Well, the Thanksgiving Dinner went well, and I have lots of leftovers to last me until payday next week.  I know I will be tired of turkey sandwiches by then, but I can always freeze the rest of the turkey until Christmas. I do not cook such an elaborate meal then or on New Year's Day, although I try to make whatever I do "fun."

​Granted, it is hard being alone at this time of year. I remember all the parties and dinners that I prepared and attended in years past with very fond feelings. I do miss all of that, but over years, being alone, I have created new, less extravagant things to do.

​Limited funds have also "limited" the decorating and besides, any decorations I have are in that darn storage unit over 1000 miles away. But I still try to celebrate my December birthday and the Christmas holidays.

​My 70th (gosh I am old) birthday is in a week. I have several fun things in mind, like a trip to the beach if not raining (I might go anyway) a dinner out (since I get coupons from several restaurants), and other things as I think of them.

​It is not easy being alone and far away from the other life I had and my close friends. Maybe next year I can move closer to those friends and partake of their holiday fun. However, until I can manage that, I will "make do" with what I have.

​I have my little old Pekinese still with me, I have beautiful warm, sunny weather here in Florida, and I have neighbors to talk to. I can opt to be alone or I can go out and find things to do. It is nice to have those options, at this age.

I can still walk (although with a cane) and I still have a car that I can drive. So many don't have these things. I am grateful for them. They give me freedom and choices. What more could I want than that?

​So  guess I am ready for the holidays. Let the fun begin.

In a few weeks I approach the "big one," in my estimation. Everyone says the 60's are the new 50"s so I guess that makes my 70th birthday my 60th. That means I am getting OLD. I still have dreams but with my fixed income that does not increase and my increasing expenses, I do not foresee realizing those dreams quite as readily.

That doesn't mean I will not try to reach them. I have some major expenses that WILL disappear in a few months and that will help. Any money of any kind helps achieve dreams. If nothing else, it alleviates all that stress associated with living so you can PLAN new adventures.

​When I moved here to Pensacola, I planned on traveling to nearby places, i.e. New Orleans, Biloxi, even Mobile to explore the cities and their museums, art galleries, and shopping. (In case you did not know, there is supposed to be great shopping in Biloxi. And New Orleans opens all kinds of opportunity for fun and shopping.)

​Well, life has gotten in the way and my travelling adventures have not really materialized. Once that big dark cloud disappears on my horizon I will definitely be going somewhere - anywhere that is fun.

​One major trip will be to go get my belongings that currently reside in a storage unit on the eastern coast of North Carolina. I might have mentioned this before, so if I did, please excuse the repeat. BUT this is always on my mind - how to travel the 1000 miles to retrieve "my stuff." I have planned every alternative, including getting rid of most of it. The plan is not concrete as yet - still on the drawing board.

​I am starved for the arts. I must confess I have not even explored Pensacola's arts, yet. I am going to try to start this next month, maybe in honor of that horrible approaching birthday. I still feel you are never too old to enjoy things, and I really must get a goin' to achieve all there is to life before there is no more life. I am going to make my plans right now.

Oh, and have a Happy Thanksgiving. I am cooking a big meal once again and have a neighbor or two without places to go coming to my house. I cannot seat them, but there is always our community room with big screen TV's for those ballgames right down the hall.

Well, my candidate did not win. It makes me sad because outrnew President is once again a privileged white male. I do not understand why we keep voting one in.  What is wrong with other races and other sexes winning?

​Mr. Obama was a black man who worked his way up out of poverty. Whether people want to admit it we are almost our of debt from the horrible experience of the "downturn" under another privileged white male President. Did we not learn out lesson? O guess not - our biases won.

​I am afraid that going back to when America was "great" means back when discrimination against sex, race, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic background, etc. existed.  I lived through that crap and it was not fun.

​I am heartsick today. In one way I am glad that I am old and not in good health so I may not live to see what happens in the far future. I do not understand Americans being so afraid of anything that is different. All of us came from some other country somewhere in our backgrounds and many had to learn English. Now we condemn anyone not "like us."

​You might ask how I can say this? Well, just look at this election. We voted in the same guys that do nothing in the Congress (my senator does not even show up to work often) and we voted in a new President who does not even know what the Constitution says or the Bill of Rights, for that matter.

​I know many hated the Clintons so much that they voted against Hillary. But look at what we got in your protest?  A self-serving wealthy man for President who has had three wives and a First Lady now who was a former porn star.  A sad time indeed.

I am still without my laptop - what a horror it has been. I do not just create for this website, but I also use it for everyday tasks.

​I have the use of one located on the 4th floor of the apartment complex where I live, but I live on the 1st floor. Invariably, I will leave the "computer room," make the trek back down to my apartment and remember something I should have done. Then I have to decide if it is worth it to go back or make a note to do it the next day.

​It is not just that I have to go up there to work; others, descend on the computer room, as the day progresses. I go up at 6:30 AM so I can work in peace. There is usually a woman there a little later who plays games on the computer. In fact, that seems to be all that my neighbors use it for.

​Another inconvenience is that I use the computer calendar for all of my appointments, etc. And guess what? I make appointments all day for all kinds of things, and I have to go up there again to enter them. I did print out my calendar to have at home, so I can make notations to add. Why all this trouble?

​Well, when you get a little age on you, you have numerous doctor's appointments. I set them up on my calendar to send me a reminder a day before my actual appointment. Why? because my memory is on overdrive, and I sometimes forget what I am doing the next day. And I now need to make a plan.

​So the Perils of Peggy are agoin' on. My senior income does not predict a time anytime soon where I can buy a new laptop. I am going to try to get a tablet so I can at least use email, my calendar, and other important tasks that I do. I will still have to come up to this computer room to write in my blog, since I understand from a professional who looked at my laptop, that it will be very hard to do things for this website since I will have to use a stylus for the keyboard.

​I guess in the grand scheme of things, not having the use of my own computer is not a tragedy. But I have no fear that something like that can happen and probably WILL as I grow older. It's kismet.