I was hired by the fire department 23 1/2 years ago today. When I started my employment as a 10 hour/week ambulance billing clerk, my son was 8 and my daughter was 4. Never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that I would become a fulltime firefighter and EMT and still be employed in 2008. My children will be 32 and 28 this year and I will be the ripe old age of 59. Wow!! Where did the last 20 plus years go?
My plan is to retire in September, 2009. It sounds much closer when I count 18 months rather than the number of shifts I have left to work, that number would be depressing. When it gets down to 12 months I’m going to make one of those construction paper chains so that I can pull off one piece after every unit I work. (A unit is four shifts, 2 days and 2 nights.)
Bill keeps telling me that we are going to have to talk about our retirement, that it’s going to be here before we know it and we won’t have any concrete plans if we don’t actually TALK about it. I think about it all the time but to actually sit down together and discuss our plans, to actually make a conscious decision to spend our retirement together…that’s scary! However, while sitting in the glass room in the sun over the weekend we did discuss some information listed in the new magazine about tax friendly retirement towns. There are so many issues to consider that is difficult to know where to begin.
W e have discussed renting a motor home for a year and driving around checking out different areas. The big drawback to that idea is the huge increase in fuel prices. I’m not sure that is a viable option any more. Plus, where can I put a longarm machine in a motor home? There is the idea of renting a place for several months in order to check out the area and see if it is someplace we want to spend more time. Do we want to buy a place and be strapped down with needing jobs in order to pay the mortgage. Kind of defeats the purpose of retiring, doesn’t it?
We both own places now and I have a condo in FL that is currently unrented and listed for sale. Should we sell one of the places in Maine and keep the other so that we can come here in the summer and have a place to stay. We aren’t even sure that we will be able to afford to stay in Maine in the summer.
Well, at least we started a discussion even though we didn’t make any decisions. We are going to Williamsburg the end of April. It was listed as the fourth best place to retire for tax advantages; however, there doesn’t seem to be any property for sale for less than $300,000. That’s way beyond our price range!
In quilt related news…I managed to sit at the machine around noon the other day. I got the binding sewed onto the baby quilt (lovingly title “First Grandbaby’s Quilt”) and finished the top of a small wallhanging made of hand dyed fabrics (alas, not dyed by me). “Fractals” I think the small one needs a larger border but haven’t decided for sure. I placed it on the design wall so that it can talk to me for awhile before I make up my mind. If I take the border off I’m going to use it as part of the backing. Hopefully I’ll get some photos posted one of these days.
The butterfly wallhanging for Greg and Vanessa still needs beadwork and crystals. I want to use clear glass beads for dew and I’ve done some google image searches in order to get the dewdrops on the plant just right.
I managed to finish quilting the triangles on the 30’s w/h.
Bill picked up a 6′ table for me at BJ’s. I’ve been mulling over whether or not I needed one or had room for one and I finally decided to just go for it and make it fit. After moving the other table a few inches one way and the chest of drawers a few inches the other way…Ta Da, it fit right in. Unfortunately, the special lights I had installed above the other small table are now in the wrong place. I’ll just have to make do. Plus, I have to get rid of that other small table, there just isn’t enough room in a two bedroom condo.
We are meeting Wendy & Dan at Back Street tonight after yoga and spinning for margaritas and nachos. Not a very weight/health conscious snack but it doesn’t happen very often. No snow today, temps were near 50 and it is starting to rain with colder temps overnight and icing. At least we won’t have to shovel! ;o)
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