Week 39 - My Yarn Score

 

It was a pretty normal week. Work, swimming, knitting – you know, normal. For me anyway.

I worked late on Wednesday, trying to finish something I’d been working on and when I got home I had a nice surprise. I’d been waiting for a box of yarn from Germany that a woman from Ravelry was sending me for free. It was all her mom’s leftover sock yarn, which I was going to use for more monster socks. Well, the box was HUGE and full of wonderful cakes of yarn in all different sizes. Before, during and after watching Survivor, I played with yarn, mixing and matching all the wonderful colors. I was in heaven.

But when I was done with the yarn and ready for bed, I couldn’t find Pixel, who always comes in at night. So I was up a couple of times before midnight, slept fitfully and then got up for good at 4:30. Still no Pixel. I sat down to make a lost cat poster and was just finishing at 5:00 when she walked in the door. I set the oven time for an hour and half and went back to sleep. At least I slept well for that small chunk. Sheesh!

I had planned to go to HyVee for steak dinner after swimming on Thursday with Kate but I bumped into her on the way to swimming and we decided to skip it. When I got home, there was yet another package of yarn waiting for me – this one the last of the trades I’d done for extra yarn I had. So it was another fun night of sorting yarn. Can life get any better?

Helen was coming over after work on Friday to pick up the pile of clothes I’d bought at the thrift shop bag sale plus a few I’d culled from my closet and we were going to get pizza. Well, she walked in with her craft box and we got talking so she didn’t leave until after 10:00. I was so tired I was rubbing my eyes like a baby. I still had to do the treasurer’s report for the Friends meeting the next morning. I got it done and crawled into bed exhausted.

I talked to Carolyn first thing on Saturday and then headed to the library. After the meeting, I was walking across the library and something tweaked in my knee. I could only hope it wasn’t going to be a problem.It was uncomfortable driving over to get the Hart kids, who were going to mow (first time since May, really!) and do some yard work. I spent my afternoon knitting. Yes, it’s more socks. It was a nice, relaxing day but my knee was iffy. Good thing I was going to the doc again on Monday.

I should have been more productive on chores on Saturday because I was volunteering all afternoon at the Ag Research & Development Center’s 50^th anniversary open house. I did manage to get a few things done before heading out, including changing my linens to fall – flannel sheets and my winter comforter – and washing the summer one at the laundromat and hanging it out. I got to the ARDC just after 1:00 and was sent to the children’s area, where I helped at the make your own ice cream booth. There were different 4H-ers each hour and the time flew. I saw lots of people I knew so had a pleasant afternoon. I was home in time to have a cup of tea before dinner time and had plenty of energy to finish my chores.

All in all, it was a good week. I got to spend time with Helen, had lots of yarn fun, started a new pair of socks, got some volunteer hours in and still managed to finish my chores. All that and fall finally arrived. Nice.

Week 38 - My Muster Problem

Definition of MUSTER

transitive verb

1

a: to cause to gather : convene

b: to enroll formally —usually used with in or into mustered

into the army>

c: to call the roll of

2

a: to bring together : collect

b: to call forth : rouse

3

: to amount to : comprise

The word muster conjures wonderful memories from my childhood in East Greenwich. Every year there would be a firemen’s muster and parade where local fire crews (is that the word?) would have a parade of their hand pumps and then have a contest to see what crew could shoot their water out the farthest. There was also a small carnival involved. It was always lots of fun. Recently I heard some as if something “passed the mustard,” when he really wanted to know if it “passed muster.” Of course (the is ME after all), I corrected him. He didn’t believe me so I had to blaze up the Merriam-Webster website and educate him. He probably would have know the term had he been from a military family but otherwise I think it might be a New England term.

