Missouri Star

One of the things I’ve been coming to terms with the past couple of weeks is letting go.  I suppose everyone who has worked at a job for as long as I have (over 24 years) feels a certain sense of ownership.  In my case it was strengthened by the fact that the original doc and I literally opened the doors together.  I was with him the first day he started seeing patients in this office.  I’ve seen the practice grow from only having about 20 patients to having over 3,000.  During that time I’ve been given a great deal of say in how the practice has been developed and have had a great deal of responsibility.  When the practice sold 10 years ago, the new doc was even more accepting of my involvement and made me feel like a real partner.

 

With the new ownership all of that has changed.  It’s probably fortuitous that my plans for retirement have coincided with the change.  I’m not sure I could have stayed on otherwise.  But I’m also having to grasp the fact that the practice I’m leaving is not the practice I’ve spent 24 years building up.  That’s really hard, but I think I’m coming to accept it.  I have to, because I can’t change it.  But accepting it is making my last few days a little easier.  I’m teaching as much as I can, but what the new ownership has the employees do with that is their decision and one that the practice will have to live with.  I can leave with my head held high knowing that I did all I could to make the practice successful.

 

I’m now looking forward to a whole new chapter of my life.  My emphasis will be totally altered – from business/medical oriented to an opportunity to indulge in artistic endeavors.  I’m looking forward to concentrating more on my quilting.  I have a competition quilt that I would like to finish in 2010, along with an embroidered quilt for Abby.  Quilts for the girls’ bedroom are on the agenda and I would like to be more proactive in either altering knitting patterns to suit me more or designing my own.  I hope to have more time to exercise and do yoga.  Maggie and I have started agility training and I look forward to the day when we can compete.  I’d like to take up some new interests – improve my photography skills and learn to use my camera and maybe even eventually dabble in spinning.  And of course, continue on with my scrapbooking.  Whew!  I’m exhausted just thinking about all of the possibilities.

 

A lot of people have asked how we can afford to retire so “young”.  I’ll get on my soapbox a little, but bear with me and there will be a payoff at the end – I promise.  A lot of that has to do with my husband’s defined pension plan.  He was offered a cash bonus for early retirement at age 55 and jumped at it.  But we wouldn’t have even been able to afford that if we hadn’t run across Mary Hunt many years ago.  Mary has a website called debtproofliving.com.  I highly recommend it.  Her philosophy is to give away 10% of your income, save 10% and live on 80%.  She calls this “living below your means”.  The central tool in all of this is to carry no debt.   We began living that lifestyle.  We used our credit card so we could earn air miles, but we paid it off every month.  We made it a goal to pay off all of our debts except our mortgage (and we’re working on paying that off early) and not to go into new debt for anything.  If we couldn’t afford it, we did without or waited until we had the money. 

 

You might think this would cramp our lifestyle, but in contrast we felt very liberated.  When you jump off the great American consumer machine you feel such freedom.  You no longer have to “have it all”.  I like Mary’s quote, “Because I live frugally doesn’t mean I don’t spend money. It means I spend money thoughtfully and with a sense of discipline and purpose. As my life is blessed and my income increases, 80 percent increases as well.”  We’ve learned to manage our money instead of letting it manage us.   When the recession came and we watched our investments tumble, we felt a little concern, but not panic.  In fact, we’ve decided to live off hubby’s retirement and leave mine to sit for a few years and gain back some of the losses.  One of the biggest impacts on our life with being debt free is that we have choices.   We choose where our money will go, knowing that it is not a bottomless well!  When your money is going to pay high interest rates on credit cards, you can’t choose.  The bank or credit card company chooses for you.  And as of now, they can choose to jack up your interest rate at any time and for any reason!  That is bondage!!

 

Ok, so I told you that if you managed to wade through my lecture (and a post with no knitting content and no pictures), there would be a payoff at the end.  To celebrate my retirement, I’ve decided to do my very first giveaway!  Leave me a comment and you’ll go into a drawing for a Swallowtail Shawl, made in your choice of color.  All comments made from now until my retirement date of December 10^th are eligible (except in all fairness I probably have to disqualify any family members – but they can contact me and I’ll do a shawl for them anyway!).   Each comment will be numbered and I will use a random number generator to choose.  Just be forewarned that the knitting will have to wait until January.  I plan on spending the first three weeks of my retirement relaxing and playing with my granddaughters!

