LET's GO TO THE MOVIES!

My first monthly movie group with WLLO Village, Flick Friends, was Tuesday.  Yes, we went to see Downton Abbey.  I loved the movie because I loved the series and watched them all on my computer, without commercials or waiting a week between episodes.  (And then I watched Upstairs/Downstairs ... the 1970's version of the haves and have nots that has over 50 episodes). 

I volunteered as a "friend" to take Shirley.  Shirley is a full time member who schedules her max of three rides a week EVERY single week.  She didn't have a service request available to go to the movie.  I figure if I'm attending a WLLO activity and live close to another member, carpooling is good!   Especially because this theater is in a boutique shopping complex with no enough parking.

Shirley is VERY frail.  She takes two inch steps while holding her tiny triangle shaped walker that weighs just 7 pounds.  But she still can't push it.  Her driveway has a moderate incline so she waits in her garage, then the driver has to hold/steady the walker with an arm behind her for support.  It takes about 5 minutes to get from garage to the car.  Then another 5-10  minutes to get her situated and buckled in, collapse walker and stow in the back, then try to back onto her very curvy somewhat busy street.

Fortunately, I remembered you can buy tickets and reserve seats online!  Shirley wanted to arrive at the theater an HOUR before the show in case there were long lines.  That problem solved.  I decided to use valet parking, so she wouldn't have far to walk (shuffle).  No valet service during the day!  I pulled to the 10 minute curb in front of the theater where it took the entire ten minutes to get her out of the car and up onto the curb.  Another member walked over and agreed to help Shirley into the lobby so I could park the car.  Whew!

Once I got back to them, other members had shown up so they speed raced (compared to Shirley) to their seats (we had coordinated the seating).  Shirley kept asking "how much further" as we painstakingly walked to the fourth theater on the right.  When we arrived, to my chagrin, there were FOUR steps up to our row (the layout showed only one row so maybe they changed theaters).  I got her situated in the handicap row and the other member sat with her while I went to the ticket office to change our seats to the handicap row.  Oh, sorry, the ticket taker hurriedly said ... they are all reserved today.

When I explained about my buddy, said ticket taker informed me about an elevator (walk back down to the lobby, go up, walk down four theaters on the right) and we could sit in the nosebleed section.  We decided to be bold and stay right there until a ticket holder showed up.  SUCCESS!  Not ONE person sat in that whole row.

Shirley and I critiqued each movie trailer (do they now show 30 minutes of these??) and would give thumbs up or down if we would like to see them.  She enjoyed the movie immensely with no bathroom breaks (I was kinda dreading that).  The others wanted to continue the day by enjoying a coffee together but I could NOT do Shirley in and out and over .... not one more time than was absolutely necessary.

All in all it was almost a 5 hour day to go see the movie.  

So ... back to the drawing board about choosing movie theaters.  I'm always concerned she will tip over so I don't want to leave her alone for 10-15 minutes while I park the car.  Or maybe I could ask for a volunteer to meet us and they could just sit and talk while I park.

Suggestions?  I'll take anything into consideration!

IT'S JUST A SIMPLE CALENDAR ... right???

So WHY did it take up my whole weekend?

The WLLO website (wllovillage.org) has a public calendar and the volunteer who was updating it previously has a million deadlines at the same time of the month.  So I said I could be taught to do it.  Little did I know!

Thankfully, we now have an amazing spreadsheet for volunteers to put things that they would like to see on the calendar.  Any of us can access this on our shared G-Suite drive (in the cloud).  I can add something at the same time as someone else and both items are on the spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet asks for

     Name of Activity
     Description
     Date
     Start Time
     Stop time
     Repeats? (several of our events are set on a specific day of the month ... 4th Tuesday is my Flick Friends move of the month, for example.)

     Location with address
     Who is welcome

Then 

Since I'm new(er) to this organization, I need a bit of hand holding (actually, just fill in ALL the questions!)  I have no idea what an Action Team Meeting is and who is invited?

