Things Large and Small; Give Thanks for all.

No matter how bleak things may seem at times; there is always something, large or small, that is worthy of our thanks. After thinking about some of mine today; I wanted to wish all of you and yours a very Blessed Thanksgiving. May all of our "thanks" roll into one and bring us some of the changes that we need for today and tomorrow.

"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings". ~J. Robert Moskin

Texas to Oregon: A Word to the Country

I have spent this early Sunday morning searching for blogs written by older women to see what they might be saying about the 2008 Campaign and the crisis in our country. When I came across this blog; I could not just mention it; I had to send you to the blog itself for you to read yourself. The blog is Texas to Oregon and written by
Linda Hillin. I would advise you to read the following post she had and then to visit all of her blog. I loved it.

Texas to Oregon: A Word to the Country

RETIRED AND READY TO "GO GREEN", not gray!

What can retired people, actually all people, do to leave a lasting legacy?
What are the things that I can do for my children and my children's children!
A lasting legacy is more than a financial one; more than a gift that will not
survive through more than one generation.

We seem to live in a society where more is better, bigger is better and the corporate entities who supply our more and bigger products are happy to accommodate us. In fact they provide the ads and incentives to fuel those attitudes.

Just think back to when the family car went from sedan to station wagon to mini-vans to SUVs and large vans. It became a huge demand for bigger and the automakers were happy to supply the more. Today with the cost of filling up our 1999 Honda coupe going over $50 to $53.14; suddenly the demand for the larger vehicles has diminished to the place where those same automakers are either not paying even close to blue book value for an SUV or giant truck or not even accepting them. Their lots are full.

In an effort to do what I can for the Earth and the environment and now for my own financial health; I am always looking for the ways that we can make even little strides in conservation and frugal ways of living that will add up to large savings for us personally and even larger savings for our communities if done by many.

How To Go Green!

BLOGGING AND BLOG CONTESTS=FUN!

I have indicated before that I love to blog; writing them and reading them. Some of the best information that I have found whether it be about new info in my areas of interest (health, aging, learning, internet marketing, gas prices, travel-and the list goes on) or in just reading what bloggers are thinking about and writing. If you do not have a blog yet, I would encourage you to get one. Use it as a journal, a memory keeper for the things that you want your children and grandchildren to know about you, or as a means to monetize a product or service to provide you with a supplement to your cash flow. Blogger.com is an easy way to do this and it is free to do.

But this post is about blogging contests. I love them. I love the idea of possibly winning one of the prizes being offered but especially I love them for the new things I learn about blogging by participating in them.

One of the recent ones that I am participating in right now is Jason Henderson's Big Marketing Blogging Idol contest.

Jason Henderson, is running a large blog contest on his site. Jason has gotten a lot of private consultants sponsoring their time as prizes for the contest and other prizes that especially a new blogger would like to add to their library.

If you check out Blogging Idol Contest you will see what all is involved and all the prizes.

To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to his RSS by mail, as well as the additional methods of entry (such as making a blog post like this one). If you are interested in winning some private consulting with some industry gurus, this contest might be for you.

The contest is ending soon; but just visiting Jason's Big Marketing Blog is worth the look-see.

READY FOR THE WEEKEND!

All day today has been Friday and when I try to do Friday things, like calling about an account status, I get a voice mail message telling me to "call back during regular business hours". Oh yeah, I remember, this is Saturday. I have been so ready for the weekend! Now here it is and I have spent my early Saturday morning trying to do early Friday morning things. But thanks to that voice mail message I am back on track and I am saying, "Hello Weekend! Nice to see you."

Even though I am retired when each day can often run into another and I have to look at the calendar to see what day it is, I almost always know when it is the weekend. There was always magic in the weekend when I was working full-time and I have taken some of that magic with me into retirement.

What the weekend magic is for me:

**Saturday mornings are for Farmer's Market, with it's tastings, shopping and people watching.
**Saturday afternoons are for being laid back, time out doors and reading for fun.
**Sunday mornings (late) are for reading newspaper (only certain sections), listening to light
classical music and champagne and strawberries.
**Sunday afternoons are for cooking something gourmet special, writing out next week's things
to do list and, if I am lucky, getting to talk with one of my kids.

One of the blogs that I look at especially on the weekends when I have more time for just surfing the Internet is Grammology.com and this is what I found there this morning:

Happy Weekend
www.grammology.com - Saturday, 02 August 2008

© www.grammology.com

In case you might have forgotten, it is the weekend. Hope yours is a good one!

