Oh, I've been busy. Today makes the 12th day I've been officially unemployed, the first time in 43 years that I haven't had a job.

I spent 5 days at Elery's house, he got a sinus finection so I went there and cooked and cleaned and took care of him. We even watched the Superbowl!

I took The Princess and Bud to Lowes to build dinosaurs, tomorrow we're going again to build Valentine boxes. Today I'm going to hit the antique shops and resale stores, stepmother NEEDS a dining room table. She didn't want one when she moved to the apartment but now she NEEDS one and she needs it right now. Well, she's been nagging me since Christmas, so that's on my list.

I've cleaned the barn and I'm packing up the "good china" (which I bought at Meijer for 25 cents per piece, LOL) so I can sell the butt ugly table and cabinet in the dining room. The drawers of the blasted cabinet were full of old pictures which I sorted and put into photo boxes. Then I'm painting that room, the first thing in my house "spruce up" so I can get it up for sale.

I've taken Ashley shopping for materials for her new business venture "Madi K" (Get it? Madison K? :-) One of the local hair salons want to buy her flower clips for weddings and proms, etc, so she needs to make a ton of them. She's on Facebook too, so she's getting some orders, she makes tutus and hair clips, diaper "cakes" and receiving blanket "cupcakes", cluthes to carry diapers and wipes, etc.

I've fixed fence and fed cattle and given my mother a perm and walked stepmother's dog. I've baked bread and made soup for the neighbors next door, they are wonderful people and she had her rotator cuff repaired, so she's kind of laid up and he's tired of his own cooking. I've gotten all the papers together for the tax preparer and I've got to make an appointment there. I'm taking Makayla's adopted stray kitty to be spayed and I have a $35 Chuck E Cheese gift card we need to use.

So, now I'm going to get up and go, I have to hit those resale shops until I find a small table that will wit in stepmother's senior apartment. Then she'll have to find something else she "needs" me to do.

So, my "job" for the next couple of months is cleaning and painting so I can sell this house. Then I'll rent something until we can build at the farm, but it's about time we did something concrete toward that goal!

Next week I'll go back to Elery's for at least the weekend, his youngest granddaughter is having a birthday and she needs a cake shaped like a purse, LOL. His Dad is 88 and his health is declining so we need to go to Ohio and visit him.

So, I'm doing all the things people wanted me to do while I was working and didn't have time!

Annie

I was tired after the third paragraph! Sounds like you're staying busy. Doesn't look like you did too much for yourself or rested. Did you at least sleep in any? I did what you did, almost. I have never been unemployed either. Except for two weeks. Finished one place (it closed forever, and I stayed to the end) and then started at the new place (not new, been around since 1873, just new to me!) two weeks later. In the meantime, I moved. I spent those two weeks unpacking and cleaning. I realize now, I should've given the new place 4 weeks before I started. They couldn't wait and I needed money for some reason. Some day, I must find time to just sit. So do YOU!!!!
;)

You've done more in 12 days than I've done in almost two years. Well, I have to go back to bed now. I'm tired from reading all of that.

Why am I not surprised, LOL.

Don't forget craigs list for furniture, maybe even freecycle. Heck if it were me, I'd make her a dining room table out of a stacked milk crate boxes, secure a plywood/melamine top, and throw on a table cloth. Grin.

Annie , aka 'wonder woman" you just crack me up...is that all you've done in 12 days...OMG are you kidding me... whew.. I am wiped just reading your post.
I know you must be lovin'it.. God Bless you.!!

June

Geeeeez...I'm out of it for a couple of weeks and I missed your retirement. Iamsojealous.

Wondering how you ever had time to work yet? They (retirees) all do. Iamsojealous.

Nope, no sleeping in. I have the furry 4 legged alarm clock, he's used to the alarm going off at 6:30 am. So he's up, he needs to go out. Then he wants to play, so we're usually in the backyard playing fetch by 8:30. Sometimes it's earlier.

Katie, that's what Elery says too, but if he retired I'd have to get a job or we'd have to live together. (grin)

Jessica, I've been watching the Craigslist ads, but everything seems to be in Grand Rapids, I'd have to take the truck which gets even worse mileage than the Jeep, and the cheap table would end up costing more than having a new one delivered!

Rob, I don't think I CAN just sit. I try but my mind runs in circles with everything that should be done, needs to be done, why am I sitting around instead of doing it? I drive myself crazy thinking about how it needs to be done, until I give up and just go do it!

June, at least I am only doing what I want to do, when I want to do it. Well, except for stepmom's stuff, of course, I'm still doing that because there is no one else and....well.....it's the right thing to do, you know?

Pam, I hope you had a nice nap in my behalf, LOL.

Annie

Should this be in a personal email to Annie, or on the Conversations page since this Forum is supposed to be about Cooking?

Oh Geez. I never thought of conversations since I don't go there. I don't want this to get pulled, because I genuinely want to know how Annie is "handling retirement" which is vastly different than most retirees!

