Week 19 - Half as Busy

Well, I can’t say I said no much this week but then I didn’t get asked for anything. So, I’ll continue to practice in my head for now. It was a much less full week. The only two commitments I had during the week were knitting on Monday (not really a commitment but something I enjoy so won’t be saying “no” to) and the awards dinner on Thursday. I managed to get some more yard work done and even mowed my lawn for the first time. So despite not exercising my “no” muscles, I still managed to have a nice week.

The Ties & Tails Dinner was interesting. Husker Cats was getting an award so the entire original steering committee went. It was your typical rubber chicken event but the unique thing, which is a wonderful fund raising idea, was you had to buy your dessert at a live dessert auction. Our table pooled all our cash and came up with $75, which wasn’t enough to win anything we wanted to eat. So when the lemon cake came up for bid, I pulled out the check I had in my back pocket just in case and started bidding. We won with a $100 bid, $34 of which was my money. I didn’t know it but it was from Le Quartier, my fave French bakery, so we lucked out. It was super yummy! And since I’d paid the lion’s share, I got to bring home the leftovers. : )

The award itself, was a bit anti-climactic. We were told it was a big deal but it was the last item on a long program so by the time Richie got up to accept it, lots of people had already left and those who hadn’t were chomping at the bit. They didn’t even let Richie say anything – they just handed him the monstrosity (a huge, heavy box thingie with a cement dog and cat on it – what are they thinking?) and took his picture. Done! Oh well, I was happy to be getting out of there. It was after 10:00 on a school night and I still had to drive home.

Saturday was Connie’s graduation so I headed to Peru. I was not looking forward to it but it ended up being a fun day. They did the master’s degrees first so I boogied out as soon as they started the bachelor’s and sat in the sun reading for the rest of the ceremony, getting up to meet Connie as the grads recessed out of the gym (yes, I was sitting on a bleacher – hokey!) We then popped into a fancy reception at the President’s House (I was underdressed) and then back to Connie’s to change. We headed to Rockport, MO for a late lunch then went to Star Trek in Nebraska City. It was a really fun movie, and not just for big trekkers like me. After leaving Connie’s, I headed to Lincoln to drop in at Susan’s. We sat on lawn chairs in her nearly empty house and chatted for a couple of hours. It was nice to catch up. I got home around midnight but got enough sleep to be relatively productive on Sunday with some nice relaxing interspersed throughout the day. The end of a pleasant week.

There was one down note to the week though. Figaro, the super sweet cat who arrived on my deck one morning and stayed for 3 weeks before I gave him to Ted and Nora, was hit and killed on Wednesday morning. They’d only had him 10 days but Drew, their six year old, loved that cat and would sit on the step and tell him stories. It was very sad and made for a hard day at work. I’ve been very emotional lately anyway, I think from being so busy and tired, so fought tears on and off all day.

Today’s the beginning of another week. The pool is closed for annual maintenance so I’m focusing on doing more yard work and getting ready for my sister to arrive on Friday. And I’ll be practicing saying “no” for whatever comes up next.