105 DAYS! AND HAPPY EASTER, TOO!

Oh dear, here we go!  Countdown to Panama!  Okay, I have several countdowns in my life right now. I am counting down the days until my retirement--18 work days, but since there is a ten day vacation thrown in there along with Memorial Day being a holiday,  39 days until I say "Sayonara" to the office setting, 12 days until vacation and there are 32 days until my long holiday weekend.   And finally, Ray and I have travel lined up to Panama with it being 105 days until we fly out of here on August 3rd with a return ticket back for November 23rd.  THREE MONTHS HERE!  We have made arrangements with our daughter (you always want to book family and friends in advance, since the summer will pass quickly!) to take us to the airport or perhaps just to the hotel the night before our flight.  Lake Anna is two hours from the airport, and our flight is at nine am.  No, I won't be leaving here to get there any earlier than I have to!

In my two plus years researching our retirement to Panama, I have read a lot about holidays in Panama mostly with the traffic that coincides with the holiday breaks.  Thousands and thousands of Panamanians leave Panama City and flock to the interior to take a much needed break at the beaches or in the mountains.  There are many vacation homes that sit empty until the owners revisit during the  long holiday breaks.  I have counted (always counting) 23 holidays in Panama (give or take a few days that might be added around the actual holiday).  With the thousands of cars on the road (there is one road) getting the Panamanians to the interior, there is gridlock.  There have been several accidents in the last few days on the PanAmerican Highway.  The expats, if they have lived there long enough, if they have done their research, if they have friends that have had experiences being in the thick of the chaos, know to batten down the hatches and stay home.  They know to make plans according to when the grocery stores will be overpacked and lacking in supplies, the roads will be congested and the quiet beaches will be chaotic.  They know to shop early for groceries and staples and to stay close to home.  Heck, they are retired, and the beaches and grocery stores will be there for them the next day.  They also know to keep the earplugs close by for the fireworks and loud music that will go on into the wee hours of the morning.  And they know to have their alcohol bought prior to the holiday since there are days of prohibition.  And if they want peace and quiet, they know to head to Panama City where the stores are empty, and there are sales galore!

How does all of that relate to my week prior to the Easter holiday.  I certainly can drink anytime I want, I have only needed earplugs to drown the chattering of the birds out (but heck, I turn my hearing aids on so I can finally hear the music haha), but alas, I cannot avoid the chaotic mess of the highway.  There is pretty much just one way to my office.  I have to get over the Rappahannock River, and then, just for kicks, I could get off the highway and take an even longer route to get to work.  Nevertheless, the only way north to work is to get over this one body of water first--the Rappahannock River that runs through Fredericksburg, VA.  For history buffs, there was the Battle of Rappahannock River fought during the War of 1812.  This river also provided a barrier and defensive line for troops during the Civil War.  It was a difficult barrier for Union troops to take over southern Virginia.  In other words, not much has changed in the last two hundred years!  Everyday thousands of commuters have to fight the traffic to get over this river.  Ray and I have fought this river daily this past week.  We have been in the chaotic mess of the holiday week.  There are numerous counties surrounding I-95 North to Northern Virginia.  Some of these counties celebrated school spring breaks this past week.  My daughter was off from teaching last week.  Other counties close the schools this coming week.  I foolishly thought, for half a second, that there would be less traffic.  People would be on vacation.  They would be like the Panamanians and flock to the beaches or to New York City (many friends take their kids here when on break) or go on cruises even.  My commute hasn't really changed.  It was eight times as long one week ago on the Thursday night prior to  spring break for many in this area.  It stays about six times as long going to work and coming home at night (one hour).  Ray hasn't been left out of the mess either.  He had to travel over the river to Northern Virginia two days last week, and there was not one day of accidents getting in his way but both days.

Our mess here daily

Holiday mess in Panama

Then Friday, Good Friday, came along.  With our daughter being off on break and me being off on Fridays, I had made plans with her to spend the day with her (she is just that lucky).  Ray, being retired, decided to join us in the festivities.  In the past, when she has been on break, we do some damage shopping.  This past Friday was no exception.  I was the lucky one that benefited mostly from the springtime sales.  I loved having Carly help me choose what and what not to buy and wear.  Getting to her apartment was easy breezy.  It takes about an hour and a half from the lake house to Fairfax, VA.  Coming home, it just about doubled.  Fortunately, there weren't any car accidents standing in our way.  Unfortunately, there were just thousands upon thousands of cars making there way into or out of town for the holiday weekend/week.  Almost double the time to get home.

