Aging less than gracefully

 I have only the best intentions when it comes to my golden years, yet I am continually bombarded with my own lack of grace in the process.  So far, in my quest to have a happy and/or contented retirement I have had issue after issue medically: heart attacks, strokes, cataracts, gall bladder...I mean what exactly is left?

After 50 plus years as a small yet admittedly voluptuous size, I have ballooned into what my mother would have called "pleasingly plumb but verging on fat". Why do our mothers (well American ones anyway) all seem to give us body dysmorphia? Going from size eight to size 16 is difficult enough without her words floating through my head. 

And of course, with heart disease it is difficult to exercise to the point of actually burning calories so the weight will fall off....sustained exercise is all but impossible now.

That leaves starvation as the means to lose weight. And don't say "KETO" to me. I also have metabolic syndrome, that lovely diabetes mellitus precursor, so I can't eat what is on that diet and maintain my sugar levels. Besides eating all that meat puts me off mentally. I'd happily go vegetarian but could never get George to give up his hamburgers, and I refuse to cook two meals every night.

So, what's a girl to do?

I made a decision to say SCREW IT whenever I begin to feel "fat" or "less than" anyone because of my weight.  I will quite happily float on into old age at a size 16...heck, I wouldn't even mind a size 22 now....except I'd need a new wardrobe and I am too cheap to get one.

So as long as my meds work, my eyes continue to see and my heart continue to beat I'm going to enjoy whatever time I have left.  And if it bothers anyone? Well, that's THEIR problem. They can just get over it or look the other way.

once more with feeling...

  For some reason (yes we all KNOW the reason. it has a name...SUZE) my blog is not showing on any search engine.

That's right. It has disappeared.

(I don't see anything here, do you?)

Unless one knows its address one can never find the words so lovingly blathered (blithered?) upon the computer screen by me......Suze.

Yes, I know, I know....who really cares that Suze is blithering and babbling upon a computer?  

Hopefully someone does.  If not this second attempt has just flown beyond silly and into the realm of vast stupidity.

I hope.......yes I really do......that this time it has some charm attached and the post is visible to others.

I have nothing but admiration for those who understand the directions given by webbery employees in all the convoluted verbiage of computerese.......I don't get it.

I have "instructions" that force my mind into thoughts of vivisection.........of webmasters and their minions....throwing parts hither and yon whilst said webmasters and minions scream for mercy.

Unfortunately I can't physically get my addlepated mits upon them.......much to their relief I am sure.

So, this is an experiment...one in which we shall see if perhaps some irrational verbiage explodes into the ether of the web...........or is found floating within the confines of a search result.

Wish me luck? 

Share Your world, August 31, 2020 (yes I am late!)

 Roger Shipp and Melanie B Cee have partnered for the next few weeks to ask the Share Your World Challenge questions. Roger's take is from the Harry Potter series of books..Mel's are from the mind of Mel.

Check out BOTH of these intrepid writers through the klinks above.

Mel's questions: 

• What is the last song you sang along to?
• What was your scariest nightmare about?
• What food do you crave most often?
• What’s your grossest bug story?

Roger's questions:

1. Many local regions, especially rural areas where I live, have haunted houses. Have you ever spent the night in a house that was supposedly haunted? Anything ‘strange” happen?
   
   
2. The Quidditch Cup (riding broomsticks while chasing a small ball) was a huge sporting event in the land of Hogwarts. What is the largest sporting event (or concert, etc.) that you have ever attended?
   
   
3. When you go for a swim, do you prefer an ocean, the seaside lakes, or a pool?
   
   
4. Ron Weasley received a horrid robe to wear as formal wear to the Christmas dance at Hogwarts. Tell about the most ‘ghastly’ fashion statement that you have ever made.

 and my answers to the above....

"this is how you Burlesque" while shimmying around the living room with a paintbrush in my hands. Yes, I was painting as well.

Scariest nightmare? Walking through a forest with my tiny sons, and suddenly realizing I was no longer holding their hands, nor could I see them anywhere. I awoke screaming their names and frightening the dogs half to death.

food cravings? Ummmmmm, jammie dodgers. Doesn't help that I am American, and these biscuits are British and no store carries them.

