Week 45 - Stressed and Cranky

I had a full week ahead, cramming in appointments and social stuff around work, which still had me prepping huge data files for the F&A project. Despite feeling relatively on top of things getting ready for my trip, the stress was building with each passing day.

After my team zoom at 10:00 on Monday and a dentist appointment at 11:00, I had a 4 hour zoom with the F&A team. I was there for questions on the data files I'd created so was able to work on my other screen some. I was totally absorbed so had the door open for the cats to come and go. Well, I certainly woke up when Hazel dropped a garter snake next to my desk. I screamed then grabbed a dish towel and put it outside. Talk about adrenaline! I had a similar rush when Goodie brought in a bird during our team zoom on Friday, which she promptly leg go and it flew down my basement stairs. I opened the slider wide and when it came up, it flew out. Sheesh!

I was on campus Tuesday and Wednesday this week. When I was driving to work on Tuesday, I heard something under my car but thought I'd driven over something. Well, when I was running errands at lunch, I could hear something so looked under my car and there was a huge thing hanging under the front of my car. I drove to TO Haas, where I get my tires and should have gotten my oil change, and they took off the splash plate and put it in my trunk. I called Jiffy Lube, who are apparently notorious for not bolting this back on after an oil change, and made plans to go back there at lunch on Wednesday. Maybe that's why I woke up in a fowl mood on Wednesday, which lasted pretty much all day. They did fix it and refunded what I'd paid for the oil change but did I need this? Absolutely not!

In the spirit of checking things off, I ran errands at lunch on Thursday. I made a Friends deposit at the bank, went to the Senior Center Thrift Shop, stopped at The Warehouse and got my flu and Covid vaccines at the pharmacy and still had time to eat lunch before an hour was up. Gotta love small town living.

I did manage to have some fun between all this. On Tuesday night, Dodie and I went to Piedmont Bistro, my favorite restaurant, for dinner and then attempted to go to a rehearsal for an upcoming Christmas concert but were put off with being the only people there besides the singers so we left rather than get stuck there. I took advantage of the extra time and went to Aldi on the way home. I enjoyed the leftovers from my meal with a glass of wine on Wednesday night after my cranky day. That and a night of Survivor and finishing All the Light We Cannot See on Netflix helped my mood immensely and I woke up feeling better on Thursday.

It was Merry Market weekend in Wahoo and I was at the library from 4:00-8:00 Friday night for the holiday decoration sale the library has every year. It was busier than previous years and I got some knitting done. The next day, I met Lori and Andrea at Adelita's for lunch and then we shopped the stores downtown. I found a few things but with stockings either cancelled or "light" this year, not much. But I did get a wonderful, maple nightstand to replace my Ikea special. My dressers are maple so it matches. Love it! After we split up, I enjoyed a cup of tea then went outside right before dark and cleared the front bed, taking a load to the city burn pile as the sun went down. Cross that off.

Despite having some fun at the end of the week, my pre-trip stress was building and I woke up from a stress dream at 3:52 on Sunday morning. With no chance of getting back to sleep, I was up making bacon and eggs at 4:30. I did manage a bit more sleep after my breakfast but after my morning of knitting with watching CBS Sunday Morning (my fave), I could not settle. I ended up going back outside and clearing the east bed, cutting more brush and raking it out. I threw that back on my alley compost heap and called my yard work absolutely done for the year. I made some cookies to take to knitting with my last nervous energy and was ready for a shower and evening of PBS after that.

So it was a good week as far as getting things done and I did have some fun but the crankiness on Wednesday and building stress put a damper on things. Just 10 days until my trip when what is done is done and I'll be having fun. I'll be excited when I get on the plane. : )