Week 20 - Friends and Gardening

It was another decent week with productivity at work and home and way more socializing. Responsible, of course.

The socializing started with driveway knitting Monday night. It was pretty chilly and I laid a fire but hadn't heard from anyone so was about to call it off when Erica posted on Facebook that she was on her way. Erica lives 30 miles away so I called Andrea and told her to come on over. I got the fire going early and we chatted until dark, when Andrea left. The fire was going out but Erica and I just kept on talking, having not seen each other in months. By the time she left at 10:45, I was chilled to the bone and crawled into bed with the electric mattress pad on high.

I watched the Survivor finale with Dawn on Wednesday and then Dawn joined Cindy, Lana and me for a zoom over lunch the next day. We miss her SO much. The accountant who replaced her is an introvert. All this was just a prelude. I went full bore social on Friday afternoon when I took the afternoon off.

I ate a quick lunch and headed outside in glorious weather to start planting my containers. It was fun to finally get started on them and I got about 2/3 done before I headed inside for a shower at 2:30. Have I mentioned how much I love my containers? They make me super happy. 

After a much needed shower, I actually contemplated putting on jeans and even had some half on before I saw the error of my ways and threw on a dress. I was due at Van's for driveway beers at 4:30 and then dinner at Anne's with Rene too. But first I wanted to hit Aldi and Trader Joe's and stopped at Urban Trails, a favorite nursery in Lincoln, on the way south. I ran through the 2 markets and got to Van's only a few minutes late. We sat and chatted over my favorite vanilla beer. I left a bit late but got to Anne's just as she and Rene got back with the Mexican food. We sat on the deck until well after dark, chatting away. It felt SO normal. I loved it.

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday but as has been happening all too often lately, it was just dreary with very little rain. Since I hadn't planned to garden, I went to the farm store for more plants, including a beautiful fuchsia, popped into Andrea's shop, grabbed BK for lunch  and then went home. The only thing I managed to do outside, foolishly assuming it would rain any minute, was to break up sticks for the next knitting fire. Lorri stopped by and dropped off plants and Drae dropped by with some groceries she'd picked up for me. Both visits involved chatting in the driveway, which was nice. So not a super productive day but I swore to make up for it on Sunday and settled in for YouTube and knitting.

I got outside before lunch on Sunday and kept going on my containers, planting most of the plants I'd bought the day before. I would have finished but I wanted to make sure to get my veg beds planted and had a 3:00 tea date at Lorri's. I just got them done in time to shower and head over to Lorri's. I was inside her house, which felt odd, and I think me sitting 6 feet away at the other end of their dining room table didn't count as social distancing. Whatever. Lorri and checked out all her garden beds and then I headed home for pulled pork, which I'd cooked overnight and had already shared with Andrea and Lorri. I still had plenty left - the roast was 7+ pounds.

So all in all, it was a good week. I appreciated the time with friends and loved finally getting some time to garden. I can only hope we get some decent weather and it doesn't go to blazing hot right away. Spring weather in Nebraska is so flaky. Wish me luck.

Week 19 - Much Better Week

It was a much better week. The boss' new no pressure mode continued and that made a world of difference.

I started the week with a catch up day, getting things done from the previous week and finishing monthly reports. I spent some time with the UAAD treasurer converting the treasurer's report to a better format on Tuesday and ended the week doing a new report for Mary. It was a productive and mostly uneventful work week. Not being under constant pressure helped increase productivity, for the entire team I'm sure.

I had some mower drama on Wednesday. My UAAD meeting over lunch was short so I headed out  to mow, thinking I'd easily get it done in half an hour. The mower started but then petered out so I added gas and then it wouldn't start at all. Am I the only person who didn't know about old gas? I called Cindy's husband who told me old gas was bad so I drained it out of the mower, put it into my car and then drove to the gas station to fill up my tank (to further dilute the old gas) and filled up my gas can. Adding new gas didn't work and it still wouldn't start. A man who was mowing across the street even tried but nothing. I tried again after work and when it still wouldn't start, I called John to mow. He came over that night and mowed so that took the pressure off. Cindy's husband said he would look at the mower when they came to deliver my bench. Sheesh!

It was raining on Monday night so there was no driveway knitting and there was very little social interaction for the rest of the week. Anne was supposed to come for Survivor on Wednesday but cancelled so I spent the 2 hours IM'ing with Dawn, which was lovely. Then on Saturday I watched the Grocery Girls live (a knitting podcast) which almost felt like having friends in the room then later zoomed with an online friend who lives in Germany. It was our first time chatting but we got along great (I knew we would) and we chatted for hours. Other than picking up my lunch at Mocha C's on Tuesday, I don't think I saw anyone in person except the mailman until Sunday. Wow! But it actually didn't feel weird at all.

