PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Not much out of the ordinary has been happening around here lately. We've been enjoying a few long weekends at the cabin due to my furlough days from work. I figure if I've got to take a day without pay, I might as well enjoy myself! ;-)
Time is getting closer for me to retire from working full time -- well, not too close. As it stands right now, I'll have 25 years in the retirement system in a short 1 1/2 years. I'm really thinking that I'll work 2 years and 11 months from now, but I'll definitely look closer at it in about a year.
Handyman has taken to retirement like a fish to water. He's always busy but it's a nice variety of things he does. Some of it is pretty physical, but some is working on the computer.
I've been reading some articles lately about how the Baby Boomers are re-inventing retirement so it won't be like our parent's retirements. Our generation is not wanting to spend their retirement years just sitting on the porch watching time pass us by. Not many are wanting to continue working full time either. A nice mix of work (either volunteer or for pay) and play or relaxation is what we're looking for. I want to start looking to see what volunteer opportunities will be available for me when I retire. I don't think I want quite as much to do as my handyman husband has taken on. He has so many people that want to give him something to do. I know that I want to be able to do more for our kids and grandkids and just spend more time with them. The problem with a lot of volunteer work is that you have to work on their time schedule. I don't want to be over scheduled with volunteer work but I definitely want something to do with my time. There will be some opportunities through church and while I want to take advantage of those, I want to do more than just that. I know the schools have programs where you can volunteer and I'm sure there are a lot of places around town that have volunteer programs. I'm just going to have to spend some time looking into them. I still have plenty of time to find the right things for me to do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY

Happy 63rd Birthday to my handyman!! What would I ever do without you? You are my mechanic, electrician, plumber, carpenter, painter, computer guru, yardman, and the list goes on and on. I love that you are always there for our girls and our grandchildren. I love the time we get to spend together at our cabin even though we're together every day at home, it's just different there. Thank you for who you are and what you do for me and everyone else. I know that you don't expect your birthday to be any different from any other day, but I hope you have a great day anyway!!!!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

The Chicago River on St. Patty's Day.

Be sure to wear green so you don't get pinched!!

I LOVE A BARGAIN

Last weekend I went out to "window shop." There wasn't anything in particular that I was looking for. The first place I stopped was Trees and Trends. This store has a lot of home decorating items. I always enjoy going there when the seasons are getting ready to change since a lot of their items are seasonal. Before I even entered the store, there on their front sidewalk, I saw a chair like I had been wanting for our master bedroom. The other chairs that I had been pricing were bottom of the line, discount chairs and the prices ranged from around $125 to $150. This chair did have a bit of damage to the upholstery in the seat cushion. The way the chair is made I knew it wouldn't take much to recover the whole chair. Due to damage the chair had been marked down from $235 to $25!!! Yes, that's correct, $25.00. I just couldn't pass it up. The legs are painted black so they match the wood furniture in our bedroom and the beige upholstery is a bit darker than what we have, but it went very well. I thought I'd just throw a blanket or afghan over the seat until we could recover it, but after looking at it in the room, I don't think we'll even bother with that right now. I don't think you'd ever notice it if you just walked into the room. And since it is the master, we wouldn't normally put any company in there.
Here is the damage --
This shows how well it matches the room --
I really think I found a great bargain!

HURRY UP!!

I am so tired of winter... Hurry up spring!!!

Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.
Michael Levine

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
----THOMAS JEFFERSON

Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.
- Bill Cosby

#3-#10 on my list:
I am thankful for my family. I have been so fortunate my entire lifetime to have such wonderful, caring people around me.
After marrying my handyman, I prayed for several years for a child. When the time was right we were blessed with our first daughter, Kristy. She was our social child who liked to be around people all of the time. She was also my caring, sensible, dependable child and has grown up to be such a wonderful mother. I'm pretty sure that her kids don't know it yet, but they are so lucky to be her children.
Our second daughter came along a couple of years later. Holly was always the quiet, very intelligent, sneaky child. She slept thru the night almost immediately. She must have been happy with herself, because she liked to spend a lot of time with just herself (still does). I think she received more dominant "social" genes from her daddy because they neither one talk much and are content in their own worlds.

We love having both of the girls around whenever they can take time out of their schedules.
I hope that they both know how very much we love them. Our lives would have been pretty empty without them.

Now on to the grandchildren. What a tremendous blessing they are to us!! First came Kate (or Katie with an "i", or Katie Beth, or whatever she calls herself tomorrow). What a firecracker she is. You just never know what she's gonna do or say! I cannot describe the joy that she has brought into our lives! Go forward a couple of years and Gabriella, the little mommy, princess, is born. The quiet, snuggle bug, sneaky one. She is so much like her Aunt Holly that it's scary! Boy do we love her snuggles!! Then came our first grandson, Nate---the first boy born to our family. What a difference in how he attacks life! Head first, all the way!! Each one is so different and so special to us. I will be happy when the snowy weather goes away so we can plan on visiting them again!!

I am thankful for our son-in-law, Justin. Kristy had such high standards for a husband that I was concerned that she would never find someone to live up to those standards. I'm so happy that she did find someone who shared her values and that she wanted to share her life with. And look at the result -- those 3 precious grandchildren!! I love that he is a "hands-on" dad and spends time with his kids.

I'm also very thankful for my parents. They raised me in a good Christian home, loved and cherished me. They provided for most of wants, and all of my needs through the years and loved me unconditionally. I miss them both but am sure that I will see them again one day in heaven.
Our Happy Family
I will continue with my 1000 things list and I may share a few as I come to them, but for now this is a good start. So many wonderful people have blessed and are blessing my life!

MORE THANKFULNESS

When I went to the dentist a few weeks ago, they told me that my blood pressure was very high. I called my doctor's office and they laughed and said they got calls all the time from people whose dentists had given them the same warning. I knew that my blood pressure had been running on the high side for a while so I decided to go on in and get it checked. Well, it was still high, so he put me on a low dosage ACE Inhibitor. While I was there he told me that I need to have some blood work done since I had never had my cholesterol checked, but I had to have been fasting for at least 6 hours. He went ahead and wrote the order and told me to come back in just for that or I could have it done when I came in for my checkup in a month. I decided that I would wait the full month since I wasn't looking forward to it. As it turned out I had a reaction to the ACE Inhibitor and had to go back just two weeks later. Since I was going in anyway, I didn't eat lunch that day so I could get the blood work done. I was also dreading being in the office because I had heard that flu cases were running rampant here. As it turned out, on Thursdays, several of the other doctors in the practice are off. So when I got there only 4 other people were in the waiting room and when I went to the lab, there was no one else waiting. It was nice to get right in and not have to sit there and dread getting it done. I got my prescription for a new blood pressure drug -- a calcium channel blocker this time. I had to wait for the other drug to get out of my system so I didn't start taking it until today. Hopefully it'll be fine.
My blood tests were to be available today, so I called to get my results. I have dodged that test for a lot of years because I just knew it would be bad. Both the doctor and myself were pleasantly surprised at the results.


CBC & Blood Sugar were both fine
Cholesterol was 158 (Normal is less than 200)
Triglycerides were 30 (Normal is less than 50)
HDL (good cholesterol) was 71 (Average 50-60 with more being better)
LDL was 81 (Normal is less than 100)

WHEW ---- what a relief. I just knew it was not going to be good. VERY thankful for these results!!
Now if can just get my blood pressure down, I'll be good to go.