Though I turned 60 in late July, I'm still depressed. I been noting things about myself that are generally problems of old people. First, my nose hairs seem to grow an inch or two overnight. This may not be so bad since I can blend them in with my beard which is heavier than most of my male students. True, I noticed the nose hair problem at age 55, but it seems to be worse. At least I don't have hair in my ears. My brother who is 58 worries about hair in his ears. I had a neighbor who had a whole tuft of hair in each ear. He looked like a Hobbit or something. But he got sent to the pen for raping a 14 year old girl when he was 69 and barely able to walk. I never did believe that story. I don't think Homer was capable of raping a street sign, much less a 14 year old girl. But he did take care of his retirement with good medical care.

But I digress. In addition to nose hairs, I have a bad back, a bad heart, allergies, and a balding pubic area. I suspect there are some more bad physical problems, but I don't want to know. But the worst thing is that I have started reminiscing. I have actually started thinking about how things were better when I was a kid. Naturally, things were better. I didn't have to work and support the dogs, cats and mother. I was thin and attractive. We had a big old Buick which weighed the earth and used gas like crazy. It also overheated when we ran the air conditioner, and we lived in East Texas. But I had some good times in that Buick. I do things like think about the clothes we wore in high school (everything matched -- sweater, skirt and socks). I actually had a dream about people's noses. Is this strange or what?

I think I may be put in the nursing home sooner than I had planned. I plan to die at age 72 which will give me 8 years of boring retirement before I go over the rainbow bridge. But my nightmare is being put in a nursing home where people beat me up, and I don't have any kids to protect me! My students have promised to protect me, but I suspect that means a more brutal nursing home. So things are looking bleak for me. I hope you all are younger and have kids. Be nice to them. They may save you from being beat up in the nursing home. For myself, it's all over because I'm officially old. God!!!

Use his schnozz when his you-know-what give out? That's classic. I sort of wish I had a husband with a big schnozz. My own schnozz is short and I look like a pig. It's a serious drag. I always wanted to have a hooked nose, but alas. You all are hilarious. It makes me feel much better about being 60 with acne rosacea among other problems. It's currently nearly 2 a.m. and I'm sitting up with the dog who is afraid of rain. It's been thundering and raining and Jasper freaks out. He's really old but now deaf unfortunately, so maybe sleep is in my future. We can only hope. I did get a new mattress since I have spinal stenosis which means my backbone is narrowing and mashing on my spinal cord. That isn't so bad, but the spots where the nerves stick out from the spinal cord is also narrowing and that hurts. The new mattress is foam rubber and I can actually sleep on my right side for the first time in over a year. It's wonderful. I'm poor since the damn thing cost a zillion dollars, but I'm happy.

Congratulations on your new mattress. There is nothing like the pleasure of a really fine mattress. We need one. My mate complains of a sore back and he has now taken to sleeping with his head at the foot of the bed and his feet up near my face. This has got the nasty orange cat flustered. She's a creature of habit and the foot is her territory. She like to lie there, bite his feet, and pull the fur out of the deerskin which we have hung over the foot of the bed with her teeth. She's very oral. Just like her owner, Green, who is having troubles giving up cigarettes.

Congratulations on your thunder storm, too. We have had an extraordinarily dry summer here in southern Ontario, the driest on record since one in the 1930s. They say that the health of a lot of our city trees will be seriously compromised by this, that tree limbs are dying and that many trees may be dead by next spring. The ground is so dry and hard that watering doesn't help at this point. The water is wicked away from the trees and in the case of a sudden tropical rain much of the water would simply bounce off the now concrete-like soil. This city will be much uglier, dirtier, and hotter without its pavillion of trees, that is for sure. :think

Devana I have never heard the parasite thing. I'm willing to try anything!! Can you get it at a drugstore or do you have to find it online or someplace?

BJean, I talked to my BIL and he told me he found it online. It's Buckthorn soap, not cottonthorn. I looked it up and there are several sources. Expensive for soap...

One of the aging things I hate is that I've got little age spots on my hands. I'm thinking of having them blasted away with a laser or something.

I Spent 1800.00 On My Mattress And Another 400.00 On The Mattress Pad. Best Money Ive Ever Spent. Sleep Like A Baby And Never Have An Ache In The Morning.

I am in love with my new mattress. The only problem is that I go into my bedroom to escape from my mother and the mattress is so comfortable that I go to sleep. I have slept a lot lately. God bless latex.

