Happy (?) Halloween

I know the kids love it but…….it’s one day of the year that I could live without.

Today I’m off to lunch with the “old” girlfriends to celebrate a birthday.  Everyone is supposed to be there, so it’ll be the first time in a long time that all 7 of us will get together.  There’s usually always one missing for one reason or another.  These lunches are a lot of fun….a lot of catching up, 2 or 3 different conversations going on at the same time and of course a glass of wine or two.

It’s absolutely pouring this morning and dark!  Our clocks go back one hour tonight, so tomorrow morning won’t be quite as bad when I get up…..at least not so dark.

I bought a “90 pieces” package of candy for tonight…..I was going to buy the peanut butter cup ones but I knew I’d eat all the leftovers if there are any…..so I bought a combo pack of little chocolate bars that I don’t like……very much!  They’re a nice little treat to have every now and again but I’m not a big chocolate eater, so I’m hoping those leftovers last a long time!  I swear each and everyone of those little things adds an inch to my thighs!

Primed and ready for the heavy duty paint.

Yesterday was a painting day…..finally.  I got the primer coat on that cabinet and today, after lunch and between trick or treaters, I hope I can get the first coat of the real heavy duty plastic type paint on it.

While cleaning out the old shed I found a cute little tool/nail/screw holder.  It’s old and homemade but I don’t know who made it.  I am thinking that it was probably Ken’s Dad or maybe even his Dad!  It must have came to our house when Ken’s parents downsized into an apartment.  I’m pretty sure it hadn’t been touched since it was put in the shed years ago. I dumped out the thousands of nails and screws, most of which were really rusty……and I already have a few thousand more in other containers…..so definitely didn’t need any of these.

cutsie little homemade holder for something!

I cleaned it up….ie scraped out years of rust, dirt, dust etc. and thought it might be a nice little plant holder or  something.  It seemed a shame to just throw it away because it’s really well made….and kind of “folk artish”…..and I’m sure there is some history to it, but what, I guess we’ll never know!

I don’t know what I’ll end up using it for…..maybe I’ll keep it on the cabinet in the garage and put all those big flat pencils and pens in it.  I could use one or two of the sections for the 50 or so screwdrivers and wrenches too.  Or I could put little herb pots in it for the winter….a nice little touch of greenery in there…..a “girlie” garage 🙂

L.

Pouring Buckets!

It’s raining……a lot!   And it’s supposed to pour all weekend……too bad for all the little trick and treaters tomorrow night.

Halloween has never been one of my favorite days……that said, fall is not my favorite time of year so maybe that’s part of it.  I don’t like the short days and, around here, the rain that usually goes with them.

Ken liked Halloween!  Every year, when the kids were little, he’d get a bunch of fireworks and way more treats than we ever had to give out.  Usually after trick or treating someone in the cul de sac would have made a few big pots of hot chocolate and all the dads would get the fireworks going…..weather permitting of course!  With each house contributing something to the firework supply, it was easy to be out there for a good hour or so.  Everyone had a good time. Someone would have always picked up packages of sparklers, so all the kids would be waving them around trying to spell out their names.

The kids had parties at school, sometimes a friend would have a little party too and that meant having a costume ready to go days ahead of time.  I did make a few of them over the years…..the clown costume got a good number of years use and they could wear it OVER their winter coats.  One year the Moms would take the kids out and then the next it was the Dads turn……they always went to way more houses and stayed out much longer than the Moms!

Costume planning was always such a big deal.  Being a princess was a tough one because of the weather….a coat was still needed and over the costume wasn’t going to work, so we had a “puffy” princess a few times.  Zombies or mummies were always the easiest…..rip up an old sheet, wrap and pin!  The kids would change their minds 10 times before finally deciding, usually the day or the party or even Halloween day.  To me it was stressful because they’d get stressed over the damn costumes!

