Been absent a few days - I've got a note.

Been working on a horrible mess the last few days. Early this year we had a basement de-watering system put in. In order to do that you have to remove or cover everything in your basement because of the concrete dust.

One thing after another (commonly known as life) kept us from getting everything put back the way it was. Oh...we got all the dust cleaned up but we never got things put back into place. Well, that's what I've been working on. Bought new storage shelves so everything can be put back nice and neat.

Been pitching a lot of stuff, reorganizing, sending stuff to the Salvation Army...yada yada. Some things we have 3 of because at one point we couldn't find it in all the mess so you gotta buy it again - what a pain!

Hubby's been home for the last couple of weeks along with the kid but everyone's going back to work or school today. Love 'em to death but they sure mess with my routine. LOL

So how's things going - I don't see much "gallery" talk...hehe.

Val

DD was home for the holidays from university so been occupied with that. She flew back on Sunday.

Work is work, have to go back Wednesday. Only six and half years and I can retire! UGH!

Lloyd

You're counting them down like my husband is, only in our case it's dependent on when the kid gets out of school. She starts high school this fall so we're hoping for 4 more years then retiring. Even if she has to stay here a while after high school we're hoping to be able to still retire. Hubby's older (59) than you Lloyd so we are REALLY looking forward to it. Plus the fact that it will be fun to be alone for a change!

Val

I just renewed the agreement with the Town to continue the yard trimming project for another three years. I have been considering trying to do more household waste composting on a contract basis but with still working it would be too much. I am doing a few things as experiments but nothing big time.

There are lots of opportunities for a person to start up small ventures but they all take time and the shift work screws everything up.

I would also like to start a gardening club for the kids in town. I think some exposure to food production would be really beneficial to some kids. I'm not much of a gardener but I think the actual growing of something might kindle a spark in some of these kids. Not so much teach, but learn together. I think some kids can be interested in this type of thing, all they need is a catalyst.

Lloyd

My basement needs cleaning too, lots of stuff down there.

But the problem as I see it and I think he's starting to realize now (since he was off for 2 straight weeks) is that he doesn't have enough around the house to keep him occupied. He gets bored so he eats and sleeps. He couldn't wait to get back to work so he would feel "normal" again. LOL

Me, I have tons of hobbies so my early retirement hasn't affected me, though I do miss the extra money.

I think the gardening club idea sounds great. I couldn't do it myself (I'm ready to be kid free for awhile) but I know the kids love it when they grow things. Our granddaughter always loved it when her class did the growing thing. Now that she's a teenager her interests lie elsewhere (boys!) so try to get them a little younger if you can. Who knows you might be helping to start the next generation of farmers and gardeners in your community....and you can teach them about your passion.....compost!

Val

Now I had planned to take our all our christmas decorations down on Sunday..the flu prevented me from doing that and they are still staring at me. Double Yuck.

I have to get back to work tomorrow, so I guess the christmas decor will stay up one more week.

As a side note, it's so funny to look around the neighborhood. There's one guy that still has his outside stuff up and lights it every night. The lady across the street took all her stuff down on Christmas day! Her daughter and my granddaughter are friends and her daughter wasn't too happy about it :-) But she's a single mom and works full time so I guess she wanted to get it done while she was off. There's an older lady that lives across the street and down one house who had someone put her outside lights up for her sometime in November, but she never turned them on once. We kept watching but it didn't happen.

Val

*cue world's smallest violin*

Val