It's freakin' Spring

 We all have them. Sometimes there is just a couple of days but it still feels like a week. I'm sure if I counted there wouldn't be so many days but at this point every day feels like a week.

It's freakin' Spring. Spring has sprung. At least it has somewhere. But not here. It snowed yesterday and melted. And it snowed last night and melted. And it snowed this morning. And melted. And it's freakin' Spring. Are you getting my drift here.(no pun intended)

It has been one of those weeks. I was going to get out some warm weather clothes. I've been itching to go to the stores and buy some lightweight and light color things to remind myself that it's Spring. Granted, snow is a light colored thing but that isn't going to do the trick. After doing the truly broke thing I can't afford a lot of Spring stuff anyway. So I suppose there is a silver lining to the snow clouds.

At least I can look forward to seeing my baby girl. She and her husband and kids will visit me this weekend. They live in Florida and they are doing the visit thing this week. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Grandkids. But. I'd love to have a warm sunny day to be outside with them. Instead of a back yard of good ole Tennessee red clay to be tracked in by the dogs. I should be cleaning and getting ready for their visit. I should.

Hair today, Hair tomorrow

 Hair is and always has been my go to feel good thing. Mom was a sort of hairdresser. We had a shop in the basement of our house. But she did mostly older friends and wasn't into innovation. Except when it came to me.

Short- Mom's preferred look for me. I swear her fingers itched to grab the scissors whenever she looked at me. I suppose that is part of the reason why I'm always changing my hair. When the hair is short, I want it longer and vice versa.

Then there is color. All of them. I have not been pink like Helen Mirren. And it looks great on her. I haven't been black. But I've been just about everything else. Mom tried out new colors on me. And some worked and some didn't.

Then there was the time I got into the hot tub with a new hair color and got out looking like Kermit. That was fun.

Short hair has long been touted as right for older women. And I've been short often. As a young wife, I cut my hair with a razor into a very very short style and for a long time it was perfect. We lived in South West Florida. Heat and humidity hung in the air like a veil of smoke and it was nice not to have to deal with long frizzies. But as usual, change was on the horizon.

In a misguided attempt to appeal to my husband, I grew out my hair. Thinking that long hair, and especially long blonde hair was a turn on for men, that is what I wanted. However, given my skill with hair color at the time, instead of flowing long blonde hair I got frizzies and broken and split ends. 

 So as the older version of me I've been through many transitions. When I was pregnant, my hair grew like a house afire. (I'm Southern) And when Cathy, the baby, was born, it was natural color and just about 6 inches above my waist. I loved it but we lived at the lake and it never seemed to dry in the summer. Always a problem, right?

And guess what happened in the 80's. Curly perms. And blonde. And blonde curly perms. And more frizz. And more frizz.

Then the ultimate betrayal-gray hairs. There weren't many at first. And the old wives' tale is wrong. When you pull out one you don't get two back. But they do multiply. Better than I did in math class.

Color is always the answer if you want to cover gray. I'd love to have white hair but alas, my hair looks like really dirty dark blonde when natural so I color it. I went to the hairdresser for a while and got foiled. I liked it but the cost got to be too much so back to the drawing board(yes I recognize a cliche when I use it). After jumping on the self color merry-go-round  I have decided I like blonde. Very blonde. So I'm making myself very blonde. The pic at left is sort of a medium color. I don't feel like a medium person. It doesn't work for me.

And I tried a fairly dark brown. I loved the color. But not on me. It truly was a great brown. For someone.

I've been going to Sally's Beauty Supply for my hair stuff lately. I'm using Wella products and I like the color and the way it feels.

Here is a pic of the length I think I want. I think. So I'm headed that way. I think. Right.

Linking can be fun

Let's link!

  Let's link. I'm one of those terrifically non savvy computer folks who are looking to learn and enjoy getting together with others to round out my view of the world. I have seen countries, people, and things I couldn't even imagine before. Now there is an opportunity to not only learn more but to help others enjoy their blogs more too. What fun!

Another day and another and another

Spring is springing. I'm totally over the heaviness of Winter. Sweaters are just not my thing. I do have some sweaters I like but they wouldn't be my first choice of things to wear.

This Spring I want to feel pretty. I'm finally getting the hair where I want it. That's a big one for me(another post). I'll be 68 in the summer. I couldn't wear the shoes at left on a bet but they sort of show what I mean by pretty. Girly. Feminine. Womanly. Maybe even nicely sexy. They say Spring is the time when a young man's thought turn to sex, or something like that. Well I guess that one testosterone blip on my radar makes me want to look desirable and yes, pretty. My honey says he thinks I'm pretty. But you know, as much as I appreciate that, I want to think that too. And in heavy clothing on top of a heavy body, I'm just not feeling it.

