Two Years Into Semi-Retirement: Best Advice Ever

 

This week marks two years since my last day of work. Full disclosure: I tried to go back to work last September but 6 weeks in I realized I could not manage working along with my home life. I came home and decided to embrace my place in life right now, which is caring for my husband, home, and one demanding dog. I quit searching the help wanted ads and started making this “retirement” my new job. That shift in thinking has made a big difference. I’m not feeling anxious and useless today. The days are going by faster than they did the first year of retirement. It’s true what they say ... it’s hard to know how I had time for anything else when I was working for a paycheck. I believe I was expert at squeezing this much <——————-——> into <—-> this much time. Time management is still important to me and I find using both my digital and paper calendar is effective. A friend who retired before me advised to never schedule more than one appointment a day. BEST ADVICE EVER. I still get up at 5am and have a habit stack that keeps me feeling encouraged and good about myself. I am still volunteering with a local non-profit that provides transportation for seniors to their doctor appointments. I truly love doing that. Lately, I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on cooking and cleaning. I haven’t read as much as I thought I would in retirement but I’m not giving up the idea that I’ll just sit and read a book cover to cover some day soon.

Embracing this life. 

Love, susan

Happy Earth Day: Vow to Change

 

I have a friend who once told me if we all did just one thing that is earth friendly, we could change the trajectory of climate change. I think about that all the time. I try to be a good recycler but I could do better. I’ve recently been feeding my dog canned dog food. I absolutely hate washing out the cans to recycle, so I don’t. Can I tell you how guilty I feel about that? I do. Feel guilty. Now that I have said that out loud, I’m vowing to change that. 

My “one thing” is I try not to drink bottled water. We live in the desert and have to drink copious amounts of water to survive the heat. We have a reverse osmosis installed at our kitchen sink and I run that water into a Brita filter and keep 2 gallons of water going at all times. There is no reason I should need to drink bottled water ever. I have plenty of water containers of every size to carry with me when I go out. I do sometimes forget to grab water on my way out the door, especially in the winter time. Now that it is heating up, I need to develop a habit of preparing water bottles that are easy to place on the counter when I know I’m going to leave the house. 

I also try to think about things I buy to bring into my home. I’m a big thrift shopper and love the idea of reusing items that others have donated. This week I scored two really nice muffin pans at my favorite thrift store. I had been eyeing them and everything was 75% off so they came home with me along with several new-to-me summer tops. My thought is ... why buy new when I can find practically new at the thrift store? When I need a household item, I put it on my mental list and look for it at the thrift shop before I buy new. Having said that, I did buy a new frying pan this year that completely blew my budget but there are some things that just cannot be found used. 

Summing this up ... going forward I shall:

• Drink water from the tap
• Wash out those dog food containers to recycle
• Continue to buy used items when possible

Do you have ‘one thing’ you do to be kind to the earth? Tell me.

Love, susan

Just One Thing

 

I’ve had a million thoughts running through my mind this week. On a phone call with an old friend yesterday, we shared a conversation about one facet of growing older ... trying to hold a thought. I want to think our current events this last year have contributed to my inability to keep my focus. But, I’m willing to concede that some of it is simple aging. I’ve always had a mind that races but it seems that my thoughts and ideas barely hit the surface and scatter before I have time to either write it down, or commit it to memory. This really frustrates me. I do write notes for myself but often my ideas come when I’m walking the dog, or in the shower.

My idea for this post came while I was reading an email from a favorite writer/blogger Gretchen Rubin. She and other bloggers have little niche things they post .. hers is 5 Things That Make Me Happy. As I read her recent email and I thought ... I’m just looking for ONE THING ... let alone five. And, then I got to thinking ... lots of things make me happy and they can be the smallest things. 

