Week 8 - Exploring with Rene

What a fabulous week! It was just fun on top of fun and some productivity too.

The week started with another day off, using up more February vacation time. I met Rene in Lincoln at 9:00 and we headed to Hastings, which is 100 miles west of Lincoln and has a cute downtown with a yarn shop. The yarn shop was Rene's request but I enjoyed it too. We took I-80 to Hastings and our first stop was Plum Nelly - said yarn shop. We had fun shopping for yarn and then meandered down the main drag. We both bought shoes and then split a burger for lunch before heading to Special Scoops for ice cream. After driving through the lovely campus of Hastings College, we headed back towards home but on Route 6. We went through every small town along the route to check them out, reading every historic marker we found. My favorite was the cool abandoned high school in Grafton. It was a fun day and we have more of them planned since I'm at max vacation and have to take 2 days/month and Rene's retired so has all the time in the world.

I was only gone one day but it took me most of the morning on Tuesday to catch up and then I taught a reporting class after lunch and had a meeting after that. That day was toast! The best part was Wednesday was cancelled for on campus working because there was more weather coming, which it did. It just looked gloomy out but the mist was freezing and you couldn't even see it until your feet were slipping and sliding. I was happy to be safe at home but a contentious meeting that afternoon left me tense and shaking. I had a Ripples zoom at 6:00 though, which improved my mood. My back was twinging at this point (stress related maybe?) but I made some chocolate bread pudding with dried cherries and settled in for an evening of knitting.

We had 1/2" of snow overnight, which provided some traction, and Thursday was brutally cold - 14 degrees but the wind chill was below zero. Luckily I had a retirement seminar all morning which ran over so I only had a 5 minute break before a zoom at 1:00. I did so much knitting between the night before and the morning seminar that my hands were hurting along with my back. What a mess! I tried to get a prescription for muscle relaxants on Friday morning but they wanted me to come in but had no appointments. Sheesh! I think it may have been too much sitting because as soon as noon hit on Friday and I got out of my chair, my back started to ease up.

I took Friday afternoon off and was heading to Waverly to pick up the potting bench I'd had made for my backyard by a little old man I found on Facebook Marketplace. Cindy had picked it up for me and in exchange for paying the final amount owed, I bought her a bunch of bacon at the Wahoo Locker and picked up Chinese food for lunch. We had a lovely chat, loaded up the table and then I hit every thrift shop in Lincoln before getting to Anne's at 4:30. We were doing another fire and movie night - this time with fish fry from the Catholic cathedral in Anne's neighborhood. With my hands still sore, I spent the evening ripping out projects and untangling some yarn I'd found at Goodwill while watching Sharper on Apple TV, which was good. We need to do a few more of these fire and movie nights after Anne gets back from Africa and before the weather warms up.

With my social fun done on Friday, I was home all weekend, which is always a joy. I spent Saturday morning knitting in the sun and chatting with friends then puttered all afternoon, getting most of my inside chores done. I got my butt in gear Sunday and before lunch had gone to the farm store for birdseed, dropped donations in a drop box and taken my Christmas trees to the city burn pile. After BK for lunch, I spent an hour vacuuming every nook and cranny in my car, which I've never done. With the weather still holding, I put up an Easter flag and got out my hot glue gun and decorated an Easter wreath for the front door. The temp dropped just as I was finishing outside. Perfect.

So nice week, right? I had used my February vacation time well and had lots of fun with friends. I got plenty of stuff done and by Saturday morning, my back was fine. Here's hoping the exploring to use vacation time keeps being as fun. Spring is coming!

Week 7 - More Yoyo Weather

It was another week with weather all over the place but there was no drama (compared to last week) and I had fun on the weekend. I'll take it.

I started my work week with Foundation reports, which take most of a day and I have lots to show when I'm done. Love that! It was also 61 degrees. On February 13th! It was so nice that I walked to knitting, knowing I'd have plenty of people willing to drive me home. It's good to have friends and knitting friends are the best kind.

