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Reinventing Retirement After years of owning our own businesses and working traditional 9-5 jobs, we made the scary and exciting decision last year to retire early and shift gears. Our careers and business pursuits served us well and allowed us to serve others, but there is so much we want to experience - more freedom, more connection with nature, and more time to pursue what truly matters. So we embarked on a journey that combines the skills we've gained over the years with our passion for living simply, frugally, sustainably, and with purpose. We were not sure what retirement would look like. We knew we wanted to stay busy and keep our minds active. We also knew we still needed a source of income. Our path to this new chapter is rooted in the idea of reinventing retirement. Rather than taking the traditional route of "quitting work", we're building a lifestyle that lets us work on our own terms. The base of this lifestyle is frugal living and self-sustainability, evidenced by self-construction of a tiny home/barn, along with a garden, orchard, chickens, pigs and maybe a cow. Onto this base, we're adding passive income with our six RV sites. And this year we have each leveraged our experience and passions to create work opportunities that add another layer of flexibility to our retirement plan. This combination has allowed us to make our dreams a reality. We are in the midst of saving for and planning our first RV Road Trip this May and June, and we can't wait to share the adventure. Until then, an overview of how we are reinventing retirement. Frugal Living and Self-Sustainability Tiny Home/Barn Progress These front doors will serve as a key extension from our super small living and kitchen area to the large covered patio, where we are already spending a lot of our time. Our barn/house includes 640 square-feet of living space, 960 square feet of working/storage space in the barn, and 800-square feet of carport/outdoor living space. Spencer and I have always been frugal, really as a means of survival when we were young and first married, but later by choice. We were both raised on farms and in families who grew gardens and raised livestock, so the idea of homesteading is not new to us. However, after we sold our farm, and as our children grew up and got busy, and we worked in the public sector, we got away from many homesteading and frugal practices. As we began to contemplate our futures without full-time work, we both knew we wanted to incorporate those back in to our daily lives. As we transition from a traditional family home to 600-square -feet of living space, the process of downsizing has been a transformative experience. Our previous home, where we raised children and lived a busy, conventional life, was filled with comforts and conveniences that come with a larger space. However, as we shift toward a more self-sufficient, mobile lifestyle with this small home base, we're learning that less truly can be more. The beauty of downsizing is in the freedom it brings. With fewer belongings to maintain and more focused spaces, we are finding that we spend less time managing "stuff" and more time enjoying what truly matters: quality time with family, exploring new places, and working on our passions. This process of scaling down isn't just about making room physically; it's about creating the mental and emotional space to focus on what we value most, while also being mindful of the resources we use. Check out one of the glorious sunsets we are blessed to witness every single day from our back porch. Every aspect of our barn/house is shaped by Spencer's talented workmanship. Check out the handcrafted cedar doors that will grace both ends of the barn. He somehow blended the function he needs for the barn with the aesthetics I begged for to make our metal home rustic and homey. Our tiny Spencer Jones, husband, father, and DIY Extraordinaire. This guy can build anything, and he works hard to make all my dreams come true. house and barn is currently still an enclosed shell, but Spencer is making progress every week. He has designed the structure to be simple but comfortable with an emphasis on practical living. The layout is intentionally minimal, with the kitchen and outdoor living area taking center stage. We love to cook and entertain, so having a functional kitchen and ample outdoor space for dining, relaxing and working is essential. The kitchen, while small, will include only the items we need for everyday cooking and preserving meat and food from our garden. The outdoor living area is an extension of that, offering a place to gather with family and friends while enjoying magnificent sunsets, wildlife and plenty of fresh air. Gardens/Orchard As we embrace our new lifestyle, one of the most exciting aspects is the creation of our gardens and orchard. Although we're just getting started, these spaces are already up and running and we're optimistic about the harvests we will see this year. Our garden is designed to provide a steady supply of fresh, organic produce, from leafy greens to root vegetables, with plenty of room for experimentation. Our very first garden as a married couple in 1985 was spread out over a large acre and fed with manure from our dairy operation. We had no idea what we were doing, and we had so much produce, we fed half of our community, preserved what we could, and still wasted a significant amount. In recent years, we resorted to container gardens and backyard plots in the yard of our beach house, barely making enough to eat for a season with none left over for preserving. We are hoping for a happy medium with this year's crop. We have carefully chosen varieties that are well-suited to Central Texas, and we're taking time to study and learn about companion planting - selecting plants that complement each other, improve soil health, and help naturally deter pests. Speaking of pests, we have a beautiful herd of whitetail deer who visit each morning and evening, and while we enjoy their company immensely, we are working on ways to prevent them from over pruning our gardening efforts. We're open to any and all suggestions. We are starting our garden plots mostly from seeds, and our herb garden is small, but we are already using utilizing produce from there in spring dishes. The orchard is a long-term project, but spring has brought signs of growth and life. We have planted a variety of fruit trees that will provide us with bountiful harvests in coming years while serving as a habitat for beneficial pollinators and families of birds. Peach and apple trees make up our orchard so far. We plan to add pear, pecan and plum