Trish

April 15, 2020April 15, 2020

The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+

book-reviews

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The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+: Winning Strategies to Make Your Money Last a Lifetime by Suze Orman is a great book full of timely information. I borrowed it from my online library app and finished it in two days!

Having turned 50 last Christmas, I have to admit my thoughts have turned to retirement a time or two. Not that I have any intention of retiring soon, but the topic is on my radar now more than it was before. I don’t feel that I have done a super job at preparing for it up to now, so I was afraid that this book would just make me feel inadequate and hopeless. But Orman approaches the subject without being heavy-handed or berating anyone for choices they have made so far.

The book is well-organized, moving through chapters about family and working years on to ones covering your transition into retirement and beyond. In most chapters, she gives some information and then lists out her recommended action points in bullets before going into detail on each one. At the end of that discussion, she provides a recap of the main points from the chapter. I found it very easy to read and follow what she was saying.

Some of the highlights for me were:

How to help your kids and parents without sabotaging your retirement
Changes to make while you’re still working that will give you a boost
Discussion about housing options and costs
A thorough explanation of how Social Security, Medicare, and pensions work
Managing your money for the long-haul

Other chapters focused on investing, including a good discussion about bonds, finding a financial advisor, and getting your documents in order, of which I have only completed a will.

Overall, I enjoyed her writing style and appreciated her personal stories illustrating the points she was making. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to focus on the area of retirement planning.

April 12, 2020May 21, 2025

Happy Easter (April 12th Update)

Happy Easter! Normally we would be getting together with my husband’s family for a big dinner to celebrate Easter, but today it will just be the three of us at home. I plan to call both my mom and my dad this afternoon as well.

Friday night we watched the livestream from our church of the Easter service. The worship was amazing and I really appreciated the message. I am so glad we can still have church during this time!

I wanted to post an update on the last week, so here goes:

I’m filing my second biweekly unemployment claim today for my reduced hours. I believe at least one of the weeks will qualify for the additional money from the stimulus bill, which would be a huge help.
Schools in our state are officially closed for the rest of the school year. Michael has been on spring break for the last few days, but will start new instruction and assignments for the fourth quarter online this coming Tuesday.
We have been asked by the governor to wear a mask anytime we leave the house. I ordered some for us off Etsy and was pleasantly surprised by the quality when I got them. I wore mine for the first time picking up our to go order from Red Robin on Friday night. I also made a trip to the grocery store yesterday to stock up for the week.
There were no grocery deliveries available for the next two weeks, but I was able to schedule a pickup for next Sunday. I’m going to try to get two weeks worth of groceries in that order so I can avoid having to go to the store again.
We are down to two rolls of toilet paper. I did score a box of flushable wipes the other week, so it looks like we will have to start using those soon. I read that you shouldn’t actually flush them because they don’t break down properly and cause problems at the sewer plant.
Since the park near us, which includes a dog park, is closed, I took Baxter to a park that had an enclosed tennis court and let him run around in there for a while. We left when some people arrived to play tennis.
I signed up for an online Excel course this week and have started going through these first part. It’s something I have wanted to do for a while, especially since the person at my job who always helped me out with spreadsheet stuff is no longer there. I have very little knowledge of the program and am looking forward to learning a lot.

So that’s the update from our little corner of the world. I hope you are staying safe and healthy.

April 9, 2020April 8, 2020

Ten Months Old

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Today Baxter is ten months old and we have had him for seven months. Although he is peacefully napping in this photo, in actuality he is just as hyper as ever and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon! The stay at home order has been hard on him as the dog park is closed, and he lived for his time there. But Joe is taking him on walks every day after work, so that helps. I can’t really take him on a walk because he pulls so hard on the leash, and he is too strong for me to handle. Sometimes it is difficult even when I take him out in the backyard to go potty.

Speaking of going potty, he seems to be lengthening the time between trips outside. It has been every two hours during the day, but he is going more like every three-four hours now. He does still occasionally have an accident, but most of the time he lets us know when he needs to go out.

Training classes are canceled, of course, and will be rescheduled when the stay at home order is lifted. I have tried to do some training at home with varied success. The main thing I want to work on is heel, so that I can walk him, but it is very slow going. I still think we may need a private trainer to help us get things under control, but I will wait until we finish the classes and see how things are going then.

20200112_095328 The other thing that is an issue is him wanting to chase our cat, Peanut Butter. He doesn’t always do it, but a lot of the time he does. Peanut Butter spends a lot of time either in our bedroom or downstairs on the cat tree. Sometimes if Baxter is resting, Peanut Butter can come over to me to be petted without being bothered, but it’s not often enough. That’s another issue I would like a trainer to help us with.

So, how do I feel about having Baxter in our lives? Well, I love him a lot and would hate to give him up, but I don’t think I will get another dog after he is gone. Or maybe I would get a small dog that is already an adult. Hopefully, Baxter will have a lot of good years with us and we won’t have to think about a decision like that for quite a while.

