Recent Posts

I am so impressed by all the busy beavers in our tribe! Ladies, you get **** done! My big accomplishments yesterday: Trimmed and bathed Dottie, purged old shoes (some are hard to say good bye to, but I know I won't wear them again - I am old enough that comfort matters just a bit more than style!), and started to sort through my pile on the table. I did get my 90 minute massage and Ron and I went to Japanese for dinner. I like Japanese because portions tend to be smaller than other fare, which is good because sushi is not an appealing left over! I think other Asian foods have more flavor, but Japanese is portion practical!

DD, I'm rather impressed, too, by your thoughtful approach for embracing retirement. Like you, I am a night owl. However, I don't really worry about sleep deprivation. I suppose I should. I spend the school week functioning rather well on about 6 hours of sleep per night. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Just depends. Last night I went to bed a few minutes before midnight and started waking up just before 6 am. I dozed on and off until 7:30 and got up.

202.6 this morning. Okay, I'm jealous of Mike's 190.something, but at the same time, I haven't been working HARD at losing. I've been really low key and letting the weight come off very slowly, but steadily. I suppose if it were important enough I could JFDI, but that is not my mindset, and I do like being free of that mindset.

Power washing sounds like a good idea. Plenty to do here - especially deck and outdoor furniture. I've been toying with the idea of ordering a pop up canopy for the deck that hangs over the lower yard. It's under the shade of oak and black walnut trees. Both trees "weep" so the seat cushions always seem to need cleaning from tree tears and leaf droppings or bird or squirrel poop. I'm thinking a canopy might be the answer. I spend so little time out there because of that, and it's such a lovely place on a warm day!

A little more clean up today. Maybe work on Lucky, a Costco run, but that's about it.

I had to look up somnolent...

Poor Kirby - I'm glad he is doing better. The alternatives to the cone never worked on my dogs either.

Remember back in the good old days of airplane travel when you could bring a suit bag on the plane and they would hook it in their special closet? I did that all through the 80s. For extra fun I'd throw a couple pairs of shoes in the bottom of the bag so I didn't need to make room in my suitcase. You could bring as much as you could physically carry onto the plane! I can't tell you how many pounds of clothes I brought to Greece for a 3 week trip when I was 22. I'm much more discerning now.

Ooh, open house! But did it have the nice bathroom you put in or the dog proof fence? Don't want to have to do those things again...

Awesome your packing worked so well Liz! I'm always in a battle between cramming my suitcase and wanting to travel in a more organized, better curated way.

Anne also well done getting your power washing done and safely too. Our neighbor is an OT at a long term care facility. She is always so concerned when DH is on the roof. One time she came out and asked him if I was home. He said yes, and she said good, I'll let her call 911 when you fall off. Imagine if she saw what you were up to.

Yesterday was also an awesome do what I feel like doing day. Coffee in the morning, newspaper, more flower planting, corn dogs for dinner (a store near us had food trucks in the parking lot) , finishing Only Murders in the Building... This 4 day reprieve before I finish the 3 week sprint to retirement is very restorative.

To my list of things I will be happy to leave behind such as packing lunch, waiting to use the restroom, getting up around 6am, add lying in bed fretting about what I need to do the next day at work which leads to anxiety spiral that I'm not going to get enough sleep. Being a natural night owl who finds it difficult to fall asleep before 10:30pm, I am constantly anxious about sleep. Even on the weekend sometimes. If something wakes me up at 7am on a Saturday, I worry I won't make up my sleep deficit, which I pretty much need to do every weekend. I realize during retirement there will be worries that will keep me awake some nights, and plenty of tasks that grown ups have to deal with that are not on the want to do list. But not needing to be asleep until midnight and being able to sleep until 8am feels so freeing. Stephen Colbert every night :)

I'm sore from the lifting, pulling and squatting of yardwork. It feels good to move my body, and admire my little bedding plants. Pacing myself, I have some to plant today, and then tomorrow. Then I can buy some more! Grow little flowers, grow!!!