50 At Llast!?

 So it's finally here, my 50th birthday. I'm actually posting this a day late because yesterday we had a flat tire to take care of. What a birthday adventure!

Some old age changes to report. Last week I got my first pair of bi-focals, right on time. Not really too many changes so far but I've got a feeling that the next 10 years aren't going to be pretty.

You always need to take care of yourself and when you get older you need to take especially good care of yourself. I started that many years ago. Why wait until you're old to maintain the chassis?
But I gotta tell you that I've given up on losing weight. At my age everything would just sag more anyway. I'll just try to move enough, not eat too much and get rid of the artificiality and sugar.

I think that this is really a bigger milestone then I'm taking it for but  maybe I'm taking it cool so I don't have to think about it too much. After all I've got a lot going for me right now. I feel better then your average 50 year old and I don't look a day over 49. Not too shabby!

 So what are my plans for the future? I hope to wake up every day for the next 30 years, travel the country and the world, and spend like I'm gonna die tomorrow. Oh yeah, and go out kicking and screaming.

Rock on old dudes!


Check out my Etsy site where I sell stuff. www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra

Keep your natural beauty! No money down! Instant results guarenteed!

 This picture was taken on September 1st 2012, 6 months before my 50th birthday.  That's right, I am almost 50 but I don't look it. Why? Because I take care of myself naturally. I don't dye my hair, I've never had Botox and I don't use much make-up.

  I started taking serious care of myself when I was 14, on my Mother's advice. She taught me to use moisture lotion and to always take care of my neck. The neck will give away a woman's age faster then anything. Look at my neck. Does that look like a fifty year old neck? I didn't think so!

  First,you can't underestimate the importance of sunblock. All skin colors can benefit from sunblock as it reduces your chance of developing skin cancer. When I was young (in the '70s, the 1970's that is) tanning was all the rage. I did try it for a while but lying in the scorching summer sun sweating and burning just wasn't for me. My little sister thought I was awful to purposely stay so unfashionably pale. Now these days I look younger then my little sister. Who's unfashionable now! Boo yeah! 

  Now I hope that you realize that if you've been a serious tanner all your life you won't get the same results if you're already in your 40's. But avoiding the sun at any age will certainly prevent further damage. It's worth a shot if you ask me. 

  Now let's talk about make-up. I have never used liquid make-up. I have long believed that all of those creamy concoctions cut off the oxygen to your skin and promote premature aging. The make-up that I use these days when I need it is mineral make-up. 

  Loose mineral make-up doesn't contain parabens (which can be carcinogenic) mineral oil or artificial dyes and fragrance. And when I use it, it gives me the same glow I have as when I've been to the spa only cheaper. I'm all over that!

 Of course doing things like exercising, eating right and not partying contribute a lot to keeping anyone looking younger. You feel better too.

 Now I know that the next 10 years may not be so good and my age may catch up with me but that's just nature taking it's course. 

 Embrace aging! Be the crazy cat lady! Drive your Jazzy cruiser in the middle of the road! Make your relatives bail you out of jail once a month! I plan to!


Check out my Etsy site where I sell handcrafted beauty products.
www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra

Shoes. We all wear 'em.

  Shoes are something we all have and they tell you a lot about a person. Even a person without legs will wear shoes.

  For example, when I was younger ( O.K. much younger ) I loved high heeled shoes. At one count I had 25 pairs of shoes. Not all high heels mind you. Some were clogs, some were sneakers, some were boots( high heels and flats as well). Boy did I love those shoes! No matter how much I teetered in them or how much they hurt if they were pretty, I would wear them.

  But after nearly falling forward on my face during my pregnancy, I  gave up those high heels in favor of flats. I still love to look at high heeled shoes but my wearing taste is now more practical.

  Now I love athletic shoes!

  Since my favorite activity is hiking I have quite a few pairs of athletic shoes. I never realized how much difference the right shoe can make until my husband badgered me into buying shoes made specifically for hiking (luv you honey!).