this spring. Coming Soon: Chickens We're excited to soon welcome chickens and pigs to our homestead. We've already ordered the chickens and gathered all the necessary supplies to raise them. Our next step is to build a movable chicken coop, which will allow us to rotate the flock across the property, providing fresh ground for the chickens to forage, fertilizing the soil, and improving the health of our land and garden in a natural, sustainable way. We're looking forward to fresh eggs, natural pest control, and the joy of watching the chickens roam the homestead. Passive Income RV Sites Update Those of you who follow the blog know we have been working on RV sites for a little more than a year. We have six sites, all full and producing enough income to pay our property taxes, monthly utilities, and operating expenses. As an added bonus, our tenants are some of the finest folks we know. We are truly building a tiny community. Flexible Work Opportunities One of the key highlights of our new lifestyle is the ability to work flexibly and on our own terms while still supporting our homesteading efforts and travel. Mobile RV Service & Repair On the Rocks Mobile RV Service and Repair is a perfect example of this. After attending a comprehensive five-week certification course and earning his NRVTA (National RV Training Academy) certification, Spencer is now a qualified RV technician. He is already busy (almost too busy to work on our house) building a solid clientele in Bell and surrounding counties. This mobile business allows him to provide RV repair and maintenance services directly to customers, whether they're staying in RV parks or traveling on the road, and the beauty of this work is its flexibility - it fits perfectly into our summertime nomadic lifestyle. During colder months, Spencer can focus on local clients in one area, while in warmer months, we will travel, offering mobile services along our route. It's the perfect way to stay connected with a steady income while enjoying the freedom that comes with living part-time on the road in our camper. Teaching and Training I have also transitioned from public school teaching and administration into more flexible roles. I teach English three days a week as an adjunct professor at The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, which allows me to stay connected to students, honing my content knowledge and pedagogical practices, while still having the flexibility to maintain our new lifestyle. I have also picked up contract work creating training materials for corporate clients, which allows me to fulfill my creative passion for curriculum work with the benefit of working remotely. Still Inventing As you can see, we are retired, but are still inventing what retirement looks like for us. Our family members joke that we are working more now than we did when we were on someone else's payroll. And that's the real difference. We are working a lot. But we are working on what fuels our individual and joint passions. And we are working on our own terms. If we want to take off a day or a week, we are free to do that. If we want to stay in our pajamas, drinking coffee and dreaming about what's next on our list, we can do that, and we have come to really enjoy our early morning time together. If you are contemplating retirement, I highly recommend it. And if you are "too young to retire" but want to work on your own terms, I hope you work at reinventing your own retirement. I would love to hear ideas and visit about possibilities. Please reach out or at least follow the blog and stay in touch. Coming Soon Our first RV Road Trip - Coddiwomple (our truck) and Cat (our camper) will guide us through almost a month of travel through 13 states, hiking some incredible trails, camping at some amazing parks, with sightseeing and people meeting along the way. We can't wait to share the adventure. This year's meat preservation story and photos. Our process for making venison sausage, hamburger and steaks. Follow My Blog To follow the blog, click Log In on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

I have always been a meal planner, starting when we had the dairy and the closest grocery store was 20 minutes away. My planning has gone through phases: much less organized when the boys were busy with sports and school activities - lots more quick meals: soups and casseroles, and batches and batches of cookies for team meals and rowdy friend get-togethers. Now it's just Spencer and me to cook for. However, Joseph eats with us regularly, and we have had volunteer workers to feed. And, I'm taking after Melba - chasing down the UPS driver to make sure she has cookies, delivering snacks to the guys loading at the quarry where I haul road base, and making sure the neighbors and kids who live in our RV sites feel loved. So here's what my current plan for a week looks like: Meal Planner and Grocery List I transferred from a paper planner to Google Sheets years ago, but if I get an IPAD, I'll transfer again - striving to keep up with Lanie Alaniz Villarreal's organization. I only shop once a week, and I rarely go to the store in between. If I don't have something I need, I improvise or wait until next week to make it. I list the items in the order they are arranged at the Belton HEB - my favorite local HEB so far. I had to change up the order from the Rockport and Flour Bluff HEB stores, both of which I also loved and visited weekly. Spencer thinks it's absolutely insane that I enter on the Pharmacy side when I am shopping for groceries, but that is the way my list is organized. He shakes his head every time he goes with me - not often! When I was working, I shopped and meal prepped every Saturday. But now, I have my choice of days. This week it was Friday. And I planned enough to go through next Friday, ith some extra, because you never know who will stop by, or when I might need to run some food somewhere. Below are some of this week's recipes. Breakfast Bacon & Cheese Bagel I just cook the bacon, add a little butter, and put them together. The guys open them up, lay them in the air fryer for 2 minutes and they're toasty good. I make six of these at a time. Egg Bites with Spinach My muffin pan is in storage, so I made these in a loaf and sliced them up. Eggs, milk, cheese, spinach, seasonings. Warm them in the air fryer. Delicious. These two loaf pans made 8 generous servings. I ate mine with a fruit smoothie about midmorning. Breakfast Tacos Leftover beans, refried, with tomatoes, onions, and cheese on HEB butter tortilla. Nothing easier. And they work for breakfast or a quick lunch or snack. In the air fryer, they get a little crispy! Lunch Broccoli