May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends….

Many you have requested that I get going on actually living at Sun Lakes, although interested in what my trials and tribulations as a new home owner were.  On that note I shall attempt to wrap up all the machinations on the house.

I will start this post by stating: I am grateful for the lawn that needs mowing, windows that need washing, and floors that need cleaning, because it means I have a home.  I do not want to lose sight of that in writing about my experiences with my newly purchased home.

One of the things I must get off my chest, not only did the prior owner leave the house filthy, she took anything that was not tied down, including the curtains and curtain rods.  I was OK with this as it looked like my Grandma’s house, and I was putting in plantation shutters throughout anyway.  

I don’t know if I mentioned this in my prior posts, but when we purchased the home, it included the stove. This did not stop the prior owner from trying to bully us into letting her have it.  We of course responded with a resounding NO.  This woman puts the tack in tacky, she actually took parts of the stove, along with a lot of other things; seriously, we couldn’t believe it either. But good relations with the realtor, one phone call and the missing parts magically reappeared.

Things began to progress and we had chosen a move in date, so all that was left was for me to turn in my notice, which I did in March; last day for work would be Friday, June 13^th.

So here are the things I had always dreamed that I would say when I quit. These are lines from my favorite movies that I thought would sound good followed by, “Oh yeah, I QUIT!” <Grin>

"Hasta la vista, baby." —Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in the Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" —Peter Finch as Howard Beal in Network (1976)

"If I'm not back in five minutes, just wait longer." —Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

"You get nothing! You Lose! Good day sir!" —Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner." —Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing (1987) (I don’t know what this would mean if you are quitting but I always wanted to say it.)

"Go ahead, make my day." —Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact

"What we've got here is failure to communicate." —Strother Martin as the Captain in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

"And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit." —Stephen Root as Milton Waddams in Office Space (1999)

"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" —Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in Dirty Harry (1971)

"Time marches on and sooner or later you realize it is marching across your face." —Dolly Parton as Truvy Jones in Steel Magnolias (1989)

"A jester unemployed is nobody's fool." —Danny Kaye as Hubert Hawkins in the Court Jester (1955)

And my ultimate favorite; "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and @%$* the prom queen." —Sean Connery as John Patrick Mason in the Rock (1996)

Oh the fantasies I played over in my head, I really wanted to walk in on the Friday I decided was my last day and say one of the above and promptly leave.  Oh come on now! You know you have all thought the same thing. I saw the joke of the person winning the lottery, standing on their boss’s desk peeing and saying I quit!

But alas, reality always wins out and I thought it best to leave with my dignity.  Here is what I actually did:

Dear (My Manager’s Name),

Please accept this letter as formal notification that I will be retiring from my position as Sr. Manager of Global Indirect Sourcing. My last day at Edwards will be June 13, 2014.

I have enjoyed working with and learning from my colleagues for the past thirteen years, and am ready to move to the next phase of my life.

During the next several months I am more than willing to help you in any way to make the transition as smooth as possible.  This includes assisting in the recruiting and training of my replacement. 

Please let me know if there is anything specific you would like me to do.

I have been very fortunate to have been a part of Edwards for the past 13 years, and I wish the company every success in the future.

I finally quit my job, and could stop dreaming that I might be Wonder Woman and know that I was! Then I thought, “How cool is this!”  I can’t tell you what a difference it made to me; it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders.  I mean talk about an attitude adjustment, work late, I think not. <Grin> I mean what are they going to do, fire me?  (Please!)  I put in my vacations through the rest of my working days to take off every Friday. <Grin> Finally, a four day work week.

OK we are now further down the path to where I am today. Stay with me as we continue the the journey, and I thank you again for taking this retirement journey with me, or "my longest coffee break."  I'm just sayin’…

Karaoke night at Sun Lakes

Friday 9.26.14

 
I had to do an additional post this week, and out of sequence, but I just couldn’t wait to share my experience with you on Karaoke night at Sun Lakes

I will start off with the definition of Karaoke for historical purposes: Use of a device that plays instrumental accompaniments to songs with the vocal tracks removed, permitting the user to sing the lead. Karaoke apparently first appeared in the amusement quarter of Kobe, Japan, where it became popular among businessmen in the late 1970’s. It gained widespread popularity in the U.S. in the late 1980’s. It is usually featured at bars, where patrons can perform on a stage and sing popular hits by reading lyrics electronically displayed on a monitor. A video film often accompanies the music.

