What's everybody doing today?

[snappy1]

You and me both. I can't wait till retirement. I won't be sitting in front of the tv, that's for sure

Been retired for about 6 years. I don't sit down in front of tv until after 6 PM. And then I enjoy it! Plenty to do during the day! DH is another story. Disabled and cant do much so he and the 3 dogs are couch potatoes usually.

Today I am doing laundry, re-arranging a drawer in the bathroom, making chicken and noodles for the old dog (not DH) lol. Probably making a dry cream of ______ soup base so I can quit buying that. And writing an eBay draft or two. Also calling BIL to see if he has any lick tubs I can get for gardening this year.

See what I mean. Plenty to do!

 

[squirrelhunter]

UH,hmm,not really sure yet. Might check the shotgun pattern and go rabbit hunting,might just sit around the house and do nothing or I might try putting the rearview mirror on the windshield of the F150.....decisions decisions

 

[Terri9630]

I'm very part time. I just keep hanging on because I enjoy my job. Besides, one of us might be in trouble if we were both at home...just saying...

My grandpa retired 7 times. He'd have 2 weeks off and then my grandmother would tell him to get a job of get divorced because he was driving her nuts.

 

[Terri9630]

I have two retirement options:

Early - 7 months, 26 days (ago)

Standard - 4 years, 6 months, 9 days (from now)

Extended - 10 years, 6 months, 9 days (from now)

I am not sure the extra 6 years of work is worth the increase in my monthly pension check.

Hubby could stay until mandatory retirement but for an extra 1-3%.... Not worth the risk to me.

 

[user 55]

Job searching early. Then range and club meeting this evening.

 

[goshengirl]

@Weedygarden,

He slunk away when he saw us, at a distance - although his dogs continued chasing up rabbits for an additional hour. We have a pretty good idea who it is - an older guy who's been hunting rabbits in the area for years. The (very cool) neighbors to one side of us, to whom we've given permission to hike our property, found him at least one other time. We know from others that it is routine behavior for him.

It's an awkward situation for us. I don't want to make waves right off the bat with any of the neighbors - we're outsiders, and many of these families have been in these hills since Virginian Revolutionary War soldiers were granted the land over 200 years ago. We've had excellent experiences with neighbors so far, but it would be easy to create an outsider vs insider situation if we don't handle this right. At the same time we need to ensure at least some level of respect for private property rights and not have folks hunting on our land without permission. I'm all for hunting to put food on the table, but on our land the hunting should be done by us or someone we've given permission to.

Still trying to figure out how we can all come out of this with a sense of goodwill for each other...

 

[The Lazy L]

He slunk away when he saw us... We have a pretty good idea who it is - an older guy who's been hunting rabbits in the area for years... outsider vs insider situation if we don't handle this right. At the same time we need to ensure at least some level of respect for private property rights ..Still trying to figure out how we can all come out of this with a sense of goodwill for each other...

Scenario #1. Go knock on his front door. Introduce yourself as the newbie in the neighborhood and invite him over to a cook out along with a few of your other neighbors. Don't mention him hunting on your property unless he brings it up first, be cordial if he does.

Scenario #2. Go knock on his front door. Introduce yourself as the newbie in the neighborhood and invite him over to a cook out along with a few of your other neighbors. During normal conversation mention that at times your practice firearm shooting on your property and you are concerned because you found footprints that didn't belong to your family. Don't accuse him (or anyone else).

Scenario #3. Go knock on his front door. After introducing yourself and were you live, tell him you understand the previous owner had given him permission to hunt rabbits on the property. You would like to giveng permission for him to continue. You would appreciate if he would call first in order not to alarm anyone that may not be aware of the arrangement.

Scenario #4. Razor wire 8 feet high on the property lines with 20 foot manned gun towers every 100 feet. Claymores, ditches, lanes of fire...

