I retired from my last career in 2001 after the death of my husband. My savings were gone as well as most of my retirement fund due to the nature of my husband’s fatal illness and the bills that his medical insurance did not pay. So, I sold my collection of antique jewelry and opened a small business. Five years later, my business is booming and is continuing to grow. I have two on-line stores as well as a website so I stay busy from early morning until bedtime. I am a great believer in being at the right place at the right time. No more business suits and heels for me! I love it!

Hey Edith Ann, It’s OK if you feel angry sometimes. If you get so mad that you feel like pitching a fit, it’s probably better not to do that around your mom. My cousin Barbara used to pitch a fit in the grocery store sometimes if she wanted something and her mommy said no. My mom told me that if I ever did that she would give me a whipping. I never did pitch a fit in the grocery store because when my mom gave you a whipping, she really gave you a whipping! Then, if you cried she would say to stop that or she would REALLY give you something to cry about! I didn’t want to find out what that was so I learned to shut up! It’s better to get your mad out because it will give you a tummy ache when you grow up if you don’t. It’s OK to pitch a fit too; just don’t do it around where your mom can see! You can beat up your pillow if you feel like hitting because that won’t hurt anybody. You can get a diary and write all about how you feel. That always made me feel better only I found out that my mom was reading my diary. So, I wrote about how I felt about my mom and how I felt about people who read other people’s secret thoughts. She couldn’t give me a whipping for that because then she would have to tell my dad that she read my diary. It was a good way for me to vent. Venting is a grown-up word for pitching a fit. You will be OK Edith Ann if you learn that being angry is normal. Normal is another grown-up word and I can’t tell you what that means because nobody has figured it out yet. Your friend, Hedda

Isn’t chocolate one of the major food groups?

J Bolynn; You probably look great at 5”6” and 150 lbs! When I was in my 30’s, I was 5”3”, 135 lbs. and wore a size 8. I was very athletic, took belly dancing, studied Gho Zirhu Karate for years, and walked three miles a day. Guess what? Muscle weighs more than fat and I still have good muscle tone….underneath a few extra pounds. The bottom line is that I can’t lose more than 3-5lbs but will lose inches instead. I suppose I am where I am supposed to be and am OK with it. I would be willing to bet that you are a stunner right where you are!

As a squab, I was consistently told by my mother that I was too fat. I later realized that I was not but the damage was done. When I was 19, I went to the city’s best “diet doctor” and was given a prescription for what I now know to be black beauties. Three months later I had mononucleosis and was out of commission for two months. I was naive but blessed with some common sense so I went to a nutrition clinic and learned about healthy eating. Extra weight that has taken several months or years to gain is not going to magically come off with an unhealthy fad diet! During an unhappy marriage, I gained what was for me, an enormous amount of weight. After seeing a photograph of me that was taken at my son’s high school graduation, (and not recognizing THAT woman in the picture!), I put myself on a diet. I just cut all sugar, salt, and fat from my diet and walked three miles a day. The weight came off, my self esteem returned, (it seems that I had married my “mother”), I divorced the SOB and have never looked back. I have never really eaten a lot of fried foods or packaged and processed foods, preferring fresh and/or broiled because I like to taste the vegetables or meat. Unless the FDA labels dark chocolate a drug, I don’t just say no. I’m high on life, girls! As for cosmetic procedures, NOT! I remember a quote from a French woman who said that when a woman has reached the age of forty, she has the face that she has earned. I was blessed with good genes on both sides of my family in that respect. Good skin and virtually wrinkle-free. I believe it was Zsa Zsa Gabor who said that at 40, a woman can sacrifice her fanny or her face to look young. Not an exact quote but you get the idea. (I guess Zsa Zsa sacrificed her fanny but someone should have told her never to wear jodhpurs with her blouse tucked in after the sacrifice!) I think that all women are beautiful, no matter their age, and a little experience on the face and body only adds to their beauty and mystique. Our society is plastic enough.

