Retire In Style Blog Too

Here's what I found on the web this morning...hot in retirement land: Top Retirement Blogs from Online MBA Fresh Links to Satisfying Retirement by Bob Lowry Coming of Age in our 50's and 60's by Kaye Healy Kaye has written a book about transition to retirement life and the blog post is well worth your time.   T iny House Blog    Take a look at what you can do with container housing.  This is a blog about very small houses.  (Very much like the one we live in during the winter!) Aging in Place ...sometimes not good news but still very insightful information! MSNBC... Six Ways to Get Income During Your Retirement Technomadia ...one of my favorite RV meets technology blogs. Retirement News from Topix Have a wonderful week! b Related articles Seniors embrace aging in place (seattletimes.nwsource.com) During retirement: Paying it forward (the-military-guide.com) 3 Reasons Renting Beats Owning in Retirement (money.usnews.com) 5 Tips for the First Year of Retirem...

Have you noticed what a beautiful day it is??? YES! You Can Teach Old Dog New Tricks So you're old now.   That little voice in the back of our mind is growing a seed planted all those years’s ago. We heard our mother tell about our father's driving and how, when that he was coming up on fifty, he just couldn't think as good as he used to.  The seed has taken root and we begin to realize that it could be us...someday.  So, do you think that you aren't as good as you were at one time...are you beginning to say it out loud... well, you know, I am not as young as I used to be? We need to talk! First of all let me tell you about myself...I am not a psychologist.  I am a 69-year-old retired educator.  I am writing about what I see around me.  In fact, like my blog description above says, I can tell you about this from the place where the rubber meets the road. In an article written for Integrated Psychology Associates a Dr. DeLee Lantz had the list of myths dow...

Ask for it on Kindle! I read The Last Convertible almost 30 years ago and I still play the words over in my mind.  Why is it that some books resonate with us in such a way that we never forget the words and the images they plant in our mind?  Anton Myrers wrote a book like that...I'm not sure if he ever won an award.  I only know that when I point that book out to a friend and they read it, they will do what I did...read it again.  It may be a generational thing...it speaks to the era that I was raised in.  I wanted to climb into the pages and live the story with the characters.  One reviewer on Amazon said she would have given it 10 stars if she could have.  She could have been my granddaughter.  The book is evergreen ! In a book review published on Good Reads  the reviewer said,  " Anton Myrer's beloved, bestselling novel of America's World War II generation is as powerful now as it was upon its publication. An immediate classic, it t...

Graphic Image Luggage Tags   $23 each...Fab Over Fifty Premier Membership gift! FAB OVER FIFTY PREMIER MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT :  My luggage tag from  Fab Over Fifty  came yesterday.  I chose the orange one and I think I will hang it on the beautiful gold purse I bought on 22nd in Portland, Oregon.  Inside the classic gift box it came it I found the tag in a soft microfiber sleeve. Classy, classy, classy!   I love it.  Check out the link for more  Fab Over Fifty  information! I  will also be testing (beauty?) products for them and giving them feedback on results.  It should be interesting.  I have never done this before.  I do want to be beautiful so I keep trying. BLOGGING :  This has been a very exciting week for me on the blog...now I am finding that taking care of email business takes up a big part of my day.  I am learning as I go here so I read a lot about working on the internet,  keep up with is...

KINDLE...my e-reader of choice:    In the world of electronic books, Kindle is the e-reader I own.  I absolutely love it! The choice of books available for this device is amazing.  I love the fact that I can have the book in a few seconds without even getting up out of my chair. I bought The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in the Kindle version...it cost me around $4.00.  My Kindle allows me to adjust the size of the font when I read.   So the Kindle version is equivalent to the large print version of a paperback book. Plus this book has 602 pages so even the bulk of a large print paperback is a consideration especially for older people. Amazon has copies of this large print book used in paperback for around $10.00 and it appears you may be able to buy them at thrift stores or second hand at about that price.  New large print paperbacks come in at around $17.00.  At the new price I saved $12.00 over the paperback price by buying the Kindle version...e...

Apartment Therapy ...notice the tiny kitchen at the end of the room! My Park Model Kitchen I live in a park model in an RV Resort for 6-7 months of the year.  Most park models boast around 300 square feet of space.  As a result, every nook and cranny has to be used wisely.  We hang pots between the cabinets on a copper pipe and beautiful kitchen tools on the wall.  The small white table (Home Goods) fills the place where a dishwasher used to be.  I slide it out for more counter space when we entertain.   We try not to cringe when we think about putting our dirty clothes in the broom closet.  Life here is not perfect. My kitchen is big enough for us and I do entertain occasionally for up to 20 people.  The kitchen works just fine.  But I always think of it as extremely small...until I make the occasional visit to Apartment Therapy. They show some beautiful small kitchens that make my kitchen look like a huge space.  As an example I give y...

