Margaret Josephs’ Skin Tightening Cream

Season 10 Episode 15 Real Housewives of New Jersey Fashion

When I saw the little yellow / orange bottle glowing on the corner of Margaret Josephs’ bathroom at the Jersey Shore I immediately recognized it and wanted to share. It’s a skin tightening cream that smells delish that I have used in the past. It’s a little pricey but pretty fab if you want to treat yourself like a fab Garden State gal down by the shore.

The Realest Housewife,

Big Blonde Hair

Click Here to Shop her Brazilian Bum Bum Cream

Originally posted at: Margaret Josephs’ Skin Tightening Cream

Last week, my reading group discussed Overstory,
a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about connections between people and trees.
Author Richard Powers, a gifted writer, weaves astounding facts about the
resilience of trees as he chronicles their destruction.

It’s a challenging book, and our
discussion naturally evolved to our frustrations with climate change and our
desire to turn things around.

Though we may think it’s too late, we
agreed that it’s up to us to take action. We CAN change things, little by
little. Some steps are easy while others are more difficult, but we all need to
do something.

If you want to know how your lifestyle
affects our planet, go to Ecological
Footprint Calculator
to compute your personal global footprint. It’s shocking for those of us in the
Western World.

I’m sad to say that if everyone on the
planet lived a lifestyle like mine, it would take 4.2 earths to accommodate us.
How embarrassing. Time to make some changes!

Our Food Choices Matter

We can eat lower on the food chain.
The less energy it takes to produce the foods we consume, the less carbon goes
into the atmosphere.

Livestock, which is higher on the food
chain, is responsible for 14.5 percent of manmade global greenhouse gas
(according to Columbia
University’s Earth Institute).
There’s no way I’ll convince my husband to give up meat completely, but we can
certainly eat more vegetarian meals.

We should also choose local and
organic foods (less energy for growth and delivery), avoid prepared foods, buy
food in bulk, reuse leftovers, and compost food waste. If you live in a city,
google “compost services” to see where you can bring your compost.

By now, we should all be supplying our
own shopping bags and doing our best to avoid plastics in the items we buy.
It’s a challenge, but we’re moving forward.

I’ve purchased glass storage
containers to replace plastic ones, and I no longer purchase zip-lock bags. I
purchased little shower-cap-like covers to use and reuse on bowls for
leftovers. They work great, they were cheap, and I’m not using baggies.

Fashion? Consider the Options

It’s wasteful to buy trendy items that
will go out of style. Instead, choose sensible, quality clothing that will last.
(I still have some socks I purchased 40 years ago that must be made of iron).

Check out vintage and used clothing in
consignment and thrift shops. It’s a great way to recycle, and you’ll save
money, too.

Another thing you can do is wash your clothes
in cold water. The enzymes in cold water detergents clean better in cold water,
and you’ll save up to 500 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year if you do two
loads of laundry a week. Not bad!

How About Your Appliances?

If you need a new computer, opt for a
laptop or a tablet rather than a desktop, as they use less power.

Go for electric rather than gas
appliances; electricity is fast becoming the cleanest form of power.

When you’re ready to purchase a new
household appliance, look for Energy Star products, which will save the
environment as they save you money on power.

A Home Makeover

We can certainly do with some home
changes as well. For instance, change your old fashioned (incandescent) light
bulbs to LEDs, which use a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times
longer. That’s a no-brainer.

Switch the lights off when not in use,
and unplug electronic devices that aren’t in use. Did you know that turning down
your water heater to 120º F (49º C) will save about 550 pounds of CO2 a year?

Installing a low-flow shower head will
reduce your hot water use and can save 350 pounds of CO2 a year. And consider a
shorter shower. When I was in Australia during a drought, they had a minute
timer in their shower, and a minute was all I got.

And don’t forget to lower your AC thermostat
in winter and raise it in summer.

What About Travel?

When you go places, drive less and use
public transportation whenever possible. Consider walking or biking to nearby destinations,
and if you need to drive, try to carpool.

Be a less aggressive driver – fast stops
and starts use more gas. Properly inflated tires will improve your gas mileage,
too.

