Summer Break 2015...

After retiring I took on another fun Summer job. I had the pleasure of spending the Summer days with my Grand-daughter while her parents were at work. We had a busy, busy summer and I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with her. We made her a little scrapbook at the end of the Summer to document our time together. I made little collages for it but can't seem to locate them so I'll apologize now for the picture heavy post. I also forgot to take any picture of the scrapbook. Like I said earlier, we had a busy, busy Summer!

Pedicure day

Swimming lessons

Shuffleboard

Lunch at Red Robin for my Birthday with Aunt Mary

Tye Dying

Our completed shirts

Craft/Pool noodle Horses

Canvas Painting for Poppy

Lunch with Uncle Wayne

Lunch Cheesecake Factory with AM/Bubby

We do some school shopping and have lunch

here every year.

Red line yogurt

Bumper Boats with AM/Bubby

Sleepover night/watching a movie with Poppy

Putt-putt

Low Key Retirement Party...

Some family members and a few friends stopped by on Saturday for a low key retirement party (my choice). There was lots of food, a favorite cake of mine from Ritters, a few drinks, lots of socializing, oh and it poured down rain. It was perfect and I do appreciate everyone taking time to stop by for a few hours. And since I'm usually the one taking pictures at the parties there aren't many to share. Here are two of the three that was taken, the other one really should not be shared anywhere.

My niece (Katie) and I.

My girls, daughter and granddaughter. My granddaughter
has learned how to photo bomb and makes sure to
bomb often.
 

 

Last Day (Retirement)...

Today is Bittersweet! I've worked here 40 plus years and its my last day as an employee. Once again, I'm going to miss this place (sniff, sniff)! Everyone that retires gets to hang their hard hat on the retirees wall (I did that today)! Some of the employee were happy for me and I'm sure some were happy to see me go. Don't worry guys, I'll be back! Not to work, just to visit.



The hanging of the Hard Hat!
Yes, its Pink!

The Office staff took me to lunch (fish and chips) my favorite and out for a few rounds of DuckPin Bowling. I've always wanted to try it, it was fun! They had to get back to work so we headed back, I handed over the keys, gave a few hugs (tears)! And off I went, just like that!!!

Office Staff
DuckPin Bowling

Handing over the keys!
That's my daughter, she's taking over my
position. I wish her the best. Trust me, its not
the easiest job.

Bitteresweet...

Today I had a meeting with my financial planners, received some beautiful flowers (Thanks Becky) and boxed up and carried out my personal belongings. I've been counting the days for awhile and now that the end is near, I'm not feeling all that great about it.Tomorrow I hand over the keys and walk out the door for the last time as an employee. I will admit, it was hard to hold back the tears today. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm going to miss this place.

New (Retirement) Car...

The Mr. decided that I needed a new car since I'll be retiring at the end of the month. We ordered it forever ago and was told that it was somewhere in the ocean on a ship headed to us. I was sure that the pirates had it but it finally made its way to the dealership and we picked it up today.

My new (retirement) car.
2015 Buick Encore

Happy 25th to Us...

Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary. And since we will celebrating next weekend instead of today, I had to have a picture to document the day. Here's to another 25!

Twenty Five Years Today

May in Indy...

I'm pretty sure everyone know what happens when its May in Indy. Yes, the Indy 500! We went out for practice yesterday and I got to see and talk to (through the fence, but still) my favorite driver, Will Power! We also took a hike over to the museum and ask a lady to take our picture by the fountain.

Will Power (My favorite)

Museum/Fountain

Our 3 Season Room...

Last year when building our house we had a covered porch added to the back with plans to enclose it ASAP. We decided on a 3 season room (no heat, no air) and although its only been completed a few days, we love it and plan to use it as much as possible.

During construction



Completed

A not so great picture of the furniture.
Windows on three sides, lots of sun coming in.
I need one of those fancy lenses to get a shot that
shows more of the room.

Spring Bucket List...

Ahhh...Happy Spring! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that Winter is over!!! I'm sure most of you feel the same. There would be tons emojis in this post if I knew how to get them into blogger. Anyone? Here's my list:

 1. Make homemade noodles. Yep I am!
 2. Start a quilt now that I've found a tutorial that seems easy enough for a beginner. So happy I did not start cutting up that pretty material.
 3. Continue working on my CAL (crochet along).
 4. Lets just say take pictures with the Rebel this time around.
 5. Continue using My Fitness Pal and my Fit Bit Flex.
 6. Continue to purge and organize. This should be done by the time Summer rolls around.
 7. Grow a few herbs to use in the kitchen.
 8. Plant and maintain a small flower garden.
 9. Enjoy the outdoors!
10. Retire!!!

