Week 46 - Clone this Saturday

What a nice week! I knitted on Monday and went to the pool Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I was a maniac on Tuesday so had sore knees for a couple of days but it was worth it. It felt good to get back to normal.

On Monday morning, I had the ever exciting annual physical. It was the first time I’d be meeting the doctor who bought out my old doctors’ practice. I’d loved my old doctors and was skeptical that I’d like her as well. No worries - she was wonderful. She spent 45 minutes with me and shared lots of great information. When I had a few more questions after she left, she came back for another 10 minutes. I left there feeling great, like my health was in good hands – both mine and hers. Next stop, the even more fun mammogram. It’s always something.

On Tuesday Anne and I went to the Campus Rec Advisory Board meeting to plead the case for more accessible ladders or stairs in the new pool, which is due to open in March. The group was nice and hopefully we impressed our point on them. We can only wait and see.

A couple of people mentioned me getting a new kitten so Thursday night I got curious and did a bit of web surfing in search of an orange female kitten. No one had one until I checked Craig’s List. The only kitten listing in Lincoln was for a 6 week old orange female with mitten feet and blue eyes. She was even found alone on a farm in a pile of hay bales, which sounds just like Pixel’s appearance at Helen’s. It felt like it was meant to be. I emailed that night and then called on Friday. I was getting excited, even though I hadn’t planned to get another cat so soon. Well, it was all for naught because the kitten was already adopted. That was fine. A bit disappointing but clearly not meant to be. Maybe in the spring.

This was supposed to be my first weekend at home, with only a trip to Omaha on Saturday afternoon for the opening of Trader Joe’s. But Andrea called to say she’d gotten a tip about an auction Saturday morning in Fremont that had a spinning wheel and lots of yarn. Since she wanted to go so badly that she would close her shop, I agreed to go and then we’d go to Omaha from there. I would lose my leisurely morning but it sounded fun.

Andrea picked me up at 8:30 but I’d already managed to talk to Carolyn and get ready on time. Andrea’s friend who gave her the tip helps with the auctions and had put the yarn so it’d auction first. Perfect! There were boxes full of one pound cones of yarn, lots of which was 100% wool from Brown Sheep – our favorite western Nebraska yarn company. We won the first bid at $7.50/box so we each picked one. Then Andrea got a box of raw wool for $1, which means we both have a raw fleece now so we’ll be planning a road trip to Ansley to get them processed. Anyway, the spinning wheel, which was a utilitarian one made of PVC, came up and Andrea got that for $2.50. That won, we headed outside where there were tons of boxes of yarn and some furniture we had scoped out and might bid on.

We had already gone through the boxes outside and knew which ones we wanted. There was also another spinning wheel so I was hoping to win that for myself. When we won the first bid at $2.50/box, we said we’d take 6 boxes, 1 of which had the wheel (yay - I have a spinning wheel!) and another was a tall footlocker sized Rubbermaid tote full of more Brown Sheep. One other man took 3 boxes and then the rest were going for $1. When the auctioneer asked if we wanted any, we just took them all. We figured w’de pull out the acrylic for my mitten knitter friends and keep the wool for ourselves. We loaded up the SUV, which was filled to the roof with yarn in every nook and cranny. Then we went back for the furniture, just missing bidding on the hoosier bottom Andrea wanted and passing on the plant shelf I wanted when it went for $80! I did get a little painted table with a metal top (perfect for plants) and Andrea bought a stack of bushel baskets for $1. At that point, we pretty much decided we’d leave and went to cash out. It was $49 all together and we had 2 spinning wheels, a car full of yarn (literally thousands of dollars worth) and my cute little table.

We were feeling great when a man approached us and asked if we were the ones that had bought all the yarn. He had an antique shop in Fremont and had bought some boxes inside but wanted more. He asked if we’d be willing to sell him some at $10/box. We said sure and started going through the boxes, giving him some of the acrylics we didn’t want. We barely made a dent in what we had and he paid us $20. So we still had 2 wheels and enough yarn for years’ worth of projects for $29. Could this day get any better?

Yes! We headed to Omaha, stopping at Texas Roadhouse to split some ribs for lunch. I hadn’t been since Connie moved and was thrilled when Andrea loved the food. Then it was on to Penzey’s, where Kate Bush, one of my fave singers from the 80’s and pretty obscure one at that, was playing. I got out of there spending on 50 cents and getting a free replacement cap for my orange extract, which broke when it fell out of my cupboard. Next stop was Trader Joe’s, which was a mob scene. The aisles were crammed with people and there were lots of empty spots on the shelves but it felt great to be in Trader Joe’s in Omaha. I even met one of the workers from the Lincoln store, where I’ll probably go more often than Omaha. I did manage to get a few of my favorites and a bottle of 3 Buck Chuck to enjoy with my supper of truffle pate on multi grain baguette. But first Andrea and I had all the yarn to sort, which we did while drinking tea. What a wonderful day!

Sunday was my first day at home in what felt like forever. I woke up early and not feeling very good – the nagging pain in my back was there again. I had a lot to do though so just started my chores and ignored it. Whether it was getting moving or my meloxicam kicking in that banished it, I don’t know. I just called it good and kept plowing through my chores. I got tons done and ended the day with curried cauliflower and pork chops for dinner. What a wonderful week!