Week 47 - My Sore Thumb

My November medical stuff continued unabated and I got several other things crossed off my list plus had some fun. Same stuff different week maybe?

I had a dentist appointment on Monday morning and since I still have to take a huge dose of antibiotics before dental appointments because of my knee and not wanting a repeat of the yeast infection hell from my last appointment, I had 2 doses of diflucan ready to take - 1 with the antibiotics and the 2nd 3 days later. So I was protected for yeast infections but had digestive issues that not only lead to bad indigestion but also some funky blood test results. At least this should be my last round of antibiotics since I'll hit the 2 year mark before my next dental appointment. Unless another molar explodes but let's not go there.

My thumb was still giving me fits and by Wednesday morning, my entire had was swollen. As usual, I was packing my Wednesday with stuff so started the day with a fasting blood draw at the student health center in preparation for next week's annual physical. Immediately upon getting to my desk, I went into the patient portal and requested the earliest possible appointment to get a shot in my thumb and was thrilled when they called 10 minutes later with a cancellation at 10:45. I juggled a couple of meetings and headed there, meeting Rene in the parking lot (her gym is right next to my ortho doc's office) to hand off the birthday cake I'd made for Anne's birthday dinner scheduled for that night at Rene's. After picking up lunch at Whole Foods, I went back to the office for a full afternoon of zooms and meetings then it was on to Rene's.

Rene had recently moved into a new house and was hosting Anne's birthday dinner and giving us a tour. Her house is cute and has a great yard with raised beds already built, which was the major thing she wanted in her new yard. She made dinner and I made dessert. We chatted after dinner and despite no ingredients that would explain it, I had the worst indigestion I've ever had. I had an old tums in the car so took that when I left, took another when I got home and got up a midnight for another. I'd been so worried about getting another yeast infection that I gave zero thought to the fact that those antibiotics killed all my good gut bacteria. Luckily I was back to normal (I rarely have stomach issues) by Thursday morning. But the blood draw I'd done that morning also had a couple of odd numbers due to those darn antibiotics. Ready to be done with those!

Remember my vow to just so NO in November? Well I forgot about that and sent an email to Andrea suggesting a ridiculous itinerary for Saturday morning before our 1:00 spinning meeting in Fremont. It involved going to Omaha for Trader Joe's, a fiber event and a yarn shop all before noon so we could then drive to Fremont for 1:00. Crazy! Within hours of sending it, I realized how nuts it was and told Andrea as much. Then when Saturday arrived, I didn't even want to go to spinning. I was hemming and hawing when Andrea reminded me that spinning is not mandatory so I sent an email bowing out. But could I just relax and enjoy the newly free afternoon? Nope. 

Feeling guilty, I decided to start the spare room project, which had been my plan for Thanksgiving break. I pulled out tote after tote of yarn, pop up bins of yarn, random containers of yarn - are you seeing a pattern here? The front room was now FULL but I could see the floor and bed in the spare room so I was calling it progress. 

I did do some sorting on Sunday but only after spending a big chunk of the day on the phone and even facetiming with my Canadian friend, Eileen. We hadn't talked in ages so that was a treat. I also had chores to do (mostly laundry) and went to the cookie sale at St. Wenz to get some homemade Christmas cookies for tea next week. So not much yarn got sorted but with everything pulled into my spare room, it'd be waiting for me come Thanksgiving break. Good thing Anne and I were eating in the sunshine in the back room.

So it was another good week with another medical appointment crossed off, no yeast infection, a fixed thumb (I was able to knit a bit on Thursday night and was fully functional by Friday) and the next week was a short one. Add the start of my spare room project and I'd call it a banner week.

Week 46 - Too Much Knitting

Yes, that title is real. I actually did too much knitting and paid the price but there was plenty of fun before that.

There were a couple of fun food events. Nan hosted a Friendsgiving for the Monday Night Knitters so with pumpkin pie in hand, we headed to Fremont. The food was delish and we chatted for hours after dinner at her dining room table, not leaving until 9:45, which felt even later with the darn time change. Wednesday was a grilled cheese food day at work, which was something we'd never done (Ben's idea) and was a big hit. Our group was doing the grilled cheese (I bought the butter) but I made brownies too because I like to bake. It was all good.

I taught on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, which always makes for a fast week. I then took 2 hours of vacation on Friday afternoon to do an early Fremont run with Andrea. We had fun at our usual stops - The Restore, the new thrift shop we'd discovered on Main Street, the Estate Dispersal Store, Goodwill and Aldi. It was well worth the 2 hours of vacation time, especially because I'll be hitting maximum vacation in January so will have to take 2 days/month or stop accruing, which will NEVER happen. I might as well take some hours here and there while the weather isn't cold so I'm not taking it in the dead of winter.

With my errands all done, I was happily home all weekend. I made mixed fruit chutney, which is the key ingredient to one of my favorite sandwiches - ham, cheddar and chutney. I make a batch every other year and it's a great way to use the last of the garden tomatoes and any other fruit I have. This year I cleaned out little bags of frozen berries and used up apples along with the last couple of tomatoes and dates and raisins. Yum! On Sunday, I made a project bag for Anne's birthday with Christmas kitty fabric I'd bought especially at Missouri Star on our recent road trip. All in all, a good weekend, except for the too much knitting.

Having sorted my sock yarn leftovers a few weeks ago, I was excited to cast on some new monster socks on Thursday over lunch. The Grocery Girls (my fave knitting podcast) were live and I knitted away my lunch hour and went right back to it that night, spending hours knitting monster socks, which are my favorite kind because... using things up, which is my favorite thing. With all that knitting, my thumb started acting up. I had last had a cortisone shot in May before my Faroes trip so clearly that had worn off. I switched to crochet thinking that would use different muscles but by the end of the weekend, my entire wrist was sore. Not good. Clearly I'd need to stop knitting. Yikes! Maybe there would be another shot in my future.