When you’re ready to buy a new car,
consider a hybrid or an electric vehicle. The prices of these vehicles are
coming down, and your savings on energy will pay for the difference within a
few years.

Avoid airplane flights when you can
use ground transportation, and if you do need to fly, try to get nonstop
flights. Taking off and landing consume more energy than the flight itself.

If you must fly, pay to offset your
share of the carbon emissions. Many airlines include that option when you
reserve a flight, or you can go online to do that. Your payment will go to
climate protection projects. My Climate is an example, although you can google
other options.

Speak with Your Vote

Finally, we should not ignore the
political factor. No matter how much we do on an individual level, if a
government takes on a protect-the-planet course, we will all be better off for
it.

Whether it be phasing out fossil
fuels, promoting clean energy, or participating in global efforts to diminish
and counteract carbon emissions, there’s a lot to do.

I need to believe we can still save
our planet, but time is wasting. Every change we make today will improve our
world tomorrow.

What changes are you prepared to make
in your lifestyle to help save our home? Which of your habits benefit our
planet? Do you recycle, eat raw foods, or something else? Please share in the
comments below.

One reason
I’d wanted to move into my continuing care retirement community was to stop
cooking dinner. I’d grown tired of planning meals, dashing to the supermarket
for missing ingredients, and cleaning up the kitchen afterward.

In the
years before my husband’s Parkinson’s disease worsened, he’d done the dishes. But
for the 18 months before we moved, the kitchen work had been all mine. I’d wanted
someone else to take over.

The Food Plan

Our
community has two eating places, a dining room with cloth-covered tables where
waiters serve a plated dinner, and an informal bistro where you can grab a
burger anytime. Both restaurants stop seating people at seven o’clock, which is
much earlier than we had been accustomed to, but okay.

Tom and I
each receive 388 food points a month to use however we choose. That’s enough
for one full meal a day, with wine, and then some. So far, we haven’t run out
of points at the end of the month, and we’ve invited guests regularly.

Quantity
hasn’t been a problem. Quality? A slightly different story.

Something Was Missing

Ordering
from all over the menu, we discovered some dishes were quite good, some were
just good, and some were awful. There was a lot of repetition. I soon grew
tired of potatoes and noodles and breaded cutlets.

I missed
the quinoa, ethnic food, and exotic veggies I used to enjoy. One Sunday we
didn’t go to the restaurant; I dragged out the wok I had insisted on keeping when
we moved into our apartment and cooked Chinese style.

I did so
the following week. Then I prepared others of our old favorites: rack of lamb
and bison burgers. Each time the smell of spices and rendering meat permeated our
apartment. Not anticipated, but delicious.

My
enthusiasm for flavor soon gave way, however, partly because I hated going to a
new supermarket to get ingredients – I didn’t
know where to find things – and partly
out of pique. We were paying for meals and I wanted my money’s worth.

I decided
to adapt to the menu by bringing my own quinoa to the dining room. And
scallions and pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top. Then I noticed another woman was
improving the fare.

She
brought a baggie full of spices with her to the table. Like me, she must have
wanted to enjoy the taste of home in the place she now called home.

The Game People Play

More people
took things away from the table than
brought things to it, though. I soon noticed
that people ordered their soup “to go” so they could take it to their apartment
for lunch the next day. Other people filled plastic containers with a second
helping from the salad bar to serve as the base for another meal.

Some
people ordered double veggies and a doggie bag along with their entrée. Taking
cookies and deserts home to nibble in front of the TV seemed to be standard
operating procedure.

The waiters
patiently packaged all the take-out requests. Clearly, residents didn’t want
food, or points, to go to waste. I don’t like waste either, but it seemed to me
that the take-out game would require brainwork I no longer wanted to expend.

Would I Play?

In the
end, it came down to energy. I had to prioritize my husband’s care and my own
health, which includes writing and maintaining our athletic dog’s lifestyle,
over the extra brainwork the dining game would require.

But adding
flavor or jicama to an ordinary dish? That was an acceptable expenditure of
energy. So was taking home anything I got too full to eat.

I decided
it was okay to dedicate a little bit of bandwidth to making meals a little bit
more enjoyable. I overcame my second thoughts, especially when I saw how often
my husband spilled soup on the tablecloth. Someone else cleaned up after him,
with a smile.