Nope..sorry, not going there. I'll have nightmares again.

Yes, my best friend's home is haunted. We are pretty sure it's her great grandmother from the clothing we've seen the lady wear. She simply walks through a room into the kitchen.

Elton John, Greensboro North Carolina..his first American tour (rocketman tour)

Pool. I can't walk in sand anymore.

I haven't worn anything ghastly, actually. ever. 

forgot the pictures........

 Okay, so I did two major things in my home over the last two weeks...

I painted the living room and I wrenched off cupboard doors in the kitchen and rearranged all the canned goods, etc.

And I completely failed to stick in pictures.

Heck I could have been just babbling for all you know.......so........

Here's proof I actually did something!

First the pretty living room. Remember it used to be coral and turquoise........Now:

Pretty, Huh?  Okay, so for most people it's a bit much.....but for me, it is pretty darned calm!

And I cleared the pantry...

and put the things I use daily..coffee, flour, sugar, etc onto a pretty shelf.

For once, everything is easy for me to find and looks neat on the shelves.

It seems though, that once one thing is done (and works) it opens up a dozen more projects.

But, right now I am tired and simply going to go read a book.

Saturday morning

 After organizing all the cupboards in my kitchen and pantry, I fell asleep far too early.

That made me wake up at the unGodly hour of 3:30 this morning.

Too much coffee later, I am wishing I were 23 years old again and not bound by the physical laws of nature.....

So, is today going to be laid back and filled with reading and lounging?

I could only wish..first it's 50 gazillion loads of laundry...none of which can be hung to dry since it is "fixin to gully wash" as the locals say. 

Second, there's some landscaping..well, that's done already. Did it before the night skies turned to dawn. Now to fill in the rock garden with actual river rocks.

I need to touch up paint in the living room. And finish rearranging the dishes.

sigh.

It was so much easier being a kid. Then all I had to deal with was watching cartoons for hours before playing outside with friends until the sun went down..eating at whomever's house the Mom caught us around lunchtime.....going home for dinner when our own Mother yelled out the screen doors.

Ya'll just keep remembering your own childhoods while I go put wet stuff in the dryer and stat another load of laundry.

Considering a kitchen reconstruction

 Our cottage is a 1920's wanna-be Craftsman style home......built not so much for style but simply as a place to get out of the weather.

George and I have been replacing floors, upgrading plumbing systems and electrical, painting and "prettifying' the house since we moved in.

I've wanted to do SOMETHING to the horrid tiny kitchen for going on six years now, but until recently all other things had to be done first.

Money is always an issue with us as we are both retired and our social security just doesn't allow for pricy upgrades.

But, now..all important upgrades have been done and maintenance is easy.......so it is time to think about what I want.

I want open shelves. I want an extension on the corner end of my counter-top. I want it to look nice but remain cheap.

What I have now are crappy ancient metal or particleboard cabinets attached to the wall. They don't have enough shelf space within, nor is the distance between shelves (vertically) appropriate for modern packaging.

I decided that shelves instead of cabinets would be nice, but instead of just yanking off the cabs from the wall, I'd take the doors off and "live with them for a while".

And I ended up rearranging all my canned and pantry goods because I couldn't stand the way some of them looked on open shelves.

They make much more sense to me now..as I can easily see all canned goods at a glance, and yes, I sorted them all.

And, I've begun the search for under-sink cabs that will fit the style of my 1920's cottage yet be updated enough for plenty of storage options.

I've almost decided a farmhouse table under the sink with corner cabs will work. But I can't decide on the style. I am keeping my 1920's sink......I LOVE it. I just need to figure out a base.

HELP! Just remember..super small fixed income here so everything will be second hand (or free).

there's something about color......

 When I get bored........or sad.........or just plain anxious for no reason at all, my mind instantly begins to focus on the colors surrounding me.

I love bright colors.....deep shades of rose, coral, yellow and blues....

They just lift my spirits and make me,........well....HAPPY!

Yesterday I painted my living room.  Garry, Angie and George all helped and the job was done in a few hours. (You can tell Great friends from good ones by the amount of work they happily do for you....Ang and Garry are the BEST!!!)

