Retirement Party

Well, the retirement party was great but I hope I will remember the lessons I learned from this. I mentioned before about having a hard time coping with relinquishing control of the party and I'm afraid I was not very easy to get along with the last month or so. Even up until 10 minutes before the party started, I was still having anxiety about the outcome. The outward appearance was all I could focus on but in reality, what was more important and what everyone really cared about was the food (always great), the drinks (the cranberry vodka was outstanding),the cake (raspberry-filled white which was awesome) and the company (we are blessed to have such good friends). I had a really good time and one I will remember forever. One final push to get the thank yous out before my trip and I'm good to go. I should have listened to Bethenny on Real Housewives when she said "It's all about the cake". Yum, she was so right!

Tomatoes

I've been busy these past two weeks, what with cleaning, painting, taking care of car recalls, shopping, delivering invitations and spending some time with friends before the official end of summer. There has not been any down time to speak of and the last thought on my mind was squeezing some canning into my schedule. Now comes the last real day to myself to finish stuff up and I'm faced with a garden full of tomatoes that are just screaming for attention. Next week proves to be very warm and I doubt if they will fare well until I get back from my trip. My husband can only eat so many sandwiches with a slice of tomato on them and he won't have time to do anything with them. I thought, before I retired, how nice it would be this year to can my tomatoes and even try something different since I'd have the extra time. I guess I really did a lot on weekends while I was working because some years I made salsa, juice, ketchup, soup and even dried tomato halves. So, as I talked to my husband this morning about what to do with some, we decided to lighten the crop a little this weekend by giving some away and by the time I get back, it should be replenished. That sounds like a plan I can live with.

Long time no paint

Well, I finally got back up on the saddle, so to speak. It's been 6 years since my last paint project - in fact, almost to the day. I remember it vividly as I prepped the bedroom to paint, positioned the step stool in the closet, missed the bottom wrung, fell backwards then forward, coming down on my knee and spending the rest of the day in the emergency room. That was also the day I was scheduled to pick up my daughter from the airport on her return trip from Arizona. It was also the day before the kids started back to college and the beginning of a new school year for me in the dorm. All the plans my daughters and I had, having lunch together in the food court went up in smoke. This was really a life changing event for me as I would realize months later as I tried to regain full use of my leg. I also started exercising to minimize discomfort in my leg and developed friendships during the process. I truly believe that when one door closes another opens. Anyway, the door to the bathroom opened and found me in there painting on that same step stool. It was a job for me but I survived and feel good that I've gotten past that experience. As far as my next painting project - I think I'll leave that one for the professionals.

Eye Witness

I witnessed a disturbing incident while at K-Mart yesterday and need to share it. I was at the checkout behind a mother and her 2 kids, an older boy and younger daughter (I'd say about 7 and 4) when the girl asked her mom to buy something to which her mom said no. The girl started crying, walked past the register by her brother, stopped crying, then came back in the aisle behind her mom and picked up the item she had wanted in the first place which she proceeded to hide under her shirt. The mother was busy checking out so she didn't notice it. I was torn as to whether to tell her or let her find out herself which I figured wouldn't have been long since it was very noticeable. I also didn't know the reaction I would have gotten so I kept quiet. I think that's what's bothering me the most as things progressed, the mother never noticed it or did anything about it. As I finished checking out and went to my car, I saw the mother and those 2 kids riding the merry-go-round outside the store and the whole time, that little girl held on to her treasure under her shirt. I watched as they entered their car - still no reaction on the part of the mother. I realize that kids will be kids and they'll do almost anything to get what they want but it sure looked like this little girl had all the in and outs of shoplifting down pat - a scary thought for a child so young. I wonder what her next heist will be!! I firmly believe that making a child accountable for their actions, at any age, would go a long way in solving the problem. I think my kids would agree that when they did something wrong (an inevitable fact of life, I mean who has perfect kids) and I made them call and apologize, that made more of an impact on them than any spanking, time out or privileges lost could ever do. I can only hope that once they got home and the mother found the stolen item that she went back to the store, child in tow, and made her return it. Am I an optimist or what!!!

