Some more about my retirement home.

To finish my thoughts about my retirement home, let me explain some more stuff.

Not too big so it doesn't take too long to vacuum. Does anybody out there like to vacuum? Well! Come on over! Seriously! The last thing I want to do is say something like... 'Oh! Sorry, I can't go with you for the nice long drive today honey because I have to vacuum?' That whining, screaming thing that you have to lean over to use cause they don't make 'tall vacuums' yet? The appliance that is always full of cat hair when you want to whip around with it? That thing that cost a bundle to get one that will even suck up the cat hair?

How would I have time to Blog if I always had to vacuum?

A tall toilet for my retirement home.

You likely noticed the wish for a tall toilet in my 'retired' house and you shook your head and went huh? What ta heck is a tall toilet?

Well, my next house will have one and here is what is is:

They make toilets that are higher than the regular ones that we all have in our regular houses. Just a couple of inches taller mind.... but once your knees start to give out and the old artheritus kicks in, you want to give those grab bars you had installed when you hit sixty all the help you can!

I have a little exercise for you tonight and you'll 'get' what I'm talkin' about here!
Step number 1: Go in your bathroom and sit on yer toilet. Once down, (and yes, I mean allll the way down...) get up. Take note of how difficult it actually is to stand once you've plunked yer butt down? Did your knees groan and your calf muscles scream? Didn't it feel like you had sat so far down your butt was lower than your ankles?
Step number 2: Now! Go out to the kitchen and plunk down on a chair. There! Now stand. Was it as difficult? Didn't you feel much more civilized? (Of course you did! You weren't sitting on a toilet!) Anyway... it was easier to get up from, right?
Step number 3: A man would say: 'get your Lowe's tape measure and measure the utilized chair and then compare to the measurement of the toilet...' But I say hell! Drag the said chair into the bathroom and eyeball the two! See? They make chairs taller!

So! When we renovate the new house, I'm going to install a tall toilet in our bathroom. And I won't strain a vertebrae hawling my sorry old arse up from my throne!

A Retirement Joke!

A friend of Dick's sent him a joke today. I loved it! Please take the language and content as it's intended. It wouldn't be the same if I edited.

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.



Well, for example, the other day my wife and I went into town and went into a shop. We were only in there for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and said, 'Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?

He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him an inconsiderate turd.

He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires.

So my wife called him a shit-head. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.
Personally, we didn't care. We came into town by bus and the car he was ticketing had a Quebec license plate.

We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age and they say humor heals all.

An article about retirement I read this morning

There's a really interesting article on my Yahoo homepage this morning. The lead in line is:

Why retirement is bad for you. by Steven Berglas, Forbes.com

It is all about what happens when we spend every day in a vacuum of nothingness and it actually now has a serious sounding name.

This is taken directly from the article and I urge all to go to the Yahoo Finance page and read the whole thing.

"I call this idleness-borne syndrome Supernova Burnout. Unlike other forms of fatigue, this brand of burnout is very private and self-condemnatory. Those who suffer from it experience chronic trepidation, despondency or depression. In some cases they turn to alcohol, abandon their loved ones or fall prey to some other form of self destruction."

Wow! Doesn't that sound serious? My dear mom said many times that if you sit down, you get old quick. (She was driving her own Buick and led a vibrant life until 3 months before she died at 85.)
So start getting hobbies and interests lined up and figure out what you'll do when you do retire 'cause you didn't work all these years to have this happen, did you?

Another hobby for your retirement

You might ask: "Why on earth do you have a blog about silver replacements?" Well, everybody needs a hobby, don't they and when you retire, you need something to fill all those hours you used to spend working!

