Week 13 - Reward for Productivity

What a productive week! (I wish I could say that more often.)

On Monday I left the house early to drop my car at Williamson Honda so they could fix the rattle from something they botched last time I had it in. Since Williamson is WAY south in Lincoln, there's nothing convenient about going there but I had no choice if I wanted it fixed free. I took the shuttle to campus and then bummed a ride back from Dodie, who lives right near the dealership. After I left Williamson, I stopped to food shop and hit Wal-Mart for watch batteries before going to Natasha's.

Natasha had invited the water aerobics gang over for a party and what a blast it was! She had tons of wonderful food, gave us a tour of her very interesting house (it has lots of art from her family's travels and Latvia, where she's from) and we all ate, drank and laughed. It was a fabulous time and we encouraged her to do it anytime. I left after 10:00, thereby guaranteeing I'd be tired on Tuesday, but enjoying the warm glow of fun with friends and the kir royale (Chambord and champagne) we'd ended the night with. I set my cruise control at the actual speed limit rather than 4 miles over and headed home. Well, I was just outside Wahoo when I got pulled over for speeding. He wouldn't tell me how fast I was going (I explained that I had the cruise set for 65) and just gave me a warning. I called it my lucky day and went straight to bed. It had been a wonderful evening.

I had stress dreams all night and was tired Tuesday but not as bad as I'd anticipated. I went to the pool, figuring I'd go right home, veg and go to bed early because there was no swimming on Wednesday (spring break week) so I'd have that night to do my taxes. I don't know where the energy came from but after dinner I started my taxes and kept plowing through until they were done. I crawled into bed late again but feeling good that they were finished and confident I wouldn't have stress dreams again.

I left work right at 5:00 Wednesday and after a quick stop for milk, was home by 6:00, which is a rarity. I went downstairs immediately to start on the last of the craft room organization. But after 30 minutes, I went upstairs to make dinner and watch Survivor. I was pretty tired so was ready to sit, feeling good that I'd done anything productive on my free night. But at 8:00 I turned to ABC to watch Modern Family and it wouldn't come in because it was windy. For some reason I have trouble with channel 7 upstairs but the old TV with rabbit ears and a converter box in the craft room gets it just fine. Figuring this was a nudge from the gods, I went back downstairs and started slogging again. I worked for another hour before calling it quits, jumping in the shower and going to bed early. I was pretty proud of myself for not taking the night off.

Thursday was another dead day on campus. While it was good for productivity, the deadness was starting to get to me so I was glad when the day was over and I could hit the pool. After a fun time, I headed home for dinner and well deserved vegging. I nuked sausage and peppers and watched 1 show when the craft room compulsion hit me again and I headed downstairs for the 2nd night in a row. Before the end of the night, I was done. Every tote, bag of fabric and box of crap had been gone through. The wall unit was organized and had several empty shelves. The fabric was sorted. Would wonders never cease? After years of being a crap depository, my craft room was finally fully operational and ready for crafting - sewing, quilting, you name it. Why I waited to do this until gardening season was about to start I can't say. All I can do is hope for rainy weekends so I can get some crafting done. If only I were one of those people who can take mental health days. Alas....

I woke up Friday to 4+ inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground. I was taking Tot the the vet at 8:00 to get her stitches out so actually got to sleep half an hour later, which was nice. I got to work at 9:00 so the morning flew by and it was time for lunch with Layton. We were headed to the Red Fox on West O when I passed a cop, oblivious as usual. He came out, lights flashing and pulled me over. I was sure he'd see the warning I got from the state cop on Monday and issue me a ticket for sure. I was bitching up a storm as I sat there, with Layton being supportive in a pain in the ass kind of way, when he handed me back my license with another warning! I was floored and very happy. Clearly their systems don't sync or I'd have gotten a ticket for sure. What a break!

Friday afternoon seemed endless! If I’d thought campus was dead before, I knew it was for sure on Friday. I was so happy when 5:00 came and made a bee line home. I made a big patch of pasta with veggies for dinner and sat down with a glass of wine to enjoy some TV. But you guessed it, I couldn’t stay away from the basement. Now that the organization was done, it was time to chose fabric for my first projects – little coin purse type things I’d found tutorials for online. I went to bed exhausted and set my alarm (yikes!) because I had an all day master gardener program on Saturday.

