I am a nomad based in the US....iPostal1 has suddenly started having problems and I can't even get through to anyone to resolve simple issues.
Can you please recommend other alternatives that work for you? Thanks.
I see Topos recommended here often. I thought I would try a pair - seems like the brand itself lends itself to a wide toe box, but no arch support?
I need a little support, not a lot, but some - so would they not work for me?
Thanks
Have a great holiday all, finally getting a small temperature break here, so getting out to enjoy it....
peace and watermelon :)
So....it's done, it took me 3 days no lie, to put the whole thing together...it's a complicated itinerary, but I am looking forward to it....
Portland OR to Whitefish Montana to Minneapolis, to Chicago, to Quebec City, to Montreal, to NY.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles - 6 week trip.
I have been enjoying more and more of these solo adventures....seeing new things, new places, new people and getting to know them.... the offline world is the thing :)
Peace and have a great holiday weekend for those in the US.
I see sad stories all the time in the news about terrible things that have happened to women and children and I flip the channel because they upset me.
Does it seem to hit closer when the victims are women and children? it does with me.
Today, three phone calls, three sad stories. Sometimes true stories are more odd than fiction.
The first involves my 34 year old niece. She has a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old. The third child is from her second marriage. Her first marriage ended when she took up with a a man about 30 years older than her...only two weeks after she brought her newborn home from the hospital. UGH. Now, she and that man, her second husband ,have taken their 4 year old and taken off - 4 states away to begin a new life....she has left her 7 and 5 year old behind with their father with no plans to see them, at least not for now.
The second was the passing of a neighbor in her early 70s. After years of mammograms that showed no issues, she stopped getting them. Four years ago, she found a painful lump and ignored it, then tried to treat it with herbs and visualization. Finally when she was in so much pain she couldn't function - she found out it was cancer, had a mastectomy and treatments and then it returned and now she has died.
The third story is my sister's 75 year old former sister in law. Karma, it seems. The short of it is that she threw herself at a guy I was seeing - about 7 years ago, he left me for her - that's ok, I was going to end it anyway, but still, rude to do to another woman. That ended quickly, but it seems she desperately wanted a man, she found one online - divorced, in his 40s...so about 30 or so years younger than her.. she left her doctor husband in the US. The new man was a Croatian refugee living in France with his young daughter. He was penniless, living in state housing in France. She moved there to be with him, bought him a car and started a life in France....It seems life in France didn't turn out the way she wanted....she said the new man has been using her all this time (surprise)...and now she has yet another younger man waiting for her when she gets back to the US....he races hot rod cars and according to what we know, spends most of his money on beer. OMG, the soap opera.
I am going to go now and try to find something uplifting on Netflix. yes, I know anything can happen to any of us, but the stories seem hard to take when they might have made other decisions...especially ones that end up hurting someone.
My primary doctor has given me a prescription for topical estrogen. Even when using the recommended amount, I am running out sooner than my crappy insurance company will pay for - like 3 tubes/year.
I have found places that sell it reasonably priced, but is there such a thing as getting a second prescription like through a telehealth?
Is there some big database in the sky that will rain fire down on me if I have two prescriptions for the same drug?
So, as a follow up to my recent post about giving up OLD, I gave that up quite awhile ago. After that, I didn't focus on dating at all, just on enjoying life itself and doing whatever strikes my whim.
Well, I had a somewhat recent experience that reminded me that even regular old fashioned dating can be messed up.
So, here's the story:
I was raised in a small town but haven't lived there since high school graduation....but my connections remain strong because of family still there and lots of friends in common, etc. We have a Facebook page for the community and everyone more or less stays in touch.
A guy who graduated a couple years ahead of me, approached me with a comment about my music related hobbies and turns out we have a lot of musical preferences in common - great for live shows to possible have someone to go with etc.
I didn't know him in school, but he has 8 siblings....so yes, I know the family, it's that kind of town.
It was promising when he suggested we get to know each other better....I checked around his FB profile and photos - adult children, no signs of partners or spouse etc.
Because we are over 60 and most people are married, I mentioned immediately up front that if he's already in a relationship or married, I would still remain in friendly contact, but have no interest in heading out on dates or whatever. He said no, he wasn't married and not to worry about any of that. Ok, moving forward, we lived about 400 miles apart, so started initially chatting by phone, getting caught up on our lives, people we know in common etc. It felt natural and comfortable.
He had one son in high school, so sometimes he would mention that he was leaving to drive his son over to his son's mother's home. He moved apartments and sent me photos of his new place.....etc etc.
We met a couple of times for shows or dinner when he was driving through my area on the way to somewhere else...it was casual, it was nice, it felt natural.
He then suggested we go to a show featuring a performer we both loved, in a city not close to either of us...I agreed to meet him there....bought my tickets, show, airfare, hotel etc. The event was 2 months away at that time.
About a month later, he mentions he is taking his kids on vacation to Cape Cod...after that, Facebook sends me a friend suggestion for his daughter...I didn't try to become Facebook friends with her - still too much unknown, etc....but I looked at her profile page - bingo, photos of her and her siblings and her parents, together on Cape Cod. I sold my show ticket and cancelled my reservations, lost quite a bit of $ actually...
Our relationship hadn't progressed far enough for me to feel overly upset by this, but the fact that he lied when I was so upfront about his marital status/relationship status - and shaded the truth on who he was taking a vacation with....I gave him an out in the very beginning and he didn't take it - instead he chose to be deceptive. I can't respect that....even worse from a seemingly respected science teacher who spreads the word about the importance of being a good person and respecting others.
I asked him to call me so we could just talk this through and I can understand maybe there are nuances or details that would make it feel less deceptive. He wouldn't call to discuss....that's all I needed to know.
People, generally speaking, can be such a huge letdown when all the basic expectation is for simple decency, nothing more, nothing less.
I understand these concepts and I understand why they are used but what trips me up
are the mechanics of them.
I have tried to educate myself in order to understand the importance of the timing of taking actions and how to avoid falling into whatever kind of traps.
My learning style is to learn from the ground up with the overall picture, then dive into the weeds.
If anyone has a well written resource for the layperson, self managing their portfolio, I would appreciate it.
All suggestions appreciated, I gotta have it explained to me like I'm a fifth grader so I can walk before I run.
Books? websites? etc?
I normally prepare all my own meals from scratch, but sometimes there are stretches like the one I have coming up where I need to grab quick foods based on life events.
For me that usually means fruits and raw veggies in baggies.
but sometimes I want to sit down to something more filling and my doctor has strongly recommended I reach for fibrous meals.
So, what about canned beans and how to enhance them? I am heading to the store to look for ones that aren't full of sugar, salt or other stuff.
Has anyone tried any of the canned black bean soups or prepared Mexican beans, etc.?
Thank you.
Sorta following up on a post I made here recently - where I mentioned I am done with OLD, but open to meeting new people, even maybe a special person - organically as they say....so I have been signing up for local events just to meet more people of all kinds and then I had an idea....why not combine a life long wish with meeting people?
So....in August, I am traveling from coast to coast on Amtrak and then extending it via Canadian rail, all the way to the Canadian Maritimes....I have read the negative aspects of train travel, delays, not always good food, etc. etc. etc.
I am not into negative, I almost always find ways to turn negatives into positives...so I am just going with an eye toward seeing parts of America & Canada that I haven't seen before. I plan to get off the train and stay a few days in some locations, then get back on. I plan to sit in the cars where people socialize and learn the stories of other people.
If this works well, maybe I will do the same via sea travel.
Have you done something similar to this? how did it work out for you?
I am divorced and getting older. I need to get my estate plan together because life & death are unpredictable. lol.
I have some serious reasons why I don't feel it is a good idea to leave any money behind for my siblings or my adult child. Those reasons aren't relevant to my question.
I would like to leave behind money for my grandchildren and some to charity. I have a couple causes I care about.
How does one go about finding a lawyer? just go online? lol - I am the only one in my circle that has any money, so it's not like I can ask people I know.
Also, is there an organization that vets charities?
I suppose for my grandchildren, I would need a trust? Are there trust fees up front or only once I pass on? THANKS
I was planning to have my first withdrawal sent to my bank account, but ran into the mandatory 20% tax withholding issue. I do estimated quarterly taxes and want to keep things as simple as I can.
I did more reading and it seems I can avoid the withholding by rolling the TSP money over to an IRA and then withdrawing the money directly from the IRA
so 2 steps instead of 1.
Just wondering if anyone here does this and how it all works out for them. Thanks
I was planning to have my first withdrawal sent to my bank account, but ran into the mandatory 20% tax withholding issue. I do estimated quarterly taxes and want to keep things as simple as I can.
I did more reading and it seems I can avoid the withholding by rolling the TSP money over to an IRA and then withdrawing the money directly from the IRA
so 2 steps instead of 1.
Just wondering if anyone here does this and how it all works out for them.
I live in a legal state, but we're barely legal, so the industry is new, not tons of choices.
I am wondering what to buy for a little euphoria....just something to bring on the giggles?
thanks
I have been searching and searching, but cannot find the recipe here.
A couple years ago, I got a fantastic recipe here from someone who mentioned it a few times.
I can't swear to it, but it might have been Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher + Polar Diet Tonic or Seltzer?
Does anyone remember this one? would love to try it again.
Since eliminating most animal products from my diet, I find the switch is working well and really the only thing I miss is half and half in my coffee or the flavor of dairy milk with my cereal or iced coffee drinks.
I have been trying various nut milks and soy milks that I find at groceries, but they don't have
that same kinda sweet round flavor. Some actually taste bad to me...bitter or weird.
What can I add other than table sugar ? any suggestions? Any particular brands maybe?
Perhaps I am just not trying the right brands for decent flavor?
Thank you.
My favorite candies to purchase are not very/less sweet, like tough, chewy licorice....not always licorice root flavor, also fruit flavors, etc. sometimes like the discontinued Jujyfruits or sometimes loukoum or gummies if I can find them.
They are getting harder to find and more $$$ to ship to the US.
I'd like to try my hand at making them at home. I don't want or need to go sugar free, only reduced sugar because I just don't like the typical sweetness level of most candies.
So seems like I could start with a traditional recipe and just replace 1/3 or maybe even 1/2 of the sugar?
Just throwing out some ingredient suggestions - sugar as a syrup to help with texture - stretchy and not brittle?
corn starch both as an ingredient and to dunk them in to dry them?
gelatine of course?
Other suggestions or recipes? I would appreciate any suggestions related to ingredients or methods.
I miss Jujubes and Jujyfruits.
For you personally (I know we each have our own preferences) which bread offers the most bang for the calorie buck? good flavor and texture? Thanks
What is that cutesy social media phrase? "tell me you're X without telling me you're X"?
Ok, so tell me you're in your 60s without telling me you're in your 60s.
I will start:
During college breaks, I earned money by working in a shoe factory.
Shoes! Shoes that were manufactured in the U.S.
Do you have one? Yes, for fun, I like to see how the rich and famous dress...I sometimes get ideas about how I would like to dress if I had the $$$$.
I've watched them so many - but in my view, my most favorite of all is - Brigitte Macron. I've never seen her wear a dress or pants outfit, whatever - that wasn't drop dead gorgeous. Head and shoulders, IMO above any American celebrity or famous person.
Of course she has a great shape for great clothes, but in any event - her style and class is unmatched IMO. The French just have it going on.
Do you admire the wardrobes of any famous people?