 So BFF Hubby and I, as a part of our quest to participate in the variety of activities at Sun Lakes, had committed to going to the once a month Karaoke night with BFF Hubby’s Mom.   We found to our surprise that they allowed outsiders, hey now, that is a big deal!  Sun Lakes is snobby about that.  We met some people from Banning, a lot of people from the Plantations and those that were simply guests of Sun Lakers.

The best I could ascertain from this experience was: “Apparently Karaoke divides people into two    groups - those who don’t want to sing and shouldn’t be compelled to, and those who do and shouldn’t be allowed too!” <Grin>  (Full disclosure, it was my first Karaoke experience in a public venue.  My only other experiences with Karaoke were with close friends and family at my daughter’s home and it involved a lot of drinking.)

For these oldsters, there is no halfway singing; they sang like they thought they were a star, country singer, crooner, or an opera diva.  At least that is how I heard it, and they would act out if they were singing something like a Neil Diamond song, doing Elvis Presley like moves.  It was very funny and entertaining to see a 90 year old shaking it while singing horribly off key. The people that intrigued me the most brought their own music for the DJ. These apparently are the karaoke stars, and compared to the others that sang, well let’s just say they could carry somewhat of a tune, or at least I think they did, it was hard for me to judge as I had never heard of the songs they were singing. <Grin>

These people sang songs from the 40’s, before this oldie moldie was even born.  The host, a friend of BFF's Mom, had asked BFF Hubby and I if we knew the songs, to which we replied with a resounding NO, never heard it before.  Apparently this got her ire up, as she said, “Oh come on now; you have to know these!  I’m 76 and I sang this as a kid with my Mom.”  To which I said, “Umm, you have me by 10 years,” and that shut her up. <Grin>

This made me realize as a kid I had a pretty hip Mom; she sang Elvis, Dean Martin, Sinatra, and Beatles, actually whatever tunes were popular and on the hit parade.  Now don’t get me wrong, she probably knew some of these songs, but wasn’t stuck in an era.  She did sing some 40/50’s songs, as I recall.  One of my favorites was a Doris Day song about a silly old ram that thought he could punch a hole in a dam, but he had had high hopes, apple pie in the sky hopes. <Grin>

Let me tell you these oldies sang some very strange country songs, like before Garth Brookes; who knew country existed on the radio before Garth. <Grin>  I thought to myself, maybe I had heard these songs as a kid and I just didn’t understand the lyrics!  I mean, have you ever heard somebody sing some lyrics that you've never sung before, and you realize you've never sung the right words in that song?  You hear them and all of a sudden you say to yourself, “Life in the Fast Lane?”  That's what they're saying right there?  You think, why have I been singing “Wipe the Vaseline.” <Grin>

As the night dragged on, seriously, I thought my clock had broken.  But I must say I enjoyed watching two couples sitting at the table next to me, one of the men was 92 and his wife was 89.  They sang some songs, which they told me were from WWII; here is where I say that BFF Hubby’s Mom was also grooving to them.

Well finally, they were playing a couple of songs we knew from the 60’s.   Whoot, Whoot!  So hubby and I sang along with them, and we thought this might be fun after all.  We sang in tune, and were harmonizing; singing it the way it was meant to be, trying to help the singer with the microphone hit the right notes.  I mean if Karaoke were a sport in Sun Lakes we’d be gold medalists. <Grin>

Oh, oh, one of the more serious singers came up, and before he sang, he said feel free to sing with me on the chorus, but not the main song.  OHHHH, guess he was sending us a message, don’t mess with my 5 minutes of fame!  Apparently there is Karaoke etiquette, who knew!  I guess you are only supposed to sing along if the person singing invites you to.  <Grin>

Funny of the night for me was this woman sang a song, which we had never heard of, and the DJ says, “Lets hear it for tonight’s star, how many want to see it posted on YouTube?”  Well, first of all I was amazed they had heard of You tube, but then I was thinking aha, next time I will video tape it, and do exactly that; it would get a zillion hits as it is hysterical. But hey, these oldsters really know how to have fun!

