For some reason, this blog site will not let me create a title for this post.  I want to call it "The best laid plans..."  Oh well, I shall post this anyway.

I had every intention of getting us out of the US and down to Ecuador before the end of the year.  There is no way that is going to happen now.

You see, I had a 401K and a pension from my job that I retired from.  I have rolled the 401K $ into an IRA, where it now sits.  I opted for the cash payout of my pension, minus the taxes and sat back to wait for the check to come in.  And waited, and waited.  We wanted to use this money to make some minor repairs to the house prior to listing it, and to also finance our move to Ecuador.

After waiting about a month after I submitted the paperwork, I finally broke down and called corporate headquarters.  Turns out that when you opt for the cash payout, it takes time for them to process that request... to the tune of 90 days!  I will not be receiving those funds until the beginning of November and they could not be more specific than that!

So here we sit, waiting, unable to do much of anything as I don't want to spend what little savings we have, not knowing exactly when I will get the pension money.

The other issue is that I had thought we had found a home for the dog and it doesn't appear that it is going to happen after all.  I was told that they would take the dog this month, after a trip back east was taken.  Trip over and done with a couple of weeks ago and I have heard nothing further from them.  We have got to decide what to do with the dog and cats prior to listing the house for sale.  It will be impossible to sell the house with an out of control dog running rampant throughout the house and jumping all over people.

So, facing obstacle after obstacle and wondering if we will be able to resolve anything and get the hell out of Dodge.

And I still have all those photos to scan!

Two Days Later...

So here I am...  Realizing that apparently the older we get, the longer it takes to recover!

I again felt that I was feeling much better by the end of day yesterday (didn't sit on the sofa at all, but rather in my straight back chair at the dinette off the family room all day).  Went to bed thinking that, at last, I was going to feel more normal when I got up this morning!

Wrong!!

First of all, I woke up several times during the night, when my body felt the need to reposition itself, in extreme discomfort...  WTF?  I felt better at the end of the day yesterday, why was this happening to me??  Due to the numerous times that I woke up, I slept (off and on) until 8:15 this morning.  Those that know me (and know that for several years I have been getting up at 3 A.M. due to my work schedule), know that, in all probability, the latest that I am now sleeping is 6 A.M.!

I should also add that I have a sister that thinks I should exercise to get my back back to normal!  Are you effin kidding me??  I can't move as it is!!  If I could get down to the floor, how the hell would I get back up??  I can only sit in my chair and hope that nothing happens that would require that I get up and move quickly!

I have a back brace (the kind that movers use around their waist, that fastens with Velcro) and wore it all day yesterday AND used a heating pad besides.  I have followed the same routine today only, this time, I will also sleep with the brace on since I feel I can, somewhat, function with it on while I am awake.  Oh, and I should also add that I have one of those "Icy Hot Patches" on as well.  The only recourse I see if the above plan doesn't work, is to stay upright in my chair 24/7 - not something that I really want to try.

Not that I mind sitting in my straight backed chair at the eating area off the kitchen, while watching TV in the family room, but I am certainly ready to be able to get up from the chair easily, without having to brace myself while I straighten out oh-so-very-slowly.

I am so ready to feel more 'normal' and not hurt every time I go to move.  Is that too much to ask?

There Comes A Time...

There comes a time when one realizes a lot of different things, one of them being that getting older is no fun!

Previous to my retirement, I kept my laptop on the eating area table adjacent to the family room so that I could be in same general area as my husband and to also be able to watch TV on the 'big screen' that is in the family room. 

Being that I was going to be on the computer here at home more frequently now that I was retired, and wanting to concentrate more deeply on what I was researching online with fewer interruptions, I moved my laptop to the desk in the den.

There I spent my days in my 'woman cave', researching and chatting with friends online, both old an new, practicing my Spanish, with the smaller TV providing background noise to keep me company.  It was a happy arrangement for quite awhile.

That is until I woke up one morning last week with pain in my lower back.  My husband thought that it had something to do with sitting at the desk that I wasn't used to.  I poo poo'd his opinion stating that I didn't see how that could be it as hadn't I just retired from a desk job that I had held for over 11 years, never once having had the same problem??

