Week 32 - Ridiculous Tree Drama

The end of closing meetings was in sight! There were only the last few and then fiscal year 18 would be done. I was more than ready. The last meeting was scheduled for Tuesday and then that night I'd be celebrating with friends.

Jessica, who used to teach Water Zumba (a wonderful class) before she got her PhD and left Lincoln for a faculty job in upstate New York, was back in town and so we were going out to dinner. The group was a mix of water aerobics people and people from her morning classes but we all are UNL old timers and knew each other. We went to Honest Abe's Burgers and Freedoms so the food was as good as the company. I left happy with a full belly and went home to be productive. Unfortunately when you're still doing chores at 10:00 pm, falling asleep is not easy. My goal was to be ready to veg the second I got home on Wednesday so it was worth it. 

With no water aerobics and being done watering at Lorri's, I happily drove straight home Wednesday. The plan was to make zucchini pasta to enjoy with the wine that was chilling in the fridge while streaming and knitting, of course. And then I drove into my garage. I looked out the window and saw this.

That is one of the branches from my neighbor's enormous tree, which has been slowly dying for years because she thought it needed a tidy stone wall around it filled with rocks. The branch had glanced off her car and brought down my clothesline and phone line. Despite being on the ground, the phone and internet were still working, which I considered a minor miracle. Mike from across the alley came over with his chain saw and Cara and I carted the wood to her defunct rose bed (wood walled and filled with rocks. Gee, I wonder why the roses died?) By the time I got in the house, I was sweating bullets and it was almost 7:00. After talking to the phone company about reattaching my line, I took a shower and ate a bowl of cereal for dinner. The pasta would have to wait. NOT the evening I'd planned.

Of course no one called from the phone company and when I called them on Thursday afternoon, they told me someone would be there Friday between 8:00 and 6:00 and I'd need to be there. I went round and round on this and they put a note on my account that I wouldn't be home until 4:00 but they couldn't guarantee they wouldn't come sooner. I'd done as much as I could and after a soul sucking meeting on Thursday afternoon, I went home to my pasta and wine. At last! It was absolutely delicious.

Friday was more drama with the phone company. When I called in the morning they said he would be there at 10:00. That was at 9:30 and I was 30 miles away. I told them to have the tech call me before he went so I could drive home. Of course he called from my driveway but he was completely reasonable, as opposed to all three of the customer service people I spoke to. Not only did he fix it without me being there - in 10 minutes no less! - he gave me his direct phone number so I could bypass customer service if I had any other issues. Hallelujah! With that settled, I happily went to lunch with Layton and sailed through the rest of the day.

Now this was my 3rd weekend with absolutely no plans and while staying home and getting stuff done is normally my favorite thing, I was feeling the need to do something. Unfortunately everyone was busy. EVERYONE. So I did spend the entire weekend at home, managing to get quite a few things done, but I wasn't happy about it. At least I finished organizing the yarn and got that all put away but even streaming some good stuff (LBJ and The Glass Castle) while knitting didn't make me happy. At least I had managed to make plans for the following weekend so wouldn't face another one at home. I was going into the next week with fiscal year done, a fridge full of yummy food and my house in decent shape. Not all bad but I was glad the week was done.