Week 25 - All About Cherries

That title is a bit misleading because while I did spend time with cherries this week, I did lots of other fun stuff too. Here goes....

Monday was uneventful with laundry, washing glassware from the garage that had been on my driveway since I did some garage cleaning weeks (months?) ago and having to leave Monday Night Knitting early because of storms. But I did take a long overdue step and called Windstream to drop my landline. Yes, I am now cellular only. Saved $40/month for something I rarely used. About time, I know.

Tuesday was my York trip with Darla, which was rescheduled from the day in March when the state was shut down by a blizzard, which had lots of snow that melted in a day. Before I met Darla for our afternoon, I stopped at the home of the Yarn Charm (a closed Lincoln yarn shop that still has an online shop) owners to pick up some yarn for my temperature blanket. I had tried 3 different ways to contact them but hadn't heard back so took this drastic step and it worked. Craig was home and went to his basement and got me the 6 skeins I needed. I had cash but he wouldn't take it, instead taking my email and saying he'd have his wife email about paying online without shipping. Update: it's been almost 2 weeks and still haven't heard from them so it's time to send a check I guess. How last century.

I met Darla in the Tractor Supply parking lot, where we left my car, got Arby's to eat in the car and headed out. We went via Seward and had fun in their 2 thrift shops before taking backroads to York. There's a shop there that Darla loves but neither of us found any treasures there. We hit their messy Goodwill and I did find a couple of skeins of yarn there but then we were done. Our plan had always been to eat supper at Chances R - a local restaurant people rave about. It wasn't even 4:00 and I wasn't hungry at all but we went anyway. This is the third time I've eaten there and there's absolutely no reason to ever eat there again. 

It was cool on Wednesday morning so I went out first thing and did some gardening. I potted up the 2 plants I'd bought recently in Fremont (why?) and dug out the eggplant plant I found growing in my mandevilla and potted that up. A gift from mother nature. The last thing I did outside was pick a bunch of cherries - more on that later. I then ran Wahoo errands and drove through BK for lunch. It was still cool enough to enjoy tea outside on my bench, which is rare this time of year and it would be the last cool day for awhile. I can't complain about the spring we've had though, especially all the rain that is slowing chipping away at our drought. 

Thursday was a busy day built around another lymphedema appointment so of course I didn't sleep well. First stop in Lincoln was East Campus for BBQ with work friends. Having time to kill before my appointment, I hit all the thrifts and found lots of cheap yarn, which was mostly in $1 bags. Those are plentiful these days because they are marking yarn so high that the bags don't ever sell and so get marked down after spending weeks in the store. So stupid but I scored. After my appointment, I went to my cousin's to hang out for an hour, leaving to head to swimming. Well, the pool was open but they'd cancelled water aerobics due to the holiday and hadn't told anyone nor posted online. There we dozens of us unhappy at being turned away. Oh well.

Friday was cherry day. I went out first thing to water and picked another bowl of cherries before the heat set in. I planted the cherry tree when I bought the house 25 years ago but have never done a thing with the cherries. This is the first year there have been enough to bother with (OK there was one other year but I was in Europe when they ripened) and I was determined to make jam, which is what I intended to do when I planted it. I loath fake cherry flavor, which reminds me of the bathroom cleaner at the Kent Theatre in the town I grew up in, but love cherry jam and pie. 

I garden organically so don't spray, which means there's a worm in almost every cherry. So I had to cut each cherry open, pull out the pit and remove the worm, cutting away any damage too. I spent most of the afternoon prepping cherries - 2.5 hours! I wanted to be done with cherries but put on my big girl pants, cleaned up the kitchen and made a batch of jam. I still had some cherries leftover and may make a small pie with those. It felt good to finally have homemade cherry jam and I was ready for the weekend.

Go figure - my big plans for the weekend were to stay inside with the AC cranked knitting and streaming, skipping my spinning group because I had zero interest in the program.  I did talk to a few friends and Anne and I decided not to drive to Winnipeg next week, opting instead for a day trip to Lawrence, Kansas. That makes way more sense. I did some chores on Sunday and hit HyVee before swimming for their big produce sale before swimming to end the weekend, which you know I love.

Like I said, I did plenty beside cherries but that was the highlight of a busy summer week that had plenty of fun otherwise. Now that summer heat has set in, I'll have to come up with a plan so I don't spend this summer sitting on my butt knitting. Wish me luck.

Week 24 - Super Social Week

I don't think I've had this busy a week since I retired. I was out and about every single day, which sounds like a lot but I had tons of fun.

I had a bone scan at 11:15 on Monday in Lincoln (yes, more cancer stuff due to the estrogen blocker that I'm on possibly causing bone loss) so planned social stuff while there, of course. The scan was quick so I picked up pizza and treats at the nearby HyVee and took it to Darla's. She goes home at lunch to let out her dog so we had a nice lunch in her living room. I hit some thrifts when I left and scored some sock yarn, which is my #1 favorite thing to thrift but is wicked rare (went Rhode Island with that wicked). I stopped at 2 different flooring stores and yet again found nothing but gray and tan. Nope. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and was the last cool one so we knitted outside at the library. It was a good day.

Tuesday was a cleaning day, spurred on by the upcoming trip on Wednesday where Anne and/or Rene might need to come in to use the bathroom. I did laundry, floors and cleaned the bathroom. It was getting toasty but I wanted one last night to sleep with the windows open so toughed it out. I had a library board meeting that night and stayed late working on the puzzle with Ana and Denise, who is the library director so we stayed past closing. This was my quietest weekday.

Wednesday was the first road trip of the summer. Anne, Rene and I were heading to Sergeant Bluff, Iowa to go to Growing Up Lulu Fiber Arts - a fun local yarn shop. I'd stopped there once on the way back from Sioux Falls and must have talked it up because Anne and Rene wanted to go. We went up highway 77, stopping at Uehling for their thrift shop and in Oakland, which is the Swedish capital of Nebraska and sells Swedish things in their grocery store. I scored some cardamom bread and some cookies to eat in the car. Lulu's was fun and we all found some yarn (yes, mine was sock yarn) and then had lunch in a cafe in town before heading home on the Iowa side of the river. We stopped in Missouri Valley for soft serve and crossed over the river there so came back through Blair and Fremont. Despite being done with planting, we stopped at Kaw Valley for their 50% off sale and I bought 2 more plants - a beautiful petunia to plant in a container where one of my geraniums died and a double impatiens that I'd find someplace for. It was another fun day.

Thursday was my busiest day of the week. I started with a bird feather presentation at the lake at 9:00 and then went straight to campus to drop my work laptop with Philippe so he could do the migration that had failed the night my internet was down. I had another lymphedema session at 11:30, which was the only available time when I scheduled. I had planned a late lunch with Layton, who was RIF'ing (reduction in force, aka firing) people all morning so he'd be calling me when he was done. I thrifted my way towards the restaurant we'd be meeting at. On the way, I scored all kinds of yarn in bags for $1 because they were so overpriced that they didn't sell for so long that they marked them down. I parked under a tree across from the restaurant and sorted yarn until Layton was ready. I had a yummy burger but Layton was too keyed up to eat. I had to go back to campus to work with Philippe to test the migration but he wasn't ready so I knitted in the car until 4:00 then worked with him until 5:00. I then hit the grocery store to kill time until swimming at 6:15. Long day but productive and fun.

I had some much needed downtime on Friday morning so chatted/zoomed with friends, watched my favorite knitting YouTubers and ate lunch. Andrea gets out of work early on Fridays and we were headed to Abie for their church's rummage sale. But since we were heading west, I wanted to go via David City to hit Buresh's Meats, which always has good deals. From there we went to the sale and then Andrea's boyfriend met us at Abie's Place for fish supper. Andrea paid this time and Mike paid the last time we ate there so next time is on me.

