the queen travels

Retired life to do's

It's not that I don't have enough to do. I do. I try to go to zumba five mornings a week, I work at filing paperwork that never seems to end, I read and try to learn new things, I watch the doctor and prescription bills and I grocery shop. I've also developed a penchant for baking cupcakes.

There are lots of cupcake cookbooks out there.

I seem to be doing a lot of cooking. I'm good with that, although I've run out of space in the refrigerator.

Pot roast with celery, onions, carrots and potatoes.

The mailbox at the post office gets checked a few times a week. This week I dropped by on my way home from zumba, and there was a package – my NASCAR for Dummies book – and a few bills, along with some junk mail.

There are lots of learning opportunities, and it's time I took advantage of some of them.

I seem to be on a lot of junk mail lists, ranging from ads for hearing aids to magazine offers , from insurance offers to bank offers. I've received most of that stuff for years. However, this time I received something I'd not received before – an Alaska Baby & Child Magazine and American Baby. WTF????

If you don't know, I don't have siblings, I have never had kids, and certainly don't have grandkids (unless you count my grandparenting by proxy with Hobb's grandkids). At my age of 65, why, all of a sudden, did I receive these?

It's not enough to get all that other junk mail? Although this is a very cute baby.

These magazines must have thought I needed a mission or job in my sedate old retired life. I promptly got a number for the local one and called and talked to Natasha. I told her I wasn't a parent nor a grandparent and to remove me from the list. She said she would. That's good customer service (unless I get another one).

The other magazine was a little more difficult. No phone number listed anywhere, and not much else for someone to use for contact. But, hey, I'm retired. I've got time. I hunted them down on the Internet like the dog-publishing company they are and found a phone number. This number led me to another number, but I got real people both times. The second number was Laurie. I told her the same story – no kids or grandkids and probably not a candidate for pregnancy or even a surrogate for someone else. I eat kids for lunch. She looked me up. A subscription (who knows how I got that), and assured me I would not receive any further issues.