by

Our Daily Thread 4-8-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Janice.

On this day in 1789 the U.S. House of Representatives held its first meeting. 

In 1873 Alfred Paraf patented the first successful oleomargarine.

In 1946 the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the last time. 

And in 1986 Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, CA. 

___________________________________________

Quote of the Day

“Standardization of our educational systems is apt to stamp out individualism and defeat the very ends of education by leveling the product down rather than up.”

Harvey Cushing

___________________________________________

Today is Larry Norman’s birthday.

And it’s also Franco Corelli’s.

___________________________________________

Anyone have a QoD?

117 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-8-14”

  3. Enjoy your coffee. I am the only one in my family who doesn’t drink coffee, just never enjoyed the taste, but my daughter and her husbands family own a coffee shop where all of my kids (children to you, Mumee 🙂 ) have worked.
    School begins tomorrow for Term 4. got all my term break jobs done so I am ready to go.

    Like

    Reply

  6. I posted a prayer for Karen and Lee and I think it got lost. Right after that I was trying to change my gravatar picture. Not surd if that messed up transition.

    Many of the blossoms are now gone from the Birthday tree. It gets more blossoms each year.

    Like

    Reply

  7. I started drinking coffee at twelve and absolutely love it! I don’t like to talk to others until. I’ve had at least one cup…

    Like

    Reply

  9. Good morning everyone.
    😦 The sprayer on the sink won’t turn off. That is, when you turn the water on, it comes through the sprayer. It won’t divert to the faucet.
    My job?
    Fix it. So that is my project today.
    I’ll go to the plumbing store for a part, if that doesn’t work, I call a plumber.

    Like

    Reply

  11. I anticipate a not so fun day, spent mostly on hold. 😦

    They put in new gas line a couple of months back. They came back and repaired my sidewalk. Yesterday they came to pave the hole in the road and their tamper vibrated a crack into my spout drain and broke it free from the curbing. It actually sticks out past the curb. Now the water from the rain is running down into the crack instead of out to the street. Which means into my basement. Not happy about it.

    Like

    Reply

  13. For some odd reason, I find the history of margarine interesting.

    Highlights: Napoleon offered a prize to anyone who could make a satisfactory alternative for butter (for use by his military and by lower-class folk). The French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invented a substance he called oleomargarine, later shortened to the trade name “margarine.” He patented it in 1871. In its original state, margarine is white, which was apparently unappealing to consumers, so in the late 1880s the manufacturers decided to dye the it yellow so it would look like butter. The patent referred to in our “On This Day” section was actually not for margarine but for the process for “Improvement in material called Oleizerine, for dyeing and printing,” a substance used to dye margarine yellow (not AJ’s fault – he got his info from another source). As a result of the coloring, the dairy firms became alarmed about the competition and succeeded in getting legislation passed to prohibit it. Margarine manufacturers skirted the law by including a packet of the dye in with their product – the housewife could mix it in to achieve the yellow color. Laws came and went in various locales and for various reasons, however in the U.S., around 1955, the artificial coloring laws were repealed and margarine could for be sold colored like butter. It was not legal to sell colored margarine in Australia until the 1960s.

    So here’s a QoD – butter or margarine?

    Like

    Reply

  15. Butter.

    But I’m supposed to avoid that too, so I use Brummel and Brown. I don’t think it’s really margarine, it’s made from yogurt. I do have margarine made with olive oil, but I don’t like it much.

    Like

    Reply

  17. I don’t remember when I started drinking coffee. I can’t remember a time I didn’t. I started out getting a little coffee in some milk and sugar. Now I drink it straight black. I also love hot tea. Nothing in the world can take the edge off and make you feel like you might survive like a cup of tea. I can function without coffee, but I prefer not to. Today is one of those days. I have been awake since three. First there was a snore, then I was cold, then my mind filled with everything I didn’t get done yesterday, I was worried about solving a problem, my pillow had rocks in it, the dogs down the street started barking….and about the time I dozed off again, well, you guessed it. The alarm went off. Another busy day ahead. I had to ask yesterday if they could give me another week to get my feet under me on some things I am doing before they added another report to my list. I am juggling several balls right now and don’t want to drop any

    Like

    Reply

  18. The Kid experienced his first incident of racism yesterday at school. Oddly the boy who did it got his race wrong. He said a teenager in the boy’s room called him a “stupid Mexican”.

