An Introduction

Hi.  Let me introduce myself.  Tamara ("Tammy").  I had started this blog a couple years ago with a pen name because I wasn't so sure about privacy on the net.  At this point, I own who I am, and I feel more secure in that regard.

This blog is about my journey towards living an intentional life.  Not someone else's version of what my life should be, but the life that I want to live.

In May, 2011, after 25 years in my chosen career, I made the decision to retire just about two months before the age of 50, and jump off this treadmill of working to pay for the stuff that one buys, and then further must pay to maintain.

 I had been reducing debt and reducing stuff since "the bottom fell out."  The "bottom fell out" for me in September, 2008, as it did for many when the economy took a nose-dive.  I lost most all overtime at work and my retirement investments took a substantial hit.  On top of that, the job that I ate, slept, and drank for all these years was making changes that I didn't always agree with. 

It didn't help that I've always known that my specific position in the organization is most appropriate for someone younger and more fit than I had become.  The last couple years before I retired, it became apparent to me that it was time to move on.  I'd given my very best and was proud of my accomplishments on the job, but it was now time to do all those things I wasn't able to do because I was working nights, weekends, and holidays.  For the prior two or so years before that, I'd been working towards insuring my pension was "enough" and that I financed my retirement plan as best I could.  I had decided that my target retirement date would be May, 2013.  But my attitude towards my career had grown sour despite my efforts to remain positive towards it.  Thus, a new retirement date:  June, 2011.  It was scary, but exciting; possibly stupid, but likely almost necessary for my "mind health."

This was a difficult and stressful decision.  I'm one of the few people in this country that still has a pension.  Obviously, if you haven't figured it out, I chose a blue collar government job with a middle-class income.  

The blessing is that I HAD a job.  A lot of people couldn't say that between 2008 and 2011.  Some can't say it now.  But as blessed as I was, I realized that I was becoming increasingly unhappy with my 12-hour workdays and rotating shifts.  It had affected my health and my relationships. I was usually too tired and stressed to socialize at all, so most of my socialization came from socializing with my co-workers while at work, and whom I loved dearly.

So....I chose ME,

instead of the money.  But in order to choose me, I had to change the way I was living.  Getting rid of my credit cards, my cable TV, my home phone....Watching my energy usage and my spending...  Simplifying.  And it felt great.  Three plus years later, I feel more in control of my life and it feels really, really good.

I believe that retirement is about maintaining and not obtaining.  With that in mind, prior to retiring, I devoured books, periodicals, and articles such as Less is More, The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live it, The Encyclopedia of Country Living, a book about Depression Cooking by Clara Cannucciari and books on backyard chickens, etc.

I've pumped my, now 92-year old, Aunt Grace about our Sicilian heritage, knowing that Sicilians were a poor people that could make fantastic meals from simple and inexpensive ingredients.

 I learned about my family here during the Depression and how they made ends meet--and sometimes not meet.

It made me realize that a simpler form of living was more appropriate for me.  It was less consumeristic, less stressful, and very much happier.  I love my quiet life.

My blog will be about my cooking, my attempts at growing my own food, re-using, re-purposing, recycling. It will be about my commitment towards organics, local foods, and trying to make my home as energy-efficient as possible.  It will be about my backyard hens.  It will be about my rescued dogs and cats. It will be about being a divorced single mother of an adolescent.

And so, the journey begins...