Whatever the season in your part of the world, I hope you are enjoying it.
Me, I'll be in the yard playing with flowers, taking an evening stroll or sitting on the porch sipping wine and relaxing a bit.

Winter Bucket List Update...

I posted my Winter Bucket List here. And today I'm sharing the did and did nots of it!

Still haven't made homemade noodles but I will...someday soon.
Still haven't started a small quilt but that pretty material is still waiting and I will...again someday soon. I found a tutorial on Fiskars that seems simple enough for a beginner.
Still behind on my CAL (crochet along) I'm getting there, slow but sure.
I did crochet the rag rug...pictures here.
I fell off the wagon on CY365. Dang it, someday!
Totally ditched #fmsphotoaday.
Me and My Fitness Pal are going strong. I've added a Fit Bit Flex to the mix. My goal was to lose 5 lbs., I've lost 6 lbs. so I'm doing maintenance, trying to hit green on the Fit Bit and exercising to tone up.
I baked something new. Baked oatmeal. I shared a photo of it on instagram. I never think about taking pictures during the process. I'll be making it often though, oatmeal is a favorite of mine.
Still purging!
Still organizing!

Spring is here, we've had some awesome weather already and I cannot wait to start planting a little flower garden. I'll be sharing my Spring Bucket List soon.

Photo Journaling 2/15...

 Brrrrr.......Its been an extremely cold month!

 

 

Deuce has the Winter blues.

 

I really want those treats but I'm quite comfortable

at the moment.

 

Winter clouds!

 

Making some Valentines Day décor.

 

Tasty Taco soup.

 

Received my first fix.

 

 The photo journaling idea came from Holly. See her blog here.

 

#Selfie Sunday...

Oh Hey...

Still here! We've been busy crunching numbers with financial planners in preparation for my upcoming retirement. Its fast approaching....AACK! We're also waiting for plans to be drawn up to enclose our back porch, once we have them they'll need to be approved by our HOA and we've ordered me a new vehicle. Other than that most everything else has fallen by the wayside. The crocheting, the CY365, pretty much the entire bucket list. I've found that planning for Retirement can be both exciting and stressful. Right this moment the stressful is winning!
In other news, while preparing to try a Spring capsule wardrobe I came across Stitch Fix, they get good reviews so I've decided to try them out. I filled out a short style survey(Plain Jane here), so it'll be interesting to see the items they send in my first Fix. I went with a Fix every other month and if I find it doesn't work for me there is no contract so I can cancel at any time. I'm thinking this may keep me out of the stores and in turn stop the impulse buying. Um...hummm...I just bought a Blue Leather Jacket at Von Maur last Friday, its so pretty, it fit me perfect and the Mr. loves it. It was a pretty good sale so I didn't break the bank and other than socks and skinny tees I haven't shopped for clothing since early December 2014.
Back to the Spring capsule wardrobe, earlier this month when I purged my closet and dresser it was mostly tops that got tossed out so other than a couple of tops it doesn't look like I'll be needing much. Yay! I still need to decide which 37 items will go into my Spring wardrobe and how I want to store the rest of my clothing. I think this will be the hard part. Off I go to make a few decisions.

Simplifying...

A year ago I started packing up everything we owned. Twenty eight years worth of stuff really adds up, especially when you pack it all up in boxes and totes. Everyone told me I should purge things while packing but I just couldn't do it. I wasn't sure what I'd need for the new house so everything got packed up, put into storage and eventually made its way to the basement and garage of the new house. Once I started unpacking I started purging all those unneeded things that just didn't seem to fit anymore. I have purged about 8 totes of stuff to date. We still have a few boxes in the garage and the Mr. has all his collectibles in the basement to unpack. I doubt he will purge anything but those few boxes in the garage must be filled with stuff I don't need. They've been there for 8 months and I haven't missed anything. I'll get to them once the weather warms up.
Last month on FB I came across a couple of websites about simplifying that caught my eye. You can find them here and here. And while I've already started simplifying I plan to take it a step or two further using information from both websites.
I also follow a blog about a capsule wardrobe. I love her approach and feel like it is something that might work for me. This website also provides information about minimalist fashion. Check them out, very interesting concept. A capsule wardrobe consist of choosing a number of items to wear for each season, mixing them up to make many different outfits so there is less fuss when getting dressed each day. It also suggest setting a shopping budget for each season which in turn should help with impulse buying. Sounds easy enough right? My closet and dresser are both full of clothes I do not wear, many still have tags on them and many of them are very old. I purchased a sweater while shopping with my sister, six months later she found it in her closet and brought it to me. Heck, I didn't even miss it. Problem...yes!
My plan is to start with a Spring Capsule Wardrobe. Sometime around the end of this month I'll be emptying my closet and dresser to see what I can come up with for a simple yet fun Spring Wardrobe and I'll also be setting a small budget for shopping. I'm excited to see if I can make this work for me. I'm finding that I like simple. Oh and that impulse buying thing...Guilty!