    Like

    Reply

  19. Janice, I perceive from your posts that you know a good bit about taxes.
    Let me pass this by you to see if I made the best decision.

    I did my taxes on TurboTax.
    I owed the IRS $65. I sent and paid it online. IRS has already withdrawn the money.
    About a month after I filed, I got a notice from one of my investment funds that had a change in my taxes.
    If I filed an amendment, It would lower my taxes by $58. Which means the IRS would now have to refund me $58.
    I decided to ignore it.
    1. $58 isn’t worth the trouble of filing an adjustment.
    2. Mostly, I don’t want IRS to pull my forms out and looking at them. Nothing to hide, I just don’t trust them to start meddling.
    Does that sound wise?

    Like

    Reply

  21. Buttah. Your body doesn’t know what to do with margarine. I am not a food nazi but I do try to eat things as close to natural as possible, just less of it. If I drink milk, it is whole milk, real butter, real ice cream (although I haven’t had ice cream in a couple of years), I am moving towards eating less beef, but buying the grass fed, organic kind. I use olive oil, grapeseed oil, and several others. I try to stay away from canola oil and a few others. I don’t fry much and if I did I would want to splurge and have real peanut oil—but I can’t afford that so make note: A Southerner who doesn’t FRY. Now that doesn’t stop me from buying a few things that are already fried. There is a convenience store just down from my office that is known all over the county for the best fried chicken. Always crowded at lunch. I have managed to only have it once since working so close.

    Oops, my second alarm just buzzed. Time to get dressed.

    Like

    Reply

  22. I love butter! My family always used margarine so I distinctly remember the first time I had buttered toast at my aunt’s farm with freshly made real butter. Seems like I had at least ten slices of buttered toast.

    I still use butter to flavor a few things and for when I rarely make sugar cookies or other baked items. Mostly I use the extra light olive oil made for baking since it is healthier. Some recipes that call for butter I will use either all oil or half oil.

    Like

    Reply

  23. I remember my mother taking stuff that looked like lard and mixing some powder to make it look like yeller butter. She would then make a patty and use a knife to make decorative indentions. I doubt that I tasted real butter before I entered the Air Force. I didn’t notice a difference.

    Like

    Reply

  26. Chas, on the tax question, I verified it with my husband that when he does amended returns it does not trigger an audit from his experience. You should get what is owed to you unless you just don’t want to bother with it. For some people who are using a preparer and have to pay to get an amended return done it would not be worth it.

    Like

    Reply

  27. All this talk of fried chicken side tracked me today. I found myself in the Chik Fil A parking lot ordering a breakfast filet—that is when you/ get the piece of chicken without the biscuit. Now I am at the office and have to get to work.
    Be good today.

    Like

    Reply

  30. Thanx Janice. I think, not with my mind, just a gut feeling to leave it alone. I once owed them more money and had to send an amended return. A real pain. From now on, I’m just going to sit on the finished return until the first of April before sending it in.

    That, above, was supposed to be a:

    😉

    Like

    Reply

  31. Re taxes: I pay estimated taxes, and a few years ago I had overpaid by a large amount. Well, it made no sense at all to write a check on April 15 to start the new year and then, a couple weeks later, receive a larger check from them. (I was preparing my own taxes, and that year I had waited till a couple weeks before the deadline.) I noticed on the form the option to have some of the refund applied toward next year’s taxes, so I checked that, and figured my April and June payments were covered and I’d just get a tiny refund, $20 or so. Instead, sometime in late May, I received a check for the full refund amount and the comment that they had adjusted my taxes since I had made an error. No, I didn’t make an error! I took an option that the tax form gave me. Well, suddenly I was in the spot where I hadn’t made my April payment after all, and I had to turn around and make a June payment after all, but double it.

    Didn’t give me a lot of confidence in the IRS.

