Time to move it up a notch

As with most folks ones mind turns to improvement around the New Year. Resolutions are nice, but I wonder if a guiding principle might be more effective. I'd like to define one statement that I can bounce things off of to determine my course of action. I think for me in 2011 it will be "Is this a healthy option".... at least I will start with that, and fine tune it as the year goes one. I think this is similar to WWJD, but a little more focused. I am interested in living a life without regret and it seems if I make choices that are mentally and physically healthy, I should be regret free!

So, for 2011 I am going to consider that guiding principle as I go about my life. I hope I don't regret posting this..............

to do list between now and retirement

I thought it would be good to start thinking about what we'd need to do in order to retire abroad in 4 years.

Get in touch with my retirement and see how much I will have/month

Learn Spanish

Go through all our stuff and eliminate what we won't need

Stop buying anything that we wouldn't need or can't use up between now & then

Get rid of debt

Sell the cabin

Travel to retirement destinations

Research, research, research

Check out about Social Security/medicare

Transfer all photos/negatives/slides and important papers to mega drive

How to determine if this is right for us?

This is my biggest question at this point....is this direction reasonable? Are our expectations in line with reality? It is apparent that one cannot count on American amenities in Panama, and quite frankly that is part of the appeal. It seems a good exercise to list the 10 things I couldn't live without....off the top of my head, here's my list:

ability to do hobbies

Cigs

Pet food

Internet

food

clothes

access to medical needs

Computer

Camera

Entertainment

Scott just walked in and here is his lists

Pets

Fishing

Internet

Phone

computer

food

clothes

access to medical needs

Entertainment

Church

When does a dream become reality

We have a dream, an idea... We are researching moving to Panama, Costa Rica or some other destination after I retire. What spurs this idea? The first issue is I can retire in 4 years (age 57), but health insurance is so expensive, I would have to continue to work until age 65. We are learning that Panama, etc. is becoming a retirement destination for many expats...so that's how we got to this dream, this idea.

The more we learn, the more we like it. It sounds as though living in these places is peaceful, simple and the native people are amazing.

We have lots to do on the research journey, but I wanted to capture the idea when it was in it's infancy. We just came up with this idea 2 days ago. Initial research shows we could afford to live in a beautiful place, with either ocean front property, or ocean view, and live a simple, meaningful life.

The first concern would be distance from family, but they would be a plane ride away and I'd be able to spend more time with them if I wasn't working..........that is if they wanted me to!

Our early questions are:

Can you take your pets?

What happens to Social Security/medicare

What questions do we need to have and find answers to

What we'd need to do to make this transition:

Make sure the kids are ok with this....

Learn Spanish

Research, research, research

Sell the cabin

Sell our possessions

Stop buying anything we couldn't take with us

Get rid of debt

These are just the early thoughts, there are miles to go on this journey....and it might not pan out at all..........but one can dream, can't they?

Knitting accomplishments for 2009

For times when I think I don't get anything done.....I'll look back on this list......this is a list of what I knitted in 2009

Worsted weight socks 2 pairs

February Lady Sweater
Baby sweater
Baby caps
Baby socks
Childs hat & mittens
3 flip video covers
8 coasters
3 dishcloths
3 Baby blankets
wedding purse
Scarf
Elephante
2 shawls
6 doiles
Christmas stocking
Men’s tie
5 turn a square hats
Lace scarf
RPM socks
Prayer shawl (that worked by the way, by the time I was done the cancer diagnosis was reversed!)
2 pairs mittens
ladies sweater
Men’s cabled vest
6 baby hats for charity
2 Hemstitched receiving Blanket

Not a bad year, not bad at all…… 2009

Vacation time....

Alrighty I've got the week off! It's another staycation, my favorite....staying home and doing my thang. I have so much I'd like to get to, but let's see how we do. If I had a perfect week I would do this each day:

• Sleep in until 8 a.m.
• Watch a good movie
• Knit a little bit
• work in the gardens
• clean a little debris from the woods

and sometime during the week I would

• clean out the craft closets
• clean out the back room

or not...................