My Tireless Retirement - Week 191

 

Hello everyone.  This week started off with a crisp and foggy morning in the high thirties prompting me to up the new thermostat a couple degrees.  It’s that time of year now where full time heating will be needed again until spring arrives and the temperatures start to rise again.

 

I baked a batch of almond butter cookies - fabulous!

My work schedule was to work all day Friday where I spent the bulk of the day setting up for our 44^th annual holiday bazaar and then a few hours on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.  I was off the remainder of the week and it was fairly uneventful, which made it rather lovely.  My goal this particular week was to slow down and enjoy the upcoming holiday which I think I did quite well.  I had the weekend to sit quietly each morning with my cup of hot coffee and slowly start my day with prayer, reflection and gratitude.  I did some planning.  I did quite a bit of writing and a lot of lap time with my beloved kitties.  It was very peaceful and allowed me to recharge my batteries.

 

I crocheted myself a new set of potholders

I’m in that stage of life where my children are too busy with their lives to make time with me a priority and its okay.  I’ve been able to make that adjustment and embrace my new normal.  I am now living for myself and I have to say I quite enjoy it.  While I do miss spending time with my children I understand, I was young once too.  I’m sure with time that will change, but for now I will simply do my own thing and I’m just fine with that.  It no longer makes me sad.  In fact, I was very much looking forward to spending the day alone.

 

I turned this...

into this!

I did not need to do any grocery shopping ahead of Thanksgiving, I already had what I needed on hand, and so I was able to stay out of the busy supermarkets.  Initially I had planned to pop into Costco to pick up a rotisserie chicken, but at the last moment I decided to give myself a break and prepare a holiday meal using only food I already had in my freezers, fridge and pantry and it worked out perfectly.  I spent the entire day watching movies from my DVD collection that I haven’t watched in years – Evita, The Greatest Showman, Burlesque, Dirty Dancing & Pretty Woman.  The day was very relaxed and enjoyable.

 

It was delicious!

As you can see 😗

and I had the perfect amount of leftovers

For those of you in the U.S. that celebrate Thanksgiving I do hope it was a wonderful day for you as well.  For all of us I feel we need to know how blessed we truly are and be grateful for what we have, especially as we make our way into the heavily commercialized Christmas season.  This is a time when we need, now more than ever, to have Peace, Joy & Love in our lives.  I wish that for everybody.  Let’s make it happen!  Be blessed.