Week 12 - Social Distancing Starts

It was a quiet week. Every day got quieter and quieter. Most students had left campus, Lincoln schools were closed so anyone with kids was home taking care of them and people who wanted to work from home were doing so - more and more each day. We were waiting for word that all employees would stay home too. In the meantime, I watched every news program I could fit into life - getting up early, going straight home and online at work when we got news alerts. In the meantime, I was knitting and knitting and knitting. But not at the library because we were being good social distancers.

We finally got the word Wednesday that all but essential staff should work from home starting on Monday. I had a class scheduled Wednesday afternoon but all the people signed up for it were already at home so I worked with Cindy to set it up as a zoom meeting with me in the training room and everyone zooming in from home. And then I had a meeting with Mary.

We were sitting in her office going over some data she needed when the post-nasal drip from the remnants of my cold set in and I started coughing. I coughed for a minute or so and we kept going with our meeting. I was back at my desk when Mary came over and said she needed to see me. I assumed it was about more data but she told me that people had heard me coughing and I needed to go home. Really? There was no talking her out of it so I had to cancel my class and go home. Unbelievable!

I had a nice afternoon once I got over being pissed and made a blueberry pie to take to work Thursday. But in order to be allowed back to work, I had to prove I didn't have a fever so I took a picture of my thermometer showing a regular temperature and went to work. I had plenty to do to get ready for working at home and Thursday flew by.

I spent Friday finishing things up and Cindy and I hit Aldi over lunch, where I bought 2 more bags of food, mostly veggies. I had hopes that I'd be set for food for a long time. It was too cold to take my plants home so I'd have to go back for them after we were shut down.

I've never liked working from home, preferring home to be home and work to be work, but now I had no choice. So I spent the weekend getting ready. Saturday's weather was nice so I did my chores, including washing linens and hanging them outside. I also organized my food cupboards and the fridge and had all my chores done by the end of the day. 

My goal for Sunday, when it would be cold and dreary, was to reclaim my desk to be my at home work station. Now my desk is between my kitchen and family room where the dining room table should be but I moved that to the front room years ago and the desk became a catch all for piles of crap. It was stacked with papers, yarn, whatever! It was a disaster area. This was the perfect reason to reclaim it as a desk. And while I'm not proud of this, here are the before and after pics. Much better!

What a freaky week! The whole country was on lock down and we were heading into uncharted territory. Working from home, staying inside and always keeping 6 feet away from anyone if we did go out. I had hopes that I wouldn't hate working from home. Time would tell. Stay healthy everyone and be as happy as you can be.

Week 11 - Starting to Worry

What a week! It started out so nicely with a day off work because of a midday dentist appointment. Alas, it all went downhill from there.

After a leisurely morning at home, I headed to the dentist at 11:30 for some drilling. I had hoped he could save the tooth and just fill it but, of course, it was a goner so he prepped me for a crown. This will be the 4th upper molar with a crown. Half way to completely crowned! Just call me Princess Merry.

I headed home to let the Novocaine wear off and stop drooling. Right when I got home, an email came from Craft Cruises with cancellation details for our Baltic cruise in May and our Facebook group exploded. I volunteered to call the travel agent to clarify some confusing things and then I posted to our group. We had until the 20th to decide and we'd only lose our deposit, which would be issued with a credit for a future cruise. A few decided then and there to cancel but Anne and I figured we'd wait and see. I headed to Monday Night Knitting, hopeful that the corona virus would subside.

I had loaded up the huge bag of yarn and all the rubber stamps into the car so dropped those off at St. Monica's over lunch on Tuesday then hit Aldi for some groceries. I made a to do list that afternoon at work and went home and did absolutely everything on the list that night. That rarely happens so I was pleased. 

The last thing on Tuesday's list was to load clothes to donate into the car and I dropped them in a Peoples City Mission toss box over lunch on Wednesday while running errands. More stuff out of my house - yay! Anne and I talked about the cruise in the pool and were leaning towards cancelling the cruise. Trump's speech that night sealed the deal and I emailed the travel agent to say we were out. This was getting serious! And I didn't know it but that was the last time I'd be swimming for a long time. Maybe forever.

On Thursday, I slammed on travel reports all morning, pulling details on who was outside of the country and where they were. I went straight home that night with worry setting in. 

UNL had announced that there would be no classes starting Monday, giving students a 2 week spring break, and all classes would be online starting March 30th. Students were encouraged to go home so on Friday, campus was already emptying out. I suggested to Layton that we go to the Chinese buffet because it would probably be the last time we'd eat there for awhile. We practically had the place to ourselves. We were one of 4 parties in a restaurant with at least 50 tables. Rene was having a potluck at her house that night and I'd made a pie. There was no talk about the virus but it felt like it might be the last gathering for awhile. With each new day, things were getting weirder and weirder.

