January

I really don't like January. I have my after Christmas let down, every bill we pay annually comes due (don't know how that happened), fuel bills sky rocket, it is cold and there is ice and snow. Never one to admit to aging, this year I feel it in my bones. My husband once said that I go into mid-winter feisties and do not recover until mid-March. Which I can say is true.

Always the optimist, I will re-evaluate and try to make the best of this January 2010 and find the good points.....Two sets of dear friends became first time grandparents this month. It is the month of college basketball, NFL playoffs, People's Choice, Golden Globes and SAG awards. American Idol is on again. This is not bad!

I have been able to be a regular at the gym, clean out closets, de-clutter and organize which always makes me happy. However, for the entire month I have worn sweats and a pony tail. January is still cold but not that bad after all.

John Edwards

Through life's experiences I never liked the look of Mr. Edwards or his politics. There was just something about him. However, I wanted to like him, he was from NC, had faced the loss of a son to which I could have never imagined the pain, his remaining family was solid his wife battled cancer and he continued to go on.

The affair didn't surprise me at all. Deep down I knew he was a "snake in the grass". I read Elizabeth's books and watched her on Oprah waxing eloquent after total humiliation. She became my hero until I thought about it more. Hillary Clinton once stated that she was not the little woman who stood by her man. She was her own person, yet she stood by her man when he disgraced her and her daughter in front of the entire world. Elizabeth did the same thing. I know there is money and prestige involved. Perhaps some security. I know that in my meager life there is no way I would ever let my husband betray me with multiple affairs and a love child in front of my family and friends, much less the world. Kudos to Jenny Sanford and the many others who chose to get out. Hope Elin Woods has the strength to do the same.

It seems we get a free pass when we are addicted be it alcohol, drugs, sex, pain-killers and so much more. I am not so naive to know that these are serious problems and have created so my jobs that makes our country great.

It is time for all of us to abide by God's Commandments and our marriage vows. We would be so much better off.

Bad Feet

I got some wonderful traits of my late grandmother. However, I got one of her worst. Her feet. She was always plaqued with bunions and hammer toes and passed that on to me. I excelerated the process by running for many years and wearing horrible shoes.

I probably have about 50 pairs of shoes with about three of them that I can wear over an extended period. I wish they were pretty but they are not. They are athletic or Crocs. I wish I could go out with something a little more stylish but it is not in my cards, if I don't want to be in pain.

Met my daughter for lunch yesterday at a massive shopping area and as we took our late afternoon break we observed everyone's shoes. Almost everyone was wearing something comfortable to their own feet. We watched women obviously in pain as they followed behind their parties while wearing heels and somewhat limping. Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate of eliminating 3 inch heels. Nothing flatters a woman more.

At Wal-Mart today, looking to replace my husbands bedroom slippers. I noticed that in the women's section, you could choose some really cute shoes for an amazing price, it hurt my feet to look at them........Then there were the ones that would cuddle your feet, but they were so ugly.

I can sit at my kitchen table write on my computer, see a big TV beyond it with more channels I could have ever imagined while my laundry dries in thirty minutes. I can go on and on. Isn't it time that someone stepped up and created the perfect woman's shoe. It first, needs to be comfortable and then look amazing. Plus, figure out a way to share the wealth and make them affordable.

It took two great men to free the slaves and follow the word that all men are created equal. Where would we be without Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King? I actually read that MLK birthday celebrations had been hampered in the past two years because of the inaguration of Barrak Obama and the earthquake in Haiti. If half the country fell into the ocean on the day in February when according to the calendar we were supposed to celebrate great presidents, no one would ever write that it ruined their special day.

Fact is we are all truly equal now and it is time to put all the nonsense to rest. We have bad white people and bad black people. Fortunately, there are so many good of both races to make us the country we are. Time to evaluate the equal thing, it is just the survival of the fittest and no one is owed anything. We are all given the same opportunities. You just have to act on it.

