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Archive for the ‘Everyday’ Category

Because I Can Doesn’t Mean I Should

Posted in Everyday, tagged , on March 17, 2016| 7 Comments »

Things are kind of weird at the Auntie B’s Wax World Headquarters these days.  Luckily I know someone who’s going through the same weirdness I am.  The someone is my long-time friend Mary Ann, and the weirdness is commonly known as retirement.

Don’t roll your eyes, you nine-to-fivers.  I used to react the same way when anyone spoke of anything but utter joy when it came to retirement, but in reality it’s weird.

Mary Ann and I had lunch and discussed something we’d never imagine discussing six months ago – how weird retirement is.  It’s not bad, but it’s definitely different.  Neither of us wants to go back to work, but both of us are finding the abundance of time both heavenly and hellish.  In a word, weird.

We’re adjusting to a new way a life, not unlike when a young adult moves out on her own for the first time.  I remember the time soon after I moved into my first apartment how I mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and ate it with a spoon.  On the couch in front of the TV!  Why?  Because I could. Even though it felt glorious, it was kind of weird.

Mary Ann and I concluded that procrastination equals cookie dough during the early stages of retirement.  Why would I wait to clean the bathroom?  Because I can.  Why would I put off folding laundry when it’s done drying?  Because I can. As luxurious as that may sound (despite wrinkled clothes and a scummy bathtub), what we do during the time we’re not doing those other things seems…weird.  And the guilt ensues.

We made a pact with each other to develop some kind of routine that fits our respective lifestyles.  Even though eating raw cookie dough gave me a sense of freedom when I was embarking on my new adult life, it didn’t become a regular practice.  While embarking on my new retired life I’m have a new sense of freedom, but procrastination shouldn’t become a regular practice.

To procrastination I say, as I said to my former employer, “I QUIT.”  Hopefully that will put an end to the weirdness.

PS – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Interestingly, today would have marked my 36th year working for the government.  I don’t miss it at all, even though things are kind of weird.

PPS – The first person to tell me how many times the word “weird” is used in this post will receive an invisible gift.

 

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Jumping Into Springtime

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on March 14, 2016| 5 Comments »

Did you “spring ahead” yesterday?  I guess the advent of daylight savings time marks the beginning of spring; although I seem to remember that springing forward happened in May when I was young.  Is time moving faster or slower as I get older?

Doesn’t matter.  Spring has pretty much arrived in Minnesota, even though the grass is still a little brown and the flowers aren’t yet blooming.  To get completely in the mood for spring Husby and I had a midweek date at the Como Park Conservatory where we could breathe in the scents of flora and soil and take in the splendors that warm weather can offer.

There was a tropical room, filled with the plants, trees, and even creatures of that clime.

Anaconda, so cozy.

Tarantula in need of a shave.

Amazon River fish. The reason I don’t swim in rivers, anywhere.

Turtles. The one thing that will cause my mother to run on water, not unlike Jesus.

Then an area containing the lovely art of bonsai.  Those little trees are so cute!

Mini fig

One thing I really liked was how the leaves of plants can be filled with such beautiful patterns.

I want a pair of leggings with this pattern.

These leaves look like they came straight off some barkcloth curtains from the 1940s.

And the colors and fragrances of the flowers were a pleasure for the senses.

Close your eyes and imagine what this smells like.

Curly top

Of course the conservatory also houses the requisite nude fountains.

It was a fun afternoon that inspired me to pour some floral-scented candles to welcome spring.  Nature is awesome.

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Game Date

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , on February 23, 2016| 6 Comments »

Recently Husby and I had a game date.  We decided to relearn how to play backgammon and it came back to us pretty quickly.  I won two out of three games, mostly because Husby helped me.  He’s a better strategist where I’m happy just to be able to count spaces correctly.  Next time he’ll probably not be so generous with his advice.

When digging out the backgammon board he came across another game.  Made by Mattel in 1962…Musingo!  It was a childhood favorite of mine and I had forgotten that we stole it away from my parents’ collection of games, which games date back to the ’40s.

