Retire In Style Blog Too

Cousin Aunt Mom Cousin Family at it's best ! As graduation approaches for my grandson we are all doing a little reminiscing.  Our children and grandchildren are all beautiful wonderful individuals.  I could not help noticing a quote from a website called Apartment Therapy .  The author was doing a little reflecting about a teaching career.  Here is what he said: By falling serendipitously into teaching...., I deeply learned the impact that an environment has on a person (particularly children). I saw, first hand, that the children who did best in the classroom came from the best homes , but this had nothing to do with any rich/poor divide, and all of the ingredients of the good homes that I witnessed were accessible to all. (quote from Apartment Therapy .) I loved the "accessible to all"!  We need to keep the values that are key ingredients for a "good home" even in our retirement.  It actually has nothing to do with money.  Think about it! b

The Short Bucket List! I did not think I would ever say this but it seems I am creating a bucket list!  It turns out there are things I want  but can't have right now.  The list only has one item on it at this time.  I think I'll just stick with the one for now.  It is a pretty big thing.   I want to go shopping for clothes with an obscene amount of money! And Things I Want NOW! There are things I want and I want them now!   But only the best please. Apple's Magic Trackpad Today I saw the new Magic Trackpad for a desktop computer.  I want it so bad.  I have been using a wireless mouse for several years now and it is beginning to click and drag.  I love the trackpad on a laptop but never dreamed I could have one for my desktop. I think I may not only want it but I also NEED one of these toys.  What do you think?   I also need the best  micro-plane  there is and I need it now. Every contemporary condo kitchen needs bea...

My daughter pointed out to me that "money" may be easy but it doesn't show how much you really care.  I suppose that is true.  Money is easy and buying the perfect gift isn't. If I do go shopping,  I must care a lot to even try to find a gift another person will actually love. I think the male high school graduate is probably the most difficult of all. This is the plan that I use. I find out what the giftee likes or plans to do.  Will they bum around, go to college, get a job, move away from home, join the military or are they undecided?  Then I will need to put myself in their shoes and select what I hope they will like. I always include a gift receipt so they can return the gift if someone else has the same brilliant idea. New Designs from Splendid Vinyl Loved this fork cable organizer from Apartment Therapy When I created the list below I have assumed that the graduate is getting a computer or has one. I am also assuming that they will go on to college or tec...

Coming home from Arizona is always a little bit of a shock.  We return from a life that is all about me-me-me-me-me-me to a life filled with family and a need in our bones for grandchildren.  We have chosen every year to renew our Grandparent License so we can spend time with the grandchildren.  The fee for this license is a boat load of good Grandmother behavior.  The family holds the power to issue the rights it implies.  I have a very hard time qualifying every year.  :-) The day we returned our grandson was playing in a Lacrosse game.  It was pouring rain and the temperature lingered at around 50 degrees.  It is those times that we wonder if we made the right choice by coming home.  Our daughter let us off the hook and said she didn't mind if we didn't come since we were "old" and "tired"!  I wondered when she would figure out that we are not that old and certainly not that tired. It was up to us she told us. So we did not ...

I am 69 years old...no lie!  In certain light I look every bit my age and then some.  In another I can almost find the young person I really am in my face.  Actually, I am not so in love with the mirror anymore. But if you give me beautiful clothes and a date with my husband to go dancing, the years fade away.  When I begin to feel down I remember what 69 looked like when my mother was that age and I am very content.  One of my favorite blogs called Fab Over Fifty published a post called What Fifty Used to Look Like .  Fifty now is what 25 used to be.  I guess it is all relative to how long we live. One of my new and exciting adventures includes inclusion in a group of women chosen as Gurus for the Fab Over Fifty website.  FOF is a place for experienced women to gather and learn how other women in their age bracket are living their lives.  I have gotten to feel very at home there.  In my roll as a Guru I am asked questions about the Port...

