Tracey! LOL! You would have had to see what it looked like before to really appreciate what is changed. The red had faded to an ugly rusty looking mix of strawberry blonde and yucky roots and I had come to the conclusion that is was cheaper to have the hair returned to some normal shade of blonde than it was to replace about 40% of my entire wardrobe that was various shades of pink, red and purple that I could no longer wear with the red hair. The operator did 3 sets of whole head foils, putting in low lights, base color and blonder highlights, then he cut it in a more managable style (lower maintenance, I no longer have to spend 40 min styling it before i can go to the bus stop) and I was pampered with latte, biscotti and great conversation during the entire 3 hour process. I'm not sure it "looks" like a $300 "do" but it looks MILES better than it did when I went in and I can now wear everything in my closet again! I have worn pink or red EVERY single day since Sat! LOL

I don't compare myself to my neighbors. That way lies madness. I do what _I_ can and that's that. My city contracts with the corporation Waste Management. WM provides the Big Green Can for trash and two regular recycling bins per household, one for paper and one for metal/glass/plastic with the option of buying more recycling bins for $5 each (we have one extra). WM won't accept very much plastic for recycling - for instance, they only take #1 and #2 plastics, but probably 75% of the plastic that comes into the house is neither of those types. Grrrr. They only take certain kinds of glass, too. Batteries are not accepted for recycling - ni-cads and lithium batteries have to be taken to dropboxes at most hardware stores, alkalines in the regular trash. We do not compost and I refuse to tear myself up about it. We do not garden, nor do our neighbors, and discarding food scraps outside attracts vermin we neither need nor want near the house. WM has no composting program, either with curbside pickup or dropoff at the transfer station. However, even if they did it as a dropoff option, the landfill/transfer station is almost half an hour's drive from my home and nowhere near anything else for sensibly combining trips, and from an overall environmental POV I think it's pretty stupid to drive nearly an hour round-trip to drop off a couple of bags of carrot ends and potato peels. I use the tote bags for groceries about 80-90% of the time (and I don't stress about using one store's bags at another store, the baggers can make all the faces they want but until they start giving the reusable bags away for free they'll use whatever bags I hand them to pack) but we use the regular plastic grocery bags for so many purposes that I don't castigate myself for forgetting. BTW, plastic shopping bags are usually #2 plastic and can go right into the recycling bin - stuff a bunch into one bag and knot it so they don't go fluttering away when the bin is dumped. The dog-poop pickup bags we use are compostable or rapidly biodegradable with exposure to moisture even in anaerobic conditions (like a landfill). And when they say "rapidly" they mean it - we tested them ourselves in the back yard. They're a bit on the pricey side but we consider it worth it. The "doggie dooleys" are a big PITA and useless half the year here anyway. The local Goodwill started accepting dead computers (I guess they make money somehow on parting them out?) earlier this year and I took over a station-wagon-load accumulated amongst my social circle, but it's very difficult to get rid of any other electronics here. Our city has one hazmat disposal day a year, for four hours on a Saturday, and if you miss it, too bad so sad, you have to figure out how to store it until next year's disposal day. Crazymaking. One of the local pack-and-ships will take styrofoam peanuts and airpacks but will not accept any kind of formed styrofoam (which is also unrecyclable here, so all you can really do is bust it up and either try to reuse it or cram it in a trash bag and fit it into the Big Green Can). We donate and Freecycle and regift and put things out on the curb with "free" signs on them. The trash can is the last resort for things that cannot be discarded another way with a reasonable level of effort.

Fascinating topic :). I have never been interested in make up, and so never got into much of it. Daily routine is, after washing face, to apply an SPF 30 moisturizer, brow pencil since I plucked most of mine as a teenager and they never grew back, and a dot of Dermablend cover on a small but very pale and noticeable circular scar above one eye where I had a skin cancer removed. Quit bothering with eye shadow and blush years ago, ditto with foundation which is also nasty to wear in the Miami subtropical weather; feels to me like wearing a greasy mask, yuck. Actually the climate here strongly mitigates against the multilayer face 'painting' I read about; cannot imagine plastering on primer/foundation/powder and then leaving it to bake all day especially during what I call our double 90 season (heat and humidity). Have never used lipstick, rarely mascara and never tried eye liner. Have never had an interest in Botox or any other type of intervention or surgical options and probably never will. I did Invisalign orthodontia several years ago; had lived with crooked teeth until I was 50+ YO and the feeling about my improved appearance/smile, along with the greater ease in keeping up with dental hygiene due to straight teeth has been immeasurably positive. I have my hair professionally cut and highlighted every 10-12 weeks. Wash and blow dry it every other day, use a straightening iron too often--as I'm aging my hair is developing that brittle overprocessed look that I hate to see. I need to up my use of hair treatments but just haven't bothered. What else--do my own pedicures, no manicures or nail polish on my hands. Did fingernail polish for years on my own but didn't like how it discolored the nails and prefer natural. I am in major stall on exercise; was doing Pilates regularly with a trainer but she closed her studio and I haven't found a group class with a good instructor on a schedule that works for me. At 58, I badly need to get myself into a regular schedule of cardio, stretching and weight training. Have never had to worry about weight but the tone and fitness lack is worrisome. I'd call myself diligent in keeping clean, tidy and looking reasonable but in many ways I like being in the stage of life at which I've become 'invisible'. It's very freeing in a lot of ways not to worry about trying to live up to whatever i social acceptability standard for appearance is out there for women these days :).

I've never used Uber, but dh uses it all the time. He travels frequently for business and prefers using Uber to cabs. He never tips. I was under the impression, that like Terries mentioned above, that the whole idea with Uber is that it's supposed to be a cashless experience. I thought part of that was for the safety of the driver. On a different note, did anyone see that an Uber-like company is starting up that is just for women? Female drivers and passengers only. I have to admit, that as a female, the idea of using Uber if I were alone, has prevented me from ever trying it, not that I usually have much occasion to need it. But I would definitely use a female driver. I'll have to see if I can find the name of the company. Some guy started it with his wife. Edited to add - here is the article I read about it: Chariots for Women