A Good Movie, Weird Dreams and a Wonderful Winter Walk, A Selfie Kind of Day

Paisley, On

Sunday, Jan. 3^rd, we did it again. Slept in until 8 but why not, eh? We were both up watching movies last night until 11 and then read until 11:30. The rest of my night was filled with dreams. Nancy K, Rose G and my girlfriend from school, Ruth P were all in one of them, 3 people who don't even know each other. LOL The movie that I watched in our room is one of my favourites.

I mentioned this house at the point of two streets meeting
Here it is from the west point
the only house in the pie shaped block

It’s a chic flick and it fulfills all the emotions. It’s happy, sad, funny and aggravating but all that to me = adorable. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. If you ladies like these things in a movie, watch it. Sandra Bullock, James Garner, Ellen Burstyn and Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey.

Walking down Mill Street

A great lineup in itself almost makes it worth watching, not to mention the eye candy of Angus Macfadyen and Matthew Settle. I wouldn’t know their names without the help. 😊 I’m watching my dvd’s in alphabetical, maybe I’ve said that, but I skipped Dances with Wolves and Déjà vu because I’ve seen them fairly recently.

Along the Teeswater River

After our coffee and tea, I had my shower and we read blogs. Bill got into a project on his laptop, updating maintenance done on our vehicles for the past year. I like that he keeps track of things like that for his own reference if nothing else. At 11:30, I fried up eggs and some peameal bacon for brunch. I’ve planned chicken leg quarters for supper. These were our ‘cheap’ purchase and we hadn’t had them yet.

Walking towards the trestle bridge to get on the trail

One way, is the bridge with
a family walking across

I turned in the opposite direction towards the Book Barn

Time to go for a walk. The temperature was reading -1C/30F and there was no wind out there at all. I saw that there could be some precipitation around 2ish, first snow then rain, so better to get out now. I slipped my tall boots on and then added my boot grips to the soles since I wouldn’t be taking my ski poles. I had that bag full of 8 books to drop off at the Book Barn. I hope they all fit!

I was hopeful for new books when I saw footprints
in front of it but nope!
Now there are and ours just fit!

There is something about any day I get out for a walk. Even if I have to talk myself into sometimes, as soon as I start out, I’m refreshed and a burst of energy overtakes me. It’s a great feeling and perhaps I’m being rewarded for closing that door behind me. I walked to Mill Street, along the river up towards the trestle bridge. I could hear voices and then saw that there a few people crossing it.

I dabbled with the self portrait
I guess I'm the flash of colour here

I followed the trail to the south as far as the red barn and, with some maneuvering, managed to fit them all in. I used the open barn to try and get a selfie but for some reason any selfies I tried to get were washed out. I've had to doctor them a bit to give them colour. I carried on walking on the streets skirting around town and ended back on Water Street, close to home. It was a great 45 minutes and that was enough for today. 😊

Isn't this pretty?

Running out of flat surfaces to set my camera
This one on the steps of a slide

Back inside, I brought us each a cold drink upstairs and while Bill finished what he was doing, I stretched out on the bed with my laptop. I started my blog and then searched for an oven recipe for the chicken for a change. I don’t usually have the option so today I can take the time and bake them. At one point, Bill went down to clean the snow off Black Beauty so she would be ready for tomorrow morning.

I wanted one with the trees so had to do it by hand

I did a bit of crocheting until I had enough of that and then read a couple of chapters of my book. At 4, I put both away and curled up beside Bill for a 20-minute siesta. At 4:45 I went down to prep veggies and the chicken. It kind of feels new to me, having been over 4 years since I’ve used an oven for baking chicken or meats. LOL Once more, Bill is my guinea pig and he was willing to forego Madame IP today.

Walking towards Water Street and the Saugeen past the Dead End sign

Even with snow, this 'no' stream water fall still amazes me

I cut some red, yellow, orange peppers and onions before covering them in a spice marinade with honey, lemon juice and olive oil. I’ll just make up a salad on the side since there is a lot of meat on each portion. Then after popping them in the oven for 50 minutes, I returned to our room with a timer set on my phone. With about 15 minutes to go, I went down and cut up salad stuff and when I tested the chicken at 45 minutes, they were done and smelling wonderful!

