What a great question! I've been pondering this for a couple of years. I'm a teacher, retiring in June '09. Typically, at our school, good friends of the retiree plan a party, send out flyers and those who choose to come pay $25 a head for dinner. The entertainment is either testimonials or comedy skits. I LOATHE this and certainly want nothing of it when I retire. I am thinking of having the staff and a few other friends in education come to my house after school one day for an open house/happy hour kind of thing. I've been there too long to just sneak away without notice (my first choice), so I think I'll set it up myself and thus do what I want. I think those retiring in business have a myriad of possibilities. Someone "important" to the firm may get a big bash. In a small company, often the retiree is just taken out for dinner by close associates. I think it's all over the map. This sounds like a good topic for discussion.

My husband thinks depending on rental income is unpredictable and that we should work longer...sigh... Anyway, still awaiting State consent from Malaysia pending a bumi release letter from the seller. In Malaysia, there are bumi houses which are cheaper and sold mostly to Malays only. If they cannot sell it to any Malay, then they will release it to Chinese buyers prob at a higher price....anyway, quite a tedious process buying a resale house...been waiting for state consent for months... Just found out can bring my Sg employed Filipino maid into Malaysia without applying for MM2H so that will save us some money... Was discussing with hubby last night our many options from retiring as soon as next year to many years later. If we retire next year, will only have about S$2300 to S$2800 passive income but as the exchange rate is 2.62 now, it translates to RM$6000 to RM$7300 which is higher than the average malaysian household income of RM$5000 so maybe we can still survive in Johor. Main thing is my hubby wants my children to continue schooling in Sg so that means we may have to keep our expensive Sg car. Hope to convince him to let them study in Johor international schools but the school fees are like S$700 compared to subsidised rate of about S$400 in Sg. And when my younger one attends primary school, it is only S$11.50 in Sg. Now his childcare fees are high... Actually, when I first decided to buy JB malaysia house, intention was to rent out for passive income and sell it 10 years later for capital gains to fund my childrens' university. But many pple ssid rental and resale was difficult so we thought of retiring there...but there are many stories of house breakins and robberies too so that also makes me a bit fearful of living there...sigh.... However, many Singaporeans and expats have moved there esp Nusajaya over the last few years to take advantage of the lower cost of living and that has driven property prices up sharply...

This little oven is so easy to use! If you want to check something for doneness, you can open it as often as you like and it will start back up as soon as you close the door. You can also add things to the basket later on in the cooking process. It comes with a metal grate that can be used in a couple of ways.....including to layer items in your recipe or to heat things up in the last few minutes of cooking the main item. We have air fried some large breaded cod filets with great results, he has made a baked potato with the most crunchy, flavorful skin. I toasted some pecans for salads, Tonight, I'm going to air bake some chicken breasts and thighs after being given a light spritz of oil and a sprinkling of our favorite herbs and spices. No breading. I know that the skin will be browned and crisp on the top and bottom. For dessert lovers, you can bake in this appliance, too. Even use your own oven safe baking dishes, as long as they fit.

Pictures would help a lot. One of my neighbor's property was level and flat except at the very back end there was a hill up to the property line. A cedar hedge (owned by neighbor's behind them) kept soil from washing away. So new owners bought the house and removed the hill! They cut all the cedar branches that extended into their garden. They built a raised wooden retaining wall all along the back of their property and attached to that a raised container bed and planted new cedars (all along the back property line) to help cover up the old neighbor's cedars. It looks and functions much better now. No run off at all. As I understand it, it is the responsibility of the higher property to build a retaining wall. My mother's street was on a hill. Each house on the street owned a retaining wall to keep their property from washing down the street. The next door neighbor complained about the cracks and crumbling of my mother's retaining wall. My mother could not see that part of her retaining wall or any of those cracks from her property. My mother paid to fix the wall because it was her retaining wall and her responsibility.