Week 41 - Kearney and Home

Another busy week followed by a weekend at home. I should have only had a 2.5 day workweek but that didn't quite work out.

I had done something I've never tried before and scheduled all my October health appointments in the same afternoon. I should have had a mammogram at 1:30 on Tuesday, my physical at 2:00, eye doctor at 5:15 and the dentist Wednesday at 8:00. I was pretty proud of myself. Then when I got home late Monday after a talk at The Sheldon Museum (yes, I skipped knitting in favor of swimming and a talk by 2 photographers who take pics of abandoned things, which ended up being boring, alas...), there was a message on my answering machine saying the doctor wouldn't be in on Tuesday. I left this practice once before because they wouldn't stop calling my home number, which means I get the message when they're closed, but this time they assured me they would see the note saying to call at work. Nope! I saw red because this messed up all my plans. Needless to say, I was pissed off.

I called first thing the next morning and had them remove my home phone from my record. I was able to reschedule the mammo and physical for the following Tuesday so cancelled my afternoon of sick leave and just left 30 minutes early to hit the eye doc. I went home dilated and with all the resulting funkiness but it was a dreary day so that helped. Since I was leaving the next morning for 3 days, I threw some clothes into a bag and went to bed, figuring I had time the next morning to finish up, which I did. I was at the dentist at 8:00, ready for the day and the conference in Kearney.

For the first time, I was going to the Higher Ed User Conference, which is an SAP conference for University of Nebraska and State College users - not end users but administrative office users. I was driving with Anne and staying in her room so there was zero cost for my department beyond the $25 conference fee. I switched parking tags with Cindy so I could leave my car in the garage for the duration and Anne and I headed to water aerobics then hit Arby's for chicken fingers to eat on the road. I was driving so Anne could watch volleyball on her tablet. We got there in under 2 hours with the new 75 mph on I-80.<2 and="" checked="" font="" go.="" hours="" in="" ready="" to="" were="">

I had low expectations for the conference but was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned, even from sessions on one of the things I train on. Of course I was knitting under the table and finished the socks I'd started at last week's conference. 

The highlight of my day Thursday was meeting my old friend Maria, who I hadn't seen in 9 years. She picked me up and we went to a burger restaurant across from my hotel where we talked for hours. It was wonderful to catch up and we parted with promises not to wait solong before we see each other again. We could both drive and hour and meet in the middle so I'm hoping that actually happens.

Our plan for Friday was to skip the last session and leave at 3:30. That would have had me home by 6:00 but right before I left on Wednesday, Cheryl had called with an offer of free symphony tickets so I was meeting Andrea in Lincoln for that. Anne drove back so I could knit (fair is fair) and we were in Lincoln at 5:30. Drae and I used free spaghetti coupons I've been carrying around for years for dinner at Fazolli's, which was actually quite tasty. We got to campus just in time and thoroughly enjoyed the Night at the Opera themed concert, which featured 2 soloists. They sang my favorite aria - The Flower Duet by Delibes. I first heard it in the 80's cult vampire movie The Hunger. Love it! They also did Barber of Seville, which I love from Rabbit of Seville - the best cartoon ever. After a lovely evening, it was great to get home. I unpacked and went to bed.

A whole weekend at home - heaven! I spent some time outside in the 60 degree weather on Saturday doing fall clean up. I changed my flag, cut all the sunflowers down, pruned my crabapple so trick or treaters can walk on the sidewalk and picked all my veggies in anticipation of a hard freeze on Sunday. I knew it was going to snow a bit before the freeze but I wasn't expecting the 3" we got. The odd thing was the snow piled up but the air was above freezing so the impatiens in this picture weren't turning to mush. While the snow flew, I had a lovely day cleaning up the house house, knitting and catching up on TV. 

My house is almost back to good and I have one more weekend at home before my last trip of the month to help my sister after her knee replacement. I am so looking forward to being home for the entire month of November but shouldn't wish away this month. Is anyone singing the Elton John song now? : )

Week 40 - Back on Track

It felt SO good to be home and back to some routine! I had a whole week ahead of me with nothing but work and home. Bliss!