Black Beauty needs to be cleaned off

Popping a text up to Bill with a ‘ready’ message, I got everything out on our plates. I don’t know why I was worried; everything was delicious. Neither of us cares much for picking meat off chicken bones but it was cooked perfectly and tasted good with the spices they recommended. We savoured the last 2 pieces of pecan pie, lightly warmed in the microwave. Yummy. After dishes, I came upstairs but Bill had to make his lunch for tomorrow. ☹

So Bill took care of her

I needed to check on something regarding Mom’s estate and once I got that straight in my head, I finished with my blog. Jeopardy is showing the last 5 episodes starting tomorrow night, the ones that Alex Trebek recorded before his death. I'll have to get in and watch at least a couple of them. This was another wonderful day spent with my sweetie. I’m going to miss having him around but I’m sure he will be glad to get back to work with the ‘boys’. Ha ha

Supper turned out perfectly
Bill doesn't like cooked onions like I do
so I gave him most of the peppers

Say goodbye, pecan pie
Good night everyone!
stay well!

Thank you for stopping in for a peek. Your comments will always be welcome and appreciated.

Where my Head is At!

So, no one told me it would be this hard. No one said a word about what my head would be doing! Could I have prepared myself any better if I had known?? Nope, I'm sure not!

I'm talking about the dreams, 
                    the butterflies, 

                                the daydreaming 
and the anxiousness. 

Ever since we made our conclusive decision to go full-time rv'ing and I set my retirement date
                                03/31/2016 04:00:00 PM  (on my timer)

things have gone on pretty much normally. Well, at least up until the last couple of months.

Mike and Sandy have just taken the plunge
Phannie and Mae

Yes, I have in a previous post already discussed the reaction of people we tell and maybe touched on how it hadn't yet felt real to me.




I've, well I should say, 'we've' been soaking up as much information from fellow full-time bloggers and friends (one and the same usually!)  about the how-to's and why-not's as well as paying close attention to the don't-do's for 2 years now and we are definitely wiser because of it. 

George and Suzie have helped us on this journey
Our Awesome Travels

Nina and Paul have some awesome ideas!

Mark and Emily are teaching us a lot too!

Still a lot of questions but if we knew everything what fun would it be? We will learn as we go, listening to advice and even heeding some all the way.

                                      
                                                         

Now, with so much progressing towards our future goal, I'm finding that my dreams are bouncing all over the place! They are actually making more sense these days even though a dream is still a mixed up muddled memoir of months rolled into 2 or 3 hours.         


Who said sleep is peaceful?


Our heads are spinning with scenarios and I don't know why no one said to me 

I spend a lot of time daydreaming

"Be Prepared, Pat, the waiting is going to be the hardest part". 

Perhaps 
I just wasn't listening? I feel like a little kid most days now, so excited and just can't wait for the good stuff! Kind of bouncing off walls, ya know?

Ha! Yes,

and the odd time bouncing....

 I have heard "don't wait, do it now", "if you can retire now, do it", "the market is good, sell now" and even "look at what fills your sticks and bricks house and realize it is just STUFF that you don't need".

My retirement date is a mere 31 working days away (yes, but who is countin'?) and now finally it has hit me that I won't need my alarm clock soon. 
(it is going to be called a "Destroy your alarm clock" partay!!)

I can step outside in the middle of a day and walk with the pooch as long as I want, spend time with Mom and my sisters if I want,

Mom and Clemson, yes both retired. :)

and I can sit and watch a movie in the early afternoon if I so choose.                       

               Me! My belly does flip flops when I think of that. 

But the countdown in my head is what I can't control. Mar. 31, Apr. 20, June 30, July 31 and so on and so on. The anxiousness of that last day of work and then the last day at the house and then the first day of full-timing.....it is soooo close! 

This isn't a complaint, don't get me wrong. It is a total realization, confirmation, corroboration that my life is going in the right direction and I couldn't be more prepared for it!                            

                             B R I N G   I T   O N ! ! ! 

Every night before I go to bed, I calm myself down and take time to 'smell the flowers'.