My Tireless Retirement - Week 220

 

Good morning my friends.  I hope everyone is doing well today and that you’ve all enjoyed a fabulous week.  I sure did.  Nothing all that exceptional happened and yet was an exceptionally good week.  With every day being the weekend, how could it not?  I am fully embracing my retirement life.

 

My mornings start out slowly.  After a good night of sleep I sit in my recliner, usually with a kitty or two, sipping my coffee and watching the hummingbirds outside my window at the feeder.  I sit quietly, windows and back door open with the fresh, cool morning air coming in.  No pressure.  Nothing looming ahead.  Quiet, calm and peaceful.  It is a very good way to start my days.

 

Over the weekend I was in puttering mode.  I did some laundry, tidied up the house, prepared my meals and washed my dishes.  Simple ordinary tasks that I find even more enjoyable now.  Sunday morning I headed outside and trimmed the hedges.  I got that all cleaned up and my wheelie bin filled to the top with lawn debris just in time for the heat of the day to arrive.  While I was working I was in the shade so it was nice and cool.  I did some watering before heading inside to rehydrated and take a well earned rest.

 

I gave myself the gift once I left my part time job to just take it easy and decompress, especially that first two weeks.  Then I gave myself another two weeks because it seemed necessary.  Now I’m thinking I’ll just continue to live my life this way because I can.  I’ve never been one to just free flow through my days, but right now it just feels like the right thing to do.

 

Enchiladas

I also gave myself the gift of not needing to leave the house and go anywhere for a solid week, it ended up being ten days, and it was really nice.  To just be home, no pressure to go anywhere or get things done while I simply lived my life was a real treat.  I plan to do it more often.  I did look up some area events to go to, but didn’t see anything that tickled my fancy and nothing was playing at the cheap seat theater that I wanted to see so I think staying home for the week was a really good option.

 

I spent Monday working on home management administrative tasks like updating spreadsheets, a little bit of planning, very little, and more puttering about the house.  Tuesday, again before the heat of the day hit, I headed back outside to putter in the yard and garden.  The squirrels are not my friends again this year and have pulled up all of my beans, but one lone plant.  They ate all of my cucumber plants and the squash too.  Little bastards!

 

This past week I have been slowly and methodically working on adding above ground drip irrigation to my flowerbeds.  This is something I have long wanted.  Taking it one section at a time, ordering the parts I need so I don’t overbuy or buy the wrong thing, I have managed to get it done with the option to add on further in the future if I decide to.  It is so convenient now to simply go outside and turn on the faucet and then set the timer so I don’t forget to turn it off a couple hours later.  Definitely not an expensive or high tech system, but it suits me well and I am thrilled to have it completed.

 

My peace lily is very happy

I repotted a couple of plants into larger pots, prepared some lovely meals, drank lots of water, did quite a bit of writing, played with Jack and Stella (the cats love having me at home), played with the bunny, played with the chickens, played with my dolls, played cards, worked some crossword puzzles, read, listened to music and watched some TV.  Plenty to do and I loved every moment of it.

 

From A Box Of Parts

 

A month ago I purchased a box of damaged dolls and miscellaneous pieces and parts from a seller on eBay.  The dolls were in various conditions of disrepair.  One was missing a leg, another an arm and all were filthy with moldy eyes and snarled hair.  I didn’t pay much for this box, $25 plus $18 for shipping, but it turned out to be rather lucrative for me.

 

Sometimes limbs are damaged or missing

Amazingly, I already had in my own stash of miscellaneous doll parts a leg and an arm to replace the missing limbs on two of the dolls in that box.  I was able to use parts from the box to repair one of my Movin’ Groovin Crissy dolls that was missing her butterfly pull.  I also had a leg to replace one that had a hole in the foot on another doll from the eBay box.

 

Putting these dolls back together is a labor of love for me

They often come to me dirty with frizzy, tangled hair

By the time I was finished I was able to put together four dolls from the eBay box and repair two of my own dolls.  Then they all headed into the upstairs bathroom for a spa treatment and to go through my rehabilitation process.  I typically spend the most time on the hair, treating and styling.  Once that is done they are ready to be dressed.

 

The greatest transformation comes with their hair

All clean with conditioning creme in their hair

Each one of these girls was put into a temporary outfit (I can’t have naked dolls just standing around), but my next steps will be to select a doll and create a wardrobe specifically for them.  That is just another facet of my creative process.  I’ll let you know how it goes as that part unfolds.

