Retire In Style Blog Too

I know they invited me along just to get me on a ride and then hear me squeal like a pig. I didn't care. I went along anyway. Is there anything more fun than a county fair?  While we loved the goats and pigs and sheep and the horses, in the end it was all about the children, carnival rides, cotton candy and laughing like a kid. What a wonderful day. Snug as a bug...or a pig? Food Coma...yes the pig on the left fell asleep with it's snout in the straw!  5 Wooly Sheep in blankets on a hot summer day! She always wondered what a pig snout looked like up close. What?  I swear she could drive one of these even though she has no idea what it is. Pre-ride giggles! Pretty enough to eat... ...and more! Just pure fun...no rides for me though. I said I had some mythical ailment. I am just plain chicken! b+

Don't you feel like yelling at people occasionally...is anyone living in that house or is the attic empty? I do but then I remember to "be nice". It is hard for me. Really, it seems to me that listening must be the hardest task ever for most people. Being long winded or even mind numbingly boring may be my problem but I just can't imagine why it feels like no one with listen to what I have to say. Could the problem be with the listener and not the talker? Maybe so! listening (Photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg ) In a post called at fifty::what I've learned so far written by Kim Tackett on a blog called Fifty/Fifty, the subject of listening came up. I have this article printed and it lays by my computer because it is one of the best pieces of writing I have seen in a long time. She talks about 8 things that she thinks are worth noting of all the things she has learned in  50 years. I loved #3...it was about listening. "Everyone just wants to be heard. They don...

Oh my gosh, I just discovered the YouTube video called Older Ladies  .  Donnalou Stevens is the vocal artist and wrote the song. It is just hilarious. But more interesting yet is the story behind the woman that wrote this delightful little ditty. I discovered the video on a website called called Boomerology Revealed TV and a segment called Viral Videos with Baby Boomers #18. The YouTube show is hosted by Shahar Boyayan, a professional speaker, author, business owner and show host. Steven had given an interview with Boyayan for the website. Stevens had been in pain for 30 years of her life and it could consume her I think. Then she discovered that pain is a lot different from suffering. Pain is something we all have but many of us do not suffer from that pain. It was during that interview that she said something so wise and wonderful about writing music for her audience. I never wanted to create art that perpetuated my pain. I always want it to be whimsical or poignance in so...

I was wrong...again. I wrote this blog post in 2010 but I am updating it NOW. It turns out we were not right about sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. We were wrong about that new mattress we bought at Costco. See, those mattresses have only one sleepable side and the edges roll off on all sides. Once I measured the part we could actually sleep on I realized we lost a full 8 inches to a big slope. We returned the mattress, bought a king sized mattress. Now we both sleep a lot better no matter what side of the bed we are on. Anyway, here is that old article. The ideas here are still valid and ones that I have encorporated into my routine. A place to relax and read before bedtime! MARRIED PEOPLE, THE BEDTIME ROUTINE AND SLEEP I write a blog about staying active as you age...remain flexible, I tell my readers, don't get stuck in a rut and refuse to try new things.  We should at least try to change our routines occasionally.  My thinking is that, just like our joints, our minds...

I have had so much fun this week reading other people's blogs. They have inspired me to talk about things I have on my mind all of the time. This morning Eileen Hopkins of Boomer Pot of Gold  woke up very early (3 am) and wrote a post about the beautiful sunrise and birdsong. I could see her world in my minds eye. Eileen is newly retired and just beginning the journey called retirement. Her days are filled with relief from the worry of a job that filled her day from dawn to dusk. I know how she feels. Even the part about waking in the middle of the night rings a very clear and nagging signal of what retirement holds for me. I suspect that most people have had the nagging experience. The fact is a job just keeps our minds and bodies so busy that exhaustion set in and sleep is the only respite we have from that world. I know people that fall into bed each night and are asleep immediately. They will even nap on weekends. Sleep is a treasure to be pulled out when the world simply gets ...

Available on Amazon:  Nation (photo credit: Wikipedia) I was reading a blog this morning written by Tam Warner Minton called Travels with Tam. Tam is a scuba diver that loves to travel. Her post was called 5 Reasons to Adventure Travel . I loved this post but then you don't need to poke me in the ribs to get me going when it comes to travel. She quoted Terry Pratchett , that very funny and much quoted English writer saying: Coming back to where you started is  not the same as never leaving.” Terry Pratchett I liked that a lot. I recall my son asking me once about taking a walk. His father and I walked a lot to explore our little world so this son was familiar with the routine. He had been on many a walk. But as he grew older he became a little suspicious of the habit. Did he want to go for a walk? He wanted to know where we would be when we finished with the walk. When I told him we would be back home, his thought was that there really was no point in talking the walk if we we...