RETIRED AND READY TO STAY HOME THIS SUMMER

With the high cost of gasoline, which has a negative effect on our travel, whether it is by car or by airplane; many people are choosing to plan a staycation rather than an away vacation. My husband and I are making a list of all of the special sites/sights right here in our own community and intend on playing tourist at home. One of the things on the list is to take the new Sprinter train from San Marcos to Oceanside. We will be able to walk from the train station to the Oceanside Art Museum and to the Oceanside Pier and walk on the beach, all fairly close. Then we can rest our legs over a leisurely lunch (with coupons, of course) and walk back to the train station for the ride back to San Marcos. Our gasoline expense will be for the very short drive to and from the train station to home.

One of the things on my personal list has to do with my love of the Internet. I love to blog and send and receive emails; so I am going to try to reconnect with old friends whom I would have seen if we had flown back to Nebraska. I will even try to get my family to get more into the habit of emailing and/or blogging.

For those of you who are retired and looking for more ways to stay in touch with your friends, children and especially your grandchildren; you have probably thought about starting a blog or giving some attention to one you started awhile back and have ignored. Trust me; it is easy to do. As much as I love this blog, I have ignored it for a couple of months. No more.

One of the people whom I have subscribed to is Darren Rouse with ProBlogger.
I would encourage any of you who either have a current blog and would like some tips for improving it or who would like to start a blog and are not sure where to begin; to check out Darren's blog and much of the help you need. Blogger.com also has some excellent help for beginning bloggers.

When you start or add to your blog, be sure to come back in here and share your information.
Let's start our "staycations" with blogging. Stay in touch--stay home. Save money--stay home.

Aging Rockers--Not About Rocking Chairs!

I first saw information about the Young@Heart Chorus when I was working for an Area Agency on Aging. It was so inspiring to get my latest post from one of my favorite blogs, Time Goes By
by Ronni Bennett to see that they are Staying Alive!.

I checked out their website to see more about the movie about them that will be released this April. There I found out more details about their movie: "Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of 'Young@Heart,' a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As Stephen Walker's documentary begins, the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to the simple things these seniors value: old friendships, new challenges and a little time in the spotlight".

Also from the Young@Heart website I found some of their history. "When the Young@ Heart began in 1982 the members all lived in an elderly housing project in Northampton, MA called the Walter Salvo House. The first group included elders who lived through both World Wars. One of our members had fought in the Battle of the Somme as a 16 year old and another, Anna Main, lost her husband in the First World War. Anna was a stand-up comic who at 88 told jokes that only she could get away with. She sang with us until she was 100. We celebrated her 100th birthday with a parade downtown. We actually had to reschedule the parade for a year later when her family informed us that we had the date wrong and she was only 99. This initial group also included Diamond Lillian Aubrey who came on our first two European tours and wowed the audiences with her deadpan version of Manfred Mann’s “Doo Wah Diddy”. In later years she appeared “on stage” via video, performing the Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

"The current performers in Young@Heart range in age from 72 to 88. There are some with prior professional theater or music experience, others who have performed extensively on the amateur level, and some who never stepped onto a stage before turning eighty. None of the current performers of Y@H were part of the original group that formed in 1982, but they have kept alive the spirit of the early pioneers and continue to push the group into glorious new directions."

Here is the trailer for the movie which will be released in April 2008.

What are you doing this Saturday night? I'm searching to find my Saturday Night Live album and I am gonna be rockin'!

DO LOOK YOUR GIFT CARD IN THE MOUTH!

Grab any gift cards you have and go on a shopping spree. I know, I know; I am the same way. I like the idea of having a stash of cash (via gift card) which is earmarked for shopping. I may not always know how I want or need to spend that particular card. I may be saving it to use for buying that special birthday gift for someone else. Perhaps you are like me and put yours away in a "special" place and now can't find it Or, unlike me, you really don't like to shop.

Consumers spent an estimated $26.3 billion in gift cards at retailers alone last holiday season, compared with $24.8 billion in 2006 and $18.48 in 2005, according to the National Retail Federation. However:.... About 27% of adults who received gift cards during last year's holiday season still hadn't used them nearly a year later, according to an October survey by Consumer Reports. That was up from 19% the previous year.

Sharper Image announced late last month that it was suspending the acceptance of gift cards, at least temporarily. It urged shoppers to check the company WebSite later this month for an update. That is typical of businesses that reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which treats gift cards as a loan, not as cash.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, gift cards are turning into worthless pieces of plastic. The number of bankruptcies and liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the recession in 1991. And because gift card holders fall into the class of unsecured creditors, experts say they're "low in the pecking order" of people that businesses need to pay back. One analyst estimates that shoppers could lose 75 million dollars as restaurants and stores close.

