Week 17 - My Dead Honda

Yes, you read that right. My Honda HRV died. But I'll get to that later. Let me just say it's a damn good thing I'd had an easy, relaxing week last week because this one was a doozy!

It started out with snow on Monday. Yes, snow at the end of April. I had already put some of my over wintered plants outside so had to bring them in again. The snow didn't last long but that's just too damn cold for mid April. And of course the cold lasted until Tuesday because I had plans to be out and about.

I had already made plans to go to campus on Wednesday because I was selected for a random spit test so I scheduled it for 11:30 and then Dodie and I were going out to lunch for the first time in over a year. I could taste my fave Panera salad already! But then they announced the first mass vaccine clinic for students on Tuesday and were looking for volunteers so I signed up. I was going to be handing out free t-shirts outside in a tent.

Going out in public meant that I had to find real pants - with a zipper! - to wear. Luckily with the 11 pounds I'd lost this month, I was back at my pre-pandemic weight so something had to fit, right? It's not like I'd gone to work naked last March. I was happy to find 4 pairs of pants that fit so got dressed Tuesday morning and was on campus at 9:30. My shift was until 1:00 and the free food giveaway was in the same tent so I grabbed a Runza (for any non-Nebraskans reading this, it's a hamburger and cabbage mix baked inside dough and it's a hugely popular fast food chain here) and headed to my office. I had my spit test scheduled the next day but had to walk right by a spit hut and there was no line so I just got it done on the way to my office.

We had new windows installed in my office building last year so I had packed my office up before going home last March and it was time to unpack. After eating my Runza, I started cleaning the incredibly dusty surfaces and then put my cubie back in order. I went through lots of paper and filled my recycling bin. It's amazing how something that mattered 13 months ago was absolutely useless now. Anyway, my next mission was to find a place to train after lunch with Dodie on Wednesday. Alas, I totally failed. My desktop at work doesn't have a camera and I was dismayed to see that both the training room and the conference room had been stripped of all computer equipment, which I later learned was sent home with people so they could work at home. That meant that training via zoom at home would actually be easier so I called Dodie and asked to cancel lunch on Wednesday so I could just stay home. She was disappointed, as was I, but it made sense. So off I went.

I ran some errands and since I'd cancelled Panera with Dodie, I drove through and picked up my fave salad. My last stop was Nora's to pick up the plants I'd bought to support her daughter's old school. We had fun walking around her yard checking out plants and catching up. I left her house just before 7:00 and was looking forward to getting home after this long day and enjoying my salad. I was just outside Lincoln on a country road on the way to the highway when my car went nuts. I stepped on the gas after a stop sign and it wasn't accelerating. I looked down and every single light on my dashboard was lit and it said Park. So I did. I had hoped that turning the car off and on would clear it but it didn't so I got it going at half speed so I could limp to a paved road just ahead. And that's where I called AAA from.

It was just after 7:00, the sun was still out and AAA was on their way so I ate my salad and listened to the radio with the heat on. Because my engine would run. I just couldn't drive. My salad was delish (good thing I had my knitting treats bag of utensils, plates and napkins in the car because they didn't give me a fork) and I knitted away, not feeling too bad. Then it got dark. I kept calling the tow company and it was taking forever. By the time the truck arrived, it was almost 9:00. He towed me to the Honda dealership, who I'd already called to find out what to do, and Anne picked me up. I had already arranged to stay over at her house because I wouldn't know anything until I talked to Honda in the morning. She lent me a nightie and gave me a toothbrush and we both went right to bed.

I didn't sleep very well (go figure) and was on the phone with Honda before Anne got back from her workout at the gym. They told me that they were fully booked so wouldn't be able to look at it for days and also didn't have a loaner. Nor could they give me an estimate of how long I might need a car if I were to rent one. Not happy. So I called my friend Lorri, whose husband is a car guy so has several cars, and asked if she had a spare car I could borrow. Not only was she willing to lend me her car but she would come and get me. She came during my team zoom so I hung up early and we headed home. I put in some vacation time, ate lunch and was back to work that afternoon. Now to wait for Honda to call.

I was on a break between rotations but was not eating any sweets, which meant I was eating savory things that felt special. Since I had to do a deposit for Friends of the Library account and the bank is right across form Mocha C's, I went in for my regular grab and go but without the scotcheroo. I was down 11 pounds so was motivated to stay focused. The sandwich and chips tasted great. Honda called at the end of the day to say they had my car on the diagnostic computer but it wouldn't finish before they closed. It had already thrown a code for a bad transmission sensor so I went to bed that night hopeful that it would be a quick and cheap fix. Yeah, right.

