Last weekend before retirement

3 more work days and then we are RETIRED!  Woohoo!  Are we excited or what?

It has been a busy week; Dave was in China and I was coordinating a week long department meeting, so today has been rather lazy.  Though I did go out an pick some rhubarb; my patch is huge and the rhubarb looks great.  Here's a pie I just took out of the oven.  It's not in a pie plate however as I have already packed them away, so this was made in my handy round Pampered Chef baker.  I use this pan for so many things, I love it.

This pie is huge with 8 cups of rhubarb.   Can hardly wait to taste it.  I made it a bit different this time with minute tapioca as the thickener instead of flour and also added two eggs for a bit of a custard texture.  So if you want the recipe send me a note and I will add it to the blog.  

Now I am out to the driveway where the Airstream is parked to start cleaning it before I get it loaded for the summer and beyond.  

Have a wonderful Saturday! 

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Yes, we are waiting.  Waiting for the next 3 weeks to go by and then we can shout "WE ARE RETIRED!!!"   WOOHOO!!  Can you tell we are excited? 

Waiting for the right buyer for the house.  Haven't found them yet.  We had one viewing but since we haven't heard back I'm assuming they aren't interested.  We showed the house on Wednesday.  We have had an additional 3 inquiries, but no additional requests to see.  :(

Waiting for the weather around here to improve, but isn't everyone?  :)

Waiting for when the temps improve so we can de-winterize the Airstream.  I'm planning on getting it cleaned up this weekend, but not de-winterizing yet.  Just can't trust the temps yet, since the obvious weird weather, snow in May?  How weird is that?!

Waiting to go visit my new great-nephew; I'm so looking forward to holding him and having some cuddle time. Oh, and catching up with my niece and her hubby, the parents.  :)

Waiting to sell the house, so we can give the go-ahead to the builder that we are ready to start when he is.....oh when will that be?

Did I say this post was about waiting? 

Have a great weekend, despite this crazy weather. 

House is For Sale by Owner

Wow, it's finally happening!  This seems a long time in coming.  We listed it about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night. Have had 3 inquiries and one person requesting a showing for next week.  I think the other person really wanted to look at it but his realtor wouldn't let him because we refused to sign a contract with him giving him 3.5% commission. 

The realtor didn't even find us or first contact us, the interested buyer did!  He said he had signed a contract with a realtor and would we talk to him.  We said yes, of course.  First thing out of the realtor's mouth was  I need an agreement for 3.5% or I won't let my buyer see your house.  He wouldn't even negotiate!!!  Forget that!!!!  And he said HUD required that we pay him a commission.  Yeah?  Really?  I don't think so.

If we wanted to sell for 3.5% commission we would have listed with a realtor to begin with!!!  It's too bad because the buyer said he needed to buy a house in a week.  I told him no problem we could be out in a couple days because we are mostly packed and moved out already!  Oh well, his choice. 

19 work days to retirement!!!!!  We are getting so excited. 

We plan to get the Airstream out of storage, get it cleaned and ready to go this next week.  We are looking forward to our new adventures. 

Stay tuned friends and family and check here because I'll keep you updated on all the happenings with us. 

Beautiful day today, hope you all enjoy it!!

Hugs!

April check in

Hello everyone, it's April here in Iowa and the weather isn't the most desirable yet, but with the rain we have had lately the farmers should be happy as it is more rain than last year.  That's a good thing.

We have a majority of the house packed and in storage and hopefully by next week we should have it listed.  If we are fortunate to sell quickly, we could move out in a matter of days.  The whole house has been freshly painted and the garage.  The carpets were professionally cleaned also.  Having the house dismantled for three weeks sure made us appreciate it when we got it put back together. This also motivated us to get even more items packed up.   When I get our ad for the house up and running, I'll add a link here.

Dave checked the Airstream at the storage unit and said it appears to have wintered well.  We are looking forward to getting it cleaned out and de-winterized.  

We have 24 working days left before retirement, yeah!!!!  I know the time will go really fast.   We are in the process of planning our first retirement trip to celebrate.  If things go as planned we will be leaving for Santa Fe for the 4 Corners Unit rally.  So check in frequently as I'll probably have daily updates of our travel adventures.  KT & Nacho will be sure to check in with their point of view.  :)

Here's a few pictures of the house.

Living room from front hallway

Corner fireplace

 

 

Eating area in kitchen and doors to back yard

 

 

 Formal Dining Room

 

 

Guest bathroom

hallway to bedrooms and front door

 

back bedroom

 

 



I need to get some more pictures of the other bedrooms, the kitchen and the family room, bedrooms downstairs and the downstairs bath.  

Packing, packing, packing

Oh my, no place for us to have our "Zooms"!!!  So says Nacho!  We found out on Thursday that painters can start on the house on Monday.  Great that we can get them started so quickly, but bad because we weren't really prepared for that.   We are having the whole house painted inside!  Every room is in disarray. Our wonderful friend and house cleaner, Rebecca, was kind enough to wash all the doors and woodwork so one less prep for the painters (brings cost down).  Every room is in various stages of packing and furniture moved to the center of the room.

Hopefully, this means that by the middle of April the house will be on the market.  Know anyone moving to Cedar Falls area that would be interested in a house?  Please send them our way!!!

