Observations I am making as the years go by…. My mom never mentioned that things in the body got weaker. She was a stronger woman than I will ever be. However, I think I would like to document the funny side of my growing up, not old!
I have never had 20/20 vision. When I was in Standard six I wore my first pair of heavy black rimmed spectacles and oh my goodness, I thought I looked absolutely amazing!
My father on the other hand had poor eye sight but some of my fondest memories involving him, are of him cradling my foot or finger so close to his face that I could look directly into his pale blue eyes and feel safe. From this close proximity, once he removed his glasses, he would use a sharp needle to gently coax the horrid splinter or thorn from the affected area of my body.
Over the ensuing years I have been truly blessed by being able to see the words on a page or monitor without any straining, threading a needle had also been an easy task for me to do – until now. And now that I am starting to battle to thread the needle, I am also finding that the designers of all forms of marketing, have it in for these eyes of mine.
Medicine, for example. Remember when there was a label on the box with fair sized lettering, giving you the information that was relevant? They have somehow decided to rather print a page of minute words that, firstly don’t make sense to anyone without a medical degree, and secondly, one needs to find the magnifying glass to even start to understand if the page is upright or not.
Make up is no better. A lipstick has the tiniest writing on the bottom of it and it takes a good few moments to be able to focus on what it says. And don’t get me started on the shampoo bottle or conditioner! Buy a product from the grocery store and the same applies.
Are you telling me that people are really needing all the information in such detail? I am sure there are a few stalwart customers who really want to know the salt or sugar content of each product they load into their shopping baskets, but for me, I can truly say that I only look for MSG, and this product is certainly not found in fresh fruit and vegetables.
I needed to get my password off the modem to give to someone the other day. OMG, what a mission. Fortunately I found out a long time ago that a quick photo of any of the above written items solves the problem. Once it is on the phone I can enlarge it to any size I need, to see. I hope you all know about this easy way to help yourselves.
So from the eyes I move to my hands. I have always had pretty hands with terrible nails. But since discovering Tracey Roberts, I now have pretty hands with beautifully manicured nails. However, these pretty hands are finding it increasingly more difficult to open various articles. The one that annoys me most is the espresso pot. It has bevelled edges to be able to grip when opening, but my hands no longer have the strength to perform this simple task.
I have approximately 5 cups of coffee a day and after so many unsuccessful attempts to unscrew the two sections, I finally cut up a section of my yoga mat. This is nice and cushioning. If I place the pot on the mat and push down while turning it, it remains in place and it works!
I bought a little round battery for my kitchen scale the other day. It came in a sealed vacuum pack, encased in another ever tighter, thicker plastic with a warning sign saying it was a danger to babies. Well, I can assure you, had a baby been given that package, it would have never have been able to have opened it. I eventually had to revert to calling Petros to extricate the battery from its prison before I sheepishly thanked him and put it into the scale.
Dexterity is also starting to become an issue. Fastening buttons, which a few years ago took a second to do, now takes me a lot longer. The clasps on the end of my chains are also becoming more difficult to do. Some rings that used to be too big on certain fingers are now having to be forced over knuckles that seem to be getting larger.
I am sure the list is going to grow and grow as I get older. Gosh, I hope I am not the only one in my age group starting to experience these problems? That would be too unfair indeed.
Anyway, today I returned to the gym after my full month of waiting for the bruising and pain to subside in my ‘broken toe’. It was so special getting into the water and finding it a nice warm temperature. There was only one lane open when I arrived at 9:30 and I was happy to grab it. I managed to do 31 lengths and tonight can feel that I have been back swimming. A nice feeling.
I mentioned that I had bought a second hand Russel Hobbs three tiered steamer from Cash Converters the other day. Well I am finding it so very useful to use and am glad of the purchase. Neither of my sons have ever had a microwave in their kitchens and I have seldom used mine. But one thing I used to use it for, was to defrost my food from the freezer when I had forgotten to take it out to thaw.
Now I find that the steamer works so well in this situation. It takes 20 minutes to defrost and heat up, and then I place the frozen vegetables into the container for a further few minutes and the meal is ready. I don’t have to stand around watching as I would have to do if I was cooking on the stove either. When the cooking time is reached a high pitched sound is emitted which I can hear anywhere in the house. The cleaning of the tiers and little dish is so easy to do as well.
I am putting a video of the steep bank on our property which Petros has been busy working on. Each one of these pieces of bamboo have been cemented into place …. How proud he is of his work.
