Thinking Beyond the Box

It is funny how sometimes you stare at the same thing everyday, it sits in the same space and then one day you say, "why is it there??" That is what happened with my kitchen TV. In the old days, BC (Before Computers), I think everyone had a kitchen TV that sat on valuable counter top space because well, since we spend so much time in the kitchen, we needed it for diversion from the hum drum.
One day whilst I had a High Definition moment with another bedroom TV which is used because that bedroom also doubles as my exercise room, I decided why not put the HD box that was in the kitchen in the bedroom. That left me with the ah ha moment. I not only got rid of the "box", I got rid of The BOX, the TV. I realized I am no longer tied to the TV. I have replaced that special relationship with my computer, followed closely by my iphone.
I am totally loving my new box free space. Now if I could so easily get rid of the bar sink in my island that is never used except to house the dog toys. Why oh why did I want two sinks in my kitchen???

Rental Property is it really worth it?

We've owned one rental house for about 5 years now and acquired a second one last year. I don't think there are any really good "rent house" tutorials out there and I find myself gravitating to other landlords for my info and solace. Would I attempt being a landlord if I wasn't retired......I haven't thought about it enough to say yea or nay but it is more work than probably most people realize.
I'll start with saying we bought the first house more out of a desire to protect our own residence. These properties abut each other and are in an older part of town. The pattern here has been to raze the old house and put up a "much improved and, of course, bigger house" for the expanding family....translation...about 3000sf for maybe 3 to 4 people, some are very small people. If this had happened on the property behind us, it would have been tragic for us. In the past 25 years, I've gotten used to the view from my back door. I put in a swimming pool (a necessity in Houston) and it was situated in such a position that if anyone built a large home on the lot behind us, they would almost certainly have built something which would loom over that pool. We don't need that much privacy. We aren't skinny dippers but we do like the view of the trees and birds from the pool. We aren't really swimmers. We are floaters and therefore admirers of nature as we serenely float and marvel at nature around us.
The first couple of rental experiences were sublime. I befriended my tenants and had the passing thought that being a landlord was, "a piece of cake." That changed and, in the interest of brevity, I will save that for later posts.
Suffice it to say, I realized I needed to be a smarter landlord and I would have to work at this situation as hard as any other position I wished to be successful. If this interests you, stay tuned for later posts. Like I said earlier, there aren't a lot of resources out there to prepare you for the landlord experience and I am not sure why that is the case except it is a complex issue and there aren't easy answers. Are there ever???? Thanks for reading.....

What do you do????

I have been retired for five years now and I still don't have a good answer for those people I meet who ask me what do I do with my days. Retirement is a strange state. A lot of people dream of it and plan for it but really don't give it much thought as to what they will do when they are actually there. To some it is terrifying and they shun the idea entirely. Retirement can be confused with growing old so I can understand why people are afraid of it. The two states should be thought of as different. Growing old is a condition of the body. Retirement is something you have earned. The latter doesn't mean you stop doing anything but working at what you did before you retired.

I am lucky. I got to retire when I was 50. My former employer was willing to give me a generous pension and I realized I had been working non-stop for someone else since I was 16 years old and had enough of it. I decided it was time to start doing things I wanted to do. Even so, when I say this to those curious souls who want to know what I do all day, it doesn't seem to satisfy them. I have concluded they don't really want to know what I do all day, they are more concerned with their notion of retirement and want to know if I have the answer. I guess I don't have their answer, only my own.

Retirement is a wonderful thing. Embrace it, cherish it and don't be afraid.

This blog is just my ramblings but I hope to include more about early retirement or just retirement in general and I would love to hear from others about their thoughts. Thank you for reading.

