Since Dottie's package of hats had taken 8 days to get from Indiana via priority mail, I was determined to get my packages shipped out asap so that was my goal for the week. If that's all I got done, I'd be happy so I charged ahead.
Carolyn's package was scheduled for pick up on Monday and between lunch and after work, I had Ginny's ready and scheduled for pick up on Tuesday. Gotta love the USPS schedule a pick up service!
Tuesday was monthly reports so the morning flew and then I got my grab and go lunch, as usual. I had training scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday so went online after lunch to look up my learners and send them the handouts for the training. When I couldn't find the class listed, I went to the calendar view and found that not only was it that day but it should have already started. I jumped onto the zoom, explained the calendar mix up to my lone student and got started. But not having planned to teach, I was at my coffee table and my laptop wasn't plugged in. Towards the end of the class, it said it had 14% power and I thought that would be enough to finish but NO! It turned off right after that warning and it took 10 minutes to get plugged in, rebooted and back on the zoom. Sheesh! My student was very understanding but what an afternoon! I was too tired to cook dinner so enjoyed the first beer from my advent calendar, which I'd opened up early enough to have it well chilled by day's end, along with cheese and crackers and called it dinner. It was perfect after a trying day.
This is the year of the advent calendar. In addition to beer, I have cheese, chocolate, jam, cat treats and sock yarn. I open all the food ones first thing in the morning so I can chill the beer. I eat the chocolate while I open the others and I save the sock yarn until I move my computer to the coffee table, where the basket of yarn bags lives, for my 10:00 team zoom. It's a fun way to start the day. I'm waiting for a 12 days of Christmas swap package to come so starting the 13th, I'll have that to open too. If it get here by then. I'm hopeful.
On Wednesday, I was joining Anne and Rene for water aerobics at the gym they both joined. They were giving away $500 worth of services for new members so Anne used all of hers to get 33 gift passes for me. How cool is that! The teacher is one we loved from Campus Rec and while I wasn't sure about going to the gym, Rene had already been so called to answer my questions, which allayed my fears. It was great to be in the pool again and it felt completely safe. Since I had nothing ready for dinner and wasn't inspired by anything I drove by in Lincoln, I decided to go to the Eagles Club in Wahoo for burger night, which I've never done despite living in Wahoo for 24 years. Well, no one had a mask on so I went across the street to Dollar General rather than waiting at the bar for my to go order. The burger and fries were OK but nothing special. Done with that.
Anne had picked up the last thing I needed for my sister's package and had handed them over at the gym so I was ready to prep another package. I watched The Grocery Girls over lunch (shrimp, pickles and more advent cheese on crackers) on Thursday while I wrapped, taught all afternoon and then packed everything up and scheduled a pick up for Friday. 3 packages down, 2 to go. I finally did some cooking and made comfort food - corned beef casserole and broccoli - for supper. Delish!
Friday flew by, which is always nice, and I finished a pair of socks that I needed to ship and almost finished another project before bedtime. I finished it first thing Saturday morning and since it was sunny and windy, I soaked it and put it out on the line to dry. It dried so fast that I was able to wrap it up and get package #4 ready, which I handed to the mailman that afternoon. Just one more package to go!
I spent all afternoon Saturday out in the garage and had all the boxes of Corelle that were on the floor and had gotten wet once upon a time so weren't actually boxes anymore, unloaded onto the shelves. I was exhausted and filthy but had made great progress. I came inside for a shower and tea, thinking I might go back out again on Sunday. Well, the weather turned sooner than forecast so it was a good thing I'd done so much because being outside Sunday wasn't an option.
Since it was a dull, gray, brutally chilly day, I made another batch of jam - blackberry peach. The blackberries were wild ones I'd picked at the side of the highway so were loaded with seeds. For the first time in my decades of jam making, I put them through a sieve to remove the seeds, which was a chore. But now I had another jar of jam for my aunt's package. That was my last package to ship and it would go out Monday, after which I was hoping I could relax and get some Christmas decorating done. My tree was still in the laundry room waiting to be put up so I had hopes for the coming week.
I hope you got all your mailing done. With everyone shipping this year, things are taking much longer (none of the packages I'd shipped Priority had arrived by the end of the week!) so get them mailed. I hope you are not stressing about the holidays. With all the stress already in our lives, who needs that? Stay safe and try to find some joy in your holiday preparations.
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