Salad, Sandwiches, Fruit Last week I made salads for every day's lunch. And while it was definitely healthy, we were often starving by dinner, so I opted for sandwiches and fruit this week with enough of one salad to last several days. For sandwiches, I bought HEB homemade bread, added Black Forest Ham and Roasted Turkey Breast from the HEB deli, spinach or lettuce, pickles and cheese. Then, I cut up watermelon and cantaloupe, washed red and green grapes, and bought fresh peaches from the Belton Farmer's Market. On a Thursday - because I'm retired and can go in the middle of the day! Our salad this week is below. I learned to make broccoli salad when we planted our very first garden, and we grew so much broccoli that I did everything I could with it. I usually add bacon and cheese, but I already used so much of those in breakfasts that I tried to minimize the fried meat and cheese for this week's lunches. I also have tried all kinds of dressings, but my favorite, and the one I used this week is this Honey Mustard Dressing from my Pinterest Recipe page. I didn't have Dijon, so I substituted some horseradish mustard. And Joseph has a quart jar of honey that someone gave him years ago. I opened it to use for the sweetener. It worked. Dinner The one dinner I made on prep day is super easy and goes a long way. I never really follow a recipe: Bell peppers stuffed with whatever I have leftover in the fridge. This week, it was a pound of hamburger with some leftover stir fry veggies and cauliflower rice. Because of the stir fry, I also added some soy sauce to the filling. Notice the onions in the picture on the left. I have ALWAYS used a LOT of onions when I cook. But when my kids were little, they absolutely FREAKED if they thought they spotted an onion in anything, so I ground them very fine in the food processor and stored them frozen, just to keep my sanity. Now, they love onions - so I barely chop them, because I like big chunks of veggies. Something else that makes stuffed bell peppers easier is to cut them in half and roast them for about 20 minutes before stuffing them. I have tried making the whole pepper fancy and pretty like the ones I see pictured in recipes, but the whole pepper doesn't stuff nearly as well as these halved ones. They turned out fine and we have enough left for a hot lunch if we don't want sandwiches one day. If they are not gone by mid-week, I will freeze them in two-piece packages and take them out for a quick dinner or lunch - or to take to a single neighbor - one day down the road. Dessert Last week Spencer and I made homemade ice cream for the first time in years. I found a recipe with no eggs, but I will not make it again. The eggs make the ice cream stay creamy. So, I'll try another batch soon and post my grandmother's peppermint ice cream recipe (raw eggs included) with pictures. This week, I had about 10 of those tiny apples left over and they weren't moving fast, so I wanted to make a turnover-type dessert we could hold in our hands to take after dinner on our evening walk to check on the deer. I didn't even look for a recipe, but I will try to follow one next time. I cooked the apples with the peel, brown sugar, butter and water until the apples were tender. The filling was SUPER. But I tried stuffing it into crescent rolls. They were too small or I was too tired of meal prepping, so they don't look great, but Spencer ate three and pronounced them delicious. You can't always judge a dessert by how pretty it looks. That's all the prepping I did in one day. It took most of the day, but the rest of the week will be a breeze. Good thing, since my schedule includes hauling around 15 loads of road base from the quarry. More about that little chore to come. Keep following the blog to find more Place Marks. And if you have a great recipe, I would love to have you contribute as a guest blogger. If you enjoy reading and looking at pictures, share with your friends. To follow the blog, click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

Day 1 - Downtown Philly We made a quick trip to see the kids in Pennsylvania. While there, we added in a little sightseeing, a lot of hiking to view the fall leaves, and an overload of eating, drinking, and mad competition in 42, a game we were taught by our grandparents and parents, and that we now happily share with all our kids. It was our first time to see Philadelphia, and the lively, sensory experience of downtown captures the vibrant mix of historic and modern that makes up the city today. We were greeted with towering skyscrapers glinting in the sunlight As we traveled into the downtown area, the honking of car horns, the chatter of a diverse crowd hustling along, and melody of lively street performers combined with the distant sound of a train rumbling through Reading Terminal to create an urban art show and symphony. On entering Reading Terminal Market , the outdoor harmony was replaced with the low hum of hundreds of people. But as soon as we entered, our ears no longer cared about sounds, as our senses of sight and smell jumped into high gear. I could talk - and write - forever about all the amazing aromas: fresh-baked pretzels and cheesecakes, earthy scents of fresh produce, and hanging meat, hints of roasted coffee beans, sweet smell of fresh flowers, every kind of homemade oil and vinegar imaginable...and oh, my, the baked goods. I could go on and on. All the local brewers were showing off their fall selections of craft beer, and there was no shortage of tasters in our group. The original Philly Cheesesteak was amazing, but my favorite by far were the blueberry muffin cookies. Needless to say, the folks at the Famous 4th Street Cookie Company were reluctant to share their secret, but I'm on the hunt for recipes to replicate those melt-in-your-mouth delights. I'll try to share my trials, and the perfect recipe, if I can find it. The Jones Restaurant, just down the street from the market, is permanently closed, but I thought it was worthy of a photo. Our next stop was a viewing of the Iconic Liberty Bell , and a short history lesson inside Independence Hall . We paid $1 per person for advance tickets to the guided tour, and the leader made my teacher heart so happy with his required interactive and critical thinking lesson about the documents and their creation by our founding fathers, forcing all participants to reflect on what the historical decisions and documents mean in our world today. It was truly an unexpected and memorable experience. After our full day in Philly, we drove a couple of hours through the countryside all dressed out fall leaves to Josh and Ariels adorable little first house in Elysburg . It is