I read a blog called  Pearl, Why You Little...  The author makes me laugh and I am all about a good laugh. In an article she posted today called Well I Can See I'm Going to Take Back a Lot of What  I've Said   she talked about making fun of people when she was young. As a young girl she and her friends would lay on a beach towel and whisper about people that were old or fat or suffering from extreme cellulite of the bottom. Now as she is getting older she said this about her body as she tried to remain positive: Me, I am pleased to report that my ankles continue to be identifiable as separate from my calves and that I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school. No swimming suit here! She was writing tongue-in-cheek and I liked the article a lot.   But I couldn't help thinking that there was dark side to that story. More of us were guilty of being smug when we were young than we would ever care to admit.  I have been guilty of being derisive of th...

I am trying to think of the last time my husband and I traveled that everything went perfect. You know, the food was wonderful, no one was ill and no drama invaded the story. When was that again? But we always have so much fun and life without adventure is not much of a life at all is it? But this last week in Central Oregon we came as close as we ever will. The good was perfect because we prepared it ourselves. The wine was perfect because my son went to the winery and bought it after tasting. And the company just made me smile the whole time. We don't travel in a RV anymore but there was the time when we would have had our whole life on wheel to pull along. I loved that part of our life when we were doing it but, now that it is over, I am glad that I don't do that anymore. The packing and unpacking was a bit like moving over and over. Now we come home and bring the suitcase inside. What a difference. But, if we were wimps, we could have found a lot to complain about. The hous...

Now I know you will say that this lifestyle is very expensive...resorts like the Black Butte Ranch here in Central Oregon come with a pretty big price tag. But...most of the houses here are really large, equipped with beautiful kitchens, deck and lots of outdoor living. The trick is to find someone to share the house with you. We are staying in a house that will sleep 10 and this is not a big house at all. If we were to share this house it would cost us about $400 each for 3 couples. We are here for 4 nights and three days. We have not eaten out, the large resort pool is free and a bicycle rental comes in at around $20 a day for the basic model. Oh my gosh...this is absolutely wonderful. Of course here in Central Oregon it is all about the scenery. We have wonderful views of the The Three Sisters Mountain, Faith, Hope and Charity  and meadows. Then there is shopping and a wonderful gin making industry. (There are lots of juniper trees around.) We are having a blast: My beautif...

I was sitting with my daughter-in-law last night gazing at the perfect night sky and talking about camping when we were children. We are in Central Oregon staying in a house located in the Black Butte Resort. This is about as near to camping, as we will ever be again. Staying here is a few dozen steps above “glamping” and a little below staying in a beautiful hotel. I like it a lot. But getting back to our stories…DIL told me about her 4H leader that took her group camping in Illinois. It was suppose to be a wonderful experience so the girls could experience the outdoors. I suppose there was a tendency for the girls to escape to places the leader could not see them so the leader told them there were bears in the woods and scared them half to death. “I even knew where she lived and didn’t like her very much. Where was that? Oh, she lived off the double nickel south of Bloomington.” The double nickel and bears…how does someone like me not store that away for some future story? In fact, t...

I know that no one is actually really interested in my grandchildren. There has to be more to the story they than "Aren't they just darling?" I suppose that it goes without saying. But planning a successful day of fun with little people can be tricky. I have been doing it for so long that I suppose I should share what I have learned. After a while it becomes easy as pie. A day like mine does not leave you exhausted and a basket case. Here are steps 1-9: Eat . At our house very visit starts with snow toast...it doesn't matter what time they come or if they have had breakfast. It is just a part of the routine and they love it. Play with toys ...clean up toys (set the timer or something so they are motivated.) Talk a little . Draw and color . My grandchildren know where these supplies are kept. I give the oldest a clip board because he is the big boy. The others will get one as they grow up more. They draw and color and I stand with them a watch. I would not need to do t...

Murphy's Law:     Anything that can go wrong will go wrong . I have always loved the Murphy's Law part of life...for some reason the whole idea just makes me laugh. It is a given that things will go wrong at the most inopportune time. We have all had those frustrating experiences. So it is not whether they will happen, it is how we handle it when they do. Remember the presentation that went perfectly in the dry run that failed a few minutes later because the computer knew how you were nervous and sensed your insecurity? In fact, according to Murphy's Law the likelihood that the computer will fail is directly proportionate to the importance of the presentation. Others have followed in Murphy's footsteps with laws of their own. LBJ even has one attributed to him. One of those laws is proof that it is our attitude that counts. That one is the Law of Logical Argument. It goes like this: Anything is possible IF you don't know what you are talking about. It is speaking ab...