It's been too cold lately (-30C ish with windchills into the -40C ranges) to do anything outside. I have about 8 inches of snow in the driveway that I will have to get rid of. It's only -20C right now so I suspect I will bundle up and git at 'er today.

DD was home for the holidays from university so been occupied with that. She flew back on Sunday.

Work is work, have to go back Wednesday. Only six and half years and I can retire! UGH!

Lloyd

Only six and half years and I can retire!

You're counting them down like my husband is, only in our case it's dependent on when the kid gets out of school. She starts high school this fall so we're hoping for 4 more years then retiring. Even if she has to stay here a while after high school we're hoping to be able to still retire. Hubby's older (59) than you Lloyd so we are REALLY looking forward to it. Plus the fact that it will be fun to be alone for a change!

Val

It's not that I don't like to work, it's just that I want to work at the stuff I enjoy doing. The farm stuff is fun and I don't have to get up at 4 am like I do for work work.

I just renewed the agreement with the Town to continue the yard trimming project for another three years. I have been considering trying to do more household waste composting on a contract basis but with still working it would be too much. I am doing a few things as experiments but nothing big time.

There are lots of opportunities for a person to start up small ventures but they all take time and the shift work screws everything up.

I would also like to start a gardening club for the kids in town. I think some exposure to food production would be really beneficial to some kids. I'm not much of a gardener but I think the actual growing of something might kindle a spark in some of these kids. Not so much teach, but learn together. I think some kids can be interested in this type of thing, all they need is a catalyst.

Lloyd

My basement needs cleaning too, lots of stuff down there.

Well, at least you have a hobby/other work to fall back on for your retirement. Hubs is a more or less a workaholic but his job is very demanding physically. He puts in for all the overtime he can handle just to build up our nest egg and to the buy the big things we want now and not have to have them later.

But the problem as I see it and I think he's starting to realize now (since he was off for 2 straight weeks) is that he doesn't have enough around the house to keep him occupied. He gets bored so he eats and sleeps. He couldn't wait to get back to work so he would feel "normal" again. LOL

Me, I have tons of hobbies so my early retirement hasn't affected me, though I do miss the extra money.

I think the gardening club idea sounds great. I couldn't do it myself (I'm ready to be kid free for awhile) but I know the kids love it when they grow things. Our granddaughter always loved it when her class did the growing thing. Now that she's a teenager her interests lie elsewhere (boys!) so try to get them a little younger if you can. Who knows you might be helping to start the next generation of farmers and gardeners in your community....and you can teach them about your passion.....compost!

Val

I just got back from a quick trip up to Wisconsin. My family had their xmas get together on Jan.3 rd in Green Bay. When I got home Sunday night, I realized I brought the flu home with me from Wisconsin. I've spent the past two days between the bed, the recliner and never too far from the bathroom. YUCK.

Now I had planned to take our all our christmas decorations down on Sunday..the flu prevented me from doing that and they are still staring at me. Double Yuck.

I have to get back to work tomorrow, so I guess the christmas decor will stay up one more week.

Hope you're feeling better now. I have all my Christmas stuff down now and properly put away. As soon as we bought the shelves for the basement, it all went rather smooth.

As a side note, it's so funny to look around the neighborhood. There's one guy that still has his outside stuff up and lights it every night. The lady across the street took all her stuff down on Christmas day! Her daughter and my granddaughter are friends and her daughter wasn't too happy about it :-) But she's a single mom and works full time so I guess she wanted to get it done while she was off. There's an older lady that lives across the street and down one house who had someone put her outside lights up for her sometime in November, but she never turned them on once. We kept watching but it didn't happen.

Val

I can't even find time for my yucky chores right now. It's insane. And I don't even have a countdown for retirement.

*cue world's smallest violin*

I finally got tired of looking at the dining room today and started painting it. I usually like painting, it's so satisfying but I'm not enjoying this room at all for some reason. I think because it has to be primed first. I hate priming.

Val