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day but the Monday Night Knitters hadn't planned anything. I have been following the Omaha Knit Night group on Facebook for ages and even met their leader at Fiberpalooza this spring but have never gone to one of their meetups. Well, they were having a picnic in Elmwood Park in Omaha and I wanted to go Nebraska Furniture Mart on my flooring search so I took some banana bread to share and a sandwich for myself and headed out. The people were nice and there was not only plenty of food there but they had a swap table. I took some of the bulky acrylic I'd scored on Thursday, which all went, and I scored some sock yarn leftovers. I went to the mart where I failed again (so much gray and beige. Am I the only person who wants fun flooring?) and then hit Floor & Decor too. Failed again and officially gave up. I hit a couple of thrifts and was home by mid-afternoon. The air was on and it was hot so it was time to hunker down.

I spent Sunday bleach testing all of the yarn I'd found in the past week (wool dissolves in bleach but nylon doesn't and I want yarn I use for socks to have nylon) and did some baking to use up bread - strata and bread pudding. I streamed Sugar on AppleTV and cast on shorties in my favorite pattern with some of the sock yarn I scored from the swap table on Saturday. Only at the end of the day did I suit up and head to Lincoln for swimming. It's a wonderful way to end the week in the summer. I shower when I get home and settle in for PBS.

So, a super busy week but all kinds of fun. The heat had set in and with a heat wave in the forecast, I'll need to come up with a new summer routine that includes more than knitting and streaming. Wish me luck.

Week 23 - Water and Work

It was an interesting week that started with no water, included more work than I've done since I retired and was supposed to be the first week of water aerobics but weather nixed that.

Monday started normally and I was looking forward to seeing Lori, who was coming to Wahoo for an appointment and would be having dinner at my house then going to Monday Night Knitting. Then I flushed the toilet mid morning and it didn't refill. I called the city utility department and they said there was a water main break at the end of my street and they didn't know how long we'd be without water. I immediately headed to the library, knitting and toothbrush in hand. I went back home at lunchtime and talked to the workers on the street, who said they couldn't find the leak. Still without water, I told Lori we'd need a plan B and headed back to the library, where I spent a lot of time working on the community puzzle. Lori met me there and we headed to Adelita's for Mexican food and then back to the library for knitting. I was thrilled that the water was back on when I got home.

I was not so thrilled Tuesday morning when the water was turned off again. I headed back to the library and also ran errands in Wahoo. It came back on mid-afternoon after they found and fixed the leak. Yay! I happily made turkey korma for dinner (a jar of sauce from Aldi that I was trying for the first time with cooked turkey from the freezer) and had Ana come over to pick some up. 

Wednesday was a gorgeous day and would have been perfect for gardening but I needed to get all the things done that I couldn't do without water - laundry, dishes, etc. - so didn't get any gardening done. Oh well. 

Thursday was a Lincoln day. I had an appointment with a lymphedema specialist at the Cancer Center that afternoon (yes, I have lymphedema in my breast - the latest in my cancer journey. Sheesh!) so had scheduled lunch with my new friend Mary. We went to Heoya, which I'd been to before with my old boss, but I couldn't remember what we ordered and what we got was nothing special. Korean fries was what we should have gotten. I thrifted my way south, had a good massage session that immediately relieved the swelling and left with exercises to do at home. I went to Lowe's and found the perfect sink and light fixture for my bathroom remodel, hit Aldi then stopped at Ernie's in Ceresco looking for flooring, which was a total fail, as had been Lowe's. It should have been the first water aerobics class but since it was in the 60's all day, I'd decided early on that I wouldn't go. Turns out they cancelled class anyway so it was a good call.

When I got home, I had an email from Brook about helping out with some work. Dana, my replacement, had to jump on a plane to Jordan because her dad died so Brook needed some help. We talked some things out but I needed help from our computer guy Philippe before I'd be able to run queries. I spent time with him Friday morning and then worked all afternoon, putting in more hours in 2 days than I'd worked in a long time. I got through the entire list Brook had sent except for one thing that I declined to help with. Of course it was a top 10 gorgeous day and I spent it at my computer. Bummer but I'll call the money I earned yarn money for when I'm in Europe in July. I was tired after working all afternoon.

Despite working just a few hours, I was ready for a quiet weekend. Then I got a text from Helen on Saturday morning inviting me to dinner that night from Brenda's (her daughter in law) birthday. It took ages to decide but I did end up going down and it was fun. Sunday was rainy and cold at only 67 degrees so I spent the day knitting (socks, of course, but I also made my tenth charity hat of the year) and roasted some tomatoes that needed using. No water aerobics again but I wasn't complaining because summer heat and humidity would be coming soon.

So nothing normal about this week, right? Water, working and weather messing with my long awaited return to the pool. Next week, I'm hoping for normal.

Week 22 - Filling My Calendar

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and I took that to heart and got busy filling in the fun on my calendar.

As a retiree, the week starting with a holiday doesn't mean much. I have no family graves to visit so it was just a regular chore day, complicated by loosing my landline and internet. With no appointments in Lincoln this week, I had to convince myself that it was OK to leave town for groceries so I headed to Lincoln on Tuesday morning for errands and groceries. I was home by 12:30 so didn't kill the whole day. Nice.

I had called Windstream to schedule a service call and it wouldn't be for another week! Not having internet was cramping my style big time. I could use my phone's hotspot for basic internet but not streaming so I ended up watching Star Trek on one of the geezer over the air channels. And of course this was the night my computer needed to be on for the migration from unl.edu to nebraska.edu. The hotspot wouldn't cut it so I put it on the wifi, which was dropping constantly, and hoped for the best. It did not work so I struggled on Tuesday morning, doing the manual migration steps (my internet had somehow fixed itself but my landline was still dead) and hosed it up even more. I cut bunches of weed trees in the afternoon and went out to dinner with my new friend Ana.

I woke up Thursday and decided it was time to schedule some fun. I started by adding in water aerobics, which would be starting next week on Thursdays and Sundays. Then I set up lunches with the work gang for all the Thursday BBQ's on East Campus. I added a lunch the next week with another new friend, the day trip to Sergeant Bluff, Iowa with Anne and Rene and then went to lunch in Placek Park in Wahoo with my friend Lorri. I ended the day with a trip to Omaha with Anne to go to the grand opening of the Scrap Store after they relocated. They didn't have much yarn so we didn't get much but got a yummy ice cream at Coneflower Creamery to end a fun day.

I was pretty happy with all the fun I had added to my calendar but it wasn't over.  I called Anne on Friday about something or other and she asked if I had any interest in going to Europe this summer. She'd gotten an email from the travel company she uses with last minute deals. She shared her screen and we found a Danube River cruise from Budapest to Prague in July. Before you know it, we called an agent and booked it! The cruise itself, which is 14 days, was only $995 and when we added round trip airfare (from Lincoln!) and insurance, it was only just over $3,000 - score! Talk about unexpected! I am confident this will not be my last cheap, last minute trip with Overseas Adventure Travel. 

I happily headed outside for an afternoon of gardening, which included some of the last easy jobs like marking daffodils that didn't bloom this year so I can find them to split in the fall (I used plastic knives) and planting a tomato in the upside down tomato planter I had bought at a yard sale. It was a happy day.

