Busy days!

It looks like I'll be busy helping our daughter with the newborn.  He really isn't much trouble.  He eats, sleeps, and poops.  That's about it.

I spent the afternoon down at their house yesterday.  It was Jennifer's first day alone with the baby.  Her mother-in-law left over the weekend.  she had been there for 2 weeks.  I figured she would need some help, so I grabbed some chicken salad at Whole Foods and headed down to her house.  Turns out, after 3 bottles, the baby slept on my shoulder for 2 hours!   :-)  See, I can put ANYBODY to sleep!

Phew! I'm so busy! How did I EVER have time to work?

I've officially been retired now for two full weeks and I've never been so busy!  I've been sorting through about 1,000 books and donating 800 of them to charity.  Some I saved out for the grandkids.  I had lots of teacher books, crayons, markers, pencils, erasers and other school items that I purchased myself, so those are all gone.  The grandkids have enough pencils to last until they are each 21 years old!  30 years of "stuff" sure does accumulate!

I got a bridge removed from my front teeth two weeks ago and Friday I went in for the new one.  I wanted to get that done while I still have insurance.  I also went in for an eye exam and I found out that my eyesight is actually getting better!  Apparently that happens as we get older.  So, I'm wearing my 6 year old pair of eyeglasses while waiting for the new pair and GUESS WHAT?  They work perfectly!  Go figure..."In with the new, out with the old."...or "in with the old, out with the new"!?

I drove up to visit the horses for the first time in the two weeks.  I just honestly haven't had a day to get up there.  They were all screaming for food, so they each got about 3 scoops of feed and pellets.  I gave them some coconut oil, too, which helps their hooves and hair.  I'll go back in a couple of days when it isn't quite so breezy and let them out, one at a time, into the arena.  

We drove to Temecula last weekend and spent Saturday night with our son and his family.  The grandson is in T-ball and he has won 2 game balls!  He is quite the little hitter!  Unfortunately, he doesn't catch well...

I cleaned off the piano, dusted it, polished it, and I am now practicing it every day.  My goodness!  My muscle memory has faded and I need to practice.  And, my fingers aren't quite as fast as they used to be.

So, yes, I'm enjoying my retirement.  Between checkups, picking up the grandkids from day care, and other errands, I'm pretty busy!

 The hitter!

 Little sister is NOT impressed!

 SAFE!

 Ready to go...

 On the move...

Little sister prefers dogs over baseball.

Storm moving in!

I love to check in with the Toro Peak webcam a couple of times every day.  This was about 4:00 p.m. today.  An hour later, it was all fogged in and I couldn't see anything. Sometimes I'll check it before I drive up to visit my horses, since I travel on the road right below it.

Same view, an hour later!

Meet the family!

We ALL gathered yesterday afternoon to give little Brady his first bath.  That's me, with the wild hair, on the left, then James' mother, Colleen, and then little Ellie and. of course, Brady, on the towel.  He didn't appreciate his first bath and turned red and screamed!  But, then he had a bottle and went to sleep on my shoulder after a very big, loud burp!   :-)

Retirement? How about "Tiredment"?

My first few days have been a whirlwind!

First, I have over 1,500 books to count, document, and put in bags for charity.  I found some super heavy duty plastic bags at WalMart and I bought 24 of them.  After yesterday, I have 6 left.  I've made 3 runs to the nearest Goodwill store, which is only a few blocks away. I have 8 more bags to drop off today.

Second, I have to pick up Ellie, the 3 year old, two afternoons every week now because her father can't do it since he is still taking classes for his MA degree.  And, it was HOT here yesterday, 99 degrees!  It will be the same today, but then by Thursday, a new storm front is moving in, and rain is in the forecast!

Third, I have TONS of cleaning to do at home.  We have a leak in our main bathroom and we aren't using that sink.  We need to get it repaired.  So, for now, we turned off that faucet.  But still, it is something we'll have to deal with.  Ugh.

I never knew retirement could be so exhausting!

On the other hand, a family of grosbeaks has stopped by on the way to somewhere new.  There are 2 males and 2 females.  I put out orange slices, grapes, and watermelon, but they seem to prefer just plain old birdseed!  However, smaller birds are enjoying all the fruit!  They entertain us with their calls.  I've tried to get a photo of one of them, but they are quite skittish.

And, of course, I get to visit the little one, who seems to fall asleep every time I visit!

I haven't been so tired since...

My goodness!  Retirement is tiring!  I awoke at 3:00 a.m. my first official day of retirement(yesterday) and today I woke up at 4:44.  Hubby and I went down and visited the new grandson and I got to hold him for 2 hours while he slept.  He is a little cuddler!  He's gaining 1 oz a day and is growing!   ;-)

I need to go through more bags of books and items from my class room and take them to charity.  I have bags and bags of books.  I found an arrowhead collection and gave it to the other grandson Sunday when his family came down for a visit.  He also got some books and pencils.

Phew!  Retirement is tiring!

Photo of an old house at the Rancho Mirage park.

Welcome to the world, little one!

He woke up during our visit yesterday about noon.  He's very quiet and doesn't scream or yell.  He has peed on his mom twice now, during one diaper change!

Retirement hasn't really hit me yet and I don't think it really will until tomorrow (Monday).  I'm STILL waking up at 4:30 a.m. !!!

Today mom and baby get to go home, so we will go down to their house and visit this afternoon.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day here yesterday...lots of clouds and cool temps!  What a way to end April and usher in May!

Cheers!
~Cheryl Ann~