Retire In Style Blog Too

This thought has just been wandering around in my mind for a while. How can we be sure that our readers hear the sound of our written words. After my rant about the blog post I had read making fun of old people the other day, the author and I carried on a comment conversation concerning the sound of our words. The fact was, not knowing that person's writing style, I did not understand exactly what she was saying. It is one of the glitches that bloggers encounter every day. I suppose that is why we use all those smiley faces and parenthesis enclosed stage prompts to make sure that our readers understand. (Smile now.) "Are you following me?" is one of those phrases that can be read a number of ways. For example, are you clicking the follow button in the sidebar or liking me on Facebook? (I like that a lot.) OR are you interested in my aging ideas and want to read more OR do you understand my message OR are you just a stalker that might figure out where I live and show up at...

I have been posting my opinions and thoughts on this blog for what seems like a very long time. Discussions, trends and rants have come and gone. There have been elections and best sellers and, of course, a lot of stupidity (some of it others and some of it mine). I often go back and read what I have said about one thing or another to only wonder "Did I really say that?" Here are a few examples: Paper news ...you know, news that is printed on a piece of paper. I thought in my stupidity that no one would care about the paper newspaper after they had experienced the delights of reading their news online. Boy was I wrong about that one. The things to miss are many and the way it has played out surprises me. I miss the newspaper a lot even though I did not read the front page (it always made me mad). I loved the style section, the comics and best of all sitting beside my husband sharing a crossword puzzle. I also loved that fact that I could line the garbage can with it or do a s...

en: Penn & Teller, during the 40th Emmy Awards pt: A dupla de ilusionistas e comediantes Penn & Teller, durante o 40 a edição do Emmy Awards, em Agosto de 1988. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) If you are one of the millions of people that have faithfully watched Penn and Teller's show on Showtime called "Bullshit", you probably didn't miss the episode they ran called "Old People" (Season 8, Episode 8). I just watched it this morning and laughed my "old person" head off. The very fact that they even thought to disprove all those myths about my people just tickled me to death. Even though I am 73 (almost) I wondered if it were possible to prove younger people wrong about us. We can be a little annoying I know. On sex for example, Penn and Teller managed to find a group of people from Florida that were actually willing to talk about sex. That surprised me a lot...I am not talking and you cannot make me! But good for those Floridians that were will...

It is almost my birthday. I don't know about you but I-love-my-birthday. Age has nothing to do with it at all.  It is all about the gifts and attention. I like gifts and attention lot. If I play my cards right, I can make my birthday last until Christmas. My family knows all about my fondness for great food and a beautiful kitchen full of people so they try to make my dreams come true. They also know how strongly I feel about social issues and making my money go to work when I shop. Oven to Table Entertainment Platter Click  here  for more Christmas Gift ideas. So when my beautiful Oven to Table Entertainment Platter came from UncommonGoods the other day, I was delighted.  This is something my family would have chosen for me.  It is the perfect combination of all those things I love…kitchen tools, entertaining and and buying from a company with a with a social conscience. Plus, it is the ideal gift for a women like me (click here for more ideas). It j...

I remember watching TV with my granddaughter back when The Rugrats were very popular. You remember...that was the TV show with the darling babies that lived in a playpen, a self-centered girl named Angelica that messed with their life and a dozing oblivious grandpa that was in charge a lot of time. I thought at the time that Angelica was seen by my granddaughter as a bad little girl that made life miserable for everyone around her. But as I watched my granddaughter more, I came to realize that Angelica was becoming a heroine of sorts. Angelica always got her own way and never took any sas from anyone. We quit watching The Rugrats and my granddaughter moved on. Flash forward 13 years to 2014. Now it is me that needs to be careful what I watch on TV. One of my friends was describing a show she liked that had a very strong woman lead...a little edgy and very in your face kind of show. I had to stop and think about whether that was a good idea for me...probably not. The spill over from wat...

Not very long ago I wrote about the 10,000 hours it took for the Beatles to become the rock stars that they were. My friend Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement put a comment on the blog post telling how many years he and his wife had been married and how many hours they had spent together. He was wondering why he wasn't a better husband if it only took 10,000 hours to perfect a skill.  When I read his words I could only think that it must be a lot harder to be a husband that it was to be a Beatle. Anyway that got me to thinking about being an expert. I know how long it takes because I have done the math. The chances of me being an expert on anything that I am not proficient at now are slim to none. If it really does take 10,000 hours of doing something to become an expert what does that mean. I know the Beatles played for eight hours a day at a gig in Hamburg and they did it long enough to become THE BEATLES. The only thing I can think that I might be an expert at is cleaning a...

Ageism  (also spelled "agism") is stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. This may be casual or systematic. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Have I said this before, "Just shoot me now and get it over with!"? Honestly, it is getting so I am almost afraid to go out in public looking and smelling like myself. See, the thing is I am getting old. That "getting old" is just plain annoying to most people that are not old yet. It is a problem. Image from genfringe.com Take the blog post I read yesterday about old people going to the grocery store. Wednesday With the Old Folks  was written tongue in cheek and I think the author was just being funny. But it hit way too close to home. I have heard almost every complaint about the grocery store already ...old people are slow walking down the aisles. Old people want to buy...

