Friday, January 2, 2009

2009 A new leaf?

With the coming of the new year, maybe I'll really do what I had intended, that is begin blogging as an attempt to track some of my activities, ideas, events, etc.
6 months ago, my last entry, I was excited about my approaching retirement. Success! I am retired, had a lovely party recognizing my efforts, received a document saying so from the city, the proverbial clock from my employer, and best of all freedom from the daily grind. I had some concerns about feeling useless, not earning my keep, not being active, etc but I overcame all those obstacles. Time management, another concern seems to be taking care of itself. I have decided to visit my folks at least once a month, for several (3-4) days at a time, and to spend at least that much time, if not twice a month with my son and his family. I'm not staying on schedule, but I've been going back and forth so much, I feel like a visitor in my own home at times. I've been able to sign on as a substitute in the library system, and have put in a few days so far, which is good for me to try to stay familiar with the tasks, programs, situations. It also helps with my activities with the library 'friends' group, a responsibility which I promised to stay with even though I am really ready to give it all up.
Of course, I have to continue with my hobbies, especially the quilting and other craft work. I started knitting socks and find it not as hard as I feared. I am madly sewing cats for a full sized quilt, and have fabric for baby quilts, since there are two new great niece/nephew type people on the horizon. I want to contact the American Legion Auxiliary to find out about the quilts donated to veterans, and start assembling some. I have to get geared up for gardening, have a perennial flower garden to dig up and replant because I didn't get it done last fall. I need more mulch, rich soil and compost for my raised beds, and must plan what to plant. I have a recumbent bike to master, and need to schedule regular rides on it. I would like to get more involved with actually cooking meals, which takes more planning than I'm used to doing. I have an iTunes gift card and want to make good use of it.
To be continued...sometime.