I woke up to rain on Tuesday, which was an absolute treat. I can count on one hand the times it has rained since last May and it was so nice to hear the rain on the roof that I stayed in bed and read until 7:00, which felt downright decadent. I had a busy morning at work and then took the last 2 hours off because I had vacation to burn and just didn't want to start anything that late. How nice is that! I could get used to having to take 2 days of vacation/month.

The phone rang at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning just as I was heading to get dressed. It was my boss saying that I didn't need to come in because I'd be all alone again and there was snow in the forecast for the afternoon. I found someone to feed my campus cats and happily stayed home. 

The afternoon snow didn't materialize but we got plenty of snow overnight and it was still snowing full bore Thursday morning and wasn't due to stop until the afternoon. Schools everywhere were closed but UNL didn't announce their closure until 8:07. Some people were already on campus and my friend had staff stranding halfway in. Crazy! That was not cool at all. Now when they cancel classes and close campus, those of us who are working at home are supposed to still work while everyone else gets a snow day. I was at my computer all day to answer emails and get a bit done but didn't work very hard. Tim and his sons came and did my driveway in the afternoon. I measured 8" on my deck. I had meetings all afternoon on Friday so the work week was over quickly and I had fun plans on Saturday. 

My favorite yarn shop in Omaha gives a birthday discount so Andrea and I were going to Omaha early to hit Imagiknit, where I bought just a single skein of sock yarn and a mini, and have lunch at the British store - Chippy's - before spinning. After eating sausage rolls and cheese/onion pasties for lunch, we still had time to hit the big St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop in the same plaza, where I found a few treasures and some big bags of yarn. Yay! Then it was on to our rug hooking program at Rhonda's house with the spinners. Despite vowing not to, I started a rug hooking project but it's just a little mug rug. We'll see if I ever finish it. It was a fun day and even with a stop at Aldi on the way out of town, we were home by 6:00.

So I'd call that a nice week and I had a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday. While the snow had already melted a lot, I still had some to trudge through to hang my sheets on the line. So worth it for the fresh smell! And in searching for a specific knitting needle, I ended up going through all the knitting stored in my coffee table and finished a crocheted rug I'd started years ago. Even though it'll just be for cats to sleep on, it's always good to finish something and I like it. What a nice end to a nice week. : )

Week 6 - Sad Yarn Story

The week started well but by Friday I was in tears. And all over yarn.

I was presenting at the business users group so spent Monday prepping for that, presented Tuesday morning and then spent Tuesday afternoon answering emails from users on what I presented. Then it was Wednesday on campus but I was all alone because Brook was out with his bum knee and Cindy was still in Arkansas. I made a point of asking my boss why I was in sitting all alone and I think he got my point. Regardless, work was uneventful, which was the best part of the week.

Back in October, I had dropped a fleece at The Fiber Mill in Stromsburg to be spun into sock yarn. This was a fleece I'd been gifted by a programmer I used to work with and I'd had it in my basement for years. I was super excited to pick it up and had scheduled that for Saturday with Anne and Rene as yet another birthday celebration, which had been delayed a week when the mill had some issues. I had emailed the owner to get the final amount owed and she got back to me Friday morning with an amount and said, as if it was no biggie, that she'd forgotten to mix in the nylon. I  immediately saw red because without nylon, it's useless for socks and what do I knit 95% of the time? Socks. From incredulous to mad to sad and then the tears started. 

She offered to replace it with some of her yarn with nylon but I had an emotional attachment to this fleece and had invested not only money but time cleaning it before I dropped it off. I told her I didn't want her yarn because I have plenty of yarn. I wanted that yarn. I told her I'd get back to her and spent the morning in tears. Clearly we would not be going on our mini road trip to pick it up either so that screwed up my Saturday.

