My Retirement Thus Far

Okay, so my retirement began officially on December 30. Since I only worked on Tues and Wed, that was my last Wed to work. You could say that I am now starting my 4th week of being retired. Everyone keeps asking me, " How do you like retirement?" Honestly... I have not gotten into that mode of thinking yet. I can say that right now I am definitely not enjoying it because I have had so many unforeseen and stressful events come into my life. I mentioned the car accident and my grandbaby going to the ER. I had to take my mom to the doctor last Monday. I was able to get up in the attic at my house and bring down all the "banana boxes" that were stored with all kinds of things. I think I did that on Monday and Tuesday. Well, on Wednesday, I was getting a cough. And also, I pulled my back out when I thought I was quite strong enough to lift that third seat in my suburban all by myself. So I had a pulled back and a hacking cough. I planned to go to Galveston to meet with the contractor who is putting our beach condo back together. I also was able to deliver the paintings to my uncle's house that my mom was giving to my cousins. Yea!! getting stuff cleaned out and organized.
I called a friend who lost their beach house at Crystal Beach. She drove down from Sugarland and we were able to meet early. It was truly a business trip because I was going back and forth to the condo and Home Depot... making decisons. It did not take me long to spend 2K on new appliances. We went to my favorite local restaurant - Shrimp and Stuff. I had the boiled shrimp po-boy and some gumbo. The gumbo had a thick rue.. almost like a stew... which is not what I prefer. I like my gumbo more watery. We had time to go and see her lot near San Luis Pass. They decided to rebuild there instead of Crystal Beach. By the time we finished with talking to the contractor and viewing several condos at Seascape and running our errands, we had spent the afternoon. We stayed at the Comfort Suites which was very nice. It was also great because we could walk to the movie theatre. We decided to eat down at the dock at Fisherman's Wharf. I was in such a mood for some good fresh fish. I had the grilled red snapper with mixed vegetables and rice. I also had two glasses of Pinot Grigio. It was a great dinner. So we made it back in time to see two movies. We saw "Leap Year" which was cute, but quite predictable. And then we saw "The Lovely Bones." I had heard this was a good movie. Well... definitely not my kind of movie. I may read the book as I heard it was good.. but then again, if I did not like the movie, chances are that I will not like the book either. However, let me just say the young girl who played Susie Salmon did an excellent job. Now I am not going to spoil this for you, but there was a time when she was in a place that she regretfully knew she should not be in. This young actress made you feel the fear that she was having. It was an outstanding performance by this young girl. So.. it was midnight when we got out of the movies. We got back to the hotel.. talked a little, watched a little TV and were asleep by about 1:30. We were up early for our continental breakfast, and I was on the road back home by a little after 9:00 a.m. on Friday.

So Friday, I was feeling tired and still had my cough. Not only did I inhale all that dust in my attic, but also in the various condos due to the residue from the tile jobs we went in. So I got a double whammy of dust in the lungs. So I made a few stops on the way home- fabric stores and my favorite Mexican restaurant- lunch portion of chicken fajitas ( I only ate half) with some beans, rice, onions, and corn tortillas. I am still wondering why I did not get any guacamole, but that was fine with me. Friday evening I had some gf come by as my dh was at the hunting camp. We visited, watched part of a movie, and they went home.

Saturday morning, I moved slow.. still not feeling very well, joints kinda hurting, but not sick. I took about 15-20 more boxes to the recycling bin. Then I, along with faithful dog Roxy, proceeded to our hunting camp (669). My plan was to begin getting it ready for this coming weekend when my unomes came to visit. There will be 9 of us staying. But instead I layed on the couch. Then it hit me... fever, chills, headache, neckache, backache, ankles and feet and knees - you name it. I felt terrible. I went in and took a hot bath because that always makes me feel better. And it did. I held off on the Advil. Germs are being killed when your temperature elevates so I just kept telling myself that there was a battle going on in my body. I had extra clothes on along with a blanket. DH had cooked homemade venison chili, and I did eat that. All we had to drink was a Big Red, Shasta grape or Shasta creme soda. What a choice! I took the grape and later a big glass of cold water with a half of lemon. So I was kinda feeling better, and then it hit me again. Oh gosh... I am thinking.. I have some kind of flu. No stopped up or runny nose, but the aches.. ohhhhhhhhhh. So I decided I would take another bath. And while I was in the tub, I had dh get me extra wash cloths so I could put a hot one on my chest, on the back of my neck, and on my forehead. He made fun of me!! argh#@!!!! So I decided right then and there, no sympathy from you.. I am going home. I was not mad, just was feeling bad. However, after taking the bath, I took two Advil, loaded up the car and went home so I could lay on a heating pad and if need be walk around the house all night. And if I could not sleep I had cable, movies, and FB and the internet. Yesterday was spent laying around all day in the bed with the heating pad. Today I would have done the same, but I HAD to get a birthday card off to my sister who has a birthday tomorrow. And she will probably not get the card until Wednesday. So I did feel better- good enough to go to several places that I needed to go. I still have the cough and the backache. The rest of my body is feeling better. But I will say one thing... doing core exercises will stop you from pulling your back out. I have not done mine in over 5 weeks, and it is certainly obvious. Tomorrow I have to go to town to have blood work because I have my annual checkup on Thursday. I plan to get up early and make it there since I have to fast. Since I will be out early I will make the dreaded Walmart run to get some additional plastic bins. I am slowly getting all the stuff organized that I want to keep. There will be little going back in my attic because I do not want to continue climbing that ladder. It will just have to be nice and organized in the garage. So... there you have it. As soon as I am up to par.. it is back to exercise for me. Gosh.. it makes a difference!

Okay, I was quite the chatter today... I guess I should have written this in several installments.