New Jersey Baby Boomer

EXTREME heat is the weather news of the day, and New Jersey is feeling the heat. It’s getting close to 2 pm and my outdoor thermometer is reading 98 degrees…I’m quite sure we’ll hit 100 today, it’s already there in New York. Last night there was no relief during the night to allow turning off the air conditioners, and opening the windows.

I was wondering what I’d do if the power went down, and where the closest New Jersey cooling centers might be. Here are some links that may help you if you are doing the same:

New Jersey Cooling Centers search result at nj.com

N.J. Cooling Centers search results on google.com

NJ Cooling Center search results on bing.com

Stay cool, stay safe. Know the warning signs of heat stroke

Drink more than the usual suggested amount of water, avoid strenuous activity, and take frequent breaks in as cool a location as possible if you must be outdoors.

Photo by cesarcabrera used under Creative Commons License.

I was in my early twenties when Phoebe Snow’s “Poetry Man” played loudly from the speakers of my car radio. Phoebe Snow was born in New York, but raised in Teaneck, NJ and died Tuesday, April 25, 2011, in Edison, New Jersey. We lived in Edison Township until I was about 14 and I worked and attended a small college in Teaneck in the early 1070′s, so the area is very familiar.

Her personal life touches mine as well…as she sacrificed her singing career to care for a disabled daughter. Watching my mother love and care for my disabled brother gives me a picture of what kind of person she may have been like. According to her Manager in an article I read on northjersey.com, the 31 years spent raising her brain-damaged daughter, Valerie, who apparently pre-deceased her, was her greatest accomplishment. Her daughter was born with hydrocephalus and needed constant care, which Phoebe provided for her rather than putting her into an institution. That says a lot about a person, doesn’t it? There are some things so much greater than fame.

Phoebe died at the age of 60 (wow, that’s how old I’ll be at my next birthday…we do tend to notice things like this as baby boomers, don’t we?) from complications of a hemorrhage to the brain she suffered late in 2010 – it was one of those health situations where one thing just seemed to lead to another from the information I’ve been reading.

One thing about losing a musician, actor, or other celebrity, is the fact that you can still listen to them or watch them after they are gone. So it is with Phoebe Snow, as seen in the following video. This later recording of “Poetry Man” by her in 2009 shows her wonderful personality and that almost 35 years later, she was still a very talented musician and will be missed:

It’s black Friday…or grey Friday if you look out my windows. No, I didn’t run out the door to hit the midnight sales last night, or the 3 am sales at Kohls, or the early sales at other stores. Those days are done for me, for some they may be a tradition, for me, they were something I did when my children were young….and there was no such thing as “online shopping”.

I’m an online shopper but this year, with a challenged economy and how it has challenged us financially, I’m going to try to rediscover my creative side, and see how we can save.

Thanksgiving holidays…yes, we have lots to be thankful for, there is no doubt about that, but it’s a deeper more meaningful kind of thanksgiving, not the kind that is thankful because we own this or that, but the kind that is thankful that someone in the family who is aging is still with you, the kind that remembers those that are no longer with you with thanksgiving for the part they have played in your life. There’s missing, the missing of those loved ones, missing children that may be overseas in the military, missing children that have married and moved out of the area. Everyone’s circumstances are different, so their approach to the season varies.

This was maybe not the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, not feeling well and various circumstances, but still, there are so many things to be thankful for, always…it’s a good exercise to take time to count your blessings, to count my blessings, especially if my mood isn’t lining up with the season as it should.

I’m thankful for you, my readers.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA. All opinions are 100% mine.

It is really a pleasure to be able to write about something that is close to home for me…literally and figuratively.  I have a brother who is disabled, or physically handicapped…unable to do things that you and I may take for granted.   In his case, it is more than just a physical condition, but for many who are simply unable to walk, or get in and out of a car or van, NMEDA has excellent, easy-to-use solutions for you.  I was so impressed looking at the vehicles and seeing what they were capable of doing…not all of them are alike, there are different solutions for different needs.   I looked at the drop-down menus under the categories along the top of the site, and visited a few links, and got the feeling that this was a very supportive organization.

