10 Gifts for Spring...just because!

I think Spring might be happening.  Here in Arizona Spring means 80 degrees and lots of sunshine.  Spring in Oregon mean 55 degree, rain, wind and beautiful flowers.  It is all relative.  In either case the feeling is the same...hopeful and happy!

We will be returning home soon and now I am beginning to think about our summer gift giving.    We are gone all winter and so birthdays and other small celebrations get neglected.  To make up for it, we have a huge "share a cake" celebration and everyone gets a gift.  It is like Christmas in the summer. I like that a lot.  I will shop mostly on Amazon so I signed up for their 2-3 day free shipping offer.  I can use the service for one month at no cost.  Free shipping is huge these day.

So here are 10 things I will be looking at for the family:

I saw these Zazzle shoes while we were on vacation last summer.  The
man that was wearing them was very proud
of his personal design.

1. Puzzles...Amazon has  three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles that caught my eye.  A puzzle is perfect for children of all ages and our family loves to build puzzles at parties.
2. Junior Circle Top blouse.  I think these little tee shirt blouses would be perfect for the teens or even preteens.  A Nordstroms ad showed these little tops with a long pendant type necklace...darling.  
3. Flowered long scarves...featured by teen and a big favorite this season! Check out the websites for up scale teen styles and then replicate the look by ordering online.
4. Gift card for Zazzle ...both boys and girls would love to design everything from their own shoes to their three ring binders and have them be delivered to the door.  The wonderful shoes are real eye poppers and prices starting at around $50!
5. 10x makeup mirror...lighted of course.  The whole family would love one of these.  This mirror can save money for women on minor "beauty chores" and men will love them for shaving.  I would choose a portable one so we can travel with it.
6. An invitation for a trip to the local nursery to shop for plants.  Spring calls for a country drive, lunch and a basket of flowers. (See Back Roads Near Portland Oregon)
7. If the man in your life is a golfer, a sleeve of three Pro V One golf balls are always a winner...even if they say they want the cheap kind from the drug store.
8. Cutter Buck has some beautiful golf sweaters...all men will love one of these whether they golf or not.
9. Costume wear...in the southwest the cowboy is king so a cowgirl costume or a cowboy costume is the perfect gift from a returning snowbird grandparent.  Find one of those hats or fringed skirt so your grandchild can pretend to be a cowgirl or cowboy.
10. A game...I think Taboo would be fun.  My grandsons love to play cards and games.  It never sees to get old.

 There you have it.  10 spring gifts...just because everyone like a present.

When seniors fall...the perfect cure!

The Walking Wounded!

I fell in a hole...I really fell in a hole.  After walking almost 18 holes of golf on a par 72 golf course, I stepped in an invisible hole and sprained my right ankle.  YUCK!!!  I can walk on it and move everything so I did not go to the doctor.  And, after I went to bed last night in a "state of agony", I started laughing!  What I was enduring was not that bad but it sure did helped me understand what some of my friends are going through.

You see we are all the walking wounded.  My friend Carol had back surgery almost two years ago and she still has shooting pains down her leg. Another friend had a hernia operated on and his wife had a knee replacement this summer.  Two other friends have lot of stents in their hearts.  A neighbor fell and had to have rotary cuff surgery last week.  I fell yesterday and got up with a badly sprained ankle.  A friend down the street fell off her bike today and broke her arm just above the wrist.  She will be seeing the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow.  Stay away for a while...it is not safe to be in this neighborhood at the moment.

A friend came and got me in his golf cart so I could go a potluck.  Everyone gathering around listening to all misery and I warned every one...don't walk, don't eat, don't ride your bike, don't lift heavy stuff, don't wear out your joints.  We are having a bad spell of wounds here right now.  Just be careful.

The thing is we really are all fine...stuff happens on the way to the garbage dump...if we did not laugh so much I am sure it would be very depressing.  But we do laugh and we endure...that is what we are all about.

b

How to Retire = Learning to be FREE!

Grilled Grandmas:  I am now a member of a select group of woman called Grilled Grandmas.  I was privileged to be selected and interviewed by the Grandma's Briefs Blog this week.  You will find out who I really am when you read my responses!

#259 - Free

Sunday Scribblings

A week in the life of a retiree can be anything you want it to be.  Living in the past or in the future is okay but enjoying this week, day, hour minute is the best ever.  We have declared our FREEDOM and our lives are what we make of them.  I personally don't apologise for the wonderful life we enjoy

Freedom at it's best!

