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!

STAY TUNED--THINGS ARE BOUND TO GET INTERESTING

In a professional quandary here since Friday, and solely because I am loyal to my word, I doubt anything will change in decisions Ray and I have made these past few months.  I don't know what to expect tomorrow and in the coming days and weeks, so I will take a step back and see what develops.  I won't put into detail what transpired, and I expect confusion from this first paragraph, but just know that I am saddened by what occurrences took place this past week at my office.

But enough of that!  Let's move past all the drama of office politics and the wrongdoings of others, and let's celebrate Ray.  (By the way, I am now typing this post from a gravity chair--a lounge chair that we use at the lake.  We just saw our sunroom couch and love seat go out the door!  Six nights of luxury seating at its finest!)

Well, at Ray's big retirement shindig Friday night, there were so many loving co-workers, along with me, my daughter and her boyfriend, sharing his special day with him.  Seventy or so employees were at the luncheon on his final day which was then followed by a happy hour/dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Los Toltecas.  I told my daughter that anyone, including me, could only hope for 1/10th of the love and joy those friends of Ray's shared with him that day.  (Maybe it was the margaritas?)  Even an attorney bellowed out to Ray down the table in front of all that he loved Ray.  He clarified it by saying that no one had better work ethics than Ray and that he appreciated the work that Ray had done all of these years.   And he went on to say that he was always grateful for all of the help Ray had given to him and all that he had done for him.  If anyone could get an answer to a question or figure out the problem, it was Ray, and it was consistently done quickly and professionally.  It was a wonderful night with great conversation and laughs.  His boss drove down from Pittsburgh with his wife (huge surprise) and his partner in crime from the Pittsburgh office also made the trip for the days events.

Like Ray, I value good work ethics.  I am extremely loyal to mostly my patients and to my co-workers.  But things took a turn on Friday that have me extremely saddened and disheartened. I have twenty-eight days to muster through.  Tomorrow I will be surrounded by several unhappy and confused co-workers.  There will be those that will be somehow be elated.  The environment is not going to be pleasant.  I have to remember that the occurrences have not affected me directly (but personally they have surprised and crushed me).  I have been reminding myself this entire weekend while I watch the stress melt off Ray's face (work stress this is...still have the house to tidy up but not too much left to do!) what my beliefs are, where my ethics lie, what I have  strived to accomplish in my career, and that I still have choices.  I do not have to be consistent.  I do not have to please everyone as long as my choices and decisions reflect what Ray and I have decided and discussed and that they are decisions I have made.  Not for anyone else, and not about anyone else.  28 days...let's just see what tomorrow brings.

For now, I will recline in my gravity chair and eat Ray's red hots!  And by the way, it snowed again today!  And rained.  And heavy winds.  We will say it was swaining while we rocked the day away.

FINAL WORK DAYS FOR RAY!

On Friday, it seemed like I had quite a bit to blog about--we had more snow and another day off from work, I had many more patients that came in for their "last cleaning with me" shocking news, we had eye doctor appointments made at the last minute before losing our health insurance, there was chaos at the last Homeowner's Association Meeting we attended, my sister was in a car accident on the way to meeting me for lunch (run off the highway by a maniac driver--she is okay, but her car is banged up a bit), and we sold our humungous TV today, some mugs, a lamp, a refrigerator and beanie babies this past week.

But for right now, the only thing I really want to post is that Ray has five days of work left until his retirement at the ripe old age of 47.  Gone will be the automatic wake up at 2:30 am (I think his alarm has gone off less than a handful of times all of his working years), the long hours on the road, and the twelve plus hour days at work.  His work wife has been weepy, and I think by the end of the week there will be many more tears shed by so many more good friends and co-workers.  Tomorrow he starts training the new employee that will soon sit in his chair.  She won't be given the training that Ray had hoped for (her hiring came a bit late), because he would like to know that he leaves the office in good shape and the staff are in good hands.  But everyone that knows Ray knows that no matter how much training he provides, there won't be another Ray.  Everyone also knows people are replaceable, but I wouldn't want to be the one trying to fill his shoes--even just the left one for that matter!  For now, I will just leave this post to be about Ray and his having just five days left at the law firm.  I can save my bitterness (haha) and the "this is a blog that is really all about me getting ready to retire to Panama" until tomorrow.

