Mail Call Sunday- A Journal Jar

Retirement at 65 is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five, I still had pimples.
~George Burns

Hi everyone! Glad you could stop in to see what goodies I received this week in the mail. Unfortunately, Postcrossing has been very slow lately, so I only got one card. It is from Singapore and it shows the Singapore Flyer, the tallest observation wheel in the world! Those of you who know me know I would never, EVER, get on that thing! I can see why it would be cool, but I can't be on the second floor of the mall and look over the railing, much less be in that gigantuous Ferris Wheel! No way, Jose!


On the back of the card was the cutest stamp...check out the stork-billed kingfisher stamp. Cute, huh?


I was so lucky this week to also get a package in the mail! It is my second "First Seven" gift and it is from the wonderful Life According to Jan and Jer. What is it you ask? Well, it is a Journal Jar along with a journal and a pen!


This jar was decorated by Jan and inside the jar are tons of slips of paper, 40 to be exact, each with a journal question on it.


She included directions:

The book is gorgeous and matches the colors of my redecorated bedroom! Robin's egg blue and brown are two colors I adore together!


When I peeked inside, Jan had glued a personalized nameplate to the inside of the front cover. What a sweet touch that was! (I cloned out my last name ;0)


The pages are ready for me to fill in!

The directions said that once a week I am to pick a question randomly from the jar and answer it in my journal. I did my first question, so I figured I would share it here with you! My first question was:

Tell about retirement-When, where, what will you do with your time?

Here was my answer:
Wow...retirement! It seems to be a lifetime away since I am only in my thirties with young kids at home. But I know time flies, so it is good to think about the possibilities. When- I would hope Brian would be blessed enough in these difficult economic times to be able to retire early. I know I am hoping, but it could happen. He works hard and is smart with our money.

Where- My ideal place would be a small cottage somewhere with a bit of land. I wouldn't want all the land we have now, as it is too much to tend to in retirement. I think Brian would disagree with me, as he likes his elbow room, retired or not! I imagine sticking around the mid-Atlantic region, as both of us grew up here and have lived here all our lives.

What will we do with our time? We've actualy talked about this before and there always seems to be two reoccuring themes: Travel and Grandkids! Both of us would like to own an RV and cruise the United States. There are so many wonderful places to see and excellent things to do in our superb country. We haven't traveled a whole lot in our early years, as we started our family very young. Our plan was to start young so we can finish raising our kids when we are still young and then we can have "our time."

The second part of our plan is to be wonderful, fun, active grandparents. We only need our children to cooperate and have families for this to come to fruition! Only time will tell how this will turn out, but lets just say that if we do have grandchildren, we want to be the ones to take them to Disney and the Grand Canyon. We would want to swim with them in the ocean and take them camping! We will be the "cool" grandparents!

Weigh In: Now it is your turn: What are your thoughts on retirement?

Be sure to check in with others who are doing Mail Call Sunday.

Be sure to check back each Sunday and I will put up another question and answer from the Journal Jar. Thanks for the wonderful gift, Jan!

Flora

People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
~Iris Murdoch

A Fairly Honourable Defeat

The conservatory at Longwood Gardens

Life: Thank God above for the weekend.

About the pictures: I bet you guessed it...Longwood Gardens back in March! I mentioned a while ago that I would be offering some textures for free if anyone is interested. Two of those textures are shown in use here. Image 6 and 7 are both processed with a texture that I made from a picture of emu feathers. The next to last image is made with a texture of red barn wood. If anyone is interested in getting the full resolution textures from me, please email me through the contact button and I will send them your way. ;0)

Weigh In: Throw a question my way that I can answer next week!

Have a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow will be Mail Call Sunday...come back and see the surprise I got in the mail this week! Woot!

Nature's Peace

Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves.
~John Muir

Life: Well, no new answers to the health issues other than the Gastreoenterologist saying my problem is either IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or Celiac disease. The only way to distinguish for sure between the two is an endoscopy. (He discovered this in the whole 6.5 minutes he spent with me, rushing me through my questions and description of symptoms...) I haven't decided what I will do. I think I will hold off until after I see the allergist next month. I don't want to go through that procedure if I don't have to. If the allergist can explain the symptoms, then I won't need to go through with that horrible procedure.

The field trip with Ladybug the other day was a success! We went to the Skipjack Martha Lewis and took a cruise along the Susquehanna River where it connects to the Chesapeake Bay. The kids had a chance to raise and lower the main sail and they conducted scientific tests on the water. They also dredged the bottom to identify the creatures and submerged aquatic vegetation they found. After the cruise, they toured the Lock House Museum and took a nature walk to learn about the different marshy areas in the region. It was a jam packed field trip!

Last night Ladybug had her end of the year chorus concert and today is Field Day. *sigh* I don't have time to breathe this time of year! It is the mad dash to the last day of school!

Speaking of school and nature, I forgot to tell everyone that our school finally reached its yearlong effort to become designated as a Green School! Several of you donated cloth for napkins as a way to help reduce the trash during lunches. Thanks so much for your support! We have to keep up the good work because we have to reapply for the status every 2 years!

About the pictures: These are from way back in March when we went to Longwood Gardens. I am hoping to go again Tuesday with a friend. I can't get enough of that place! More pics to come from there. I haven't even started editing the Mother's Day trip to Longwood. I really like the ones of the bell tower....very magical and fairy tale-ish. Some of these images will be available on the Gallery shortly.

Weigh In: Have you noticed/experienced the way doctors seem to rush through appointments at 100 mph? Is this a symptom of the health care system problems (need to push more patients through to clear more money) or is it just our that our society values immediacy now days? Perhaps there is another reason I have not considered?