PHOTO

  Happiness is my three Beautiful

Grandbabies--Bella, Rosie and Jake!

                         

Quote from "Happiness is an Inside Job" by Sylvia Boorstein

I may be citing more quotes from this book, which I just started reading today, but this one I must keep:

"Life is an ongoing series of changing circumstances to which human beings are continually called upon to respond.  What the Buddha taught is that we could respond happily."

Right on!

Words Alive!

So I sit here on a cloudy so-so Sunday in March—the 17th, St. Patty's Day, for the benefit of my dear Irish friends and relatives—and I commit myself to an old, resurrected goal: to write for fun and profit.  Ah, the freelancing dream…I am dusting it off again.  So many years ago, I began freelancing because I met a successful freelancer, my neighbor Joan Anderson, and thought I'd see if I could earn a few dollars just typing some profit-mongering prose.

Amazingly, I had some limited success…but I did not continue on for years, as did my talented and hardworking neighbor.

But I sit here at my laptop, contemplating the need for cash…not a new need, but a rather persistent one these days in my fixed-income senior world.  And though my writing has been limited to countless words eked out on my emails, it (the urge?, the talent?) has always been lurking around me.

I have happily "spent" many unpaid hours to creating presentations for my continual learning group at Roosevelt University in Schaumburg…officially, ICLRU, Institute for Continual Learning at Roosevelt University.  I have learned to use PowerPoint, have honed (and indulged) my humor and performance abilities, and have been rewarded mightily—not in dollars, but in a sense of achievement and ego-boosting.

I became the teacher I had wanted to be all my life—to an appreciative and responsive audience of my friends and peers.

Since I could choose any topic for presentation, I used films and political humor as my topics and main tools of presentation.  It has been—continues to be—a wonderful outlet for me.  I am tapping into my only real resource available—myself…and am amazed at what I have been finding…maybe not a motherlode, but a rich vein of treasure that was always there.

And now I contemplate the real need to enhance my income, my fixed income, and I turn once more to the idea of freelance writing.  I turn to my usual resources…mostly via my wonderful Arlington Heights Memorial Library….to check out the competitive and demanding writing market.

I would still limit myself to nonfiction articles—how-to laced with humor, or visa versa.  I had tried the greeting card market at various time, but this time am going to just concentrate on newspaper and magazine markets…virtual and online.

I have to limber up my rusty skills, which have been limited to endless emails.  My journal attempts are sadly sporadic.  My daily writing, a la Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, has to start up again.  She proposes a daily regimen of nonstop, non-edited journal writing ("morning pages")—three pages every morning.

Well, I started this blog entry slightly before noon this Sunday, and I intend to refresh my blog daily after neglecting it as I have any journalizing of note.  But I commit to morning pages in my paperized Journal, as well as my blog.

And may the Writing Force be with me, as I then attempt some moneymaking form of writing after my warmup words.  No matter what the result, it will be time well spent….and my time is precious, and deserves to be spent well!

PHOTO--Rosie's Tent April 2012

PHOTO--Rosie in Repose May 2012

DAY 2 AT REHAB

I let a few days slip by without journalizing, so I'm setting up my "recall" button, and hoping for the best.

My OT therapist Char laughed when I asked her how many years she had been doing this…."since 1965"….and five years past her retirement…she missed it too much…and still guides recovering folks like me to tying our shoes and getting out of bed, etc. On Day 2, we practiced my "sitting pretty" as I land my tush (gratefully) on any nearby chair. I tended to "plop" abruptly, landing with an oomph and small scream of pain and gratitude that I was off my feet. But thanks to Char, I am now sitting pretty and with style…or at the very least, without the violent drop landing.

Weighing In!

