Retire In Style Blog Too

I wish I could assure you that in only 35 steps you could be made perfect or your world made awesome. I could sell those 35 steps in a notebook for just a little and, if it turned out I was right, I would have enough to share some with you. WOW! However, in my world those 35 steps re-enforces my belief that my husband can do anything. We ordered a small desk for my computer for 15% off on black Friday. Yesterday it was delivered in a very flat box with instructions for assembly. Somehow we didn't think this through and hadn't counted on a flat box. We don't think the ad said "some assembly required" We could be wrong. So today...all day...my husband took on the 35 steps and a gajillion small screws, bolts and nails to assemble my prize. When I came home at around 2 pm he had been at the task for several hours. He was on step 24. It is now 5:47 pm and I am just now set up to write again . I do love that man! What did you do today? b+ PS I had a wonderful day of gol...

Note: I published one year ago on this date. It is still important to me. How about you? I have had this on my mind for a few days. I think it must be because the last few weeks have been very hard on all of us. We are trying to find the ground again and begin living our life without that dark cloud of mistrust and hurt feelings hanging over our heads. What is important in my world...really, what is it given that I have control over almost nothing? The other day I was feeling very discouraged over a game of golf when one of the women I was playing with told me her grandson had committed suicide last week. What is important on a day like that? My beautiful great-granddaughter smiled for the camera the other day and I loved her so. What is important on a day like that? A friend dropped by with a problem here in the park and began to talk about his children and their spouses. The problem faded. What is important on a day like that? Important: Our Earth Important: Our young son and his bea...

The inside of the tiny library my husband built for our neighborhood. We decided to be the good in our world. How about you? I am not a fan in any way but I do want to let you know that it is on the TV a lot here at my house. In fact I know more about it than I need to. Lately...doggone it...it seems that there is a film of discontent hanging over the whole thing. I used to enjoy not liking football and yelled at the TV a lot on Sunday afternoon. Football came into the conversation last night at dinner. A friend brought up the professional football players rebellion that has become part of the pregame ritual. First kneeling during the national anthem then standing but kneeling before. There is a video going around that has been digitally altered to show ballplayers burning the American flag. I suppose there is a lot more of which I am not aware. I simply did not want to think about it. But then my friend had an idea that really got my attention. In football we have a group of greatly a...

b+ 2017 I was going through my comments today when I stumbled on one of those "one year ago" trips down memory lane when we were just trying to wrap our mind around an election that made absolutely no sense to any of us and the prospect of what that election would mean in the future. See, the thing is I am so emotionally attached to my ideas and dreams that I cannot be very logical. I am old enough that I remember the day John F. Kennedy was elected. I was in my college dorm room and I thought at the time that  "now we can live in a country that respects intellect and it's value to our world". I didn't count on an assassination and then later the tearing down of the "Kennedy" myth. I was attached to that dream. (I was in the classroom when Kennedy was assassinated.) Over the years I have been through the ups and downs of politics. I was running a summer sunday school program on June 8, 1968 when Ten Kennedy was assassinate. During the Vietnam War I...

Mail boxes taken through the screen on a dirty window...just interesting! We often travel without a plan. Life seems to happen to us without any prompting and we find what we really like and are not unhappy for what we did not see. We like it that way. It is all about the surprises in life. This trip to Santa Fe comes four years after our last. It was my birthday so it was a celebration of sorts. We ate authentic New Mexico food, visited Canyon Road and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. We ate at the Plaza Cafe for breakfast (a must).We shopped from the Native American artists that sell their wares in front of the Palace of Governor's. Those artists are chosen by lottery so the person you see today will not be back tomorrow. Every item must be hand made...no manufacturing of any kind can happen.  One does not get to "think it over". I like that too. I am always surprised by what we find. On the way to and from Santa Fe we found new gems and missed some old ones. Hatch NM d...

Have I said this before......? Having been a mother/grandmother/great-grandmother/teacher for over 50 years a lot of words spoken by children have gone in one ear and out the other. Yet I never cease to be amaze. I simply bought his spices and then said "Thank you!" You will notice that the Muslim man did not touch me even though he pretended to do so. That would not have been courteous in his world. Dubai, UAE 2015 As I sat the kindergartners every day for the last 5 years of my career I learned I could not even possibly guess what was going on inside all those minds. I only got a small glimpse when I asked the simple question, "What do YOU know?" It was amazing the answers that came, all different, as I went around the circle of the children seated before me. If you were to ask me that question today my answer would be, "Good manners never go out of style." I think we are lifted up by the small courtesies that make up an ordinary day.  So today I am aski...