First aid in the world…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 17, 2012 with 0 Comment

Soon it will be too late to order any further supplies for our journey. Many items (always new, unopened and unused) come from all over the world often requiring four to six weeks delivery time.

As of this coming upcoming Wednesday, we’ll leave Minnesota on Halloween, in exactly six weeks. We won’t be able to conveniently receive packages after we leave. (More on receiving mail next month).

As a result of these time constraints, my thoughts went into full gear, reviewing every item we are packing in addition to our completed wardrobes, to analyze if there are any items we may need.

A month ago while cleaning cupboards and drawers, I started gathering first aid items, creating a homemade “kit” placing everything in a sturdy plastic bag: Band-aids, sterile pads and gauze, antibiotic cream, hydrogen peroxide, liquid bandage, ace bandage, knee supporter, shoulder sling, temporary ice packs and a heating pad.

Let’s face it, those of us folks over 60 may have aches and pains from time to time. Adding some Aleve, Tylenol, and Motrin to our kit made it feel complete.

The first aid kit securely packed in an orange Antler bag, (we paid $111 each a few months ago. Note price increase), I felt confident that any additional items we may need most likely could be purchased at any nearby grocery store or pharmacy.

Why bring all of these items when we could purchase them in any country? Simply for economic reasons. While living in the 17th century renovated farmhouse in Tuscany all next summer we’ll be renting a car from time to time.
Daily, we’ll walk to the open market for items for dinner, a bouquet of flowers or a bottle of wine. Perhaps once a week, we’ll rent a car for a day or two to drive the five miles to a grocery store, take a drive to explore the area and dine at a recommended restaurant.

Upon returning the rental car, we’ll travel on foot until the next week, perhaps going on a local daily four mile walking tour of historical homes and buildings.

Cooking dinner with the farm fresh ingredients, let’s say I cut my finger, not requiring stitches, a common occurrence in our kitchen. The first aid kit prevents the cost of a cab, the inflated price at the pharmacy for supplies and, peace of mind.

The achy knee, the pinched shoulder, so familiar in our day-to-day lives, are easily treated at home with our own supplies and over-the-counter products.

With one third of our time on cruises during the first five months, these items may come in handy. Have you ever seen a final bill on a cruise after a trip to the medical clinic for a minor injury? A cut finger, antibiotic cream and a bandage from a visit with the nurse or doctor, may result in a $300 bill. That’s one expensive Band-aid!

Over the past month additional thoughts for preparedness of the kit kept popping into my mind eventually driving me back to Amazon.com.

Here are the items we added to the kit. (Amazon prevents easy “copy and paste” features of their items. Please excuse the formatting).

Imagine the benefit of having this product on hand
when cut is deep but not requiring stitches.

3M Steri Strip Skin Closures 1/4” X 3” – 10 Packages of 3 By STERI
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews) | Like
(23)

Price: $6.75

Certainly, most doctors or dentists would cringe at our planned self-treatment. We understand the risks. Our goal will always be to put safety first, never taking outrageous risks with our lives of limbs.

Part of the magic of our adventure is to go where we want to go, that is safe for travelers; when we want to go, within the confines of our rental agreements and transportation schedules; continue on as long as we mutually desire, and for as long as our health allows.

Freedom…with certain reasonable constraints. Nonetheless…freedom.

Its all in the details…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 15, 2012 with 0 Comment

Our crab cracking and dining tools

As a person entrenched in the details, it’s not unusual to me that I have six tools one could use to crack crab legs: two types of crackers, two types of crab scissors, a pick and a small fork, service for eight. It’s not coincidental that I have service for eight. Who would want to “shell out” (couldn’t resist) enough crab legs for more than eight people?

This came to mind yesterday when I recklessly spent $48 for two bags of king crab legs plus $28 for the accompanying grass fed New York strip steaks.

This is for three of us for Sunday night’s dinner; Tom and I and our friend Sue, who comes for dinner every Sunday night since the passing of her dear husband and our beloved friend Chip. She’s a trooper. Our hearts break for her. They were our role models as a happy, retired couple. Now, we are witnessing the depth of the loss of a beloved partner, excruciatingly sorrowful, a double whammy.

We laugh, we cry and we tell endless stories of our 26 years here on the point. (You can read about Chip in my post on June 1, 2012 found here in the archives). We three deserve steak and crab.

The combined cost of the meat at $76, plus the veggies and the salad, it may prove to be a $90 dinner at $30 each. We seldom eat in a restaurant. However, each of the past two Saturday nights we did, first at Osaka in Coon Rapids with daughter and family and then at Biella In Excelsior with son and his wife.

