Added a knob and decoupaged a canister with diy watercolored scene from a vintage children's book.

Wizard of Oz clay figure collage.

Decorated altoid tins.

Picked up some second hand metal ornaments and used them to display birds I drew and watercolored with distress crayons.

Attached a bee gnome to a painted base and added an air dry clay honey dipper.

Dollar tree metal bird painted with a faux rust mixture (joint compound, sand, glue, and paint.)

Before

After

Used the distress crayons to watercolor a bird painting.

Decided to investigate tea bag paper. Steeped the bags, cooled, then dumped out the grounds, and voila - faux antique papers.

Created three clay birds - yes, I'm into birds.🐦 Decorated them using acrylic paint mixed with baking soda.

Another Wizard of Oz item.

My latest work in process is a rust painted Dollar Tree bunny. 

The recent highlight was we had snow! First about six inches arrived and hung around a few days before his partner in crime freezing rain arrived. Counted my blessings I work from home.

Whew! On top of all that I fit in watching Oppenheimer (excellent), Barbie (woman power), Nyad, and began watching the new season of True Detective with Jodie Foster. Just counting down the days until the Oscars arrive.

My hair has been driving me crazy!  Been letting the gray grow in blending with the blonde.  Lately, it seemed to be one big puff ball of white so I marched myself to my regular hair stylist Abbie to fix it. Got a trim and she added in mocha lowlights which looks tres chic. 

I may getting older but I'm fighting it every step of the way!! 

I think this is the new me!

It Just Spoke to Me!

Ran across the following article and loved it so wanted to share.

What Not To Wear After Age 50 – It Might Not Be What You Think

Google ” what not to wear after age 50 ” and you will have your pick of thousands of articles telling you what looks terrible on your “old body”.

I want to point out to the writer who wrote the ‘no-no’ article, you need to remember you are writing for women after the age of 50, not preschoolers. I don’t think I’ve said ‘no-no’ since my youngest was a toddler.

We could spend hours studying the clothes we shouldn’t wear after age 50 and the slang we shouldn’t use and the makeup techniques we need to retire.

Here’s me, weighing in on this topic.

You are over 50 for f*ck’s sake. Wear whatever you want. If you’ve made it to 50 and still need to consult articles on how to dress appropriately then you are so missing out on one of the best things about being over 50. One of the best things about getting older is realizing that we don’t have to spend our energy worrying what other people think and we get to be comfortable in our own skin with our own freak flags.

Still, there are a few things that women over 50 really shouldn’t wear:

The weight of the world.

When you wear the weight of the world on your shoulders, you age. If you like the feel of the world’s weight and don’t want to give it up, then try scaling back a bit. Perhaps just wear the weight of a few of the smaller continents. For instance, I am only wearing the weight of Australia and a made-up country called ‘Michelloponia’. I think they have a slimming effect.

Shame and regret.

So few people can carry this look off. Most of us just end up looking haunted or like we were forced to eat liver and onions. Shame and regret are especially hard to wear after fifty. Wearing shame and regret past fifty is one of those things that make your eyes all red and runny looking. The downward spiral just snowballs from there. Once the eyes get old lady looking, then you have to re-evaluate the wisdom of black eyeliner. I say give up wearing shame and regret and fuck giving up on black eyeliner.

Rose colored glasses.

Oh, sweetheart, you know who you are. Those glasses do nothing for you. Not only do they make you look like you’ve been smoking weed for days, but they also keep you from examining life and your surroundings realistically. Yes, reality sucks, but by the time we hit fifty, we need to suck it up, take those glasses off and dick punch reality into submission. Or just get some really big dark sunglasses instead. They cover all manner of sins.

Stiff upper lip.

There is a time and a place for the stiff upper lip, but damn, it can’t be worn all the time. Too much stiff upper lip causes those funky vertical lines between your upper lip and your nose holes. We don’t always have to be stoic. I’m not suggesting that you wear your heart on your sleeve, but that is a  much softer look than wearing a stiff upper lip.

Too many hats.

Personally, I can’t pull off wearing one hat much less many hats. I don’t have a hat head. My hair poofs out and my ears look like car doors when I wear a hat. Wearing too many hats just exacerbates these issues. When you wear too many hats, it’s easy to forget which hat you’re wearing. For instance, are you wearing the ‘no-nonsense corporate’ hat when you meant to wear your ‘quirky and kicked back’ hat? We’re not getting any younger, you know. Sooner or later you’re going to accidentally wear your court jester hat to the gynecologist and then where will you be? I’ll tell you where you’ll be. You’ll be in an undignified position and wearing a stupid hat is where you’ll be.

Resting bitch face.

Hahahahaha. Just kidding. Wear that one all you want. Although, it wouldn’t hurt if every once in a while, you had a welcoming and kind look on your face. At least that’s what I hear from other people.

There isn’t anything wrong with getting advice about updating your look or what to wear, but we are just inundated with that shit, aren’t we?

Who says what is appropriate? From where I sit, it seems ‘appropriate’ changes based on geography, social status, income, and size. After a while, the advice becomes a confusing blur. I think I’ll just keep wearing my Keds and jeans and black tee shirts.

Oh, I do have one real tip. Stop wearing holiday theme clothes after the age of 50. Seriously.

Originally posted on Rubber Shoes In Hell by @RageMichelle