 

[NannyPatty]

I imagine that over the next year, I will need to decide if I'm going to retire fully just due to my hubbys health. I love people and taking care of them, so that's the hard thing.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@Dutchs and @Amish Heart I simply do not understand how people say they have nothing to do when they retire ? . We keep busy all the time around here and it is a matter of finding something you love doing. If you are a prepper or simply just love providing food and other things for your own life then how can you not have something to do. Prepping in itself takes up a good portion of our day along with providing food, firewood and other items for our daily needs.

The people that fear retirement are those who clearly have no other interests or hobbies other than work which is sad. I do understand liking the social aspect of work though as I am a social person too.

 

[timmie]

i am a social person now but when i retire i want to stay at home. i have had to deal with the public for a long time , so for a very long while i just want to spend quality time with my family.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@timmie I understand you can have burnout working with the public too as I worked in retail for years. During the holiday seasons so called normal people turned into raving hoards throwing things at you, packing grocery trolleys to full with enough to feed the worlds population for the Christmas season they will never use, abusing you and using colourful language that would curl the hair of even the most sturdy of people. Since I retired from retail I tend to never go shopping if I can help it in the holiday seasons instead stock up and go shopping in late November and again in February.

 

[Dutchs]

@timmie I understand you can have burnout working with the public too as I worked in retail for years. During the holiday seasons so called normal people turned into raving hoards throwing things at you, packing grocery trolleys to full with enough to feed the worlds population for the Christmas season they will never use, abusing you and using colourful language that would curl the hair of even the most sturdy of people. Since I retired from retail I tend to never go shopping if I can help it in the holiday seasons instead stock up and go shopping in late November and again in February.

My salesmen sell Wine and Liquor to the Big Retail outlets. Walmart/Winn Dixie/Target Etc.....Whole Foods. I absolutely hate going shopping and NEVER grocery shop. God bless my wife she does it all because if it were up to me after day after day among the masses we would starve and be naked......I'm on my 29th. year and cannot wait to go to my farm in retirement and never see a Retail store again if possible. It just seems to bring all the worst out in people....

 

[timmie]

i was just offered ownership of my retail store and turned it down.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@Dutchs I fully understand and yes I feel similar and yes the holiday seasons turn people into raving lunatics. All the supermarket staff know that we stock way before Christmas up just to avoid the maniacs in our small country town. I do have to say now that we moved out of the city into the country though that people here are far more civilised in their behaviour towards retail staff at any time of the year . In the city they would drive around car parks the wrong way, try and kill people to snatch a car park, road rage abounded and the way they spoke to retail staff was abhorrent.

I also cannot stand the sound of mobile phones ringing perpetually either as I used to sell them and set up ring tones for them all day and sold computers. Yep turn your mobiles off or don't answer them until you have gone through the checkout , turn them off when you are in church, and when you are out to dinner with friends. To me this is extremely bad etiquette unless you are an emergency service worker eg police, fire, doctor, nurse etc.

 

[Dutchs]

@Sewingcreations15 , Yep...Total madness. It's really sad to. It's such a beautiful time of year and is supposed to be about Family, God, Jesus, and enjoying and looking back and being thankful. I hate to say it but I dread every moment of it anymore. If I wasn't so close to being done with working in total I would definitely change professions. To late now...to close to the end of the tunnel. Thankfully i can see the light at the end of it!!

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@Dutchs ahh you make me feel better that I am not the only one who feels that way, was thinking I was turning into a cranky old woman like on the ABC show cranky old men and women . Incidentally if you can see the back episodes of that it is hysterical and I so relate .

 

[Resto]

I have two retirement options:

Early - 7 months, 26 days (ago)

Standard - 4 years, 6 months, 9 days (from now)

Extended - 10 years, 6 months, 9 days (from now)

I am not sure the extra 6 years of work is worth the increase in my monthly pension check.