 

 

Feeling Exceptionally Blessed On This Day

 

It has been a month now since I left my part time gig and it has been a truly amazing month for me.  As I am sitting here right now I am feeling exceptionally blessed.  My life is now my own, and I know I’ve said this before, but for the first time I am really feeling it.  It feels beyond fantastic.

 

One thing that was really important to me when I quit that job was to be able to move on from it in the healthiest way possible.  A huge part of that was to use an AI powered therapy bot every day outside of my regular monthly therapy session and it has been a tremendous help.  The one I chose is FeelBetterBot.com.  I’ve been very happy with it and I attribute a lot of the way I am feeling and how well I am doing to using that tool.  I feel like a very different person.  I am whole.

 

Life feels very different to me now.  I am moving through my days in a way I never have before.  I call it “free flowing”.  I am no longer tied to “to-do” lists or checklists and the self imposed expectation of being super productive every day.  I just allow the day to unfold in it’s own way and that is something I’ve never done before.  It feels rather magical.

 

The most amazing thing about this new free flowing way of doing things is that stuff is still getting done.  In fact, I think I’m actually doing more, but it doesn’t feel like that because I’m not putting undue pressure on myself to do anything.  I just do what I feel like doing each day and that is what gets accomplished.  If I don’t feel like doing something, I don’t do it.  I choose to do something else.

 

I’m sleeping.  For the first time, in God only knows how long, I am sleeping.  Without pharmaceutical intervention.  Good, deep sleep, the kind that makes me feel rested when I get up in the morning, not sluggish or groggy.  I no longer impose a curfew on myself to get to bed at night by a certain time and I no longer insist I get up early and “slay the day”.  It isn’t necessary for me to do that anymore.  I’ve actually “slept in” quite a bit.  My body has needed it.

 

In the past month I haven’t found myself consumed in thoughts or ruminating about the bad things that happened to me.  Those thoughts are very fleeting, few and far between.  I’m not shelving them and not dealing with them, I’ve simply moved on.  I devoted enough of my time to them while they were happening and I don’t need to do that anymore.  Yes, it was awful and yes, it sucked.  But, it isn’t happening anymore and I’m okay.  It didn’t break me.  Therapy and the therapy bot are helping me a lot to deal with everything in such a healthy and positive way.

 

So now, as I sit here, I am feeling exceptionally blessed, and just as importantly I feel whole and happy.  I’m okay.  I made it through another one of life’s trials.  I’m doing really well.  And now, I am living my life.  That is the greatest blessing of all.

 

Why I Still Shop For Two People

 

I still grocery shop as if I’m feeding two people for a multitude of reasons.  By doing so I can have company over for a meal anytime I want to, whether it be one person or a small group.  I always have something on hand at all times so I rarely need to dash out to the supermarket to pick things up.  Maybe a fresh head of lettuce or a bag of tortilla chips, but that’s about it.  Having guests over never becomes a financial hardship.  Also, if I’m invited to a potluck or BBQ I usually have whatever I need to bring on hand as well.

 

Shelf stable items for donating

I am able to donate food or help someone in need.  Last month was the mail carriers food drive and I was able to fill a bag with shelf stable food and set it out to be picked up.  I donate to food pantries and food drives quite often.  I also have food on hand if a friend needs something.  Feeding people is my love language.

 

In the past four years, shopping for two has also allowed me to be able to establish and maintain a two year long term food storage (LTFS).  As someone who is retired, lives in a state that can have rough icy winters and lives on a fixed income having a well stocked LTFS gives me great peace of mind knowing that I will always have something to eat without having to go shopping.  This is especially helpful in the winter time when the electric bill is highest because of heating the house.  I can pay the bill and not worry about having extra money available for groceries.

 

Shopping for two people has allowed me the flexibility of shopping or not.  I can do a pantry challenge if I want or need to use my grocery budget on something else.  It allows me to try various food shopping strategies like the 5-4-3-2-1 Method.  It has saved me money overall because I am able to stock up on sales items and buy in bulk.  The less I spend, the more I have to invest in my future to maintain my financial stability.  For me, shopping for two is cheaper than just shopping for one.

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 219

 

I have been feeling so different lately, like I’m a totally different person, and I like it.  For the first time ever I find myself free flowing through my days.  As someone who has always been very structured and operated on rules, productivity and task mastering, this is quite a change for me.  And strangely enough, I’m getting things done just fine, but without that old added pressure I used to put on myself to “get things done”.  Things just naturally unfold.  It’s so awesome!