Despite only having missed half a day on Friday, I was totally in catch up mode on Monday. It didn't help that I would be out of the office all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning at the Women in IT conference. The sessions were good on Tuesday and I even got to leave Lincoln early so was home at 5:00. I can't say I got anything productive done but enjoyed just being home. The morning keynote and session on Wednesday were fabulous and I left totally inspired. Swimming Wednesday night felt great. I went to The Wife with Tammie on Thursday night and had a nice lunch with Layton on Friday. All good. But nothing would feel as good as being home ALL WEEKEND.

My house looked like a bomb went off. I had six loads of laundry to do and needed to neatize everything. Cleaning needed to happen too but with nowhere I had to be, I was able to plug away at it all day on Saturday without stressing. John even came by to mow so that was done. By the time I went to bed, all of the laundry was done and I had flannel sheets on the bed because fall had finally arrived. The dishes were all done too so I was ready for a relaxing Sunday.

It was raw and raining on Sunday so I started cooking. I was thwarted in making pancakes so settled for French toast with 45 calorie break (not the best) and bacon for breakfast. It was the roast beef dinner in Colon that I usually go to with Lorri but when I hadn't heard back from her, I went alone and took it to go. It was enough for a big lunch and 2 more meals, which was all I'd need for the coming week. Then I started baking - banana bread with chocolate covered raisins and nuts then cookies with a toll house base (heavy on the brown sugar) with blueberry jammy bits, lemon chips and nuts. I put some aside for my next trip - Kearney with Anne for an SAP conference at the end of the week. I ended the day with a messy kitchen but it was worth it to heat up the house and have some yummy food after so much eating out. I got lots of knitting done too, of course. I was enjoying just being home so much. Just 2 more trips to go this month. I'll make it.

Week 39 - Connie in Chicago

Anne and I got up early and enjoyed chatting with Black Hills bound people in the hotel breakfast room before heading to Brown Sheep. I was like a kid in a candy store and bought WAY too much yarn. Go figure. But here's my litany - I don't drink, smoke or do drugs. I buy too much sock yarn and can live with that. My friends and family seem happy with my sock knitting addiction so I'll call it good. Since I had driven all day Sunday, Anne drove us home on Monday so I got to knit, you guessed it, socks! We got to Lincoln ~5:00 and I was home ~6:00. I skipped knitting in favor of unpacking and getting ready for work on Tuesday. 

My short work week was jam packed. Tuesday was service awards, where I got my 20 year award, which was an engraved wooden box. I must have picked it but didn't remember. I trained one afternoon, had several meetings, went to the ortho doc for my still funky thumb (I strained the cords and have early trigger finger - nothing to be done but I was relieved it wasn't something more serious), got my hair cut and had book club. After all that, I threw some clothes into a carry on and headed to work on Friday ready for the next adventure.

Since Connie and I had so little time when I was in her area, I was flying to Chicago on Friday afternoon. Connie had been there at a conference all week and had extended her trip by a day so we could play in Chicagoland. Not Chicago but the burbs - Naperville to be exact. Luckily I had asked an online friend for things to do there so we had lots to keep us busy. After taking a $50+ cab ride to spare Connie driving in rush hour traffic, we hit Granite City, which was right by the hotel, for mac and cheese spaetzle, salad and bread pudding. We split them all and it was delish and just the right amount.

We opted for breakfast at Starbuck's instead of the hotel and then checked out downtown Naperville on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, downtown is basically a mall with zero authenticity so we walked along the river and even rented a paddle boat. We walked around town a bit more, asking clerks and random people on the street if there was a cute town nearby. When we didn't get any firm ideas, we just picked a road and headed down it in search of real. We found a plaza with a Trader Joe's, which Connie doesn't have in SD so she had a ball. We bought stuff for a hotel picnic and then went across to an old mom and pop restaurant called Colonial Inn. I ordered chicken and waffles, which were delicious. I was congratulating myself on our choice only to find it on my friend's list of things to do and places to eat in Naperville. She even recommended the chicken fingers. Subliminal messages maybe? I had read the list a month ago but had no recall of specifics. : )

