Hi, I’m Sandy and I’m sitting outside of my She-Shed (Sandy’s Sanctuary), where I spend some of my time. I love this vacation home, and its right in my backyard. It’s the coolest place that I would ever want. This is my retirement home.
I watched the movie, Last Holiday which gave me the idea of making a possibilities binder for when I retire. I love, love this movie. If you have a chance you should watch it. I made a binder with all the possibilities for when I retire. It was really fun putting the binder together. I am definitely not short of ideas. Now that I am retired, I have lots of things to reference on what possibilities there are.
The first picture depicts date night with my husband. Our date nights are probably not what you would think. We work very well together and like getting things done. Every week we have a project to get done and a special treat. This way we get things done that we want to get done and get a special treat too. I created a word doc that lists all our date nights for the year. It’s no big deal if we don’t get it done. If we don’t get it done we move it to the next week. An example of date night is putting all our records in google sheets; organized how we want them, and going out to buy a new record. This way we accomplished getting something done and enjoyed a treat too.
A car is represented in the second picture that I thought would be fun in my retirement. I love the colour, its cute and its good on gas.
Sleep/rest is portrayed in the third picture. I thought getting more sleep/rest would extend my life. I am not a good sleeper so possibly taking some naps here and there may help.
Reading is the picture in the fourth sport. I love reading but I usually put other things before reading. Let’s see if this happens in my retirement.
A cookbook is illustrated in the fifth picture. I would love to be able to create a family cookbook someday.
A family tree is represented in the sixth picture. I would love to be able to work on my family tree.
The first picture depicts a book about my son Adrian. I didn’t want to write the usual book but little stories and pictures of some fun events about Adrian. Things that Adrian would smile about when he reads it.
On the second picture its a book about my other son Aaron. I would like to do the same thing for Aaron as Adrian. I would like to create a book with stories and pictures of some fun events about Aaron. Things that Aaron would smile about when he reads it.
A book about Millie is the third picture and third book I would like to write. This book is a book about the adventures with my mom. I would like other family members to include their stories in this book. The family would enjoy reading this book.
All the cards in the the fourth picture depicts how I would like to send cards to my siblings and my great nephews and nieces. My mom used to do this when she was alive so I thought I would continue this tradition.
Crossword puzzles, I always found fun but never seemed to have time for them. I figured when I retire I would be able to work on them once in a while. This is what the fifth picture represents.
Jigsaw puzzles are a big hit in our house. I think jigsaw puzzles will still be a big hit into retirement. We have jigsaw puzzles for different occasions such as Valentines Day, Easter etc and do them during that time. Doing the same puzzles each year is fun. This is picture six.
The first picture depicts Mi’Kmaq Medicines. Since I am an indigenous Mi’Kmaq person, I would love to learn more about the Mi’Kmaq Medicines.
Medicine Cards is guiding the way to healing the body, emotions, mind, and spirit and providing insight into and understand of one’s unique purpose in life. I would like to learn how to use these card that are shown in the second picture.
Tarot Cards are something that I would like to learn how to do. My mom used to use Tarot cards and she always told me that you should never use someone else’s Tarot cards so I bought my own. This is shown in picture three.
When I saw a medium after my mom passed away, she told me that I should get some Angel Oracle Cards and read them every day. The Doreen Virtue and Charles Virtue Indigo Angel Oracle Cards are no longer available. I was lucky to get them when I did. I read these cards most days and its funny how they seem to make sense for that day. This is my fourth picture.
We love camping and we would like to be able to go camping more often. This first picture is an image of our trailer we use when we go camping.
Writing a travel book; in picture two, with information and pictures of where we travel is something that would be helpful for future travelling.
Being an indigenous person, I would like to continue to do smudging but also learn more about it. This is the reason for picture three.
Putting gemstones all over my house; I believe, magnifies, balances and redirects specific energies. When my dog was very sick, I put all the gemstones in a dog dish beside her dog bed that helps her with health and I believe it may have helped. The gemstones are still there. I would like to learn more about the different gemstones and what they are meant for, hence picture four.
Moonology is something new that I want to learn more about. My sister and I have been doing moon ceremonies and enjoying them. Each ceremony is different depending on which one you do. Yasmin Boland has lots of information and books you can get. Picture five is the book I bought.
My first picture shows how I would like to do cooking again. My husband currently does all the cooking and he is amazing at it.
Baking is also something I would like to do again. Right now there isn’t anybody doing baking in the house other than the odd Bread Maker bread. This is what is shown in picture two.
Cleaning and organizing the house is something that is shown in picture three as something I would like to do in retirement.
Keeping a laundry routine in retirement is shown in picture four.
Picture five is building a vegetable garden and deciding what vegetables to grow.