nicknamed A Northumberland County Treasure for a reason. They live in an adorable cul-de-sac surrounded by retired couples and more different types of trees than I can count on both hands. Their property affords them access to a cute pond with a walking trail, and the little country town divides their drives to work right in half. They made amazing beef stew for dinner, followed by football and a first round of competitive 42. This is the only picture from all the 42 games that is remotely appropriate. Shikellamy State Park We got up early on day two for a short hike in this beautiful state park that overlooks the confluence of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna River. The colored leaves were a feast for our eyes, and the forest was full of nature's unusual wonders. All during our hike, we were astounded by the soft swish of leaves parting, their edges brushing against each other as acorns divided them along their descent, causing a soft crunch of a whispered conversation that we were delighted to be still and listen to. After hiking all morning, we stopped into The Old Forge Brewing Company to try some more craft beer, homemade peach and blackberry sangria, fish 'n chips, cheese curds and burgers. We ordered everything that sounded good and shared it around the table. We planned on a quick bite to eat, but the afternoon live music was so good, that we stayed almost until dark. Corpus folks, take note of the Railroad growler - that thing gets around! Fall Produce The perfect end to our short trip was a slow drive through the meandering roads surrounding Josh and Ariel's tiny town. The area is cloaked in beautifully-manicured farmland and orchards. The guys couldn't quit talking about the yet-to-be-harvested corn, which formed golden seas of rustling stalks, undulating in the breeze along the rolling hills. I couldn't get enough of the apple orchards and pumpkin patches scattered everywhere, trees and vines heavy with ripe fruit offering a sweet, crisp aroma and creating a rich tapestry of fall colors. We are definitely summer folks with no plans to ever live where winters are bitter cold. However, as I finish this blog in the 90+ degree Texas heat, it's easy to be nostalgic about picturesque autumn landscape of Pennsylvania. If you get a chance to visit, don't pass up the opportunity. Don't forget to follow along to see if I can replicate the Blueberry Muffin Cookies. Also, our barn/house is going up as I write this, and I will post progress soon. To follow the blog, click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

ock Saying goodbye to a lifelong career in public education last week was bittersweet. Spencer and I are excited to begin our new future, but a great deal of my identity outside my family is tied to teaching and serving students, teachers, and leaders in the field of education. One thing I do know. The important work of service and support for those providing education in Corpus Christi ISD is in good hands. These folks (and a few not pictured from our team, plus a whole lot of others in our C&I department) are specialists in their respective fields, and they work as a well-oiled machine to ensure all CCISD stakeholders have whatever they need to fulfill the important work of educating our students. While saying goodbye was hard, knowing that my life's work will continue in the capable hands of these folks makes it easier to look ahead. Leaving Padre Island, our beach house, glorious sunrises and amazing sunsets during our daily walks in the waves, and the friends who became family evokes an even deeper level of sadness. Rita is especially distraught about leaving her sandy playground. But on to retirement. If you've been following along, you know we are working on RV sites: 1) to keep us busy, and 2) to supplement our retirement income. Here's how I was picturing retirement on our small acreage near Lake Belton: I loved spending time in the hammock near our pool on Padre Island. I read many, many books, listened to all my favorite music, and watched Spencer putter in the garden, all while sipping a cocktail and swaying in the breeze. For some reason, I thought when we moved the hammock to Belton, I would enjoy the same practices in a different location. Notice how beautiful our property looks after all the spring rains. And there is my hammock, waiting for me to jump in. However, this is only part of the property. And this part looks great only after A LOT of backbreaking effort. Spurred on by our middle son Joseph, we bought 5 acres about 4 years ago. When Joseph set up a time to look at the property, he advised us to wear jeans. We had to park on the pavement and crawl through brush that looked just like this picture. I thought we would eventually get to a clearing, but NO. The entire 5 acres was solid brush: trees, weeds, lots of poison ivy, and years of undergrowth, all settled into a solid caliche hillside. Joseph was thrilled to find a bulldozer way back in amongst the bushes. If you know Joseph, you know he got that hunk of junk running and used it to start clearing. After four years and lots of manual labor, much of the property looks like the area where I hung my hammock. And we have some RV sites up and running. However, we have not even begun to landscape anything, and there is still a lot of clearing to be done. So, instead of swinging peacefully in my hammock, most of my first week of retirement has looked like this: And this: (See earlier post about Jones Family dangerous work-arounds). Retirement so far is not exactly what I pictured. But there are some bright spots: Spencer and I have been working mornings, taking a long lunch where we eat outside in the shade, and spending lots of time together planning and dreaming about our RV sites and our future travel excursions (We are also committed to more healthy eating focused around what we make and grow at home). Also, I found TWO peach trees hidden among the brush. And they have PEACHES! I cleared around them, and I'm going to talk to them every day, and give them everything they need to produce years and years of fruit for pie, cobbler, ice cream topping and more. Keep following the blog and watch the Place Marks, Gathering Around our Table category for all the recipes I'm planning to make. I also realized on my morning and afternoon walks today that sunrises and sunsets at the lake are still the same gifts I enjoyed at the beach, just delivered in a different location. And now I have time to enjoy them more often. If you want to try some fresh peaches, swing in the hammock, haul some rocks for some great cardio, feast your eyes on some amazing sunsets, or SOMEDAY SOON book a site for your RV, a stay in our cabins, or rent a tent site, drop by On the Rocks Rentals at Westcliff. Or keep following the blog and live vicariously as we Get Busy Living. Hope to see you on the blog or at the lake. To follow the blog, click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

