Miscellaneous Monday
First off, look at my beautiful Mother’s Day breakfast. We usually get danish for Mother’s Day, a tradition born when Maya was little and Ted worked early (before the sun came up) on Sundays, so this was something that he could put together before he left. She’s old enough to make me anything I might want now, and he works normal hours, but the tradition remains because I love danish, and the only time I eat them is Mother’s Day.
Now look at this picture and tell me whether you think I have a skin cream addiction. I love skin cream, and I think I collect it now like I collected shoes in my youth. Now that heels no longer work with my feet (or my feet no longer tolerate high heels), the focus has shifted north, to my kind of melting face. (Thanks for that one Nicole!)
The Olay I buy when it is on sale at Costco. The Lancome I sometimes receive as a gift, but I learned during the shutdown that you can save money by buying products directly from them online, so I do that. Sometimes it is 30% off, other times buy one/get one free. Substantial savings on an expensive product. The others were gifts or impulse buys (drug store brand = impulse). That’s a lot of money spent up there. I can’t really say what works or doesn’t work, because I use them all haphazardly, sometimes 2 in the same day.
I mean, this is just my moisturizers. There are also serums and eye creams and makeup. I’m inching toward 60 now, and the skin on my eyelids is getting thinner and I hate it. When I watch TV shows or movies, mostly I marvel at the actors’ skin. Sigh.
Our Monday started with a tow. When Ted got off of work on Thursday, the starter to our Camry didn’t want to work, but he managed to get it started. Camry said, “Uh, you’d better take me straight to the repair shop, because my starter is about dead.” But Ted doesn’t speak Camry, and besides it was after business hours at the car repair place as well, so he came home. While trying to diagnose it (we put in a new alternator in February, and the battery is only about a year old) he managed to get it to start again, at which point it said, “Come on, let’s go to the repair shop!” and he said, “No, I need to get quotes and figure out where to go.” So we did research to figure out the best deal, made an appointment, and then tried to start her up this morning. “WHAT DID I TELL YOU ON THURSDAY?” she said, in all caps. Sorry Camry, looks like a tow for you. I’ll tell you, these older cars are a lot of work. Besides the alternator in February on this car (2005), the other car (2008) has gotten new spark plugs and spark plug coils, plus PCV valves. It’s spendy. On the other hand, they are well made cars and we are hoping to keep them running for a while yet. The screaming deal on the hydrogen cell car was a very good deal, but not good enough to get us to give up our no car payment lifestyle, so here we are. As Ted says, “Making car payments on old cars.”
Today is National Rescue Dog Day, so here’s an update on the Keeshond, Theo, that we babysat last July. He appears to be living his best life, and we are so happy for him. I friended his new mom on Facebook, and she occasionally posts pictures of him, which always make me happy. She said he is especially close to her 11 year old daughter, which is sweet and good news. Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of losing Mulder, which made me sad. We all miss him so much. We did have a sighting of Chloe the Keeshond, who lives in the big apartment next to our townhouse complex, which I took to be a good omen. Omen of what? I don’t know.
Friday I went to lunch with my friend Neva, and after a boozy lunch we did some shopping. She wanted to stop at the Chanel boutique, and while she was talking to the sales associate, I tried on some fancy sunglasses. I fell in love with the pair on the left, though I could do without the CHANEL cutout on the arms. But it was not THAT boozy of a lunch, and I was unwilling to spend $750 on a pair of sunglasses (perhaps the least expensive pair in the store). On Sunday, we went to Nordstrom Rack so Ted could buy some new pants, and I found the pair on the right for $35. They’re not perfect, but they’re pretty close to the Chanel pair, and much more my speed.
The picture above has nothing to do with anything, it’s from my Friday morning walk. We’re just over half way through Spring, and the flowers are beautiful.
What else. Well, on Stephany’s recommendation, I watched The Idea of You on Amazon Prime. It’s the story of a 40 year old mom who falls in love with a 24 year old member of a boy band. It was cute, solid B. That evening, Ted and I saw the new Planet of the Apes movie. We were out past 10pm! They serve alcohol at the theater! I had Red Vines! The movie was a B-, but the evening was an A+.
Maya’s almost 3 weeks into her new job, and so far is much happier than at her last place. She works from home Mondays and Fridays, and goes into the office the other days. She likes her coworkers. She found out that they give employees 1/2 day Fridays in the summer, so she’s excited about that. So far, so good!
