The Week I Retired

This past week has been a significant one for me because I spent my final day in the classroom and ended my 25-year teaching career. with retirement  That's not all that happened though, so here are some highlights of the whole week, starting with Monday, Memorial Day. 

We spent Memorial Day at our new house.  We had visited the cemetery where both sets of parents are buried on Saturday, so Monday was a total work-at-home day for us. After a quick trip to the grocery store in the morning, we spent the rest of the day working in our new backyard and garage.  We made a ton of progress in the garage.  If it still looks we have a lot to do, you are right - but it is much better than it was, and we will keep working on it!  

Our goal was to have room for one of the cars in our 2-car garage, and we achieved our goal.  

We have another private parking spot right in front of our home, so for now, this is where Charly will park his car.  In my last post, someone commented that our entryway looked like a shed.  No, it's not. This is our home from another angle.  The home has a wonderful covered entryway where you can see the flag.  The front door opens into a very nice entryway. The two windows to the right in the picture are picture windows in our formal living room. The two windows on the left of the flag are our great room - kitchen/dining/family room.   

Here's another picture of the house at night, which Charly's car in the front parking spot.  If you look at the right of the picture you can see the garage which is behind the main living area of the house. The layout of the home is unique, and I love it because I love having a formal entryway and a formal living room, with a large great room.  I will post more pictures of the inside of the house soon.

Meanwhile, our old house is still for sale, but we have been having showings.   We are hoping to have an open house within the next couple of weeks. 

I planted some bareroot Hydrangea plants that I got at my new favorite store, Tractor Supply.  The whiskey barrels also came from there.  I haven't had great luck with bareroot plants in the past, but with diligent watering, I am hopeful that I will eventually have some beautiful Hydrangeas. 

In another barrel, I planted some bareroot grape plants.  

I love this rose bush in the front of the house.  The roses on this bush are my favorite color for roses. 

Tuesday, it was back to school for my last week in the classroom.  The students are bored and restless.  Grades had already been posted, and so nothing was going on. Many students stopped attending, and those who did show up are trying to see how far they can push the rules. It really wasn't fun, but it did make me grateful that this was my last week. 

Thursday afternoon, I walked out of my classroom for the last time, at the end of a 25-year teaching career.  Friday was the last day of school, but I found that I had one more day of leave, so I decided to go ahead and take off the last day of school.  I've taught at seven different schools in two different states, and I and this last year of my career was definitely the most challenging.  I don't think it's just that I'm older, but education has changed, and not for the better.  I feel like I've taught at schools where I saw the best of public education, but at this last school, I have definitely seen the worst.  I walked out a little sad, but with no regrets, and overall, I am happy to be finished.  I hope I made a positive impact somewhere along the way. 

When I got home Thursday afternoon, Charly said I should choose where I wanted to eat to celebrate my retirement.  I chose IHOP, a favorite place, with lots of good comfort food on the menu.  I chose this yummy BLT with fries as my retirement dinner.  Interestingly, one of my former students was working at the restaurant and he seemed excited to see me.  

Friday, it started to rain about noon, and it rained all Friday night and until about 2 p.m. on Saturday - a full 24-hours of steady rain. This was wonderful because we need rain here in Utah.   We spent part of the day Friday at our old house as we continue to clean our cupboards, the garage and our shed.  We are living in our new home in Orem, now, sleeping here every night. 

Saturday morning it was pouring rain.  We had planned to stay home the entire day.  I cleaned all of the bathrooms and floors in the house, then started going through my closet again, getting some of my "teaching clothes" out and in the donate box.  I am also getting rid of everything plastic in my kitchen, so that also went into the donate box.