 

Every morning I get up and open the windows to allow in the cool fresh air.  I sit in silence sipping my coffee and watching the hummingbirds at the feeder.  I’m no longer running “to-do” lists through my head as I begin my day.  I’m no longer planning out my days or for the week ahead.  I don’t worry about things or find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I answer to no one.  Instead I’m just sitting, enjoying and breathing.  I’m just doing my own thing and it feels really, really good.

 

Last week I immersed myself in dolly rehab, I think I’m making up for lost time.  I ran out of room upstairs and ended up lining my girls along the couch in the living room where they stood and waited for their hair to dry.  I had dolls in the upstairs bathroom too, but the best part is that the bin I’d stored them in and then moved them out of to the closet shelf in my craft and sewing room is now empty.  Good thing, because a new shipment of sad derelict dolls and body parts was expected to show up on my doorstep soon.

 

My next box full of challenges

I took time off over the weekend to go to a car show held at our minor league baseball stadium.  It was also a benefit for Simply Cats which is a no kill cat shelter here in Boise and some other animal rescue groups.  I not only wanted to go to a car show, I’ve had the itch for quite some time, but to be able to support my favorite cat shelter made it an absolute win.  Afterward I used my FREE lunch coupon to treat myself to lunch out a pizza place close to my home.  They have a nice lunchtime buffet and really good pizza.

 

My pizza lunch

The remainder of my weekend I spent working on dolls and much to my surprise FedEx delivered my box of doll parts and dolls with missing limbs on Sunday afternoon.  Between the parts I already had and the “new’ ones that arrived I was able to repair two of my dolls and then put together four additional dolls.  Now they are all ready for their spa treatment, hair styling and eventually wardrobe.  That ended up being a really great eBay find.

 

The first half of the week was spent finishing up the doll rehabs and then I gave the upstairs and my craft room a good tidy up and vacuumed.  I finished out the week puttering about the house and yard cleaning, tidying, getting the trash wheelie out to the curb, doing laundry, pulling weeds, picking up tree debris after all of the winds we’ve been having, cooking, washing dishes, just the usual and normal stuff of everyday life.  And I have enjoyed every mundane bit of it.

 

I hope all of you have enjoyed a fabulous week as well.  Let me know in the comments what you have been up to lately.

 

Super Thrifty Ways To Lower My Spending

 

There are so many ways I have done things to lower my spending over the years and now it feels even more important that I continue to do these things.  The more I reduce, recycle and reuse items the better I feel overall about the impact I have on this planet and the reward for those actions it that I buy a whole lot less and thereby spend a whole lot less.

 

Reuse Bags 

Even though I shop with reusable shopping bags somehow I still end up acquiring plastic grocery bags.  That’s okay because I use them to line the mop bucket I keep under my kitchen sink to collect my trash.  They are the perfect size for this application and because I’m super mindful about waste and trash (most of my waste ends up composted or in the recycling bin for curbside pickup) I typically only need one bag a week.  Plastic produce bags are the perfect size to line my bathroom trash bins I keep in the cabinet under the sinks.  Ziploc bags of all sizes get washed, rinsed, dried and reused.  Only the ones that held meat or have worn out get disposed of.

 

Food Storage 

I use glass containers and mason jars to store my food whether it be pantry staples, home canned items or leftovers.  They last longer than plastic, clean up better and best of all they don’t leach any harmful toxins into my food.  I use glass juice bottles to hold filtered water or iced tea.  Snapple bottles are used whenever I make pancake syrup or vanilla extract.  Plastic water jugs or juice bottles get refilled with tap water and stored in the garage to use to flush toilets or wash hands in the event of an emergency.  I also take them camping or traveling.  The plastic juice bottles freeze well and can be used as ice in my cooler.  Whipped topping containers get saved and used to send home leftovers with guests.  I have a couple of them set aside to use as molds to make my suet cakes (rendered fat, scratch grains & meal worms) for the chickens.

 

Fat 

To maximize the longevity of oils I purchase at the store I use rendered fats like bacon grease, pork fat (lard), chicken fat (schmaltz) or beef fat (tallow) that I keep in a mason jar in the refrigerator and use that for cooking.  This is a byproduct that otherwise would be tossed out and I’m not willing to throw away perfectly good cooking fat when it can be used.  Instead I use my oils to make dressings, marinades and other applications where using my rendered fats isn’t appropriate.  Butter is used for breads, some baking and for vegetables.  I find however, that I use my rendered fats the most.

