First Week in the Bag

Well.

I'm retired.

And I've BEEN retired for a week.

And its been really nice.

Except for the whole being sick part.

LOL

I'm feeling better every day.

Still not planning to do much today though.

I'm driving down to West Palm

this afternoon to get ready for school.

I have 150 students pre-registered.

I'm HOPING only 25-ish show up.

The other schools around the state are

having those sorts of numbers.

TONS of people registered,

but tiny numbers actually showing up.

(They think people are registering in 

multiple locations and others are just

registering to get the points...)

Anyhow.

Wish me luck!

LOL

Meanwhile, this morning I went out

and fed the animals and then sat in my

chair in the sunshine and read for half

an hour.  It was really nice!

Then Kyle came out on his way to work

and we visited for a bit.

(Nice to work for yourself - flex hours...)

And now I'm in the house making breakfast.

And it brought me back to millions of

breakfasts back in the old days.

Mom slicing bananas onto bowls of mush.

I'm slicing half a banana onto a bowl of mush.

Ok, steel cut oats made in my pressure cooker

(I made a week's worth on Monday)

with freeze dried wild blueberries and strawberries.

But still...

LOL

Thanks Mom for getting up all those mornings

and cutting grapefruits or slicing bananas,

making mush so we didn't start the day with

sugar filled cold cereal like some of our friends.

Now I'm going to go sit and eat.

Have a great Friday!

Happy Birthday to My Mom!!!!

Today is the day we get to celebrate

the birth of my amazing Mom.

We've had some health scares.

We've had major relocations.

We've had changes and modifications

and ... well ... life.

But through it all, we've had Mom.

(Sorry Mom, I know you tried

and tried and tried to get us to

call you Mother.  But it just never stuck.)

(Take heart, we didn't call you MUM!  LOL)

You (and Dad) devoted your entire life

to raising a house FULL of responsible,

loving, independent, respectful,

loving, (did I say that already?)

spiritual, family oriented,

amazing adults.

Ahem.

I have to say,

you are 5 for 5.

That is quite an accomplishment.

There were some rough patches.

Isn't that what life is all about?

By your fruits, they shall know you.

And your fruits are pretty amazing.

But enough about us.

(hahahaha)

Sadly, your job is never done.

We continue to look to you as an example

of how to live a gracious, loving,

thoughtful and kind life.

We look to you to see a successful,

loving, respectful, eternal marriage.

We look to you to see a thoughtful,

kind, sharing neighbor (especially as

you move to a new neighborhood

where you are cultivating new lasting

friendships.)

We look to you to see a valuable

member of a team keeping the Lord's

House open and working efficiently 

for His work to be done.

We look to you to see a loving and

well loved Grandma who supports,

loves, encourages her grandchildren

in all that they do.

We look to you to see someone who 

has never taken a knock and given up.

We look to you to see someone who

has never seen someone else take a knock

and not reached out a hand to lift them up.

We look to you to see who we strive

to be each and every day.

We look to you.

Today Is The Day!!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!!!!

You can't tell it by looking at me.

Cuz I'm at work.

LOL

But inside I'm SO EXCITED!!!

It's a terrible picture,

but this is where I have spent the 

past couple of months.

And my shirt says it all.

I'm All About NAPS! zzzzz

Thursday Aimless Ramblings

TWO DAYS LEFT!!!!!

I have nothing to do.

So I'm just hanging out here.

Counting the minutes.

Strangely not nostalgic or doing

any of the "almost the last time I'll do that..."

sort of thing.

Except driving on the highway.

Almost the last time I HAVE to do that

in the morning rush.

I was looking through my old email files

and found an email from my old friend

Kathy Salter.

She used to live here in town

and then moved to Utah.

I took a chance and sent an email

and she got right back to me!

(We are friends on FB, but neither of us are 

very active on there...)

We've been emailing back and forth.

It's been fun!

She works for one of the colleges out there.

We used to talk on the phone for hours

everyday when we were both stay at home moms

with a house full of little kids.