This experience made me more determined to find the under 70’s people, they must be out there somewhere!  After all I keep hearing the statistics as to how many baby boomers there are retiring. If and when I find them, we will take Karaoke night over and make it a rocking 60’s night at Karaoke, I shall call it the Karaoke wars. <Grin>

Stay with me and I thank you again for taking this retirement journey with me, or "my longest coffee break."  I'm just sayin’……..

If you can Dream it you can do it!!

Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.  Mahatma Gandhi

I tried keeping that in mind as we continued our walk through the house, I kept telling myself you have been through this before, see the positive possibilities.  Redirect your panic and the energy of your frustration into positivity and that Raelene unstoppable determination! I really tried, but all that kept creeping into my head was, just remember the contractor's initial estimate should be seen as a work of fiction…. so make sure you get three estimates on everything. <Grin>.

We started making lists of what needed to be done, but then as we listed each thing, we began to realize if we stopped there it would only make everything else look worse. Hmmm, ‘‘If only we could get a new couch,'' I say, but once I made that glorious purchase, my eye was drawn to the carpet, which looked fine when we bought the house, but now empty, with a brand-new couch sitting on it, appears to suffer from a medical condition.  So we decide to remove all the carpets and existing tile throughout the house and put in new floors.  Then my eyes went to the walls, which used to look fine but now, I hate the paint color, OMG it has become almost a complete remodel.

I reasoned again with myself; if you don't like something change it! After all you have to live with these changes for a long time,don't settle, telling myself if you're not willing to risk the unusual then you will just be settling for the ordinary. 

So I reminded myself about the lemonade saying my Mom always quoted.  But I'd put my spin on it, so if life gives me lemons I won't settle for simply making lemonade, I will make a glorious scene at the lemonade stand. <Grin>

And so the remodeling began in October 2013, and it continued through 2014, with new tile floors, painting, baseboard installation, new fans, lighting, light switches, garage floor, brick work in the front and back yards, plantation shutters, transformation of the wardrobe closet doors, bathroom windows and mirrors. Every time I came out to see the progress on the house, I would notice something else. Such as, wouldn’t that half-moon window over the kitchen sink look neat if it matched the stain glass lamp in the dining room, and on and on it seemed to go. 

Finally I said to BFF hubby, I think we are in the home stretch, and then I would notice something else, I really hate that silly shelf thing in the wall; let’s have it filled in so we can mount the flat screen on the wall.  Then I would complain to BFF hubby and ask why is it all taking so long, and then he would tell me the contractor had to finish something at another person’s house, or was off to Arizona for two weeks!  I would freak out and say, “What do you mean the contractor will finish the floors in two weeks, he had to go to Arizona?” This was all becoming so stressful and seemed to be dragging on forever.  I found out through all of this that the quickest way to get rid of a contractor is to hire him! <Grin>

During all of this construction, I reminded myself that Patience is a virtue, and then my little voice would say or is it really the art of concealing your impatience?  Well, let me tell you, I had to really learn to practice patience and it was a tough lesson, as during all of this I found myself drifting off when hearing the reason for the delays from the contractors.  I know, I know, it takes patience to listen, but let me tell you; it takes a whole lot of skill to hold one’s temper and pretend you are listening! 

In the meantime I continued working, as due to all the construction, I had not yet decided on the date I was retiring.  I figured what the heck, the rate construction was going I had plenty of time, or was the reality that I was finding more and more reasons to not have the house ready for us, otherwise I would have to actually put in my notice and retire.

BFF Hubby called me on this, we are after all a team, and there our unity is our strength.  When we collaborate wonderful things can be achieved, that’s what I told myself. <Grin> so I said OK, left the remodeling projects to him, and committed to giving my notice in March, for June retirement.

I heard a funny saying from one of BFF Hubby’s Mother’s friends who is 90 years old; I had never heard it before so I have to share it with you.  When helping her with her computer she said, “I am so embarrassed, I feel like a penny waiting for change.”  How funny is that?

