Saturday morning again and I am entering this post using the new netbook laptop I got my husband for his birthday. Its a mini-laptop which makes it compact to travel with. Its supposed to be faster to boot and the battery is supposed to last a long time since the operating system and display are scaled down to use less power. We are still trying to get it configured with everything he wants (and let's face it, what I want, too).
    I finally booked the family cruise, whew! I'm not real happy with the rooms we got because they are far apart but the agent said they usually have some offers later to upgrade where we might be able to get closer together. The same day I booked one of my sisters found out she has to have to shoulder surgery. The problem: if she has it now, she won't have any vacation left to take the cruise (doesn't it suck to have to use vacation time when you are sick?). We flirted for a day with cancelling the cruise but in the end she decided to tough it out and wait until her vacations vests later this year. So its back on. 
    I guess I need to sign off as my husband is just about ready to go. We are going out to do some fun stuff today. More on that later!

Day 5 of Freedom (Jan. 9)

    Its Saturday morning so it's my usual time to update my blog. This morning I got up at 7 (which was the same time I got up yesterday) so I am still on the early-to-rise track (for me anyway). My husband had already let out the dogs and had fallen back to sleep so I got up to catch up on my recorded TV shows.

    We are still getting a little snow which makes three days straight. Thank goodness its been very light or we would be buried in it. It's supposed to stop today but it won't get sunny and above freezing until Wednesday so it will be here for a while. It's very beautiful outside and since I don't have to go out in it, I am enjoying it immensly. This photo is from Thursday. That's our younger dog, Pilar, helping shovel snow. I wish I would have had my camera with me when I first let her outside. She was romping through the snow, chasing around, running up to me and when I bent over to pet her, she would run back around the yard again. The other dog just stood on the porch shivering.

  

Day 4 of Freedom (Jan. 8)
    Today I went back to the office but not for me, for a friend who is also retiring. His work group (who work in a different building than I did) threw him a party with a cake decorated with his favorite activities: tennis and golf. I got to see some of the same pople who came to my party plus a few people I hadn't seen for a while.
    Its still snowing off and on (very light snow) and its still cold so its all staying. We have around 5 inches of snow on our deck railing now.
    I finished putting away all the Christmas stuff today. I just need to update the Christmas card list for next year.
    Looks like my sisters and I have finally settled on a date and cruise for my niece's graduation. Now focus has turned to what shopping we can do and what to wear.

Day 3 of Freedom (Jan. 7)
     Last night my husband was watching a movie in the den so I went to bed to watch TV and promptly fell asleep. Consequently I woke up at 5AM today. Ugh! I hope this doesn't become a habit.

     We woke up to snow today. There was already a coating on the deck when I let the dogs out and it was snowing steadily. It snowed until about 4PM and I would guess we got about four inches total.

     Just as I was emailing family and friends about how nice it is to not have to go out in the snow, my husband came in and said, "Let's go out to lunch.". Both of us have driver's licenses expiring so he decided it would be a good day to get them renewed. He was right, no waiting!

    We called a friend who met us for lunch and on the way home we drove down some pretty streets and I got a lot of pictures. My husband did get a chance to check out his new snow blower today.

    When I checked email, one of my sisters had sent a message that she cannot go on the cruise for the selected week. I looked around and found another cruise but my other sister has an issue with that week. Sigh, its hard to get a group together especially when they are still working!

Day 2 of Freedom (Jan. 6)
     I had to get up early today to go for some tests (I don't know why I made the appointment so early, still thinking like a working person I guess). I got home around 10 and did the dishes. My husbnd was so thrilled he took my picture.
     We made a grocery list and went couples grocery shopping. The parking lot at the Kroger was full (senior day) so we went to Wal-Mart.
     When we got home I made bean soup in the crock pot. Second bonus of the day - grocery shopping and cooking! My husband did not take a picture of me cooking.
     I went back to work on my email inbox. It was over 800 items when I started on Tuesday and I got it down to 400 today. Looks like we agreed on a cruise.

Day 1 of Freedom (Jan. 5)    
     Yesterday was my last day at work. They had a nice reception for me and gave me a very nice glass plaque. I spent most of the day talking to people and giving away stuff from my office.
     Perversely I woke up at 6 am today and could not get back to sleep so I got up and watched several Daily Show/Colbert Reports which were still on the DVR from before Christmas. Then I logged on to my home email and started cleaning up my inbox. I am trying to plan a summer cruise with my family so there is a lot of emailing back and forth.
     Next I unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned off the counters. Then I did some laundry while I caught up on the snail mail and paid bills. I made an egg sandwich and read the paper. Then I called my mother and talked her into going on the cruise. I watched a movie on TV.
    My husband shampooed the carpet in the office and went out for lunch with one of his buddies (he invited me but I declined as they were going shopping for a truck).
    My husband and I went to dinner at the Irish Rover because we had a play tonight. We had time to eat before the play for a change!
    This is the exciting life of a retiree!

    The first Saturday of the new year and I am at the computer again. We had a nice New Year's Eve. A few friends came over for dinner, games and celebrating the start of the new year.

   I got called into work on New Year's Day so I took the opportunity to finish cleaning out my office. When I turned down our street on the way home I was astounded to see three deer walking through the neighborhood. I called my husband who came out and took pictures. As I wrote this I heard a flock of geese fly over the house. One would think we live in the country instead of the middle of suburbia!

    I think I turned a corner this weekend into retirement (which is probably a good thing since I only have one more working day left). Instead of feeling like I have these days off, I feel like I am off with only one day to go to work. I suppose with the two long holiday weekends and such a short work week, it's helping me transistion to a no-work mind set. Knowing I will not be able to do any work on Monday (my last day), I wrapped up all the real work I was doing this past week. Monday should just be parties, saying goodbyes, filling out the paperwork and turning in my laptop.