On Lake Anna for the next few months.

Retirement will be good :)

FITTING A SQUARE PEG INTO A ROUND HOLE

Or in this case, nine dresser drawers and a walk in closet into half a closet and three dresser drawers.  I need to donate more.  It is going to have to wait until after we move into the lake house and out of this house, because for now, I just want it moved.  My brain is fried from trying to put everything into the right pile.  Friday, when Ray and I tackled the kitchen, we had four piles.   Fortunately, Ray had just walked in the door from work, and I had only just started the attack on the kitchen cabinets. (I timed it just right haha)  Then  the termite man was here to give us an "A-OK" on our termite inspection for the sale of the house, and while his inspection took one hour, it forced us to be here at the house getting the job done.  Dinner out for me, because now we have VERY LITTLE in our kitchen.  Case in point...we just made taco soup for dinner.  A double batch, because we are expecting MORE SNOW TONIGHT!  And Ray's office had already set a "two hour discretionary delay" as of eleven am this morning.  It hasn't even started snowing.  While preparing the soup, we realized we did keep a one cup measuring cup.  We do have a cutting board to chop the onions.  If we want the large bowls to eat out of, we have to raid our daughter's Rubbermaid bins (we will make do with the smaller soup bowls we have--better on the waistline to use smaller plates and bowls supposedly, or I will just refill many times!), and we no longer have large ladles or our favorite large blue or red speckled spoon to use to scoop it all out into the small bowls.  Oh, we can just use the measuring cup as a scoop.  Improvise.  Eat soup.  Eat out.  Order in.  Life is good.  It's all good.

Friday morning I was again having some dental work done, but I wasn't quite as numb this time, thank goodness!  I was having a new veneer done (the old one was perfectly fine in good working conditions, but it was eighteen years old and not looking as pretty).  Again, I pay only lab costs (since we have never had dental insurance), so I figure I should get things done that bother me now.  And then off to the lake house to unload some more Rubbermaid bins and clothing.  Saturday, repeat of Friday to the lake house.  Ray and I took both cars.  Again, his little car is amazing.  Then we spent some time making things work in the house.  We had unloaded our kitchen accessories into the lake house kitchen, clothing into our closet, wine and the like into the revolving cabinet and so on.  WE hung shoe racks in the garage for now, and some soccer chairs up on the rafters.  I told our Lake Anna roommates we have to enjoy many happy hours in the next four months, eat a lot of nuts (put them in pancakes, cookies, use as coating for chicken...), drink lots of iced and hot tea along with coffee, and make as well as eat ice cream sundaes every weekend, so we can get through all of the sprinkles!

And this morning, it was back to Lake Anna lake house.  We tried once before to fit a tall rocking chair into Ray's car to bring back to this house with us (to sell), but it wouldn't fit (what?!).  This time we tried to fit a smaller rocking chair (Ray's piece of furniture he is saving) into his car to take to the house, but this car has some trouble with rocking chairs.  We put together (Ray did actually) a no tools required garment holder, so we could extend our closet to the outside world for a while.  We also asked the roommates if we could move our Rubbermaid bins to some unused nook in the entryway of the house until we leave (then move the bins back to our bedroom).  No problem!  Dress it up with a curtain and the Costa Rican ox cart, and all seems well.  Busy, busy as we still move things out, and the future owners move things in.

As far as Panama goes, we have our eyes on a home in Chame to rent, and we are looking at two others now in El Valle (and there is one that our friends looked at already that is still in contention).  We have been reading on the forums that since the supermarket El Rey was built and is in operation now, along with the new shopping center that it is in, water is running low.  It is dry season and many people are saying that while the pipes are old and deteriorating and slow to being fixed, another reason for lack of water is the high demand of the new stores.  And another thing being written about is the lights are left on throughout the night of the shopping center taking away from the pretty dark skies of this charming town.  El Valle may have some kinks to work out plus the rental supply isn't great just yet.  Perhaps in a few months, the snowbirds will leave the rentals, and there will be more offerings.  Six months renting a house doesn't seem like a long time to live in a not so great house or neighborhood, but I would like to think that with as organized as Ray and I are being in this America, that we don't show up to a rental house in Central America that is not quite right.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to appear clean, tidy, organized and not disheveled.  Sounds like someone I know.