Despite not doing any heavy gardening on Friday, I woke up Saturday with my lower back in knots and I couldn't stand up straight. I was bent over when I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast then managed to change my sheets and do laundry before heading to the basement where it was cooler because I didn't want to turn the AC on yet so I could sleep with my windows open for one last night.

My back was fine on Sunday. No clue what that was about. I talked to Carolyn, Ginny and Lori before heading to Cindy's in Waverly. Cindy had called me from Goodwill on Saturday morning because there was all kinds of good quality yarn and, of course, I had her buy me most of it. I had tomato plants for her and was excited to get the yarn so drove down in the afternoon. Get a load of this yarn haul, which is full of sock yarn. I think it all added up to $22 and that would be the cost of a single skein of indy dyed socks yarn. Yay!

What a fabulous week! As if my calendar additions weren't enough fun, adding a dirt cheap Europe trip and ending the week with a yarn haul were the icing on the cake. Happy happy happy!

Week 21 - Time Spent Gardening

Be careful what you wish for from the weather gods! After last week's crazy weather, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction but that was fine by me. Beyond that, it was a quiet week of getting stuff done at home.

I woke up Monday morning to 1.5" of much needed rain in the gauge. There was more rain due at the end of the day so I got my butt outside and planted the 3 empty veg beds so they'd get watered in. I made banana bread and tetrazzini that afternoon. By the end of the day, there were tornado watches in effect and talk of big storms with hail so we cancelled knitting. Luckily we just got rain so my seeds got plenty of water to start them off.

It was 57 degrees on Tuesday so a full 40 degrees less than a week ago. I asked Ana if she wanted to come over for lunch and a movie but she was sorting boxes of her brother's stuff so suggested I go to her so I could knit while she sorted. I took lunch but didn't stay very long because she had a deadline and wasn't getting much sorted while I was there. I ran errands in town then went home to knit and stream. 

I had bought a 3 pound chub of frozen hamburger at The Warehouse so planned to do some cooking on Wednesday. First I went outside and did some weeding and puttering. I also talked to Connie, who I was happy to hear did not need me to help her plant her garden, which I'd suggested I might be willing to do because she was worried about being able to garden after her knee replacement. That saves me driving 9 hours each way and now I can concentrate on my own gardening. I made meatballs and meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli then settled in for the Survivor finale.

Thursday was a busy day. For a retiree. I reclaimed the kitchen from all my cooking, ran to the vet to pick up flea stuff, got a haircut and was back for a 2:00 zoom with Paul from The Ripples Project. After a cup of tea, I went outside to plant a few more things and had book club that night. That's plenty busy for me!

It was a rainy day on Friday but I planted before the late morning rain then was back out to repot amaryllis before the 2nd round of rain. I was out again on Saturday cleaning the deck, setting up a plant stand for all the amaryllis and then dug a new wildflower bed and planted that. The hardware cloth is to stop the cats for digging in it. On Sunday I did some cooking, including a rhubarb upside down cake for Tim, whose son mows my yard. He had hinted that he loved rhubarb but hadn't had any since his grandmother died. I also planted the perennials I'd bought at Spring Affair, which were truly the last planting for this season. Unless I buy more plants. : )

I'd call that a good week. Weather was better, I got plenty done and had some fun. I'll take a few more of those please.

Week 20 - Desoto Bend Visit

The week started out super hot, which had me hunkered down, followed by 2 days of 50 mph winds. Crazy spring weather but there was lots of cooking and some fun to end the week.

It was 87 on Monday but I'd put the AC on on Sunday so the house was nice and cool. I finished watching The Pitt on Max (good show if you haven't seen it) and went to the library for knitting. I was the only one there at first so was working on the puzzle while I waited to see if anyone else would come. They did and joined me and Ana around the communal puzzle and worked on it until 7:45 before finally starting knitting. Ha!

Despite the heat, I decided to work on the messy corner in the garage on Tuesday morning. It was cool enough in there in the morning but I didn't finish so went out after lunch and by then it was broiling. I did finish it though and got right into the shower when I went in because I had a library board meeting so had to clean myself up and put on going out of the house clothes. At least it was done.

I had finally heard from the plumber that the contractor needed to look at my bathroom before he could give me a quote and he was coming at the end of the day on Wednesday so I did some cleaning before heading to the dentist at 2:00. The plumber came and I felt better about him than the contractor but still wasn't convinced he was the person to hire so after he left, I arranged for another contractor to come on Thursday late afternoon. The heat had broken overnight so I spent Thursday morning in the kitchen and had so much food that I invited Ana for lunch, which was fun. The new contractor came at 4:15 and no contest, he's the one I'll be hiring. He gave me a ballpark figure that was less than I thought it would be and said he have a quote to me soon.

Friday was my Lincoln day and I'd be having lunch at Helen's. I started downtown picking up book club books at the library commission, ran a few errands and spent the entire afternoon chatting with Helen and looking at her latest decorating projects and her garden. I stayed so long (nothing unusual there) that I gave up on any further errands, just stopping at HyVee for a few groceries before heading home.

Saturday was spinning and we were going to Desoto Bend National Wildlife Refuge for a program. In 1865, a supply boat had sunk in the Missouri River and was silted over for 100 years before it was found and excavated. Except for turning everything red, the silt had kept everything in fabulous condition, including fabric and knitted items. They were doing a special program for the spinners, pulling out items to display and asking us for any knowledge we could share on them. 

The wind had subsided after 2 crazy high wind days Thursday and Friday so a few of us decided that morning that we should bring a picnic for before the program. I packed up lunch for Andrea and me and we headed to Iowa, which was about an hour drive. Sure, the wind was less but it was still too windy to eat outside so we found a table inside. I did a quick buzz through of the museum, which is part wildlife and part displays of the things that were found on the boat - The Bertrand. The program included a power point that gave us the history of the sinking and then we got to get up close and personal with the textiles. We couldn't touch them but they had people with gloves who would turn things over and such when we needed to see more. It was fascinating.

On the way home, Andrea and I hit the Goodwill in Blair and then a Nebraska Passport stop in Bennington, where we got ice cream and a passport stamp. We then hit Aldi in Fremont and went home. It was a fun day. Sunday was my regular old chore day and some work on hoses, which are a project every year of fixing broken ends, finding the right attachments and snaking them under the deck to hook them up. That required a trip to the farm store for parts so of course I bought more flowers, which means there will be more container planting coming up.

So it was a good week. I had some bouts of productivity, made progress on hiring someone to gut my bathroom and ended the week with culture and friends. Hopefully the weather won't be so crazy for a few more weeks. Rain would be nice but not 90 degrees in mid-May please. Are the weather gods listening? Here's hoping

Week 19 - Planting My Containers

I was in full spring mode this week and spent most of it planting flowers. But what would a week in my 2025 life be without a medical appointment but I rewarded myself on that day, as usual.

I started the week working with Cindy for an hour. Lacey did say I'd be on call for life. I did some laundry and planted more containers, helped along with Lorri bringing some plants over. The Monday Night Knitters opted for the year end band and chorus concerts in the parking lot at the school instead of the library. It was hot in the sun but good entertainment plus we had yummy cheeseburgers for supper.

Most of the rest of the week was spent planting my containers, which I love doing every year. I planted all of my flower containers and even planted tomatoes in kitty litter bag lined milk crates on the driveway as an experiment because they'll get lots more sun there than in my veg beds. Those milk crates were full of sticks though so I had a fire Tuesday night to burn them all, which was fun. I haven't had a fire in ages.

