Little White Lies

Posted on April 8, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

I try to be honest in everything I do. Really, I do. But sometimes, for whatever reason, honesty just doesn’t happen.

Sometime I lie to myself. I refuse to drink the tap water at the new house because I’m concerned about the ancient pipes underground. We even use bottled water for cooking. Even though we had the water lines inside the house replaced, there are still those galvanized pipes coming in from the street. We spend mucho bucks stocking up on bottled water.

But then I’ll get a taste for “good” coffee and stop at a local establishment for that fresh brewed java – which, of course, is made with the same tap water I refuse to drink.

Even the bottled water is a lie. It turns out the water I purchase isn’t spring water but “filtered water” to which a dash of lime has been added. Where does the filtered water originate? You guessed it – the same Great Lakes water I refuse to drink out of the tap.

Does all that make me dishonest, or a hypocrite, or just plain naïve? I don’t know, nor do I care. I like my particular brand of water and that occasional “fresh” coffee.

I tell myself that THIS weekend, I’ll grab that new camera and get out there to do some photography! Then it snows, or rains, or merely stays bitterly cold, and I opt to stay in my sweats all day playing videogames. And drinking “filtered” lime water.

Lies, all lies.

S0, what prompted this post at this time, you ask? What made me think of myself as not truly honorable at all times?

It was a silly thing. I was shopping at Walmart on my Friday off, around lunch time. As I was waiting in line, the next register opened and the white-haired lady in front of me and I both turned our carts to that new register. I got there first.

Just as I started unloading my cart to the conveyor belt, it occurred to me that the other lady had, in fact, been in line in front of me, so I asked her to please go ahead in the new line. She laughed and said no, I could go first, because — she’s retired and is in absolutely no hurry.

Now, I could have insisted she go first, and I could have let her know that I, too, was in no hurry as it was my day off. But I opted to let her think I was a fully employed person rushing through Walmart on her lunch hour, and I thanked her and went ahead.

I suppose that makes me a bit of a liar, but I prefer to think I made that lady feel good about herself for letting a needier person save a few precious moments on a busy workday.

Perspective is everything.

I rounded out my Friday by treating myself to Burger King (another lie to myself – I really don’t have the money to spare, nor do I need those calories!), where – surprise – I ordered coffee with my meal. Burger King is a block from my house, and I’m sure they use the same water line. The drive-through clerk accidentally gave me a large coffee while charging for a medium. I did not insist on paying the difference – and I enjoyed every last drop.

Happy Sunday, folks. May the new week be an honest week.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Image by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Humor, That's Life | Tagged bottled water, coffee, courtesy, dishonesty, lies, retirement, shopping, Walmart, working | 27 Comments

Happy Easter!

Posted on April 1, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

HEY, HEY – It’s the Cody Bunny!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Image by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Holidays, Humor, Pets, Photography, That's Life | Tagged bunny ears, Cody, dog, Easter, Easter Bunny, Puppy Cody | 17 Comments

Why Retirement Didn’t Work For Me

Posted on March 30, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

Enough was enough.

I had worked full-time for 47 years, except for the one year I took off when my first child was small. At age 65, I could not yet collect Social Security, but I did have money from the sale of my house that I could use until Social Security kicked in. Every day, I was experiencing mini nervous breakdowns while working The Job From Hell and my health was suffering.

In the middle of the night, I made the decision to retire NOW.

Heading into retirement, I had plans – big plans. I would get the new house in tip-top shape, I would visit all those touristy sites I never had time for, I would become the best amateur photographer ever!

Unfortunately, I made that decision in November, right before a terrible Buffalo, New York winter.

For the first two days of retirement, I slept. Literally. Most of the day, anyway. After all, I had 47 years of sleep to catch up on!

I arranged for contractors to install windows and renovate the bathroom, which meant staying home to supervise the work and keep Puppy Cody from being overly traumatized.

In between, I played videogames. I have hundreds of videogames stored on my computer, and I started at the beginning of the list. Two weeks later, I was only partly through the list and pretty much had my fill of gaming. I knew I was overdoing it when I began dreaming about finding those hidden objects.

