Week 36 - Done with Work

I would normally start with any week that starts with a holiday is great but when you're retired, even part way, a holiday is pretty much like any other day. I had my last work obligation on Thursday so full retirement is close.

Labor Day started with sleeping late and having a lazy morning but I redeemed myself with cutting weed trees and beggar's tick and taking them to the city burn pile. I noticed some wood debris there, which isn't allowed, and by the next day, the city closed the pile so it could be cleaned up. I got there just in time.

I had social commitments in Lincoln for the next 2 days. Tuesday was lunch at Helen's so I stopped at Menard's on the way there to buy a new handle for my slider. After a nice lunch, Helen and I chatted all afternoon, only stopping when Charlie got home from work. I went to Aldi when I left and picked up chicken fingers that I ate in the car. It was a nice day.

I was back in Lincoln for lunch with Layton and Steve on Wednesday. We went to Piedmont Bistro, which is my favorite Lincoln restaurant, and Layton said it was to celebrate my retirement (that was news to me) so they treated. I hit several thrifts before heading home and scored sock yarn at one of them, which is the best. 

I got home early enough to tackle replacing the sliding glass doorhandle so gathered tools and promptly tripped in my back room and went down hard. Damn! I got up and was determined to get it done. Well, turns out my door is thick so the screws weren't long enough. I attempted to use the old ones but they had a head that was bigger than the hole so wouldn't work. It was approaching 6:00 so my only option in town was Bomgaar's - the farm store. A kid helped me find the perfect screws in the many tiny drawers of screws. After paying 18 cents, he offered to help me carry out. Made me laugh. I installed the handle in minutes and was happy to have that done. Everything is harder than it should be.

After 2 weeks on antibiotics, Pixel was still a snotty mess (Tot was fine) so I took her back to the vet Thursday morning. He said to give it time because he'd injected her with long acting steroids and antibiotics 2 weeks before so there was nothing left to do. At 1:30, I logged onto zoom for the last training class with Dana and with that done, I was officially retired. Yay!

To celebrate my first full day of retirement, I got up Friday and made strawberry pancakes for breakfast. After running errands in Wahoo, I made my favorite lunch - a tuna melt with tater tots. I spent the afternoon going through all the yarn in the spare room, sorting some for Dottie, a bit for me and a huge Chewy box for Becky's Stuff for Strays sales. Just before bedtime, I signed up for the Walkfit app and despite it being 9:30, I put on my sneakers and did my first workout. Getting more exercise in retirement is on the list so I'll give this a try.

After spending a chunk of Saturday morning clearing out my gmail account, I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather to clean the garage. I spent all day in there, moving Corelle filled bookcases, reorganizing and throwing out bunches of stuff, filling my trash can. I ended the day feeling good about my progress and having bean dip, chips and a beer for Saturday snack supper.

After working so hard, I dialed it back on Sunday. I filled the kiddy pool from the garage and washed all the grimy recycling I'd found in the garage and filled my recycle bin too. I broke some sticks in the backyard for future firepit fires and was done, spending the rest of the afternoon reading on my bench and drinking tea.

So not a bad week with a nice mix of socializing, productivity and relaxing plus I'd kept up with my wakfit workouts. But the best part, of course, was being done with work. It doesn't mean I won't help as needed but I have nothing more scheduled. Yippee for my first few days of being fully retired! Now to settle into it and figure out how my retirement will work. Any ideas?