What I was shopping for on Friday (minus those boots--blech--and won't work in Panama!)

 Unusual weekend to have so many plans in Northern Virginia, yesterday had us back on the highway traveling about the same distance to a friend's birthday dinner.  Two plus hours later, we arrived early and hungry.  Our early arrival had us driving around a bit (more driving sight seeing and touring homes in our old stomping grounds from 1987).  Driving home at night, the only thing we saw were deer on the side of the road.  That could be fortunate or unfortunate.  Today, we head back to our daughter's apartment because she, at the last minute, became our Easter holiday hostess with the mostess.  Sure, I could have had dinner here, but I didn't want my daughter and nephew to have to make the drive here.  Ray's retired, and since he is driving Miss Daisy everywhere, I can suck it up one more day.  And besides, in 105 days I will have my Panamanian holiday calendar at the ready, and I will know when to load up on bread, toilet paper and milk--wait, that's what we do here when a big snow storm is on its way--fruits, meats and liquids will be stocked, and I will have my hearing aids out and earplugs at the ready!

End of the day update:  while we hit traffic going North on I-95 to our daughter's apartment today and had to drive the country backroads to get there (taking all of the two hours we gave ourselves to get there), Facebook messages popped up along the way showing tragic accidents in the interior of Panama with fatalities.  My trip was thankfully uneventful with just many cars on the road getting in our way.  We were even behind a tractor (oh no, not another tractor) carrying very large bales of hay (Ray shys away from tractors now!).   Just a reminder to me to stay home during those holidays in Panama.

SOLD AND SETTLED!

Kudos to me and Ray for getting our house in Stafford in tip top shape, our belongings sold or moved to the lake house, our taxes done along the way, jobs tidied up, and paperwork signed at settlement yesterday!  I will toast us tonight at dinner!

 After we sold our TV on Friday, we went to see the movie "Divergent".  I didn't really want to see it, since I thought it was a rip off of the movie "Hunger Games", but it is a 2 1/2 hour movie and was sure to kill some time for us later Friday night. We had done all we could with the house, so dinner and a movie were on the list of things to do to get our minds off the upcoming chore of moving on Saturday.  We managed to get a comfortable nights sleep on our mattress, and Saturday morning had us out the door by eight am to pick up the rental truck.  The computer at the service station was slow, paperwork seemed to take forever and even getting the truck from up the hill was a task for the young man, but once Ray was behind the wheel, we booked it back home to load up the truck.  Neighbors came out to say "hi" and "goodbye" once last time, we put our gravity chairs on the truck to go back to the lake house, we put two pieces of antique furniture on the truck (my friend was unable to pick it up from Tennessee the week prior), we managed to get that antique rocking chair onto the truck (since rocking chairs didn't want to fit in Ray's Mini-Cooper), and we loaded it up with suitcases stuffed with clothing.  Within forty-five minutes we were at the lake house quickly unloading the truck.  I left my car behind, and off we went back to Stafford to wait for my two nephews to show up for the move to their mom's house with some furniture she was buying and taking from us.  We had a good thirty minutes to sit on our porch soaking up  the warm sunshine and taking a selfie in front of our soon to be sold house.  More "goodbyes" to other neighbors, my nephews showed up to load up some heavier pieces of furniture (no way was I going to be of any help), and this time we drove north about thirty minutes to my sister's house.  My sister and her boyfriend had just started the spring/summer season at a Farmers Market (my sister owns a bakery, and her boyfriend is the baker), so she was busy making some money while we unloaded dressers, mattresses, nightstands and tables into her house.  Perfect timing for my sister to arrive home and help us make her new bed!  The busy day had stirred up a huge appetite, and it was a late lunch/early dinner for the five of us.  We lounged at "Not Your Average Joe's" restaurant eating great food and having even better conversation catching up with my nephews.  Once Ray and I got back into the rental truck, we made one more trip to the house in Stafford and collected some refrigerator items and his car (which had been filled up once more earlier that morning).  I followed Ray to the Home Depot in Fredericksburg which is where the rental truck had to be dropped off.  Another long and arduous process of now trying to drop off the truck since the woman behind the register had never done a "truck rental drop off" before.  It had been a long day.  Back to the lake house we went longing for a really long and good nights sleep!

