An Ordinary Day In My Retirement Life

An Ordinary Day In My Retirement Life 

I decided to monitor my activities yesterday, because I was recently reminded that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, and I wanted to see how I was doing, and how I felt about it in hindsight.

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Woke up at 5:40 AM, thrilled to have 'slept in' after a run of difficult sleep nights.

Downstairs to greet and hug spouse, enjoy coffee, read blogs and do NYT Strands puzzle until about 7:45 AM.

Ate breakfast (one breakfast date bar and half a cup of cottage cheese) while doing absolutely nothing, a practice I'm working on in order to be more fully present while eating, versus 'mindlessly' eating. 

Much enjoyed the truly delicious and healthy no-bake date bar, made from just four quality ingredients - raw oats, pecans, Medjool dates and coconut oil, plus a tad of salt. (Recipe below)

I buy fresh-in-season Medjool dates every January while we're in Palm Springs attending the International Film Festival, and then freeze them upon our return home for leisurely usage in these absolutely delicious breakfast or anytime-snack date bars:

Dare To Date Bars

5 Ingredient, No Bake, Vegan Date Squares

Crust:

• 1.5 cups pecans
• 1.5 cups regular oats (for Gluten-free, use GF oats)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 10 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup coconut oil

 

Date filling:

• 25 Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped (~2.5 cups)
• 1/2 cup water (Less or slightly more as needed)

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Directions:

1. In a food processor, process the pecans and oats until a fine crumble forms. Now add in the dates and process until crumbly again. Add the coconut oil and to the mixture and process until sticky. You can add a tiny bit of water if the dough is too dry. Remove from processor, set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture for later, and press the rest of the mixture very firmly and evenly into a 10" x 6" or equivalent ungreased pan.

2. Grab your pitted and roughly chopped dates and water and process in the food processor until a paste forms. You will have to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl often. You can add a tiny bit more water if needed, but you want the paste quite thick. Scoop out the date mixture onto the crust and gently spread with the back of a wet spatula until even.

3. Sprinkle on the 3/4 cup of mixture you set aside and gently press down with fingers. Refrigerate in the fridge until firm for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Cut into 16 bars (approx 200 calories for each bar) and serve. Store in the fridge or freezer.

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Into my office until 8:30 AM in order to purchase season tickets to one of the local venues we enjoy attending. Much back and forth between my calendar and the various performance date options before I hit the BUY button.

Dressed for a five mile walk around the harbor, preceded by a quick trip to Trader Joes upon it's 9:00 AM opening in order to beat the weekend crowd. A brief return trip home to place food items in fridge, then back out for the short drive to harbor for my walk.

Back home by noon, whereupon I ate lunch  (while reading - I haven't applied my breakfast practice of doing nothing while eating to lunch just yet . . . baby steps 🙂 ) and then returned back to my office in order to finalize activity plans for our upcoming trip to both Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. So far, it looks like we'll be enjoying multiple museum visits, a trolley car tour, a steamboat ride, a horse and carriage ride, and a golf cart tour through a historic cemetery, lol. Much looking forward to it all. 

Read for two hours (The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa), then joined my spouse in the living room for Happy Hour, where we chatted about his day with his sister, helping her to get acclimated to her new surroundings in my mother's 55+ community. (She loves it and is doing great!)

Dinner here at home after two nights in a row of dining away - a BLT for spouse, plus spinach salad for us both.

Watched 60 Minutes on TV after dinner & cleanup, followed by one streaming episode of Murder She Wrote. Sundays are for comfy, not edgy, TV, around here!

In bed by 9:00 PM, where I played on my e-Puzzle app until falling asleep sometime before 10:00 PM.

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In hindsight, it was a day well spent, even if what I consider a rather ordinary day. I ate well, I exercised, I was productive, I enjoyed time reading, and I enjoyed time with my spouse.

Today, by contrast, I have to wait around at my mom's all afternoon in order for internet to be installed. I'm planning to get in a quick walk to the beach and back before departing, then finish off my Georgia trip planning on my phone at my mom's while I await the installer. Upon arrival back home, I'm making Pad Thai, my first time, for dinner. It sounded like fun when I first saw the recipe, but we'll see, now that I actually have to make it!