Hey to all my Silver Friends!

It's been a while since I posted, but I am back! I am truly enjoying life in the Silver Lane. As this journey progresses, I want to share tips and insights I am learning along the way and home you will share too!

TRAVEL TIPS;
I am learning some tips on how to save money on travel! I am deeply committed to NEVER pay retail for anything! So I have joined a site that sends me random "deals" on airfare. NextVacay.com is a great site for those of you who have the freedom and means to travel, but like me do not pay retail.
I often get emails from them with amazing deals on airfare. Check it out. I have no financial incentive to share this info, I just want to help.

HEALTH TIPS;
Ways to save on gym memberships are Silver Sneakers and generic offerings from your insurance or Medicare that help cover the cost of gyms. Stay active so you can enjoy your silver years and all the freedom that comes with those years!

HOME OWNERSHIP;
The new version of a reverse mortgage is worth checking out! You are no longer selling your rights to your home upon your passing, family members can still sell your home and pay off the portion of equity that the reverse mortgage owns.

Downsizing is a great option, new loans available to current homeowners that reduce your interest rate with no closing costs, and so many more options that will ease the pressure financially as we age. Check with your local Real Estate Professional for all the newest options, they are truly up to speed.

Keepin' the Silver is Sensational vision alive!

Obama Care Questions

I have discovered there are many questions out there about Obama Care, how it will affect your current health care coverage and how it will affect your coverage if you are on Medicare. I want to help, please post your questions, I will find the answers to all of them and get back to you all with the facts, not someone's interpretation of the issue, but the facts. So please, post your question on the comments forum and give me a couple of days to research the answers.

Know that if you want to know the answer to something, thousands of others will have the same questions and will also benefit from the answers. So lets all learn together!

Funny Things We Are Taught

      I have thought about the things my mother taught me in my youth; and now as an adult I can look back with a new set of eyes and find some profound, some hysterical, and some useful. We have reasons why we believe some of these "important messages". I know in the case of one of my relatives, they were based on Traditions and Superstitions; in the case of a friend, his was based on Expediency; in my case, my mother felt it her duty to Instruct. 

      The useful instruction my mother gave me (just a tidbit of the whole encyclopedia of wisdom she bestowed on me) included the following;

• Never chew gum, it makes you look like a cow chewing it's udder! (this one is particularly true)
• Never put your elbows on the table while eating, you don't need to be propped up to eat!
• Never put your fingers in ANY orifice while in public. (enough said!)
• Knowing and using good manners and proper etiquette will make you comfortable in any situation. (I have used this throughout my life in countless arenas)
• Her FAVORITE EXPRESSION when you did something she didn't find proper; "That is rude, crude, and unrefined!"

      Some of the funny messages that were based on superstition delivered to relatives; 

• If you leave the bathroom door open when you take a bath you will get "Igre" (spelling ??) which translated means "a cold". 
• If you put your car keys on the table it is bad luck, really bad luck.
• If you put your purse on the floor you will lose all your money.
• If you sleep with your mouth open you will let in evil spirits at night. 

      The BEST one EVER was shared with me at church;

• When you hear the music playing on the Ice Cream Truck, it means they are OUT of ice cream!!!! 

      I couldn't stop laughing at this one. This father was sooo clever and I can only imagine how much money it saved him! What are some of the funny, instructional, or superstitious things your parents taught you?

Legacy of Love & Service

      My awesome mother was one of 12 children born to Charles and Clarissa Furse, both from England but met here in Utah. I LOVED my incredible grandparents for so many reasons it would take too much time to enumerate. However, you have to know they must have been near perfect to have raised 11 (one died as a baby) of the most delightful, charming, poised, well-mannered, respected and respectful people I have ever met. Each one of my Aunts and Uncles were special to me and had gifts and talents unique to them individually. Of the 11, no two were anywhere near being alike, that is what made them so perfect! My Grandmother taught her children perfect manners, perfect grammar, and courtesy and love for all. My Grandfather taught his children the value of hard work, the importance of Faith, and the priceless gift of integrity. My mother passed these valuable gifts on to each of us, thank you mom.

      As the years have passed, we have lost all but two; my Uncle Grant and my Aunt Betty. Both are wonderful and I have great memories of each, but today I am focused on my Uncle Grant since he is nearing the end of his journey here. It is at times like this that we ponder our own mortality and the ultimate question arrises in our minds; What will MY legacy be? What have I done in this time here on earth that may be remembered by my family, my friends, my posterity?

