Reading Glasses

Posted on February 26, 2015February 27, 2015 by miriambarrie

How many pair of reading glasses do you own? I have six pair sprinkled all over my house. One pair is on the nightstand, of course, for reading at night. One is on the dresser for when I can’t find the pair on the nightstand. One pair is on the desk and another is on a tray on the bed in the den/second or guest bedroom/ office with the desk. One pair is by the telephone on the kitchen counter. One pair is on the table in the entry so that I can see who sent me what when I take in the mail. One pair is supposed to be wrapped around my neck as my latest and most valuable accessory. I told you in a beginning blog, you don’t need the jewelry, but you need the accessories. This one is a big brass circle strung on a heavy piece of leather and its sole purpose is to hold the pair of eye bobs I treated myself to and that you can buy on amazon. This pair should be sewn into my chest because even with all the pairs that are placed strategically throughout the house, inevitably, when I have to give my credit card info, I can never find a single one of them. I get so frustrated that I go out and buy yet one more pair of glasses that gets misplaced even though I placed it very carefully in a most obvious place! Reading glasses have replaced socks as the most MIA item in my very organized and meticulously neat house.

Do you have the same problem? How many pairs do you own? How minutes a day, week, a month, a year do you spend looking for them?

TO ACHIEVE OR NOT TO ACHIEVE

Posted on February 17, 2015February 12, 2015 by miriambarrie

For years now I had a big sign “ACHIEVE” in capital letters carved out of wood sitting atop my book shelves in our office/den/second bedroom. It seemed appropriate at the time. We were not yet semi retired. We were still trying hard “to achieve,” although now ten years later, I cannot for the life of me remember what it was we were trying to achieve.

Once you are retired, you realize there is no more achieving. Your goal is to just get through the day, the week, the month, the year – stay healthy, pay the bills, and enjoy.

When I was on the local tv show to talk about my “decluttering dilemma” blogs along with the professional declutterer, a young woman on the tv crew asked me if she could have my “ACHIEVE” sign as I had brought that item in as an example of something I had but did not need.

I gave her the sign.

Now when I look up, there is an empty space on the top shelf. I remember that Barbara, the professional declutterer, said that the rule of thumb is – if you bring something new in, you should let something old go. Well, I let the something old go, and now I think I need a new sign that says: “NO NEED TO ACHIEVE.” Do you think I can find that at Homegoods? No but you can find this one on Etsy!!!!

Funeral Parlor or Pizza Parlor Part II

Posted on February 12, 2015April 21, 2015 by miriambarrie

When I told my friend my vision, he said he was thinking about establishing a fund and giving away theater tickets in order for the living to remember him. “Here, it’s on me,” he wanted to say from his grave. My husband liked that idea and thought that maybe he would establish a fund that would give away Yankee tickets. He might get a busload of people wanting to remember him. But that would leave me giving away books or tickets to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (I obviously would not be needing a bus).

My daughter found a nature preserve upstate NY, where bodies are buried unmarked. I think she hopes we will sign on there so that she will have one more excuse to go hiking.

Since we are the “ME” generation, proud of breaking rules and pushing the envelope, is anyone planning to do something unique? Or will you, in the end, settle for the same old, same old traditional / religious last rites?
AND WHEN EXACTLY ARE YOU PLANNING ON PURCHASING THAT COVETED PLOT? I have been throwing away those advertisements since I was forty!!!!!!!!!

Funeral or Pizza Parlor?

Posted on February 9, 2015February 11, 2015 by miriambarrie

When I was studying interior space planning for commercial applications, we were given a funeral parlor to redesign. It was a local business, and looked more like a pizza parlor than anything else to me. The walls had walnut formica paneling halfway up. The top part was a blue and green floral print wallpaper. Heavy drapes closed the windows off for privacy. When I went into measure the two viewing rooms, I realized I was not alone.

You have to forgive me – I was in my early twenties and I was not raised Catholic. But the bodies gave me a sense of purpose and drama. I decided to embellish on the theatrics. I drew up a stage on the diagonal. I thought about the kind of stage lights that give off a cloudy haziness. I wanted the body to be the focal point. I wanted 4 different colored upholstered light weight chairs that could be moved around to form spontaneous conversation groups. I was thinking sorbet colors – soft blueberry, raspberry, peach, and mango. I wanted soft peach or blueberry carpeting. I thought the viewing could serve as the transitionary send off. I wanted to allude to a heaven that I desperately wanted to believe in.

WISHING AND HOPING

Posted on February 4, 2015January 31, 2015 by miriambarrie

Do you know the commercial where a young mother is holding a cell phone and walking out of a house? She asks her mother about the house that had been on the market. It might even be the house next door. (PLEASE do not ask me what the commercial is selling. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast and besides whether it is a realtor or a phone company or dog food, it it irrelevant to my point!). Her mom tells her the house sold. The daughter says: “I know” and walks out of the house, up to her mom, kisses her, and lets her know that she was the buyer!

Well, that has become my favorite commercial ever since my cousin’s daughter moved into an apartment in the same condo building as my cousin. Why did her daughter do that? So that when her oldest gets dropped off from school, he can go directly to his grandparents and she can continue to work carefree for the rest of the day.

Am I the only mom who is wishing and hoping that will happen to her? I go to open houses in our neighborhood and pray.

I remember how hard it was to be a single mom, raise a daughter, and work two jobs.

