Making Progess

A while back, I developed an action plan to help me stay on track with my Retirement Project. One of the steps in the plan was to tear out the overhead cabinets and the vanity in our tiny master bath to make it look more spacious, and to update the sink and commode and towel racks, and give the walls a fresh coat of paint.  I also planned for a narrow cabinet in the corner to the right of the window, with with a clothes hamper in the bottom, to fit neatly behind the door in a space that would otherwise be wasted.

Another step was to add a front porch to the house to dress it up a bit and give us a place to sit and enjoy the yard that Bill works so hard to keep green.  It took the builders about two weeks to complete the project and I was very pleased with the result. 



To keep track of how my Retirement Project is progressing, I'm highlighting in green the steps that have been completed and in yellow the steps that I have begun but are still a work in progress.  At this point, I'm pleased with the progress I've made so far and am optimistic about meeting all of my goals. 

Retirement Project—Action Plan

In Progress

Completed

Action	Timeline	Progress Notes
House Cleaning, Organizing and Renovation	August 1, 2011—July 31, 2012	Finished  It’s all Too Much by Peter Walsh to guide project and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Master Bedroom Deep clean and organize Paint walls and trim Pull up carpets and finish hard wood Replace shades Replace bedding Update pictures Replace rugs Clean and organize closets	Finish by January 2012
Master Bathroom Pull out shelves Replace vanity and toilet Replace towel racks Install shelf over toilet Install linen cabinet and clothes hamper Replace shades Paint walls and trim and ceiling Replace towels Replace trash can, soap dish, toilet brush Update pictures Deep Clean	Finish by October 15 DONE 10/18
Guest  Room—Taupe Deep clean Organize closets and give away clothes and clutter Update pictures Head board for bed	Finish by  November 1
Guest Room—Yellow Deep Clean Organize—Bill Get closet organizers for sweaters and shoes Change curtains and rug	Finish by January 2012
Hallway Paint walls and trim Hang family picture gallery Replace rugs with runner	Finish by February 2012
Kitchen Deep clean and organize	Finish by November 1
Sunroom Buy and install new computer Organize work desk and files Clean windows	Finish by November 1
Porch Clean and winterize—refrig inside Recover chairs  Replace rug Treat/paint wood	Finish by May 1, 2012
Living Room Deep clean and organize Replace pillows Hang picture over chest Get rid of coat tree Re-arrange pictures Organize coat closet Organize pictures and memorabilia in chests Clean out table linen drawers	Finish by January 2012
Sitting Room Deep clean and organize Replace cabinet nobs Replace rug—put old one under coffee table in LR More lighting	Finish by November 2012
Dining Room Deep clean and organize Get linens ready for holiday Polish silver Clean and organize cedar closet Clean and organize china cabinet Look for new dining room set	Finish by November 1
Laundry Room Deep clean and organize Sort clothes and give away	Finish by November 1
Play Room Deep clean and organize Give away old toys Clean closet and give away old things Fix door	Finish by November 1
Basement living room and Kitchen Deep clean and organize Clean closet and organize	Finish by December 1
Basement Bedroom Deep clean and organize	Finish by February 2012
Basement Bathroom Clean shower	Finish by November 1
Colonial Storage Unit Shred all boxes of documents Go through boxes of personal things and distribute/throw away Distribute/give away furniture Bring yellow chest home to store towels Pay last bill!	Finish by February 1, 2012
Exterior Clean windows Build Porch Porch furniture
Garage Deep clean and organize	Finish by spring 2012
Front Yard Even up boxwood Potted plants on and around porch Fix lamp post Replace House Numbers	Finish by spring 2012
Back Yard Close pool Build raised gardens next to garage New Pool furniture for next year Call Mosquito Authority	Finish by May 2012

Action	Timeline	Progress Notes
Vocational Growth
Research opportunities for starting small business—service oriented, related to hunger, housing, home services, etc.	Ongoing to July 2012	Googled process for starting LLC and talked with Todd about it
Research Dream Law and opportunities for working with undocumented immigrants	Ongoing to July 2012	Finished  A Home on the Field by Paul Cuadros; keeping up with news on Dream Law
Research writing and publishing of kids’ books, fiction, non-fiction.	Ongoing	Googled about writing and publishing kids’ books
Research opportunities for part time work in education—common core curriculum, evaluations	Ongoing to February 2012	Am keeping up with DPI website
Personal Growth
Travel	Ongoing	Trip to London and Edinburgh, August 4-15
Expand Technology Skills Update Computer Learn to sync music, pictures, calendar, e-mail Learn mail merge Learn how to manage contacts Organize files Create Blog Post regularly on Blog Use Facebook Purchase Smart Phone Use Text feature Learn to check e-mail Learn all features and use Buy Kindle and begin using Expand use of Kindle	Ongoing
Learn Spanish Online Spanish Course	Consider for second semester
Take Creative Writing Class Check offerings at Wake and Salem  and Forsyth Tech Read and write daily	Consider for second semester	Books I’ve Read TR Trilogy by Edmund Morris Paris Wife (about Hemingway) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Fall of Giants by Ken Follett The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse A Home on the Field by Paul Cuadros Elizabeth I by Margaret George She Walks in Beauty by Caroline Kennedy Richard III by William Shakespeare The Greater Journey by David McCullough Re-read I am One of You Forever Blogging every day—posting regularly Attended book talk by Fred Chappell
Remain current on Common Core curriculum and Teacher Eval. Instrument Read DPI website regularly Read Weekly Forum e-mail	Ongoing
Spiritual Growth
Discover how the institutional church is/is not relevant to my life. Attend worship at Peace Haven Talk to Roger Underwood about Knollwood Get involved in a Sunday School class Seek a community of faith that provides spiritual nurture, inclusive fellowship, and an outlet for authentic service.  Decide about future church attendance Identify a place or places of service in the church and/or in the community that will utilize my own unique talents to make my community and the world a better place.  Check out ministries in WS related to feeding the hungry and working with homeless Check out opportunities to relating to immigration reform Reflect upon, identify, organize, and articulate my personal belief system Read the Bible systematically Review Baptist history	Ongoing Ongoing to March 2012 Begin at least one volunteer day by January 2012 Ongoing	Finished A Time to Live by Robert Raines Pilgrim’s Progress, By A Dream Possessed, a history of Myers Park Baptist The Book of Exodus Am reading History of Baptists by  Torbet  Reading the Pentateuch

