Mrs Justa and miserable people

I was at Walgreens at lunch time picking up some Ambesol ( yes I have a dental pain that is driving me nuts!!) and this guy was at the photo counter. HE asked if they do passport pictures and was thrilled to hear they did. I was within eye and ear shot of the interaction between the employee and the man… she told him to stand at the screen. As he stood there, I saw he was standing proud, like he was excited for whatever reason he needed that passport.

She said to him..”No sir.. you CAN NOT smile.” That seemed kind of weird to me… he was happy. But the government only wants poker face, somber people photographed on their passport photo. She said “ Your face changes if you are smiling..” So the guy tried to frown, it was really quite amusing watching this whole thing in quick glimpses over to their little area… . He was like a kid trying not to smile when being reprimanded by a parent or teacher. He had this smirk that was taking control, so she stood there waiting for the frown face.

I had gone down another aisle and she said “Okay we have 2 to choose from..” So I guess he became very somber. He said… “Nwo I get it… everyone is miserable at the airport… so we would never be smiling there anyhow..” As I thought about that, I looked around… man there are a bunch of unhappy looking people everywhere it seems.

Mark has a line that I just love… when someone apologized to him for being backed up or slow..if it was Saturday he would say… “That is okay, I do not have to be anywhere until Monday..” It took away some of the stress and actually put a smile on that person.

There are plenty of things to be miserable about, but we need to try to find rays of sunshine in everything we do. It is hard, oh believe me, I can attest to that. We go through losses, deaths, broken hearts, disasters….. but it is through the really tough times we seem to handle the issues and come out stronger because of them. It may take years to figure out how… but it will come to us.  Heck Mark read today that before we are 65 we should have AT LEAST  $300,000.00 put aside for medical bills !! Well I do not know about you… but with all the past restarts in my life I was hoping to reach maybe 90 grand before retirement. HA… that financial advisor who made that comment would love me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So as I look at it that way… in another 10 years, I will probably be one of the unhappy looking people too. Especially if I can not afford medical care, groceries, utilities and living costs… that is a scary thought…hmmmph… no wonder people are frowning more!

Me.. I am going to smile till it hurts…. ( like my mouth does right bow ) Peace to all, save those pennies… Mrs Justa alias Cindy

Technorati Tags: miserable,life,challenges,disappointments,frown

 

Mrs Justa and can you say VACATION!

We are actually going to take a vacation. Now we are not vacation people so this is something sort of special.

It is a ways off, but the anticipation is starting already. Time away from every day life. Time to just watch the sun rise , the sun set.

It is kinda scary that we are going to be on a strip of land surrounded by ocean… that is kinda creepy. But peace of mind is it is not on the line of earthquakes and not in tsunami territory.. so I am sure it will be wonderful

No plans, no tours, just relax as the waves slap against the sand and the heat of the sand feels therapeutic as you walk through it barefoot.

I am going to make sure my camera is ready— I want pics for thousands of blogs. We will pack light, and use the laundry in the home we will be in, we are going to be there with another special couple and 5 senior girls. It should be fun,

And ya know what— we need it. We need to go where our minds can clear, where sipping ice tea is not on a schedule and where a soak in a hot tub at the end of the day is a routine by weeks end.

Like I said- it is a ways off… but this photo I got off google images… it is the bait..the temptation.. the dream that will one day be a reality. Love to all. Cindy alias Mrs Justa…

Technorati Tags: sand,beach,life,reality,vacation,free,commitments

 

Mrs Justa and Election Day/ and fighting Satan

Tomorrow is a day for EVERYONE to reflect on the things that you like and do not like in this ever changing USA. And go and vote ! We need to have voter turnout high to show support for those you feel represent your beliefs, your desire for the direction of the country. Our flag flutters in the wind, proud of its colors,thankful of those who came before us to give us the freedom to vote, to live in this country.

I am not going to get on a imaginary podium and preach what I believe- but I am going to assure each person that I intend to go and vote my conscious, vote my beliefs, and to do that, it may not mean voting for one party.

There is too much apathy in this country- and we need to stand up and exercise our right , our duty, our privilege to vote.

AS this day comes to an end and I sit here after just getting back from the gym, I realize the really scary thing about obesity and losing weight and gaining weight is that the losing is so hard and the gaining could happen too easily.

Mark and I had trick or treat candy that we knew had to leave here or it would be tempting, so I brought it into work. It would be too  tough not to eat a bunch of it ! Just cuz it was there. So I trucked it into work and left it for the 30 something people to have a little of instead of us having a lot of it.

Watching what we eat, and working out, and being so damned careful is a way of life. But I truly do not believe it will ever come easy, I think it will always be like a piece of thin ice, step on it wrong and you can slip or fall into the lake of regrets.

It is hard, … have you ever known someone who worked really hard at losing weight take the reverse turn and gain it back and more. I have personally had that happen in the past, and to make the commitment not to do that again, it is a commitment that needs to never become stale. It is something that each morning I think about , each day at work I focus on, and in the gym I imagine that Satan is on the axle of the stationery bike, on the track of the tread mill, on the grooves of the elliptical, and I get in a zone of squishing Satan . I do that because I have this imaginary image of Satan being temptation to do wrong, to break spirit, to tempt things that are not good for me. So the gym – that is where I can imagine I am beating the Hell out of Satan.. feels good…. HA… can’t wait till tomorrow for another round with that evil side. Hope you have success in your goals and do not let anything come in between you and your determination. Love to all. and remember

VOTE !!!! 

mrs Justa alias Cindy

Technorati Tags: voting,rights,USA,life,obesity,weight,losses,gain,temptation,fighting,exercise,focusing

 

Mrs Justa..and looking to the future

Now this is living. Can you imagine having life’s cards fall exactly the way you hoped they wound and to be blessed with being able to see this scenery every day of your life?

