Retire In Style Blog Too

Oh my goodness...this is really hard for me. I have actually been offered the gift of a simpler Christmas and I just cannot wrap that gift up in my mind. It is very hard. See, my family decided that the only people that will receive gifts are the children and that number is shrinking by the minute. The oldest of the youngest will be 21 on his next birthday. I suppose that he should be put at the grownup table soon don't you think? He is in his third year of college and I still want to cut his food when he comes to visit! So I keep thinking of excuses for buying a "little" gift for some of the family...they helped us out a lot or they need a little boost. It is very hard. So I am trying to devise a plan where I can do that for them opening without worrying about breaking the rules and still have it be a Christmas Gift. Anyone have any ideas? Please. b+

Cabin the Woods A post just in time for snow and cold and being inside all of the time...when you are retired and trapped in your house with your spouse, things can get a little ugly. The beauty of the whole thing is that even the caveman was troubled by too much cavewoman. Being trapped in a cave must have been torture. My parents were perfectly matched and adored each other. I remember them hugging each other in the kitchen. But when the weather got bad, my mother did something I had really never heard her do before...she complained about my dad. I was a grown woman with children of my own when she called in mid-January. She was very upset and I could hear it in her voice. I never did know what was wrong but I did ask her if they were suffering from "cabin fever". I remember laughing with her as she admitted that being cooped up even with the man of your dreams can make one really cranky. My husband and I are back in Oregon, the skies are gray and it rains a lot. ...

I am so gullible and literal...really. I will fall for your line in a nanosecond. Just tell me the moon is made of green cheese and I will believe you. I can prove it! My husband and I have been married for a gagzillion years so the husband knows me. (period) Last week he mentioned that the Rehab Store had wine refrigerators for sale for only $80...almost free considering how much a wine fridge would normally cost. I was so excited...of course, I said, we should go and take a look. Time passed. Day before yesterday he called to me and ask me if I was ready to go...go where? I asked. We need to to return the stuff to the Lobby Polly (Hobby Lobby) Store he said. It was a beautiful day and I do like the Hobby Lobby a lot. I visualized looking around a little you know! He followed me into the store and stood by the front entrance waiting being careful to to appear in a hurry to leave. We left! Would you like to have lunch? he asked.  Well I never turn down lunch. Down...

This is an old post from 2008...Norman Leyden passed away in 2014 but he is still alive in my heart. He was a truly remarkable man. I've got a crush on you, sweetie pie All the day and nighttime, hear me sigh I never had the least notion That I could fall with such emotion Could you coo, could you care For a cunning cottage we could share The world will pardon my mush Cause I've got a crush, my baby, on you.... (Sung originally by Ella Fitzgerald) Norman Leyden His name is Norman Leyden. That's right. I have a crush on the former conductor of the Oregon Symphony Pops. I have to admit it (even to my husband). This man worked his magic on me! He plays a clarinet like no one I have ever heard It only took the sound of that clarinet filling a concert hall to win my heart. Sweet memories are part of every crush I suppose, at least that was true for me. It all happened on as the result of a very special New Year's Eve in 2008. My husband I...

Is there any point to fighting with your internet service company over a bill? I know that you all have had the same experience. Truly, I don't want them to get really mad at us and disconnect our service. They are the only game in town. My husband is negotiating fees and at one time in that conversation he acted like he was going to tell them to take that service and......  I am telling you having it disconnected is very frightening. At one time my husband I were the only ones on the block that could operate a computer. In the RV resort we lived in for many years I was the go to expert on all things that had to do with technology. People owned computers but they were simply afraid to actually use them. Even email confounded them totally. One of my neighbors lost his wife and all he really wanted was for the email to go away! Seriously, the web was very big and people just could not wrap their minds around stepping out into that world. As our world became and more flat (is ...

I know, how does that happen? You know that if life is not messing with you, you are not alive. Honestly, humiliation and embarrassment is the stuff of which life is made...it is sandwiched in between all that happiness, joy and love that you are experiencing the rest of the time. So having your pants fall down is not bad, it is just life messing with you...not that I have ever actually have had my pants fall down very often. I read No Ordinary Time by Joyce Kearns Goodwin several years ago. It was one of those books that left you feeling like someone had moved out of your house when you finished. Kearns led me day by day, hour by hour through the WWII era in the White House that the Roosevelt's occupied. Some parts of that book will never go away...neither will the good laughs I had along the way. For example, as I recall the story, rationing of gasoline did not have so much to do with a shortage as it did for women needing girdles. (I know that is an exaggeration but st...