Dick and I like to sell stuff and once upon a time, we sold a few things here and there on Ebay. We loved it! We enjoyed hunting for items to sell. We enjoyed taking the pictures and doing the descriptions. And we actually liked the shipping too!
We would pack underwear and toothbrushes into a bag, throw the bag in our green half ton pickup and off we would go to search out antiques and oddities and frankly whatever people wanted to buy on Ebay that particular week. I printed a list off the internet of all the Sally Anns, Goodwills and Value Villages in Southern Ontario and we would head a direction and hunt the thrift shops on our way til dark, find a motel and check in for the night. The next morning, we would hunt and scrounge our way back home. Sometimes we would find some really cool stuff and sometimes not, but each and every trip was special and just so much fun!
We enjoyed the local auctions too and spent almost every Thursday night at Shackelton's Auction in Springfield, Ontario. We often reminisce about the things we bought there and definitely the sandwiches and homemade pie!
We would list our finds and then wait and watch to see what sold and what we would have to donate back to our local thrift shops for the next entrepreneur to discover.

We had a common goal and interest which gave us tons to talk about.
We would drive around holding hands and laugh and joke and isn't that how you'd like to spend your retirement? I do.

So, one of our blogs is about silver replacement. Some will be antique, some will be newer, some might be just cool old stuff, but we will have fun finding it, listing it and maybe actually selling it. I hope you can find a hobby you enjoy too.

Are you the ones that bought the cottage?

Congrat's! You've bought your cottage .... Good for you!

Having lived in a few cottages, I have to say, I'm all for owning a cottage and living in it full time. But if it's a weekend getaway you have bought, well, I'm all for that too! Or is it only a part timer until you retire?

All the better.

Are you going to renovate or did you buy a property that is all done up? Maybe, like us, you're into the vintage look or don't mind a bit of ramshackle in order to get the feel of being on holiday every day.

What ever you have bought, my very best advice to you is: Live in it awhile until you decide what it is you do want. After a year goes by, maybe you decide you can stomach with the original siding, but it just needs a fresh coat of red paint? (Check our back door in a previous post and you'll see what I mean.) The money you would have spent on new siding can now be used for landscaping, or maybe the new plumbing that you didn't know you needed until late one night one of the grandkids used too much TP and plugged the T soo bad it blew out a pipe? (You know how kids are with toilet paper?)

Is your new piece of real estate on the water, in the woods or in a park somewhere? Honestly, it doesn't matter. Just make sure that when you drive up, you're proud. When you fling open the door, you feel like the weight of the world has fallen from your shoulders. When you sit on the john, it's your throne.

After all. Is this the place you will retire to for the golden years of your life?

My late mother once sent me an email joke and it ended with the only thing golden is the pee. If you've just bought a cottage, you are ensuring your retirement years will be golden!

The first frost at our cottage.

I had to go outside last night on the back patio to rescue my few remaining tomatoes. Bah! I hate the coming of November! Those gloomy, dreary days with no sunshine and nippy winds. The lake is all steely gray and the waves crash onto the shore.
Once you get into the twenties of October, you just know the warm days are numbered!

This spring, I felt compelled to grow and nurture something. Obviously a throw back to my farm raised childhood and when you retire, you need some intersting hobbies to fill those hours your jobless situation has created. I have fantasies of wandering a raised bed backyard with pruners and basket in hand, harvesting heritage tomatoes. Mulit coloured, intersting shapes, mouth watering.... mmmmmm!
So one day, I turned into Canadale's after work and spent an enjoyable hour wandering the isles of lush green bedding plants. I made my choice: One plant that would bear yellow, pear shaped fruit in miniature the tag said and having paid for my potted plant, rushed home to bury it!

When we did the renovation last summer here at our cottage, I had the carpenters build two multi tiered wooden planters that in their expert opinion, would cost only one hundred dollars apiece. Two days later and a couple of trips back to the lumber supply for more wood, screws and god knows what all else, my five hundred dollar planters were complete. (The realtors let me think that the addition of decorative features in our back yard has increased the value of our house?)

And what a wonderful receptacle the one has made for my single solitary tomato plant!

I planted it, (it was all of 20 inches tall when it went in the ground,) watered it and eagerly awaited the harvest. Juicy, delicious tomatoes grown by my own hand!

The thing about this summer, was that we had very little extreme heat and lots of rainy days! It turned out perfect for growing patio tomatoes, I guess, because before long, Dick and I were on the ladder staking and tying my one little tomato! It was the beanstalk kind perhaps? As you can see, it grew over six feet tall!