Having found real life on the road we chose, we kept going on it to see what we'd find. We stopped at a farm stand and bought gourds. Yes, we'd be flying home with gourds. Ha! Then when we saw an Ikea, Connie lit up! She'd never been in one so we stopped because I'm always up for Ikea. I bought 2 jars of lingonberry jam for Natasha since they were out when I hit Ikea in Minneapolis this spring and a few other things. It wasn't until we were back in the hotel that I realized I couldn't carry the jam on so would have to check my bag. Good thing I was flying Southwest. We had a hotel picnic with our Trader Joe's goodies and watched The Phantom Thread. Odd movie that I can't recommend but it was on HBO and started right as we turned the TV on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I went down for coffee Sunday morning and brought it back to the room where we had lunch leftovers for breakfast before heading to Morton Arboretum. We had fun walking around taking pictures and enjoying nature plus I got a couple of nice pins in the gift shop. We started on a 2nd walk but it started to sprinkle so we packed it in and pointed the car towards Midway. We stopped at Panera for a salad and shopped a bit but I could see Connie getting more nervous with every passing minute. She is not a confident big city driver and had to drop me at Midway then drive to O'Hare to return her car and catch her flight. Since we were getting close to the airport and not finding anything fun on the way, I told her to drop me early and be on her way. I sat and knitted at the gate for almost 3 hours but that was fine. The flight was uneventful as was the drive home and I was in my house at 10:00 so I pretty much went right to bed. It had been a fun weekend but I was exhausted and looking forward to being home and getting back to normal. If only!

Week 38 - Thumb and Wedding

What a week! It started with 100 degree weather (OK, 94 but it felt like 100 with the heat index) in late September and ended with a wonderful trip to the Black Hills for Amanda's wedding. In between was my thumb.

You've heard be talk about The Warehouse, the funky little store in Wahoo where I often get deals on produce and such. Well Cindy had asked me to keep my eyes open for Naked Juice when shopping and on Tuesday evening I found lots. I was on my cell asking her what flavors she'd like at $1/quart when the owner came over and started wheeling and dealing. I bought her 3 cases of various juices for $9 total. He loaded them in my car and I went home to reorganize my fridge to fit them all in overnight. In a normal September, I could have left them in the car but it was too damn hot. Anyway, fast forward to the next morning when I got my biggest book bag and loaded it all up to take to work. It was heavy but I drove to the loading dock and someone took it in for me so I wouldn't have to walk with it.

When I was at UAAD at lunch, I noticed that my right thumb knuckle was odd. It didn't hurt but when I bent it, there was a click. I forced myself to stop playing with it and only later did the swelling begin. I iced it all day on Thursday and kept it straight. It wasn't horribly painful but I didn't have time for it since I was leaving first thing Friday for Amanda's wedding. It's always something!

I was at Anne's house on the south side of Lincoln at 7:00 on Friday morning, packed and ready to go for Amanda's viking themed wedding in Hill City. We picked up Rene and were on our way. Rene drove the whole way there - 11 hours. We stopped for lunch in a small town cafe then got Dairy Queen and stopped at Carhenge in Alliance. It was a straight shot north from there to Hill City and we got there early enough that we could do a Rushmore drive by before the dinner that night, which was a cook out at Amanda's friends house right next to the wedding venue. It was chilly and we were tired so we didn't stay very long, opting to head back to the hotel. We got to the market at 8:00 just as they closed so we ate the snacks we'd brought and chilled in the room. Saturday would be a busy day.

I had called Connie earlier in the week to give her an out on meeting us on Saturday. I'd be seeing her in Chicago next weekend and since she was flying out super early on Sunday, not having to drive 4 hours to see me took the stress out of her Saturday so she did opt out. This left us free as birds in the Black Hills until the weeding at 4:00. Add the hour time difference and we were ready to go early. With no ideas of where to go from Anne and Rene, I offered to drive and show them the stuff I like to do in the Hills. 

We headed north to what I was familiar with from all my trips with Connie, starting with Chubby Chipmunk for truffles in Deadwood. We got there before they opened so went to the Lead Visitors' Center, from which I called Connie, who said we should head her way. After looking around there, we got some Chubbies and then went to Connie's. Despite telling her I'd keep in touch, I didn't call until we were in her driveway. My bad. She got dressed and we headed to the harvest festival in downtown Spearfish, after which we had a lovely lunch. After dropping Connie back home, we drove up Spearfish Canyon, which is one of my favorite places, and even waded at Roughlock Falls. Heaven! 

