Rosie O'Donnell : My brother Ed wrote this

                                                       

Rosie O'Donnell will be the first to tell you, she's not perfect. Who is? We all have flaws. I like her... I tend to be a big mouth at times. Isn't it odd that when women speak up, speak loud, stand up, they are loud mouths, even bitches. Not so with men. He's confident, he's strong, powerful.

Anyway, I took a look at Rosie's blog today and wanted to share what her brother wrote on December 17, 2017. 

I am sharing this now, as I sit here watching the vote on it's way to confirm this tax bill that will take away healthcare for so many and alter lives in other negative ways. 

my brother ed wrote this

December 17, 2017

“These are dark and desperate times in our democracy.

Did the Founding Fathers or for that matter any seated Congress repeatedly try and pass laws that vast majority of Americans did not want?

Did they do so in the middle of the night? On bills that had not be read by the voters? Adding trillions to the national debt? Taking services from those who can least afford it, even children? Transferring more wealth to the wealthy and corporations from the lowest income members of our society.

This is madness. America is looking out for a hero, can you be that hero?

Someone, somewhere needs to stand up to this. Congress is voting on bills that are barely written, much less vetted that will negatively impact the majority of Americans for years to come. It needs to be stopped.

Let’s start with the ACA. For six months or more this was debated by Congress and the changes proposed did not pass. So what happens when it doesn’t get passed? The Congressional leadership throws it into a tax bill for a portion of the cuts that they did not get when they couldn’t pass the bill. An estimated 13 Million Americans will not have insurance based on this.

State and local taxes no longer being able to be deducted, or capped at a rate that is ridiculously low, is nothing more than a punitive action against the states that did not vote for the current Administration. These states are the ones which already contribute the most to the federal government. This will have a major impact on the housing market and economies of these states. This will no doubt negatively impact which funding to the federal government. Did no one in Congress take Economics?

Then there are the inappropriate and bizarre additions to this tax bill.

• Setting up 529 college savings accounts for unborn children? With millions of graduates saddled by student loans (which the bill would not have tax deductible interest), young people not being able to afford college and the solution is 529 plans for fetuses? In a tax bill no less?

• Finally, churches endorsing candidates? How about they pay taxes for the privilege? And then there is the separation of church and state. You want to throw out the First Amendment – you need to change the Constitution – not throw this in a tax bill.

America was founded as a country with rights for all citizens with a legislative process that has worked for over 200+ years. This is not the way things are supposed to run in our great democracy. This bill will further concentrate the wealth in the hands of a few and will detrimentally impact the lives of those who are least able to deal with it.

I believe you are a moral person who is looking to do the right thing. The right thing to do here it to take the time to come up with a plan that works for ALL Americans not just the privileged few.

I leave you with the words of the Bible:

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

— 1 John 3:17

Please work to stop this madness and vote against the proposed tax bill. America is holding out for a hero. You can be that hero.”

A Knock at the Door

 
                                                              A Knock at the Door

                                                               

                                               

She just arrived home from work and was ready to relax,when there was a knock at the door. Really? Now? Who would that possibly be..she wasn't expecting anyone!

She looked out the window to see who it was, living alone, she never just opened the door. She began to tremble, her lips were quivering.

Panic washed over her, she found herself frozen. She hadn't felt this way in so many years, waves of fear hit her. Finally, she tried to take a step, but fell to her knees.

What was he doing at her door? Flashbacks of what he did to her almost 40 years ago, all those feelings she thought she would have again, was now all she felt.
His breath on her neck, his fingers touching her, she pushing them away. She wanted to run, panic, fear, she couldn't breathe.

Those words, "no one will believe you" sent chills up her spine. No matter how much she tried to avoid him, he would just appear out of nowhere.

Now, he's knocking on her door. She knew he was running for office. She was avoiding any news so she wouldn't have to hear his voice, his name or see his face.

That knock at her door was like being violated all over again.

She was finally to look out the window, he was gone. She laid on the floor for hours. Doom and gloom was all she felt. She was one of many, yet felt so alone.

Crawling into bed, she called a friend who would understand. A friend fortunate enough to move away a long time ago. A friend who had been through the same thing with him.

She found support in her friend, anger, tears and then strength.Courage to stand together and tell their story. To encourage women to tell their story of abuse.

Strength in numbers, knowing you are not alone. To say enough! To say #MeToo!

Change can't wait for the future. It must begin now. It's long overdo. We do this for ourselves for what so many of us have been through.
We do this for our children, grandchildren, our country.

