Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona, crazy, envy, family, inlaws, jealously, Mesa, retire, retirement, vacation, weather
I apologize for my brief hiatus, I just returned from a trip to Mesa Arizona to visit with the in-laws. AND I couldn’t have picked a better time of the year to fly south because it’s frickin’ freezing up here in Oregon!
All four of us me, my FD & FS and MFH were all flown down by my very generous father-in-law for four days and nights to spend his birthday with him. We had a great time (thank you for asking) and when we returned home Sunday night I fell into a deep depression….it was cold and I didn’t want to go to work the next day.
So, when I did wake up on Monday morning I was a 38 year old woman who became a 15 year old rebellious teenager with the raging (and often irritating) hormonal see-saw style attitude that literally lasted until I went to bed last night. Fortunately for MFH, I’m over it, somewhat.
Here’s my problem: I WANT TO RETIRE TOO (you have to say that in a very whiney, irritating childlike way). My in-laws are living the life that I want and I want it now!! Not in 20 years, NOW!
The in-laws are snowbirds. They live from April through September up here and are in Arizona during the winter (although the winter for them is 7 months!) They are not what you might call “wealthy”, both of their homes are very modest, in fact their place in Mesa is a park model (which is a small mobile home). They have lived financially “smart” and were both fully retired at 61. They live in a retirement community when they are in Mesa, complete with a huge recreation hall, swimming pool indoors and out, workout facilities, and you wouldn’t believe the activities available to them! Water volleyball, glass & wood working classes, concerts (on site), dinners…..the list goes on. Not to mention the friends that they have made down there…..they are from all over the US and Canada. OH, and I won’t even get started on the daily cocktail hours in the evenings, on the deck, in the warm weather……….
Then I come home to reality. My daughter has her period, my son is a backtalking nightmare, my clients are all in bankruptsy, foreclosure, divorce, or are just generally pissed that their homes haven’t sold and all I can do is wish, hope, and pray that someday, somehow I will live long enough to retire. And then I think “I’m going to have to kill myself to get there!”……I guess that’s why retirement is so sweet.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: brag, celebration, Christmas, decorations, envy, homeowners, lights, neighbors
Please do not misinterpret this post but I have a problem: Why do people insist on turning on their exterior Christmas lights before Thanksgiving? Being prepared is one thing but do they have to actually turn the lights on?
It’s bad enough that every year the stores put up decorations and lights a week earlier, pretty soon we’ll hear jingle bells in July! But when homeowners do it it’s like they’re embracing this bad behavior and it’s irritating.
I love Christmas but it defeats the specialness of it to have it last longer than the month of December. That’s as obnoxious as the people who take an entire month to celebrate their birthday….it’s one day people, celebrate and move on. But we have to take the birth of Jesus and make it last all of December and most of November nowadays. Yes, I know that he’s the Messiah and that there was preparation for his coming and that’s typically why we celebrate all month long, I get that. AND I’m going to spare you the “it’s overly commercialized” because that’s a given. My problem is specific, it’s the lights!
In a time when the economy is in the toilet, is such decadence as Christmas lights even necessary? (Don’t even get me started on how we cut down and kill trees in celebration) AND aren’t we trying to “go green” and not waste the energy associated with the electrical usage that Christmas lights require? Bah, humbug!
I look at it as a bit “in your face” for people to turn on their lights early. Kind of like they’re bragging. They’ve got their lights up and are way more prepared than anyone else and they want everyone to know it! I actually have a neighbor that pays a service to put up their house lights every year. The service was out there two weeks ago, and my response was “You have got to be kidding me!” However, these people are tactful enough to not turn the lights on yet. If they’re reading this, I would like to say on behalf of the neighborhood, Thank You!
What it really boils down to is envy. That’s right, I’m jealous of the fact that a few of my neighbors chose to take advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend and put up their Christmas decorations and lights and we didn’t. Nope, the day we finally get our shit together will be the crappiest coldest, wettest day on record but we will not be outdone, the lights will go up……eventually!