      I can tell you about my Uncle Grant, he served his country with distinction in WWII along with 5 of his siblings. He has been faithful to his beliefs and standards his whole life. He married my dear Aunt Barbara who already had 6 children and he loved them dearly throughout their lives. He served his community, his church, his family, his neighbors, and could always be counted on to help my mother when she needed him. He loved everyone and didn't mind showing you how much he loved you. My Uncle Grant will leave a legacy of LOVE & SERVICE, one that all who reflect on their personal memories of him will undoubtedly have personal stories and tender moments that lighten the pain this loss.

      My own mother's funeral was the BEST EVER! While there were hundreds of people there, that is not the reason I make such a statement, it was the best because we all laughed at her stories, we loved her pre-designed and organized event (so like my mother), and everyone who attended left knowing my mother better.

      What will be my legacy? Have I given service that mattered? Have I helped those in need to a point that it made a difference in someone's life? Have I left a legacy of anything that will lead my family to do better and be better? What of your legacy......?

You are what you think?

      It has been said that "You are what you think". Is that true? I wonder if our thoughts are consumed with the frailties of age, are we old? If our thoughts are filled with plans for tomorrow, are we adventurous? If our thoughts are filled with unfulfilled dreams, are we failures? What of that statement?

      What fills your thoughts? Can you control what occupies your mind or is it just happenstance?
Hmmmm, what are your thoughts on this?

Is Your Vote Being Heard in our Current Caucus System?

      This Saturday, the Utah GOP will be meeting to discuss alterations to the Caucus System that is part of the election process for the State of Utah. Thousands of Precincts around the State meet prior to a general election; the residents of that area are invited to attend the Caucus and listen to their neighbors discuss issues and candidates. Several of their neighbors will run for positions in the precinct as delegates to the GOP convention where they will, as a representative of the voice of their neighbors, vote for the candidates of their choice that will move forward to the general election. These candidates must have received a minimum of 60% of the vote of the delegates in order to avoid a Primary Election.

      This sounds great and sounds like the voice of every voter is being heard, but is it? Many of the Candidates running for various offices have tainted the system by cheating the very electorate they are running to represent. Candidates search out a potential delegate that will support them with their vote then they go about "TRAINING" this potential delegate on how to get elected as a delegate and then how to vote. They go so far as to hold training meetings in restaurants where potential candidates are fed expensive meals, given political gifts and even taken to lavish entertainment sites, all to win their vote. Many times when these pre-selected delegates run, they do not reveal to their neighbors that they are pre-disposed to vote for a given candidate, their only goal is to get elected as a delegate.

      There has been an uprising about the current Caucus System, voters want their voices heard and clearly at this point they are not! There is a faction of voters that want to change the system to send all candidates to a Primary, then a victor will arise and be the candidate for the party in any given seat. That too sounds great, but Primary Elections are VERY expensive and only those who have sizable personal money or have amassed a sizable "war chest" of donations can afford to run. That means, the person in your community that would run for office and could make a great representative because they are one of you; they know your concerns; they live next door; they represent the same views as you; would not be able to run due to lack of funds. I don't think we want that either; only the wealthy would be running for office since donors do not generally donate to a campaign before they know for sure that a candidate will actually be THE candidate in the final election. So, no donations of any size prior to the Primary.

      The changes to the Caucus System that will be presented this Saturday by the GOP State Leaders will enable more voices to be heard, but it doesn't address the core of the problem.....Candidates who cheat the system and run their own delegates! THAT is what needs to be addressed, that is what has ruined a well-designed system, that is where the cancer is that needs to be cut out. I believe that those who are going to the Central Committee Meeting this Saturday need to be made aware of your thoughts on this very important issue. I have given you mine, what are yours?

     

Working out to Music

      This morning when I was walking, trotting, and lifting weights to Flash Dance and Proud Mary I was struck by the question; "What is it about music that we settle on the type of music we grew up with, dated and danced to, and fell in love to..........then nothing!" We hate the next generations choice of "music", we long for music that you "can understand the words and hum a tune to". Our dance style from high school NEVER CHANGES, and our hair styles NEVER CHANGE (with the exception of required changes due to hair loss). Did we freeze in time? Who even remembers the songs we heard when we were 40 or 50! But, I remember every lyric from the hits when I was 10, 15, 18, 20, even 30.

      My mind says I am 25, thin, pretty, and lots of dark brown hair. It is always such a shock when I walk by a mirror and am catapulted into the present with the rudest of all accuracy. What happened to the promise of "Mind over matter" or did my mind just say "It doesn't matter"?

      We are never too old to walk some every day; lift a few weights; sweat a little; and of course rock out to the hits of our generation. Hits that rocket us back to our youth, our tender memories of innocence, a simpler time, and bodies that followed the adage; "What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve."