Rules for the Road

One thing  that I have learned about myself from the past 5 years of living alone is that left to myself, I become lazy, slovenly and unkept. Sorry if that truth is too much to bear, but it the truth. I have spent entire weeklong vacations in my pajamas and without bathing. Armed with this self revelation I know that going forward I'm going to have to exert some self discipline and control. So I have decided that on this journey into retirement there has to be a code of conduct for the road.

1. I may not stay up all night piddling away the mid-night oil playing games on Facebook. Bed time is no later than mid-night.

2. My face must be washed and my teeth must be brushed before I go to bed.

3. I may not sleep the day away (See rule 1). I must be up and ready to go no later than 10:00 am every day regardless of having anywhere to go.

4. I must shower and brush my teeth every morning. Hair must be washed no less than twice a week.

5. I must change out of my bed clothes and into clean day clothes every day.

6. I must wear my compression sleeve.

7. I must make my bed every morning.

8. Breakfast must be made and eaten no later than noon every day. .

9. Dishes must be washed and put away at every meal.

10. I must accomplish at least one indoor chore every single day.

I know that these seem very basic. But as I said, I have a tendency to not expect much of myself when I don't have a reason to be presentable. It's shameful enough when it's for a short duration such as a holiday, but not at all an acceptable way to conduct myself on a daily basis.

Actually my rules are fairly lenient. I'd expect more out of a five year old.

So, I'm off to play.

Ta ta for now...

Getting Packed

I packed up my cube today. Mostly because Ali was being a pain and I wanted an excuse to ignore her. I had done a bunch of cleaning earlier, so it wasn't too bad. I was able to get almost everything in 2 paper boxes. They will fit into storage easily. I had anticipated that I would have a lot more than that. I think I will find the same to be true when I pack to leave for Seattle. I have three large boxes to pack and ship as well as 2 large suitcases to be checked, a carry on bag, a back pack and 2 cpap machines to take with me. I look around at what I have left to pack and panic. But I really don't have all that much more to pack. I think the three large boxes to ship will be more than adequate if this mornings session is anything to judge by.

Getting in the Mood

Basic Top Down Raglan by Lisa Knits

Can be purchased on Ravelry

Back in the dark ages when I first picked up knitting again my daughter asked me to make a sweater for her. I bought a bunch of Lions Brand Fisherman's Wool in the Natural colorwave and blindly started a bottom up sweater. I wasn't much for following a pattern back then. Needless to say, because of my lack of skill and the difficulties that I was experiencing I soon tired of it and went on to something simpler. The sweater and the wool were placed in a bag that found it's way into a forgotten corner.

Saturday I found the sweater and the wool in a bag in storage while I was looking for other things. I got kind of excited because I think the wool is nice and decided to finish it. After taking a critical look at my work I decided the only real salvage was to rip it all out and start over again. I had already found a basic pattern that will work well for this and I'm kind of excited to get re-started on it. The pattern that I'm going to use is a very basic pattern that I purchased from Lisa Knits (No, I am not the Lisa who sells this pattern. And I'm a bit unhappy because I was hoping to use that name on my work, but she has it first.) The pattern is so basic that I would hesitate to call it my own and sell it anywhere, but she has done the math and resized the pattern to fit everything from a young child to an obese adult. I guess that in itself is worth the $5 asking price. The pattern is written to be done in stockinette stitch, but Mollie wants hers in basket weave. To accomplish this I went up on size from the one that I would have chosen and added 2 stitches under the arm. That will give me the consistent 8 stitch repeat that I need to accomplish it.

So now, I'm even more excited about retiring and having time to knit. I have a great pattern and some nice yarn to make something that is long overdue.

TWO WEEKS!

Just eye candy...

It hardly seems possible. In 2 weeks I will walk out of the doors of 55 Glenlake for the last time...ever. One more month and I will be getting on a plane to visit Mollie in Chicago. Then I will go to Seattle. I panic and think I have so much to do. But the reality of it is that it is not so much to do. Most of it is done already. I have a little more to pack up and ship off. 

This is getting to be very real...

What the Dog Thinks...

Being hearing impaired  sometimes makes voicemail difficult so I have an app on my phone called Visual Voicemail. It can sometimes give me funny results.

On Sunday I got a voicemail from my ex. After church I checked it and was aghast at the message I recieved.

"$**t f**k Chuck f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k f**k all that...We are all... yeah why do not you... all."

Like I said, I was a bit taken aback by the text. My first thought was that Ex must have been having a stroke when he made the call. I switched the message from visual voicemail to listen to the call. What I heard was a dog going crazy barking and enough of the conversation to make out that my ex was talking to a woman, but not enough to know what they were saying. 

At that point I started laughing so hard that I could barely catch my breath. Imagine accidentally leaving a message like that for your ex spouse. What a hornets nest that could stir up! The only way it could have been better is if he'd done it on April Fools day. 

Good one Ex, get the dog to curse me out for you... 😆😆😆😆😆

Opinions Please...

