Week 23 - Heading to Europe

The week of my trip was here but I wasn't leaving until Saturday. Good thing it was a short week.

I had made plans to take bagels to Lori's for breakfast on Monday and we had a lovely morning of knitting in her beautiful yard. She had afternoon plans so I hit Aldi and then headed home to plant the last few straggler plants in my veg beds. With those in the ground, I really was done with my planting and it had been a lovely Memorial Day.

The work week flew by - I trained on Tuesday, got a cortisone shot first thing on Wednesday, thrifted at lunch and Ed fixed the dishwasher while I was at work. I had been piling clothes on my dresser all week and did my last load of laundry on Friday, drying it at Andrea's when I went to feed her cat since she was at a retreat. I finished packing Friday night, leaving on a few things to add to my bags on Saturday morning. I was ready to go!

I was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and went to feed Andrea's cat at 6:30 in the morning. I finished packing and had time to relax before Heidi picked me up to take me to the airport. I met Anne and we were on our way! Our flights were uneventful and we ate dinner in Toronto before catching our last flight of the day - the overnight to Edinburgh. As of the day before, we still had an empty seat between us but got onto the flight and a man who had come from Lincoln was in between us. Anne moved to the middle and we settled in. I took a benadryl and was asleep right after dinner, getting the best sleep I've ever had on an overnight to Europe. We woke up in Edinburgh. Yay!

We took a cab to the hotel, dropped our bags and then took the train (we bought the wrong tickets so it was the real train instead of the tram and we had to wait a bit while trams went every 10 minutes). We got lunch at the pub in Grassmarket, which was right across from the hotel we stayed in on our last trip. From there we walked to a small yarn shop, waiting on the step for them to open and then finding some nice locally dyed sock yarn. We were starting to flag at this point so took a cab over to Princes Street looking for the Cath Kidston store, which had closed but we hit Lakeland, got Starbuck's and headed to the gardens. There was a big screen showing a Jubilee parade and there were lots of people. After enjoying some time knitting on a bench, we went to Marks & Spencers for some triangle sandwiches for supper and headed back to the hotel for a picnic.

We were spent and had walked 14,000 steps but had had a nice day in Edinburgh before we'd meet up with the tour on Monday. I'd call that an auspicious start to the trip with more fun to come.

Week 22 - Drip and Disposal

It was my last full week before my trip and after powering through my gardening, I finished planting the last of my flowers over lunch on Monday so crossed that off my list. My plan to have my gardening done early so I could enjoy Memorial Day weekend was well in hand.

We had the UNL All Staff Conference so I was going to campus on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Of course, just before I left for work, I found a drip under the bathroom sink so madly emptied under the sink, put a pan under it and headed to work. The conference was good and I called Ed when I went back for lunch. He came to my rescue, as usual, and said he'd head over to check out the drip and install my garbage disposal too. When I got home, the sink was fixed and I tried the dishwasher, which seemed to work great. Then the phone rang and it was Ed calling from the farm store where he was buying parts for the garbage disposal. Oops! He came back and finished the piping then we chatted in the driveway until 9:00. He's such a peach.

I worked from home on Wednesday and did a couple of the morning sessions of the last day of the conference via zoom. I had my monthly Ripples zoom that afternoon and settled in for the 3 hour Survivor finale, setting the dishwasher to run overnight before heading to bed.

Well, I got up Thursday monring to find a mire of icky water in the bottom of the dishwasher. Clearly it wasn't draining. Ed called to check in that night from Missouri where he was on vacation and I told him the news, suggesting that maybe he hadn't punched through the plug on the side of the disposal before attaching the dishwasher hose. That's exactly what he'd done. I bailed the nasty water and started washing the dishes - my least favorite chore. Oh well. Ed would be back before my trip to fix it at least.

Since I hadn't gotten my grab and go on Tuesday, I called it in on Friday and headed out for errands - the bank, Warehouse Surplus, Mocha C's and the Senior Center thrift, which I rarely go to. I did a quick buzz through and saw Andrea as I was checking out. I found a few things but got a call an hour later from Andrea, who was still shopping and had found me a few things that I'd missed, including a brand new pair of wool clogs that perfectly match the sweater I was packing for my trip. Would wool clogs be too out of season in June? I'd have to consider whether I'd pack them but if not, they'll be great for next winter.

I got news that we could stop work at 3:00 for an early start of the holiday weekend. Yay! It was going to be the last cool night before summer so I called Andrea and invited her for a fire in the driveway. We didn't need the warmth but it was fun and a nice start to the weekend.

The weekend was a blur with some cooking, planning for packing, spending more time choosing yarn than clothes, and chores. I wasn't stressed about the trip and had gotten my gardening done so had the relaxing weekend I'd hoped for and I had plans for Monday. Nice.