She had all girls - red heads.

One of the things I'm super excited about

is finally being able to talk to my FAMILY 

during the day!

Bringing back Thursday morning phone chats with Sondra.

Daily (ok, probably not, I'm not that good)

chats with Mom & Dad.

Figuring out Nancy and Rozann's schedules

and trying to find a good time to visit with them. 

Heads up.

The first week I'm not likely to communicate

with anybody.

I'm probably going to see if I can

impersonate a zombie.

It is nearly Halloween after all.

I would actually like to give that a try today!

Did one of those "wake up a 2:24 and stay awake until 4"

things again over night.

Sheesh.

I usually only do that in hotels.

Finally got up and drank a bottle of water.

Eventually I drifted back off again.

But my alarm clock still goes off.

ONLY ONCE MORE!!!!

Hee hee!

Ok.

This is enough rambling.

I promise I'll do better.

One of these days.....

Tired.....

Whew!

I survived.

Drove over to Orlando Thursday evening

and checked into my hotel.

It was an experience.

Because of the hurricane, all the hotels

in the state are BOOKED SOLID.

Tons and tons of construction workers

and plumbers and electricians and

even still some power company crews.

I couldn't book 5 nights in a row.

So I booked 1 night, and then 4 more.

But my boss also asked me to book a

room for the spanish instructor coming

over from Tampa.

For his room I couldn't get the same

set up as mine, I had to do the opposite.

4 nights in a row and then 1 more night.

The poor girl at the front desk was 

a little flummoxed.  But we got it figured out.

I had to check out and check back in

the next morning.

Shout out to Sue at the front desk,

when I got down there Friday morning,

she had already done it all for me and

put me back in the same room.

YEA SUE!

(Like she will ever see this... lol)

I drove over and with the help of another

instructor (it's his normal site) we sat 

around and waited for the hordes to show up.

(There were 237 people registered for a class

across town, we had no idea how many were

going to choose to battle the Friday morning

Orlando traffic and descend on us...)

I got 10.

Class started at 9.  They strolled in at 8:59.

Seriously.

Class went well for all 4 days.

There were minor technical glitches,

and a LOT of people running around.

But we managed to get it done.

My boss told me I had to spend the night

Monday night - good choice!  I was a bit whipped.

Tuesday morning I woke up EARLY and drove

back over the swamps to work.

Spent the day training my replacement,

and then spent almost 2 hours trying to submit

my expense report.  It was crazy confusing

and the website kept crashing.

I was TIRED!

So I left work at the end of the day.

Stopping by Aldi's to pick up some eggs

for the dogs and then hitting the highway.

Again.

Then I called Rod.

Hi Sweetheart.

Where are you?

He said (ok, I HEARD)

I'm with James at a bar at Coastal Hyundai.

Crickets.

My brain is struggling.

We don't call Jim James.

Rod would NEVER meet him at a bar.

And Coastal Hyundai is a car dealership,

but not the one Jim works at...

he sells Volkswagen!

So I just said, Ok, I'll see you at home.

When he got home, I asked him to explain

where he was when I called.

He said

"I was doing my Home Teaching,

meeting with James Adabar where he

works at Coastal Hyundai."

Whew!!!!!!

I probably shouldn't talk on the phone

when I'm that tired.

COUNT DOWN UPDATE.....

THREE DAYS AND COUNTING!!!!!

(There was a big wreck on the highway this morning

and it took me almost as long to make the turn off

the highway to my office as it took to drive from

our town up here!  And I was calm as a cucumber.

Late Shmate.

Who cares.

LOL!!!!!)

Story - What Was One of Your Favorite Children's Stories

Ooooooooooh, stories!

We were a story reading / telling family.

And we all loved it!

MY favorites were very specific.

#1 Favorite:  Mufty Mouser Goes to School

I was little. I was sick. Measles maybe?

I just remember being sick enough that I

was in Mom and Dad's bed and

Dr. Medlicott (isn't that the BEST dr name?)

came to the house to see me!

