Week 1 - Work and Tea

Happy 2018! In case it's not obvious, I have big plans for 2018. Not having major surgery is my #1 goal and getting back to normal, including eating healthy and moving every chance I get, is #2. That's good enough for me. But New Year's Day didn't cooperate with any return to normal.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is my New Year's Knitters' Tea where I pull out the china, sweets and goody bags for my knitting friends. But with the high temperature forecast of 1 degree with a windchill well below zero, I postponed the tea until Sunday. That left me, you guessed it, streaming and knitting on my own all day but everyone was safe and sound so it was the right decision.

The alarm going off Tuesday morning, which was the first time in 2 months, was brutal. Not only was I heading back to work full-time for the first time since my surgery but I had PT scheduled at 7:00 a.m., which was my method to fit 3 sessions into a 4 day week. So my version of full-time included leaving early Wednesday and Thursday after going in late Tuesday but I was in the home stretch so it was hopefully my last week of PT.

Work was super quiet with many people on vacation but even more in my office out sick. Colds, stomach bug and influenza (confirmed) were in the mix. Lana and I were the only ones unscathed so it was a quiet week, which worked for me to ease back into a normal-ish work routine. I even managed to do some long overdue thrifting at lunch, which was fun. Friday was there in a flash and I left at 3:00 to drop some cat pee at the vet for testing (Gansey has a kidney infection so I left with antibiotics) and then head to PT. I had hoped it would be my last but when they heard I was planning to swim on Monday for the first time, they wanted me there Tuesday to assess how my knee did. Just one more is fine by me. I'm ready to be done!

My cleaning lady had come on Wednesday and the laminate floor was a mess when she left. I had told her repeatedly not to use anything but laminate cleaner on the floor and clearly that had escaped her. There was a layer of gunge so thick on the floor that you stuck when you walked on it so I spent 3 hours on Saturday afternoon bent over at the waist scrubbing the floor by hand. I moved all the furniture in the family room except the TV stand and desk and the floor was squeaky clean when I was done. With that taken care of, I only had tea prep left for Sunday morning.

I started at 9:30 with moving furniture into the family room and then started washing teapots/cups and baking. I had my favorite store bought German cookies and homemade candy plus a cherry stollen from Aldi so made lemon chip cookies to add to the sweets. I had a cranberry covered goat cheese log and crackers but needed something savory so googled a bit and winged something with a can of crescent dough I had bought on a whim my first time at Aldi after surgery. I mixed blue cheese crumbles with snipped golden raisins, chopped walnuts and a bit of butter then spread that between 2 layers of dough, cut it in strips and twisted them before baking. They were delicious and a hit with the knitters. 

I had one no show (Anne Marie - go figure) so there were 7 of us knitting and snacking in the sun all afternoon. The tea always starts at 1:00 and people start leaving when we lose the sun. The goody bags were a hit and it was another successful tea and still a wonderful way to start the year, even when delayed. The dripping from melting snow and ice as people left was the icing on the cake. 

Since I was going into my first full 5 day week of work, I got busy as soon as everyone left and had everything 100% cleaned up and put back to normal before I sat down to dinner. I had sent everyone home with baggie of leftovers so I only had a few cookies for dessert and that was it. Because my plan for the next day was to start rotating and lose some of the weight I'd gained after 2 months of sitting on my butt on top of holiday eating. I'd also be swimming Monday and going to my last PT Tuesday so normal was right around the corner. And as for my knee, I was on it all afternoon Saturday (damn floor!) and from 9:30 until 1:00 doing tea prep Sunday with no problems so that's getting better too. 

I hope my plans for a healthy and active 2018 come to fruition. Hopefully your 2018 will be all you hope for too. Happy New Year!