I am in love with my new mattress. The only problem is that I go into my bedroom to escape from my mother and the mattress is so comfortable that I go to sleep. I have slept a lot lately. God bless latex.

With a coffee maker, a small fridge, an armload of books, and a portapotty, you could hide out in your bedroom for days...or hours at a time. :heh: Just a small suggestion from Green who does have a bookcase in her bedroom and a reading lamp over her bed. :eyebrows: The toilet is down the hall....:straight

And go to my bedroom. This is sort of odd since I own the house, but I can get away. She is so bored. It worries me, but I have tried all sorts of things to get her interested and she won't do anything. My latest idea is scrapbooking. So I bought about 20 scrapbooking magazines, hoping to get her interested. It won't work, but I try. Mother told me today that when she dies, assuming that happens in this century, I shouldn't think I haven't done all I can for her. Of course, I've done all I can! She implied that she's bored but I've at least fed her well. God. I've only been doing this for over 6 years. My life has been on hold for that long. But there are good things. I have great house paid for with her money. That's about it.

I still love my bed. I was sick for 2 days this week with some sort of virus that is going around school. Well, everything has suddenly become italic. At any rate, I slept a lot and read "Smilla's Sense of Snow." It's okay. Aha! I hit something that returned everything to normal. Anyway, I intend to cover that book in my new class on Contemporary World Writers. The problem is that most world writers haven't been translated into English which limits my list of world writers. I'm going to do "Alias Grace" by the wonderful Margaret Atwood. Thank god for Canadians. Not that you are interested but I'm also going to cover "The Bone People," "Satanic Verses," "The Kite Runner," and a Chinese novel about bound feet. Also I'm doing Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart." I was going to do "Life of Pi" which is really strange, but I ran out of time. And I'm going to cover the great Isabel Allende's "House of Spirits." I just love Isabel Allende. I have read all of her books and they are a gas, even the one where her daughter died. The only problem with her is she's really petite and thin. I hate that. Well, I've bored you enough. I'll go away now.:clap2:

I've read everyone of the books which you have mentioned except for The Life of Pi and Bone People, and enjoyed them all. I absolutely adored Satanic Verses, and am planning to reread this soon. I am in the midst of doing a lot of reading on the history of Islam at the moment and I figure that once I get all of this knowledge under my hood I will reread the Verses. I have two texts on Islam, one I bought some years ago which I found to be a tough read for someone who knew as little as I do and I recently bought another, a more beginner-friendly text. Once I finish Islam for western dummies, I will dig up the other book and have another stab at it.

A wonderful writer who has been translated into English is the Egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz. He has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and justly so in my opinion. The Australians, Peter Carey and Eliot Perlman, are also splendid. And you must read Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance. I will shut up now on this biz of books.

As for your mum, it is too bad that she is bored. Does she like music? Perhaps an iPod? Does she have any computer skills? She might find the internet of interest. My mum was planning to learn at the age of 87; it was sad that she died without having had the fun. She sure would have loved it! What about a dictating machine? She could then tell the story of your family, and of her life and times.

I am sure that many people would be fascinated to learn how household chores were done in those days, how long they took, what things cost, what people ate, how people travelled and why - in brief, the minutiae of her existance. It would be interesting to learn how she felt about the Depression, the wars, the hippies, etc., and when she got her first TV. I guess I find myself suggesting this to you because I myself am still wanting to ask my mother or my father these sorts of questions but cannot.

green: That's a great idea. Bitter if you could get your mom interested in recording her memories for posterity, she might have a really fun stroll down memory lane. Plus like Green and her folks, I wish I could ask my parents many things now that they're gone. Before they died, I got tired of hearing the same stories over and over, bless their souls.

One time I drove my Dad home to Oklahoma from Florida so he could see my sister who was gravely ill with cancer. I dreaded being cooped up in the car with him for 2 days because I knew he would tell me the same tired stories that I'd heard my entire life.

I bought some books on tape and first thing on the second day, I popped one in. I was enjoying it immensely when we stopped for lunch. When we finished and got back in the car, he very quietly asked me if we could talk for a while. I think his hearing was bad enough that he had trouble understanding the tape. I said sure, we can talk awhile.

All the rest of the trip my dad came up with the most entertaining stories I'd ever heard. I couldn't believe it... fantastic, wonderful tales that he had never told me before. Don't ask me how or why it happened, but it turned into a trip that I will always be thankful that I made with him. Boring it was NOT!

