an insignificant, but interesting retirement question...

While reading Postcards from Across the Pond today I was taken by the fact that Michael mentioned that he brought his wife tea in the morning. Since we do this also... except it's coffee (tea in the afternoon), I wondered just how many couples (retired or not) do this. I know my daughter and her DH do it. In fact, she was saying that they alternate.  I'm always the first to make coffee at our house and bring DH a cup while he's feeding the cats. Then he makes the second cup and brings it to me. 

Such a little thing... but somehow significant and I don't even know why. Makes me wonder how other people distribute their chores. Here I do almost all the cooking even though DH is a pretty good cook. He will occasionally make a Cajun dish like red beans and rice or jambalaya (makes pretty good stuffed peppers too!)... and actually makes  great chocolate lava cakes and flan when the mood strikes. And even though I love to cook, I still enjoy it when he takes over.

Since we've retired he does the heavy duty chores like mopping and mowing. I tend to do the dishes and the dusting, etc.  - although on occasion again I will cook and he will clean up. It works. Grocery shopping we do together... although he goes off with his cart and I go off with mine. We meet before checkout. Usually he's buying all the catfood and supplies while I'm picking up fresh meat and veggies for us.

We both wash our own clothes. I think we started this when the kids were grown, but still at home. We told them that they needed to wash their own clothes... and they did. I occasionally folded as somehow kids (even grown ones - especially boys) don't seem to care if the clothes are folded or worn right out of the dryer.  But we kept this practice up even after the kids were off on their own. Again... it works.

This is probably a weird subject (coffee and the delegation of chores), but it does touch on retirement practices... 

And before I go any further I want to mention that I read the Kindle sample of Dee Ready's "Prayer Was Not Enough"... and do plan on ordering the book. My friend lent me her Kindle and I didn't feel I could buy and download the book on someone else's e-reader, but did enjoy the sample pages I read. Dee has her own blog, "Coming Home to Myself" where you can read more about her new book.


Have a great week!  

My *One a day Women's petites* order came in. I haven't tried them yet, but they do look small enough for  me to swallow without too much trouble. They are not tiny, but about the size of a Tylenol caplet.

Spring is 'springing'...

Sign on our door... (pink sign on red door)

Found this Easter sign today at Joann's... and thought it might be a good replacement for our Merry Christmas sign.  

Red bud showing through the trees in the back

And finally... a Red bud tree blooming in the back of the house! This is our first sign of spring around here. But I have seen a few daffodils and hyacinths popping up around the neighborhood.

I have a question for anyone out there. Do any of you find it difficult to swallow large pills? And I don't necessarily mean overly large...  It's not a terribly big problem since I don't take any pills at all except for a Tylenol x-strength caplet when necessary (and I take this with buttermilk to help it slide down). But I also don't take any vitamin supplements... not even calcium. 

My family physician isn't too disturbed about this. However, he did request that I take Vitamin D3 since my blood tests show me quite low. And recently my Eye Doctor recommended I take a multiple vitamin for eye health. Most are too large, don't like the chewable (too much sugar and I'm sensitive to any sugar substitutes), and am generally leery about supplements. 

I eat well enough... no canned foods, mostly fresh, and don't have a weight problem. But I just found that One a Day for women makes a One a Day petite for people who have trouble swallowing pills. Apparently it's not in the stores and has to be ordered online through Walgreen's or a Vitamin store. I ordered it through Walgreen's and it will be delivered to the store for pickup in a few days. 

Just wondered if any of you have any comment on this. I'm ordering it blind since I know of no one who uses it and don't know how 'petite' it is. You are supposed to take 2 a day, not one... but that's fine with me. 'One a Day' is a brand name that's been around for a while.  

Also I was going through pictures for my youngest son who apparently needs a baby pic or two for some presentation he has to make. I found these pics of our 3 when they were young. 

kids on backyard swing set

Now they are all in their 40's... how time flies!  

Have a great rest of the week! And if you have any comments on vitamin supplements size and value, I'd certainly appreciate hearing them.

aging and retirement issues...

Oh lord, I was so tired when I left pottery class Saturday.  We worked on the hand-built kilns from 9am until 4pm.  I didn't realize how leaning over a table and hand-building for that long would affect my back. When I got out of the car at home, my back seized up... and for a few moments I couldn't move. But it passed and after a cup of tea, a Tylenol, and a hot soak in the tub, things were better. Ah, the joys of getting older!

