First days of retirement

Anyone who looked at our stove last week and returned yesterday would SWEAR we got a new one. This is only one of my first retirement projects. It is the same stove, but looks brand new because I finally got it totally clean. Friday night while scrubbing the top, I ran out of gas. (Pun. It is a gas stove.) I left the cleaning solution on the greasy stains around the four burners--minus the hardware. I didn't get back to finish until after noon Saturday, and to my amazement, all the burned on guck wiped up with paper towels!!! I accidentally discovered a way to get the burners 100% clean. The Lysol spray had mixed with Barkeeper's Friend and sat about 18 hours. I was so delighted that I sprayed the oven with EasyOff and now also have a clean oven, though I doubt it will ever be totally clean like the stovetop. This is only one of the projects I simply didn't have the time and energy to tackle while I was still working my hospital job.

I suppose I should post of picture of my smiling face to show my happiness in being officially retired. October 11--last Saturday--was the first day I have not been on the schedule at Mercy Hospital. Instead, I'm posting pictures of two of our 15 grandchildren because part of retirement is family. This first picture was taken yesterday at our house. Kayla is holding her sister Janice, age 13 days. We had picked Kayla up from school at 2:30.
Since yesterday was a postal holiday, Bob and I took Ginger to lunch at Red's Savoy Pizza in St Paul. Baby Janice joined us, but was on her own special diet. She sat patiently, looked adorable, and fell asleep. Phil would have joined us if he had not been called to work. The pizza was marvelous!! It is now Bob's favorite pizza in Minnesota. (Only Pi Pizza in Salt Lake surpasses it.)
We didn't have the heart to tell Kayla what a great pizza she missed or how much we enjoyed it, but when she got out of the car at our house, the first thing she did was run to the piano and play it the same way I used to before I had lessons. (I started at age 9.) Random notes, both hands going up and down the keyboard. Kayla has a lot of music in her.
Janice has a lot of music in her also. So far, she only sings though. I still haven't managed to get a picture of Janice with her eyes open, but I will keep trying. Ginger has been spending a bit of time with us because her house in St Paul was flooded from the upstairs bathroom and is now all topsy turvy because of that and drywall and floor repairs being made. They have been confined to a part of their basement since shortly before Janice was born. She was delivered by C-section, so Ginger has not been able to drive until today. On top of that, their washer broke. Murphy's Law!!! They are getting a new washer delivered and installed Wednesday. The house repairs should be done by the middle of next week. All this is why I have been spending time helping her out when I can.

I have also enoyed being more available to take care of Nolan, Abby, Janie and Mason so Ryan and Andrea could have date nights. I love them all so. Such good kids in such a strong family. It warms my heart to see the way Ryan and Andrea are raising them. It has been a delight to spend time getting to know them better the two Friday evenings I sat with them so far. It was also fun shopping and having a hot dog lunch with Andrea and Mason at Costco one day last week. I look forward to future times together. I'll do more boasting about and put pictures of them on the blog in the future. Otherwise, you can see plenty of pictures of their family on their blog.