I have been there. I took the standard. If I would have stayed the 6 years, I would have 80% of my Base Pay. I weighed the price of the Quality of my work life and continuing the "Dog And Pony Show". I got Fed up and threw in the towel. Im doing what I want to do now. I made 126,000 last year in retirement and Military Contracts. I work when I want. 2% per year after standard wasn't worth Battling my Conscience about compromise. I don't regret it at all. IMO the fact that you are thinking about it tells me you already know what you should do. Sometimes Gods Holy Spirit speaks by turning up the Misery of continuing. Like Doing The Same Thing The Same Way and Expecting A Different Result. THEY AINT GONNA LISTEN OR CHANGE WHAT THEY DOIN, THEY ON THE HYWAY TO HELL THEY JUST GONNA GET WORSE AND TURN ON YOU LIKE THEY DID ME. Don't go down with them. Consider how those who Love you feel about what they observe in you. They wont tell you. They respect you too much and Honor what you do. But I know they hurt for you. Youre a Good Man. You can work anywhere. God will Honor You.

 

[Dutchs]

@Sewingcreations15 , And then there's that TV thing. I quit watching it quite some time ago. I only catch something partly in passing anymore. I just can't seem to get past hearing what the actors say outside of the shows they do and it ruins it all for me. Probably dumb but i really don't miss TV. Geez......Maybe I'm a Grumpy Old Man? HAHAHAHAHA........ Oh well........I will say something nice though. At least the companies i have worked for have compensated me handsomely and i will at least be able to retire......Thank you to Them for that.

 

[Amish Heart]

I miss being at home. I like things just so, and working full time plus doesn't give me the opportunity to do all that I want at home. So, I run myself ragged trying to get things done at home after working long hours and don't like how it's shortcutted. I can't wait to sell our business and retire, but husband doesn't have the time to deal with it just yet. Tomorrow he announces to his staff that he'll be stepping down as manager and working a 4 day workweek. He's focusing on that and his health right now.

 

[Sentry18]

I have been there. I took the standard. If I would have stayed the 6 years, I would have 80% of my Base Pay. I weighed the price of the Quality of my work life and continuing the "Dog And Pony Show". I got Fed up and threw in the towel. Im doing what I want to do now. I made 126,000 last year in retirement and Military Contracts. I work when I want. 2% per year after standard wasn't worth Battling my Conscience about compromise. I don't regret it at all. IMO the fact that you are thinking about it tells me you already know what you should do. Sometimes Gods Holy Spirit speaks by turning up the Misery of continuing. Like Doing The Same Thing The Same Way and Expecting A Different Result. THEY AINT GONNA LISTEN OR CHANGE WHAT THEY DOIN, THEY ON THE HYWAY TO HELL THEY JUST GONNA GET WORSE AND TURN ON YOU LIKE THEY DID ME. Don't go down with them. Consider how those who Love you feel about what they observe in you. They wont tell you. They respect you too much and Honor what you do. But I know they hurt for you. Youre a Good Man. You can work anywhere. God will Honor You.

Thank you. Some good stuff there.

My wife said to me the other day that she could tell I was getting burned out and that I should use up some vacation time and take a break. I am trying to muddle through until this November when a couple of the politicians that create about 60% of my stress are facing very strong opponents within their own party. If they get dethroned it will make a huge difference. If they don't it is going to be a very long 4 years. I do like the idea of getting to the point that I can say "I am outta here!" anytime I want to.

 

[Sentry18]

Hubby could stay until mandatory retirement but for an extra 1-3%.... Not worth the risk to me.

Part of what keeps me looking at the extended is that my Chief's mandatory retirement date is 1 year before mine and he plans on staying until they make him go. That makes me 'Interim Chief' by default which means for at least 6 months I get his salary (which is currently $50k a year more than mine), which will definitely factor in to my retirement calculation which is 80-88% of the average of my 3 highest annual salaries.

 

[Dutchs]

Part of what keeps me looking at the extended is that my Chief's mandatory retirement date is 1 year before mine and he plans on staying until they make him go. That makes me 'Interim Chief' by default which means for at least 6 months I get his salary (which is currently $50k a year more than mine), which will definitely factor in to my retirement calculation which is 80-88% of the average of my 3 highest annual salaries.