 

 

 

Organization

One of the first things I'm going to do when I retire is get myself organized!  Remember you heard it here first and you can laugh at me later.  I decided my goal for this weekend was to finally seam two sweaters that had been languishing in a basket by my bedside for way too long.  At least I thought they were languishing in the basket by my bedside.  I decided to tackle Abby's Cable and Rib Jacket first.  Only problem was - I couldn't find it!  How can you lose a project like that along with about 10 remaining skeins of yarn??  I realize that with everyone living here for two months things were pretty unorganized, but it's a small house.  How far could it have gone?  After about a half hour of searching I found it and successfully finished it except for the zipper:

I had to special order the zipper, but with any luck it will come this week and I can take it to Abby on Thanksgiving.  Speaking of Thanksgiving, Abby is doing her first official family Thanksgiving dinner this year and her menu sounds delish!

Saturday I finished up hubby's Torgeir:

 

Sorry for the crappy picture, but daylight is in scant supply here and the flash washes out the details.  One of the first things I'm doing when I retire is take a photography class.

The sleeves came out a little longer than I had expected - one of the downfalls of a dropped shoulder.  But all in all he seems to be pleased and I'm very pleased to have two projects checked off my list.  In discussion with Marguerite, I am seriously revisiting the idea of only having 3 (or maybe 4) projects going at a time.  Ok, you can stop laughing now.  We call it "Knitting Peace" and I do want to have more discipline in my projects.  I'm thinking that a shawl, a pair of socks and a sweater would give me enough variety to keep my brain stimulated.  The only reason that I would throw a 4th in would be if the other three were not good traveling projects.  Gotta have a traveling project for those trips down to Snohomish.

And, speaking of trips - we popped down to see the kids over the weekend.  Ben needed hubby's help with a project and Abby and I took the girls over to see my sister.  We also wanted to take Maggie down to see how she would fare with the other dogs in a different environment.  She's definitely an alpha female and we didn't know if she would try to assert her dominance on their dogs' territory.  Turns out she did fine - the only scuffle was when she and their dog went after a toy at the same time.

We had a great time at agility tonight and the trainer gave me some tips on handling Maggie's aggressiveness.  She explained that Maggie is indeed an alpha bitch and she considers it her job to keep all the other dogs in line - however she does it by aggression.  We have tried controlling it with positive reinforcement, but it just hasn't worked, so the handler suggested some negative reinforcement - every time she got aggressive I was to grab her collar and shake her while yelling "No!" That's just what she needed.  After just three times she calmed down and coexisted peacefully for the rest of the evening.  I guess she just needed to know I was more alpha than she was!  Just don't call me a bitch!

How Quiet is Too Quiet?

It is amazingly quiet here!  No toys to trip over.  No baby locks to struggle with when I try to get in a cabinet.  I can leave my knitting lying on a table and it's still there (and on the needles) when I return.  I don't have to worry about my hot coffee sitting on the edge of a table.  However, there also are no little voices calling, "Nana! Nana" first thing in the morning and no hugs and kisses to greet me when I get up.  But those hugs and kisses are only an hour and a half away.  I'm not saying that the past two months have slightly fried my brain, but when I was getting laundry out of the linen closet today, I found a cup of coffee in there!  I don't know how long it's been in there, but I'm thinking weeks.  I know it was mine because I'm the only one in the household who takes cream!

Ben & Abby finally moved into their house last weekend.  We kept the girls for the weekend while they got things organized.  Since we had the girls for Halloween, we took them trick or treating.  A local church had a great festival and even had a professional photographer doing free photos:

 

On the way down to deliver the girls to their new home I told Isobel that we were going to their new house.  I told her that she would be living there with Mommy and Daddy, but that Nana and Yeh-Yeh could come visit her often.  She said, "And you can watch me grow up!"  I got a little teary eyed at that one.  Out of the mouths of babes!  Poor Ivy was so sad, she cried all the way down.  Not screaming, just quietly sobbing.  I think she was tired and missing her parents.  When we drove up to the house and she saw Abby, she was SO happy.  And when she walked into the house and saw all of her familiar toys, she was grinning from ear to ear. 