On Thursday, I decided to book my ticket on Southwest for my beach week, taking advantage of their sale. I got a ridiculously cheap ticket for $264 round trip but was confused when it said I'd still get 2 free bags, which they'd been all over the news saying that was over. I went onto my Southwest account to investigate (tickets purchased before May 28th still got free bags) and noticed that it said I had a $243 credit. I dug in on that and come to find out, it was leftover credit from the Christmas 2021 ticket that I'd cancelled. Now I'd used $400+ of that credit and have flown Southwest a many times since then but didn't remember the additional credit. I called them and got that credit applied to the ticket I'd just bought so paid $21 for a round trip ticket for my beach week in August. Score! 

That night, Lorri and I went to the Southeast Community College dinner that had been postponed from February due to a blizzard. It's for culinary students and is their final project. They plan the menu and run the kitchen. It was middle eastern and absolutely delicious. Well worth the delay.

I had an appointment with my oncologist on Friday at 10:15, which was uneventful - mostly to get my Rx for the estrogen blocker I'll be on for the next 5 years. My reward was lunch with Dodie at Costco. She works from home on Fridays and lives right near there so I picked up a few things on her membership and then we ate there. We usually get a slice of pizza and ice cream but I switched it up and had a footlong hotdog. As usual, we talked for ages and had a great catch up. I stopped at Anne's for a bit then hit Goodwill, where I found a skein of sock yarn, which is a rarity and the my favorite part of thrifting. I had Costco chicken for supper then tore it apart and put the bones in the crockpot and went to bed.

I had a nice, quiet weekend that started with picking chicken bones and making soup but otherwise was knitting, streaming and doing some chores. While being retired means every day can feel like a weekend, I seem to find myself getting things done during the week and enjoying down time on the weekend. Works for me!

My containers always take a few weeks to start looking good because they're mostly geraniums and lantanas that I overwintered so they look bedraggled for a bit. So here's a pic of my first fire of the season. I hope there will be more and that I'll have friends over for s'mores instead of solo in the driveway. : )

Week 18 - Fridges and Flowers

What a week! It started out rocky but ended with flowers galore and had some nice quiet moments in between.

I woke up to find my fridge was not as cold as it should be. The freezer was stone cold but I heard no blowing so my theory was that the fan had died. This is not the first problem I've had with this 20 year old fridge so I called it fatal and started looking for a new one. 

With the size of my kitchen, a bottom freezer wouldn't work so that left me going old school with the freezer on top. I was also limited by the size of my opening so was looking for a 32" fridge. I went to the hardware store in downtown Wahoo that's known for their appliances and quick delivery. They had 28" and 36" fridges but no 32's. After perusing websites and finding pretty much the same fridge as my dead one minus the bells and whistles (because top freezers are so last century apparently), I started making calls. Nebraska Furniture Mart could deliver on Thursday for $19 but how could I last until then? The other 2 stores couldn't deliver until a week from Thursday and for $169! I called my friend Cindy, who has a truck and a super handy husband, and they agreed to pick it up at Ernie's in Ceresco and deliver if after work on Tuesday. I called and bought it over the phone.

I had a lot of work to do before Tuesday evening. I spent the day rotating stuff from the fridge to the freezer, setting a timer so nothing would freeze and then rotating other stuff. Did I mention that it was 90 degrees? Crazy and it didn't help things. Anyway, I also had furniture to move, carpets to roll up and a peach pie to make for Dave, which would be the payment for his services. I also did some general cleaning since there'd be people in my house. Cindy called when they left Ernie's, which is 15 minutes away, and I started unloading the fridge. Dave had all the tools and he and Cindy work like a well oiled machine. It was such a tight fit that I had to take the knobs off my stove and it barely made it through the doorway between the front room and kitchen. While they loaded up the old fridge to take to the metal bin at the hardware store in Wahoo, I threw things back into the fridge and then met them at Adelita's for a thank you supper. I have the best friends.

Wednesday was a new day and after running errands in Wahoo, I put the front room and kitchen back in order over the course of the day. I ignored the fridge, which was a mess with everything just thrown in, instead spending 3 hours on the phone with Janice talking about everything and nothing. I talked to Connie too after Survivor since she's on mountain time.

Thursday was a busy day that had nothing to do with my fridge. Yay! I started my May socks first things since it was a new month but was out the door early to meet Anne at the Hort Club plant sale. It was underwhelming but I found a few plants and then went to Westlake Ace to buy more. I had been craving Chinese buffet for weeks and Cindy was up for it so I picked her up and campus and enjoyed every bite. I then went home to tally for my Ravelry sock group - another thing I do the first of every month. I had a meeting at the library at 5:15 so stopped at Found & Flora just as they closed to get my first ever Nebraska Passport stamp. They were giving out zipper pouches to the first passporters and they still had some so I scored that. I hope to get lots of passport stamps this summer while tooling around the state.

The meeting was quick and I rushed home to meet a contractor who was coming to give me a quote on gutting my bathroom. He didn't seem enthused about doing it while I'm in Rhode Island later this summer and said he had to send the plumber he works with before he can give me a quote. First steps I guess but I'll be looking for other bids for sure.

I was thrilled that Friday was a rainy day, not only because we desperately need the rain but it was also an excuse to stay in. I watched YouTube knitting podcasts and knitted all day. I finished my latest pair of reading socks and started new ones. It was a lovely day and I was recharged and  ready to head outside for the weekend. 

All that rain had softened the soil, which had been so dry it was like concrete, enough that I could start some gardening. After talking to Carolyn first thing, I headed outside to clear the veg beds and get the hoses out of the garage. I also moved all the plants I'd overwintered outside to the deck. I love overwintering my lantanas and geraniums but it's always nice when they go outside along with the metal racks they were on. In order to start planting containers, I had to sift compost to mix with last year's potting soil. After planting a bunch of containers, I went inside to transplant the seedlings I'd started and made a chuck steak in the electric frying pan to end the weekend.

So while this week started with the refrigerator fiasco, that all worked out and I got to end the week finally able to work outside after the funky spring weather we've had this year. The rain was so welcome and I hope is the beginning of a rainy May. It was also the first week post-radiation, which felt like a gift. Goodbye cancer and welcome back normal life.

Week 17 - Done with Radiation

This week was all about radiation, with my third through fifth, and final, treatments. They were all first thing in the morning and I took the highway there, which is longer distance wise but has no traffic so takes much less time. After each, I had social plans and rewards too.

After Monday's, I went to The Yarn Shop, which is closing down and so had lots of sales. I bought 4 skeins there then stopped at Makit Takit (another yarn shop that also holds classes for every craft imaginable) to pick up another skein I'd bought online before heading to campus for lunch with Dodie. At my request, we didn't go to our usual place but Pho Factory instead for their wonderful spring rolls. After a grocery stop, I headed home. First treatment of the week done and I was home in time for tea on my bench before supper and Monday Night Knitting.

While I was reading that afternoon, I saw the cutest little baby squirrel on the maple in my backyard. I've always had squirrels living in that tree but in all the years of watching them, I'd never seen a small one. He was fully furred but only about 4" long without the tail. He was alone and what I assumed was his mama was across the alley and chattering so kept trying to come down the tree, which put him in cat danger territory. He was adorable to watch.

Since Tuesday was a free day, I got busy outside raking the back grass, pruning hydrangeas and clearing another garden bed. I did laundry and hung the sheets out then went to meet my new friend, Ana, for tea in the park. There was not a single lull in the conversation. Nice. When I took my sheets in to remake my bed, I found the baby squirrel on the floor of my bedroom - alive but breathing heavy. I tried to get him back into the nest in the tree but couldn't reach and he wasn't crawling in when I got him close balancing him on a rake. Andrea came to the rescue just before dark and climbed a ladder and got him back in the tree. He did perk up enough to pull himself in, which gave me hope.