And now for some other *issues*...

this about covers it...

This blog was originally planned to be about *our retirement years*. And I guess it actually is since we are in the mist of them and thus, everything we do has to do with our life in retirement. But I do tend to go off on tangents and speak of other things - like cats, pottery, quilting, family, likes, dislikes, etc. - and may not stick strictly to *retirement issues*.  

But today I will... (or at least I will start out that way). This issue is the constantly increasing cost of things. Nothing new of course, but now that we're on a fixed income, it's become an issue. I guess the government refers to it as the cost of living increase and this CLI is included in many things... even social security. However, although it's included (and I'm grateful for that), it never really covers the actual increase. 

In general, most things are going to increase with time and even though I understand why they must (at least for the most part), it still becomes an issue. While perfectly able to cover our expenses, I do find myself juggling things around to meet the unexpected increases as they occur. Recently we dropped the daily newspaper delivery service as the price has gotten beyond what we thought was reasonable... and after all, it was a luxury (and if I'm going for luxuries, I'll take chocolate and coffee over the newspaper any day).

This week we found out that our Internet/Cable/Phone service was going up $60/month! When we called to check on this, we were told that the other price we had was just an Introductory price and the time span for the offer was over. We were never told this was an introductory price and asked them what we could do (change some programs, reduce our channels, take out the land-line, etc.) to go back to what we were originally paying. Nothing apparently. So we dropped them and took on another service - one which was happy to have us and gave us the same service for less than we were originally paying the other company. Again... a luxury I guess, but we aren't ready to do without these services altogether. I do need PBS!

So it all works out... but it's a constant juggling act. And I imagine this will continue in other areas as time goes on. For instance, at the moment and for the last 10 or so years, we have carried a Long Term Care Insurance policy.  This past year the payments increased by more than 50% and we had to negotiate with them (changing some of the benefits to fit the payment we could afford).  And I fear that in the next 10 years, they may *price us out* completely. 

I guess the retirement benefits (owning one's own time) continue to outweigh the disadvantages (juggling the increasing cost of living on a fixed income). But my concern lies in whether this balancing act may become more difficult with time and age.  Right now DH and I can easily sit down and figure out how to overcome obstacles. But will this be true 10 years down the road? And will we be here 10 years down the road? Do we even want to be?  

OK, now I'm getting maudlin (is that the right word? - maybe I mean morose?).  Either way, let's not go there. Right now things are fine and retirement is wonderful. This is today and life is now, right?   

Back to *other things*....  (but I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on retirement issues)

sun and salmon are my choices!

I went to see our Gastro-enterologist yesterday. It was just a 4 month follow-up visit and all is well. But he and I talked a bit about things in general.  I asked him his thoughts on cleansing diets (my daughter is on *The Clean Diet*), probiotics, the necessity of vitamins, the case for additional Vitamin D, and B12, etc. It turns out he and I agree that if you eat right and exercise and have no particular problem, there's no need for additional supplements. This was good to hear because every time I pick up a bottle of multivitamins and read the list of ingredients (and don't recognize all the chemical names written there) I end up putting it back on the shelf.  I don't know what those chemicals are and I don't want to put them in my body. But on the upside, it's obvious  that I could never have a problem with drugs when I can't even make myself take vitamins!

But I think we eat well (at least most of the time). I love to bake, but we generally give the bulk of my baking to the kids and grandkids leaving a few pieces for DH and I to have with our 4 o'clock tea or coffee. We only eat fresh fruits and veggies (never canned and very little frozen since my Oncologist recommended this almost 15 years ago). We do eat chicken and fish... and red meat (although not a lot). We use brown rice and whole wheat pastas and breads... and we do use regular sugar (never artificial sugars as they will bring on a migraine as well as make me feel awful - almost like the flu). We hardly ever eat fried foods and I don't deep fry anything at home. But we do both enjoy fried catfish on occasion. This seafood restaurant we like sends us a 2 for 1 coupon once a month and we do use it.

And speaking of coupons... we do clip and use them... but only for the products that we would normally buy anyway. It doesn't amount to much, but I'd say that out of a normal week, we may save on an average of $5 - not a big savings, but every little bit helps.

I'll leave you with this picture I found recently of a cat at the Vet's. It was on a blogger's site and I would gladly give them credit if I could just remember where I saw it. Since our *Ghost* is not feeling well today, it made me think of her.