What's Typical?

What's a typical day for me, now that I'm retired?

That's not an easy question to answer. Each day is different and each is full of so many activities it's hard to say what's typical.

Last Friday I went to yard sales. I came back with a lot of things I'll be listing online. And I found a lovely old bed and dresser set for the log room that isn't even built yet. (Ummm, I already have all the furniture I need for it now, and Larry says don't buy any more. Okay, okay. He's right--but we did need the bed and dresser and these were such a good deal.) When I got home it was canning time. Peaches for the rest of the day. Fun. Really. In the evening we visited some friends and I helped her with her tomatoes.

Saturday and Sunday I canned, but we took a little break Saturday evening to go to a local auction. Nothing exciting there except the cute little boy who sat beside me. He was a miracle child, his mother said, born at 25 weeks and has already had 3 major surgeries--and he's only 7. He was so well-behaved he was a pleasure to sit with.

Larry spent his weekend fixing my car (replacing the big belt before it broke) and mowing our son's grass and our grass, as well as digging on the footer for the log room. He's got it finished and will be ordering sand, gravel, cement and block for the foundation this week.

Yesterday I worked on routine housework in the morning. After canning all weekend I needed to catch up. So it was laundry and cleaning up clutter, sorting paperwork, and making a grocery list for today. Then I got to work on preparing some promotional letters for mailing. I also needed to respond to emails and clean out the spam emails.

Next was eBay. I had packages to prepare for shipping, items to list, and general catchup work there. Then more of the same with my book sales on Amazon (not as much work to do there), and then write my blog and catch up on Facebook. By then it was time to cook dinner and spend a little time with Larry. After dinner I worked on more promotional letters and got my mailings and list ready for today.

This morning I did some quick housework, researched gas refrigerators and then left for town. Grocery shopping, library, post office, bank--the usual stops. Now I'm home and back at work on eBay since they are offering a "listing sale" and I can list items for a penny and I can't miss this opportunity. This evening I'm heading to Parkersburg with a friend to attend a program about ghosts.

Tomorrow I will be cleaning house and cooking because one of my sisters is coming to visit! I know we'll get into something fun while she's here. Then on the weekend more family is coming in for the holiday, so I see a cookout or two on the horizon, and maybe a big country breakfast crowd too.

So that's how it's been recently. I've been up early to enjoy the cool, fall-like mornings, and stop often when hanging my laundry to listen to the sounds of birds and bugs and no human noise at all. It's peaceful. In the evenings we sit out on the yard swing or on the patio and play with the dogs before we head in--Larry to watch a movie, me to do whatever I'm into that night. Bedtime comes around 11pm for me, earlier for Larry.

The days are certainly full. I realized the other day that I never had any adjustment difficulties at all. No longing to go off to work, no missing the routine, no wishing I could sit in an air-conditioned office instead of sweating over a canner. I wondered if I would feel any of those things--once in my past I worked full time for a brief period as a mail carrier, and when it was over I was at a loss for a week or more. This time, there wasn't even a hiccup of longing.