Last week, we all helped Angie paint HER bedroom, and George and I fell in love with one of her accent colors...a deep and rich violet.

So, of course, yesterday we used her accent color as my wall color.

The room used to be a bright coral.....with turquoise accents on the window sills and door frames. 

I loved that too...until I didn't. It only took four years (or is it five) but I did eventually get sick of it.

People tend to either love or hate the colors in my home. George (Bless his heart) let's me do whatever I wish.  In Texas, our home was described by my late mother as a "looking like a Mexican whorehouse".......everything was deep red, blue, yellow and green......I still wonder how exactly she knew what Mexican whorehouses looked like?

Now our home is still vibrant, but not so much "in your face" bold. Soft blue in the dining room, lavender in the bedroom........and violet in the living room. 

It's still bright but a bit calmer now.

Maybe it has something to do with retirement...now we can relax and don't need the house to energize us.  I'm not sure..

What I do know is that when I woke up this morning and walked into the room I discovered a huge smile on my face. And I am happy.

a brand new day.....

 Today is a brand new start...at least when it comes to the blog.

After 11 years on WordPress, today I deleted that blog. Yep, Obsolete Childhood is no more.

Oh, I did download all my posts, comments etc.....and I did download every single picture.

But, the blog has been deleted.

Why you may ask, did I stay for eleven years and through many changes only to leave it all today? The people mostly. Other bloggers.  The feeling of family we have between us.

But even a feeling of "these guys are family, even annoying uncle Bob is here" wasn't enough to overcome the final straw.

WP changed the editor..the very way I post my blatherings, rants, successes and bad (really bad) poetry. They "upgraded" the editor..thus making it impossible to understand or use.

Not only did they change it, but they seemed rather proud of themselves for making so very many bloggers miserable trying to understand the blasted thing, AND they were CONDESCENDING ABOUT IT".

And, that my friends, is NOT the way to act towards a rather grumpy, and definitely snarky old lady.

So, I am once again back on Blogger...and the blog name has been resurrected...obsolete childhood has risen once again..and the editor is pretty much the same as it was when I left almost twelve years ago.

Now, if Blogger only had a community page where other bloggers could share posts and advice, it would be just about the perfect blog platform.

One can only hope (and send multiple requests) that this will come about.

Share Your World challenge, August 24, 2020

 Melanie B Cee of Sparksfromacombustiblemind hosts the Share your World challenge every Monday. She has teamed up with Roger Shipp (known for watching all the Harry Potter movies during quarantine) in the questions posed.

Mel's "rules"

I’m reiterating last week’s ‘disclaimer’:  Now I realize some folks have never seen nor read a single book or seen any movie about Harry Potter.   Therefore I’m going to do three or four ‘regular’ questions for folks who aren’t Harry fans.  It’s cool to do both sets OR just one or the other, as you wish.  

“Instructions“

1. Create a Share Your World post.  Then post the link to that blog post or leave your answers in the comments box of my blog.
2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Share Your World”  and link it to this post.
3.  Ping-backs are activated, but how efficiently varies.  For instructions on how ping-backs work, in case you weren’t certain, please click here.  You may wish to leave a link to your blog post in the comments just to be sure.  Thanks!
   

   ---

Roger's questions: Share Your World Meets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

1. One of my favorite gifts that Harry Potter received came from the Weasley Twins; and was “Mrs. Mooney’s Marauder’s Map”. This magical document showed every classroom, hallway and secret corner in all of Hogwarts. It also showed you the location- by name- of every person in Hogwarts.  If you had such a magical map of your town, what would you use it for? If you would not use it, is there another person to whom you would gift it?

I use Google Earth.  it seems pretty danged magical to me.

2. When was the last time you made a snowball? Were in a snowball fight?

3 years ago..in my front yard with my "grand daughter' and her dozen or more friends.

3. Many cultures set great value in each child of the family having godparents. Did you have godparents? Are you a godparent yourself?

I had god-parents but have zero clue who they were..as I was a baby at the time.

4. You have found a secret tunnel under your house. Where does it go?

Heck if I know..let me go ask the dog and see what he has to say for himself first.