We’d been to a few Halloween parties ourselves over the years.  When we were younger I can remember getting pretty dressed up and having a lot of fun.  As I got older though, the thought of figuring out a costume was way too much work for me.  Ken, on the other hand, thought it a lot of FUN!!  At work sometimes we’d also have a “thing” for Halloween…..a pot luck or order in pizzas.  One or two years there were “department” contests, so I felt like I HAD to at least make an attempt at putting a costume together.  The last party and work thing was about 5 or 6 years ago…..I made myself a costume, which I thought I’d use over and over again, if there were more parties.  It was a sandwich board sign, made of cardboard….about a foot square, with black ribbon to hold the front and back together.  My sign simply said, in big black letters  “HALLOWEEN COSTUME” .  It was easy to put on and take off and reusable!  I thought it was brilliant!

Then there was the part of answering the door……whoever wasn’t out trick or treating with kids did that.  I’d park myself at the bottom of the stairs, for what seemed like hours to me, and wait for the knocks and yells.  Sometimes there’d be one kid standing there or twenty!  Up and down, up and down…..not my idea of fun.  I must say I did, and still do, enjoy seeing the little ones, the big ones not so much.  When it was Ken’s turn, he’d chat with all the kids, make comments about their costumes or jokes……he could really get into it.

I did try to keep my dislike of Halloween to myself…..at least while the kids were little.  And it wasn’t until just a few years ago that they realized just how much I did dislike it!  So I guess I did a pretty good job…..

The best Halloweens though were the ones we weren’t here for!  Not nice, I know….and there were only a couple.  The first Halloween that we “missed” at home was the year we took the kids on a cruise.  Halloween night was spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico!  Now THAT was lots of fun.  Not sure if they celebrate it as Halloween or as the eve of los dias de los muertos!   I think the ship must have stayed in port overnight.  We took a tour of the city that day and then in the evening, after dinner, we wandered around the old town ourselves.  Zillions of little kids, many in strollers, and parents all dressed up going in and out of all the shops collecting their treats.  Back on the ship later, there were costume contests, lots of fun games (bobbing for apples) and of course a Halloween themed midnight buffet.  Ken and the kids participated in some of the things but the best part was the people watching.

Another year we were in Mexico……now they really know how to celebrate down there!  Although it’s the next day,   dias de los muertos,  http://education.nationalgeographic.com/media/dia-de-los-muertos/   that is the big day for them and other Latin American countries.  Every hotel and business seemed to have a shrine set up with lots of food and other goodies.  In the morning all the stray cats would be having a feast!

That first peak coming through the siq……

Last Halloween, I was at Petra!  Alone….or at least sort of.  Certainly not with the person I wanted to be with, so even though I was with others, I was still alone in my head!  I can’t believe a whole year has gone by already.

Petra….cave dwellings.

Petra is a pretty cool place to be anytime, but being there on Halloween, as opposed to at home, was even better.  There was nothing over there celebrating it, so it was just another day….which much to my kids chagrin…..is what I wish it was here.

My cabinets are all sanded and ready for their first coat of paint.  I’m excited to get that started.  Between coats, it’s a paper day…….sorting, filing, shredding.  This is a good way to spend a rainy day……

L.

Tennis Anyone?

….and there are still more of them just in a bag!!

Why?  Just why……that’s what I keep asking myself whenever I come across something like this!  How many tennis balls does one need…..ever!  Or screwdrivers, or nails, or drills, or pens….the list goes on and on.  Did we buy more, or another,  because we could never find the one(s) we had?

No one in this house has played tennis for years.  Before kids, Ken and I did….we even took lessons for a while.  But it’s not like we were out every weekend on the tennis courts perfecting our serves or backhands.  Actually we very rarely played tennis together……being a lefty my serves, if good, were pretty darn good because the spin on the ball was the opposite way….apparently.  Ken had a powerful shot, which was a good thing too, if we had been really good at playing it, but more often than not, our “matches” ended up more like a game of dodge ball…..for me!

Our daughter played tennis all through high school….on the tennis team, lots of tournaments, even made it to the provincials a couple of years, all that kind of stuff.  I think she may have played a handful of times after that.

