Joan’s Boomer Blog

Observations on Growing Older

~Your kids are becoming you…and you don’t like them
…but your grandchildren are perfect!

~Going out is good.
Coming home is better!

~When people say you look “Great”…
they add “for your age!”

~When you needed the discount you paid full price.
Now you get discounts on everything …
movies, hotels, flights, but you’re too tired to use them.

~You forget names … but it’s OK
because other people forgot
they even knew you!

~The 5 pounds you wanted to lose
is now 15 and you have a better chance
of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.

~You realize you’re never going
to be really good at anything …. especially golf.

~Your spouse is counting on you
to remember things you don’t remember.

~The things you used to care to do,
you no longer care to do,
but you really do care that you
don’t care to do them anymore.

~Your spouse sleeps better on a lounge chair
with the TV blaring than he does in bed.
It’s called his “pre-sleep.”

~Remember when your mother said
“Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident”?
Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!

~You used to say,
“I hope my kids GET married …
Now, “I hope they STAY married!”

~You miss the days when everything worked
with just an “ON” and “OFF” switch.

~When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem …
were unheard of, and a mouse was something
that made you climb on a table.

~You used to use more 4 letter words …”what?”…”when?”

~Now that you can afford
expensive jewelry, it’s not safe to wear it anywhere.

~You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you’ve read it.

~Notice everything they sell in stores is “sleeveless?”

~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.

~Everybody whispers.

~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet …
2 of which you will never wear.

~But old is good in some things:
old songs
old movies
And best of all OLD FRIENDS!

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Boomer Humor - Drag Racing

An elderly man on a Moped, looking about 100 years old, pulls up next to a doctor at a street light.

The old man looks over at the doctor’s sleek shiny car and asks,
‘What kind of car ya got there, sonny?’

The doctor replies, ‘ A Ferrari GTO. It cost half a million dollars!’

‘That’s a lot of money,’ says the old man. ‘Why does it cost so much?’

‘Because this car can do up to 320 miles an hour!’ states the doctor proudly.

The Moped driver asks, ‘Mind if I take a look inside?’

‘No problem,’ replies the doctor.

So the old man pokes his head in the window and looks around.

Then, sitting back on his Moped, the old man says, ‘ That’s a pretty nice car, all right… but I’ll stick with my Moped!’

Just then the light changes, so the doctor decides to show the old man just what his car can do. He floors it, and within 30 seconds the speedometer reads 160 mph.

Suddenly, he notices a dot in his rear view mirror. It seems to be getting closer!

He slows down to see what it could be and suddenly WHOOOOSSSHHH !

Something whips by him going much faster !

‘What on earth could be going faster than my Ferrari?’ the doctor asks himself.

He presses harder on the accelerator and takes the Ferrari up to 250 mph.

Then, up ahead of him, he sees that it’s the old man on the Moped!

Amazed that the Moped could pass his Ferrari, he gives it more gas and passes the Moped at 275 mph and he’s feeling pretty good until he looks in his mirror and sees the old man gaining on him AGAIN!

Astounded by the speed of this old guy, he floors the gas pedal and takes the Ferrari all the way up to 320 mph.

Not ten seconds later, he sees the Moped bearing down on him again! The Ferrari is flat out, and there’s nothing he can do!

Suddenly, the Moped plows into the back of his Ferrari, demolishing the rear end.

The doctor stops and jumps out and unbelievably the old man is still alive.

He runs up to the banged-up old guy and says, ‘I’m a doctor…. Is there anything I can do for you?’

The old man whispers, ‘Yes….please unhook my suspenders from your side view mirror.’

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Take Me Back to the Fabulous Fifties

Fabulous Fifties

I grew up in the 1950’s and vividly remember the “fabulous fifties” - drive-in movies, blackjack gum and riding my bike downtown to get a cherry coke for a nickle. A friend sent me this video montage, Take Me Back to the Fifties, and it really did take me back to my childhood.

When we used to go to the dime store, where things really cost a dime, and agonize over which penny candy to get with our allowance, which was, I think a dime. Back when Ricky Nelson was my first crush and I couldn’t wait for Ozzie and Harriet to come on each week.

Visit Old Forty-Fives.com and find montages of growing up in the 1960’s and 70’s, plus Growing up in the Fifties, What we Drove in the 50’s and 60’s, Old Westerns, Do you Remember These, When Life Was Black and White and others that are well worth a trip down memory lane.

Life was simpler in the fabulous fifties - at least for kids. We lived on a farm in Oregon and we could disappear in the morning, going down to the creek near our house, up on the mountain behind our house or take a bike ride downtown. We showed up for lunch, then took off again and my mom never once thought someone would kidnap us. Party lines and one telephone meant we couldn’t talk long to our friends - we’d ride our bikes to visit them instead.

Nobody had much money, our mom made our clothes and canned our food and everybody we knew lived pretty much like us. Nobody’s mom worked and none of my friends parents were divorced. Nobody seemed to worry what kind of education we got and all our free time was “unscheduled.” I know my parents worried a lot about “making ends meet” but living on a farm, we always had good healthy food to eat and healthy air to breathe.

