My Retirement Project: October 2025

Weekend Wrap Up - A Day Late!

I had to head out early yesterday, Monday, to meet my girlfriend for kayaking, and thus did not get this written and posted. A good excuse I think!

Also, to follow up on the small disclaimer I included here recently - that I am aware that my life may seem a bit too busy at times - this is what someone designed for my dad recently, highlighting just a few of his ongoing pursuits at close to 90 years of age -

So clearly I come by it honestly!

Friday - Left early to attend and show support for a community event highlighting one of my volunteer organizations. We met by the ocean, the sky was blue, the breezes pleasant, and I gave a small thanks once again that we had made the decision to relocate to the coast some years back.

Afterward, I headed to Target to pick up a slew of random items we needed - Halloween candy, various kitchen, bath, and office restocking supplies, and two boxes of protein bars, my go-to on busy days. Once that was in the car, headed to my mom's to drop off some paperwork pertaining to my sister-in-laws upcoming residency at her 55+ community, then we headed to lunch to celebrate my birthday. Which, for the record was some weeks ago, but we'd been unable to schedule a birthday lunch until now that worked into both of our schedules because my mom is quite busy as well, lol.

From there I headed to Staples to pick up some needed supplies for another of my volunteer organizations, then home to meet my spouse for Happy Hour at our membership winery, after which we headed to our new boating and social club to catch the sunset, listen to some live music, and enjoy a light meal of fish tacos. While there, we chatted with some people we already knew, plus had a fun conversation with a new-to-us couple at the next table. Which is how these things go and become an integral part of our social lives - we work hard to engage and be uber-pleasant upon meeting people for the first time, and from there roots of acquaintance-ship begin, which then eventually become roots of friendship as get togethers progress. At which point we can take our feet off the pedal, and simply enjoy an easy camaraderie going forward.

Saturday - Six mile walk from house to and along beach, stopping at gym on the return to do weights. Light yardwork upon return, then lunch and some reading before getting ready to attend a dinner and service auction at our spiritual community. I had two items being auctioned off - this rustic carrot cake (so good, and always an award winner when I make and bring it to any of our social wine club dining events), and a hike for 12 people along the beach, followed by fresh bagels, fruit, and mimosas back at our home afterward.

Well, both sold/sold out - the cake went for $70, and the 12 hiking spots for a total of $240. So I feel good about that!

Sunday - Spiritual services in the AM, then we left for an afternoon symphony that also involved the introduction of a new conductor, after the prior long time and much beloved conductor retired.

The Sunday afternoon symphonies include a long intro by the conductor to explain the symphony in detail to the audience before it is played. I personally love this aspect as it enhances significantly my enjoyment of the performance that follows.

We had wonderful front row seats*, the new conductor was engaging and charming, and the performance was tremendous - Scheherazade's 1001 and One Nights. Which we then followed up with by going to dinner with friends from our prior community that also attend these matinee symphonies.

* Our front row seats are a bargain at just $30 each, due to the first few rows being considered inferior for overall symphonic sound. However, we love sitting directly up front where we can experience both the sound and the energy of the music as it is being played by the skilled musicians.

So, yes, another great weekend of activities is now in the books.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Run to gym, three more fast walk miles on treadmill upon arrival, plus weights, walk home, clean up and depart for a ladies lunch with my spiritual community, head to ukulele practice afterward, home briefly to prepare leftovers for spouse (pork Chile Verde over rice, yellow squash, cornbread), then to gym again to attend Boot Camp session #2 of 6 in total (I've been diligent about doing the daily planking/squats/push ups exercises the Boot Camp trainer assigned, and I can see progress already, which I'm so happy about.), then a pop-in with my Women's Club to, hopefully, celebrate a positive decision pertaining to our club that the city board was voting on.

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Retirement Withdrawal Rates, Ours At Least!

Retirement Withdrawal Rates, Ours At Least!

It's been a great week - lots of get togethers with other folk to hike, walk, workout, visit cultural centers, and enjoy meals.

Views from a portion of yesterday's walk - so gorgeous out there after a recent rainstorm passed through.

Plus, we met with one of our financial advisors this week and found them to be unusually positive about the long term prospects of pretty much everything we discussed - inflation, Social Security, tariffs, company earnings, and the financial markets in general.