JUST ONE THING .... this week

• I transported a talkative woman to her appointment at the Cancer Center this week. Not only was she super interesting to listen to, I learned how one gets cancer in their eyelid. She described the awful surgery that removed it from her lower lid and the hole it left that had to be patched. From here on out, I’m going to take better care to stay out of the sun without sunscreen and always wear my sunglasses.
• The yellow cactus bloom I caught out of the corner of my eye this week. It only blooms a day or two and then it’s gone. I’m happy I saw it. Photo below.
• Random texts with photos of my youngest grandson. My daughter-in-law can’t begin to know how happy this makes me. Back in the day, we would have had to wait for a special occasion to receive photos of babies. Technology rocks! (I can’t believe I’m saying that)
• This week I hand-wrote (copied) approximately 100 journal prompts from images I saw on Pinterest. The act of putting my pen to paper and not having to think about what to write was satisfying. I may never write anything from those prompts but it felt good to just use a little ink.
• Today I took a close up look at the flowers blooming in my yard. I think these ocotillo blooms look like candy corn. I don’t remember them ever blooming at eye level. What a treat!

I’m always good about telling my friends to find the joy and then I forget to do it myself. This coming week, I’m going to try to pay a little more attention to my thoughts, and find a way to get a few more of them down on paper instead of letting them pass by. I’ll try.

What’s your ONE THING this week?

Love, Susan

Brain Dump

 

Hello there. It’s me. Here it is April and this will be my first post for 2021 ... if I even post it. You should see how many posts I have started and never finished. 

To say I’ve been in a slump would be an understatement. Slump. Strange word. I’m not even sure if that describes my status. I’ve been busy enough. I’m not laying around doing nothing. It’s just that not a lot of things have sparked joy lately. But, I’m not unhappy either. My definition of slump is that in-between joy and boredom place. Ho hum. Whatever. Ya know? 

This week I had the thought that I would like to go just one whole day without talking about covid. I tried that yesterday but then I was complaining to my friends on Marco Polo (cool video app) about “it” and had to laugh at myself. I laughed hard! I can’t even make it 5 minutes after my vow to not talk about it. Covid, covid, covid. 

I’m coming up on my 2 year anniversary since I quit working. I tried to go back to work last September but only lasted 6 weeks. Turns out my home life needed a whole lot more attention than I wanted to admit. If there is one thing I know about myself, I’m not a quitter. It was hard to admit that I couldn’t do it all. When I came home after that last “last day”, I made a promise to myself that I would stop looking at the help wanted ads. I would stop wishing I was somewhere else. I would make my home life my “job”. 

I’ve been journaling a lot the last couple of months. At the end of every entry I have been writing these words ... JOURNAL * READ * DO DISHES * MAKE BED * WALK THE DOG. I recently added DRINK WATER. All of these are actions I resist on a daily basis even though I enjoy either the action or the results. As I sit here writing this entry, I think I’ll add BLOG to my habit stack. I’ll try. There, I said it. 

Gotta go for now. I have an 8am appointment for my car and I haven’t done any of the actions in my habit stack. 

Love, susan

2020 ... A Year of Embrace

 

Photo credit: Amanda Smith
(My grandson making his way to what he wants)

Every December I choose a watchword for the new year and review my previous year’s word choice. Last year, my word was embrace. It was a perfect word for what was to become a measured period of time. 2020 will be easy to remember in years to come. Did I embrace it? Mostly, yes. Even the pandemic. But truthfully, I’ve come to despise all things Covid. 

2020: What I Embraced

Trips to Denver. Friendships. Helping on local campaign for sheriff. Slowing down. Zoom. FaceTime. Chair time. Walks with my dog. Podcasts. Netflix. Hulu. Sunshine. Good food. Phone calls.

2020: What I Let Go

My friend, Linda, died in April. My border collie, Abbie, died. Facebook. Old ideas.

. . .

My watchword for 2021 is ASK.

Do you have a watchword for 2021? Tell me.

Love, susan

Winter Solstice 2020 thoughts .... I survived

Honest to Pete, I feel like I can hardly hold a thought in my head these days. So, I went out to the internet to snag some writing prompts for this post. Why not? Here they are .... 

The overall theme of the past year was a bit of gloom and doom. Everything was looking good until March arrived with the pandemic. My watchword for 2020 was “adjust”, and adjust I did. It seemed like I had to change my attitude on a daily basis. I did this by limiting my time watching the news and making the best of being stuck at home. Overall though? I’d choose the word survived as the theme.

