10 Things

Liana tagged me, and I have been remiss in responding.  Actually I wrote a long, lovely post last night, answering the meme and just rambling about languid summer evenings sitting on the deck watching the river go by and the sun set, but the evil cyber-gremlins got it and it is gone, gone, gone.  Of course I want to blame it on Typepad, because I am certain I pressed save just before everything disappeared, but I am really not that certain as I was still a little fuzzy headed after having Gin and Tonics on the deck so it may have been me.  Luckily I had dinner already in the oven as it appears I am a little out of practice with the summertime adult refreshments.

So I will do this again and this time I will make a copy before saving, just in case.

WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?
At any given moment? probably much of what I am doing now.  DH had retired from his surgical practice by then and set up his consulting business.  I was the business manager, but we were still small, and as it was a retirement job, we weren't trying to be anything big.  The idea was to work enough to pay the expenses plus a little extra and spend the rest of our time traveling.  It didn't work out that way completely because eventually the business got incredibly busy and we traveled less.  10 years ago we were traveling a lot, about two weeks out of every month and most weekends we were either away or incredibly busy.  I spent the time in between catching up on home, laundry, and garden, and doing all the payroll, office accounting, personnel managing and keeping the computer network running.  I worked mostly from home, the office and my home computers were networked but it seems I ran into the office a couple of times every day. 

WHAT ARE 5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY?
Now we are completely retired and the business is closed so my to do list can be pretty boring.
1.     walk around the neighboring Vanderbuilt Estate (3.9 miles) or ride exercise bike for at least 40             minutes. Do stretches and exercises:  lunges, squats, push-ups, curls, sit ups (done)
2.    cook.  It seems I cook a lot nowadays, usually three meals a day, but today I only have 2 because DH just grabbed a bagel and coffee before going to his gym this morning. (Lunch done, meat marinating for dinner)
3.     Figure out why a local hospital is billing us for something that should have been paid by DH's Medicare or supplemental insurance.
4.     Grocery Shopping  (after 6 for 10% "Family Night" discount at gourmet/produce market)
5.      Pull out coating fabric and write up plans for Great Coat Sew Along

SNACKS I ENJOY:
nuts
cheese
hummus
popcorn

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
Invest it wisely and set up a foundation or trust to give as much of it as possible away.
I don't think I would make any major changes in my lifestyle now as I am pretty comfortable and like what I do, but it would allow me to worry less and would undoubtedly make many things easier.  Since I am not particularly looking for anything grand in life, it would be nice to know I could go where I wanted and do what  ever interested me. 

I would however buy out my neighbor, the one who antagonizes everyone and lives just above me so that I see the mess that is his yard and the bottom of his pool and deck right outside my front door and everytime I come in and out of the driveway; the one my DH calls sc****g.  I can rationalize this by saying that it would make my friend and other neighbor happy, and I would plant some nice shrubs on what would then be "our" property line, and it would give me the extra acreage I need so that my property is no longer "non-compliant" after the town rezoned this section of town for 2 1/2 acre lots to cut down on development.   My house is grandfathered, but I currently can't repair or change anything on the outside of the house without a zoning variance, and the addition of the neighbor's property would put me well over the limit so that I could enlarge the sewing studio if I ever wanted or put in a greenhouse, neither of which would be approved now as I am not allowed to enlarge any existing structures or build new structures on the property now. 

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Stephenville, Texas.  Lafayette, Louisiana, Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain.  Pasadena, Texas.  Poughkeepsie, NY. Hyde Park, NY.

WHAT TYPE(S) OF WORK HAVE I DONE?
Babysitter.  Lab technician, sorting, counting and identifying insect larvae from Texas streams. Library assistant.  Sales clerk at Montgomery Ward.  File Clerk.  Classified Advertising Sales.  Teacher's aide.  ESL teacher.  Sunday School Teacher.  Baby Nursery Manager.  Secretary.  Programming Assistant fixing bugs in APL programs.  Production Manager for a computer time-sharing firm. Systems Analyst.  VP of Sales for a computer software firm. Teaching software training seminars for businesses.  Adjunct professor at a local community college.  Medical billing clerk.  Medical transcription.  Office Manager for a medical practice.

SIX (6) “PEEPS” I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT
Shannon Hungry Zombie Couture
Marji Fiber Arts Afloat
Materfamilias
Cennetta The Mahogany Stylist
Mary Beth The Stitchery
Mary Mary, Mary Quite Contrary