 What an amazing difference! My Adidas trail hiking shoes are like walking on a cloud. And they have terrific venting that lets cool air in while you're walking. 

  My Adidas trail running shoes(which I mostly walk in) feel like part of my feet when I put them on. I can walk farther, faster and leap small objects at single bound in those wonderful shoes.They also make me feel sporty and athletic, even though I've got a belly like a six month pregnancy.

 I still love to see those high heels on women these days but secretly I'm glad that if I'm ever in a public building and a fire breaks out, I know who's getting out first. Yep, me and my flat shoes!  


Check out my Etsy site where I sell stuff. www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra

Cha Cha Changes...of life

 These days seems like everyone is fascinated with vampires, werewolves and other scary supernatural stuff.

 You want to see something really scary, look up the symptoms of menopause! Weight gain, sleep disorders and ahhhhh, night sweats!
Horrifying isn't it? 

 So here I am in perimenopause, oh joy! That's what you get for years before you actually stop menstruating. Nobody knows how long it will last or when you will start but here's a good guideline: If you started having your periods at a young age perimenopause will start earlier, if you started your periods later perimenopause will start later. If your PMS was bad or not so bad perimenopause will be about the same for you. 

 This is just nature taking it's course but still it brings a lot of unpleasantries. My favorite is sleep disorders. I'm still young enough that I have to work, sleepless nights or not, so there I am all night, off with the blankets, on with the blankets. If only I could go back to the days when I was cold all the time. Sure, I complained, but I didn't know how good I had it.

 So I set about trying some remedies to ease the transition.
I found out that vitamin E cools the hot flashes (which I just like to call flashing, it's more fun that way). I've never been one for being warm anyway but at least when I'm flashing I've got a nice rosy glow that's completely natural.

 Diet and exercise are always recommended by health professionals. You may not want to hear this but they work. For some it can mean the difference between managing your symptoms and your symptoms managing you. 

  I try to keep things as natural as possible and I've heard a lot of good things about herbs but have yet to try them. 

  My remedy of choice is Amberen. It's all natural, doesn't cost a lot of money and it works.You can find it on their website at amberen.com I take the lowest dose and I don't plan on increasing it. I don't want to be 70 and still be flashing. 

 It's O.K. to let menopause happen. You can only slow it down so embrace it! 

In fact, embrace aging in general! Be eccentric! Embarrass your family with this once in a lifetime opportunity. I promise you won't be sorry.


Check out my Etsy site where I sell stuff. www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra 

Plaid to the Bone:A Day at the Highland Games.

We went to the 40th annual Stone Mountain Highland Games here in Georgia. What a rollicking good time we had!

 Now I've got to tell you, I haven't  seen so many men in skirts since  the Bay City Rollers were popular. Yeah, baby!

 Since I am a McIntosh from Clan McIntosh on my Mother's side  naturally I was looking for all things McIntosh. Here's some of what I found:

I know that McIntosh is a common name but I was pretty excited to find all of this dedicated to our family.

I found out that the McIntosh Clan used to live in the Highlands of Scotland where starvation was pervasive. It was also waaaay too close to the Arctic Circle with no trees. I can certainly see why they emigrated. 

I can't in all good conscience recommend that you go to any Highland Games unless you really love bagpipes.  You'll hear bagpipes at every turn. Bagpipes marching, bagpipes dancing, bagpipes in rock bands. I personally loved it but my daughter was beginning to get a look on her face by the end of the day. You're a parent, right? You know the look. Yeah, that one.

There were athletic competitions to see such as the sheaf toss. Now I admit that I thought they said sheep toss and I was thinking, "What kind of people stick a pitchfork into a poor little sheep and toss it?" But a quick look at the program made me feel much better. A sheaf is bundle of wheat, who knew!

