Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

No, this post is NOT about sex but I am going to posit a question a la Carrie Bradshaw, she of Sex and the City.  Plus I figured having sex in the title might be a good way to draw readers. Before I retired, many already retirees would look at me with something akin to sympathy and tell me that it would take me awhile, but I would find a routine.  I've been ruminating over this quite a bit, which leads me to wonder--Why is it important for people leaving the routine of the workforce to then burden themselves with a new routine?  Because, after all, isn't that something we're all looking forward to with baited breath once we retire?  That we can jettison the routine, do whatever we want, whenever we want? (I previously wrote about the value of getting into an exercise routine, which I have been adhering to rather religiously.  Therefore, I exempt exercise from the ensuing conversation about routines.) And don't get me started about schedules.  Definiti...

It's a stunningly beautiful day here in the upper Midwest.  Please don't blame the Mothers' Day temperatures in the 70's on global warming.  That would take away all hope that the chance of frost has come and is now gone until at least next September. I've been writing this blog post in my head for at least a couple weeks.  In fact, I had a couple false starts while we were still in Florida.  I think I'm finally ready to get it onto the computer screen (remember when we used to say we were ready to get it onto paper?) In Florida, we rented in a townhome complex in Indian Rocks Beach.  My youngest sister lives there, which is how we found the place.  That factored into our decision to rent there.  We've been there a couple times and had a sense of what the community was like, where stores and restaurants were located.  We both liked that it was a little more laid back Florida beach town, less touristy than other nearby places.  Plus being ...