This hangs in our front entry hall as a fun reminder of loved ones in my past.

Meet Aunt Helen, Grandma Nill, and Aunt Esther. Classy ladies, each.

Now you know why a big smile covered my face this morning when I saw this on Pinterest. I might have to learn how to knit (again).

This is my scenic view of the garage ceiling ten minutes twice a day from the inversion table my chiropractor insisted I purchase—and use! I was justifiably skeptical, given the many attempts I’ve made to fix what I thought all along was related to my injury of five+ years ago. Turns out it’s arthritis in my back that makes something bulge (that’s an onomonopia if I ever heard one) that presses on my sciatic nerve that makes standing and walking painful. I try not to talk about this or complain about it (very much), but I have to think about it way too much.

But it’s helping! Which makes me dedicated to hanging myself twice a day.

Today, as part of my Medicare wellness exam, I was asked by the doctor to name as many animals as I could in one minute. OK, go. Dog, cat, gerbil, hamster, um, snake, think zoo elephant, giraffe, lion, um, hippo, alligator, um, is the minute up yet? Um.

Did I think to think of farm animals? Horse, cow, pig, chicken, alpaca, sheep, goat? Did I remember we’ve just spent time in Alaska? Moose, elk, bear? Animals in other countries? Kangaroo, koala? Maybe the alphabet…aardvark, baboon, cheetah, dolphin? Nope. I just shut down and waited for the clock to run out.

So today I’m thankful Providence can’t deny me health insurance on account of brain freeze.

Imagine my delight in discovering Target had clearanced just what I wanted.

It’s all about the little things, right?

Now if I could just capture one, just one, of those feisty flies, I’d consider my plan a success.

Don’t worry. I’m well aware it could all change in a moment, like three days ago when I tripped over something in my path and came scarily close to a face plant on the sidewalk. As it is, I’m hobbling from a pulled muscle from it. But since I’m not prone to worry, I’ll do what I can to keep from using my Medicare Advantage Plan any more than necessary and enjoy the benefits.

There it is, right on the top of today’s mail (Photoshopped out my name/address). Should I even count how many years (except for my fiscally unpaid career as a mom) I’ve faithfully added my due portion to the pot? From now until the till runs out, I get to watch our bank balance increase every month by doing nothing more than staying alive. What’s to not like about that? I will flaunt my wrinkles, gray hair, countable chins, and angled knuckles.

Crazy thing is, I carry no grand desires beyond what I’m already doing. I get to keep working at a job that brings me a lot of joy; we live very comfortably already; we jump in the car and drive just about anywhere we want or let an airline fly us anywhere we want. As it is for every single one of us, each day is a gift and not to be taken for granted.

On Pinterest I saw this:

It’s my new motto.

Last night at Bed, Bath, & Beyond we found the perfect trash can to fit between the fridge and the Gorilla shelf. Then there was that lovely label sticker on the front. Mauri knew the joy it would bring be to get to pull it off.

You can tell a quality piece of merchandise when the label pulls right off in one piece with no residue glue and paper left behind that requires WD-40 or some other solvent to clean it up.

Nirvana!

Two days!

It is the strangest feeling to not have a credit card. To accomplish the little bit of shopping we needed to do tonight we had to fill our pockets with currency. How odd to tell the gas station attendant we wanted $20 worth and hand him one of these! He put it in his pocket! To not have to keep the receipt (paper trail) at Panda Express because we paid with cash…very strange. Ah, but at Costco we could use our Costco card to charge our purchases. That was more like it.

Um. And exactly why do we have a cushy bed for her in nearly every room of the house?

It’s been several cameras ago that I could get such a clear close-up shot. But my greater joy might be in discovering I have to pay only $26 for a three-year dog license renewal instead of $55!

I love being 65!