Stinginess, the South Beach Diet and Aging in General

People who are cheap used to annoy the crap out of me.

If they were my folks age, I shrugged it off to "depression mentality". Now I have it.

Nothing like losing everything you owned to illness, job loss and a f'd up economy to set you on a different path. Yeah, RECESSION. To call it something else is like calling a full combover a receding hairline. Speaking of which...

I used to spend about $150 per month on hair and nails. We're talking trim, color and two manicures a month. Now I cut and color my own hair. A friend taught me the easy way to layer long hair recently - comb it, hold the ends out as far out as you can (over the forehead area) and cut in a straight vertical line. DAMN, wish I had known THAT years ago. If I screw up - well, that's why God made ponytails. It'll grow.

And nails? I haven't had a manicure in years. My nails are short, with no polish. They look like hard-working hands. Sturdy. Capable. I'm kinda proud of 'em.

My hair care is now scissors and $12/month - or whatever the going price of a L'Oreal frosting kit happens to be. Make that $6/month because I only use half.

Watched the awards last night, of course. I used to compare myself with some of those babes. I used to be a babe. I'm not now. More a decent-looking older broad. I'm OK with that.

I applaud Mirren and Julie Christie. This morning on the news the wardrobe nazis were taking shots at their long sleeves. "Women of a certain age" they called them. "Covering their upper arms" they said.

Bite me I thought. I have a wingspan too.

Meredith Viera (SP?) said something to the effect of "I could never dream of wearing what they wore so I'm keeping my mouth shut." (I love her, she's so refreshingly REAL.)

I'm proud of being older and wiser and wouldn't trade it for anything - including a smooth face and trim body.

I am worried about my weight - more for health reasons now than appearance. I've gone on the South Beach Diet. This is day 8 and the jeans are baggin' already. It's not an easy diet, and it's not cheap. But I consider the cost of good groceries the price of health.

I had more energy and more hours of energy between work and bedtime by day three. It was amazing. I was going to bed at 8:00 at night! Well, falling asleep in the chair and getting up around 10 just to go to bed. I was pathetic.

Last night I made it 'til 11.

Like my BFF Patte (a former RN married to an MD) said this weekend while I took her on a tour of my favorite places around Fort Myers Beach -

"Age isn't a state of mind; it's a state of health."