Greenwood Public Library Blogs

Review: The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+

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The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+: Winning Strategies to Make Your Money Last A Lifetime
by Suze Orman
4 stars

So, you have just turned 50. You’ve worked for decades, saving money away, planning for that special time that is retirement. Are you worried? Have I saved enough? Should I sale my house and live on a boat? What if I get sick? How can I make my money last? Suze Orman’s book provides a wealth of information on personal finance that can help guide you through the myriad of questions that comes with retirement. What will retirement look like? Suze tell us to plan for retirement to last twenty to thirty years and to have multiple streams of revenue to cope with the ever changing landscape of retirement. Then, using easy to understand language, she begins to explain the various types of investments – IRA, Roth IRA, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Orman just makes it easy! She talks about how taxes and adult children will affect our retirement accounts and I thought who thinks about that? She tells us to start laying out all the various pieces for retirement at age 50 to build a cohesive plan and she does counsel if all of this seems daunting to seek out a qualified financial planner. It’s not a crime to not understand. She calls us warriors! I love that she just brutally says, “Who cares about your money more than you do? The answer is no one. What happens to your money directly affects the quality of life” “The only way to conquer fear is through action” Her practical examples and stories from her own life are so interesting. Recommend!

 

Read alikes:

Retirement 101 by Michele Cagan, CPA

How to make your money last: the indispensable retirement guide by Jane Bryant Quinn.

Answers to 100 frequently asked questions about social security retirement benefits by John Weber

 

Are we there yet?

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We’ve all been there.  You’re going to the beach for a nice, relaxing week-long vacation.  The only problem is we live in the Midwest and the beach is several hours away by car.  How do you keep the kids occupied without driving you crazy by constantly asking, “Are we there yet?”

I recently cataloged a new children’s book titled Sleuth & Solve by Victor Escandell.  It features 20 mind-twisting mysteries that can be solved using either logic or imagination.  The author included instructions to turn each mystery into a game.  One person will be the Investigation Director and will read the mystery to the other players.

Here’s one example using imagination:

“Marco lives and works in his home by the sea where he has lived alone for many years.  His life is very routine, and each night before going to bed he turns on the light.  But one night Marco is so tired that he forgets to turn on the light.  When he wakes in the morning, he hears terrible news.  Marco is distraught, and then runs straight to the police to confess his guilt.  Why is Marco at fault?”

The answer is under a flap that only the Investigation Director can see.  Now the other players have an opportunity to ask questions that require a yes or no answer, and they continue to do this until someone comes up with the correct answer.

Younger children will enjoy any one of Walter Wick’s and Jean Marzollo’s I Spy books.  They have at least a dozen different books, but I Spy Treasure Hunt is one of my personal favorites.  Marzollo has written rhymes which provide clues, and Wick has created detailed miniature villages which provide answers.  Children can be captivated for hours looking at these delightful pictures.

What an awesome way to engage the entire family!  Playing a game like this is going to make the hours in the car fly by, and you’ll be running in the surf and soaking up the sun before you know it.

The Studio at Home: Beaded Safety Pins

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We have started a weekly video series called “Studio Sessions,” which is posted on our social media channels every Saturday. In it, I either feature a craft you can do at home or delve more deeply into the kits we have available for use in The Studio. Last week, I taught you how to make beaded safety pins (watch it here if you missed it!).

In the video, I used a pattern I designed of a tulip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is super easy to make your own patterns for beaded safety pins. Just test out the safety pins you have around and see how many seed beads fit on them. For my pattern, I used 1” safety pins. I could get 10 beads on each, and could comfortably get 7 safety pins across. You could use graph paper and simply color in the pattern until you get something you like. Or, if you prefer to use the computer like me, you can use Excel to draft your pattern. I changed the column width to 2 and turned on inside and outside borders. Then, I used the paint bucket tool to fill in the pattern. This was an easy, no mess way to keep adjusting the pattern as I went along until I got something I liked.

If you’re not feeling up to designing your own, there are lots of patterns already out there! I’ve created a Pinterest board of patterns and inspirational ideas to help get you started.

If you need information on the mechanics of putting together your own beaded safety pin, the Studio Sessions video below will walk you through it.

Happy crafting!

Modern Cross-Stitch at the Library

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I will be the first to admit that I did not read during the stay-at-home order. Weird, right? I’m a librarian, an avid reader, and I even had a large stack of books to work through as well as a well-stocked home library. But there’s something about existential dread that, at least for me, put me off from reading. I didn’t craft, either. I usually have at least one cross-stitch project that I am invested in, along with tatting and the occasional sewing project. I did no cooking experiments (beyond learning how to make baguettes), no archery, no wildflower identification, no wine-making – none of my usual spring activities. To be honest, aside from working from home, I spent my days playing Animal Crossing on the Switch.

I’m finally getting to a point where my hobbies have become fun again, and the first thing I’m really interested in is Cross-Stitch. I’m working on a project I found on Etsy – I love anything nature-related, and my current favorite artists are 2x2StitchArt and CozyEveningStitch. If you’re looking for a free option, DMC has tons of free patterns available on their website. I am on the prowl for a modern cross-stitch book that has these kinds of patterns in it, but for now the best patterns I can find have to be purchased individually online.

There are still plenty of options for me at the library, though. We have a few fun modern cross-stitch pattern collections available through the library – The World of Cross-Stitching, a monthly magazine, is available on Overdrive. They provide a ton of patterns each issue, and have a great mixture of different styles of cross-stitch. If you enjoy stitching a few “bad” words and sassy phrases, Subversive Cross-Stitch is jam-packed with the kinds of patterns my grandmother would never have touched. Featuring phrases like “Don’t be such a baby,” “You can’t make me,” and “You lie like a cheap rug,” you’ll need a darker sense of humor to appreciate this book and its many profanities. Whimsical Cross-Stitch, available on Hoopla, features a ton of cute animals, block patterns, nature –– the list goes on, with most of the projects being simple, quick, and beginner-friendly. And last but not least, Feminist Cross-Stitch, which is packed full of feminist affirmations like “Don’t tell me to smile,” “Beauty is not a number,” and “Believe women.” It also has a section of subversive, sassy designs – similar to Subversive Cross-Stitch.

So, there we have it, a list of great library resources on modern cross-stitch! One more thing – if you see a book with astronomy, biology, or nature cross-stitch patterns: send them my way!

 

Review: A Taste of Sage

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A Taste of Sage
by Yaffa S Santos
4 stars

I am a sucker for magical realism…and for books about cooking, so this was perfect for me!  Lumi is a chef who loves to cook the Dominican style food that she grew up with.  She can also read people’s emotions when she eats their cooking.  When her own restaurant goes under, she gets a job as a sous chef in a stuffy traditional French restaurant.  (Of course the head chef is a dreamy redhead, even if he comes off as a jerk)  Lumi and Head Chef Julien butt heads immediately and Lumi vows to never eat anything he cooks.  But this is a romance, so I’m pretty sure you can see where the story is heading.

I admit that I am not familiar with Dominican food specifically, but all of the food described in the book sounds fantastic!  And I always love books that come with recipes in them!  Especially ones that include instructions like ‘Best served without bad juju.’  At one point in the book she adds apples to a traditional ratatouille recipe, which sounded intriguing.  Later there is a recipe for an all apple ratatouille that I am definitely going to have to try.

 

Read alikes:

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Landline by Rainbow Rowell