Week 1 - Nebraska New Year

What a bi-polar week! The beginning was absolutely manic, cramming in the last things in RI. Then when I got home, the vegging began. Despite a huge to do list, I’m looking at what I got done during my six days at home and bemoaning not being more productive. Nothing new there.

Monday was the annual open house. Carolyn and I had done most of the cooking before Christmas so that was all taken care of. I made a run to Stop and Shop to get the last few things we needed and also in search of Scary Blackberry Ghoul Aid. Carolyn had given me ten packets of in my stocking and said she’d found it just a week before on the clearance rack. Now this flavor is the holy grail for kool aid dyeing yarn but I hadn’t been able to find any so I was on the hunt. There was only one single packet left at Carolyn’s market but I made a call to the North Kingstown Stop and Shop (convenient to John, who would be coming to the open house) and they had 13 boxes of it so I had them put 10 at the service desk for John to pick up. Score! But I digress…

The open house was fun. John, Maruta, Sharyn and Butch came. It was great to catch up with everyone and Butch and Maruta together is something to behold. We ate lots of yummy snacks and chatted for hours. Deanne was supposed to come but called at 4:00 to say she was running late, which is her usual MO for the open house in an attempt, she confessed, to getting alone time with me. While this is flattering, the open house was over at 5:00 and she still hadn’t arrived by 5:30. Carolyn and I were both exhausted, having been going full bore for days, and the food was all gone or put away so I told Deanne we needed to go out so Carolyn could relax. We went to Starbuck’s and caught up there (always nice) but then it was home to collapse. All the Christmas plans had gone well and I’d had lots of fun but it was a good thing to have it all over with. Is that a sign of age? I don’t know but I was happy to get in my sweats and veg in front of the TV that night.

I was leaving Tuesday afternoon so we hit Job Lot in the morning and picked up spinach pies at Don’s for lunch then it was home to pack. I did leave a few things behind (mostly Christmas presents for next year that I’d bought that morning) but fit everything else in my suitcase, with packets of ghoul aid in all the nooks and crannies. My flights home were uneventful and I was in my house just before 10:00 p.m. The cats wanted out but I didn’t let them because I couldn’t wait to go to bed so I showered and hit the hay. I read for awhile and when I pulled up the sheets, they were wet. Totnes, my little bitch kitty, had peed on the bed while I was in it! GROSS! In the decades I’ve had cats, I’ve never had one pee on my bed until now. Sheesh! That meant I had to change the sheets and my nightie, which woke me right up. So much for going to bed early.

Wednesday was a recoup day. I unpacked and ran all the errands I had – the library, bank, market, dry cleaners, etc. It felt good to be home and to clear all those off my to do list day one. There was lots of sitting and knitting too.

Helen was supposed to come over and veg on Thursday but called to say she couldn’t because she had to go to Omaha to get a load of hay. Well, I can chat in the cab of a truck as well as in my family room so I offered to go along. We went to Panera for my fave steak and blue cheese salad lunch, stopped at Starbuck’s for peppermint mochas and then got the hay. There’s nothing like sitting in the cab of the truck while 30 100 pound bales are thrown into the truck bed. It’s akin to a Disneyland ride. Nebraska style that is. Then we drove home slowly with the hay piled high. After Helen dropped me off, I ended up delivering the hermits I’d brought back from RI for a friend’s brother-in-law who recently moved from RI (I’d met him at the Wine & Dine last year) and since I was so close to the museum, I decided to take down our knitting tree and cross that off the list. I stopped by Andrea’s shop too. So far, so good on getting stuff done.

That all came to a halt on Friday. One of my main goals for break was to spin so I spent some time on YouTube watching beginner spinning videos and then I got out my wheel. As I suspected, spinning is not as easy as it looks. I spun for most of the afternoon and was getting better but my groin muscle was killing me from working the treadle so I took a break to make dinner. Then it was back to spinning. I had a cone of BAD yarn, which alternates between over spun and under spun, to show for it. Clearly I need more practice but will keep at it. I’m determined on this front.

Saturday was an Omaha run with Andrea. She closed her shop at noon (an hour early) and we headed to our first stop – Personal Threads for their annual customer appreciation sale. I was good and only got yarn for 1 pair of socks plus a stocking stuffer and something for my swap partner. From there we hit Penzey’s, Sur la Table and Traders Joe’s, where I picked up some artichoke dip and stuffed flounder for supper. Then we hit Aldi, which I hadn’t been to since my dad was alive, and Bag N Save before heading home. I had my yummy TJ’s dinner, watched some TV and went to bed early. That’s my way of celebrating the new year.

The wind was howling all night and into Sunday, so much that it blew over y deck tree. I spent a big chunk of time on Sunday going through all the paper on my desk. It took hours. Other than a few chores, talking to my sisters and making this amazing pasta for dinner, that’s all I accomplished. I also remoted in to work and ran the data load for my monthly reports, which will make it easier on Tuesday. All in all, this was not an auspicious start to 2012 but it was a day well spent. I only had one day left of break and tons of things left on my to do list. Where did the time go? So typical. Oh well. Happy New Year everyone!