Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks or Grrr! I’m technology challenged!

Hello World!

Guess what I have been doing for the past two hours – yes, two hours! It is hard for old dogs to learn new tricks, but it is possible.  Old dogs just take longer to learn them.

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That being said, I don’t like being technology challenged even if I am over 50, so what will happen is I will keep plugging away at it.  I may back off for a bit to calm down and regroup and then try again.  I may get mad and work until success is reached.  I may even get smart and ask for help and instruction, but I will overcome!

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I’ve been trying to figure out how to optimize my blog. There are a couple of small successes, I think, but I don’t know for sure.  I need someone working from a different computer and location to let me know if what I think is working is actually working.  I think the Pinterest button will actually pin the home page of my blog, and I think I have an RSS feed working, though I don’t like the fact that I have to have at least one story shown below it.

If you happen along this post and want to try some of the buttons on the home page or at the bottom of this post (you have to click on the title of this post specifically to find the buttons at the bottom), please let me know what results you get.  If you can explain to me how to have an RSS feed button without having to show a post underneath, share away – PLEASE.

Thanks in advance!

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Unwelcome Change After 50

Hello World!

As we get older, most of us experience changes.  Listing all potential changes one might notice would make for an extremely long post.  Since 40, I have gone through more changes than I even care to list, but there is one change that has become apparent that I don’t like.  It is no longer being an “up and at ’em” morning person.

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During the summers when I was a child on the family farm, I’d wake early and want to get up and going.  Often I’d dress and walk to the milk barn at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to join my Dad. In college, 8:00 a.m. classes were preferred by me  while other students I knew avoided 8:00 am. classes like the plague. If chaperons were needed for a lock-in, I’d much rather get up and work the 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift than the 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift. Just 10 years ago, I could be at the gym by 5:30 a.m. before going to work. Not much over a year ago, while still teaching, I was usually in my room by 6:30 a.m, but I will admit that my body was beginning to rebel at that time. 

To my chagrin, I am having difficulty getting up and going to make the 8:00 a.m. exercise classes I want to attend. While I used to never sleep past 7:00 a.m. unless sick, now I’m as likely to wake at 7:00 a.m. as I am at 6:00 a.m. unless an alarm is set.  Once I awake, it seems that my body needs additional time to rev up.  My mind kicks into gear reasonably fast, but the idea of jumping straight into the shower and then “hitting the floor running” as soon as out and dressed is repugnant to me – or to be more accurate – to my body.

I went to bed last night with full intention of getting up, dressed, and to the 8:00 a.m. strength and conditioning class at FiftyForward.  I woke at 7:02 a.m., and with rush-hour traffic, I have to allow 30 minutes driving time, even though it is a 10 – 15 minute drive normally.  There was no way I was going to take care of the dog, dress, eat, and be there by 8:00 a.m..  Now, in my defense, since the dog is on meds that make him drink frequently, which means he pees frequently, he woke me every two hours to go out last night. Still, it is more of a rule than an exception now that it takes me about two hours after waking before I am truly ready to “face the world for the day.”

Is this a result of increasing age?  Is it a bad habit? Could forcing myself to get to these particular classes eventually cause my body to be more agreeable to the intents of my mind? Grrrr – I want the energy and physical ability that I had at 35. Hey! I’m not being greedy; I didn’t wish for the energy and physical ability I had at 2o. I find this situation frustrating right now, but I’m not sure if it is better to push myself or to attempt to adjust to this change.  What do you think?

Do any of you find yourself having a harder time getting your body to cooperate?  What have you done to overcome?

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Fruitlicious Sweets and Sweet Breads

Hello World!

Boy, oh boy, does our place smell yummy!  It is getting that time of year – the time when harvest is so bountiful and baking begs to be done.  So far today, I’ve made applesauce spice bread and banana nut bread (yeah, I know – not usual harvest for Tennessee – but what’s a girl to do when bananas need to be used?). I got my recipes from AllRecipes.com, and here are the links:  Banana Bread and Applesauce Spice Bread.  

Bread Baking
L-Applesauce Spice and R-Banana Nut

Finished Products

I made a few modifications, like using pecans instead of walnuts or adding some ground flaxseed, but these recipes were used as the base for each.  Since I had apples that needed to be eaten also, I made my own applesauce.

Peaches

Next, I have some fresh peaches and some Granny Smith apples that need to be used to make something scrumptious. It is hard to beat a Southern Peach Cobbler, but a Peach Crisp sounds mouth-watering also. Cinnamon baked apples is a fan favorite, but I’m thinking about trying something new like Apple Dumplings; I’ve never made those before. Have you?

What kind of fruitlicious sweets and sweet breads do you enjoy cooking?

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

More Beauty Without the Beast

Hello World!

