I have many questions in my head about how being retired will change my life, including whether I will update here more often. I tell myself my extreme slackitude in this area is due to just not having enough time to fit everything in, what with the many hours each week consumed by being employed. Something has to give, and most of the time it’s writing here that gets shoved off the list. Part of me wonders if the time is just an excuse, if what’s really lacking is something else. In a couple months, I should be closer to an answer on that. For now, let’s get caught up yet again.

One of the notable events of late April was reuniting with Mr. Karen after his extended holiday out west; we went out for our last ski trip and he stayed on in Idaho for a couple weeks more and then traveled back via visits with family in different places. I saw him for the first time in several weeks at my mom’s 85th birthday party in Illinois. We got some quality if not quantity family time in and discovered a “sushi go round” restaurant in the bargain.

I made some notes in preparation for writing this post, but that was a few weeks ago when I’d originally planned to catch up here, so it took me quite a while to figure out what “Old: writing, leaf, star, petal” meant. Answer: it’s about the Betty Crocker decorating tips sold at the grocery store for use with the tubes of cake frosting. I noticed they were on clearance and was tempted to buy a set lest I not have a backup for when the set I already have and use maybe once every three or four years got lost or damaged or something. Mr. Karen (we usually do the grocery shopping together) talked me out of it, pointing out that since they were not discontinuing the frosting tubes, it was unlikely that Betty Crocker would leave us without a solution to getting said frosting onto cakes. And right he was; on a later trip to the store, there were new sets of decorating tips, with twice as many options as the old sets (at a higher price, I assume) . The new set has tips for writing, leaves, stars, and petals, but also grass, two more sizes of writing (or dots), and one more size of stars. The leaf and petal tips are different than the old ones. This is an example of the sort of insignificant issue my brain latches onto. I could be focusing on self-improvement or something worthwhile like that, but instead I am concerned with changes in Betty Crocker decorating tips.

Another example of my getting distracted is evidenced in my fascination with the signs Meijer stores have been putting up with seasonal merchandise this summer. The letters on them are blocky and colorful and use the principle of transparency and when I see a new one, I am powerless to resist snapping a photo. So far I’ve got a half dozen photos in my collection and look for new ones whenever I’m in a Meijer. So far I’ve only snapped the signs I’ve seen in the parts of the store I was already in looking for the things I needed to buy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I start wandering the rest of the store looking for the pretty signs.

Nail polish and nail polish related activities continue to consume a large part of my discretionary time. There’s making my rounds looking for new displays, swatching, blogging, buying and shipping polish to ladies who can’t get their hands on things I have easy access to, discussing polish issues online, and meeting up with fellow lacquer lovers in person. Oh, and actually doing a proper manicure on my own nails once in a while. It’s fun. I get joy out of it.

Mr. K and I have started working on the long overdue house decluttering project. Last weekend we tackled the laundry room, which meant saying goodbye to the herd of ten stuffed bunnies that have been with us since before we moved into the house. As fond as my memories of them are, it was time to let them go.

I’m looking forward to seeing what we can get rid of this weekend. I’m looking forward to the next nail polish aficionados meetup the weekend after that. I’m looking forward to retirement, though there’s some trepidation there, too, as it’s going to be a big adjustment. I hope to write my way through it, but we’ll just have to see how that goes.