On the knitting front, I cast on new socks for the new month using yarn I'd bought in Norway and was loving them. Then I was starting to get low on socks for my #socksofsocialdistancing project on Facebook so I dug into my mending bag. I found monster socks I'd made years ago but one of the yarns had shrunk so they didn't fit anymore. I found a yarn that approximated the old one (it's the right sock in the pic) and finished them late Friday, which meant I slept late on Saturday. Oh well. No plans were disrupted. : )

After making delicious meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans on Thursday night, I ended the week cooking for the coming week. The star was a roasted chicken that I stuffed - like a mini Thanksgiving. I shared a bunch of that with Andrea when she stopped by. It's good to have friends. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Week 18 - Flood Gates Opened

It was another stressful week with a crisis midweek followed by some relief. I have high hopes that the relief will last.

With the drama on the form for HR settled on Sunday, Monday started with me digging in and getting most of it done. I made another delicious pizza for lunch and when Andrea called, I offered her some. After all she'd made the mozzarella I used. She stopped by and ate it on the deck while we chatted. I got more social time when I had knitters in the driveway. We didn't have a fire but enjoyed the company. 

I knew something was up when Cindy wasn't in our morning zoom meeting so called her as soon as we were done. She was a mess after speaking with Ben about being overwhelmed. Not only didn't give her any assurance but suggested she might not be suited for her job. WHAT? I did my best to comfort her and reminded her she's been doing a great job for years. I finished Layton's form, went to Mocha C's for my weekly grab and go lunch then taught all afternoon.

It was very windy Tuesday and when I went outside after lunch, I found a squirrel in the middle of my lawn who must have been blown out of my maple. He seemed stunned so I put him in my wheelbarrow so the cats couldn't get him. I checked on him over the course of the day and after a bit, he started bleeding from his ear and he appeared to be paralyzed from the neck down. I left him there, figuring he would die overnight. But he didn't. I woke up Wednesday and he was still breathing so I had to do something I've never done before and put him out of his misery. I went out in my nightie and bludgeoned him with a shovel. I was bawling before I had him in the ground and got right into the shower in hopes that I'd cry myself out in there. Not a chance.

Once I started crying, I could not stop. I called Cindy and cried some more and was still crying during our morning zoom. I tried to hold it together but couldn't. Then Brook said that if we were waiting for him to do something specific, let him know because he was feeling overwhelmed and had dropped some things. Cindy and I were overwhelmed but that didn't seem to register but now that Brook was overwhelmed, Ben seemed to be getting it. I burst into tears again, suggested it might be time to reevaluate some of our deadlines, and then I left the meeting. I tried to finish the form I was working on between tears and called in sick for the afternoon. I was done! Nora called after lunch to talk through some work and it finally got me focused and I was able to stop crying. I called John and we talked for for a long time that afternoon and I messaged with Dawn during Survivor. Things were looking up.

Ben was off on Thursday and it was a much better day. I worked on the project Nora had called about all morning, taught that afternoon and then ran to The Warehouse, where I bought a bag of lettuce for the first salad I'd had in months. Taco salad and it tasted amazing! Then the phone rang and it was Cindy. She was in the ER high on morphine and was having her appendix out that night. Holy crap! Her husband called me at 9:30. She was out of surgery and would be going home yet that night. I guess no one gets to stay with Covid-19 in the hospital.

Friday brought a new an improved boss. He was full of praise and put no pressure on us. At last! I volunteered to do all of the monthly reports to give Brook time to catch up and that more than filled my day. I went into the weekend hopeful that this would last.

I spent Saturday picking up the house and doing some basic cleaning and I started cooking first thing on Sunday. I made a banana cake, Indian spiced chicken and rice and headed to Cindy's to drop it off. I thought I'd be in and out but Cindy was sitting on the deck and had a chair six feet away for me. We chatted for over and hour and the bonus was her husband remade my compost screeners while we chatted. From there I went to Nora's to drop off fabric so she could make more masks (she'd run out) and then to campus to put a sign up in my feeder. Someone had been rogue feeding crap food and it was attracting bugs and raccoons. It warmed my heart that my cats came to greet me when I drove up. I hadn't been there in months but they still remember my car. I got KFC and headed home for an evening of PBS.

So there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel. I had hope that Ben had finally seen the results of the pressure we were all under and would lay off. I'd made it through the squirrel tragedy and the resulting tears probably did some good. Take care everyone and stay healthy.