So that begs the question of why I STILL HAVE all these tennis balls!  They didn’t take up too much room in that storage area under the stairs…..nicely tucked (hidden!!) away on a shelf, maybe we just never noticed them…..I know we didn’t keep them because we were going to get back into tennis….that wasn’t even on our radar!

Now that a year and half has gone by since I lost Ken and it’s been six months since I retired, I may just be finding my niche in how I want to live my life.  Definitely getting rid of STUFF is on the agenda.  I have to be brutal when it comes to letting go of things……but you have to be in the right frame of mind when you do it.  On good days, it’s easy to make decisions on what to keep and what to chuck, on bad days it’s virtually impossible to make a reasonable decision about anything, let alone a task like cleaning and decluttering 30+ years of STUFF.  My day to day life is settling down now that the garage is almost finished…..only siding and brickwork, hopefully next week.  I don’t try and organize my whole day anymore…..I still have my “to do” lists…..because I’ve always had those and always will….I seem to let things just flow now.  I can be NOT busy and NOT think about everything all the time.  Is that just because so much time has gone by now?  I don’t know but it does make things much easier.  I’m not worried about having nothing to do now…..unless of course, it’s one of those days, which I don’t seem to have as often…..but then we’re just heading into winter and crappy weather so we’ll see……

Today is a good day……those tennis balls aren’t getting turfed though…..Wally, the neighbour’s dog, will appreciate them.   I’ll take them over and put them in their carport.

Dinner out tonight with friends……one of my fav kinds of evenings!

L.

Another Project!

I have to actually finish this one and the sooner the better!

Those old cupboards/cabinets from the shed need to be painted.  They’re so old, and kind of ugly, I had decided (yesterday!) that I’d just get a new(er) set of cabinets to put in my nice new garage.  They are not cheap!  There is always a salvage place but I have no idea where I might find one of those and chances are whatever I got would need some work anyway so I had to undo my decision.

My daughter and I got one of the cabinets hauled into the garage last night and I spent the rest of the evening getting all the old hardware off, most of which was good and stuck…..so a bit of muscle needed to pry them off.  I’m only going to use one of the sets of cabinets, there is room for the other one but I don’t think I’ll need them and having it would just provide more space to collect more stuff!

I’m organizing this garage MY way…..whether it’s the right way or not, I don’t know but it’s got to work for me!

Today I’ll give that cabinet a rough sanding and put a coat of the basecoat on.  I will get a new top though.  What’s on there now is just particle board which can’t really be sanded and it’s not quite the right size that will fit right up against the wall.  I’ll measure (twice!) and pick up something else….maybe a good sturdy piece of plywood??  I think Home Depot will cut it for me…..if not one of my saws will get put to good use.

I was so motivated about doing this I couldn’t sleep in this morning!  How is that for excitement?  Of course I still have everything else to do around here but it can all wait…..like it has for a long time.

Back in the day, I would get excited about projects like this too only I wasn’t usually the one doing the any of the work…..I was the “creative” side, not the labour!  It would, or could, drive Ken crazy……because more often than not I’d already have some other project on the go that was half finished.  Nothing has really changed because I still do that but now I can appreciate things much better……looking at it from his perspective as the labourer!  I still have not lived and learned!

My ex-SIL is back in the hospital…..she was a bad girl, not taking some meds,  not eating etc.  They’ve rehydrated her and she’s on the road to recovery…..or as recovered as she’s going to get, I guess.  She has her first scan on Thursday since starting her chemo back in September and other than, what appears to be a chest infection of some sort, the xrays that they’ve done while she’s been in have looked really good.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for her.  So at some point this afternoon I’m going to have to stop working on my project….after the sanding…..and pop up to see her.  I’m only going to pay for ONE HOUR of parking.  Is that terrible?  My niece isn’t back in town until next week, she had to go home for a couple of weeks…..hence the exSIL not behaving…..so I kind of resent this self inflicted issue that is taking time away from my stuff…..very selfish I think on my part but it is what it is!!  It’s not really one hour because there is time I need to take to get ready to go out, then travel time (1/2 hour each way) and will I still have that “motivation” going by the time I get home?  I know I shouldn’t feel that way but I do!  I don’t HAVE to go see her but I know she doesn’t have anyone else, so I don’t want to regret not going if something were to happen.  It’s that guilt thing……why do we feel that?  Guilt is a terrible thing to have to live with…..whether it’s truly something to be guilty of or just that feeling that you didn’t do what you should have even if it’s not something you could have done!!  Does that make any sense?  Probably not but…..