Since retirement in June, we have been too busy to even notice we are retired. I am teaching two classes at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where the motto is Together, we live with purpose, on purpose - a perfect fit for this time in my life. Spencer is busy preparing to become a Certified RV Technician through NRVTA so he can serve Belton and the surrounding communities, and to continue serving, and earning, wherever we travel in our RV. We are hoping to land our first work camping job in early spring. Toward that end, we have been working to get our property in shape and our home base built. This post is a picture journey of our progress since June. Preparing the Property Although we cleared a large portion of our property prior to retirement, we wanted to add a few more RV sites for additional income. Lots of brush pushing, cutting, and burning. We have become great friends with and supporters of volunteers from the Sparta Volunteer Fire Department . We have always talked about having a small stock tank on the property....some day. We have had so much equipment in use that Joseph can't seem to stop when the day ends. He started digging some black dirt for a project. He hit clay and just kept on digging. No water yet as we finished it right after the heavy rains, but we can't wait to see what spring rains bring. Site Work and Landscaping After clearing brush, we got busy moving dirt, hauling rocks and pulling weeds. Without the need for creative punishment created by antics of three busy boys, we have had to do all the grunt work ourselves. Spencer can't stand to waste any natural resources, so we have used every single rock, plus some we hauled in, somewhere in the landscape. Small rocks stacked "just so" become borders for the RV sites. Larger rocks serve as tree borders. All our sites are full, and we have THE BEST tenants. We even have a tiny home filling one of our sites. These folks are great neighbors and we are building a great community. We have set aside the plot in front of the tiny home as an orchard. So far, I am fighting the deer off from our four baby peach trees. We have pecan trees, pear trees and apple trees in the works for this area. The orchard will be a great addition to the two natural peach trees Spencer found when he was clearing brush. They were smothered by briars, poison oak, hackberry trees and other brush and had not seen clear daylight in years. One of the trees received a massive injury during the clearing process, but I have been nursing it back to health, and am hoping these two mature trees serve as a foundation for future fruit harvests. We brought lots of plants from South Texas. These red yucca succulents were in pots all around our pool on North Padre Island. Spencer separated them, and we can't wait to see them flourish along the cedar and rock fence that lines our property. Bath House and Laundry One of the first amenities we promised our tenants is laundry facilities. The facility is still a work in progress, but it is a testament to our community that everyone is happy to use what we have until all work is complete. We are using the washer and dryer from our house, and we use the honor system for funding. Everyone just puts their money in the box and makes change as they need it. I also provide a supply of the homemade, all-natural laundry detergents I make and use. Click HERE for the recipe. It's from the FreshMommy blog by Tabitha Blue, a great site to follow for all-natural home DIY recipes and ideas. I modified the recipe to add borax and create a Heavy Dirt recipe for added cleaning and odor control on our work clothes. Spencer is working in the laundry today, adding insulation and this GREAT re-claimed metal to the ceiling. The laundry/bath house will eventually feature a full bath and work area with rustic, re-claimed - meaning cheap or FREE - decor. Our Tiny Barndominium I continually tell people that I am truly surprised by how much I LOVE living in our RV. So I know that when we finish our tiny home, I will be full of gratitude for my many blessings, and happy to have a place for everything and everything in its place. And the everything will be quite minimal, as every time I go to the storage building to get something, I find one or two more "somethings" that I can do without. Anyway, progress on our tiny home base continues. The first few pictures are electrical, water, and sewer going in. Then we hauled a LOT of dirt, framed it up, installed the plumbing and poured the concrete slab. You may have noticed a constant in the progress pictures. Whether it is hauling dirt and rock, designing landscaping, running equipment, installing electrical lines and boxes and septic tanks, plumbing an entire house, or general carpentry, my amazing husband knows how to do it all. And he does it cheerfully and artfully. And sometimes he re-does it several times to get it right for himself, or because I decide I like it a different way. He really is a dream boat of a husband, a loyal best friend, and the guy I will always want by my side for every endeavor. It's a good thing he loves me, because I have more projects. Coming Soon.... Metal walls for our barn/tiny house are coming in a couple of weeks. While Spencer has been busy preparing for the walls to go up, I've been dreaming about decorating. Check out all the wood, and this AMAZING reclaimed bead board I found from a barn near Schwertner, Texas, a size and type that is no longer available for purchase. This stuff is OLD. It was a beast to locate, load, unload and stack, but it is a gem of a find. We (mostly Spencer) will be busy sanding and sealing it, in preparation to install it on the ceiling in our tiny living quarters. It is going to look SOOOOO good. Follow along with End Marks - Paving the Road to Retirement t o keep up with the progress on our place and tiny barndominium. And coming soon, watch Mile Marks - Feeding Our Wanderlust , for details of another trip to Pennsylvania where we plan to enjoy the fall leaves, hug Josh and Ariel, visit the Liberty Bell, and smack some Philly Cheese Steak. To follow the blog, click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

