Mukilteo Musings

Extreme Makeover

Being the age that I am, surgical and non-surgical or invasive and non-invasive methods to appear younger attract my attention now and then. To be honest, I find these efforts to be ridiculous. I admit I am judgemental about celebrities who "young" themselves beyond recognition. It is creepy.

Both of my husband's parents had face lifts. His Mom had more than one. The first one did improve her outlook on life but she complained the subsequent procedures were never quite right. His Dad found the process to be extremely painful and I think he regretted it. What he had done made him look like he had had a good night's sleep. All of it bothered me because they did all of this without telling anyone including their children and they hid in their house behind closed curtains while they healed. Dave's sister finally squeezed the truth out of them. Dave's parents were wonderful and generous people but they had trouble embracing old age.

I won't say I would never ever have anything done. If my eyebrows fall down over my eyes making it difficult for me to look through binoculars, I might see if they could be pulled up a bit. Of course, I have given several anti-wrinkle creams a try and some of them were expensive. I have decided the best revenge against aging is sleep, exercise, eating salmon, fruits and vegetables, and using sun block daily even in Seattle.

Last night I watched a new episode of the TV show, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I thought it was hysterical. She pursued the idea of having work done on her body and face in order to be worthy of her highly handsome new boyfriend. The plastic surgeon came up with a hideous "after" photo that she thought was beautiful. The point is surgical beauty is not beauty. It is just weird and people end up not looking like themselves whether young or old.

Also, being that this is an election year, I watch political shows on MSNBC and CNN. I enjoy listening to different sides and arguments and marvel at how James Carville and his wife Mary Matalin can stay married--or Arnold and Maria. I get a kick out of Patrick Buchanan especially when he is paired with Rachel Maddow who I adore. The other day, ultra conservative Patrick Buchanan scared the bejeebers out of me when he stated that if McCain was elected president, he'd make Dick Cheney look like Ghandi. Seriously, you gotta pay attention to warnings like that.

In the last few days, I have seen Patrick Buchanan's sister on the political talk shows. Bay Buchanan is also a pundit and author. In fact, she has written a negative book about Hillary called "The Extreme Makeover of Hillary (Rodham) Clinton." I wasn't sure I was seeing the person I thought Bay Buchanan was supposed to be. Whoa! This woman had some significant work done. I know she is older than me by a few years. Here we go. She looks nothing like she used to look---unrecognizable. She did not even look particularly comfortable as if she was afraid or unable to smile. In a way, she did look more attractive but she did not look real. It was completely distracting so I heard not a word she was saying. Probably, this was a good thing keeping my blood pressure within normal limits. In my opinion, older women have more credibility if they leave well enough alone.


Before


After

Just sayin' it is kind of ironic that the name of her book is "Extreme Makeover."