Betsy's Blog

  Taylor Swift flew in from her Tokyo concert to Las Vegas for the 58th Super Bowl Game to cheer for her Kansas City Chiefs star boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Taylor has helped boost female fans for his football team. Taylor's Super Bowl black dress cost over $20,000. If you want to buy a seat in the Super Bowl stand, it can cost up to $9000. However, if you want to buy a box to see the Summer Olympics in Paris, it can cost $100 million. So I guess the Super Bowl is a deal!  Fans from all over the world watched the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Lady Gaga, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, and Jay-Z were among some of the celebrities at the game. We watched it from home. I could see Taylor, Blake Lively, Lady Gaga, and Jay Z up close from home on our big screen TV. I like the Super Bowl commercials too. I turned on the TV an hour early and saw Taylor Swift is in the house! There were security warnings to allow Taylo...

    What a fantastic live event last night on TV! I enjoyed every moment of watching "The Grammys." The music, the stars in fancy dress, and the surprise winners made an entertaining evening. Older stars performed with new starlings as I sat at home watching from my living room. How did my favorite singers grow so old while I am still young...at heart! Stevie Wonder is now 73, Joni Mitchell is 80 and Billy Joel is 74 years old. They were still rocking it as they won awards, sang, and danced. Cilon Dion surprised everyone as a presenter, but did not sing. Stevie Wonder sang a duet with a hologram of Tony Bennet who would be 96 years old now. At the end of the song, Tony whispered, "Stevie Wonder."       Billie Eilish is now 23 years old and sat at a table with her 26-year-old songwriter brother Finneas and their parents. Billie performed her latest hit with neon red hair in a vintage school uniform. Finneas wrote the song and played the piano. I loved the...

I didn't choose to have both my phone and computer crash on the the same day! However, that is what happened and now I am experiencing 'tech withdrawal.'A week ago, my phone screen began flickering yellow before it completely shut down. Within hours, my laptop crashed and then refused to turn back on. It was scary to lose two electronic devices in one day. I put my overheated laptop outside to sit in the cold, winter air for an hour. Then it suddenly restarted! Thank goodnesss! I am now using it to write this Blog. I had to mail my phone back to the dealer who is now repairing it under warranty. I am holding my breath! Our daily lives revolve around checking phones and laptops constantly for messages, emails, social media, movies and more. I must admit I feel a bit isolated without my phone. I didn't realize how much I relied on it until it stopped working a week ago. So what am I doing ...

  Life is full of unanswered questions. Would we live our lives more fully if we knew when we were going to die? I don't really want to know my end date. 📅 I prefer to think I'm going to live a long, happy life with my husband, children and grandchildren. I intend to enjoy each day and follow my daily routines. 👍 I enjoy starting each morning with freshly brewed coffee ☕️, a walk🚶‍♀️, and hopefully a quick trip to the gym.🏋️‍♀️ I also enjoy substitute teaching, 📚 reading a books, 📖 going out to eat, 😋 and looking for treasures at Target. 🛍  The author Barbara Becker explores living our lives more fully in her recent book, "Heartwood." The title refers to the center of trees 'heartwood ' that stays firm when the wind blows. Like 👍 the trees, we need to stand firm, but live with the 'end in mind.' What better way to start the new year than to focus on finding daily joy in our lives? 😃 Author Becker writes about her close friend that was dying. ...

                                      Is this your favorite holiday of the year? It is mine. I have so many memories of choosing the perfect tree, decorating the house and listening to holiday music. 📝 I have enjoyed Christmas days around the world.  🍨 I have stayed up until midnight wrapping presents 🎁 on Christmas Eve.🎄 I have watched my children 🌄 excitedly open their gifts and stockings until they went off to college. 🍬 🎁  It is quieter now. Our children have their own homes and families. My husband and I still decorate our house, put up a tree and hang the stockings if we're home. Luckily, we have three grandchildren who live only four hours away. Sometimes they visit us for Christmas or we go there. We are creating new holiday traditions. ✈️ Many years we travel alone over Christmas and then call our children on the holiday. ☎️  We have watched our grandchildren...

  What is it like to live year round in Las Vegas? My husband and I moved here over three years ago during the Pandemic.  The world was in turmoil and it seemed like a unique place to live. We don't gamble, but do enjoy the Casino shows, concerts, restaurants and people watching. Anything goes in Vegas! People walk down the Strip in costumes and  bikinis. The city never sleeps and is full of 24 hour restaurants, stores and casinos. We have gone to amazing concerts and plays in local theatres too. The Strip Malls have small theaters and live music bars. There are many aspiring musicians, dancers and actors performing on Fremont Street. It is a city that never sleeps and is full of talent!      I talked my husband into going to the IMAX theater to see Taylor Swift's new movie. Her music sounded amazing with the walls of speakers. My husband was content watching a football game on his phone in a comfortable recliner while the audience sang along and danced in ...

  Surprise! I discovered that I have two newly discovered sisters! I just met them for the first time in New York State. New sibling connections are becoming more common with the help of Ancestry.com.  Let me tell you how this miracle came to be! It started a couple of years ago when my niece searched for relatives on Ancestry.com.  The results showed that I have two new sisters. What a double surprise! However, my new sisters didn't know about each other either.  The State of New York opened up their adoption papers a few years ago. One of the new sisters got her original birth certificate which led to her to discover her new sister. Then it led to an exchange of letters, next to phone calls and finally they met for the first time. It really is amazing! So what is my connection? Ancestry.com confirmed that my biological sister has a connection to our two new sisters. Double Fun! So my sister started writing them letters, then emails and finally phone calls.  Th...