Week 44 - Halloween and Stress

It was a relatively quiet week with lots of data crunching at work followed with a productive weekend but my stress level was creeping up with every passing day.

We started the week buying plane tickets to fly from Helsinki to Riga. Why you ask? Because after pretty much demanding a detailed itinerary from our tour company because our trip had been taken off the website and I needed to know when we were getting back to London so I could book a hotel, I saw why it had been taken down. When they finally sent one, it was with an apology and a 100 pound refund because they'd screwed up. This is a knitting and Christmas markets tour in Latvia and Estonia but they'd scheduled the trip before one of the markets started so had to flip the cities and we'd only be doing one market instead of two. I wasn't too upset about missing a market but we were flying into Helsinki and taking a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn but now the trip was starting in Riga. You can't take a ferry from Helsinki to Riga so we had to cancel the ferry tickets and buy a flight. Not cool and little did we know that was just the beginning of the trip drama.

On a happier note, Tuesday was Halloween and a campus day. I was going to Anne's after work for pizza and to help her with the heel on a Christmas stocking she was knitting for her great niece. I was there all evening and the door only rang 4-5 times with trick or treaters. It was bitter cold but still. Kids just don't go door to door anymore but the pizza was yummy and I knitted the heel for her so Anne was happy plus I left with some snickers. Happy Halloween to me.

On Wednesday, I had a nice lunch with Darla, who was on vacation for the week, at Stauffer's Cafe and Pie Shop. I had dropped my car next door at Jiffy Lube for an oil change while we enjoyed hot beef sandwiches and pie for lunch. I managed to stay awake all afternoon after that big lunch then went straight home for a bowl of cereal for a light supper and Survivor.

The rest of the work week was all data all the time. I was still on Teams with Janae at 6:45 on Thursday evening working on space. At least that made the time flew by and it was time for the weekend.

I had a moment of panic thinking I only had 2 weekends before my trip but then looked at a calendar and saw that I had 3. Despite that realization, I headed outside and did the one yard work chore that must be done before winter - cutting down the perennials between the sidewalk and the street. I leave the brush up all winter everywhere but the ones in the parking because that acts like a snow fence and drops feet of snow on the sidewalk. Despite it only being a couple of feet wide, it took trips to the city burn pile before it was clear. I was happy to finish and head inside for a shower and tea with my friend Lorri, who was coming with scones. We had a nice catch up and I was happy to have my outdoor must do crossed off my list. 

The clocks went back but my cats didn't get the memo so I was up early. After a nice Sunday morning knitting in the sun, I got dressed and headed to the high school for the Project Close Up turkey dinner. After enjoying that, I headed back outside. I emptied all my containers into my veg beds and put the pots away, cleaning up the driveway and deck too. By the time I was done, everything looked much better and ready for the winter. If I did nothing more outside, I'd be good to go, which felt great. Winter is coming!