Retirement

 I was asked the other day how is retirement.  Actually I have been asked that quite often since I have only been retired for a couple of months.  That question is usually hypothetical but I thought I'd answer it anyway.

When I went for some retirement meetings and lectures, it was mentioned that retirement is like a vacation.  The first two weeks would go by fast but what about after that?  Will you still feel like you are on a vacation or will the vacation be over and you come back to reality?  That got me to think and I wondered what MY retirement would be like.  I am loving it.  

My financial situation is what is taking me the longest to adjust to.  I find myself dipping into my savings as I try to get used to living on half of what I made before.  It's doable but let's face it, do we ever like to pull in the reins and force ourselves to be on a stricter budget?  Of course not.  I'm doing OK on meeting my bills so far so I'm not worried.  The house I rent is a fixer upper and is taking the landlord longer to fix up than anticipated, partly due to COVID.  He is a friend so I feel fine talking to him about what I want fixed up and in what time frame.  There is a list of things on my refrigerator door that I want done before winter and when he comes over we look it over and change it up.  Things are coming along according to my schedule.  My basic needs are met and I am comfortable. 

My days and nights are what I dreamed retirement would be like or what I hoped it would be like.  I wake up when my body tells me to and go to sleep when it tells me to.  I went to bed last night around midnight and got up around 4 a.m. this morning.  I do not set an alarm clock.  It was when my body told me it was time to get up.  If I get tired I can take a nap.  :)

I get to craft when I feel like it without the strain of trying to work it in between work and other commitments.  My days are usually sleep for 4 hours, craft for 4 hours, nap for 1 hour.  Get up and repeat.  Oh yes, somewhere in there is yucky things like cleaning.

I am enjoying cooking more than I did before since my kitchen seems so large compared to what I had in Illinois.  I no longer have an apartment sized stove.  It's full size and oh look...baking pans fit in it!  I had to make an apple pie (yummm) and tuna quiche (yummm) to test it out and they turned out great.  Even when it was in the 90s outside, my kitchen stayed cool.  That is because I have a window a/c unit in it.  There is another a/c unit in my living room so overall the house stays in the 70s.

Am I completely unpacked and settled in?  Nope...not at all.  I'm not even sure I will EVER be unpacked.  Most of my boxes and totes have craft things in it so once my craft room is where I want it I might.  Does anybody EVER get totally unpacked?  I'm not in a hurry and a lot can't be unpacked until I get shelves up in the craft room.  I did pick up two DVD/CD shelves and put them in the craft room for some of my fabric.

I am happy with how it looks so decided I had better quickly take a picture to share with you before it gets all cluttered up.  

So, all in all, my days are spent doing what I thought I would like to do.  I guess I might still be on vacation then.  :)  I guess that means the answer to the question of whether or not I am enjoying retirement so far would be YES!

It has enabled me to finish up some projects.  Last night, while chatting via Hangouts with a friend, I was finishing up a table runner.  Here is the front of it...

And the back of it looks like this...

That's it for now.  I hope everybody has a great day and hang in there.  The weekend is right around the corner.