Week 12 - So Much Socializing

Getting my shot last week completely turned my week around and I took full advantage of my better mood and did lots of fun, and safe, things with friends.

Better late than never, I brought pie (banana cream) to Monday night knitting. It was well received and knitting is always a fun way to start the week. Then on Wednesday, Connie and I zoomed and shared a long distance Guinness to celebrate St. Patrick's day. I had made cabbage casserole after my usual Mocha C's and cleaning up the kitchen on Tuesday so had planned to eat that for St. Patrick's Day supper but Connie and I talked for so long that it was too late for real food so I had a bowl of cereal and called it good. Slainte!

I was disappointed when the Grocery Girls weren't on YouTube on Thursday but then Helen called and said she was in town and wanted to bring lunch over. WAY better than YouTube. We chatted over another Mocha C's lunch (twice in one week - yum!) and then it was back to work. It was Andrea's actual birthday so even though we'd celebrated a couple of weeks ago with Lori, I felt the need to mark the day so invited her over for cabbage casserole and the first driveway fire of the season. It was pretty chilly though so we didn't last very long but it was still fun.

Friday flew by and I ended the day with a Fremont run for groceries. I had no plans for Saturday, which was the anniversary of our last day on campus. I commemorated it with some online yarn shopping and while I was at it I found a great deal on some sock yarn on Facebook Marketplace and made plans to pick it up Sunday afternoon. Lorri's seeds came in the mail so I ran over there in the later afternoon and we had a nice visit.

The social event of the week was brunch at Cindy's with Lana. Cindy's husband was out of town and she was over Covid and Lana and I had both gotten one shot so we figured we'd be safe. I brought bacon, Lana brought fruit and Cindy made an egg casserole. It felt so normal and was pure joy. I hadn't seen Cindy in person since January and Lana in a year! Zoom doesn't count but I'm so glad we have it. I left there to drive to Omaha to pick up the yarn, which was a total deal. And since I got such a deal, I drove to Lori's house to share. We had tea and checked out her yard. With it staying light later, I didn't get home until 8:00. 

What a fun day at the end of a fun week! All I need now is to get my appointment for my 2nd shot. Normal is coming. I just need to stay safe for another month. Good thing it's spring weather so I can spend time outside, which I will need to do because I'll be fully protected by mid-April and then I'll be seeing all kinds of people and may even eat INSIDE a restaurant. Wow! Just one more month....

Week 11 - My Vaccine Angst

The warm weather was holding on but even 70 degree weather in mid March didn't do much to improve my mood. I was in a funk over vaccines and that ruled my week.

The problem was that UNL was prioritized in Lancaster County but since I live in another county, I couldn't sign up for a shot under UNL. On Tuesday, a bunch of my friends were getting shots and I was bummed that I wasn't getting one. I finally decided to call the Health Department on Tuesday morning and plead my case. They said they'd check and call back. I left for lunch in the park with Lori, which wasn't very pleasant because of the wind. The picnic tables were in the shade so it was pretty chilly but when I got back there was a message on my machine to call them back and they could sign me up. Yee ha! It took about 10 minutes and they said there would be a clinic on Friday and I'd get an email to schedule an appointment. While I was relieved and hopeful, I wouldn't calm down or get a good night's sleep until I had an appointment.

I was a maniac on Wednesday, jumping every time my computer dinged with an email message but still hadn't gotten it by late afternoon. My monthly Ripples zoom was at 3:00 and the topic was resilience. I look forward to these but Paul started with a retrospective of the last year, including talking about his mom and 2 aunts dying of covid, which brought me down. By the time the zoom was over, I was feeling maudlin and I told Anne I would not be driving to Lincoln to swim. I spent the evening running to check email after every ding but had no vaccine email so went to bed for yet another night of stress dreams. I hadn't slept well all week.

Nothing early Thursday either and when I mentioned that I was waiting for an email at my morning team zoom, Ben said he'd gotten the email so I was back on the phone with the Health Department immediately after the zoom. They checked my record and found that they'd put me in as general population instead of UNL so they fixed that and scheduled me for 12:45 on Friday. There are no words to explain the relief and elation I felt after that phone call. Ecstatic isn't enough. I was going to get a shot and couldn't have been happier. The rest of the day flew by and I went to bed and slept like a rock. 

I had plenty to do Friday morning with monthly Foundation reports and a zoom training that I struggled to focus on but it was noon before I knew it. I was driving down on my lunch hour, would be taking sick time for however long the shot took and then was using vacation time to take the rest of the day off to celebrate. The vaccine location was in indoor soccer field and from the minute I turned off the road, it was like Disney. There were people waving you through the parking lot then they were ultra organized inside. I signed in, filled out a form and had the shot in my arm within 10 minutes. Then waiting in the recovery area was fun. There were lots of UNL people there so I chatted the time away and may have stayed 30 minutes or more, chatting with people I haven't seen in more than a year.

