Thursday, October 12, 2017

Week 40 - All Plan B

The pre-surgery list got pared down a bit this week as I sandwiched appointments between all my other commitments. My manically busy week was followed by a fly the seat of my pants weekend. I didn’t get everything on my list done but made some progress at least.

Monday was the first run of monthly reports that Brook was taking the lead on so he’d be ready to fly solo when I’m out in November. I spent the morning with him but then stepped away and he finished it all. Since I didn’t hear anything to the contrary, I’ll assume it all went well. He really is a fabulous addition to the reporting team.

My evenings were even busier than usual. Monday was knitting, of course, and then I had an eye doctor appointment after work on Tuesday, which was not technically on the pre-surgery list but had been a reschedule from the appointment I made last October that fell during my Ireland trip. I swam Wednesday and in my ongoing effort to take advantage of more of the free events on campus, went to a lecture by Jeff Zeleny at 6:00 on Thursday. Friday morning was mostly pre-surgery – pre-op physical at 8:00 followed by blood work and a mammogram. I was scheduled to go right to work after that but that didn’t work out.

When I was changing the toilet paper Thursday night, I looked down to see that the baseboard next to the toilet was mildewed. Now it had been a super rainy week but not enough to mildew woodwork so I really got down for a good look and found a puddle between the toilet and the wall. The water was clear, which is why I hadn’t noticed it, but it was clearly serious. I googled and was worried it was the wax seal under the toilet, which would have meant it was bowl water. Ick! Having failed to find any plumber I’d let into my house in the phone book and only finding iffy options online, I decided to ask everyone I saw at the clinic who they used in hopes of a recommendation. Because everything in Wahoo is word of mouth and who you know. I got one recommendation from the PA and left a message but the plumber the mammogram tech recommended picked up  and said he could come right away. Eureka! I headed home to meet him, happy to have found someone.

Well, his right away was an hour and then he couldn’t get the water shut off so I had to call the city to do it at the street. I was happy to hear that it was a failed washer between the tank and base, which meant it was tank water rather than bowl. But the bolt was stripped so he ended up cutting it from below the tank, which filled the house with the smell of burnt metal. It also took for flippin’ ever! And he was a negative soul so regaled me with everything that could go wrong, even when stuff went right. I didn’t leave Wahoo until after noon and went right to lunch with Layton. Sheesh! Who needs this? As if I wasn’t busy enough! Despite being exhausted, I swam Friday night. Carol and I were the only swimmers so we had a lovely time chatting as we aerobicized.

I had a Friends of the Library meeting at 9:30 on Saturday morning but at least I’d gotten my treasurer’s report done while the plumber was there Friday. I don’t mind a Friends meeting because it gets me up, out and starting my day early. My plan for the weekend was to slog through more of the spare room, do a bunch of cooking (for post-surgery freezer meals) and do my regular chores. 

I had done a bit in the spare room on Saturday when the sun came out and drew me outside. What started as just pulling a few weeds turned into full blown tree trimming and taking another carload to the city’s burn pile. This put me behind but I enjoyed it and it needed doing. I went inside and started cooking – sausage and peppers with peppers from my garden. I had them bubbling away on the stove when my cell phone announced, “Call from Helen.” 

Now I hadn’t seen Helen since April and am not even sure we’d so much as messaged on Facebook since. My first thought was who died or is in the hospital? You could have knocked me over with a feather when she just wanted to know if she could come over and hang out, which she did. We knitted and chatted for hours and she didn’t leave until 11:30. Now I was even more behind but went to bed to deal in the morning.

Andrea and I were going to Omaha to meet Lori and Michelle for breakfast then knit at Lori’s for awhile. The problem was, I’d said I’d bring a baked good so I got up at 6:30 Sunday and started baking molasses cookies. Now when you make cookies that are rolled in sugar, they’re not really stuck to the cookie sheet so if you tip it when you’re putting it in the oven, they roll right off. Yes, I lost a row of cookies to the bottom of the oven so had to take out the hot racks and get a pair of tongs to dig the cookies out lest they fill my house with smoke as they burned. After that fiasco, I had the cookies done before I sat down for CBS Sunday Morning. But I had barely hit my chair when the phone rang and I talked to my sister Ginny and then Carolyn beeped in after that. I talked to her briefly and then ran to get dressed and pick up Andrea. Whew!


We had a lovely breakfast at First Watch then went to Penzey’s to use our coupons. Lori headed home from there and Andrea and I went to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few things then on to Lori’s, where we knitted and chatted until 3:00. From there we went to Aldi (more groceries) and I had Andrea home by her 4:30 deadline. I now had one evening to do a weekend’s worth of chores. I threw on some laundry, put the groceries away and made a pot of red sauce, again for the freezer. I managed to get it all done somehow, including more spare room reorganizing, and was watching Poldark at 8:00. I was in my last week, and that a partial one, before Ireland but had made enough progress to not be facing a stressful week at home or at work. Mission accomplished! And just 5 days before leaving for Ireland on Saturday. : )


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Week 39 - Cat Hell Weekend

It was a quick week when I look back at it, with the work days seeming to fly by. But I was super tired all week so was dragging when I got home every night. My usual fully booked after work schedule didn’t help. I had something every single night and was even doubled booked on Thursday. Go figure.

Tuesday night a bunch of us from work went to Karen from HR’s downtown condo, which she just moved into this summer, for a fun evening of drinks and snacks. We laughed and laughed, harder than I have in a long time. I didn’t get home until after 9:00 but it was worth it. Thursday, which is usually a night I can go right home, was double booked with a Husker Cats meeting at 5:15 and I had to be in Wahoo by 7:00 for book club. I made it there in the nick of time and we had a good discussion on the Vietnam book. Monday was knitting and Wednesday and Friday were swimming. Better busy than bored came into play for sure.

Maybe fatigue played into this but I was sitting in a meeting on Wednesday, twisting me head to see the screen when I somehow pulled a muscle in my neck. I swam anyway and seemed none the worse for wear, until I woke up on Thursday morning. My neck was so stiff that moving my head even a tiny bit hurt. But with a full day ahead, staying home was not an option. Luckily I had a single lidocaine patch left from my shoulder problems so I took that to work and Cindy put it on my neck. It took the edge off and I was able to power through my day of lunch with Layton, training all afternoon and my double booked evening. Sheesh!

I had the wrong week on my calendar for the Friends of the Library meeting so was happy to get an email saying it was a week from Saturday. This should have left me free to sleep in and relax but then there was Pie. She didn’t come in Thursday night and when she did show up on the deck Friday morning, her mouth was stuck open. She wouldn’t let me near her so I went to work in hopes that it would fix itself (doubtful, although it has a couple of times that I know of) or I could catch her and manhandle it shut. Well, she didn’t come in Friday night so I was up twice in the wee hours calling her then woke up early Saturday (boy, would I have loved to sleep in!) to try again. She did come in eventually but immediately hid under the bed in the spare room. I pulled all the under the bed boxes out and she made a beeline to the basement. I shut the spare room door and then went to her hidey hole in the basement, at which point she ran up and under my bed. At that point I shut the door to lock her in there and called Andrea. She came over so she could poke her with the broom from one side while I grabbed her from the other. I got her on the 2nd try but couldn’t get her mouth shut. It had been open so long it was all stiff so I put her in a carrier and carted her to the vet, where I left her pending sedation.

So, not the morning I’d planned on but since all the yarn boxes were out of the spare room, I kept going in that room, which was on my weekend to do list but just not for first thing Saturday morning. By the time I called the vet at 3:00 to check on Pie, the bed was cleared and all the yarn was sorted and back under the bed or in the stacked totes. Pie’s mouth was shut so I picked her up and let her out. Having not eaten in nearly 2 days, she scarfed down half a can of wet food and eventually went outside, where she’s happier anyway. Big relief! And they only charged me $35.

Sunday was a bit of a recuperation day after the fiasco that was Saturday. I did manage to do all my chores, prepped some produce, cleaned out the upstairs freezer and got more done in the spare room, including swapping my summer clothes for cool weather clothes. There were still a few boxes of gifts and such on the floor of the front room but those and the ones that have been on the dining room table for months are top of the list for next weekend, which is my last before Ireland. And since I only have one weekend between Ireland and surgery, I want to have as much done before my trip as possible. So far, so good. : )