So life is settling back to normal.  We are enjoying the peace and quiet so much.  I have begun knitting again and have started two new projects:

 

These will be Abby's birthday socks - she chose Coriolis.  I think it's a good choice - she wanted something fairly plain, but I wanted something interesting to knit.  Oh, and don't freak out Abby - the yarn really is grey - it's Dream in Color Smooshy.

I also started on a  Flower Basket scarf to go into the Christmas basket:

 

I'm using a lovely fingering weight alpaca/wool mix, but I'm too lazy to get up out of my chair and check the ball band.

I also got a goody in the mail this week.  Lorette had blogged about a neat little container for stitch markers and what-not.  I love little containers almost as much as I love tote bags and ordered one immediately.  How cute:

 

I ordered it here, but who knows if there are any left.  I imagine Lorette caused a run on them!

The countdown to retirement continues - only 18 1/2 working days!!  Are you tired of hearing about it yet?  It just seems that the drama is such a large part of my life right now.  Every time I turn around I discover yet another boneheaded move by the computer guys that makes my work more difficult.  Starting tomorrow, though, I get to do one of my favorite things - teach.  Our new employee starts and I think I'm really going to enjoy the training aspect.  

Speaking of learning, I've spent most of this weekend learning myself.  I got my new copy of Photoshop Elements 8 for the Mac and have been going through Linda Sattgast's marvelous tutorial.  I can't say enough for her video. I made four scrapbook pages, but they'll have to wait for another post.  I'm debating whether to start another blog just for scrapbooking.  What do you think?  One all purpose blog or two specialty ones?

The Light at the End

Two lights are emerging at the end of the tunnel and neither one appears to be an oncoming train!  Ben and Abby are moving into their house today.  Yesterday Abby and hubby (mine, not hers!) went down and cleaned the new house to a fare-thee-well.  Ben stayed here with me and helped with the girls and attempted to get things on this end organized.  This morning they loaded a 17-ft. U-Haul and they were off.  We will keep the girls for the night and deliver them down tomorrow.  We almost hit a major snag when we realized that they had taken off with both keys to their car with the car seats that we were going to use to take the girls home tomorrow!  Thankfully, Ben's friend's parents are there and coming back here tonight, so they're bringing the keys.  Whew!! 

Of course, this means we get the girls for Halloween for the first time.  We really weren't going to do anything, but Grandpa couldn't resist some cute costumes he saw at Wal-Mart and came home with them.  He is such a softie!

 

Currently Mei-Mei is napping and Yeh-Yeh and Isobel are carving a Jack-o-Lantern.  Isobel is especially fascinated by the "pumpkin goo".

 

The other light is, of course, retirement, which looms ever closer.  Things at work have been especially difficult and I decided this week that I really needed an attitude adjustment.  There is so much that I cannot change so I need to really focus on anything positive so that I can leave in the best light possible.  The wife of the older doc, who was the first owner of the practice, asked me the other day if I would be coming back after I retire as a consultant.  I told her that I hadn't been asked and I would have to make a decision depending on the circumstances.  The only thing, is that so far, they haven't asked my opinion on much and when they have asked it, don't follow my suggestions.  It's hard to believe they would want me back after I leave, but I suppose it depends on how desparate they get.

I'm really looking forward to getting back to some more challenging knitting projects.  Everything has been in such turmoil for the past two months, I simply could not focus on anything even remotely intricate.  Plain old stockinette has done it.  I have, however, finished two Wonderful Wallabies:

 

 

And I also made a contribution to our Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes:

 

Yes, those are Hallowigs!

So, tomorrow, things get back to "normal", whatever that is.  I will, however, miss coming home to Mei-Mei running up to me, wanting a cuddle and saying, "I missed you Nana".  And, of course, sharing spaghetti ala Lady and the Tramp:

 

But all of that is only an hour and a half away!
   