It is super easy to sort the WHOLE thing by date.  You see all those "marketing channels" listed above in green?  EACH one of those SEVEN destinations requires a different format!

The newspaper (Pamplin) only wants to hear about the OPEN TO PUBLIC items, of course.  Our website wants all of them.  Email goes out to all Members with all activities except business meetings.  Facebook gets all activities and I have to enter Facebook and write up each event separately.  I'm too lazy to learn Next Door so when someone asks ... I'll just bob my blond (for a while longer) head ... I don't know nothin' about no Next Door app.

Website guy wants his version in Apple Pages.  Villages NW wants Microsoft Word AND sorted by Organizational Meetings, Outreach events, Open to All and Especially for Members.  Newsletter gets a bit more description about events.  Local newspapers want in Microsoft Word with Activity Title, Date and Time in bold, location in italic.

My eyes are blurry and my head is exploding.  It all got done.  

DIARY OF AN OLD(er) WOMAN

Ahhhhh!  I am officially old.  And I embrace it. (Because there is no choice)

I'm going to go natural with my hair (I can always change my mind, right?).  Looking through all the old photos to do the previous blog, I think I can do the makeup thing each morning.  I timed myself today and it was five minutes.  But then I have to count taking it all OFF every evening.  That takes a little longer and I'm sooooo lazy at night.

Yesterday I got the good news that my cataract is (actually both eyes) officially bad enough to be removed (and covered by insurance). What a lot of decisions ... do I want to see long distance?  Close up?  One of each (and hope my brain can accommodate it)?  Or trifocal lenses?  I'm going with long distance, as my latest pair of specs are that instead of trifocals.  So I will use readers for close up.  One in the purse, a pair next to my bed, maybe one around my neck?  Then I will officially be looked at as old!  (Unless I can find leopard print)

 

 True Granny style 

 I could make these work  
              

          or these???


The bad news?  My insurance only covers the facility that is 45 minutes (with normal traffic) and 4 towns away.  I was thinking of asking for my Village for a pick up ride but when I was sent the rule book this morning, they usually only agree to 15 miles one way (and this is 20).  Maybe I could ask a friend but the pick up is right at the start of rush hour traffic.  Momma and the boys may have to make the drive.  The scheduler said she wasn't sure they would let me take an Uber (although how in the heck would they know??)

On Monday I scheduled a colonoscopy.  What a pain in the ....!!!   Again, the only place my insurance will cover is a 30 minute drive from home.  So I scheduled it for right after Kate takes the boys to school.  Then she may have to swing by and pick up the boys and have all of them drive out to retrieve me.

To top this all off ... yesterday I used my grabber.

BLOND or GREY/WHITE?

Here I am again.  Needing (wanting?) a change in my hair.

It is finally rid of every centimeter of red and long enough for a great ponytail.  The last color and cut was in June so I'm looking scraggly if nothing else.  But mainly I have about 2 inches of WHITE (grey) roots.  Yes, if I had made an appointment earlier I probably wouldn't be thinking about how much I would save by NOT having my hair colored every 6-8 weeks.  Not only are the chemicals bad for me, it hits my pocketbook pretty hard.

I will go shorter for sure.  I only put my hair in a ponytail when I'm washing or lotioning my face.  But at least I know my hair is still growing ... that's a positive for a Baby Boomer, yes?

Going grey means I would have to put on make up every single time I go out of the house.

This was about age 23 ... look at those eyebrows!  Totally white.  When I was little, ladies in the restroom would ask me if my Mom bleached my hair.  I thought who on earth puts Chlorox on their hair????

Mostly grey.  But too short.

Top view of totally grey ... is it too much pink scalp showing?

Maybe just an inch longer than this.

This was TOO HIGH MAINTENANCE ... white came through in 4 weeks!

This is most recent with the HAT that always gets compliments.

Or should I go wild?

I'm posting this early as my appointment is on Thursday.  Be brutally honest!

MIND BLOWN!

