Planning for Retirement - continued

Well, my husband has started planning an attachment room for the farm.  This would be better than a modular home, and he thinks we can build it ourselves.  If the lake house doesn't work out, this might be a less expensive alternative to retirement housing.  Being in central Texas, I'm not sure how much I would actually like living there.  It is a nice property, 120 acres, but it is owned by joint tenancy and any money attached to the land would partly belong to the other owners as well.  Just another idea.  Input welcome.

What am I doing with my life: Planning for Retirement

What am I doing with my life: Planning for Retirement

Planning for Retirement

It's that time in my life where I need to start thinking about what to do in my retirement years.  I've changed my career from Teacher/Psychologist (though I maintain my licenses) to Real Estate.  I'm licensed as a broker in both Texas and Louisiana and work with Realty Associates in Harris and Montgomery Counties of Texas and McBryde & Associates in Many, Louisiana.  I think this can be some retirement income that isn't driven by age. 

In addition to thinking about income, my husband and I are trying to plan where we want to live and to do in our retirement years.  Choices are: to build a house on our lake property in Many, Louisiana, build something on my farm in Texas, or stay put in Houston.  Another choice that my husband Mike keeps throwing out is a partial relocation to Equador.

on top of that, we are trying to evaluate our hobbies which tend to cost a bit to see what we can afford.  I love family history and the travel that involves.  I love photography and I love music.  We have also recently discovered the world of cruising.  I love beautiful countryside and taking pictures that I'll probably never sell.  Finally, I have always wanted to write a novel, but I'm not even strict enough with myself to write a blog daily.

Our first hope is to build the home at the lake, but if anyone has been following any of my blogs, I have spent over a year designing the perfect retirement home only to discover that I can't afford to build it.  We are currently in the process of talking with builders and also evaluating the idea of owner built.  Whichever project I go with should give me ample subject matter to blog about. 

So hopefully, this will be one of many blogs to come.  I appreciate all comments and suggestions.

A Day in the Past

Today must be a better day. Yesterday was fraught with frustration. The computer was wiped clean just when I needed it. Didn't get the photography lessons done and now new ones are piling up. The vacuum cleaner broke, the food sealer broke and now I can't get the wireless features of my new computer to work. On top of that, I've only just begun to get the new computer set up. Oh, and did I mention? A call from the blue for a listing and it was so complicated that I was incompetent to handle it myself and now we may have lost it. Woe is me.

Well I don't have time to boo hoo. Nothing that happened yesterday is behind me and today has its own agenda so guess what? I move on. Unfortunately, I didn't get my blog in yesterday and today's will be short. See you in a bit when I catch up some. Take care.

A New Day

Yesterday was exhausting but successful. The house was reasonably clean and the feast prepared. The best part is that it was on time. Everyone had a great time and I'm glad it is behind me because there is so much still to be done.

Today I have set out the goal to catch up in photography class, complete my buyers presentation, and work on my office a bit as well as back up my work station so I'll be ready when the new one arrives.

Instead of blogging about all I have to do today, not that anyone is reading or cares, I'm actually going to get busy doing.

Have a great day those of you that tune in and those of you that don't.

Quiet Day

Today I got up earlier than I wanted. An alarm was sounding and dogs were barking. It was nothing but a neighbor forgetting how to disable the alarm before unlocking her car.

Oh well, I'm awake and a lot to do. Dinner guests this evening and my husband has planned the menu. Good, he get to cook most of it too. Unfortunately, I need to make the house presentable. This will be a bit difficult since I decided I didn't want the painters to finish the job a few months back. No drapes, no decorations on the walls, not to mention partially painted walls. I'm not complaining. At least I have walls.

I remember when I was a child and my grandmother's house had the bathroom combo laundry in the kitchen. I used to take a bath in her kitchen sink. The closets had curtains for doors and a light bulb hung from the ceiling unencased by a fancy cover. She also was happy to have walls.

Back to today, I'm three lessons behind in my latest photography class, but I hope to start them today. More work is needed on the internet website I'm developing. Clean house and get ready for my visitors from the UK. All in a days work. Oh, I forgot. This is Sunday and a day of rest. OK, maybe I can squeeze in a nap sometime during the day.

If you want to see the progress we are making on the website, you can visit http://www.krmrealty.com/. My son and I are working on it together and we are on hold until the next class Friday unless I learn more from the manual. As my dad used to say, "When all else fails, read the manual."