Now that both he and my mom are gone, questions come up on a weekly basis that I wish I could ask them. You never know Bitter, it just might work! Most people love to talk about the things that they've experienced.

Congrats on the new rack. Sounds terrific!

I used to have tampons in my purse, tampons in my desk at work. Now I have tweezers in my purse, tweezers in my desk at work, tweezers by the TV. Oh how the mighty have fallen! But you know what??? I think I feel better about myself than I have any pretty much any other age. I have HATED my body all my life and envied others. I am now on the downhill of my 50's and ya know what...I think I am holding up pretty darned good! Now I'm gonna start working on myself to make myself look better (better for ME and ME alone!). I plan on having a little nip and tuck here and there. I look around me and ya know what...I just don't look that bad to me anymore! I think I am actually enjoying my age! I quit dying my hair about 4 years ago and it is GLORIOUSLY white!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! I growl when anyone at a beauty salon suggests a "tint".... I get compliments CONSTANTLY! My hair which I always hated, which was always thick and frizzy, is a glorius white mane...I have enough hair on my head for three people and I just now realized how LUCKY I am! Mt skin is in great shape...but I am now taking better care of it. All in all...I really cannot complain!!!

Has anyone seen the book by Nora Ephron called "I Feel Bad About My Neck - And Other Thoughts On Being A Woman".

Oprah did a show about aging and she was on and she was a complete HOOT.

I, oh, so hear ya about the tweezers! LOL I often wonder, now that I am 58, if all those old time bearded circus ladies were just yer regular post-menopausal grrls, ones who had decided not to pluck. There was a time when there weren't a lot of career avenues open to women....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I knew I missed my calling!

Oooh I have to tell you that I keep tweezers handy too although I only have the occasional wild chin hair here and there. After seeing one of my relatives, I realize how bad it can get! I went to a gathering of family and had not seen this one gal in a very, very long time.

SHE WAS THE BEARDED LADY!!! I kid you not! She had a full beard and it was pretty long! I have never been so shocked about the transformation of a person in all my life. She's only a few years older than I and I have no doubt that she could work for Ringling Bros if she wanted to. I just don't get it.

She bragged about how she doesn't take any HRT (hormone replacement therapy - as if you don't know about that). Doctors and the media have put the fear in us about the relationship between breast cancer and HRT. However what they don't speak to is the fact that there are certain hormones that we absolutely need for optimal health as aging women. If your doctor will take the time to do the blood work and research, they can find the proper dosage of those critical hormones that will keep you from losing the good stuff but not put you in peril for getting cancer.

My sister and mother both died from breast cancer and I do take HRT. But I have done enough reading and research myself, as has my doctor, that I am certain that the dose and kind of HRT that I take is not setting me up for breast cancer. And I can keep up with my chin hairs and even more importantly, I still have a very active and healthy sex life. My bones are still great and my heart is strong. There are other things going on in my body that aren't so obvious but which are vital to my overall health, that rely on the proper dosages of hormones.

BTW, I had a complete hysterectomy when I was in my 40s, and I have no doubt that if I had not been able to trust my doctor and figure out the proper meds for me, I would have a beard down to my knees by now. My relative is a shining example.

kacee I am glad that you are happy and proud of your full head of white hair! I have a little grey at the temples and a few wild ones here and there scattered around on the top of my head. However they are not pretty, they do not complement my normal hair color and I have no choice but to let the hairdresser do her thing every 5 or 6 weeks.

My husband started greying in his late 30's and now has a beautiful thick head of white hair. Other balding men his age are very envious. My DH is quite the distinguished fellow. Lots of women tell me how attractive he is. If I had his hair, I'd be one happy camper. So I congratulate you and think you're very sharp to appreciate your beautiful, thick tresses!

Green -- Thanks for the book ideas. I will check them out. I still need another book or two for the course. I got a couple of novels, one from Africa and one Japanese one, but they are too old. I wanted this course to cover the last 30 years or so. I have tried just about everything with mother, but maybe she would like a tape recorder. She seems bored with telling how things were when she was a child, but her stories are fascinating. I particularly like the one about the gasoline stove they had which caught on fire and they had to throw it in the yard. I will keep working on it.

kacee -- You lucky devil. My hair is also white, but it looks terrible with my skin so I dye. Everyone else in my family had dark hair that grayed beautifully except for my cousin. She and I had crappy hair and look terrible with white hair. Of course, she doesn't look terrible anymore since she's dead. O.D.ed on cocaine. But I guess I'll dye forever or at least until I retire.