So that was my week. Fun, productive and painful. Getting old is not for wimps but better than the alternative. 

Week 45 - Mammograms and Mums

Before Covid, October was my month to get all my medical stuff done but it was all delayed during the pandemic so most things moved to November. Except my mammogram.

I had scheduled it for Halloween afternoon and other than having a new tech who seemed to lack confidence, it was quick and easy. Then I got a phone call saying I needed to go back for a diagnostic mammogram. With only one option available, I cancelled a much needed haircut and took the Thursday afternoon appointment. Now I'm not a worrier but hearing you need a second mammogram does give one pause. I had trouble concentrating on work Thursday morning and had to wait a bit before they took me in that afternoon, only to have the usual tech tell me I was there for calcifications. I thought my head would explode.

I've had calcifications in my right breast for years and they've been well documented. I told the tech that and she went out to tell the radiologist but still came back to do more ouchy squishing. Yikes! The radiologist, who ended up being the sister of someone I work with, did a good job of explaining the calcifications and told me they were fine and I didn't need to come back until a year out. So, complete and utter waste of time, worry and money. I'm going to fight the charges. What's the point of having my mammogram at the same place every year if they never look at the prior ones? Useless!

Otherwise, the week was fine. I didn't do Halloween - going to knitting at the library instead since so few kids trick or treat in Wahoo anymore. I got one final walk in at the lake on Tuesday after work and went to a movie (God's Creatures - a moody Irish film) then grocery shopping after work on Wednesday. All good.

The weather was due to change and there was a chance of rain on Thursday night so I spent the week prepping to plant some of the mums I'd had for fall decorations. This entailed watering 2 spots in my beds to soften up the rock hard soil, which I did every day until I planted them on Thursday after work. We did get 1/2" of rain overnight, which is more than we've had had in ages, so they got watered in. I hope they make it through the winter.

It was cold and dreary on Friday, as forecast, so I made a cozy lunch of mac & cheese and then spent the afternoon looking up dead people in SAP. Yes, that's a thing. It was perfect Friday afternoon work and it was 5:00 before I knew it. The weekend had begun.

It was warmer on Saturday and I spent the day puttering - doing chores, knitting and giving some love to all the plants I'd hastily brought in before the freeze a few weeks ago. The clocks went back but you can't reset a cat so I was up on Sunday even earlier than the clock change warranted. Darn cats! This left me tired but I survived. I had my last mow of the year and the gutters cleaned, which meant hanging outside with Tim while his son worked. After lunch, I headed downstairs. I had to make a Christmas project bag, which I always offer as an October prize for my Socks from Stash group. I'd bought fun, vintage Santa fabric on our Missouri trip and I was pleased with how it came out. Cute, right? Then I made a pie to take to Nan's on Monday for the Friendsgiving she was hosting.

All in all, it was a good week. I'll adjust to the time change and don't really mind that it'll be dark after work. All the more reason to hunker down and get cozy. I'm ready!

Week 44 - Walking in Daylight

It was my first quiet week and I was excited to have a free weekend but before then, I had some busy evenings.

I was keenly aware that the clocks would be falling back soon so planned to take advantage of the light after work and that started Monday. I walked to the library for Monday Night Knitting and then bummed a ride home with Nan. Less than a mile but steps are steps.

Despite vowing to not make plans, I had suggested a few week before that Lorri and I go to a Nebraska Statewide Arboretum event at the new hotel on campus after work on Tuesday so we'd bought tickets. I picked Lorri up and we arrived 5 minutes before the event was to start. Not even started yet and most of the food was gone. We did manage to find seats inside the bar but clearly there were many more people than could fit inside so people spilled outside, where there were benches around fires. Unfortunatelly they opened the doors, which were right behind our table and it was cold outside. Then there was no sound system so despite being only 12 feet from the speakers, we couldn't hear. Add the $18 we paid for a glass of wine and a small beer and it was a total bust. LAME.

As usual, I made the most of my Wednesday on campus. I bought a thumb drive to backup my laptop when I did my morning Starbuck's run, had a lovely lunch with Dodie at Bison Witches, which we've declared is our new spot, and bought new slippers and cookies after we were done eating. Nice. Then I hit Super Saver for a big produce stock up after work and was home and in my jammies for Survivor. Way to maximize my on campus day.

Ben asked me to zoom at the end of the day Thursday and I got a new project for Mary, which I worked on all day Friday so the day flew by and it was time for my weekend at home. At 5:00, I head off for another walk at the lake, which was a lovely way to start my weekend.

With the whole weekend in front of me, I had endless possiblities to choose from on Saturday so, of course, I played with yarn. Cindy had given me a set of plastic drawers that had been languishing in the basement for a long time so I brought it up, gave it a good clean and sorted all my leftover sock yarn into the drawers by weight. It was a happy chore. Then I frogged (knitting lingo for ripped out) a pair of socks that wasn't working for me and immediately started another pattern with the same yarn. I worked on them on and off over the weekend and they flew off the needles. I finally watched the newest Downton Abbey movie Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The weather was dreary on Sunday so I didn't get to enjoy knitting in the sun all morning. But dreary was perfect for cooking so I got going, clearing out the fridge and making blueberry pancakes, roasted tomato sauce with some of the last produce from my garden, a loaf of bread for sandwiches, banana bread to have with tea and steak and rice for supper. 

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and just what I needed. I am looking forward to more of these in NOvember, when I will be saying NO to any social obligations so I can stay home and recharge. And with one more week before the clocks go back, I hope to get some more walks in too. It's good to have a plan. : )