Foot for Thought

No, that's not a typo.  Recently Marguerite and I were chatting about Cookie A's book, Sock Innovations.  When it first came out, we both expressed our intentions of knitting every sock in the book - we were so in love with them.  Marguerite has come a lot closer to that goal than I have, having completed several pairs.  I haven't even completed one.  We were discussing her experience that while the socks are indeed lovely, they are not quite as well fitting or wearable as a lot of the "Plain Jane" socks we love and wear almost every day.  Which begs the question, "Why knit them?"  The case could be made that they are works of art.  As I explained, I could knit shawls for the rest of my life and never wear a one because I consider them works of art.   But socks?  If they were works of art, you'd only have to knit one!  So this is indeed "foot for thought" and I am reconsidering my goal.  Of course, it's an entirely moot point now because my knitting time is mostly engaged in completely mindless stockinette stitch sweaters for little bodies.  I did complete Isobel's and I don't think it's been off her body except for a quick trip through the washer:

Note the blueberry face!  Given her love of blueberries, I think the choice of yarn was perfect.

Mei-Mei is currently wearing the Wonderful Wallaby I made for Isobel when she was a baby:

It's a little snug but does the trick.  Her new one is in the works and I just finished fusing the pocket to the body.

Wonder of wonders, I did manage about an hour of sewing in my sewing room yesterday.  I asked hubby if he would help Abby keep an eye on the girls and snuck in there for some solitude and quality time with my sewing machine.  It was a challenge - all of Ben & Abby's luggage is there, but I managed to clear a little hole for myself and finished the blocks I've been working on for a mystery quilt I'm doing with friends:

I can't remember if I've mentioned this group or not, but it's a small group that's alternated between 4-6 members.  We've been meeting for over 10 years.  At times we do a Round Robin project, other times mystery quilts or just help out on blocks for each other.  We've done some pretty mind boggling projects, and others that are just simple.  Regardless, they are a wonderful group of ladies and we so enjoy our time together.  Next time we meet I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

I'm plugging along at work, literally counting the days (down to 60!!).  Things have not been easy.  I think I finally figured out why the new doc and I are a little like oil and water.  The two previous docs have always treated me like an equal partner.  The new doc treats us as if he is the captain of the ship and we are his crew (not surprising - he is a former Navy Captain).  Don't get me wrong, he's a great human being and a great doc and is kind and compassionate.  But there is no question that I am just an employee.  Many administrative privileges that I had have been taken away.  This is not necessarily wrong, but just a different management style and one that I am not used to.  I've tried very hard not to make waves because it really doesn't make any difference.  However, I do think it is good that I'm retiring and making way for someone who isn't used to the previous regime.  We will be promoting someone from within to my spot, but she's only been with the practice five years and will not expect, or even desire, the amount of responsibility I was accustomed to.  Tomorrow I start interviewing candidates for her replacement.  With any luck we will have someone by the end of the week and I can start training.

I leave you with more granddaughterly adorableness:

A Good Time Was Had By All

Saturday Hubby and I decided we really needed to get away from the fray, so we took off for a day together, just the two of us to get our batteries recharged.  Although we had a blueprint for the day, we ended up doing something totally different.  As hubby explained, this is what retirement will be like - doing what you want when you want to!  All I can say is, I'm ready.  And in that vein, I'm happy to report that the ad for my replacement went in the newspaper this week.  Here's praying for some really viable candidates.

Our first stop yesterday was Washington Park in Anacortes.  There is a winding 2-mile loop with some really breathtaking views:

I think next year we're going to have to take a picnic lunch and Maggie and spend some time there.  Next stop was some furniture shopping.  Our old and battered recliners with the puppy chew marks really needed to go, and since I don't need room for a lap dog anymore (sigh), we decided the time was ripe.  We looked at the Ekornes chairs from Norway.  After wiping up the drool, we gave some serious consideration, but were put off by the exorbitant price.  They were indeed about the most comfortable chairs we've ever sat in, but some serious saving would be in order.  We decided to check a few more places and lo and behold, found some Action recliners that were quite similar and about half the price.  They are every bit as comfortable and while probably not as high quality, suit us just fine.  The style we got is similar to the one in the link, but just a little different.