Lorri and Barb Hart were at my house at 7:10 Saturday morning. We got to Council Bluffs early and spent the day in sessions. Most were good and I’d brought knitting so got through the less interesting ones just fine but it was a long day. I got back home ~5:00 and sat like a zombie for the rest of the night. I did make a chore list and it was clear I had a lot to do on Sunday.

Well I can’t say I got many chores done but I did have fun. I did the bare essentials (laundry, litter boxes, trash) but spent the rest of the day downstairs crafting at last. I tried 3 different projects, starting with a small zipped bag for my knitting accessories. It came out so cute that I couldn’t stop, making a red corduroy boxy tote. Not stopping there, I made a coin purse. They were all with scrap fabric and old zippers and rick rack from my stash, which just added to the fun. I just had to show someone so drove over to Andrea’s for show and tell. She liked them too, which made me feel good. I’ll clearly be making more of these. Can’t wait!

Week 12 - Productive and Fun

It was nice to start the week with a day off. And since I’d accomplished my goal of getting the laundry room in order, all I really had to do was chores. But somehow I found myself downstairs again and before I knew it, I was slogging through stuff in the craft room. I spent all morning down there, finally coming up for lunch at 1:00, which was really noon so my stomach was still on old time. I spent the rest of the day alternating between chores and knitting. It being so light out messed me up and I missed getting to the post office before closing. I also had to slam to get my pie made to bring to knitting, being that it was Pie Day (3/14 for 3.14 – get it?) After knitting I brought the rest of the pie to Donna’s and went home to prep for the work week.

I had no trouble falling asleep – exhaustion will do that – so it wasn’t horrible getting up on Tuesday like it usually is after the clocks go forward. Work was busy all week so it flew. I had to force myself to go to the pool. I don’t know if it was the fact that it was so light but I just wanted to go home. It’s a good thing I went Tuesday because that was the only night I swam. Wednesday I went thrifting with Darla and then knitted at Village Inn. It was good to see the gang again. On Thursday I called my hairdresser and she was able to fit me in at 5:45 so I made a bee line to Wahoo. My hair had bypassed the Bozo look and gone straight to Albert Einstein so it was wonderful to get it all cut off. On Friday I skipped my normal food shopping and went straight home. I’m going to have to work on getting to the pool more next week.

On Saturday, I was taking Andrea out for her birthday – her choice of place and time. Spinning was on Saturday afternoon but she wanted to go to Personal Threads, our favorite yarn shop in Omaha, but they close at 3:00 so we skipped spinning and headed to Omaha after Andrea’s shop closed at 1:00. I had had another productive morning in the craft room so my backseat was loaded with Goodwill donations. I also brought my print from England that needed to be rematted so I could drop it at the framers below the yarn shop. We bought our yarn, picked up my picture (it looked MUCH better!) and headed to lunch at The Farmhouse Café, chosen because it’s next to Mangelsen’s, our next stop. They were having a yarn sale so I bought more. Sheesh! Then we dropped the Goodwill donations and did a bit of shopping. There was a mid-century modern bookshelf-ish thing for $15 but I decided against it. We hit 2 more Goodwills on the way home and I got home just before 7:00. It was a fun day and I still had Sunday for cooking and chores.

I had stayed up late on Saturday watching Survivors (a British post-apocalyptic miniseries) so slept late on Sunday. Between talking on the phone, Andrea stopping by and reading the paper, the morning was over in the blink of an eye. I had intended to spend the day cooking but ended up downstairs again. I don’t know where the motivation was coming from but I wasn’t stopping. Before you know it, phase 1 of the craft room was pretty much done but I had a bare wall, which I hadn’t anticipated. That made me think of the mid-century piece at Goodwill. I called and when they said it was still there, I got in the car and drove to Omaha to pick it up. I drove there, bought it, drove home and unloaded, cleaned and put it in the basement all in 2 hours. It’s a bit rough and will need a coat of paint (orange!) but it’s perfect for under the window and will hold lots of stuff. After a bit more arranging and a final sweep of the floor, I called it good and headed upstairs for a quick dinner of leftover frozen pizza and some TV. I hadn’t cooked a thing and had only managed one load of laundry but the craft room was well on its way to operational so I’m happy. It’ll be another week of eating out of the freezer but there are worse things. Hopefully my productivity will continue for the coming week. If it does, there’s no telling what I’ll get done. I live in hope.

