Catching Up

I have been catching up on my 2013 blog entries.  So now the photos are posted, the texts are posted and I’m up to date on Life in General.  Here’s a list of just what is where:

• Fort Frederick Juried Trade Fair    Apr 30
• May Showers Bring May Floods    May 10
• Dog Days                                    Aug 28
• OVPMS Strikes Again                    Sep  3
• Front Royal Fun                            Sep  9
• Yorktown Victory Center               Oct 10
• OVPR Fall Rendezvous                 Oct 28
• Witch Way is Which (more OVPR)  Oct 31
• Banner Project                              Dec 15
• Weird Winter  (2014)                     Jan 18

Well its been 10 days since I retired.  I’ve spent some time at Da Urchin’s Place working on her bathroom and just hanging out.  We watched the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony and enjoyed it thoroughly.  I also spend an afternoon with my friends Mike & Sue.  Obviously I’ve spent time bringing my blog up to date.  The laundry & dishes are done.  And a Retirement Party Open House has been planned at a friend’s place.  Not exactly a gang busters start to retirement.

I quickly discovered that after 9 years working nights as a corrections officer I needed a wind down transition.  I needed to sleep until I just woke up with no alarm clock involved.  Only once I was fully rested could I begin a shift back onto a daylight life style.  Now I’m up by 10am and staying up until 12pm.  The goal is to move my get up and go to bed times back in half hour increments until I’m getting up by 7 in the morning.  I’m basically resetting my body clock.

I’m also still unwinding from the tension inherent in my previous career.  So I’m making sure to pet & play with my cats, a guaranteed stress eliminator.  I’m also working at eating real food that I actually prepare at normative meal times.  My tummy thinks it needs to eat dinner at 9:30pm, the time it ate when I was at work.  I’m convincing it otherwise.  I’m also convincing it that 2 cups of coffee a day is enough.  The caffeine withdrawal headaches have stopped so progress is being made.  Herbal Tea and I are becoming friends again.

As I move forward through retirement the house sorting will move forward too as well as music,  hobby crafting, and similar activities.  Plus friend visiting.  To Everything There is a Season.  This season is going to be a Glorious One.

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DIY at Da Urchin’s Place

OK, so back in the spring of 2012 Da Urchin got herself a house, a house mortgage and all that comes with such a purchase.  And of course any house that’s new to you needs personalizing, particularly if it has been empty for 3 years before you get it.  So there have been a variety of 2013 DIY projects at Da Urchin’s Place in which I have had my humble part.

Dogwood

Da Urchin bought a Dogwood from a local vender and we planted it between the boulder and the dead-tree-to-totally-get-removed in her side front yard. 

Rose of Sharon

I also brought  4 small bushes from my yard and planted them.  One went in front of the 2 boulders in the side front yard.  It is doing well enough that it bloomed about 6 weeks after it was transplanted. 

Another Rose of Sharon

The other 3 bushes were planted on the slope in the back yard.

 

The Smallest Rose of Sharon

This one produced one bloom several weeks after it was transplanted.  The flowers up the hill grew from a perennial wild seed mix Da Urchin bought and planted.   Rose of Sharon are very hardy.  I’ve got 6 to 8 more of these to transplant at her place next spring.

A friend of Da Urchin’s put in a brick fire pit and grill in her yard and gave her old iron fire pit set to Da Urchin.

Fire Pit After Cleaning and Preliminary Painting

Now I knew it had a few holes but it proved to be worst than I first though once I sanded it up and put the first coat of Hi-Heat Rust-o-leum on it.  Oh well, I always wanted a pop rivet gun.

Patched Fire Pit Interior

All’s well that ends well.  The hole is to let any water that gets into the pit drain away.  I did put another coat of paint on both sides of the pit.  I haven’t painted the benches yet. 

Fire Pit with Spark Cover

I also cleaned and painted the spark cover for the pit.  There is a heavy plastic fitted weather cover for it too.  So the rusting shouldn’t reoccur any time soon.

First Fire in the Fixed Pit

Da Urchin decided she wanted tile floor in her bathrooms several months ago.  She also wanted nicer vanities in both baths and different mirrors.  She started on the guest bathroom. 

The New Tile Floor

Once everything was removed from the guest bath Da Urchin and a friend laid down the new sub-floor and tile.  Then Da Urchin put down the grouting and we re-installed the toilet.  This of course took a trip to Lowe’s for longer bolts to secure the toilet.  All home improvement projects take at least 3 trips to Lowe’s, and at least one of those trips will be unplanned.

Bathroom Walls with New Drywall

One side of the existing vanity and the mirror had been glued onto the wall.  Very very thoroughly glued to the wall.  So sections of drywall had to be cut out and new sections put in.  Here they are installed and ready to be painted.  Once the painting is done there is wainscoting, a new wall fixture, and then the new vanity to install. 

Not all the DIY at her place are large projects.  We installed a curtain rod, curtains and curtain holdbacks in the smallest bedroom.

Backdoor & Trim Painted

Da Urchin painted her doors a lighter green and I gave the trim a fresh coat of white paint. 

Of course there is more DIY to come.

12:01 AM February 1, 2014 - RETIREMENT

ITS OFFICIAL!  

As of 12:01AM today I am a Retired Lady.  My last day of work for the Commonwealth of Virginia ended at 6:20AM of Wednesday January 29th and I turned in all my issued equipment on Friday the 31st.  For the first time in 57.5 years I don’t have to get up and go do something for someone else on their set schedule.  Not since I started kindergarten has my time been this much my own to spend as I see fit. 

So I started my retirement by spending Wednesday and Thursday at my daughter’s place.  We ran some errands, bought a celebratory rib eye steak at Wegman’s and had a nice late afternoon meal of Tofu Pho at a Pho restaurant near the Wegman’s.  Then we headed back to her place and I took a nap.  (My body is going to take some retraining to get it off its night shift schedule.)  We finished off the night by watching the latest installment of Sherlock on PBS-BBC.  Very funny, I highly recommend the series.  The next day we puttered around a bit, watched a bunch of the extra stuff on the Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey Extended Blu-Ray disk and had the rib eye for dinner. 

Friday I went to CWCC to turn in my issued gear and sign one more form.  I took the most scenic way home and truly realized I would never be required to drive to CWCC again.  That’s when it all started to seem real.  Its over.  All the idiocy of DOC and CWCC is out of my life.  No more T-groups masquerading as Learning Teams, no more last minute training classes, no more mandatory OT days, no more flip- flop instructions from management.  I can even talk about what its like to be a Corrections Officer in an open dormitory style prison without being afraid of getting fired.  (Yes DOC has demoted and even fired folks for making what it interpreted as inappropriate comments about The Work either in a public forum or via social media sites.)

I have my life back.  I think I’ll work at enjoying every minute of it.  A retirement party is planned and long time friend from Michigan is coming here to visit.  And there’s a long list of projects involving my yard, my house and my hobbies that’s calling me.  Projects I intend to enjoy.  This is fun.  Right here and right now fun with more on the way.  Oh how sweet it is.  Happy Dance here I come!

FYI – I have a new telephone number.  Send me an email or write me if I haven’t sent it to you & you want it.