This reminds me of a game that I and some of my friends used to play over coffee; if you could visit any time in the past for two weeks as an observer, what era would you visit and what three things from the present would you bring with you? Fascinating idea! For Judith’s literary pleasure-not-glory literary pioneer I would choose between Jane Austin and Georges Sand, leaning heavily toward Sand on the pleasure factor. I would love to go back in time as Nefertiti. What a fascinating period in Egyptian history! I would mainly want to know if she was the mother of Tutankhamen and if she became pharaoh after the death of her husband, Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV. Most people see her as just another pretty face but that lady had to have strength and smarts to survive the court intrigues and the constant threats against her monotheistic husband by the temple priests. Lots of intrigue, loads to ancient mysteries to solve, and an interesting husband to boot!

Bastet would be the mythological figure that I most relate to. A warrior, protector, the goddess of perfumes (yummy!) and the patron of cats. She was sometimes viewed as the goddess of domestic happiness. For an historical figure I would also relate to Esther. She was a strong lady and a good strategist, apparently!

I’m with you Bella. The last electronic umbilical cord I had, a pager, ended in a glass of water.

Hey Mugsy, Are you a Scorpio too? So is Hillary!

In my opinion, any woman who is a successful candidate for the presidency would need a set to run the gauntlet during her campaign. I think that Hillary may be making a few good ol’ boys up on the Hill a little nervous. She’s a successful woman as well as a powerful one who can give as well as she gets. I would love to see SOMEBODY clean that morass of back-slapping do-nothings in congress out! That’s going to be a tough one for Hillary as she isn’t well liked there. We need to take out government back from the lobbyists and anyone else who stands in the way of progress and positive change.

This is going to be totally off base for some of you; why not have the resident astrologer here compare the candidate’s natal charts? I have been an astrologer for over 40 years and have already done so with the information that I have. I think you might be very interested in the results! The chart I cast for GW was right on, by the way. I’d be interested to see/hear what Peggy Rometo has to say.

Louise, I’m rootin’ for you!!

I’m 58 and proud! I have almost no wrinkles and I keep my hair red. My teeth are also my own as well as EVERYTHING else! Age is only a number; you are as young as you keep your spirit. I am also a very good keeper of secrets, Barbara!

My parents were together for 52 years so no divorce there. I think I was closer to my father in many ways but am more like my mother the older I get! My dad was a gentle man with admirable qualities, the kind I looked for in other men all of my life. He was funny and honest and totally ethical, a real dream of a dad. He passed on good values to my brother and me and for that I will be forever grateful. My mom was a tough cookie. Quick to anger and a real believer in corporeal punishment. She was a strong woman and a real survivor, having lived through some of the toughest times in the 20th century. She was a net-worker, a volunteer, and was always with us when we were ill, even though I got the impression that it was a lot of trouble for her. The one thing I am most grateful to her for was her teaching me to read before I started school. She read to me every night before bed from a huge worn-out book of fairy tales. I think that must have been what spurred my creativity. I thought that letting my father go when he died would be the hardest but I discovered that not to be the case when we lost Mom this past January. She was a wowser and I will miss hearing her laugh.

I have to agree with Iris. In my work, I came into contact with hundreds of people every day and during especially busy times would come home with a case of the “heebie-jeebies”! I believe that we pick up negative energy from that kind of contact. As weird as it sounds, taking a shower immediately after coming home seemed to cure the problem. I have been known to tell people who got in my face while talking to step back and to put that finger away before they come up short on one. My husband respects my privacy and I respect his. I don’t read his email or go through his personal things. As children, we both had mothers who snooped through our stuff so we understand each other. I kept a diary and left messages in there regarding my thoughts on people who would read someone’s personal thoughts without asking first, hoping that my mom would get the message. Later, I just wrote in a foreign language. I am a firm believer in the “three feet of personal space” rule.