I'm keeping this short today since there's so much to do. It's not like anyone reads this besides me anyway. It is fun to look each day to see if there have been any hits. Not so fun to see the answer, but atleast I'm finally getting practice writing.

Day 2 Learning Technology

I was raised in the era of technology. As a child, I had a black and white television and was able to watch some of the siminal television programs i.e, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke Show, the Rifleman, Lawrence Welk Show, Romper Room, and of course the Disney Mousekateers.

I visited Kiterick on KTRK for my birthday and played piano at the Shamrock Hilton. Neither of those exist any longer. I remeber Sputnik, the first Chimpanzee in Space and of course John Glenn's orbit of the earth. At 10, I new I was going to be a doctor some day. Times have changed quickly during my lifetime.

As I matured to my teen years the transitor radio was developed. We were cool carrying our favorite music with us where ever we went. Then the Vietnam War intruded on those carefree years. Color television was now the norm and we saw those violent battles in color and it made no sense. My medical career died as my parents didn't have the money for my education. With a scholorship, I started Chiropractic College, but soon learned it wasn't the type of Dr. I wanted to be. I was able to meet the men that walked on the moon along with Dion Warwick during those college years.

Thanks to the wonderful man I married, he encouraged me to become a teacher and later a School Psychologist. We have one wonderful son. Together, we saw the end of the Vietnam war. I had to give up some of my dreams, but manynothers replaced the voids.

I was married 10 years before I had my first air plane flight, though my parents had flown in the sixties to Mexico. Unbelievably, I was able to travel overseas in 1981. This was my big experience of a lifetime, or so I thought. Shortly after we returned, we were able to purchase our first computer, an IBM PC Jr. Wow, we were cool. Though it was little more than a toy and a word processor, it was the beginning of a new and wonderful, fast paced, technological world. I was on the cutting edge.

A couple years later, IBM decided they would no longer support their Jr, so I had to advance. A man named Jim Jarnigan built my next computer. He was one of the garage computer guru's that worked with Michael Dell and the founder of the compaq. Fortunately for me, he had missed out on the big breaks of his partners, but I was able to have a great computer at a reasonable price. As software became more user friendly, it was difficult to keep up with the hardware required to operate the latest and greatest software. We could no longer do it all, we had to specialize. Money was the regulator.

My choices have been limited to technologies that promoted my hobbies and careers. Those include anything to do with photography, music and family history. With technology, I have found extended family all over the world. I enjoy editing old and new photos as well as taking my own from all over the world. Piano is my instrument of choice, both a Yamaha C3A and a Clavinova. My husband plays guitars and drums of all sorts. The computer allows us to edit our music as well and record it.

As a School Psychologist, my computing was limited to generating reports and research for my PhD which never materialized. Today, as I embark on a retirement career in Real Estate with my son, I am once again learning the latest in technology. I am delving in the deep mysteries of the world wide web. Though young people have advanced far beyond me, I won't be left in the dark ages. Once again I am evaluating the world of technology to see how I can leave my mark on this old world.

Now that I am a grandmother, I have been able to watch my life and interests change as fast as technology. It has been a fun ride to date, but it is just the beginning. Stay tuned as we embark upon this new era of life.

Changes in my life

This is my first day to blog. Here I am at my computer wondering what to say. It seems so meaningless since most people feel the same way, but here goes.

I am a Masters level School Psychologist. I have worked all over the world and tried to get my doctorate. Woe is me. Working overseas is not conducive to completing a dissertation.

In 2004, I gave up, not by choice, but because I had spent ten years with nothing but all course work completed to show for my effort. What more could they want? I had lived in Australia, Japan and England. I was told to start over. At 54 years of age, at the time, I didn't have the energy to continue. I decided to retire. My life was not going to make the big impact I had dreamed of since I was a small child.

I twittered, no not on Twitter, my days with computer games and accomplished little. I started several books and completed none.

I made a change this year. I received my license in real estate. Though I am still currently licensed as a School Psychologist, I am changing careers at my current age of nearly 58. In addition, I plan to complete some of the dreams and goals I have previously set for myself.
Such goals are to improve my skills with piano and photography. Work on my writing. And be the best realtor I can be.

Watch out. Here I come. I welcome any suggestions or constructive criticism along the way. Tweet with me and give me encouragement if you will.