    Like

    Reply

  32. Butter or margarine: Growing up we always bought margarine, but I got butter occasionally. Including, one summer under Reagan that they found huge surpluses in some farm products and gave it away, my family got some. I didn’t like butter, though.

    A few years ago I decided that butter was healthier (AJ, I would question anyone who says you should avoid butter but substitutes are OK; from what I’ve read, butter is OK even if you have a dairy allergy) and I was going to train myself to make the transition. So for several months, anytime I would usually have margarine, I used half of each, even if it was only a little bit on my corn. I succeeded in weaning myself to butter before I met my husband, and use only butter now, with one exception. I still don’t like the taste of chocolate chip cookies made with all butter, and I figure other people probably have their preferences on that one too (either direction), so I keep margarine on hand and make cookies with one stick of each. And the family I married into was used to using a butter substitute for “spreadable” butter, for toast and the like, and we go through a lot of it. So I got us changed to a brand that is butter with a little olive oil for spreadability. Much healthier. I also use olive oil or butter for anything on the stove (fried rice and the like).

    Like

    Reply

  33. butter – yes
    coffee – no
    coconut oil for frying – yes

    I think Ontario was only allowing white margarine (oleo) not sure if that has changed. Roscuro?

    Like

    Reply

  37. We had a couple of tax returns that must have either had something a bit off, because the IRS sent us a refund when none was expected. This was years ago. It was nice, but made me wonder how much we overpaid through the years. Now we have an expert do them.

    I grew up on margarine and have preferred it. We have both, since my husband prefers butter. I use butter for caramel popcorn, toffee and some baking. I will use a combination of butter, margarine or shortening for cookies, depending on the type. All of these make the texture and flavor slightly different.

    Lard makes the very best pie crust, IMO, but is difficult to find anymore.

    I like butter if it is perfectly fresh. Most tastes slightly rancid to me. I also find some margarine products will mimic that rancid flavor, rather than the taste like fresh butter. I don’t like those either. As you can see, I am fussy about what I use.

    I recently tried a butter substitute with a bit of olive oil in it. It was by one of my favorite brands, but I hated it. I checked and the first ingredient is water. It made toast taste like it was dipped in water, even though I used it sparingly. I happened to receive a Cooks Magazine sample in the mail and was surprised to see it had done a review of this product. They did not like it either for the same reason.

    I assume butter is healthier than margarine. However, the whole ‘margarine is plastic’ stuff is silly to me. Potatoes and rice have starch in them. Starch is used for stiffening clothes. It does not make potatoes and rice bad for us. There are lots of natural foods with ‘poison’ in them. People get way too excited about most of this stuff.

    I suppose when you live long enough and see others who should be dead long ago, according to the ‘experts’, you start to take it all with a grain of salt.

    I love coffee, but drink it black as a rule.

    Like

    Reply

  38. I noticed the tulip trees when I was in TN recently. I am not sure if I ever had seen them bloom before. It was only because of this picture that I could put a name on them. They are very pretty.

    Like

    Reply

  39. Good Morning! Butter! We do use Brummel and Brown like AJ…for spreadability..Paul really likes it 🙂
    Janice the header photo is breathtaking! What beauty to behold…it just makes me smile!! Thanks for sharing a tad bit of your world with us!
    It is going to be Spring here for the next 5 days…then winter will return..I’m going to get out and enjoy every second of it…and watch this latest round of snow melt into the ground 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  41. I eat butter, children and husband prefer margarine. Nice because then I don’t find crumbs in my butter. I do use the butter for the youngest four, still trying to maximize the nutrition they get.

    Like

    Reply

  42. BUTTER!!!! I absolutely abhor margarine. I will eat my toast dry before using margarine. I think it tastes like oil. Yuck!

    We prepay taxes all year, as Hubby makes most of his money on commission, and still have to pay an ungodly amount come April 15. It’s discouraging to pay such a large percentage of one’s income in taxes and then to read the President’s new budget calls for further tax increases…

    My sister (the one in Africa) is going to be here tomorrow night! I’m so excited about seeing her, though her visit will be brief. She arrives Wednesday night at 7:00 and will stay at my house until Friday morning. Then, she’s driving to Belton to attend a mother/daughter weekend with her eldest who attends Mary-Hardin Baylor University. She departs Sunday evening at 8. So, it’ll be a whirlwind trip — but at least I’ll have her for 36 hours!