We had a long drive back and took a wrong turn after stopping for gas so ended up rushing to get ready for the wedding and got there right at 4:00. It was a viking wedding so there were people dressed in chain mail, furs and such. It was a wonderful ceremony with two people who clearly love each other. I was so happy to have been included. Our viking attire was more cartoon than authentic. Oh well. We left before dark so we could see to walk back to the car, which was across a muddy ravine from the wedding field.

Rene had to be at the Rapid City airport late morning on Sunday so we got an early start and went to Sylvan Lake for a walk. It was harder on my knee (still not recovered from the jogging incident) but it was gorgeous. We drove towards the airport via Custer State Park, where we saw all kinds of animals and different terrain than we'd seen in the northern hills. We dropped Rene a bit early because there was nothing to do around the airport and Anne and I headed south.

We had booked a hotel in Scottsbluff so headed in that direction. We were on the lookout for High Plains Homestead, which a friend of Anne's had mentioned but when we found the sign, it meant driving 18 miles out of the way on gravel roads. When we couldn't get cell reception to make sure they were open, we opted to skip it. We went instead to Fort Robinson, which was underwhelming. Despite paying to get into the park, we would have had to pay again for each museum so we walked through one building that was free and then drove the scenic loop. Of course they'd moved the bison to winter fields the day before. Oh well. We stopped at a drive in for a late lunch (there we 2 in Crawford and those were the only restaurants) then kept south, getting to Scottsbluff in the evening. We went to bed looking forward to Brown Sheep in the morning. It had been a whirlwind weekend but home was a day away.

Week 37 - Under the Weather

Well, the week started out normally but by Monday afternoon I was getting snotty. I immediately started Zicam and airborne, hoping it was nothing. I was OK at knitting but barely slept so called in on Tuesday. That's a rare occurrence but I'm glad I didn't fight it. While I could have worked, it was nice to stay home and give into the cold. But it wasn't horrible. Maybe everything I took Monday helped. I went to work Wednesday still pretty droopy but by mid-afternoon, I'd turned a corner and was feeling much better. I actually got stuff done too.

Between my knee still not being 100% and the lingering cold, I didn't go to Fit & Fueled on Thursday. Layton and I had an in depth discussion of racism at lunch on Friday and then I swam, in anticipation of a low key weekend. Low key was an understatement. I spent most of the weekend sitting, knitting and blowing my nose. As colds go, it wasn't a bad one but it still left me dragging so the weekend was just what I needed. Luckily I had no commitments because the rest of the month would be super busy. Time to get healthy!

Week 36 - Done with Jogging

A Monday holiday is always a wonderful start to a week. I drove to Lincoln even on a day off but it was for fun with Darla - Operation Finale and some shopping. There was no knitting with the library closed for the holiday but I knitted at home because that's what I always do.

The four day week flew by with a movie at The Ross on Tuesday night and then my annual trip to Seward after work on Wednesday to pick up fair entries. I hit my usual stalls at the farmers' market and then stopped at Erica's on the way home, which will be a new tradition I think. Erica moved near Seward so only rarely makes the 25 mile trip to Monday Night Knitting so it was great to see her and get a tour of her in progress renovations. I ate caramel corn in the car on the way home so called it dinner. Good thing Wednesday was fun.

Fit & Fueled's Thursday morning workout was outside with stations spaced along the track to stop and do. So what did I decided to do? Jog. Yes, jog between a couple of the stations. Now it was an old lady, barely a jog jog but I wanted to test my new knee and see how it did. Well it did just fine but not my real knee. It didn't start hurting until I was back in my office but damn was it sore! I was clutching walls as I walked and cancelled lunch with Dodie and headed straight home after work. Stupid! I guess you never know until you try but I never thought I'd be so down and out from jogging 1/4 of a lap a couple of times. Sheesh!

I did swim on Friday, which helped, and the knee got better every day. I had a low key weekend, laying low inside playing with yarn and getting some housework done. On that front, I'm still considering getting another cleaning lady because I do a crap job and am not enjoying how cleaning is cutting into my free time on the weekends. My house is getting dirtier and dirtier with every passing week but I'm managing to keep the clutter at bay at least. I got outside on Sunday and did some weeding. I ended the weekend washing floors. See? Not fun. Oh well.