So, an incredible time since my last entry…which is typical for sporadic me. Life is going well. Today is Father's Day, and I celebrate my two sons, Matt and Jeff, who are wonderful, loving fathers to Rosie (Matt's) and Jake and Bella (Jeff's). It is an immeasurable joy to watch my sons "in action"—from changing diapers to playing peekaboo to giving baths to singing silly songs to all the loving and fun moments that fill up their days, and the days of their beautiful children, my grandchildren. And I recover from my double knee replacement surgery last November (11-11-11), and try to work out on the NuStep machine five days per week—prodded by the fast music throbbing in my ears. I have found the tempo of "Footloose" to be a great tempo to keep "stepping" and pedalling. That I have found ANYTHING to get me moving is a miracle. Now to the eating portion of my health regimen…that's going in fits and starts. I gained 30 pounds since my Bariatric Surgery in April, 2005, and I am not doing my knees, my arthritic body, or my ever-present ego any favors by NOT losing these pounds again. I have discovered a pleasant way to "tweak" my daily intake—less food, some wine! Take in a glass of wine in the evening, with my book reading (my ritual before-I-get-sleepy) practice. The point is to just drink, and not eat at this time. And the wine should be a reward for working out regularly that week..30 to 40 minutes, five days a week. I put a perky reward sticker on my calendar on these proud workout days—a suggestion from my adorable granddaughter Rosie who is an expert in calendar reward stickers. The method is working SOMEWHAT, but somewhat is better than before. And somehow, when I walk into Teddy Liquor's, my friendly neighborhood liquor store, I feel strangely "at home"….like I do when I walk into a Target store….like I have NEVER felt when I've walked into a Costco store. I pay close attention to these intuitive feelings—they are strong, and part of my reality, my daily wandering through this lovely life I am still tweaking and inventing as I go along, even as a I approach my 71st (OUCH) birthday.

ONE WEEK SINCE SURGERY

So it's been an amazing week since they cut my knees apart, and replaced them with "Female" Omni knees…and I can't believe that I'm walking (with the walker of course) short distances. I just found out at breakfast the the "bibs" I've been wearing at meals are REALLY called "Clothes Protectors". One of the nurses who sniffed this information to me seemed to take umbrage at my joking "bib" remark….guess even at rehab meals, we must try to be politically correct!

There's a laundry service at the rehab facility, which I was ready to use….until I found out about the hapless patient who is still (not so patiently) waiting for his clothes—just about all of them—which were whisked away a week ago, never to be seen again!
Another Rehab Mystery.

VIEW FROM THE COMMODE—1

Hi Everyone,

Just to dispel the nasty image from the Subject Line, I am now happily (!) using normal toilet facilities…believe me, you become very excited over small achievements…will spare any more details.

I like The Moorings—moved here Monday evening…have enjoyed two meals in their dining room with fellow replacement buddies….such a support group—never have I discussed so thooughly what I couldn't do with my sore knees until I was here!

I'm here probably two to three weeks…flexible timing.

Fun Facts I've Learned So Far:

Women can handle pain better than men (told to my by my MALE surgeon, verified by everyone).
They supply big terrycloth bibs in the dining room to all of us…and I love it!
Hope relieves a great deal of pain.
A huge support team of family and friends ROCKS even more than I expected!

As Matt mailed to you, I'm easing into the therapy, so would really appreciate email more than anything these next few days…and please call before dropping by..my days are busy (and so fun)!

Love to you all…bless you for the prayers and good thoughts that have buoyed me up.

My New Gmail Signature---two lovely quotes

She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain." ---- Louisa May Alcott
***************************************************************************************When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, “Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They have loved reading." — Virginia Woolf

PHOTO--Jake and Rosie in the Bath

PHOTO Newsteds Easter 2006 Susan Jeff Kathie Matt Laura

My Year in Review

So it's almost one year since I retired, and entered anything into this blog.

It would seem that an update is in order. Or maybe by now I'm reviewing this whole retirement lifestyle and still working on its shape and content---and am I content with its content????

Well, I still watch my darling Rosie on Mondays. That's the only scheduled day in my week, and I need to "deal" with the rest of the week!

The unscheduled time also coincided with the gray, cold days of late November and the snowy days of early December. I don't need to battle the roads commuting to work--the good news. I still keep running into myself and the (sometimes) exciting prospect of open time and choices--the bad news!

During all the scripted days of my former life, I twisted and struggled against the confines of filled-in time, bursting with children and work and home stuff. I reminded myself then that I should celebrate every busy, lively moment of these "normal" days, for one day I may prove nostalgic and yearn for their return.

