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This is not a complaining post. I am very delighted with retirement. It’s just not what I expected. When I worked, I always wanted more time. There were activities that I wished I had more time for so I could either do … Continue reading
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Tonight I went out with some friends for dinner. I made an observation about my transition to retirement life. Something that was totally unforeseen. When I was a child, we all wore wool coats in the winter. They were usually … Continue reading
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This week I had lunch with an old friend. I had met her in the 70s when we both worked at the same company and ended up working together on a project. A few years later I was selected for a … Continue reading
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Last week I heard a new “office slang word.” I get a kick out of the “office vocabulary.” it comes and goes. I don’t know where it comes from and I don’t know where it goes, but it is used … Continue reading
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In the past week or so, I have had some of the most depressing events of my life. First, I signed up for Medicare. That is just nasty. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful that the government has such … Continue reading
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I thought when I retired, clothes would be easy — jeans, casual tops depending on the season and sneakers. I didn’t want to dress like some old woman with elastic waistbands and stretchy clothes that doesn’t quite fit. Nor do I want to … Continue reading
Routines are the glue that holds our lives together. Their effects are almost drug-like. It’s a simple form of self-medicating. Sounds profound. I’d like to say that Sigmund Freud said that but it was just me or maybe I read it in a greeting card. I would love to say that I am spontaneous (I am!) and always willing to be adventurous (I am that too!) but I do like my Starbucks in the morning, my alone time (absolutely!) during the day and some level of bonding with the critters (yep, even the fish) to keep me even keeled (that is code for not cranky). My recent transition from full-time working has tested many of my routines. I remember stories of people I worked with long ago who would continue to put on a coat and tie in the morning and leave the house after they were downsized from their jobs. I thought that was just crazy…but maybe not so.
I have to admit that I jump in the car to get a mocha latte almost every morning (ok, every morning). I still prefer to shower in the morning, plan my clothes the night before and organize my day. I don’t need to do any of that on a schedule but if you take away my routine, I am lost.
For the past few weeks we had rotating house guests and a family reunion (that will be a separate blog of epic proportions!) in the middle. That was two weeks of “bouncing” routines and I feel fairly discombobulated. (Yes, that’s a word – spell check said so!) House guests always require a change in routines even when they are no trouble. For one, the cat routines are disrupted which causes insane overcompensation and guilt on my part. In order to restore my sanity, it will be necessary to:
And…I am on it!
I have always wanted to write. When I sort of retired, I started to write about observations, transitions, life, goofy things, whatever. Then I would email them to unsuspecting friends who were way too nice to tell me to knock it off. Someone suggested that I start a blog so I could post and people could read or not read. Sounds like a great idea. So how do you do that?
Well you need fun titles, more passwords than I can remember, twitter accounts (what is a twitter?), signs ups, registrations, Flickr, Google accounts, battery backup, external hard drive (don’t want to lose anything!) access to free photos, helpful friends and a photo of yourself. (If you can sing this to the tune of the current Target back-to-school commercial you can get an idea of how overwhelming it can be. You are fortunate as I don’t know how to make or download YouTube clips…yet!)
Selecting a title was a big deal. It needs to fun but professional, interesting but neutral and of course be reflective of who I am…..whatever that means. After three painful days, I threw a dart on a list of suggestions and entered that in the template.
About that photo…I hate photos. Even when I think I look ok, the photo says it isn’t so. I had the beloved husband take a few shots with his camera – 400 to be exact. Here were the instructions:
Now I have 400 pictures of me. Good grief! Next step is to ask beloved husband if he can airbrush, crop and make it spiffy. After all, he has Photoshop. After an hour of reviewing the photos with him (and making no decisions at all) he left me to my own devices. Wonder of wonders! I found I, too, have Photoshop which has a very nice tool called ‘healing brush’ that whisks away the wrinkles! Wish they had that in real life. Crop, crop, airbrush, shazzam! Keep in mind that the photo is as big as a thumbnail so it doesn’t really matter anyway.
In the past week (which is the total life of my blog thus far) my life has been consumed with decisions, learning new things, exploring, figuring out how to link different sites, calls to friends, an occasional margarita (that’s for medicinal purposes only)…..everything but writing. Now if I can only find time to write!
I have heard this phrase more times in the past two months or so than I care to admit. Recently a teacher who has every summer off asked me the same question. It is always said with a tone. Is it envy? Curiosity? (Does anyone really care what I do all day? Really, I am not that exciting.) Or is it just disapproval as the speaker would use the time so much more effectively than I? On one hand it would appear that I have nine or more hours a day — so where does it go? After six weeks of part-time retirement, my project list is just as large and very little if anything is crossed off. Here are some things that I have done or experienced:
Now for those of you who are wondering what wonderful things I plan to do, here they are:
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 