Cordelia's Mom, Still

Let’s Play Catch-Up

Posted on February 21, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

As I grow old[er], time seems to pass more quickly.

These days, the days/weeks/months seem to blend into each other, and time is flying by. One day it’s October 31 and I’m all excited about it being my last day of employment, and the next thing I know it’s near the end of the following February!

So, what happened in between?

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went, pretty much without incident. I received enough Amazon gift cards for Christmas that I was able to stock up on my books without dipping into my meager savings, and I’m happy to report that I haven’t had to touch that savings account once since I retired. Guess I planned that pretty well. (Of course, it helps that hubby is the one who buys the food and household necessities, and since he’s still working, he’s also been paying for any necessary household repairs and appliance replacements, as well as Puppy Cody’s vet bills.)

As for the books, not only do they keep me happy, but when I’ve finished with them, I pass them along to a friend whose elderly mother still loves to read. Once she gets through them, they are donated to a local women’s shelter for enjoyment by its residents. Win-win for all!

That women’s shelter is also the recipient of the majority of my crochet projects. I made a dozen adult hat/scarf sets to help keep the residents warm over the winter, and then learned that they are in need of infant hats because quite a few residents are having babies. So, that’s my current project. I’ve already made half a dozen, using the yarn that was donated by another friend when her sister passed away. Each time I start a new baby hat, I think about that sister and hope she is looking down and pleased that her yarn is being used to care for others.

Crocheting kept me busy, and somewhat saner, during the past few months when it’s been too cold, and often too snowy and icy, to go anywhere. Not that I even want to leave the house most days. Driving takes gas, which is expensive, and except for medical appointments and occasional grocery shopping (to pick up items I don’t want hubby to choose for me), I really have nowhere special to be.

Well, except for January. January was the pits.

January started off well. There was the delayed family holiday get-together that first Saturday, which as usual was lovely. We so seldom manage to see everyone at the same time, and it’s especially wonderful for me to watch my three girls and their significant others enjoying an evening together. Growing up, those girls all claimed to hate each other; I’m so glad they became friends as adults (just as I predicted they would, but who ever listens to their parents?).

January took a turn for the worse when Puppy Cody got sick. She didn’t act sick and didn’t seem to be in any pain, so it was a complete surprise one day when I started to brush her teeth and noticed what looked to be an angry red abscess above one of her fangs. Her regular vet prescribed a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, but the swelling never decreased, and the vet was uncomfortable with pulling that particular tooth, so Cody had to see a canine dental specialist.

Fortunately for us the dental surgeon is only a short drive and was able to get Cody in for surgery within only a few days. The tooth came out, and Cody seemed to enjoy her new soft diet – the canned version of her very expensive prescription food, and of course, the cans were twice as costly. But we were ok with that. She recovered fairly quickly, and we only had to wait for the biopsy results. The surgeon didn’t seem concerned, so we didn’t worry about it either.

January saw some bad Buffalo, NY weather. We were lucky that the worst storm didn’t hit until after Cody’s surgery.

So, Cody got better and then one of my daughters needed foot surgery. Since her surgery was on a Monday (exactly one week after Cody’s procedure, go figure), the plan was for her to come to our house on Sunday everning after a dog-sitter arrived at her apartment. We didn’t feel it would be a good idea to have a second, younger dog in the house while Cody was recovering from her own surgery.

Fate decided otherwise.

A major snow storm hit the weekend before my daugher’s scheduled surgery. Driving bans were due to go into effect, and it was apparent that no one would be going anywhere over the weekend. My daughter decided it would be better to cancel the dog-sitter and just drive herself – and her dog – to our house on Monday morning prior to her surgery. We concurred. I spent the snowy weekend preparing for human and canine guests.

The snow fell and fell (we got 3 feet at our house, but that was better than the 7 feet or more that landed just a couple of miles away). Finally the snow stopped, the roads became passable, and the driving bands were lifted – all except for the city, where my daughter lives, and the suburb where we live. Late Sunday night, she and we were still under the driving bans and beginning to worry.