    Like

    Reply

  43. Butter, but I don’t eat much of it. Like Kim, I tend to eat “real” — including whole milk, although, again, I drink so little of it.

    I never did understand the point of decaf coffee. I didn’t even taste coffee until I was in college and have never gotten into a daily habit of drinking it. But when I do, it’s the real deal (with a little whole milk to cut the bitterness).

    Organic, virgin, unrefined coconut oil — my dogs get a tablespoon each day in their food, keeps their skin and coats from drying out (Cowboy especially has dry, flaky skin problems; it’s important to keep him a good-looking cowboy).

    Chas, just claim it on next year’s taxes. But get your money back.

    AJ, sounds like a mess with the pipes. 😦

    But … Pretty flowers from Janice today! Easter will be here in a couple weeks now (at last).

    I’m still waiting for my tax refunds — I checked the “Where’s my refund” site last night and the federal portion has been received, but is still being processed; they had no record yet of the state return, but that should show up by today, my tax guy was e-filing it all this year. I thought he’d arranged for direct deposit last year, but his letter back to me this year recapping the amounts indicated I’d be getting checks in the mail, so it may take a bit longer. Not that I’m anxious … 😉

    My editor arranges every year to get a huge refund, he says he purposely uses it as sort of savings account so he gets a bunch of money in the spring. I’ve always heard you should try always to break even — but I’ll admit that I do sort of like getting some money back in April/May.

    Like

    Reply

  44. I’d wondered about Mickey Rooney’s faith following his death this past weekend, I had some idea that he had embraced Christianity but read yesterday he attended a Religious Science church (which decidedly isn’t Christian).

    But this World column posted today seems to indicate that he did, indeed, have a profession of faith that was more orthodox, which was good to read.

    Other tidbits in the column — a Calvary Chapel pastor has resigned in Florida and the Boy Scouts are losing ground when it comes to public perceptions.

    http://www.worldmag.com/2014/04/signs_and_wonders_another_megachurch_pastor_confesses_to_behaving_badly

    Like

    Reply

  45. Thanks for the mentions of the beauty of the birthday tree. It is truly special since it was a little tree when I first bought it in full bloom on my husband’s birthday. I had no idea at the time that it would usually burst out with some full blossoms on that same day every year.

    Like

    Reply

  47. QoD: Butter. Coconut oil is supposed to be really good in some nutrient I cannot think of. I tried it for popcorn and it was good, but not as good as lard. Usually I use olive oil since we have a lot of it.

    Kim- “true dat” (as my students say) when it comes to natural foods. But be careful, as the USDA has loose guidelines. “All natural” just means that at some time in its existence the product was a real animal or plant. Watch out for artificial or processed ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, which sometimes is labeled as something else. I’m not a food nazi either, but I do try to watch what goes in my mouth. That said, however, I believe God gave us a body that can take about anything, as long as it is not in large quantities.

    Like

    Reply

  48. When I buy butter I usually don’t use much before it starts going rancid. I have found I can look at it and smell it. The outer part will turn darker than the fresher inner part. I trim away the darker part to find some I can use. If we have corn on the cob my husband likes to take the whole stick and open the end to rub the butter onto the warm corn. It is easy but it makes the rest of the butter get too warm and go bad quickly. I try to just use little pats to dot on. Sometimes a spouse has to act quickly to keep the other in line. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  49. Oh, and coffee- black and strong. I don’t want to see the bottom of a white coffee mug when it’s full.

    Janice- nice birthday tree.

    Like

    Reply

  50. Dear me Donna…I didn’t understand a word that reporter said, but, that was funny…and was that a microphone that guy was reaching down to her? Was he going for a “So how are you feeling” moment? 🙂
    The coffee question…dark, strong, black…my brother in laws, when they visit, always say they could stand their spoons in my coffee, straight up…that’s how strong I take it!

