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. :
)
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