As my back pain wasn't getting any better, and in fact, seemed worse, I began to think that he could be right.  I moved the computer back to the little dining area off the kitchen and placed a heating pad on the back of the chair to help with easing the pain.

Yesterday I actually felt that it was getting better and that I would just have to keep the computer here where it didn't seem to bother my back.  My husband had adjusted the chair in the den to a higher level, thinking that it would help, but I am not ready to test his theory out yet.

So, I decided to take a break from computing and we rented a few movies to watch for a break.  I spent the whole day sitting on the sofa, watching movies and thinking that I would wake up painless this morning...  Wrong!  I woke up this morning in even worse shape than previously!  It appears that I am going to have to continue sitting at my makeshift desk with my heating pad until I am completely pain free.

Fortunately, I am close enough to the kitchen where I can easily get to the ibuprofen and get something to drink to wash them down with - it's only a short crawl...

Retirement

So I finally retired from the workforce on July 31st.

Why is it that people want to know what I plan on doing with my time?  And these inquiries started after I had only been retired for two weeks!  Are you people crazy??  Can I please have some time to just enjoy NOT working?  Why do you think that I have to do anything at all now?  Am I not allowed to wallow in having the time to do what I want to do and not what someone else wants me to do?

Get off my fucking case!

If I choose to do absolutely nothing, it is my choice - not yours!  Live your own life, not mine.

So, there are days that I don't even get out of my PJs, sitting at my computer, researching moving to Ecuador, doing my Spanish lessons or just playing some games and not thinking about anything.  My goodness - there are days that I don't even take a shower (OMG)!!  Call the retirement police...  I just admitted to not taking a shower every day!

Yet I enjoy that a big deal includes a trip to the grocery store that is about a mile away.  (Hey, at least I got out of the house, and yes, I took a shower on those days)  But please keep in mind that this is my life, not yours, and I will do or not do whatever the hell that I feel like.

I will admit to speaking to several financial advisers at three different banks regarding what to do with my 401k $$ and finally made a decision about what to do with that issue, so some of my time outside of the house has been productive.

And now that I have made that decision, I can go back to lounging around in my PJs and surfing the web on my computer.  Hasta luego mis amigos!

I know...it's been way too long since I last posted anything.  Mea culpa.

OK.  We have made a decision.  We are moving to Ecuador.

What!?!  Yes, we are.  While I would have loved to go back to the area in Mexico where I lived before, it has just gotten too expensive.  House Hunters International did a show about the little fishing village that I lived in and were showing the prospects $500,000 homes!  Are you fucking kidding me?!  The point of moving out of the U.S. is to lower our costs.  Mexico is out.  Ecuador is in.

Found out that we can rent a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment for under $500 a month, on the beach (Pacific) in Ecuador.  I think it's a no brainer.  We figure that we can live on Bill's SS and still save money!  Oh, and I should mention that a housekeeper would cost $15/day and she would also cook for us on those days that she is there!  Need I say more?  And that includes, laundry, cleaning, ironing.  I might have to deal with going to heaven while there!

So, the adventure continues.  We have found a home for the dog, although she is still with us for the time being.  Poor Bill - he will miss her so much as she was his dog totally.  Need to find homes for the kitties and that is proving harder to do.  I would hate to have to take them to the pound.

Once the cats are gone, the new owners of the dog can take her for a trial run and we can get a realtor in here to tell us what we need to do to get the house sold.  Am hoping that we can sell it to a snowbird, fully furnished and equipped.

We have a lot of documentation that needs to be gathered, notorized and appostilled.  Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how to do all that and imagine that it will be time consuming.  Anyone want to help me?

My 'real' last day at work was last Tuesday.  Worked half a day that day and go back next Tuesday to turn in my badge and say goodbye to everyone.  Having a somewhat difficult time adjusting to not working, but hopefully that will change fairly soon.  My coworkers had a potluck to celebrate my leaving and a 'Happy Hour' party is planned for 8/3.

Adios pro ahora (goodbye for right now).  Hasta luego!

Yard Work Cont.

