21 Great things about retiremenet

1 Taking a shower at 2 in the afternoon.
2 Wearing the same clothes 2 days in a row.
3 Falling asleep in the afternoon while lying in the yard with a book.
4 Wearing the same clothes 3 days in a row.
5 Reading the whole newspaper in the morning.
6 Marlene taking the clothes away from me on day 4!
7 Taking the clothes out of the laundry basket (while she's out) to wear them on day 4.
8. Trying to find the Guinness Book record for wearing the same clothes several days in a row.
9. Finding Recordsetter.com where I can establish my own world record.
10. Changing my clothes 3 times in the same day (for no good reason).
21. Being able to skip great things # 11 -20 just because.

National Relaxation Day

Was yesterday. I didn't find out till 9:15pm, but I did do a lot of relaxing. Spent 2 hours in the yard reading a book (actually fell asleep for a while).

Last night I finished "Nothing to Envy - Ordinary Lives in North Korea". I recommend it highly, but be warned that it's a very strong book about the horror of living in North Korea.

Sometimes I'm....

Crabby

That was the word for the day.

I was thinking that they get a bad rap, 

but if you look closely this crab does look grouchy.

According to "The Word Detective":

In both “crabby” and “crabbed,” the analogy is to a crab’s tendency to painfully nip with its claws and tenaciously hold on, as well as its tendency to walk backwards and sideways, making it an excellent metaphor for a difficult, uncooperative person. (This, of course, is not entirely fair to crabs, many of which probably have wonderful personalities and, should they one day take over the planet, will no doubt remember I said that.) 

http://www.word-detective.com/2007/06/crabby/

Day 3 of retirement.

I was crabby

I know that some people who know me think that I never get crabby.

ask Marlene.

Anyway, I got over it.

Interesting though, (strange coincidence? karma?) that night I happened to see an old episode of the "King of Queens" (guess they're all old episodes since the show has been out of production for years) where Doug was "out of sorts" because he had been on strike for a couple of weeks and he didn't know what to do with his time.

....not the case yet.

Most likely I was crabby because we had to deal with the nursing home where Marlene's aunt lives. 

I hope that I never have to go into a nursing home!

I'm gonna make you an offer .....

.....that you can't refuse

I've always heard that the best time to find a job is when you have one.
But maybe it's also when you retire!
I was retired for two days and had two people tell me that I "have to keep busy" 
and offer to get me a part time job.

C'mon guys
At least let me relax a little while .....

Don't you worry bout a thing....

I used to wake up every morning with a song in my head. 

At times the song would be something that I hadn't heard in years. 

It had gone away for a while. 

Now it's back; thanks to Stevie Wonder....

helping me to not worry.

The Best of Stevie Wonder Millennium

I've also been dreaming a lot.

Dreamt about two people at work.

One was planning a party for another worker who had just gotten her high school diploma!!

Who are they hiring anyway?

In another dream I was floating underwater.

Not drowning.

Just floating.

Looking around.

But I must admit I just recently started watching "Dexter".

Don't worry, Be Happy

Well, here it is...

First day of retirement.
Officially old.

Can't say that it was uneventful. Took one of the cars for an inspection sticker. Took Marlene to get her watch battery replaced. Then for a medical appointment. Went to the post office. Then to the dollar store. Stopped at Wendy's for a "senior" lunch. Asked Marlene why there were so many people driving around - isn't anybody working to support my retirement?

The title for this blog came up months ago when I was trying to make a decision about retiring. The "conundrum" arose because I enjoyed my job, leaving was not a "no-brainer". The "quagmire" involved facing reality -- we only have so much time and there's so much I want to do and one can become stuck waiting for the "best" time to retire. "Quandary" was just another way of saying the same thing - I was perplexed.
So, why not write about it all?
Maybe throw in some thoughts about anything else that I think about.

We've started an exercise program. Wonderful thing that "On demand" stuff.
I've actually read the entire newspaper 3 days in a row. Maybe I'll catch up on the old ones too.
Of course that's another sign that I'm old - we actually get the newspaper!

Watched Silver Linings Playbook - recommend it highly - 5 stars - of course it's about someone with mental health issues so I'm naturally drawn.
silverliningsplaybook.com

What's next?
Stay tuned.