Mei-Mei had her first dental visit this week.  She did pretty well for a two-year-old, although she kept saying, "I'm done, I'm done".

This afternoon is rather quiet.  Ben & Abby are off doing house related paperwork (they've found a house, but the deal is not final yet), Hubby is off picking up our new chairs and Mei-Mei is napping.  I gave Isobel two small skeins of yarn and a feather duster and she's been happily entertaining herself for an hour, humming and singing!

Thank you all for your kind thoughts about Kirby.  I'm sure you'll understand if I don't reply individually to each one.  We're so grateful that we had almost 16 wonderful years with him.  I remember the day he came to live with us - Valentine's Day 1994.  I had just come home from a quilting class and Ben met me at the car.  He said I needed to come in and sit down.  Of course, I knew then something was up.  Bill came into the house wearing his leather jacket.  He reached inside and drew this little ball of fluff out of his inside pocket.  He said, "This is Tyler and every time you look at him I want you to remember how much I love you!"  After a few days it became obvious that he was not a Tyler, but a Kirby.  For the last 15+ years, Kirby has indeed reminded me of my husband's love for me.  Not a bad job for a little dog!

Goodnight Sweet Prince

Kirby

January 1994 - September 2009

As we feared, Kirby's injury was just too much for a 15-year old dog to tolerate.  By today it was obvious that he was greatly stressed.  The eye was not healing and he was essentially blind and deaf.  It became obvious also that he was in pain.  At 3:30 p.m. he slipped away peacefully.  We will miss you, Kirby.

Kirby was the dog you never heard about on the blog because he didn't actually "do" anything.  His mission in life, which he took very seriously, was to cuddle beside me in my chair.  I chuckle to think how much of Kirby has been stitched into every sweater, sock, shawl and quilt that I have made in the last 15 years.  I'm happy to know he is at peace.  He gave us many, many good years of love and affection.

Out With the Old

No, I'm not getting rid of hubby; I think I'll keep him for another year or two.  However, we did get rid of a family member who's been with us 32 years!  We decided the time was right to replace our washing machine.  We bought our Sears Kenmore way back in 1977 and it was still chugging along.  But with laundry going almost 24-7 and a recent open house by our local electricity utility, along with rebates, we decided a more energy efficient appliance was in order.  Little did we know that it would also serve as a built-in babysitter.  Isobel brought over her stool and drink and spent at least a half an hour watching the laundry go round and round:

Of course, Grandpa was pretty interested as well:

My initial impression of the new washie is quite positive.  It is SO quiet.  The loudest sound it makes is when the water drains.  And I know it will be kinder to our septic system.

As expected, not too much knitting news to report.  I did start on a Wonderful Wallaby for Isobel, but have made limited progress.  I'm up to the underarms and have started one sleeve. 

The lack of fall weather has seemed to make its necessity not quite so urgent.  The first day of fall is expected to be up in the 80's!

Yesterday we celebrated Mei-Mei's second birthday:

She spent all day going around singing "Happy Birthday".  Definitely one of her favorite songs.  Last week hubby and I took the girls out to lunch with some friends.  Hubby gave Mei-Mei a square of jello on a fork.  She looked at it and exclaimed, "Birthday cake", and proceeded to sing Happy Birthday, charming everyone in sight. 

In not so happy news we had a little bit of a traumatic incident a couple of days ago.  The girls and I were eating popcorn and tossing bits to the dogs.  We've done this ever since Maggie was a puppy with no problems.  Unfortunately Maggie and Kirby went for the same piece of popcorn at the same time and a tussel ensued.  It only lasted 5 seconds, but when it was over, Kirby's eye was dislodged from the socket!  Eewwww!  The vet was able to replace the eye in the socket and stitched the eyelid shut.  In two weeks we'll go back to have the stitches removed and see if the eye is viable.  Kirby seems to be doing ok and has started eating and drinking well, but he definitely is having mobility problems.  He was already about half blind (and deaf) and this does nothing to improve the situation.