Yesterday we were watching the final game of the bocci ball game season with the game that would determine who was the champion here in the RV Resort.  I know it seems silly to those of you that disdain a game like bocci...there is no thrilling dangerous excitement.  No one gets hurt, or pushed or even yelled at.  It is usually quiet even with 100 people stand around watching.  The loudest noise you will hear is the heart beat of the people competing.  Most people are not used to that kind of attention from a crowd.  I know because we played for the championship pizza last year...and lost.

Then my husband pointed out to me that the 60s Garage Band was playing for a dance nearby...just mention dancing to me and I am dressed and in the car.  We took friends with us and danced until...drum roll and applauding...9:30 pm.  Oh my...we really need to find a place where people stay up later.  But the fact is we were done for the day.  We had played 18 holes of golf the day before, eaten dinner at a nearby retirement community and collapsed in bed at 10:30.  We had gone shopping and running errands between the bocci ball and the dancing and we had cooked dinner on the bar-b-que at around 5:00 o'clock.  We were happily tired and full of the day!

I know you young people make fun of old people...they have lunch at 11:00 am, dinner at 4:00 pm and breakfast a 8:00 pm.  We turn down our bed at 6:30 pm and are in bed by 9:00 pm.  I have heard the routine.  I have even laughed myself...but let me tell you this...for the most part it is all a lie.  We have something that those of you that work will not understand until you have it yourself...FREEDOM!  We can come and go, eat, dance, dress just like we want and when we want.  Trust me, being free is just about the best thing around.

Related articles

• Resort Lifestyles Communities announces $25M retirement community in Bartlett (commercialappeal.com)
• BOOM! Retirement Community In Palm Springs (huffingtonpost.com)
• Have a Happy Retirement (everydayhealth.com)

Why Buy a Handheld Ebook Reader? See my List of Books!

Image via WikipediaI LOVE MY KINDLE
I love my Kindle handheld ebook reader.  The books are very inexpensive and I don't have to store real books on a shelf!  The large print has saved my reading life...that alone makes the device worth it's weight in gold!

HOW MUCH HAVE I USED MY KINDLE
Well here is the list that is on my reader today and how I rate them:

1. The Girl Who Played with Fire (reading now)
2. The Girl with Dragon Tattoo  ****
3. Romeo, Romeo (terrible book but free) 
4. Tinkers ***
5. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel ****
6. Eat, Pray Love *
7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Club ***
8. Sarah's Keys (NYT Best Seller) ***

What did I pay for these books?  Well I paid around $8...sometimes a lot less.  The next book I read will be Cutting for Stone.  This book was recommended by a friend.  It is marketed on the Amazon website for $7.99.  When I order the book, it will be delivered within seconds of my order via my wireless connection (at home, in airports, Starbucks, etc.).

FYI...WHY A HANDHELD EBOOK READER

Senior citizens quit reading because they cannot see the print or because large print books are very heavy and cumbersome. If they are housebound for any reason, they can simply go to their Kindle wireless and order books from their living room.   Handheld ebook readers can be the answer to a prayer for them.  In a comparison of ebook readers on the wikipedia website someone has compiled graphs with all the information about the features of each model.  When you get ready to purchase one, satisfy yourself that you have picked the right one.  Many have features that I just do not want or need...Internet connection or a touch screen just is not something I would ever use.    I suppose that is why the Kindle has turned out to be the perfect choice for me.

Have a wonderful day!

b

PS...dancing tonight and barbecue tomorrow...this retiree is having a good time!

China, Japan, Earthquakes...expats family's concerns!

Note:  I am still asking readers to click on the follow button if they have not already done that.  I have also added a Technorati Badge on the right.  If you click on that I would appreciate it too.  Thank you.

We have family living in Shanghai, China.  They live on the east side of the city...Pu Dong.  Their house is on a golf course and the China Sea spills into their living room when the monsoon season comes each year.  We try not to worry because they are very responsible world citizens.

Third Culture Kids

When the earth quake hit Japan last week we remembered that our son and his wife had applied for jobs in Japan last year.  How different their and our lives are because they did not get that job. We received a simple text message from them that said "We are okay...no tsunami!"  Then as we began to get word of nuclear reactor problems we like the parents of children that attend the school where my son is deputy superintendent were very concerned about how that could come into play.  In fact, all parents in China are very worried about the health of their children.  How could they not be.  I realize how much pain and worry parents of expats living in Japan must be experiencing.