Saturday afternoon, I got a message on Facebook Marketplace that someone wanted to buy the old refrigerator that we had in our garage at our old house.  We drove to the old house, which is about a 40 minutes drive, to meet the people who wanted the fridge. Here are the purchasers loading the old fridge in their vehicle. They told us that their fridge had gone out and they needed another one right away to save their food.  The old fridge was a "work horse" Maytag, known for dependability.  I hope it works well for this family for a long time to come.  I was pleased to get one more item sold and out of the old house, or in this case the garage.  We still have a few items that we plan to donate to The Other Side Thrift Store, which helps those recovering from addiction. 

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day. This is the mountain view from the parking lot of the church, when we got there about 8:45 a.m. Sunday morning. 

We had a lovely worship service with messages from a young couple in our congregation who had a baby who was born with some severe health problems.  They told of some of the miracles their family had experienced including the fact that their little girl is now a darling 15-month-old.   After the worship service, we had a special Sunday School lesson about the importance of the Constitution and why Christians should support and sustain it and all it stands for.   This is not "Christian nationalism."  It is simply acknowledging that our founding fathers were moral men who believed in a creator who "endowed us with unalienable rights."  Our rights come from God, not the government, and God oversaw the founding of this nation.  Our Constitution cannot secure our nation's stability and prosperity without a population grounded in moral and ethical principles.  With everything going on in our society today, that should concern everyone who loves the USA!

Sunday afternoon, Josh came over to join us for Sunday dinner. 

We had Dolly Parton 5-Ingredient Slow Cooker Casserole.  We also had a green salad with it.  I also made corn muffins.  It was a very tasty dinner. We had a very  nice visit with Josh, and ended up driving to the cemetery to pick up the flowers and flags we left last weekend for Memorial Day.  Josh stayed at our house until after 9 p.m. so I am late in getting this post up.  

Gratitude for this past week:

• Finishing up the school year and my teaching career. 
• Selling our old refrigerator. 
• Spending time with Charly and Josh.
• Living full-time in our new home. 

Praying for:

• Adjustment to this new chapter of my life.
• My children and grandchildren.
• Quick sale of our old house. 
• Safe travels on an upcoming getaway. 

Looking forward to:

• Selling our old house. 
• Going on a couple of getaways this summer.
• Enjoying my retirement!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

“Our Constitution was made only 

for a moral and religious people. 

It is wholly inadequate 

to the government of any other” 

~John Adams

Highlights of the Week Before Memorial Day

Last week was another busy one, and I was not in blogland very much. I apologize again to all of my blog friends for not checking in much.  I am hoping that will change in less than a week when I retire, and we move full-time into our new home. Here's a little of what we were up to during the week before Memorial Day. 

We started the weekend celebrating our grandson's birthday with him. He turned 20 earlier in May.  We celebrated with him by taking him to lunch and giving him a gift card for new shoes at Footlocker, and a special treat of Crumbl Cookies. We were so busy visiting and enjoying lunch that I forgot to take pictures.

The next day was Sunday, and Charly and I had been asked to introduce ourselves and give messages in our worship service, which we did. Speaking in church is not my favorite thing, but we did what we were ask, it went well, and I'm glad it's over with. 

Later Sunday evening, we went to our granddaughter's graduation from Seminary.  In our church, all students in grades 9-12 have the option of taking daily religious instruction in addition to their regular school classes. These classes are called Seminary. Hailey took the classes all four years they were offered and she received her Seminary diploma.  Here she is with her dad and mom.  Her mom is Tiffany, my second oldest daughter. 

We are sure proud of this beautiful young lady.  A couple of days after this picture was taken, she graduated from high school. 

Sunday night and Monday, we got some rain, which is much needed in this area. 

Our granddaughter's high school graduation took place at a large venue at nearby Utah Valley University.  In this picture, the graduates are filing into the venue. 

This is after the graduation and the graduates are changing their tassels to the right side, indicating the completion of their high school education.  

After the ceremony, we took lots of pictures. Here's our granddaughter with her mom and dad and siblings. 

Here's Charly and I with our sweet granddaughter. 

