On a normal day, I will get up early, and start packaging orders from both my Etsy shops and my website, and get them ready to take out to the mailbox. Some days I have only a few, some more. There are not too many days, [...]]]>

The older I get, the less patience I seem to have.

On a normal day, I will get up early, and start packaging orders from both my Etsy shops and my website, and get them ready to take out to the mailbox. Some days I have only a few, some more. There are not too many days, when I have nothing to go to the mailbox. And that makes me feel good, to see orders coming in on a fairly steady basis.

Usually the mail is picked up by 11am or noon. Most days I try to have my packages out there at least by 9am – that way, if another order comes in after 9am, and it’s something I have on hand, I can quickly get that packaged up and into the mailbox.

For the last several days, I’ve gotten a lot of exercise walking back and forth to the mailbox to check and see if the mail has been picked up. Oh, I’m not complaining, I love the walk – it’s almost 400 feet to the mailbox. Is the mailman on vacation? Is someone substituting for my mailman? Because each day, it seems that the mail is being picked up later and later in the day.

Here’s where the patience comes in. Getting older, I seem to want change less and less. And when things don’t go according to plan, it makes me frustrated, and I lose focus on what ever task I am working.

Take for example today – being Saturday – it should be a leisurely day. But since I’m retired from the ‘real’ world – every day COULD BE a leisurely day – except that I love to be busy. I’m adding products to the shopping cart database – slow work, but it means I can do a little and go back to it. I’m also listing items in my new Ebay store. So if I get tired of doing one, I can pick up where I left off with the other. But in the meantime, I’m expecting some things in the mail for future orders, and every time I walk out to the mailbox and see the flag still up – there’s a little more patience that evaporates.

At one point today, I asked my husband if they had stopped delivering mail on Saturdays. I think I read somewhere, where that’s being considered. OK – if it comes to pass – then I just won’t stress about it. But until then…

This post is part of the V7N Server Sync Up Contest:

3 days [...]]]>

4 days ago, when we came home from my husband’s chemo treatment, we found our frig was on the fritz. The temp in the frig was almost 55. My husband hurriedly took stuff out of it, and placed it in the frig in the garage. I wasn’t sure at that point what might have spoiled.

3 days ago, he figured out that the thermostat was bad. What were the chances of getting a new thermostat. The frig is 10 years old. But regardless of make or model, they all use a thermostat. So I called around and found that the store where we usually buy our appliances could order the part for us, and get it in the next day. Works for me!

2 days ago, I went and got the part, came home and hubby proceeded to install the part. And it worked. Oh, we’ve had the thermometer in there for hours, and gradually restocked the frig w/things that hadn’t spoiled. So that nite, hubby said, if you remind me in the morning we will have hash browns with breakfast, as those were in the freezer section and the freezer was fine.

Yesterday, I forgot all about what reminding him about the hash browns, and I had cereal and milk.

Last night, it suddenly dawned on me that we hadn’t had the hash browns for breakfast, and I made a comment to that effect. However, I COULDN’T REMEMBER hash browns. I stumbled around and finally said, we never had the potatoes for breakfast!

This is not the first time that this has happened. I AM ALWAYS forgetting what something is called – I can picture it, and I know if I don’t stress about it, it will eventually come to me. But it’s scary, and it’s been happening a LONG time. I’m only 65 (as of 3 days ago).

What’s even more scary is that several of my friends complain about the same thing!

It’s called…. tip of the tongue syndrome Hey I play Sudoku all the time. I read. I’m not a couch potato. I work on my website. I’m always making my brain work! And challenging it. Why oh why do I have this syndrome???

And you know what’s so fascinating about this? When I did a search on Google for can’t think of the word , I got 940,000,000 hits!

So maybe it’s not old age. Maybe it’s not memory loss. Maybe it’s – there’s too much info in my brain and no room for more – so something has to be deleted!

This post is part of the V7N Server Sync Up Contest:

You are only as old as you feel. I’m sure you’ve heard that before – [...]]]>

My birthday was over a month ago – actually on May 3rd, and I turned 63. I’ve often pondered about my birthday – what I like about it, what I don’t, that I thought I’d let you in on a little secret.