My sister's things loaded up on the truck.

Our just about emptied out garage (the cabinet is staying with the new owners)

Hate moving days.

In front of our soon to be sold house that we owned for eight years.

Sunday had Ray and I taking a five mile walk in the neighborhood, grabbing lunch at Chilis and grocery shopping.  It was an uneventful day of shopping and trying to make room in our cluttered environment.  All good things must come to an end though and on Monday I was lucky enough to start my forty-five mile commute one way to work.  I left too early of course, but I didn't know what to expect (school buses, accidents on the highway, which exit would be the best to take) that first day. Monday through Thursday while I went to work, Ray was busy on the phone with Comcast cable company (one to one plus hour phone conversations trying to hook up Magic Jack, and making sure they didn't disconnect us again, and settling up our bill they had screwed up in the process of wrongly disconnecting us), registered our cars in this county of Spotsylvania, changed our address, cleaned up and straightened the garage some more, made sense of his things in the bedroom, sold two tables and a rocking chair on Craigslist (done with this!), made me dinner, brought home cupcakes, picked up his eyeglasses and delivered modems and boxes to the cable company.  We also managed to walk three out of the four work nights.  Yes, I had a tough first week going to work and leaving him to roll over in bed at 6:15 am.  Yes, I aired my difficulties (big sigh here that I was whining a bit about not being retired with him), and yes, I am over it.  Until this Monday.  No, actually, my having three days off, my being in the quiet at the lake house today on a beautifully sunny and warm day with no one around, and my feeling huge satisfaction in all the we have done together these past two months to get ready for our goal of moving to Panama has brought me to a state of acceptance.  I have twenty days of work left, and it will all be good.  I do feel a sense of urgency that I won't have a lot of time this summer before I leave, but this is because I am still thinking like a working woman.  I have to remember I will have seven days a week off and not just the weekends.  Okay, back to all things good.

What a day yesterday was, and it was another long one.  Ray and I jumped in the car by seven thirty yesterday morning to head up the highway to Costco.  I have had this "clicking" sound in my right hearing aid every time I am in the car with the radio on.  Call it a click, a crick or a crack, it has been an annoyance, and it disturbs my holding a good pitch when singing (yeah right, don't ask me to sing) at the top of my lungs with the convertible top down (did I write how gorgeous it has been these past few days?).  First, I wanted to see my house one last time.  Pulling up to the house we noticed the future owners had put black shutters on the front of the house, and they had the front door painted black (we had just had a fresh coat of dark green painted on it this past fall).  In the garage were all of the kitchen appliances.  In the kitchen were brand new stainless steel appliances.  They were busy folk!  New ceiling fans, new electrical outlets, painting completed, new carpeting, and new shelving in the closets were all noticed and make an impressive mark on the house.  And in about eight hours it would not be our house anymore.  We bumped into the neighbors walking their elementary school aged children to the bus stop, bumped into the future owner who had told us the movers had backed out of the job, and she was now hustling to get new movers to the house for today, and then we were on our way to Costco.  Once that task was completed (and yes, with the loaner aid, I realize it is the aid and not me "hearing things"), Ray and I went to the Apple Store to have my laptop evaluated once more.  The screen likes to come up blue sometime.  A new drive would be ordered and installed, and I was satisfied to hear that I am not the cause of the computer malfunctioning.  Seems there have been some quality control issues with the 2012 Macbook Air models So not my fault here either fortunately, since I have had trouble in the past with laptops.