Here's the whole family together at this happy occasion. 

Here's our 15-year-old and 20-year-old grandsons after their sister's graduation.   Later, we all met a fun burger place for a post-graduation family dinner.  It was a great evening celebrating our granddaughter. 

After the graduation, we went back to our Salt Lake City home because I needed to be at school for the rest of the week, but Friday afternoon, we came back to our new home for the weekend. We put out the flags for Memorial Day. 

On Saturday, we went back to Salt Lake City with Josh to place flowers on our parent's graves.  Josh asked if he could come along.  

After going to the cemetery, we went to lunch at IHop to eat.  I enjoyed breakfast - pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns for lunch. 

Sunday morning we got up early and went to church The picture is another of the beautiful paintings of  Jesus in our meetinghouse. 

Later, I fixed this taco casserole for our Sunday dinner.  Josh came over to eat with us.   I've shared this recipe on my blog before.  It is one of our family's favorites. 

After dinner, I went for a walk around our new neighborhood, then Charly and I watched a little TV.  

We love our new home, and a week from now, I will be finished with the school year, retired from my teaching career, and living in this home 24/7.  Our old home in Salt Lake City is still for sale but we have had several showings in the past week, so we think it will sell before long. 

Gratitude for this week:

• Only four days left of school and my teaching career.
• Attending our granddaughter's graduation. 
• Spending time with our children and grandchildren. 
• Safe travels to and from our new home. 

Praying for:

• Our children and grandchildren.
• The sale of our home in Salt Lake City. 
• Our nation. 

Looking forward to:

• Selling our home. 
• Living here in our new home full-time. 
• Retiring at the end of this week!

That's all for this post.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Until next time. 

 😊Deb💖

"Let your hopes, 

not your hurt

shape your future."

~Robert Schuller

Thankful Thursday

Between moving, finishing up the school year, and getting ready to retire, my life is very busy right now.  Still, it's good for the soul to stop, and look at all the things, big and small, that there are to be thankful for.  

😊 Our granddaughter is graduating from high school next week. We received her announcement, which is lovely, and is now hanging on our fridge.  We are so proud of her.  I am grateful that we have been invited to be part of her graduation and attend the graduation ceremony and her graduation party.  

😊 Our daughter invited us to come with her to a plant sale held by a family in her neighborhood, that grows seedlings in greenhouses they have on their property.  This is an annual event, and we got some seedlings for our garden there last year as well.  I'm grateful the we could attend the sale and get a good start on the little garden we will have in the backyard of our new home.   My daughter also bought me some flower seedings at the sale as my Mother's Day gift, which was so very thoughtful of her.

😊 We have a much smaller backyard in our new home, which is fine with us.  We wanted something small and manageable, but with enough space for some plants and a small garden.  I had been looking for a raised garden box, but had not found what I wanted, and the idea of assembling a raised box was daunting to me.  I am grateful that I found the raised box shown in the picture at my local Tractor Supply, which is rapidly becoming my favorite store!  This was the display model, so I didn't have to assemble it, and it was also on sale! Win-win-win!  I'm growing some tomato plants from the plant sale in it. 

😊 We are continuing to move and get settled in our new home.  I have hung some pictures and am pleased with the way our formal living room is taking shape.  I am grateful for our new home, and I can't wait to live there full-time once I retire on May 29!

😊 We are still staying at our old home during the week so I don't have a long commute to school, and we continue to empty the old place out as much as we can while still living there. This past week, I sold this IKEA pantry unit on Facebook Marketplace.  I'm grateful that we were able to sell something else, and I'm grateful that it went to a very nice, kind young married couple who were happy to get it!

😊 I'm also grateful that I was able to get my car in for the routine service and maintenance it needed.  I had a day off for another appointment, and dropped my car off for an oil change.  It was finished in about an hour.  It's always nice that car service can be done with a minimum of hassle and disruption. 