With my shot done (huge relief!), it was time for some shopping. Since I was already pretty far south in Lincoln, I went to the Goodwill way down south (bought nothing), the yarn shop (got 3 bright minis for cuffs/heels/toes of monster socks, Trader Joe's for all the good things and Starbuck's to use my points for a venti frapuccino. All that done, I headed to Anne's to share my drink and hangout for the rest of the afternoon. I left at 6:00 when volleyball started and headed home, super satisfied with my day. I slept great for the 2nd night in a row.

I had kept Saturday clear in case I had any side effects but other than a slight headache that came and went (and I mean slight), I was unaffected. Nice. I enjoyed a quiet day of knitting. It was raining anyway so inside worked. I set the clocks back and went to bed early to read.

I was jolted awake on Sunday but the sound of a branch from my neighbor's dying tree hitting my roof. I knew what it was but it was raining too hard to go out and check. Then when I got up, I saw there was water in my basement. I'd checked the gutter knowing rain was coming but I hadn't taken it off. I went out in the rain in my nightie to check and come to find out, the gutter had a clog of leaves so the water was backing up and coming out where the downspout met the bit at the bottom. I knocked out the glob of dead leaves and the back dripping stopped. It wasn't too bad in the basement so I just left it to evaporate. With all that done, it was time for Sunday morning TV, chatting with my sister and doing enough chores to get ready for the coming week. And since Pi Day was on a weekend, I made little mincemeat pies and brought some to my friend Lorri, who had made the mincemeat and shared it with me at Christmas. It's good to have friends to share with.

So a week that found me angst ridden to start ended on a great note. I'll be due for my 2nd shot (I got a Pfizer vaccine) at the end of the month so will be safe by mid-April. The first thing on my list is lunch with Layton and while I'm trying to save vacation time, I'll use some for that. Can't wait. And while I hate the time change and think it should be voted out of existence, the extra hour of light at the end of the day will be nice in a few weeks when it's warm enough to garden. So much to be thankful for!

Week 10 - Warmth and Birthdays

What a difference 2 weeks makes! It had been above freezing most days in the previous week but this week would have highs in the 60's. That's a 90 degree change from 2 weeks ago. There were still huge piles of snow at the start of the week but they didn't last long with the warm sunny weather. 

When I saw the weather forecast, I suggested to Andrea and Lori that we celebrate their birthdays early so we could do it on the deck on Saturday. They were in so I planned accordingly. But I had a work week to get through before I'd start cleaning madly on Friday.

Monday was the 1st of the month, which meant monthly reporting and casting on new socks - always a good day. And I had Monday Night Knitting too. Nice. Helen stopped by on Tuesday to drop off my birthday presents and have lunch, which was my usual Mocha C's grab and go. It's always fun to see Helen too. I had a 4:30 zoom on Wednesday and it was called by our Vice Chancellor so there was no skipping it. No swimming but oh well. I did a Lincoln run on Thursday after work, hitting a few Goodwills (didn't find a thing) and a real, as in not Aldi, market. Now I was ready for the party.

I ran to the florist on Friday over lunch and picked up a few more gifts down the block while the florist filled my vase. After work, I cleaned the house so I wouldn't worry and could sleep. I got up early on Saturday to make a cherry walnut cake with cream cheese frosting and wrapped presents. When it got warmer towards noon, I cleaned the tables and chairs on the deck. I set the table with my china and got out my grandmother's nice silverware to make the table extra special for Lori's 60th birthday. They were due to arrive at 12:30.

Lori brought her dog Abbey so she'd be able to stay longer (Abbey has separation anxiety so trashes the house if Lori's gone for any length of time) and we had a great time. I had chilled some fruity wine to have with our Chinese and Andrea had brought vegan ice cream to go with the cake (not vegan). It was a lovely day of chatting and knitting and we didn't break up the party until the sun went behind the garage. All in all, it was a successful party for staying safe during covid.

With all my chores done before the party, all I had to do was a bit of laundry on Sunday to be ready for the coming week. That left lots of time for knitting and streaming. Always good. It hit the low 70's and the snow was 100% gone after just a week of warm weather. Yay! Spring was definitely on its way.

Week 9 - Another Pandemic Week

It was another pandemic work week. Not much different - same old same old. I trained a couple of afternoons and had some drama when I intervened between a college and an administrative department. You know, work. But I had a plan for  a spit test and swimming on Wednesday so had that to look forward to.

My plan was to leave for Lincoln at just before 4:00 for a 4:45 spit test on East Campus. I was due for my test a week earlier but I wasn't going out when it was 30 degrees below zero so had scheduled it for this week instead. I also had to return some books to the library commission downtown so would be from one end of Lincoln to the other but it was doable. Until the phone rang.