The Evolution of Grandma

When I was very young the Grandma ladies had grey buns, uncomfortable looking dresses and the most awful shoes I have ever seen to this day. They were black, laced up to the ankle and had about a two inch heel. Hopefully, I caught them when they were really dressed up and they didn't milk cows and churn butter in these get ups.

One of my Grandmothers lost the bun. Both dressed in what was known as "house dresses" with an apron and they looked so pretty when dressed up for church, weddings and funerals. One of them I can't remember in anything that looked uncomfortable,the other was plagued with every foot problem known to man from bunions to hammer toes, she started wearing "tennis shoes" way ahead of her time. She cut holes to relieve these miladies . Grandmother who had the bad feet lived the longest. Don't know if that made a difference.

When I speak of Grandmothers, I know that there are 40 year old women who have that title. I'm sure a half a century ago there were even more of these women and today would seem that they were decades older. I am speaking of the ladies 75 plus and the styles they chose.

It amazes me that that they still make rain bonnets. You know those plastic things that all old ladies put out when it rains to protect their hair? These horrible things have been used as long as I can remember. I do see the end of these as our current batch of "Grannies" go to their great reward.

I think that we are at the end of women going to the hair salon each week to have their hair washed and styled. Our next batch of regal women will still go to the salon to maintain a color they like, a cut they can manage and will wash their hair more than once a week.

Soon will be gone the days of pastel sweat suits with birds embroidered on the front. Reebok made a lot of money on the "Princess". The next "Granny" generation will demand something more fashionable. With the passing of this generation we may see the end of "Mom Jeans".

I am speaking from my own "Granny" experience. I know there were those out there who were far beyond their time. Kudos to those elegant dames.

Not a "Grandma" yet but I know it will be soon. One child is married, another an adult and the AARP vultures circle my home. I will be a card carrying "Blue Hair" within the next twenty years. When that day comes, God willing, I will still be a Blondie, my body will be as toned as it can be at 75. My underwear will be from Victoria's Secret. My everyday attire will be leggings and sweat shirts in the winter, shorts (depending on how grossed out I am because of my legs) and T-Shirts in the summer. My face will be wrinkled and saggy. At this point, can't conceive of unnecessary surgery. Stay tuned. I will wear the most comfortable shoes that I can buy to accommodate my own "Grandmothers" feet. And they will be stylish.

I will NEVER wear a plastic rain bonnet!

New Underwear and Socks!

I have touched on this subject many times before. On frigidly cold day, I found time to assess this situation. All of our underwear socks have been replaced in the past year, yet we still have the old ones. Ok, not so much me as my husband but I learned that I have issues to address.

My husband has at least thirty-five pairs of boxer shorts. Yet I cannot go more than three days without doing laundry as he will not have the ones he wants to wear. I boldly eliminated the "tighty whities" years ago and he hasn't missed them. The socks, I am pleased, he is working on as he continues to throw away the ones with holes. Same with the T-shirts.

As for me, organized as I am, have had issues with too many bras and panties. It has just been in the past year that my underwear drawer contains only the ones I actually use. Gone are the uncomfortable and ill-fitting. Have gotten the socks under control.

What is the deal with panty hose? From the time that I was a teenager you had to have panty hose. They came in nude, support and my all time favorite, black. In the past couple of years I have come to realize that anyone in my chidren's generation don't wear them anymore. I have been in metropolitan areas and have seen professionals in business suits with bare legs. Never one to be behind the times I have gone with the times and don't wear them anymore. I can adjust to this as in my position, I can wear what I want. Bare legs is how it should be in the summer. But, I thought, what does a woman do in winter? Then I purchased leggings and big shirts for my winter of '10 attire. I have always loved leggings. Then the '10 cold snap hit and to have these leggings on was about the same as having nothing covering my legs at all.

Guess everyone figured that Panty Hose was an extra expense and cut them out. However, if you you are not fond of shaving and your legs are not what you want them to be, wear the Panty Hose!