And, they very directly told me that I was being overly conservative with our portfolio withdrawal rate of 2.5% at this point in our lives (early-60's and 70's). So, OK, I can fix that! Starting in 2026 we will raise it to 2.75%. Woohoo!

Actually, I do know we've been extremely conservative in our portfolio withdrawal rate since retiring, because that is the exact behavior that got us to early retirement in the first place - under spending relative to our income. But, interestingly, we chatted about what is considered the safe withdrawal rate since economists began dropping the Depression of the 1920's from the historic calculations most retirement calculators use. The reason being that the Depression can now be considered an outlier that will never re-occur due to changes since made in governmental regulations and oversite of banking and financial institutions.

The old number, which always seemed frighteningly optimistic to me, was 4%. The new number is 3.2%, which feels a lot more realistic. Thus, even at a new and higher withdrawal rate of 2.75% we will still be well under and conservative - the space where I feel the most comfortable.

In addition, a very large portion of our budget is completely discretionary. Thus, should we ever find need due to a large scale financial calamity of some sort, we can get by on just our pensions and Social Security. Perhaps not in luxury, but the bills would be paid and food purchased.

As a result of feeling optimistic enough to raise our withdrawal rate a bit in 2026, I spent yesterday finishing out our 2026 travel plans. Primarily, I've planned out two four-week just-us trips, two shorter trips/cruises with family, and a nice stay at our annual visit to the international film festival event in Palm Springs.

And we'll go ahead and schedule out a roof replacement, the last remaining update on our list for the house. Once that occurs, the house is pretty much brand new, and should remain trouble free for years and years to come.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Meet girlfriend at art museum followed by lunch, stop at Aldi's on the return trip home for 'usual' items, plus one supermarket for a few of their advertised Loss Leaders, do my Boot Camp 'homework' of planking, squats, push ups and pull ups, read 10 pages of Book Club book, 15 pages of October non fiction book, and then my current pleasure reading book - The Lion Women of Tehran.

Weekend Wrap Up - More Plans Than Energy

We ran out of steam this weekend, due to apparently having more plans than we had available retiree energy, which actually makes me a bit happy. I have worked hard to build a life in our newer community that is vibrant, and I think that we have.

I will say, though, that a little more energy would not be a bad thing. And with that in mind, I did recently sign up for a six week boot camp session at our fitness club that begins this week. I do not need any personal coaching encouragement to do more cardio as I'm already very solid there, and I do not need personal support to lose more weight (currently 108 and holding), but I do need encouragement to go deeper into weight training in order to increase my muscular strength and endurance.

So with that in mind, here is how our weekend unfolded:

Afterward, headed to Target to pick up a slew of random items we needed - Halloween candy, kitchen and office supplies, and Crunch protein bars. Once that was in the car, headed to my mom's to do drop off some paperwork at her 55+ community's main office, then we headed to lunch to celebrate my birthday. Which, for the record was some weeks ago, but we'd been unable to schedule a birthday lunch until now that worked into both of our schedules. See, my mom is quite busy as well, lol.

From there I headed home to meet my spouse for Happy Hour at our membership winery, then we headed to our new boating and social club to enjoy the sunset, listen to music, and enjoy a light meal of fish tacos. While there we saw people I knew, and had a fun chat with a couple at the next table. Which is how these things go and become an integral part of our social lives. We work hard to engage and be pleasant, and from there roots of acquaintanceship begin, which eventually become roots of friendship. At which point we can take our feet off the pedal and begin to simply enjoy an easy camaraderie.

Saturday - Six mile walk from house to and along beach, stopping at gym on the return to do weights. Light yardwork upon return, then lunch and some reading before getting ready to attend a dinner and service auction at our spiritual community. I had two items being auctioned off - this rustic carrot cake (so good, and always an award winner when I make and bring it to any of our social wine club events), and a hike for 12 people along the beach, followed by fresh bagels, fruit, and mimosas back at our home afterward.

Well, both sold/sold out - the cake went for $70, and the hike for a total of $240. So I feel good about that!

Sunday - Spiritual services in the AM, then we left for an afternoon symphony that also involved the introduction of a new symphony conductor after the prior amazing and long time conductor, Carl St Clair, retired.