Some of the most profound moments of 2020 involved time with my newest grandson in person and on Facetime. Spending time with friends. Just everything. It all seems profound.

What did you prove to yourself that you are capable of? I have not shied away from making decisions this year. Sometimes I have to sleep on them a couple of nights but then I have been able to get into action. Decision paralysis just might be in remission now.

What did you learn about what you need to take care of yourself?  This may sound petty but dude, I gotta get pedicures way more often than I have been. My feet get so dry they crack, and then I feel it every time I walk. Oh, does this question want me to go deep? Okay. Naps. I need naps and I take them. 

What did 2020 show you that you don’t want? I don’t want to keep running around like a chicken with my head cut off. This whole retirement gig has been harder than I thought it would be but I’m getting there. I definitely don’t want to spend countless hours scrolling FB, so I deactivated it after the elections. I don’t think I’ll go back for quite awhile, if ever. I hate to say never but it could happen. I don’t like the way I feel when I spend my precious life scrolling, judging, and having internal conversations about what other people are doing. Screw that.

What new parts of yourself did you uncover? What did these parts or part have to teach you? Hmm. I am not as patient as I would like to be. I started waking up in the morning and asking patience to enter my mind before I even let my feet hit the floor. When I’m my most patient self, love is mirrored back to me and I just feel better about the world. What’s the hurry, I ask myself constantly.

Where was ‘home’ in 2020? Home has been in this awesome leather chair that I moved into my dining room area. Living in a small house, I needed “my” space where I could read, write, and hit Zoom meetings comfortably. I used to think home was in the car, going on road trips, being with people but 2020 has crushed that. 

What thoughts or mantras supported you? Slow down. Do what you can. Only one appointment a day. Sleep on it. It can wait. Don’t procrastinate. Eat well. It’s okay to say no.

How did you support others? Phone calls, FaceTime, homemade hand-written cards. I’ve been volunteering at a local non-profit that transports elderly care clients to doctor appointments, grocery shopping, and food bank. 

Prompts for looking forward to the year ahead...

Who is the person you are stepping into 2021 as? Confident caregiver Susan.   

What incredible experiences would blow your mind in 2021? This is a difficult prompt for me. I am not much of a future tripper or a dreamer. But, if I could just make one wish it would be that everyone be not just a little, but a lot kinder to each other. Let’s make America kinder in 2021, okay?

What do you know for sure about what you truly want for the upcoming year? What would make you feel like the year, when all is said and done, that it was a success? I want to remain healthy. If I get to the end of 2021 without any major illness or medical emergencies, I’ll breath a sigh of relief.

Okay. There’s my thoughts. What are you thinking about on this shortest day of 2020? Tell me.

Love, Susan

Currently .... FIND THE GOOD!

 

Hi. It’s me!  Long time, no see. Not gonna lie, Covid has been the bane of my existence for awhile. It hasn’t been all bad but definitely has been responsible for my lack of blogging. It’s been a job just staying positive every day. For the longest time, I have felt I don’t have anything upbeat to write about. Why add more gray to the world? 

But, I am coming around.

One of the bloggers I follow always did a weekly “Currently” update and I copied her format for a long time. It came to me recently (in the last 5 minutes, honestly) that I certainly can come up with enough positive current events to write about. So here goes. Paula, if you are still out there and still have me on your blog roll, this one is dedicated to you!

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW ... we have sunshine nearly every day here in Yuma, Arizona. We did get our first rain (since March) last Wednesday night. The numbers for this week are: 70, 64, 68, 66, 67, 69, etc. Sunny, sunny, sunny. 

PONDERING .... life in general. As hard as this year has been for many friends and family, I cannot complain. I have had it way, waaaaay worse. I’ve woken most days looking for the good, and there is plenty of it to be found. If I ever get a tattoo, it will read find the good and it will be on the inside of my left forearm where I can’t escape the message. FIND THE GOOD 💜

WATCHING ... this week I watched Under the Tuscan Sun for the umpteenth time. It never gets old. I started watching the series Lie to Me on Netflix. Have you seen The Queen’s Gambit? It is binge worthy.

