Week 42 - Helen's Birthday Fun

Despite the gorgeous fall weather finally arriving, it was not an easy week. In addition to yet more training at work (4 sessions), I was stewing on something that kept me up a few nights. The absolute highlight of the week was an afternoon with Helen to celebrate her birthday.

I took Thursday afternoon off and Helen and I spent the afternoon in Omaha. We started at The Cheesecake Factory because Cake! Our table was well separated from anyone else and we talked and talked, far past when we had finished eating. The waitress was lovely and Helen made a point of telling the manager as we left, which was nice of her. After a stop at Trader Joe's, we went to a yarn shop. The best one in Omaha was closed for the day but we made do with another and both found some yarn to buy. With Starbuck's in hand, we drove back to my house for more chatting while Helen opened her presents. It was a lovely day and we need to make the effort to get together more often but life always seems to get in the way.

I was perseverating on something that had me still awake at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. I had already turned the light on and read a couple of times and finally got up and took a benadryl. I got up to let Tot out at 6:30 but it was so chilly in the house that I went back to my cozy bed and slept until 9:30! I then spent the morning on the phone, first with Carolyn who helped me think through what was bothering me, then Deanne, Lori and Dottie. It was 1:00 before I got dressed and I can't say I did much more that day. Oh well.

With my mind at ease, I fell asleep quickly on Saturday night but I woke up hot at 4:00 and never fell back asleep so got up at 5:00 and made an omelet for breakfast. It was a long wait for the sun and there was no CBS Sunday Morning so I called Ginny early and then headed to Omaha to Lori's. We were going to have lunch and knit on her patio. We had a lovely time, joined by one of the neighborhood girls she had recently taught to knit. Lori needed to leave for yoga at 3:00 so I dropped donations at Goodwill then grocery shopped. It was another nice afternoon, which I needed badly.

So I ended the week with my mind more at ease and looking forward to enjoying the fall weather. Here's a happy autumn picture from my deck. The bright woodbine is a volunteer that I think I'll let grow for its lovely fall color. But more important is the English ivy that has finally taken off. This was my third attempt to transplant ivy from the house I grew up in in Rhode Island, which originally came from my dad's parent's house in Providence. I had planted some when I first bought my house but ChemLawn came to the wrong house and killed it with what they sprayed. I'd tried again a few years later but it didn't survive. Third time lucky! I think this is the 4th year from when I planted it and it's finally thriving, which makes me happy. I'll take it. Now to see if I can encourage it to grow on the railings instead of across the floor. : )

Week 41 - Campus and Covid

After a super productive weekend, I was ready for a good week ahead. Hmmm....

I should have been suspicious when one of the regular, as in comes every week, knitters didn't show up on Monday. I'd seen her on Saturday and she hadn't mentioned anything and when I called her from the library she didn't answer. I emailed later and she responded Tuesday morning to say she had woken up with a cold and didn't want to share germs. OK. After teaching a rare morning class, I had lunch in the park with Lorri at lunch and didn't give it much thought.

I was working a full day on campus on Wednesday, not because I needed to but because I had errands to run. I had made plans to eat lunch on a bench with Dodie and somehow offered to bring my regular grab and go from Mocha C's for both of us. So not only did I have to set an alarm, get dressed, make up my thermos and be out the door by 7:15 but now I had to pick up lunch, which I ordered at 7:00 when they opened and picked up before heading to Lincoln. I was at the Library Commission just before opening (had to knock on the door) to drop the book club books and was at my desk just after 8:00. Not bad.

I have to say that despite enjoying lunch with Dodie and going to the Union Starbuck's with Lana that afternoon, absolutely nothing made it worth the effort of going to Lincoln to work. I'm expected to go back every Wednesday as soon as our new office is ready - probably early November. I am NOT looking forward to it at all but guess I will have to suck it up and cope. Oh well..

I trained on Thursday afternoon (my 4th class in 2 weeks - where are all these new employees coming from?) and it was over capacity but I was hoping to get out early enough to head to Fremont to get a Covid booster. I did get out on time, registered online and headed north. I picked up a few groceries, got my shot and used the $10 gift card (totally unnecessary considering it's my 3rd shot so I didn't need the bribe) toward my groceries. I was feeling pretty good and hoping for no side effects but it I had them, it would be on sick time on Friday. Ha!

I heard from my friend on Friday that it wasn't a cold but rather Covid AND SHE HAD BEEN IN MY HOUSE ON SATURDAY!!!!! I looked it up and the 48 hours before symptom onset is when someone's most contagious, which is when she was in my house. I started freaking out, not for myself but worried that if I had an asymptomatic breakthrough case, I might have passed it on to my 80+ year old friend I'd had lunch with on Tuesday. Or my younger but just as dear to me friend who I had lunch with on Wednesday. I called my doctor's office to find out where I could get tested, put in sick leave and drove to Lincoln, where I got a test in a tent behind the mall. I drove through Panera for my favorite salad (had to get something good out of my 3rd trip out of town in as many days) and went home to wait for results.

I had no plans for the weekend so hunkered down and did a tiny bit of cleaning and lots of cooking. I made bread pudding, banana bread and roasted tomatoes from Connie's garden to make red sauce, which was a first for me since I never get enough tomatoes from my garden. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I got my results - Negative! I was so relieved. Even as vaccinated as I can possibly be, I'm still scared of Covid. I drove some of my cooking over to my Covid cootie friend, dropping them at her door and running.

Now I was free to leave the house but did I? Nope. I spent Sunday morning on the phone, did some chores and started cooking again. This time was egg roll in a bowl, an apple pie using mostly the apples Nan had given me from her friend's tree (mystery variety) to take to knitting and a small quiche with the extra pie dough. I had to stretch a single crust recipe to get the extra crust for quiche because I was out of flour. And when I called my friend Lorri to ask when she was going to CostCo again (she gets me the 12.5 pound bag of King Arthur unbleached a couple of times a year), she told me that she had gone to the mall in Lincoln a few hours before me on Friday getting a Covid test herself (nothing to do with lunch with me) and she was negative too. Happiness all around.

So it was not as relaxing and normal week as I'd hoped for but I made it through and there's another week coming. I have high hopes for this one. : )

Week 40 - Driving and Home

 I was up and out the door before 7:00 on Monday and despite gas in the Black Hills being 50 cents more per gallon than farther east, I filled up in Sturgis and headed out. After getting past Rapid City, it was clear sailing and a completely deserted highway. I stopped at every single rest stop to pee but otherwise didn't stop until Mitchell, which is halfway home. I bought a pumpkin at the Salvation Army thrift shop, got a frapuccino at Starbuck's and settled in for the long second half. I had intended to stop in Sioux Falls but I-29 south bypasses the city so I ended up in a tiny town mid-afternoon getting BK because it's all there was. I got to Fremont around 5:00, hit Aldi for a few groceries and was home in time for supper. I must be getting old though because I was absolutely exhausted. Sleeping on an air mattress at Connie's might have had something to do with that though. I didn't have the energy to get back in the car to go to knitting so just unpacked and ate dinner.

Tuesday was back to the grind and I had a full training class that afternoon so had barely gotten caught up before I was teaching. I had a couple of zooms on Wednesday and taught again on Thursday then Friday was the first of the month so was full with deans reports. Talk about a week that flew by!

Book club was Thursday night and there was a bit of a snafu getting the books. I had planned to work on campus Wednesday but that didn't happen so I tried to find someone to pick them up but ended up arranging to have someone who lives in Wahoo but works at the Library Commission bring them. Then he forgot them on Wednesday but they arrived just before we met at 7:00 on Thursday. We discussed The Authenticity Project, which I had read in May. I liked it and we had a good discussion. 

