What's on the Agenda Today

It's Sunday and time for me to plan what to make or eat this week and what to do.  Can you believe that it is almost one month since I retired?  I guess I must be on the 'vacation' feeling yet because it is not old and my daily routine hasn't settled in yet.  That's what the experts call it.  They say that the first weeks of retirement are usually considered to be vacation.  You know, that two weeks off that you always wanted to take but never thought you could.  So when you consider what to do in retirement or where to settle in retirement take that into consideration.

That is one reason I chose Arkansas.  The other reasons are more financial (as in cheaper to live).  Still, I am not sorry I have retired here, even though the house isn't as finished as i hoped.  Wait...I'm retired and my landlord is not...I can let things happen at its own pace.  So what do I do all day?  That is a question I wondered about myself just this morning.

I get up around 6 a.m.  The house is so quiet that I can hear the birds singing and wish I could curse the sun a little bit because it is what woke me up.  In Illinois the sun never woke me up because I didn't have enough windows for it to happen.  I knew there was a downfall to all these windows.  Actually it is only the window in the door that wakes me up.  The drapes on the other windows block out the sun pretty good.  Now that I am awake and take care of that normal morning stuff nature reminds you that you need to do, what to do for the rest of the day?

I have never been one to just sit and empty out box after box all in the first day (or month) of moving.  Heck, I'll be lucky if I get everything emptied out in the first year!  I'm trying to take my time so that I can go through things and make final decisions on whether or not to keep something.  That means needing caffeine!  LOTS of caffeine!  Even MORE caffeine!   Luckily there is a Valero gas station which has fountain soda and even has some limited selection of food like potato wedges, biscuits and gravy, Chester's chicken, breakfast sandwiches, etc.  It is 2 blocks from my house so I can walk it without any problems.  It IS a convenience store though so even though it is convenient it is not cheap.  Still it gets me out of the house for a limited amount of time.

Once I get back to the house and finish eating breakfast it is time to see what else I need to do.  THAT'S easy enough to figure out.  Go through more boxes and try to find my sewing room.  I cannot do that 24/7 and even if I could I doubt I would.  So for now, I unpack a bit, watch Netflix a bit (ok more than a bit) and try to fix lunch or think of what to fix for meals.  Normally I don't have a problem with thinking on what to fix for meals BUT my refrig is going out.  The freezer portion keeps things frozen but the refrigerator portion is reading 60 degrees.  Not good for keeping food in.  I have a new refrigerator on order and it should be here around the 6th of July.  Can't wait!!!!

I found my sewing machine one day.  Then it took me two more days to find the foot pedal.  I need to make some house blocks so I was excited to learn that the sewing machine was working ok.  THEN it took me a couple more days to find my rulers and rotary cutter and another couple of days to figure out what colors to use.  Finally I got enough material to make a test block and this is how it turned out.

After I finish these blocks, or perhaps in between making these blocks, I will be making Churn Dash blocks to send in for a member of one of my quilting groups who died.  We are sending in Churn Dash blocks and another women will be making quilts to go to the family members.  that will be nice.  I like the Churn Dash.

It is a bad allergy day so I am going to stop here.  Did I finish explaining my day?  Well see above and repeat.  That's my day.  Get caffeine, bake something, plan meals for only 2 days at a time, try and do some crafting...nap and repeat.  :)

Eventually I will be branching out and go visiting some place with friends.  Tennessee is probably at the top of the list because they have a big farmers market.  Who knows.  I'll keep you all informed and updated.  

Have a great day!

More Paperwork and Chinese Buffet

It seems that I needed to get more paperwork to SURS (State University Retirement System) for my retirement.  I think it is a bit like the right and left hands don't talk to each other and know what they are doing.  Dan picked me up and it didn't take long to make my copies and get them in the mail.  Afterwards he took me to a Chinese Buffet that had a Coi Pond in it. 

The restaurant was called the Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet and they had an indoor coi pond.  Here is a picture of it as well as a link to the small vid.  Like before, you would click on the link and then look for the symbol (upper right side?) to open it up and play it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/piPSoJoaN2HVDWX57 

In case you have trouble viewing the video, here is a picture of the Coi Pond.

I also managed to find some of my quilt blocks and took a couple of stitches on it again.  Hopefully by this weekend I will be able to start on some house blocks that I owe people.

What I get to Wake up To

I'm still unpacking which means no quilting or cross stitch yet for me to report on.  I am going to wind up some more floss for when I can put it in with the rest of my stash.  I thought I'd take a little vid of what my area looks like and the sounds I wake up to (so far) each day.

I think you should be able to see/listen to this if you click on the link and then the arrow to play it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2ve6D9pzRvS7D6hw8

Everybody have a great day and night.

Move completed but not settled

I did it!  I retired, hopefully with all the paperwork correct, and moved to Arkansas.  

The scenery on the way down and also on subsequent outings has been wonderful.  I'm enjoying it now before it gets to be hotter.  :)

Taken at a rest stop on the way down.

                        This and the next 3 pictures were taken on a Sunday outing with Dan.

The house I moved into was not what I expected.  I would have considered it more of a fixer upper but that's ok.  I'm working with the landlord (I'm renting it) to get it fixed up.  It's coming along and gives me something to do.  It just drains my energy a lot especially since I am still unpacking.

It was such a nice drive down.  I'm still digging out everything.  It is slow because HE has to work and I'm not.  Hehehehe.  Well that's not quite true.  I am working...it's a lot of work to unpack and sort at the same time.

Here are some in progress pictures of the place.

This is part of the sewing room - the Color Street portion

Part of the sewing area.  Eventually I want book cases all along that wall.

Part of the kitchen

Part of the pantry.  The pantry is in an L shape.  This little section is the bottom of the L.

The living room

The last picture for this post - Triple Berry Bread.  The first bake in the house.  :)

I hoped you liked the pictures and I'll keep you updated on how the settling in is going on.  I should be getting a different refrigerator and a different washing machine so that will be exciting.

Have a great day/night.