Dining in those restaurants, the average cost per person was in the $40 range. This justifies my $30 per person cost dining at home on this special night. After all, this is one of five remaining Sunday nights we have left before we leave for our world wide adventure.

Around the 15th of October, the processing of the estate sale begins leaving us no longer able to cook while everything in the cabinets and drawers; the dishes, the silverware, my gadgets and the pots and pans will be marked for sale. Ouch. My gadgets. Bye, bye, gadgets.

So today, while Tom is off to our oldest grandson’s football game, I’ll stay behind and begin the process of going through my many cookbooks.

Most of my favorite recipes have been scanned, leaving hundreds we’ll never enjoy again due to our low carb, gluten free, grain free, starch free and sugar free diet.

This diet gave us back our health, evident in the amazing blood test results we each received this past Thursday after Monday’s final doctor appointment. Best results ever. Everything perfect. The diet worked. We’ll never fail to remember that we wouldn’t be able to travel the world for the next number of years if we hadn’t greatly improved our health by eating in this restricted manner. A small sacrifice in the realm of things.

However, king crab and steak is no sacrifice, allowable for our way of eating. Besides, I can’t wait to set the table one last time with those six crab utensils before some crazy detail orientated fool such as I, buys all eight sets for a ridiculously low price.

Hum, could I fit two sets of crab tools inside a shoe in one of the six orange suitcases? Or perhaps, four sets in case we have company.

Our final doctor appointments…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 11, 2012 with 0 Comment

With a degree of angst we headed out yesterday afternoon with empty stomachs in preparation for blood tests to our last doctor appointments, Tom’s and mine scheduled together for a full hour. I imagine that most people don’t enjoy going to the doctor, but for me it is a dreaded experience.

Doctor, dentist, Ob-Gyn and optometrist all fall into the same category. I don’t like it, don’t want it, don’t want to take my clothes off, don’t want anyone looking in my mouth or other such places and don’t want to stand on that disgusting scale. No, no, no!

We had to go. Yes, I know, it would be our last appointment for a long while (hopefully). Obviously, I have some type of “issues” around this, a mixed bag of good and bad. That which makes me diligent, impatient, goal orientated and downright persistent adds to my ability to spend endless hours planning our year’s long world adventure.

On the flip side, it makes me feel “out of control” to have a stranger poking and prodding at me, obviously looking for something wrong as opposed to something right. Perhaps everyone feels the same way. Perhaps the only difference is that I am more vocal about it.

So, off we went to our long time physician Dr. Dennis Showalter of Park Nicollet, a youngish (40″), kind, physically fit and smart man, for our final appointments (except for one more travel clinic appointment for each of us, Tom’s later this week, mine in early October).

Greeted with, “Do you have your insurance card and ID?” as opposed to a cheerful “hello” never ceases to amaze me. I suppose the job of doctor office assistant is demanding, wrought with frustration. Answering the endless array of the same questions over and over, accompanied by grumpy comments from ill patients (who also don’t want to be there), pushes them over the edge.

When calling for an appointment they grumble their name immediately asking, “What’s your name and date of birth?” I cringe while giving them my age, something I am otherwise not ashamed of, having posted it many times in this blog. I literally cringe. Knowing their job is thankless, I go overboard with kindness and thoughtfulness, complying with their every wish.

I refused to go on the scale. Tom was standing right there, edging me on. I have weighed myself in front of him at home. I’m skinny, but still, as a woman, I have the same insecurity about “the number.”

Tom jumps on the scale with an enthusiastic bounce. I remind him to take off his “three pound tennis shoes.” He laughs and says he doesn’t care. Oh, yeah, he’s a guy. His weight was five pounds more than at home naked on the digital scale; heavy jeans, tee shirt, keys in pockets, wallet and those shoes. “OK, maybe the home scale is accurate after all,” I think.

We’re escorted to a room, blood pressures checked by another rushed assistant and left alone. Tom squeezes my hand aware of my discomfort. He tells me a joke. I didn’t get it, a guy joke but I laughed anyway. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention.

Moments later, a light knock on the door and in walks the tall, slender doctor, an example of robust health, warmth in his eyes, hand extended.

An hour later, a year’s worth of prescriptions on hand to be mailed to CanadaDrugs.com (please see my post as to how we’ll handle prescriptions from afar) for the best pricing. (Tom went from four prescriptions down to one from our low carb, gluten-free, sugar-free, grain-free, starch-free diet over the past year). Doc was impressed at his weight loss. He didn’t ask me why I didn’t get on the scale. He knows.

