Forever Young..........At Heart, at Least

I had a milestone birthday this week.  The government considers you a senior citizen when you turn 65, but we all know you aren't old at that age. Turning 70, however, somehow makes me feel a little older.

I wanted you all to picture grandmothers from your family albums.  Not digital pictures, but real photos from long ago. Mature women used to look older than they do now, I hear.  I wanted to point out my generation isn't aging as fast.  But when I stopped to think about it, those women didn't have today's modern conveniences, and basically wore their bodies out doing things we can now push buttons to get done.

I'm going to show you pictures from my own albums.  I can't show you my own mother at my age, as she never made it this far.  My grandmothers though, both made it to about 86.

My father's mother would definitely present the picture I had in mind to show how much the aging process of women had changed since then.  The thing is, she had a stroke, and spent years in a wheelchair, in a hospital before nursing homes.  She could get up and walk behind the chair, and go play cards with other resident patients to pass the time.  Later, when moved to a home, the facilities didn't permit her to move around as much. Sitting ages your body. Not trying to move ages you faster.  Lack of interaction ages the mind.

My other grandmother had cancer, and the treatments she underwent were life changing, but she wasn't one to let that stop her.  She lived another 20 years just because, as my Mother put it, she was too stubborn to lie down.

So, as I thought of all this, I came to realize, there may have been reasons why the women looked older back then.  Hard work, illness, and lack of mobility can all manage to wear on us, and age us no matter what year we were born in.

My Mom often wondered when I'd dress my age, and I tried to tell her I was.  The way we dress has changed over the years too.  And while I would never feel comfortable wandering the streets in pajama bottoms, or leggings like some my age would, I probably wear jeans more often now than at any other point in my lifetime.

I discovered in my early 40's that who you were in your youth never really changes much as you age. You may gain weight, grow wrinkles and change hair colour (on purpose or not) but the being inside that body is still the same.  Our spirit stays young and we don't see ourselves as old as we are. We just feel the same as we always did, but we notice those around us are aging.  Have you ever gone somewhere and looked around and thought that the others there were old, only to have to face the truth that they were the same age as you were?  That sort of thing has been happening to me for the past 20 years!

I was out playing ball with my grandsons last week.  They had a couple of tires stacked in my driveway, and we were basically shooting hoops.  I know one of my grandmother's would happily have been out there with us, if it had been in her time. I guess that means we aren't really aging less quickly now, we're just healthier.

I've mentioned that I have acquired a knee problem this past year.  My mind still had me thinking  I was young enough to go on with life as I always had, but Mother Nature has a way of slowing us down, ready or not.  So, while I was happily out playing with the kids last week, a little visit to the knee specialist this week has me limping terribly at the moment, and probably looking rather decrepit to the kids. Like I said, you age when you can't move, and you age fast. Excuse me while I get up and do what I still can.  Like my grandmother, I'm not ready to lie down.  I'm going to try my best to outrun aging, even on a bum knee.

Birthday Treats in My InBox

Birthdays are always fun, especially if you have signed up to get newsletters and special deals from various restaurants you frequent.

I have a birthday coming up next week, and already the special deals are starting to arrive by e-mail.

So far I really like the one from Perkins that offers me a fabulous breakfast of two eggs, any way I like them, a stack of  three pancakes, and my choice of two strips of bacon or two sausage. The best part is that it says to come in anytime, and it doesn't seem to require an additional  purchase of any kind.  I'll be going for this deal for sure.

East Side Mario's sent along a coupon worth $10 off if the bill comes to $30.  Since we usually choose from the $12 pasta dishes, with the all you can eat bread and salad, I'm pretty sure, even with a beverage, that we would be a few cents short to take advantage of that offer. But it might be a good opportunity to try something different without the bill actually adding up to more.


Buds on the Bay, a restaurant in Brockville that is not part of a chain, offers me a free entree, up to $19.99 in value, and will even supply the cake.  I am, however, required to make a reservation and bring three friends with me in order to take advantage of that.