Lunch time was once we made it to Stafford County.  It is spring break, and, of course, I-95 needs even more of a reason at twelve thirty in the afternoon to be congested and clogged.  Wings and a salad along with some yummy Buffalo Chicken Dip were ordered, and our bellies were full.  But we still had some time to kill before our settlement time at four pm.  We shopped at Target, had chai tea at Starbucks and off we went to the attorney's office.  What a nice two hours at settlement.  It couldn't have gone any smoother.  The attorney is a patient of mine, and the soon to be owners of our house know her very well, also.  Ray and I were to sign just a few papers, the deed to the house was signed, keys and remote controls to the garage were passed over, and the new owners of our old house brought champagne to toast!  They thought we would finish together, but they still had many more papers to sign.  The attorney said it would be no problem for us to drink champagne while they completed their paperwork, and so we did!  We spent another twenty or so minutes drinking champagne and watching them sign all the necessary documents, and once there was a lull, we were out of there!  Hugs and promises were then made to get together for dinner one weekend before we leave for Panama and also to see them at their annual Christmas party.  And off we went home to Lake Anna.  How odd is it to write that.  What a feeling and sense of accomplishment!  Ray and I arrived to the lake house ready to eat the remaining cupcakes from the night before (the flavors were blueberry pancake--so good!--and chocolate peanut butter--sort of predictable, but still quite good), and to just veg in front of the TV.  That felt good, too!  It had been a long day, along with quite a few long weeks!

Today Ray woke up to drive to his dad's house in Louisa County.  His dad has been having many yard sales to try and sell off an extensive collection of things in his shop and garage.  He will be moving to Georgia once his house sells, and he hasn't broken down to selling on Craigslist yet.  Ray was another set of eyes to watch over those eager to spend money on his dad's "stuff".  I, on the other hand, not retired yet and having ONLY three days off a week (haha) stayed behind at the lake house to take a leisurely five mile walk and wash my car.  I walked to the newly reopened Barn store to get a newspaper (I have missed my morning newspaper), but the delivery has not started of the one I usually read.  I bought The Central Virginian instead, and I discovered it is too annoying of a paper to continue to read in the future.  The paper was lacking in content and the writing style was unsatisfactory.  I turned to a People magazine instead.  There, that was better!  And sat on the deck to read with the birds going to town talking and singing.  Let me mute those hearing aids!  One roomie was coming to the house this morning and made it to the lake house at around two pm in record breaking time of three hours (twice the time it should take), and Ray arrived about thirty minutes later.  We had plans for dinner and a play at The University of Mary Washington, so off we went at around four thirty to meet our friends that were also driving from Northern Virginia.  We drove farther north, changing restaurants, in order to give them ample time to eat dinner.  Traffic.  The play we saw was "Lysistrata", and I am still confused and perplexed by it.  An odd play for a college theater.  Just an odd show altogether.  But like my lake house roomie said, it's always good to get out and do different things.  This was definitely different.

Tomorrow Ray will leave for his mom's house once more.  He will drop off two suitcases and ten bags of clothing.  And he will return the next day.  Then retirement for Ray should begin.  We can start daydreaming again about Panama and house hunting can continue.  Now that we own one third of a house, we can look forward to renting a house for a while in Panama.  Amazing how selling a house and unloading all of that "stuff" lifts so much off our shoulders.  Even though we seem to have more days together in the future, it seems like those days will be full of activity and adventure.  Here's to more warm, sunny days sitting on the deck mindlessly reading entertainment magazines and lackluster newspapers preparing for our future move to Panama.

Love when these trees "snow" (like I really want to see more of that!)

Soon the trees will be full, and we will have a smaller, but still pretty, glimpse of Lake Anna.

The birds are going to town.  It was a long winter for them as well.

CINDERFELLA AND HIS STEPSISTER

While walking on Wednesday (can you believe it was warm and dry enough to walk two days this past week after work!), I asked Ray if his first week of retirement had gone the way he thought it would go.  You know what all retirees say though "I am busier now than I was when I was working!".  That was something he said Monday night.  He had a busy day from start to finish.  We had asked that the painters not come to the house Monday, his first day home, or Friday, my day off.  So on Monday, Ray was able to clean the few windows that were left to be done in our bedroom and the kitchen appliances from top to bottom.  The refrigerator was "not pretty".  He also brought everything up from the basement that is being moved tomorrow and put it all into the garage.  We took an hour walk once I got home from my relaxing day at work and chatted with the neighbors (and future owner of my house).  And then I realized something.  Ray not having to be in bed by eight pm had him as a Chatty Cathy that warm spring night.  I looked over at him and my neighbor and said "hello, I haven't been fed or taken a shower yet, and I have to be up early tomorrow."  :)  It was a mere 6:30, but I had things to do!