Telling our stories is important. Sexual assault, abuse, harassment knows no barriers. It crosses all economic lines.

We must come together, now. Now, we begin.

Marjorie Farrington 12/10/2017 ©️

The above is a fictional story.

                                                                         

Time Person of the Year 2017, "The Silence Breakers"

                                                               

Time announced their Person of the Year 2017. Those who shared their stories of sexual harasment,"The Silence Breakers." 

Time The people who have broken their silence on sexual assault and harassment span all races, all income classes, all occupations and virtually all corners of the globe. Their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results. For their influence on 2017, they are TIME’s Person of the Year.

NPR #Metoomovement    

It has created a wave of awareness and brave confrontations over sexual harassment and assault, taking down powerful men in the process. And now the #MeToo movement has been named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2017.

On its cover, Time called the people behind the movement "The Silence Breakers." Its story features women and men who have spoken out — including activist Tarana Burke, who started the hashtag 10 years ago.'

 The Time article also features women who work hourly jobs, some of whom want to remain anonymous. The magazine's cover portrait includes strawberry picker Isabel Pascual, lobbyist Adama Iwu and former Uber engineer Susan Fowler along with Ashley Judd and Taylor Swift.

"The reckoning appears to have sprung up overnight. But it has actually been simmering for years, decades, centuries," Time's Stephanie Zacharek, Eliana Dockterman and Haley Sweetland Edwards write. "Women have had it with bosses and coworkers who not only cross boundaries but don't even seem to know that boundaries exist."

Marking a possible cultural shift back in October, NPR's Sarah McCammon quoted associate professor Lisa Huebner saying of #MeToo, "It helps a lot of people individually, I think, and it also will help us to mark publicly that this is a widespread occurrence, and it's not OK."

Will Sexual Harassment Continue After the Media Moves On?

                               Will Sexual Harassment Continue After the Media Moves On?

                                                                     

Sexual Harasment is built into our culture.

Sexual harassment is embedded in our society. It knows no boundaries. It's been an accepted form of behavior, just as the guys in high school are admired for another notch in their belt.
From the waitress who has to perform for her tips, so what if she gets a pat on the butt, unwanted touches, remarks about her looks and vivid descriptions of what someone wants to do to her. The women working in the service industry, maid service in hotels and motels. The cashier at stores fast food places.Factory workers, school employees, office workers. It doesn't matter, it happens everywhere. 

Our society doesn't teach girls to defend themselves when they are growing up. We don't teach boys respect for girls, that it is not okay to say things about a girl's body. It's not okay to touch her. There are boundaries, both verbal and physical. Teach girls that those boundaries are to be respected.Continue this guidance as both girls and boys mature. 

Right now, as far as adults, this is difficult, the mindset is already there, it's hard to change.
Women shouldn't have to put up with sexual harassment at work (wherever that is). Most will because they need that job. It's not a choice. Those are the ones that will be left behind after the media moves on to the next story.

If we move on from this subject, sexual harassment  will go on and so will any hope for change.

The above is my personal opinion and does not represent the view of wnctimes.com.

Marjorie Farrington 

Women and Anti-Aging

Women Lose Their Looks, Not Men?

Just as "beauty is more than skin deep" so "they Say"....so is the way women are treated as they age. But, for this blog today, I am focusing on the way women are treated because of their aging skin and bodies.

I chose the two photos above of two attractive older people. The woman looks a lot like a woman you might see in an ad for a product for a anti-aging. Yet, a woman with the same look would not be portrayed in a movie as the man's wife. Usually, he would have a wife that could be the age of his daughter, or even granddaughter.

In the 1996 movie "First Wives Club" the women are friends, each are divorced, husbands remarried. Goldie Hawn is an actress who went to an audition, expecting to audition for the daugther, Monique and instead they wanted her to be the mother. She is at the bar, depressed and has had a couple of drinks, it pretty much sums up reality.

"I'm not Monique's mother!

- Lansbury's Monique's mother- Shelley Winters is Monique's mother.

- Now, that's good.

- Sean Connery's Monique's mother.

- Perhaps some coffee now.

- I take that back. Sean Connery

is Monique's boyfriend.

He's  100  years old,

but he's still a stud."

In 1978 essay by Susan Sontag titled The Double Standard of Aging, she really explains it well: 

[For women, o]nly one standard of female beauty is sanctioned: the girl.

The great advantage men have is that our culture allows two standards of male beauty: the boy and the man. 

The beauty of a boy resembles the beauty of a girl. In both sexes it is a fragile kind of beauty and flourishes

naturally only in the early part of the life-cycle. 