What's behind curtain number one?

Our "stuff" of course!  (Our daughter's, too)

Don't judge, there are four of us that contribute
to this cabinet--for the past five years).  

Our wine runneth over.

The sprinkles extend to the back.

Baking and cooking oils and vinegars (round and
round it goes with nuts, chocolate chips, and essentials)

So much coffee and tea to drink.

More wine here.

My half of the closet (wedding dress made it to the top shelf)

Ray's half (with china on top)

Our extended closet

Looking pretty empty in this house.

Mostly uniforms left in my closet.

Plenty of luggage.  All those work pants and shirts!  Not for long!

Ray loses a bunch of tee shirts.  Lots of luggage.

A HUTCH BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A HUTCH

The oak-stained pine hutch left the house on Saturday.  Yep.  That's about all I've got.  It apparently affected me enough to post something about it.  A hutch is described as a piece of furniture used to display and store dishes. This hutch was unlike all the other pieces of furniture that have been bought and taken out of the house in the past month.  I equate it with that beaten up stuffed animal or blanket that kids have that are broken down that are just always going to be there.  Not that this hutch was beaten up or that it ever kept me warm, but it was a staple and a constant piece of furniture.  For 25 years, Ray and I moved this hutch from one house to the next.  My parents bought us this hutch when we first married.  We loved anything "country" at the time.  In our townhouse (the first house we bought), the hutch stood prominently in the dining room displaying dishes and storing more bakeware and china in the cabinets below.  In our first single family home (I call it the Rockhill house, since it was on Rockhill Church Rd), we found a place for it in the dining room really never to be seen except for during holiday dinners and our daughter's birthday parties.  It still displayed those dishes and housed even more dishware that we acquired over the years.  It then came along with us to the house we now live in for only the next three weeks and stood in a nook.  Some would have a "butler's pantry" built in this nook, but our hutch had a purpose now to fill this space.  And it also had to display Mason Jars on the top of it, different colored plates and glasses passed down to me from my parents and to store bowls, placemats, tablecloths and more dishes I again acquired because I couldn't send anything to Goodwill at the time (my, my, my have things changed!).

The hutch leaving the house then brought memories back of our Persian cat, Cody, who was with us for eleven short years.  Why?  I think because Cody was a constant.  Never needed much.  Was always there.  Went with us from the townhouse, to Rockhill, to this house.  Wasn't ever really a lap cat, but he was always there.  Always in a room with someone.  My daughter would stay up until one or two am working on homework, and Cody would be in room with her not needing a thing.  Just hanging out.  Not requiring much.  The hutch needed dusting.  Cody needed grooming and shaving to prevent those hairballs.  Back on track here.  This is a blog about Panama after all.

Of all the furniture I have seen come and go these past few weeks, the hutch was something we hadn't changed.  It wasn't passed down to us, and it wasn't acquired because we moved into someone else's house (when we bought Ray's dad's house--Rockhill--we acquired a great deal of stuff!).  It was a gift that we had both set our eyes on before we married and knew we wanted it to be in our house.  So when the man and woman came to load the hutch onto their flatbed truck and take it away, there was a void.  Not to be sappy, because I know pine wouldn't last in Panama,  I know it isn't the right style, and  it wouldn't make sense to ship.  But if a piece of furniture were to be lugged along the way to Panama, it would have to have been this hutch (who needs couches?).  It was a constant, served a purpose and made us both happy to have received it.   I suppose that is what I will remember most about it then.  Not giving it away (okay, it was sold for a ridiculous price), but how excited Ray and I were to have it in our first dining room twenty-five years ago.

Now here's to getting excited about settling into our new place in Panama.  We will be in rental houses first, so I won't be able to get attached to any furnishings.  This will be a good thing.  I will find other things to attach myself to (the sunshine, the flowers, the fresh fruit) and realize that a hutch is just a hutch.  All will be fine.

Hutch sits empty at the end of the hall in its "nook" with a mason jar remaining on top.  

Cody hanging out with Kringle Bear every Christmas.