Fortunately, her surgery was rescheduled for a couple of hours later, and the driving bans were finally lifted on Monday morning. She got her procedure, came home with us, and spent the next week being coddled by Mom and Dad, while her dog snuggled up in bed with her. I was happy that the little dog doesn’t like snow, because I really wasn’t looking forward to chasing an 8-inch dog through 3 feet of snow. Even Cody had issues with that much snow.

The week passed quickly, daughter and dog went home, and life returned to normal.

Cody’s biopsy came back as cancer – but the surgeon is fairly confident that he got the entire tumor out. I guess only time will tell. I’d much rather she, hubby and I all die of old age – like, really old, many years down the road.

One exciting thing that did happen in January is that I learned two separate educational institutions picked up a couple of my photos for their own online publications. Does that make me a “published photographer”? Whether it does or not, it certainly makes me feel special.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Hugs to everyone who has stuck with me over these many years.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page (@cordeliasmom), or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in Pets, That's Life | Tagged canine dentist, charity, crochet, family, Puppy Cody, retirement | 6 Comments

Decisions, Decisions

Posted on February 13, 2024 by cordeliasmom2012

Some decisions are hard. Some are easy. And some decisions make themselves.

My longtime readers know that for quite awhile now, I have been vacillating on whether to continue photography and/or my blog. After doing both for so many years, the thrill is pretty much gone, and subject ideas are few and far between.

Last year, I decided to terminate my paid subscriptions to photography sites Flickr.com [see the right sidebar for a link to my site] and YouPic.com. Neither was generating much follower interest, and both had become a bit costly considering my upcoming retirement. I successfully changed my Flickr subscription to the free membership, and made note to do the same for YouPic before its automatic renewal at the end of the year.

Guess who forgot to drop the YouPic paid subscription and got socked with a hefty automatic renewal fee?

Yep. So I’m stuck for another year as a “Pro” member. Which kind of sucks because my pictures really aren’t good enough to justify calling myself a “pro.”

Anyway.

I also planned to drop my paid WordPress subscription. Not because I’m not a good enough writer (because we all know I’m awesome), but because the cost was no longer justified due to my recent lack of posting. Seriously, now that I’m fully retired and seldom leave the house, it’s really difficult to come up with anything extraordinary to write about.

But then I realized that dropping the paid subscription might result in my earlier (much better) posts being deleted, or the photographs attached to those posts being deleted, and it would break my heart to lose all that hard work. Especially after re-reading some of the older posts and the comments made on those posts – many of which comments were by bloggers who have since either closed up shop or died.

So I flip-flopped between wanting to keep this blog open regardless of the cost, or simply cancelling the paid subscription and letting the whole thing fade away.

But then, guess who missed the WordPress subscription renewal deadline (again)?

So it seems that you and I will be “seeing” each other for at least another year. Are you excited? I know I am (sort of).

Perhaps this will be the year my muse returns; perhaps not.

I can promise this, though. A lot has been going on in Cordelia’s Mom’s life recently, and as soon as I can get my ass in gear, I will do at least one (totally awesome) catch-up post. Keep an eye out for it!

After that, we’ll see how much inspiration I have. Of course, I could always start re-blogging some of those great earliest posts. There are those of my followers who may not have read them.

Hang in there with me, folks. I’m not quite done yet.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Twitter page (@cordeliasmom), or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Image by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio

Posted in That's Life | Tagged artistic muse, blogging, decisions, expenses, retirement, writing | 14 Comments

The Christmas Cordelia’s Mom Was Financially Distressed

Posted on December 13, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

Christmas is coming! Only a little more time to shop for those special gifts.

But what if you’re a young parent with tiny children, and you’ve run into hard times this year? What if there’s no money for toys because you’ve had to spend it all on rent (or mortgage payments), utility bills (including heat), groceries, and gas for the car to get to the store to buy those groceries?

Many years ago, hubby and I found ourselves in just that situation. I don’t recall what year it was and I don’t recall whether we had three daughters, or two daughters with one on the way. I also don’t remember whether our financial crisis was because one of us was out of work or whether it was due to medical bills, car repairs, household repairs, or some other costly emergency right before the holidays.

What I do remember is racking my poor little brain to try to figure out how I could make my girls’ Christmas morning happy with no cash on hand and very little available credit on any of those stupid plastic cards. If I recall correctly, we did manage to buy one modest “Santa” present for each child (’cause Santa always brought the best gifts – don’t judge, I believe everyone needs a little magic in his or her life).