READING ... my Alaska, book-loving friend sent me a new book by Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) called Frontier Follies. It is a series of short stories from her life on the ranch in Oklahoma. Very uplifting! And, I just love the feel of a new book, don’t you? I am also listening to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, which is super interesting.

PODCASTS ... here is a list of podcasts I listen to on a regular basis. I am attracted to a certain kind of interviewer and captivated by the sound of their voices. 

    Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (interviews with fascinating humans)

    Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris (interviews with legendary meditation teachers)

    WTF with Marc Maron (interviews comedians, actors, writers, musicians, etc.)

    Literally! With Rob Lowe (interviews guest from movies, TV, sports, music and culture)

THIS WEEK ... I am volunteering in the office at Helping Hands. This organization transports clients to doctor appointments, assists with grocery shopping, pick up from food bank, and other crucial activities. Covid has curbed its services a bit but there is still a lot of work to be done.

FAVORITE THINGS ... 

    Cruise control ... Ninja air fryer ... iPad

EMBRACING .... last year I chose this word, embracing, as my watch word for the year. What I am embracing right now are all things up close and personal. I deactivated my FB account a month ago and after about a week of detoxing from it, I discovered I had time for other things I had let go to the wayside. I actually sent out Christmas cards this year. I can’t remember the last time I did that. I have been sending hand-written cards to someone very dear to me and she has been sending cards in return. I have had so many in-person phone conversations during this pandemic, how cool is that? I am embracing this pandemic and finding the good.

A QUOTE I WANT TO SHARE ...

    “The house doesn’t lose things” ~ Caroline Fergen (friend and former co-worker)

Hope you have your best week ever 💙

Love, susan

Focus

I can’t.

As If

What day is it anyway? I don't know anymore. Yesterday, I totally missed my stepdaughter's birthday. She reminded me in a Marco Polo. She said the kids were going to make her breakfast but when her youngest was rousted out of bed, he wasn't quite awake and he broke open their very last egg into the garbage can. She can't find eggs. I can't find bleach. 💚 I have been doing okay but I lost it a tiny bit at the store the other night when I still can't find a container of bleach. The white vinegar shelves are completely empty. "OH MY GOD" ... I said kinda loud to no one. Then, I realized how silly I was being. I didn't go to the store for white vinegar, I needed apple cider vinegar to ward off the gnats that have appeared all of a sudden. And, there was plenty of that. I should be grateful. White vinegar ain't none of my bees wax. 💚  I haven't kept a journal of this pandemic quarantine. I was telling my friend, who is sheltering with us, that I learned at an early age that when bad things happen, I can magically dismiss them like they never happened. I am the queen of denial. It's my super power. This, right now, is just a made-for-TV bad dream. 💚 My good friend and fellow photo-walker died last week. I cried and cried, and then I got up and decided to kick grief to the curb for now. As if. 💚 So, I was looking at my phone photos and discovered the last social thing I did was March 8, 2020, when I traveled to Lake Havasu to visit my high school buddy (pictured here). After that, I've been meeting up with friends and family on Zoom and FaceTime. 💚 I'm canceling my trip to Denver in May to see my new grandbaby and trying not to future trip ... when will I get to see him next? He was a preemie who spent 152 days in the NICU. Can't risk infecting him. 💚 And, my hubs .. he is almost 70 and would likely not survive a bout with this virus. I need to think long and hard about what social distancing means to us. 💚 We'll get on the other side of this. I've been through much harder times, trust me on that. Until then, I'll live without bleach and white vinegar. Adjust.

love, susan



Deep Thoughts and a Chili Recipe

Someday you’ll understand.

The Great Depression.

