The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

What presidents are celebrated on Presidents’ Day?

What are your plans for Presidents’ Day? Enjoying a day off? Exercising? Reading? Binge watching TV programs? Shopping? Working? Cleaning house?

I bet not many people are thinking about their favorite president today or about citizen participation to help our government work better.

Again this year, I’ve been seeing the Mount Rushmore presidents on a Presidents’ Day articles. In addition to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, many people are adding the two other Mount Rushmore presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, to honor.

What are the best chocolates to buy for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day?

Like most people, I love chocolate – any kind of chocolate. A box of chocolate from the supermarket or drug store are fine with me. However, I really enjoy Belgium chocolate when I visit my daughter in Madrid.

So, since I’m not a chocolate connoisseur, I read a dozen articles that recommended the best chocolates.

Most often rated highly in the articles are Godiva Chocolatier, Jacques Torres Chocolate, L.A. Burdick Chocolates, La Maison du Chocolat, Lindt, Michel Cluizel, Recchiuti Confections, and Vosges Haut-Chocolat.

Boomers: Still keepin’ on

 

Fifty years ago, 1968 was a tumultuous year for baby boomers. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. Students all over the world protested the Vietnam War, and Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.

Next year, will be the 50^th anniversary of Woodstock. How time flies.

Meanwhile, boomer bloggers keep on writing. This week they’re reporting on how to deal with trauma, change and how to keep a positive attitude, inexpensive ways to reduce your environmental footprint, how airport travel is all about hurry up and wait, nontoxic skin care, and healing candles infused with crystals and botanicals.

Carol Cassara of Heart·Mind·Soul describes these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #556. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Boomer Bloggers enjoy the Fourth and offer new reflections

This Fourth of July, I was really lucky. My daughter and my two grandchildren came to visit from Spain. We enjoyed the community parade in the morning of the Fourth, then planned to have dinner at the festival before the fireworks. However, my granddaughter wasn’t feeling well so we had dinner at home. A lucky thing happened though – we could see the fireworks well from my backyard.

Another boomer blogger, Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting attended a concert celebrating the Fourth of July, followed by ice cream at the best scoop place in town. Her local symphony orchestra performed a variety of popular, familiar tunes. Curious about the writers and composers of the music, Baer investigated and discovered several were immigrants or first-generation Americans. Read about her findings in “Celebrating Our Diversity.”

Two years ago, Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com went to a Fourth of July party in Hollywood. She sat down next to actor Norman Lloyd, who was 101 at the time. He regaled the table with tales of what it was like to work with Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock to name a few. This year, Rebecca went to the same party and Norman was there again at 103, still telling stories, eating chicken, corn on the cob, and enjoying his Sangria

Other boomer bloggers are reflecting on life:

No matter what our age, we all set goals and make plans, Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin says. We've got things that we want to accomplish and midyear is a great time to check in on your goals to see how you're doing and if you need to make any adjustments. Find out more by taking a look at Koshak’s article on how to do a midyear check-in of your goals.

Do you take time to reflect on your life? asks Sue Loncaric from Sizzling Towards Sixty. Do you indulge yourself in memories or feel trapped by them? Are you ready for new beginnings? Loncaric guest, in the Over 50 and Thriving Guest Series, this week poses these questions to us as she reflects on her own Life Over 50. Read her article “Reflecting on My Life Over 50 – Old Memories and New Beginnings.”

Laura Lee Carter of the Adventures of the New Old Farts is reflecting on the fact that after a week of evacuation, nasty smoke, and a gigantic sense of foreboding, she and her husband's new solar home didn't burn up in the third largest wildfire in Colorado history. Read all about it in "Hallelujah! Our Home Is Saved." 

Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty this week offers a reflection on how “Time Goes By...” Here's how his post begins: "The other day I was in the kitchen and my wife B was doing something in the living room. I heard her whistling, although I wasn't paying attention to what it was. Suddenly I heard her screech: . . . "

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #554. Click on the links above to read the articles. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

 

Happy Fourth of July

My spirits are good this July Fourth because my daughter and grandchildren are here visiting from Spain. We have such fun on their summer visits.