You are only as old as you feel. I’m sure you’ve heard that before – but it’s true. I can’t believe that I’m 63. Hey only 2 more years and I’ll be able to be on Medicare. What a scary thought!

But being 63 and feeling 63 are 2 different things. First of all, I come from a long line of people who live way past their 80′s and 90′s. I also come from a long line of women, whose faces don’t show wrinkles until really late in life. Great! That should help me look a lot younger than my 63.

But why do I not feel my age? I’ll tell you – it’s positive thinking that makes it work. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 – up to that point, had not had any significant health issues. My Mom had breast cancer when she was 40, mine didn’t show up until I was 60. So is it because of healthier living, less stress or what?

I’m married to a wonderful guy – 2nd time around, and treats me like I’m his whole world. That helps. I had a job that I liked – working with people and trying to help them with their computer program issues.

But after awhile it became very stressful – we had moved to an area, where it took at least an hour to get to work – and the stress of the drive, made the job stressful – and I truely associate my developing breast cancer with that stress (it was a total of 10  years of the long drives, etc). So I retired from that job.

I could have moaned and complained about getting breast cancer – but I was determined to have a positive attitude about it. And I think that helped me survive it, as well as get on with my life looking forward to more birthdays! And with each one that comes along, I thank God for granting me another year, I thank my husband for his support and love, and I thank my family for all they do for me!

I’ve been asked what I would like to do on my next birthday. Well, my oldest daughter is in the running for a free trip to Jamaica, and she plans on taking me – that will be around my birthday – what more could I ask for!

My husband and I have a very busy life – you would think being retired, life would slow down. But he farms, I have a web on-line business as well as an Etsy shop and an Artfire shop. Plus in the summer, we run a produce stand. So my dream birthday, would just be, to stay as busy as we are – because we both love what we are doing! (ok maybe a few days off, spending time at Disney World would be a good birthday present).

Because my husband and I both prefer to purchase things we need or want as the occasion occurs – we don’t worry about gift giving. However, I have been known to go out and shop for my birthday – (not all I shop for is for my business). So I guess you could say I buy my own gifts – but hey – my husband gives me the extra money – to go out and buy something for my self and I certainly won’t turn that down! 

What’s your favorite thing to do for your birthday??

Sandi

In the past, I’ve mentioned that in order to remember to take my pills at night, I have set a reminder on my pda – which sits on the side table beside my recliner in the living room.  That way, when the reminder alert/alarm goes off [...]]]>

Maybe it’s not old age, but aging that is the problem.

In the past, I’ve mentioned that in order to remember to take my pills at night, I have set a reminder on my pda – which sits on the side table beside my recliner in the living room.  That way, when the reminder alert/alarm goes off at 7pm, I can take my pills and congratulate myself that another day has passed, and I haven’t forgotten….

I only have 3 things I need to make sure that I do each evening. Besides cleaning the kitchen of course.

One is to take my pills. Another is to candle the eggs – we have chickens, and we sell eggs. I’ll talk more about that in another post.

The third thing I need to remember is to put water in the cat’s water container. We have one of those water fall things that keeps the water fresh and running, to appeal to the cats, as well as areate the water.

Each evening I need to refill the water reservoir so that they have enough water running through the device overnight – and it won’t run out.

Ok, how hard is it to remember those 3 little things….

Last night, I woke at 2:30am, to go to the bathroom – not good, because it’s always hard for me to get back to sleep. So I’m getting back into bed, and voila – my mind tells me that I forgot to put water in the cat’s fountain! OMG – the last time that it ran almost dry – the motor was running and making a lot of noise – I’m sure that any night I forget – it will start a fire due to over heating!!

So up I get to remedy the situation – only to find that there was still plenty of water in it to prevent any problems. So I filled it anyway. And tried to get back to sleep.

Now the question is this – do I need to create another reminder on my pda about the cat’s water? At this rate, the alert/alarm will go off constantly til I go to bed!

Hey, I’m only 62! How much worse can it get!!

Sandi