My Dad brought home a book just for me.

All about a little girl mouse named

Mufty Mouser.

I made them read it to me so many times

that my nickname became Mufty Mouser,

although I often went by just Mufty or Muff.

#2 Favorite:  Three Billy Goats Gruff

(The World Book Story Book edition)

(green spine?)

I remember sitting on the couch in the

front room with Sondra 

having her read that to me.

A billion times.

Enough that her nickname for me

became Mufty Gruff.

(And of course I married Rod and became

Mufty Gruff Buff!)

I guess I'm not one for a lot of variety.

(Although I was a voracious reader and

eventually had a "nest" in the space under 

the stairs complete with a sleeping bag,

pillows, and a little lamp.  (And a really

long extension chord...)

I still love to re-read my special favorites.

At least annually.

Jane Eyre - Merrill Atkey introduced me to Jane.

I was sick (again).  She brought it over for me

to read and I fell in love.

Lord of the Rings - Sondra hooked me in to

that one by reading out loud in Gollum's voice

and then trading and having me read to her.

We were laying on her bed in her basement

room - she fell asleep while I was reading to her,

but by then it was too late - I was hooked and

had to read the whole thing.

The Robe - I "borrowed" it from the library.

I never returned it.

(I lost it a couple of years ago,

and found another Ancient copy on Amazon

and immediately bought it.)

I was sick.  (hahahahahaha) and put Nancy's

George Harrison's "Dark Horse" on the record

player on repeat.

The Robe will forever have the sound track

of Hare Krishna chanting in the background.

(WEIRD, I know...)

Mom finally came and closed my door.

(hahahahahahahaha - sorry Mom!)

Hunger Games - I know.  I'm a 14 year old girl.

I wasn't sick!!!!!

I was on vacation, staying in Rozann's

AWESOME casita.

I read the entire series.

With the Piano Guys on repeat on my iPod.

So yup, they are permanently matched in my head.

There are certain Piano Guys songs that 

when I hear them, I have a most compelling

urge to whip out my Kindle and read

them again.

Howdy

We are drying out.

It is WINDY!

But that's good.

It's helping our property dry out a bit.

Of course they are predicting another

9 - 10" of rain between now and Friday.

We'll take it though.

Our aquafir has been low for awhile.

The main problem now is that the

ground is so saturated, trees are coming down.

And the SINK HOLES!

Oh my goodness!

Whole houses are being swallowed.

Not like on every block or anything,

but it's pretty devastating when it happens

so of course it makes the news.

*************************************

In other news...

I sent an email to my boss

and his assistant letting them know

of my upcoming retirement and 

availability to substitute teach if needed.

He sent me a text shortly after receiving

my email and said he and his assistant 

were JUST trying to figure out how they

were going to cover an emergency class

they have to run this weekend.

Presto!

I'm your gal!!!!!!

The company is running a special this month

where they are waiving the fee to start up.

And people are signing up in DROVES!

My West Palm Beach class is already

"sold out".  (Which means I probably

have 75 students registered.  For a room

that holds 30 MAX.  Hopefully stats hold

true and more than 50% will be no-shows.)

Meanwhile, they have a school in Orlando

that has 150 people registered!

So they are going to start school on Friday

morning at 8:00.  Once the room reaches

capacity, they will send the over flow to me,

and my class will start at 9:00.

Should be interesting.

(Which means I am calling in "sick" on Friday

and Monday in order to run this school.)

(My supervisor here suggested I use sick time

instead of vacation time, since I have over 250 hours

of sick time and I will lose it ALL when I leave.)

(I love this lady.)

(She is one of the very few things I will miss.)

(Meanwhile - I did look into the possibility

of "donating" my sick hours to my coworker

who has some real health issues. 

But they said no.)

(boo hiss)

Monday the 16th is boss' day.

I will be gone by then.

But I'm going to mail her a card

with a good sized gift card inside 

to thank her for 17 years of

"I've got your back".