In Beauty Without the Beast, I shared one tactic I use to procure salon services for a fraction of the normal fees. For all of my fellow money-saving feens, here is another method I use to enjoy high-end beauty treatments most ladies will appreciate. Using deal sites such as Groupon, Living Social, and HalfOffDepot, I purchase massages, facials, professional laser hair removal treatments, etc. for a fraction of the normal cost.

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Let me give you a couple of examples. Back in February Nashville Laser Spa ran a deal through HalfOffDepot. The offer was three laser hair removal treatments, a value of $900, for $69. It got better. You see, HalfOffDepot will often run specials that further reduce the price of the deal. I purchased these treatments for $37.50! I then paired this deal voucher purchase with a Groupon deal of three treatments for $99, so I received the value of six treatments (full price would be $1,800) for a total of $136.50 – a savings of over 92%. I’ve also purchased massages, like the one from Gold Star Salon and Spa in Clarksville, Tennessee, where I received an hour-long massage for $30 (regular price was $65), which saved me 54%.

I’ve had extremely good luck with these type purchases, but as is always prudent, check out the service provider before you purchase.  You can go to the providers’ web site and see whether or not the business looks professional. Reading online reviews will give you a feel for things also, but to be completely honest, more folks will write a review if they have an ax to grind  than if they are pleased with the services.  In addition, unscrupulous competitors have been known to write fake reviews, so use common sense,too.  Keep your eyes and minds open, and you may find that you, too, can get more beauty without the beast of a price.

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

For the Love of Our Fur Babies

Hello World!

How many of you have a child (or children) who just happen to have fur (or feathers or scales)?  We have an almost seven-year-old fur baby named Chewie. We think he is a lab/golden retriever/shiba inu mix, but since he is a rescue, we don’t know and don’t care; he is our baby.

Chewie with his tail held high

Technically, he is our youngest son’s dog, but he has lived with us since we rescued him from an animal shelter when he was four months old. The only exception is the three and a half months Chewie lived with our youngest son and his wife in Savannah, Georgia, while we sold our house and moved.

If you have a pet as a part of your family, you know that you care for him or her as if he or she were one of your own children. This past Wednesday night, while I slept, Chewie began licking and biting his tail.  When I discovered what he had done the next morning, I began treating the sore with “hot spot” meds and, though I hated to do so, I put the “cone of shame” on him whenever I could not keep watch to make sure he was not continuing to lick/chew on his tail. Unfortunately, Chewie was able to get in a position where he could move his tail inside the cone, so it did nothing to help.  It was obvious what I had to do:  Take him to the vet.

Chewie’s Sore Tail

Friday afternoon, we drove all the way back to where we lived before – about an hour away – to visit his vet, as we had already decided to continue taking Chewie to his usual vet  – the one to whom we have taken Chewie since we first adopted him. Dr. Hill was glad we came in, but we do not know for sure what was the catalyst for his chewing.  The poor baby had to have part of his tail shaved in order to be treated.  We left with four different types of meds – two topical and two oral.

Luckily, the HH came home Friday night, so I have had him here to help me treat our baby; it takes two since Chewie is a big boy.  One of us has to hold him still and sooth him while the other cleans his wound and puts the powder antibiotic on his tail.  The one soothing is the “good guy” (aka HH), and the one treating Chewie is the “bad guy” (aka ME).  If looks could kill!  Chewie looks at me as if I have totally abused him after I have treated his sore tail; it makes me want to cry.  Like with our human children, sometimes we have to “hurt” our fur babies for their own good and well-being because we love them. At that moment, they, like our children, don’t understand. I know he will continue loving me anyway; he knows we love him.  Our family would feel incomplete without our fur baby. How about yours?

The HH Soothing Chewie After Tail Treatment

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Hometown Tourist

Hello World!

Do you want to know of a way to have a truly great time without going far, far away?  One way to do this is to act like you are a tourist in your own town. The HH and I had a blast today!  He and I went on a Hick Chicks Bus Tour of Nashville, and it was a true HOOT!  Now, if you’ve been reading my blogs, you know that I love saving money, so you will not be surprised to learn that we got a deal through a Living Social. Last weekend, I made reservations for us to use our deal vouchers and take the tour today.  It was awesome.  Not only did we have a great tour guide and learn things that we did not know about Nashville, we laughed so hard that I actually ached from laughing.  Christy, our guide, was knowledgeable and funny.  In addition, to the fantastic tour, we were lucky enough to be on the outing with a bunch of hilarious folks, several of whom joined us for lunch.

Here are some of the things we did.

Hick Chicks Tour Bus, Nashville, TN

Christy, our tour guide

First, we met our tour guide and boarded the bus in front of Dick’s Last Resort.  We drove throughout Nashville from the Riverfront area out to West End and visited a variety of other places in the city.  We made a couple of stops that gave us a chance to get off the bus to look around, get something to eat or drink, or go to the “loo.” One of our stops was at the Bootlegger’s Inn, and here we sampled moonshine.  Yep, that is what I said, moonshine. We also enjoyed the music of an energetic country band.

