I have a friend who says, "Don't squander your time in retirement." I've been thinking about that. Here's what I did today - with 21 more work days until I leave my job.

First, I stopped feeling sorry for Larisa, my Siberian forest cat. We got her last June, and she lived indoors until last month when all of a sudden she decided to be an indoor/outdoor, indoor/outdoor, indoor/outdoor cat. She's got long hair and she can't keep up with grooming herself. And I feel guilty when I feel a mat in her coat. Like I ought to be able to fix that. So I comb a section of her every night. But I can't keep up either. So I've squandered enough time feeling guilty, and today I made an appointment for Larisa with the groomer. She's going to get a lion cut. She'll feel like velvet and she'll lose about three pounds of hair and I'll lose about 20 pounds of guilt.

Then, I cancelled my subscription to the magazine, "The Nation". It looked like a magazine I'd like, but there are about six issues in my magazine rack and I don't have the heart to throw them away, but I probably won't read them either. The layout is too dense for me, and the topic is a bit too heavy. So I let go of the guilt, called their Customer Service department, and cancelled the subscription. Several trees will sigh with relief.

Finally - and I admit this is embarassing - I harvested my Farmville grapes and didn't replant. The field is fallow. Farmville (on Facebook) is a safe place, where I have complete control over everything. But I feel guilty when I spend time on my farm. It's pure escape. And my life is interesting enough that I don't need to escape. So - at least for today - I won't be a farmer.

I'm looking at time. I'll have more freed up once I'm not working, but I'll have exactly the same number of hours in a day as I do now. I want to use it well, not squander it on guilt.