03/21/2026

 I am giving myself full permission to do nothing this weekend.  My longtime friend, Becky, and I are at Airbnb this weekend - in our town!  Yes, we chose not to drive out of the city and instead, partake of a lovely home in our fair city.  

One of my little projects to do this weekend, is cleaning up my emails and digital content.  When I logged in to Blogspot, I was astonished at how long it had been since I last made a post.  Time flies, It's scary!

Or perhaps, it's that my life is status quo.... nothing changes.  Good? Bad?  I'm going with good.  I hate the chaos and drama...so boring and predictable is my preference.  Some may argue that you're not really living if you don't have drama and chaos.   I beg to differ.  I live just fine without all the nonsense and bs. 

I get up, go to work, do my job, go to the gym, come home, eat supper, watch my TV shows, read a book, check out social media, and go to bed at 10pm.  Rinse and Repeat.   

I'm still working; I'll retire in 2027 when I turn 65 (Medicare age). I will have 28 years in with the State at that time.  At least, that is the plan....one cannot predict what will happen from one day to the next, I hope the Universe won't throw my any curveballs! Work is going very well; I have a great team of ladies in my department, and we kick out a lot of work. We're cross training quite heavily; I feel confident that when I leave, I will have shared all the knowledge I possess, and my exit will be seamless. 

My, and hubby's health has been good (knock on wood!).  The usual aches and pains but nothing that we can't handle.   I will be scheduling myself for a knee replacement surgery in the fall though.  I'm not looking forward to it.  My bum knee is starting to affect my quality of life.

As of now, I don't have anything planned for the summer months except flower gardening, bicycling, and enjoying the sunshine.   A true Northerner, I can pack a LOT of living in four months of sun (April-Aug) IF Mother Nature cooperates. 

Until next time, Blogstalkers! Be safe and be well!

 

There are times when the world can be cold and uncaring. Everyone loves to celebrate someone's misfortune and hardship. I can't stomach it, nor fathom the heartless cruelty of kicking someone when they're down. It's unimaginable to me. 

There is not ONE person on this earth who wouldn't cringe at having their skeletons being let out of the closet...and trust me, everyone has secrets and sins they're protecting. Everyone. 

Before you speak ill, ask yourself if what you're about to say needs to be said at all. Would you want those words said about you or your famiky? What purpose will your words serve you? If the answer is joy, then kindly remove yourself from my life. I do not need your darkness in my or my family's life.

 Hello Blogland.   It's me, checking in!   It's been a hot minute since I've made a post so I thought I had been fill everyone in on what has been going on with me.  

Not much, same old same old. :)

Work has been busy and steady.  Since returning from vacation (and my last post), I've been sticking to my guns about putting not working extra hours.  I pretty much come in as scheduled, leave as scheduled and haven't gone in on weekends.  It's been good for me.  

I feel at a crossroads in life right now.  I'm older-er, but not at the age where I can retire (yet).  The insurance for both Tom and I is ridiculously expensive. I don't see leaving a job where healthcare is paid to pay an astronomical amount of money for insurance.  Guess I'll just be biting the bullet and staying put for two more years.  

My friends Jennifer (and husband, Rich) and Amelia were over last to plan our annual camping trip.  What a great evening out on the patio. We had drinks and appetizers, good music, and plenty of laughter. It was a great evening to end a busy, stressful week. Our friend dynamics is going to change slightly...maybe.   Jen and Rich are moving about 60 miles away.  While it's not that far but it will make the impromptu get togethers nearly impossible.  That said, they've given an open invitation for weekend getaways at their new home.  They have 5 bedrooms and live on the outskirts of town, perfect for bonfires!  

My hometown of Marion just recently celebrated its 125th celebration What a great time that was!  I planned our 45th class reunion.  Out of a class of 21, thirteen of us gathered together (two deceased).  It was great seeing everyone!  Most of us live in the area so I made a promise to everyone that I'd open up my home and patio next year for another get together for whomever wanted to attend.  

Summer is in full swing, and I cannot believe we're already nearing the end of July.  I've been outside as much as possible, riding bike, tending to my flowers, reading or just enjoying the sun.  These are the days that I dream of in the middle of winter. 

Family is all doing well and good.  My sister Peggy and Blaine just celebrated their birthdays, 77 and 45 respectively.  Blaine is going through a life transition with work right now.  My heart aches for him and his parents.  While I know everything happens for a reason and usually a door closing opens up a new one, it doesn't make it any less stressful to go through at the time.   I'm hoping the Universe is kind to Blaine (and his parents) and their prayers will be answered soon. 

I've purposely been missing in action.  Until recently, I haven't realized the intensity of my stress level has been.  After my return from Arizona, my energies were put towards work, getting caught up on my workload (which is non-ending), training my co-team lead on the grievance procedure, meetings, setting up a policy procedure and incorporating a new person into our team dynamics.  I have always been prideful of my ability to handle stress and multi-task; I thought I was doing well.   Until I wasn't.

Tom and I left April 19th for a scheduled vacation; I scheduled two full weeks out of the office.  In my attempt to have everyone set up to carry on while I was gone (including having all of my work done and staff cross trained to handle things while I was gone), I realized how beat down, stressed and tired I was.  Being the senior staff in the office, I have taken on the mentorship role (of sorts) to the younger staff in the office.  My co-team lead is phenomenal, and we work well together on so many levels.  But at times I feel that she looks to me for guidance on certain things; other times she's the proverbial bull in a china shop (her words, not mine!).

While traveling, each day I felt the stress and tension begin to fall away from my shoulder and I felt 'at ease' with myself; I haven't felt that in a while.  I started to also realize how neglectful I've been towards my health.  On more than one occasion, I would cancel my planned workouts in order to stay at work and 'get ahead of things' for the next day.  I wasn't the over-achiever but rather trying to reduce my stress level at trying to get the work done so that I wouldn't have to face it the next day.  Worse yet, I wasn't getting paid overtime for it.  I did 'flex' out some of those hours, but not near what I should have. I didn't want to take the time away because then I'd feel more stress with the work facing me on my return.   Wow!

I don't like what the stress has been doing to my mental health and my body. For me to cancel my workout plans to stay and work is just insane.  I'm pretty sure my tombstone will not read "Here lays a dedicated State employee".  

I'm 62 years of age. I've already put the Warden and staff on notice that my absolute last day of work in office will be December 31, 2027.  I have made no secret about that. Every year I age, Tom ages as well (he'll be 75 in December). If I can figure out the insurance thing until I hit Medicare age, I may just try and go sooner. It's the whole money thing, you know?  Also, what will I do when I retire...get another job?  If that's the case, I should stay working at my current job and stack my retirement funds.  Ugh, decisions!!

Then there is the 'age' thing at work; I won't say it's outright age discrimination but there certainly are some age jokes being told around me and to me.  I hate that.  I don't want to become irrelevant because of my age.  Maybe that's a factor of my stress as well?  I mean, maybe -in my subconscious - I feel I need to be a step above so the 'young'uns' don't make fun of me?  

So yeah, I've been purposely MIA; I unplugged from the news and all social media.  All in an effort to de-stress, work through my 1–2-year plan, set personal boundaries so that I don't feel this stressed again.  Stop going in early, staying late and stop canceling workouts! Mentor, yes; take on everyone's problems and try to fix them, NO.  Boundaries, Sherry! 

We'll see how this works for me.   Stay tuned!