The Sunday afternoon symphonies include a long intro by the conductor to explain aspects of the symphony to the audience before it is played. I, personally, love this aspect as it enhances significantly my enjoyment of each one.

We had fantastic seats, the new conductor was charming and engaging, the symphony was tremendous - Scheherazade's 1001 and One Nights - and we followed it up by going to dinner with friends that also attend these matinee symphonies.

So, yes, another great weekend of activities is now in the books.

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Today Healthy Focus Plan - Repeat five mile run/treadmill/walk workout, work my volunteer library shift, do laundry, book December flights, book December and January trip lodging, make flatbread sausage/mushroom/Bell pepper pizza and salad for dinner, read 10 pages of my Book Club book, and 15 pages of my October non fiction book (Astoria by Peter Stark).

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Friday Five - Hot Flashes, Still???

Friday Five - Hot Flashes Still???

It was a good week - a good balance of activities, not to much stress to deal with, and enough down time to leisurely read for at least an hour each day.

1. Bought a set of skin care products. One of my new focuses after reaching my new lower weight, was to begin investing in skin care visits to an esthetician. Coincidentally, last night my women's club held a skin care products presentation, and I purchased a full skin care kit along with a one-on-one appointment to go through how to use each of the five products properly. So, I think I just checked that one off my list, nicely.

In addition, my club received 20% of last night's proceeds, so I feel good about that.

2. Bought boneless chicken breast at pre-COVID pricing of $1.99 a pound. My freezer was already nice and full of loss-leader frozen proteins, including skinless, boneless chicken breast, but when I saw the price in one of this week's supermarket circulars, I could not pass it up.

When I got to the store on Day 1 of the sale price, a meat department employee was hard at work placing new packages into the case. He said he literally could not keep up with the demand and I said it was because we were all so excited to see pre-COVID pricing we couldn't restrain ourselves, lol.

So my freezer is now pretty much packed, and I need to not buy any new proteins until we eat it down.

Primarily I keep salmon, shrimp, pork loin slices, boneless chicken breast, with and without bone chicken thighs, ground round, ground turkey, Italian sausage, and whatever beef pieces I pick up at the Sell Now area.

From these I can make an array, almost an endless array, of really delicious meals from my Taste of Home and Cook's Country One Pot cookbooks.

3. May have walked newish friends into the ground. We have friends we initially met through our social wine club, that we began to schedule coastal walks and lunches with. They are active, but not quite as active as we are, so I try and keep our walks with them to five or six miles, but sometimes misjudge and end up walking them a mile or two more.

Which is what happened yesterday - our advertised five mile coastal walk became an eight mile walk for a variety of reasons. They appeared to be completely good sports about it, and said they now always add a couple of miles to the mileage I propose to them before responding with a 'Yes.'

So, hopefully they will continue to be up to meeting us for the occasional long beach walk + lunch dates!

This part of our walk yesterday had canyons on one side of the path, the ocean on the other. This is very typical of the topography in coastal Southern California, and which surprises visitors at times, who think California is just one long sandy beach. No, not so much. 🙂

4. Still having hot flashes after all these years??? So, after learning I had a benign polyp at a recent gynecology exam, my doctor explained that polyps were a somewhat common side effect of taking HRT, which I have for about 10 years. I was a bit freaked by the removal process once it occurred - no real pain, but it was decidedly uncomfortable. Plus, I don't like the idea of a growth occurring, even if benign!

So, together with my doctor, I decided to wean off of HRT, which I've almost completed (It was about a six week process). To my chagrin, I am now experiencing what I call 'soft' hot flashes. Nowhere as severe as what sent me seeking out HRT in the first place, but definitely real enough to wake me if I go to bed even slightly overdressed.

They are not terrible, and I'm hoping I can alleviate them going forward by keeping our overhead fan on until we hit our colder winter nights, where an open window should be sufficient. Fingers crossed.

5. Attending my first new club social event today - a fashion show. My calendar is pretty full these days between our already-existing activities and the various new activities we've involved ourselves in, but I am enjoying all the opportunities to chat with and get to know new people, and to have fun dressing up a bit more than just on the weekends.

I don't really know what to expect today, so I'm going to wear a dress with just a little bling, and hope I guessed correctly on the dress code.

