Retire In Style Blog Too

If you have ever been inside an Airstream trailer, you know they are built to last forever. The vintage models were finished in the finest paneling and furniture.  However, they were also small and in the words of a former owner I know "very chopped up".  I have always wondered what that space would be like if all the walls were removed. Now I know. I am drawn to small spaces and I suppose I could live in my bedroom if the amenities were there. Give me a very small kitchen, a desk, a bath, a bed and I am happy.  All that is remaining of this vintage Airstream is the shell. All of those amenities are gone. The interior has been gutted, lined with shiny walls and retro fitted with a desk, a flat screen TV and a lounge. I don't think I could live in this. But boy could I work. I love this things. Huffington Post shared these images via their Huff Post Home page. Trendy, mobile and logical...a foodcart-style real estate office may be in your neighborhood today. It's all ...

HIPSTERS? DIG THOSE PATRIOTIC SHIRTS! Really, I had no idea why my 15 year old granddaughter kept on taking off with my stuff or admiring my clothes. I just thought she was really nice. It turns out she is an emerging Hipster. In fact, if she is any indication, young people today might be over the wow of having EVERYTHING new and digital. They are following the latest trend and that trend is everything old is new again! Nats Park Rally Cap (Photo credit: Kevin H. ) My husband and I are watching the second generation of young people in our family grow up. The oldest is 22 and the youngest is 6 months. They are a generation apart and the world the oldest grew up in has changed. When the oldest was a preschooler, the new computer was what everyone wanted. Everyone was trying to get that small child involved in a world the adults really didn't understand. Now all those things are old hat. Almost every child in the family has an ipad or smart pad, cell phone...of their very own! They ar...

Looking UP by b+ I was reading an article the other day about what people should call themselves as they grow older. Are we in the Third Stage or Boomers or OAD (older than dirt)? According to a lot of people it seems we need an age group name or we are not valid as a part of the human race. Teens are called teens and we know what to expect when they come to visit. So when people my age come to visit, you need a label so you will know what to expect. It must be important.. .or not! It occurred to me that I don't really fit into any mold. You should not assume anything about me. Honestly, I am what I am. In fact, probably for the first time in my life, that statement is absolutely true. I am no longer the dominant mother or wife or teacher. What I am is just....well me! It is a very good thing. So I have decided that I am going to use a different way to define myself. To begin with these are the facts: I love to travel. The world is my home and I find myself visualizing myself stayi...

Christmas Dinner by Candle Light! I wonder if I even looked around me for a month. I know you have done the same thing. Shopping, cooking, family gatherings and all that decorating kept us busy. But then, as suddenly as it began, it is all over. Christmas has come and gone. We wake up the day after, walk across the floor in our bare feet and realize how long it has been since we vacuumed, dusted, mopped and washed a load of clothes. That is the way I woke up this morning. Yuck!  My first question for my daughter who had been a part of the crowd around our table last night was Did you notice how dirty my house was? I was glad when she said  No!  But   I can honestly say it was not important. I have had more fun than I can even describe. Boy am I happy! As we sat down for dinner last night we said grace for our meal. I gave the standard gratitude, bless the good, amen kind of prayer. But in the middle of the night I heard the perfect prayer in my mind: Dear God, We don...

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No, I am not going to quit writing but I am almost through talking about retirement! I have been retired for 15 years now and I just don't want to talk about it. I quit talking about the weather three weeks after we retired and have never been very willing to discuss my aches and pains ever. I am thinking I will add retirement to my list of things that I don't talk about anymore. During the past 5 years of blogging I have discussed everything from the typical day in a retirees life to how to live on your income even if it is small. In fact I think the count of posts I have written number over 800 now. I have had almost 180,000 hits on the blog. Now I want to talk more about small houses and stylish living and books and travel and family and people and shopping and learning. But my "retirement related life" cannot interest you because it does not interest me. Not anymore. So there you have it. The only change you will see is a  + added after the blog title:   Retire ...

