Retire In Style Blog Too

Retirement is all about compromise especially if you are married or in a relationship. But it is a lot easier if both partners are on the same page. When they aren't, the outcome is misery for everyone. So on a scale of 1-10 how happy are you? Are you married or in a relationship? How happy is your spouse or partner? Do the same things make you both happy? Or do you see things very differently. What if I were to tell you that when you see things differently, the happiness scales changes? When it comes to expectations for happiness, you only get a total of 10 between the two of you .  So if you are feeling about 8 then the other person in your life is probably only at 2 . It seems that this is the way a lot of retirement relationships work. There is no clear vision of who calls the shots or how relationships should work. Each feels the other needs to lighten up. The other doesn't see the need for doing anything at all so they are thinking "What?". Nobody is really h...

Scafell Have you ever wondered what it would be like to read something a well known mystery writer had written before they became successful. What did that first book, perhaps rejected by the publisher and unpolished by a very good editor, read like? Was it still compelling enough to keep the reader interest and involved? I think I may have just had that experience and I was surprised by the experience. Matthew Pink was the guest author on my blog this last week and his bio contained a link to his recently published book, Scafell. It is Pink's first novel. I didn't expect much because I am not having good luck with the new fiction coming out right now. But in this particular case I was very wrong. English: One of the Three Tarns With Sca Fell and Scafell Pike as a backdrop (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Review: Stephen "Sparky" Markham was a detective in London where he worked close to the line between legal and illegal. He drank a great deal and was at the wheel drunk wh...

How old ???????? Quote: Do not regret growing old.  It is a privilege denied to many. I know, we all go into denial when it come to aging. There was a time in our society when not only did people die young but it was better that way. Growing old was very hard. But now that we have dentistry and wonderful medical care, growing old is expected. This good right? We should be grateful when we actually reach 50 or 60 or 70 or 80? But NO...we cannot do that.  Have you seen the infomercial by Cindy Crawford about her anti-aging line of creams and lotions. They show two melons, one is rotten and the other is fresh as the day it was picked. Whenever that was. The line is that the melon holds the secret to staying young FOREVER. Honestly, you can try to sell a substance made of a fruit that never grows old Cindy Crawford, but in every sense of the word I am not buying it! It is just plain dumb to spend my time smearing fruit juice on my face. It will not work at all I don't think. But t...

Link: The Year of the Pig (It Crossed My Mind) I saw an article in the New York Times this week talking about the Chinese economy and the central government in Beijing  proposing  a radical new plan to unleash the business community. The Times says the party is considering.... …reducing government intervention in the marketplace and giving competition among private businesses a bigger role in investment decisions and setting prices. The overhauls, if successful, could also make China an even stronger competitor on the global stage by encouraging innovation and expanding the middle class. My husband and I have been to China three times now.  We stayed for 3 or more seeks each time we entered the country.  We have traveled on subways, taken taxis and shopped....a lot.  While we don't really understand what is going on in that country, we definitely have a feel for what it takes to function. Giving up control of markets and weaning the business sector off th...

A neatly kept mini-patchwork quilt of lush valleys, velvet meadows, characterful Victorian market towns and gloriously open moorland, the UK’s Peak District sits plumb in the middle of the country’s backbone. Myth has it that the Peak District is the second most visited national park in the world after Mount Fuji. Whether your innate scepticism reflex can put that aside for a moment or not, once there you can certainly see why that might be true (and not just because of its geographical fortuitousness at the mid-point between the capitals of London and Edinburgh). In many ways, the region (actually not that ‘peaky’ - you may be surprised to know) concisely captures many a picture of the hallowed rural England which film director Danny Boyle tried to represent in a segment of his London Olympics fandango: that rich verdant sheen, the chocolate-box villages, myriad colour-flecked flowerbeds and sheep - lots of sheep. Moreover, if you didn’t quite twig what was meant by the phrase ‘...

Okay, I told you yesterday that I was looking at carpet for our master bedroom.  Sure enough the Sleep Number bed is in and I will need to have delivery delayed because the carpet will not be here for 2-3 weeks...maybe sooner if I push the process along. This is a learning process it seems. Even though we have gone through similar things many times before, the rules keep changing. And I have a cold so I am working with a big cloud hanging over my head. Thank heavens for my wonderful husband! The Plan I had thought I would go with one of those quick install companies you find across the US. It seemed simple and they would come to your house with samples.  Easy peasy...right? Then I got a little worried and decided to check reviews on line at places like 3 Cent Worth and Yelp. Wow! It seems from the comments made, having the carpet salesman come into your home was a bit like letting the vacuum cleaner salesman step in the door.  The old bait and switch, etc., seemed to be w...

From Apartment Therapy Okay now we are getting ready to upgrade our carpet in the master of our little retirement community home. The bed we have been using was returned to Costco because I felt like I was falling out of bed all night. My husband and I were fighting for the middle space. It was the safe part of the bed. Incidentally Costco gave us a full refund even though we purchased the bed in 2010. The room is empty as we wait for the delivery of our Sleep Number bed in a week or so.  Hopefully, we can locate the perfect carpet and have it put down within the next few days. Yikes! So what is the best carpet for the bedroom? Anybody have any suggestions or ideas?  Help! b+

The perfect  graduation  gift has no monetary value. It something only an open heart and hand can give. It is the freedom to fly and fall, then fly again. My husband was a high school principal and we are the parents of 3 children and 12 grandchildren. We know what graduation means and how important it is to families across our nation. It is a right of passage for families and a wonderful privilege.  This time sees parents feeling that twinge of relief and regret all at once. The empty nest looms and they are hoping that they have raised their child to be ready for what is to come next. Their guidance is more important now than it ever was but finding a way to communicate with their child also difficult.  On the other hand the grandparents are less useful than they have been in the past. Where do my husband and I fit into this mix at this point in our life?  The truth is we are only onlooking-perfect-gift-givers and smilers this time around. The dilemma we...