    Like

    Reply

  51. Dave Ramsey reminds us that getting a large refund means you lent the U.S. government money, interest free. You may not mind doing that (it doesn’t bother me terribly). We shoot to break even but it’s difficult because we have so many variables each year. With all the places we had to pay to this year (not counting the accountant) we ended up owing around $1,000.

    Like

    Reply

  52. they could stand their spoons in my coffee, straight up…that’s how strong I take it!

    When someone tells me that I say, “there’s the water faucet. Just dilute it.” It’s easier to make strong coffee weak than to make weak coffee strong.

    Like

    Reply

  54. QoD: Butter, though I will take olive oil over either (I like Mediterranean cuisine). Growing up, my mother used margarine at first, then when she heard the warnings about trans-fats, she switched to butter. We found it difficult to spread on toast, so she invented a spreadable form by blending butter with olive oil. It is solid like butter, but still spreadable at low temperatures. Visitors find the taste surprising, but most of them like it. As for the margarine colour in Ontario, Kare: it depends on the purpose – the smaller margarine spreads are butter yellow, the bulk margarine for baking is snow white. I have no idea of whether that is due to regulations or not.

    Coffee – Occasionally, not more than a few times a year, I will buy a French vanilla cappuccino from Tim Hortons and that is the extent of my coffee drinking. I usually drink green or red tea, with an occasional Earl Grey cup as a treat. Even then, I don’t need the tea to get started in the mornings – I didn’t have any this morning, for example.

    Taxes – I filed, even though I lived outside the country last year. Canadian citizens are not required to pay income tax to Canada if they live outside the country; however, missionaries can consider themselves factual residents of Canada (there are benefits, like health coverage, to keeping residential status) and thus can file a tax return. I didn’t have to pay anything.

    Like

    Reply

  55. If you have a large Hispanic community and have a special section in your local grocery store you can still find lard.

    I have gotten much better about reading ingredients and learned a few years ago that if you want Coca-Cola made with REAL sugar either buy it NOW during Passover, because it is Kosher or buy from an Hispanic grocery.

    Like

    Reply

  57. You can also buy lard if there is a butcher around. here in the rural area there are small butcher shops that sell it in 5 pound buckets.

    Like

    Reply

  59. Sweet cream butter, rBST-free, for our family, and shortening for the birds when we make homemade suet.

    I always try to stay as close to nature as possible, too, with our food choices. I read a lot of labels and avoid gluten (just me, not the rest of the family) and items that most likely are genetically modified (non-organic soy, corn, cottonseed and canola). No MSG either.

    Coffee: none at home — yet — but I’m wondering if the day will come that we’ll be drinking coffee at home. Just this past winter, my husband took up coffee drinking for the first time, but only at work. The frequent outdoor work he was doing on those cold winter nights we had this year, many -20 degree nights, got him started, needing something hot to drink. He says he’s hooked. 😉

    My one experience with coffee was a bad one. I think I’ve told this story here before. I was on the speech team in high school, and we had a meet one cold winter morning at a school 3 hours away. The bus heater was not working, and I was super cold. We stopped at a McDonald’s along the way, and I desperately wanted something hot to drink. Unfortunately, their hot chocolate machine wasn’t working, so I had to order coffee.

    Horrible stuff! Maybe McDonald’s coffee in the 1970’s was not the greatest to the average coffee lover, but after drinking that, I felt sick. I never wanted any more coffee after that! And so far, I’ve kept my promise to myself that coffee would never pass my lips. 😉

    I do like tea every now and then, though, so I’ve got an alternative that is just fine by me!

    Like

    Reply

  60. 6 Arrows, I’ve never been a coffee drinker (and, interestingly, as far as I know not one of us seven siblings is), but tea is even worse. Coffee I’ll drink under certain circumstances, usually if I’m cold and can’t get warm and there are no other hot beverages, and I need both cream and sugar. Or I’ll drink it if there’s hazelnut creamer. But tea I won’t touch; I can’t stand it. My hot beverage of choice is hot cocoa (Land o’Lakes makes some wonderful ones, especially their raspberry) or, once in a while, hot cider.

    I once attended a banquet in the evening where the only two beverages were tea or coffee. They didn’t even have water. It seemed a really odd oversight, in my book! I had to take a cup out into the hall and find a drinking fountain.