I timed Wednesday's treatment and it was 22 minutes from car to car. If only it wasn't a 45 minute drive each way! I had lunch with my work friends and then made a beeline home. I was reading on the bench again and after checking a zillion times, finally saw the little dude sticking his head out of the tree so I hung some sunflower seeds and water on the side of the tree. I was a bit obsessed.

I was checking constantly on Thursday but wasn't seeing him sticking his head out. After checking on and off all morning, I found little dude dead at the base of the tree. I was so sad and buried him by the garage near Gansey and Hazel. With the forecast for rain all day, I had planned an inside day so watched Ludwig on Britbox while waiting for the rain, which didn't start until 3:00. I did transplant all the tomatoes I'd started from seed but didn't do much else. Oh well.

Friday was my last radiation and I had a full day planned. Since it was my last one, it took much longer because I had to see the doctor, the nurse in charge of the study and give blood. Despite running late, I stopped at The Yarn Shop to exchange one of the skeins I'd bought on Monday and also bought a yarn advent calendar, which was leftover from Christmas 2024 but would work fine for me for 2025. From there I went to Helen's for lunch but didn't stay as long as usual because I was meeting Lorri at Spring Affair. Unfortunately, she had texted to say she wasn't coming but I didn't see it until I got there so I could have stayed longer at Helen's. I bought a few plants, backtracked to Walmart for some milk and headed home. 

A women I knew from Friends of the Library had recently died and her son and his family had lived next door to me for a few years so I went to the visitation at the church that night so I wouldn't have to go to the funeral on Saturday. I got to talk to Glen and Tammie so I'm glad I made that decision. I had a bowl of cereal for supper and called it a day. It had been a long one.

I had a nice quiet weekend ahead to recuperate from my busy week. I puttered outside a bit and did some chores but mostly streamed and knitted. I got a fun package from Dottie with not only the afghan she'd crocheted for me (at my request) but some stocking stuffers she hadn't sent at Christmas. Also on Saturday, Anne went to The Yarn Shop, which was now at 50% off, and did a video chat with me so I could pick out more yarn. After she got me 5 more skeins, I declared a moratorium on buying yarn, with an exception for thrift shop and travel yarn, of course. 

My fridge started making odd noises on Sunday night. When I pulled it out to check the back, a stack of pie plates that was on top fell and shattered all over but at least it wasn't the other stack, which had fun Pyrex ones would have been a big loss. After all that, the back is completely sealed so there was nothing to see. Oh well.

So it was a busy week with all the radiation and subsequent social activity, which had seemed like a nice reward when I scheduled them. The yarn ended up being a tangible reward but the death of the little dude was a downer. I was glad the week was over and went to bed hoping the fridge would right itself while I slept. Cup half full baby!

Week 16 - My First Radiation

In a week that includes the start of post-cancer radiation, is anything else worth a mention? Of course! Have you met me?

After a couple of days that were too hot for mid-April, the high temp on Monday was 61 (hallelujah!) so I got busy cooking. In one afternoon, I made banana bread, meatballs, quiche, broccoli and an apple pie to take to knitting. I'd be set for meals all the week. 

I ran Wahoo errands on Tuesday, dropping Dottie's box, hitting 2 banks and The Warehouse. While I was at the courthouse to pay my property taxes, I went upstairs and changed my affiliation from independent to Democrat. I've never affiliated with a party EVER so this felt big. I also filled out a poll worker form and I'm sure I'll get called because Democrats are rare as hen's teeth in this state. I worked more in the yard that afternoon and had wine with dinner. It was a good day.

With my newly cleared table in the basement, I couldn't resist heading downstairs on Wednesday to sort through some bags from the craft room. It's a start. I also talked to Carolyn, who is on April vacation (it's a thing back east in schools), and finished Onyx Storm after Survivor.

Thursday was the big day. I had arranged to pick up some cat food for Husker Cats so the first stop was the warehouse. Earlier in the week, I'd scheduled lunch for every day I was having radiation and with my first appointment at 1:30, I met a new friend for lunch. She's the sister of my friend Kate, who passed away 6 years ago. We've been friends on Facebook and I met her a couple of times on campus (she worked at UNL too) but this was our first time socializing. We had a great time and will definitely get together again. Nice.

I hadn't left enough time for Lincoln traffic so ran into the cancer center a few minutes late. I didn't grab my knitting and so of course had all kinds of waiting. It was an orientation of sorts. They showed me where to go to change into a gown (a johnny for New Englanders) and where to wait for them to take me to the radiation room. The actual radiation only took ~10 minutes and I was out the door. I hit a grocery store, hung at Anne's for a bit and dropped the cat food on campus, thrifting along the way. One treatment done. Four to go.

The next session was Friday at 10:00 so only 18 hours after my first treatment. I took the highway around Lincoln, which was longer in distance but shorter in time, and was there on time. Uneventful except for meeting a nice woman in the waiting room. From there I went to Becky's to drop off banana bread for the workers at her Stuff from Strays sale. I also bought a few things then drove to Good Evan's, where I met Layton and Steve for lunch. I'd never been and it was delish (I got a southern eggs benedict with tots) and we had a nice catch up. After a quick stop to stock up on my favorite made in China lotion before tariffs kick in, I went right home. I was ready for the weekend.

Saturday was a Fremont run for spinning. We did our usual stops and it was fun, as usual. I had pulled out my afghan squares and started sewing them together at spinning. That was my mission for the weekend and it took all weekend. I didn't do anything for Easter but watched season 2 of The Recruit while I sewed and made myself a nice dinner.

40% done with radiation, two fun lunches with friends and some crocheting of all things. Three more sessions to go, all of which include more lunches with friends, and I'll be done. Life is good!

Week 15 - Gone is Good

It was a busy week! Got lots done, tons of stuff left my house and, of course, I started prep for radiation, which I hope is the final step with my cancer.

Since I was going to Lincoln on Tuesday this week, on Monday I loaded up the car with all my donations for Becky's Stuff for Strays sale. I then decided it was time to cull my socks so went through those and pulled a bunch to give to Becky to sell. I still have more pairs than will fit in my sock drawer but at least there isn't a huge pile on top of my dresser. 

Tuesday was fully booked. I met Darla for coffee at the Starbuck's in the East Campus Union at 10:00. From there I went to Becky's to offload my car and then we went to an early lunch at Penelope's Cafe because I had to be at the Cancer Center at 1:00. I was great to catch up over yummy food then I headed south to meet with the radiation oncologist. They installed the tattoos to align the radiation machine and there was yet another blood draw. My radiation would start the next week on Thursday with 5 appointments and be done before the end of April. That works. I hit the grocery store and headed home for tea. I had a library board meeting that night and was feeling off when I went to bed. Hmmm....

I was up in the wee hours in intestinal distress and was still feeling iffy Wednesday morning. Lorri was supposed to come over for tea on the deck so I called and cancelled but as the morning progressed, I felt fine so called and said to come after all. We had a lovely afternoon sitting on the deck, drinking tea and knitting while chatting for hours.

I started Thursday with a program at the lake on Arbor Day, which is a state holiday in Nebraska. There were only a few of us because it was announced late but it was interesting and I got to enjoy an applesauce donut from Wahoo Bakery. It also got me up, dressed and out early, which always makes for a productive day. That afternoon, I pruned all my roses and took the pokey canes and the rest of the brush from the alley to the city burn pile. Gone is good! I talked to Carolyn for a long time that afternoon. It was a good day.