100 things we should know

Yesterday I spent more time at the car dealership waiting for the last recall and leafed through that same Great Lakes Living magazine with the 100 things we should already know article. I tried to find it and post a link but all I got were the answers. Anyway, I read through them again and realized that there were a bunch of them I didn't have a clue about. It got me wondering who made up this list. If it were me I would have had more grammar and spelling items but that's my pet peeve. I was amazed at how much sports trivia was on there which I could care less about. I know there are all kinds of buffs out there - sports buffs, science buffs, movie buffs, history and geography buffs,etc. If you asked each one of these people to come up with a list of 5-10 things, you'd have over 100 but would they really be essential to our everyday living? The article stated 100 things...but have forgotten and I have never learned who won each of the sports championships for the past 10 years. I also don't need to recall Pi to the 4th number past the decimal (most of the people I know don't even know the first).I also haven't used the formula to change Centigrade into Fahrenheit in quite awhile but I know the freezing and boiling points of each.I enjoy movies but which James Bond movies star Sean Connery and which star Roger Moore wouldn't be my top priority. I guess my concern is we need a list of things that really matter or something to shoot for that has some real time significance to us all. Maybe I'll even work on that one myself.

First Week

Well, one week into my retirement and I've learned a few things about myself and my routines and/or habits. By the way, I still haven't developed most of those habits I had hoped for but I'm not too concerned about them. Being on a new diet this week turned out to be a smart move. I needed a change in routine to jump start me and this worked. I have noticed that when I get tired, the cravings, especially for chocolate, have kicked in. Of course, that box of Romolo candy sitting on the table that my husband got me for our anniversary isn't helping much. It's not allowed in step 1 so I informed him we'll break it out in step 2. As far as my exercise goes, there's been up and downs with that and I'm still working on a good system. I was in some pain using the weights and now that that's over, I'll work on a schedule and increase the weights, slowly. I've been very productive with the cleaning and even plan on some painting this week. It's helped to have a goal for myself - that being this weekend for most of the cleaning. After that, we'll see what happens.

Procrastination

I accomplished something really great yesterday. I finally put up the rest of my apple decorations in my kitchen - talk about procrastination! I had some of this stuff up before I had my kitchen redone but during construction, I had it tucked away in the bedroom. I even accumulated more since that time but never got around to putting it all up. I've looked at it several times over the years and thought it was too big of a job to start now. I guess my attitude of no more excuses has finally sunk in cause yesterday there wasn't a hesitation whatsoever - pulled that stuff out and got to it. Getting that monkey off my back felt wonderful! Knowing that we might not be here more than a couple years influenced me - get a chance to look at it a little before it's sold. I was able to hone up on my tool skills by using the drill and I have to admit, it looks pretty good. Of course, I employed my husband and his skills and advise - he's always encouraging. Man, I'm ready for my next project.

Spell Check

I've always had a thing about spelling and also a pet peeve about misspelled words, especially at the school where I worked. I don't profess to be a great speller but, before spell check on the computer, I would always look up words in the dictionary if I wasn't sure about their spelling. It amazed me that college students could put misspelled words on bulletin boards for all to see, even parents. Evidently no one was proof reading. It came to mind again yesterday as I was waiting for my car to be fixed and leafing through a magazine. Included in the top 100 things we should know was the difference among there, they're and their, or homophones as they're called. These are words that sound the same but have different meanings. Spell check is useless with homophones because it only picks up on misspelled words and these may be spelled correctly but used incorrectly. There lies the problem! As much as we love our computers, they are not the end all. We still need people to teach us and proof read. Anyway, I think I have those homophones down pat but there were a bunch of other things on that list that I didn't know.

Cute clothes

I took a day off to go shopping with my friend, MB, and as hard as I tried to find those glitzy flip-flops, I couldn't do it. Maybe in time I'll find something that suits my need for practicality but yesterday wasn't it. I did find a cute pair of brown leather sandals among others at Easy Spirit, my favorite shoe store. MB and I noticed a few things during our shopping trip - the cuteness of clothes diminishes as the sizes go up and we could tell the target age of customers at a store by the sleeves on tops. We like cute!!! I'm not just talking design but colors, patterns and choice of fabric. A few stores did very well in including larger sizes in the same styles but others didn't. To clarify, I'm not talking plus sizes here, those were from a different planet. I can more so understand the sleeveless styles, based on what I've read that the more skin you show, the younger you look. That quick glance into the store saved us some time and trouble. Despite all this, we managed to find some cute things in our size, enjoy a wonderful day together and even have frozen yogurt for our afternoon snack!

Good Workout

I had the best workout with weights in weeks, I guess. If I can't remember when the last time was then I knew I better take it easy. I have plans tomorrow and I certainly didn't want to be sore. This was a workout that I've done many times before but a condensed version, only 30 minutes. One of my goals was to increase my workout to an hour. This was the first of those strength workouts and I had to be very careful not to overdo it. I hear people saying that modification is not an option if you're serious but that's exactly what I did. I can't imagine how I would have felt had I not modified since as it was I shook all over when I was done. That tells me that I used all those muscles and it really felt good! I'm keeping a journal of all my workouts including specific DVD, time and actual weights used. I'll take it easy for a couple weeks, then pump it up to really feel the burn.

