Wastin' away again in Margaritaville

Well, it's about 10:00 on a Monday night, and I've had too many of these ...

...to write anything coherent any more tonight!

Hey, that's pretty good. Bedtime here has been 9:30 most nights!

My son will be going back to college in a few weeks, right after my beach trip, so we took him and his very nice girlfriend to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant in town.

Our waitress was Ayrica, our old babysitter. We haven't seen her for years, so there was a lot of catching up to do. "Oh my God! Ayrica! When did you move back?" "How's your mom?" "and Travis. What is he doing now?" "Remember the block parties we used to have?"

"Try the peach margarita. They're my favorite..." and pretty soon, it's late, we're stuffed and all caught up. Now I just need someone to tuck me in!

Why is it that everytime I eat out, on the walk to the car, I have buyer's (eater's) remorse?

I'd rather have the cash back, and the belly full of Tex-Mex wouldn't keep me up, either. Not to mention the margaritas! Peach were good, mango even better. But we had fun, and I can always turn over that leaf from yesterday again tomorrow! See yesterday's post about Jamie Lee Curtis and me.

Dieting reminds me of the old line about quitting smoking. "Quitting smoking is easy. I do it just about every day." And one my Dad used to say. "A hundred years from now, it won't matter."

And of course, there's a country music lyric that fits...

"I gave up smokin', drinkin' and women last night. And it was the worst fifteen minutes of my life."

See you in the morning. I'll make coffee.

It's not Saturday, but my six words are...

JAMIE LEE CURTIS IS MY HERO!

Have you ever walked by the mirror after a shower and wondered when you became your mother...

It's disturbing.

Yes, the hair has been greying. I do have bifocal contacts and reading glasses. The TV is turned up so loud, the kids ask US to turn it down. I go upstairs with a purpose but cannot remember what the reason is when I get there. I go to bed at 9:30. A knee has been replaced. I was oblivious.

But THIS is the final straw.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my Mother. Wish I could be more like her. Then, my wish came true.

I have a soft, old lady body. This is news to me. If Uncle Lynn knows what's good for him, he'll say it's news to him, too.

The first sign (I wasn't paying any attention to the signs) was that I stopped tucking my shirts into my jeans. This summer, I've opted for capris over shorts 10:1. My bras are tight. I have back fat! Really! Oh my God! My feet are even a size bigger.

I came across this photo of Jamie Lee Curtis in my desk today. I remembered seeing her on Oprah, talking about how she didn't recognize herself after a recent photo shoot. It seems the photo had been airbrushed, to restore her bod to its former glory. So she got pissed. And had another photo shoot and insisted that the pics be printed as they really were. Like the one we see here. So that all of the women her age (my age) could see that what's happening to them, happens to everyone. Even Jamie Lee (perfect) Curtis.

I'm not quite at the point of acceptance that Jamie Lee is. Hardly! I told my husband that this time away is going to be used as a time of self-reflection. A time to eat healthy. A time to give up the traditional Bucket of Rocks (Rolling Rock, the "pale ale" from Latrobe, PA) on the beach. A time to ponder the second half of my life. Then I realized...

I'm beginning the second half of my life only if I live to be 104! Crap! I've been in the second half of my life for a long time. Oblivious again. AND...

I'm going to the damn beach! Crap.