We meandered off to the lab down the hall to have “every blood test known to man” for one final check before we go on our year’s long worldwide adventure. One test that we determined to be crucial, in the event of an emergency, was blood typing. This information wasn’t in either of our charts. Good information to know, just in case.Holding hands, Tom and I left the clinic, smiling from ear to ear, me relieved it was over, Tom was anxious to get home to enjoy the remainder of the day he had taken off work for this appointment.

Thank you, Dr. S. Hopefully, in a year, we’ll have our online Skype appointment with him to review of our health and refills. Perhaps, we’ll use our portable travel scale and maybe, just maybe, I’ll weigh myself on it!

Abundant trade offs…

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 9, 2012 with 0 Comment

As a logical, numbers crunching individual, I learned a long time ago, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

The literal translation of this phrase may be construed as:

When enjoying lunch with a friend, who enthusiastically states, “I’m buying,” most often a thought ran through my mind of “Wow, free lunch! One less meal I have to buy.” Nope, it’s not free.

The trade off? Next time, I’ll buy lunch or, next time when the friend calls at 10 PM for emotional support, I’ll listen. Or next time the friend needs a ride when their car breaks down, I’m all over it. No, there’s no free lunch.

Remove any resentment or sense of obligation from the mix and we have a cooperative sharing relationship, friendship, a human condition entrenched in trade-offs. No doubt, we relish in the opportunity to be a part of this magical experience, not only in friendship but in all relationships.

Within our hearts, the “unconditional love” we profess, for our children and grandchildren, we seek pleasure, pride, laughter and return of love. No, we don’t abandon them when unfulfilled, but we grievously hunger for reciprocation continually trying to inch closer.

No free lunch, this life. No free lunch, traveling the world. Sacrifices? Yes, many. Beside the obvious of leaving those we love, leaving the familiarity of the home we have treasured for 26 years and leaving the security blanket of predictable, but not mundane life as we’ve known it, we leave behind our most valued “creature comforts.”

What are they? Will we find alternatives to replace them or will our interest in them entirely dissipate over time? They include:

Our bed: A California King Sleep Number with split top mattresses with dual controls, with the ability to raise and lower the head and the foot for maximum comfort. After many years of suffering with advanced degenerative disk disease, this bed has been a life saver not only for me but also for Tom.

My pillow: A Tempur-Pedic neck pillow that has been highly instrumental in improving my sleep. Unable to imagine life without this pillow, Tom and I used a SpaceBag and our cute little vacuum with the hope and expectation that we could shrink the pillow sufficiently enough to pack it to travel around the world with us. It’s much smaller after sucking out the air, although heavy as a rock. Maybe, maybe not.

My Tempur-Pedic neck pillow before deflation

My Tempur-Pedic neck pillow after deflation

Our two comfy chairs: Whether a sofa, a love seat or a chair, we all have a favorite place to park our butts at the end of a task filled day. With our two comfy Flexsteel chairs, positioned perfectly in front of the big screen TV, we have spent endless hours together entertaining ourselves by laughing, talking, watching our favorite shows (many ridiculous) and lounging. We never sleep in these chairs. We each have the habit of awakening one another if we spot the other’s eyes begin to close. Why we do this? I don’t know.

Our TVs: Whether cooking or eating in the kitchen, the TV is on in the background, although we’re seldom fully engaged in a show. In the evenings after dinner, we head to the family room to the above mentioned chairs, laptops whirring on our laps as we begin our nightly ritual of talking, laughing, commenting, sharing a funny email and simply having a great time.

Our dessert: Ah, a year ago, when we both decided to go gluten-free, grain-free, starch-free, sugar-free and low carb, I quit baking the elaborate desserts we used to enjoy each night after dinner. Tom got fatter and I exercised harder. Here are a few of our former desserts, now replaced with healthier low carb, gluten free, sugar free items:

Elaborate dessert: Homemade Ice Cream Cake, perfect for a hot summer night. Bye, bye, cake!

Elaborate dessert: Homemade Puff Pastry Napolean! No more!

Elaborate dessert: Homemade Butterscotch Meringue Pie (I used 12 eggs whites)! Never again!

New dessert: Unsweetened Greek Yogurt topped with GF, SF, low carb chocolate sauce, unsweetened organic shredded coconut and bits of low carb chocolate coconut protein bar. Not bad at all! (Tom won’t try this).

Our ice machine: Eight years ago when we renovated our kitchen we added a SubZero ice machine. It was easy to adopt the habit of first loading our insulated, handled mugs with ice to the brim and then pouring in our favorite iced tea, Crystal Light (using two packets to 1/2 gallon of purified water, as opposed to one packet). Our four little ice cube trays, now filled with jewelry, yet to be packed, will make enough ice to last most of a day.