I had nothing planned for the weekend, which was just what I needed. By Saturday afternoon, I was ready for a project. I had recently found the list I made when they first sent us home to flatten the curve, when I thought we'd be back to work in 6 weeks. Despite it being 1.5 years since then, most of the list was not done. 

The thing I decided to tackle was the cupboards under the bar. They had been badly organized since I bought my house 22 years ago. I pulled everything out and culled a bunch of stuff I never use. In the middle of all this, a friend stopped by and came into my house, which is a rarity these days since I don't have people over. The kitchen was a wreck with piles of stuff on every surface and on the floor. She took a few things that were destined for donation and left, after which I put everything back in better order. Now the things I use most are on the top shelf. Yay!

When I was done with that project, I did something I haven't done in ages. It was only possible because I was reading an actual book instead of on my iPad. I made a cup of tea and sat on the deck and read. It was SO enjoyable and I was reading a great book that my cousin recommended - The Rose Code about code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II. Between the gorgeous weather, the tea and a great book, I was so happy. What a lovely day!

I was up early on Sunday and had all my chores done early. I had a few errands to run in town and then ran to Colon, a town 6 miles north of Wahoo, for their annual roast beef dinner. It was $15, which was up from 2 years ago but I get 2 big meals out of it and it's a fundraiser so.... I was back home and eating lunch by 11:30 so decided I should keep going on cupboards. I started with the cupboard above the bar, which has glass on one side. I culled bunches from that too and rearranged it so my pretty china is showing nicely through the glass. With that done, I decided to get out my step stool and do the way high up cupboards, which were chock full of crap. Most of that went into the donation boxes and I ended up with some empty cupboards. It felt great to slog though it all.

So after starting with a LONG day of driving, I had a quick work week and a super productive weekend. Now if I can keep the productivity going. I hope so. The cooler weather is an inspiration so at least that's going for me. : )

Week 39 - South Dakota Bound

I was leaving for my annual visit to Connie's on Friday so the week flew by. Beside making lists and getting little things done here and there during the week, Wednesday was the bright spot.

I got a call from Lori that she would be in town for a hair appointment so we made plans for a late lunch and I ran to get our regular Chinese food - broccoli and rice - because Lori's a vegan. It was a quick lunch on the deck but nice none the less. Then I had a professional development zoom with Paul of Ripples fame at 2:00. I always look forward to those. Then it was back to my to do list after work. I finished everything up Thursday and was ready to go.

I was taking a different route to Connie's just to mix it up. I was going via Wayne because I wanted to hit Thrift Warehouse, which Andrea and I have shopped at before. Alas, I didn't buy a thing and the other thrift shop in town was gone, replaced by a shop full of things with words - mugs, wall hangings, etc. Blech! After failing in Wayne, I failed thrifting again in Yankton, which has a nice downtown that I'd like to explore sometime. Then it was on to Mitchell, where I got Starbuck's before hitting I-90 for an 80 mph blast across South Dakota. I stopped at the river town of Chamberlain to get gas and hit a thrift shop, where I finally found something - yarn from New Hampshire and a couple of nice masks.

I was at Connie's by 5:30, which wasn't bad since I'd stopped so many times along the way. Connie made pasta for supper with sauce from her home grown tomatoes and we spent the evening chatting and catching up.

Connie had to give a presentation at Custer State Park (the other side of the hills from where she lives) at 1:00 on Saturday so we had protein for breakfast and then headed east. We stopped in Rapid City for some shoe shopping (Connie found some cute ones on clearance) and the we stopped at Starbuck's for her free birthday drink. That didn't go well. There was a huge line at the drive thru so we went inside. My drink came right away but Connie's didn't and after waiting as long as we could and getting zero satisfaction from the barista who said they had to prioritize the drive thru and not even her birthday would get it made sooner, we left without Connie's latte. Lame!