Stay with me and I thank you again for taking this retirement journey with me, or "my longest coffee break."  I'm just sayin’……..

And the beat goes on

As I stood in front of my new home I thought, What!  You own a home, shut the front door!   A home, where you collect things that you love, things authentic to you, as you let your home become your story!  There is something permanent, and very profound in being a home owner. "I wonder if it will be—can be—any more beautiful than this,” I thought, as I gazed upon my new home with enraptured eyes.  Saying to myself, “Self, this must be the loveliest spot in the world, and it’s all mine!”

Ahhh… Home, sweet home……now we get to actually enter and explore our new home, empty ,so we can  imagine where we will put “our” things. We couldn’t believe how fast things moved once we put in our bid.  The escrow closed in two weeks, and we were the proud homeowners of our “Forever Home,”   as BFF hubby and I called it.  We  are never, ever moving again!!!

BFF hubby and I were excited as we drove to our new home.  With our keys we would now open the magical front door, entering the first chapter of our new life…..but wait, what’s that you say??  What do you mean the key won’t open the lock?  Let me try it, as you must be doing it wrong!  “Stay calm,” I said, “we’ll simply call the realtor.”  We called her and advised her she must have given us the wrong keys, as the front door won’t open.  She apologized profusely, saying, “I’ll be right there. “

While we were waiting for the realtor my mind started to wander, and I began hearing all these stories fluttering around in my head, the awful things people had told me they discovered about their new homes!   I always take pride in keeping an open mind, but the trouble with an open mind is people insist on trying to put things in it. <Grin>. 

 “OK, self,” I said, “hang in there.”  Less than 20 minutes pass, yahoo, the realtor arrives.  Say what?  Her keys don’t work either!   Its OK, yeah right, let the stress level begin!  So Sandy the realtor’s keys didn’t work either, but “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m calling the previous owner.”   Oh, this is so not good…. breathe, just breathe, I told myself.

The previous owner provided us with the password to the garage door.  Phew, just a little set back not to worry, at this point I am staying optimistic.  But here is where my mind really was and what my definition of an optimist was as I contemplated what lay behind the door; so I’m falling off the top of the empire state building (are you with me so far), and after fifty floors I say, “So far so good!”

We enter the home through the garage door, what is that smell?  I know that nothing is more memorable than a smell; one scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet can conjure up a childhood memory of a summer beside a lake, ocean or mountains.  But this smell, argh not so much!  It smelt like a funeral parlor, a myriad of different floral scents. What is that smell???

Upon further investigation of our home we began to find numerous Air Wick scented oil containers.  She had them in all the cupboards, shelves, closets and some had the liquid spilling out of the bottle into the cabinets.  After we had gathered all of them, this woman had no less than 38 scented oil containers scattered throughout the house.   That was not all, ugh, upon inspection of the bathrooms, someone had turned off the water to the toilet, oh yes, it gets worse, they had gone number two in it and left it, what a pleasant house warming gift!

But ever optimistic we continued the exploration of our new home to see what else we might uncover, as a nagging thought crept into my mind, OMG, where did my beautiful home go?   I remember the house we bought was beautifully decorated, and everything looked perfect!  Focus on that I said, remember it appealed to you because of the area, size of the house.  But my pessimist side quickly engaged as it was evident we had been looking at it with rose covered glasses.  It looks like our glasses were pretty dirty, or perhaps it was the wine we had at lunch. <Grin> BFF Hubby said, “focus on the bones of the house, the rest is cosmetic. “

 No matter how hard I tried all I could see were the flaws in the house, which equaled dollar signs, as the carpets were horrible, every wall was painted another color, and what the heck, were those really mirrored wardrobe closets, how had I missed that?   I had a tough talk with myself, stop being negative and expecting excellence.  So I chose to ignore the pessimist in my head and listen to the optimist, telling myself nothing is perfect, everything has flaws, you just have to look past those flaws and see the opportunity to make this house the way you want it.  You will note it has now become a house again. <Grin>.

Stay with me as we continue the exploration of the house and begin the journey of home renovations, etc……I thank you again for taking this retirement journey with me, or "my longest coffee break."  I'm just sayin’