 The one thing I've been in love with this year is lace. I'm always up for something shiny. And florals are a love of mine if done the right way. I love Asian influences in fashion and I think the fabrics of India and the Orient are fabulous. I'm so in love with Boho. I'm in love with softness, simplicity, and then there is jewelry. What a mixed bag I'm trying to fill!

The bag at right I saw on pinterest and I'd love to have one with cutout designs. But right not the treasury is so bare I'm selling some of the bags I have. And I've decided I have ADD when it comes to focus on a single trend. For instance. I'm a polka dot fan and a stripe fan and a simplicity fan. That means I won't be wearing polkadots with stripes. Etc .

And as for florals, for me they must be big. I'm big.

Shannon of Shannon Hearts blog is wearing the prettiest floral top I've seen in a long time. I have a cardigan that is similar and I'll be wearing it on the cool Spring days. But then I won't look like this because she is stunning no matter what she wears. I hope she won't mind me showing this pic of her. Anyway, the floral is not the tiny all over print that looks so cute on young and tiny girls. On me it just looks like Granny fashion. Yes I am a Granny. But I don't want to look like that is all I am. Shannon's top is sort of Boho, sort of simple, and really pretty. And that is where I want to be. I find that when I wear something I think is pretty off of me, I feel pretty in it.

Now that I have done pretty to death I want to tackle the other part of another day.

Since I have previously said I'm broke, I'm going to have to find ways to do pretty this Spring without spending a lot of money. Or any money. I have a house full of stuff. I'd planned to donate some of it and still will do so. But I'm rethinking how I might use some of the things I have in different ways. I'm following a lot of pinterest DIY boards. I'm looking into the online ideas. A new challenge for another day and another......

There comes a time.

Have you ever spent too much money and had to make it up somehow? I'm stuck with huge tires to buy and a bridge to pay for and I'm broke. I guess that is just about normal for most of the folks in the US. But it scares me. I've been scared of a lot of things in my life and running out of money and having no way to support myself is not fun. Social security is not a  huge help.

Anyway, I've also been afraid of listing and trying to sell things on ebay. I don't know why. It could just be that fear of failure thing that has haunted me all of my life. One of the reasons I've overbought is  no self esteem. Fix it with a new purse. Yeah, that's it. Well folks, not too good on a fixed income. So now I have to get myself out of a big hole I made. First will come dental insurance. Next will come a large sale on ebay. This first item is actually an expensive leather bag. I loved it. Just like I have loved all of the other things I have overspent on. So today, Wednesday the Thirteenth of March I listed. I finally listed. And I need luck. Lots of it.

I'm also going to be going through my coupons and other things to save me money. It's necessary to work myself up to a fairly steady income. Nothing huge but I'd love to pay off a couple of things and to put some away. Rain happens a lot here, it seems.

Hello again

I've decided that in lieu of winning awards for my blog I'm going to answer a few questions anyway. Here goes:

1. I was born in upper East Tennessee in Elizabethton. It's not a really big town. Near Bristol Virginia.
    I never really lived there. Grew up in Oak Ridge Tennessee. With the bomb. And a lot of folks who
    weren't from there.

2.  I love fashion but I started the blog because I needed to talk over some life issues. To come to
    terms with my life. And it evolved into part fashion and part bitching over wanting to be in
    fashion.

3. I bitch really well. For instance-I hate neon. I hate anything in an outfit that harms the cohesiveness
    of the look. If your shoes stand out, why look at the rest?

4. Another reason for the blog is that I'm getting older by the minute and I'd like to have some friends
    online who are in the same position. But most of the things I see are young girls and young
    families.

5. I still live in East Tennessee and the fashion story here is not mine to tell. I'm not in fashion. There
    are those who belong to Country Clubs, go to luncheons, go to soirees, and travel to Atlanta or to
    New York to shop. I'm not one of them. If I went to Atlanta to shop it would be to find Thrift
    Stores because the ones here in Knoxville suck.

6. I used to pride myself on being different. Then I read blogs and looked at Pinterest. Alas, not
    different. Just not the same either.

7. I want the clothes I wear to match in some way. I spent all my life matching. I'm too old to stop.

8. I'm grateful for still being able to blog.