Well, Juan did show up.  In his brand new bright red SUV.  Looked over the situation and advised me it would cost $50 to fix.  So I tell him that I will go inside and wait for him to fix it.  "You no unnerstand Missy, I no fix today, I be back tomorrow."  Two days later, no Juan.  I text him and tell him that after waiting for two days for him to show up and no phone call, I have found someone else to do the work and no longer need him.

Did I just do that - with no backup plan?!  What was I thinking?  Now what?

I take to the local FaceBook page for the city that I live in asking if anyone knows anyone reliable, who is reasonable in his pricing and who I can count on to show up.  I get two recommendations.  I give my phone number to a gal who says she knows someone and get a phone number for another one.  I wait for a call from the one and call the other, leaving a message to call me back and what I am looking for.  I sit back and wait.

I get a message from the fellow who had my phone number.  States that he understands that I am looking for someone to paint my bathroom.  WTF?  I call him back and tell him that I don't need my bathroom painted, but rather need my sprinkler system leak repaired.  He seemed confused, or stoned or maybe both.  I tell him that I get home from work around 3:45 and ask that he come by to see if he can give me an estimate.  Would he like the address?  No, he'll get it from me when he calls.

In the meantime, the other fellow, Scott, calls.  Very professional and concerned that I might not know how to turn the sprinkler system off and that he wants to help me turn it off right away.  I assure him that I already have the system turned off, and that I just need it fixed.  He tells me that if it is okay with me, he will come by around 7:30 the following day to see just what I need done.  I tell him that I will be at work, but he is more than welcome to come by to assess the situation.

I get a voice message on my cell phone mid day while at work from Scott, telling me that not only has he come by, but he has fixed the leak and we can work out a price when I get home from work and he stops by!

I get home and Scott calls asking if it's okay if he come by.  It is.  Scott explains that it will cost me $30 for having him fix the leak.  I argue with him and tell him the first estimate that I got was for $50 and to please take at least $40 from me.  He states that he couldn't do that and will be happy if I just tell everyone that I know that he is available for yard work.  As he has been so reasonable in his pricing, I ask if he would be interested in mowing Bill's precious grass every week and he says yes.  Now he's got me going...

Let me explain something - they use a lot of various size rock to decorate yards here in Phoenix.  Walk areas use a very small size rock and we have a lot of it in our back yard, surrounding our grass.  While this small rock looked great when we bought this house just under three years ago, it has disappeared since then (mostly tracked into the house by the dog!).  It needs to be replenished.  I ask Scott if he would like to give us a quote.  You bet he would!  Tells me he will be back to mow the grass and to give me a quote. Take that Juan - coulda, woulda, shoulda!

Scott shows up and gives me a quote.  He doesn't know it yet, but he's got the job.

Oh - and by the way, I never took the other guys call.  He just wasn't eager enough.  And he didn't even try to reach me a second time...

Happenings

I know that it has been awhile since I took fingers to keyboard.  A lot has been going on.

My husband, who has been out of work since January, finally was offered a contract job in Orlando, Florida.  He's been gone a couple of weeks now and it could go on for a year.  It's a good thing though as under the contract, he gets paid an hourly wage and there is open opportunity for O.T.  Right now he is staying with friends that we have known for over 40 years, who, at this point, are not asking him for any payment for allowing him to stay there.  I am sure this will change as time goes by - no one wants a permanent house guest!

So, I am now having to tackle all matters with the house.  I thought (foolishly) that it wouldn't be a problem as, after all, I lived a very single, independent live for over 15 years before Bill came back into my life.  What could be so difficult this time?

I go out one morning and there is water all over the back patio and into the backyard.  A leak has developed in the sprinkler system, which I now have to turn off.  We've had leaks before and Bill has always dug them up and fixed the system.  I do not know how to do this, not do I think that I would want to, even if I did know.  Time to call our resident sprinkle system guy to come over to fix it.  He is scheduled to show up on Monday, which I have taken as a vacation day from work.