Boomers everywhere have heard their parents say, “they went through the depression”. Cottage cheese containers piled up under the sink. Ziploc bags, aluminum foil, cloth diapers rinsed and reused. The crust at the end of each loaf of bread got tucked away in the freezer to make stuffing later. Never waste a single thing. Bread ties piling up in the drawer. Denim patches on our jeans. Sometimes baking soda in place of tooth paste. Making ends meet. We’ll make do. Put another potato in the oven, company is coming. Freeze the cheese. Freeze the milk. All these things met with my sarcastic eye roll. Until this week.

....

Today I hung my laundry up to dry because it just felt like the thing to do today. I don’t have anywhere to be and I didn’t really want to hear the sound of the dryer. Some people don’t even have a dryer. A trip to the store this morning was a startling wake up call and a slight glimpse of what it would be like to want something that could not be had. There were many bare shelves and a somber mood among shoppers. My friend and I divided and conquered our shopping lists. We’re good for a couple of weeks now. Lots of ideas for making food ahead. I’m loving the new ideas for using what we have.

My friend made this beautiful chili today and it will serve us two meals. The colors are so appealing to me and it definitely fell into the comfort food category. We make a good team in the kitchen. Sometimes she cooks and I clean up, and vice versa. Just want to share this recipe with you. What comfort foods are you making right now? Have you been thinking about your people who lived through the depression? What kinds of things did you learn from your parents about the Great Depression that have stuck with you? Tell me.  Love, Susan 

Chicken Chili

Cooked chicken

1 can of Cream of Mushroom (or chicken)

2 cans white (Great Northern) beans

1/2 chopped onion

1 jar Salsa Verde

Optional: 

Canned green chilies

Or pickled jalapeno

THROW IT ALL IN A CROCK POT AND LET IT SIMMER.

Toppings (Optional)

Cheese

Tortilla chips

Sour cream

Avocado

Jalapeno

Peppers

Cilantro

Squeeze of lime 

Be a Liker 101

The other day, my friend called me a “liker”. It was the nicest compliment I’ve received in a long time. It’s been on my mind ever since.

We were at the country music festival and had just eaten dinner we bought at the BBQ stand. She had the pulled pork sandwich with 3 awesome sides, and I had a garden burger. (Kudos to the vendor for recognizing the non meat eaters!) The bbq beans were sincerely the best I’ve ever had. As we headed back to our seats, there were Girl Scouts selling cookies. I offered to buy a box and asked my friend if she likes Thin Mints. She said no, so we went with the Samoas. I mean ... I just needed chocolate! She said, “oh, you’re a Liker”.  

Yep. I am a liker.

Let’s take cats, for example. I generally consider myself a dog person. I  like cats. I think I could even learn to love cats if I gave it a chance. When I arrived at my above-mentioned friend’s house, I was greeted by her 2 beautiful cats. I said, “hello, I’m a dog person but I like you!” They were great representatives of their species and accepted me into their world for 24 hours.

This scenario could be repeated over and over with various groups of people, religious sects, political parties, weather, food, etc. I usually can find something to like about everything and everybody.

The point of this post is ... well ... HERE IT IS ...

I like a lot of things but I’ll tell you what I don’t like.  I don’t like hate. I don’t like labels. I don’t like generalizing or stereotyping. I don’t like bullying. I don’t like name calling. I don’t like being patronized. I don’t like hard sells. I don’t like lemon flavored Girl Scout cookies.

My eyes are wide open these days. I’m amused (for lack of a better word) by the chaos and tension we are all suffering. Yes, we’re all suffering. If you are reading this and don’t believe you are affected by what is happening in the world, my hat is off to you. 

Please don’t misunderstand me ... I have strong opinions and feelings about the current state of affairs. But, who is responsible for how I feel? Definitely not you. Your beliefs and understanding of the world intrigue me. But hear me out. What a boring a world it would be if we didn’t have some kind of strife. Getting stuck in name calling and drawing lines in the sand are not moving us to where we want to be. 

Want to know how to be a liker? I try to look past all the labels we put on people. It’s as simple as that. Find something to like about (fill in the blank). If we can’t do that, we’re kind of screwed. 

Or be a hater. I’ll still find something to like about you. 

Love, susan