60 yrs and up

water heater failed and had to be replaced. Had to clean out storage room.

Have come to the conclusion it’s time for my collection to go. I can’t find any source willing to sell it as one job lot, and the museum I contacted wanted a list (it’s easily 10,000+ items) to cherry picik after I offered to donate the whole thing.

It’s time to sell off and that means selling individual items.

I made a weight loss goal and did it in chunks. I can do that with this, too. My goal is a cabinet (wall units stuffed to the brim) a year til it’s substantially reduced.

I may not be posting here as often. Wish me luck!

It’d be at least nice to pay for the new tankless system in a couple months lol.

If a collection is very valuable there are business that will sell it for a % of the take.

How much would it cost to give up 4 years of your life?

retired. Ain’t got nothing else to do other than exercise and needlepoint!

It’s a hyper specific collection, the largest of its kind, and at the time I think it’s safe to say I was the expert in it.

I’ve contacted a couple of auction houses and gotten a kind of gawpingly polite “no thanks, fascinating, but we don’t think we can find a buyer for such an extreme collection”, so planning on selling off the individual pieces I know have value.

@ntillberg welcome!! This is a very supportive group!

@springlering62 : Perfect for Etsy/Ebay. Selling there is a fun hobby. (For some people!)

@mtaratoot sorry, being facetious. I also volunteer extensively at a local museum. Dropped a couple other volunteer gigs when we started traveling more.

I’ve got needlepoint on the brain because I’ve been a little off color the past week or so, and have just been resting and enjoying some sofa time, and have to keep my hands occupied otherwise I’ll be eating.

Then there’s the High Anxiety Dog. He’s a full time job, bless his barky, bitey little heart.

Was just talking with a walking buddy this morning about how wonderful retirement is.

@Jthanmyfitnesspal just reactivated my eBay account yesterday. Kind of irritated. I’ve got 12,000+ feedbacks, but none visible since they’re all over five years old. 🙄

Since we had to empty the utility room for leaky water heater, I’m going to list a few of those things on Marketplace to dip my toe in.

People often talk about how good retirement is. They're wrong.

It's BETTER than they say.

If I did not work I might not see or speak to another person for days at a time… which seems almost a little scary to me. I enjoy the social aspect of work and I enjoy it's limits also to some extent. It gives me a reason to dress up a little and get my hair done. When I retire I am hoping to up my tennis in the afternoons some. What I am trying to avoid is my schedule revolving around dr appts and things like that.

@springlering62 I've started "Swedish Death Cleaning" last year. Little by little, I look at something, remember the Joy and share the story of it, then either donate, or give it away. I have a friend who was diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago, he's been selling items on eBay and has made over $45,000 so far! He even sold an old collection of ski passes from the 70s for $150!! People will buy anything! You never said what your collection was of? I finally donated my dad's old Army stuff from when he served in the Korean war to a veteran group that sold it at auction as part of a fundraiser. It felt good to see it do some good. I've also asked my kids what one item do you want to remember us? I've compiled a list of who gets what. Kids don't want furniture anymore, it's not like when we were growing up and family heirlooms of secretary desks, or mantle clocks meant something. But I can tell you this, you will feel so 'light' when you see the space! less is more, feels so good to be free of stuff!

it may sound OCD and weird, but one thing I really enjoy doing is planning travel.

I research for hours, and take copious notes, and creat map itineraries, which I whittle down later.. I’m always of the mind “what if I never go this way again?”, so have to know everything for fear of missing something.

So I do minute research, even blowing up apple and google maps to see if there’s things worth seeing nearby. Apple also has a terrific map planner, plus a restaurants recommendations thing within their map app. I’ve found several places there that were way better than TripAdvisor recommendations, which can tend to lean sorta…suburban white bread choices, in the most exciting of places.

I easily spend more time planning than taking the actual trip, but it’s very satisfying. That’s how I discovered the flying trapeze class and the mudlarking expedition in London.

Next up is a special interest (WWII spies!) tour to Albania. I’ll probably be doing that one alone, so am heavily researching tacking on some extra days if I can find any weaving or textile options, since I won’t have to play nice and do things he’d like, too. 😇. That’s a real luxury!

This’ll be a trial run of this historical tour group, which is put on by enthusiasts and professors. If it’s as I hope, I’ll be booking the Scotland and Pyrenees tours. My husband is deeply interested in WWII aviation and tank history, but not so much the spy end of it, so those will likely be solo, too, since they are more physical tours anyway.

One really random thing we discovered while playing Pokémon Go, all the Pokestops are interesting things submitted by locals. Little secret things you might not even look at. Plus, spinning the stops leaves breadcrumbs in case we get lost. 😱 we’ve found all kinds of cool things- statues, little history snippets, architectural details that don’t show up anywhere else except on PoGo.

PoGo is an amazing travel tool- once you arrive, since you can’t view in advance.

@springlering62

Anticipation is a significant part of the joy of doing. Planning travel and looking forward to it SHOULD be part of it. Memories when you get back are part of that too. This is why I'm not jumping up and down at an opportunity that fell in my lap.

After my first aid training this weekend, I was chatting with a couple I haven't seen in a while. We used to dive together a lot. Well, they asked if I wanted to go to Mexico in a few weeks. It seems she booked a nice hotel, realized they couldn't go, and waited too late to cancel/rebook. It's paid for. She said I could have it. Three weeks is a very short time to plan, and it's not exactly the time of year I'd be in need of some time on a warm beach.

I reckon I should check on airfare and just go. I'm looking for a travel partner, and I may have found one. I may have to realize that I can still go on solo vacations. It's been 30 years since I've done that. My friends keep saying I'm silly to not already have a plane ticket.

Hi, all -

Happy post-Thanksgiving (Black Friday? 😆) to the other USA-ians, and greetings to others elsewhere!

I had a very good time at Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a young couple who are rowing buddies, along with other of their family and friends. Great food, great company - all a li'l ol' lady could ask for, honestly.

Shifting gears, I had an experience the other night at my breast cancers survivors rowing team practice. Maybe some of you can relate. I thought I was pretty well past the place where my mental body image and my actual appearance were remarkably out of sync. Maybe not? 😆

Our coaches were videoing each of us using a laptop set up next to our rowing machine during practice, moving from one person to the next. The video was projected to a big-screen TV on the wall in front of us so we could see our rowing and adjust technique, with their guidance. (That's really good stuff, for improving our rowing!)

When they moved the laptop to me . . . shock! In the first moment, a disconnect: I knew it was me - had to be - but it didn't look like me. I'm not saying "I thought I was still overweight" - not that simple, and not all negative or positive reactions, either. It was kind of like hearing your own voice recorded the first time: It just seemed so unfamiliar. My face/gray hair looked older than I thought, I guess; but my overall self looked surprisingly . . . athletic? So weird! I've seen a lot of photos of myself. Sometimes there's a little disconnect, sometimes not, NBD. The video was stranger.

Have any of you seen yourself on video like this? Did you feel any particular way?

could be worse. I look in my mirror and see my dad. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Y'know, I do, too, sometimes. Or his mother. 🤷‍♀️ If my character resembled theirs more, that would be an even better thing . . . .