Tuesday was the first weekly newsletter from Montessori school.  It's about 15 pages long!  It is so professional and very interactive.  If they are talking about the upcoming Fall Festival, you can simply click to the full article about it AND click to simply add it to your calendar!  Being the tech geek that I am, I am beyond impressed!!!!

Montessori is definitely a family affair!  Tonight we are going to "back to school" night to meet the teachers and other parents in each boy's room.  Deacon (5.5) is in the Butterfly Room (Kindergarten) with guide Carolann, who has been teaching there for 17 years.   Braeden is in the Cammasia Room with a male guide Robert who has been there for 20 years.  This room is a blended age group, with 9 new students this year.

There seems to be a family oriented event every week.  Several times a year it is grownups only with babysitting provided.   So many volunteer opportunities and I'm going to find out if I can volunteer to help with the family requirement.

The commute seems to be working pretty well.  The school has a one way street on each side, so in the morning you go on one side, with one lane for kids who just hop out and the other lane is for those who move a little slower.  For pick up it is on the other side of the school with the same fast/slow lanes.  Kidults are doing the slow lane for now so no one has to rush.

The school is very GREEN so lunches are packed in reusable tupperware containers or bento box style plastic containers.  Parents are having to be creative with the packing.  Deacon is our very picky eater.  Braeden will eat most things but wants to "fit in" and not eat a hard boiled egg if he's never seen anyone else have one.  And so on.  

How did MY Mom do this for 4 or 5 or 6 of us?  And she knew I didn't like ham or mayo but loved turkey or egg salad. I'd rather have chips than dessert.  Mostly packed in wax paper.  Those were the days.

THREE THINGS

What is that saying about bad news comes in threes?

Last week my best friend's husband was terminated from his job of 27 years.  Age 63, with just two more years til retirement.  No warning, no reason, no saying goodbye to coworkers.  No more access to his office (to clear out things) unless after work hours.  Ageism for sure.

The same thing happened to Mr. Ralph when he was 49.  It was devastating.  He was fortunate to get a one year's salary as severance.  He took it as an opportunity to change himself.  Stopped smoking.  Lost weight.  And began looking at employment outside the box.

The next day I learned my Uncle had passed away in Ohio.  Retired Captain of Columbus Fire Dept. Preceded in death by daughter. Survived by wife of 70 years, (my Mom's sister) his 7 children Cindy, Chris, Cathy, Mark, Lisa, Tracy, Dan. 16 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.  My obituary will be pathetic ... one daughter and two grandsons.  We always had Christmas celebration at their house. Warm and cozy and delicious.  The wonderful thing about this family is how often they still all get together!

Last and certainly not least, my dentist visit.  Remember that tooth pain I was having while the office was closed for a week of vacation?  A crown (previous dentist) has a little ledge just below the gumline that traps stuff where it can sit and turn nasty.  New crown coming up soon.  Then three others that have reached their time limit as well.  

I'm ready for a day like You Gotta Wear a Hat

BOASTING POSTING

I've been TOOOOOO busy to put my thoughts to keyboard.

Last day of summer vacation at local kidland!

YOU GOTTA WEAR A HAT!

Did you ever have one of those days when everything was going great?  I recently had one that was so amazing.  It lasted all day!

I recently switched to cold brew coffee and that morning, there was only a tablespoon left.  UGH!  So I drove my lazy self (it's only about 4 blocks away) over to Starbucks.  The man who held open the door for me surprised me with a compliment "gosh you look cheerful this morning".  Well, huh!  I think it was my hat!

When I went to order my $3.00 drink (don't worry, I share it with Kate so I don't feel as guilty), turns out it was a free drink drink as my card had accumulated enough points!  Score!

I went about my few errands and continued to get compliments... honestly, I really do think it is the hat!  Many of you know I am Madam Monochrome.  I was wearing my turquoise Fresh Produce tropical sweats (capris and v neck t-shirt) with matching flip flops.  One young lady said "you look so good in that color".  

Last and best of all, as I was walking around the condo complex, a neighbor asked if I had been losing weight.  No.  Not at all!!! But I just said "thank you for noticing"!!!