We went to my Mom’s senior center apartment on Saturday and enjoyed walking around a Holiday Boutique they were hosting. One of my brothers was there, too. While I was there, I took care of a couple bills she had. My Dad passed away last year and I became the primary “money guy” for my Mom. I had started taking care of their checkbooks, … Continue reading Long Term Care & Insurance
I aim to be more prepared than the average bear, but this past week has taught me that I am often completely unprepared. You would think with the amount of time I have as an early retiree to get things done, I wouldn’t ever fall behind. Still, I certainly do. We had an unusual power outage at our house on Sunday. It lasted from about … Continue reading Falling Behind
With the horrific news of the last couple weeks and the anniversary of 9/11, I’m doing my best to focus on my own life and not “doom scroll” the frightful headlines. Sports is a perfect respite for doing that. It’s the first full summer that I haven’t been battling any injuries. Two years ago, I was a wreck with a pulled achilles and back pain. … Continue reading Sports > Headlines
I’m down in steamy Florida right now, spending the weekend at our vacation place down here. Like most newer developments in Florida, there are a fair number of golf carts on the road, but I don’t think we’re going to invest in one. First, our town of Celebration isn’t really a “retirement village”. There are a decent number of retirees, but the demographics of … Continue reading Golf Carting Around …
THEME PARKS WALT DISNEY WORLD – 4 PARKS MAGIC KINGDOM 🏰 Main Street USA & Cinderella Castle, Dwarf’s Mine Train, Tron & Space Mountain, Pirates of Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Hall of Presidents. 🚂 Fantasy Parade – 3pm Daily ✨ Starlight Parade – Evenings 💥 Nightly Fireworks – Wishes 🎃 Mickey’s Halloween Party (Oct) 🎅🏻 Mickey’s Christmas Party (Dec) EPCOT CENTER 🌍 … Continue reading Activities Near Celebration …
We’re down in Florida at our condo right now and meeting a lot of our new neighbors. I’ve found one of the best ways to connect is just to wear a ballcap from our home state of Minnesota or Wisconsin. Different parts of Florida attract snowbirds from different states, but where we are at there is a mix of East Coasters (NY NJ PA MA) … Continue reading Hats Off To MN Snowbirds
As I do every year at Christmastime, I countdown the days with posts that celebrate the season. This year’s countdown focused on classic holiday TV specials. I tried to line up many of them in the exact date in December that they originally aired …
Hope you enjoy, Merry Christmas!!
🎅🏻 25 Days to Christmas: Aired on Christmas Eve, 1964 – in the first season of Bewitched – Samantha takes a skeptical orphan to see Santa at the North Pole in “A Vision of Sugar Plums” (S1:E15)
❄️ 24 Days to Christmas: Dr. Robert Hartley spends Christmas Eve 1975 in the hospital in “Bob Has His Tonsils Out”. Set in snowy Chicago, this is one of many Christmas-themed episodes of the Bob Newhart Show (S4:E15) …
🎁 23 Days to Christmas – The Simpson’s have done dozens of holiday episodes, but “Marge Be Not Proud” is the highest rated. Marge copes with Bart shoplifting at Christmastime. (S7:E11) …
🎅🏻 22 Days to Christmas: “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” premiered on television on 12/10/1984 on NBC. December 10, 1984. It’s one of the highest rated adaptations among dozens of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” on IMDB …
Sending Christmas cards used to be a huge part of the holiday season. Families would sit down together, write personal messages, and mail cards to loved ones. I even used to sell engraved Christmas cards door-to-door in the Summer when I was in grade school. Still, the tradition is waning. According to the US Post Office, the number of Christmas cards sent through the mail … Continue reading Christmas Cards: A Tradition Gone By?
Who would have thought the Republicans would decisively clean-sweep the White House, Senate, and House in this week’s election? Certainly not the media pundits or the political pollsters. Once again, the “experts” were wrong. Most voters clearly didn’t believe that Biden was “sharp as ever”, Harris was a “new path forward”, or Trump was “Hitler” – no matter how many times they told us that. … Continue reading Betting Election Night
It’s been a few years since the peak of the pandemic, so I thought I would look at the impact that the big event had on the average age of retirement. I heard a politician say that some of the shortages in the current jobs market are the result of Boomers leaving their jobs to retire early. I’ve written this blog long enough to be … Continue reading No Pandemic-Induced Retirement Spree
