Mirror, Mirror On The Wall...

Recently I did one of my well practiced 'bait and switch' tactics...

Do you know the children's book, "If You Give A Moose A Cookie?"  (If you give a moose a cookie, he is going to want a glass of milk to go with that cookie.  And if you give a moose a glass of milk with his cookie, he is going to want you to read him a story while he eats his cookie and drinks his milk...) Well, when you start a house project it sort of follows that kind of plan.  Here's the story...

Joe and I had bought a new vanity mirror for over the sink before the holidays last year.  I suggested we put it in now as we have had it for quite a few months, but kept putting it off because the holidays got in the way and we just hadn't gotten back to it.  So... Joe pulled the old mirror out and before he had a chance to put the new one back in I said... "It makes sense to repaint while the mirror is out, and it won't take much to take this old wallpaper off."   Then while we were at the store choosing new paint... we looked at lights, because, well... lets face it, the old light was looking pretty ratty now that the mirror was out of the way.  That store didn't have anything we liked so we stopped at a lighting store and found the perfect vanity light--its beautiful!  Ok, now we have a new mirror, new paint, new light... and then I said... "well, you know we really should rewire before we paint and put the new mirror back in because we need another outlet in the bathroom..." and the next thing you know, my brother is helping us to rewire the bathroom!  Ok.... it is sounding pretty good isn't it?   The whole thing is now back together and looking pretty good.  We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a new shower rod because that was now looking old and worn and I suggested we look at makeup mirrors that attach to the wall--to buy later of course, I just wanted to price them.  Well, as I had a coupon for 10% off and a store credit for $8... it was going to be pretty cheap, so we walked out with a new 8x magnifying make-up mirror!  Wow!  I have to tell you my bathroom looks 100% better!  All from a little suggestion that we just shove in the new vanity mirror... (It will only take a few minutes honey!)

(Looking pretty good, don't you think? 

Wish I had a 'before' photo to show you!)

Alright, so what does any of this have to do with health???  I am getting to it!  It was that pesky little last purchase.  That make-up mirror.  The one that magnifies 8x.... You see, I am not getting older, but evidently my eyes are.  And, I do NOT want to be one of those old ladies with lipstick around their mouth totally missing their lips and looking like a clown--hence the need for a magnifying mirror.  Doesn't it make sense?  Except... when I looked into that mirror, with new lights in the bathroom (you can actually SEE in there now!) I was SHOCKED!  Absolutely SHOCKED!!!  I had gotten lines in my face I never knew I had!  I LOOKED LIKE MY MOTHER!!! AHHHHH....

(Me and my mom--1973, and yes,

that is my Senior Prom night! 

--Mom must have been about 50 in this photo.)

After a few days I recovered from the shock of what a 56 year old face really looked like.  I had been seeing a 30 year old face for the past 26 years!  And then I realized that the reality is I AM 56... closer to 60 than I like to think about and of course my face has been changing.  It reminded me of the importance of skin care--an easy thing to put off... to think that it doesn't matter now, I'll take care of it later.  And of course my nutritional health as well, because we all know skin care is impacted by what we put into our bodies as well. 

So... my next purchase???  A full length floor mirror!  I might as well get over the shock of what the rest of my body looks like now before it gets any older!