Retire In Style Blog Too

There are so many choices for that second adulthood that follows retirement.  Should we travel the world, buy a second home in a warmer climate, move permanently to a warmer climate, move closer to our children, stay at home and pursue hobbies, go back to school, work part time, become a snow bird, take up Rv travel? Making a rational and financially sound choice requires that we sift through the choices carefully. Arizona Friends...a wonderful surprise in our retirement life! I woke up in the night thinking about how my husband and I could have fulfilled our retirement dreams more responsibly. I am not a retirement counselor...I am a retiree leading the snowbird life. We went blundering through the early years of our retirement without a clue as to where the path would take us. Yes, it has been an adventure but I am coming to realize the time (and money?) we could have saved if we had been clearer about what we wanted out of our retirement life. It was not until we actually knew w...

My husband and I have been traveling in the winter for so many years it is old hat for us now. I forget that there are always beginners that need to learn the ropes. I suppose I should share a few ideas with you that are buzzing around in my brain. I would like to say that we "normally" leave at a specific time but there is no such thing as normal. We are just like the hummingbird that is still hanging around using my feeder. We do what we want when we are free to do what we want. Mt. Shasta, California in the Winter Park Model Interior Snowbird Lessons: (more here ): Travel plan : We always travel so we will avoid bad weather. The snowbirds I know that come in January are generally flying in.  The have bought an inexpensive car to use while they are in the resort. If they come early in the fall and leave in April they can generally drive without bad weather worries Two of everything:  Since we own a park model in an RV resort, we usually leave all our spices and staples in t...

I think that we grandparents have a wonderful opportunity to give our grandchildren some unique experiences. Because our home is different from the one that the children are being raised in, we can offer them a chance to change their routine and learn while they are at it. But first I want to visit the concept of "learning by doing versus learning by learning". Text books and books in general do offer some wonderful learning experiences for children.  However, doing what the book is talking about offers a totally different look at the world. Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection  (Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish,  Green Eggs and Ham,  Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks) I remember back when I was teaching kindergartners we would celebrate Dr. Seuse's birthday each year. I think that more often than not we would start with Green Eggs and Ham. The book always symbolized for me the idea that trying new things can be a little bit scary but if we can find the courage, scary things...

It occurred to me yesterday that I needed to simplify my blogging life...a lot!  Passwords, social media and time spent maintaining might be sucking the life out of me and the payback is not worth it. I do earn a little money from my Adsense account linked to me blog and an Amazon account (which I would love you to visit) but it has come time to remind myself why I began blogging back over 8 years ago. The blogging idea was so appealing...I could see my words in print, tell stories and even share pictures I had taken of faraway places. Best of all the thrill of having even one reader put me over the moon. I loved the process of writing and learning while I was doing it. It never occurred to me that people would want to use my blog to promote their products. When they did, I jumped at the chance. However, when that happened, I then felt the need to promote my blog more. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and even following followers took over the computer time that I had been spending jus...

The night before we came home we ate outdoors at Guadalajara Grill. It was a beautiful warm Tucson evening. We spent the night in Prescott. We had never come home that way. We were pleasantly surprised. (Court House Square) When my granddaughter wondered how my husband and I got to be rich the other day, I could not figure out where she got that idea. We are not rich in the financial sense.  One of my readers posted a comment suggesting that the granddaughter may think we are rich because we travel. I had not thought of that. So I asked our granddaughter. That child just can not figure out how we can afford to do what we do. She knows how much it costs. We travel routinely to places like Santa Fe and Mexico. What she doesn't realize is that we have planned and invested slowly in our travel over time. We knew that we wanted to travel when we retired. 1- For example, we own a timeshare that does not require us to pay anything until we actually use it. Connected to that timeshare is a...

I Just thought you would want to know how much fun our three little grandchildren can turn a Sunday afternoon into...they are three reasons we are so rich!

Yes, that is 80 mph!

I really need for you to know that we are rich...but you also need to know that I am NOT talking about money here. It seems that my beautiful 16 year old granddaughter thinks we are rich. I don't know what kind of rich she thinks we are...I will need to ask her soon. I was visiting with my daughter the other evening. She was in Portland and I was in Las Vegas.  My husband and I were having dinner at the Culinary Dropout located in the Hard Rock Hotel. It was late and we were eating light...not expensive. We were seated outdoors and the temperature was very near 80 degrees. As I talked with my daughter she laughed because it was, as always, raining in Portland. I admit that I did rub our good fortune in a little bit...she does lots of fun stuff too so she can take it. Then she told me that my granddaughter wanted to know how Grandma and Grandpa got to be so rich? I have asked myself that question many times. How did we get to be so lucky? My daughter's thought that it was our en...

Prov.  Children like to listen to adult conversations and can understand a lot of what they hear. Remember, "Little pitchers have big ears." (Used to warn another adult not to talk about something because there is a child present.) Shay is 2 today.  Happy birthday Baby Granddaughter Shay! She doesn't really talk a lot yet but she is listening and watching. Two big brothers do all her talking so everything is good. Who know what her first big sentence will be. I am heading home in a few days and we will be spending some time with her. I hope that her first big sentence is not something I have said because it probably would not be good. She is the 9th grandchild I have been around from the time they were born. Everyone of them picked up something from me that was less than perfect.  I am often reminded by my children that "little pitchers have big ears". What about you? How is that grandparenting going? b+ Related articles Which is better for Grandparents? How-to ...

I invite you to go to the J. Jill website and look at the timeless cardigans. The little sweaters are so slimming because of the way they are cut in at the waist.  I have one in black. I ordered these Gianni Bini shoes from Dillards today and had them shipped to Oregon. We don't have a sales tax there so I didn't have to pay Arizona taxes...that is good.  We don't have a Dillards in Oregon...that is not good. I have a pair of these shoes in gold and I absolutely love them.  They are comfortable and reasonably prices.  GB is a wonderful brand name. There you go...shopping online just has to do some times! b+

We are getting ready to return to Oregon. I am always torn between our two homes. Each has it's own charm and appeal. But I can tell you for sure, the hummingbirds do NOT come into the house in Oregon. Arizona however is another thing. I have told you before that I am married to a Doctor Dolittle  and that animals, birds and even lizards are okay having him very near. He talks to them as though he is one of them. Our cat, for example, thinks he hung the moon and looks at him with such adoration it melts my heart. Our hummingbird feeder hangs near the place where we sit outdoors in the morning and evening. Each time a bird comes to feed my husband talks to them and encourages them to just relax and take a load off. See, a sitting hummingbird is not very common. When a friend came in the house to share a glass of wine yesterday, she left the screen door open. We were visiting and evidently the bird heard my husband talking and laughing. It flew onto the porch and then into the l...