They called on Friday to say that the reason the sensor died was because it was full of metal shards and I needed a new transmission, which would cost $6,200! WHAT???? My car is 5 years old and only has 66k miles! I told the service guy, who was very nice, that that was completely unacceptable. He said he'd check with Honda to see if they would help. I told him they had better because this was absolutely CRAZY. He called later to say Honda would pay 75%, which would still leave me out $1,500+. What choice did I have though so I told them to order the transmission. I then did some online research and turns out, this is a common problem on 2016 HRV's. Maybe I should be calling Honda myself to complain and see if they'll cover 100%. Time will tell.

One bit of good news was that they had a loaner for me so I called my friend Cindy to bribe her with breakfast out in Lincoln if she'd come and get me and drop me at Honda. Then I called Lorri and asked if she could come and get her car, which she did with her husband. I went to bed Friday feeling slightly better that at least there was progress.

Cindy picked me up just after 8:00 and I loaded her car with donations that I needed to drop off in Lincoln for her garage sale to benefit spaying/neutering strays. She's the one who bottle fed my cat Gansey so I like supporting her cause. Cindy and I went to Cook's Cafe, which is in a new location after a fire in their old one, and has the best sausage in town. We only waited a few minutes to be seated and then thoroughly enjoyed the special - baked strawberry French toast with sausage and scrambled eggs. Delish! Then we drove to Honda, where I picked up a bright red Honda Civic sports car. I pulled some stuff out of my car then transferred the donation boxes from Cindy's and we went our separate ways.

I intended to hit Aldi, which is right near Honda, but missed the turn off so went to Trader Joe's instead. Then I dropped the donations and had a nice chat with Becky before heading towards home. On the way north, I remembered St. Theresa's thrift store, which is only open on Saturdays during Covid and so I hadn't been there in over a year. I popped in and hit yarn pay dirt, even finding some ever elusive sock yarn - Kroy Socks FX, which I love knitting with and it's even orangey. I was home just after noon with grocery shopping done so was ready for my weekend. I spent more time sorting and shifting yarn. The spare bedroom was nearly ready and the front room was looking much better.

I had my normal Sunday morning of news shows and chatting with my sister and it was approaching noon when the phone rang. Connie was calling to say she really was coming to visit and asking if it was the next weekend or the one after that. We talked options and decided the next weekend would work best so I hung up and madly started cleaning. I'd been slogging through stuff for weeks but hadn't cleaned a thing so I started at the ceiling with cobwebs and worked my way down to the floors. I worked like a dog all afternoon and into the evening, stopping when I was too tired and sweaty to keep going. I had a few small things left to do but felt good about my progress and the house was in good shape. Yay!

So how's that for a full week to contrast with last week's mundane one? I am still in shock that my relatively new and well maintained car has died. They just don't make things like they used to. How's that for sounding old? Oh well. Hopefully next week will be less eventful. I live in hope.

Week 16 - A Mundane Week

It was a pretty uneventful week and that's not all bad. 

Work was uneventful and I spent lots of time inside slogging through stuff inside in preparation for my sister coming after my surgery. I'll admit that not having anyone come in my house during the pandemic has not been good for keeping my house picked up and I've only done the bare minimum of cleaning. At least I made some progress this week and started pulling stuff to donate and organizing yarn, putting bins down in the basement and such.

On Saturday, we had in person spinning in Fremont at the library annex. There had been one in person meeting in February but I'd opted out. Now that I was as safe as I could be (2+ weeks after shot #2), I was up for it. I took my laptop and set up a zoom for a few of the people who were still staying home. Although it was a pretty tense meeting as we discussed making some changes to how we operate, it was still nice to get back to in person meeting and was fun to see people in person. Then we hit the Estate Dispersal Store, which is only open 1 weekend per month. I only bought a jar of buttons but it was fun to shop in the newly expanded store.

John came and did my first mow of the year and I spent Sunday finishing up sorting yarn and getting chores done. All in all, it was a quiet week. Here's a random shot of a tulip in my garden. Happy spring!

Week 15 - Surgery and Sushi

It was a great week with some good news and a milestone then was capped off with more spring gardening, which is always a happy thing. 

First for the good news - I scheduled my surgery! The nurse called back and I assured her that I was good to lose the weight before mid-May and we scheduled it for May 19th. The deal we made was that my GP would calculate my BMI at my pre-op physical on the 11th and send it to my knee doc. I had already lost 6 pounds since starting rotating and have no doubt that I will lose 10 more pounds on time. I was very excited to resolve this and my sister booked her flights so it's all set to go. I am really looking forward to getting my other knee fixed so I can walk like a normal person.