Pennsylvania is home to 2,560 municipalities, but the only town is Bloomsburg. There are 956 boroughs, 96 townships, and 57 cities. So during our road trip, the question of what's the next town?" became very confusing. And once we identified a location to discuss, we had to perform tongue warm-up exercises before trying to pronounce names, which twisted our tongues into all types of contortions. Here are just a few we saw on our trip. Try them out to see how you do: Borough of Sewickley Punxsutawney Kittanning Slate Lick Goheenville Susquehanna River Allegheny Schulkill River And we didn't see all of these, but they are actual towns, and they are famous for....well, judge for yourself: Blue Ball Intercourse Bird in Hand Big Beaver Lititz Rough and Ready Besides getting Josh and Ariel settled (See Part I for more information), I was interested in visiting Pennsylvania because three of our country's most treasured documents, and three of my favorites to read and discuss with students, are associated with the Keystone State: The Declaration of Independence , The United States Constitution , and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The word keystone comes from architecture and describes the central web-shaped stone in an arch which holds all the other stones in place. Pennsylvania earned the Keystone nickname as the middle colony of the original thirteen, hailed as "Birthplace of a mighty nation, Keystone of the land," in the state song, and because it has held a key position in the economic, social, and political development of the United States. We didn't get to visit historical Philadelphia on this trip, so my first travel blog - category Mile Marks, Feeding our Wanderlust - is dedicated to the unique "towns," mesmerizing landmarks, family fun, and amazing food and drinks we discovered on our travels. Moraine State Park Gently rolling hills, lush forests and sparkling waters - highlighted by Lake Arthur with 42 miles of shoreline. This park is situated on land that has endured the effects of continental glaciers and massive mineral extraction. We saw miles and miles of trails and Butler County Website boasts hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, biking, snowmobiling, picnicking, boating. We just did a quick drive-through to check out the scenery and photograph the waterlilies - I got some amazing shots. Winding Roads Pictures just can't show the majesty of the trees and the curviness of the back-country roads we traveled, nor the feeling that we had traveled back in time - the rural Pennsylvania we saw boasts no fast food, no convenience stores, no hotels. The roller-coaster like narrow passageways were fun for the driver (Spencer), who thought he was in a video game, but harrowing for the passenger (me), who was holding on for dear life during what should have been a peaceful drive. Kaysi's Cakes Dessert Company and Cafe in Dubois is a small-town, locally-owned must-stop if you are in the area. The owners are friendly and welcoming. The Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup and the Iced Dulce de Leche Latte made my entire day. Niagara Falls Spectacular views and cascading sounds. Feast your eyes on the video, but also prime your ears to hear nature's White Noise. I have to say we were all disappointed in the amount commercialization around the falls, and while the sheer volume of water flowing was mesmerizing, it was somewhat diminished for us by all the folks crowding to enjoy them. We did walk the entire park, and the falls on the back side were much less crowded and just as captivating. We also waited for a part in the crowds to get a couple of posed photos so we blend in with all the other tourists enjoying the beautiful sights. Pearl Street Grill and Brewery After our visit to the falls, we headed to our cabin on Lake Eerie via Buffalo where we discovered the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery which boasts 4 floors, 9 bars,hundreds of blooming hanging baskets, Lake Eerie sunsets and countless tap handles serving house-made craft beer from holding tanks in the basement. Spencer and Josh tried the flights because there were too many choices to pick just one. I'm not a fan of beer, but I was fascinated by the posters advertising each beer that adorn the walls throughout the massive building. Three of my favorites are below. If beer is not your cup of tea, I highly recommend the Everything But the Bagel Bloody Mary. It is made with Ketel One and served with a snit of Street Brawler Stout. A-Maz-ING! Fredonia and Lake Eerie Cabin If you haven't noticed by now, sunsets and sunrises - and the moon - are kind of my thing. I got this from Spencer's Mom, Melba, who was famous for calling up family, neighbors and even strangers to tell them to get outside and look at the moon... or the sunrise...and the sunset. She really taught me a lot about taking time to enjoy nature. Anyway, we were blessed to book a cabin on Lake Eerie that totally delivered on the sunset. Check out this photo below - no filters. And I have about a hundred more of the sun in every position as it set over this beautiful water. Sunset and water always tends to reminds us of all we have to be grateful for - especially each other. Our time at the lake wasn't all romance. Josh got in a few baseball swings and we taught Ariel how to play 42. Turns out she gloats as much as Josh, if not more, whens she wins. Allegheny Forest and Jamestown We drove back to Gram's farm through Jamestown and Allegheny Forest. If you like mysticism and the full-forest experience, this drive is a must-do. Draft House Food and Spirits, Warren You might know, or surely have noticed, that Spencer has a thing for draft beer. He prefers it locally-made, delivered in in a spit-and-sawdust dive bar and served up by a bartender who will sit and talk for hours. He was in hog heaven when we found the Draft House Food and Spirits Bar in Warren. The bartender and waitress bent over backwards to make us feel welcome. The stained glass windows and shades added to the relaxing atmosphere, the beer selection was noteworthy, and the Beef on Weck was amazing. With Josh and Ariel living there, we plan to visit Pennsylvania again. Our next trip will surely feature Philadelphia and some of our country's most proud history. Keep following the blog to find out where we go next. And if you enjoy reading, share with your friends. To follow the blog, click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

