ME, ME, ME, ME!!!! Moms hear that all the time but it’s not often that you hear MOMS say it. Sometimes mothers lose the ME in the course of taking care of everyone else. We look up one day and ask, “Where did that girl go and who is this crazed woman?”

Well a couple of years ago I started noticing changes in my body. I figured, “Well I’m 45. I guess it’s to be expected.” What I didn’t realize was how fast those changes multiply once they start coming on! Some days I wake up to look in the mirror and wonder who that old woman is looking back at me. On days when I’m half asleep I imagine my mother has come to visit!

Then it dawns on me that IT IS ME! It’s an older more mature me. The me who never worried about her looks much suddenly finds herself wanting to know more about this new ME and learn to love her as much as the old ME. Some days it’s hard and others it’s utterly depressing. I want to love this new me. I never did care for middle aged women who want to stay as they were in their 20′s and will do anything to do it including surgery. Lately, I am more sympathetic. I can empathize now but I don’t want to go that route. I’d like to take the road to “aging gracefully” instead.

All my life I have been lackadaisical about my beauty. I have never considered myself vain and had never really cared for all the trappings of being beautiful. Sure, I cared how I looked, I liked to wear nice things, I battled to tame my hair and I love shoes; but it was never a priority. I never obsessed over brand names, never really cared what kind of lipstick or make up I wore, and even shoes that I loved, I chose first for comfort than for style. I still don’t. That’s not my goal for starting this Meme.

It seemed fortuitous that BlogHER, for 2011, started a campaign called Own Your Beauty:

Own Your Beauty is a groundbreaking, year-long movement bringing women together to change the conversation about what beauty means. Our mission: to encourage and remind grown women that it is never too late to learn to love one’s self and influence the lives of those around us – our mothers, friends, children, neighbors. We can shift our minds and hearts and change the path we follow in the pursuit of authentic beauty.

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The following blogs are holding an awesome giveaway with a $500 prize. Sponsored by BlogHer and Swanson, they are participating in the Great Stuffing Debate campaign. I happen to love stuffing and I also love giveaways! If you win one of these, you can be swimming in stuffing. Which is what I intend to do

Melanie from Big Mama

Tara from Feels Like Home

Deborah from Taste and Tell 

Angie from Eclectic Recipes   

Amanda from I Am Mommy 

The Feisty Momma put out a call on who is doing NaBloPoMo this month. It’s been a while since I have blogged daily, so I thought, why not?  I had thought of doing the 365 blogging, but of course that didn’t work out since I found out about it too late in the year. I probably would have fallen off the wagon by now anyway.

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month, which means that participants blog everyday for the whole month of November. It used to be only for November but apparently a lot of people are crazy enough to sign on to blog everyday so now NaBloPoMo is actually held every month but with different themes. This month though, there is no theme. It’s freestyle which is more my style.

If you’re doing NaBloPoMo this month, let me know so we can egg each other on.

Grumbles are starting as August came around. Yep, this month the kids go back to school! That also means back to school shopping. One of the biggest expenses parents will make will probably be a laptop especially if you have a student entering college. Two of mine are still in high school but already they need their own laptops. One of my daughters is carrying five advanced placement courses this year and a computer with internet connection is almost mandatory now to complete all their assignments.

CookiesKids.com feels your pain and has come to your rescue! I already signed up for this and I thought I would share it with you too. Good luck!

All you have to do is sign up to receive the Cookies Kids Newsletter via e-mail and you’re automatically entered to win one of 4 brand new laptops!!

Simply fill out the form below to be entered into the Laptop Giveaway Sweepstakes. Please be sure to read the Giveaway Sweepstakes “Terms and Conditions” before entering your information.

Entry Form: http://cli.gs/6dGhsh

Contest ends 9/30/09 at 11:59 AM ET. This contest brought to you courtesy of the Momfluence network.