April 6, 2020May 20, 2025

The Oysterville Sewing Circle

book-reviews

oysterville-small

The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs is a charming story with elements of friendship, family, love, business, and even social justice. It centers on Caroline Shelby, an up and coming fashion designer whose life is changed in an instant, twice; once by a betrayal and then by a loss. She returns home from New York City to her hometown of Oysterville, Washington to rebuild her life.

I greatly enjoyed this book as Caroline reconnects with old friends and makes new ones, as well as reaches out to help women in difficult situations. I also found her entrance back into the design world highly interesting as she finds new inspiration in her changed circumstances. And, of course, a little romance never hurt anyone.

I didn’t know when I started the book that it had a storyline about domestic violence. I usually avoid books with abuse in them because they often sensationalize it, but Wiggs handled the topic in a thoughtful and careful manner.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book.

April 5, 2020May 21, 2025

April 5th Update

Michael and I are still staying at home. The order from the governor is currently going through April 30th, although schools and non-essential businesses are closed indefinitely. Joe’s work is considered essential, so he is still going to work. They take their temperature every morning, and they have to wear gloves and masks.

This week I have only gone two places – the pharmacy and Michael’s school. At the pharmacy, I got Michael’s meds and some acetaminophen. I wanted to get a thermometer but they were sold out. The reason we went to Michael’s school was to get a new charging cord for his school laptop. Baxter chewed through the old one while Michael was in the bathroom! They were very nice about it and gave us a new one no problem.

Speaking of school, Michael has been doing review and enrichment assignments this past week. On April 14th, they will start the 4th quarter with new instruction and assignments. The teachers will review the assignments and may ask for revisions if necessary. Students will be graded based on the percentage of assignments they complete to the teacher’s satisfaction.

I am still working 20 hours per week. The company is paying our health insurance premiums during the furlough, which is incredibly nice of them. I will get partial unemployment, including some additional money that is part of the stimulus bill passed by the federal government. We will also get a one-time stimulus check. I am very thankful that there is so much help available.

I’m having groceries delivered today. I’m trying to stock up a little but not go overboard. The main reason I ordered some extra food is that so many things are out of stock right now so you don’t know what will actually show up in your order. I did order a thermometer so hopefully that will be there.

Baxter is feeling the stress too. He is barking and whining a lot more than usual. Joe takes him for a walk after work each day, but I think he misses running around at the dog park. It’s hard for me to take him for walks because he pulls on the leash so badly. I think I’m going to start working on that with him and see if I can get him to walk more nicely with me.

So that’s my update for now. I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy through this time.

March 2, 2020April 4, 2020

Birthday Party – Check

birthday party

Yesterday was my son’s 18th birthday party. He will actually turn 18 next week, so we celebrated with a gathering of several of his friends at Dave & Buster’s. The food was good, and the kids enjoyed playing the video games. Michael had a great time.

I was a little bit anxious leading up to the party, wondering if everyone would show up and we would have the right number of people. We had had his party last year at the same place, so I wasn’t super anxious about how the event would go from that perspective. Everything turned out great. Michael enjoyed seeing his friends, the amount of food was perfect, and I had a great time socializing with the adults, who were all good friends of mine.

Afterwards I even remembered my other tasks for the day, picking up Michael’s prescriptions and calling my Dad for his birthday, and this morning I remembered to send a note to school excusing Michael’s absence on Friday for a stomach bug. Of course, I also woke up this morning worried about some other stuff that I haven’t thought about in a couple of weeks. It’s like my brain just focuses on whatever is most important, and when that is done, it picks the next thing in line to worry about. I’m not sure why my brain works that way, but it happens all the time so I’m sort of used to it.

I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but Michael’s dad did and said he would email them to me. So hopefully I will be able to add some pictures to this post soon. Edited to add: Pictures now included, courtesy of Michael’s dad.

birthday cake

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020

Settling In

It’s been a while since I posted an update on how things are going with Baxter. He is now 8 1/2 months old, and we have had him for 5 1/2 months. I am feeling much more calm about the whole situation now, which I think is partly due to the fact that I am once again taking my Prozac regularly. I had stopped and started it several times due to difficulties with the delivery method, but now I have figured that out.

Since I last wrote, Baxter has been neutered. That turned out to be an expensive proposition because the doctor was concerned about the way he was coughing and wanted to do blood work and an x-ray before sedating him. Everything was fine, but it all added up. The procedure went well, and he didn’t even have to have a cone. They said we could get one if he was licking the site excessively, but he pretty much left it alone.

Potty training is going much better. He almost always lets us know when he has to go out. Every once in a while he will pee or poop on the floor, but it is rare. He does still want to go out every two hours during the day, but I’m not sure how much of that is just because that’s just the routine we got into. It’s probably good for me to get up from my desk every couple of hours anyway, so that works out okay. In the evening, he will usually go every three-four hours.