I actually worked for 2 hours on Friday morning helping Dana with a grad allocation problem. Working in my nightie via Zoom isn't all bad. I talked to Connie later about her impending knee replacement and spent the afternoon raking the front lawn and the north beds against the house. I made chick pea salad and banana pudding (using things up) and then read after supper. I was getting back into Onyx Storm - the 3rd of the dragon books I've been reading.

Despite being retired, the weekends still matter after doing projects and work during the week. I started with a nice breakfast, talked to a friend and then it was HOT - 82 degrees! Since it would dry quickly in the hot wind, I had some fun dyeing yarn then headed down to my cool craft room in the basement and sewed a springy project bag with some fun vintage fabric that had been calling my name. Love both of my Saturday projects.

Sunday still seems to be for chores and cooking so I did laundry and hung it out first thing but then found myself downstairs again. I spent the afternoon going through the ebay room. It was a train wreck and by the time I was done, not only was everything organized but the floor and table were clear. I need to get busy selling some of the thousands of vintage linens in that room. With the table clear, I can use it for sorting linens and to go through some of the stuff in the craft room a bin or bag at a time.

I'd call that a good week. Got rid of lots of stuff, had fun in Lincoln on either side of my appointment, got started in the yard, got some education, had some crafty fun and made a big dent in the basement slog though, which will make the next steps down there a bit easier. I even got in some work, which will mean a paycheck coming albeit a tiny one. These days every little bit helps. I hope to have more weeks like this coming but first radiation. I hope that goes well. Wish me luck.

Week 14 - Study and Yarn

I had hopes of another normal week but also figured I get the call about the study. If I got in, I'd have a 50/50 chance of being in the radiation group but I'd cross that bridge when they called.

I started Monday dropping packages all over town - the big box of yarn at the hardware store for UPS pick up and several at the post office. After shipping off most of the Jean Moss books, I'd pulled emails from years old trip contact lists and had found takers for the last 2 so dropped those off too, happy to be done with book distribution. I then moved all the yarn and projects from the back room into the front room and did all the floors, ending the day knitting at the library.

I got the call Tuesday. My cells had passed the test so I was in the study but I lost the coin toss so was in the radiation group. I would have had the same amount of radiation if I hadn't done the study so it was just delayed. The gave me an appointment next week to see the radiation oncologist again and get my radiation schedule. Oh well. Thems the breaks.

I had done all the neatizing and cleaning because Lori would be in Wahoo on Wednesday for a hair appointment and was coming over for lunch. She called on Tuesday afternoon to say she was sick and couldn't come so I got busy. It was the first of the month so there were new socks and tallying entries for my sock group but then I started clearing surfaces. I started with some hot spots in the back room - the chest under the window and the Ikea rolling cart. It was a start.

With my newly clean house and a free day, it was time to tackle the front room. I had a Chewy box in front of the hutch where I'd been throwing donations so went through that  then started the big yarn sort. My friend Becky was planning her first Stuff for Strays sales of the season so I was going to donate another load of yarn for her to sell. I got out laundry baskets and started going through all the yarn I'd moved to the front room. That was step one and took most of the afternoon.

Since I had no appointments nor lunches with friends to take me to Lincoln, I needed to do a grocery run and had to convince myself it was OK to leave town just for shopping. There was a bagel shop in Omaha that I wanted to try out so I started there. I also hit a few thrifts, the bread store at the Rotella factory, Trader Joe's and Aldi. I had left early so I would be home to talk to Janice so after my last stop, I called her from the car and then we talked for another hour when I got home. It was nice to get out and about in Omaha rather than Lincoln or Fremont.

It felt good to have no obligations on Friday. I cleaned up the kitchen and fridge, zoomed with Cindy for work, ran errands in town, bagged up some yarn from Wednesday's sort and then settled in to watch Long Bright River and knit. I kept that up all weekend, bringing up yarn from the basement to go through when I was done with the upstairs yarn. I culled my yarn for making charity hats to 20 skeins that I put in an over the door shoe holder. I also did some cooking and chores and ended the weekend with bags and bags of yarn for Becky. 

So I enjoyed another normal(ish) week but it would be the last one for awhile since my radiation would most likely start soon after my meeting with the doctor on Tuesday. I wanted to be done before I needed to start my heavy spring garden work. Here's hoping.

Week 13 -A Normal Week

Since I was waiting to hear whether I'd be in the study, this was the first week in a long time with no medical appointments. Could this be a normal week? Apparently!

I spent Monday and Tuesday at home getting things done. I moved more branches to the curb - ones from the alley pile to add to the ones that came down in the storm, did my taxes since I'd found all my documents when I cleared my desk, did laundry, ran errands in town and even got downstairs to my craft room to make an Easter project bag. I also finished my book club book 2 full days before we'd meet on Thursday.

Wednesday was a Lincoln day. I started with coffee with Darla, scored some yarn at Goodwill, picked up my credit card from Anne, had lunch with my work friends at Bison Witches, hit Aldi and was home in time for tea.

I had sold tons of yarn to a woman who has a yarn website so spent a bunch of time gathering those skeins, updating my stash pages and prepping a big box to ship. I then sold 2 more lots, one of which was quite a few skeins, so pulled and prepped all of those too. I finished my sister's birthday socks and mailed them off along with the first of the of Jean Moss books that I was distributing to US knitter who had gone on her trips. Gone is good but I was ready for a break from all the packages

Andrea needed to pick up some calligraphy supplies so we headed to Blick Art in Omaha on Friday afternoon. I had heard of a new thrift store to try and I was thrilled to find a sugar bowl that not only had a hole in the lid for the spoon but was the Evesham pattern, which is close to my heart because John's mother had given me a small quiche pan in this pattern years ago for Christmas. Being Lent, I'd scoped out a pasta dinner at a nearby church so Andrea and I went there for supper. It was a fun evening.

Have you heard of the term niksen? It's a Dutch practice of doing nothing on purpose. I decided to embrace the concept for the weekend. I talked to friends and my sister, caught up on YouTube, knitted (of course) and read all Sunday afternoon. It was lovely to just relax.

I hadn't heard about the study yet but they had said it could take 2 weeks so I'd probably hear next week. In the meantime, I enjoyed a week that didn't revolve around medical appointments and cancer. It was just what I needed - the calm before the storm perhaps but time will tell on that front.

Week 12 - Weather and Fun

What a week! The weather fluctuations were crazy, going from mid 80's to a blizzard and back to warm again. My week went from planting to shoveling and ended with yarny fun.

I was supposed to go to Helen's on Monday for my overdue birthday celebration but she was sick so cancelled. It was HOT that day - 84 degrees. That's too hot for me so after planting pansies in the pot by my side door, I stayed inside but got my hands in dirt giving my overwintered plants some love and repotting all my African violets. Inside spring chores.

Tuesday was a busy day. After running Wahoo errands, I headed outside. We had a blizzard forecast for Wednesday, which would have heavy, wet snow but however much fell wouldn't last because we'd be right back to warm weather the next day. I figured this would be the perfect day to get my early veg bed planted so the snow could water it in. 

My first step was to sift the compost left in last year's bin so I'd have it to add to the early bed and would have an empty bin to start loading up. I cleared the early bed, added the compost and then planted all my early veg - lettuces, carrots, radishes, etc. I then dug 2 beds against my neighbor's chain link fence and planted snap peas in those. I covered the soil with branches and sticks to discourage the cats from digging and called it done. Cross that off.