Embracing Life's Adventures Welcome to my blog. I’m Randi.  Wife.  Mother and Grandmother.  Sister. Daughter. Aunt. Friend. Teacher.  Gardener and Cook.  Traveler.  Reader and Writer. Retiree 🙂.  Pat Conroy, one of my favorite authors, describes my current status perfectly: “I am at the beginning of the world as I don’t quite know it. But I trust I will begin to know it soon.” My husband, Spencer, and I have been sweethearts since high school. He has given me what Lewis Carroll calls the best gift: a lifetime of memorable adventures. And those adventures run the gamut from exciting to exasperating, to frustrating, to exhilarating, to spectacular, to downright dirty. I plan to use Get Busy Living with Randi  to chronicle our latest adventure - retirement. But we NEVER do only one thing at a time. As we pave our road to retirement, we are retiring from our jobs and setting out filled with hope, faith and eager for adventure. I’m a planner. Here is my plan:  Start a blog - Get Busy Living with Randi - to chronicle our adventures. Finish out a tiny but already income-producing RV park, On the Rocks Rentals. Play with grandbabies. Build a tiny house/barn to serve as a home-base. Play with grandbabies. Set up our new-to-us RV. Play with grandbabies. Set out to visit state and national parks throughout the United States and beyond. Play with grandbabies. Spencer is not a planner.  But his unplanned version of my idea is usually better. And it’s  always more fun.  He loves the quote: “Man plans and God laughs.”  Spencer is also not a reader. But he is a music and food junkie. He was a fan of Anthony Bourdain, who said, “Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering on the unknown.”  The idea of retirement - and of our next steps after June - feels exactly like that: Gorgeous. Teetering on the unknown. It’s going to be a wild ride. Welcome to the journey. I hope you visit often. Read the posts. Enjoy the photos. Try the recipes. Watch the videos. Meet the people. I welcome your insights, your suggestions, and your contributions.

Isn't she a BEAUTY? Our retirement truck, named Coddiwomple - (CW) for short - is thrilled to have a traveling companion, yet to be named. Please join the blog and provide some inspiration for names that complement CW. 3. We work hard, but we also play hard, and we always try to make the hard work fun. 4. And it is ALWAYS a learning experience. My first impressions about RV life: I can deep clean this beauty in 30 minutes FLAT. Storage solutions - both built in and available for purchase - are abundant and clever. The bed is surprisingly comfortable. Setting up requires a gazillion tools and hoses and gadgets, and teamwork, and patience. There is a LOT to learn about how to handle poop. Towing down the highway is a breeze. Parking and leveling and hooking up take a little more practice. We can't wait to load up and hit the road as full-time work campers, serving folks and enjoying every day and all of nature in our country's national parks. Toward that end, we are set up under a shade tree on our Lake Belton property where we will spend the next several months adding additional sites, outbuildings, and landscaping to finish our newest project: Click HERE to view our website. We have four sites, all of which are currently booked full-time by some adventurous souls who agreed to move on in while we are still a work in progress. They are enjoying the BARE necessities: making do with a level site, water, electricity and a picnic table each. As I learn more about blogging, I'm planning to categorize ideas, photos and musings: End Marks - Paving the Road to Retirement A chronicle of our work to build On the Rocks Rentals at Westcliff as a source of retirement income and a tiny home/barn to serve as home base for our wandering. Mile Marks - Feeding our Wanderlust Follow us on road trips, RV work camping gigs, overseas travel, and daily journeys. Place Marks - Gathering Round a Table Anecdotes of folks who join us at our tables and on our journeys, and a record of favorite recipes, gardening and food preservation tips, and and photos of scrumptious dishes we discover. Book Marks - Pondering Words and Ideas A collection of my favorite books, authors, words, sentences, ideas, and stories of people I know and meet. Sign up today to join us on our adventures. I can't wait to share our work and collect your inspirations. (Click Log In  on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media).

We are excited about retirement for a LOT of reasons. But the main ones are featured in this post. Today's work is categorized under End Marks - Paving a Road to Retirement. This category will feature efforts to build On the Rocks Rentals as a source of income to provide additional funds for our early retirement. I need to lay some context about what work looks like in the Jones Family. When we have a hard task, we call in family - and friends - and strangers - to help. We work together. And we all participate. We never do things the easy or conventional way. We work hard, but we also play hard, and we always try to make the hard work fun. It is ALWAYS a learning experience. Jacob and Megan live on a beautiful acre that is shrouded in beautiful trees, many of them ancient, very large, pecan trees. Several family gatherings have been spent over the last year trimming these trees and speculating on the best way to remove some extremely large, towering limbs that have been out of reach of our tallest ladders. A couple of weeks ago, the whole family traveled to visit with plans for a quite, relaxing, weekend celebrating a birthday. Before Megan and I could finalize plans for the day, the guys left in a truck and we looked outside to see the photo above. Instead of hiring an entire company to trim the trees, the Jones boys had concocted a way to save some money and get the job done in one afternoon. We have some background understanding of how a simple little task can quickly turn into all-day, mostly dangerous, and problem-riddled endeavor when all the Jones boys are together.... Today's adventure: the truck and trailer hauling the sky track can't fit through the yard gate. But not to worry - the guys have a plan: Pull the sky track across the entire acre - through gates, over sewer lines and around obstacles, while trying to avoid and not injure tiny, curious Jones boys. They will complete this task with a riding lawnmower, their combined brute strength, and sheer force of will - mostly because it presents such a challenge. Just getting the sky track in position to trim the trees was a half-day affair. Success! Jones boys learn early about work and fun and doing hard things together. And they seem to love it. Join our journey as we work to build On the Rocks Rentals. We will share our family. And our accomplishments. And our stumbling blocks. You will see some unconventional task completion methods. And you will witness some crazy work-arounds. But it will be a grand adventure as we Get Busy Living. Click Log In on the task bar and sign up with your email or social media account.

