Fifty Years of Leave it to Beaver

Can you believe it fellow boomers? It’s been 50 years since Leave it to Beaver first made its debut on television.

To commemorate this occasion, TV Land is holding a 50th year marathon of the show. The episode I’m currently watching (as I write this) is the one where Wally hosts a teenage shin-dig but doesn’t want to invite his little brother. Beaver gets upset and decides to sabotage the party. He does this before Wally has a change of heart---at the urging of his always neatly dressed mother---June Cleaver.

OK, I admit that, as a little black girl, I used to watch the “Beev” because he was a kid just like me. I never gave one thought to the fact that he (and his family) didn’t have any black friends or that his school environment was quite different than mine. His dad surely wasn’t like my dad. He didn’t go to work everyday wearing a suit and tie but I bet my dad worked HARDER than Beev’s dad and he did so for HALF the pay. The only time my mother ever wore pearls was to go to church and you would’ve never seen her cleaning the house wearing them in one of her BEST dresses.

How much times have changed over the past 50 years……or have they? Let's ask our kids.

Say It Loud---I'm a Baby Boomer Diva and Proud!

Who would’ve ever thought a few months ago that something called the Baby Boomer Diva Web of Fame would turn into what it is today?

I had the idea back in March after meeting Singer Natalie Cole at a Women’s Empowerment Convention. I told her she would be one of my DIVAS on my website. Then I started thinking of other women I’ve come in contact with, on and offline….women I have come to admire and respect. Women in my age group who were on the move and doing what they could to make a difference personally and/or professionally.

That was the birth of the Baby Boomer Diva Web of Fame. I started out with a half dozen women. It’s now turned into 47 with 12 celebrities. Song-writer Carol Bayer Sager, Actresses Rene Russo and Linda Hamilton, Country Singer Trisha Yearwood and Sharon Osbourne are the latest to be included among the exclusive list of women who make up the Diva Web of Fame. I anticipate 100 women before the end of the year.

Wow! I have truly been blessed!!! Just last year I got fired from my good-paying television news job for writing Whatever! A Baby Boomer’s Journey Into Middle Age. I’m still struggling financially but oh, I am so much happier because I am truly pursuing my PASSION! Menopause isn't going to slow me down from enjoying what's left of my life.

And for those of you who can appreciate this: God told me all I needed was the faith of a mustard seed.

Mama's Warning about Menopause is Subject of New Ebook

Baby Boomer Author Beverly Mahone is taking a short break from her “I’m Still Hot…It just comes in Flashes now!” Summer Tour to introduce her brand new ebook: Mama Said There’d Be days Like This. “My mama was notorious for handing out warnings. She had a warning about everything---from dealing with men to dealing with menopause!” laughs the author.

But it’s what her mother DIDN’T say about menopause that Ms. Mahone says were the red flags she discovered later in her own adult life. “My mama never talked about the “M” word but her bizarre behavior ended up being clear warning signals for me. She taught me more than I could ever read in a book about what to expect.”

In addition to her own writings, the new ebook also contains essays from baby boomer writers around the country who share their own “warning experiences” from dear sweet mom. It covers everything from the dangers of eating the wrong food to what happens when you choose the wrong career.

Ms. Mahone, who is also the author of the best-selling book, Whatever! A Baby Boomer’s Journey Into Middle Age, says pre-orders are being taken right now at a special discounted rate before the book is officially introduced to the public on July 2. For more information, you can visit her website at http://www.thebabyboomerdiva.com

“This is the kind of book you’ll want to share during your July 4th cookout or family gathering and it’ll definitely make you reminisce on your own mother’s warnings”, she says. “Then ask yourself, just how many of those warnings did you end up having to learn the HARD way?”

I'm Taking my Hot Flashes on Tour

This week I'm kicking off my summer book tour with "Whatever! A Baby Boomer's Journey Into Middle Age." Tagging along with me will be the seven dwarfs of menopause (and probably a few of their cousins) and some hot flashes. Now I want you to know they are UNIVITED GUESTS. I'd love to leave them at home with my husband but, just like me, he's had to endure them and, bless his heart, they've been harder on him sometimes than on me. So I'm packing them up and taking them with me.

On Wednesday, June 20th I'm making a guest appearance on the Fox8 Morning News Show. On Thursday, June 21, its on to Charlotte, NC where I will be a guest on Fox News Rising (Fox18). At noon, I will be doing a book signing at Park Roads Books, also in Charlotte.

Now it just so happens that Thursday, June 21---the first day of summer---is also my 50th birthday so I guess me and the dwarfs are all gonna be celebrating this new milestone together.

If you’d like to schedule me and my menopause crew for an interview, book signing or as a guest speaker, please contact me directly at 301-356-6280 or via email at bmahone@nc.rr.com

What's Up with the Baby Boomer Drama?

David Hasselhoff has become the latest celebrity baby boomer to show a less than flattering side to America. In a video recorded by his daughters and shown on You Tube, the former Knight Rider star is shown lying on the floor in a drunken stuper and trying to respond to a voice off camera regarding his alcohol relapse. He is also trying to eat something off the floor in the process.

Just a few weeks ago, we heard the voice of boomer Alec Baldwin ranting in a cell phone message to his daughter.

I am, personally, appalled at the behavior of these two men but I am OUTRAGED that their wives appear to have driven them to the point of being out of control. Why must their marriages end so bitterly? Is it over money? Bad sex? Infidelity? or a combination of everything? Well, whatever the case, there should be no reason for these baby boomer women to drag their former lovers through the mud because whether they realize it or not, they're dragging themselves as well and they may get up even dirtier.

These kinds of antics may have been a part of our twenties but you would think that we grew up and learned from the error of our ways. A word of advice to Pam and Kim: Ladies, get over yourselves and find another way to make some headlines. You're giving the rest of us baby boomer divas a really bad name!

But then again...maybe it ain't personal, it's menopause.

My attitude about "dumb jocks" has changed

When I was in high school I was a cheerleader. At the time it was my life's ambition. You see, back in the day, girls my complexion weren't seen on the pep squads. Oh, they would have a "token" here and there but for the most part, if we wanted to be seen we either played in the band or ran track (which I also did). I had no musical talent to speak of. My singing in the shower doesn't even sound good.

Being a cheerleader was cool because I got to wear those cute little short skirts and cheer for the boys all the girls loved. It's interesting...I never dated a "jock" because I didn't feel they were up to my academic standards. I'm sure you've heard athletes being referred to as "dumb jocks." I really thought they were and one of them, who will remain nameless here (because some of you would recognize the name), instilled that thought in my head when he used to always cheat off of my paper in Math class. We actually laugh about it today but it wasn't funny back then because the teacher always felt I was the one trying to help him and I would get in trouble for "allowing" the cheating to occur.

WHATEVER!

Anyway...my attitude towards athletes have changed over the years as I have met more and more people who have used their sports careers as stepping stones to other things. I recently met one such person and I'm delighted to share my interview with you.

He's a two-time super bowl champion from the San Francisco 49ers and he is definitely a baby boomer on the move!

One more thing...thanks for stopping by and reading my blogs.