Watermelon Moonshine and White Lightening Lemonade
Bootlegger’s Inn, Nashville, TN

Country Band at Bootlegger’s Inn

Once the tour was over, Christy gave us all discount coupons for several downtown eateries.  The HH and I had already discussed the potential of eating at Dick’s Last Resort, so when we got a coupon for Dick’s, that sealed the deal for our lunch meal.

The HH and I thought we had a good time on the bus tour, but the fun continued at lunch since about six of our tour-mates joined us at a table in the restaurant.  Now, if you’ve not been to Dick’s Last Resort, it can be hilarious, but once again, it is mature fun.  I do not recommend taking the young ones there.

Our newly-met friends mostly originated from Indiana.  Two now live in Brentwood, Tennessee, and one lives in Cullman, Alabama.  Five ladies and one gent, all of whom enjoy having a good time – and are a little more into drinking than the HH and I.  If you happen to know the policy of servers’ behavior toward customers at Dick’s, then you may appreciate this comment.  If not, this will fly right over your head.  Our tour-mates were more than a match for our servers; they gave better than they got. LOL

Here are some pictures from our rowdy lunch-time fun.  My husband and I had a blast with some truly nice people, most all of us around 50 I might add, who know how to have a good time; they kept us smiling.

Our Server (Yes, she is sitting on our table.)

We all looked like these folks before lunch was done.

Some of our tour-mates

Get out in your area and be a tourist, have fun, meet new people, and love living life after 50. Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Filling an Empty Tummy When Out and About without Emptying the Wallet

Hello World!

Do you find yourself with days where you have quite a bit going on and you have not prepared ahead for eating?

McDonald’s Weekly Burger Deals in Nashville

My last couple of days have been like this; I’ve had several things planned and then several things that came up. How can you eat out without having the cost empty your wallet?  If you are in an area you know fairly well, you may be able to take advantage of restaurant specials.  For example, as far as I know, all of the Nashville McDonald’s restaurants have 50 cent hamburger Mondays and 60 cent cheeseburger Wednesdays with $1 sodas or teas, any size, all day long every day.

Half of the California Chicken Salad

Although yesterday was Wednesday, McDonald’s did not appeal to me; however, the HH’s favorite salad of all, the O’Charley’s California Chicken Salad, did.  Since there is no way I can eat the entire salad alone, and I am not paying 15% less for 50% less food to get the half size, as soon as I placed my order, I asked for a “to go” box.  It was 5:00 p.m. , and I had not eaten since 10 a.m., so I sipped my free water and munched on the free, unlimited rolls while I waited for my order.  When the salad arrived, I divided it equally between the “to go” box and my salad bowl. The “to go” box would be another meal for Thursday.  Dinner was yummy, but there was more of a treat ahead.

O’Charley’s Free Pie Wednesday

You see, I knew that Wednesday was free pie day at O’Charley’s, which was another reason to put half the salad into a “to go” box.  I had ordered apple pie; half was eaten there, and half was taken “to go” for dinner the next night with the remaining salad.

It gets even better because my ticket was the lucky “take a survey” ticket.  As a result of a minute or two to take the online survey, the HH and I will have a free appetizer the next time we go, which will probably be in a couple of weeks since he simply loves that salad.

Today turned out to be another crazy, busy day – even more so than yesterday – so I am really  happy to know that dinner, including dessert, is waiting on me. However, I was wondering what was I going to do for lunch.  As I was between errands, I was paying attention to what was written on the signs of some of the places I enjoy eating. BINGO! Sonic had a notice up that today, August 15th, was half-price cheeseburger day.  On my way home, I zipped in to Sonic, ordered my cheeseburger, and headed back to the ole homestead. After unloading the car of my farmers’ market goodies, I poured myself a glass of Ginger Ale and opened my cheeseburger; lunch was served.  Sonic cheeseburgers are MUCH better than the regular McDonald’s cheeseburgers; this makes me glad that I went the salad route yesterday. 

Sonic’s Special of the Day

How do you keep the cost of eating out down when you find yourself too busy running around to cook and eat and you have forgotten to prepare ahead?

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Beauty Without The Beast

Hello World!

As a 50+ woman, I’m not lucky enough to have hair sans gray.  In fact, I’ve been coloring my hair for so long that I am not sure what percentage of my “true colors” is gray, but I fear it is at least 50%.  Though consideration is being given to going au naturale hair-wise,  I’m not there yet. In the meantime, my fast-growing hair really needs to have the color refreshed every six to eight weeks (six is better).  Due to expense, I’ve colored my own hair using boxes of color purchased at whatever store had the best deal with varying results.  My coloring was not always even and too much color was left on walls and bathroom rugs.