---

Muggle Questions (of a more philosophical bent this week):

Is intelligence or wisdom more useful?  Considering the quite obvious lack of brain-power amongst the average American public, I'd be wishing for more intelligence to spread around. It is rather desperately needed.

How important is play in living a healthy and fulfilling life? extremely. do I really need to explain?

Is happiness just chemicals flowing through your brain or something more?well first, chemicals don't exactly "flow" through a brain....but rather than go into an annoying amount of scientific information that will eventually put everyone to sleep.......let me say this. ...it's more.

okay, I am annoyed

 One of the things that truly annoys me about switching one blog host for another..is having to copy each of the blog's addresses of those I follow, and writing them all into a new layout.

I don't want to lose these guys. I have a years long online relationship with them. They are FRIENDS.

So, it is copy and paste into a document file, then individually copy all these addresses into a widget (midget??) and hope it all comes right in the end.

So far, after mucking about for exactly 1 hour and 3 minutes I have added two blogs to my list....

out of 127 blogs that I follow.

Yes, it is a hassle. Yes, I knew there would be a glitch or two when changing site hosts. BUT...

I would SO much rather add these blogs by hand (so to speak) than attempt WP's danged block editor! Yes, I am once again making a sweet drink out of sour fruits......isn't it nice that I do it so well?

repost: following along behind the crowd.

 I originally posted this back in 2018...but I found it again while downloading my prior blog posts, it amused me to the point of snorting.........so I thought I'd share it again.

following along behind the crowd…..

october 26, 2018by suze, posted in babbling

Barbara over at teleportingweena answered these, then sparky (melanie) at sparks from a combustible Mind did them…I forget who all they stole these from, but I am so highly medicated on pain killers for a muscle tear of the shoulder that I can not concentrate on a post of my own so I stole them. OMG, that was a horrible run-on sentence. Okay, trying to keep a focus on something….here are the questions. I hope I manage to add some answers.

1. Dogs/cats/both/other?  I love dogs. cats seem to tolerate me. I have both, am owned by two and own the other two. It’s a mess really. I’d much rather just have two total creatures living here with me and George, but they keep multiplying and I haven’t figured out how to stop it yet.
   
   
2. Favorite holiday? Why? I have decided this means vacation instead of holiday…so it would be the first trip to Israel. Incredible journey for me. check out the post.
     
   
3. A fun or funny word you like to use. plexiotomy, a word I made up to denote a special surgical procedure installing plexiglass into the abdomen whereby someone may see where they are going while having their head up there ass.
   
4. Writing in pen or pencil, or would you rather type? I’d rather just lounge around on a ‘fainting sofa”, eating chocolates and drinking some dr pepper while a manly secretary (preferably Scottish and looking like Sean Connery) writes down every word I say.
   
   
5. Tell about a strange/weird experience you’ve had. nope. I don’t want to. but thanks for trying to get me to. Shows initiative. 
   
6. Do you do any crafts? yes. I quilt, paint stuff, refurbish furniture, sew……..and I love glitter glue.
   
   
7. What tip would you give to new bloggers? don’t plagiarize. 
   
   
8. What special talent do you have? Being totally obnoxious while maintaining my innate southern gentility
   
9. Fabric ribbons or plastic bows on gifts, which do you like better? I’d much rather someone do something for me than wrap up a purchase and pretend they really are happy giving it to me. Want to give me something meaningful? Try washing out my bathtub for me? Do a load or ten of laundry. cook a meal so i don’t have to. Vacuum my floors, or fog for bugs. It’s too difficult for me to do any of the above now even though I do them every blasted day. Screw ribbons.
    
   
10. Favorite school subject.  .Comparative Religions
    
    
11. Just for fun question… Who ya gonna call? Probably Pizza Hut.
    .

Questions I found on Ally Bean's blog...

 Ally Bean writes an incredible blog called "The Spectacled Bean". Go check her out...I can wait for you to read my idiotic responses to 20 questions Ally found while wandering the bloggsphere..

