The Social Security Pathway

 Making the decision to turn on your social security is a big thing.  It's all about crunching numbers and figuring out where you are now and what you'll need in the future. 

The future? How can I know what to expect 5 or 10 or 20 years from now? Do I look like a psychic? 

So, if my full retirement age is 65 + 6 months I get a certain amount. You can go to the Social Security website and enter your info and they'll let you know what you could get now and that higher amount you could get if you wait.  

One of the issues I kind of struggle with is that yes, you'll get more money later each month if you wait.  If you take it now your check is less but the total amount will be a bigger total amount? 

I've been trying to crunch the numbers and I'm not really a math wiz. 

If your starting number now is like 1000 a month. Age 64.

Waiting until age 65 and your number is 1200 a month. 

12 months of $1000 = $12,000? 

So at what point when collecting the full amount of $1200 how many months would it take to make up the $12,000? 

Since the difference is $200. Would it be 60 months? Is that 5 years to break even? 

I guess it comes down to if that $200 will really be a deal breaker in the future? Now we come back to - are we psychic?  Where will we be in 5 years? In one year? 

Have you made this decision? Which way did you decide to go? 

Foster Dogs: I Adopted Out a Dog Today

Foster Dogs: I Adopted Out a Dog Today:  I foster dogs.  No, it's not easy.  I adopted out a dog today. His name was Carl and he was the sweetest little boy. Carl was joy in ev...

Meeting Florida's Vampire Ants

 It was a quiet Halloween afternoon. I was relaxing at my daughter's house, making up some Halloween treats. Mummy wrapped brownies, witches fingers and all sorts of yummies. It was a nice afternoon. 

Then we decided to go out and see her 3 new pets; Chickens. Buckbeak, Hennifer and Marmalade. All three were in their coop and we brought them out some tomatoes and bananas to munch.  We were all standing around talking about the chickens when I felt a tiny pinch on  my ankle. I brushed it off and kept chatting. Another pinch and it hit me; FIRE ANTS!  I do the Fire Ant dance where you start jumping and swatting. ]

This is Florida and those horrible little creatures will eat your flesh and leave little itchy blisters in their wake. Yuk! 

I've been bit by these little creeper before and immediately brushed them off and got back onto the patio. We went into the house and I didn't think anything else of it. I've been bitten by these little vampire ants before and although uncomfortable a few bites wasn't so bad. 

I'm on the couch talking to my daughters and everything starts burning and itching. It was like something lit every inch of my skin on fire from my head to my toes. I jump off the couch and run to the bathroom to check my clothing. Were those nasty vampire ants still on me? 

In the bathroom I rip off my shirt and check it for ants. Nothing. Now my arm pits are super itchy! Behind my knees, elbows. ears, my entire scalp! I look in the mirror and I'm all bright red; front, back, face. I pull my clothes back on and go out and show my daughter my back. She says, "OMG, you've got hives!" She pulls Allegra out of the cabinet and says take one. At this point my skin is on fire and itching like crazy. I swallowed one. She gets me another bottle of water and tells me to drink as much as I can. Then we go back to the bathroom and she puts that over the counter cortisone cream all over my back. I apply it to my legs and every other place. 

At this point my heart is pounding. She asks if my throat is closing up, is my tongue swelling. I pause in my scratching and say no. I rub my itching ears and so hard I think my ears are starting to swell.  I've never had this kind of reaction to anything before in all my 64 years.  

Now I can't sit still so I go to fold a load of laundry. (Yes, I was a stay at home mom for a few years and always found basic household chores could take my mind off things.) My husband comes in when I'm trying to get the clothes out of the dryer and at this point I'm going crazy with the itch and burning.  I lift my shirt to show him my bright red torso. He says Oh my God and maybe you should go to the hospital. 

Noooo, I don't want to go! I hate hospitals. 

Back out the the living room and I get ice packs and start placing them on my pulse points and the itchiest places. After a while the Allegra is starting to kick in and the pain is easing. 

Whew! I relax a little. More ice, deep breath. my heartbeat goes back to normal and I think it's going to be okay.  

Next morning my ankle is swollen and red but the hives are gone. I use cortisone cream and take Benadryl. I can't get a shoe on. Next day still swollen and painful, more Benadryl. I switch to Neosporin incase it's getting infected. Day 4 I'm at the doctor because, although the swelling is down a bit the bite from that nasty mini-vampires is red with little red lines curling off of it and running outward. 

Good news, it's not infected. That redness and streaky lines are all part of the allergic reaction. 

I have to wonder if I didn't immediately take the Allegra would this have been worse. Would I have ended up in the hospital? Scary thought when you live in the land of the Vampire Ants. Now there's some Benadryl in my purse to prevent another reaction that might be worse. If those Vampire Ants come near me again I'll be ready. I'll also be running the opposite direction! 

