Ok, so my hammock taunts me. Absolutely taunts me. It knows that I retire today, and it most certainly knows that I plan to spend at least a little bit of every day lying in it reading my Kindle, sipping fresh-made veggie juice (I’m a boring excuse for a leisurely housewife, I know), yelling at the dog, etc.

So my hammock stand arrived Wednesday (thank you, bikermommy, for the Amazon certificate that bought it), and I assembled it Wednesday night after our Bible study group left. It took about ten minutes, because it’s the easiest assembly ever. So Frank came out to help me, and I was putting the S-hooks in each end of the stand. I asked him to go get the hammock from the garage. He brought it back, and when I went to hang it… the chains are too short, and my hammock doesn’t reach to both ends! I was sure I would be testing out ye olde trusty hammock before I went to bed Wednesday night… you know, to prepare myself for how awesome my afternoons will be.

So I need my extension chains. I have them, you know. In a box. In the garage. I went out and checked all the boxes. My boxes are labeled in detail. If there is a screwdriver in the box, it says so on the outside. Screwdriver (phillips). Dryer cord. Vise grip. 5/8″ wrench. (Ok, not as detailed as to tell the size of the wrench, but you get the picture.)

Naturally, none of the garage boxes is labeled with “hammock chains,” even though I clearly remember labeling a box with hammock chains. I know I did it.

Which means that I have to unpack the garage boxes this weekend so my hammock is available to me on Monday. If I get all the way through the boxes with no hammock chains, I may have to go back to work. Or Home Depot, I don’t know.

UPDATE: The chains have been located. By accident, really. I was scanning my gameroom boxes for something else, and there with my softball glove were the hammock chains.

First, to my friend Tracey, who rocks. I’m so glad I know you.
Second, to Harry Potter, who also is known to rock. I shall celebrate your birthday by starting to read your series again.
Third, to JK Rowling.

I’d also like to wish a happy birthdate to my retirement. I shall celebrate your birth by making and eating sushi with friends tonight.

Oh dang. I had a root canal yesterday (I’ll probably need to blog about that nightmare and my total meltdown in the dentist’s chair), and my jaw is still sore, so I hope I’m able to eat my sushi rolls!

Ok, I have to go now. Have to make some notes, clean off my desk, say goodbye to one or two people (I will be the only person in corporate accounting at the office today), finish up some training, and pick up my final paycheck.

Including today.

was watching the movie.

I watched the one with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

Including today. Then I’m retired! Here’s a list of some of the things I plan to do during my retirement (in no particular order):

Write novels.
Cook.
Clean.
Read.
A lot.
Hang out in my hammock with my Kindle.
A lot.
Walk the dog.
Exercise.
Get in shape.
Spend a lot more time on the IMAO/mm/SRM blog empire.
Blog.
A lot.
Make t-shirts, including that one I promised Tracey.
Scrapbook decades of pictures and movie stubs and such.
Bead. I like to bead. I apologize.
Hike on weekends w/ my sweetie.
Study the Bible more.
Hopefully a lot.
Take care of the house.
Play.
A lot.

Today’s kind of a big day for me. I’ll tell you why later. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Done. I gave my notice at work. Next Friday is my last day!

Today I’m thirty-three.

Yesterday we got all moved in to the new house. We love it.

We’re about to take showers so we can go clean up our ex-house after we get the rest of our stuff out. We have miscellaneous kitchen stuff left and some bathroom things. And half our clothes are still there. Garage things…

We don’t have to clean that much. The house auctioned Friday, and the property management company is not charging us a cleaning fee or doing a walkthrough, because it’s no longer their property to manage. So we get back everything–$800 in pet deposits, first and last months’ rent. Wahoo! So we’re going to clean all the floors (vacuum, sweep, mop–no steaming carpets or anything) and the kitchen counters and sweep out the garage. That’s it.

Tonight after worship, we’re doing dinner with my in-laws.

And then… you know… Sookeh! (And Eric!!)

Current reads (dang–long list):

Paranoia (Joseph Finder). This was a free Kindle download, timed with the release of Vanished. I’m halfway through, and after I realized it’s a corporate espionage thriller, I figured I wouldn’t like it (I’m a businesswoman, so I don’t come home and read business or watch The Apprentice). I am really enjoying it, to my pleasant surprise. Will buy more of his books unless the second half of this one sucks.

