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| Wish I'd thought of this years ago! |
WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty!
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
WOOF: The Green Thing
Checking out at the store,
the young cashier suggested to a WOOFer
that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't
good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't
have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded,
"That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk
bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the
store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized
and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they
really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the
throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our
clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their
brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is
right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of ontana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to
receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad? The current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then.
"That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk
bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the
store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized
and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they
really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the
throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling
machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our
clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their
brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is
right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of ontana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to
receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad? The current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then.
Friday, May 25, 2012
WOOF: A WOOFer's Diary
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| photo by On The Green |
A Wife's Diary:
Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made
plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends
all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but
he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we
go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing..' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.'
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing..' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.'
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.
A Husband's Diary:
A five putt!
Who the hell five putts?!
(Thanks to Hoosier Hoopla for the laugh!)
Want more laughs?
WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty!
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Monday, May 21, 2012
WOOF: Media Monday - Dr. Beth Erickson
Aging
and Broke
By
Dr. Beth Erickson
Introduction
Many older Americans
are doing something they never would have imagined: turning to family for financial aid. Some are even asking their adult children for
a place to live. The problem has been
building as more Americans 55 or older lose their jobs or run through their
savings faster than they expected, according to an article in a recent Wall Street Journal. In this article, I will discuss this trend and some of the causes of this role reversal.
The Numbers
Thirty-nine percent of
adults with parents age 65 and older report giving them financial aid in the
last year, according to a September Pew Research Center Survey. However, some parents apparently may have
trouble acknowledging it – 10 percent of parents 65 and older reported
receiving financial aid.
Eighteen
percent of unemployed Americans 55 and older said they borrowed from family or
friends other than their adult children, while one in 25 reported moving in
with family or friends to save money, according to a December 2010 survey
conducted by Rutgers University’s Heldrich Center for Workplace
Development. Researchers haven’t measured
the problem until recently because it wasn’t considered widespread.
One woman,
age 60, worries about being a burden on her son. She moved into his home about a year
ago. She lost her job in 2008 when the
nonprofit she worked for lost its funding.
Unable to find a job and facing both diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis,
she used up her retirement savings and sold her home. For his part, her son says he expects her to
remain with him permanently. He said, “I
don’t relish the thought, but I am not going to sit there and watch my family
members live in a van or anything like that.”
The Trend
In 1900, 57 percent of
adults 65 and older lived with their relatives, according to Pew Research. Because of Social Security, Medicare, and
improving health and wealth, the rate declined to 17 percent by 1990. Now, it is up to 20 percent.
Older
adults are often the ones taking in struggling children, not the reverse. But people working to assist the elderly
report seeing more and more cases where it’s the elderly who need assistance.
The
typical American household with a retirement savings account is reaching
retirement today with too little saved to maintain their standard of living,
even with Social Security benefits, according to research conducted for the Wall Street Journal by Boston College’s
Center for Retirement Research and the New York Life Insurance Co.
Medical
bills blasted some people’s savings, as did the financial collapses of
2000-2002 and 2008-2009. Sometimes,
people simply mismanaged their money.
The recent recession made matters worse, leaving many seniors jobless
and forcing others to take pay cuts.
Unemployment is heavier for the young, but older people are more likely
to stay jobless for longer periods and eventually to give up looking.“What we are seeing is older people having to borrow money, take money, move in with their kids, take rooms, and all kinds of things that aren’t normal or typical. It seems to be happening with increasing frequency,” said Mark Guterman, a career coach in San Francisco employed at a community agency that teaches work skills.
”Rightly or wrongly,” says Willard Freeman who is 58 of Portland, OR, “you don’t want to ask your younger sister for help. We borrowed enough to get through one month and we thought it would get better the following month. But it didn’t.” Now he has a job with an insurance agency. He is catching up on bills and gradually repaying relatives. But he can save little.
The
Squeeze Folks
The situation can also
stress adult children. They are taking
care of college-aged kids who don’t have jobs and at the same time, they are
taking care of their older parents. Cathy
Brown, Executive Director of the Council on Aging in St. John’s County, FL,
refers to these adult children as the bologna in the sandwich generation.
According to the Pew Research Center, just over 1 of every 8 Americans aged 40 to 60 is both
raising a child and caring for a parent, in addition to between 7 to 10 million
adults caring for their aging parents from a long distance. U.S.
Census Bureau statistics
indicate that the number of older Americans aged 65 or older will double by the year 2030, to over
70 million.
"This is an issue that's not going to
go away," said Sandra Timmermann, executive director of the MetLife Mature
Market Institute, which conducts aging research.Dr. Beth Erickson Website
Free 30 days - Daily Words of Wisdom
Dr. Beth resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband Paul, two cats and a dog. Marrying Paul made her grandmother of five and great-grandmother of one. Her primary hobbies are reading, painting watercolors, singing, keeping up with the news and playing with the animals.
Dr. Beth's passion is to bring out the best in people and help them transform their lives through key skills and appropriate attitudes in order to discover the best part of their lives.
© Dr. Beth Erickson 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
WOOF: Carol Burnett
WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty
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