I'm kicking myself because I feel I should have known better.  Maggie has always had food issues with other dogs.  A human can go up to her and take her food away, but she viciously guards her food against other dogs.  The one exception has been popcorn time when she's always seemed perfectly happy to share with Kirby.  I'm trying hard to not be mad at Maggie because I know she was just being a dog and essentially wasn't out to inflict any real harm.  She just caught Kirby in exactly the wrong way.  Any advice out there from more experienced dog people? 

Happy Chaos

Time for blogging has definitely been in short supply lately.  Chaos reigns at our house, but it is a happy chaos.  Adding two adults, a four-year-old, a two-year-old and two more dogs to the household has definitely thrown routine out the window.  Fortunately the weather has been beautiful and we have all spent a lot of time outside.  The girls (and dogs) love the backyard:

We've been quite pleased that the dogs have gotten along so well.  Both Maggie and Pistage (their Lhasa Apso) are a little on the strong-willed side.  But once they got it sorted out (Maggie is the top dog, but defers toys to Pistage), all was well.  There has been a lot of general gaiety and laughter:

Some quiet, pensive moments:

And time for reading:

Yes, Daddy - another one!  When we got to the part where the Poky Little Puppy eats all the chocolate custard, Mei-Mei said, "His mommy needs to buy him some more!"  Later on, in the car she started reciting the book - by heart!!

There has been a general fascination with the doggie door:

 

And, lest one thinks it has been all fun and games, there has been some time out:

Mei-Mei has definite ideas about how the world should work and when it doesn't work her way, is not above letting her displeasure be known!

Isobel is much quieter and introspective.  It's easy not to give her her full share of attention because she is so quiet and undemanding.  She will sit for hours playing by herself, especially when it means holding a long-suffering dog captive:

Despite it all, Maggie absolutely adores both of the girls and collapses exhausted at the end of the day!

Today I had the girls on my own most of the day while Ben and Abby went house hunting.  They were absolute angels.  We played at home and then down at the beach park for a couple of hours.  We joined Grandpa and some friends for lunch and they were amazed at how polite and well-behaved the girls were.  They just went down for the night with no complaints at all - two very tired little girls.  Grandpa and Nana are currently collapsed themselves in their recliners!

I leave you with one very happy Nana:

Computer Woes

I hate computer guys!  With few exceptions they are arrogant know-it-alls who delight in impressing you with how much they know and if they can make you look stupid in the process, so much the better.  We had new computers installed in the office the past two days and it was a miserable experience.  For instance, once everything was finished, I tried to install a shortcut on my desktop, but the computer wouldn't allow me to do so.  I asked the computer guy about it.  Instead of saying, "Here, let me show you a better way", he said, "Why in h*** would you want to do that?" and proceeded to let me know that what I wanted to do was not only stupid and ridiculous, but a complete waste of time.  All of this in front of a room full of employees and a waiting room of patients.  My only delight came on the first day when, after 5 hours of work they were unable to make our practice management system work.  They called our software support and were informed that our software does not work on a 64 bit operating system - only 32 bit.  They pulled out the sheet of hardware/os requirements, which I had sent them, and sure enough.  It said right on there 32 bit!  It was a sweet moment.  They did manage to make it work by some nefarious method, but they were there until midnight.  My heart did not bleed for them.  And yet, surprisingly, I'm not bitter!

Through it all my support system was gone.  Hubby is still in Orlando helping with the packing and moving, so I had only the dogs to complain to.  A bright spot in the week was the arrival of a little stash enhancement:

This is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in one of the Sock Summit colorways.  How could I possibly resist a yarn named "Whidbey Island"?  It does help that I love the colors as well.  I'm not quite sure what to do with it, though.  The color runs look rather long.  I guess I'll just have to pick a pattern and run with it and see what happens. 

Only two more days to go and everyone will be back home where they belong.  Ben and Abby and the girls will be staying with us while they look for a house to buy, so I imagine things will be pretty insane.  I promise to keep you posted!