Retirement

I'm trying to start blogging again. It's good for the soul and heart. 
Independence Day was a wonderful celebration with family and friends at the Haynie Price house. Linda decorates her home with awesome Americana finds. She and her Sister Nancy and Sisterinlaw Carolyn are queens of the Yard Sale. And they get the wonderful treasures that we all hope to discover but never do! What a wonderful day filled with tons of laughter and love. 
Retirement has been interesting. Knowing I'm not able to work a regular job anymore kind of slaps you in the old face and helps you realize this is it financially. I bemoan daily all the times I worked 2-3 jobs at a time. And now the payoff is, lets just say barely above the National Poverty Index. But it's something. All the things I thought I would do are not happening. Supporting myself for the majority of my life on one income did not leave me with anything extra. If I had it to do over again I would take care of money like a child. But it is what it is, as my friend Nedra Lois says.  
Thank goodness for my great friends and family. Nedra is very generous and she and I are able to shop and eat out for fun. I'm grateful for her and her friendship every day.  She is a Widow so has nobody at home either. 
I'm grateful.  For my Gram who left me her home. For Social Security. For Health Insurance this year after 8 years of stressing each day. May not have it again next year. And I'm not sure Medicare will be there after the next few years! I'm grateful for my 2 dogs, Charlie and HoneyMarie. Even if they are a PIA somedays! Ha
No.  Retirement is absolutely nothing like I envisioned for myself. But I will be grateful for what I have today. 

Retirement

   Putting down a few thoughts about retirement today. I took my Social Security Benefits at age 62 which is only 70% of what you are eligible for.  Which turns out is a LOT when your check barely exceeds National Poverty Standards. And there are really quite stringent limits to what you can earn additionally with a job. Medicare (health insurance) doesn't start until age 66.  I'm sure the devil had something to do with that. So now I'm categorize as a proud retiree, just an 1/8 inch above Poverty $$, with no health insurance or prescription medicine insurance.  Thank God every day for The Patient Assistance Programs provided by the drug manufacturers.  I know, right?  Whoever thought I'd be grateful to those money grubbers?  HA!
It's only been since February...with that first SS check not coming until APRIL 15!   They tell you that when you apply way far ahead of time, but somehow it slips your mind.  Until you realize you will be without a regular check for that long.  And your job has already ended.  And you have no cha-ching.  So the beginning was hard, but it could have been worse. Grateful every day for generous friends and family.
I did all those things you do when you don't work a regular job.  Clean out everything, get caught up on everything, blah,blah,blah.  Great.  Now what? I keep eyeing my jewelry studio, aka the dogs room...  I just simply stopped creating one day and walked out, leaving it pretty much like this.

Nothing was selling.  Tried on Etsy. On a"my" website, which that was really hard to figure out.  Did it on one of those free sights.  Tried sharing on Facebook.  Started my Auntie RooLoo's Cottage page. etcetcetc.  It all sold great at the beginning at that local shop until that shop owner treated me worse than dirt.  She decided to only have juried artists.  Snob. And not even the you know what to let me know!  Just stopped ordering. Creating just POOF, disappeared.
Keep thinking about all the junk jewels that are just waiting for me.  Lots of stuff from friends just sitting there.  Lots of stuff we found out on our pickin trips.  Just sitting.  Waiting.
The best thing about retirement so far is that I can stay all snuggled up in my cocoon on these cool, fall mornings with Freddy laying on his back waiting for belly rubs. Heaven.  One of the last jobs was getting up at 4a.m. and driving about 30 minutes to work. NOT missing that job!
The most challenging has been trying to budget those dollars.  Keeping the WiFi and internet.  Downsizing to the very cheapest TV package.  Not many stations available down here in smalltown USA unless you have cable or satellite. And the cellphone! ACK!  It is ridiculous! Did away with the land line, only have internet line. 
I don't travel, go to expensive restaurants or the theater, no weekend girlfriend trips. No Starbucks...well unless I get 2 gift cards for Christmas like last year.  Got addicted to their Ethiopian coffee till those ran out. No Country Living Fair.  Or Round Top Antiques Fair. Or Brimfield. ACK! 
Keeping a handle on the $3 purchases even is a must. 
But it could always be worse.  The internet keeps me grateful for what I have when witnessing such hopelessness and destitution, war, and such.
Looking forward to giving my Freddy boy and great belly hug.  Maybe even HoneyMarie will jump in bed tomorrow!

