Retirement is busy

For years, I put off retirement because I was afraid of waking up in the morning and thinking, "Omigosh, what am I going to do today?" Everyone told me that I'd be busier than ever but I couldn't believe it. Last night I told my brother there just aren't enough hours in the day, and he said, "I hate to be one of those people who says I told you so, but I did." So he did--and so did many others. And it's proving true.Yesterday I was a day late and a dollar short all day, so much so that I forgot to bring up my garbage carts from the curb last night and am indebted to my neighbor, Sue, who sent her kids to do it for me.

This morning I was at the office at 8:00 for meetings until 9:45 and spent the rest of the morning working there, until an 11:30 lunch with a friend's brother who has a background in publishing and is interested in the press directorship when it's posted. I couldn't give him any encouragement but I did tell him how the press operated, and he told me where his strengths were. He could well be a viable candidate, and besides that we had a pleasant visit and lunch.

Came home, did emails, slept for an hour, and boom! Jacob was here, which was almost a vacation. He was NOT in a good mood--storms scare him, and he arrived in the middle of one, plus he was tired after a day at school. When he demanded a second cup of milk, I told him his dinner was on the table. He whined and cried and said he didn't want his dinner--he wanted milk. So I ate by myself and pretty soon asked if he didn't want his supper (big deal--pbj sandwich) and he came and ate quite cheerfully. After tht the evening got better, and he was more fun, but mostly he preferred to watch TV, so I got to read. When he left I spent an hour spitting out email after email for the office, and now I'm tired and ready to call it quits. But I'll read for a bit more. There are so many good books out there to read--but I have to clear out my shelves. they're ridiculous, with books stacked every which way. Here's a picture of the sloppily overcrowded shelves in my office--they're the worst, but there are bookshelves, filled to capacity thoroughout my house. Someday, I'm going to reluctantly part with some books. It was one of my retirement resolutions. But not soon.

Not much

I didn't blog yesterday, so I tried hard to think of something significant to write about tonight. But it's not there, unless I want to delve into the deep subject of presidential politics. I'm sitting here watching the debate, trying to pay attention to every word, trying hard to undestand, which is particularly hard for me on the economy, but pretty clear on the subject of let's meet with enemies before we decide to attack. Negotiation should always precede hostility . . . but there I go, talking about politics. I clearly have an opinion, especially about Senator McCain's waffling about the debate and injecting himself into economic negotations in Congress. After he got there, things that were almost worked out went haywire. Oh, well, Sarah Palin knows international relations because both of the countries that border her state are foreign countries. Duh?
The shortening days are causing me a problem. For years I've prided myself on never setting an alarm because I always get up on time. Somehow this year, with the darker mornings, I'm oversleeping. This morning I was astounded that it was 20 minutes past time for me to get up when I glanced at the clock, expecting to have another 30 minutes to doze. I have an employee who oversleeps a lot, so I feel bound to set an example. No way I was going to call in and say I overslept. I rushed around and got there on time but I didn't finish reading this morning's paper until 2:30 this afternoon.
Last night I sent off the complicated proposal that I've been working on, so today I've mostly on office stuff--reading a new chapter in a book in progress that came in by email, proofing pages of a small book that came from the designer yesterday. Tomorrow I'll get back to my own work. I did pick up a novel about home repair--sort of the same thing as my realtor/renovation series, and I was interested to make a distinction in my mind. The narrator and her sidekick are too wacky. Maybe what I want to say is the book is "too" cozy. I like my heroine better because she's serious about her work, about the skeletons and bodies she finds--yeah, she's a bit klutzy, but it's not the predominant characteristic about her.
I've been cleaning bookshelves, though I have a long way to go. But I have called the Friends of the Library bookstore and they say they'll send someone to get the hardbacks I have sorted out. I've also sorted paperbacks (mysteries--I have a whole lot of them!) and my friend Mary Lu is coming Sunday to look at them, make sure none are hers and none are ones she hasn't read and wants to. The remainder will get sold at Jordan's yard sale (in my front yard--a whole different subject) next weekend.