Creature comforts will now be replaced with creatures, big and small. Comfortable beds, comfy furniture and my pillow traded for lumpy discomfort? Maybe. TV replaced with reading downloaded books, playing games, sitting outside at night staring at the stars, listening to the sound of the ocean, the roar of a lion, the laughter in the streets. Desserts may impossible to make with limited availability of ingredients and icy drinks may be a thing of the past.

Trade-offs? Yes, many. As Tom always says after we’ve rearranged the furniture, “Give me some time. I’ll get used to it.”

Peace of mind…priceless!

Posted by worldwide-admin on September 5, 2012 with 0 Comment

Our business cards arrived a few days ago.

Now, when asked by an interested party to write down our blog address, we can simply pull out a card, avoiding the task of finding a pen, paper and writing out our of our lengthy web address in our illegible handwriting.

Please note the change in both of our email addresses as indicated on the card. We gladly share these with our readers. Of course, we welcome email messages as well as comments on our blog. We will promptly respond to all comments and questions as soon as possible.

Over the past few days, we’ve made a few necessary, albeit boring, purchases. We bought two RFID blocking passport wallets at Identity Stronghold, one for each of us.

The special metal guard implanted into the leather of the wallets reduces the risk of identity theft by scammers usually lurking in airports, hotels and malls preventing them from being able to scan our identity from our credit cards, driver’s licenses and passports while in our pockets or handbag! They can illegally purchase a $100 scanning device to be “in business” leaving us in a potential disastrous situation.

As we sucked the air from the Space Bags with the little vacuum (please see prior post from 9/3) placing three vacuum sealed bags into each of my three large suitcases on Sunday, I contemplated the wrinkles in my clothes.

Many of our clothes are wrinkle free, not all. We love cotton for its natural fiber, cool absorbency and long wear, although the wrinkly look is not appealing to either of us. With a wide array of clothing, mostly casual, some dressy, and a few in the mid-range for travel days, we will have some wrinkle resistant items.

I like to iron, always have. I iron my everyday tee shirts, most of which are 95% cotton and with 5% spandex which adds to their durability, ability to retain shape and provide a comfortable feel. I iron Tom’s casual shirts for weekend wear, not his work shirts. I don’t iron sheets, jeans or underwear! OK? I’m not totally obsessive!

Upon reading, which items may be confiscated on cruises, irons fell into the same category as bottles of alcoholic beverages; not allowed. No alcoholic beverage aboard ship to allow the cruise lines to make money and, no irons to avoid a fire aboard ship. I appreciate the iron policy. The booze policy, not so much. End result, we needed to bring along a travel steamer (which is allowed).

Yes, I know, take a shower and hang the clothes in the steamy bathroom. Alas, wrinkles are gone. I have tried this dozens of times to no avail. The wrinkles may be gone in the main body of the item. but remain in the collar, sleeves and button tabs. Not good enough. We bought a steamer.

BTW, I researched eBay for these items. I hesitated on these items fearing they’d be “knock-offs” presenting a huge risk. As for the steamer, after reading dozens a reviews I noticed more complaints on eBay than on other sites, indicating the steamers may be “seconds,” “refurbished” or returns. It wasn’t worth the risk to save a few dollars.

The third purchase we made in the past few days, again, not that interesting, but necessary was compression stockings. Here again, this is an item I didn’t feel safe purchasing from eBay. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a serious consideration when sitting on an airplane for extended periods, can be a concern for travelers of any age. Our extensive research suggested wearing compression stockings to minimize this risk and, of course, getting up and walking around every hour.

Here’s our purchase from Discount Surgical Stockings the unisex version, two pairs khaki, one black, one white, all in size medium to fit both of us. Tom suggested we buy two pairs each in the event we leave a sock behind in a dryer. Great idea.

$11.95 As low as $10.95

Medium 15-20mm Hg Support
Closed Toe
Casual Sock
Extra Cushioning
Moisture Wicking

All of these items may be instrumental in reducing the risks or, not. If nothing else, our minds are at ease regarding these concerns, allowing us to focus on any unknown risks that we’ll surely face in the future.

Now, on to a vigorous hour long walk with my neighbors, more packing in preparation for shipping a few boxes of memorabilia to son Richard in Henderson, NV who’s roomy alarm protected, air conditioned house and garage allows us additional peace of mind in safely storing valuables with no risk of water damage, humidity or tornadoes.

Ah, peace of mind…can’t get enough of it!

Estate sale, pantyhose and Eggs Benedict…What???

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 28, 2012 with 6 Comments

Ha, ha! A lifetime of panty hose that I pulled out of a dresser drawer! I can’t imagine these would sell at the estate sale!