Montana's, on the other hand, offers me a free dessert, as long as I get it within the week before or after my birthday.  It doesn't actually say I need to buy anything else, but I do like their food, and have not been there recently.

Boston Pizza used to treat me to a gourmet pasta each year, but now they just offer free dessert. That's rather disappointing as I never missed a chance to pig out and save $16 in the process.

Swiss Chalet also offers me a free dessert.  I could gain weight just collecting on all the sweets, but I'll likely just choose one or two of the offers over the next couple of weeks.

Kelsey's gets a little more specific and offers me a Brownie Pop.  I think I'll pass.

No birthday would be complete without ice cream, so Dairy Queen has sent a buy one get one free offer for a Blizzard as long as the one you buy is a medium.  My favorites are Chocolate Cherry Love and Salted Carmel Truffle, or perhaps I'll try the new Royal Rocky Road Brownie Blizzard.  I do intend to collect on this freebie.  Dairy Queen actually sends me a few such BoGo deals throughout the year, just for agreeing to receive their e-mails.

That's just today's offers, so there may be more to come.  If you know of any other good birthday deals that I might be missing out on, I'd love to hear about them.

One year I had a very special birthday offer from Lone Star, and really enjoyed it.  I have not seen anything since, however. I just looked at the site, and found that if you sign up to be a "Lone Star VIP" now they will give you $10 in Texas Bucks for your next visit.  This year they seem more interested in celebrating their own 30th birthday, or anniversary, than helping me celebrate mine.  There are deals to be had, but you have to go during the week, and I like to eat out on weekends.

So, if you have never signed up for any of the available deals that can come your way, not just on your birthday, but sometimes throughout the year, I'm wondering what's stopping you.  Some people tell me they don't like all that "junk mail".  My answer to that is to create a junk mail account someplace like Yahoo, Hotmail, G-mail or Mail.com.  Then you can enter contests, ask for newsletters, and sign up for your birthday deals, and other specials, or coupons, without ever having any of that stuff land in your personal e-mail box.  You can just go look for the bargains when you feel like it.

I'll not only be older next time I talk to you, I'll likely weigh more, but hey, birthdays only come around once a year, and at my age, they are definitely meant to be celebrated.

Lesson Learned

A long time ago I learned never to congratulate myself when things were going well. That's just asking for trouble.

You know how it is. You find some money in your coat pocket, and for a moment you are really happy with this little windfall. And then your washing machine catches fire, or the axle on your car suddenly breaks.  It's always something.

I remember the time I was learning to cross country ski, and kept falling down.  Then I got going pretty good, and had the nerve to think, "I've got the hang of this now."  Well, pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, and fall is what I did the very next second after having such a lofty thought.  It always seems to work that way for me, but apparently I'd forgotten.

I don't remember ever telling people how old I am, or am going to be, as often as I have in recent months.  I'll be turning 70 on my next birthday, which is coming up this spring. I guess I was feeling rather proud of how well I thought I was doing for my age.  I enjoyed seeing the surprised faces, whether real or faked.  But pride is the seventh deadly sin, and I've now realized I've been paying for it.

I've told you about the knee suddenly going bad, and the little skin cancer episode.  This past week I had another vertigo attack, and have not felt well since.  I always thought aging was something that came on gradually.  Apparently you can be just fine, and then your life can suddenly be changed by even the smallest health problems. I get the point.  I will have to stop bragging about my age, and accept that I'm growing older after all. Maybe if I stop flaunting what great shape I think I'm in I'll be allowed to enjoy what time I have left without all these health related interruptions.  One can only hope.

Recreating Memories and Creating New Ones

When I was little, I lived in England.  I remember my parents once took me to see a Pantomime of Mother Goose. That has stuck in my mind as a wonderful event.  I was probably just six at the time, but I remember that the leading lady was really a man, the characters wore wonderful costumes, and that at some point the characters came off the stage into the audience.  It was quite the experience, and one that I have been wanting to reproduce for my grandchildren.

Pantomimes have become more popular at this time of year around our area, and I thought I was going to get my chance last year.  I have two grandsons.  Their parents were convinced that the younger one would never sit still for the performance, so we thought we'd take the older one and the little one some other year when he might be more manageable.  We made the mistake of telling the older one what a pantomime was, and he declared that just silly and he didn't want to go.  Luckily, I had not purchased the tickets yet.

These two boys are celebrating their birthdays this week. One is turning 10 and the other is turning six. I decided we were going to take them both to the Pantomime for their birthday this year and I just wouldn't mention where we were going, to either the kids or their parents.  All they knew was that they were spending the day with Nana and Grandpa.  Even their folks seemed happy with that as they had other things to do, just like the rest of us at this time of year.

The day came and we ended up with the boys earlier than originally planned on, so we moved our planned meal with them after the show to lunch time instead. We went to Smiths Falls for the Harvey's Family Meal Deal, where they happily got to choose exactly what they wanted on their burgers.  During lunch I was repeatedly questioned about where we were going. Eventually they managed to pry the fact that we would be staying in Smiths Falls and that where we were going was over near the railway tracks. Of course they immediately thought we were going geocaching and could not imagine what we would be doing when I said we weren't.

We took them to The Station Theatre. The sign instantly had them thinking we were going to a movie, and it took a bit of convincing that other things happened in theatres other than movies. Of course, that's exactly what I wanted them to experience, and what better introduction to live theatre than a pantomime.

Jack and the Beanstalk was presented in a way that only lightly touched on the original story, but the additions of a King and Princess, an Eco Fairy, a cowhand named Simon and the giant's henchman, Slimeball certainly added to the fun. The giant was gigantic, and the cow was adorable. There was a chorus of cockroaches too.....just because.  Jenny Jasiak played the part of Jack, while Mike Adams took on the role of Dame Trot (Jack's mother) with great vigour. For me, it was high school student, Slade Stoodley as Slimeball that really stood out. This young man is extremely talented, and will go far if he pursues an acting career.

My youngest grandson had no trouble sitting through the performance. Though he never did boo the bad guys he laughed a lot and loved the antics of Daisy the cow.  Just as in my memories, the characters did leave the stage, and at one point Dame Trot actually sat on my older grandson's lap.  I'm sure he'll remember that as he ages!

When asked later if they would want to see another play like this, they both gave me a quick Yes!  It might just become a family tradition.  I'm already looking forward to next year, when the Smiths Falls Station Theatre will be presenting Puss in Boots.

I'm grateful to my long time cyber buddy, Tim Bisaillon (in a cockroach selfie pictured here with the king) for helping me get some photos to include with this post. The other photos were taken during a technical rehearsal by theatre volunteer Simon Lunn


 

De-cluttering Week 18 - A Birthday Wake Up Call

For my birthday, I had my first ambulance ride. 

Thursday we started moving my son from one apartment to the other. True, I had the easy job of sitting all day waiting for the COGECO guy to show up to connect the tv, internet, and phone,  but I did move a lot of boxes and things around during that time.  The next day I didn't feel so good.  I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so I know better than to over do it.  And that was, of course, the reason I got elected to do the waiting in the first place.  But hey, that's a long day to sit and do nothing when so much obviously needs to be put away.  I figure I had overdone it, and just took it easy all day on Friday. 

Saturday I woke up at 3:30 AM, very dizzy.  Moving anything just made it worse, so I tried to lay very still, flat out on my back for a while.  Then I rolled over.  Not a good idea.  Sitting on the side of the bed was just silly, but that's when my hubby woke up and asked if I was alright.  I admitted that I was not, and it didn't take him long to decide to call 911.  They asked some questions and then sent the ambulance to fetch me. 

The ambulance guys were really nice.  By the time they had arrived, I had put on some clothes, and had landed on the couch in the livingroom.  I had a bucket beside me as the dizziness had gotten bad enough by then to make me nauseous.  The guys asked some questions, and did some tests and apparently didn't like something they were seeing because they decided to take me to the emergency room at one of the local hospitals.  At my age, one doesn't mess around with dizziness, I gather.