Breast Cancer Awareness

The Arch in St Louis lit up for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness hit me in the face 20 years ago when my best friend, Neola, was diagnosed.  She and I always confided in each other every time it was "that time" for the mammogram each year because we had fibrocystic breasts and it was always a very apprehensive time for us both.  There were always new cysts discovered at our annual exams.  So we would support each other while patiently waiting for the results.
This time for her she had found a new lump and insisted the Dr. do more testing.  He tried to reassure her it was just a benign cyst, but she wasn't having it.  She had "the feeling".  And I Thank the Lord every, single day she did. Behind that cyst she had found, there was cancer in another tumor.  And it was in both breasts.  Can you imagine that she might have gone another year? All I can say, is OMG.


BE PROACTIVE.  Please, please, please don't be afraid to challenge your Dr. or get another opinion.  There is not a doubt in my mind that this saved her life.  She is a SURVIVOR because she spoke up, challenged, demanded further testing.
Her journey was isolating and difficult.  She chose to close herself off to us all.  I would call, still, often and talk with her husband.  I wanted her to know I was there for her.  Right after the surgery I stopped by several times while she was still in St Louis recovering to talk, gingerly hug and love her.
One of those days when I stopped by I was on my way to get an invasive ultrasound of the new lump they had seen on the Mamm.  I didn't share this with her because I just didn't want to worry her.  That day she chose to show me her double mastectomy scars.  We cried together and hugged and I told her I was grateful she was smarter than the Dr. and we laughed.  
I went on my way to Missouri Baptist Hospital for my appointment, but this time it was so different.  Because my possibilities had just become more real!  I started sobbing, mostly for her, but because I was scared, too.  When I arrived, needless to say I was a total mess.  I'm not one to blubber in public, but I was blubbering bad.  This was right before Mo Bap built their fabulous Womens Breast Health Clinic.  But they had started the program.  An RN met me in the waiting room.  I couldn't even coherently tell her what was wrong!  She took me into a private room and I was finally able to share about my visit with Neola.  She was so kind and compassionate.  We got me calmed down and prepped for the procedure.  The Radiologist that day was just absolutely wonderful.  The RN had told him the story, and he was also so kind and compassionate. I was able to get my all clear results very quickly and will always be grateful and devoted to Missouri Baptist and their fabulous staff. 
Neola's breast cancer started my jewelry business.  Not that it was much of a business, but I began donated all the proceeds from sales of BC Awareness bracelets to Susan G. Komen for research.  I still donate when I can.                           

     This was a piece donated for a fundraiser for a friend's male relative

      

This is one of my later BC Awareness bracelets that I believe was also for a fundraiser                  

Please, be aware, be proactive, be a voice, be a supporter.

ONE in EIGHT woman are diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Fall around The Cottage

   I love following all my favorite bloggers.  They are amazing women, mostly, who have lovely homes and decor.  Bless'er House, Rain on a Tin Roof, Prodigal Pieces, My Salvaged Treasures, zevy joy, Housepitality Designs, Funky Junk Interiors, All Things Heart and Home, Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Cottage at the Crossroad.  This is just a partial list.  I've signed up for emails from all of them and find I can enjoy their blogs from my little iPad Mini2 very easily.
  Moving into Gram's house has been a Godsend, and I am so grateful.  But it's not a big, fancy home with new things.  It's filled with much love and collections that have been accumulated for 50 years, and then some of Gram's too!
   Sharing some photos today of the big Fall decor, she says very sarcastically, here at what I call The Cottage.  I've named her "Auntie RooLoo's Cottage" after my Great Aunt Laura Bell Arnold Beal-or Auntie.  And my nickname from a dear friend, rooloo, and cottage because I want it to be cottaggy and homey. Auntie RooLoo's Cottage is also my other Facebook page where I share fabulous finds, art, people, etc.

The window above is one of my favorites with different places in France.

Here's the luggage collection with it's brilliant Fall decor.

Lots of sparkle here with silver and black pumpkins and Eiffels

Several pieces of old Manhattan glass up on what was Granny's Curio. The gold McCoy were my very first vintage purchase at age 12

                     The First Typewriter got Blinged up with the Antique Civil War tintypes in their old cases

and here's the lone pumpkin on Gram's old Singer and other things I love from special friends.  That's Auntie in the photo.

  Please go see the fabulous Bloggers I mentioned above and thanks for stopping by The Cottage today.

laundry. Ack.

Living alone, it's so funny to say I'm behind on the laundry. Explaining while blogging will make me feel better about it. I just know it.  
Note to self: do not eat cheese puffs while trying to type.
Osteoarthritis has reared its ugly head the past few weeks. When this happens, it is really painful to go up and down the basement steps.  And yes, the laundry is downstairs. The pain is not just in the knees.  The feet, the ankles, the arms, wrists and HANDS!  ACK! And my poor, sick thumb.
Biting the bullet with the help of Advil gel caps, and going down the stairs backwards has helped.  I know, it sounds crazy and weird.  Using the laundry hamper as a cane/walker is very helpful when going down backwards.  And it is not nearly as painful. I did this several times the past few weeks to launder the essentials.
Needless to say at this point, there was a pile of laundry.  Yes, its only me.  And HoneyMarie.  And Freddy.  They have their sheets on their beds.  And the couch cover. And their towels from wiping them down after every outdoor visit and at night they love their wet cloth wipe down.