So, my advice is to grab those cards and go shopping! And if you are really one of those people who hate to shop; send an early birthday gift to someone who has a birthday coming up, i.e. your grandson who would love to use it on a video game for his xBox 360, your granddaughter who would love to use it on iTunes purchases or to a dear friend - just because.

An interesting side development in all of this is that competitors of bankrupt companies may start offering discounts on certain cards. Sharper Image's rival, Brookstone Inc., is capitalizing on the situation by announcing last week that it would exchange now worthless Sharper Image gift cards, for 25 percent off any purchase.

But, I would not wait around to see how far that goes; I am off to start drinking my Grande Soy Lattes with the gift cards from my son. I have two right now, because I hoard them for special times. I guess I shall start having more "special" times.

Retired and Ready to Cook

Color me cooking this morning. It is 34 degrees in Northern San Diego County and my wife and I are freezing. So I am going to warm up the kitchen. In the six plus years since we came here from Nebraska, our blood has thinned considerably and looking across the patio at frost on the golf course is not a common sight. Therefore, I am going counter the frost with a Sausage and Shimp Jambalaya recipe I grabbed off of Cooks.com a couple of years ago and modified to our tastes. Make it Friday, eat it on the weekend. Yum!

While the rice is cooking I have some split chicken breasts to debone. The split breasts are more versatile than the boneless, skinless breasts and so much cheaper. I drop the bones in a stock pot with the trinity of celery, carrots, and onions, plus a bay leaf, a sliced garlic clove, and a health pour of seasoning salt. Voila, I have replaced the chicken stock I used to cook the rice with a new batch. I save a couple of chicken breasts with the skin on for frying and grilling recipes and the rest is bagged as breasts and tenders for the freezer. Long before we take off for Fri Afternoon Club, I will have turned seven pounds of breasts into stock and ready to be turned into appetizers and several future meals. Not bad for eight bucks.

Back in Nebraska we could get the "Smart Chicken" brand for a reasonable price because the plant was just down the road in Tecumseh, NE. I still say it is the best chicken ever packaged. However, by the time they ship it to San Diego there is nothing reasonable about the price at all. I still grab a package occasionally for a grilling treat or a special recipe (think chicken scallopine), but we usually just wait for Fosters brand chicken breasts to go on sale. Retirement is expensive, you know, so we save where we can.

Yikes, I just discovered that my spellcheck is not working for some reason. Ya'll could be in for a treat. Yes, I was an English teacher in my past life but doesn't necessarily mean I am a good speller, proofreader or typist! I better close before I tarnish my reputation any more.

Keep warm and take care of yourself.

JimBob

RETIRED AND READY TO BLOG

We know that this is the time for making New Year's resolutions or resolving to not make any.
A recent poll indicated that 55% of the responding people never make resolutions. Of the people who do make them over 50% of them never keep them.

For those of you who are retired and looking for more ways to stay in touch with your friends, children and especially your grandchildren, you have probably resolved to blog more or even start blogging.

Setting up your blog in Blogger.com is not only easy to do; it is free. They have made it very simple to set up and have a great step by step process. A video showing how to set up a Blogger blog was also found.

Once you have created your blog, or if you already have one; check out what Mark Joyner, creator of Simpleology 101, is going to be offering: a course on blogging. I would highly recommend, in fact -- resolve, to take a look at what he is offering. It might just be the piece that you need to keep your blogging resolutions.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you try it. Snag it here. snag

RETIRED AND STILL MAKING RESOLUTIONS

RESOLVE TO EVOLVE
What is it that keeps us making New Year's resolutions year after year even when we know that we shall probably not keep them. One poll I saw reflected that 55% of the people they polled don't even make them anymore. Another poll asking how long people kept their New Year's resolutions reflected that only 4% of the people they polled always kept their resolutions.

My personal, unofficial opinion is that the reason resolutions suffer defeat so handily is the manner in which they have been made. I found a video on how to make resolutions that you will keep. Imagine that -- perhaps the reason we haven't been keeping our resolutions is that we have not been making them correctly. Take a look at what the videos are showing -- they make some sense. I am going to use his methods for some of my personal resolutions. But the overall resolution that I make to myself for my New Year is: I resolve to evolve!

Click here for more on "How to Make Detailed New Year's Resolutions"