Saturday 27 December 2014

The End of An Era!

Well, hello, all and Season's Greetings to you!  Merry Christmas seems trite now, since it is already the 27th, so I will say hope you had a very Merry Christmas this year and I look forward to a Happy New Year for everyone.  I realize and apologize for not being diligent in keeping up my blog this year, but I would like to try to keep things going in the coming year.  Perhaps not every day, perhaps once or twice a week or even a month, but at least something a little more timely.  Again, forgive me, and I hope that you will join me this year, when you have time.  And please feel free to send me comments; I love to hear from everyone!
Yes, it is the end of an era!  At least in this house.  The 4:00 am alarms and nightly lunch preparations are over.  PJ has officially retired.  It has been a long time coming and several dates were bandied about before the Company would finally let him go.  The original date was the end of October, but that was pushed back to accommodate the closing of his building at the end of November / beginning of December.  That date was then pushed back as the Company was making early retirement package offers to many of the old timers (due to the contract expiration of a very large and long term client causing a considerable lay off for the newer employees) and had come to an agreement of January 15.  Since PJ had holidays owed to him, his official retirement date will be January 5th.  That is the day that he is supposed to sign his life away for the final time.  (A friend joked that he should take a body guard with him just in case they were going to kidnap him until another "pushed back" date in the future.)  And so, my friends, it has been almost 40 years that he has been a working stiff.  Now you must know what that means.  How is he going to keep himself occupied through these endless carefree days and months?  Funny, you should ask.  He already has a list in his head that he has shared with me on many occasions, editing and reconfiguring it over and over.  I know that volunteering some time at our church is important to him and there is always something to be done in the maintenance of the buildings and property.  I also have him on record committing to painting several rooms in our house; a job he detests but has promised to do.  He also wants to do some finishing in the basement to create a nice play area for the grandchildren when they come to visit and fixing up Tee's space - his bedroom is in the basement and he would also like an adjoining work / office area for his new endeavours (to be elaborated upon in an upcoming entry.  Haha, stay tuned!).  He is also talking about going to a gym periodically (again, another upcoming entry).  The summer will be filled with BBQs and friends visiting and pool time, hopefully, as well as gardening and general upkeep of the property.  But winter is another story.  I can only hope that Mother Nature is not too harsh to us this January and February and that by March he will have lots of preparations to keep him occupied for the coming summer.  Some of his work mates are also retiring so there will likely be a cronies date periodically so they can all get together and chirp about how happy they are not to be working for the Company anymore.  LOL  And PJ's work wife, the beautiful Momo and her man, John have invited us to their new digs on the waterfront in Fort Erie - can't wait to see them and the new place. 
All in all, it will defo be a change for all of us.  I have already told him that he needn't be hanging around the house all day.  After all, I have my "routines", and I don't need PJ staring at me with boredom in his eyes.  Hahaha  So I will make sure to let you all know how things are progressing, but in the mean time there is so many other things to talk about, so stop in now and then.  I would love to hear from you.
With love from Lulu, xxxx   

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