It’s just after 8 and I’ve already had my two cups of coffee, so I’m ready to tackle that cabinet.  I think part of it is because I have a nice dry, warm(ish) garage to do it in!  I would never in a million years have done this outside at this time of year….especially today in the rain.  Such a silly thing to get excited over, but hey……..

L.

Hoarding!

Yesterday afternoon, while I should have been doing something, I flipped on the TV and that show “Hoarders” was on……

How scary!  Ken hated that show and I can’t say that I actually like it but something about it fascinates me and I can’t help myself NOT to keep watching it.  I remember the first time I seen it……I really didn’t think it was possible that people could live like that….it had to be “staged” for TV, right?  But then I remembered, over the years, having gone to a couple houses, work people or through the kids school friends, seeing some pretty messy places…..both inside and outside.  I think back then I just thought they were really lousy housekeepers.  I’m not sure “hoarding”, the word, really existed back then.

This is a really scary show…..not in a blood, guts and murder way…..but psychologically scary.  How does something like this happen.  These aren’t just messy houses, they are dangerous!  What happens in ones life to fall into a state like some of these people?  Many things according to the show.  More often than not though, it’s after the loss of a loved one.  They don’t just keep the persons things, they collect more and more…..to a point where they totally lose control and become so overwhelmed, there is no way to escape.

I can sort of understand now, how that can happen.  That first little while EVERYTHING is overwhelming.  Who cares what your house looks like, who cares what you eat, who cares if the kitty litter box gets cleaned, who cares if you make your bed……if you even manage to get out of it!!

It happened here!  I just could have cared less about anything for what seemed like a long time to me.  One day though reality hit…..MY life was going to carry on.  Sitting around and slowly being buried by clothes, dishes, papers…..OMG, the paper….was not going to work.  I didn’t live like that before, so how could I then?

I think I’m lucky that the realistic part of my brain took over from my emotional part.  It would have been pretty easy to just let everything go while wallowing….maybe that’s not a very good word…..in my grief.  I was not just lucky, I was very lucky!

Whatever it was, maybe acceptance (???) that triggered me to look around and get moving again, was a good thing.  I’m glad it happened sooner than later…..before I’d gotten to a point of being overwhelmed…….or at least so overwhelmed that there was no logical place to start.

I don’t watch that show very often…..at least I don’t go looking for it on my channel guide thing….but every now and again it’s what’s on when I turn the TV on and I sit and watch it in amazement….I can’t help it.  Then I go on a mad woman cleaning spree and pack up old clothes and shoes, throw away papers and magazines, make another “to do” list…..it motivates me….at least for a while.

To be so overcome by grief, or whatever the issue may be, to fall so far into a hole like some of these people is beyond belief to so many people…..it was for me UNTIL it happened.  I’m hopeful that my family and friends would have stepped in and got me the help I needed if I’d gotten way worse.  Would I have been in denial?  Would I have accepted the help?  Would I have told them all to just get lost and let me have my pity parties?  I don’t know but I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.

No time today to watch TV, thank goodness!

L.

Laundry Day

Which doesn’t sound terribly exciting….unless you haven’t had a dryer for a week!  The venting was finally rerouted yesterday and I’m back in business this morning.

I also spent a good part of yesterday doing some garage organizing.  The shelves were put back together…..by me!  They’re aren’t quite as big as I thought they were but hopefully big enough to hold all that needs to go on them.  I’ve also got the old cupboard/cabinet that I’m sure I’ll manage to get filled up too…..but it’s got to be painted first and can’t be put under the window until all the trim around it is finished, which should be by this weekend, if the siding arrives by then.