Over the past many months in preparation for unloading all of a lifetime possessions, I’ve emptied drawers, closets, and a few cupboards. After all, we are living here, continuing to prepare meals, do mountains of laundry, endlessly entertain and amuse ourselves utilizing copious technological devices.

As time marches near, two months and four days from today, I peruse the items left on the shelves, in the closets, packed into kitchen cabinets and overstuffed drawers and of course, the intimating array of tools and miscellany in our old basement, Tom’s domain.

What’ll we do with all of this “stuff?”

We’ve packed no less than 15 totes of items (the tip of the iceberg) to sell at our upcoming estate sale beginning on Thursday, October 25th, jammed into one of our three guest rooms. Good grief! No overnight guests, please! There’s no room to walk around the bed, let alone lay in it!

Another guest room is jammed with banker’s boxes of six years’ of tax returns, plastic totes filled to the brim with “can’t part with” Christmas decorations, photo albums and memorabilia, to be stored by our adult kids (thanks kids!).

Other than the storage of these six totes, we will have no storage, no “stuff”, nada, nothing when we own other than the luggage in our possession.

Months ago, we arranged with Jim Anderson, owner of Caring Estate Sales to conduct our sale. We’ve met with him twice, spoken to him on the phone a few times, feeling confident about having chosen him.

When we met with him, he specifically stated, “Take everything you want to keep out of the house before October 25th; luggage, totes for the kids to store, food in cupboards, leaving behind everything to be sold, including the clothes in the closets. Leave everything in its place! Don’t pack.”

I packed the 15 totes. Why? I don’t know why. I just did it. It made sense months ago to start going through everything, tossing unwanted unusable items, taking usable items to Goodwill (which I did) while sifting for morsels of memorabilia. Now I must stop.

Speaking to Jim again yesterday, apologizing for asking the same question over and over, acknowledging this would be the last time I’d ask, “Do I really leave “stuff” in the cupboards, closets, drawers? Does Tom need to go through everything in the basement, sorting and tossing?”

His answer, “Yes, leave the stuff in its place and no, Tom doesn’t have to go through anything in the basement. We prefer to do everything ourselves, pricing as we go. You will inspect and approve the items and the pricing before the sale begins.”

I’m flabbergasted! It finally sinks in: leave everything in its place. Stop packing except our luggage and the totes for kids.

What does this leave me to do in regard to “stuff” only, that I haven’t done thus far? (Bear with me, it helps to make a partial list to which I continually add as I really dig in after Labor Day. I’ll copy and paste the list to my “to do” tab in Excel).

Empty and clean the two refrigerators and huge freezer in the basement, the Subzero in the kitchen, distributing all usable food to our kids and neighbors.

2 Clean out all the food in the storage room in the basement and all food in kitchen cabinets.

3. Remove all wine from the Subzero wine cooler in the kitchen, beer in the basement and distribute them to family and friends.

4. Empty and clean cabinets in bathrooms of all toiletries.

5. Finish cleaning dresser drawers of all personal effects such as underwear and pantyhose as in above photo (who’d buy used pantyhose or underwear, anyway?)

6. Clean Tom’s walk-in closet. He has the equivalent of three large totes of relatively useless papers to go through.

7. Go through all the kitchen drawers in search of memorabilia

8/ Go through all of my approximate 100 cookbooks, scanning favorite recipes, keeping in mind our low carb, gluten-free, sugar-free, wheat and grain-free diet. (Good job to start today!)

Of course, this list does not include trip related tasks: second passports, visas, banking, doctor appointments, final immunizations, prescriptions, insurance, selling our cars, setting up our mailing service in Nevada, changing addresses for all of our insurance, credit cards, banking, etc., on and on.

I’ve had way too much time to think about all this. Realistically, if we waited until the last month, we’d somehow get all of this done.

Now, I have to go dig out my favorite recipe for Hollandaise Sauce from The New Antionette Pope School Cook Book, published in 1973.

This is my double boiler which purchased years ago at an estate sale for $2. I gave it to my friend Karen who kindly offered her home when we’ll need a place to stay before the sale begins at our house.

It is this very recipe that assisted me in winning First Place in an Eggs Benedict Contest entitled, ‘The 1986 Eggs Benedict-Off”. Here’s the recipe for the sauce. Its much easier than it looks.

I must make this recipe one more time before the sale using my absolutely perfect 1950’s glass double boiler that I bought 30 years ago at a garage sale for $2. OK, I will go get the double boiler from the storage room in the basement and take a photo which is below. Bye, double boiler. Hello, world.

Page 1 of recipe. Click to enlarge

Page 2 of recipe

Memories, light the corners of my mind…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 26, 2012 with 0 Comment

At times we find ourselves listening attentively to an animated senior citizen, hanging onto their every word, of a bygone era filled with breathtaking stories far removed from our own reality.

