Week 45 - Conference and Furniture

It felt like a busy week. Well, maybe it was more different than busy. 

I had a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday but it was in Lincoln near campus so you'd think it wouldn't be disruptive but it was. It was the Women Advance IT Conference and it was good with good speakers and breakout sessions. I even reconnected with someone I worked with decades ago at Brown, which was fun. She overheard when I was talking to one of the keynote speakers who was from Rhode Island. I got to Wahoo at 5:15 on Tuesday night and was able to buy some Wahoo Wieners at the Locker. Nice.

The conference was over at 3:45 on Wednesday but I stayed to hear the university's new president speak. He won't technically be the president for 30 days but I wanted to hear him speak. Another Rhode Islander! What are the chances? I introduced myself afterwards and we talked RI for a minute. I was there long enough that it was too late to swim. Oh well. I'm looking for any excuse to skip these days.

There is construction in downtown Lincoln that has the road between campus and the highway closed and it took me 30 minutes to go 4 blocks so I started going out towards the end of the day and moving my car to the other side of campus, which is still only a block from my office but allows me to leave heading north and bypass the blocked road. It should only be for one more week. Hopefully.

I finally made some progress on getting new insurance. My old Horace Mann agent, who no longer works for them, emailed so I got some quotes. I will be saving 40% on both my house and car with Progressive. The only thing I need to do is decide what to do about the latest ding in my hatch before I switch. Now to get an estimate. Still, it's progress and I'm looking forward to not having Horace Mann anymore. Sad, after 40+ years with them. Oh well.

I finally was getting my weekend with no plans so ran all my errands after swimming on Friday (yes, I went and with a better attitude than last week) and headed home. I had a lovely morning on Saturday sitting in the sun and knitting then hit the garage. It was almost 70 degrees and my goal was to get the desk out of the back of the garage so Hoot and Sadie's (the local chalk painting shop) could pick it up. It was blocked in by all kinds of crap so I had some slogging to do. I filled my trash can with junk and reorganized a bit but got the desk out and cleaned up a bit. I also added a ladder that I'd bought there and never used and a bulletin board. When I was done in the garage (thwarted by the full garbage can), I planted some bulbs and 2 perennials I'd bought in April (so typical for me) and then drained the hoses and put them away for the winter. With all that done, I took a shower and felt great with my progress, especially because the weather was due to change drastically on Sunday.

Sunday was my typical chore day but Lorri was coming over at 2:00 for tea and a catch up. I did my laundry and had some hanging on the line before I headed to the high school for take out turkey dinner from their annual Project Close Up dinner. As usual, it was enough food for multiple meals. Lorri and I were enjoying stollen bread pudding (made with the last stollen I had from last Christmas) and tea when she jumped up and said it was 4:20 and she had to go. I couldn't believe we'd chatted so long and it ends up we hadn't. She'd forgotten to set her watch back so when I realized the real time, I got busy in the front room. I added an end table to the Hoot and Sadie's pile and moved the yarn wardrobe and my yarn tree so the room looks much better. Nice!

By mid-afternoon, the weather had changed to cold, damp and windy so I ended up having to dry the clothes that I'd left on the line too long. Oh well. I didn't do any cooking since I had so much turkey dinner and Wahoo Wieners to a few suppers so I could fill in from the freezer. The weather was going to be brutal for the coming week so I'd be holing up. It's too early but I have hope for some moderation. Having bailed on Thanksgiving at Connie's, I hope to get more done outside over those 4 days. Wish me luck.