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New Year resolutions-new attitude-bring on 2001!

I plan on ringing in 2001 with a new attitude much like the old Hippie saying -"if it feels good do it, if it don't -don't".  I plan on surrounding myself with sincere people that I feel good about and that make me feel good about me.  I'm going to ignore the urge to do things out of a false sense of duty or guilt.  People with negative attitudes, people who wish to debase me and places that bring out negative bad vibes are "OFF THE LIST".  The goal here is to regain and maintain my health, both mentally and physically.  Some people spend their whole lives held captive to others for fear of rejection or appearing as a 'bad' uncaring  person.  I have learned, like most things, the hard way, that you're dammed if you do and you're dammed if you don't , so don't.  If you don't want to hear how I really feel about something, don't ask; you may be in for a susrprise.  

Since retirement, I have few accomplishments to boost my self esteem and it is easy to fall into a low self esteem state which brings on depression.   This is fertitle territory for people who wish to debase and inflict hurt. After all, I left myself wide open for it.  Not any more.  I feel that I'm back and for all those who want to test it; watch out!

I know who the people are that really love and care about me and those are the ones that I will concentrate on in the future.  For my loved ones and friends, I will  dedicate my time and energy to staying healthy and happy so we can enjoy each other for the remaining years I have on earth.  My husband and children deserve this.  I  DESERVE this!

It felt so good to write this down and it feels more like a goal now instead of a new years resolution.



 HO HO HO AND ALL THAT STUFF.
You have heard of the 'Christmas blues', I'm sure, but we have come seriously close to Christmas saturation. The marketing  of Toys for 'little ones' and grown-up toys,(expensive jewelry etc.), are flooding the mailbox and all forms of  electronic media way before Thanksgiving.  This is a good strategy for the large companies to hawk their wares and hopefully put the pressure on the parents other family members to buy the most popular toys of the season, which usually means costing 'mucho' dollars.   The theory being, more exposure leads to more begging time for the kids and competition among parents and others to obtain the desired toys.  In a society where 'kids rule' and 'bigger is better', this can lead to nervous breakdowns, feeling of guilt if you can't afford the toys or in some cases severe depression. The mere thought of disappointing a child or a grown-up child in some cases, can put an individual in a frenzy to find ways to please.   Christmas for us is not peaceful or enjoyable any longer.  We are reverting back to the 'old fashioned' Christmas which was celebrated  without the monetary factor being the most significant thing about the day or  how many presents are under the tree.  A small gift given with thought, the friends and family who really care about us and don't consider it an obligation to see us, the food we want to eat and lastly to celebrate this beautiful time of the year together with love for each other.


The Cable TV Blues

Our local Cable company announced that we will soon have 70 channels to view!  Wow.  Well, if there anything like the 20 we now have, whoopee do.  Since retired I have had the unique pleasure to get acquainted with daytime TV and for that matter, nighttime as well.  I never watched too much nighttime after 10:00 p.m. on a work day and guess what, nothing has changed because there is nothing on to watch.  Unless you pay extra every time you want to see a movie, (once a week they may change to a new flick), you get to see the same old ones over and over again.  Daytime is much worse. The history channel, PBS & discovery channel are our salvation.  For the most part we are outdoors but there are times when rain, sleet or snow prevents that and seeing  we are not associated with the US Postal Service, we stay indoors.  I get to listen to the constant click click of the remote as Glenn desperately tries to find something to keep his interest.  Can you imagine how many clicks per minute will transpire when there are 70 viewing channels.  I can hardly wait!

BITS & PIECES
G Kinghorn

Our recent trip to Florida was as all other past trips marked with at least one `blooper'.  This trip resulted in coining a new word, Draggage for which our luggage will be forever known as.

Upon arriving in Naples, the last leg of our air travel, it appeared that we would emerge unscathed from mess-up's, lost luggage and forgotten items. We smiled and breathed a sigh of relief as we loaded our luggage into the rent-a-car and proceeded to Fort Myers.  We took a no frill flight so we were looking forward to a nice lunch after getting up at 4:00 a.m. to meet a 7:00 a.m. flight with not much to eat all day.  I don't count the low fat vanilla breakfast bar given to us on the plane. A.k.a. vanilla flavored sawdust.  We quickly unloaded the luggage at the Condo and went to lunch.  That evening my wife was looking for our small carry-on luggage and sent me to the car looking for it.  Not in the car! Must have left it in Naples airport.  Rushed back to the airport, no one could help. We would have to wait until morning but with our luck the luggage contained all our under garments, so-off to the Big K to purchase enough necessaries to hold us over a day or two.  Luck has it that there was a message on the answering machine at the Condo from a person who found our bag in the middle of the road in the Condo complex. It appears that we left the bag in back of the car in the carport because we couldn't carry everything at once and forgot about it.  In our hurry to eat just backed over it and dragged it down the road under the car.  The bag was in pretty good shape in spite of it's ordeal, several scrape marks and one small hole. The camcorder inside survived.
In the fall when we go back we will have to be sure that all the Draggage is packed properly so it can stand the endurance test.  The older we get the more forgetful we get, so it could happen again.



Super Market Pet Peeves

1) Person in back of you in checkout line is bumping the cart into your butt with hopes of getting to the register faster.

2) Person handles every piece of packaged meat that is on sale in hopes of finding 'the one' that is mis-marked or is a fraction of an ounce less than all the others to save pennies, while you wait!

3)  Bagger is so slow that you must stand in the aisle to avoid getting run over by the 'butt bumping' person piling their stuff on the counter.

4)  Having to be forced to endure the Mother/Dad lecture to their misbehaving child , in the middle of the aisle, while you wait to pass.

5)  Oh yes, the coupon Queen.  It's number five on the list except when six out of ten coupons are outdated and the checkout clerk and the customer argue about it or it becomes necessary to remove items from register tape.

6) No price or bar code on item in your cart.  I usually just leave it there instead of holding up the whole line while a kid runs all over the store for a price check.  I guess it has become our responsibility to make sure all items we want to purchase are priced.

7)  Over loaded bags that break!

8)  Squashed bread and bruised fruit.

9)   Shopping cart crashing into your car in parking lot.

10)  Shelves not stocked and seafood counter is not set up two hours after opening time.  This usually calls for another trip back to get the rest of the stuff that you need or having to go to another store and start all over from #1  again!



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