I was enjoying tea and reading in the front room when a van pulled into my driveway with a beautiful arrangement of plants from my friend Susan, who I'd talked to that morning and told her about my cancer. How lovely! I finished Iron Flame - the 2nd of the dragon series I'm reading. Denise had told me that the library's copy was on back order so I'd bought the 3rd book, something I rarely do, and it was delivered that afternoon. I was ready for snow, which would hopefully be the last for the year on the last day of winter. 

The forecasts were all over the board depending on where you lived and how the blizzard tracked. I was surprised to see we already had an inch of snow when I got up at 6:00. It was very heavy and wet and was coming down fast. And such wind! I lost a big branch on my maple and the house shook when it fell, luckily in the middle of my backyard so it didn't damage anything. I was surprised when the power went out at 9:00. I was able to check Wahoo's page on Facebook on my phone and it was clear this was a huge problem and we wouldn't be getting power back anytime soon. It got pretty chilly in the house but I just kept adding layers. By mid-afternoon, my phone was getting low and my iPad was even lower.

I decided I should shovel my way to the garage so I could run the car and charge my devices. I got inside but when I pulled the cord to manually open the door, the old rope snapped in my hands. By then my snow crew had shown up on the assumption I'd need it done and they got me cleared out, which was a good thing because I had an early appointment in Lincoln on Thursday. After they left, I found my old desk charger and was able to drain the power from my laptop into my phone. I then went out to the car and put it on accessory long enough to get up to 12% on my iPad, which meant I could read before bed, which would be early at this rate. I figured out I could use a match to light my stovetop so was able to make tea and later made mac & cheese by candlelight.

I had a little battery powered lantern that Ginny had given me in my stocking so was reading by that in the front room as the light waned. The power came on just after 8:00 and I actually whooped when it did, scaring the cats. The first thing I did was run outside and open the garage door. I then plugged everything in to charge. I was super excited to have it back. Clearly I'm 100% dependent on power. Aren't we all? BTW, we got 9" of snow!

Thursday was a busy day, which started with me watching Survivor, which I'd missed while the power was out. Priorities you know. I went to Lincoln, where they got almost no snow, for an early lunch with Dodie before heading south to my appointment with the radiation oncologist. She was very nice and from Massachusetts so we had a nice chat about being an easterner in Nebraska. Then she asked if I wanted to participate in a study to evaluate if radiation is any use for people like me - tiny tumor, no lymph node involvement and cancer free after surgery. The clincher was I'd have a 50/50 chance of not needing radiation. Of course I was in! I had to fill out some paperwork and they'd send off my cells for testing. I'd hear in a couple of weeks if I'm in and if I get the radiation or no radiation group. Fingers crossed.

After the doctor, I went to hang out at Anne's because we, including Rene, had tickets to Annie that night. Annie was the first Broadway musical I'd ever seen and I was excited to go. We went to Tico's for Mexican food and then went to the Lied. It was wonderful.

I had a much needed quiet day on Friday because Saturday was another busy day. I picked Andrea up at 7:45 and we drove to Gretna to meet Anne and Rene for a ride to Winterset, Iowa for Fiberpalooza. We'd gone last year too and had a great time. I bought sock yarn, of course, but only 4 skeins, which felt like restraint. After shopping, we had a nice lunch in the cafeteria before heading back by the scenic route. We stopped for soft serve and explored towns along the way. We had fun in Red Oak, stopping at a bakery and chatting with the owners for an hour. I got home at 5:30 and did very little for the rest of the weekend, enjoying reading in the front room, making stew for supper and doing the bare minimum of chores.

Some week, right? I've lived in Wahoo for 29 years and never experienced anything like this storm. We were lucky in Wahoo because they had generators to get our power back. On our way out of town on Saturday, we passed miles and miles of downed power poles and dozens of line trucks from other states. They were parked when we drove by in the morning and again when we got back but they'd worked all day because there were new poles further west along the highway. There were still miles yet to repair but hopefully they'd finish it soon. And hopefully I won't experience another storm like it anytime soon.                                  

Week 11 - Exploring with Rene

I had my follow up with the oncologist to start the week so scheduled some fun right after. Inviting a friend for lunch got me in cleaning mode and I ended the week with birthday fun in Omaha. In between was a not much, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

My oncologist appointment was at 10:15 way down south in Lincoln so I picked Rene up on the way there and after spending 2 minutes with the doctor (total waste of an appointment!), we headed out for an exploration day. Our goal was Auburn, which I used to go to all the time because Connie lived there but Rene had never been. We made our way via every small town we could hit, stopping in Tecumseh for a yummy lunch and then dinking our way through small towns to Auburn.

The wonderful thrift shop wasn't open on Mondays and the cute gift shop had closed so after getting gas, a carwash and a soft serve cone, we headed further east to Brownville. It's a small town on the Missouri River and nothing was open so we just drove through and headed home via Peru to see the state college there. Connie used to work there but Rene had never seen it. After hitting other small towns, we ended in Unadilla where there was a meat market we'd seen on Pure Nebraska - a show on a Lincoln station that visits towns all over the state. It was underwhelming but the gas station there also had a thrift shop, which was fun. I dropped Rene home and headed straight to knitting. It was a fun day.

I had invited Lori over for lunch on Thursday to watch a zoom on trees by Nebraska Statewide Arboretum so the cleaning began. I cleared surfaces - the bookcase that was piled with yarn, my desk, computer table, bar and the front room table. I actually dusted using something my sister had put in my stocking - Scrub Daddy Damp Duster. Game changer! It's designed for people who never dust so need some water to get the thick layer of dust. That done, I swept, vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom. 

I made corn chowder and corn muffins for lunch and some cookies I'd baked on Tuesday for dessert. The talk was interesting and Lorri left shortly afterwards. I had my monthly Ripples zoom at 2:00 but struggled to focus. I went outside afterwards with a cup of tea and read in the shade because it was 79 degrees outside. I struggled to focus on my book too. I don't know why but I was antsy.

I spent time organizing my knitting projects on Friday and cleared a few more surfaces. I had posted a picture on Facebook of a friend who had recently died. His daughter contacted me to ask if she could use it at his celebration of life, which I said she could. I then went through pictures from the other trips we'd been on (he was the husband of a knitter on a couple of Jean Moss trips) and sent her a few more pictures. I then spent some time going through lots of pictures from other trips, which was a pleasure. I also chatted with Anne, who had gotten back from her trip to Morocco. It was a nice afternoon.

It was the weekend between Lori and Andrea's birthday so we were doing lunch on Saturday in Omaha. Andrea and I went to the Thrifty Artists Garage Sale (found some fun vintage sewing trims and chatted with the people from the Creative Reuse Store in Omaha) before meeting Lori for lunch at First Round in the Blackstone District. We had a fun lunch and they liked their presents. We then got ice cream a Coneflower Creamery, which has vegan ice cream for Lori. I got a super delicious flavor - caramelized Irish brown bread. SO good. Then we all went to Warmth, the new-ish yarn shop in Omaha, for our spinning group. It was fun and we headed straight home from there because Andrea had a dinner that night in Lincoln to get ready for.

I spent Sunday relaxing and getting chores done. It was a good week with lots of fun but enough down time between the fun that I was feeling good. I hope there will be more weeks just like this coming up.

Week 10 - Now a Cold

It was another week of roller coaster weather and if my mom were alive, she'd blame that weather on the cold I caught. It wasn't too bad and I was able to do what I had to but also took every opportunity to relax.

Helen had invited me for lunch on Monday but when I arrived early, she was still in her jammies and said she hadn't gotten around to making anything for lunch because she'd spent all her time painting walls in her house. She usually prefers to cook so we can stay in but I had no problem going to Piedmont Bistro, which is my favorite restaurant in Lincoln and only a block from her house. Back at her house, we spent the afternoon chatting away while drinking tea. When I looked up it was after 5:00 and I had to scramble to get to Monday Night Knitting. I ate PB&J in the car on the way there. Good thing I'd had a nice lunch.