Uhh, what have you been COOKING, Annie?

"----Uhh, what have you been COOKING, Annie? "

I was thinking about the same thing.

Annie, now that you have more control of your own time, may I suggest to you raising Berkshire hogs, and Bresse Chickens? They are that good!

I had a taste of what my friend sent me. I am convinced.

dcarch

Well, Annie did say she had made bread and soup, so food has been mentioned! And I forget about conversations too, so glad to have it posted here.

Annie, when you and Elery come down to see his dad, if you have time, give me a call. We'll find somewhere to go eat!

Tami

Good, Bread and Soup, that's all we need. The food is covered!

I can also say that I was eating corn flakes when I first posted.

Well, I also mentioned that I cooked at Elery's. We had hummus and celery sticks during the SuperBowl too.

We did talk about good china and stepmother's dining room table and cooking for the neighbor and Chuck E Cheese and baking a cake shaped like a purse for Elery's youngest granddaughter, so we stuck a lot of food in there, LOL.

That said, it probably SHOULD have been on conversations but the forum isn't so busy now that it's going to drive some other thread off quickly, so I don't feel too badly.

Tami, email your phone number, if you can, I'd love to meet you for lunch somewhere!

So let's see, did I cook today? Yup. Bud and I made cookies for his class for Valentine's Day, they had pink and red M&Ms in them. Then Makayla and I made cake pops for her class, some we dipped in dark chocolate, some in white chocolate and we sprinkled them all with heart shaped sprinkles. I do have my cooking priorities, you know!

Annie

Jasdip, nothing wrong with posting this here.

Not sure why nance felt the need to even suggest it should be posted elsewhere.

Annie, I too wondered what you were doing since you retired. No one could ever accuse you of being a slacker.

I'm sure that Makayla and Bud are loving the extra time they have with you. Elery too.

Ann

Ann T, Cooper is loving having me home more than anyone else, I think, although Makayla and Bud are having a ball playing with me. Elery, well, I'm not so sure, LOL.

dcarch, I can't get actually livestock other than the cattle and horses, which can get a week's worth of food and water at a time, until I move out there. We'll get feeder pigs from one of the 4H kids in the spring and slaughter them in the fall, but breeding stock will have to wait until I'm actually living there. I'm kind of leaning toward Mulefoot hogs, as they pasture well, we'll see.

I sure want to make some more homemade bacon, though.

The Poulet de Bresse rarely makes it out of France, but there is a Canadian variety of the Bresse called Blue Foot. It was nearly eradicated during the Avian flu scare but I understnad remaining stock is in California, so maybe, someday. The flavor is supposed to be far superior to other varieties. Having never eaten it, I can't remark on that.

The girls do want to get some laying hens though, all different varieties, LOL. As long as I get good fresh eggs, I guess I don't care, I'd get half a dozen different heirloom varieties but they have to be sturdy enough to withstand Michigan winters without frostbite to their combs, etc.

So, big gardens, fresh eggs, farm raised pork, oh yeah, I'm looking forward to eating well. And, of course, Elery is planning an outdoor, wood fired bread/pizza oven.

Annie

Annie, you'll love that wood-fired oven. Our house in New Hampshire came with a c. 1848 local stone wood-fired stove. I used it for breads for a dozen years before the bottom caved in. DH made the most delicious wings on that stove also. We have fond memories of many family meals sitting around waiting for dinner to cook. I've got lots of pixs but not digitized. We were surprised it lasted as long as it did - it was decrepit when we purchased the home. New England is known for its dry stonewalls but this stove had weeping mortar & there were no craftsmen left around skilled in the art - would have had to pay to bring someone down from Maine. We continued to care for its remains in case a future owner had the descretionary income to have it repaired.

/tricia

Annie, you have mail to the only email I have for you on my phone (where I'm posting from). If you don't get it email me thru my page here.

Tami

Annie, I just got back from visiting Callie and I know she needs to have one of Ashley's creations. Did you take any pictures?

CC, I do have some pictures, I'll try to forward them to you. I tried to get them from her email to photobucket but I'm not all that good at it.....

Aren't grandkids fun? We should have had them first!

Annie

Thanks, Annie! I tried looking for Madi K on the web but didn't find Ashley.

CC, I sent you an email. Send me your email address and I'll forward them to you. As I said, I don't do Facebook, but I think it's under Madi Kay. I don't know enough about how Facebook works to be of any further help than that.

I have two of those tutus for Jamison and Jillian this weekend, Elery's granddaughters. I think they're going to love them, along with the purse cake. Poor Jackson, being the only boy, he's only getting a Transformer, LOL.

Annie

I'm not on Facebook either, Annie. I just sent you an e-mail.

Annie, if Ashley's store is located in Fremont, MI, then it can be found on Facebook as "Madi Kay's." Looks like the frou-frou stuff any little girl would love. :)

Sue