On Saturday, Andrea and ventured to Fremont. It only seemed a bit less busy than usual and hand sanitizer was out in several stores. We hit the Restore for 20 minutes before they closed then went to Baker's supermarket in search of goat's milk for Andrea to make cheese. We had free coupons but didn't find the milk. We went to the estate sale store and bought a few things there then headed to Goodwill. I wasn't feeling it so went to the car to knit while Andrea finished shopping. We then hit Aldi, where I spent $50 despite having already shopped that week. I did NOT buy toilet paper, even though they had plenty. Actually the shelves were well stocked. We went across the street to Wal-Mart, which was a mob scene, and found the goat milk there. We grabbed it and got out of Dodge. I enjoyed Saturday snack supper of stuffies (stuffed clams like you see in Rhode Island, which I found at Aldi of all places) and beer. It felt good to be home.

I spent Sunday holed up - talking to family and friends, doing chores, cooking and worrying. Things were scarier with every passing day and I was ready to stay home for the long haul. The students were gone but staff still had to report but I felt like it had to be coming. It was just a waiting game and while I'm not usually a worrier, I was starting to. Me and the rest of the planet so at least I had company.

Week 10 - Gone is Good

With March here, I was determined to keep going with my Gone is Good plan so started Monday but dropping a big bag of fabric in a Peoples City Mission toss box while running errands over lunch. Check that off. I also hit the bread store, a Goodwill (no yarn scores) and 5 Below, where I found the cat pin set I was looking for. All good and I ended the day at Monday Night Knitting.

We had a lunch and learn on investing on Tuesday hosted by Union Bank. Having just met with my Fidelity rep, I was pretty much all set but you can always learn something and the mac & cheese they brought was delish and I took another plate, at their urging, which would come in handy the next day. But Tuesday night was my go straight home night and my goal was to reclaim my back room, which was still filled with all the fabric. I had it fully sorted and put away before I sat down for the night. Of course Andrea called at 8:45 to say that St. Wenz (the local Catholic church) was looking for fabric. I'd just moved to baskets to the basement. : (

In continuing with letting things go, after the UAAD exec board meeting over lunch on Wednesday, I decided I'm done with that too. Now I'm a former president of UAAD (University Association for Administrative Development) and was back on the board this year as co-chair of a committee. UAAD is the ghost of what it was in my day, with very few members and low attendance at every meeting/event, even when we're giving away ice cream sundaes. Dodie, Van and I had talked about suggesting a reboot but the resistance to any of my suggestions at the board meeting made me realize it was useless so I'm done with UAAD once this academic year is over. This getting rid of annoying things feels great and I hope it'll have a positive impact on my life.

I had woken up with a dry throat Tuesday morning but it was still an issue (dry but not really sore) by that night so I started zicam'ing and kept it up Wednesday morning. It was clear by mid-afternoon that it was the start of a cold so I took a Claritin D and ignored it. I swam after work and then went back to the office to eat the mac & cheese leftovers from Tuesday before heading to the library with Cindy for a lecture about hidden archives from Jews who lived in the Wausau ghetto. It was fascinating and I learned a lot.

We had a big staff meeting on Thursday, where there was talk of what to do about corona virus and the "if you're sick stay home" thing, which the chancellor had emailed about earlier, was reinforced. When I got back to the office, I was given grief for being at work with a cold. Seriously? I was fully functional and the Claritin was masking my symptoms but if I blew my nose, Ben gave me grief. I had a full day again on Thursday despite the cold. I thrifted over lunch and scored the ever illusive sock yarn at Goodwill then met Dodie at CostCo after work for some shopping. I wasn't impressed by their prices (Aldi is cheaper for sure) and the huge packages that don't work for a single person but I did find my favorite Canadian candy - OMG's (not good to have that in the house) - and got the 2 things I've had friends get me over the years - laundry detergent and raw sugar. After eating pizza and ice cream with Dodie and filling up on cheap gas, I headed home. See? Fully functional.

Despite all that, I called in sick on Friday, for which I was thanked by my boss and his boss. Sheesh! I did some work from home in the morning but then sat in the sun in my nightie for the rest of the morning. While I didn't get showered and dressed until late afternoon, I did manage to sort yarn all afternoon. I went through every single bag and basket in the spare room and ended up with a HUGE bag of yarn to donate to St. Monica's (an inpatient rehab in Lincoln that accepts donations for their art therapy program) along with the unsold rubber stamps from last week's sale. Get a load of this bag! Another success in my gone is good month.

I still felt fine, and maybe some better, on Saturday so loaded the fabric into the car and started in on clothes. My goal was to get the spare room under control and I did it. I went through all the clothes piled on the bed and came up with another pile to donate. I also found 3 that Gansey had chewed. Damn cat! When I was done, I had everything in the closet, drawers or totes, safe from her chewing. What are all these clothes you ask? It's 2 entire wardrobes from one and two sizes down from where I am now because I've gained a butt load of weight back. Time to get busy addressing that too.