So today was deemed laundry day.  Already hobbling around this morning it was obviously going to be a challenge.  And it has been.  You see, when I hobble downstairs to put the clothes in the washer, about 99% of the time it walks itself unplugged and an extra trip is added to the mix.  Sometimes a sit down in the creepy basement to wait for the cycle to finish is a must.  But most of the time, its another trip to scoot the washer back to its place (ouch), try to get the shim in place (ouch) and back up the steps. Ouch.  And yes, I do know how to load the washer after 50 years.  Never was this ever been a problem, with this machine, in St Louis.  Maybe the washer is just getting too old at 10 years, but it still washing the clothes quite well. 
The ugly recliner will be much appreciated this evening while viewing Fear the Walking Dead and drinking a nice cup of hot tea.  
It can always be worse.

And then there is that

Lots of things to accomplish today. Have to use up the fresh veg and rotisserie chicken today. That means lots of chopping and standing. At least 4 loads of laundry today up and down the basement stairs.  That means legs, knees and arms. Cleaning up kitchen.  That means lots of hand movements and standing. Moving the typewriters around until it suits me. That means lifting, more hands, arms and knees. 
And then there is wrangling Freddy in from the backyard several times because he is barking non-stop at the telephone repairman.  That means walking which means knees, feet, legs.
When I woke up this morning I didn't think all the things I wanted to accomplish would be a big deal.
And then the pain started creeping in, little by little. I was annoyed but just grabbed the Advil and continued on what I thought was my merry way.
And then there was that.
Then the pain started.  Everywhere at once. Like a migraine headache all over your body.  Feet, ankles, legs, knees, hips, back, shoulders, arms wrists hands, fingers. That's when you realize it.  Oh NO! Here it comes!  WHY, today? CRAP! And you know the only thing you can do is take more Advil and go to bed.  So you lay there just not able to concentrate on anything.  The dogs know.  Freddy jumps up on the bed and lays as close as he can to you. You just lay there for several hours.  Wishing and praying it will go away again.
You are so grateful it does not happen every single day.  But then you have pain every, single day when you go to bed and before you even open your eyes to get up.  But THANK GOD, the other doesn't happen every single day. And you realize that when the other happens, you always say to yourself....
and then there was that.  Today.

Still on the Bathroom

The bathroom is finally back together after the making it right day because HeadUpHisAss guy screwed it up originally.
Isn't it weird to take photos of the bathroom?  It's such a personal place.
But I did.  And after looking at them, I'm kind of amazed that it is so Shabby Chic looking.  It was 10 years ago when I picked up the Rachel Ashwell cupboard and medicine cabinet. I'm thinking the Shabby Chic thing should have been real obvious at that point! I still really love the bathroom.  I just didn't know it was so Shabby looking the photo's.

 The Paris sign my friends picked up at a Yard Sale (YS).  They are YS Queens and find the best stuff. They are my YS heroines.  I've never known anybody who could find such great treasures from YSing.

 The green Jadeite vases are actually my Mom's that I begged for.  I already had one here at Gram's house because she had accidentally carried if off from Mom's to her house.  She did this sometimes to all of us with things she really liked and felt she needed to have.  I thought it was really funny. I remember as a child my mom's sisterinlaws' calling her in St Louis to tell her about Gram's visit and what was missing from their homes.  We never said a word to Gram, and let her enjoy her treasures.  I think maybe it might be something from back in the day when she was so poor.  Her mother passed away when she was only 2 years old. Her Dad remarried and the new stepmom threw all 6 of the sisters out of the house! Gram, Ethel Leona Arnold Stilts, was raised by her oldest sister, Laura Bell Arnold Beal.  She is the "Auntie" in my Auntie RooLoo's Cottage jewelry, facebook page, etc. Did I mention my Great Gramps was a bootlegger?  He also owned a "Baudy House" or Road House.  His girls would look after my Gram in the pre-wicked stepmother days. The story goes that he would load up the Model T with moonshine and throw Gram in the backseat with a blanky and make his deliveries.  I don't really know if it was a Model T, but I enjoy the folklore behind the story.  Gram would NEVER talk about that.

The little chandelier is from Old Timer's Antique Mall in Dexter MO. Not an antique but that's ok. The beadboard was a must to cover the ugly walls.
So that is the end of the bathroom story.  With some extra about my fabulous Gram that I love and miss so much everyday.  Living in her house is a blessing.