First aid kit for my sewing tote

July 25, 2026

Back to school time also means time to refresh the first aid kits for my sewing tote, car and home. This little 3″x4″ pouch holds assorted bandages, waterproof tape, alcohol wipes, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic ointment, hyrdro-cortisone cream, burn gel, cough drops, pepto-bismol chewables, sudafed, mucinex and ibuprofen. It takes care of any minor first aid needs I’ve encountered at classes, sew days and quilt retreats. Of course, if you slice your finger with a rotary cutter deep enough, you might want to head to urgent care ASAP. This first aid kit probably won’t do much in that situation!

The original pouch was swag received from a therapy dog visit. It came with bandages, a packet of first aid cream, an antiseptic wipe and individual packs of aspirin and acetaminophen. I merely added the items I like to have on hand. My car kit is a repurposed Welly box outfitted with an expanded assortment of everything listed above, plus a few other things.

The little individual medicine refill packets are available at most drugstores or from Amazon.com. You can find tiny pill baggies in the pharmacy and bag your own headache and cold med tablets. Tip: a nurse advised me to stick with bacitracin zinc as my antibiotic of choice and avoid triple antibiotic creams like neosporin because many folks can be allergic to it.

Back to [almost] normal

July 24, 2026

Today, I took the last dose of prednisone. Thank goodness! I’m ready for my sleep cycle to get back to normal. Most evidence of my allergic reaction to the insect repellent is completely gone. There’s still some redness in the areas that reacted the strongest, but it’s slowly fading away. Mosquitos are still biting. I purchased a bottle of Cutter Skinsations with DEET 7% to use when working in the garden. Zero reaction and no mosquito bites either.

Our weather forecast is calling for heavy rain most of the weekend. Sadie and I ran took advantage of this morning’s dry window to run errands. We passed several schools and a teacher supply store on our travels. The parking lots were full. Then, I remembered that local school staff report on Monday for preplanning week. Has it really been five years since I reported for what would become my last preplanning week as a public school librarian? Indeed it has.

Fast forward five years. There’s still some semblance of back-to-school prep that takes place in my life around late July. I take advantage of back-to-school sales to stock up on school supplies, reward trinkets and books we’ll use in the R.E.A.D. program and CraftLAB. This weekend, I’ll be finishing up the final few details for quilt camp. We start Monday at 10:00 a.m. in my basement sewing space. Instructional planning is a lot more fun when it’s on my terms and my schedule!

Not much teaching took place spring semester because life and the quilt show happened. For fall semester, my teaching schedule includes CraftLAB, a monthly sewing group at the Midtown Library and a machine maintenance class at the quilt museum in Carrollton. It feels good to see my teaching calendar active again.

I’m also collaborating with a local indie pet supply store to host a personalize your pet’s stocking workshop in early November. I’ll teach students how to add their pet’s name to a cuffed stocking or create a personalized hang tag using a simple backstitch and embroidery floss. We’ll see what happens locally, if anything, after that. I’d love to find a spot where I can teach classes a couple of times a month. I don’t mind paying a modest fee to use the space, but I have zero interest in opening a full-blown stitch lab in a retail storefront. That ship has long since sailed.

Retirement related milestone birthdays

July 23, 2026

Here’s a quick recap to refresh your memory:

59-1/2 – Age at which you can access retirement funds without 10% early withdrawal penalty

62 – Age at which you can begin to draw social security

65 – Age at which Medicare begins

67- Full retirement age for those born after 1960 (considered full social security check)

70 – Age at which social security benefits max out

75 – Age at which mandatory RMDs from tax advantaged accounts must begin for those born after 1960.

Every year around my birthday, I review my social security earnings statement. This year, a new question popped up on the screen asking if I’d like to apply for social security. It caught me off-guard for a minute, but yes, this particular trip around the sun means I could begin to draw social security if I wanted to. As with my pension calculator, once I reached the “magic age”, the SSA financial calculators were specific to my circumstances. Very interesting to experiment with different scenarios. Remember, there’s no right or wrong age to claim social security benefits. Every person’s financial situation is unique. Consult with your financial advisor and do what works best for you.

Many of my teacher friends worked until 62 and then retired – drawing both pension and social security simultaneously. It’s simple economics, really. A teacher’s pension typically only replaces about half of their previous income. Combined with social security, it means they can replace 75% or more of their previous teacher salary. If this “income floor” matches their basic monthly obligations, then a lot of financial stress can be alleviated. This seems to be true whether they are single, married, divorced or widowed. Likewise, our original retirement plan also called for me to claim social security at age 62. Four years into retirement, we have a pretty good handle on our income and expenses. After reviewing the big picture holistically with our financial advisor, it now makes more sense for me to hold off pulling social security until later. To me, a financial plan should be flexible enough to pivot as your needs and circumstances change. [Nowhere in our planning did we anticipate a stage IV cancer diagnosis at age 54 for my husband. There is no cure for his type of cancer. Our philosophy since then has been to live our best lives, giving cancer the middle finger.] Just knowing that the benefit is available to access when needed provides a certain peace of mind.

Other fun benefits of reaching this milestone birthday:

My birthday gift to myself was a senior lifetime America the Beautiful National Park Pass for $80.00.

I’m eligible for an exemption on the school tax portion of my property bill starting in 2027. (Over $5k savings/year.)

For ages 62-64, Georgia exempts up to $35,000 of most kinds of retirement income from state income tax. The number increases to $65,000 at age 65. Note that Georgia does NOT tax social security income. A nice perk at tax time next year!

I still don’t see myself as a senior adult when I look in the mirror. However, I’ll gladly call myself one to take advantage of the discounts and benefits.