Not yearning for all that activity again, but I keep bumping into myself these days, without the barrier (or camouflage) of set-up, immutable things-to-do and places-to-go. I can do what I want, go where I want......this is a scary, unfamiliar sensation. An immediate reaction was to find a part-time job, somewhere to be and something to do that would be dictated by an outside force, almost beyond my control.

But my confused insides are telling me that the job-thing is not the answer. I still want the flexible time in my days to be available to the grandbabies and my kids, to take a few continuing ed courses, to plumb my shaky depths for what lurks there.

And what lurks there will be splattered all over this blog.

There---already a new game plan!

PLAYING THE RETIREMENT CARD

So my new lifestyle begins today--January 5, 2009. I've left my full-time job at the Huntley Library, after ten fine, fulfilling years. I'm "nannying"my three-month-old granddaughter Rosie (Rosetta Bell, if you please) two days a week--Monday and Tuesday for delicious starters to my newly invented lifestyle.
Somehow "fixed income" conjures up images of advanced aging, stooped shoulders, walkers...not at all the way I look or feel...nor do millions of my contemporaries. Can 65 be the new 55 (at least)? I'd like to bargain down to 45, but I'm content.
And "content" is the operative word...a startling new concept to twirl around my day, my psyche, my life. During most of my pre-retirement life, I was the "destination addict" defined recently on an Oprah show about happiness. I always had a future goal, a destination, which I NEEDED in order to be "perfectly happy". Only problem was that when that trip had ended, and I pulled into the station, all was not perfect...I was still stuck with my "excess baggage" ..and the only thing which had changed was my location...whatever destination I had recently acquired: college degree, husband, kids, slimmer body, great job. wonderful house, perfect climate, blah, blah, blah.
It took about 55 years of angst and maneuvering and bargaining with the universe to finally arrive at the generic destination of BE PRESENT FOR YOUR LIFE/LIVE IN THE NOW. I was lucky that I arrived before I had fallen off the earth!
And magic happened around my life---I slowly found joy because I was no longer pursuing it. I started "savoring" instead of gulping...looking instead of leaping...and slowly joy and "right living" came trickling in.
I found the (near) perfect job for me, I returned back to the Chicago area after a fruitless quest for perfection in a distant "nice climate", I found peace of mind in living alone as a widow, my two sons found amazing women as wives, and the past year, the miracle of two incredible(of course) grandbabies graced our family.
And all when I was just enjoying my life instead of forcing it--my life formed around me beautifully even as I just dwelled within it, instead of frantically chipping here, and tweaking there, and mostly sobbing through my days.
We have always been told that money is not the key to happiness, but there I would be, buying a lottery ticket when I felt most down about one of my (pre-library) jobs....yet it is well documented that lottery winners are not all that much happier after they've won. And all those wealthy celebrities who fight to keep marriages and themselves together---it never really made any sense.
I'm starting to think there's something to that idea that we shape our own lives by the very way we live it and view it.

Was it always that simple?

Library Goddess

One of my alter egos is that of Library Goddess. I work at the Huntley Area Public Library, in Huntley Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago by thirty miles, but still, of course, considered the Chicago area.

I've been there for nine happy years, and am still amazed by my good fortune at finding my dream job, years ago, in my mid-fifties, when I almost had given up hope that there could exist such a job.

My lifelong love of books and movies and popular culture (TV) is "cashed in" and stimulated every day there....I purchase the adult fiction books, adult fiction on audio, adult DVDs--feature films and TV series. I help to promote interest in and guidance to books and movies our patrons may want to see, and help out at the Reference desk, where my greatest joy is something called "Readers Advisory", which really means helping someone find another book they might enjoy, another author or new title, or more of the same author they have enjoyed in the past.

It's a delicous combination of conversation and immersion among the book-lined shevles and movie-filled displays, teeming with the friendly variety of patrons who come through our doors--from the littlest infants napping in their strollers, to the liveliest "senior" enjoying a look at the day's newspaper by the fireplace.