Her presentation was in a tent and did I mention it was 90+ degrees? There were only 4 people there so I sat at the entrance where there was a little breeze and knitted while she talked. We attempted to do the art festival at the park but it was just too hot and all western stuff (it was the governor's buffalo round up event after all) so we headed to Hill City and grabbed a burger in a little cafe because we were pretty hungry by that point. We went into a couple of shops but found nothing and then headed home via Needles Highway, which winds through the southern hills and is gorgeous. That night we watched Come From Away on Apple TV and I absolutely LOVED it. It's exactly the kind of musical I like and I'd put it up there with A Chorus Line. Now I want to see the play live.

Our plan on Sunday was to drive up Spearfish Canyon - one of my happy places - and go wading at Roughlock Falls - definitely one of my all time favorite things. The canyon was gorgeous, as always, but the falls was packed. We couldn't find parking and Connie wasn't willing to wait a minute for the people who were leaving so no wading for me. I was not happy with her impatience and had to talk myself out of a pissy mood. We then went to Cheyenne Crossing, a cute little restaurant at the top of the canyon, which was packed to the gills. I put our name in and we were about to give up when the hostess asked if we'd be willing to share the big table with 2 other parties of 2. We've had good luck with this in the past so happily agreed and had some good conversations over our lunch, which was breakfast for all of us.

After lunch, we went to Lead for a bit of shopping (I found these fun Scandinavian fabric panels - love them!) and then to Chubby Chipmunk for truffles. I was getting a big box for Cindy (she'd put in an order), a couple for Andrea as a thank you for feeding my cats and of course some for me. 

Connie had thawed rib eyes so went home for dinner and Hamilton. The steak was not the best and then I absolutely hated Hamilton. It's exactly the kind of musical I abhor - all singing with no spoken words. Phantom, Les Miz and now Hamilton. Ick! Thankfully we stopped watching it and then started Hacks with Jean Smart, who just won an emmy for it. It was so good that we stayed up late and binged the entire series. Watch it if you have HBO.

It was a late night since Connie had to work the next day and I like to get an early start since I lose an hour driving back. And since she had to be zoom ready at 7:00, I packed and got as ready to leave as I could before bed. It was a fun weekend but I wasn't looking forward to the drive home. Oh well. That's what happens when your friend moves 500 miles away. Worth the effort for sure.

Week 38 - The Big Itch

I woke up Monday morning with itchy legs. I chalked it up to having weeded in a dress on Sunday, put on some lotion and didn't give it another thought. That was not going to be the case later in the week.

I woke up Tuesday with itchy legs again and this time I had to do lotion and hydrocortisone, which was WAY out of date. It was pretty itchy and was further up my legs so I called and made an appointment with the only doc who had an opening. Of course by the time I got there at 1:30, the rash was 95% gone but at least I scored some of the Rx cream I used to put on my eczema - with refills. He told me to keep taking benadryl at night, which I'd been doing to help me sleep anyway. 

I woke up Wednesday with no sign of the rash and went along with my work day. When I went to bed that night, it didn't even dawn on me to take a benadryl. OMG! I woke up Thursday with not only out of control itch but big, red welts all the way up my legs. The itch was CRAZY so I called in sick, took a benadryl and went to bed. I woke up before lunch and the rash was completely gone. What? I worked that afternoon and did a quick Omaha run after work to pick up fan parts (I'd broken a ceiling fan blade trying to kill a mosquito with a broom) and some groceries at Aldi. I absolutely took a benadryl that night and continued to for the rest of the week. Sheesh!

I was going away the following weekend so spent this weekend at home cleaning, cooking and getting ready to be gone. The garbage disposal I'd ordered from Amazon had come and now I needed my fan worked on so called Ed to ask him to think of fitting me in sometime soon. The weekend was not only productive but I spent a chunk of time on the phone with friends. All good. I had a 4 day work week coming up and then fun with Connie so it was good to be caught up. And no more rash after Thursday's flare up. I'll call that a good end to a weird week. 

Since I don't have any other pics for the week, here's a pair of socks that I finished. I mostly worked on them during zoom meetings. They're orange so of course are for me. Perfect for fall. If it will only get here!