Bath Day! Ugh...

Bye, Bye January! I for one am happy to see you go! We've had a stressful month here at the Berlin house but things are looking up. The vet upped Deuces meds, added a couple more and he seems to be doing better.
Today I mustered up the energy to give him a bath. Believe me when I say this isn't easy. Two minutes into it I called in reinforcements (the Mr.) for help. I did the washing, the Mr. did the rinsing...all at the same time to make it quick! Deuce used to love his weekly bath but his anxiety level goes off the chart nowadays during his bath so we've switched to bi weekly baths for now. He also gets groomed once a month. Last month at his grooming appointment they had to take several breaks during grooming to let him gain his composure. Luckily they have lots of patience and haven't kicked him to the curb...YET! Next up brushing...wish me luck!

Winter Bucket List Update...

I'm getting close to the half way mark for my Winter Bucket List and so far I've managed to crochet a rag rug (pictures below), I've continued using My Fitness Pal and totally bombed out on CY365 and #fmsphotoaday for January. Oh and I'm four squares behind on my CAL.
But Deuce is doing better, the days are getting longer (more light) and February is right around the corner so hopefully I'll be able to mark a few more items off my list and get back to taking photos for CY365. A few years ago when the Mr. bought me my Canon t1i, I promised myself that I would learn to take better photos with it. At first I practiced a lot and even felt like I was taking better photos, then I laid it down, used my iPhone a lot (like all the time), picked up my Canon t1i again and seemed to have forgotten everything I had learned about it. Has this ever happened to you? So my new plan starting February 1, 2015 is to use my Canon t1i for CY365 and ditch #fmshotoaday for now. Who know maybe it'll show up on my Spring Bucket List.

#Selfie Sunday...

Tough Times...

As you know from my last post the first of the week was a little tough here and even though daddy is home now things haven't gotten better.
Today I took Deuce to the vet and didn't get the best of news. He has lost his sight, his hearing is going, his back is weak, he has problems with his back legs and his heart murmur is worse. The vet was surprised at the amount of energy Deuce has being he is in congestive heart failure. He talked a lot about giving him the best quality of life that we can at this time. They are doing blood work to see if they can up his meds for the heart murmur. I'll know more tomorrow. I'm not liking where this is headed and I feel that the Mr. and I will have a very BIG decision to make sooner than later. But for now I'm going to be busy holding him, hugging him and letting him know how much I love him. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

While The Mr. Is Away...

The Mr. jetted off to Vegas for a business trip earlier in the week. He left on Sunday so I had a few family member over to help me get a few things done. My son sealed the grout in the bathrooms for me and all of us pitched in and did a switcheroo of my craft room and the sleepover room. Both rooms are the same size but making the switch gave me more wall space to work with so I'm quite happy with the end result. Funny, once the switch was made they all said "we thought you'd put it like this from the get go." I only wish they would have mentioned it seven months ago.
I've been trying to find the time to get in and organize the remaining items stacked on the floor but my poor little Deuce is having separation anxiety because daddy is away. Three hours of sleep just ain't cutting it. I've been a couch contortionist since Sunday night because each and every time Deuce hears a noise he thinks daddy is home so he paces through the house and barks for what seems like hours. Looks like organizing will have to wait until at least Thursday, maybe Friday.
If anyone has a good way to store printed pictures, please share. I have them in photo boxes at this time but they take up so much space. I'm thinking that I need to go through and weed out the photos that have no meaning, you know from back in the film days. I'm sure I kept everything. I do have photo albums that I purchased for the Library of Memories class but I just couldn't take all my photos out of order so maybe that's an option. I also need to stop with the hobby hopping and focus on just a few hobbies instead of trying and buying them all. Yes, I do that! Why, I don't know!
I have quite a few UFO's and I'm wondering if I should complete them or just move on. I have tons of scrapbook supplies and have decided that the only way I'll be scrapping in the future is hybrid/digital (CZ style) so do I keep all this stuff or let it go. I have tons of yarn so I plan not to buy any yarn until I use up most of what I have. I have a cart full of paint that I used for tole painting years ago, do I keep it or let it go? I also have beads and more beads, I thought I'd like to try jewelry making but have yet to make any so again do I keep them or let them go. Do you all do this hobby hopping thing or do you just focus on a few hobbies and let it go at that? I'd better go and stop blabbering, the tireds are creeping up on me, this post may not even make since to anyone but I hitting publish anyway.

