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"Celebrating the art of simple, charming, dollarwise living"

  • Writer's pictureKathryn Bechen

Good Things Lately




Hello, my lovelies!


It's time for another Good Things Lately post. Because contrary to what you see in the media day after day after day, life still has lots of good things too and I prefer to focus on and share little things that lift us up vs. drag us down. I hope you find these both useful and enjoyable! And have a few giggles, too. :)



Good Things for Your Kitchen


Summer will be upon us soon, so Steve and I plan on having a nice cool drink in our Secret Garden during the Arizona heat! So I bought these stemmed acrylic glasses as I don't like using glass anymore for senior safety reasons, and I was feeling like I needed something a little fancy lately. They arrived today and they are really nice! If you have a pool, this is the way to go so you don't have glass breakage.



Good Things for Curb Appeal


Steve has been working on adding some small dollarwise DIY curb appeal elements to the front of our home this spring. I will share that with you later here when he is finished. He painted something bright red today! As in Cherry Red according to the spray paint can so we shall see how that turns out. Stay tuned! It especially makes us happy when we drive up to the front of our little home to see a wreath on the door that seems to say, "Welcome Home!" This one that we just bought is large, full, and we love the colors!



Good Things for Your Face


I love Christina Moss Naturals Products. Especially her Bamboo Face/Body Scrub. It does have a lemongrass scent but even with my many allergies I can tolerate it if I wash my face with my favorite unscented soap/shampoo afterwards.



Good Things for Your Body


If you are aging*, check out Sherry Zak Morris' chair yoga dance videos. For once I found a yoga instructor who is fun and motivating without expecting me to get my 65 year old body wound into a pretzel! I love all of her routines set to songs from the old days -- especially the polka! And this disco one brings me back to my 1970s college dorm days! :) And some of her outdoor SoCal settings are beautiful. I emailed her and we have been having some nice email chats as I used to live in SoCal where she is located and come to find out, we are both Midwestern transplants who left blizzards and sub-zero weather for sunnier skies way back when! Sherry also has a video on how she took care of herself naturally during Covid. I was personally so impressed as I like using natural means for my health whenever possible too.


*We are all aging from birth onward, and I wish I had begun yoga when I was young!



Good Things for Your Bank Account


I have collected quotes for much of my long life and I saw this quote the other day and loved it:


"I believe thrift is essential to a well-ordered life." --John D. Rockefeller


Did you see who said that?!


And I don't know who the Sophie Tucker below is who said this one, but she's got it down pat, I think ...


"From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents, from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35 to 55 she needs a good personality, and from 55 on she needs cash." --Sophie Tucker



Good Things for Your Retirement Years


What does retirement mean to you? I like what the Tireless Retirement lady has to say about that in her blog post Retirement Means Different Things to Different People. And she has some wonderful homemade recipes too and pretty gardens in her yard. I don't know her, but I can tell from her blog she's one organized and resourceful lady.



Good Things for Your Website or Blog


I have hired Jacob @ Market Street Web for two websites/blogs over the years and he has done a great job for me. I have found him to be conscientious, courteous, smart about website design, fairly priced, and patient. I have hired many website designers over the years as I have had several sites and blogs. Some were excellent, some terrible, and some in-between. (In my opinion.) Jacob stands out for the reasons I already said and I would hire him again.


That's all the goodies for now. I will be back here to show you how we purposely streamlined our little home over the last few months and then refreshed things a bit decoratively on our dollarwise retirees budget. Our "Bed & Breakfast Style" master bedroom with my home office "suite" in the corner is pretty much done and I really like how it all came together slowly but surely.


Something I like to remind myself about as I strive to live intentionally:


"I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday." --Eleanor Roosevelt


Blessings,


Kathryn :)






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