“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
My mom was a smart lady, and she said a lot of smart things; one of which was, “Attitude is all.” That really resonated with me and is a cornerstone of my life.
Instead of looking at things happening and immediately assuming the victim – poor me – attitude, I’m really trying to look at each thing as a problem to be solved one step at a time. It may take a long time, try my patience, try to overwhelm me, but I CAN break most things down into pieces and try to do what I can to resolve them. Some of the things here in Chiang Mai have been trying to drive me nuts since the end of March when we first arrived. Piece by piece I (with Brian’s help) am solving them one jagged, frustrating piece at a time. I have finally moved two things off the LONG, LONG list on which I’m working. I will continue to do what I can on each remaining thing until I get a handle on each.
While I’m working on frustrating stuff, I’m embracing my new life here in Chiang Mai. I’m finding more and more to like, feeling more and more at home. I’ve concentrated on trying to get healthier; losing my remaining lard;, eating less, but healthy food; learning more Thai phrases, having a healthy routine to my days, and finding joy EVERY DAY, in my jigsaw puzzle, my sketches, my paintings, my books, my blog posts, the friends and relatives that mean the world to me, and much, much more.
I’m realizing all I have, and am very, very grateful for all of it. I have a chance to build a new life, new friendships, new hobbies, discover things I didn’t know existed, but most of all, to change what I can, make the best of what I can’t change, and keep my focus sharp.
Time to ourselves is a luxury few can manage for most of our lives. We have SO many demands on our time – chores to do, people to see, a house to run, children to supervise and love, spouses asking for our help and companionship, have to’s, and more. The time just whizzes past our heads and we just try to keep our heads above water, doing the best we can.
I never thought I would ‘retire.’ My lifestyle was such that even when I managed to work from home, I was so busy just doing the basics that my hair was blowing in the wind of time whizzing past again. We had a good life, but we couldn’t afford to have someone come and help with cleaning or yard work, workmen to repair things, etc. I saw myself just continuing swimming as fast as I could until I dropped. I wasn’t unhappy, just kind of resigned to my reality.
When my husband and I both got so ill we couldn’t manage, our son came from Thailand, cared for us, helped us make the decision to sell what we owned and move to Thailand to be with him, then helped us get set up here. When my husband had a stroke, we managed to find a caring nursing home so we can visit him several times each week. I’m living by myself in the condo that we thought we would share.
I have to tell you that retirement is great. I have so many wonderful things I want to do that are only limited by time and my energy. Each day I wake up, actually looking forward to going to the gym. Our son and I go interesting places or take care of errands, share meals. I now have a person who not only comes weekly to keep my place spotless, she also brings me flowers now and then! I get a massage weekly, too, and that is a luxury beyond price.
I have found a man who does a great job of keeping my hair looking civilized, and I go every couple of months to get a mani/pedi. I had never had this luxury, either, and I just love figuring out what color I’ll have each time. 😀
I have the time and quiet to read. I am downloading books onto my Kindle and can take that anywhere we’ll have to wait a long time, or just enjoy sprawling on my couch and enjoying someone else’s world for a while.
I love finding and sharing things with my friends who find my blog interesting.
I’m enjoying trying to learn to draw. The challenge of trying to draw what I see and then the fun of painting the sketches grounds me. I’m challenged and having fun like a kid at the same time.
I’m working on a jigsaw puzzle that is the best kind of frustration. 😜 I have headphones so I can listen to music, or even take an afternoon and watch a movie! I’m gearing up to start taking walks in my neighborhood.
I can choose to do whatever I would like (within reason – I AM in a new country and am learning every day about how things are done here.)
I relish having time to myself – whether it’s an afternoon, or most of a day and evening. I just grin like a nut and choose what I want to do next…
I have been in Thailand about 2-1/2 months now. We have had a whirlwind of activity with my husband’s health, moving to my condo, changing out the furniture, figuring out all the details we needed to do every day in order to get our lives going here.
Now things are finally taming down. There are still a LOT of details to be handled, and we are doing these the best we can, but our day to day lives have begun to settle into a routine now, and I’m embracing that new life.
Our typical day now looks like this –
I get up at 5am to get ready to go to the gym with Brian and walk on the treadmill while he runs. We walk back, shower, and then share breakfast and discuss if there is anything we need to accomplish that day. Three times a week that includes half the day going to visit Harvey at the nursing home, making sure he is okay, comfortable, and as content as possible. Many other days, though, we don’t have anything that we can do from our list.