Why the vocabulary lesson? Well, it was another doozie of a week at work. The never ending monthly reports overflowed into a second week and threatened to do me in. I worked on them all day Monday, worked through lunch on Tuesday and then slammed through my class so I could do the last of the work before leaving early for an eye doctor appointment. I thought I had them all done, only to have a list of emails with more changes waiting for me Wednesday morning. Not counting the work I did from home on Labor Day weekend, that was day eight for something that usually takes two. I has down in the dumps for sure. The only good thing about Wednesday was it was raining. Yay! Mary was leaving for a conference so was gone by noon and by day’s end, I really was done with the monthly reports. I can only hope I never have a repeat of that!

I spent Thursday cleaning up my desk , doing filing and recovering from the past two weeks. When I was done, everything was neat and organized and I could move on to my next project, which felt good. Luckily the rest of the work week went quickly. It was gorgeous Friday and campus seemed deserted but I was there until 5:00 and then headed home. I had knitted and managed to swim twice but otherwise it was a slammin’ week and I was happy the weekend was here.

And here comes the vocab reference…. Saturday was spinning in Fremont but I just could not muster the enthusiasm to go. Despite being dressed and out of the house early Saturday morning (had more yarn to mail), when I stopped in at Andrea’s shop, I just couldn’t commit to doing anything. Spinning didn’t seem worth the drive and even a sale at the quilt shop in Plattesmouth didn’t trip my trigger. I just wanted to go home. Not to be productive, just to be home. And that’s what I did. I managed to do the minimum of chores and a bit of cooking but most of my time was, you guessed it, sitting and knitting. I watched a cute British TV show, Gavin and Stacey, that my friend John has been recommending for years and a few episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which I'd only seen a couple of times before and love. I also managed to do some crafting on Sunday, making some cute coasters with scrap fabric. All in all, my weekend was totally relaxing and I guess I needed it. Let’s hope I can muster more energy to face the coming week. : )

Week 37 - Knee's Getting Better

Having spent the previous 2 days sitting on my butt, I got busy first thing on Monday. I blazed through my to do list in 30 minute spurts, which was about all my leg could take. My thigh was still in a knot and I was really over it. I kept stretching it but to no avail. I was going to have to see the doctor again and figure this out. Anyway, the plan had been for Andrea to host knitting but when she called in the early afternoon to ask what she should set her AC on (it was blazing hot outside and she didn’t have it on yet!), I said my house was already cool so if she called people, I would host knitting. I was just about to jump in the shower when Jan arrived so that didn’t happen. Andrea and Lori came minutes later and we had fun. It was nice to not have to be done at 8:00 like at the library.


Tuesday was deans reports day, which is always interesting on the first run of the fiscal year. It was going OK with just a few problems here and there so the day was over in a flash. I went swimming and then home.

I went in late Wednesday because I’d forgotten to pay my house taxes, which were due at the end of August, so I was at the courthouse firs thing. I stopped for donuts before parking at Journalism and then went in to keep at the monthly reports. I was slogging through them when Nora came in with Phil from Budget to say that there had been a big mistake and we’d have to rerun about half of the reports, which was not good so far from the 1st. But I didn’t let it get to me and headed downstairs to teach the online reconciliation class I’d rescheduled from when I blew out my knee. Not the best timing but better now than then. I hadn’t planned to swim on Wednesday but when I found out there’d be a volley ball game on Thursday, which always makes for iffy parking, I decided to go. I needed it after the day I’d had.

I was doing lunch with Layton on Thursday and there was yet another mess up on the reports. Not my error but I still had to rerun a bunch again and worked with the programmers on a third problem. This was getting old! I headed towards the pool on Thursday, sure I wouldn’t find a spot but then I did. So I was in the pool for the third night in a row, still picking and choosing what moves I’d do. Well, I was in the deep end doing my own thing while the group did something I couldn’t, when there was a pop in my knee. At first I was scared but then I realized it felt better. I thought maybe my knee had straightened out but couldn’t tell until I got out of the water. Well, my knee wasn’t straight but all the tension in my thigh muscle was gone. I felt like a new woman! Yippee! I went home to dinner and knitting, happy that my leg was better.