Many of us envision a blissful time when we will be that senior, finally at peace with our own mortality, sharing such stories with a younger generation, hoping that they will glean a delectable morsel of the wisdom that ultimately will carry them through life.

Often, we hear the same stories over and over, to the point that we remember them better than they, finding ourselves filling in the blanks to kindly and lovingly help them along. Many of the stories go back 50, perhaps 60 or 70 years ago.

Somewhere along the way, time seemingly stood still while no new stories were gathered, to be embellished or to be shared with the wide-eyed young recipients. In time, to the older crowd, the retold stories are gently perceived as snooze-worthy, tolerated and bemused. With love, we smile, we laugh, we ask questions we’ve asked many times before, and, we act surprised.

It’s charming. It’s precious. But deep inside that angelic soul, a story is told of a life that was once lived a long time ago.

Is that our fate? As we enter the last third of our lives, can we choose to begin again, a new phase, a new chapter, filled with awe and wonder while living in the moment building stories we can share tomorrow, in a week, a month or a year? Can we overlap our stories as we live them to the fullest, events big or small, trivial or profound? Yes, we can.

Today, we can see a white squirrel run through the trees in our yard, snap a photo to share it tomorrow with an inattentive five year old, and suddenly their eyes look upward in hopes of seeing the flash of white leaping from tree to tree. This becomes a story, relevant, today.

A few days later, we’re playing cards with the neighbors laughing so hard we throw back our head and our glasses fly into the air, landing in the fruit bowl on the table and then, we laugh some more. This is a story. We laugh again when telling it, hoping they will laugh along with us. And they do.

Life is big and small, adventurous and dull, quiet and lively. Stories of today and tomorrow, interspersed with those of long along, may help us find our way to a fuller life that only ends, when it ends.

Lost in the minutiae…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 24, 2012 with 0 Comment

If we hadn’t had over six months to plan our travels for the next five to ten years, it would have seemed impossible, bogged down in the details. So far, I keep taking deep breaths moving closer each day, some days at a crawl, others days a marathon.

Unloading our home and everything we have accumulated in a lifetime, except for a few totes our kids will store, the six suitcases, two carry on bags, computer bags and handbags (Tom’s murse), could be overwhelming in a shorter time frame.

Not only must we continually address the travel planning, the shots, the doctor appointments, the insurance policies, the retirement board, but also the mounting piles of paperwork to prepare, scan or shred.

In the interim, we have “life” to live, dinners to cook, clothes to wash, flowers to water, everyday errands to run and most importantly, family to see as often as possible. Fit in time with friends, daily walks, answering email, Facebook lurking and time rapidly flies by, two months and eight days until we walk out the door, leaving Minnesota and everyone we love behind.

Oh, I’m not complaining. Actually, I love every moment. This in itself, is a joy filled time, complex with never ending challenge, hopeful solutions and tons of new information flooding my brain. I didn’t know “it” had room after the “information load” environment in which we live. But, it does, grabbing every tidbit of new data flooding into it’s mushy cells.

Yesterday, we took most of our grandchildren to Train Day, a family picnic provided by Tom’s employer. The little ones had a blast exploring the gigantic train engine, a bright red fire truck; bouncing on the huge blown up contraptions, eating overcooked hot dogs while hanging out with us, PapaChooChoo and GrandmaChooChoo, We had a memorable day.

(BTW, I don’t post photos of our little grandchildren online. Maybe I’m old fashioned, fearing online predators. When they grow up, I will. Not now.)

Several months ago, I posted a note on my calendar (one of many) to apply for new debit cards. They’ll expire at the end of January after we’ve already left the country. Since debit cards cannot be forwarded, this would have caused undue stress. Our goal, as always, is to prepare so much in advance that we don’t often have to “kick ourselves” for forgetting to do a task such as this.

On our way to Train Day, we stopped at the bank to order the new debit cards. While the banker ordered the cards, a thought popped into my head: we must set up a wire-transfer account in both of our names, providing us with easy access to our accounts (via a phone call as opposed to email for security purposes). This was on my list for this upcoming October but why not get it done now? Two more of the minutiae out of the way!

Returning home, I immediately ran around the kitchen making the crusts for our low carb, gluten, grain and starch free pizza for Friday Night Pizza, our favorite dinner. Later today, I will make homemade salsa and cornbread to bring to one of the last of a few parties we’ll attend tomorrow. (Recipes for all of these items are on my earlier posts. Simply hit the search filter).

