The older we get, the less we may remember and the more important it can be to keep our brain active. For this reason, I think all of us over 60 or maybe younger should learn something new every day, or at least once a week.
I don’t actually learn something every day, but I try to learn something new as often as possible. So some months, I may learn 30/31 new things. Other months less and maybe others more. By learning new things, we keep our minds working and, hopefully, our bodies moving.
If you have never donated to charity, you have been missing out. There are so many positive reasons to donate. You can donate money, food, used clothing, furniture, books, vehicles, stocks, and mutual funds. You can donate your time to help organize, hold a fundraiser, or work in a Thrift Store that raises money for charities. Plus so much more. There are so many benefits to giving to charities.
Maybe you have never donated because you felt like you can’t afford it. That is between you and God. I cannot force you to donate, but I believe that if you do, you will be blessed, even if, in your opinion, it is only something small. Giving of your time is also a donation. This can be once a week or once a year. I have seen people that are retired turning to one of their local charities to volunteer part-time.
Looking at the picture to the right, you will see us on our wedding day. There we were in my borrowed dress and his rented tux. We look so young. It doesn’t seem possible that we have spent 45 years together. That equals over 2/3 of our lives. But we have, and so much has happened in that period of time.
I borrowed my wedding dress from an aunt who is 2.5 years older than me. There was no money in the budget to include a dress. We married with $2,000 to our names, and that went as a down payment when we purchased a house a few months after getting married. Even though we didn’t have much money, we saved money by eating hot dogs often to help pay for the closing costs on our home purchase. We survived some tough financial times, and now we are in retirement with enough money to last us the rest of our lives, as long as we live like we have all of our married life, frugally.
Everyone should have a Bucket List. Yours can be an amazing bucket list with these ideas.
A Bucket List for a 20-year-old will likely be very different from a Bucket List for a person 60 years old. To do it over, I wish I had started a bucket list when I was in my twenties.
A person in their thirties might have a Bucket List with any number of the following ideas in it.
Retire at 45
Climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Visit every country in the world
Own a Ferrari before my 50th birthday.
Become President of the United States.
A Bucket List can be written out in a few minutes. Usually, a person making a bucket list may have thought about it for a while, but not yet written it down. For others, it can take a long time to come up with a list. If you have a life-threatening disease, it may be that you start a long bucket list, hoping that you have time to finish the list. Instead of a Bucket List, you can also refer to your list as a “Before I Go to Heaven List.”
Status: Complete our front yard landscaping. This is an absolute must since it’s carried over from last year.
Status: Lose 5 pounds. I lowered this, but since I ended the year up instead of down, I will lose 5 pounds from my beginning weight of 2020, not 2021. I am currently gaining weight. That’s not good.
Progress:Ancestry: Type up the list I already have started on my mom’s mother’s side. Spend time contacting at least 2 cousins. I have made contact with two cousins; however, they have not answered me back.
Progress: I have finished 24 books. I am on track to make this one. Read 45 books.
Status: Ride my bike. This can be a challenge because of my balance issues that seem like they will be permanent.
Progress: Visit three states that I have not visited before. This was a great goal last year, and we did it, despite Covid shutdowns. I have made a lot of progress on this, including deciding on the states and the places we will visit in each state. I have started mapping out the days we will be at each location. Hopefully, I will finish the first week of June, with a plan to travel in September.
Progress: I’m doing much better than last year. I have three baby quilts cut out already. I have started sewing one – it is now about 3/4 done. Complete 3 quilts. Adult or baby. Instead of all baby, I might get working on a quilt for my son-in-law and one for my daughter-in-law.
Progress: I’m not as far as I should be, yet, I have walked 268 miles. Walk 1000 miles. I have attempted this for 3 years and never reached it. This year it is in writing, so I hope I will complete it at last. However, I have to speed things up to come close.
In May, I read five books. I feel like I made progress on my ancestry plan because I contacted two cousins. But since they didn’t respond, I feel like it’s not real progress. I did get really ambitious about our trip for this fall to three states. I have written down every place we will go, and I have it marked on my maps. In the next week or two, I hope to finish plotting it out by days and finding lodging where needed. When there is something special nearby, I will come up with some locations for meals.
My weight remains an issue, and I know why. I don’t do anything to lose weight. Instead, I promise I will eat only 2 cookies, and before I know it, I have eaten 5. The month of May opened my eyes to how heavy I really am, and I hope to see changes in June.
How are you doing with your goals? May was a busy month, so I’m hoping that maybe in June, I can make more progress. Hoping, however, is not enough. I need to be making progress. Do you have a secret that you use to accomplish your goals? Please comment below.
I would hope it would be impossible to find a citizen of the United States that didn’t know what our flag looked like. Many people, however, know very little about the American flag’s history. Here are over a dozen fascinating facts about the American flag to help remind you of the importance of our flag.
Years ago, I requested information from the National Headquarters, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. I recently came across the envelope and decided to read up on the flag since I didn’t know much about our American flag.
Our current flag features 50 stars representing the 50 states. It was the 27th flag used in the United States, starting in use in 1960, over 60 years ago. The first flag from 1777-1795 started with only thirteen stars. These stood for the original thirteen colonies. The first flag also had thirteen stripes, six being white and seven being red. The stripes remain the same today.