Brian is trying to do more work, since expenses of taking in both of his parents – particularly the hospital/nursing home surprise – is a bit hard to handle. So, if we don’t have anything scheduled, he goes off to work and we then share dinner.
This means he is free to concentrate on doing well for his clients, and I am free to do whatever I would like to do with my day.
Today I spent quite a bit of time in my art alcove.
I love spending time here. I thought I would grieve at having given up all my carefully collected art stuff, but I’m concentrating on trying to learn how to draw what I see better. I keep these in the big fat sketchbook you see here. I have regular pencils, colored pencils, and watercolors. I am choosing pictures I like from the net, particularly YouTube and Pinterest, and trying to reproduce them the best way I can. I’m having SUCH a good time trying. I don’t feel pressured to produce anything for sale. (Thank goodness!) I can simply enjoy the process of trying to draw and paint something for the sheer joy of it, wiling away the hours with a grin on my face. I’m also making small paintings for my housekeeper each week, thanking her for her work, and for my new ‘grandson’ who loves dinosaurs.
I’m always in the middle of a good book, too. The current one is another Nora Roberts book. I can’t believe I’ve missed any because she is probably my favorite author right now, but I’m delighted to dive into anything she has written.
I am trying to balance my walking on the treadmill in the morning with yoga stretches in the afternoon or evening. I’ve been doing these stretches for a long time, but they are especially useful in times when I develop mysterious old lady problems, like the grabbing pain in my back last week, that need to be carefully stretched out to heal.
I, of course, spend time on the blog. If I’m not actively writing a post, I’m researching things to find to share with you. There are so many talented people in our world, and I’m delighted to be able to share their work with you.
I also take time to stare at my jigsaw puzzle. It’s a really good thing that I’m not feeling any pressure to get it done. I find that I’m much slower than I used to be. This “owls” puzzle is difficult, and I may die of old age before it’s finished. That’s okay, too, because I love taking a few minutes here and there to see if I can make some progress.
Last night Brian downloaded Family Tree Maker software for me. We had it for years in the states. Now I have my data attached to it again, and I can spend lots of time seeing old photos, remembering things about relatives, learning new things about people related to us, but I didn’t actually know. I find it fascinating.
In the middle of the afternoon, if I don’t contact him first, Brian texts me, asking if I’m okay and if I want him to order a coffee for me. Imagine that! Today I got a cold chocolate mocha coffee that was delivered to the condo building table downstairs. Brian texted me the order number, and I went downstairs, retrieved it, came back to my place and slurped it. What a difficut life I have!🤪
We share dinner, talk awhile, and then hit the hay because 5am the next morning comes quickly.
And that’s our new routine. I’m studying some Thai language tapes, trying to learn some very basic phrases. I will be able to learn more quickly, I hope, when we see the last hearing aid people and I get some hearing aids. (Trying to reproduce a sound when you can’t hear it accurately isn’t quite a waste of time, but close to it.)
More plans in the works as we get more details settled.
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ―Anaïs Nin
Kateryna Hilznitsova – Unsplash
Writing is a greedy obsession. We write because we HAVE to write. It’s a compulsion, a need to reach out, to connect, to communicate. We would write whether anyone read our words or not, but it feels empty and we lose our enthusiasm, our motivation.
Of all the things I left behind when we moved to Thailand, the thing I wanted to get back as soon as possible was my blog. I tried to write it using my phone, but it was really difficult for me. I’m still learning how to do things on the MAC (I was using Windows), but it’s such a relief to be able to include a picture or two now. I’m not back to full speed with my more ‘normal’ posts yet, but I’m getting there slowly.
For me, the reaching out, the communicating is the most important reason I write. I feel connected to the people who take the time to read my blog. Some have become long distance friends. I love sharing what is happening, how I feel about it, exciting things I’ve seen, new things I’ve learned, wonderfully talented people I’ve found on the net, and more.
Reading comments is an important part of my day. I want to know what you think. Sometimes I get spam or someone being mean for no good reason and I blow those off. More often, I hear that someone has related to something I’ve said, it made them feel, it reminded them of a similar thing in their lives. Sometimes I get treasured messages of support, or kudos because someone likes the way I have written something, or agrees with what I’ve said.
