Week 20 - Law of Averages

What a week! The beginning couldn’t have been more different from the end in multiple ways. I hope the trend at the end keeps up for awhile.

The week started out blazing hot. It was in the low 90’s on Monday and although I’d planned to tough it out without putting on the AC, I realized my 8 month pregnant cleaning lady was coming for the last time on Tuesday and there was no way she could clean in the heat so with some relief for Ali being the reason, I put on the AC and left for work Monday. I stayed inside over lunch and then had a Husker Cats meeting after work. Just as we were gathering for that meeting, the electricity went off on our end of campus so we had the meeting in the west lobby of the building because we could see there. Unfortunately the sun beaming in also made it heat up quickly but I left just after 6:00 so I’d have time to stop at the market before heading to knitting at the library. Dinner was a couple of chicken strips and pickles eaten in the car. I was SO glad my AC was on when I finally got home after 8:00. I would not have slept a wink if it hadn’t been.

Tuesday was even hotter. We broke a record when it hit 97 degrees and it was super humid too. Polly and I went to Wendy’s over lunch and I went straight home after work and sat like a zombie, not even knitting. The weather was supposed to break on Wednesday and I couldn’t wait. August weather in early may is just WRONG!

Wednesday the campus was deserted. There was a terrorist exercise that lots of people in my department were involved with (playing dead or wounded, manning the command center, etc.) and it looked like lots of other people had taken the day off. I used the quiet time to make some progress on utilities and Nora, Lynn and I went to Panera’s for lunch. If you haven’t tried their steak and gorgonzola salad, go and have one now. Yum! By mid afternoon, the long awaited break in the weather arrived with a big thunderstorm. The change in the temp was immediate and wonderful. It also meant that it was too wet for Lorri and I to work at the Hansen House garden, which we’d planned to do at 6:30. I had a lovely evening at home, ending it with a long chat with Connie. Unexpected free time is always the best!

Thursday was a good day – better weather, lunch with Dodie and then I finished the tables for utilities billing just before leaving for a movie night. Cheryl’s husband was out of town so a few of us went to Thor after work. It was a total escapism movie and fun in 3D. But when we came out of the theatre, we could see it had rained and the skies were looking bad. I drove like a banshee to get home but wasn’t quick enough, having the scary experience of driving through hail. Since the storm clearly wasn’t over, I decided on an early night so went to bed to read. I was just drifting off when the tornado siren went off. I bolted out of bed and headed to the basement, calling the cats who completely ignored me. I turned on the TV and all they showed was thunderstorms. After 5 minutes, the siren stopped but I was wide awake. At least there was no tornado though.

Friday was another good day. I heard back from the programmers who had some changes for my utilities tables. I went plant shopping during lunch, finding a wonderful, family owned and operated greenhouse in south Lincoln that had the best bedding plants I’ve ever seen. EVER. I bought more plants I didn’t need and then headed to BSM to meet with the programmers. After an hour of discussion, I had some changes to make to the tables so headed back to get them done before the day was over. I finished just before 5:00, sent an update email to Nora and set my out of office messages. I was officially on vacation – yay!

First thing on my vacation agenda was a bee event at The Ross theatre with Nancy and Melissa, who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. We got there at 5:30 and made the rounds of the tables. We had every kind of honey imaginable – raw, infused with spices/scents, honey marinated tofu (yum!), baklava, etc. After an hour, I felt like I’d had enough honey for a lifetime. We still had an hour before the movie was due to start and I was wondering what to fill it with when I noticed activity in a room behind the bar area. I went back to check it out and found people doing encaustic art – art with wax. You could either paint with colored wax or do collage that’s set with wax. I dove into the collage and had a blast. Digging through bags, cutting, arranging….loved it! I set it with wax and ended up with something so fun that I’m going to frame it for my bedroom. The movie – Queen of the Sun: What the Bees Are Telling Us – was good too. What a fun way to start my vacation.

My plan for the weekend was to get all my chores done so I would start my vacation with a clean slate. Well, I ran errands on Saturday and then managed to clean up the kitchen before sitting down to finish a project for my swap. Not the most productive day but not a total loss. Then Sunday Andrea and I were headed to Omaha to meet Liz, our friend from the UK trip, which was a year ago (!), who was in town for her son’s graduation from Creighton. I had made brunch reservations at Dario’s in Dundee so we got an early start. Liz gave us a blow by blow of the Morocco trip, which sounded like hell. Sub-standards accommodations, not enough direction, lack of toilets (some rest stops had a drain in the floor for a toilet), sickness and stress from being a white western woman in a Muslim country. I’m SO glad I skipped that trip! And the next trip is in Greece, which I’ll probably skip too. When will they do another England trip? Anyway, it was good to catch up with Liz and before we split up, we had vowed to meet in Chicago this fall for what could be the first of many trips together. I got home just in time for the Survivor finale, which I loved. Boston Rob finally won!

So, it was a wonderful week with lots of fun and ended with my first 2 days of 9 off of work. The weather averaged out to a decent number. 90's to start and 50's at the end = mid 70's the average May temp in Nebraska. I didn’t get all my chores done but I’ll just plan to intersperse them with bouts of gardening and organization, hoping for an average productivity when all is said and done. With 7 more days to go, I’ll have plenty of time. Wish me luck!