Come Stitch With Me, LLC

It’s Sunday evening. I’m sitting on my lower porch enjoying the cool breeze and listening to the birds sing as I work on hubby’s quilt. All is well. Only two more weeks until I make the leap from public school library teacher to early retiree. It’s such a relief to be exiting the firestorm that currently surrounds public education.

Will I miss certain parts of the job? Absolutely! I’ve been told that the first “back-to-school” time after retirement is the hardest. Part of this may be eased by the fact one of my volunteer assignments as a READ team with Sadie will be at an area elementary school. We’ll read with 4-5 students individually on a biweekly basis for about 60-90 minutes total each visit. This may eventually mean letting another team take over for us at the public library, but I’m okay with that.

My focus now shifts to my own health & wellness, quilting, travel and spending time with hubby. He surprised me with last minute Braves tickets for Friday night’s game. Date night was a lot of fun. He’d discovered the wonders of StubHub and scored some really good seats at rock-bottom prices. Now he’s monitoring ticket prices for the upcoming Kenny G. performance (ticket prices way too high for my budget).

Stepping away from my job a year sooner than planned does mean some trade-offs, especially in today’s economy. The biggest impact for us will be felt in the travel category. We’ll go ahead with the trips already booked. We planned to do an epic road trip in late summer to Mackinac Island in Michigan’s U.P., but soaring gas prices (along with everything else) put that on hold. For now, our excursions will be day trips closer to home and be free or low cost where possible. I’ll make full use of the free park passes that I can check-out from my local public library! Reading books and magazines in the free Libby app has saved a ton, as well. Plus, there’s no paper clutter and no having to drive to the library to return items.

Quilty activities are likely to increase with weekly sew-ins with friends and former co-workers. Looking forward to getting those precut kits finished and donated! Biz activities are on the increase, too, with five custom quilts on the books, summer camps and some stitching for the local artisan market.

I’ve very thankful to be able to pull the early retirement lever. So looking forward to a bit of rest, travel and lots of fun in the coming months.

Peace be with you.