This weekend, we’re planning to put all of our empty suitcases in the back of Tom’s SUV to ensure they’ll fit, along with the two totes we’re bringing for my son Richard Lasica, a successful real estate agent in Henderson, to store for us in Henderson, Nevada. If they don’t fit, which I suspect they will, we will price rent a small trailer to haul behind us or, bear the cost of shipping the totes. More minutiae. It seems to grow rather than diminish!

We can’t wait to be sitting in a lawn chair overlooking the ocean in our little beach house in Placencia, Belize, starting on January 28, 2013 which is five months and seven days from today. Oh, oh, while in Belize we’ll have to prepare our 2012 tax stuff for our accountant as soon as we receive (online, of course) the W2’s. Yuck! Minutiae! You can run, but you can’t hide!

Boots, illness updates and…figuring out our insurance needs…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 22, 2012 with 4 Comments

Oh, the Clark’s boots! I wanted to keep them so badly that I took them to a long established boot and shoe repair company in Wayzata, Minnesota, Bob’s Shoe Repair.

Brian, a young, although highly skilled leather craftsmen at Bob’s was confident he could cut out three inches out of the calf of the boot, put them back together leaving me satisfied with the comfort, look and fit. He succeeded. Thanks Brian!

I picked them up yesterday and couldn’t be happier. The cost for the repairs: $100. Total investment in the boots including repairs: $249. With the promise of a great rating online, I offered the seller of the boots a five star rating, if he’d credit me the $14.95 I paid for shipping. He immediately posted the credit to my PayPal account.

Why did I deserve a credit for the shipping? The online description of the boots indicated a 14″ calf circumference when in fact, it was 16″ resulting in the necessity of the repair. I would have been satisfied with 14″ circumference. (My outrageously skinny calves measures 12.5″). Now, I’m beautifully repaired, I’m content.

The sinus infection I reported on two days ago is improving without seeing the doctor or taking antibiotics. The pulsating headache would have driven me to seek help had it not begun to dissipate later in the day yesterday. Today, I awakened with only a slight headache for the first time in eight days. It’s on its way out.

Thanks, Neti Pot, Aleve, Tylenol PM at night (with acetaminophen and Benedryl), lots of water, less dairy and light activity, coupled with periods of rest, good food and the loving support and comfort from my hubby. Now, I know I will most likely survive a sinus infection without antibiotics.

In the beginning stages of figuring out our insurance needs, I spent a few hours yesterday with our long time highly competent broker/owner of our local State Farm Insurance office, Chad Babcock. Having worked with State Farm for the past 40 years, we have never had a problem.

Before we begin traveling we must address these three major insurance concerns:

1. How will we insure our luggage, computers and equipment without the security of homeowners insurance or a permanent home?

2. Will we be able to buy a policy to avoid the high cost of insurance when renting a car abroad, which may be as high as $30 a day in certain locations?

3. Medicare doesn’t cover seniors traveling out of the US and its territories. What type of policy will cover me, turning 65 in six months, while out of the country?

With Chad’s help and a few phone calls later at home, we came up with the following scenarios:

1. Baggage Insurance: Once we acquire our Nevada residency and address, we will be able to purchase “renter’s insurance” covering the value of our belongings traveling with us, attaching a “rider” for our computers and digital equipment.

2. Car Rental Insurance: Many have the perception that one’s own auto insurance will cover a vehicle and liability while traveling in a foreign country. Not the case! Plus…we won’t be owning a car here in the US, if it did. We’ll bite the bullet on this one We’ll pay the insurance at the time of renting the vehicles throughout the world.

3. Health Insurance: Without Medicare, a senior cannot purchase a supplemental policy which usually covers most of the costs Medicare doesn’t pay. Thus, I will be required to apply for Medicare (Tom will have five years until he is 65), pay the monthly fees out of my monthly Social Security in order to receive the supplement.

Plan A: The cost of the supplement is $185 a month at this time along with the required Medicare payment for a monthly total of approximately $285. The hitch: traveling out of the country allows a total lifetime benefit of $50,000, rather skimpy. Our insurance guy gave us a quote for me for $432 a month for full coverage, with no limits but add the approximate $99 a month for Medicare, we’d be paying $531 a month, a huge chunk. Tom, obviously younger than me by five years, will be covered up to 94% with the policy offered to him by his employer plus the necessary supplement until he turns 65. His total cost (for the next five years), $207 a month. GRAND TOTAL FOR BOTH: $738 (Yikes! I hadn’t budgeted for this amount)!

As of this writing, I had a light bulb moment! Duh??? This is not rocket science!

Let’s look at the realities. Tom with better health than I (as hard as I have fought to win over my genes), rarely visits the doctor. Would the 80/20 (OK out of the country) company provided policy be sufficient for him, saving us $207 a month on the supplement?