The doctor tried to get me to describe the word dizzy.  Have you ever done that?  I remember, in the past, trying to get a doctor to understand that I was having periods of light headedness, and she couldn't seem to understand that I wasn't full out dizzy.  This hospital doctor, though, said there are several kinds of dizziness and he wanted to know which one I was experiencing. So I tried my best to describe what it made me feel like, even though it wasn't happening at that moment.  It had begun to come in waves.  So he had me do a little something, that made me say, "Here it comes again." 

I was totally amazed when he said, "Yes, I see that."  He said that my eye was jumping.  I couldn't feel that.  Then he had me turn the other way and repeat the experiment.  Immediately I saw the chair across the room roll up the wall, over and over again.  Think of a movie with a broken bit of film and how that last frame just keep repeating itself, over and over, rolling up the screen.  That's about what I was seeing. 

"Oh, that's so weird," I said.

 He responded, "No, it's what I expected." 

I told him it was certainly weird from my point of view. 

He was then able to diagnose an inner ear problem and gave me some pills that definitely seem to help.  I should be fine by the time the week is out.

All this is bad timing, or maybe good timing, depending on how you want to look at it.  It meant that I could not go back to help finish off the move today.... my birthday

The thing is, I'm getting older, and a whole new thought pattern has developed when things like this happen.  Dizziness could be sign of a stroke. It dawned on me that nobody else really knows where I keep such things as wills and insurance policies, or other important papers.  When I mentioned this to my hubby later, he just assumed I had such things in the safety deposit box.  They aren't.  I had been told years ago that it was hard to get into a safety deposit box if someone passes on, until it has been established who the executor is. That information, of course, is in the will. So if the will is locked away where nobody can get it, then that delays things considerably.

I obviously didn't get any of my de-cluttering done this week, at least not at home .....other than to take another box of books to the Merrickville United Church for their big sale later this month.  But I certainly have come up with next week's project.  I have to search out all those important papers from their current locations, and put them all together, where they can easily be found.  Next time I have an emergency, it might be too late to do that.

An InLinkz Link-up

Birthday Deals

Each year, as my birthday approaches, businesses reach out to make special offers as a way of helping me celebrate.

Yves Rocher sent me two different birthday deals.  Actually it does that every year, and while I think I may have two separate accounts, the deals are never the same.  The first one offered me a free product, but they chose it.  They said it was one of my favorite products, but I've only ever used it once before. I'm sure it was a gift then too, as it's not the product of this type that I normally buy from them.  They would also give me a multi-strand jewelry set, which was pretty, and kind of tempting.

The second offer was for a new pair of sunglasses. I don't need those as I already have three pair.  I could have had three trial sized products instead, but I don't know what they would have been and I've probably had a sample of just about everything over the years. Now, if my purchase hit the $25 mark, they would also have included a beautiful tote bag, with some pretty flowers on it.

The thing is, to get any of this free stuff, you need to send an order. There was only one thing I wanted and it wasn't offered in either of these campaigns.

Oh, and while I was trying to figure all this out, Yves Rocher sent me a third offer, but I would have had to make a purchase in an actual store to get that one.  And though I could pick the category of products, it would still be a mystery until I got it. I was not even tempted.  I seldom shop in their stores anyway, as I really think I get better deals through the mail, postage and all.

What I wait for each year, though, is the restaurant birthday deals.  So far I've heard from Buds on the Bay, in Brockville, where, if I make a reservation for four, I can eat free. They will even supply the cake.  Joey gives an age discount.  They will take a percentage equivalent to your age off the entire table's bill, up to a maximum of $25.  They'd likely lose money on me these days, but that deal has only been offered to me at the Cornwall location. I don't expect to go there before the expiry date. Quiznos will generously give me a free cookie with the purchase of a sandwich, while Boston Pizza always thrills me with the offer of free pasta or dessert.  Their pasta dinner that I like is around the $16 mark and I've taken them up on this deal a few times over the years.

This year there is an even better offer from one of my friends. She is baking me a cake and has told me to invite a few of my friends to join us at her place to share it.  That might just be the best birthday offer I've ever had, and I'm really looking forward to it.