How can I have the beauty treatments I want without spending a beastly amount of money?  My answer, when I went looking for it, was easily found: Beauty Schools!

The Salon Professional Academy, Nashville, TN

Today, I went back to The Salon Professional Academy in Nashville. I was able to call and make and appointment to fit my schedule.  While students perform all of the work, instructors walk around continuously watching, and the teachers check the students’ plans for work before they begin and after completed.  I’ve actually been more pleased with the quality of work at the school than I have been with professional stylists in private salons. The main downside to using student salons is the time factor; plan on taking 1 and 1/2 to 2 times longer than you may normally take for the same services.

My new hairdo

My new color

What did I pay today for my color, shampoo, cut, and style?  What do you think?  I’m guessing on the low end these services may cost about $75 and perhaps upwards to $200 for high-end salons.  What did I pay? My cost for salon services today were $9.00 for the cut and $19.00 for the color (w/shampoo) and style.  That is $28.00 TOTAL! For me, that is Beauty without the Beast of a price.  This  price is really not that much more than one might pay for the really good (or at least really high-priced) boxed hair color. For me, box colors are out and beauty salon schools are in.

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

I Finally Did It!

Hello World!

What did I finally do?  I finally submitted my first application for a freelance writing assignment; this was my icebreaker. Starting something new is always a bit scary, at least for me, but isn’t part of living taking risks and getting out of our comfort zones?  After writing my post yesterday, I did some reading that I found inspiring.  I spent a bit of time tweaking my resume, locating a template to use for a cover letter, and then I went to an online job posting site for freelance writing assignments.  I read through them until I found one that seemed to fit my age, stage, and background. This morning, I submitted the application. That got me past my first hurdle.

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The next hurdle is dealing with rejection.  Mentally, I know that when one is looking for a job, many attempts are made and rejected before one finds a job that fits.  I am even more certain that when writing for publication in any form, rejection is a part of the process, and it comes more often than not.  You see, the thing is that when it comes to locating jobs, I’ve not had much experience with rejection.  As mentioned in Live, Work, and Wait?, most of the jobs I have had in the past have come to me.  Learning to deal with rejection is going to be a character growth challenge that will come with the writing to make money challenge.

Anyway, the first step is the hardest, and now that step has been taken.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, good or bad.

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela

Live, Work, and Wait?

Hello World!

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I’m a list maker and a planner.  The poor HH, who is both a creature of habit and a spontaneous spirit, has learned to live with my planning personality, and I do try to be a bit spontaneous for him.  Yet, I can’t get away from my list making and planning ahead; it is just an integral part of who I am. Once I have a plan in place, it is then, and only then, that I am fully inspired to act with enthusiasm to put the plan into action. I’m sure my dear hubby sometimes wonders if my plans will ever take shape, but I do believe that most of the time he is happy with the results of well-implemented plans.

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, in the “About” section as well as in some of my first  posts, I alluded to the fact that I am attempting to discover what it is that I want to do with my life at this time. Though I am ready to shed the bondage of “punching a regular time clock,” I am not ready to give up being a productive member of society. While hoping to find fulfillment and joy in what comes next, I’d also like some monetary compensation, and the HH hopes this to be true, too.

How does what I have just written relate to planning?  I’m looking for the perfect plan to make all of this happen, and for some reason, I find planning to be challenging. To be honest, even if planning were easy and perfect in this situation, some things are beyond our control. Perhaps I am trying too hard and spending more time planning than just doing and letting what is meant to be come to me.  After all, each of my most fulfilling paid jobs more or less came to me rather than me looking for them.  The rest of the in-between jobs were just that – jobs that came in-between to help connect me to the next thing.

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What comes to mind is a scene from one of our favorite movies: Under the Tuscan Sun (2003). The main character, played by Diane Lane, is a writer and teacher who is blind-sided by her cheating husband.  Divorced and lost, she acts on a whim while on vacation in Italy, using the money from her divorce settlement to buy a run-down villa. Lane’s character, Frances, works hard at everything from getting the house the way she wants it to finding love and friendship in her new homeland.  Finally, an eccentric lady named Katherine who befriends Frances tells her a story about looking for lady bugs as a child.  Katherine could never find them until she would quit looking and fall asleep, and then she would wake to find herself covered by lady bugs.  What Katherine is telling Frances is to forget about looking so hard for what she wants.  Instead, she should go home and do the work before her and wait.  It all worked out for Frances.  Then again, this was a movie, but that does not mean good life lessons cannot come from movies or the stories of others.

Perhaps this is good advice for me and for all of us. Is there a time to plan and a time to work and wait? My part may be in the planning and doing what I can do and then waiting for the universe, fate, God – however you want to say it – to put the opportunities before me rather than stressing about it. What do you think?  

Have a blessed and happy day!

Angela