😊 I feel terribly old, but I have officially applied for my Social Security benefits as well as my state teacher's pension.  I am grateful for these benefits that will help us have a good retirement.  I'm also grateful for a very kind and patient young man who walked me through applying for Social Security.

😊 I'm grateful for our new church congregation.  Charly and I have been asked to speak in our worship service this Sunday, to introduce ourselves and share a message.  It's always a bit daunting to me to speak in church, but I'm happy that we are being welcomed to the new congregation. 

Thanks for stopping by to share the good.  I hope you also have much to be grateful for!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"It's the little blessings 

that fill our days with love."

~anon.

The End of April and Beginning of May

It's time for another update at the end of a busy week. Honestly, last week at school was VERY stressful. With year-end standardized testing and increasingly crazy student behavior, I was beginning to wonder if I could actually make it to retirement! I needed some time away.  

Attending BYU Women's Conference was the perfect way to use some needed PTO.   I loved and learned so much from the keynote speaker sessions as well as individual classes.  I always enjoy being on the beautiful BYU Campus, which is actually only about ten minutes from our new home!

On Thursday, Josh happened to be on the BYU campus for another reason, and he texted me, so we met up for a few minutes during my lunch break from classes.  It's always good to see one of my children. 

While I was at BYU Women's Conference, our realtor was busy getting everything ready for the listing of our house to go live!  We now have the sign in front of our house, and we already had a showing within the first 24 hours it was listed.  We are hoping that this bodes well for a quick sale. 

We stayed in our new home all weekend, because it is so close to the BYU campus, where the conference was held.  Saturday, I enjoyed a morning walk to the post office to mail a Mother's Day card to my mom.

Later, Saturday, we met up with our grandson, who just turned 15-years-old, for his birthday lunch. He brought his dad, our awesome son-in-law, along. We had a great lunch at Dave's Hot Chicken, the restaurant our grandson chose for his birthday lunch. 

Our grandson told us that he just got his learner's permit, so he can learn to drive, now that he is 15.  He will be a sophomore in high school next year. I have no idea where the time goes. Here he is after lunch at our house with his birthday gift. 

In addition to everything else we did on Saturday, we also did some work in our new little backyard.  The backyard of our townhouse isn't big, but it has room for some gardening, and that's honestly all I need. We got some plants at Home Depot and then discovered this store, which is very near our new home, and had little fruit trees on sale for only $10!  Needless to say, we now have three small fruit trees that we will be planting in our yard.  I had never been in a Tractor Supply Store, but honestly, it was a fun place, and I'm sure we will be going back there often!

Sunday morning we were up and at church by 8:45 a.m..  This is another of the beautiful paintings in our church meeting house. 

Sunday dinner was deep-dish "Detroit Style" pizza from Papa Murphy's (take-n-bake), coleslaw,  macaroni salad, and fruit. 

After dinner, I went for a Sunday evening walk around the neighborhood.  

A lovely surprise I received this weekend, was this fun retirement gift box from my blogging friend Faith over at Gold in the Clouds.  I love everything in the box, especially the tote bag, which I took to BYU Women's Conference.  It was perfect for all the things I needed to have with me there.   Thank you so much Faith!  Blogging friends are just the best! 

Gratitude:

• Taking our grandson and son-in-law to lunch on Saturday.
• Attending BYU Women's Conference.
• Getting our current house on the market. 
• Having a showing within the first 24 hours. 
• Receiving a surprise retirement gift from my blogging friend Faith.

Praying For:

• Help in my last weeks of school as student behavior deteriorates. 
• A quick sale for our house. 
• My children and grandchildren. 
• Our nation.

Looking Forward To:

• Selling our home. 
• Getting through the last 19 days of school.
• Going to a plant sale with our daughter next week.
• Finishing the last 19 days of the school year and my career!

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by.  

Have a great week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Hope is being able to see

that there is light

despite all the darkness." 

~anon.