My New Tee Shirt Quilt

In my 7 years serving in the Foreign Service, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel the world. I bought quite a few things, probably too many things, to remember each place.  Since I like to wear tee shirts, I tried to buy one from different places I visited.  It was a way of getting a souvenir that I could actually use and not just put on a shelf. 

A couple of years ago, I went to a craft fair at a local high school and ran across a lady who turned tee shirts into quilts.  I fell in love with her work!  It took me 2 years to finally have the shirts together that I wanted made into a quilt. I know…life gets in the way of great plans.

I contacted Melinda and made an appointment to meet with her and go over my future quilt.  What an amazingly nice lady!  I spend about an hour or so going over different fabrics, colors of fabrics that would go between the panels of my shirts, the backing, what I wanted stitched along the border and what I wanted stitched across each of the shirts from different countries.  The result was much more than I expected!  I knew it was going to be beautiful based on the quilts she had on display at the craft fair.  Around the border, she stitched the different countries the tee shirts were from. Across each shirt, she stitched something I said about it or a design.  On the back, which is dark blue, you can see more detail on what is stitched over the shirts on the front.  And because she stitched the design over each tee shirt, there will be no shrinking or shifting of the shirt.  

I know I’ll be using this quilt this winter and many winters to come.  One friend said “You aren’t going to use it, are you?”  I said “Hell yes!  Why wouldn’t I?”

If any of my Foreign Service friends wonder what to do with their tee shirts from their travels, contact this wonderful lady. She will Skype with you!

See the camel stitching?

I grew up in Coronado.

I love the plate of pasta for Italy!

 

Camels!

First Turkey Trot in Oman with shell stitching

Had to include my tee shirt from the Foreign Service

Sally and I did have an adventure in Sri Lanka!

Ahhh...Italy!

On my way to Retirement I made a short stop...the reference to "Thanks Dad" is because he was born in Greece.

If you think you might want one of these quilts made with your shirts, below is the contact information for Melinda.  It's not cheap, but it is something you'll treasure forever!  And it doesn't have to be just travel. She does beautiful quilts with your son or daughter's team shirts or vacations, like what is on her card below. She went with her family to Disneyland.  What a great way to remember a special trip!

Retirement...I have arrived!

I am in a happy place.  It's called Retirement and even thinking about it puts a smile on my face.

I touched down in Washington DC on June 23, after spending a wonderful 2 days on the island of Santorini.  Two days was just perfect to spend time unwinding from a stressful final 2 weeks in Karachi, where I prayed every night that I would be able to leave on time.  The Taliban attacked the airport there 2 times and I was really afraid that it would happen again.  I worried during the speedy trip to the airport.  I worried while I sat for 2 hours in the airport.  I worried when the plane was taking off.  I quit worrying when I landed in Athens.  I no longer worry.

While in Washington, I had to go through an extensive medical check up.  I want to be added to the list of people interested in being contacted for temporary duty (TDY) assignments, so I had to update my medical clearance.  After being prodded and stuck with needles and my departure date from DC looming, I said I would complete all the appointments when I arrived in Fort Worth.  Tomorrow is my final appointment and I'll get a very thorough 'clean bill of health.'  It's nice to know that at age 65, all systems are go!

I'm gradually getting settled in my new home.  So far, I've received 3 of the 4 shipments, one being my car that was in storage for 2 years.  There was some damage to the outside of the car, probably done when it was shipped out of Muscat, Oman, but my insurance will cover that.  Apparently it wasn't tied down well and there are scratches all across the very front of the roof and a dent the size of my fist which is rusted.  Once repaired, it will be fine.  A word to the wise...while serving overseas, get Clements Insurance and don't drop it until all your things arrive in good shape!

The last shipment should be here this week.  That shipment includes the items I was using in Karachi.  What I have now are things I haven't seen in either 4 years or 2 years.  Lots of clothes have been taken to Goodwill!  Fortunately lots of them still fit me, but I really look forward to getting this shipment.  It includes the Rosewood bedroom furniture I had made in Karachi.  And since I am sleeping on my mattress on the floor in my bedroom, I am anxious to receive this shipment.  My Keurig coffee maker, my Kitchenaid mixer, the rest of my rugs and so much more are in that shipment.  Then I can get all the clothes put away and really get my house in order!

A couple of home improvement projects will keep me busy for a while.  I want to take out a sliding glass door leading to the back yard and put a french door in instead.  I also want to do a bit of remodeling on my bathroom.  Projects are good things.

