Monday, January 25, 2021

I need to get my act together and weigh myself. I keep forgetting (well, sort of...).

I am still at Mikes because we are meeting friends of mine for dinner tomorrow night. I will return to my place early Wednesday after a week away. Mike will probably come for the weekend as there is outdoor music near me on Friday night.

We were thrilled to see Tom Brady and Tampa win and getting the opportunity to play on their home field for the super bowl. I don't care enough about football to watch if I have no ties to either team, but the game yesterday and super bowl meet my criteria for watching.

We started watching The Undoing last night. Intense!

Today is supposed to be 80, so we will be at the beach/pool by late morning. Not much else on the agenda.

Have a safe and healthy day!

Isn't The Undoing sooo good?!

Weight down 0.2 for the day, 0.8 for the week, and 28.8 overall.

I took a long walk yesterday (bit over 5 miles). There is a trail/park system that runs for 3 miles down the main street by me (and steps from my house). Looks like this with some gravel sections:

I live at the start of mile 2. So another 2 miles west (and one east) and then it turns and runs for another mile south. I've never gone past the turn as it's a newer section. But I kept going yesterday, feeling good and not tired, I wanted to see where it went. It proved my theory that walking away from your house is a good thing, because you have to walk back. If I set out to do 5 miles on the treadmill, I would have quit after a mile. Boring.

It was pouring yesterday so I thought, I'll get my trash cans out in the morning. But they were about 2 hours earlier than usual so I missed them! Dammit. Now I have to contend with stinky trash for a whole week. So mad at myself for not sucking it up and doing it last night.

The stucco guys are here scraping away... So hoping the color is a good match and that the house hasn't faded too much, which will require getting the whole thing painted. My need to micromanage is kicking in and there is a bit of a language barrier. (Update the guy who did the estimate showed up and is a better communicator! I forgot that he was one of the patronizers, but I think they know what they're doing so I'll grit my teeth.)

My dad is dropping their dog off and heading to Mayo today for his surgery to take out the new bladder lesions. He's also meeting with his oncologist to discuss immunotherapy.

My face is peeling like crazy. This was a good project to start in lockdown. No scaring little kids and the mask hides at least the lower half of my face.

I'm thinking about BB's family. Far too much loss for them in the last few years.

Repainting is probably the way to go. An alternative idea is to take a sample chip from the house to your quality paint store and see if they can match it. (Yah, I'm one of those cheap as chips people. If the paint is still good on the house as a whole, why cover it?

Liz, it is lovely to hear your plans, and makes me look forward to retirement. Speaking of, I used some estimate calculators, and looked at various retirement dates for both my pension and social security. The difference between 62 and 63 was minimal, but the difference between 62 and 64 was $1,000 a month! So my current plan is to retire at 64. It also means DH will be covered by my insurance until he reaches Medicare, and we'll only have to cover insurance for me for one year(and I'll qualify for insurance retirement benefits from my district). So, once this year is done, I'll teach for 4 more years. I think I can do it, as long as DH retires in 2022 at 62. (Or partially retires). If he does that, we can play all summer and he can take over more of the household stuff during the school year.

Cecily, your plan to walk away from your house does help keep you "on track" so to speak. The path looks very welcoming. I love walking on gravel, the crunch, crunch noise. During nice weather, we like to drive to Minneapolis and walk around one of the lakes. (If you watch Mary Tyler Moore, she does that in the opening). Once you're halfway around, it doesn't matter if you're tired, or changed your mind, you're either going to finish the walk or swim across. So, walking it is!

I've been thinking about BB too, and all her family's loss this year. Her DH must be reeling to lose sibling and parent in the same year. And then covid complicates things even further, stealing the rituals and opportunities to say goodbye and mourn together. Heartbreaking.

I started my pension at 62 when it fully matured, but don't plan to take my own social security until I am 70 when it will be much higher. In the interim I am able to take SS as a widow (which is why I can afford to hold off on the switch to my own which will be higher).

That used to be an option for currently married people too, but no longer is? I can accelerate my pension, and elect to get higher payouts until I'm 67 or 70, with the idea of postponing social security, but then the monthly payments drops off quite a bit. If my health changes, I would consider that option, but both my grandmas lived to be almost 90, so I need to plan to becoming one of the old old. Maybe. None of us know.

My pension isn't fully mature until I am 67. I won't be waiting that long, for sure. But if I remain cancer free, which the odds say I will, 64 isn't too bad. I do get a lot of time off, just not in the winter, in Jan, Feb, or early March, when I would most like to get away. DH and I feel like we could now afford to leave town for a weekend or two a month. Pick a warm city, fly out Friday night, go to a hotel with a pool, hang out, come back Sunday evening. That might help get me through these Northern Winters.

Liz, the consensus here in Minnesota is, as long as the Packers aren't going to the Super Bowl, it's all good. I'm not a football fan, but the Vikings/ Packers rivalry invades all media in the Bold North.

Cecily, good thoughts for your Dad and his surgery, hope it is successful, and he has a smooth recovery.

Thank you, DD!

Must check out The Undoing. Is it on Netflix???

I know little of Football and do not much care, so I'm pretty good with however it turns out. I have friends who are avid Packer fans and KC Chief fans. One group was sad, the other elated!

I did squat yesterday! LOL! I did groom a dog in the morning, but the rest of the day was spent not doing things I should have... Oh, well... At least I spent some time coming up with a few fun things for the kids to do this week instead of the same old, same old stuff of routine. This afternoon they are on a household item alphabet scavenger hunt. Most of the kids were pretty excited about the scavenger hunt. Ah, the Simple Pleasures of being an 8 year old!

DD - your post about retirement got me to revisit my own. Damn you! It's tempting now to stay until I'm 62. The difference between 60 and 61 is large - over $500 per month. Staying until 62 would bring in another $275 per month. Less tempting, but still enough to think about. But, I took home more than that this weekend in cash grooming 2 dogs. So, maybe not worth staying a full extra year for that. Each year beyond 62 only adds $192 extra per month. I'm not sure that's worth it. So for now, I think I'm sticking with my idea of retiring at 61, though I will entertain 62. Not sure I will go beyond that. I do love the kids, but I'm tired of the bureaucracy.

I counted calories Saturday and Sunday. Interesting.... 2000 calories per day feels a little restrictive. Damn! Yesterday was 2300 cals. So, today I considered ways to keep the hunger at bay, while lowering calories. One day at a time. Another weird thing is that I have NEVER EVER EVER gone into weight loss mode without weighing daily. Talk about trusting the process. I guess I will find out on Saturday if what I am doing triggers some weight loss. Fingers crossed. If not, back to the drawing board for some remodeling!

My heart goes out to BB and her family. It has been a tough couple of years for them.

Must go Zoom! Toodles!