Week 31 - Into the Office

It was a busy week punctuated by a banner day on Thursday that included shopping, the office, swimming and socializing. I ended the week with productivity too so it was a good week.

The week started with my usual quarantine routine but things kicked up a notch on Wednesday. A front was coming through on Wednesday afternoon that would bring cool, dry air. While this was more than welcome, it made swimming Wednesday night iffy. In the late afternoon, I started trying to find out if water aerobics was on. I had registered earlier in the day but by mid-afternoon, there was no answer at the pool. I tried emailing the Parks & Rec office but got no reply and finally resorted to Facebook. It said the pool would reopen for class but the sky looked so ominous that I wanted confirmation before driving 30 miles. Luckily the instructor had liked the post so I messaged her (assuming the Barb who hit like was the Barb who taught class) and got confirmation at 5:20. I threw on my swimsuit and drove like a banshee to Lincoln, calling people along the way to tell them it was on. Yes, I love outdoor water aerobics that much. It was absolutely worth the effort and mad dash.

Thursday was a busy day. I had scheduled an appointment with the foot doctor's PA at Nebraska Ortho to see about surgery for my hammer toe and since I'd be down there for 1:30, I decided to go early for a Panera salad then go into the office. I somehow thought I'd have enough time to go to the office before lunch but even leaving right after our zoom ended, I didn't get to Lincoln until almost noon. With not enough time to hit the office, I stopped at Goodwill to check out yarn (bought a couple of grab bags) then hit Panera and ate my salad in a park. Delish! I finished early enough to do a drop off at Brook's before the doctor and Brook, his wife and I had a lovely chat 6' apart on his front step.

What was I delivering you ask? Potato chips! Every year I buy the special flavors of Lay's chips to do a taste test at knitting and the office. Having scored them the previous Friday in Fremont, I took them to knitting where we all tried them and then took them to the pool on Wednesday for another taste test. Normally I'd bring them to the office and certainly didn't want them in my house (we'd barely made a dent in the 4 bags) so I labelled some zippies and made sets for the team. I dropped Brook's before the doctor, left Cindy's in the office (she skipped the pool, where she was supposed to get them) and dropped Ben's after I left the office. We were planning a live taste test viz zoom on Tuesday. Team building during Covid - I do my part.

After hearing that I could have my toe fixed anytime (they offered next week but I said I was thinking November once gardening season was over and the time changed), I headed to the office. Every year, I have to download and format a HUGE spreadsheet of all city campus state aided accounts and that would be much easier at work with 2 screens and a normal keyboard and mouse. It takes most of an afternoon so I hadn't committed to swimming but had my suit with me. Well, I blazed through the spreadsheet and finished with enough time to clear off the part of my cubie that's against the windows, which will be replaced shortly. I got everything done and was out the door right at 5:00, having seen not a soul all afternoon. That left me time to hit another Goodwill (bought a few more grab bags with really nice quality yarn), drop the chips at Ben's and get to the pool early. I even got in free because someone had donated a punch card with open punches. Nice.

There had been talk of having dinner on Anne's deck after swimming but since I hadn't even been sure I'd make swimming, I hadn't committed. But we made plans as we swam and I was elected to do a drive thru since Rene was on her scooter and we did go to Anne's. We sat outside in the now cooler air and chatted until after dark. It was lovely. We may do it again next week since that'll be the last week of water aerobics because they close the pools when school starts. I got home at 10:00, opened all the windows, took a shower and went to bed. What a fabulously productive and fun day!

Friday was a long day (I was still working on the big spreadsheet) but we did have a fun zoom call with Dawn in Virginia over lunch. I had made my fave lunch ever, courtesy of my new toast-r-oven - tuna melt and tater tots. Good friends and good food. Yay! When 5:00 came, I couldn't muster the energy to do more than sit on my butt, watching the news and eating dinner. But at 7:30, adulting kicked in and I neatized the entire house - put away laundry, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and picked up everywhere else. It only took an hour and was long overdue. I'd been looking at piles all week and it's super lame that I didn't take an hour to put it all in order earlier. Oh well.

I didn't have anything on my agenda for the weekend but finishing some chores and making sweet relish with some cukes my neighbor had given me. So after doing some pots and pans, I finally swept the back floors and then washed myself out the door. I ran errands in town and picked up lunch, spending just enough time that the floors were dry when I got home. And I'd bought the peppers I needed to make the relish so got out the food processor and got going on that. Making relish takes hours because you have to salt and soak the veg for 2 hours before you can even think about actually cooking it up but I managed to get it done and have 6 pints to get me through the winter and share with friends.

With so much done between Friday and Saturday, I got to relax on Sunday. I started the day making blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast and did laundry and hung it out on the line in the still cool air. I puttered a bit in the yard and did plenty of knitting before heading to Lincoln for water aerobics again. The weather was gorgeous but kind of nippy in the pool. I enjoyed the heat that had built up in the car while it was parked in the sun for an hour. It felt great and I'd made extra effort in the pool so got a great workout.

What a nice way to end the week and to top it off, I was happy with the progress I'd made getting my house in order. Considering I'm in my house 24/7 these days, I really need to act like an adult and not let things pile up. Not my forte but I'll try.