The painters came and went for the next three days painting different rooms here and there.  A college kid who is a patient of mine came and repaired the only thing that came back wrong on the home inspection we had done in January.  He replaced a small piece of wood trim that had rotted outside.  The painters will paint over it for us.  But this is where the week was not how Ray had planned for it to go.  While Ray did tell them to paint all over the house since we were now pretty much cleared out of all the rooms, it made it challenging for Ray to be in any one room breaking it down or just relaxing as retirees do in his pajamas/sweats watching TV, so he chose to be out of the house making trips to the lake house with a lot of his own personal things and clothing.  And he also took a lot of odds and ends from the garage.  The good was that the painters moved our bedroom furniture for us, so Ray could clean up along the baseboards.  And the future owner insisted everyday that we not clean the way we have, but there is no way we won't clean floors and appliances and countertops.  We know things will get dusty next week when the handyman comes in to work on installing new electrical outlets and the FO's rip out carpeting on Sunday and drag it out of the house.  We want to leave the house like we would someone to do for us.

Finally, Thursday night comes along which is my Friday.  We went for a bite to eat at a Greek Restaurant down the road that we have only been to one other time.  We are unsure why we haven't gone many more times before, because our meals and the Tres Leches dessert was all very good!  Once home, we were throwing out odds and ends.  Ray just didn't think he could make it to Goodwill one more time.  I happen to have an archaic alarm clock.  I think it dates to the eighties.  I already have an alarm clock at the lake house.  So when Ray asked if I was taking the clock to the lake house, I told him no.  His next comment was "you don't need your alarm clock or this light, so they can go in the trash, right?"  I was busy working very hard in the bathroom, and yes, I did hear what he said (darn these hearing aids!), but I misunderstood what he was really asking at that time.  My response was "right".  Not only have I had to ask Ray to save one cup for me to drink water out of this week (and last night it wasn't there, because he unloaded the dishwasher and took all the plastic cups including that one to Goodwill), but I have also asked that he keep a spoon around for my breakfast yogurt.  (Yes, we have plastic one's at the lake house, but we forgot to bring them here.  And no, Ray hasn't really eating much this week, and he drinks out of a can--not me at all.  I want a cup with ice please haha.)  So the cup was gone and the spoon.  Then, while brushing our teeth last night, Ray said, "Guess we will wake up whenever tomorrow, since neither one of us has an alarm clock".  Really?  My clock is gone, too?


My daughter called the other night to check in and asked us if we were excited about the move to the lake  house.  Our response was that we haven't had time to get excited with the back and forth of packing and unloading (but yes, we were so excited the house sold as easily as it did, and of course, we are excited about the future!), and now we really just want to be in one house for a while.  This house is lighter and brighter and emptier than ever, and it really hasn't been our house for a few weeks.  So yes we are ready to move, and it won't be difficult since we are going to a place of comfort and feel like we left this house a while ago.

 This was one week, I will say this now and not say it again, that I was okay with being at work.  We unloaded our couch and love seat on Sunday, and the gravity lounge chairs are for the birds.  They are comfortable to plop into at the end of the day, sitting by the lake sunning or sitting on the screened-in porch reading, but not long term.  But I can't complain one bit, because we sold all of our furniture all by ourselves!  In one hour, we lose our final TV here.  Tonight we will go to the movies and come home to our bed that is on the floor.  The rest of it has been moved to the garage.

Looks like we could be getting on a plane to Panama!

Clothes laying on the kitchen counter ready to go into car.
Most of the suitcases are empty, but we need them for trips!

The Future Owner asked painters to remove the medicine cabinets.
Notice the hole on the left side of the wall.

The grill and Rubbermaid storage cabinets go to my sisters house.
The things on the right wall go to the lake house tomorrow.

The living room with fresh paint (and not our furniture).

Dining room is newly painted (not our furniture).  

Two dressers waiting for my nephews to help
Ray move them to the truck tomorrow and to my sister's house.

One side of our bedroom newly painted.  The laundry basket
will be used as a suitcase tomorrow.

My closet with the clothes picked out for tomorrow's move.

Just the bed left this morning, and now the mattress sits there.

Ray forgot to leave himself a shirt for tomorrow.
No problem, since we were going to the
lake house he could pick himself up one.

Good laughs this week is all I can say!  It is stressful, it is mentally tiring and also physically tiring.  But we are super focused on the end result, we know we will be in close quarters for a while, and we treat it as practice for that "24/7" which is soon to come.  24 days of work for me until retirement!