Happily, men are able to accept themselves under another standard of good looks — heavier, rougher, more thickly 

built. 

A man does not grieve when he loses the smooth, unlined, hairless skin of a boy. For he has only exchanged 

one form of attractiveness for another: 

the darker skin of a man’s face, roughened by daily shaving, showing the marks of emotion and the normal lines

of age.

There is no equivalent of this second standard for women. 

The single standard of beauty for women dictates that they must go on having clear skin. Every wrinkle, every line,

every gray hair, is a defeat.  

No wonder that no boy minds becoming a man, while even the passage from girlhood to early womanhood is experienced 

by many women as their downfall,for all women are trained to continue wanting to look like girls.}

I was 20 years old when she that was written. I am turning 60 in November. I would say I began to really noticing a 

difference in the past five years.

My looks have gone through some real changes. Every line on my face seems to have deepened, My weight is a constant battle. My gray hair is really coming in,

and it's not that pretty color I remembered my grandmother had..

I am not hung up on my looks, I had three kids, I have had some health problems..but there are some feelings of guilt, ridiculous.

I do notice a difference many times in "how" I am looked at.. I also used to think as you age, respect would come 

with it.

I have found this not to be the case, with few exceptions.

I realize there is big money in selling all of that anti-aging stuff to women. It's too bad the ads create images 

that for the average old woman, cannot be become reality. Just what she needs, another thing to make her 

feel older. These ridiculous goals of trying to be younger can't be reached and now she will feel like a 

failure, as if she is doing something wrong by aging. 

Instead, we should be encouraging older women to be healthy, to love themselves, to enjoy life..not only to accept themselves, but to embrace and be proud of who they are..

Older Women and the Battle of Our Skin

                                                                                   

                                              Older Women Makeup Tips : Over age 50

This is one thing that I find myself wondering about sometimes, mainly because I see so many older women wearing too much makeup. Some may be wearing the wrong makeup.

When you're younger, you may get away with it. But it's different for older women. We are bombarded with ads that want to sell us creams, lotions, all sorts of potions, with the goal of making us look younger. And then there are hundreds of different makeups, with a huge variety of shades...you buy it, get it home, it's too dark or too light. You end up with a drawer full of nothing that works.

After all of this aggravation, I end up wearing no makeup. 

Looking around online for tips can be just as frustrating. 

For me, I don't care about looking younger, I just want to look healthy. I care about my appearance and want makeup that gives me that result.

So, I hope the following tips help..

I found advice on liveabout.com 

1. Your skin is always first.

I like this tip. She says in this tip, the better your skin, the less makeup you'll need. Keeping your skin well-hydrated and exfoliated, you may find all you need is under-eye concealer, mascara if you like and lip balm daily.

Mature skin care:

Moisturize! This will plump up your skin, which will make whatever use on your skin each day go on smoother . In this article, she recommends Neocutis Hyalis, purchased on Amazon. 

Retinol cream

I found this bit of information on livestrong.com

"According to the Mayo Clinic, the first anti-aging products on the marketplace contained retinol, a Vitamin A compound. Vitamin A has been scientifically-proven to help neutralize the free radicals found in the skin cells. These free radicals are responsible for causing our skin cells to break down. This breakdown is what causes wrinkles, age spots, rough skin and other signs of aging skin that a 60-year-old woman will have. In order to get the best results, women should make certain that retinol is the main ingredient in their skin care product states the Mayo Clinic.

Those who want a retinol-based skin care product that is more potent than an over-the-counter one, should visit their dermatologist. They can obtain a prescription-based version of retinol known as tretinoin states the Mayo Clinic. The treatment is applied topically. Tretinoin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)."

Your skin naturally produces collagen, but the amount decreases as you age. To replenish collagen, using various skin-care products that have collagen, can help minimize the appearance of fine lines, day and night creams, moisturizers, lipsticks, foundations powders and cleansers.

Exfoliate daily. There are many facial scrubs out there, a lot of people have recommended coconut oil to me. Unfortunately, I had a bad reaction to it, so I cannot use it. My daughters use it and love it.

Of course, a big No, No is going to bed with makeup on.

Every day, first thing in the morning, I apply sunscreen. When I researched articles, that is highly recommended. For me, I have done it for most of my adult life. I have a brother who has melanoma, which is a lesson for me to keep that sunscreen applied each morning. I don't just do it in the summer, on sunny days, I do it every day, all year long. I apply it to my face, neck, ears, even whatever part of my chest is exposed in every day clothes. Of course, my arms and hands. It also helps with sunspots and wrinkles.