Dave talked to the builder that is drawing up our house plans and he indicated that he probably won't be able to start until August, but maybe we could get the foundation started in July.   We aren't 100% sure that he will have the lowest bid, so we will go out for bids from other builders, but if I was a betting person, I think it will be Jeff.  We really like him and the suggestions that he is offering in the design as he draws it up and the changes he is recommending makes him a winner in my opinion. 

Hmmm, that means if he can't start right away, the Airstream is going WEST!!!!  New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, here we come!!! 

Dave gave notice last week that his retirement date is the end of October, so with all his saved vacation, he will be done working the same time as I will, 27 May!!!  Wow, its finally happening!!!

Yes, we will have a house, but travel, and a lot of it, is in our future!!!  The time that we have been planning for years, is finally upon us.  We have been so blessed and we are very thankful.  Now we are getting super excited also!!!

So many places to explore!!  But planning a house is going to have to be a priority for this year. 
This will be a very different year for the Jones!   We are looking forward to moving closer to our children, getting involved in a new church, making new friends, and learning about a new community.  We will have plenty of direction and help as we learn the area though, since we have family there.   Exciting times ahead!!!

Well, better get busy, I need to pack up the hutch in the dining room, finish up the entertainment center, do laundry and help Dave with the final packing in the storage room. 

Again, WOW, so much to do!!!  I'm almost overwhelmed but excited also. 

More updates soon!

News of Winter 2013

Hello Everyone,
My postings have been few and far between when we aren't on the road, just working, working, working.   Still busy, planning and packing.  
Yesterday I did make it official, my retirement date/last day of work for John Deere is 23 May 2013!!  John Deere has been a great company to work for and I am appreciative of the 13 1/2 years I have had with the company.  But,  I am looking forward to new adventures....traveling in the Vintage, building a home closer to our children, learning agility with my pups, sewing and learning to quilt, and workkamping and traveling in 2014. 
Dave hasn't decided on a retirement date yet, for him it all depends on when the current house sells.  When June arrives and we haven't sold it, we are hitting the road for a long trip.  Then he will return to work until it sells. If it sells quickly, we'll break ground on the new house in rural Boone County Iowa and just make weekend trips.  We are totally playing it as it goes. 
We are both getting rather excited as our actual retirement grows closer and closer.  We have been planning this for quite a long time.  Boredom and restlessness is not in our future!!!!  Dave hopes to see more of Trout Camp this coming year than last.  :)
Daughter and I spent an enjoyable weekend with friends Theresa, Lydia, Ellie and Isaac of Dunham Lake Australian Terriers at the Cyclone Dog show in Des Moines.  Here's a few pictures:

 

Mary with Sparrow, I'm sure she was considering just heading for home with him!  He is such a sweetie!!

 

Lydia, though I'm not sure which dog, it's either Reba or Jake. 

 

 

Mary, still cuddling!

 

Ellie and again, I'm not sure which dog.  Sorry Theresa!!!

Lydia again, she, along with Ellie are really pros!

 

Mary and I enjoyed the show and spending time with friends.  It was nice to have a girls weekend!

Well, that's about it for this time, but hopefully I'll be back soon with news developing around the Jones household. Kisses from KT and Nacho!

 



February 2013

Hi Everyone!
We haven't checked in for a while.  As we posted last, we have made the decision to retire this year.  My last day is currently scheduled for May 31, 2013.   I am so excited!  :)
We have made the decision to relocate closer to our children, so on 4 January, we purchased a two acre lot in Boone county.   This puts us approximately 10 minutes from our son and daughter-in-law and about 50 minutes from our daughter.  It will be so nice being closer to them, at least while we are  in the area.  With all the traveling and workkamping we are considering, they won't be able to say that we are pests.  :)
But before we can get started on our travel adventures we will be building a new home!  WOW!!!! Not what I thought we would be doing, but I (Candy) am starting to get excited.  Dave has spent the last two months researching "being your own general contractor" and is enjoying the research.  I think he is on "R" revision of the house he is designing, but we feel it's finally getting closer to being exactly what we want.
We have been slowly getting rid of "stuff" by either pitching it or taking to Goodwill. Also, we sold a few things on Craig's list and will probably list additional items.  We have filled one storage unit and rented another to start emptying the house and getting it ready for some beautification in preparation for listing it. They say it's all about staging.
When we feel we have it ready, we will be listing it ourselves by creating a FSBO web page.  Dave's plan is to work until the house is sold, then we will start building and live in our Vintage Airstream during the build.   He has been very busy when he isn't at work, working on the house design, contacting builders and sub-contractors.  So far, we have interviewed 4 builders, 2 kitchen designers, and 4 sub-contractors with more in the works.  Hopefully in another month we will have a better idea of the builder we would like to use with Dave acting as GC.  His management and organizational skills will come in handy.  :)
Our back-up plan is to go on a month long trip if the house isn't sold; since it's Dave year to choose our travel destinations, I am sure Wyoming will be a possibility.  We will be sticking around the Midwest for RV adventures this year as we are hoping a house build will take priority, but all depends on selling our current house.  We are hoping to get more canoeing and fishing in this year, so weekends to Trout Camp will be in the planning, I'm sure!  :)
So no travel pictures or adventures with KT and Nacho on the road but I can promise, Lord willing, we will be out and about once the snow and cold is gone, at least on some weekends.  I sure am missing the Vintage!  The open road is calling me; so many places to go and sights to see!!
Blessings to you all and hope to see you in 2013!
Candy