I want to have perennial flower gardens all along the fence with metal fence decor. Building a new garden from fence post to post would be a good plan. A garden to remember my mom, a garden to remember my dad, a garden to remember my aunt marg and a garden to remember my aunt Geraldine is also something I will work towards. A cement statue as a remembrance for Keith’s mom and dad by the vegetable garden is another plan. This will take time but it will be beautiful when complete. This is what picture six is for.
My first picture is about having a facial routine. My mom believed that using face cream every day kept your face healthy and younger looking. My mom’s skin was beautiful right to the end so I want to keep a facial routine.
In the second picture it shows keeping my fingers and toes well groomed. I don’t get them done at the beauty parlour but I make a conscious effort to make sure they are always trimmed.
Keeping my hair cut and styled; as shown in picture three, is a routine I would like to keep. I am currently trying to find a hairdresser in my neighbourhood that hopefully I can walk to.
Exercising more by maybe walking; or some other exercise routine, I would like to implement as shown in picture four.
Picture five shows another thing that I’m interested in. Polishing up on my crocheting and knitting as I haven’t done them in a long time and doing other crafts would also be fun.
Just like the picture depicts in picture six, I love making lists and I will continue to do so in retirement.
Since we have so many pictures to scan, I feel we need to make a plan to scan our pictures. Eventually we will get them done. This is what picture one is about.
In picture two, I have created books of all the cities, towns, villages and communities in Ontario. Eventually I would like to fill them with places to visit in these areas of Ontario.
Since I have Diabetes; as shown in picture three, and other health issues, it is important to me to keep well informed to make the best choices.
I am an Indigenous woman and I would like to make a ribbon skirt to use during certain celebrations as in picture four.
Picture five shows the Acadian Village. I was misinformed that my grandmothers house was there so I wanted to visit there and find my grandmothers house. Since that is not true, I have no interest in visiting there again as it would be a very long journey to get there. I did enjoy visiting there when we went.
I love different music for different activities. I would like to create different playlists as per the above pictures. Sometimes you want upbeat music so that you can move and sometimes you want soothing music so you can relax. It will be a lot of fun creating these playlists with music I like for all the different categories.
I am going to make an effort to celebrate all of the above to keep the year positive. There is something to celebrate every month. We use plain white plates with a table runner, napkin rings and napkins to decorate our table for the different days. Also the food and possibly a cake is included to enjoy the day.
Some of us like to celebrate each other birthdays. I usually send everybody a card with a cash for life lottery ticket. I would love it if somebody would actually win big. It would make me really happy. We celebrate different birthdays differently.
I believe that by the time you retire you have lived your life and deserve to be able to spend it in any way you would like. It may change as you go along but that is your choice. That is what picture one depicts.
In picture two, I would like to paint an original Indigenous picture. I love Indigenous art and since I am Indigenous why not give it a shot.
As shown in picture three, a bucket list is something that I would like to put together someday. I don’t even know where to begin.
I have a decent camera and I would like to learn more about how to take a good picture. I have books to read, the internet to reference and both my husband and son are photographers. Lots to give me a hand. This is what picture four represents.
My son bought me a Nintendo Switch for mothers day/my birthday as you can see in picture five. I love playing games so it was a great gift. Retirement will allow me more time to play games. My favourite game is animal crossing.
Visiting; now that I am retired, is something I would like to do. I always feel that I don’t get to see my loved ones enough. That is what is in picture six.
The must-see movies is on my future plans list. There are so many movies to see and so many experiences through these movies. I never used to watch movies but Now I watch them all the time. Picture seven is a must do.
Picture eight, will be difficult for me as I don’t know how to sit still and relax. I know it is something that I should make time for so I will work on this. Relax, breathe, meditate that’s what I need to do.
Writing a BLOG is portrayed in picture nine. I’m already doing that and hopefully I will get better at it as I go along.
I have always wanted to experience all the provincial parks in Ontario. This is what is represented in picture ten . We love camping so hopefully we can camp at most of them.
I thought shopping at the local shops would be fun. There are lots of little neighbourhoods with local shops that I would like to check out. That is what is shown in picture eleven.
Picture twelve is spending time in my she-shed (Sandy’s Sanctuary). This is definitely where I will enjoy a lot of activities in my retirement. It is set up for practically anything.
I’m not short on ideas for retirement and I’m excited to see what I will end up doing.
Sandy's Retirement 
You are always an inspiration and I am looking forward to hearing and seeing all the things you do ❤️
Love you sister xo
LikeLike
Thank you my beautiful sister for the kind words! Love you xoxo
LikeLike
Love reading your blog! xo
LikeLike
Thank you Sue xoxo
LikeLike