Like "shrimpin"..... 50 is tough.

Yep.  It is.   I'm not exactly sure what to do at this age.  Facebook doesn't help, either.  I see my FB friends posting snapshots of their lives, and in the virtual world, their lives look absolutely fantastic. They go from country to country, attend great sporting events, and when they're home... apparently, they are a cross between Martha Stewart, Mother Teresa, and someone from "This Old House".  Oh, and did I mention that they're also very attractive, and look radiant at each and every one of these events?  Did I mention THAT?

So, is that what I'm supposed to be doing at this age?  If so, once again, I'm failing miserably.  Sometimes, I think it would be funny to post pics of me and what I'M doing.  But a quick, FaceTime conversation with my daughter last weekend on my iPhone put the kibosh on THAT idea.  Why?  Because I finally saw up close and in person what I actually look like while sitting on the couch.  And there are NO GOOD CAMERA ANGLES to hide that. So the Facebook world shall be spared pictures of me slumped in our old, sometimes comfortable leather couch...and ones of me attempting to make potato salad, because I'm craving it, and it taking me three times to get the potatoes and mixture "just right". Or my quest on how to make the perfect pitcher of tea...the constant studying of the internet, (thank God for that Al Gore person), pouring over a myriad of southern cooking websites, and getting input from all sorts of relatives. Lipton vs. Luzianne, bottled water vs. tap water... it's quite complicated.  After all of that knowledge, it "only" took me about 4 tries, wasting probably 10-12 family size tea bags, and 2 1/2 pounds of sugar....but dammit, I finally have it down to the perfect pitcher of satisfying iced tea.  You also won't see any pics of me cooking chicken breasts for my daughter's dog, because he loves them, and I can't have him eating just hard dog food... and making him pumpkin dog treats from scratch.  Nope.. no pics of that.  None of me riding my mom around each day, while listening to her favorite radio station "Willie's Roadhouse".  And certainly no pics of me sitting next to my husband with my feet tucked under his legs, or laying on his lap while we watch all of our favorite TV shows.  But, you know what?  Those are the things I'M doing at 50.  And I sure as hell don't look radiant doing any of them.  Yes, I take a shower, fix my hair, and sometimes put on makeup.  And every once in awhile, I actually wash my faded, hole-filled, cropped jeans that I wear everyday.  And did I mention I found the greatest comfortable pair of shoes ever?  Well, I did.

But none of that looks good on Facebook.  I'm not entirely convinced it even SOUNDS good... LOL.  But it's what I do, and it's what I like to do.  I think back sometimes on my grandparents and their marriage.  They were two of the happiest people I've ever known, and they loved each other till the very end.  And I think about what they did at this age. They were both working outside the home. But they had a garden, and they had apple trees, and they had beautiful flowers all around their house.  I never saw them when they weren't working on something.  Either in the house or outside.  But on Saturday nights, they would finally settle down and watch Lawrence Welk on TV. On Sunday mornings, they went to church, came home, and made a huge Sunday dinner together, and their 2 boys and families would come and eat.  All together.  At a table.  I wonder what my grandparents would've done had there been Facebook, or all the other social media we have today?  Somehow, I just can't imagine my "Paw Paw" and "Mama D" having anything to do with it.

Ok, back to me.  Where is this post going?  It rambles, and goes from one thing to the next, not saying a whole hell of a lot.  And that's how my life is, I guess.  And that's how it's going to be, at least for now. Maybe in my next life, I'll be the queen of Facebook, all cute and sassy, saving the world, building houses, and loving my husband because he's the "greatest human being on the planet 24/7"...and did I mention my kids will be perfect, with great work ethic, and be the smartest people I've ever known...  Wait a minute, my husband already IS that, and my kid, too.  :-)  So it looks like it's ME I need to work on.  Dang.  So THAT'S where this post is going.

Did I ever tell you about how to make the perfect pitcher of iced tea?  ...............