Habits

Yesterday I talked about making lists but I'm hoping some of those things will turn into habits over the next few weeks. Habits are supposed to develop by doing something consistently for at least 20 days. It's the best way to get that routine in place so things happen naturally. I've been pretty good so far especially with getting up at 6 am and exercising but I have to work on a few more. I guess it has to be balanced with some spontaneity, too. During retirement I want to keep that attitude of "what the heck, let's do it" but not lounging around not getting anything constructive done. Hey, so far so good!

Lists

One of my special co-workers yesterday mentioned the importance of making lists especially after retiring. I've been doing that since I read an article in the paper concerning the anatomy of a good list. Only put five items and write them according to time involved (least to most) was the gist of the article. It's not as important to finish the list as it is to make one. I've stated before that my biggest concern is losing my routine which has been essential to my well being and I'm hoping the list will help my focus. One list I will not write is a bucket list. To me it seems like a lose-lose situation - if I complete it, then what and if I don't, I'm dead. So I'll continue making lists and live each day as it comes.

Having fun

I am now counted as one of our countries retirees! What a wonderful day I had with these co-workers of mine that have been kinder, more generous and more fun than I ever could have hoped for. I managed to survive the day with no outburst of tears even though the emotion was swelling up inside of me. I remembered what I wrote in yesterday's post about not saying good-bye to the people but the job and it seemed to help. I still have much work to do - some of which will take me back to these wonderful friends I worked with and some will follow a different path. The main distinction will be that now I'll call it fun and not work.

Saying Good-bye

Only one more day! Today was really the last day of "work" and tomorrow will be a day of saying good-bye to the routine I've been used to for 13 years but not to the friends I've met during that time. I plan to visit, call and/or e-mail often as friends are too hard to come by, just to leave. It will also be a day to let others cook for me, which will be strange but I'll manage. It will be one step toward relinquishing control and finding another sense of freedom. I've already said I'll plan the next get-together since I'll have the time. Putting the preparations for our(my husband and my) retirement party in someone else's hands will be the next step. I look forward to enjoying whatever comes along.

Paperwork

Only two more days!! I just wish there was a one-stop shopping place or a one-call like they have for utilities to take care of the paperwork and notifying all the people. Now, I've been called a rule follower by my daughter and I take it as a compliment even though I don't think it was intended as such. For the most part, I try to follow rules and life is easier if I do. There have been times that I chose to ignore rules for whatever reason but I accept the consequences. So when I filed the papers for my retirement, I even asked if there was anything else I needed to do. Now I'm finding out that I needed to do this, this, and this. It's nothing that hard and I would have gladly done it a month ago if someone had informed me because, like I said, I try and follow the rules. Sometimes there's things you only do once, unless you're in showbiz, like retiring. I expect the professionals to fill me in on all this stuff and instead I feel like I'm not asking the right questions or everyone needs something different from me. Anyway, I think it's taken care of but I do have two more days if there's anything else.....

Kosher salt

For the past few days, it seems like all I've been hearing or reading about is kosher salt. The September issue of Woman's Day magazine has stated they will only be using kosher salt in all future WD recipes. Kosher salt contains half the sodium as table salt - a fact I didn't know. Everyone is eyeing the sodium content in foods these days, especially because of it's link to hypertension, but am I prepared to cut it out of my diet completely - NO. I believe the link concerns the fluid retention and if that can be handled in other ways then there is no need to eliminate salt. Even all the Food Network stars use salt because it improves the taste of food. My daughter made a delicious tomato salad with kosher salt, oil and basil - quick, easy and tasty! I made salt potatoes with small Yukon Gold potatoes and a bunch of kosher salt - also tasty. The salt is much coarser than table salt but I can work around that. I guess I can have my cake and eat it too.

Can't seem to get the clothes right

I went to a wedding yesterday and realized that I can't get the clothes right. This was termed a casual affair but I wore a skirt, low-heeled sandals and hose. The last wedding I went to I wore khaki capris, dressy top, sandals and no hose. At both weddings I wore the wrong apparel, based on my need to comform. I realize that need is outdated and I shouldn't worry about it, but I do. No one else cared - why should they, since I didn't care what they wore. I guess it takes me back- way back, to when there were rules to fashion. I was taught that you didn't wear white after Labor Day, red and pink should never be worn together, hose should be worn with any kind of dress shoes(flat or heeled),and your purse should match your shoes. I remember in school one year, all of us girls wore hose with white keds sneakers and it looked so cool. We were so "in"! We broke every rule I lived by and it felt great. My plan is to throw away those pantyhose, buy myself a fancy pair of flip-flops and thumb my nose to the rules. Now that sounds like a plan!!