My question to you is regarding acceptable grammar and social media. Specifically, is posting on social media an acceptable excuse to forget all the grammar one has ever learned? I was in a Facebook group and the question above was posted. I have my questions about the advisability of laying out everything about oneself on public platforms, even though I do share a great deal of personal information. That withstanding, I could not resist a snide answer to the question. 

"I do not usually wear where I am from. In fact, I don't think I have any clothes that say Georgia on them."

I will admit to feeling a little bit like a snarky bitch about the answer I posted. But my original question remains. Has the advent of social media superseded the use of proper grammar, even basic punctuation? I can't claim to being the grammar queen. I just think that it is important to try. What do you think? 

The Sweater

Last year about this time Mollie came home because her high school mentor was retiring from teaching. We both went to the party with Mollie's friend Jess.

While we were on the way there Jess handed Mollie a gift box. Inside was an invitation for Mollie to be the Maid of Honor at Jess's wedding in October of 2019.

I thought that it was odd to wait so long between the engagement announcement and the wedding, but I have long since learned to keep such sentiments to myself. A few Months later Jess posted a picture on Facebook of her two sweet rescue dogs...

Last weekend we had a baby shower for Jess...

That is why Mollie came home for the weekend...

I gave Jess a sweater that I had made for the baby...

So, yesterday Amelia Josephine decided to come and check out all the new clothes she got at the party...

#yougoMillieJo!

BTW...Millie will be wearing a beautiful Champaign lace dress to the wedding in October...Grammie Tammie and Poppy can't wait to sit with her in the service.

Eating My Words, But I'll Be Eating Lunch Too...

I got into work this morning and had a  message from Ali. She wanted to know what restaurant I want to go to for my retirement lunch. She needed to know by the end of today. I immediately emailed back and told her that I'd like to go to Uncle Julios. I just found out that they serve Panchos at lunch time. Panchos are my all time favorite Mexican dish and Uncle Julios are really good.

I have no idea when this lunch is taking place or who all will be invited. But that's not the point. The point is that they are actually doing something. I'm a bit shocked. But I'm glad that they are doing it. It makes me feel better. And I'm getting Panchos at Uncle Julios.

Expectations

Many years ago, while I was still in my early 20's I expressed to a close friend how disappointed I was that my then husband had totally ignored our anniversary and Valentine's day and that I was sure that he'd not acknowledge Mother's day either. My friend advised me that the problem was that I had expectations. If I'd just accept the fact that he wasn't ever going to acknowledge special days, then I'd no longer be disappointed when he failed. It has a certain amount of logic to it.

The problem is that certain days have expectations built in. There is the expectation that the holidays will be spent with family and friends; that birthdays and anniversaries will be at least acknowledged. When I say this, I'm saying it with a very low bar for what acknowledgement is. A hug and a happy birthday or happy anniversary is an acknowledgement. But the truth is that my friends advice was wrong. I did get to the point where I had no expectation of acknowledgement. I knew that he wasn't going to do that. And it still stung. It hurt so much that I took to purchasing small trinkets for the children to give me on Mother's day just so when I was sitting in Church and someone admired the pretty new bracelet that I was wearing I could say "Oh, thank you. This is what my children got me for Mother's day." Please don't judge. The deception came from a place of brokenness. Sometimes  my ex would hear the exchange and then get angry at me. I think his anger was more guilt than anything else. At least I'd like it to be. The point being, I had no expectation that my ex was ever going to acknowledge me and it still hurt like hell anyway.

So all that was years ago. It shouldn't affect the way that I feel now should it? On April 3 was my anniversary with the company I work for. Our group has a monthly department newsletter that comes out. In it department birthdays and anniversaries are listed and holidays and special occasions too. They left out my anniversary. There was a cry out to congratulate a manager who is retiring on May 31, but no mention that I'd be retiring on May 15. Earth day was mentioned as being on April 22, but not Admin Appreciation day on April 24. I knew that none of this would be mentioned. I had no expectation of it. Still the omission stung.

The company provides $1000 for a retirement celebration for all admins. The management is supposed to host this party. It is a little less than 3 weeks until I retire. So far, I have heard nothing of this celebration happening. I don't expect it will.  It still stings when my friends from other departments ask when this is going to happen because they'd like to come. I have to tell them that the people that I work with are too self centered to do what is expected.

If something should come up I will have to eat these words, but believe me, I have no expectation of that.

She's Here

Mollie is here for the weekend. She has a baby shower that she is helping with and I have been invited. She snapped this picture when her dog and her boyfriend were dropping her off at the airport.

She was nervous flying. She had them drop her off at the airport 4 hours early. She didn't want anything to go wrong. We texted all day and talked tonight.

We will go to Waffle House in the morning for breakfast. Then spend the day together preparing games for the Shower that is on Saturday. Sadly she will fly out early on Sunday morning and won't be visiting with our church family, all who want to see her.

She's here! My baby is home.

Yes, her dog does always smile for pictures. He's a real ham.