Settling In

Leaves are falling, cool temps are slipping in and the days are growing shorter.  I really dislike that last part as I'm ready to drift off to sleep way before my favorite shows even start.  I was never a chair sleeper until I got old...that, along with the wrinkles, kind of pisses me off.  There doesn't seem to be enough lotion or daylight to make things better so I'll just have to "deal about it!" My fall and winter routine is settling in though.  I'm thinking a little bit more about a nice, warm supper (cooking is not my favorite pastime.)  I have several new books loaded on my Kindle and the charger is near my recliner.  I am in the midst of watching a new (to me) series on my Kindle as well.  I watch an episode a day (weekdays,) usually as it drifts from late afternoon into darkness.  I am programmed now to TiVo all my favorite shows that air between 9-11p.m.  Inevitably, I miss the end ...or beginning of both.  Once settled in my chair (with my heating pad..how pitiful) I make sure that the remote and my phone are close by.  I usually go through a few rounds of Words with Friends and Trivia Crack ( all purely for the sake of brain stimulation.)..............sometimes I actually beat somebody!  I still enjoy my cherry popsicle around 8:30. I am so old and finicky that I buy the box of 3 flavors from Schwan and throw away the orange and grape.....because I can!  I know there are starving children somewhere but they'll melt...get over it!  I'm beginning to understand those ridiculous routines that Mom and Dad favored. Mom's diet Coke at 4:00, cocktails at 5:30 and dinner in front of the TV at 6. Saturday and Sunday noon welcomed Buzzy-burgers and bloody marys and sports were the highlight of every week-end.  Maybe the apple didn't fall from the tree.  Dad hated Florida, Mom loved it. Traveling farther than a half hour away was out of the question for Dad and if you did, you made sure that the majority of your turns were right hand.... I'm just figuring that one out but Dad professed it was a safety issue!!
Anyway, I'm finally getting the fact that routines come with age. ........and with age comes the freedom, crankiness and time to do whatever the hell you wish when it best suits you!  Like that's really any different than the last 60+ years.... but now I can settle in and feel little guilt.  I have the time to do whatever...I just need to muster up the ambition...I wonder when that settles in?