Nothing says Christmas like.... A Gingerbread House made with Grandpa Stockings Hung by the Chimney Dolls for Little Girls Family The Christmas Tree Farm 500 Plastic Snowmen and Friends and the electric bill! (Not my house...my goodness no!) Merry Christmas from my house to yours.  We send our love! b+ and family! Related articles Christmas: 8 Lessons for Beginning Grandparents (retireinstyleblog.com) 3 Shopping Secrets for Christmas (retireinstyleblog.com) I"m Worried about Santa Claus...there are rumors! (retireinstyleblog.com) Best 5 Simple Online "Design Your One-of-a-Kind Gift" Ideas (retireinstyleblog.com)

What have we done? Really, it was not our intention to create needy birds that would not fly south. All we wanted to do was watch them and enjoy our back yard bird sanctuary. The hummingbirds are beautiful here in Oregon and actually they may stay here year around and we just don't know about it. It doesn't matter either way. The truth is our hummingbirds have gone on welfare. The truth is it is a lot easier to put them on the dole than it is to get them off. Now Christmas is here and we are beginning to think about going south ourselves. But the hummingbirds still come to the feeder every day. They sit on the feeder and guzzle sugar water as though there were no tomorrow. So I am worried. I talked to the neighbor about the possibility that she might keep her feeder out all winter. I suppose it may work. Maybe a bird on welfare doesn't really care where the food is coming from as long as there is a donor. I don't know! Just a thought! b+

English: Suburban serenity. Years of creative commitment to the gardens of Garforth result in peaceful havens where so many pensioners enjoy their retirement. (Photo credit:  Wikipedia ) The holiday season is that time of year when children spend more time with their parents. This is the perfect time for the family to have some conversations regarding the future and how the responsibility involved with caring for each other will evolve. Here is an guest post submitted by a nursing home facility that could be an icebreaker for that delicate subject. I hope it is helpful. Enjoy Your Retirement After working long and hard throughout your life, it is great to be able to look forward to enjoying a long and relaxing retirement. Whether you'd like to spend your time surrounded by friends and family, take up a hobby - such as gardening or painting - or just take it easy and see what each day brings, retirement will give you the extra time you need to pursue these things. Some people, howev...

@ Target, (Photo credit:  Wikipedia ) This the  gift  that will really surprise you. If you are wearing a cardigan from Target, your granddaughter will steal it right off your back!  I know because it happens to me all the time. Those sweaters are all over the place in the store...short sleeved, long sleeved, short length, long length, big, little and in some very cool graphic designs. I have a closet full of them. And you can  Target Store Brand Clothing for both Grandmother and Teens (and maybe Mom too) Target Pull-over Related articles Teens: 14+ Practical 14+ Christmast Gift Ideas for Teens + a Promo from Target (retireinstyleblog.com) What do teens REALLY want for Xmas...besides money! (retireinstyleblog.com) 10 Best Christmas Gifts for Senior Citizens by a Senior Citizen! (retireinstyleblog.com) 3 Toys that will knock you Granddaughter's Socks Off!..Free shipping on $50 for select toys plus Winx Club Promo Code! (retireinstyleblog.com)

Merry Christmas from our house to yours. by b+ I am assuming that you save a little back for Christmas gifts. If you are like us, you don't go into debt this time of year. Saving for Christmas gifts seems to me to  be a very good idea. We used to have special little Christmas savings accounts at the bank that we could deposit our money in so it would be there when the holiday season arrived...$5 or $10 a month. Each member of the family received a small gift that was selected with a lot of love. So the question is "If you only have $10 to spend on each person, how do you spend it?" My husband and I tried to be a little more conscious of how the amount we had set aside was being spent this year. We focused on the gift...period. I used every bit that we had accumulated on the gifts. What else is there? Well, how much do you spend on wrapping paper, ribbon, cards, Christmas Ornaments, etc. Think about that and then add it to the money for presents and you will be surprised h...

