Monday, April 7, 2008

Ol' Fogies on the Go



The Upside of Downsizing
~Or~
Two Ol’ Fogies On the Go





This last September my dear sweet husband of 25 years retired after working for Boeing for nearly 36 years. Many wives dread the time when their husband becomes a stay-at-home man. I didn’t, he is my best friend, my confident and my sexy ol’ man…I love him dearly.

At the time of retirement we lived in the family home that was over 50 years old. Located on almost two acres it was in constant need of repair and screamed “MANTAINACNE” with every beat of it’s dear ol’ heart. Needless to say the yard itself was a never ending project.
So in October of 2007 we purchased a small home in a planned community, only a couple blocks away from one of our sons.
We downsized from a 4,000+ square foot dilapidated “fixer upper” to a brand new home with an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings and all new appliances. Our new home’s total square footage is not even 1200 square feet!
And get this…we now have a back yard smaller than most folk’s garages. We LOVE it!

I spent two blissful months painting and decorating. We gave away extra furniture, dishes, pots and pans, nicknacks, books…all kinds of stuff… to our kids and the Goodwill. What a wonderful feeling that was…so freeing! We officially moved in the first part of December. Now along with our three little Yorkies, Bert, Grover and Zoë we are enjoying our “Home Sweet (Easy to Clean, No Upkeep, Little) Home.”

My space for doing crafts and sewing has shrunk considerably so I have rediscovered my passion for crocheting. I’ve created little crotched treasures for my grandchildren and even some sweaters for our little mutts. Right now I am working on an afghan for our newest (our first granddaughter born just a few days ago). I call the pattern hugs and kisses…if you look at the picture closely you might notice the X’s and O’s.

This spring we have grand plans to do our little backyard. I’d like to create a cozy outdoor living space complete with propane fire pit comfy lounging chairs and lots and lots of flowers. We get the morning and afternoon sun so it will be a great place to have our sunup coffee or sunset wine. And even though my age warns me I shouldn’t; our little backyard is the perfect place for me to soak up the sun and work on my tan.

So far we have spent some of our free time traveling and have plans to do much more. In the future I’ll share with you some of our travel adventures. We bought a red corvette convertible and it is quite a sight to see these two old fogies decked out in our designer sunglasses, grey hair flying in the wind and heads bobbing to the beat of CCR. We are planning attending a corvette convention in Montana the end of May.

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