Yesterday morning Judy began the “man quilt”. With the cutting process now underway I’m beginning to feel the warmth of my very own rag quilt wrapped snuggly about my pudgy little frame as I recline back in my easy chair during those long winter nights of January and February. Yep, our newly acquired southern blooded bodies don’t respond well to temperatures below seventy degrees which feels downright cool. I look forward to my very own rag quilt to provide the added warmth needed to get through those times. Yay, the “man quilt” is a coming!!! The “man quilt” is on its way!!!!
We were planning to go to the fair yesterday afternoon. It was senior’s day with free admission. The fair didn’t open until noon so we figured a one o’clock arrival time would fit ever so nicely into our otherwise busy schedule. Just as we were “fixinto” depart the premises, the old black clouds rolled in bring with them some thunder storms. The storms lasted all afternoon and right into the evening hours thereby rending a day at the fair pretty much a mute. Oh well, we’ve seen cows before!!!
Being that the rain moved in, Judy J. took a short katt knap whilst I continued with my reading. I’m currently reading three different books (no, not all at one time, silly!) - The Prophet by Francine Rivers (a historical fiction based on the Old Testament book of Amos), Firestorm by Nevada Barr (a mystery novel), and The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara (a historical fiction novel based on World War II).
Both Miss Judy and I are avid readers and are extremely happy with our Nooks, however, I borrowed the three books mentioned above from the library. Not everything has been converted into digital books. However, Judy is reading in her Nook. She likes Debbie Macomber, Karen Kingsbury, Sheryl Woods, and similar authors. Obviously, reading is our main source of entertainment.
Last night we headed out for our home group gathering. We jumped into the truck, between the rain drops, placed the key into the ignition, turned it, and heard “erh”. Tried it again with the same results. Dead batteries. How come? We have no idea. The batteries are only two or three years old. We charged the batteries over night and will have to test them later today. Sheesh, just one more issue to deal with. Poor truck; it needs an oil change (NBD-No Big Deal), coolant is leaking from somewhere whenever the pressure builds up, it needs wheel bearings replaced, and now we either need to replace batteries or we have an electrical problem.
Twenty eleven is proving to be an expensive year for us. With Judy’s medical, our electronic issues (coffee pot, computer, television, microwave failures), Alex’s surgery, and now the truck issues, we’re facing a four to five thousand dollar of unplanned expenses for the year. Ouch!! The ol’ emergency fund has taken some hefty hits over the past three years.
“Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!!!” It’s now just a matter of where and when. Do we want to get part-time jobs here while we’re in ‘Bama or take on another summer gig somewhere. We’ll just have to see what comes up. I’ve even thought about coming out of retirement and getting a real job for a couple of years – yuck, say what? Oh well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!!!
Before you feel too bad for us, just remember that this is somewhat self inflicted. After the financial meltdown of 2008, we decided that we wanted to preserve our 401Ks for life after fulltiming (that maybe sooner than we anticipated). So that means that we’ve tried to reduce our annual budget by six grand. Being that we had (note the word “had”) a fairly healthy emergency fund, we were able to do just that. But now the emergency fund has been just about depleted. We could start drawing off our 401Ks like originally planned, but have decided not to do that unless absolutely positively necessary (we don’t want to go to the old folks home when we get old). So that is why we are where we are.
Although we haven’t done any traveling out west, we have had a good five years. It’s all about priorities and our family has been our number one priority. Fulltiming has allowed us some good quality time with our kids, grand kids, bothers, and sisters. So I hope you don’t think we’re whining. It’s all about decisions and we are happy with the ones we’ve made. Now we just have to decide where we go from here. Stay tuned.
That’s enough for today. Take Care Until Next Time - - - - - - -
Even though we've had plenty of rainy days in Florida we still enjoy a day to sit back and read. We know what you mean about post-retirement working. That's what my husband is doing now and that's why we're in Florida instead of home in Arizona with the grandkids!
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