All the stuff that I had stored in the closet under the stairs has been moved out.  Some is on the shelves but so much still just in boxes.  I have millions of nails, screws, nuts, bolts and some things that I’m not even sure what they are.  All that needs to be sorted out.  I spent an hour or so out there last night attempting to do that but I need containers of some sort to put it all in.  These bits and pieces, once in containers, can probably go in the drawers of cabinet….maybe I’ll get some labels to put on the drawers.  I just don’t know how to “organize” a garage!  Another challenge!!  I also have no idea how much of this stuff I actually need….or would ever use.  I have a soldering set and a little blow torch kit……there is a dremel…..what do you use THAT for?  There is also more drills, electric and battery operated ones, than I need…..I think.  I have two sanders……one normal one (I guess…..) and one little handy dandy one called “The Mouse”.  There are sockets sets galore and more drill bits than Carter has pills.

There are car parts that I have absolutely no clue what they are, other than the hub caps of course.  There is a whole dashboard……from a Mustang…not sure why as there is already one in the car.  I’m sure Ken must have found it at a swap meet or something and figured it was good to have a back up, just in case.

I have my work cut out sorting through all this stuff.  It’s kind of fun….in a way.  I can put the golf clubs and luggage back under the stairs now and reclaim the entire laundry room.  That makes me happy 🙂  And I can finally give the floor in there a really good wash…..the drywall dust is embedded in the grooves, so I’ll definitely be using a bit of elbow grease to get that done.

The weekend was so busy…..gone at 7AM Saturday, then the kiddies overnight and most of yesterday.  The rain held off until late yesterday, so we had a lot of fun raking the leaves, playing in them and then raking them all up again!  They “helped” me put the shelves together and to sort through the packages of different screws.   I love having sleepovers but won’t be doing too many with all three of them….at least until they’re a little older…..if they still want sleepovers then!  Good as they were, it’s still exhausting and I’m glad my daughter was here.

A few more things will get crossed off my “to do” list today.  It’s a slow process but I am now seeing some progress…..accomplishments.  Small as they might be, it makes me feel so much better to get them done.

L.

The Mustang Is HOME

looks pretty good!

It’s like Ken is home too.  I shed a few tears on Friday……

it’s like having a little bit of Ken home again……..

I’m pretty sure he’d have spent all weekend out there working away at something.  That is how it was supposed to be.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to afford to get all the things done to it that HE could have done himself.  That car is Ken.  After all the blood, sweat, tears, money etc. that went into that car, I’m glad it’s now home.

I took it for a little spin around the block before parking it inside.   Once a week I’ll have to start it and let it run for a little while and then, the plan is, to get it insured for a day here and there, weather permitting through the winter, and take it out for a spin….which I can do now that it has disc brakes.

Yesterday at the JIA meeting was so very interesting.  Some great speakers, lots of goodies, coffee and food trucks at lunch, all in a spectacular setting in downtown Vancouver.  What a terrible disease this is…….some kids are very lucky and go into remission for long periods of time, others who are only 15 years old have had to deal with hip replacement surgery!!  They are making some headway so things have changed quite a bit over the last 20 years…..way less kids in wheelchairs but there is still a long way to go.  Our fingers are crossed that our little one doesn’t have to deal with some of the struggles that the older kids had years ago.

The kids all had a sleepover……..we had lots of fun watching one of the minion movies.  Everybody, including me, snuggled down on the family room floor with pillows and blankets…..I was hoping they’d all fall asleep!  The two older ones were done in by the time the movie was over but the little one was raring to go!  We finally turned all the lights out and told her it was bedtime at 11PM!  She wasn’t happy and actually went back downstairs in the dark….and sat in the chair with her arms crossed over her chest…….hrmphhhh.   After a few minutes she came upstairs and crawled into bed with me…..and Karter.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be doing too much today after they leave.

L.

Company’s Coming!

So this is me today!

I don’t get it!  When my house IS clean (and tidy) no one seems to just drop in but when it’s a mess, I can almost be assured that someone will drop by or phone and say they’re on their way over……then I rush around like a mad woman until the doorbell rings.

