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Holiday advice

Hello everyone:

The holidays are approaching and now is the time to start thinking about what you will do for holiday dinners. It has been my experience that newly-single women are not as likely as single men to be invited over for dinner. One of my recently-bereaved friends told me that he has four different families who want him to join them for Thanksgiving. When I was a newly-divorced gal, there were no invitations.

What can be done about this? If you are the male I just mentioned, you have a choice between families. If you are female, you probably don’t, so I suggest you find other gals in a similar situation and invite them over for a potluck lunch or dinner. When I went through my time of single parenthood, I was the only divorcee I knew. These days, with more marriages breaking up, finding dinner companions might not be so hard.

Who can you invite? Women from your place of worship, women from work that you get along with, and gals from your neighborhood. Since women’s incomes are traditionally lower than when they were married, you might try a potluck, rather than putting out the expense of paying for the entire dinner yourself.

If this does not sound plausible to you- maybe your home is small or you are uncomfortable asking folks you do not know well to share a meal- perhaps you could volunteer at a shelter in your area.  I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, no matter what you decide to do.

Best,

Sheri

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Bagging your groceries

Hello everyone:

With the new self-scanning that is available in most grocery stores, it is a great idea to organize how you bag your groceries. Here are some tips to help you out:

As you bag things, keep similar items together. For example, bag your frozen food items together so that you can head to the freezer once when you get home (and you won’t forget to put something away). Put food items that belong in the main part of the refrigerator in the same bag or bags, so that you can put them away quickly. Otherwise, an unexpected visitor or phone cal might distract you long enough for the food to start spoiling (like my great-aunt’s bread that hardened like a stone when she forgot it in a bedroom…..for several years…….or the milk that spoiled overnight in my car on a midsummer night).

Do not bag food items with cleaning supplies. You do not want to find a dollop of toilet bowl cleaner on your bread! Your food should not smell like the dryer sheets with which you soften your clothes.

Do not over-bag your items. One time when a oh-so-helpful grocery clerk bagged my items while I scanned, I found she had placed 12 cans of pineapple in a single bag. I could not lift it! If your bags are too heavily-weighted, the bags can burst on the way to the parking lot. This happened to me once- as I scooted after the rolling cans, my cart took off on the sloped parking lot. I grabbed my fallen purchases and high-tailed it towards the cart, catching it just before it crashed into someone’s car.

A nearby male customer who had been too far away to help, shouted, “Nice catch, lady!”  We both had a good laugh over my antics. Lesson learned: do not over-bag or you will regret it.

Best,

Sheri

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Preparing for hurricanes/evacuations

Hello everyone:

With Hurricane Matthew bearing down on the state of Florida even as I type this, it seems appropriate to talk about hurricanes and evacuations. Suddenly Single discusses the need to have nonperishable food and plenty of water on hand, but one thing it does not mention is the need to take food with you, should the need to evacuate arise.

You always plan to take your clothing and personal hygiene items with you to the hotel where you will stay, but do not assume that restaurants will be open. My family just evacuated to Kissimmee yesterday, only to find that the governor had ordered all the restaurants to close, leaving folks without a place to find sustenance. The one food mart in the resort where they stayed was jammed with hungry folks (1,000 people had checked in that afternoon; 150 of them were in front of them in the check-in line). They managed to get some peanut butter, Cheerios, and turkey and cheese before they gave up and went back to their room, but do not assume that food will be abundant. It might not be.

Also, since the gas stations and other bathroom break places might also be closed as you travel, (not wishing to be too indelicate here) you might want to take a jar with you and a towel to shield yourself from the other people in the car. If the roads are packed, you will not want to stop the car and get out to do your necessary work. Just sayin’.

Best,

Sheri

P.S. Although I do not usually post the same blog in www.practicalmakesperfect.com and www.suddenlysingletips.com, it seemed appropriate today.

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Getting Rid of Your Deceased Spouse’s Clothing

Hello everyone:

Some men rush to immediately give away their deceased wife’s clothing. Try not to be in too big a hurry here, or you may find that someone who could have really used the clothes as been overlooked.

Offer the clothing to your children first; you never know when some jacket or shirt has a special meaning to your kids. However, do not try to force the clothing on them; the size or style may be wrong for them and you should not do a guilt trip on the kids for not wanting the clothes.

After your children have had the first opportunity to look through the items, consider people you know who might enjoy having them. Is there a neighbor or friend who could use them (and who is a similar size)? When my aunt died, we offered her clothes to a nearby neighbor who had done so much for my aunt for many years. It turned out that her mother was my aunt’s size and was able to enjoy the like-new winter coats that my aunt had barely worn.

Hope this helps!

Sheri

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Preparing for that important meeting ahead of time

Hi everyone:

I heard a story many years ago about a young woman just starting out in the business world, after spending several years at home with her children.  She had an interview the next morning, so she spent some time preparing her outfit for the next day. She knew she wouldn’t have time to prepare breakfast, so she made some coffee (planning to microwave it) and bought some filled donuts.

When she got up the next morning, she put on her outfit, only to have one of the kids spit up on it. She grabbed a backup outfit, but now she was running late. She nuked her coffee, grabbed a donut, and headed out the door. When she got in the car, she set the coffee on the dashboard, took a bite of the donut, and backed up. Crash! One of the kids had left his tricycle in the driveway. The mug of coffee flew off the dash and landed in her lap. She had squeezed the donut when the hot coffee hit her lap.

In another tale, a friend of mine went to a local donut shop and had breakfast. He decided to get some donuts for the office and bought a box. He started eating one of the donuts as he left the parking lot, only to realize that the filing was rancid. He threw the donut out of the window as he drove through the lot, only to notice that someone was driving by with his window down. The partially-eaten donut landed on the passerby’s face.

What is the moral of the two stories? East breakfast at home and stay away from donuts……..

Best,

Sheri

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