So the reality is that parents in that part of the world are talking about iodine therapy to remove radiation just like the parents along the west coast of the United States.  They too are rushing to find solutions for a problem that will probably never arrive at their shores because of prevailing winds.  My husband and I know that we are truly citizens of the world when it comes to issues that affect our environment. We know that no country or community is isolated from a disaster like the one in Japan.  In fact, we are feeling  closer to cultures we do not understand because we see that their life is a reflection of our own in so many ways.


The expat schools in China have banned together to provide their communities with consistent and truthful information.  They are relying on their country's embassies and the government in Japan and China to keep them informed.  As in the United States, parents expect the school to be their protector.  The schools are not equipped to do that job but are willing to be the transmitters of information to their parents.  Every day is a challenge.


For people like myself, it is hard to wrap our minds around the place where expats live and work.  It is a nether world of an extraordinary kind...especially in times of crisis.  Those people that live in a Third Culture Society understand they are in fact citizens of a larger world...citizens of their own country, citizens of the country where they reside, and citizens of the world.  Their pool of resources is very unlike ours.


As a grandparent of two granddaughter who are called Third Culture Kids, I am very grateful, sometimes a little fearful but always very excited for the life they lead.  As for the situation in Japan, I am reminded that the earth we walk on is a very fragile place and I try to tread lightly.


b

Related articles

• UPDATE 7-China to evacuate citizens from Japan quake areas (reuters.com)
• China asks Japan for timely, precise nuclear info (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Asian neighbours see no immediate radiation threat (ctv.ca)

It Crossed My Mind: Covert...Sunday Scribblings

It Crossed My Mind: Covert...Sunday Scribblings

How to Break the Paper Habit...what do you think?

Re-Nest Article Link

 Re-nest over at Apartment Therapy posted an article called 10 Ways to Kick the Paper Habit. The suggestions were for those of you that are drowning in a sea of files gone wild and articles about a trip you planned on taking 20 years ago.  Paper magazines, National Geographics and golf magazines can take over every room in your house.  If you are moving those magazines to the guest room or the unused bathroom you might want to consider taking them to the doctor's office...they might need them.  They will throw them away if you can't. If you have not read them for several month you never will so bite the bullet now!

I have subscribed to Oprah online and the back issues are archived for me. I probably will not do this again because I am not an Oprah fan but I will do it with other magazines.


I shared the Re-nest article on my FaceBook account sometime this last week. These were the comments I received from friends.  I would love to have your comments on how you are breaking the paper habit:

• N.-  Hm, must keep TP, printer paper, genealogy documents, paper towels, photos, my favorite books. I recycle much paper -- containers for foods, magazines, unsolicited mail, and newspapers especially, but I read it or use it on its way through.
  

  Yesterday at 10:05am · 
• 
  

  Barbara  WELL...the tp I can understand but after that you lost me!!! :)
  

  16 hours ago · 
• 
  

   N.- I am not as advanced as you in kicking the paper habit. I still have much ancestry research to do, and I love the papers on which those precious old documents are written. I love my notebooks of ancestry research. I love the papers on which my grandchildren have drawn and written. i am pretty hopeless, I think.
  

  13 hours ago · 
• 
  

  P.- As it is I only keep paper copies of the most essential things--I purged when I move, but they still occupy a box and large safety deposit box
  

  5 hours ago · 
• 
  

  P.  Oh the new "enter comment!" I wonder about people who find it good to use less toilet paper or to use cloth as I've read studies about underwear. fecal residue, and washing machines. People have to be realistic and think about sanitation also
  

  5 hours ago · 
• 
  

  N.- EEUUUUUUUUUUW!! LESS toilet paper would be MORE of things I don't want. I suppose it is possible, but count me out. I will give the rest a little more thought. I do want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. I still cannot envision electronic EVERYTHING!
  

  about an hour ago · 
• 
  

  Barbara Toilet paper is a real necessity...but in places like China and Thailand, it is a good idea to carry several small packages of kleenex....I guess they feel their is less contamination because of the way their squat toilets are designed.  In Europe the bidets help somewhat.    But Norah, if you lived in a very small space, you would find that keeping unnecessary paper is not possible if you want to remain sane! We have a small portable file that we travel with...we have never been without the paperwork we need. 

• Notebooks, scrapbook and photo albums are not made of paper...they are made of memories. Never get rid of them.
  

  3 minutes ago · 
• 
  

  Barbara Me again...I read a book about an author several years ago that kept a copies of everything she wrote in a shed in the backyard just in case the house burned down or the internet went belly up. I guess I just don't value a lot of things...and my writing is not valuable enough to build a shed for!

Have a wonderful day everyone...I will be looking forward to seeing your comments.

b