To see as far as your eyes can see and know there is so much more you can not perceive. I guess I look at life for others and life for us and I wonder how the heck people are able to live the way they do.

I am not longing to be like others, just looking for answers how…I can drive thru housing developments that have 200,000 or more homes. And in their driveways are SUVs or Escalades. People have lots of stuff. I just wish I knew the secret to doing everything right to have the ability to live like that.

We were on the NYS Thruway yesterday , and the number of class As was amazing. These things are not cheap ! The saying goes… “If you have to ask how much it costs, than it costs too much for you.” Well I definitely needs to know the price tag !.

The RV show was at the NYS Fair grounds this past weekend and they had Class As ( like this )You should have seen the number of RVs with sold stickers on them.

these suckers are more than 1/4 of a million bucks ! Can you imagine having  the money to go into an RV store and paying for one of these.

And than to know you have enough in a slush maintenance fund to cover you in breakdowns.

There is a temptation to the thought of living 6 months in the North and 6 months out of snow country. But I do no know in the time of my retirement if it is going to be a possibility. And if it is, than the question is do you live in a place for 6 months and than another place for 6 months, or do you have some sort of an RV to go to the south and stay in.

There were people driving these class A’s all over the highway yesterday.I just can not comprehend how they can afford it. To me, I would rather drive in a car, and see the sights like that above, and for the cost of a Class A… well as Jeff was saying the other day- that is ALOT of 4 star hotels!!  So who knows what the future will bring. I think I know for sure that this sight from this mountain- that will be there in the future, and we will have each other… that is in the future, and our grandkids will grow up.. yep that is in the future… but how our retirement will all lay out… I have no idea… Wherever it is…however it turns out… I hope it brings as much peace as what I feel when looking off the mountain. Love to all, Mrs Justa.. alias Cindy

Technorati Tags: scenery,life,retirement,living,cost,money,choices.,challenges

 

We are Justa living here after all

Source for information of this post can be found at This Site

Here is some interesting information about about our fair city Syracuse Ny.Some of the numbers are pretty telling.The median household income is $25,000. The national average income is $41,994 that’s a stark difference and reflects the lack of good paying Manufacturing jobs,and a lack of high tech jobs,as these two are usually the ones that pay those National type numbers. The early economy of Syracuse was salt based, Where it picked up the nickname “Salt City”. I believe many truckers still call it that. A Syracuse shoe company patented the world’s first loafer in 1933.(And momma thought I was the first loafer, go figure)

For those of us that live here and don’t get out of town for much more than a week or 2 at the most every year,it’s hard to really put into perspective just how underdeveloped our fair city is.We have more Cemeteries (25) than we do libraries (18),we have more Communities in the area (20) than we do Attractions (1). I don’t know what they called an attraction, I was afraid to look.

Some more interesting information from 2000 census,It gives guesstimates of what it will be in 2005:

• Population back then was 132,495
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• The Metro area of the City was 25.09 miles
• There were 63,587 men,and 68,908 women(Even I could have gotten a date)
• The average combined age was 36.40 with women averaging slightly higher than men at 37.22 years old.
• Population that was older than 25 was 86,084, with 29% of those High school graduates,and almost 24% having some college or Associates degrees, and 12.3% having a Bachelor’s degree.

So You can just imagine where the bulk of the higher paying jobs were with 53% of the population having a high school education or higher.

To further breakdown the numbers:

Population 3 years and over enrolled in school was 50,445.

• • Preschool and kindergarten was 4,742 equaling 11.9% of the children.
  • Grades 1-12 was 24,863 equaling 65.3% of the children.
  • College was20,840 equaling 22.8 %.

With the numbers we rank 144thin population in the country for sizes of city. So that makes us a pretty good sized city to live in. Rochester Ny Just to the west of us is 79th with a population 219,766. As I was digging into the numbers further I also came across this site which I think is well worth clicking on. It breaks the numbers way down, further than you and I have time for in this post,but are well worth looking into.

I’ve lived in both Cities, although it’s been 20+ years since I lived in Rochester. I must say, when I drove out to Adrianne’s house for her Birthday bash(Me and her,that’s a bash isn’t it) Rochester had invested much more in their infrastructure and business have definitely poured into the area. There are new buildings and construction everywhere. Heck just about a mile from where Josh and Adrianne live within a 1/4 mile area there are two brand new Tim Horton’s.

So Mark, what’s the point of this post you ask? We, You and I need to expand our minds,stretch our imaginations. We need to work for ourselves in our own businesses. How Mark? Just do it. If you have an idea run with it. Start small dream big and thrive. I went to The soon to be DestinyUSA I don’t know if you have been there lately(I hadn’t been) It will amaze you,first of all,for what they have done Since the start from early Carousel Mall to present day beginning of DestinyUSA . If you get a chance take the elevator up to the 6th floor. The information on that floor will knock your socks off. Just think on the way out you can buy a new pair. I’m Justa saying.

43 Things Tags: DestinyUSA,SyracuseNy