However, I'm continuing to be discouraged about President Donald Trump, and how he comes up with bad policy after bad policy that are harmful to consumers and the environment. After about 18 months of terrible decisions, including acting like a fool in North Korea, his administration decides to separate immigrant children from their parents and put them in cages.

As a person who has worked for government, in good government groups, and as a journalist covering consumer issues, it's depressing to have a man like Donald Trump as the president of our great nation. Trump and his cronies are working to dismantle the institutions that have been developed to serve the American public. That the Republicans could give a huge tax cut to corporate America, then propose cutting Medicare and Medicaid to balance the budget is despicable. There’s no end to the harm and corruption that Trump and the Republicans are carrying out daily.

While watching the frightening adoption of traditional conservative Republican policies damaging our government institutions is horrific, Trump’s "white identity" politics spreading hate are beyond belief.

For some reason, I think it’s going to be over soon and our great nation will rise again.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Facts and figures for Father’s Day 2018

What are your plans for Father's Day this year? Will you be taking your dad out to dinner or buying him a tie? Or, will you be taking a walk or a hike with your dad?

Spending

This year, 77 percent of Americans will celebrate Father’s Day and spend an average of $133 per person, treating dad to special outings, clothing, gift cards, electronics, and more, according to a survey prepared for the National Retail Federation.

The expected spending is second only to last year’s $15.5 billion, the highest in the 15-year history of the survey at an average $135 per person. Consumers between 25 and 34 years old will be the biggest spenders this year at an average $188 per person.

Dads

Here are facts on fathers from the U.S. Census Bureau:

On Flag Day, think about what you can do to improve our democracy

Today is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the American flag.

To me, the U.S. flag stands for democracy. As a supporter of government and a believer that everyone should participate in our government to make it the best it can be, I find it upsetting that so many conservatives hate government and are teaching others, especially children, to hate it.

Flag Day is a good day to figure out what you can do to make your nation and community better. Here are 10 ways to make it so:

Baby boomer blogs blooming in April

It’s that time of year when the daffodils and the boomers are all blooming. Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin reports a Daffodil Festival is offered every year in her part of Connecticut. But festival or not, the boomers like to keep you updated.

They’re writing about valuing your self-worth, reaching out a helping hand to someone who needs it, reducing the amount of pesticides you and your children eat, watching the “Handmaiden’s Tale,” returning to a grandparents’ summer retreat, and critiquing the 2018 Correspondents’ Dinner.

Koshak reports on these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #544. Click here to get the links to these articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Happy Earth Day 2018

At no time in our nation’s history have we faced bigger environmental challenges than we face today.

With the Trump administration slashing environmental rules, such as regulations that prohibit factory waste from being dumped into rivers, we are in danger of losing hard-fought environmental gains that have been made over the last several decades.

It’s imperative that consumers stand up for the environment. In addition to working individually on environmental issues in your community, you can join an environmental organization

Here are organizations I think do good work:

Baby boomers love spring and Easter

Doesn’t everyone have a great Easter story? Laura Lee Carter tells us that many years ago she and her mom were visiting her parents in a small town in Missouri. On a beautiful spring day, they were on a walk and noticed small candy eggs laying around in a park. So, they picked up a few. Ten minutes later kids arrived, yelling and all worked up. Suddenly, they got it. They were stealing candy from children. Quickly, they re-hide them.

Carter reports other boomer bloggers are writing about welcoming spring and the opportunity for new beginnings, releasing what no longer serves you, soaking up the sun and light in early spring, remembering long drives in the country with mom, sharing memories of Easter, getting involved in something engaging that gives a sense of purpose in life, and sampling cocktails created by women in the 19^th and early 20^th century.

Carter, who blogs at the Adventures of the New Old Farts, reports on these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #540. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist