Well, it was another week of trying to get back to normal, with my house and knee. Weather had some impact on my plans but then so did knitting. Go figure.
We were stuck under a weather front for most of the week that brought tons of rain (5.5” over a few days) and even a tornado warning. I was watching TV on Tuesday night when it started raining so hard that all I could hear was the rain slamming into the slider. When they broke into programming and showed a swirling storm over Wahoo, I cracked the door and sure enough, I could hear the sirens. So I grabbed my knitting and iPad and hobbled downstairs. After 30 minutes, it was past us and I went back up, forgetting my knitting though and I didn’t go get it until Wednesday night so went 24 hours without knitting. Horrors! Anyway, there was never any news of an actual tornado but my contractor’s dad, who lives just outside of town, had the roof torn off his house and his RV was picked up and thrown in his yard. So it was something. By the end of the week, the front had passed and it was picture perfect weather. Nice.
On the knee front, there didn’t seem to be any point in calling the doctor since I’d had a shot two weeks before my trip so what could they do? I was trying to walk normally but slowly and was doing OK when I tried to walk to the library (next building to my office) to look for a dry bench to knit on and took a step that nearly sent me down. I gasped so loudly that a woman twenty feet away asked if I needed help. I declined and headed back to my office. It was time for some steroids.
I had a med pack that the ortho doc had given me to take to England last year just in case that I hadn’t used. I started taking those on Wednesday morning and after just the first dose, my knee was feeling better. By the 2nd day it felt completely normal. Better living through chemistry. Gotta love that. I could walk totally fine and even hoped to get some gardening done on the weekend.
Midnight June 1st in York, England was 6:00 p.m. Friday so I made a bee line home to sign up for Knit France 2014. There were 50 people on the priority list and only 18 spots so I was at my computer on the dot of 6:00 signing up. I had never gotten through to Lori or Anne to see if they’d go so signed up as a single. We’d already been told there would be no single rooms available in the chateau so I’d be sharing with someone. I signed up and heard back from Jean that it had gone through. Yay! It’s a year away but I’m already excited. Then I heard from Sue (the Canadian doctor I’ve been on two trips with and so enjoy) and we are going to share. How fun! It’s going to be another fabulous trip for sure.
Saturday was a cool and gray day and I had a full agenda. I had to settle up with Andrea, who had paid for my euros and then kept track of what she owed me as I charged things for her (my card charged less fees than hers for foreign transactions.) She also owed me for Spring Affair plants. In order to figure out the exact amount I owed her, I had to find the hotel bill from our last night in Ireland, which meant it was time to slog through all the paper. And since I had ~6 weeks of mail and newspapers mixed with stuff from the house and trip detritus, I tackled the bar and desk first thing Saturday. It felt great to see a clear surface and I had my amount.
That in hand, I started on my favorite Saturday routine – life really was feeling normal again! I stopped at the library to pay some bills and pick up money, deposited it at the bank and then met Lori at the thrift shop for the bag sale. She was looking for clothes for her mom, who has lost weight during chemo, so ended up filling 11 bags (!) of clothes – some for her, some for mom and some for her sisters. I had just 2 – 1 for Andrea and another mixed with even some clothes for Cheryl’s grandbaby. We went right to Andrea’s, where I paid her off and dropped her clothes. Then it was on to Chips for lunch. Donna had been at Andrea’s so she came too and Andrea joined us at 1:00 after her store closed. We ate yummy food, chatted and knitted until after 2:30. It felt wonderful to relax with friends. It did kill my productivity for the day though. I made some tea and finished my latest socks (ugly color but they’re for a swap) and made dinner but didn’t get much else done. At least I had Sunday. I ended the day talking for a LONG time with Anne, who called back on the France trip (it’s a no) but we hadn’t spoken in more than a month so we had lots to discuss. It was a nice way to end the day.
Well, gardening was the plan on Sunday and the weather absolutely cooperated but I just couldn’t get motivated. I did do many loads of laundry and hung them on the line but I started a new pair of socks and couldn’t put them down. I also talked to Connie for a chunk of the afternoon but then it was tea time so I sat on the deck, knitting and drinking tea while enjoying the outdoors. The new mowing kid had come on Saturday evening so at least the lawn was done. I nuked leftovers for dinner and was watching TV when Lorri called to say she and Bob were coming to pick up some of my brush pile on the way to her brother’s farm where it would join their load for the burn pile. So, I finally got up and got moving at 8:00 p.m. We loaded up half of my pile and then I prepped a single bed so I can plant my tomatoes and peppers. That’d wait for Monday so I can get some manure to add as I plant but at least it was something.
So, it was a good week. My knee got better, as did the weather, I had lots of fun with friends, both in person and on the phone, got some long overdue stuff done in the house and knitted a lot. I even won an online contest for a fun, orange knitting bag. But best of all, I secured my spot for next year’s trip. Life is good!
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