One Down, Eleven To Go!

One down, eleven to go ...

No, I'm not talking about a 12 pack of Landsharks!  I'm talking about the 11 months we have until our lease on the condo is up.  If the next eleven go as fast as that first one ... we'd better start packing again!

Last Tuesday night we pretty much finished unpacking, put everything in its place (good practice for the boat since we downsized), and hung a few pictures to make the condo feel like "home" (the picture in the den ... a sailboat of course).  The next day Ken's dad and uncle arrived from Florida to spend Thanksgiving with us ... talk about a tight schedule!

As we sat at my mom's Thanksgiving table along with Ken's family, our daughter & son-in-law, my mom, dad & step-parents, my brother & his family ... I felt thankful to be at this point in our lives.  Sometimes it felt like we'd never unload the pressure & stress that came with the two houses we sold this year.  Having that weight lifted off our shoulders is definitely something to be thankful for.  I tell ya, there's been a few times over the past several years that we could have lost everything if two tenants bailed at the same time.  We're so thankful that didn't happen!  Instead, we now have an emergency fund for our rentals and we're making plans to start cruising in a year.  It just goes to show that baby steps forward do finally pay off ... a plan, patience and perseverance my friends!   Oh, and another thing we're thankful for ... we got our first electric bill the other day and it was just under $38 for 23 days.  Let the savings begin!

Anyway, after stuffing ourselves on Thanksgiving we made a trip to the French Quarter the following day and walked off a few calories.  Sunday morning we hugged Ken's family goodbye and put together the Christmas tree later that day.  (Yep, we have an artificial tree and it still looks great after many years).  We'd just finished placing everything, and I'm already back in the attic and re-arranging things!  Sometime this week Ken will indulge in the annual ritual of plugging in the Christmas tree lights and seeing how many survived since last year ... and how many will go out after they're on the tree.  Aaaah, the joy of Christmas.  Those lights have caused me to swear like a sailor too many times.  It may take Ken all week to motivate himself to deal with that after work, so I told our daughter to wait until the weekend before coming over with her husband to decorate the tree.  Halloween as we were moving out of our house, and now it's Christmas time.  Huh?!  

Ken and I are going to relax and enjoy the next month and Christmas, but after that we'd better make a plan and a schedule for Nirvana ... time's flying!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!