Retire In Style Blog Too

RULES IN THE RV PARK Do RV resorts allow pets?  And if they do what will be the restriction?  These are very valid questions and ones that you need to ask before you park your RV, buy or rent a park model.  RV resort are much like motels when it comes to our pets.   In our RV resort there are two locations that pets are allowed.  At the back of the park there is a block of lots that are designated for pets called "Doggy Row".  On that street people can have a pet in their park models and can walk their animal on a leash on the streets.  Access to a back gate allows those pet owners to walk their dogs in Pantano Wash.  It is assumed that if you buy in that location you are not going to be compaining about barking dogs...you will know they are going to bark.  Pets are also allowed in the RV spaces and the gate is close by so owners can walk their pets outside the park.  The plan has worked very well for many years.  If you are a cat ...

  no make-up happy inside my skin! When I got past the fact that skin creme is never going fix what has been done to my skin for 68 years and moved on to preventing skin cancer and being comfortably attractive, I was relieved.  Now I can go about my life relaxed inside my own skin.  I live 6 month a year in Arizona and I love sunshine.  I am learning to protect what I cannot change.  It is a good thing! And I am becoming a smarter shopper. Today I am shopping for moisturizer/sunblock.  To begin my search I did something I have never done before....I actually looked at ratings for the products online based on price and quality.    I don't know about you but I am always shocked when I go to the department store counter and am told that a small bottle of lotion is $$$$$.  Gulp!  While I can afford it I am not a dunce.  $$$$$ does not work for me.  So I went looking for some information that did not have a connection with any part...

or Spouses Mirror Each Other Health. Are retired women more knowledgeable than retired men when it comes to everyday health issues?  Because I am a retired woman living 6 month of the year in a 55+ RV resort and am in close contact with retired men, I think I have the answer.  But let me give you some facts first. Every woman's magazine, be it Glamour or More, has an article on health issues.  For example, the latest More (a magazine for women of style and substance, i.e. older women) magazine has a lengthy article on hearing loss and Glamour has a whole section called health and fitness.  The hits you will get for health articles in women's magazines using a google search will come up at more than 9,000,000...yes that is right.  On the other hand when I changed the word women's to men's the google hits fell to 800,000.  When I looked at men's magazines alone they were 80,000,000 hits.  It was 90,000,000 for women.  The ratio just didn't line u...

Please click here --> Fab Grandma tells about her experience.  Please check this link out by clicking..    Scams are all around...READ THE FINE PRINT!  YOU will not GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING , not ever!!! b

Image via Wikipedia FREE BEEF CONTEST!! Chefdruck Musings....I love beef ...especially if it is free.  Do you love beef, especially if it is free?  Go to the link I have provided, follow the instructions, and wait to see if you might win a gift certificate for Omaha steaks .  I did.   Chefdruck Musings also features a Foodie Blogroll in the sidebar with lists of giveaway contests for food, books, etc.  I have applied for this list for this blog but I am not sure I will be allowed to post it.  In the mean time go to the chef's blog to enter other contests.   Free beef...nummanum! THINGS THAT BOTHER ME...A LOT!! I am home in Portland ( Hillsboro, Oregon ).  I live in a neighborhood designed for living without a car.  I can walk to a grocery store, Starbucks , a kitchen store (Kitchen Kaboodle) and several restaurants.  They are very social places, not quiet nor boring!  They are like our home away from home...living rooms o...

photo from Land Choices http://www.landchoices.org/media/index.htm Apartment Therapy ...At both ends of our lives we seem to live in cramped spaces.  When we are starting out, we live in a space that barely lets you change you mind let alone rearrange the furniture.  I am one of those people at the other end of that life...the retired, downsized mature person living in small spaces once again.  And you know what....I LOVE IT!!!  I rearrange my furniture and change my mind...maybe I  have less of both at this time in my life. My husband and I fill our spaces with our being and living.  We are not big people so we don't require much space.  The kitchen dance has gotten to be a kind of ritual with us...if we are cranky, one person just goes away and waits their turn. This works when we live with one small bathroom too. If you are like me, you probably are interested in seeing how other people live.  If you live in 650 square feet or less, you won't f...

I swore when I retired I would never get up in the dark again.  Boy was I wwwwrrrronnng!!!   It was a pipe dream, sleeping in every morning.  I did not count on my three children having 11 grandchildren.  The youngest will be 39 and his wife just had the latest grandchild.  I am getting up in the dark again and hanging out with the baby's big brother as his mom and dad tend to doctor appointments.  My alarm went off  at 6:00 a.m this morning.  I drank a cup of coffee sitting up in my bed snoozing and waiting for the second alarm.  Then I dressed and headed down the road in the early morning light. Retirement has taught me that those things I had come to think of as important after my children left home so I could live a carefree life...me-me-me-me, my sleep, how I look as I head down the road...aren't!  I have found I still love helping my family when I am needed.  The rest of the time I sleep in, sit in the Arizona sunshine, g...

note:  This is an older post but it gives you a glimpse into everyday life in our RV resort in Tucson, AZ.  Rincon Country East has been our home for 4 years now.  This particular park model has since sold to a lady in her 80's.  We are all healthy and happy...still!  The ages of our neighbors range from low 50's to upper 80's.  It is a very good and interesting mix. All the phone numbers posted here are still active. Our Current Park Model October, 2008 I am in the dessert...back in the Waiting Room for Heaven. We are early this years so we are waiting patiently for the rest of the people to arrive. Some will be along soon, some are not well enough to come and some are already here. We love the serenity of this place. We are never lonely, we are never wanting for things to do and our friends are so close that we can just walk across the street to visit. We have moved to a new home here. A home came up for sale at the end of our street with a view of the ...