Where I live is decidedly casual in general, so I'm not overly concerned, but still, I'll feel more relaxed going forward once I attend this first social event and get a better sense of the club's overall dress 'code' culture.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Walk five miles, peel and freeze the two bulbs of garlic I just purchased (started this habit during COVID shortages, and love how fresh my garlic cloves are now when I pull them from freezer - they defrost for cutting in about a minute), attend fashion show, meet friends for Happy Hour dinner.

September Goals - Final Results

September Goals - Final Results

Because I was away on a trip the first two weeks of September, I set smaller mini-goals for the remainder of the month upon my return, and here are the results:

1. Complete the purchase and installation of stackable washer/dryer unit for my mom’s condo. ✅

After getting her units old washer water valves updated in August, I thought this final step would be easy, but alas, no. The installation issue turned out to be the difference in size between her current dryer venting tube and the new one delivered with stackable washer/dryer. The old venting tube was flexible, and thus the dryer could be pushed back against the rear wall to allow the folding doors of utility closet to close. The new venting tube was NOT flexible, and thus the unit protruded and prevented door from closing.

The solution was to continue on with a flexible dryer venting tube, which the new unit installation team was prohibited from using due to 'fire hazard.'

Yeah, whatever.

So, one handyman, one hour, and $100 dollars later, the unit is installed, the door now closes, no squishing of the dryer venting tube is occurring - thus no 'fire hazard' - and, finally, we are done.

2. Send photos of minor hardscape repairs to landscaper, and schedule repair work. ✅

It took multiple calls to get a call back(!), but I persisted, and remediation occurred. This was a new to me vendor, and though they did good work, I value responsiveness as much as the work itself, so unlikely I will ever use them again.

I was thrilled with the CAD rendering the landscaper provided - virtually no ongoing maintenance, our top request.
All the landscaping to the right of the artificial turf lawn belongs to the HOA, not us, so not ours to maintain, but ours to enjoy. 🙂

3. Make flight and lodging reservations for trip to our daughter's for the Christmas holidays. 🖾

Apparently, booking air and hotels is a dreaded task for me, (conversely- I love booking cruises and tours!) because, aargh, I did not get it done, but need to!

So, I have newly committed to doing both tasks before the upcoming weekend.

4. Purchase new jeans to celebrate reaching the end of my weight loss efforts. ✅

Yes! As already shared here, I bought lots of jeans in September at the point my weight dipped below 110. And since I've already purged my closet of my now too-large jeans, I have ample motivation to continue to stay the course with my now-lower weight. If I gain weight I'll have zero pants to wear!

5. Begin work on holiday felt ornaments for my family. ✅

Yes! I completed two of the six ornaments, leaving an easy four to finish before the end of November.

The gingerbread ornament took me almost 20 hours. The Christmas tree ornament about half of that.

These are definitely little labors of love for my family. 💌

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Meet hiking club for four mile scenic walk around a series of duck ponds, do grocery shop at Aldi's, swing by Target for Halloween candy (we give out full size candy bars, so we're a popular stop!), drop off required paperwork to allow my sister-in-law to move in with my mom in her 55+ community next year, get gussied up for a celebratory evening at a new coastal cocktail lounge that recently opened.

Weekend Wrap Up - Sleepless In Seattle

I flew up to Seattle to spend the weekend with my niece and her spouse, and what a wonderful time I had - if I had more lifetime than just this one, I could absolutely imagine spending significant years there - it is just a fantastic city.

And as to my post title - I think my niece and her spouse were a bit shocked at my early AM wake-ups. By the time they came downstairs each morning, I was already on my third cup of coffee. This is not my desired wake up status, by the way, but what can I say - I'm aging and I sleep like cr#p!

Friday - I had flown up to Seattle on Thursday, the day prior, so my niece, who had taken the day off, and I hit the ground running with a seven mile sightseeing walk through their Seattle neighborhood that included a stretch along the Puget Sound, the interesting Hiram M. Chittenden Boat Locks and Fish Ladder, and several charming retail areas.

Later, after returning home for naps then showers, we enjoyed dinner at, ironically, a Chinese dim sum restaurant chain I have been unable to get into back here at home due to it's incredible popularity -Din Tai Fung. So, aside from it being absolutely delicious, I can now check it off of my Top 50 Restaurants In Orange County list, which I've been working on for years.

