Monday Musings, Part I

A few of the things that I have been working through and that have been on my mind while I've been gone (with more to come, I am sure):

1.  I've been struggling with the idea of taking my gals group to Meetup-right now we are a Facebook group. I feel that it would open the group up to more people who might be interested and not know we are there, but I like the communication of the Facebook page. I've also decided to have some weekend and evening events  for the single among us!

2.  My daughter is getting married in September. Yea, I know I already call him my son in law. They've been waiting on tying the knot because it is better for her financial aid to have only her income. They chose a simple backyard wedding with no rehearsal dinner or showers and family only.  I plan to spend most of the month of September in Texas in conjunction with this and spend time in the hill country and on the beach!

3. Although I haven't traveled or vacationed in the last year for a bunch of reasons, there is also some guilt. My sister still works, and when I am gone, she has to pay an arrange to have someone come in and care for her dog, and her dog is used to me being around. This may also be a problem with my son (who really owns Wilson) whether he is living here or elsewhere. I've decided that I like vacationing by myself, I don't mind paying something towards the dog care, but I don't take vacations that often, I'm retired, and it's time to do something about it. This will also be a consideration if I snowbird for a month next year.

4. I've cut way back on my "activities". I decided that I need to work in the house a half an hour daily or so (don't judge me, housecleaning perfectionists), pray and meditate in the morning and evening, exercise forty five minutes and eat healthy. And those are the only things I have to do. Other than that, I'm only putting one thing on my calendar. Period. Sometimes it's lunch, sometimes it's nothing. Obviously other things get done, because, well, I WANT to bake, and knit. But it's getting warm and I also want to sit on the patio and meditate with the dogs, if you get my drift.

5. My limited budget has well, been freed up. Not that I don't expect to subsidize my son possibly in his apartment search, or pay for doggie day care for him on occasion if he doesn't bring the dog over to me (this dog is gonna have such an adjustment no matter who keeps him), but no longer do I have the "$800 is due for tuition on the 20th" on my calendar every month. This mind you, out of a budget of $1400 after the regular monthly expenses are taken out. Which include rent, electric and gas, cable bundle, cell phone, insurance for car and house, water bill, a little debt, and subscriptions like Netflix and Prime. In truth, my son has been able to often contribute fifty percent of this or more depending on his hours, but it's the knowledge that he might not be able to that has made it feel a little lean around here, ya know. 

6. I'll share about my entire budget later on, but part of adjusting this here budget has been going through some "know myself issues". Which means the grocery budget goes down some and the entertainment budget includes a fair amount of eating out. And I've actually given myself a clothes budget!

7. Even as I exercise more, take more supplements and do strength training for a half an hour every single day, I'm realizing my body can no longer do what it used to, even at 67. There are not things I can't do as such (other than stairs, ever lovin stairs), but I get tired easier, feel like I need more down time, and appreciate a slower pace. I can get the "energy up" for travel experiences and special occasions, but I want more down time on either side of that. Part of this I suspect is that statins, any statins, give me a small combo of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

8. I've turned into a dabbler. An indecisive one at that. What I want to do changes drastically day to day. No longer am I the type to start a project, finish it and move onto the next. These days I am more likely to sew on a mini quilt one day, grab my knitting and watch two hours of TV on the next, think about making a Texas sheet cake on the third and return to the quilt five days later. Knitting gets more time cause it's portable and I can watch TV or take it with, but other than that I seem to have no favorite.

9. My Lenten commitment is to make myself right with the planet in terms of disposables-especially plastics- in some small way, so I got a refillable coffee cup to use at Starbucks, a stainless steel water cup with a re-usable straw, and cut up all my old un-matched fuzzy socks to use as covers for my swiffer. We already use only cloth napkins and while I like the idea of cloth paper towels, I have two chronically ill dogs..................we shall see, we shall see.

10. And finally, while I hate to end on a downer this time, I wish people would realize that when those of us with disabilities or issues say we "can't" do something, we know ourselves best. And that just because we can't climb a hill together any more, there are so many things we can still do together. I am blessed to be mainly surrounded by people who know this, but I know others who are not so blessed and have lost friends because they think they either "could if they wanted to" or are unwilling to wait while their friend "catches up".

And there you have it, the some of the mental wanderings of the frugal retiree.  I'll be back later in the week with a real post, I promise.