The game is very similar to bingo, except with the addition of an organ grinder and monkey.  As you roll the die you move your little plastic monkey around the board.  If he lands on a monkey, you get another shake of the die.  If he lands on the coin symbol you get a coin from the bank.  If he lands on the street organ symbol you get to put one of your coins in the monkey’s cup and play the music by cranking the lever on the side of the organ grinder.  When the tune is done playing, colored musical notes appear and those are the notes you can cover on your Musingo card.

It was a total blast from the past and made me feel like I was four years old again.  Luckily Husby won the game (which lasted all of ten minutes), and it was a good thing because he got whipped in backgammon.  I had to throw the poor guy a bone, right?

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My Own, Precious Room

Posted in Everyday, tagged , on February 15, 2016| 10 Comments »

One of the reasons I wanted to buy the house we live in now is because Husby and I could each have our own rooms.  He could have his office and I could have my very own room.  I didn’t have plans for my very own room, but to have one all to myself seemed so dreamy.  I called it The East Wing.

After sixteen years of living in this house I’ve enjoyed The East Wing a lot.  I decorated it the way I wanted and it was the perfect place to be all by myself if I wanted to be.  There was one problem – oftentimes I used my precious East Wing as a place to stash things.  Sometimes it got a little cluttered.

When I retired at the beginning of December I put three boxes and one grocery bag full of personals I had at the office in The East Wing.  When it became time to decorate the house for Christmas I put the everyday knick-knacks in The East Wing to make room for the holiday decorations.  Because of the mild autumn we had I didn’t rotate my summer and winter clothes until after I retired, so the tub full of summer clothes was also added to The East Wing.

The holiday season is so busy, and being newly retired I relished my newfound free time enough to waste it when I wasn’t planning parties, shopping, and wrapping presents.  Christmas came and I piled many of my Christmas presents in The East Wing.

This is what The East Wing turned out to be since my retirement…

Then came the day I was determined to clear it out.  “A place for everything and everything in its place,” as my dad used to say.  I wanted my room back.  I would conquer it no matter how long it took, despite the multitudes of dust bunnies I had to inhale.  The East Wing should not be a storage closet!  So to work I went.

What a marvelous and productive day it was!  This is how The East Wing turned out…

It’s ready to be my reading room, my writing room, my I-need-to-get-away-from-the-world room, just as it was meant to be.  The best thing about The East Wing?  It’s right across the hall from Husby’s office where he spends a lot of his time.  So close, but as far away as we want or need to be.

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Happy Birthday, Diggy

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , on February 4, 2016| 5 Comments »

Today is February 4th.  Today is also Diggy’s birthday.  For those of you who don’t know, Diggy came into my life when I was five years old and left it when I was forty-four.  He would have been forty-nine today if he had stayed around, but apparently he had somewhere else to be.  I’m pretty sure he’s fishing with his Grandpa Mike on some days, and on others he’s probably busy haunting people.  Or maybe he’s part of the welcoming committee for the likes of David Bowie and Glenn Frey.  Or maybe…oh, I can’t even imagine, or maybe I imagine too much.

I’m a bona fide member of the Dead Sibling Club, and I know I’m in good, albeit sad, company.  If you don’t belong to the club you might be in even better company because you still have all of your siblings.  If you do belong, you totally get the heart-breaking entrance requirements.

Happy Birthday, Diggy.  You live on in so many ways, and yet we miss seeing you.  We toast you at occasions and write dumb blog posts with you as the star.  No words can bring you back, no wishing with all of my might can either.  But even though I can’t see you you’re still a part of my life.  Without you I would have been a completely different person.  Without me you would have had to put up with way less crap.  What are big sisters for?

I don’t know whether to wish Diggy “Rest In Peace” or “Forge On,” but I’m leaning toward the latter.  Forge on, Diggy, and spread your Diggy-ness wherever you are.  Say “hi” to Grandpa Mike for me on your next fishing trip.

Me & Diggy, circa 1968

 

 

 

 

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