Plump up tinning lips with lip gloss. Add a little color first by filling in lips with a lip liner or lipstick a shade or 2 darker than your natural lip color, then add a dab of lip gloss.

Here is advice from livestrong.com

Foundation for You

The perfect foundation will work with your skin type and will be the correct shade. That's it. You'll want creamy formulations for drier skin and lighter, oil-free foundations for oily skin. As for choosing the right shade, you'll want to test the color with the help of a friend or professional. Strong advice: try before you buy or buy from a place with a great return policy.

Use a Primer First

Just as you prime a wall with primer before you paint it, the secret to flawless makeup lies in makeup primer. Applying a layer of primer between your skin and makeup will help your foundation glide on more smoothly.

Use Different Foundations for Summer and in Winter

Our skin changes not only yearly, but seasonally. In winter months, you may need a creamy formula. In summer months you may find your skin becomes oily and a tinted moisturizer will do.

 Read more of the article

So, I have only just begun...please take a look at the links I provide, there's a lot of information that you may find helpful.

Meanwhile, I will continue down this path and keep sharing here!

credit info also to Liveabout.com

Aging Gracefully

                                                                       

As November gets closer, the big 60 is coming. Yep, hitting that 60 years old mark! I can remember when I was growing up thinking how old that number was! My grandparents, my parents, now, me? Really?

I don't feel my age most of the time. I am grateful to be here, so many don't make it this far. My mother-in-law died at the age of 47, my sister-in-law was only 52, a cousin in his 40's.

I have always loved the outdoors. As a kid, I would be outside, riding bikes, playing games all day. Now, I take walks, taking in the beauty of nature. I am in awe of it all!

I have had health issues in the past and know just how fast life can change. 

Our culture focuses on youth. I feel our most precious treasures are older people. They have been where the youth are going. 

No drama, laugh often, be grateful, love lots!

"Old age is no place for sissies" Bette Davis

Refusing to Fade to Gray

                                         
                                                         Refusing to Fade to Gra
                                                                     

                                                                 

Life is bitter sweet and far from perfection

We find ourselves filled with emotions at time

Looking for direction.

Isn't it strange as we get older we seem to fade away

No one seems to see us anymore 

And act as if we have nothing left to say.

I wonder now as years go by

Did my parents feel this way?

For I feel myself disappear

Already part of the past

I am not really here.

When I speak, my words don't seem 

to go anywhere

They disperse into the air

No one hears them, 

Are my words worthless or is it 

No one really cares?

I am a giving person, 

I know life is not all about me

But isolation is not a place to be.

It's time for me to face I need to 

change my direction in life.

For I am filled with anger and my 

days are filled with strife.

Finding respect for myself is the key

To opening the door to a real life, 

For I know there's so much more.

I cannot look to others, 

No, it's time to put the key in the door

Open up opportunities, for me.                                                            

                                                                                                          Maggie Bloom

                                                                                                          Marjorie Farrington 4/12/2014 ©

Over 50 and a Path to New Employment

                                                                         

Over 50 and finding your way to new employment. Learn How to Become is an excellent online resource! 

The following is from their website:

If you have held multiple jobs throughout your working life or have been laid off, don’t forget that you developed many marketable skills over the years. Create a list of skills you have acquired and determine what you are good at so you can present yourself to employers. Don’t overlook general skills that are essentially transferable skills relevant to multiple occupations. Skills such as reading and writing, management skills, technical skills, and communication skills can transfer over to a number of positions and industries Use tools like the Career One Stop Skills Profiler          Toolkit Use  tools like the 

Check out the Toolkit. It is a great resource from Interest Assessment, Skills Profiler, to Job and Salary Finder and more!

Check out this great info Career One Stop

And don't forget to go to Learn How To Become

Style or Comfort?

                                                                       

I hadn't seen my friend all winter. As soon as I walked outside, she looked at my boots and said "What's the story with your boots." I told her where I got them and how much I paid. Later that day, we were sitting outdoors and she noticed my shoes. She told me my choice in shoes were "interesting."

Hmm...I thought, is that positive or negative? I said, "What are you trying to say, I have no style?" (I was smiling) She just laughed.

I dress for comfort, I always have, in clothes and shoes. As I have gotten older, it's more important for my feet. My mom always had foot problems and had to wear shoes she could wear, not really what was good for her feet.

I don't spend a fortune on my shoes, but I don't skimp on them, either. They have to be quality, comfortable and good for my feet.

Style is not a priority for me. I see all of these commercials that show women with shelves of shoes. I have never understood it.

What is more important to you, style or comfort?