My new idea of a relaxing retirement is to have no pets and live in a building with a great gym and spa facilities with a fluff and fold laundry downstairs.
I hear you!! And I agree completely. In my case, luckily I have no pets. My gym is two miles away, but I seldom use my home gym equipment any more because right now, I like getting out of the house.
None of my laundry needs folding, and I'd rather do it myself while I relax here at home. But I just had to use this opportunity to describe the peculiar laundry setup that I have been using lately. This laundry system is something that I invented last fall and which I think is really super and much easier than what I had been doing. It works for me, but may not for others. Anyway here is what I have been doing:
Instead of using my triple dresser to store things, I use baskets so that I don't have to open and close all those drawers just to do laundry or to get dressed. I have five normal plastic laundry baskets at heights that are about waist high and easy to reach, on a wide Sterilite shelving unit that I already had, with shelves far enough apart that I don't have to pull the baskets out to use them. I have a laundry cart that is about the same height as the baskets. One basket for bras and shorts, one for underwear, one for socks, one for the oversized t-shirts that I wear as nightclothes, and one for dirty laundry. My shoes go on the bottom shelf of that same shelving unit. The blouses still have to be hung in the closet, as do long pants, but still, in my opinion this system makes putting away clean laundry and getting dressed a lot easier. Getting dressed, I just roll my laundry cart by the shelving unit and pluck one of what I need out of each basket, and then roll it to where I normally dress; the idea of baskets at a convenient height that do not need to be opened and closed like drawers do, came to me when thinking of how grocery stores are laid out.
One of the great things about being retired is that I can easily try out all my hare-brained ideas like this to see if they work for me as well as I envisioned.
This is one that I like. (I have the advantage of knowing that nobody but me and F will ever see my bedroom anyway so I don't care if it looks like a crazy woman lives here!
) Eventually I will need to call the Salvation Army and get them to remove that huge, heavy, clunky triple dresser and matching armoire that I no longer use.
As for what I did yesterday, not much! We went to lunch together and then watched the seagulls at the boat launch again. The birds provide never-ending entertainment, and all without even having to get out of the car. Their interactions are sometimes amazing, sometimes puzzling, and sometimes hilarious to watch. This time there were lots of ducks, pelicans, and ravens to watch, as well as the sea gulls. After getting home I enjoyed the internet and some intensive video game playing until the wee hours of the morning.
Today F is MC'ing a show at the bar where he sometimes works on an irregular part time basis, for fun and to get a little extra fun money too. After he finishes we'll go to lunch and then go watch the birds again. It's sunny and gorgeous outside, but dropped from yesterday's delightful 78F to 52F right now. I'll have to wear long pants and running shoes instead of my (usual) shorts and sandals.
