Week 45 - Back to Reality

Monday was my last day in Spearfish and we started it by going to morning coffee at Common Grounds. There was a gang of people there, mostly retired or self-employed, and it was fun. I talked to a woman from Nebraska who knits and does some felting so I was happy. The yummy latte was the icing on the cake. From there, Connie and I headed to the craft store to buy needles and yarn so Connie could knit. She’d done some when her kids were small and was willing to try some again. Yay! We also hit a thrift shop, which was a mess – the kind with stuff crammed together so much that you couldn’t really shop – before heading home. Gordy had cooked some bacon but by the time we got home it was more like lunch time so we had bacon and peanut butter sandwiches (hey, don’t make that face! It delicious. Try it.) and then headed outside to sit on the patio and knit. There were also lots of phone calls to our east coast peeps to see how they were faring with Sandy. Connie’s daughter lives 2 blocks from the beach in Atlantic City so she was at an inland Ramada riding it out with her dogs. RI wasn’t having much trouble.

Anyway, it was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. I was working on socks, of course, and Connie did great with her dish cloth. I guess knitting’s like riding a bike because she looked like a pro.

The deer – 4 bucks and 4 does – kept us company, lounging under the bushes and I attempted to feed them carrots but could only get about 20 feet from them before they backed away. When it got too chilly outside, we went in for a pasta dinner. I had introduced them to Dreamfields Pasta, which is diabetic friendly so Gordy was thrilled to eat the formerly forbidden food. I finally got a beautiful sunset, after which we watched Billy Elliot. When we all headed to bed, I packed. I wanted to be ready to go when I got up.

I woke up at 4:45 mountain time, which is when my alarm goes off on work days. When it was clear I wasn’t going to fall back asleep, I got up, dressed and put my suitcase in the car before waking Connie up for a quick hug goodbye. I was on the road by 5:30 and left McDonald’s in Spearfish at 5:50. I drove east, still not sure what my route would be. I had planned to go home via Chadron but that would be longer time wise and I just wanted to get home. So I drove I-90 until north of Valentine and then crossed into Nebraska, which is a way I’m familiar with from tubing in Long Pine. The ride home was uneventful. I didn’t really stop except to get gas and a Moolatte at DQ in O’Neill. I was home by 3:30. Nice! I unpacked and did some pruning of the crabapple and yew in front so trick or treaters could get to the step unimpeded and went to bed early. I was tired!

Wednesday was spent slogging through emails and such from just 3 days gone and getting a handle on my to do list. The day flew by and I went home to hand out candy. I had lots of trick or treaters and this year I got exactly the right amount of candy – 6 bags. I chatted with my sister Ginny while sitting at the front table while the kids were coming to the door and when I turned off the light, I had 8 pieces of candy left. Just enough for snacks for a few days. Nice. I do so enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up. I loved Halloween as a kid and had a big party with all my friends every year so it brings back good memories. We’d meet at my house to play a few games and carve pumpkins then while we were out trick or treating, my mom would roast the pumpkin seeds and we’d all come back for seeds and cocoa. Memories!

Thursday was monthly reports so that day flew too. Darla and I had planned to go to Cloud Atlas after work but she was stressing and wanted to work late to finish her monthly reports so we cancelled, which was fine by me because I was exhausted. All the nights of not sleeping in my bed had caught up to me. I also wanted to go home and finish the audiobook I’d listened to up and back to SD – The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. This was a book that Amazon kept telling me I’d like and since the library had it, I was in. It was 18 cd’s and I had the last 2 to go. After listening for 20+ hours and enjoying it, I was excited about the end. OMG! It was THE WORST ENDING OF A BOOK EVER! The author killed everyone off that you ever cared about, except the mother but she was catatonic. I was viscerally disturbed by the ending and despite being bone tired, had to turn on the TV to try and focus on something else. It worked until I went to bed and then I had to read because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’ve got to say, I have never reacted so strongly to a book ending like that. What was the author smoking?

Friday was more monthly reports but we were pretty much done by noon. I went to The Red Fox with Layton for lunch and had a meat and potatoes meal of pork chops (deep fat fried – yikes!), mashed potatoes and green beans. I was craving protein so certainly got some. After lunch it was back to my to do list, doing some niggling things that had been on it for awhile. Darla and I went thrifting after work and then I headed home for a much anticipated weekend.

The cleaning lady had come while I was gone so the house was in pretty good shape. I had lots of errands to do though. I had to pick up the book sale money from the library and prep the many separate deposits – book sale, fall fair, dues, etc. – and get them to the bank before noon. Then I hit the bag sale at the Senior Center Thrift Shop (filled one bag but only with stuff for friends) and then stopped at Andrea’s shop to drop the plates I’d picked up for her. Well, Lori stopped by to buy yarn and we talked well past closing time. I didn’t get home until almost 2:00 and by the time I ate some lunch, the day seemed shot. I did some knitting and caught up on some TV that I’d missed and before I knew it, it was time for bed. I set all the clocks back and hit the hay hoping I’d get a good night’s sleep, which is rare these days.

I slept OK and then tried to get things done on Sunday. I had three loads of laundry done, the desk cleared off and scones in the oven when Andrea and Lori showed up to knit, which we’d arranged the day before. I had hoped we could sit on the deck but the sun wasn’t out and it was only in the 50’s so we sat inside, chatting, drinking tea and eating these yummy scones. They left just before 6:00 and I scrambled to get a few more things done. While I didn’t get everything I’d planned done, I still felt relatively caught up and had had some fun and relaxation to boot. It was, all in all, a good week and weekend.