Retired Week 1

There won't be a weekly synopsis of retirement, I promise - but it's hard to believe it's been a full week already!  It's flown by!

I've enjoyed plenty of down time but I'm working hard at doing stuff daily - and that's pretty easy 'cuz there's quite a bit to do around the homestead.

Last night, J. and I went Home Depot and got some supplies we need to do a few things around the homestead.  The list of things that need attention are growing daily - most recently is the heater in the pool/spa isn't working and the sheet fountain pump isn't working either.  We're planning for doing what we can to ensure a smooth sale - but we're not a bottomless pit of funds these days - I get my last monthly paycheck in two days.  I'll get a check in July but it will be paid out vacation and most of it is going to the IRS.  (I've been working mostly to send a bucket load of cash to the feds every month since March).

I'm heading to Reno on Friday for my 'Retirement Lalapalooza'.  A few days of my happy place solo - plenty of time for vegging on the computer, watching TV, reading, sleeping, eating, gambling, maybe a spa visit.  I've been looking forward to this so long -

We got the estimate from the movers for the 'staging' load up to storage - the quote was very close to $5,000.  No way we're doing that.  (And now I truly fear calling a full-service moving company to give us a quote on moving us up to Carson City - my $25,000 budget for those expenses might not be too far off).  Going the route of PODs seems the way to go but it involves way more work on our part than a pack and go service.  We are going to hire some hourly labor to assist with packing and loading and we won't have to do most of that until the house is in escrow and sold.

So J. and his friend R. are renting a box truck and taking up the load of all the things we think we can move down and/or out to the garage [to prep for loading the rental] up to the storage unit.  We've listed all the things we want to move out to prep the house for sale - removing extra things to give the house a more spacious feel.  (It's 3,200 square feet so it's spacious by definition?  But making the house look like no one lives here involves removing a lot of stuff before people start trekking through).  They plan to head up on the 8th and back on the 9th.

We have reservations to go up on the August 12th for 3 nights - it's the annual Chalk Art Festival.  It's loads of fun but the main reason we were going was to make a trip up to check on the house and take stuff to storage - so I think we'll skip that trip.  We'll plan to go up in early August and see how the house is coming along.

J. and B. had a great time in Reno - I was really glad B. had fun - he enjoys it up there.  He also won a couple hundred dollars playing black jack so that may have something to do with his 'fun quotient'.

I took a nap yesterday and today but I don't plan to do that daily - getting caught up on rest feels great!

Even with a nap, it's approaching 9:30 and I'm feeling ready for a great night's sleep.

I love retirement!  It's amazing - busy but no pressure.  Lots to do and deadlines abound but...it's things that benefit us entirely - and it's so great to know that we can and will get it all done - it's all on US now - not just J. (who's always done an amazing amount around the homestead).  We've got this covered - one day, one daily task list at a time. 

H. and J. went to San Mateo this morning - H. is schedule to do his community service on Saturday, July 6th.  He was on time there this morning so they gave him credit for a day of service.  (As a citizen who thinks penalties for crimes should be stiff, it's a little disappointing to realize that they are giving people credit for things that should be expectations in general - but as the parent of someone who has to do service in a town 50 miles away (and that drive takes 2+ hours to make), I'm grateful for one less day to get him there - and one less day he has to miss work.  We paid his fines and he submitted the paperwork for low income consideration to possibly reduce his public defender fees.  He'll be making monthly payments to us to cover what we paid for him - he doesn't have a checking account that allows writing checks and it's way easier to just pay it and have him pay us every other week out of his paycheck.  He's also attending his DUI class every Wednesday (he missed today for a court date which is OK).

He's getting closer to getting things resolved so he can make arrangements to head to Houston.  He's ready for a change.  He's is a huge help these days - asks pretty regularly what he can do to help us, follow through on things and generally does what he can to be helpful and present.