The next thing that I wanted to know was whether or not there were dealers in New Jersey that provided these vehicles, and so put my zip code in, a relatively rural, out-of-the-way part of New Jersey.  I found 2 within a reasonable driving distance…1/2 – 1 hour away, in Fairfield, Saddle Brook; others in New York; and one near where I grew up before moving to this area, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

If there are that many locations in my area, I’m sure you’ll find them in your area, too. Visit and check, and if you have a moment, let us know what your closest location is in a comment.

Are you having a hard time reading the text at some websites or on some blogs?  I try hard to use templates that make it easy to read posts to my blogs, and on my main website, but the way a person has the resolution set on their computer can affect font and image size.

There’s a very quick solution for making it easier to read text on the screen; hold down the “ctrl” (control) button on your keyboard, then tap the + (plus) sign on the keyboard to increase the size…to reduce size you do the same thing and tap the – (minus) sign.  A great tip for Baby Boomers who are seeing their eyesight change…and not for the positive.

Of course if you need eyeglasses, you may find that increasing the size of the font is not enough…letters and images are blurry. That’s the case with me, and most of us Baby Boomers, almost anyone after the age of 40. I was able to get one pair of eyeglasses at a fairly reasonable price because I have insurance, but asked the doctor for a prescription for just the reading portion of my progressive lenses. I am thinking of getting them online through Zenni Optical because their prices are incredibly low. My optometrist was a little put off when I asked him for the prescription, and said “why don’t you ask me what I would charge you for the glasses”, so I did, and he said $100. Well with a source online that can provide them for about 1/10th of that price, it was an easy decision.

Here’s an article, a review about Zenni that someone wrote that may interest you.

This post is a combination of personal and sponsored information.

As members of the Baby Boomer generation, most of us are finding our eyesight isn’t what it used to be.  In spite of the fact that there are surgeries to improve site, or contacts, I prefer wearing eyeglasses.

There was an article written at examiner.com that made me think about our own experience purchasing glasses online…you can read the post about eyeglasses right here, written by a man who lived in Brooklyn, NY.

This was an honest review sharing how he was able to get glasses at a low price, was pleased with the glasses, and shared honestly why the glasses could be obtained at great discounts.

We have purchased glasses from the same source, and the prices are great…the fact that there aren’t designer frames, which there aren’t…but they are very fashionable, does not matter to us…in the present economy, getting glasses at somewhere between $8 and $50 dollars without insurance is amazing.

We did find that when we made our first purchase, we forgot to give proper measurements for the glasses, and had to send them back and get another pair, working out a fair arrangment with the seller. It’s important to provide your PD (pupilary distance) number…something you have to obtain from an optometrist.

You pick your frames and arrange everything online, it takes a couple weeks for your glasses to arrive by mail. For more information, you may want to stop by and take a look at holiday eyeglasses and then browse about the site and see for yourself what you can get for a great price.

Most of us who call ourselves Baby Boomers have been through our share of changes.  I have passed through some of the most common ones, including the painful experience of losing a dear parent; raising two children to adulthood and realizing that the “mommy” role that I took so seriously and poured my life into is no longer what it was; watching my husband experience the physical challenges of diabetes and a heart attack; looking in the mirror and watching the the face that looks back at me change; supporting my husband as he went through the painful experience of realizing that after thirty years devoted to one company, surprise, he is dispensable, and now of at an age where there’s a tendency to go from one job to the other without settling, and what about retirement? Is it possible?

That brings us to our newest change, which could be looked at as a negative, or embraced as a new and exciting adventure, it’s up to us what we decide to do with it.  It may mean a move from our home of 25 years, the home where I raised my babies, and how can I be the “New Jersey Baby Boomer” if we leave NJ?  It may mean leaving behind friends of many years, and being further away from my now-grown babies than I want to be.  It may not happen at all!

I want to take you along on this personal journey and intertwine it with the usual New Jersey info on this blog, and let you get to know me a bit better.   More later this week!