Plan B: The only difference is 14% (based on the 80/20 coverage without the supplement, as opposed to 94% coverage with the supplement). Then, we purchase the “big guns” policy for me with a $1000 max-a-year out-of-pocket policy with no limits? GRAND TOTAL FOR BOTH: $531 a month!!

The financial risk for me?? None! The financial risk for Tom? We’d have to pay a maximum of 20%. Sure, I did the math, the savings of $207 a month over let’s imagine five years, is $12,420. If he had a $60,000 medical bill, we’d be even.

For now, until we get our feet wet on this adventure, its worth the risk. In the meantime, this pays for the insurance on the rental cars. (If a traveler has an accident in certain foreign countries and doesn’t have insurance, they can be detained until the bill is paid in full.

Tom just returned home. We discussed the above options A and B and we choose B, freeing up the $207 a month to cover the insurance on the rental vehicles. (We don’t plan to have a rental car more than half of each month to keep costs down, vital all month in some locations and seldom needed at all in others).

Of course, all of this could be a moot point when Obamacare kicks in. Not intending to get into politics on this site, this uncertainty faces all of us income earning citizens. Where will Medicare be in the next few years? None of us know at this time and, probably won’t be able to figure it out in the future.

Hum….

Four friend day…

Posted by worldwide-admin on August 18, 2012 with 0 Comment

Saying goodbye to family will be tearful. We will hug. We will kiss. Sobs will catch in our throats. No doubt. We will see one another, each week on Skype, communicate through email and see their faces in photos on Facebook. They will be “with us” in our hearts and minds each day, counting down the days until they come to visit us from afar. This we know for sure.

Saying goodbye to friends will be different. We all dream that once a friend, a friend forever. Not the case. It’s no one’s fault. It’s nature which intended us to gather around our core family for love, support and companionship.

In the wild, animals form a family group welcoming “outsiders” of their species. In humans, we welcome “outsiders” on our own terms: knock before you enter, respects their family times, don’t call during dinner, don’t expect to be together on holidays. In essence, make an appointment to see one another. That’s a learned behavior in our human society, not a part of our nature.

Thus, as we prepare to go away, we do so with this certainty: we will see our family again, we may not see our friends. It’s a reality. It still hurts.

Yesterday, in one single day, a dear friend Chere, an amazing friend, came for a low-carb, gluten- -free breakfast. With many common interests and years as friends, we simply couldn’t get enough of one another; sharing, smiling and laughing.

When she was leaving, I hesitated, “Will I see you before we go,” I asked.

She squeezed my hand while we hugged, “Of course. I’ll be back several times before you go.” I wanted to believe this. I wasn’t sure.

Second friend of the day, our delightful next door neighbor Nelleke, from whom we’ll be renting her home in Majorca, Spain next May. Most days, she and I walk the neighborhood with her little white Westie, Max, chatting on endlessly about our dreams, our hopes and our disappointments. She’s a strong and sturdy senior, a fitness aficionado, like me and young for her age. She’s leaving today for a week to visit family. I will now know what it is like without her.

Later in the day, the third friend of the day, our precious neighbor Sue, showed up at our door for happy hour, staying until 9:00 pm, when we walked her home, bellies full, still giggling over our enjoyable evening together, the three of us. She lost her beloved husband and our friend Chip, whom I wrote about here on June 1, 2012. I was given the honor of speaking about him at his memorial service only a month ago. We miss him. We will miss her.

As we walked Sue home at a little after 9:00 pm, reveling in the starry night sky, so bright away from the city lights, we ran into our friend Jamie, another amazing neighbor and friend, stopping to chat. Only days ago, she discovered that her little dog Bella, has cancer. I was reminded of losing our Willie such a short time ago and can only hope that little Bella experiences a better outcome. I will miss Jamie and her family.

More friends will come to visit, to say goodbye before we go. Each time I will wonder, will we see them again, before we go, 74 days from today? Will they email? Will they stay in touch? Will they read this blog from time to time for an update on where we are, perhaps considering a visit?

Friends have moved away and we have stayed in touch. My friend Carol, a friend for 27 years, an airline pilot, moved away over 25 years ago. We text, we email, we visit one another, we talk on the phone never losing touch.

There are more all over the country that don’t let it slip away, that are still “part of the pack” kind of friends. Then there are the friends with whom we talked with almost every day, that left, never to return, never to talk, never to write. Suddenly, they appear on Facebook. We smile. We are happy to “see” them again, not angry we lost touch. In most cases, we both failed to stay in touch.

It’s all a part of this life we live. We love, we lose. We lose, we rediscover. Whichever way it goes, we accept it, still loving them, still holding on to the memories. This, dear friends, we know for sure.

Tag: retirees