Gray Hair there???

 Okay, most people in their 60's have gray hair. For most, it starts a lot earlier. Hey! It's normal and beautiful. 

I remember my mom's snow white hair, so soft and beautiful.  It's the kind of gray I'd like someday. 

Right now, believe it or not, I don't have a lot of gray. I'm a natural blond so even those glinting grays that do appear, look like highlights. Why not so much gray? I have no idea. It's not a family thing, I don't think, but I do take a lot of vitamins. I have Pernicious Anemia, a B12 deficiency, so I take B12 in shots. Is this why I'm not so gray? 

I had a friend who needed a kidney transplant. After the transplant his gray hair slowly disappeared. Was his body suddenly processing nutrients better? 

Anyway, gray hair can pop up anywhere on our bodies. Down below? Who cares! But the eyebrows? Really? And not the whole eyebrow, just a few random bright white hairs. 

At first I'd pluck those one or two gray eyebrows and be happy. Lately more and more seem to be appearing so now.... what to do?  Plucking a random hair.... so what, no one notices.  Plucking four or 5 from the same brow? 

EEEEEeeeeeeeeekkkk! 

What to do, what to do.... I'm not really a make up kind of person so whatever there is to use on eyebrows is not in my frame of reference. Eyebrow pencils? Will they really color those bright white hairs blond again? Or will I look like a clown with sketched on brows?

Time to call in reinforcements. Time for a YouTube video! 

So how's your brows? How to do control them? Go freestyle? Tame them? Paint them? 

Making the Most of 60+

 Tomorrow I'm 64. WoooHooo! 

Actually, I feel 30. Except for the stiff back from sleeping on the couch for two days because my new foster dog has anxiety issues.  He's adorable, but is still getting used to us. 

I always look at each decade as an adventure. Something to meet with joy & awe.  This decade had me opening my own business and facing the challenges of running it during Covid. 

So for this new year of my 60 decade, what challenges shall we find? Adventures shall we plan? Or goals shall we set?  Okay, let's give it a go. What would be good things to do/see/experience for 64? 

•  Build my business 
• Publish another Book on Amazon (It's written but now comes the edit)
• Post some short stories on The Midnight Brain
• Rescue more dogs 
• Buy a home
• Get organized
• Lose 10... okay, 15 pounds
• Make friends
• Plant a garden
• Paint a mural 

So what's your plans for this year of your life? 

Is 60 the New 40?

 I remember my mom in her 60's. She had trouble walking, losing weight and was out on disability. I think if she had access to the internet like we have now she would have been healthier. 

Today if we have a pain in our hip we can wade thought tons of information and read about what helped others and maybe take this info to our doctors or try some exercises or stretches to ease the pain. My mom had no help other than one doctor who evidently couldn't help her. 

I remember reading my mother's women's magazine and their exercise suggestion? It was pictures of a woman carrying a small pile of folded towels up the stairs. No hard cardio, no suggestion on weight lifting or yoga. If that was mom's only input of how to maintain weight, it was no help at all. 

So today we have so much information at our finger tips we can be a healthier 60.  Not that I'm saying listen to all the info out there, but read, double check, know your source, etc. 

I've had a few health problems along the way. One day my daughter was watching Medical Mysteries. In it a woman had problems with tiredness, IBS, tingling and a few other things. We're watching and the woman lists her symptoms I say, "I have that." and "I have that, and I have that, too." My daughter turns to me and says, "Whatever that woman has, you should get checked for!"   The woman had a B12 deficiency.  Later I found out that I have it too and that information changed everything! 

No matter what your symptoms, don't stop searching for an answer. Just be careful who you're listening to. Know their credentials, where they got their facts from and check and double check. We have what our parents didn't. We have access to a world of answers. 

So with all this help to keep us going...isn't 60 the new 40? 

Keeping Safe, Staying Safe - Mask it!

 I can't wait to rip this mask off --- finally!

But it doesn't look like that will be anytime soon. 

Now, when frustration is peaking and the urge to just be normal again surges this is the time to stay strong... and masked. 

It would be so easy to just stop the mask stuff and walk around free as a bird but I think this would invite Covid to spread more. Endangering ourselves or others. 

Such a creepy horrible germ. 

I keep going back to the fact that in 1918 they got through the pandemic with half the medical science we have now. They wrapped rags around their faces (hey! at least we have these fancy prints to wear on our face) and had very  little medication to deal with it. And they got through it. 

What happened after the pandemic faded away? Ha! The ROARING TWENTIES!

Wo0t! 

So there is something to look forward to at the end of all this craziness. We'll be able to ROAR once again. Fun times will come back. We just have to stay strong and stay masked for ourselves and for each other. Do it for your family, your neighbors & maybe someone's grandma.