We ended the day with some brewery hopping in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, where there are over a dozen breweries lined up one after the other. Fun time! (My niece drank only non alcoholic beer and was thus our designated driver.)

Saturday - We began by taking my niece's puppy over for a romp at a nearby park that overlooks the Puget Sound, so great expenditure of energy for everyone, adults included.

After returning home and cleaning up, we went sightseeing in Edmonds, Washington, one of the many cute little towns that surround Seattle. We enjoyed the gorgeous Puget Sound views, the array of interesting artist shops, shopped for clothes till we dropped, and then had some wonderful locally caught rockfish tacos at the equally wonderful Market Seafood Eatery.

One of the stores we went into had an onsite personal stylist. She was amazing! She put things together for me that I would never have done on my own. And yes, I bought everything she pulled for me, including these pants and the leather jacket.

We returned back to their home to end a most enjoyable day by watching the Seattle Mariners on TV (niece and her spouse) and reading (me).

Sunday - Started off the day at a large and vibrant farmers market, just one of the very many that occur in and around Seattle, then enjoyed breakfast at Sabine Cafe, before being dropped off at the airport.

I had planned for an early flight out purposefully - I wanted my niece and her spouse to have some downtime before returning to work post-weekend.

How cute is this little Farmers Market produce-carrying dog!

I had a smooth and easy flight home. But I do want to say that as wonderful as it is to get away, it's equally as wonderful to return home.

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Today Healthy Focus Plan - Stop at car dealership to have someone show me how to remove and replace sport racks as needed, plus which psi for tires (the psi stamped on tires vs the psi that manufacturer-placed car sticker shows as recommended - this has always confused me!), stop by my mom's to turn in residence application for her future roommate (my sister-in-law), five mile walk + weight circuit at our gym, begin next holiday ornament felt project, and enjoy some guilty pleasure reading (Winter In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand).

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???

Five New Goals - October

It does finally feel like Fall has arrived here along the southern California coastline, primarily because the afternoon breezes have fallen back into the low 70's, and thus we are able to turn off the A/C after about six weeks of running it to counter the slightly raised temps and humidity we'd been experiencing.

So, fresh with Fall fever, here are five goals I've set for October:

1. Make something savory with pumpkin in it. There are oodles of these out there on the internet, but I'm fussy about flavors, so I want a highly rated blogger or recipes website. Any recommendations are much welcomed!

2. Attend all four weekly club hikes. Prior to purchasing our new higher mileage SUV, I had been a bit parsimonious about driving our old SUV due to it's not-so-great 16-17 mpg. But with that no longer a concern, regardless of where in the county our October hikes will be starting from, I plan to be there.

3. Remove cross bars from our (my!) new SUV. The only 'want' on my new car list was a sunroof, so I was not thrilled when I looked up the first time I opened it and saw that the optional forward sport rack bar lay directly across the middle of my open sky view. 😠

However, a little research indicates that the sport rack bars can be very easily removed and replaced as needed, so that is my plan. Theoretically, I should be able to do this myself, but I will wait until one of my much-handier friends is available for what appears to be a five minute or less process.

4. Complete and submit a new resident application for my sister-in-law, at my mother's 55+ community. My sister-in-law lives on her own currently, but has some special needs that my husband helps out with, so it will be great to have her move in with my mom in 2026 when her lease terminates, and thus be much closer to us than her current 35 mile distance.

5. Book family Coastal Cruise for 2026. One of the incentives to having my sister-in-law move in with my mother will be the expanded discretionary income it will provide for both of them as a result: Lower monthly rent for my sister-in-law, and a higher monthly income for my mom. And one of the first things their improved cash flows will allow them to do, is to take their first-ever ocean cruise, which has generated a lot of excitement.

Since we will be accompanying them, their first cruise experience will be from a port we can drive to, as I am not at all prepared to deal with overseeing their flight arrangements in addition to their cruise. (Neither has flown more than a few times in their lives, and never post-9/11 TSA changes.)

But an easy drive-to departure port for their first experience? No problem. Plus, the cruise we've selected goes into San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge waterway, the cruising under of which is an amazing experience that I know will 'wow' them both.

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How about you??? Any new goals for October you care to share?