Friday was more of the same – struggling to tie the reports and finding even more problems. I was still OK in the morning, slogging along. Darla and I had planned to thrift over lunch but first I had to pick up keys to the State Fair Park building for the people who would be trapping cats there on Saturday. Darla ran in to get them while I circled the block but when she got back in the car, she said she was hungry and wanted to get lunch instead of shopping. So we parked and went to Lazlo’s, where we split gloppy nachos, sliders and a chocolate brownie ice cream sundae. Yum! I don’t’ know if it was being full or what but when I got back to my desk, I had totally lost my patience with the reports. At that point it was tedious, manual work and I was cranky and disheartened. I started down my list and got a few done but then just had had enough and stopped just after 4:00. I couldn’t do another thing. I dinked on my computer until 5:00 then IM’d Darla to see if she still wanted to thrift and she did so off we went. I found some Pyrex but nothing else. It was still fun and a nice way to start the weekend.

I ran errands on Saturday morning, starting at the library then to the bank to do deposits before hitting the bag sale at the senior center thrift shop. I was late getting there but still hit pay dirt, filling 3 bags – 1 for Andrea, 1 for Anne and a 3rd for me. I also found some fun linens and kitchen stuff. I went right from there to Andrea’s shop and she liked everything I’d bought her except one thing, which wasn’t bad considering. I got home after 1:00 and started my laundry. With my leg feeling better, I could get more done between sitting and so had a productive afternoon then got more done on Sunday, ending the day with lots of cooking so I’d have food for the week. The weather was gorgeous so I even got some weeds cut in the yard. It was a good weekend after an icky work week. Let’s hope work it better this coming week.

Week 36 - Finished with Sitting

I woke up Monday with cold symptoms but not anything bad enough to take anything. I decided to ignore it and wait to see if it developed into anything. It was no worse by the end of the day and I headed to knitting.


Tuesday was my first day back in the pool. There was lots of stuff I didn’t do but moving in water was all good. I was a bit concerned about getting out of the pool but braved it and it was fine. When I stopped at the market on the way home, my legs felt like noodles and it was all I could do to walk to the milk case in the back. Driving home was uncomfortable too but I was still glad I went.

I felt better Wednesday – limber and my knee was no worse. I still felt like my hamstring was tight as a drum, which made me limp after I’d been sitting too long. Wednesday was my last day with the handicapped pass, which I’d loved. When parking right outside my building, I could run an errand at lunch and be back in an hour, which was nice. I’d gone to lunch with Darla on Tuesday and Nora and I were taking Bob, the temp facilities programmer who had been my back up cat feeder and whose last day was Friday, to lunch at Green Gateau. He’s the nicest man and we had a lovely lunch. I had a Husker Cats meeting after work, planning for trapping at State Fair Park. Then it was home for an evening of knitting and watching Breaking Bad. Odd combo but it worked.

I parked as far from my building as I could get (should have left the house sooner) so had a long walk for my first day of normal parking. I was exhausted and dripping sweat by the time I got to my office and felt like my leg was made of lead. Then I walked to Panera t lunch with Dodie so I was really giving my leg a workout. I was worried that I wouldn’t want to swim if I walked to my car after work so I hitched a ride to my car with a co-worker when she left at 4:00 and parked at a meter so I could swim. More of the same – not doing half the moves but happy to be moving again. And I wasn’t as tired afterwards. Progress!

Layton and I had lunch at the Chinese buffet on Friday and the afternoon flew as I prepped for running monthly reports. Nora told us we could leave early – only 15 minutes but still nice. I was looking forward to the long weekend. Duh!

I had a totally lazy weekend. I did run the monthly reports from home on Saturday morning but otherwise just sat and knitted. I always cast on new socks on the first of the month so watched TV and knitted all day Saturday and Sunday. I had a big to do list but just couldn’t muster the effort to do any of it. Having Monday to catch up with everything was a disincentive to get busy. Oh well. It was nice to relax and I’d do it all on Monday. It was Labor Day after all. : )