Meanwhile, it had started snowing – and snowing. And the temperature dropped. The roads were icy, visibility was poor, and my old bones didn’t want to spend any more time outside than necessary. My two to three times a day when I had to take Puppy Cody out were about all I could handle.

So, the touristy stuff was out.

Never mind the fact that since I was living on my steadily diminishing savings, the idea of paying admission and parking for the touristy stuff wasn’t particularly appealing.

Sure, most parks are free – and very pretty in the winter – but I simply could not motivate myself to go our for extended winter photography. With my luck, I would probably slide down an icy hill trying to get that perfect shot – much simpler to stay home and play yet some more videogames.

Even lunches with friends were pretty much out, as they cost money. Unless, of course, the friends could come to my house – but they all worked and only had that hour or so for lunch, which did not allow for travel time.

Meanwhile, of course, I still had a mortgage to pay, along with utility bills, car payments, and contractor invoices. I sat down one evening and calculated how long I could make my savings last and still have some left over at the end. Yikes. I needed to find a job now! So I did.

I had been fully retired for 3 months. That was about all I could handle, both emotionally and financially.

Recently, I received a call from a friend who retired to Florida. She’s constantly posting photos on Facebook of herself lying by the pool (with drinks, of course) or going golfing, and it looked like she was having the time of her life. But during our phone conversation, she indicated that she is bored. Also in her 60s, she feels too young to be hanging out with the usual Florida retirees, and she, too, is thinking of returning to work or finding some kind of volunteer activity to fill up her days.

Not everyone is cut out for retirement. Maybe if I had unlimited funds, and lived in an area with pleasant (not too hot, not too cold) weather, I could have enjoyed all that time off. For now, I’m content with my 3-day weekends. If spring ever does come and is, in fact, followed by summer, I plan to spend at least some of my Fridays doing amateur photography or visiting touristy sites. Meanwhile, my bills are paid and I’m not bored out of my mind.

Maybe in about 10 years or so, I’ll try retirement again. Maybe then it will be right for me.

PS: Allow me to gloat – I recently learned that the young woman who replaced me at The Job From Hell quit after 3 months. I guess it wasn’t just me after all. May she find as much peace as I have.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in That's Life | Tagged free time, leisure, retirement, working | 39 Comments

Damn the [Other Drivers] – Full Speed Ahead!

Posted on March 23, 2018 by cordeliasmom2012

Actually, it should be “Damn Everyone Else …”

Sometimes it’s not the other drivers who are the problem during the morning and evening commute.

As the weather warms (ever so slowly), there are now bicycles and pedestrians.

On my way home from work yesterday, I was sitting in a line of traffic at a red light in the northeast corner of our fair city. Not an especially good neighborhood, but not one where I expect to be accosted, either. Mine was the second vehicle back from the light, behind some kind of utility panel van. A group of young people (I would guess high schoolers) came walking down the street, and it appeared they were thinking about crossing between vehicles, so I made sure my foot was on the brake and I made eye contact. One of the young males then stepped between my vehicle and the one in front of me and walked to the next lane as if he was checking oncoming traffic. He made a show of peeking around the van in front of me and then turned to return to his friends. As he got back in front of my car (my foot was still firmly on that brake!), he deliberately threw himself against the right front bumper of my car and yelled “OWWWW!” – as if to make people think I had hit him. His friends laughed. He laughed and did a little jig. They all went on their way down the sidewalk.

The light changed. I drove on home.

Hopefully that’s the end of it. But there’s that nervous little twitter at the back of my mind insisting it was a ploy so that the young gentleman can later claim I did, in fact, hit him – and didn’t stop. It would have been very easy for his friends to take my license plate number. It would be my word against theirs, even though there are no marks on my vehicle (and probably no marks on the kid, unless he banged my car harder than I think he did.) It’s a predominantly black neighborhood, the kids were black, and I’m an old white lady driving a mid-sized SUV. Black kids or white kids – there’s a joker in every group, but there’s also a crackpot in every group. Should I be worried? Only time will tell.

It was a unsettling end to an otherwise peaceful four-day workweek.