Retire In Style Blog Too

Did we make a good choice by moving to Tucson, Arizona? Well that ship has sailed. We have lived there for 6 months in the winter for a very long time. Yes, I would recommend you move close to us but I wouldn't want to do that without telling you the truth. Like so many other places, being on vacation does not mean you can escape life.   It has occurred to me that many people are confused about what their location will be if they choose to be a snowbird. Should they go to Florida, one of the Gulf of Mexico locations, southern California or Arizona? Location is important. Most, of course, will choose based on where they live now. Those in western Canada will go to a west coast location, those in the central states can go either way and many for the East Coast of the United States will go to an east coast location. Many will make that choice based on cost of living. A few will look at safety. Quality of life may also come into play. It can be very confusing at best and most people do...

Imagine the feeling of weight being lifted from my shoulders when I realized what a load I carried as I was thinking about what I should be doing and not what I was doing. I have been thinking about eating my elephant a lot lately. The creature is so huge and in fact is not willingly eaten on any day of the week. That elephant can pose a problem. The one thing we all know is that a normal person can not eat an elephant in one bite. I don't know about you but when I was younger I did want to eat life all at once. I would try to do many things at a time, not doing anything every well. So how about now? Well...most of the creature has been gnawed on at one time or another. Work, children, friends, homes, travel, books, hobbies and even spiritual stuff...they have all come to play a big part in my life at various time. The trouble always was that while I was gnawing away on one thing, I was thinking that I should also be working on something else. Now, now...as I become older and wiser...

I had a friend that began every occasion with a declaration that it was her "last hurrah". Her name was Anna Mary. She was very old and yet she seemed so young mentally that it was hard to even recognize what she was enduring physically. She was a widow and lived alone. I think of her often these days. I remember telling her one day, "No it's not your "last hurrah" Anna Mary...you are not even near to that time."  We were invited to a Total Eclipse 2017 Party this weekend and as those few day unfolded I was reminded Anna Mary's eventual "last hurrah". I am drawing closer and closer.  Here is the story. Total Eclipse 2017 hosts...Lee and Kristine (from their Facebook picture) I was given the royal treatment...a ride up the hill! (from Lee and Kristine's Facebook picture.) We have friends that are younger than we are...perhaps a lot younger although it is hard to tell. Almost all their children are graduated from high school and some fr...

Psychological projection  is a theory in  psychology  in which humans defend themselves against their own unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by  denying  their existence in themselves while  attributing  them to others. [1]  For example, a person who is habitually  rude  may constantly accuse other people of being rude. It incorporates  blame shifting . So am I guilty of psychological projection? I have spent the last couple of days venting my anger on Facebook and Twitter and I have aimed it at people I know that finally used up all their straws. The last straw was when I kept getting emails aimed at liberals. The last pointed out several Democrats calling them stupid...STUPID! These people may be a lot of things but the last thing they are is stupid. And the intent was to let me know how they feel about my views. By default, I was stupid too. It made me very mad! So I know you have all heard of the last...

This our snow bird park model before we restored it to it's former glory. I don't have the after pictures right now but I will add them later. Back ever so many years ago Bob Lowry posted an interview with me called  Being a Snowbird: Is It The Right Choice For You?  The questions were all related to our snowbird lifestyle. That was when I discovered that being a snowbird is a total mystery to so many people and that surprised me. Even today almost 5 years later, I have people wondering about how they can do it and asking very good questions. Because we did not research "snowbird lifestyle" before we fell into it, I am amazed that people have so much foresight. Retirement is almost symbolically connected with being a snow-bird in my world. My husband and I were both educators that retired before we were sixty. We were healthy and antsy! Like all retirees, it took many years before we settled in our retirement lifestyle. Each step brought us closer to being experts on ...

Summers are all about family, baseball, grandchildren and so much more. Ours has been so full that I think I need to post it in installments.  My husband and I laugh a lot. If I could remember where this was taken we would go back! Baseball has been so much fun this year. We have a local team that has turned out to be winners. Wowza! When coloring turns into a race but they are competitive or anything! My beautiful greatgranddaughter! Sweet Embrey My husband HAD to build a fire...it was 97 degrees outside. My family went whitewater rafting. I am on shore with the giant dog. Dog sitting for the granddog is part of the summer fun. This little block of a dog is so much fun! Getting the picture is hard when the picturees are not cooperating. It's all about the hats! What the heck? Then, when it is all done, we call in the street sweepers to clean up.  I hope you summer is going perfectly. If you have a post about summer, leave a link in comments! b+ Related articles Summer Reads: ...

I have been on a reading binge this summer and I am beginning to see myself as quite the expert on what is good and what is bad. That is not a good thing but it is a true thing. I just finished reading The Crow Trap by Anne Cleeve. It is the first of the Vera Stanhope series that Cleeve wrote. It was first published back in 1999. She is a master storyteller and has such a unique way of writing a mystery that is centered around one character. It took me a while to catch what she was doing. In this novel and in the Shetland Island book, Dead Water I read earlier in the summer, the main character came it more than halfway through book. Cleeves set the stage, leaving smoking guns all over the place and then gave you the detective almost unwillingly. It made me think and wonder about what she was up to...but in the end it made the book just perfect. Vera has since become a popular ITV series seen here in the United States on PBS. The Crow Trap is the third episode in the ITV series but ...

Notes about travel: I know it is a lot but take your time, think it through and see if any of this information may be of some help.You really shouldn't be paranoid. Bad stuff can and will happen. Being informed makes life a lot easier. 2003 Plaza Major in Madrid. Purse was stole within minutes  after this was taken. Were we talking about travel? I can't remember but I do know it has been on my mind recently. I was looking at one of my favorite websites published by midlife women on Midlife Boulevard . The travel section caught my eye. Traveling vicariously is almost as much fun as really going. Susan Fluhr wrote a story about her trip to Masada in Israel and the photos were beautiful. The best travel articles, I think, are those that bring back wonderful memories of vacations past. We visited Jordan last December. Israel is on the west side of the Dead Sea, Jordon on the East. The wheels began turning. Then I received an email from a cyber security company concerning travelin...

You have probably been to the State of Denial...you know the one that is just south of Oblivious and on the road to Stupid! Yes, that is the one. Well that is where my husband and I live. When we are at home in that place, please do not come and visit. Living in the State of Denial has its own problems...problems that come around and bite you on the behind. Even though you don't live in Stupid you will feel that way. We are both so healthy and active that when we tip over for example, we decide that it is not our fault, go to bed for a little while and drink a gallon of water. We figure we are going to live forever and a nap will fix all problems. Then one day one of us tips over in public and a big drama ensues. The people that know what they are talking about (paramedics) want us to take a trip to the hospital but we, in our infinite wisdom, decline as graciously as we can and go home. Now we have scared our family, undermined their confidence in our ability to make decisions and...