Outside my window - it was getting dark and it was raining when I began this post. Fortunately, Charly and I had a nice walk before the rain started.
Two hours later, this was the scene outside my front door as the rain became snow. Snow is expected to continue all night. My drive to school tomorrow could be interesting. The mountains to the east are getting pummeled with snow.
I'm reading - Savage Run by C. J. Box, which is book two in the Joe Pickett series.
Charly and I are reading this book, The Rational Bible - Genesis. It is basically a scripture commentary by Dennis Prager. We previously read Prager's The Rational Bible - Exodus, and it was very interesting and instructional.
I'm listening to - the audiobook of Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart. I have now read almost all of Brene Brown's books and I have learned something from each one.
I'm watching - Madoff The Monster of Wall Street on Netflix. It is an interesting series about sad and maddening events that cost so many people so much. I enjoy documentaries. This one has been excellent. We are watching the final episode tonight.
I'm creating - a few more cards for Letters Against Isolation. I will finish this batch and send them off this weekend to Meals on Wheels in Northglenn, Colorado. It takes me about 30 minutes to complete each card and I send out five cards in each batch.
I'm thinking about and loving - the fact that we reserved some more time at the timeshare condo in St. George, Utah during my spring break in March. We love St. George and we are considering St. George as a possible location to move when I retire in three and a half years. As you can see from the picture (which I did not take) it is a beautiful little city situated amongst the red cliffs and mountains of Southern Utah, about four hours south of where we live now.
Responding to some comments - After my last post where I mentioned packing up my books because we are planning to move next summer, I got some questions and comments asking if I am retiring this year and if that is the reason we are moving. I have been asked this before and I will answer one more time. First of all, no, I do not plan to retire this year. Right now, the plan is that I will retire at the end of the school year in 2026 - three and a half years from now. Since I began teaching in 2001, 2026 will give me 25 years in the classroom - more than enough to call it a career.
So why are we planning to move this coming summer?
When we moved to Utah in 2017, we purchased an older home that was in the neighborhood where Charly grew up - in fact the house is right across the street from Charly's family home (pictured above). After living there for a year and a half, we decided that the neighborhood wasn't what we wanted and we decided to purchase the townhouse/condominium where we currently live, and use the other home as income property. Both properties have gone up a lot in value, just like real estate all across the country. We have lived here in this townhouse for over four years now, but we have decided to sell this it this coming summer and move back into the income property house, which is only about four miles from where we currently live. Why? Because there are BIG tax advantages to selling a home you live in vs. selling an income property. We plan to sell this townhouse this coming summer, move back into the income property house, fix it up (it is hard to renovate a house when renters are living there), then, when I retire in the summer of 2026, we will sell that home and move to wherever we decide to retire. We do not plan to stay in the income property home after I retire. Of course I know that plans can change. Life is unpredictable, but these are our future plans at this point. I hope this response to comments explains why we are planning to move this coming summer and then again when I retire.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading and commenting. I always enjoy hearing from you.
Until next time,
😊Deb💖
"If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else."
~Yogi Berra