It was a miserably cold week - the kind of damp, bone numbing cold of England in winter - so I didn't get out much. I certainly didn't get my usual grab and go lunch (can't eat that on a 900 calorie Tuesday!) and pretty much stayed in all week. By Friday I needed a break. 

Andrea gets out of work early on Fridays so I took a couple of vacation hours and we headed to Fremont. We got there early enough to hit the Habitat Restore but didn't find much. Then it was on to Goodwill, Aldi and Dollar Tree. Since I was 8 days after my 2nd shot, I was feeling pretty safe so we decided to check out the sushi restaurant. I told Andrea that I would only eat there if there weren't too many people so I was happy that the tables were far apart and there weren't many people inside. We ordered 2 different sushis and it tasted like heaven! It also felt relatively normal to be sitting inside a restaurant for the first time since last summer in Rhode Island. I'll call it my first step on the road back to normal.

I got back out into the garden on the weekend, raking the last 2 beds. The compost from the previous week had compacted enough that I could pile on the last of the leaves. And look who I found in the compost heap - Pixel! I think it's been her warm outside spot all winter and she was basking on the back of the pile where I hadn't dug in yet. Cute.

So I ended the week happy in my garden, with my surgery scheduled and having eaten out with a friend. All good. Things are looking up!

Week 14 - Some Medical Woes

One of the few things I'd done the previous weekend besides crocheting was make a list of things I needed to get done. First on that list was schedule my knee replacement, which I'd discussed timing of with my sister, who would be coming to help out afterwards. I called the doctor's office and left a message then spent lunch submitting flexible spending account receipts for 2020 as well as prepping a present to ship. Well, I didn't hear back from Nebraska Ortho on Monday, finally getting the call late on Tuesday. It did not go well.

I had seen the doctor back in November and he not only remarked that I'd gained weigh since he did my first knee but even looked it up while I was getting my x-rays in an attempt to shame me. He said I should lose some weight to help my knees and call when I wanted to schedule. Very casual. Well, when the nurse called on Tuesday, the first words out of her mouth were, "Have you lost any weight?" When I said no, she said that the doctor had a firm BMI rule and if I didn't lose some weight, they wouldn't do the surgery. WHAT? This was a complete blind side and I told the nurse as much to which she responded that the doctor didn't like having this difficult conversation with patients. OMG! So he just left me hanging? I explained that having the surgery in late May was the only thing that worked for my schedule and that I was not happy hearing this. She tried to do a quick calculation of how much I'd have to lose in 6 weeks and came up with 30 pounds. Not really possible but I looked up the BMI after I hung up and by my calculation, I only had to lose 16 pounds, which is totally doable. Still… I spent that evening ranting to Connie, which was a lovely end to a rotten day.

I wrote up an email to the doctor, pleading my case for surgery and assuring him I could lose the 16 pounds to get to his target BMI but then couldn't log into the new patient portal. I spent 2 days going back and forth with the office trying to get that resolved but gave up and sent the email to the office so they could forward it. Now the waiting begins. The nurse had said she wouldn't see the doctor until Monday so I'd done all I could do at this point.

My second vaccine was scheduled for 3:15 on Thursday so I had made plans for dinner at Anne's afterwards. My plan was to get the shot, go grocery shopping to stock up on produce and then dinner at Anne's would be my last supper before starting my diet. Andrea has given me some of my fave – her mom's potato salad – and I had made 3 bean salad so would be picking up chicken fingers for dinner. But first my shot.

Ben had called to warn me that there were lines at the vaccine location and they were outside so I went prepared to wait only to find no lines outside at all. There were some inside, which I waited in with Nancy from Engineering. Even with the internal lines, I was done in 30 minutes, including the 15 minute wait post shot. I then hit Aldi and Russ', where I was getting the chicken fingers and a few things Aldi doesn't carry. I had a nice time at Anne's and left at 8:00 when the first Backyard Farmer show of the season was over. Not a bad day and I was happy to be 2 weeks from fully safe.

OMG! I woke up Friday with side effects galore. It wasn't just my arm that was sore but my back too and there were some body aches going on. I hate calling in sick but did anyway, saying I'd see if I could work some in the afternoon. I went back to bed after I finished my coffee and that's when the chills started. With the mattress pad on high, full winter blankets, 3 cats and direct sun from the open window, I was still chilled to the bone. When I got up to pee, my teeth were chattering. I finally got out of bed after 1:00, took a scalding hot shower and got dressed. The worst of the chills were over and I sat in the sun in my back room but had mind numbing fatigue. I cannot imagine feeling like this long term if I'd gotten covid. Holy crap! I was so tired I couldn't knit! I sat like a zombie all day and went to bed early in hopes that I'd feel better on Saturday.