It’s greedy because ‘I’ wrote it, ‘I’ wanted to reach out, ‘I’ put it out there, and ‘I’m’ getting to read any feedback. Me, me, me. BUT – in that greediness, I HOPE I’m providing a real person’s outlook on things, honest appreciation for other’s work, a bit of entertainment or a smile or two.
The blog is good because you can receive emails each time I write, or you can simply come to the site when you’re in the mood and scroll down.
THANK YOU for reading what I write. THANK YOU for hitting the ‘like’ button when you want to. THANK YOU for writing a comment when you have the time or inclination. All are much appreciated. 🤗
Brian and I shared a breakfast, then I went for a glorious, healing massage by Khun Wey-o. I changed clothes and we went to visit Harvey at the nursing home. It is our 56th wedding anniversary today, so I was hoping we would have a good visit with him. He was upset, making baseless accusations, unhappy with everything, saying ‘they were out to kill him, and that if we left, he would die.’ Not the best way to celebrate a marriage… We did contact the management to ask if there is anything else we can do that might brighten his mood. He has good days and bad days and no one can predict which will be which.
When we came home, I immediately grabbed a hoodie and my book and we headed for the coffee shop next to our condo building to be ‘scarce’ while my wonderful new housekeeper, Khun Nong, cleaned my place. (I’m trying to say this casually, but I’m simply thrilled to have help at all – first time in my life!) AND with the things I’m having trouble doing these days, such as scrubbing floors, dusting the things I would rather ignore because they are up too high, down too low, or I’m just lazy and would like to ignore them). When I come back, everything is shining brightly. Ahhhhhhhhh!
While at the coffee shop, we tried a new thing – orange coffee. I don’t know what all is in it – I just know it tastes fabulous. I made mine last as long as possible, wanting to prolong the pleasure.
And then Brian ordered us Thai Beef & Noodles for dinner. They kindly put the hot stuff in little bags with rubberbands rather than dumping it into the dish. I was very appreciative as I’m a wuss as far as spicy or hot, and if I manage to get some hot stuff down, I pay for it late at night. This was absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed every bite. Too many carbs, but good for us otherwise and my taste buds danced a happy dance. 💃
Since today is the end of May here in Chiang Mai, I’m doing my official accounting of my efforts to lose the lard.
I have a new set of digital scales from the one I had in the states, so I’m not sure of the accuracy, but I think weight is a relative thing, and that ALL signs of downward results should be celebrated loudly, with great enthusiasm. 🤣
I am now down 62 pounds from my heaviest, and have lost 51.75 inches.
We went to a clinic here a couple of weeks ago to get a baseline on me since our move to Thailand. It was showing a fairly alarming blood pressure and lesser concerning reading of high cholesterol, relatively speaking. I started a combination of two blood pressure meds, taking one-half pill for 6 days and then switching to a whole pill daily until I see her again on June 23rd. She advised me to lose the lard (imagine that!) eat low carb (we’re already doing that) and exercising (I’m walking the mile on the treadmill every morning, walking to places close to our building during the day, and doing yoga stretches at night). The scale is showing I’m down almost 4 pounds since the initial appointment, and I’m hoping to have a good amount down by the time I see her again, plus better blood pressure and improved numbers otherwise.
I go to a 2nd main place for hearing aids this morning. We found a good candidate at another place awhile back, but wanted to see what this second place offered before we make a decision.
In each place, I am asking that I go outside wearing the pair I think is the best so I can hear how they perform with lots of background noise. We will study, read a lot of reviews, and then decide what seems best to do.
I still find it amazing that I could hear normally before I was admitted to the hospital for my low blood oxygen, ending up with heart failure and a pacemaker, plus a significant loss of hearing when I was released. No one can find anything physically wrong, and I’m very grateful that hearing aids may help.
Onward and downward, I hope, becoming healthier as the days pass.
The voting was about even, with the black edging out the white.
The only thing everyone agreed on was that the sunglasses I had been wearing “were NOT cool.”
My son told me that he liked the white ones better, so I chose the white. He then insisted I keep both of them so that I could switch back and forth! 🤗
We have been enjoying a really luxurious breakfast of dragon fruit from a local fruit market, scrambled eggs, and a nice salad. We come back up to my room and make mushroom tea. It’s supposed to do all kinds of good things for you. It doesn’t taste like much, but if there’s a chance it might make us healthier, I’m in.
We’ll let our food and tea settle for a bit and then we’ll go to a wonderful coffee shop we like. It’s a great place to enjoy the breeze, have a pretty hot chocolate in my case, work on your computer (maybe Brian) or look at your phone, or watch the various animals that frequent there while having a good conversation (us, not the animals).
I hate to realize that I am sexist. In the U.S. you mostly see males on motorcycles, many times with a female behind him.
I remember a hundred years or so ago, Harvey and I were newly engaged. We took off on his motorcycle down the highway. My hair was in pigtails and I had my engagement present, a shortened girl type rifle slung across my back with a strap. Heads snapped around in the cars that passed us. 🤭
Anyway, my sexism is showing because I am so surprised by the range of people on motor scooters and motorbikes in Asia. This isn’t a pastime- it’s their mode of travel. Yesterday a woman with her kids – one in front of her and two more behind, plus bags of purchases strapped on motor scooter parts or people. Young kids, women close to my age – scores of them- darting in and out between cars, bicycles, taxis, carts and walkers. It’s a whole new world. ☺️🙏.
It’s almost noon here. If I’m calculating correctly, that means it’s midnight on the 4th for people in the United States. I hope that my publishing this doesn’t cause notifications that wake you up.
I took a picture of my brand new computer (!) with my phone but I can’t get it to show up here yet. It’s lovely. It’s lovely, purple, and the brains of the thing are in the monitor. Other than the slim monitor, there is what to ME is a teeny tiny keyboard on which I am bringing “fumble-fingered” to a new art form. Then there is the rectangular “mouse.”
All my computer habits are wrong now and I’m frantically practicing and taking notes on how to add websites I frequent to a special favorites folder, get ONTO the websites and do what I normally do, all the while typing the wrong keys… I will learn how to use this. It’s sleek, stylish and not at all like its owner – but that can be one of its character-building tasks. 🤪
I went to get an audiogram this morning regarding the sudden hearing loss I have since I left the hospital. We will now take the results back to the ear specialist I saw last evening. I really am amazed that people have evening hours and have appointments on the weekends here. I’m going to get used to this in a hurry. 😄
My husband and I have an appointment for pedicures tomorrow (Sunday!) This is especially wonderful since my husband has Type II Diabetes and needs to take care of his feet, which have numb spots. His toenails are especially hard to cut, so having a pedicure by someone who understands his situation will be wonderful. I’m going along for one, too, just to indulge myself. Neither of us has ever had one.
We are trying to do two walks a day now, continuing to try to build our strength. Yesterday we took one while the maids were here to clean the air bnb. It’s included in the price of this place. This is the first time I have ever had anyone clean a place I lived, and I really like it. Our son has a maid come either once a week or once every other week, I can’t remember. He says it costs next to nothing. Amazing.
Yesterday was busy, exhausting, and very good. Amber’s adoptive parents were here, plus my good friend, Carla, buying more stuff. They came twice. They’ll be back again today. It really makes me happy that they are finding things they can use and take joy in.
Carla took Jet (aka Monster Cat) and all her stuff yesterday. That was the first time we had no pets in over 40 years. Even though it seemed really empty, I was so happy and relieved that the animals will be well cared for. This morning I ordered a women’s medical alert bracelet that says, “Pacemaker” that will be delivered on the 25th – HOPEFULLY in time for me to wear it on the trip.
Conde’ Nast Traveler
We are due to get our passports today! Then the real count down begins on getting ready for our trip. Our son will start work on routing our trip and getting tickets. Before, it was still abstract that we’ll be leaving, even though we’re giving away and selling lots of stuff and I’m preparing to shut down my Etsy site. Once the passports arrive and our son lets us know the date we’re leaving, it will all be REAL.
I found a phone app on speaking Thai. I really want to be able to be polite and respectful and try my best on pronunciation. I know our son will help us, but he picks up new languages pretty easily. (He speaks English, Mandarin and Thai). We will need lots of practice and guidance before the new words sink in.
pinkpolkadotcreations.com
HAPPY SPRING!!! I forgot it was the first day of Spring yesterday and so didn’t wish you a happy one. So sorry. Thailand essentially has several different summers each year – including wet summer, dry summer, smoky summer, and so it will be an adjustment to not celebrate spring and fall. I have to admit I won’t miss winter, but will take time to look at beautiful pictures of it each year. :0)
I have my blog on my phone now, though I’m still using my computer here. I found out I can write you a note, but I haven’t figured out how to add any images yet, so I may not be able to do that. I CAN read comments and reply, so I’ll try to send you messages on what is happening until our son has the time to get computers going for us. I hope you will bear with us.
We will have a super busy day today with our friends coming to buy more stuff, deliveries, etc. An amazing time for us, for sure.
I hope that your Friday is a wonderful one, with a great weekend to follow.
It’s been really busy around here. There are SO many details to handle. We are definitely making progress. A suitcase was delivered this morning. We’re going to basically pack my husband’s things in it today to see if the 2nd suitcase we’re ordering should be the same size or maybe a little bit larger. We have the backpacks our son ordered, so we can decide what needs to go in each, like a change of clothes, freshening up supplies, kleenex, tablets and charger cords, etc.
One really worrisome and upsetting thing happened yesterday. I called the vet to make sure all was good about our calling when we were ready to bring our animals and their supplies to the vet clinic, and be sure that people could help us get everything in from the truck. The rug was yanked out from under me.
The receptionist told me they weren’t set up to take our animals. They were happy to help us try to rehome them by putting their pics up on their website and would call us if there was interest, but that was it. I guess I don’t speak English anymore, because I was devastated.
We now have a post in the rehoming – Greenwood section of Facebook, but we haven’t gotten any responses. I’ve texted all of our friends to see if anyone knows anybody who wants a dog or cat and their supplies. We’ll keep adding other options as we think of them. This is a major concern for us. We haven’t told my husband, figuring he doesn’t need the stress, but we won’t be able to keep the secret for long.
Meanwhile, I’ll try to put this out of my mind as we work on getting my husband basically packed for the move.
Today is my birthday. I’m 78. I’m especially happy to celebrate today because I almost didn’t get to celebrate this one. Because of the weird circumstance of being admitted to the ER because of shortness of breath and low blood oxygen, I was in the proper place to have good people there when my heart stopped twice on February 6th, plus the cardiology department who gave me a new lease on life with a temporary, then a permanent pacemaker. So, I’m celebrating today with a super-happy, ear-to-ear grin. If I can find a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing, you can bet I’m snarfing it down with pleasure! :0)
Kudoboard
Things are moving at a rapid pace around here on trying to get ready to move to Thailand to be with our son.
Our “emu” planters went to live with some good friends yesterday. They will need a coat of paint and some new googly eyes; but my friend loves them and they’ll have a wonderful home at her house.
I’m still busily canceling things like subscriptions, automatic renewals, automatic orders, etc., plus making lists of things to cancel when we are in Thailand.
We have a busy week ahead, sewing up lots of details, meeting with people, doctor appts, and more, but also have visits with friends scheduled and unscheduled as yet to enjoy.
Our son ordered backpacks for my husband and me to use as carry-ons until we get to Thailand. He will also order a suitcase for each of us, since the only ones we have weigh a ton and are older than he is. The new ones only have to live through one set of flights, so we should be able to get something at a reasonable price. We will each pack one suitcase and the backpack. That’s it. All else we let go.
The auctions may or may not happen while we are here. Our passports should be here in about two weeks, so we’ll be leaving soon after that. I’m concentrating on gathering as much energy as I can for the 23 or so hour trip.
I’m hoping that your life is going well, and that today – especially – you have a good reason to smile.
We don’t have a large accumulation of snow, but you can’t see where our driveway begins or ends and we’re snowed in. It’s 35 and quite windy. I called, texted, and sent carrier pigeons to let our Lunch Buddies know we couldn’t get there today.
O’Connor Dental Care
The thing I’m most worried about now is our dental appointments Tuesday. They emailed my husband and texted me yesterday, and we both confirmed we were planning to be there Tuesday. Now this. With the forecast for more snow showers, I’m not sure what to do. The dentist charges $150 if you don’t cancel 3 days before. They don’t work today, Sat, or Sun. I have texted them about the problem and we’ll just have to see what happens. We can’t afford to pay for services NOT rendered, but I realize the dentist suffers losses when his patients don’t show up or give him a chance to schedule someone else in our place. Did I tell you I’m not fond of winter?
I just finished getting the makings of beef stew in the crock pot for tonight. We are safe and warm on top of our ridge line, so I have no complaints. Nothing excited planned for the day. Our local schools are open, so the streets must be reasonable, although we can’t get down to the street in front of the house. Maybe it will warm up, or rain will take the snow away….
123RF.com
Laundry, wood-burning, reading, listening to music – NICE day.
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