I’m now 4 1/2 months into my daily yoga/strength training lifestyle. Differences from daily yoga I felt right away. Between that and cutting back on my wine, I slept better, my neck and back feel better, my balance issues have improved. I count the sleep with the wine, and the rest with the yoga. The strength training has been much slower to show any results. Once you get past menopause, it’s notoriously difficult to build muscle, so listen up whippersnappers, and add some weights into your fitness routine! Anyway, I’m FINALLY starting to feel a bit of definition in my arms. About 6 weeks ago, I increased my hand weights from 5lbs to 10lbs, and I’ve expanded my exercises from the four on my original jump start challenge. Mostly though, I just feel better. The mental boost from making these changes is probably just as positive as the physical boost, actually. Knowing that I am doing good things to take care of myself. That’s a very good thing.
Now you’re all caught up with life Chez J. Life is mostly pretty good around here. I hope it’s mostly pretty good where you are!
32 Comments
Margaret
That’s wonderful about Maya’s job. My older daughter got a year extension on her job (which has health insurance) so that’s a huge relief. Now her husband needs to find a well-paying position. Eek. I use nothing but Oil of Olay and love it but I can relate to the “ball sack” remark. 🙂 When I was spending lots of money fixing electronics issues in my 2004 Trailblazer (in 2017), a colleague at school said to me, “Margaret, it’s like putting a pacemaker in a zombie!” That’s when I bought my 2018 Subaru Forester.
J
YAY! That is great news about your daughter’s job, what a relief! I hope her husband finds a really good job SOON. Regarding the car, I think I’m going to start tracking the repairs in a spreadsheet and see if we’re at the zombie place yet. I hope not!
Melissa
Oh wow, those dogs, so cute! Strength training does take longer to show results even for younger people and unfortunately you loose strength more quickly than cardio fitness too.
J
Melissa, aren’t the dogs adorable? We really enjoyed having Theo here, though I cried the entire time, it was too soon after losing Mulder, and Theo reminded me of him SO MUCH.
You are right about the strength training on both counts. Longer to see improvement, quicker to lose. Frustrating. But I am happy that I’m finally starting to notice some results!
Elisabeth
That Mother’s Day breakfast looks perfect! And such beautiful colours!
We recently sold our 2011 vehicle. It was slowly just…falling apart. The straw that broke my back was when I couldn’t turn the car off – it was surprisingly stressful! (And, of course, my husband was out of the country.)
Right now we’re down to one vehicle, but really would have an easier time of things with two, so my husband is on the hunt. It’s hard to find good deals on used vehicles right now. Sigh. But he went to view one yesterday and I think is moving toward buying it? It’s 2016, so not exactly “young.” You are doing so well with the age of your vehicles, but it is hard to decide when to stop putting money into an old vehicle.
Unfortunately, where we live in Canada because of so much frost and the salt put on roads each winter, rust is a major issue. We get it undercoated each year, but the wear and tear on cars is intense 🙁
Thinking of you as you reflect on your joyful time spent with Mulder. This anniversary must be so bittersweet.
And I’m so glad Maya is enjoying her new position!!
J
Thanks Elisabeth! Yeah, when to pull the trigger? My husband isn’t a big fan of used cars, but we might look at a recent model car. Like maybe one that has been leased for a couple of years.
nance
Lots of wonderful things to report here, and I’m so glad. The exception is always Car Stuff, which sucks. I hate worrying and making decisions about cars. We were very lucky with our Toyotas, which never needed any major repairs. But then Rick was in that horrid accident that totalled our 2008 Highlander Hybrid, which we still miss a lot. SUCH a good car. And not having payments is a fantastic place to be in financially.
I used to buy cheapo sunglasses–less than ten bucks a pair, and often just a dollar or two–because I had a terrible habit of leaving them everywhere I set them down. Now, I wear prescription sunglasses, so that’s no longer the case–I need them to literally SEE. Yours look great; I’d have bought those, too.
I think seeing happy Keeshonds is a good omen for you, too. And it’s not up to you to figure out what they mean. That’s the universe’s job.
J
I wish it were clear as to WHEN was the best time to bite the bullet, and also to know what car to buy. Another gas powered car, which is the least expensive. A hybrid? All electric? We don’t have a way to charge at home, but there are lots of places nearby, including at Ted’s work. I am leaning hybrid, as we rented an electric vehicle once and it was kind of a pain with the charging if you don’t want to sit there for 45 minutes or whatever. Great for commuting, crummy for road trips. I’m sorry your beloved car was killed in that way, but glad it was the car and not Rick.
Yeah, I bought myself a pair of ‘expensive’ sunglasses a couple of years ago and I love them. But it was a test to see if I could keep them and not leave them somewhere, which is what I have done SO MANY TIMES. So far so good.
Nicole MacPherson
So many good updates here – first of all, I sighed with happiness looking at those creams. I thought “do I need those?” I put on eyeliner every day and I do notice that it goes on much less smoothly than in my youth. Or even from a year ago. Not that I want to think of my eyelid as a ballsack but here we are.
I also sighed happily at your breakfast. Yum.
I did not sigh happily at your car issues, ugh, the worst.
Love the flowers and the yoga and strength (ugh, but needed), Maya’s job and the sunglasses!
J
Nicole, yes, the eyelid thing came on pretty quickly for me too! WTH! Stupid hormonal changes.
Ally Bean
This is a joyful post, made me happy to read it. I’m sorry about the car, but time marches on and sometimes cars don’t. I don’t use any Olay or Lancome products, but do like to buy skincare products online for the savings. The sunnies are cute, cute. Mine are prescription so I wear them forever, meaning my rectangular ones are so out of fashion it’s a joke.
J
Ally, so many folks using prescription sunglasses! Maybe that is in my future too. I tried a pair of glasses that supposedly get dark in the sunlight, but they don’t really get very dark.
Lisa's Yarns
I cannot fathom spending that much money on sunglasses! I have cheap $25 Goodr brand ones that I have been happy with. I was listening to the podcast recently and one of the hosts talked about how she found sunglasses she really liked at Nordstrom – then she went to buy them and they were $400+ but she didn’t want to bail at that point, so she bought them then walked down a level to return them. Ha. But I love the idea of a boozy lunch followed by some shopping!!
The car stuff sounds really frustrating. I had a 2003 Accord that my then-boyfriend now-husband told me I should consider selling before something really bad went wrong but I was so stubborn about not buying a new car. Then one summer the transmission failed on me, leaving me on the side of the road on the way home from my parent’s lake home. The cost of replacing the transmission is so high that I got the scrap metal value for the car. I would have gotten far more if I had traded it in sooner!! So that is my cautionary tale for you!!
I’m glad Maya is liking her new job. 1/2 days on Fridays sounds amazing!!!
J
Hmmm. Thinking about your cautionary tale. I hope our transmissions don’t go out, but at this point our cars are probably only worth about $1,000-$1,500 for trade in, so I think it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
I know on the sunglasses. When did they get so expensive? My friend has a pair that were $1,000, and is considering buying herself another pair. I guess you can’t take it with you, but I worry about having enough to get me to the finish line!
NGS
I recently left the house thinking I looked good. I had done my makeup, my hair was clean, and I was wearing a cute dress. And then I was in a bathroom with a woman who is quite a bit younger than me and I caught sight of her next to me in the mirror and suddenly I realized that I am old woman. I can keep up the ruse with makeup and moisturizers, but my skin will never be that dewy ever again. *sigh*
My husband is currently dealing with a flat tire issue with our car and I’m happy he’s doing it while I’m at work. I don’t need to know ANY details.
J
Sometimes I look at pictures of myself when I was younger and wish I had been more confident. Then I wonder if 75 year old J will look back at 58 year old J and feel the same way?
Birchie
I’m sending big hugs for the one year anniversary of losing Mulder.
It’s so tough figuring out when to pull the plug on an old car – in theory it’s cheaper to keep repairing them but hella inconvenient. Sigh.
J
Thanks Birchie. I know you’re still mourning your sweet Stepdog. It’s so hard and unfair, really.
Regarding the cars, yes, I wish it were simpler.
Daria
I spent $85 on sunglasses from Nordstrom Rack and I was hurting mentally for a week lol I loved this post- such a nice update. T keeps saying he “needs” a new car (which is not true) and I keep resisting, I do not want a car payment! Oh and so glad to hear that Maya is enjoying her job- so important.
J
Daria, I will confess that I am considering returning the sunglasses, because I am hurting mentally. Not because they were $35 instead of $750, but because they don’t REALLY look like the Chanel ones, and I have 2 perfectly good pairs of sunglasses already. Time will tell what I decide.
coco
Wooo… i didn’t know you stock up skincare that much. I also buy in bulk when I travel because here in indonesia i can’t get what I like, but when I was living in the US, I probably only stocked up when there’s a big sale.
How did you like the movie, the idea of you? I thought it was just okay, a bit predictable though.
and well done with keeping up with the fitness routine. It’s great to see progress after investment day in and day out.
J
When I was in Paris in 2022, the dollar was very strong against the Euro, and I thought about stocking up on skin care there…but I was stymied by the brands and didn’t know what to buy, so I didn’t. I could have done Lancôme I guess.
I liked The Idea of You, it was cute, but yes, predictable. Most rom-coms are.
Thank you about the fitness. It is nice to finally start seeing some results.
San
Look at this beautiful Mother’s Day breakfast. I love it 🙂 It’s nice to have a “tradition”.
I am also so excited to hear that Maya loves her new job (and having Fridays half-off in the summer seems like a nice perk! :)).
I had to chuckle about your moisturizer collection. How do you even know which one works best? (I’ll take recommendations. I am currently using e.l.f.’s moisturizer (=inexpensive) and I like it!)
I can’t believe it’s been a year since Mulder died. Time goes so fast. I am sure you still miss him terribly.
J
Thanks San! Yeah, I have no idea which moisturizers work better than others. I keep vowing to not buy any more until I get through the ones I have, and then I see a great deal, or read a review and off I go. Sigh.
Yes, we still miss Mulder so much. I still take my walks every day, but I will admit that they are boring and much less enjoyable without him. They feel more like a chore now than they used to.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
So many good an fun things.
What a lovely tradition for Mother’s Day. So during the year you never have a danish? Even though you love them? I need your discipline. Not only for eating but your work out routine. My last two weeks were really hard to do anything. I feel like weight training is much easier for me than anything else but I am missing the right weights.
I am sorry you had a sad day remembering Mukder. One year already…
J
You know, when you put it that way, that I have it only once a year though I love it, it makes it seem kind of sad, doesn’t it? Maybe I need to add more danish into my life.
I think weight training may be the most important thing you can do, so if it’s not difficult for you, add it! Some hand weights would not be too expensive, and you might be able to get some for free if you belong to a local ‘Buy Nothing’ group on Facebook. I started with 3lb weights that I had, then moved on to 5lbs, then eventually to 10ths. I can’t do all of the exercises with 10lb weights but I can so several.
Yeah, I’m missing Mulder a lot. I sometimes wonder, if he had gotten old like our last dog did, and we felt he had lived his whole life, would it hurt as much? I remember missing our last dog a lot, but I don’t remember it hurting this much for this long.
Ernie
Great update. Maya’s job sounds wonderful. I’m so happy for her. I died laughing at the voice of the Camry. Ugh though, the costs of car repairs is so irritating. Your Mother’s Day breakfast looks so yummy. I use Oil of Olay, and cannot call it by its new name, because old habits are hard. My mom always used Oil of Olay moisturizer. RIP Mulder. How great that you have connected with the new mom of the dog you babysat. Say what now? – about the expense of a pair of sunglasses. Huh? The Nordstrom Rack pair rock on so many levels.
J
Thanks Ernie! Yeah, the cost of those designer sunglasses was a bit ridiculous. Some people are really into designer sunglasses, shoes, handbags, and clothes. I am not one of them. But I did like the shape of them on me, so that’s a plus!
Stephany
I think we all have that one thing we hoard – for me, it’s probably books. For you, it’s moisturizers! 😉
I live and die by my Target sunglasses. I won’t spend more than $20 on a pair, lol. I’m good about not losing them, too, so they last me for YEARS.
Ugh, the car issues. I had a 2005 car before I got my new one a few years ago, and my thought was that if a repair was going to cost more than the car was worth (at that point, like, $1,000), then it was time for something new. I think it’s a good idea to start figuring out how much money you’re spending on repairs to make sure it’s not more than a) the car is worth and b) what a monthly car payment would be.
J
Oh, books! We have been bookhoarders for sure, but are trying to let some of them go more often. Face cream, I can use it and throw the empty away, but books last forever if you let them. My instinct is to keep them ALL, but I’m trying to put the ones that I don’t think I will read again in a free library, or donate them to our library.
I hear you on the car. If we count any one repair, they are not more than the car is worth. But if you add them up, I think they will be. At what point do we give up? I guess if we’re paying more for repairs consistently than we would for a car payment. We’re not there yet, I’d like to get a couple of years more out of the cars we have. We shall see!
Anne
I think you should treat yourself to a Danish more regularly. Birthday! Anniversary! Maya’s birthday! (Because, you know, you were critical to the whole thing…:>). I, personally, dislike them, so shall send any I encounter your way. 😉
And…cars. Sigh. Especially when we are trying to beat the system designed to make us buy new cars much more frequently than many of us want. Purposeful degradation in components and shortened life cycles stink. Here’s hoping you can balance the repairs with the beauty of no car payment.
J
Anne, I have been reconsidering my position on Danish since Tobia commented that I don’t have them, even though I love them. Of course, I don’t need them to become a habit either. I haven’t figured out the balance yet, but I agree with you, they need to make their way into my life a bit more often. There’s a grocery store near us that has a bakery counter with small danish, and their apricot ones are lovely. Perhaps I could get one of those once in a while…mmmm.
I feel like we have gotten a good lifespan out of our cars, because they are well made and we generally maintain them pretty well. The Camry is a 2005, and we also have a Scion that is a 2008. What I WANT in my next car is one that will last another 20 years or 200k miles. Do they make electric/hybrid cars yet that will last that long? I don’t think anyone knows yet.