I really enjoy entertaining so having company is one of my favorite things.  Why I don’t get the housework done before, especially when I KNOW they’re coming over, I have no idea!

I’m even making dessert…..which is not something I like to do but I found a recipe on facebook for “Apple Roses”…..seems simple enough and you use frozen puff pastry, so it can’t fail, right?

The old Mustang is also coming home today.  It will be parked in the garage, just where it should be.  It’s driveable now but I’ll only get it insured for a day here and there once a month or so, just to give it a good run….all this is weather permitting of course.  I’ve spent the minimal amount to get it into this condition and one day….if I win the lottery…I’ll think about getting some of the body restoration done.

Once it’s in it’s spot in the garage, I can start to get organized in there.  It’s really quite a big car, so it’s going to take up a lot of the space.  I’m sure there will still be enough room to put up some of the shelving and the cabinet(s) but maybe not all that I’d hoped too.  Whatever doesn’t fit in a cupboard or on a shelf is going to have to go….I really don’t need most of it…..some of it I don’t even know what it is!!  I do think I’ll still need a little backyard shed for the lawnmower and a few other things.  That said, I don’t actually use the lawnmower but with how unreliable my grass guy is, you never know….I might just need it one day.

All this seems to be taking forever.  The garage is so close to being finished…..just waiting for siding (should be here next week) and the brickwork (he’s off to Montana hunting elk until Oct 31!!).   My laundry room is slowly getting back to normal and I’ve finally gotten rid of the all the stuff in my entrance way….so there is hope that I will get everything back where it belongs or too it’s new place in the garage sooner than later.  Would be nice to have it all done before I leave on holidays but……

Tomorrow is busy day so probably won’t have time to post.  I’m off with the kids to a JIA event, “Cassie and Friends” day  http://cassieandfriends.ca/current-events/7th-annual-family-day/  Should be a fun day.  They keep the kids occupied while the parents…and grandparents…attend the sessions.  And the two oldest, will be having a sleepover after that!  I’m sure we’ll all be pooped after a long day…..at least I know I will be!

L.

Lunch At The Casino!

Met a girlfriend for lunch yesterday……at the casino!  What a deal they have for seniors……buffet is $11.99 but with the seniors discount (me???) is was only $9.44.  The buffet was only OK though.  Enough in it that I certainly didn’t starve but I wouldn’t have paid a lot more for it either.

L is a casino gal.  She goes quite a often…..she even has a card of some sort that goes into the slot machines and tracks whatever you spend and then you get points…..that you can cash in and play some more or put towards other things, like the buffet.

I, on the other hand, can count the number of times I’ve been to any of our local casinos on one hand.  The last time was with her and another girlfriend about a year and a half ago…..again for lunch.

She plays the penny machines, which truly aren’t penny machines, because if you bet the max each time you push the button, you’re really spending $2 a shot!!  I really have no clue how those machines work but I knew I didn’t want to spend that much……hah!  L showed me the best combo of buttons to push to get the most bang for my $1 bet.  It was on a “wheel of fortune” machine.  I did not make a fortune!! And by the end of the afternoon I had LOST $60!  So really my seniors discounted lunch was NOT.   I did have a lot of fun though……but it’s not something I’m going to do any too often.  I can see how you can get sucked in big time and I have a rather addictive personality, so it would probably be easy to get yourself into a mess.

I had all morning to get ready but as usual I was hustling around at 11 when I was supposed to be heading out the door.  I now have “shower” problems……the thingie that you pull up/down on the faucet part for the shower to spray is stuck!  Sort of half way……so the tub starts to fill up……kind of like having a bath at the same time.  I will be taking that apart later.  I also have the dryer to deal with.  It has pushouts on the sides so we can redirect the  venting fairly easy, I think.  I’m still waiting to hear back from the handyman (my basement drywall guy) to see when he can do it.  He said the weekend.  I hope so, otherwise I will be tackling this myself too. I looked it up on the internet and, other than making sure I don’t try to drill the new hole through a stud or two, this is not rocket science…..and I could save my self a few bucks….sort of redeeming myself for all the money wasted at the casino.

