Laughter

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward.

Y’all have a nice day.

I’M So Confused!

Apparently, I am not feeling up to par as I sit here contemplating what to share with you. But, putting the way I feel aside and seeing that I just finished doing a couple of tasks around the house I normally do on Sundays, doing those tasks got me to think about a poem I read some time back that sort of covers how my mind is working today. It’s about DUST!

Dust If You Must

By Rose Milligan

Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better,

To paint a picture or write a letter.

Bake a cake or plant a seed.

Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,

With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb.

Music to hear, and books to read.

 Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there

With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair.

A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,

This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind.

Old age will come and it’s not kind.

And when you go (and go you must}

You, yourself, will make more dust.

Okay, now to the crazy side of my mind, here are a few of the things I ponder about:

If people evolve from monkeys, why are monkeys still around?

Who knew what time it was when the first clock was made.

At a movie theatre, which arm rest is yours?

Why is there a “D” in fridge, but not in refrigerator?

In the word scent, is “S” silent or “C”?

Before I go, allow me to share one more thought with you:

Time is like a river.

You cannot touch the

Same water twice, because

The flow that has passed will

Never pass again.

Enjoy every moment of your life.

That’s about it for today cause it’s time for me to give this old mind of mine a break so that I can work on whatever tasks I may have missed. Or should I just dust?  Nah, thinking up wild and crazy stuff to write is much more fun!

Y’all have a good day and to all those mothers out there that may be reading this”

Happy Mother’s Day!

Who says the elderly can’t be edgy?

Until next time!

LISTS, LISTS, LISTS!

I have always been a big fan of lists. To-do lists, Honey-do lists, check lists, laundry lists, packing lists, grocery lists, travel lists, and so forth. It is as though there is a list for everything.

Many of us write and use them. Some go to the extreme while others just write lists that will get them through the day.

With that thought in mind I decided today I would do something different. Today I am going to write my list but instead of it being one of the afore-mentioned lists – it will be a list of things I am NOT going to do today.

I am NOT going to start my own fan club on Facebook.

I am NOT going to go sky diving without a parachute.

I am NOT going to dance in public as though I am hearing music.

I am NOT going to ask directions to the place I am already at.

I am NOT going to recognize someone I truly do not even know.

I am NOT going to sing in public.

I am NOT  going to pay my grocery bill in pennies.

I am NOT going to ask a complete stranger for directions to a certain place and then walk away in the opposite direction.

 I am NOT going to sit at the airport reading my book upside down.

I am NOT going to show up at our next Homeowners meeting wearing a wide-brimmed sombrero and when asked: “Why?” look them in the eye and say, “What do you mean?”

I am NOT going to our local supermarket – grab a handful of bananas and go to the checkout counter and ask the clerk: “Can I get a better price on these bananas?”

I am NOT going to go to McDonald’s and ask for a WHOPPER!

Whew, re-reading the above list was quite exhausting. Good news though, is that every item on this list is something that –

I AM NOT GOING TO DO!

Until next time!

Weekends

It is time for my weekly contribution to Word Press and I decided to share with you an article I wrote for our community newsletter. Hope you enjoy it!

What is it About Weekends?

Why is it that about seven o’clock every Friday night our world – as we know it – falls apart.

Think about that statement for a moment. Usually around seven or eight p.m. there is one tooth in our mouth that decides to send a message by causing thumping pains in your jaw saying: “I told you to see your dentist about me – but noooo – you thought it would be OK and now here it is eight p.m. and the dentist’s office is closed. Guess what? I am going to bother you all weekend now!” Oh, and come Monday morning the pain goes away and your mouth feels perfectly healthy once again.

Later in the evening (still Friday) you sit down to watch your favorite television show and yup – you seen this one coming – didn’t you – the TV cable goes out. Now you must spend more of your valuable weekend time on the telephone and chances are you will either listen to a recording or you will be unable to understand the person at the other end of the phone because they are in some foreign country and not even your seven-year old could understand what it is they are trying to tell you.  Or ………there is one last option – you know – the other great response they provide you with – the response telling you to call back Monday during their weekday office hours.

Another Friday night scene is that someone in the house will come down with some mysterious malady – remember the movie “Saturday Night Fever” – well seeing that it is the beginning of the weekend – let’s nickname it “Friday Night Fever.” You know what I am talking about. It is when your temperature is not high enough for the emergency room but not normal enough for you to ignore. The number is just enough to make you think if you don’t act, you will suffer this way for the balance of your life which you are thinking could be a matter of hours.

