Errr... you're not that young, Donna!

A brief B & B summary for the last few days:

• Owen and Jackie flirted; Jackie rented a loft; Owen and Jackie flirted in her loft
• Owen and Bridget has a business meeting on the beach; they flirt; they surf; they make out; Bridget reveals that she is damaged
• Nick visits Taylor; he feels sorry for Stephanie; he convinces Taylor to be there for Stephanie
• Stephanie walks on a beach; she visits Taylor; Taylor begs her to move in with her
• Nick drops by; Stephanie gets pissed; Nick offers Stephanie a job; Stephanie gets even more pissed
• Katie skulks about, pissing off Jackie, just because she can
• Eric successfully gives a statement about an employee leaving Forrester; Jarret (sp) gives him a WTF look when he confirms that the employee is Stephanie
• Donna, the Twinkie, tries to step into the Grand Dame role, and succeeded in looking like the clueless, out of her element bimbo that she is

So yesterday, there was a commercial showing Stephanie vowing retribution to both Eric and Donna at some restaurant; this made me very angry, since I was hoping that Jackie M. hiring Stephanie would be the ultimate, unexpected d!cksmack to Eric, if this was kept a secret until, say, the next fashion show (May sweeps) or something. But no... the writers decided to not maintain the suspense at all. I hated that they did this, until today's episode.

Donna, taking the mike, and saying 'Out with the old; in with the young' with regards to a fundamental change to her husband's company -- oh, yeah... that trick is cruising for a bruisin' and per usual, Eric did nothing to stop or diffuse this major faux pas. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if this arrogant and ignorant statement from Donna will be the impetus for Stephanie to change her mind about Jackie M. Add to it the possibility of Katie opening her big mouth to certain people (Brooke) at Forrester, and possibly, Brooke taking it upon herself to dissuade Stephanie or even Nick, from going into business together.

But back to Donna... where the hell does she get off acting like she's as youthful as rose pedals? She has a 20-something son; and while she had no hand in raising him, therefore no teenaged mother/rough life stress marks on her face, she is hardly Deanna Durbin. She's in her mid-thirties -- that is not young. It's younger than Stephanie, but it's still not young. Therein lies my beef with Donna.

It's fine that a woman is in great shape and takes care of herself. It's fine if she enjoys getting looks or compliments for her hard-earned physique. But what singes my @$$ is women who buy into the 30 is the new 20 or 40 is really 30-10 crap. What the hell is wrong with rocking the $hit out of your 30s and acknowledging that you are in your 30s? Or your 40s? Or your 50s? If old films are an accurate gauge, women were, at one time, hung up on turning 30, so they stayed 29. The problem was compounded if she was single and '29'. It seems like there was a small window of time when women admitted their real ages, relished the compliments for taking care of themselves, and actually conveying youth and wisdom at the same time. Tina Turner, and to a certain extent, Cher, were the embodiment of that idea. But in recent years, that concept has deteriorated, as demonstrated by the Jackson/Timberlake Super Bowl debacle. You can't out-Twinkie 20-something twinkies; any 30/40/50/60-something with a bit of sense knows that. Stephanie knows this; clearly, Donna doesn't because she still sees herself as a 20-something twinkie.

Donna's smugness made me think back on something. I apologize to faithful fans if I jumble this up because I was channel-surfing back then. Anyway, I seem to remember Stephanie and Sally Spectra getting liquored up together. I'm pretty sure they were drinking to something ending (maybe Spectra was going under or Brooke was marrying either Ridge or Thorne, or whatever) and I think that a drunk Sally cut off Stephanie's hair. After the buzz wore off, Stephanie decided that along with a corrective haircut, that she's not going to be, in her words, 'a bottle blonde' anymore. After a brief montage, Stephanie went from blonde to the silver-haired barracuda that we know today. I remember this because I always felt that the blonde wig that Susan Flannery wore was distracting. Also, I think it was the first time I ever saw a female soap character seemingly embracing a reality of life - everybody ages. And, in my opinion, Flannery's silver hair brought out her other facial features, which were still pretty lovely.

This is why I want Stephanie to bounce back and not in the First Wives Club/Team Aniston/ditched Bachelor 'fiancee' kind of way. Stephanie is better than manufactured princess bull$hit. She is tough, smart, and due some hard-earned respect. If that means that Susan Flannery will rip the scenes apart, that's even better.