Many of my closest friends are retired teachers. They shared my love of children and are probably a lot like me in their beliefs. We look children directly in the eye and smile. Our lives were all about knowing that a small child has a very big life inside them. My friend Meredith posted this quote on her facebook account. I don't think she would mind it if I share it with you: From the album:  Timeline Photos By MoveOn.org "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news. my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world." - Mr. Rogers. I think we are all looking to the "helper" to find a way to take care of those that are afraid and in need of comfort. Take care that you are a helper. I will do...

I saw a review for a book today. It said, [this book is] worth having children for! Now that is a review that gets my attention. The name of the book was  The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip .  Amazon had a beautiful review that was fun to read all by itself.  They said:   The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip .   Three families live in the seaside village of Frip — the Romos, the Ronsens, and a little girl named Capable and her widowed father. The townspeople of Frip make their living raising goats, but they must fight off a daily invasion of gappers, bright orange, many-eyed creatures that cover goats and stop them from giving milk. When the gappers target Capable's goats, the Romos and the Ronsens turn their backs on the gapper-ridden Capable. What will Capable do about her gapper plague? But the review I liked the best of all was the one published by McSweeney's Internet Tender  (for sale here at $10.00. His review of the book quoted more of the Amazon re...

Poor man was having a bad day! note: A special thanks goes out to Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency ...really funny stuff!   I read about a guy today that had just bought a new iPad and wondered why he was not happy, content and filled with the Christmas Spirit. Actually he kinda hated his life! Poor man. His name was Sam Weiner and the article title was Something is wrong with my iPad. I still hate my life. Now I wish I had thought of that title yesterday when I was writing the daily  blog post . I have a long way to go before I actually know what I am doing. When I read Weiner's article, I knew that in the writing business there are some people that simply shine. I stumbled on the website at StumbleUpon. Someone had recommended The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better . So, if you want to see what REAL writers have to say go  Internet Tendency . Bookmark the link and start learning! b+

Note: Make this little device work for you...see this information ! Zooka Wireless Speaker for iPad and Bluetooth Devices (Black) (or pink if you prefer) I wrote yesterday about my friend Jo. She doesn't own a computer and uses the good old fashioned mail to communicate with her friends. I love that she does what she does. I, on the other hand, will never be going back to the old fashioned way of doing things. My dad taught me very early on that life and creativity is very exiting. We talked about the newest inventions and could hardly wait to see what it would be like when we could actually hold it in our hands. TV, transistor radios, satellites in space and rocket ships to the moon filled our heads. I only regret that he did not see the computer age. Oh how he would have loved that. Now I am trying not the the "gadget of the week" kind of person but it is really hard. I love to try things out. I decided I wanted a wireless speaker for my iPad and Zooka was calling my na...

Jo: front row 3rd from the left. 5th-6th grade Huntington Oregon, 1951 The dog belonged to Jo too. I thought that the latest and greatest was the best way of doing things.  My friends know that I love technology and the gadgets. It has been that way for the better part of my life. Then Jo came back into my life this last summer. Jo 2nd from the right See, the thing is, Jo does not have a computer. She lives on a farm, raises berries to sell at the local market and just now did get her very first cell phone. Life at her house is about cutting out of the newspaper, pasting in a scrap book, scrubbing her floors on her hands and knees and being kind and loving. That is what my best friend since we were in grade school is like. I love her as much now as I did then. When my class was reunited this summer after a very long time...53 years for some of us...Jo and I talked on the phone. She sounded the same as always. I wanted her email address so I could send some pictures. No! I don't hav...

Note:  Be sure to check out the new page link just under the blog header for my new Gift Boomer Store. Here is a BIG hint for grandparents...directly from a 15 year old. If you go to a website called Wanelo you will find all that stuff your teen wants! We went through the website yesterday and she pointed out some items she loved. Head Bands  Etsy Ribbed Beanie Hat Slouch Style Skull Cap Ski Hat Burgundy Crystal  Scalpmaster Ceramic Thermal Hair Straightener Toms - Womens Burnt Chambray Botas Calvin Klein Jeans Women's Fitted Denim Shirt