That's tidy Sentry. I have 401K and SS and will have to live on much less than i do right now. I'm a pretty low maintenance guy though and my wife is low maintenance too. I will have basically NO bills though so I'm going out at 62 1/2.....Just really want to enjoy my Golden years and that ain't gonna happen working the way I do. I've been fortunate enough to Have this little farm place I've been getting all prepped for my retirement and I'm a gonna enjoy it before I die if it Kills me.....LOL......

 

[NannyPatty]

I took early SS at 62, but continue to work to supplement as little. My hubby did the same and worked for 7 more years at a different job. We use his retirement that he has invested, his and my SS as well as my little bit from my job. I have a 401k but it's staying put until I retire, then it will be invested until I just have to have it. It needs to grow. We're not high maintenance, our house is not big or fancy, we don't have much debt except my car and a little on our house. We're considering selling our land (and house if it's wanted) for a smaller property that hubs can care for a little easier. Still in the planning /talking phase .

 

[The Innkeeper]

Spending way to much time getting wife’s new laptop set up and everything moved over from old system. It doesn’t help that she uses windows and I use Mac so everything seems backwards, and it’s a newer operating system on her laptop than her desktop, so I am having to install software that isn’t current but at least is backwards compatible.

That means I havent been here much, but things should normalize over the next few days.

 

[Terri9630]

Part of what keeps me looking at the extended is that my Chief's mandatory retirement date is 1 year before mine and he plans on staying until they make him go. That makes me 'Interim Chief' by default which means for at least 6 months I get his salary (which is currently $50k a year more than mine), which will definitely factor in to my retirement calculation which is 80-88% of the average of my 3 highest annual salaries.

Hubby is as high as he can go right now, unless he spends some time in DC which neither of us wants to do. I don't care how much money is offered. 1yr, 7 months 20 days.

 

[Terri9630]

That's tidy Sentry. I have 401K and SS and will have to live on much less than i do right now. I'm a pretty low maintenance guy though and my wife is low maintenance too. I will have basically NO bills though so I'm going out at 62 1/2.....Just really want to enjoy my Golden years and that ain't gonna happen working the way I do. I've been fortunate enough to Have this little farm place I've been getting all prepped for my retirement and I'm a gonna enjoy it before I die if it Kills me.....LOL......

That's the way we see it too.

 

[Peanut]

Its been raining off and on for two days, a muddy mess outside. Yesterday I cleaned the house. This afternoon I was bored so it became door and door knob day. It’s an old house so I lubricated all the hinges. I took all the knobs apart and lubed all the moving parts and bolts, tightened all the screws holding the knobs in place. A couple of striker plates had a screw missing so I replaced those. It took 2 hours, now I’m bored again…

 

[snappy1]

Paid bills, cleaned bathrooms, dusted, swept up, so far that's it.

 

[Amish Heart]

Am off from work at 2:30....hooray! My assistant is back. Didn't have to stay till 7 pm!!
Son left for the airport. He is a photographer for a company that put in some high priced goodies in the goody bags for the Oscars. Son is supposed to take photos of those "important" people receiving their bags. His flight was just cancelled. Ha. Looking for another one for this evening. Supposedly he'll have a dresser and stylist work on him before he greats the important people and takes their photo. Normally he looks like a thin mountain man. I hope they don't shave him and give a a Justin Beiber doo.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Hello everyone and I hope you have all had a good day .

DH started off the day with putting on a load of washing, hanging it out and watering some of the front and some of one side of the house lawn with saved grey water from showers and washing machine. DH then vacuumed all the floors and carpets and I deep cleaned the bathroom and must have been sick and even cleaned all the grout in the shower recess with bleach and then deep cleaned the toilet for another week. In the bathroom I also put up clean towels, hand towels and floor mats on the floors.

I then did some listing of some handmade pocket wallets on eBay as they were offering a free listing promotion. Then into the kitchen where we made a devils food cake which we filled with cream and topped with chocolate butter cream icing, yum.

DH is now making our usual Friday night pizza and after that we will make our bed with clean sheets and fold up 4 loads of clean laundry.