We all know that while it is true, there are quite a few weekend services available to people – services that may cost you an arm and a leg – or if we were much younger – your first-born child, it is amazing how some things sense when you can be brought to your knees – times that we are most vulnerable.

Take bill paying for instance – some people like to pay with cash while others use checks to pay their bills. Being a check-writing person, when would I run out of checks – Friday night! Here is another thought – when we didn’t travel as we do today, we used to own a dog. Speaking from experience though, while our dog didn’t get lost often, when it did get lost – you got it – it was between Friday evening and Sunday – you know – the time when the word “Help” falls on deaf ears. If the refrigerator/freezer breaks down – when will it be – you got it, Friday evening just before you are ready to go to bed. And I might add it will probably be immediately after you filled it up with food for that upcoming party you were planning.

Oh, and here is another biggie that can occur at any age – it is Friday evening around ten p.m. and you go to take your prescription drug – you know the one I mean – the pill that keeps your blood pressure under control. Yup, you got it – you are out of that prescription medicine and upon reading the bottle, you seen that the last time you filled the prescription was the last time it could be done without your doctor’s OK.  Isn’t that always the way? You never needed a doctor’s OK on any other day except Saturday and Sunday. Is that your blood pressure I see rising?

Let us talk for a moment about those wonderful inventions – the automobile. You know, those marvelous machines built back in the late 1800’s. Some might consider them lifeless hunks of metal that have no brains and are incapable of thinking. Not true… they know that during the week, they get used very little and given the chance – now that it is the weekend – you are going to drive the devil out of them. So, what do they do? They refuse to start just when you are ready to go flea-marketing Saturday morning. 

Another weekend nightmare is the house. Why does our house decide it needs to call it quits on the weekend? You know what I am talking about – first thing is that the toilet overflows – then the dishwasher decides to stop working in the middle of the cycle – you go to get the laundry out of the washer and notice that the water never drained completely out of the machine so you must wring it all out by hand and when you place it in the dryer – yup – you got it – the dryer doesn’t start. But, you are not done being surprised. If all that wasn’t enough, it is late and you say to yourself – a nice relaxing bath might just soothe your aching body and calm your mind. You go to the bathroom – turn on the spigot – what do you get? Just a trickle! No water pressure, nothing, fini, fertig! By now you are saying “Why me?”

Remember the good old days when we used to chant “Thank God It’s Friday” well those of us now retired live in fear of those TGIF days every day of the week because when retired, any day can be a Saturday or a Sunday when all the things we depend on decide to break down, quit, or say ‘adios amigo’.

Knowing how much we love to travel and be away from our humble abode, I can truthfully only think of one saying that is befitting of all that I have just described. I refer you to the catchphrase from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) says to John Connor (Edward Furlong): “Hasta la vista, baby.”

Time to saddle up the horses and mosey on down the road. Tomorrow is another day – baby steps – one day at a time.

Until next time!

“It Ain’t Over Til the Fat Lady Sings!”

Do we ever truly know what it is that will make us happy. It seems as though the older I get, the less I know what I want to do when I grow up. Interesting dilemma, isn’t it? But then, looking at it another way, that is what makes each day I wake – interesting!

What fun is it in life to wake up doing the same thing day in and day out. We used to be told when we were kids, that variety is the spice of life. I guess that is why we have tried our best not to get into a “rut”, if you will, as to how each day will go.

True, there is our line dance practice and we know that is something we do on a regular basis, four days a week. But that is also our way of exercising to stay in good physical shape and so we do not consider that to be part of a rut. Staying physically fit allows us to continue doing things that just pop into our head on the spur of the moment.

I know that many people, when they reach our age, settle in and follow the same routine day in and day out and that is fine if that is what serves their purpose. But we wake up each morning saying to ourselves “What can we do that is interesting today.” It is that attitude that has carried us through seven plus decades and reminds me of an old adage I eluded to in a different post recently which stated:

”It ain’t over till (or until) the fat lady sings.”

If one will recall, this saying, according to Wikipedia, is a colloquialism which means that one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress. More specifically, the phrase is used when a situation is (or appears to be) nearing its conclusion. It cautions against assuming that the current state of an event is irreversible and clearly determines how or when the event will end.

Having said that, today we will seek out new adventures. There is a gigantic “yard” sale going on in the neighborhood we are presently visiting and as such, we are going to see if another old adage is true. The one that says: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” Wish us luck.

Until next time!