I had my coat on and was about to leave when the phone rang and it was my boss - Mary - so I picked up. I didn't leave the house until 4:10 and first called Rene to see if she cold drop the books then called Anne to have her call the Library Commission to say I wasn't coming. But even with all that taken care of, I felt guilty so decided to go anyway. I got stuck in traffic so was only leaving downtown when my phone rang at 4:45. It was Darla, who I had arranged to thrift with after my test. What I didn't expect was that she would leave work early to meet me at my test so I felt bad that she was waiting. I got to the spit hut right at 5:00 and Darla and I were headed to Goodwill within 5 minutes. But I only had until 5:30 if I was going to make it to the pool so we didn't have very long to chat while we walked the aisles. I don't think either of us found anything but the point was the visit, which was nice but too short. I made it to the pool in the nick of time. So much for looking forward to a Lincoln run. It was way to rushed.

Rene, Anne and I were going to have pizza at Anne's after swimming. There was confusion over the pizza, which I'd already picked up and then Rene tried to right after I left. We got a late start with dinner but had fun chatting and knitting. Rene was making her first pair of socks and was doing great. And after such a frantic time before swimming, it was nice to relax with friends.

I just had 2 more work days until the weekend, which I spent going through spare room stuff again. And knitting, of course. There was still snow everywhere and I was getting pretty tired of winter in my house. But better safe than sorry. My spit test came back negative so safe is good.

Week 8 - So Brutally Cold!

What can I say about a week that had the lowest temps I've ever experienced. Good thing I was working from home so could stay cozy. Or did I?

UNL announced on Sunday night that all in person classes were cancelled due to the cold but staff still had to work. Monday was a holiday but it's one of the ones we give up in order to get the week off at Christmas so it was work as usual. I enjoyed watching my cats watching TV as I worked at my computer. They were cooped up inside so were very into it. Tot jumped from the cat tower to get up close and personal. Ha!

The high temp on Monday was -4 so even if the library had been open, I wouldn't have gone anyway. With my fridge full of food, socks on the needles and plenty to watch, I had absolutely no reason to leave. We were being asked to conserve energy so I lit candles between my comfy chair and my bedroom to light my way to bed. I even turned off my deck Christmas tree, which is my happy night light and is on 24/7.

The actual temp Tuesday morning was -28 and the news was full of warnings of rolling blackouts due to too much demand for electricity. I was working away that morning, sitting in my nightie in the sun when the electricity went off at 8:40. They said the blackouts would be 30-60 minutes and I was warm sitting in the direct sun so I didn't go back to bed, which had been my plan. My landline still worked so I called work to say I was down and then called Carolyn, who was on vacation so was home. Well, the blackout was an hour and 45 minutes so it was getting pretty cold by the time the power came back on. My house is well insulated and has good replacement windows but the temp inside had dropped 7 degrees in less than 2 hours. I was very happy when power was restored. Other than filling the bird feeders and getting the mail, I stayed inside. The high temp for the day was zero.

It was warmer Wednesday with a double digit high of 14 but it was gray and gloomy so felt even colder. I did a zoom training class that afternoon. I had high hopes for Thursday, when it would be sunny and even warmer.

And it was! With the sun beaming and a high of 22, it felt like we'd made it through the polar vortex. Since my car had barely started last Friday when I went to the post office, I started my car at lunch (started much easier) and let it run for an hour in the sun in the driveway. I had used the last of my birdseed that afternoon so my plan was to drive to the farm store after work for more. I planned to go to Lincoln on the weekend, figuring that would really charge my battery.

It felt SO good to get out of the house Thursday after work. My backyard birds, which I've thoroughly enjoyed watching, had gone through 80 pounds of birdseed in the past 3 weeks so I headed to the farm store north of town to replenish. They had none, except for the super pricy little gourmet bags. So I headed to Fremont in search of birdseed, which I found at that branch of the same store, and since I was there, I hit Goodwill and Aldi. Now I really had no reason to leave with my food replenished and my battery well charged.

We had no morning zoom on Friday, I got my delayed grab and go lunch and then I had a 2 hour zoom helping some users with a database they'd inherited. At 5:00, I got up and started cleaning because Helen was coming Saturday morning to make me breakfast for my birthday, which had been delayed from 2 weekends ago due to, you guessed it, weather. After spending a chunk of time neatizing the house, I did my bare minimum cleaning of bathroom and floors - sweeping and vacuuming. When I finally sat back down, I found a message from Helen cancelling for Saturday. Oh well. At least the house was clean.

And with all my chores done, I decided to start clearing out the spare room. This lead to lots of yarn sorting, which is always fun and the sun beams into my front room this time of year so I was lovely and bright. Between sorting through boxes from the spare room, there was lots of knitting, of course. I ended the week shoveling snow that was only supposed to be a trace was more like 3". I did consider leaving it to melt but went out in a t-shirt and slippers to just shovel the deck and ended up doing the whole driveway. I did grab a coat when I made it to the side door of the house but still had slippers on the whole time. It was 60 degrees warmer than earlier in the week and was still right at freezing but that felt downright balmy. It can only get warmer, right?