Every time I call my daughter, I ask her if there is anything we can do to help. And every time, she tells me she is fine. That is how I know she is not yet mature. When you are truly mature, you can’t believe that anyone else is actually OFFERING help and you don’t hesitate – the definitive “yes” just pops out and you feel such relief and gratitude.

I have this theory that you take the average life span and you divide it in half. The first half you are just growing up and the second half you are an adult. Prehistoric man lived maybe thirty years. So, they became became adults when they were in their teens. Since we are living on average into our 80s, we can’t expect our “adult children” to be really mature until they are middle aged!!!!! I don’t know you feel about it, but my theory explains an awful lot of ridiculous behavior!

ETHAN ALLEN vs. WEST ELM

Posted on February 1, 2015January 31, 2015 by miriambarrie

The thing that got me started thinking about my “stuff” was a conversation I had with a complete stranger while we were standing on line at the Marriott in Birmingham, AL. I was there visiting my step children. Out of the blue, the woman in front of me on the line for breakfast omelets started telling me that she was in Birmingham to clean out her mother’s estate. She could not believe how much stuff she had to go through. She said she wished that her mother had given her a manual full of stories because she could not fathom the reason behind the items. What did they mean to her mother? To her they were just junk. She could not make heads or tails out of the clutter and she did not have the time to go through all of it. She had to get back to Texas to work.

When we got home, I looked around my tiny beach cottage home. I saw all the paintings that no one will be able to store even if they wanted to. I saw my furniture through the eyes of my daughter and step children. I have Ethan Allen traditional pieces alongside garage sale chic. Every item has a story. But who had time to tell the story and who had time to listen?

And besides, the adult kids all want West Elm. They aren’t interest in our stuff.

ALL THIS STUFF!!!!!!

Posted on January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 by miriambarrie

I have my old stamp collection from when I was seven. My husband has common baseball cards from the 50s.

We have scrapbooks and CDs. Who really uses CDs anymore?

We have seashells that I collected from every beach vacation that we took.

We have seven years of tax returns.

We have gardening tools that may be considered antique by now.

I have afghans and shawls that I had knitted. I have all the circular and straight knitting needles I thought I would use forever.

We have balls – baseballs, tennis balls, basketballs, bowling balls, beach balls, soccer balls, golf balls.

I have throw pillows from every decorating and redecorating phase.

I have carpets from every decorating and redecorating phase.

We have playbills from all the Broadway and off Broadway shows we have ever seen. They don’t take up much space and they tell a story of fun.

We have lived in this beach cottage of 984 sq. ft. for decades!!!! So how much stuff could we really accumulate in such a small space?

And yet there is still all this stuff!!!!!!!

TOO MUCH STUFF!!!! PART 1

Posted on January 24, 2015January 24, 2015 by miriambarrie

So tell the truth… How many of you have looked around your house or apartment and asked yourself how much stuff do you really need?

I know that I have accumulated stuff and have gotten rid of stuff only to accumulate again and again and again.

I bought books and sold books. I bought more books.

I bought clothes and I sold and/or donated clothes. I bought more clothes.

We have had garage sales. We have sold stuff on ebay. We have packed up stuff and are storing it in the attic, the basement, and the backyard sheds. But we still have stuff.

My walls are full of paintings. Maybe yours are full of photographs.

My shelves hold things I “need.” But I collect vintage tablecloths and I do not know why.

I have lots of handmade necklaces with so called semi precious stones from my working days when I had discretionary income. I have Vera Bradley bags when everyone thought they would be the next collectible. I have a few depression and carnival glassware pieces that I inherited from my dearest aunt.

I have all sorts of vases.

I have a wooden sign that sits atop my shelves in my office that says: ACHIEVE. For the love of God, achieve what?

to be continued

ADULT CHILDREN

Posted on January 14, 2015January 11, 2015 by miriambarrie

ADULT CHILDREN has to be an oxymoron. And it is confusing…very confusing.

A young colleague of mine once joked that her mother would still be breastfeeding her if she could.

You want your children to be independent but you also want them to want to live nearby. You want your children to be strong but you want to help them. You want your children to be self reliant but you don’t want them to be too proud to ask for support.

It is tricky. You love to shower them with things you never had and with support you never got. But you don’t want to smother them. You don’t want them to conclude that you don’t believe in them. But it really gives you pleasure to help. And you want to be part of their life. You have so much more experience and they are working and you have the time. However, when you help, you do not want to be taken advantage of, abused, or taken for granted. And you do not want to feel that you ARE the amazon fulfillment center or THE HELP. But you do want to be appreciated and loved.

A friend of mine answered “Yes” when I asked if we are trying to buy our children’s love. And I thought – that was refreshingly honest. I felt happy: Thank Goodness, I can afford to buy a piece of my children’s love and Thank Goodness, I cannot afford to buy all of their love!!!

WHAT IF?

Posted on January 12, 2015January 10, 2015 by miriambarrie

What if I stopped wishing that one – if not all – of my children would want to live nearby?

What if I thought ONLY about MY needs? What if I did not put anyone else’s needs before my own?

Would I want to live in my house? in the suburbs?

OR….

Would I want to move into the city? Would I want to feed on the vibrancy of city life?

Would I connect better to the NYC crowd?

Would I benefit from going to museums, attending lectures given by intellectuals? Would I participate in a vaster cultural life?

AND DARE I?

randomthoughtsfromthe60s

aging – kicking and screaming

aging