I feel soooooo happy and content today! Why you ask? Well, after just a week shy of 3 months, our house is about done being rehabbed, (at least as far as we intend to go with it.) Yesterday, the painters finished painting the entire exterior of the house including replacing rotted facia board where needed and then painted that as well. They painted our little sidewalk leading up to our front door and the house looks perky and freshly done. It looks like a very cute antique cottage loved by its two antique inhabitants.

But the REALLY happy part came for me today when we were finally getting to the end touches of our home. We were cleaning and returning furniture and stuff to the back porch after the paint was dry. Then while cleaning indoors, I put a vase of flowers on the table behind our sofa, layed out some woven runners on table top surfaces, as well as some very lovely hand stitched hardanger embroidery pieces for side tables, dressers and buffets. The more I added the things I loved to our surroundings, the happier I became and the more connected I felt to times gone by.

Who decides what is “in” or “out” in decorating anyway? I have long known that I am an old soul, so things that appeal to me likely do not appeal to the younger generation. Nor do they hecessarily appeal to those of my own peers who are always looking to have the latest and greatest. What a hamster wheel THAT is anyway!

Then came the time to decide where to put our Bose multi-c.d. player and we finally agreed on a spot. We ran to get our c.d. library albums and popped in an “Asleep at the Wheel” 25th anniversary c.d. and off we went on a couple of waltz steps across the floor just as if we were in an old dance hall! Goodness, there is that word again. (Old) Dang! Well phooey on that, we are only as old as we feel and we do not feel one bit old, even now, a week after our golden anniversary! Nope…not when our souls and spirits are ageless. Swing, sway, dip, glide, glide, glide! Ahhh! The stuff happiness is made of!

Over the past couple of years as we were minimizing our things tossing, giving, selling and bequeathing 50 years of stuff, I kept a tight grip on my c.d. player. I have many, many albums of c.d. ‘s and they are chock full of most all of the music we love. Because our favorite music includes a vast array of genre’s, I just could not part with them, and besides, the amount of money invested in these over the years is not a small sum!

The kids kind of chuckled at our antiquated way of listening to music, but they were not there for our parting of the ways with our 45’s and 33 1/3 L.P.’s to make room for the 8 track tapes. Nor were they aware when we tossed the 8 track tapes in favor of the smaller and more portable cassette tapes. They WERE there, but unbothered by the relinquishing of our cassettes in favor of the new “mini records” known as c.d.’s! Then the MP3 players showed up and it was there where we dug our heels in and said “ENOUGH ALREADY!”. We are all done supporting the marketing department of the music business. We are glad we continued to hoard our c.d.’s and put them into albums dedicated to whatever genre they belong to for we can access them anytime we want!

Our kids say, “But, Mom! You can take it right off the phone and have it play on your speaker! Why bother with c.d. ‘s?” Well, they are correct in that regard because we have done this when staying in hotels on vacations and enjoyed the music in our room or on the balcony, wherever we happened to be. So it does make sense in that kind of setting..

BUT….and this is a big BUT, will I always be able to find exactly the music I want to listen to on demand???? What if the powers that be in the tech world decide to ditch some of our favorite music. Oh no! I am not taking a chance on that! No M’am! No Sir!

Why do so many of us feel compelled to toss everything that isn’t the most current and up to date, whether it is music, clothes, cars or even houses! Why are we so wasteful and why do we assume because something has come out that is newer, it is automatically better?

As I type this, my foot is tapping while I listen to easy western swing music…I am feeling very happy vibes and as I listen to this western swing group, I scan the room and spot my little vase of fresh flowers, a small flame flickering on a scented candle, and note the brightness of my cozy little home, all while I am sipping some very hot lemon ginger tea.

I love our new older home. We have NO intention of updating it in every category…We just aimed for fresh paint, new shutters, wood floors and repairs. There ARE other things that could be updated, but we are unbothered by these things. There is no pretention at this house. Just two older people who are happy to let go of “keeping current” while we embrace ALL things that make us smile and cause our heart to swell!

(Now, WHERE did I put those old hip hugger, bell bottom pants? I’ll bet they will REALLY hug my hips these days!) Lol!

Ciao! ❤️🥰😘