    Like

    Reply

  61. I did not drink coffee until my late thirties or early forties. It has to be strong and black for me. Husband will not drink coffee except around Christmas time when he will enjoy a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks. That’s not true coffee to me. The only “watered down” form of coffee I like is coffee ice cream or yogurt.

    Like

    Reply

  62. Cheryl, I like hot cider, too; in fact, that’s probably my favorite hot beverage, but I mainly drink it in the fall and winter. Hot tea I’ll drink anytime, but the flavor is more bland than cider. I enjoy green tea and raspberry tea probably more than other teas, and some brands have better flavor than others.

    Tea is sometimes a “comfort food” for me. I like it with a generous teaspoon of raw honey and a little squeeze of fresh lemon when I feel a cold coming on, and it does seem to help.

    I’ll have to see if I can find some of that Land o’Lakes cocoa you mentioned. The raspberry flavor sounds great!

    Like

    Reply

  63. Well, what do you know, I got 62! Thanks for sneaking in ahead of me, Janice. 🙂

    BTW, pretty picture you sent AJ for today’s header. And now we can see you in your gravatar — nice pic, and it’s always great to see the faces behind the names here! 😉

    Like

    Reply

  64. We lived in nearby Monterey when Clint Eastwood was elected mayor–in part because he promised to allow the Carmelites to be able to eat ice cream cones on the street. It was fun during that time, because he’s often show up at charity events to give away the prizes, like at the Special Olympics.

    It’s a beautiful part of the world and one of my kids was born there. Thanks, American taxpayers! Sawgunner was there at the same time.

    Like

    Reply

  65. That’s my church directory picture. We have a member who is a photographer who did the directory a few years ago.

    I have been drinking green tea lately and some chamomile. I also had a plain cup of chai yesterday. I don’t add anything to my coffee or tea. I use to like lemon in my tea but it seemed to be taking the enamel off my tea so I gave it up unless a restaurant accidentally added it. I also at times drink Darjeeling, Oolong, Earl Grey, Constant Comment or English Breakfast. And when I was sick I did drink Jammin Lemon Ginger. Fresh ginger root tea with honey is wonderful, too, but it does not seem so much like the others I get at the store.

    Like

    Reply

  66. My aunt and uncle lived in various places in California for a long time, including Monterey. I think that may be where they lived when we went out there on vacation in 1977. Were you there then, Michelle?

    Like

    Reply

  70. It says at the top of this page, “4 out of 5 dentists recommend this WordPress.com site”. That fifth dentist must not like the missing enamel on that smiley. 😀

    Like

    Reply

  71. Reminds me, you can tell from my photo that I have not had my teeth whitened and that they are dulled from drinking coffee and tea. Is it worth the money and effort to get a smile brightened for someone who is not in a glamour industry? Someone at work gets Botox for wrinkles around the eyes. I guess I am not real keen on having cobra venom injected even in the smallest quantities. I earned my wrinkles. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  72. Nice to finally meet you Janice!
    An old friend emailed me today, he keeps records, and told me that today, April 9th, was the day I was baptized. I did not remember the date. Oh, in 1972.
    Term 4 begins today. I only have 12 students. The smallest class in the school with large classes coming up.

    Like

    Reply

  73. Hmmm…since Seventh Day Adventists don’t drink coffee and tea I guess that means they have whiter teeth than the rest of us. What a brilliant thought; can’t you just see those gleaming white teeth in their church services?

    Like

    Reply

  74. Janice, I don’t do any of those sorts of things — teeth whitening, botox, hair coloring, etc. I don’t even wear makeup anymore. I threw away all my makeup at least ten years ago, after it sat unused for a few years and got old. It all seems like a waste of money for me personally. I spend my money on butter and tea and other things like that that got talked about here today. 😉

    Jo, it’s funny to read your comment where it says “today, April 9th” when it’s still April 8th here.

    How long is Term 4?

    Like

    Reply

  76. 6 arrows, school gets out on June 17th. Next week is our WASC visit for accreditation. But we get Easter Friday and Monday off. They are national holidays. And there is always the Queen’s birthday to do report cards at the end.

    Like

    Reply

  78. I don’t do most of those things either. I wear makeup sometimes, not every day (my husband likes it; I couldn’t care less), and I got my ears pierced for my husband but then had some issues and now I just can’t wear earrings every day and I usually ask my husband’s help to put them in. Dyeing my hair or any of that sort of stuff just doesn’t interest me. Not that it’s wrong, just that I think it’s sad that culture insists on such things.

    Like

    Reply

  79. I like that LOL cocoa, too. It goes on sale seasonally at Sam’s every year. All their products are usually good, which made me surprised about the butter substitute.

    Like

    Reply

  81. OH you guys must just love me. I wear make up every day. I color my hair. I would love to have lypo and a tummy tuck. I have a crease in my forehead that I have had since I was 14. If I could afford it (sneak money out of the budget somehow) I would botox it. I have whitened my teeth but had to quit because they are too sensitive. I have had a chemical peal on my face and love to treat myself to a facial every now and then. I have a gift certificate from Christmas and haven’t figured out a time to “cash it in”. Yep, go ahead and laugh at me. 😉

    Like

    Reply

  83. KIM! I thought all of that was natural all the time.
    A great truth most men learn early on”
    Unless it’s grey, a woman’s hair was always the color it is now!

    Sometimes, a guy may remember something different. But to express that causes a world of trouble.
    For the record, Elvera’s hair is grey.

    Like

    Reply

  84. Although I’ve never really had a desire to color my hair, I’ll confess I did consider it very briefly after reading the book Color Me Beautiful. In that book, women are identified by their natural coloring (skin, hair, eyes) as either Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter and are given guidelines about which colors of clothing and accessories are best for which palettes. It was also mentioned in the book that Autumns, who don’t look their best in grays, would also not look as good with gray hair as the color it was before graying.

    I am an Autumn, you may have guessed, so for one fleeting moment, I thought, hmm, maybe I should start coloring my hair soon, as I’m beginning to get more gray mixed in with the brown now.

    Then I thought, I’m not taking fashion advice from someone who’s never met me! Au naturel is my style, thank you very much, and that’s what I’ll display! 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  87. Make-up, oh yeah, I just look better than I do without it 🙂

    Earrings, yeah, but cheap or silver, nickel-free only

    Botox, nope

    Hair color, nope (but I’d probably succumb if it got more gray, so far I’ve escaped that for the most part.)

    Like

    Reply

  88. Well since it seems to be “fess up” time….I wear make up…every day mostly…I just feel better and more put together when I put it on…
    I have never colored my hair…when I was younger my hair was red…well everyone said it was “strawberry blonde”…but hey…what color is a strawberry? Just sayin”!! Now it appears to be more blonde…I guess…that’s what I’m told anyway…I have white hairs on my head and it looks like I have highlights…coloring my hair would just be a pain…it is what it is 🙂 No botox, no plastic surgery…I don’t like needles 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  90. Don’t wear makeup, don’t even own the stuff. I don’t think there is anything wrong with makeup but I can’t be bothered ‘putting my face on’ every morning. I have noticed more grey hairs lately (seems to be a correlation between me getting seriously ill and gaining grey hairs), but I have no intention of dyeing my hair for the same reason.

    Like

    Reply

  91. I am the only one in the office who does not color her hair. Even my husband has his hair, eyebrows and mustache colored. For business with the public it is better to color and look more youthful. Right now I have a gray streak on the side and a bit more mixed in. It is still okay for the business world. I will wait and see if the works are eventually needed. Right now I am low maintenance and will keep it that way as long as possible. Most days I put on a bit of foundation to even out the skin and I may put on a touch of lipstick. May take five minutes on that. Hair may take longer if it requires the flat iron.

    Like

    Reply

  92. I don’t see many gray-haired women in our church of over 1,000 people. Granted, there are a lot of women younger than I am, but a lot of similar-age or older women than I, who appear to be approximately the same age as their husbands, who ARE gray, are not themselves at all gray. So I’m guessing a lot of these older women must color their hair, even though I know some people don’t gray until very late.