Satisfying Retirement: How am I Supposed to Pay For This?   Check this out if you haven't.  Bob has asked for your input. b

Image via  Wikipedia WWI Meatless Menu This is the day I go out exploring on the web to see what is going on in the world.  Take the trip with me and make these stops during your day. Here is the potpourri of website for your Monday viewing: Satisfying Retirement: How am I Supposed to Pay For This?  Bob Lowery has some very thoughtful insights into how insurance costs will change the way we retire  Retirement Grief  (Retirement - Only the Beginning  Feb 21, 2011 ) +  7 Stages of Retirement Grief  (from this blog  January 2010 ) February 21... Internationale Mother Language Day 10 Things I Forget I love Until I Remember Park Models I Love  from Tiny House Blog How to Start a Book Club  (Moving Forward From Here Blog) Meatless Monday ...a new movement to reduce meat in our diet + 3 recipes (AARP) Fab Over Fifty ...vote on this look! Have a wonderful week. b Related articles Healthy and Hearty Meatless Monday Recipes (fitsugar.com) Mi...

My husband (orange shirt in the center) at his 73rd birthday party. Happy Birthday Earl! There are a few things we old people still love about our birthdays.  Well aside from the fact that having a birthday means you are still alive,  We can celebrate with reckless abandon...no one knows where we work and our parents are beyond caring where we are at night so we don't get in trouble. Our friends don't object to paying for their own dinner. We get the Thursday night discount.  We don't have to put a lot of candles on the cake because the candle place doesn't have that many in stock anyway.  When we get up on that morning we are looking down at the grass and not up at the roots...yup, we love birthdays a lot!  Happy 73rd Birthday Earl! b

Note: I am going to be bold and ask you to twit this up.  The twitter button is at the bottom of the blog.  And if you have not already done so please become a follow.  I will do the same for you if you leave a comment. I keep telling people that I write about retirement in a place out here in the world where the "rubber meets the road."  I know about this because I have lived retirement life for almost 15 years.  Generally, I will tout all the positive things about retirement...both physically and emotionally.  But today I want to talk about retirement disappointment! Most people that have lived to retirement age are very wise and have learned the hard way about dreams that don't come true.  I suppose that is a given.  But there are some dreams that seniors seem to have in common.  Those are the ones I want to talk about.  This is just a reality check of sorts: Puerta Vallarta Nuevo, Jalisco, MX The I'm going to TRAVEL DREAM:   My...

Bridge near New Port, Oregon on the beach! Have your ever gone on a tour and been in 4 countries, stayed in 6 hotels and eaten every meal in a "tour bus" restaurant?  It is a good way to cover a lot of ground, a pre-vacation of sorts but when you don't make the plans, it is all a blur.   Travel is a very personal thing and tours are not able to meet everyone's needs.  I have a better idea! There are other ways to travel in a country or city and see a lot in a short period of time.  Our friends call it a "very vigorous vacation"! You can do it...I know you can.  Here is what we do. We choose a hotel or timeshare near the center of the location.  When you rent a car, for example, you are near to almost everything.  If you walk or use public transportation you can get around easily.  We did this in Spain.  We stayed on Costa del Sol , rented a car and took day trips to Rhonda, Granada and even went on a 2 day trip to Seville , Cadiz and Gibralt...

It is very sad.  There is a need for some invention ideas.  We cannot find our glasses, the clicker for the TV or our favorite earrings. We go to the neighbors to have them call our cell phone so we can find it.  When we find it buried in the bed covers along with our earrings,  we wonder how in the name of heaven they ever got there. I had a friend who thought she was developing alzheimer in her early 50s because she could never find her keys.  So losing things is a big problem.   We are lost , very very lost ! So, you inventions person you,  this is what we want you to do.  We need a "clapper finder device" for all those things we lose.  We can't have a device that turns on the beeper on our lost items because we will not be able to find it to press the button so we can find our lost stuff...no that will not work.  We need to be able to clap our hands.  One clap for the clicker, two claps for our keys, three claps for the phone an...