Pennsylvania was our first trip as retirees, and we flew out on our last day of work. We couldn't take Coddiwomple and Cat (our truck and RV) because we wanted to make it in time to see Ariel Hanst graduate - with Highest Honors. She has a degree in diagnostic medical sonography, has passed her boards, and is now a registered vascular technologist. She will be employed by the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, so Josh has traded in his Texas teaching certificate to become a Blue Devil working for the Shenandoah Valley School District. They have rented the cutest duplex in the tiny town of Elysburg, a census-designated place in Ralpho Township, Northumberland County (see Part II of our Pennsylvania Road Trip for more about CRAZY, township, village, and borough names) which is midway between. The duplex is located at the end of a cul de sac surrounded by mostly retired neighbors with easy access to a pond, walking trail, and nine-hole golf course. Although the weather and roads were beautiful all along our road trip, the abundance of signs like these, especially on the steep, curvy, roads these two kids will be driving, ensure discussions about the weather and their safety will become a daily part of my Jesus visits. While we are sad Josh and Ariel will be so far away from us for the next couple of years, they are surrounded by family and friends that we got to meet and came to love during our short trip. This blog post is really dedicated to them, because they will be the closest family support system for our kiddos. Grace Weber (Gram), is soon to be 92 years old and still lives in the farm house she came home to when she was married at 21. It is located in the unincorporated community of Rockton. Gram spent many years caring for her family of FIVE girls and working the farm, but now she spends her days sitting on her porch swing, enjoying the kittens, deer, turkey, black bear, birds, and beautiful scenery. She is always eager for friends or family to stop by for a visit, a meal, and storytelling about life on the farm. Ariel still has a room here and Josh is enamored with the farm, the countryside, Gram and the whole family. Chris Frantz and Cindy and Ed Yount (Aunt Ciny) are two of Gram's five daughters who live nearby. Cindy lives just down the road. She has taken over much of the farm work and spends much of her time checking on Gram and serving up love through her home cooking and hospitality for family on Sundays and holidays, and for friends and strangers who drop in. Her cooking and food presentation skills were shining bright for Ariel's graduation celebration, and it seemed like every time we turned around she was offering us more food. Aunt Lori and Uncle Arman Bonante live in Reynoldsville in a two-story house dated from the late 1800s that is filled with stained glass, antiques, beautiful paintings, and tons of stories about its transformation from a home to a boarding house with apartments, through several more identities, and back to a home. Arman has done lots of work on it over the years and loves to tell tales about every nook and cranny. Ariel also has her own room here - full of horse showing trophies and awards, and filled with memories of fun times surrounded by lots of love. Doug King walks just catty-cornered from Aunt Lori and Uncle Arman's house t0 get to the apartment he calls home today. He has lived in Reynoldsville most of his life, where he was a business owner and seems to still be a town staple. He knows everyone and everything that is going on in this Pennsylvania township/borough which was originally an Indian village and had its heyday in the mid-1800s during the coal mining era. Today, Reynoldsville schools are closed, businesses are family-owned, churches are abundant, and the last population count was 2, 759. If you drive through town, you will likely see Uncle Doug sitting on the front porch, and if you have time to stop by for a visit, he will regale you with tales of the town and its people during its prime and also fill you in on comings and goings of neighbors and friends today. He is a fascinating storyteller in his own right, with a lifetime of cool experiences to share, and I could sit and listen to him talk for hours. Gram's farm, where she and Aunt Cindy hosted us for several nights during our trip. The whole family gathers here on Sundays and holidays, and I'm sure Josh and Ariel will spend much of their time away from work here. Pictures can't do this place justice. More than a place, it's a welcoming atmosphere of relaxation and comfort and peace, instilling a big sigh of relief as you enter the driveway A visit here is a walk back to a slow pace of life to enjoy the simple pleasures of nature and its abundance, hard work, home-cooked food, and love of family and friends. Of course we will miss Josh and Ariel in Texas. But I know after this visit they will be well fed, loved and cared for. And there is plenty for him to do. Spencer left explicit instructions with Cindy that Josh is required to earn his way to the table. There is always mowing and mucking and all kinds of farm work to keep him and Ariel busy. And we can't wait to go back to do some more porch sitting, hear some more stories, and eat more of Aunt Cindy's home cooking. Keep following the blog, specifically the Place Marks - Gathering Around our Table category to get to know the people and places we visit. More about Pennsylvania food coming soon. 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