Just A Minute In January...

Watching...Deuce sleep but only while at work.

Listening to...Construction noises. Houses going up in the hood.

Cooking...Dinner for my Grandson tonight.

Eating...A Panera veggie sandwich for lunch today.

Buying...Less expensive fuel. Yay!

Looking forward to...The weekend and the home show. New 3 season room...maybe!

#Selfie Sunday...

How Do You People Do It All...

I made a Bucket List of a few things I'd like to do this Winter and so far, so good! I've completed a rag rug, added my photos to the CY365 gallery and taken photos for the #fmsphotoaday all except for one day. That day the prompt was landscape, it was below zero out and I had no interest in getting out to take a photo. As my niece Katie would say "sorry but I'm not sorry."
I'm not going to lie I've been struggling with the photo taking, a couple of photos for CY365 were not taken on the correct day but I took them and added them to the galley anyway. So for now I'm caught up...until tomorrow. ; )  Which leads me to this question, how do you people do it all?
I chose to participate in CY365 so that I could learn to take better photos. Sometimes I feel like I've got my camera figured out, other times not so much. That's when I get frustrated and quit but this time I plan to stick with it and learn to take better photos. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites here today. 

Ensemble

Solitude

Multifaceted

Sunset
 

I'll share photos of the rag rug soon.

Hello...

I've been a little busy trying to catch up with my CAL. I'm a few squares behind and unfortunately I'm stuck on one square at the present time. I've frogged it numerous times so I'm thinking that there may be a mistake in the written pattern. Lucky for me, my daughter has made the same square and is trying to help me out.  I only have three rounds to go so I may leave this one for now and move on to another. I'll never catch up otherwise. 

#Selfie Sunday...

Four New Things 2014...

I've been doing this since 2010 and what started as a challenge from my daughter has become my favorite post to write at the beginning of each year. I blog more or less to keep a journal for myself and its always fun to look back to see what I've accomplished over the last year. Not that I only accomplish four new things each year but the original challenge my daughter started with me back in 2010 was to do, try or learn four new things each year. Funny thing is she's a mom now and doesn't even blog anymore. My blogging over the past few years has been hit or miss but luckily just enough that I have been able to write a post at the beginning of each year about four new things. I'm now working less hours and am close to having the new house in order so hopefully I can make/take time to post here more often.
Last year was a strange but exciting year for us and things just seemed a bit off. We're all settled in now and its a New Year. We are looking forward to doing, trying and learning new things. Are you?

Here's my list:
1.We bought a new house, sold our old house and lived with my sister and BIL for 6 weeks. This could be one or three new things depending how you look at it.
2.I started doing a monthly post in February and lucky for me I did. It sort of summed up what was going on in my life each month last year. And even though I missed posting for a couple of months, its a post I plan to do going forward.
3.Once we were in the new house and had an AV guy over to hook up our TV, sound bar and such I started listening to Pandora and am forevermore hooked. No more loading CD's or switching stations. Its pretty awesome, how did I not know about it beforehand.
4.I made a wreath which was one item on my Fall Bucket List, another post I'm enjoying and plan to do going forward.

So there you have it, another year that I was able to do, try or learn four new things. I'm pretty sure item #1 will never happen again people, moving is hard especially after you've lived in the same house for 28 years with four kids part of that time. I am so happy we had the chance to do it but I never ever want to pack up our belongings, put them in storage (we had two full storage units), go live with other family members (although it was not bad) and unpack all those belongings and put them in place again!

Happy 2015...



Wishing you all a bright, healthy
Happy New Year!