It was a rude awakening when the alarm went off Monday
morning. It was the sound of my vacation being over. Insert sad face here.
Actually it wasn’t that bad going back. I’d ended my time
off with a bang and my frig was full of Thanksgiving leftover so I’d be eating
well all week. So I packed a turkey sandwich and headed to work. As usual, it
took most of the morning to get through all my emails and catch up on what I’d
missed. I had a meeting at 3:00 across campus so day one was over in a flash. I
stopped at the new local yarn shop on the way home, got chatting and didn’t
leave until after 6:00. Yes, with more yarn. Let’s not mention that. Anyway, I
scarfed down some leftovers (too quickly to enjoy them) and headed to knitting
with my show and tell. All in all, it wasn’t a bad first day back.
On Tuesday I felt like I actually got back to work, having
caught up on Monday. But I had to teach the uber exciting Online Reconciliation
class that afternoon, so only had the morning and the day was over before I
noticed. At some point, I got the itinerary for my Ireland trip next May so got
excited about that. I went home and actually enjoyed my leftovers and finished
another pair of Christmas socks. Just one more to go. And another project. And
finish the one that’s half done. Yikes! Christmas knitting pressure has set in.
I was tired on Wednesday and then had to finish the
reallocation prep, which is boring and tedious work. After an afternoon catch
up meeting with Nora, I headed to the pool for the first time in almost two
weeks. It felt great to be moving again and to see my swimming friends.
I started Thursday tearing through all my yarn for the
second morning in a row trying to find my $34 skein of yarn. I’d bought the
wrong weight and they yarn shop owners said I could exchange it. I didn’t find
it and was stumped until I realized on the way to work that it was right where
it belonged – in my yarn bookcase. Being organized is so against my nature that
putting it away was as good as losing it. Nuts! Nora and I went to lunch at
Green Gateau for her birthday. The food was yummy and it was nice to get off
campus and chat. Then I taught in the afternoon again so it was another quick
day. I swam again and went home to, you guessed it, more turkey. I was nearing
my limit on turkey at that point so it was good that it was the last of it.
Nora was off on Friday and had emailed a file for Mary late
on Thursday. Like midnight late. And first thing on Friday, Mary came in with
changes she needed. Major changes. Both Josh and I cranked on it for most of
the day. I went to Noodles with Dodie over lunch and then slammed some more. We
were pretty much done when Jo from Payroll and Mary talked and decided that
everything we’d done was for nothing because of something in the Affordable Health Care Act. Sheesh! Mary
was happy that we’d tried so hard so it wasn’t for nothing but jeez! Jo couldn’t
have come in a few hours earlier?
I had to stop at the market after work and then on the spur
of the moment, I went to Menard’s and bought my Christmas trees. I had them
picked out, paid for and in the car in ten minutes. When I think how I used to traipse
through the fields for hours looking for just the right tree. Oh how times, and
my standards, have changed. But I think I got two nice ones.
I woke up early on Saturday and immediately got busy. I made
a big pot of steel cut oats. Have you tried them? They have to cook for a long
time but are absolutely delicious! With my belly full of healthy breakfast, I
got busy. After my weekly chat with Carolyn, I headed to the library to pick up
the deposit from the Christmas decoration sale. Santa arrived for story time
with Santa as I was prepping the deposit. I got all choked up watching the kids
with Santa. So cute! After the bank, I hit the thrift store for the bag sale.
The bins were half empty instead of brimming like usual so I wasn’t thinking I’d
find much but four bags later, I paid my $6.15 (yes, for four bags full of
stuff!) and went right to Andrea’s to hand over what I’d bought for her. She
got 2 really cute J. Jill tops, a 100% silk hoodie and a few other things. I
sorted the stacks for everyone else while I was there. Then it was home to pick
the turkey.
Picking a turkey is work! I made the first pass and had my
last serving of turkey with the stuffing scavenged from the carcass, froze a
couple of bags for casseroles and put the bones on for stock. While that was
cooking, I headed outside, where we were having another freakishly warm day. It
was in the mid 60’s so I was fine in just a t-shirt and even got a bit sweaty
dealing with the trees. I put the deck tree in the stand and cut the bottom off
my inside tree and put it in water. I trimmed enough off the bottom to make a
swag for the side door and moved the pretty wreath to the front. Then it was
time to head inside and pick more turkey. Sheesh. I had enough stock for soup
and tetrazzini and had plenty of icky bits for the cats. After enjoying a cup
of tea in the living room in the fading sun, I made tetrazzini and Brussels sprouts
and sat down to yummy dinner with a glass of wine. I had hoped to start my
calendar pages but only got the stamp sets picked. It’d have to be Sunday.
I was up early again on Sunday and made some eggs before
sitting down to read the paper and watch CBS Sunday Morning. As soon as it was
over, I started the laundry and slogged through all my scrapbook paper looking
for inspiration. I had four pages to design and had one down by noon. I had
intended to stop for lunch but was in the groove so finished another before
stopping for a late lunch. I created grilled
stuffed burritos in my George Foreman with turkey, salsa, corn and cheese with
some Arizona Dreamin’ spice from Penzeys. Yum! Then it was back to pages after
hanging out my sheets, which would not have enough time to dry on the line
before dark. Oh well. I had my pages done in time to have a late cup of tea on
the deck as the sun went down. Then I cleaned up the incredible mess I’d made
pulling out all the paper, ink and tools so I wouldn’t be facing a mess. Since
that was all tidy, I cleaned up the kitchen too. Then after another dinner of
tetrazzini, I went through photos and picked a few possibilities for the
calendars.
All in all, it was a good week. I won a pair of socks and a project bag on Ravelry plus got a lot done. There’s still some
Christmas knitting pressure but it’s only the 2nd so I’m going to
keep plugging away and try not to stress about it. There are two more weekends
and plenty to do – trees to decorate, stocking stuffers to wrap and ship… it’ll
all get done. It always does. Ho ho ho.
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