Taking Stock

I'm three months into my Retirement Project, which is all about taking the year to clear away the clutter and debris in my life so that I can get down to my core values and beliefs and possessions, determine what is really important to carry along with me through my elder passage, and get rid of the extra baggage that will impede my journey. 

A huge boulder blocking the way--both physically and and emotionally--is that mountain of my dad's  "stuff"  crammed into a storage unit over on Country Club Road at Colonial Storage. We've been paying $120. rent on the space for 2 years now, since Betsy and I dismantled Daddy's apartment at Taylor Glen to move him into assisted living, at 91, after his health began to decline.

There was only room enough in assisted living for daddy's bed, his clothes, and a few of his personal items. Therefore, we gave away many of  the things to which we had no personal attachment and the rest either went with Betsy to Garner or to me in Winston Salem, ie, the storage unit.  We had  been through this process 7 years earlier when Daddy dismantled his house in Wake Forest and downsized into an independent living apartment at Taylor Glen. 

Daddy died in December, just after his 92nd birthday, and his stuff is just sitting over there haunting me, not to mention costing us almost $1500 a year to maintain in it's current dusty and disorganized state. As frugal as Daddy was, he is no doubt stirring in his grave over my extravagance.  It would not be the first time. 

I've ventured over there several times to start the process of culling through it all, but have ended up in a panic, throwing up my hands, walking out and locking the door, and refusing to think about all those boxes of:  

Bills, cancelled checks

tax returns and forms

medical records

investment reports

loan agreements

insurance forms

passports

birth certificates

marriage and death certificates

military  records

awards and plaques

Inventory of household goods

All meticulously organized and packaged and labeled, paper clipped and rubber banded together

And boxes of

Sermons, Lesson notes, theology books, paper and office supplies

A kit for making a mandolin

puzzles

china, silverware, stem ware, bowls, and various and sundry pieces of memorabilia collected over a life time

framed pictures

mirrors

And among the boxes are

lamps and shades

A Gott water cooler

Golf shoes, tennis racket and tennis balls

Daddy's seminary office desk

file cabinet

desk chair

captains chair

roller cart

My mother's secretary desk

embroidered foot stool

step ladder

2 card tables

Grandmother's bedroom suite--bed, mattress, chest of drawers, vanity

Padded bed stead

The list reads like a Shel Silverstein poem (Remember Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who would not take the Garbage out?), which I would much rather take the time to craft it into than deal with the actual items represented there.  Alas, our possessions, as guru for clutter management Peter Walsh has written, can leave us feeling like It's All Too Much, and we must get in control of them before they take us over. 

Thus, I decided last week, to return to the storage unit, and begin anew.  As my panic returned and quickly  began to rise along with my blood pressure, and I searched for a reason not to bolt once again, I remembered the old joke:  "How do you eat an elephant?  Well, one bite at a time, of course."  I took a deep breath and decided to follow the advice from the punch line of that joke. 

My first "bite" was to take a quick survey of the boxes and attach a yellow sticky note on every box that I was sure could be trashed or shredded in its entirety.  It took about an hour to complete the task, and when I was finished, I had  identified 13 boxes that fit that criteria.

As I pulled down the metal door and secured the lock to the storage unit, I began planning the next step, which would be to get Bill to help me move all of those boxes out either to the dump or to a shredder. The removal of 13 boxes should free up some space and give us room to operate. 

 Back in the car, I continued planning, as I entered the security code on the pad to activate the gate, and drove home.  The next "bite" I determined would be to identify the pieces of furniture,lamps, and pictures that we or the children want to keep and the things that we want to give away and begin taking them to the Habitat Re-store or another charity.  

That should reduce the pile to about 10 boxes of books, notes, and personal treasures that I can probably bring home and store in space acquired from cleaning out and getting my own house in order and under control, which I am currently in the process of doing. 

Happily, I am making great progress on my Retirement Project Action plan, which I will share in my next entry.