Not all CCRC’s run their meal plans in the same way. Make sure to find
out how meals are handled in the CCRC that interests you. Please do contact me
if you want more detail.

How often do you cook at home? Do you
sometimes find it tedious? Why? Do you think you could get used to food cooked
by others? Please share with our community.

Look back over the years and if you’re lucky, you’ll have clocked up a fair few holidays. Sun-soaked beaches, less-than-perfect campsites, city wanderings. The fact is that simply having a break from routine provides us with the memories that stand out most in our life.

Where
do you find those memorable holiday moments now? Not surprisingly, as we age,
so our tastes and demands change.

The
camping holiday that seemed distinctly uncool in our teens somehow morphed into
the favourite go-to family holiday, and the prospect of a stress-free cruise
which may have horrified us in our 30s may seem quite appealing now.

The
good news is that after decades of family holidays, you can now be deliciously
selfish! You may look back with nostalgia at the holidays when babies and
toddlers left you hankering for a romantic break à deux, but
there’s more to be gained by moving on from this and looking to the future.

For most of us,
much of the attraction of a holiday is in being somewhere new, together with the
pleasure of stepping off the treadmill and forgetting about everyday demands on
our time. Many of us also like learning about new things and get a kick out of meeting
new people.

But
we may also need time just to be with our favourite people, to re-connect and
enjoy the simple pleasure of spending time together. So, what are the different
options available and how do we find the right one for each of us?

What About a Solo Holiday?

Remember,
no-one ever demanded that you share the same interests as your partner forever,
so even if you’ve lived happily with someone for 30 years plus, there’s nothing
to say that separate holidays won’t do you both good!

If
you’re not keen on setting off completely solo, perhaps consider joining forces
with a friend or do some research into joining a small organised group tour.

Of
the 16 or so guests on our escorted walking
tours to Italy, at least a third are usually solo holidaymakers and many
return year after year to discover a new part of Italy together.

Should We Join a Group Tour?

If
you thought group tours were just for solos, think again. Holidaying with your
partner within a group is a great way of making new friends, following existing
interests, and, better still, trying new activities together.

The
best bit, of course, is that linking up with a guided group means that someone
else takes care of all the arrangements and organisation, leaving you free to
relax and get on with your holiday.

So,
for example, if you both enjoy walking, signing up to an escorted hiking
holiday can be a great option. Enjoy the luxury of having someone else to plan
and lead your routes, track down the best restaurants in the area, or even pack
(and carry!) a picnic.

Hedonistic Hiking, for example, lead
gastronomic hiking holidays to most regions in Italy, mixing in cultural visits
with foodie-related activities and wine-tasting.

Better
still, if you choose to follow a particular interest, such as hiking or
wine-tasting, there’s a good chance that you’ll find yourself amongst
like-minded people.

Should We Holiday with Friends?

Holidaying
with long-standing friends can be great fun, particularly when the friendship
extends over many years. Enjoy discovering new places together, lingering over
lunches in the sun and having the time to sit and chat about the things that
really matter to you.

It’s
wise, however, to set some ground rules before you go, particularly if you’re
sharing accommodation.

Will
you spend every day together, or are you all happy to go your separate ways on
some days? Will you self-cater or eat out? Remember that if you’ve each brought
up your own family, you’ll have your own way of doing things on holiday.

How often do you and your partner take separate holidays? How much
do you enjoy meeting new people on holiday? Do you ever take a holiday with one
or more of your grown-up children but without your partner? Please share your
stories with our sisters!

Lala Kent’s Black Floral Blazer at Dinner

Vanderpump Rules Season 8 Episode 8 Fashion

While James Kenndey may fancy himself a “Topman”, Lala Kent’s black floral blazer is about to take that title because it’s tag says the very same thing. Except this time we’ll be giving a UK based brand credit for the design instead of stealing the name and making it into a song. And leave it to Lala—who I truly believe has never looked better than she does this episode— to borrow a blazer from the boys and make look better than they do.

The Realest Housewife,

Big Blonde Hair

Black and Red Satin Floral Slim Fit Topman Blazer

Originally posted at: Lala Kent’s Black Floral Blazer