Note:  Be sure to click on the images for a full screen view.  See also 10 images of the Oregon Coast on my Hubpage link. Seaside, Oregon : Camera Buffs find perfect light for every shot! We just returned from a quick two day get away to Seaside, Oregon.  We own a timeshare with Wyndham Worldmark and were able to score a bonus time get away.  People in the Portland Metro area are accustomed to doing this type of thing.  The coast is only 40 minutes door to door.  We are retired so we can go any day of the week.  Portlanders just wait for a perfect day and scurry to family friendly Seaside year around to enjoy a day in the sun.  The waters of the Pacific Ocean keep temperatures very moderate both winter and summer.  It is warm when it is cold on the east side of the mountains in the winter.  The reverse is true in the hotter times of the year. The essence of Seaside, Oregon... kid friendly restaurants! Why Seaside you ask?  Well, thi...

A quick get away to the beach! We are staying at the Wyndham World Mark Resort here in Seaside, Oregon.  We have owned in this company for more than 15 years and I have yet to score the "room with a view"! I don't know if they even have a room with a view for people like us that do not want nor need the big rooms.  But still...it would be nice to get one just once.  I told the girl at the desk this time to tell me I had a room with a view even if it was a lie.  Well, what I got was a room with a "side view" which mean is that if I lean over the balcony a little ways I can see an unobstructed look at the ocean.  Really, it is better than nothing! And the desk girl did not have to lie.  That is good too. I could not believe it when we arrived on a Monday afternoon in May to find this child friendly resort popping with families at play.  I don't know what I expected because Seaside is know for it appeal to young people of all ages. Inn at the Prom When we...

Image via Wikipedia My grandson was in a wreck.  His mother's VW Jetta was totaled.  He is sore but not permanently damaged.  The other driver was at fault and was given a ticket.  My Grandson did not get a ticket.  He is 17 and the other driver is 86.  We can only hope that this lady had good insurance on her car. WHO SHOULD WE WORRY ABOUT This post is about two worlds colliding.  We all worry about our teens and how they will handle a world of speed, traffic and danger.  A child is so precious.  They do grow up and want to look grown up.  That is where cars come into play.  Other than sex, I suppose parents worry more about their teen driver than anything else.  A parent and grandparent's worst nightmare is having the child be in a wreck.  But, as this wreck leads us to believe, maybe it is not the teen driver we should be worrying about.  Maybe it is the grandparent driver. DO THE RULES APPLY TO YOU? If you are a s...

I receive emails from people that share my interest in writing about retirement.  The other day I had a note from Mary Edwards regarding an article she had posted about getting to know your neighbors in a retirement community. This is what she had to say: We posted an article, " 10 Tips for Building Relationships in Your Retirement Community ” ( http://www.bestdatingsites. org/blog/2011/10-tips-for- building-relationships-in- your-retirement-community/ ), and I thought that you or your readers might find it interesting. I don't believe I had ever given a thought to ways that you might build relationship in a new setting.  I am the kind that walks out onto the street and just visits with who ever is handy.  But, if I were wanting to build some solid connections with those people that lived close by I think it would take a lot more than that.  I would need a list of 10 ways to connect with other people.  If I were single and wanted to get to know someone to dance...

I am in the market for a list for summer reading.  Here is what I found.  Links for books that ranked in 2010: Publishers Weekly Best Books for 2010 National Post Best Books for 2010 (The Afterword) NPR Best Books of 2010 Amazon  Best Selling Books NYT Best Books for 2010 Best Books for 2010: Book Beast Oregon Live regional and national best sellers in 2010  New Article on Senior Citizens and ebook readers:  Will Senior Citizens Embrace E-book? Finding just the right book in this day and age is very difficult.  There are so many books on the market and I always think that perfect book is out there waiting on me.  But it is very hard to choose.  I have a tendency to love a certain kind of art on the cover.  But like a beautiful lady, the cover does not reflect was is inside. When I shop in a books store I have to be careful of the beautiful covers.  I instead try to be more selective.  I buy... if a books has been recommended by two ...