But what about presents from Mom and Dad? Sure, my girls were maybe old enough to [sort of] understand that money was tight, but they still deserved something, right? We could swing a few stocking stuffer items like candy and hair barrettes, but I wanted to give them a bigger present they could enjoy for more than a day or two.

Finally, it occurred to me that a gift doesn’t have to be something new and shiny; a gift can be pretty much anything so long as it’s given with love.

It also occurred to me that little girls love to play dress up.

So, I scrounged up an old duffel bag which had barely been used and put in a couple pairs of high-heeled (worn only once for some special occasion) shoes and a variety of clothing I had “outgrown” or which (again) I had worn only once for some special occasion. At that time, I worked for a large law firm, so I went around to some of the other moms and explained my situation, and many of them donated items from their own homes – which made the dress-up bag even better because it would include things my girls had never seen before. My group of mommy friends even managed to come up with some costume jewelry to add to that bag.

Best Christmas morning ever! My girls loved their dress-up bag and played with it for years, often using some of the clothing and accessories for Halloween costumes as they became older. When they finally outgrew both dress-up and Halloween, the bag and all its contents was given to a friend who had a number of children younger than mine, and she told me her kids loved it, too.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that being financially stressed doesn’t mean you can’t provide your family with a memorable Christmas. Even the youngest child can somehow understand that a gift obtained and given with love is better than one purchased at the risk of the giver’s bankruptcy.

If this post helps even one reader feel better about facing the upcoming holidays while struggling to pay daily expenses, then I’ve done my job. I’ve given you one idea for an inexpensive yet exciting gift; if you’re looking for ways to provide a special, but simple, holiday for your children, an online search will bring you a bunch of thrifty alternatives to expensive, store-bought gifts.

Hugs, all.

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Posted in Holidays, That's Life | Tagged budget, Christmas, economy, finances, motherhood, parenthood | 16 Comments

A Little Help From My Friends

Posted on November 20, 2023 by cordeliasmom2012

Last night, I dreamed I returned to my pre-retirement job.

No, it wasn’t a nightmare, but it also isn’t something that’s going to happen. I’m loving not having to set my alarm, and having nowhere I need to be at any particular time on any particular day (well, except for medical appointments, of course).

So, sorry, former bosses – I am, in fact, permanently retired.

As noted in some of my prior posts, my only retirement concern is financial. Trying to live only on Social Security is not easy, especially since the real estate taxes went up again this year. Knowing things would be a bit difficult, I stocked up on many essentials prior to quitting my job: things like yarn, books, my favorite soap and shampoo, and household items like cleaning supplies and canned goods – pretty much anything non-perishable which I knew I would evetually use up.

Yarn and books were my main concern. They are expensive, and there would be no stretch in the budget to accommodate them. Reading and crocheting are the main activities to keep me entertained now that I no longer go to an office.

Imagine my surprise when I recently received a text from a colleague with whom I worked a number of years ago. Her sister, who was a crocheter, had died and my friend was cleaning out her personal effects. There was “some yarn” in her sister’s house, would I like to have it?

Say what? Of course I’d take any yarn I could get my hands on!

Imagine my further surprise when “some yarn” arrived at my house: there were 5 huge bags with an incredible assortment of various weights of yarn, including crochet thread, and there were even needlework tools, like needles and hooks!

I won’t have to find room in my limited budget for yarn for a very long time. Heck, just going through those bags and sorting everything out will keep me occupied for quite awhile.

Awesome, isn’t it? Even my husband commented on the incredible timing. While my friend knew I had retired, there’s no way she could have known that I was fretting about being able to afford my yarn.

BTW, this is the same friend who helped me out previously by taking custody of my mother’s piano when I realized it would not fit in my new house. I cried when the piano movers were loading it onto the truck, but my sadness was eased knowing that piano would be loved by it’s new owner as much as I had loved it.

I will see that the newly received yarn is treated with the love it deserves. Since most of my finished projects are donated to local charities, my friend’s kindness will be extended beyond only me. “Legacy Needlework” has taken on a whole new meaning.