We have a large contigent of seniors, who live in Huntley Sun City, an age-specific, resort-like area of new homes built in the last ten years. This combines with a large number of families with young children, who have also been purchasing new homes within the last ten years.

It's a going, growing community, and our library reflects that growth with sometimes creative solutions to the needing-more-space situation.

Come by and say "Hello" when you're in the neighborhood!

CHECK US OUT!

SENIOR LATE BLOOMER

I have been a "late bloomer" all my life, so why should I change during this, my senior years of reign? To explain that "reign" part--I am a Senior Goddess Supreme (a special, selft-appointed title, with all the attendant powers I feel like adding). ANYWAY, this late blooming pattern is not necessarily a bad idea. Let your friends try out new territories of life, and report back to you before you attempt such changes.

I dated later in teen years, since I was overweight from birth to mide-teens. I found out what sex REALLY was at 15 (I went to Catholic schools, and while they told you to confess your sins carefully, they never really divulged the many ways you COULD sin)...I did not get this sex information by experience, just by asking my mother one day when she was cooking dinner--I could tell she was less than thrilled to be delivering this momentous news to me. So that helped my general outlook on the dating game, and the male species.

I married in my later twenties, had my first baby at 30 (this was forty years ago, when people were still marrying right after high school), tried many careers horribly wrong for me before finding my ideal job in my mid-fifties.

I had my first home all to myself in my early 60s, finally lost my excess "baby fat" at 63, when I had gastric bypass surgery, and lost 100 pounds. I'm having my first grandchild at the ripe young age of 66, and just feel that every day is another "first", another reason to bloom.

The late blooming flowers are showing off right now around my midwestern world, as mid-September near-frosts are dipping in and out. The flowers look even more beautiful in the clear autumn light, glorying in their day in the sun, even as they know that these sunny days are limited. It's that very limitation that gives extra loveliness to their brave flamboyance.

I will bloom as late as I can, and celebrate the joy of so many "firsts" that will illuminate my lifetime--no matter what it's length.

THE INACTIVE LIFESTYLE--TIP #1

I really want to help all of you out there who feel that you MUST maintain an active lifestyle to stay young(ish) and healthy. I am here to advise you that you do have another, much more pleasant choice: THE INACTIVE LIFESTYLE

It does require a careful commitment--I have honed my inactive skills for years, so it may not happen as quickly as you would wish (that's the old peppy active thinking which is sabotaging your efforts). If you slowly ease yourself into inactivity, you will soon reap the rewards.

I will gradually divulge all the best tips for your "conversion", and you need only to practice them---just beward of those old active pitfalls and lively way of thinking that you suffered through before this breakthrough.

TIP#1 NEVER MOVE WHEN YOU CAN SIT.

This has so many applications through your day, not matter what your age or occupation. Check yourself before using muscles which would prefer not to flex, or be exerted. Relaxing, isn't it?

You are on your way!

Ripping and Blogging About It!

Today (Sunday November 5th 2006), I ripped my first music CD to my cute Creative Zen MP3 player. I was a former ripping virgin, so this was a momentous day for me. I just had to blog about it. I could almost enjoy a cigarette now!

My day job as reference librarian at the Huntley Area Public Library (Chicago area) requires me at times to answer computer questions, which I can adequately field maybe 40% of the time.

That does not prevent my love of the computer...its seemingly magic Googling and emailing and informing and mapquesting and health-curing and supreme shopping powers, etc, etc. Even when upgrades at work stall and freeze the computer, and my dial-up access at home is sooooo slow, I still love its technic magic.

And now, another techno victory today!

I RIP, THEREFORE I AM!

Bloggingly yours,

SGS41 (Senior Goddess Supreme)

The SGS Saga Begins

Today I begin my SGS Blog. I've been logging (haphazardly) in journals for years.

I must admit, I find myself an interesting topic for discussion. I love to spread out my emotions and thoughts and angst on the page, analyze the shades and nuances, reshape it, turn it sideways, and then let it settle.

I don't usually edit myself, as I feel I am doing now as I "blog". I would rather be more spontaneous, and maybe I will "free up" as I go along.