Week 11 - Making a Dent

So, this is how I started my week. It was snowing Monday so the drive in was frustrating – mostly trying to dodge people driving too slowly in the passing lane and blocking my progress (when the road’s clear, there’s no need to drive 40 mph!) When I got to Lincoln I stopped at Starbucks and saw immediately that the manager was there because she doesn’t work the front despite it being the morning rush so there’s just one cashier and one barista. Can we spell BIG LINE? So I’m waiting, trying not to be too impatient when I swing my purse onto my shoulder and the man behind me is standing so close that my purse hits his phone, which he must have been completely absorbed in, and knocks it onto the floor where the case breaks. He stares at me dumb founded and all I can think is PERSONAL SPACE! I picked it up, expressed concern (see, wasn’t I being good?) and then bought him a coffee. Sheesh!

The day at work was one to be gotten through (I was tired and fighting cranky) but knitting was fun and I finished the last of my gift knitting when I got home. After another night of bizzaro dreams, I was tired Tuesday and decided early in the day to skip the pool and head home. My Knit Picks delivery would be waiting on my step and I was excited to start 2 at a time socks on 2 circular needles - exciting stuff if you’re a knitter. Really. I had pancakes for dinner (Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day – all names for the last day before lent) and enjoyed a night of knitting. Plus I felted the last of my gifts and they all came out great.

Wednesday was supposed to be knitting at Village Inn, which we’d scheduled a month ago without consulting a calendar so had no idea it was Ash Wednesday. When most people weren’t going, we postponed until next week and I got to go home after the pool for another night of knitting. Yay! By this time I’d already decided I would take Monday off so I’d have a 3 day weekend to get stuff done. The week was looking up.

The work days flew by and I managed to mail one of my packages (sock yarn, a felted pod and felting needles, yarn and instructions for Debbie.) After having some kitty bonding time when campus was dead Friday evening, I food shopped and headed home for my long weekend.

I had dropped Tot at the vet Friday morning for spaying so needed to pick her up Saturday morning after running errands in town. It’s always a good thing to have a reason to be up, dressed and out to kick start the weekend. When I got home, I started going through paper and reclaimed my desk and bar, loading up the recycling bin in the process.

Sunday found me downstairs putting the laundry room back in order. I had totes of Christmas decorations and sundry other stuff that had been in the middle of the floor for a LONG time and had stuff piled on top of them. (I thought of taking a before pic but was too embarrassed.) By the time I was done, I had gone through every box and tote plus the storage shelves, the floor was clear and I had boxes to donate loaded in the car. I scrubbed the floor twice (and it could use another round) before I collapsed into a chair. I still had my chores to do but my goal of reclaiming the laundry room so I could set up my grow light and table for starting seeds was done. I ended the week, which started in iffy mode, on a high note – productive, happy and tired, but in a good way. Let's hope this productive stint stays around. I have lots more on my to do list. : )

Week 10 - Another Normal Week

It was a relatively normal week – at last! I knitted on Monday, swam on Tuesday and Thursday and food shopped on Friday. See? Normal.

All this normal wore me out. I was feeling completely exhausted on Wednesday, so much so that I was worried about my new blood pressure meds, which I’d started taking on Saturday. So I left work early and headed to the doctor’s office, only to learn that my BP was near perfect. The fatigue was just a side effect of the new meds and would only last another week or so. It was probably exacerbated by a couple of nights without enough sleep so I made an effort to go to bed early Wednesday and the next morning felt like a new woman. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do.

I talked to my cousin Debbie this week and she told me she had made 4 pair of socks since I helped teach her to knit in October. I was shocked and immediately said I’d get together a care package of sock yarn from my stash. I then decided I needed to introduce her to felting so caked some 100% wool and bought her some big needles. But I couldn’t send her the makings for a pod without making her one so I cast on yet another pod. As soon as I was done with that, I started another felted project for my friend’s birthday next week. I was also finishing mittens for my friend’s husband, who fed the campus cats for me when it was so cold in February. After spending all weekend knitting for friends, I swear I’m going to finish Deanne’s present and knit nothing but stuff for me for a long time. Can’t wait!

Lorri and I did an Omaha run – Penzey’s, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s – after Friends on Saturday, which was fun. Then I ended up at the Vet’s Club, supposedly to keep Donna company while she had no customers. But by the time I got there, she was in the throes of party prep for a family birthday at the bar. I stayed for bit, knitting, of course, and then headed home for sweet potato gnocchis and wine for dinner and an early bedtime. I never left the house Sunday, getting tons of knitting done and fitting in a few chores and some cooking. All in all, it was a nice weekend after a “normal” week. Now I just need a few more like this.