We have a very small patch of grass in the backyard.  Keep in mind that we live in the desert and having grass requires a lot of work.  It is Bill's pride and joy (besides the dog) as he has worked very hard to get it to grow and be very green.  It was time to mow it this week - something that Bill normally does every week, but I thought I could let it go for two weeks.  So I get out the mower (electric) and start mowing...  no problem.  Then I realize that the mower seems bogged down and leaving clumps of grass in it's wake.  Aha!  Time to empty the basket.  Easy, right?  Not so fast.  I struggle with getting the basket off.  It doesn't budge.  I keep struggling.  Nope.  I call Bill and ask him what am I doing wrong?  I follow his instructions (which is exactly what I was doing before I called him).  Still no go.  I give up.  Finnish the mowing, leaving clumps of grass all over the place including the path back to the garage where the mower is housed.

Hopeful that Juan (the sprinkler guy) can get the basket off when he shows up, if he shows up...  Juan is a nice guy, but not so dependable.  While he says he will be here today, I follow up with a phone call to remind him.  He says "You no worry Missy, I be there later."  In Juan's world, "later" could mean tomorrow or the day after.  Good thing I have experience with time schedules like this from having lived in Mexico.

Ah...  The joys of owning a house!

Dreams

I find myself dreaming about living in the same fishing village in Mexico that I lived in 20 years ago.  I wake up and I want to shout "Yes!  I can't wait!"  I worry that I will be disappointed when I get there.  The good news is that we don't HAVE to stay there.  We will be 'footloose and fancy free' and able to go wherever we want to go.  So I keep a list of those places that seem most promising.

While I yearn for a beach, warm water to swim in and the cool sand that makes up the beaches in the Yucatan, I then think:  "Who am I kidding?  Do I really want to venture out on a beach at 66 years of age in my granny bathing suit?"  There is a big difference in venturing out on a beach in your 40's and then showing up in your 60's!

I have to stop and remind myself that it doesn't have to be all about the beach.  I can just simply enjoy the laid back lifestyle, find a comfortable hammock and read a book with the soft gentle breeze and sounds of the Caribbean wafting over me.  Sounds like heaven to me.  I can still smell what it feels like.  If that doesn't make sense to you, then you have never been there, done that.  I have and I must say that I can't wait to go back.

And I also look forward to going to sleep every night so that I can dream about 'Mi Caribe' and all that awaits us when we get there.  Es muy tranquilo en la Yucatan.  Mi alma es aya...

Buenos noches mi amigos, hasta manana o otra dia....

Time - slipping by

OK.  I'm feeling better today and will be going back to work tomorrow.

In the meantime:

I have come to realize that time is slipping away and there is oh so much to do to get ready for the transition.  I also realize that while I am retiring on July 31st of this year, that doesn't mean that we have to be packed and out the door on that day.  I doubt that we will be ready to put the house up for sale before the fall and that will leave us time to get everything in order.

Granted it's going to rough getting everything taken care of prior to our leaving and also coordinating the sale of the house with when we are totally ready to leave.  I have to keep reminding myself that I have done this before, it's no big deal, and we will get through it.

I had started to scan old photos (and new) onto the computer, when I realized that it is a daunting task and one that will take several months.  I have been the family photographer for almost 50 years - that's a lot of photos!  I keep stopping to email copies of the photos on to family and friends.  The point being that I am trying to get rid of excess baggage (numerous photo albums).  We want to start this new phase of our life with minimal 'things'.

I have made more contacts with the people that I knew from the last time that I made this exodus.  They all have been very helpful and I look forward to seeing them again.  We just need to see if we can stay in the same area with our income from SS or if we will have to seek out another area.  I am nervous and anxious and wildly optimistic all at the same time.

Sick

I'm sick.  I have a cold.  The kind of cold that makes you wish that you could fall asleep and wake up in a few days feeling like new again.  It's a head cold that will eventually travel down to my chest, making me cough as if I am dieing from tuberculosis, consumption or some other rare disease.

I feel as if my head is in a vise.  I can't breathe through my nose, which makes my lips dry up and burn as if they had been exposed to the sun too long.  Cotton where brains should be and a buzzing in my ears making it very difficult to follow any conversation at all, least of all those with any merit or normal interest in times of well being.  "What do you think about ____?"  I don't.  And I don't care that I don't.

I want to go to sleep, but that too eludes me.  I toss and turn.  Sleeping, at most, what seems like only minutes at a time.  My head pounds and my ears buzz.  No rest for the weary here.  I need to blow my nose once again.  Will it ever stop running and let me be?  I sneeze frequently and observe what I perceive to be voluminous droplets of fluid escape from my nose and mouth.

