Week 30 - Yarn and Ribbons

The week started with a big rain storm at 4:30 Monday morning (yes, I had more water in the basement but not as much as last time) and it went downhill from there. By the end of the week the actual temp was hovering around 100 with the feels like temp of 113 on Friday. Have a mentioned how much I hate summer in Nebraska? But there were some high points despite the weather. 

I dropped my fair entries off before knitting on Monday. I had the colorwork hat, 4 pairs of socks (there's a limit of 5 small knitted things) and a sewn project bag to fill the 6th tag on the entry form. I went to check ribbons right after work on Tuesday and I'd missed best in county by 1, getting reserve best of county. Bummer but I'll keep trying and have already decided on my show stopper for next year.

I was on campus Wednesday as usual and did my regular thrifting at lunch. There's a shop I rarely go to because they rarely have yarn. It's called Cause for Paws and, you guessed it, benefits animal charities, which is close to my heart. I was driving by and pulled in on a whim and totally scored tons of good quality yarn. They had a a huge basket up front loaded with yarn and I went through every skein. I got hundreds of dollars of yarn for on $1.99/skein. Score! And when I got home, the box of sock yarn that I'd bought from Facebook Marketplace was there so it was a crazy yarn day, which is the best kind of day. The picture is of the unlabeled sock yarn, which I bleach tested to make sure they had nylon, which they all did. Oh the socks I will knit!

I got a fiscal year end reprieve so didn't have to work on campus on Thursday. I had planned to go to a movie after work with Tammie but cancelled that, which ended up being a good thing because Tammie spent the afternoon at the dentist and was under the weather from that. I was busy all day prepping reports for closing meetings and spent the entire evening stashing my yarn on Ravelry, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After a frustrating Friday that started with my internet being down (Windstream fixed it when I called) and continued with computer problems on and off all day, I ended the day with a zoom call that went until 5:30 and then I had to work until 6:00 to follow up from the zoom. There was definitely a beer when I was finally done.

Saturday was a total veg day and other than talking to Carolyn, I did nothing but hole up inside. We did get some rain and the temp dropped to the mid 80's so that was a treat. I was perusing Facebook Marketplace and found a bunch of acrylic yarn for my sister that was cheap and in Omaha. I messaged the woman, who ended up living right near my friend Lori so I called and invited myself to her house to knit on her patio. Sunday was all set before bedtime.

After my favorite CBS Sunday Morning and some knitting, I headed to the fairgrounds to pick up my entries. I went through the BK drive thru and ate on my way to Omaha. The woman sold me a ginormous tote of yarn and 2 big garbage bags so my backseat was jammed full. I then went to Lori's and we went through the yarn quickly before sitting down to knit. She took some bright skeins for the neighbor girls she'd taught to knit. We had a lovely afternoon on her back patio, watching storm clouds pile up to the west as we knitted. I drove through torrential rain on the way home but it didn't last long.

So what a fun, yarn filled week! The first week of closing meetings always flies by and since this is my 21st fiscal year end, it's not as stressful as in early years. Since I only have one more year end before I retire, I did some extra documenting. And the rain was a nice bonus. By end of the week, we were no longer in extreme drought but only severe. Hopefully the rain will keep coming.

Week 29 - Happy with Socializing

This week had some social events that I was more than ready for after the previous week being so quiet. 

We had rain on Monday morning and then again on Tuesday. Having been in extreme drought for so long, it feels special every time it rains. And 2 days in a row! Such excitement.

We had knitting on Monday night and I worked on socks, as usual. I was slamming on my colorwork hat so I could get it prepped to enter in the county fair but I have to concentrate so that isn't for social knitting. This hat is gorgeous, if I do say myself, and I was hoping it might get best of county, which I've never won. I spent evenings working the charts and finally got it done on the weekend.

As usual, I worked on campus on Wednesday and swam afterwards. I took Dodie for a late birthday lunch at Green Gateau, which was delish. I didn't swim on Thursday because I had book club and then I was done for the week.

I had one use or lose vacation day to use so had scheduled an Omaha day with my cousin Helen. She was having work done on her car so I met her at the shop and then we went out for breakfast at our new favorite place. From there we went yarn shopping at Imagiknit, which is always fun (I bought sock yarn, of course) then we did some thrifting. We went to New Life Thrift, which is way east in Omaha and used to be one of my favorite thrift shops. We didn't get much at all but it was fun. After I dropped Helen back at the repair shop, I was tired but forced myself to hit Aldi and get gas on my way out of town. I dug in on my hat when I got home and finished it Saturday morning. I blocked it twice to get the brim to stop rolling but was very pleased with the finished product.

Sunday was the long awaited Oppenheimer. We had tickets for early afternoon and were going to swim beforehand. It was hot swimming at noon and I got quite a bit of sun. From there we ate lunch on a bench on campus and then went to the movie. We'd sprung for the ultra theatre and it was great. The sound system was like old Dolby so you could feel the sound in your chest. Love that! It was a good movie and I went food shopping at HyVee, getting all the things Aldi doesn't carry, on the way home. I settled in for a night of PBS and called the week done.

So it was good week with some cousin fun and a good movie. I finished my hat and it was ready for the fair (drop off is Monday night). Fiscal year end closing meetings would start next week so it was good to end on a high note. All good.

Week 28 - A Quiet Week

It was a very quiet week, which worked for me. Lots of same old same old but with kittens. : )

Knitting was cancelled on Monday night because most everyone was busy. I wasn't too bothered because I had a library board meeting so would be there Tuesday night. With swimming on Wednesday and Thursday, that was plenty of evening stuff.

I had lunch with Cindy Harris from the Law College on Wednesday. The invite was meant for Cindy Miesbach but when Cindy Harris accepted, I went with it. We had done water aerobics together for years so it was good to catch up at YiaYia's over pizza. Thursday was my 2nd campus day so I made the most of it and thrifted with Cindy at lunch and then we got ice cream at the dairy store on East Campus. I reluctantly swam, guilted into it by Anne. At least the next day was Friday.

We had a big rain storm first thing Friday and I got some water in my basement but it was otherwise uneventful and the weekend was here. We had Christmas in July for spinning so I wrapped a pair of socks and made spam buns, inspired by some foot long hotdog rolls I got at The Warehouse, and Andrea and I headed to Fremont. Our lunch was fun and then we hit the Estate Dispersal Store (bought nothing) then Goodwill and Aldi. 

The highlight of the week was Anne coming up on Sunday for kitten play time. She had fun taking pics of the cuties. Becky had sent a Chewy package with the litter I needed but included some new toys too. I've included a video of them playing with the 3 tier green ball toy. If the kittens were awake, the sounds was constant.

So an easy and quiet week with the calm before the fiscal year end storm at work and lots of fun with the kittens. Good times.