I still am not used to the fact that I don't have to go to work.  Every day is now Saturday for me.  I still have lots to do on my house but when that's all done, will I be bored?  I don't think so.  I want to start selling on eBay again and have a few friends who want me to sell their stuff.  I want to find a good way to market my jewelry as I have over 400 necklaces ready to sell.  I've had a website where I have photos of them but so far, not tried to really sell them.  That website is www.designsbyyaya.blogspot.com in case you're curious.  I also have over 10,000 photographs from my travels around the world that I would love to somehow earn a few dollars on.  I have another website with some of those and it's www.debidemetrion.blogspot.com.  I'm not sure if I want to market my photos somehow or get in some sort of business of taking pictures.  Lots to think about.

But right now, I need to think about getting dressed and starting the day!

Countdown

Today is February 15.  That means that it’s 45 days until I fly home for my last R&R.  And it also means that in 136 days, I will leave the ranks of the fully employed.  Yes, the State Department, for many reasons, forces us out when we reach the magical age of 65.  Since March 31, 2008, I have dreaded the day that I no longer have to use a password for every one of my devices, computers and access to my office.  This has been a dream job for me and my only regret is that I didn't discover it sooner.  

The Department of State puts out information for those retiring and it starts out telling you what to do one year from retirement.  Well, that’s hogwash!  Take notice…you should be preparing for retirement the day you punch the first time card of your first job.  I've done a fairly good job of preparing to be on a fixed income but I’m the first to admit I could have done much better.  If your employer offers a 401(k) or any type of savings plan, participate in it to the fullest extent you can.  Don’t think that you can always do it later.  “Later” will be here before you know it.  Starting early (and sticking with it) will give you a better chance of not outliving your money.  I've been reading all the documents I've saved over the past year on retirement and that phrase is scary.  "Outliving your money."  I've plugged in several ages when they ask for ‘life expectancy.’  One table had me running out of money at age 90, another at 98.  My dad passed away at age 97, my mom at 56.  Options are spend less, make more money or dye young!  I hope I have lots and lots of my dad’s genes running through my body that will help me slide into old age gracefully and for a long time with a good quality of life.  So if that happens, just how long will it take me to run out of money?  I sure don’t want to entirely depend on either of my children in my advanced years.  After taking very hard looks at my finances and deciding that I want to just work part time, I think I've saved enough to supplement my Social Security check and the annuity I’ll get from my government service.  The message here (in case you've just been skimming) is to SAVE as much as you can while you can. 

So just how will I exist beginning July 1?  I hope to find a part time job that will make me happy.  For 6 years, I've loved getting up and going to work, which is more than I can say for a couple of the jobs I've previously held.  I've always lived well within what I earned and am not extravagant. And I sure need to be able to take a couple of trips a year to Hawaii to see my son and grandsons.  That’s a must. A full time job just won’t allow me that time away. I’ll also go back to hitting the estate sales, picking up great bargains and selling them on Ebay.  I did that while I waited to hear about my job with State and loved it.  It’s addicting!  You can make some good money doing that.  I’ll also look for ways to make money using my love of photography.  Besides selling the photos online, I’d love to find a way to photograph special events, like birthdays and anniversaries and then present the photos in books.  And there are also the 350+ necklaces that I've been making in my spare time over the last 3 years.  We can’t use our DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) mail to earn money so I've had to wait until I retire to really begin marketing them.  I do have a website with just photos (http://designsbyyaya.blogspot.com/) and soon, I can add more information, including prices and a way to order them.  Or I can sell them through Etsy or Ebay.  And finally, I've signed up for the State Department’s program for retirees.  In an effort to not lose all our experience and knowledge gained in our years of service when we retire, we can get on a call list and be offered short term assignments.  Could be a month or up to 4 months, I believe.  We can sign up for domestic, overseas or both.  There are many advantages to this, one being we get the same salary rate that we had when we retired.  And that’s a very good thing.

All in all, I think I’m going to be just fine.  This is a comfort to me but it’s still a huge change in my life and I hope I’m up for the challenge.  There are some things I’m not looking forward to…seeing guys with their pants hanging around their knees, women with their boobs exposed in skimpy clothes and the whole list of expenses I've not had for 6 years.   But, the trade-off is that I can drink the tap water, buy meat that’s really beef and not probably water buffalo and be able to work in a garden again. 

It’s the little things in life that matter.