Mid August, sure enough, we started getting tomatoes and what a haul we've picked. They have been luscious and lovely and I have enjoyed every single one.

So I had to go out and pick the last of them and they are sitting on my counter now. I'm hoping they'll still ripen. The plat is gangly and thin, many of the leaves withered and fallen. Before the real estate sign goes on in spring, I'll have to clear the debris away and make the yard look all nice - nice.

But I think I'll plant two next year. Maybe I can start my own veggie stand!

Your will: Dealing with your cottage or summer home?

So you have a cottage or summer home. Awesome! Warm evenings by a campfire. The birds in the morning and the grand kids snuggling in under those colorful quilts you so lovingly made. Maybe it's an RV you parked in a seasonal campground years ago, like my mother in law did? Maybe you were lucky enough to have inherited a vintage cottage that you yourself spent summers at when you were nothing but a sprout.

You are getting long in the tooth. The doctor has warned you the old blood pressure is over the top or you just feel time is marching on and in spite of all your best efforts, you are going to have another birthday and the number involved just blows what's left of your mind?

Oh my god! This is the place of your dreams. You have lived most of your life running to this safe haven, away from the ills of the world and the strife in our busy, 'at home' lives. In every corner is a memory of this child and that visitor. Where you and your spouse made love. Where you roasted the marshmallows and grilled the process cheese sandwiches. Sitting in that rickety wooden chair, reading a mooshie love story or titillating spy thriller on a rainy day.
This will be my subject for the next couple of days.

Do what you can every day.

        Whew! Did we have fun last night! Nothing like sitting outside on a summer night, the smell of unburnt fuel and exhaust and the scream of engines as the driver's throw their hand built cars around the racetrack !  If you've never been to the stock car races, you'll never be able to fully understand the passion, but if you have..... there's nothing better! We sat just on turn one, near the top of the grandstands where we could see the other side of the track. We had our little blue stadium seats and for padding, a black and white blanket we brought back from Mexico. We stopped on our way at a grocery store in Blenheim and we had a bag full of goodies and sandwiches. We cuddled and exchanged comments and 'Oh Looks' and I think the experts would call that quality time. We were both pooped when we got home, but happy.

      

The lession today is do everything you can every day.

People always save their entire lives for their retirement and then the day comes along and they go home and sit down and die. Period.

Someone once said to me: Picture when you're old, sitting on the front porch of the old folks home in your rocking chair. Back and forth... back and forth.... And the old gal beside you is somebody who had a man around like you did and both of those men worked their whole lives and then retired and came home, sat down in the living room and then a couple of months went by and they died.  And every day you and your old gal buddy sit on that porch... back and forth... back and forth... and the conversation goes; 'I wish I had...' and; 'I should have....'

Dick's dad was one of those men. Worked his whole life 'cause he had to. Never had a hobby or passion he let anybody know about and when he retired, he had nothing to do. Nothing to look forward to. Came home and sat down and didn't die quick, but got so sick he had to be put in long term care. A big time became being first in line for supper. 

My dad worked his whole life 'cause he had to. Worked and worked instead of doing the things he loved. He had an antique tractor and after he lovingly restored it, it sat in the barn because he was always working. He died when he was 64. 

So this left two women sitting by themselves having to figure out what the heck they were going to do with themselves.  My mom's dead now too and Dick's mom is still alive although her mind has mostly left her.

So! Do what you can every day. If you can't yet afford your hobby then read about it. Plan what hobbies you want to persue when you get the time finally. You maybe can't build a streetrod, but you can go to the local cruise night and look at them.  Maybe you won't win a blue ribbon at the fair, but you can quilt a patch this week and then another next week and so on.  Maybe you can't take a month and go the Florida like we are this winter, but you can go to a motel overnight and hang out at the pool. 

Find something, somewhere that you both enjoy doing. This is a big world. Don't tell me there's nothing out there that you both can't enjoy. Negotiate, compromise and get out and enjoy life.  Go somewhere and buy a coffee. Meet some new folks that enjoy the same thing that you do. Have a chuckle over a private joke. 

