So many people, especially those Over 50, are looking for ways to assure better sleep!

These ten tips are simple and can be easily incorporated into your day and evening routines.
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Getting enough sleep is important because it helps you feel better during the day.  Sleep also plays a critical role in maintaining your good health. according to The Sleep Council.

• Bad sleep is chronic. Poor sleep results in an increased risk of developing chronic conditions.
• Hormones wreak havoc. Missing out on adequate sleep can interfere with your body’s hormones.
• Compromises your immunity system. Lack of sleep can also affect your immune system.

You need to “power down” your brain  if you’re going to sleep well. Meditation is a great way to give your brain a break. Label your bedroom as a worry-free zone so you can sleep soundly.

Keep everything that relates to work or stress in a separate room which is physically separated from where you sleep. That means your phone, TV, paperwork, bills, etc., will be out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind!

Did you know that we spend 33% of our lives asleep? Therefore, improving sleep means improving 1/3 of your life!

You will find additional information and resources at the bottom of this page!

Did you know that Overnight Oats are an easy, healthy breakfast you'll feel good about eating and they're perfect for taking on the go? They’re high in protein and fiber — which will keep you full until lunchtime! Unlike a bowl of warm oatmeal, overnight oats are meant to be eaten cold, straight from the refrigerator (no reheating necessary).

To make them, you’ll soak rolled oats in milk and yogurt overnight, which gives them a soft, slightly toothsome texture that’s ultra-creamy and subtly sweet. In the morning, you’ll add your favorite toppings — fresh or dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and nut butters are all fair game.

Don’t let the overnight soak fool you — overnight oats are incredibly simple to make. They take no more than five minutes to prep, and then the breakfast makes itself while you sleep. If you stir together a batch during your weekend meal prep, you’ll be left with four grab-and-go breakfasts to eat throughout the week (the oats last about four days in the fridge). You can also scale the recipe down and make single servings instead.

You need the following ingredients: Old-fashioned rolled oats, milk, Greek yogurt, chia seeds, & flavorings, such as ground cinnamon, maple syrup or honey which add a hint of sweetness, and a pinch of kosher salt is necessary for a balanced flavor.

A helpful hint: Use equal parts old-fashioned rolled oats and milk, plus half as much yogurt.

How do you serve Overnight Oats? You can certainly eat them as is (just give the bowl a good stir, first). However, overnight oats are even better with toppings. Fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and nut butter are all delicious additions.

While nut butter, dried fruit, some fresh fruit (like blueberries, apples, and citrus) can be added in advance, you’ll want to wait to add delicate or crunchy toppings, such as nuts, seeds, and toasted coconut, until the morning you plan to eat them.

Here’s a recipe for making the very best overnight oats every time.

Overnight Oats Recipe
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups dairy milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1 cup plain Greek or non-dairy yogurt
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
• /4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• Optional toppings: fruits, nuts, seeds, nut butter

Instructions

1. Add ingredients to a large bowl. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl.
   
2. Stir together. Stir together until well combined.
3. Cover and refrigerate overnight. You can divide the oats into individual jars at this point if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
4. Stir before serving. Stir again before serving with desired toppings.
   
   Source: Kitchn - Kelli Foster
   
   

Bucket lists are a popular topic among all age groups, but especially those in their 50’s, 60’s and beyond. There was even a popular movie titled The Bucket List, released in 2007, featuring seasoned actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman – who played two men with terminal illnesses – who wanted to cross items off their own bucket lists before they died.
Of course, you don’t need an illness to start a bucket list. Better to begin long before your own mortality is staring you in the face. Here are some reasons you might or might not want to start and pursue you own bucket list.

Bucket List Pros:

• It’s highly motivational. Just ask someone who completed an item like hiking Machu Picchu or catching that awesome fish, or whatever it is that his or her heart desires. They can’t wait for the next adventure.
• It’s pleasing. Your bucket list items should be fun and bring you joy and a feeling of satisfaction.
• You will be following your own life plan instead of what others expect of you.
• Most of your bucket list items will probably involve others. This gives you many more chances for creating meaningful connections.
• Having important things to do can give you something to live for and actually extend your life.

Bucket List Cons:

• You lose some of your flexibility and spontaneity when following a prescribed list.
• You can become so focused on your bucket list, you forget to enjoy the experience. Remember, it should be about the journey more than the goal.
• You may spend too much time or money out of a compulsion to complete your items.
• If you load your list with irrational items, or take no action, this can be worse than never starting the list.
• Even if you have a rational and achievable list, you may be disappointed if you fail to achieve some of the items on your list.

To speak to the last point, it is perfectly acceptable and to be expected, that you not complete all the items on your list. In fact, if the list is easily achievable, you probably haven’t tried hard enough.

There is a Common Misperception That Bucket lists are Only for Big Items
There is a common misperception that bucket lists are only for big items, but they are really for whatever you find meaningful. Here are the types of things that can go on bucket lists:

• Places you want to see (e.g. Machu Picchu).
• People you want to spend time with (your best friend from high school).
• Physical goals you want to achieve (complete a half or full marathon).
• Things you want to learn (speak a foreign language)
• Habits you want to establish (meditate or establishing exercise routine).