I have a friend that loves Tuesday gifts...they are given for no articular reason. It is not a birthday or a holiday. It is just Tuesday. She loves that day. I love quiet Wednesday a lot. Is that in-between time that Dee Martin wrote about in a poem called It's My Birthday and I'll Write if I Want To . She talked about dawn and dusk...not day and or night but the time between the cracks of time that pass unnoticed and very quickly. For me quiet Wednesday...a whole day of peace uninterrupted...is like that. It isn't close to the weekend on either side. Quiet Wednesday is very muted and restful for me. I can just be. I know it will pass quickly so I need to take time to look and feel. I like that a lot. A good book or even a very long movie is waiting. Soup, coffee at a coffee shop or maybe a little drive so I can take a picture might be my choice. Yes, Wednesday is a favorite day for me...especially since that is today and I am here to share it with you. b+

My husband keeps reading me these travel articles about how to pack for a vacation and not bring everything with us including the kitchen sink. His idea of smart packing involves enough underwear to last the vacation, the exact number of changes of clothes and no checked luggage. My idea of packing involves my big orange suitcase, enough combination of clothing for a change twice a day and a pillow. I don't like to arrive and wish I had brought that white blouse!  I check my luggage. Suites Casa Mia, San Miguel de Allende, Mx. We were on the third floor. They carried our luggage up the stairs! We just do not see eye to eye on everything and travel packing is one of them. I am all about being comfortable, looking as good as possible and taking my pillow. My husband is all about bragging rights! He is a model packer according to the experts. I am just a bad traveler it seems. But there is some method to my madness...really there is! I know how we function when we travel...well I func...

Dressing myself is just SOOOOO hard. When I look in the mirror I know who I am and that some clothes will make me look lumpy but it doesn't matter. Inside my head I still looking for that perfect outfit. The trouble is most designers do not see the need to provide clothes for the boomer set...not yet. So what needs to be done is find a look, deconstruct it and put it back together only this time the right way...my way. Converse Chuck Taylor Hi Top Sneaker </div> <div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> This pair of Tom's will work better for me. Take these high top shoes...not that I think they would be comfortable on my ankle or anything. A teen might be able to wear them. But still, I have been looking for a pair of shoes in blue and those shoes on the right would be perfect. I think the Tom's shoes might be a better ...

Bob Lowry over at Satisfying Retirement wrote a post the other day about the approaching decay of an aging body. It is a subject most of us that are growing older don't want to face but is always on our minds. Like our teenage grandchildren we are worried about how our bodies and the rest of our life will turn out. In many ways we are experiencing our adolescence for a second time. Women will invest a fortune is creams, procedures and the gym so what is true can be denied. I honestly do not know what is in a man's mind...my husband just keeps going like the Energizer Bunny that he is. I have never hear him talk about wrinkles ever. Isn't that wonderful? However, he is not willing to give up that younger self that could lift the couch and dig a trench. For him, it is very important. I have a hard time keeping that little boy in a grandpa's body out of trees in the spring. He still likes to trim the highest branch while perched on a limb when I am not looking. Vintage Bar...

We have decided we like flying Delta. They are early to their destinations, the planes are beautiful and it all works for me. But I have a question. Why do you board First Class passengers first. Where is the advantage for the passenger in that? Even if you are in row 10-18 where is the advantage to boarding before those further back? Who wants to sit on an airplane any longer than they actually have to? Why don't they give 1st class and boarding area 2 the option of staying in the bar or restaurant for 20 minutes longer? Why? It seems to me that they should load group 4 first, let them fritter around and get organized forever. Who cares. We don't have to walk by them and they are out of the way. Then 3, then 2, and then last but not least, First Class. Does that make sense to you?  I'm just saying! b+ Related articles Travel: Planning a Trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Airplanes: Should I be a White Knuckle Traveler? Even The NYT has an opinions! Help: You'll Neve...

What have you got to lose? Really, if you ask and the answer is yes you have what you need. If you ask and the answer is no, so be it! I seem to be having this conversation a lot lately. It is amazing to me that those that need the most are the ones that never ask. I, on the other hand, just ask and smile. For example: Who could resist this pair? A family member was flying from one place to the other. The flight took 4 hours. The husband and wife were traveling with an older son that has some special needs. Flying makes him very anxious and talkative. When they got their seating assignment they were seated separately. Because they had raised the son to be very self sufficient, they had never asked for any special treatment. But surprise of all surprises...when they explained their situation to the boarding agent they received a seat that not only worked for them but also for all of those people around them. All they had to do was ask! We are having some remodeling done. Twice in this ...

We are all a little frustrated. Really, it is no one's fault...not a human anyway. We can blame it on the cell phone. That handy little device has managed to do away with communication all together. Did we ever talk to each other? We text a person and we can see if our message has been delivered within seconds. It doesn't matter if that person is in a meeting or is just not in the mood to answer right that instant. The very fact that they could get right back to us but usually don't leaves us feeling neglected and frustrated. As the senders of those text messages, we have no respect for working hours or even dinner hour so the chances that we will get a response shrink even more. The cell phone has made it so easy to communicate it is almost annoying. I don't think young adults answer their phones ever. They know that if they don't pick up and that person really needs to talk, they will leave a message. Text messages are ignored. Children will write on Facebook ...