     I have always loved being a grandmother...well most of the time.  I didn't like to be in trouble with my daughter-in-law or my children.  I didn't like it when my grandchildren tested my powers or brought me to my knees with crying shrieks.  Still, when I look back to the beginning, I think I always loved it.  Now 19 years later my second grandchild will be graduating from high school.  How can that be.  When this child was born I felt very young, like a parent myself.  I thought of my children as my peers and I moved with the same energy they had.  I have come to believe that I feel as youthful today as I did then.  Maybe, just maybe the grandchildren are the reason.  I know they say laughter keeps us young.  If that is true, I will never grow old.      This grandchild is the one that wanted to know when his grandfather and I were going to get real jobs like his mom and dad.  We were retired ...

Newport Bay, Oregon      Mom/Pop motels have been on my mind.  I had not even thought about that mid-century way of travel for years. Back in the day when a two laned Route 66 wound across the southern part of our country the motel was not a luxury in any sense of the word.  Rooms were small and children slept on the floor or in a roll away bed.  The car might have been parked in a small garage or carport next to the room and there was not TV or even a radio.  But you would find them just in the nick of time before the whole family collapsed in a heap beside the road.  The sign would say "Cabin's" and a big vacancy sign would tell you that you had survived another day.  Ah, the road trips of old!  Old Route 66 is mostly gone now.  There are a few stretches of the road that are still in use but the freeway that replaced it has killed any businesses that existed back in the early days.      Independent (Mom/Pop) hotels/...

At Home with my Ghost      I don't know if the old stinky farmer is really a ghost or not.  All I know is that once his odor appeared in a farm house he has never been out of our life. In fact he has followed us each time we moved.      He became a part of our lives when my husband and I were young.   My husband was hired as a high school principal in Ontario Oregon and we bought an hundred year old Victorian house that was located at the back of the high school.  It had sat in the middle of an orchard at one time. Three of the bedrooms were upstairs and one down. We all chose to sleep up because my children were still more comfortable with us nearby.       My daughter occupied the back corner room. It was a charming room with wispy curtains and flowered wall paper.  Woodpeckers lived inside the walls because they liked that the house was made of cedar.  And a ghost shared the room with her. You have to understan...

Sunday Market shopping for my Hangin Basket! HAPpY MOTHERS DAY!!!

     "Never pick a fight with someone that buys ink by the barrel." I know this is one of life's important truths. Now I find myself being quoted by, of all people, Seth Kugel's Frugal Traveler Blog  published by the New York Times...and not in a good way!        This is what happened.  Recently he twitted about a motel he had stayed at in Florida on one of his road trips. The motel had a full parking lot, it was late in the day and he was proving that travel was possible even if you are not rich so he could write an article for his blog.  The motel owner and his tenants were very friendly and helpful.  He twitted saying that the motel was the friendliest place ever.  After I read his twit I was curious to see what the motel looked like.  What I found on google was a picture of the backside of a rundown motel.  I wondered if this was the same motel Mr. Kugel was talking about. I had a question.  So I sent a twit...

     I love technology, gadgets and travel.  Those are the things that light my fire.  While I can do without a lot of things, there are things that I think I would like to have.  Keep in mind that my husband and I do not travel "top drawer" nor do we travel "slumming it".  In this particular case we follow the middle of the road. The things we do not have but would like could fill a lot of pages but not much room in our luggage.     We have just returned from a trip that took us 5 days on the road.  The motels we stayed in were equipped with the basic needs like a hairdryer and a small coffee pot.  Even though most provided shampoo and lotion we save those items for homeless shelters or abused women shelters.  A fancy shopping bag holds the essentials like toiletries and pills   But there are extra things that could make our life a lot easier. Here is my "dream list" of travel gifts. PowerCurl Switch  from Quirky Gor...