I woke up Saturday feeling 100%. Yay! I had big plans to get outside and start on what felt like long overdue yard work. I was outside pruning roses by late morning and drove them to the city burn pile along with the clematis brush. With that done, I started raking. First priority is always the front bed, which is the most visible, and after that was done I headed up the driveway to clear that bed then went into the backyard to start there. By the time I petered out around tea time, I had done all but the 2 furthest back beds and my compost bin for this year's debris was full. Nice. The only thing left on my weekend list of garden chores was to prep my early veg bed, which I'd do Sunday.

It was going to be even warmer on Sunday so I headed out early and prepped that bed. I sifted compost and tilled it into that bed by hand, which took the last bit of umph I had. I went inside for a shower and started laundry, which was the only chore I got done. It hit 88 degrees and was windy so was perfect for drying sheets on the line. 

What a week! I did start a rotation (my diet of choice from the 90's) on Friday and was down 6 pounds after 3 600 calorie days, which puts me with less than 10 to lose for surgery. And I had my shot so was within 2 weeks of being fully safe from Covid. My first desire is still to have lunch with Layton on Friday, April 15th but I'll have to play that by ear based on how the diet's going. That's if the doctor will schedule it before I've lost the weight. All I can do is hope and see what he says. Wish me luck.

Week 13 - My Dryer Dilemma

So remember when I mentioned in my last post that my dryer had died? Well, this week I was determined to get it fixed but before I could call the appliance guy, I had to deal with the laundry room. That required some adulting.

It was a busy work week that found me starting early on Monday because it was allocation day and I had a 9:00 demo so wanted them prepped before that. I had another demo later that day, trained 2 afternoons and was super frustrated by decisions made on high that affected me and so I had to force myself down to the basement.

But first some fun. Rene came for lunch on Wednesday to pick up some sock yarn. She was learning to knit socks and had run out of the 2nd lot of yarn I'd given her before finishing the pair. I had dug through my stash for more of that yarn and found a few other skeins to give her. I made homemade pizza and we had a lovely lunch. I celebrate all social interactions these days.

Even with that nice lunch, I was still cranky by the end of the day so forced myself downstairs. I headed down right after work and worked long enough to get the laundry room 90% done. The problem was that I hadn't put Christmas boxes back under the stairs for a couple of years so they'd become the base for a pile of crap. So slogging through that was step #1, which I did then put the Christmas stuff away. When I went back upstairs, I had the floor cleared except for one area. Finding a big spider in that corner killed my mojo so I went upstairs. I went back down Thursday after work and finished it all, including washing down my washer and dryer. I then went upstairs, took a shower, ate dinner and was at the library for book club at 7:00. How's that for adulting?

All that productivity meant that I could call the repair man to come on Friday during the day, when he could work in the basement while I was at work upstairs. But I thought I should give the dryer one more try before I called him so headed down first thing. Well, I took the knob off because it had made a funny click when the dryer had died. OMG! After all that work, it was a cracked knob! Why I didn't check that first I can't tell you but when I took it off and turned it with pliers, the dryer came right on. Oh well. At least my laundry room was done but sheesh!

I called the local hardware store, which used to be a Sears appliance store back in the day, and asked if they had any knobs. They said they had a box of them in the basement so bring the old one in and they'd see what they could find. Well if I was going to be out and about, it was time to get the Christmas trees to the city burn pile. One of them still had lights on it so I undecorated it, put the seats down in my car and loaded them up. I then dropped the knob at the hardware store, dumped the trees then went back for the knob. They did find something that'd work and only charged me $1.99. Small town living! I had to use a sharpie to mark where the arrow needed to be but it works just fine. I ended the work week online until 6:00 trying to finish something that I just wanted done. See? More adulting.

After such a productive week and facing a chilly, damp weekend, I gave myself permission to chill and pulled out some crocheting. Yup, you heard that right – crocheting. I started by making the last 50 centers for the granny square blanket that my sister had sent me centers for at Christmas. I figure it was about a 50/50 split between hers and mine and I wanted to start putting them together. I'm here to tell you it was totally addictive. I spent lots of time that weekend crocheting, stopping only long enough to do some laundry.

So in looking back, it was a good week. I should be grateful that I didn't know it was just the knob and so got my train wreck of a laundry room sorted out. It makes me happy every time I go downstairs and I'm heading into garden season so it was good to get that done now. Happy spring!