20 questions:

Your most memorable fancy dress costume? Renaissance garb.........at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie, Texas.  I'm wearing the Porteous plaid (my dad's ancestral plaid)

Which social media platform do you use the most? Wordpress. Well, I WAS on WP until they ticked me off entirely..now on Blogger (3rd times a charm) I have a facebook account but am rarely on it....well rarely now means only once a day or so instead of all day long.

 

Favourite season? Autumn. or maybe Spring.........possibly Summer..but then again, I like Winter. 

 

If you had to choose the beach or mountains, which would it be? it depends on WHICH beach and WHICH mountains.  I would be on Taba beach in Egypt.........or the Blue ridge mountains in western Virginia...up near skyline Drive (Sperryville)

 What can you play very well? The slighty ditzy grandmother...........did you mean games? musical instruments? I'll just stick with my original response. It's far more accurate

 

What kind of cheese do you like? I like a lot of different types of cheese. it's easier listing what I don't like. that would be Stilton, Blue cheese and Limburger........well any stinky cheese really.

 

Life goal? met thank you. I have no goals now I am ancient and retired. Okay, fine..I have a goal. to make sure Trump never makes it back into any public office and is prosecuted for the crimes he has committed while in office.

 

How many cities have you lived in? oh lordie...Fairfax, Va.; Springfield, Va; Elon College, NC; Beech Mountain, NC;  Burlington, NC; Raleigh, NC; Alexandria, Va.; Arlington, Va.; Orlando, Fl; Jacksonville, Fl.; Chicago, Il; North Chicago, Il.; Waukegan, Il; Los Angeles, Ca.; Yreka, Ca.; Medford, Or; Pasadena, Tx; Houston, Tx; Austin, Tx; Cedar Park; Tx; Cottonwood Shores, Tx; El Paso, Tx.; Charleston, SC; Jackson, Tn; Dixon, Tn.; Nashville, Tn; Cumberland Furnace, Tn; Hurricane Mills, Tn.; Jackson, Ms.;  Altoona, Pa.; Enid, Ok. How many is that? I think I got em all....no I am missing a few Texas cities..........Nacadoches, Tx; New Caney, Tx.; Lufkin, Tx. There! done.

 

What language do you wish you could speak? Spanish

 

What can’t you stand? Social injustice and screaming babies on an overseas flight

 

If you have an hour to kill on your hands, what would you do? read

 

Your favorite routine? doing what I feel like doing when I feel like it. I AM retired ya know.

 

When do you become hyperactive? Never

 

Text message or phone call? Phone call. Text messages were designed by people who never leaned to spell.

 

Your most precious treasure? my husband

 

Your latest foreign language mistake? haven't made one in years so I really can't answer this one.

 

What’s the best therapy for you? swinging on my front porch swing, a glass of sweet tea and a good book.

 

If you could be a fictional character, who would you be? Jo, from Little Women....or....Doctor Who's companion.

 

Where would you like to travel? Ireland and Wales.....or back to Guatemala, Egypt or Israel.....or even back to Mexico.  Probably New Zealand......or maybe Australia. Or Peru. Peru would be cool.

 

Where did you meet your spouse/partner? 4th grade classmate.

just the facts, Ma'am

 Okay....Fandango (a bloggery buddy from WP) let me know that one needed a Google acct in order to make a comment in the blog. 

Well, that's just plain discriminatory...........at least to me. What if someone doesn't WANT a Google account?

After looking through the settings for all of about 10 seconds, I found the little gizmo that allows anyone to comment.

Thanks Fang for letting me know.

The editor here in Blogger is almost the same as the WP-admin editor..just a bit easier. I still have all the same bells and whistles I had over at WP, just not as many choices on themes as I had......ah well, sometimes one gives up pretty for easy.

I find it easier to post to social media here on Blogger. Not as many steps to take to have things go where I want them to go.

The editor is essentially the same as it was when I first began blogging many years ago.......

Gravitar works here.....so I can easily see who is commenting and know instantly this is one of my buddies or a total stranger.  That's nice.

The only downside so far is that I now need to send email invites to all my followers and they may not want to receive email notifications about the blog....or from it.....or whatever. And so it goes.

Half a dozen good things, one or two great things and a few total annoyances. Welcome to Blogging!