Image via Wikipedia Eating is possibly my favorite thing in the world...world being the key thing here.  I love ethnic food.  Authentic Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai with a little German and French thrown in here and there.  Tonight I went to one of my favorite "mall restaurants" here in our area, Pho Tango.  My husband and I had visited this restaurant over Christmas Holidays at lunch hour.  Pho Tango, an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, was fill with Vietnamese young people that work in the area.  Intel and nail salons employ a great many of them.  We had to wait to be seated.  The restaurant is located in a Fred Meyer mall on Imbrie Drive just across from Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (a great brewpub) in a building that used to house a pizza parlor. ( map )  The new owners added paint and walled the kitchen in then decorated with pictures of Vietnam.  But all that is not important...the food is what we like.  I am stuck on the n...

Image via CrunchBase I know I have told you that our grandson aged 2 years thinks Grandpa lives in the computer.  It may just be so...who knows. Because of a family emergency and my need to help my son as his new born gets a stronger hold on life, I will be home for three weeks.  Skype is my link to my husband who has stayed in Arizona with friends in the sunshine.  My husband and I both have Skype accounts and we own three computers.  Two are in the desert with my husband and we leave the old laptop here in Hillsboro for use during holidays and times like this when we are without the other computers.  So the Skype accounts can be used on any computer with the program...I am learning more about this wonderful FREE service all the time. When I began trying to reach my husband I realized that his account was not only on this computer but also on his computer in Arizona.  Skype was not going to let me call...it said I could not talk to myself.  It was ju...

What's Cooking in America???   No it is not a question...it is a website featuring reviews of local restaurants from around the country.  In this particular case, the Portland, Oregon Metro Area.  I have written about a wonderful sushi Izakaya Bar called Syun Izakaya Japanese Restaurant ( map ) located in, of all places the basement of an old library in Hillsboro, Oregon.  The website described the restaurant: You wouldn't suspect Hillsboro of harboring a great Japanese restaurant - but it does. The restaurant is situated in the basement of the old Hillsboro library building. Izakaya" means "pub" in Japanese, so the non-sushi items are all smaller portions, kind of like a Japanese tapa restaurant. The name, Syun Izakaya  means "fresh seasonal sake pub". The charming decor here features tatami-style window dressings and sake bottles lining the walls. This restaurant is definitely a little piece of Japan in Oregon!  Hon...

Not everyone gets to be a grandparent.  I remind myself of this fact when I worry about the baby or the teenager.  It is a huge privilege to be included in their lives. It is a fact though that being included in our grandchildrens lives mean that we must also be loved by our children-in-laws.  I love them without question.  On the other hand, I am not as lovable as I could be sometimes.  In my rush to fill their needs I find that I overstep the boundaries and invade their comfort zones.  Thank heavens they are forgiving and see my efforts as good although misguided...sometimes. Then there are the "outlaws"...the children-in-law's parents.  They are well meaning and wonderful people.  Here, it seems, is a whole different dilemma.  You must understand, as I am trying too, that they too want to "rush" to their children's aid.  It is a train wreck waiting to happen.  Respectful dimuring negotiations go on as we tip toe around each other...

Image via Wikipedia My new grandson was born by c-section on Saturday and developed breathing problems. His condition worsened rapidly and he was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit  at St. Vincents Hospital in Portland Oregon.  I had made reservations with Orbitz online to leave Tucson in two weeks.  I would then help the family as others had to leave.  But as things turned bad, I realized that I would need to change the reservation and leave immediately.  So the question was "WHO DO YOU CALL?"  After a quick thought process, I by passed Orbitz and called my Delta Skymiles number, and explained my dilemma to a representative.  He was very helpful and gave me the price for the change. I was shocked when the price he quoted was more than the price I had just seen online for the exact same flight.  Then I reiterated my problem...very ill baby, family in need, time was of the essence.  That was when he began listening to me in earnest....

Image via Wikipedia In my wanderings around the internet this morning I noticed an article from Rebuilding Wellness by Sue Ingebretson.  She had some interesting ideas about choosing your identity and how it relates to your physical well being.  She began with with the words, "Do you know who you are?" and then went on to say: I’m talking about our “food identity” — who we believe ourselves to be, in relationship to food. Think about the friend who considers herself the “Donut Diva” because she brings donuts to every breakfast meeting at work. Then there’s the “Goodies Goddess” who totes homemade sweets to women’s meetings or to the classroom for her child’s holiday and birthday parties. I thought it was such an interesting idea.  We have all said "I am the ________Queen!  Just show me a ______________ and I will______________."  I think you should read this article.  The idea that we can change our health by changing the way we identify with food is very ...

I am now the proud owner of a Neck Slimmer . It cost the less than $18.00 (now as low as $5.95) I paid on Amazon (including shipping and handling)?  We are about to see.  I have a friend that uses one daily and has for several years.  Her neck and face tell me that this small, inexpensive devise really does work. Is there anything else I should be trying out?  Let me know. SHOPPING My husband and I went to Costco to pick up pictures from the photo dept.  It is Monday.  Is Monday a really bad day to go shopping or is it only at Costco?  I'm going to try a different day of the week next time.  I have been retired for 13 years and it still surprises me when I go out on a Monday and things are still as busy as they are on the weekend.  Don't those people have a job and why aren't they there?  Sigh!!!  We generally stay away from golf courses and stores on the weekend...it seems only right since we can use those facilities anytime of t...