I realize I write in sentence fragments now. Blame Twitter.

The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)–STILL. Stinking loooooong book. Enjoying.

The Dead Girls’ Dance (Rachel Caine). I’ve read the whole series and am working through it again. I like the Morganville Vampires books better than the Sookies.

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte). I haven’t picked this up in a while. Not into it yet.

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen). Cute so far. The hero and heroine haven’t yet met, so I’m not far.

I’m proud of myself. Only two of my current reads are vampire-related.

We signed today. The sellers sign at 8 a.m. The loan officer thinks it may have funded today, which means that as soon as the sellers sign, we can get keys.

I have the day off tomorrow. I wonder what I’ll do?

Suddenly, I’m a huge fan of someone called Sokka.

My mom is going to kill me for posting this picture.

So we applied for a new loan on Wednesday. Actually, we contacted the guy Wednesday. He took our app over the phone Thursday. By the end of Thursday, we were approved and through underwriting. Today he called me with an update. They got the appraisal that our first bank had done, and since the appraiser isn’t on his approved list of appraisers, they’re having her added to his approved list. Not ordering a new appraisal–making it so they can accept the first appraisal.

And.

Wait for it.

He doesn’t want to overpromise, but he thinks we’re closing next week. He called me at 4:45 on Friday just to update me on the status of everything.

Things are going so much better now.

And I have to hand it to our original loan officer. The application fee, which covers the appraisal, was non-refundable. She’s having it refunded anyway *and* she sent over the appraisal so our new bank could use it. She also told me that if she’d known her underwriting team would be so incompetent on our loan, she would have told us to go elsewhere for the loan a long time ago. I feel bad that she did a ton of work on our loan and doesn’t get anything out of it, but… that’s how it goes, I suppose.

The sellers are closing on the house they’re buying in two weeks. So they really need to close next week. Our rent house was supposed to auction today, and I assume it did, so I’m guessing we’ll have until the 20th to be out of here.

So we’re shaving things close, as is our wont, but it looks like things are going to work out. I’m breathing a mild sigh of relief–I’ll breathe the heavy sigh when we have a date and time set for closing.

I did NOT need another timewaster. Thanks, Amanda, for this! I will find a way to pay you back someday.

Meanwhile, there are many pictures of Jasper Cullen that need LOL captions. ON IT.

No, we still don’t have word on the house. I’ve been packing like the elves on December 23rd, and I’m almost to complete meltdown mode. I’ll get there soon, don’t you worry, my little bon bons.

I’m so glad we didn’t toss or give away our boxes from when we moved here. It’s saving me a ton of time. I pull out a box, it’s already labeled with exactly what goes in it. I tape up the box and go collect its items, and bam, I’m done. I also found a local place that sells packing paper in 25-lb bundles and for as cheap as I bought it online when we were moving from Florida. And no shipping charge. So that was nice.

Saving the boxes also saved us a lot of money. I’ll end up buying a few more boxes to hold things we’ve bought since we moved here, but other than that, all I’ve been buying is packing paper and packing tape. Nice.

Word UP, See’s. I love you. I’ve loved you for many years, ever since I won two pounds of you as a prize playing Bunco at church on New Year’s Eve. And now I know which of you I can eat, which means that I no longer have to sigh when I see the store full of you in the mall.

Supposedly we’ll hear the status of our loan tomorrow. And the house we currently live in is being auctioned on Friday. And we’re hoping to close on our new house by the 16th. And we’ll probably have until the 20th to be out of our house.

As you can imagine, I’m packing like mad, because it looks like I’m not gonna be able to carry stuff over in several loads.

Also writing. Not as much as I want to, but I am writing steadily anyway, even if I only get out a couple of paragraphs per day.

I’ve given myself writing assignments for the blog, but I haven’t had time for them, so I’m not telling you what they are. I know how y’all hate it when I flake out.

At 4:05:06 a.m. on 7/8/09, it will be 04:05:06 07/08/09. (h/t @LATimestot)

Today’s date is 07-02-09. 7+2=9.

You’re welcome.

The card reads, “From your secret admirer who is also your husband. I got you flowers since they are pretty like your face. I can’t even remember life before you.”