retirement

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Frankly Freddie – Your Picks, My Treat

Dear Human-beings,

Thank you for responding to my survey. For every response I got a treat.

Here are the top rated areas you’re most interested in reading on CATNIPblog:

Tied for #4

  • Quizes to learn about myself
  • How to deal with difficult people
  • Managing time and commitment

Tied for #3

  • How to improve relationships
  • Nutrition for brain health
  • Finding purpose

No tie for #2

  • Stress reduction – be calmer & more relaxed

Tied for #1

  • Mood lifters – quick ways to feel happy
  • Animal Tails & Tales

Other:

  • How to “read” other people in order to improve relationships
  • Humor – everything is funny seen through the right lens
  • How to deal with old age losses – friends, health, purpose

Peggy & Judy’s pick:  How to live in retirement in the manner we’d like to become accustomed.

Freddie’s pick:  How to get lots of treats without more polls and subscriber drawings.

Maui’s pick:  How to achieve alpha-status over Freddie. 

IF you haven’t already you can still be entered in my drawing, Click HERE:

Frankly Freddie – Catnipblog Subscriber Drawing

Frankly,

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CCT, RET

Freddie Parker Westerfield

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Frankly Freddie – CATNIP coming to a computer near you!

Thank you for all your responses to my survey.  I got treats for being supportive.

Peggy and my human are excited to launch their new blog CATNIP

I’m getting excited too cuz I’m being supportive and will get treats for my contest.

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I keep asking them Why on earth name the new blog CATNIP and not FREDDIE?

According to humans, catnip makes you mellow. (What they don’t know is it drives cats wild with desire.) Peggy & Judy want to help you find your mellow but if it drives you wild with desire for more CATNIP they’ll be pleased.

Peggy and my human each worked for over 210 dog years as Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists.   That’s a lot of years.  They decided to share what they’ve learned and the tools they’ve taught rather than have all their stuff blindly dumped into a shredder after they’re gone.  

So . . .  continuing to be supportive . . .  I’m sponsoring a contest to help them be successful bloggers, like me. 

Everyone who subscribes to

CATNIP

  by Saturday, March 18, 2017 will be entered into a drawing and I, Freddie the supportive one, will send the winners a WONDERFUL prize.

Click here to enter!!  http://CATNIPblog.com 

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to CATNIP so Peggy and my human don’t think I’ve sabotaged them (as retired psychotherapists they are sometimes a bit paranoid).

It’s easy – just enter your e-mail address in the subscribe box at the top right hand corner of the CATNIPBLOG site.

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CDT RET

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CCT RET

Frankly,

Freddie Parker Westerfield, Certified Canine Therapist, RET

P.S. I made them promise to have fun doing CATNIP.  I know them . . . if it isn’t fun they won’t do it.  So if you pay attention you’ll see some of their original drawings, stories, poems sneak on cat feet into the CATNIPblog.

 P.P.S.S. Neither Peggy nor my human are very smart when it comes to technical stuff. Ronna Skinner, graphic designer extraordinaire (not to mention Peggy’s cousin-in-law) helped get the cats Peggy drew, safely perched onto the letters where they can play with “CATNIP”  to their hearts content (and not bother me)

Ronna

Ronna

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How to gain control of your free time

March 1st will mark two years since I retired.    Now that I have all the time in the world I have much more time to procrastinate.  During retirement I have fine-tuned my procrastination skills. 

I also have a continued quest for self-improvement.   In between TV shows and relaxing I squeeze in reading articles and watching videos that inspire me to develop better habits.

Here’s the latest video which I found so inspirational I turned off the TV.

After listening to this Ted Talk I decided to do a trial run before my actual  two-year retirement anniversary. 

I’m going to treat the things I keep saying I’d like to do like a flooded basement.  (you’ll have to watch the video).  So!  here’s what my emergencies are for this coming week:

  1. Do something everyday (as opposed to doing nothing)
  2. Cut out sugar from my eating “habits”.

I’ll let you know next week . . . or two . . .  how I did.

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My Identity Crisis Revisited

Things were sooooo much easier before I knew identity was a crisis: so much easier when I was a child and the word identity was something I had to look up in the dictionary; so much easier when I was a young adult and knew everything there was to know; so much easier when I was in mid-life and knew everything I needed to know.

I’d better find my identity before it becomes a full-blown crisis.  

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Seeing Myself from a Different Perspective

Maybe life is about stumbling, figuring things out . . . redoing, undoing and redoing again.   Maybe who we are is meant to be the ultimate mystery and our curiosity is simply to keep us from stagnating while experiencing life, one crisis at time.  Maybe?

"Does she ALWAYS have to be so serious . . ."

“OUCH! I think she’s fallen on her head one too many times .”

My last attempt to figure me out: Who am I anyway? Identity Crisis Coming to a Computer Near You. 

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Frankly Freddie – Eat, Pee and Play

My Human-being  always had very thoughtful clients (the others fired her when they figured out she doesn’t do well with people who aren’t nice).

Margo, who is very nice and extremely wise, hand-made this retirement present for my Human-being.

You’ll see why Margo is so wise when you read what she put on the back cover.

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Front Cover 

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Back Cover
Back Cover

I make my human-being read it everyday and take her own advice.  

You should read it too, particularly about how to handle stress.

Frankly yours,

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CDT RET

Canine Dog Therapist, Retired

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CDT RET

Freddie Parker Westerfield, CDT RET

 

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Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

I’ve been 70 for 4 days and I still feel like I’m 69 . . . maybe I’ll feel my age in a few more days.  

My long-time “Fibro-friend” came to celebrate my birthday with me.  She wasn’t invited but she came anyway. She said that’s what friends are for.  But I showed her and didn’t have a celebration.  Here’s my birthday pome to me (in blue) with an intro by “Mac”:

Happy Birthday from “Mac” and Me

(with apologies to Fleetwood Mac)

“If you wake up and don’t want to smile
If it takes just a little while
Open your eyes and look at the day
You’ll see things in a different way”

“Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

Don’t stop. It’ll soon be here”

So don’t fret my dear

A new year to cheer

there’s nothing to fear

You may be old

but you’re still here!

A live performance of Fleetwood Mac’s classic hit, ‘Don’t Stop’ with help from the University of Southern California’s Trojans Marching Band

 

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Who am I anyway? Identity Crisis Coming to a Computer Near You.

The whole world is witnessing my identity crisis. I grew up in a time where there was no internet.  If you had an identity crisis, no one knew – they just presumed you “missing”.    Since I’m on lots of internet and social media sites  I realize I should rewrite every cyberspace bio, intro, profile out there . . .

DSCN6234 My first rewrite:  Former child star (I once was a child and being the first-born grandchild I was the star in the family) who gave up the limelight for a degree in English literature, traumatizing her to the extent that she never read another work of fiction for 30 years (skipped over high school years because they were even more traumatic).  After working in the banking business (I was a data entry person when teletype machines were cutting edge) she traveled the world (not the exactly the world but I did hitch-hike in Europe) . . . 

. . .  too wordy since so far I’m only up to my early 20’s:

Second try:  Former child star (gonna keep the star stuff – start off with a bit of dazzle to capture the reader’s attention) who quit being a psychotherapist to pursue her life’s dream and hasn’t a clue what that might be and is a bit afraid that if she knew she couldn’t afford it.  Keep reading her blog because when she knows what, who or why she is you’ll know too.

Maybe I’ll just leave all the bio’s and profiles as-is and let people think I’m the oldest psychotherapist on the planet – which might be a good bookend to being a child star . . .