I was not as productive as I should have been on Sunday, probably because I knew I'd have Monday to catch up since I was home all day because of my 11:30 dental appointment, which was all he had on short notice. I didn't even do laundry! But I did clean up the kitchen and got caught up stashing yarn plus talked to my cousin, my friend Sharyn and both sisters. With the windows open to get some fresh air in the house, I made a charity hat and started a cowl with some of the mystery yarn I'd kept after the big yarn purge. All in all, I was fine with my weekend and would catch up on laundry and cooking on Monday, when it would be raining and I'd be drooling from Novocain. All good.

Week 9 - Letting Things Go

The theme for my week was letting things go. Not a bad way to end the month. But first there was food.

I drove to Natasha's over lunch on Monday to deliver some recuperation tetrazzini. She looked great and we visited for longer than I should have (so much for an hour lunch break) and then she sent me a cute picture of her eating it for supper. That made me feel great. The food theme continued with food day on Tuesday, for which I brought my Mexican cheese dip. On Wednesday, Dodie and I had lunch with Van, who is someone fun on the UAAD executive board. Meeting him may be the only good thing that came from being back on the board. We had fun over salads at Panera. 

After dinner Wednesday night, I broke a tooth while flossing. Clearly there is no justice in the world. I called first thing Thursday morning and they could fit me in Thursday at 4:30. Gotta love a small town dentist. He put in a temp filling and scheduled me for either a replacement filling or crown prep for 10 days out. He won't know which until the drilled starts. Yikes!

About the cleaning lady. I had been frustrated with her and so called her from the car after swimming on Wednesday. Our original orientation had been cut short when Lorri stopped by after church and then took her away to hire her so I wanted to discuss what mattered to me vs. what she could ignore. The talk went well and I had high hopes that I'd finally get a good clean. Yeah, right. When I got home Thursday after the dentist, not only had she not done the cobwebs on the kitchen light that I specifically mentioned but she also hadn't washed the bathroom floor, as evidenced by the mud from shoes I'd let melt on the floor (see pic). Seriously? Time to fire her and remove the annoyance of paying through the nose for crap work. 

Continuing on the removing of annoyance, I decided not to join UNL's Master Gardener program. It's a lame program that frustrates me to no end and I have no chance of getting in enough hours so I didn't pay my dues by the February 28th deadline and crossed that off my list. DONE!

Now for the sale. I had waited to do the final fabric sorting until after the cleaning lady came so brought up all the baskets of fabric when I got home Thursday and started sorting. It took hours but before bedtime, I had all the totes full of smaller pieces with bigger pieces back in the baskets. I left pulling stamps and loading the car for Friday night. Speaking of Friday, when I went outside Friday morning, I found the door of my car wide open. Apparently I'd been planning another trip out to the car. I dodged a bullet that no stray cat got inside and sprayed but I think the big orange kitty who sometimes sleeps on my deck may have slept in there because there was an off smell but at least not urine. Anyway, I loaded the car and pulled the stamps Friday after work as soon as I got home. I'd been making a list of things I might need so pulled those together Friday night too. I went to bed feeling ready. 

I woke up super early so whipped up some banana bread and was at Andrea's at 7:15. She had offered to go with me, which took a load off my mind and would make it a fun day. We arrived at 8:00 and unloaded to our table, leaving some free time to check out other tables before the sale opened at 9:00. There was a Moda rep selling charm packs of quilt fabric that we both got some of. But back to selling... There were steady amounts of people all morning and I sold steadily. Lori came around noon and sat with us chatting for a couple of hours. The people had dried up by then, probably because it was a gorgeous day outside so people were out and about instead of inside. I ended up selling about a third or maybe a half of what I brought and we started packing up at 2:00 along with many other sellers.

Andrea and I ran some errands and were at The Acadian Grille, the Cajun restaurant I wanted to try, when they opened for dinner at 4:00. I got shrimp and grits, which was delish, and we shared a beer. I dropped Andrea and was back home by 5:30. I left the car in the driveway and went inside to collapse. It had been a long day and I ended up making ~$175, which in my mind was not worth all the effort but nothing ventured nothing gained. And I still had tons of fabric to get rid of. Oh well. I was exhausted and waiting for bedtime so it was great when I discovered the series Hunters on Prime. That kept me engaged until it was time to go to bed. 

It was another gorgeous day so between doing 3 loads of laundry and hanging them on the line, I unloaded the car and sorted fabric AGAIN, this time allocating some to donate, some to keep and a basket to take to spinning to see if the quilters want any of it. And since the car was empty and the seats down, I ran to the car wash and vacuumed out the back of the car then went home to put the car back to normal. Otherwise there was sitting/knitting, of course, and no cooking. I had chips and salsa for supper and called it good. 

So it was overall a productive week. I let go of 2 major annoyances and got rid of a bunch of physical stuff. All good. And since Sunday was March 1st, I was implementing my Gone is Good motto for March. My hope is that I will spend the ridiculously light filled yet too cold to work outside days after the too early time change to keep working inside, purging, organizing and donating, so I'm ready to get outside in the yard as soon as spring weather arrives. I have high hopes.