Blogging Doldrums and a Rant

I have been stuck in the blogging doldrums these last several weeks. I think that life has simply gotten very focused – like a laser through a pin hole since we’ve been living at the lake. Any time I may have for writing this blog happens either on coffee/lunch breaks at work or after 8pm in the evenings. I suppose that doesn’t sound so bad if you’re reading it on paper. In fact, I had lunch with a friend yesterday who suggested I could write blog posts in the evening instead of quilting. Yes, I guess I could. I did it all summer, after all!

But now it is mid-October in the Yukon. That means it’s dark when I leave for work at 7:20 in the morning and it’s dark when I get home at 7 in the evening. It means we eat dinner at 7:30, and it is often soup out of a can because we are too hungry to wait any longer than that. It means the cabin is lit with propane lights that cast the loveliest, softest yellow light you ever saw, and when you go outside to visit the outhouse, you need a flashlight to get there and back. It means the woodstove is popping and crackling.  It means hanging a flashlight in the shower at 9pm to wash under water we’ve heated on the wood stove. I guess the problem is that all of that darkness and wood stove and golden gaslight makes me sleepy, and I just…don’t feel like it. Any inspiration I got during the day has long fled my brain. I want to sit on the couch and work on my stitchery and watch an hour of Big Bang Theory reruns that Mr. C downloaded onto the laptop before taking my book to bed. And once there, I’m out like a light by 10pm.  And you know what? I don’t think that sounds lazy and lame at all.

But it does make for slow times in blogland over here at NitaDances.

I will tell you one thing that has been on my mind lately, though. As you all know, I am retiring very soon. In fact I only have SEVEN more Fridays! I drive away from the Yukon eight weeks from tomorrow. And something has been bothering me …

It has come to my attention that there are an awful lot of Eeyores out there. I am amazed at the number of people who, when hearing that I am retiring, give with one hand and take away with the other.

“Congratulations!…I’ll never be able to retire, I have this and that and the other thing to pay for (in the biggest woe is me tone of voice, which instantly turns the conversation away from my good news and onto the sad situation of my colleague.)

What I would like to say to you Eeyores is that it isn’t about you. If it were my birthday, would you say “happy birthday, Nita…too bad I’m older than you are and will never know the joys of turning (name your age) again”? I think not!

Mr C and I are not rich by any means. We do, however, happen to be pretty good at managing our money. We will be living on a skinny budget indeed in order to make this happen, because money is not the only indicator of wealth. And maybe, just maybe, it is the lifestyle choices we make that determines when we can financially afford to retire.

Stop trying to burst my bubble, okay?

There are also an awful lot of Absolute Negative Nellies out there, too. People who say things like:
“huh…well goody for you”
“must be nice”

To you Negative Nellies…well, let me say that I sure do resent the tone in your voice. Because it IS good for me. And it IS nice to be retiring at 52 instead of 68.  For heavens sake, my choice is not a reflection on you, and I don’t know why you feel threatened by it.  Get over it.

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

And now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here is a picture of the breathtaking sunrise we had the other day. I pulled off the side of the highway on my way to work to take the photo.