I had mentioned wanting to get a trainer in my last post. When I talked to Joe about it, he wanted to try the intermediate and advanced classes at PetSmart, so we are now doing that. We have had two classes so far. The first one was starting to learn heel and settle. Settle went okay, but heel was not good, and I couldn’t get him to do it during the week either. But when we went to the second class, he did much better with heel. We worked on heel with sit and down as well as wait and stay. I really need to make sure to practice with him during the week so he will get them down.

Leash pulling is still an issue, so I need to work on let’s go and this way as well as look at me while we are walking. So many things to work on, it feels a bit overwhelming.

We are planning a vacation in July, so my friend Kim is going to come and watch Baxter for me while we are gone. She is bringing her dog (a husky), so Peanut Butter is going to go stay with Bob (along with Michael who isn’t interested in going with us because it is a lot of historical stuff) during that week.

Speaking of Michael, he is doing well. He picked his classes for his senior year, which will be Inclusion English, Financial Algebra, Chemistry, Blue Print Reading, and Economics. Of course he will also have his electronics shop. He will be 18 in a couple of weeks, so we are applying for SSI for him. Hopefully he will get that and will be able to keep his Medical Assistance. This Sunday we are having a birthday party at Dave & Buster’s for him. I told him this would be the last big party we would throw him and that we would do something special for his birthday in the future but just not a party. He was a little disappointed to hear that and we talked about how people sometimes have a party on special birthdays, so he felt a bit better about that.

That’s about it for now. This winter has been quite mild so far, and hopefully will continue that way. I have been enjoying my new schedule of 7:00-3:30, although my boss had mentioned me switching back to 7:30-4:00 once it gets past daylight savings time. I guess we’ll see how she feels about it then; maybe she will change her mind.

Until my next update, take care, everyone!

December 25, 2019April 30, 2020

Mixed Emotions

It’s Christmas Day as I write this, and I am officially 50 years old. Seems like I should have a better handle on life by now, but I still feel like I am struggling to get through the day sometimes. My son will be 18 in a few months, which seems impossible to believe, but is true.

Life with the puppy continues to have its ups and downs. He is six months old now and growing bigger everyday. Sometimes I look at him and am filled with regret that I got him because he makes me question my sanity, but other times I am overwhelmed by love for him and thankful for the joy he has brought to my life already. On a sleepless night recently, I went so far as to read the surrender information page on a rescue website and found myself sobbing at the painful thought of giving him up, although I still don’t know how I am going to make it through puppyhood.

A lot of the day is okay. He still takes frequent naps, and a marrow bone will keep him occupied for up to an hour. He gets hyper around 3-4 pm and usually enjoys a trip to the dog park as long as it isn’t raining. It’s hard for me to take him places because he pulls so hard on the leash and jumps on people as well. I took him to the pet store recently and it was a disaster!

Potty training is still hit and miss. He sometimes whines at me to take him out, but other times will just do his business on the floor in the kitchen or the family room. If I catch him, I tell him to stop and then take him outside immediately. I know I should keep him with me at all times, but it is difficult to do that. It would help if we had a way to put a gate at the top of the stairs between the kitchen and family room. But that would require replacing the existing half-railing with a pony wall, and I’m not sure if my husband is interested in doing that.

Other issues include chasing the cat sometimes (although sometimes he will leave him alone), barking incessantly when he is tired of being in the office with me or wants me to play with him instead of eating my dinner, and more recently peeing in his crate when we go out. We don’t use the crate for sleeping, only for when we are out of the house, and it’s not going so well.

I’m sure most of these problems are due to my lack of ability as a trainer. I am considering a private dog trainer to help me learn the skills I am missing and get things under control. We did a group class at the pet store for puppy skills and he did learn a few things but it was difficult to concentrate because he was too distracted by the other dogs. I’m thinking some one on one time with a trainer would be helpful.

So that’s my update for now. I still have hope that I can make it through and keep my sanity intact.

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019

A Little Less Blue

It’s been two weeks since I shared about the puppy blues and how overwhelmed I have been feeling. Things have been a bit better since then – I haven’t had another meltdown, which is a good sign.

I changed my work hours slightly so it would be easier to take Baxter to the dog park after work, and that has helped. He enjoys running around with the other dogs, and I appreciate how tired it makes him afterwards. 🙂

Potty training is continuing to improve as well. Although he has still gone in the house occasionally, there have been several times when he clearly signaled to me that he needed to go out. He is still going every 2-3 hours. I thought the time would be increasing by now, but at least it is getting easier to handle.

He is definitely still in the chewing phase, but he doesn’t seem interested in chew toys very much, unless they are brand new so the novelty is there. He will spend a good chunk of time with a bone that has some marrow on it though. My friend Kim shared with me that after her dogs are done with a bone, she puts peanut butter in it and freezes it to extend its life as a treat.

One good thing is that having to communicate my feelings and needs is helping me become a little more assertive, which is something that has always been a problem for me. It’s still not super easy, but I am forcing myself to speak up so that I don’t get completely overwhelmed again.