I’d be the first to admit I love my computer with the Internet, connecting with old friends via Facebook, having my cellphone (now with text messaging because all our kids use it!), being able to DVR my favorite TV shows. Still, when I look at my young grandchildren, I feel sorry that they will never know the carefree freedom we had, learning to use their imaginations because that’s the only toys have, being on the run outdoors all day without anyone worrying about them.

I watch the grandchildren glued to videos, unable to go out their front door without supervision, going from activity to activity with no time to just lay out in the grass and watch the cloud shapes take form. I guess that’s why, when either of my 3 year old granddaughters comes to spend time with me, we always sit in the big swing out back and look at the trees and the birds and talk about things.

Just as my own parents were my link to the past which included World War II, the depression and life in the 30’s and 40’s, I guess I’ll be that link for my grandchildren to a simpler time to grow up-life in the Fifties.

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Joan’s Boomer Blog - Your Know You’re Getting Old When……

There are some moments in life when the fact that you’re getting older kind of slaps you in the face (besides

Our daughter's first house

the times you look at that face in the mirror and suddenly notice a new sag or wrinkle!) For my husband and I, one of those senior moments came this past weekend when our youngest daughter purchased her first home and we helped her move in. When someone you thought of as your baby suddenly morphs into a homeowner, pride is mixed with the feeling of time passing quickly.

The second part of the getting older came from the physical helping with her move! After a weekend of cleaning, moving furniture and cleaning up a yard that hadn’t been cleaned up in over a year, we’re left feeling stiff, old and like we want to spend the day in bed with a bottle of Bio-Freeze.

Still and all, besides feeling we’ll like we’ll never move again without pain in forgotten muscles and joints, there is such a feeling of gratification to see our youngest in this new light. Our youngest daughter has always had her life together, unlike her parents who were children of the 60’s where peace and love solved all problems and we never thought of investing our money for retirement, but the the role of “homeowner” is reserved for true adults. We’re just not yet used to seeing her that way.

Our daughter, Laura, was Valedictorian of her high school class, went to college to study architecture and played softball at a Division one school for 4 years. Now that she’s employed with an architecture firm, she’s decided she wants to also buy houses to rent out and her first purchase was a home of her own.

Prices are great right now in Texas for buying homes and the homebuyer’s tax credit is also a bonus.

Laura is also six years younger than her next oldest sister, while the first three daughters are closer in age. All three of them have married and have small children, two of them are consumed right now with newborn daughters.

Laura has always trailed her sisters in everything. When they were in high school having boyfriends and going to dances, she was in elementary and middle school - a world away. When they were getting married and having kids, she was in college, consumed with books and softball. While her sisters talked about child rearing problems and getting along with husbands, Laura lived her own life in a different realm.

Now that Laura too is a homeowner, it’s cute to suddenly see the conversations turning to where to get the best prices on furniture, how to do home repairs and which Internet provider is she going to use.

When I told my own mother that Laura was buying a house, she said “All by herself?!” When Laura met her new neighbor, a lady in her 60’s, her first question was “Do you have any kids?” It makes you see how far women have come since my own growing up in the 50’s. Young women aren’t waiting for marriage for their “real life” to begin. They are stepping out, buying homes, investing, having careers.

So-even though this past weekend gave me a real “I’m getting older” moment, it’s worth it to see this great time in my daughter’s life. Buying this house launched her into the adult world of giving up all her weekends to yard work-lol.

Getting older can be tough on baby boomers but watching the youngsters going through all the things we once went through also makes us appreciate this time of our lives, when all the ups and downs and drama of life is mostly behind us and hopefully we can think “I’m kind of glad I’m the age I am now!”

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Have Fun and Earn Prizes with SwagBucks!

Want to have some fun and win some prizes? Swagbucks is almost a phenomenon these days. Sign up is totally free and everything you do helps you to win Swagbucks prizes. I recently installed the Swagbucks tool bar so it comes up each day. I can use the Swagbucks search tool, check the blog for the daily prize code, or shop using the stores on Swagbucks. Just about everything you do can earn you come bucks, which you can then spend on free prizes.

What Kind of Prizes can I win with Swagbucks?

One recent special offer was a $5 Amazon gift card for 450 Swagbucks. This was marked down from 1,000 Swagbucks and thousands of people took advantage of this one. Every day there are some special offers or you can just visit the Swagbucks store to see prizes like:

• Gift Cards for various online stores
• Tee shirts, hats and other fashion gear
• Magazine subscriptions
• Books
• Gift sets
• Video games
• Music

Here’s a great way to save money when dining out. With just 400 Swagbucks you can purchase a gift card for a $25 e-card for Restaurants.com. At Restaurants.com you can then buy $25 gift cards for various restaurants for just $15 - which would be free if you used your Swagbucks card.

There are 43 great gift card choices, including Starbucks, Target, Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Ticket Master, Lowes, Paypal and many many more. You’re sure to find a gift card that you can use yourself or give as a gift.

You can also get Swagbucks widgets for your blog or website. There’s a group on Facebook to keep you up to date as well.

Another way to save with Swagbucks is to sign up for their free newsletter which lists the latest offers for your favorite stores or the latest Swagbucks news.

Sign up for SwagBucks today. Have some fun and win some prizes, all for just searching or shopping at stores you’d ordinarily use anyway.

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