Christmas Time is almost here

 Gosh, how life flies.  I did a big thing recently.  I retired!  After 45 years and 9 and 1/2 months I finally left.  It sounds like such a long time, but the reality is I worked part-time for almost half of that career.  My manager was good enough to help me get approved to work part-time when my son was born, and although it began as a trial to be evaluated annually, it continued for 12 years.  Then I officially retired the end of 2014, but came back in a few months as a subcontractor, doing much of the same work. I did this part time 20-25 hours a week for ten and a half more years.  But it was time to go home.  I have so many hobbies and things I want to do I thought it would be an easy thing to retire.  However, it's been...different. At least, it has been different than I expected.  I have been flitting from one thing to another and not accomplishing much so far, but it's only been a week.  I really loved my work. I loved being able to accomplish things and help others figure things out.  Now I"m realizing that I need to par down my retirement do list, and make one for each week with a few things on it, that I can reasonably accomplish.  I'm so goal oriented and NEED structure.

My sweet husband and a few close friends surprised me with the absolute best retirement party!  Here are a few pictures....one of my dear work friends is so witty and creative, the best at creating memorable cards! This person has followed all my 'obessions' (hobbies).

Two sweet friends sent me roses for my retirement. I'm so blessed with the best friends in the world!

They put out quite a spread

                                                                The decorations were great.

One of the first things I did was go on an obsession of painting Christmas decor on windows.  I fell down that rabbit hole easily.....

I'm still baking with freshly milled flour.  Learning lots.

                                                                Learned how to make butter. So easy.

And started getting the Christmas decor (quilts) out.

We expect my son and family to visit at Christmas time and are so excited.

New Obsession

I have a new obsession!!  Milling my own flour.  If you've never listened to Sue Becker's youtube Real Bread - The Staff of life, you should! She has been milling flour for her family for over 30 years, and ended up creating a company to sell grains.  But her passion is educating people on the nutrition of baked goods that were made from freshly milled wheat.  It is so interesting.  She was a food microbiologist for Kraft for five years, with an avid interest in biochemistry and has continued to research after she settled down to raise and homeschool her children. She also has a podcast called Sue's Healthy Minutes and often she interviews people who have told her of all the improvements in their health journeys after beginning to mill their own flour.  I've started doing that now and my goal is to educate all my family and friends who will listen. 

Some of the things we've enjoyed - buns for hamburgers and sandwiches

All kinds of muffins

Incredible cinnamon rolls

And of course sandwich bread to slice

 And the best part, it is all delicious!  I can't wait to experiment with other grains.  Check out the nutrition of eating whole grain bread, but you've got to know you can't get this bread in a store.  Once the grain is milled it starts to oxidize rapidly, losing most of the nutrients.  So for best results you mill and then cook with it.  I can't wait for my next doctor's check up.

You blink and summer is over.....

 It's now the end of August.  Life is really just a blink. A breath.  I am so aware of that these days.  I set my final retirement date for November 20th.  Even though I've just worked part time the last 10 1/2 years after my first 'official' retirement, I've still been going on site continually for almost 46 years.  Unbelievable really.  I don't feel my age inside, and i am so blessed with good health and an active lifestyle, but yet, at work I feel like a fossil. I think there is only one other person on our floor that is about my age.  I don't feel old, but am ok saying I am old, because I am.  Nothing wrong with saying that.  it is a fact of life - we age. It is going to happen to all of us.  I'm so thankful for my 66 years and 7 months.  Many don't get the gift of 66 years.

Ok, so what I've been doing.....some random pictures of what's going on in my neck of the woods.....

First off, we had the kids for a week in July.   SO.....MUCH......FUN

We played around with ChatGPT and some AI photos.  So cool!

When we took the kids back, we met my son and DIL in Huntsville, and she recreated some photos she originally took in 2020.  My, how they've grown and changed!

I made a baby quilt, using Bjorn Bear quilt pattern. This was for a young co-worker who just had his first child.

I still haven't cut my hair, and it is SO LONG.  Most days I love it, some not so much.  Not ready to cut it off yet.

Been pretty busy making bags.  I've made several leather ones now and my machine does a great job of these. Pretty quick too as they don't have a lining. The larger rectangular one will go to a charity auction in October to benefit our local food pantry.  I figured out how to do a leather pocket on the inside for it.  I will be offering about 6-8 for sale on facebook soon.  Hope they sell. I've decided to use whatever proceeds I make from the purses to buy supplies and fabric for other crafts and quilts.  Going to retire, so better get used to being more frugal.

Still baking sourdough. This sandwich bread was perfect!  I should never buy store-bought bread again, now that I've figured out this recipe.

The grands started back to school.. One in 6th, one in 3rd.  ❤️Love them so much!

My son made a quick visit a few weeks ago, on his return from a conference.  I made him a leather bible bag.  He loved it!  I was so happy to do something for him.  

So that's it!  

July

 I've had a few people ask for bags, so I am making more.  A friend's father in law just passed and she brought me a pair of his jeans to make her a purse. I took one of mine in to work and two of my younger guy friends wanted one for their wives. I also need to make a baby quilt for another young man I work with who is having his first child soon.  Busy, busy, but that's how I like it. I always want to have a project to do.  I am helping my young neighbor learn to make sourdough. I made a pretty round loaf yesterday and took her a starter yesterday.  I am going to help her in the morning mix up the dough.  I did find time to do some cooking today. I made Joanna Gaines sourdough bagels this morning, and put some pineapple and sugar water in a jar for a (hopefully) refreshing pineapple soda in a few days. Nature's probiotic! I also did the next step in my 16 day sweet pickle recipe.  Here are a few pics of what's been going on around here.....

We also finally got the new piece of furniture for under the TV.  I'm on the fence about it. I like it, but the other one was 36"tall, this one is only 32" and it just feels tiny, even though it is 8" longer than the other one. I guess I'll get used to it.....I do love the glass doors for displaying quilts.

I also hung a couple of quilted and framed blocks, bible verses, in my dining room.

Enjoy the pictures!