I hate being sick and yet it happens every year at this time.

Mexico

I wanted to share some photos of my stay in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.  1989-1993

There were so very many good times and I miss all the friends that I made there.  But have to say that I look forward to the next chapter; possibly seeing some of those old friends and to making new ones.

Hasta luego mi amigos!

Yearning

As I connect with more and more of the friends I had in Mexico, and who are still there, I find that I can't wait to get back.  I know that things have changed (and not always for the better), but oh, how I miss being in Mexico!

I'm going to try to scan photos that I took during my, almost, 4 year stay there over this weekend.  I may not be able to post them all at once, but they will all get there eventually.

Mexico and Arizona are the only places that I have ever felt 'connected' to and Arizona comes in as 2nd.  I have enjoyed my time here (with many ups and downs) but it is now time to leave and live la vida bueno in the land of (almost) perpetual sunshine, tranquility and some of the most incredible people that I have ever come across in my lifetime.

In the meantime, I have told the cleaning crew at work that "Necessito a practicar mi Espanol, con ellos por favor" and they have responded "No problema."  I am blessed and they are patient and kind as I stumble through the basics.

Felicidades fin de semana, mi amigos.  Hasta luego.

Part Two

I digress a little bit...

Bill's next tour of duty after Illinois was Oklahoma.  We lived off base in a rented, furnished, 2 bedroom house in Dill City, OK.  We paid $50 a month rent.  I don't think the house was more than 700 sq ft and every time we wanted to change the channel on the TV, Bill would have to go out and turn the antenna until I shouted out for him that the picture was good and he could stop!

We got our mail at the post office as the town was way too small to hire a delivery person.  It was a very old post office with those old metal mail boxes with combination locks.  The whole town consisted of a hardware store/gas station, grocery store (very small), bank, a closed movie theater and the aforementioned post office.  We heard a story once of when the bank was robbed one time.  The robbers called the president of the bank, and when he answered with "What do you want?  I'm in bed sleeping!", they knew it was safe to rob the bank!  The president of the bank was married to the post mistress.

We had a billy goat that was fenced in, in our back yard that belonged to our landlords.  They lived two houses away.  There was either a peach or pear tree in the goat's pen (can't remember which).  Well, that goat was the meanest goat I have ever come across!  Not that I've had that many encounters with goats, mind you.  Bill tried several times to grab some fruit off that tree and got nailed by that him several times without getting any of the fruit!

Anyway, it was while we were there that Bill volunteered to go to Vietnam.  We drove back to NY where it was decided that I would live with my mother while Bill was gone.  It was going to be a very long year.

Bill went off to Vietnam and I went back into the workforce.  I was surrounded by a lot of single friends who started to ask me to join them on weekends and I started to accept their invites.  Drives into Manhattan to go 'clubbing', dancing all night until the clubs closed.  Just having a lot of fun.  I think that at that point that I knew that I didn't want to be married anymore.  It was just too much fun being single.

We had, after all, gotten married way too young and both of us came from families that did not present good, happy, roll models.

Bill came back from Vietnam and his next tour of duty was in Abilene, TX.  We found another house to rent there.  I remember our next door neighbors introducing themselves, along with their little boy, Chance.  She explained his name by saying "That's what we took and he's what we got!"  Then there was the day before the postage rates were going up and she asked me if I wanted to go to the post office to buy up some stamps before the price went up!  Thanksgiving came and our neighbors asked if we wanted to come over to watch her mother kill the turkey...  Needless to say, I declined.  I seem to recall that Bill went.

I had had enough and missed all the fun that I had back in NY.  I announced to Bill that I was leaving, packed up all my things and drove home.  The divorce was final a few months later and we went on our separate ways.

It was 6 years later that I decided to get married again (1972).  21 years after that, I was once again divorced.

Fast forward almost 38 years.  Bill was working in California and while at work decided to log onto Classmates.com where he saw my profile.  He emailed me: "Can exes still be friends?"  It was my day off from my job and I immediately answered his email.  I took me 3 years before I agreed to marry him again.

May 3, 2008