Balancing Act

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Anyone else having issues balancing their financial life in relation to their advancing age?

Making decisions lately has taken on a very different type of calculation, one that includes the question, should we save or should we spend.  If we spend money now, are we taking away from money we’ll need in 5, 10, 15 years or, Lord willing, beyond?  And if we don’t spend it now, will we regret not spending it later?

For instance, after making the decision that, barring a stunning lottery win, we’d be aging in place in our current home, we’ve been having a little work done.  But do we fix only the immediate needs and let the small stuff slide?  Balancing today against tomorrow, what if we need the money spent on a luxury today for necessities tomorrow?

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Things I Like Thursday – The Mom’s National Park Passport Book

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As I was cleaning out The Mom’s apartment after she passed, I found lots of things that warmed my heart, made me laugh and made me cry.  But one of the most special things I came across was her National Parks passport book.  She loved the National Parks and visited as many as she could, usually with organized tours. 

Flipping through the pages, seeing all the stamps that represented trips and locations that she got to see, it just made me so damn happy.  I brought it back across country in my purse and now it lives in a box of precious items to be grabbed in case of evacuation (living in Cali, you need a designated box or two in case of earthquake, fire, flood).

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Lessons in Grief, Part 1

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It’s been a while since I’ve written. 

My mother passed away March 6. 

Grief keeps its own schedule:

Not showing up when expected, like when I ordered the date to be carved into the headstone she shares with my grandparents.

Visiting at odd times, like when I tried to deal with a check written in her name.

But always at one o’clock on Saturdays, the time I used to call her every week.

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Things I Like Thursday – 2 Word Game Apps

~ GrayMareWrites ~ 2 Comments

I’m not a competitive person.  When I play a game, it’s usually for my own enjoyment and personal best.  I don’t pay much attention to metrics like scores or the time it takes to finish or solve.  I have Spider Solitaire and Mahjong  on my phone and they’re my go to’s when I’m watching tv – they don’t take much attention and I can keep track of the plot as I listen.

I have two word games I play, though, that need undivided attention.  One is new and one I’ve been playing for a while.

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Faces of Ukraine and Russia

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I used to watch a sub-titled South Korean soap opera in the 80’s, that encompassed several generations of families, including Western influenced young adults.  And though the characters were fictional, I had experienced the lives of people half way around the world who, when North Korea started rattling their sabers, I could reference.  I may not have known specific South Koreans, but I knew some of their stories and how they lived and so they were not faceless unfortunates spotlighted for three minutes on the evening news.  They were people just like me, trying to live their lives in peace.

I’m having a similar, but much more authentic, experience now with Heygo.com.  I’ve mentioned Heygo, the virtual travel site, before.  I’ve taken tours with Olga Dudakova in Kyiv and Anna Levina in St. Petersburg and though they are not friends in the tradition sense, they are the people I immediately thought about as night after night of the evening news showed Russian troops gathering on the borders of Ukraine.

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Chick Flicks for Valentine’s Day

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For years, The Husband and I had a movie for every holiday (The Quiet Man for St. Patrick’s Day, Independence Day for the Fourth of July, etc.), which we seem to have let fall by the wayside in the last few years.  But our Valentine’s movie was always Roxanne, Steve Martin’s take on Cyrano de Bergerac. It will always have my heart because it’s funny and smart and, ya know, Steve Martin.

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Things I Like Thursday – Royal Valentine by Jenn McKinlay

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Thank goodness you don’t need a working knowledge of Jane Austen to enjoy this fun novella.  I’m not big on Austen or the Brontes but I do love Jenn McKinlay, author of some of my fave cozy mystery series (Cupcake Bakery and Library Lovers), plus Paris is Always a Good Idea, first of a romance duology. 

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