Arizona Inn at night! We went out to dinner last night.  It was a special occasion so we wanted to celebrate in style.  And celebrate in style we did!!!  We drove across town to the Arizona Inn located just east of University of Arizona in a very old and stylish neighborhood.  If you take yourself very seriously, love old world service and world class food, this is the place for you. Formal Dining Room My husband had seen a restaurant.com coupon on the webs last spring.  The coupon was worth $50 if you purchased $100 in the restaurant.  It included wine, dessert and an entres.  We found that spending the $100 was no problem.  It was so nice to be served in the formal way for a change.  Wait staff catered to our whims and were close at hand at all times.  And the setting/ambiance is second to none. The outside patio is available for breakfast and lunch.  Table here have an view of the gardens. This is a AAA Four Diamond Fine Dining...

Laundry hung over street in Shanghai, Chin I am not a laundry room queen...if you have been traveling for a while and do not have a washer in your RV, you will sooner or later run into her...the queen that is.  She is in charge.  The queen will remove your laundry from the machine and leave it on a table or in a chair.  She will tell you how long your laundry has been on the table and ask why you were not there to take care of it. She is the queen.   Bless her little pea pickin' heart! I, however, am the laundry room clown.  I don't do it purposely.  Who would want to be the clown?  Yesterday I headed off to the laundry will three small loads of wash.  In those loads I had a mattress pad, a set of sheets and assorted small items of clothing.  Simple...right?  I was planning on being done in about an 1hr  give or take a few minutes.  Three hours later I finally finished with my wash.  I had managed to do the following: Pay ...

This is a wonderful article from USNews.com.   10 Best Places to Reinvent Your Life in Retirement - US News and World Report " Like previous generations, boomer  retirees  are going to take up new hobbies and volunteer. But those who didn't save enough or choose to continue working will also start businesses and begin second careers. As life spans continue to increase, retirees are likely to embrace a mix of work and leisure activities." Be sure to read it! b   Related articles Turning 65 With Nothing Saved for Retirement (money.usnews.com) The Importance of Starting Off Strong in Retirement (money.usnews.com)

Like a windmill I have come full circle! Palm Springs CA What do you do that gives you the most satisfaction?  When we were working, there were other things that kept us going aside from the income.  One of those thinks was the awards for a job well done.    After we retire, we lose that positive, motivating feedback...the awards and cudo's don't come our way. We need to find a motivation within.  Here is what I have done. "Occasionally my blog will be mentioned on a BIG website...." FINDING THE PASSION I have know people that just couldn't find a worthwhile outlet for the energy the employment required.  They tried try hobbies or sports or reading or even going back to work.  Those are all wonderful things if they work for you.  There is no right answer.  It may be a little of a lot of things. The trick in this is finding your passions...those things you love and have done in a past life or dreamed about doing in retirement.  Some of th...

Retirement Bliss! When my husband and I moved into a condo with several flights of stairs 9 years ago, a friend asked me what we were going to do when we got old.  My goodness, I thought, this is not even my second to the last move.  I won't be aging in place.  Not on your life! Aging in place is a phrase that is thrown around a lot these days.  Young people have the idea that their life and life of their parents will be simplified if they just widen doors and retrofit the sink, etc.  The children can come home to the house they were raised in for Thanksgiving and MOM/Dad will have the same bowl they ate out of when they were two.  I know that is what I thought when my mother was facing her eighties.  She asked about the possibility that she might need to move because she could not do the things necessary to maintain the house.  I remember being flip with her and talking about aging in place .  I regret that now. But as time passed I changed ...

How to be more yourself...change the story!

Image via Wikipedia  Seattle WA cohousing project. Elder Cohousing; Senior Housing, Retirement Option - AARP Bulletin This wonderful article appeared recently on the AARP website. The author was also quoted on Aging in Place as a part of a post about where we live in the context of  living  not the disability that demands it. Sally Abrahms,  is a writer from Boston, wrote this article as part of her MetLife Foundation Journalists on Aging Fellowship in partnership with New America Media  and the  Gerontological Society of America.   Information from AARP Bulletin 

Image via Wikipedia Dear Boomer+ friends, I wrote a blog yesterday about the fact that my blog header disappeared as I was thinking about replacing it.  I found it very strange and wrote a blog called  Can Google Read Our Minds?   Then I got this comment:   Don't laugh- I have a friend who works for    Microsoft . His job is to "prethink" for the consumer.   Microsoft actually has a "pre-thinker" on the payroll!!!  Maybe he is the guy that erased my header yesterday. He pre-thinks what I am going to think before I actually think it. The internet has gotten so fast... if it gets much faster it will be preloading before I actually turn it on.  My blogs will be written and I will quit thinking and wait from my pre-thinker to tell me what to think. John C. Havens '  over at  iMedia   is of the opinions that we even are becoming prethinkers...without wages of course.  By following websites like  Whrrl or ev...