These athletes were pretty burly guys. Some hurling the 20 pound sheaf more then 30 feet high. Others throwing a 42 pound hammer 50 feet. Watching all of this made me feel like my family came out  of the shallow end of the gene pool. Grandpa McIntosh was only 5'7" and maybe 130 pounds in his prime. I guess that has something to do with the starvation thing.

Quite by accident, we found out what a Scottsman wears under his kilt.

What a relief! Now the world knows that Scottsmen have it all together! Thank you unidentified Scottsman! 

In addition to athletic contests there were also dancing, harping and piping competitions.

As with every event such as this there were plenty of shopping opportunities. I found jewelry, furniture, artwork, food ( oh yes, haggis) clothing and everything you need for your bagpipes. My favorite item was this:

That just says it all.

 Now I just have to say a word about haggis. If you're Scottish you can't avoid the issue. Haggis is sheep's stomach stuffed with sheep's innnards and spices. This is what people invent to eat when they're starving. It wouldn't surprise me if the McIntoshes didn't invent it. Remember, they were starving near the Arctic circle. Sad.

All in all, I highly recommend that you take your own Highland adventure if you're Scottish. You might try not to bring any Frenchmen though, like I did. If those comments about kilts had been a little louder I'd likely be a widow by now!


Check out my Etsy site where I sell stuff. www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra

OMG! How I love Home Depot!

 I love Home Depot! It's my Disneyland! No, better then Disneyland.

 Think  about this, when you go to Disneyland do you come home with everything you need to plumb a toilet? I didn't think so. How often do you go to Disneyland and find the perfect cabinet for your bathroom? Not very often.

 I love to wander along Home Depot's aisles and dream of all the possibilities! I could do that with my bathroom, or this with my yard! It makes me all giggly inside. Now believe me, I'm not the giggly type but Home Depot will make me giggle. 

 The last time we went there we spent 2 hours planning home improvement projects that we'll probably never follow through with. It's not that we don't have the drive, we just can't come to a decision about what really needs to be done and how to go about it.
   
 You've been married, right? 

 Alvin thinks we need to build a back porch and I think we should have a luxury bathroom.

 Maybe we should just do both and since we can't decide how to go about it, we should hire somebody to do it. That way if things go wrong, years from now we can't say to each other,"You did that!" 

  You've been married, right?

  I've found that sometimes the key to marital harmony is not to work together. I'd like to stay married thank you very much.

 So here we still are, lots of projects with no real plans to finish them.

 We still go to Home Depot to dream and I'll tell you what, if we ever decide to go through with one of our projects for real I'll give you a blow by blow. Not literally though. 


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My role on The Real Housewives of Atlanta

   It's hard to get your priorities straight these days. Too many things need my attention, that's why I think I'll have to turn down my role on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

   O.K., so I haven't officially been asked but why wouldn't I? I live just a few miles from where they film the show and I have a husband. Of course, my husband isn't a famous athlete, business mogul or hip hop star. And I'm not a rich, spoiled diva with nothing better to do then run people down and plan my next plastic surgery.
I am however a real Atlanta housewife. Unlike those on T.V. I actually work a job and take care of my own family and house. I even mow the yard upon occasion. 

  So why don't I get to be a T.V. star with an entourage? Probably because I mind my own business, keep my mouth shut and don't complain about things that are my own fault.

What an idiot I am!

   My mom should have taught me to take offense easily, live beyond my means, and belittle my husband for not giving me everything I ask for! Geesh mom, what were you thinking by teaching me to work hard and have values? I am so out of touch!

   I don't think it's too late for me though. If I keep watching all of these reality shows I'm sure I could learn to be a prima donna.
Rich though, that might take some doing. I shop for bargains, clip coupons and cut my own hair (and yeah, you can tell).

   So maybe I'm not cut out to be a Real Housewife of Atlanta, I'll just have to settle for being a real housewife. I think Alvin will approve.


Check out my Etsy site where I sell stuff. www.etsy.com/shop/gaiaterra