Well I ended up with an extended summer vacation this year. Thanks to a layoff from Luxottica. They are going with another vendor for their manufacturing software and so they will no longer do any further development on their existing software. No developers, no need for me and many of my coworkers. 9 out of 22 were released. Once they change, they plan to also have this same vendor do their support, so my whole group could eventually be shrunk down to a handful of analysts.
So I was let go in June - it was like being in school again and having the summer off. Even went to Gulf Shores, Alabama with the girls and their families to celebrate Vanessa getting her degree. And I actually lost weight, did some honey do stuff and kept busy working around the place. It was a trial run for being retired. It worked out OK - I planned my week by the day each Sunday evening. So each day I had something to do - no sitting around on the porch. Then I cut back on spending. I was able to get it fairly close to what we are planning to spend monthly upon retirement. So in that sense it was good to get a trail run and get a feel for what to expect. I did not sit around and do nothing - even on the weekends.
I was kind of sort of hoping to stay under the radar on unemployment. If I had not gotten hired by January then I would have officially retired at that time. I cannot touch my IRA until age 59 and half, although I do have about 2 years of income I can get my hands upon. So that would have bridged me until that time. But I was contacted by a company for a job and restarted work in September - I am working for a subcontractor to a subcontractor doing work for Wright Patt. So summer vacation has ended - it is back to the grind for me. I guess on the plus side it is an opportunity to put even more back for retirement so that we can do that trip to europe that we were talking about.
One thing that I noticed is that when your income is limited, you use a lot more discretion when shopping. You go in a store, get what you need turn around and get out. Since I got rehired, I do the opposite - hey I could use that, and look here - this is on sale. How quickly that thrifty habit is forgotten about. Once again there is no worrying about the total amount, and just getting whatever you want, not just what you need. I went to a store to get a $5 item last week, and walked out with over $40 of stuff. On the way to the car I was shaking my head at myself.
Worked both Cash and Serenity this weekend. They helped me with firewood. Both worked hard and earned some $$ to take home. We also got to play a little bit - Cash and I played World of Tanks. The next morning he was not listening to me - I had to tell him several times to do things. I gave him a stern lecture that he does not want to make Grandpa mad by ignoring me when I give him an order to do something. He was taken aback and did finally help cleanup as requested.
Serenity looks as though she will be like me - partially left handed. She picks up and throws things with her left hand but does some things with her right hand. I also saw that Cash can be timid at times and has Serenity do things for him. He wanted to check out a boat, but he told Serenity to go up there first and check it out. Then when all was OK, he went up. Apparently Serenity is expendable in his eyes... When I told Sarah the tale, she remarked that Serenity should wear a red shirt - a reference to the red shirts worn by the expendable junior officers on Star Trek.
Both kids got to explore on their own for the first time. I figured that they were old enough now to go traipsing over the hillside on their own. Something that I enjoyed as a child. I hope that our woods is as full as adventure to them as the woods that we got to play in as youngsters. Lots of Indian and Civil war battles, lumber jack camps, etc. as I recall. Although Cash was of course drawn to some of the old cars that his father left on the other side of creek years ago. Old rusted heaps in my eyes, restorable relics in his.
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