Thankfully, Halloween was actually quite warm, no snowsuits over costumes required. Eli and his little buddy Knox were both dressed as little tigers. While I didn't get to see him in person, D sent lots of photos. I won't bore you with all of them especially as most of them are from the back. That kid doesn't appreciate having his photo taken.This is stand and sit stroller. Knox is in the front while Eli is strapped into the back on the little fold down seat. When the child is order they can stand looking forward. There were photos of A walking with the two little ones so perhaps it didn't last long.
Here at home, I had 35 trick or treaters arrive at the door. The first two showed up around 6 p.m. and the last two were at the door about 8:30. The latter did very well as I was ready to shut off the lights, so I took the remaining candy and divided it between the two of them. It wasn't much more that I had been giving out to others, and definitely not enough had another group showed up at the door. It was clear the weather was better, as this was the largest number of children I've seen in the 8 years we've been in this house.
Speaking of candy, here is Eli with his haul. He is enjoying his very first box of Smarties...I doubt he ate the red ones last. D has tucked the rest of the candy away and is allowing him one or two small treats before bed. She does like Doritos so I suspect he'll have to share those. At any rate, it should take awhile before he runs out.We were able to dress up for Halloween at work! I don't have a photo of my costume, but I wore my pj's (a fleece set with jacket, tank, and pants), used hair gel to mess up my hair (think bedhead) and attached a sticker that read "retired". With a cup of coffee in my hand it was perfect and probably the most comfortable outfit I've ever worn to work.
In fact, I've decided that for the rest of my days in the office, I'm going to dress for comfort. Not pajamas,of course, but more likely jeans and t-shirts. I no longer have any direct contact with clients so the only people who see me will be the staff and management. If, perchance, someone doesn't appreciate my attire, they won't have to look at it for very long. Just fourteen more bum-in-seat days! This week I attended the farewell for a retiring co-worker and have been invited to the lunch for another next Tuesday. It seems to be a bit of trend, as after I'm done there are three or four others waiting their turn. Our organization went through periods of hiring, most often a large contingent, and then no hiring was done for several years. Thus when we have attrition it is generally due to the number of individuals who were hired. I'm a bit of an anomaly as I was much older than my peers (I started at the age of 38, the rest were in their 20's or early 30's) so I'm leaving with another group who started up to 10 years prior.
I've been starting to think about what retirement will look like. I can't say that I'm just starting thinking about it as retirement has obviously been on my mind for some time (at least 48 marbles/months) but now that it is this close it's become a bit of an obsession. There are the planned cruises (more on that later), and the eventual sale of this house, but what will my day-to-day look like? I keep imagining one very, very long weekend where ever day is Saturday. A Saturday, where if I'm not careful, I can put off doing things because Sunday is still the weekend. My friend C made a comment that when she first retired, she had no idea where the time went. She would start cleaning a drawer in the morning, and poof, it would be dinner time. I wonder if that will happen for me, or whether I'll get bored easily. I hope not! My next door neighbour retired, but went back to work after 18 months (on contract) because she couldn't stand being at home. I certainly have no plans to return to work, at least not my current work, though part-time dusting shelves at a book store would be nice. I'd probably get fired in the first week for reading instead of dusting!
Another possibility is volunteering, though I must admit, I've not come up with any particular organization or charity I'd want to do this work for. While I am a strong supporter of our local Humane Society, I definitely couldn't volunteer at the shelter...I'd be back up to 6 or more cats in no time. A group of us from work volunteered several years ago to assist with a Habitat for Humanity build. I really enjoyed that, spending time outdoors while we poured the basement forms, along with the physical aspects of putting the forms together. However, my talents certainly don't lean towards construction so I suspect that was a one off. The true benefit of retirement is simply that I'll have time to figure it out.
So I truly don't think I'll be bored...at least not for several months. I may get a bit of cabin fever between January 19 and March 17 (between cruises) but that will be due to the weather, not for the lack of something to do. I'll be into the process of getting the house ready for sale. There is some painting to be done, a bi-fold door to replace, carpet cleaning, clearing of cupboards and packing of photos and personal items. The garage will have to wait for warmer weather.
As to the cruises, the third cruise I had booked in March - I cancelled it. While it was a unique itinerary, from Santiago, Chile to Los Angeles, California, when I finished my research I came to realize there was only one port I was truly interested in visiting. I hemmed and hawed about it for a bit, then did some checking and found another, more appealing cruise, a ten day Eastern Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale. I called my travel agent and she made it happen. I lost $100 deposit but got $60 in on board credit for the other cruise so I'm not the far behind. I'm also saving on the cost of the cruise as well as air fare, plus I get to visit two new ports to me, Grand Turks, Turks and Caicos, and Martinique. I've yet to do any real research on either port since I'm gearing up for the December cruise, which is just over 30 days away. I have decided, though, that I will spend an extra day or two in Fort Lauderdale, as I've always wanted to visit the beach by Port Everglades to watch and wave at the cruise ships as they sail away. Silly I know, as I've been on those ships waving to those waving to us from shore.
Anyway, that pretty catches you up with my world for the past week. I'll be watching the final football game of the day (Saturday) as it will determine whether our Riders are in first or second place in the league. First place, they'll have another bye week to prepare, second place and they'll play Winnipeg again next week. Since Winnipeg beat us 31-0 just a few weeks ago... I'll be cheering for the B.C. Lions tonight. Oh the drama of it all!
Have a great rest of the weekend everyone! I hope there is no snow where you are...winter should just go away for a few more weeks.