A Merry Christmas

We were quite surprised.  Ashley and Rebecca conspired to have Rebecca home this year. It's a short visit, but back again for New Years eve and a Zac Brown Concert. Here's some pictures from throughout the year.                  

 Trail to Taughannock Falls, Trumansburg NY

 Carolyn at the Falls

 Carolyn's brother Kirk, Uncle Eddie, Gramma Roberts, Carolyn

 Jake and Leanna's party

 Luminary party for the street, Christmas 2010, me and neighbor Craig!

 Carolyn

 Rebecca

 Carolyn, Dixie, Dodger

Back Home!

Quick trip to TX! Saturday morning I flew out to San Antonio, Rebecca got to take advantage of all the car buying mistakes I've made over the years. She got a new Toyota Corolla LE with 0% financing for 60 months and got USAAs buying price at dealer invoice. Though some of the savings went to some fancy wheels. Early Sunday morning I left early with the Dodge Ram, Ashley and Josh wanted it! That was a long drive getting in about 7pm on Sunday. Gas prices are definitely creeping up but TX prices were the lowest I found.
Sliding into retirement is going great, I find myself really finding it hard to go in the 2 or 3 days a week when I work. With the holidays upon us it may be a week before I add something here but we'll see, we hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

We're back!

We had a great trip out to Texas to see Rebecca. She had to work each day but we managed to fill every minute. As you know her truck was stolen last Monday (week ago), it contained the presents Ashley and Carolyn had bought the previous month. On Wednesday morning Carolyn and I decided to pick up a few things a Wal-Mart just a mile or 2 from Becca's apartment. While in the parking lot I noticed a truck looking like Becca's, ... sure enough there it was, the locks had been jimmied and the ignition destroyed but parked right there and locked with almost everything still in it :), I called San Antonio PD met the patrolman, had USAA send a wrecker and now it's getting repaired etc., and I never had to use my Glock model 22! I'll post some pictures later of Christmas in Texas with Becca.

Weekend Fun

Since we did a mini Thanksgiving when Becca was here, doing another one would've been turkeyed out! So, I got an early Christmas present (Weber grill).  Ashley, Josh, Yvonne, Terry, Anita, and Grandma Roberts came over on Saturday.  On Friday I started the grill and waited.... waited some more for the temperature to lower to about 215 degrees. After 4 hours we were ready for the mother of all briskets. 16 hours later it was done. I have to admit it was good, moist and falling apart.I did some chicken wings with Brook's Bar-b-que sauce (nothing better!) and a couple pork loins. Everything turned out good and everyone got something to take home.

Christmas lights

Since it was such a nice day thought I'd get a start on the outside lights. Weird doing it in shorts and a t-shirt.
Worked a little more on the book case this afternoon, took the dogs for a walk, I can see retirement is going to be at a break neck pace! :-)

PET Scan

Carolyn's PET Scan results were good! Though there's one lymph node that's going to be watched everything else was clear. Thank you God!

PET Scan

This morning we're headed to Emory for a PET scan. The Docs are watching Carolyn very closely since her last CT scan.
I've been home for several days using up vacation time before I lose it. The shower in the master bath has been tiled along with the floor in the laundry room.
I've got a good start on the bookcase for the office/library.  Next is getting the Highlander repaired after Carolyn and Rebecca's altercation with a Turkey on the highway. Turkey lost, but took out the driver-side mirror.

Thanksgiving practice...

Wow, we wound up with a fun visit from Grandma Roberts, Ashley, Josh, Becca, Anita, the tile guys who wanted to come early and work on the shower... and talk us into replacing the vinyl in the laundry room with tile. Carolyn cooked a turkey breast, ham, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, cakes... all while Auburn was beating UGA.
...I guess the dogs will get a long walk this morning.

Easing in...

I finished up a couple dozen leave slips, burning up sick leave and some annual leave. I'll be working 2-3 days a week until my end date.
The new shower is getting installed today by the tile guys... it'll be nice to take a shower after two weeks :)
Next up is a bookcase for the library/office and re-doing the fireplace mantle.

Retiring!

Paperwork goes in tomorrow morning. To end a career and begin a new chapter. Lots of plans to be made, places to go, people to see...

We're ready!

We've crunched dollars, budgets, forecasted disasters (tried to anyway), and even tried to peer into the future.
The result seems to be good!
So depending on what the U.S. government does... as of February 28, 2011, I'll be retired.
Tomorrow the paperwork goes in for a review, since I've heard horror stories about the paperwork red-tape.
Fingers are crossed.

Rebecca's Here

Rebecca arrived yesterday via Delta, AirTran wanted her to buy another ticket and carry-on kennel since she had "two" Chihuahuas in one kennel... Delta had no problem, sorry AirTran, Delta has our business for awhile. We went to La Parilla last night with Becca's high school friend and Anita. Nothing like a couple of Tequila drinks to warm up with on a cold night.

I've drawn the plans for the book case for the library/office, tomorrow I look for some quartersawn white oak.

Ashley and Josh arrive later for some of mom's cooking.

Closing

Wow! the re-fi was worth it! Retirement is looking very close.

First Blog

Waiting for attorney to close on our re-finance today... we'll see how it goes!