Our "Retired" Life

Almost two years ago we bought our tiny cottage, thinking we would slow down and ease into being semi-retired. NOT! Life has been busier than ever. Now, mind you, I'm not complaining. I love our life. 

Besides both of us working, we try to keep up with all the grands and their activities.

At the moment, that is two playing baseball, one swimmer, one playing volleyball and 4 dancers.
The highlight of my weeks right now is having our college grandson, Kyle come every Tuesday and Thursday between classes for dinner. He will probably go away to college next year, so we are enjoying this time with him.

I saw the perfect sign on Pinterest for us.

Besides the kids activities, we have been trying to fix up our tiny cottage a little at a time. I really wanted a Carriage House garage door, but after pricing them, decided a paint job on the one we had would have to do for a while.

Mr.SS finally painted our metal aluminum door white.

Before

After

You can also see our new white security gates. That area was open before...I feel much more secure now.

Plans are in the works for a whole face lift for the front of the house.  A new front door and sidelights have been ordered. I will follow along with that process soon.

We enjoy our roses and always have a bouquet for  the table. Mr. SS just brought these in yesterday.

We work in the yard quite a bit. Besides the roses, I have a couple of flower beds and some strawberries planted. I still can't get on my knees, but with help from the grands and Mr. SS, I am able to keep them up.

My favorites are these Sweet Peas that just come up by themselves. They smell sooo good.

One of two Azaleas. They bloomed at different times.

For my part of being semi-retired, I got one of the biggest orders ever ready to mail to Four Tiny Cousins who I still sew for.

This was done in a week. I had taken the week before Easter off, so I had put myself in a bind. I didn't even have it mailed yet and received my next order. I'm thankful for the work, though and will sew as long as they need me to. I still do sewing for others too, so I just keep trying to work it in. It's not uncommon to see me sewing on buttons or any other handwork I can do at ballgames.

I showed you the dress I made for Emmy Lou, but just now got pictures of her wearing it. Her big sister Drew took these for me. I found the perfect sandals on Amazon to match.

Sorry, I just realized these came from Drew's phone and I didn't edit them

Still our cute Emmy Lou in her birthday dress and shoes.

Tomorrow, I get to go pick up granddaughter Lexi and take her to Strawberry Patches to pick out fabric for her 8th grade graduation dress, which she is making herself.

I'm going to get fabric for a birthday dress for Brooke. Same pattern, just different fabric.

Then next Monday, Mr. SS and I are taking our little blue trailer to the coast for a few days, so we can pretend we are semi-retired. He'll golf and I'll be sewing on Brooke's birthday dress and maybe some curtains.