Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for August 28, 2023

Arlo is a go.

Where is Ludi? He should be in the drawer or suitcase.

I hear a lot of “pie in the sky” talk from my wife when we are vacationing. It may pop up for years afterward, although it is nowhere near our budget.

Arlo, sometimes you’re as smooth as loose gravel.

Been there, forgotten that!

Smooth Talker?

She’s not buying his attempted recovery.

He does not seem excited…..

That’s not what he meant.

Arlo, Arlo, Arlo. Insert foot A into mouth B.

Where’s Luddie??

Nice attempt at a save but no cigar…..

Quick thinking, Arlo!

We know what you were leading to Arlo and so does she. Not a good save.

It’s a long term plan and not necessarily a short one by definition…..

Maybe the strip will go Florida and the kids will add to the storylines.

Christmas with the kids at Gus’s condo?

In fall 2016, we were visiting a city that we enjoy, and my husband said, “what would you think about moving here?” We spent the next 6 months starting to downsize and constantly talking the pros and cons (but not telling any friends yet). Finally in summer 2017, we put our house on the market, told folks the news, sold the house, got rid of a ton more stuff, and moved in October 2017. Don’t regret it at all – especially the downsizing part.

Husband over the decades has planned to retire to Lancaster, PA, Williamsburg, VA, and Hagerstown, MD (between the other two locations) as this is where we normally go (went) on trips every year. About 15 years ago he quit job early due to burn out.

We are still here. On the now rare occasions he mentions moving – I stand and look around me and say to him “We can’t move – we have too much stuff that we are still using and can’t get rid of as we need it” He will hem and haw and then drop the subject.

Both our families are here. While his parents have both passed on, my mom is 94. Our sisters and their families are here. (Never fortunate enough to have children of our own.)

The amount of work it would take to pack almost everything and figure out what to do with the rest (little of it valuable other than to us) exhausts me just to think about it. We have been part time working craft artists for decades – that is a lot of supplies which cannot be replaced (trust me, I needed something in a different color and nothing like is sold anymore) plus our inventory and personal pieces. He has a major wood shop in our garage – some of the tools can no longer be purchased and shipping the larger power tools would cost a fortune. We are looking to get the foot to my sewing machine remade (he found someone) as for a decade or more I have been doing all the sewing by hand as I LOVE that machine and none of our others work the same. Plus we have an extensive library on several subjects we are interested – 18th century history, James Bond, Louisa May Alcott, movies, in addition to our craft book library – plus other categories. And my substantial teddy bear collection would have to come along also.

Just thinking about moving exhausts me too much.