Today is another busy day…….how on earth did I work before??  I was so worried about being bored….and maybe if my house was all cleaned up and all my projects actually finished, I would be but I won’t have to worry about either of those two things getting done in the next little while……I think I’m good for at least a year or two….or three…..or maybe even more than that!

Meeting with my financial advisor this AM to see what “we’re” going to do come January.  Am I going to start using my “retirement” fund, which is taxable or do I have other options.  If so, what are they, when do they start etc.  If it is my retirement money how and when to we start.  She is so good I know she’ll have this all sorted out by the time I get in there.  The last time I was in she gave me a bunch of stuff to read about this fund that was really good and the one that she thought was best for my needs.  That was back in April…..I finally read it all yesterday morning.  Which was probably a good thing because I’m sure I would have forgotten it all by now if I’d read it earlier.

All this financial planning business is so much like work……I just want whatever to be there, in my bank account, once or twice a month……like my paycheques used to be.  I’m very thankful that we had the foresight to start making plans when we did.  We weren’t to good at it in our younger years……spend, spend, spend.  Who was EVER going to be able to retire……or so we thought.  So we started later than we should of, in our 40’s, because that is when reality so of starts to sink in.  Luckily for me this has all worked out.

BUT….the last year has been a year of spend, spend and spend…..some for pleasure of course, which is what it should be, but a lot of it has been on getting the house back to snuff…..there was so much we were going to do, then crap happens, right?  I’m slowly getting there and that makes me feel good but I can’t just keep spending anymore……the funds a no longer a “renewable resource”.  They are what they are and market driven to some extent, so they may not be what they ARE tomorrow.  Today we’ll plan for the rest of my life.  I have to be more frugal and conscience of how and what I spend my money on.  I need to be more responsible and all that stuff……argh.

And as I say that, after my appointment this morning, I’m off to pick up my passport and my visa for China!  But that’s OK…..that trip is all paid for so it makes me feel better AND that is what MY retirement is supposed to be all about….ME.  My future trips though, will need a bit more planning to make sure I stay within budgets…..and that those budgets are reasonable.  I’m certainly not going to be living the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”……more likely I’m going to be one of those backpackers from the Lonely Planet shows……maybe they need to start thinking about making shows like that with seniors in them instead of those young and spunky people???

L.

“In” Day

Except for a quick trip to pick up a few groceries….

Good news…..the grass guy showed up.  It took him almost 2 hours to get through the long, long, very wet grass.  I had no sympathy for him!  He got part of the gutter guards on BUT didn’t bring is long ladder so couldn’t get the top ones on…..he’ll do that next week when he comes to do the leaf clean up and hopefully the last grass cutting for the year.   I just don’t know what to do with him.  I was very intent on firing him yesterday but then he shows up…..and charges me next to nothing ($110) to cut the grass, blow and mulch millions of leaves (from my neighbours driveway too!) and put on SOME of the gutter guard…..ah sigh.

I’m anxious to get stuff done today…..especially things for the garage and getting the laundry room back to normal(ish).  The dryer vent guy came to have a look yesterday and can get the new venting done on the weekend.  I can live without it until then, so I’m good with that.

I’ve made a list of “garage things to do”……this includes sorting through the hundreds…..no, make that thousands….of nails and screws that were in the shed and in the tool cupboard in the laundry room.  I’m pretty sure I can just chuck most of them…..but should probably keep a few handy just in case.  I can always buy some if I really, really need them.  My plan was to clean out that cupboard, boxing up stuff that will get moved to the garage and getting rid of everything else.  But until I get the cabinets in there, I have no place to put anything!  So do I go ahead and box it, store them in the garage until I do have the cabinets or just leave it all where it is for now???  These are the types of dilemmas that live in my head!!  I’m torn…..if I box it all, it feels like I’ve accomplished something…..but in fact I’ve really accomplished nothing, other than moving stuff from point A to point C, in stead of B because there is no B yet!!

Oh well……whatever I pick from whichever list will keep me busy and that’s a good thing 🙂

L.