Closet Organization

This is totally a girl thing but I am into closet organization these days. I have several closets that are in need of it and I recently spent a couple hours at The Container Store (TCS). I circled around the store several times and almost ran out of there screaming when I decided to tackle one project at a time instead of organizing all my closets on one visit. This is basic organizational management which was not working for me and totally ironic considering my mission at the time.
First off, I want this pantry. I love it but am not sure where they are stashing their boxes of cookies and cereal and where are all the cans?! Still, I love it for its basic simplicity and cleanliness. This must be a show pantry because who takes all their stuff out of nice packaging to put it into other, albeit prettier stuff?This wasn't the project I started out with on this most recent foray into the world of organization, TCS, but trust me my pantry looks nothing like this and I am not going to include a photo here. I am no fool.
Instead, I decided to work on my bedroom closet. My first effort wasn't bad but there is still much work left to do. Let me begin by saying, my closet has only 4 drawers and they are big drawers. Looking for an item of clothing in them is something close to digging for buried treasure except you don't remember what you buried in there and when you pull out some little prize it is usually the wrong season for it. I found these paper Swedish boxes at TCS and they work well for jewelry organization and for small lingerie items. So far, all is well and now it is time to fine tune the rest of this place. Here are my little Swedish boxes sitting atop the bigger "bottomless pit" drawers.The little photo display just isn't working for this spot so I need to think this whole thing over next. It looks like another trip(s) to TCS is/are in my future.

Decadent

That was the word used by a friend of mine you saw the new project I am working on. It is big, bossy but decadent??? I don't think so. There is a certain art form to home theaters. They are a complicated fusion of design and technology. I didn't want the pseudo theater design a lot of home theaters go for....the velvet curtains, the massive stained wood panels and, of course, the movie posters and popcorn machine. No, this one needed to blend in as much as an 8 foot high box with a 110" screen in the middle could fade into the background. The theater is also a poolhouse which is sometimes a guesthouse and more often than not, a home gym. Its multi-functional personality said paint me to match the woodwork. It's brains are tucked away neatly in an over-sized closet which is out of view but is in range of the super hi-tech remote and this is all thanks to radio frequency technology. It also boasts a 7.1 sound system which translates to 7 speakers and one sub-woofer. When you can find a 7.1 DVD, the sound is pretty awesome. Of course, the next wave is 9.1, 11.1 and on and on. That is the way with state of the art technology. One day you are cutting edge and the next day you are way behind. But for now, this is a pretty killer theater.

Cabo San Lucas

I have wanted to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for awhile, ever since I went on the website for Las Ventanas. Who wouldn't want to go to a place that looks like this when you drive up to it? Suffice it to say, this place is mucho dinero so I filed it away for "after the big lottery win". As luck would have it, though, we did win (sort of kind of) a week at Playa Grande. We were the high bidders (the only bidders) on a penthouse suite offered as a auction item for a fundraiser. It isn't Las Ventanas but it is in a spectacular location, a short walk to Cabo San Lucas and right on the Pacific Ocean.













There are some things you really need to do if you find yourself in Cabo. At least for one day you need to rent a car and drive to Todos Santos. The town is a little art village and is worth walking around. You must, though, drive to Posada La Poza which is a inn and restaurant on the water in Todos Santos. You can't really miss it because there are a lot of signs which will direct you there. Lilly, the proprietress gave us a tour of her seven room inn and then we had lunch in her restaurant. The food was incredible and her margaritas were divine. While we were sipping our margaritas, we observed this mama hummingbird feeding her baby. I've never seen a hummingbird sit still this long.













I'll close with this pretty picture of the sunrise taken from our hotel balcony. We will be back.

Texas Sky on Fire

Sometimes the Texas sunsets are pretty amazing. This was taken a couple of days ago from our backporch. What a beautiful sky. Often, I ask myself what is my favorite season here. It depends on the season we are in because normally that is the answer. I love the spring for the flowers and the buds on the trees just before the pollen starts. Then, I love the summer because everything is in its heyday and we are swimming in the pool. Fall, is a favorite for the cool evenings but then the falling leaves are bothersome especially when they fall in the pool. Last but not least, the winter is a favorite for the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We live in a beautiful state although not many people outside of this state think so but that is ok.