And do not ever be that person who says "I should have!" 

Bye for today and let me know what you think. 

       

I was always told I had to start at the beginning.

Hello to all my readers and future readers!

        My first statement has to be; remember... we're all in this together! For every one of us that approaches middle life there comes many decisions and dreads as to what on earth are we going to do with ourselves? I might solve some of those questions for some. I might create some questions some have never asked before, but one thing is certain here:

        Dick and I are determined to create a life that WE want. Not somebody else's idea of retirement... but our own.

      Want to share the ride?

       My nickname is Lucy and Dick and I already have some of the hard stuff figured out. We live in a small fishing village on one of the Great Lakes in a big old vintage cottage with a killer view of the Lake and Harbor. We are in our mid 50's, (how did we get this old?) and never had much of a nest. (Now it's empty.) We have a Maine Coon mix cat; Suzie who was a rescue and 2 lazyboy chairs. We drive a fat ass Chevy one ton truck that's never pulled anything and a gray four door Buick called Rosemary that was my mom's. In the garage sits a big old white Harley that was our first joint purchase.  We have a little saved up and good solid jobs. We are healthier than a lot of our friends.  This winter we're going to Florida for a month. We are still in love. 

        We are two very lucky people.

         So what's this blog going to be about you ask?  

         Well, people keep asking us how we do it and to be brutally honest, we seem to have more fun and a fuller life than others. We have lesser jobs and are just folks so I am going to babble on now and again and share some of our stories and give some advice on how I see it. I hope something creative comes of this for other folks and if I touch just one life in a positive way, I'll be happier. 

How To Meet Your Life Partner

       So here I am, going to give you advice already! Dick and I met in our mid forties and by god, neither one of us wanted anything to do with a relationship.  The only thing I have to say about this is that if you are still living alone and run across somebody who catches your eye, do not let the opportunity pass. Say something! Catch their eye and make them say something! Let your chair fall over in front of them or drive in front of them. Ask for directions or to try on these gloves please because their hands look the same size as your brother / sister. Lie if you have to but never, ever let an opportunity pass to meet someone. 

     Always remember that at our age we all have gobs of baggage and for every one of his, you have one of yours to match. Tolerance and negotiation will become your new best friends, but remember; life is more fun with somebody to play with. Decisions come easier with another's support and really... isn't it difficult to brainstorm with yourself? 

      All I can suggest if you still have your original model of partner and you wish you didn't is: Is this a package that you can work with? Is he/ she still better than putting yourself out on a line to get a new partner? Sure, there's ones that drink themselves into a stupor every day or have just poor genetics and I'm all for disposing of the ones that have a tendency to tune up their spouse just for the fun of it. But if your relationship has just gone a little south and you've got lazy with each other then that's stuff you can fix! 

      And to have a good retirement, you'd better get it done before you're stuck in the house together every hour of every day! Get medical help. Get some new clothes. Take care or your personal grooming and pleeaaze.. fix your teeth. If you clean up your own backyard, your partner should start to tag along with you. 

     Go for walks and talk. Yes, about what you dream about and where you want to head. One of the things that I believe has made us so different is that we have a business meeting every six months or so and draw up a business plan for our lives.  We include short term goals, (what we want to get done in six months,) and long term goals. ( Where we want to live in a year or two years. We want a new car in what year?) Not only does it help your finances, but gives you common ground and a connection to each other.  Ask your partner to help you pick out an outfit or just a new pair of those gloves. It all leads up to something, right? 

         My guy is a good one and I'm damned lucky, but we work at it!  

So! It's Saturday afternoon and we're going to the stock car races at South Buxton tonight. (My idea.) I can hardly wait! It's this little dirt D track in Southern Ontario and they really get it on! We'll stop at a grocery store on the way and buy some food to take in 'cause neither one of  us can eat hotdogs or fries anymore.  It'll still be a blast!

So, 'til next time and that won't be far away; It's been great chatting and thanks for coming into my life.