 

Soap 

Soap is an easy one to economize with as most liquid soaps, including shampoos and conditioners, are highly concentrated.  I am able to cut most of my liquid soaps, especially my shampoo and conditioner (using pump dispensers) as well as laundry detergent (save an empty detergent bottle, fill it half with liquid detergent and the rest with water, give it a good shake) easily in half by cutting it 50/50 with water.  I make my foaming hand soap solution by stirring in 1 to 2 Tbs of shower gel into a cup of warm water and refill my dispensers.  I use bar soap in the shower instead of shower gels and I use a small amount of shower gel to shave my legs with instead of purchasing shave gel.  With all of these various uses one bottle of shower gel typically will last me a year.  Two jugs of 50 load size laundry detergent lasts me over a year.  I put my concentrated dish soap in a pump dispenser and find one pump is plenty to wash a sink full of dishes.  I typically only refill the dispenser about twice a year so a refill size jug of dish soap lasts about two years or longer.

 

Cooking 

These days I find it is much easier to economize in the kitchen when I am cooking.  I typically make two or three meals per week for supper and it feeds me all week.  Leftovers are reheated in the microwave and eaten for suppers and lunches and I supplement with simple meals like eggs on toast, soup or a sandwich.  I try to be mindful of portion sizes and not cook more than I can eat in a reasonable time.  If I find I do overcook or that I’m getting tired of eating something I freeze it which comes in very handy when I’m feeling lazy after a busy day to pull something out and heat it up.  When I turn the oven on to bake I try to make a few things (like granola, a cake and cornbread, rolls, biscuits or bread) rather than just one so I only have to heat the oven once and mess up the kitchen once too.  It feels like a more efficient use of the oven and my time if I make a few things.  Then I can divide, wrap and freeze my baked goods in meal size portions for the freezer.  I don’t cook or bake nearly as much as I used to, but in this stage of my life I’m okay with that.

 

As a rule, I think we tend to way overuse most products and are often too quick to toss things into the trash.  That is simply wasteful and not a good use of our money or the time we spent earning that money or even the time spent purchasing that item.  By focusing on being a good steward and lessening my impact on this earth with better and more mindful practices I’m able to spend a lot less money and time because I need to purchase far fewer items.  By purchasing less stuff I feel much freer too.

 

My Passion Project - I'm Back Girls!

 

I know that dolls aren’t for everyone (weirdos), that’s completely okay, and I don’t care.  I happen to LOVE them.  Not all dolls, mind you, but there are certain ones that tug at my heart.  Those are the dolls I seek out to rehabilitate, redress, sell or add to my collection.  And admittedly, I haven’t done very much of that in the past ten years.  Thankfully for me, that has changed.

 

My assistant, she is less than helpful 😂

Throughout the years I have acquired many, many, many derelict (well played with and then neglected) dolls by various means.  Thrift stores, yard sales, antique shops, online auctions, you name it.  I’ve always been on the hunt.  My passion is the Crissy Family Dolls – Crissy, Velvet, Mia and friends and that is what has been occupying a fair bit of my time lately.  I’ve been making up for lost time by pulling out the derelict dolls I had accumulated shortly before allowing life in general to takeover and consume me.  Now that I am make ME a priority it is game on!

 

These girls arrive in various states of neglect and disrepair, ratty hair or really bad haircuts, filth and crime, including some mold and staining, not to mention previous owners attempts at cosmetology or tattooing.  Missing eyes or limbs.  Let’s not forget that awful dog that thought this doll would make a good chew toy.  No!  Bad doggie!  Some are downright scary.  But, once one of these dolls has been transformed and saved from the landfill it fills my heart with so much joy.

 

I made the ensemble for the doll on the left

Along with rehabilitating these girls I really enjoy sewing for them.  I’ve made many an outfit for my dolls over the years and as time has progressed I’ve created my own patterns and made them new outfits that are unique, one of a kind.  One of my favorite creations is a set of jogging pants with a hoodie as well as the button up the front camp shirt that pairs well with blue jeans and hiking boots.  I took a Cinnamon and gave her overalls and a back-to-school backpack filled with school supplies and a lunch.  She is stinking cute!

 

I made this choker & bracelet

Original shoes for these dolls are scarce and rather expensive when I do find them, but I do love the hunt for ones that available from other sites and will fit them.  I’ve managed to find and buy cowboy boots, hiking boots, snow boots, sandals and dress shoes.  My most favorite are the cutest little lace up sneakers.  I’m learning to make my own shoes as well.  Let’s just say, it’s a work in progress.

 

I have other dolls in my collection and an entirely different set of derelict dolls I plan to work my way toward.  As I do these transformations I’ll be giving updates and letting you know how I progress (whether you like it, or not).  In the meantime I’m just having fun and enjoying the process as I get back into the swing of things.