    My husband is 55 and I didn’t notice any gray on him until just a few months ago. His siblings, too, have hardly any gray, including his two older sisters, who do not color their hair. Good genes there, I guess.

    Like

    Reply

  93. My husband was totally gray when he bought this business, and he is now 66. I am not going gray so fast as he did. I was blonde when younger, but my hair darkened over time. A tax client I daw this week said I had not grayed as much as some others. I was a bit surprised to hear it because since I don’t color my hair, I feel like I have more gray than all the other people I am around. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  94. My husband was blonde as a child, too, but his hair darkened and was already a pretty dark shade of brown by the time I met him when he was 24. Three of our kids (oops, children, Mumsee) are/were blonde, both of our sons and one of our daughters, but are now getting darker, as did their dad. Some people wondered where these blonde children came from. 😉 And some of my friends are surprised when they hear that 1st Arrow used to be very blonde as a child.

    Like

    Reply

  97. My husband and I were both blonde and my brother still appears to be a light brown which was originally blonde. My son is very light blonde at his current age of 24. He was usually the one blonde amidst the other dark headed students in youth groups.

    Like

    Reply

  109. I got my red hair from my dad whose hair turned brown probably by the time he was in his 40s.

    My hair has darkened, it’s more of a reddish brown, though it still is pretty red in the sun. But I also like low-maintenance, just don’t want to hassle with the mess and expense of coloring my hair (even though I sometimes think I’d sure like to brighten it up a bit).

    I couldn’t wait to wear makeup in high school — it was the era of the ‘mod’ look, black eyeliner and pale lipstick. When I was in college I ditched it altogether, became the 1970s granola girl with my long hair and blue jeans.

    By the time I was majoring in journalism, though, I began to wear makeup again, it just seemed more professional, and I actually got pretty good at knowing what colors worked (and what didn’t) and how to put it on right. But I still went without it sometimes.

    As I got older, though, I realized I just plain looked a whole lot better with makeup on. I’m grateful they have natural looking colors now that can make such a difference. 🙂 I’d hate walking out of the house looking the way I do when I first roll out of bed!

    Like

    Reply

  110. I dye my hair, although I’m trying to dye it with a demi permanent blonde now which makes the greys a high light with my dark brown hair. I got sick of the extreme difference with the abundance of grey, as it grows out so fast, and the dark brown. I would love to have a stylist do the work and give me highlights to blend in the grey, but that’s just too expensive.
    Botox injections hurt!!!! I had them done as a treatment for migraines (didn’t work for me – works amazingly for my husband). And your face feels very weird for several months afterwards.
    I also wear makeup most days, never go away from home without it.

    Like

    Reply

  111. 6arrows, my mom had that book, Colour Me Beautiful, I am a winter. I tend to naturally lean towards the winter colours anyways so it works for me 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  112. I am certain I would look much better with make up on but it is not going to happen anytime soon that I am aware of. My nieces put some on me for my son’s wedding, my sisters put some on me for my wedding, my daughter in law put some on me for third son’s wedding, and first son said it would have been nice if I had put some on or at least got my hair done for daughter’s wedding. But it did not happen and she did not complain. My husband is quite fond of me and I don’t really have anybody else to impress.

    Like

    Reply

  113. God is apparently dyeing my hair. I don’t look at it very often but sometimes my children tell me I have lots of gray hair and sometimes they ask why my hair is not more gray.

    Like

    Reply

  114. Botox, isn’t that botulism toxin? Why would one pay to have that injected into one’s body? It paralyzes and kills people. I guess it makes sense for migraines and other pains that you cannot manage some other way.

    Like

    Reply

  115. I make sure and brush my hair every morning and brush my teeth. That is the extent of my beauty treatment. Makeup can look good, but I never use it and it tends to change color on me. Okay, I will confess that once or twice a year I get a perm, just for some wave, but everything else is too much trouble.

    Like

    Reply

  116. Good evening Jo.
    Most men don’t care about the color of their hair. They are happy if it’s still there. Most of mine is still there, but I have that bald spot on the crown. (back of the head).
    Elvera started to turn grey when she was thirty. It was fashionable to have e grey streak then.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Peter L Cancel reply