Let's Get Started, new beginnings

     A new year and an excellent time for new beginnings. First a little about myself.  I retired in July 2007 as a teacher.  For the past 4 years I have continued to teach in part time positions. Alas, this year due to budget cuts, part time teaching positions are drying up and for the first time in over forty years I find myself unemployed.
     Sounds great you say, you are retired, not unemployed.  You can  do what you want to do! Unfortunately for me that is just the problem.  What to do! I have worked all my life which in itself has forced me into living a scheduled life. My job, children and husband dictated what time to get up, play, relax, work etc.  Now all of a sudden with those confinements gone, with the exception of my husband, I find myself with too much time on my hands and not enough activities  to fill it.
     But before you say "Volunteer", I want you to know that I am doing some, but too much can be a bad thing and so I have limited myself to church activities and one community activity, The Friends of the Library.  Both can take on a life of their own if you are not careful.
     Now getting back to new beginnings. At the beginning of the school year when I am usually involved with all those back to school things, I decided I needed something to get myself up in the mornings.So three days a week I enrolled in a water aerobics class.  I always hated jumping up and down and all that jazz but in the water there is not so much wear and tear on my joints.  It has been fun and allows some socialization with new friends. I have not really lost any weight, but I do feel better.  The other thing I have done is start a pottery class. Again socialization  and learning a new skill.  I might add it is also the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but more on that in a later post.  I have also decided that as a retiree, it is important to stay mentally sharp.  So I hope to undertake at least one new thing at least twice a year, hence the pottery and I guess this blog.
     As a retiree living in the same house for 20+ years, I find that I have accumulated quite a bit of clutter which has needed to be tackled.  For five years of my semi-retired state it did not happen.  The task was too daunting.  Where to start?  I would spend whole days trying to start tasks but never finishing anything. So another part of this blog will chronicle my attempts of decluttering my life. I found a calendar at My Simpler Life that is to help declutter your life. So each day I will do the one thing it says to do and see the results.  As a disclaimer, I did not create the calendar, I am using it as a guide to declutter my life.  So check in to see my progress. For January 1 the calendar simply suggests: "Think about who you want to be this coming year." Easy enough, I can definitely do that today.
     Since this is my first time creating a blog, I hope to get this organized as well, so bear with me as I learn this new skill of blogging.  So, see I have already committed to two new things since retirement.
Happy New Year and I will see you soon!