I started my bucket list a dozen years ago and it is gratifying how many of the items my wife and I have completed. Here are just a few: learn to play guitar and perform in a band, take singing lessons, travel to interesting places like Russia, break 100 in golf, learn to play pickleball.

If you are looking for idea starters, try this article from developgoodhabits.com. They not only give you 553 potential bucket list items but also the following great advice for building your own list: “As you go through this list, be sure to write down the items that resonate with your “personal why.” Then add the ideas that sound like a great challenge. Then the stuff that’s fun. Then the ideas that you can share with your significant other. And finally, the ideas that will help with your self-improvement efforts.”

Remember that the bucket list is a positive endeavor – what you intend to do – and not about what you aren’t going to do. Not doing cool stuff is a common deathbed regret. And guess what my friend – you get to define what you consider cool stuff! This is a great privilege but can be wasted if you fail to write out and go make the items on your bucket list happen. What better time to start than right now? .

For more adventures in retirement...Click Here

The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad is a National Historic Landmark. It's a 64-mile day trip that you will thoroughly enjoy and never forget. The narrow-gauge heritage railroad operates  between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. It crosses the borders of Colorado and New Mexico 11 times as it chugs its way up and over the 10,015′ high Cumbres Pass. You can depart from Antonito, Colorado or Chama, New Mexico for a steam train ride of a lifetime!

The Cumbres & Toltec goes where no automobile can go. Most of the route is through “off-the-grid” wilderness, so you’ll experience views into canyons and over ridges that can’t be seen in any other way.

The train travels at a top speed of 12 miles an hour, and that’s the beauty of it!
You won’t miss the aspen groves, the wildflowers, the steep mountain canyons, or the plentiful wildlife.

The steam engine is coal fired and carries you through steep mountain canyons, high desert, and lush meadows as you zig zag between the Colorado and New Mexico borders. There is, indeed, spectacular and rare Western scenery which can only be viewed from the train's unique route.

The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad has steamed through history and across the Rocky Mountains since 1880, when first tracks were laid across Cumbres Pass. This unique experience will take you back in time and off of the grid so you can experience the sounds, steam and steel of bygone years. Your daily grind can’t follow you into the great, unspoiled West.

Originally part of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad's narrow-gauge network, the line has been jointly owned by the states of Colorado and New Mexico since 1970.

In 1988, a nonprofit organization called the Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad was established to preserve the history of the railroad and help maintain infrastructure and rolling stock. The Friends of the C&TSRR also participates in various education programs and provides the railroad guides, known as docents, who inform passengers about historical aspects of the railroad as well as locations of interest.
(Image Courtesy of Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad)

A recent honor:
USA Today - "Best Train Ride in America”
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad ranks among the most authentic steam-operated railroads still in existence. Passengers aboard this National Historic Landmark travel along a track laid in 1880 between Chama, N.M. and Antonito, Colo. Source...

Related Travel Info...

We want to share with you 4th of July quotes from famous Americans who have contributed so much to our freedoms and wonderful way of life. We are forever grateful.

John F. Kennedy
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.”
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Peter Marshall
“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.”
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Oliver Wendell Holmes
“One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, one nation forevermore!”
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Marquis de Lafayette
“Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country.”
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”
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George Bernard Shaw
“Liberty is the breath of life to nations.”
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Condoleezza Rice
“The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity, or nationality, or religion. It is an idea—and what an idea it is: that you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from, but where you are going.”
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Lee Greenwood
“And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.”
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Benjamin Franklin
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
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Oscar Wilde“With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?”
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What day did most signers of the Declaration of Independence actually sign the document?
Aug. 2, 1776

How many people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th?
Two

Which three of the first five presidents died on the Fourth of July?
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Adams, the second president, and Jefferson, the third, died on the same day in 1826, the 50th anniversary.

Which president was born on the Fourth of July?
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, in 1872.

What other countries celebrate the Fourth of July?
Denmark, England, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. Denmark Danes and Norwegians celebrate American Independence Day because thousands emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Other European countries, like England, Portugal and Sweden, hold celebrations near American military bases and or spots frequented by American tourists to boost travel during early July.

When did the U.S. Congress make Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees?
1870

When did Independence Day or Fourth of July become a paid legal federal holiday?
1938

Is there something written on the back of the Declaration of Independence?
It might not be a treasure map as the movie claims in “National Treasure,” but there is apparently a message written upside down at the bottom of the signed document: “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.” It’s not known who wrote this and when it was written.  Parchment was usually rolled up during the Revolutionary War years, it’s thought this statement served as a label.

Learn why John Adams would think the country is celebrating Independence Day on the wrong date:
Adams wrote that July 2, the date the Second Continental Congress voted in Philadelphia to declare independence from Britain, not July 4, would be the day patriots celebrated their freedom. “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, (a new or distinctive era or a moment in time) in the History of America,” Adams wrote on July 3. “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Related Holiday Post: Patriotic Pies

July 4th is a Wonderful, Patriotic Holiday in the USA – Enjoy!​