I stopped crying before my space survey meeting after lunch and at 2:30 I left to pick up Andrea for our monthly Fremont run. It was the Estate Dispersal Store weekend but we also did all our usual stops too. Andrea was taking me out for supper for my birthday (would the celebrating ever end?) and blew me away when she said she'd already eaten meat "by mistake" so was OK with burgers, tots and beer at Todd's in Cedar Bluffs. It was a nice end to a trying day.

So with the Stromsburg trip not happening, we'd rescheduled to dinner and a movie in front of the fire at Anne's Saturday night. With my morning free, I spent it talking to friends and knitting in the sun. I was still in my nightie at 3:00 so showered, got dressed and headed to Lincoln. I'd requested BBQ from Texas Roadhouse so Rene picked that up and we had a nice night eating, knitting and watching a movie (The Banker - very good) in front of the fire. Both Anne and Rene gave me sock yarn for my birthday, which is always fun. For a back up plan, it has worked out just fine.

Sunday was my normal day of knitting in the sun all morning then puttering and getting chores done in the afternoon. There was still no resolution on the yarn and I was frankly avoiding it but the consensus from everyone I told about it was that I should get the yarn and a full refund. I think I'd be fine with the yarn and no additional money but that will require me to present that option. I'm in no rush to have that discussion though so it may wait. Next week has got to be better, right?

Week 5 - My Birthday Week

The start of the week wasn't great but it all turned around on Wednesday with a new month and my birthday.

It was brutally cold on Monday but I went out for my grab and go anyway but that was the last I went out that day. Andrea and I were the only two going to knitting so we opted to stay home and cozy. Carolyn's mom's funeral was Tuesday morning and I took funeral leave to watch via zoom and then I taught that afternoon.

Also on the work front, our alternate work arrangement requests to continue going to campus only one day a week were all denied and we were told to put them in again for 2 days/week, which is still short of the 50% time Central has mandated. now we wait and hope that that gets approved.

Wednesday was a new day and I started with a free mocha at Starbuck's for my birthday and took muddy buddies (aka puppy chow in the midwest) to work as my birthday treat (I hate that I have to feed everyone else on my birthday but played along). I was so distracted by all the birthday wishes that I almost forgot it was the 1st of the month and so got a late start on my monthly reports, which had problems so took most of the day. Brook was out but Ben, Cindy and I went to Honest Abe's for burgers and truffle tots (yum!) and after work, I met Dodie at Costco for shopping, pizza and ice cream. It was a nice birthday.

Helen surprised me on Thursday with a baguette and my favorite cheese and pate. Such a thoughtful gift! Then we went to lunch on Friday at the cafe down at the sale barn. My lunch was yummy (I took half of it home) and we chatted until I had to get back to work for a space meeting, which was a disaster. The programmer had made none of the changes for the upcoming space survey, despite having the logic forever. I ended the day zooming with Cindy to prep for the user group meeting on Tuesday. Like that the work week was over, which is always a pleasure.

Anne, Rene and I were supposed to be going to Stromsburg on Saturday but the wool I'd dropped off in the fall wasn't going to be ready so we pushed it out a week, which meant I was free as a bird for the whole weekend. Lovely. It was gorgeous on Saturday and nearly 50 degrees. I tromped through the snow to hang laundry on the line, chatted with Carolyn and my sister and streamed an entire series - The One on Netflix. I made yummy dinner and went to bed early to read. It was a fabulous day, especially for February.

The weather was just as nice on Sunday and when Lorri didn't stop by after church, I went to her house in the afternoon to drop off the mittens I'd finished mending for her that morning. We chatted on her deck in the sun. I spent the afternoon knitting and catching up on some TV and podcasts then made a yummy dinner and watched PBS all night while knitting.

What a nice week it turned out to be and the weekend at home was the icing on the cake. Speaking of cake, I never did get any birthday cake. I'll have to remedy that in the coming week. With Stromsburg being delayed, I guess I'll just keep celebrating. Nice. Here's a picture of the cute present Darla send via Amazon. It's supposed to be coasters but I'll just enjoy it with my yarn on the Ikea.