A cold front was due on Tuesday afternoon so I was outside that morning taking down the winter decorations in the pots by my doors and changing the front door wreath and flag. I then went to every store in town looking for St. Patrick's Day decorations to add to the pots but came up dry. I found some white flowers at Family Dollar so put those in the front pot and left the side door pot empty. I'd look for some pansies for that. The front slammed into the house at 12:15 so I was happy to have gotten my outside stuff done and was cozy inside along with my cats. The big news for the rest of the day was I slept without the post-surgery bra for the first time. Milestone!

It snowed on Wednesday so I spent the day chatting with friends and spent that afternoon reading. Tim and his sons came and shoveled me out at the end of the day. It wasn't much snow but I still had a lifting restriction so was happy they came.

I woke up with a sore throat on Thursday, which is how I feel at the start of a cold. I had planned to go to a talk on butterflies at the lake but didn't want to share my germs so stayed home. I ended up working for 2 hours with Cindy on JE training she's creating a video for. Other than quick calls/emails here and there, I haven't worked in awhile so put in the few hours to get paid. I went out in the afternoon to get some ClaritinD so I wouldn't be a mess on Friday.

I had my follow up with the surgeon on Friday. She was happy with my incisions and told me the 10 pound lifting restriction was over but to listen to my body. I went to Aldi on my way home and lifted too much and immediately felt it. Stupid! I picked up Chinese food on the way home and was in for the weekend. I made pizza for supper and cleaned up the kitchen but otherwise just spent the afternoon reading.

There wasn't any excitement for the rest of the week. I knitted, streamed, read and did some cooking. Sunday was glorious (the snow was long gone) and I opened the windows and hung laundry on the line. I was feeling better after resting for a couple of days. I had a long talk with my old friend (since junior high) Janice and caught up on a few things.

So I was signed off with the surgeon but ended the week with a cold. We had snow on Wednesday and it was 68 on Sunday and even warmer weather forecast for the next week. Lots of ups and downs but I'm still smiling. Progress.

Week 9 - My Surgery Week

After going through the ringer since early January, my surgery week was finally here. It was scheduled for first thing Tuesday but I had to go in on Monday for some procedures. I was as prepared as I could be and was looking forward to putting it behind me.

You know me so won't be surprised that I'd scheduled lunch with Dodie on Monday to get some happy in. My first stop was dropping Dottie's huge yarn box at the UPS location at the Wahoo hardware store and dropping my spare car key at my friend Lorri's house. As usual, I had planned to drive myself to surgery and then have Anne drive me home in my car and have Rene follow us to drive Anne home. But Lorri mentioned that she and her husband would be in Lincoln on Tuesday afternoon so I asked if Bob, her car guy husband, would be willing to drive my car back, saving Rene from taxi service. He was happy to do it, saying that he loves to drive different cars when I dropped the key. Great.

Lunch with Dodie was good, as always, and with an hour to kill, I stopped in the office. I had planned to check in with Layton but spent so long chatting with Lacey that I had to head straight to the doctor. I had to have a radio frequency thingie (I called it the nubbin) put in my breast next to the spot they'd be removing. Then it was off to nuclear medicine where they injected me with something to identify which lymph nodes were draining the cancer area. What I didn't expect was having to wait until the juice made its way to the nodes so they could take pictures with the gamma camera. It took so long that I only had time to slam together a sandwich to eat on the way to the library for knitting. I went to bed early and set the alarm for 5:30 am.

I slept OK and after a quick shower, I was out the door at 6:40 to head to Anne's. I parked in her driveway and she drove me to the surgery center. Everyone was super nice and it was the usual pre-surgery stuff then chatting with Anne until they were ready for me. I woke up back where I started but with a post surgery bra on and feeling dopey. I got dressed and we headed out but I couldn't even cope with holding a coffee when Anne did the Starbuck's drive thru. We picked up lunch for me and my pain meds and I was home. Anne got me settled in my chair and left. A cup of tea helped with my headache (should have gotten that coffee) and I spent all afternoon doing something or other (still dopey) before logging on for a lecture on children of Nazis that I'd signed up for. It was very interesting and I did more nothing before going to bed. I wasn't uncomfortable but took a pain med and went to bed. I'm happy to report that sleeping in the bra, which I'd have to wear 24/7 for the next week, wasn't uncomfortable and that was the only pain pill I ever took.

Needless to say, Wednesday was a quiet recuperation day. I spent most of the day talking, messaging and emailing family and friends. The only thing I accomplished was bleach testing the 2 bags of the yarn I'd bought on Friday that I suspected was sock yarn. Whenever I got up from my chair, I'd snip off small pieces of yarn and put them in the bleach. If they completely disintegrate, they don't have nylon so I won't use them in socks. I'm happy to report that about 2/3 of the yarn had nylon. Yay!

On Thursday, I could take a shower. It felt great but I was shaking as I dried myself off. Despite this, I ran some errands in Wahoo. When I was back home, you would think I'd run a marathon. It was warm enough to read on the bench outside but otherwise I did nothing for the rest of the day.

I had an all day zoom on Friday called Big Talks from Small Libraries. It was fine to sit in the sun, knitting and watching the presentations. The best thing was getting a call from the surgeon who told me that there was no cancer in the lymph nodes which means I'm now 100% cancer free. Such a relief!

Andrea and I had an outing scheduled Friday afternoon to go to a civic garage sale (that's what my dad called them and where he shopped for books) at a high school in the next county. She picked me up mid-afternoon and we found a few things but were done way too early for supper so we headed to David City. We hit a thrift shop then went to Buresh Meats, where I found a bunch of bargains. It was still early but we headed to Abie's Place, where Andrea's boyfriend met us for dinner. It was fish all around and their fabulous French fries. Afterwards, we headed to a hill to see if we could see the planetary alignment. We could only see a couple, which looked like bright stars. Underwhelmed and tired, I sat in the car after just a few minutes. I was happy to get home and into my nightie. That was a busy day for me.

I was back in quiet mode for the weekend, chatting with family and friends, slamming out a pair of shortie socks that needed to get mailed and streaming or reading. I still had no pain but was aware of my incisions. I took off my bra long enough to wash it on Sunday and was happy to put it back on with a fresh nightie after another shower. I was in the home stretch and was feeling good.

So surgery was done, no other cancer was found and by the weekend I was getting my energy back. The stress dreams had also let up and it was warmer so I was able to get outside some. A good week, right? I'll have a few more weeks before radiation and hormone blockers and I plan to enjoy them.

Week 8 - Cold and Cancellations

It was my last week before surgery and it was the coldest week of the winter with high temps just above zero with wind chills in the negative 20's. This lead to lots of time inside and cancellations galore.

It started snowing in the wee hours on Monday and it was still snowing all morning. I had my pre-op physical at 1:20 and with it too cold to be outside, I messaged my snow crew and asked if they'd do my driveway. It was supposed to stop snowing at noon and they said they'd do me first so I could make my appointment. I got a call from the clinic with an offer to reschedule for Friday, which I happily took but they guys were already on their way. They did their usual quick job but it didn't end up stopping so I bundled up and went outside at 6:00 to do the last inch that had fallen. Anne Marie's son was driving by and stopped to help so it was quickly finished. With no knitting due to Presidents Day, I happily went back inside for a night of knitting and streaming.

The high temp on Tuesday was 1 not including windchills so I stayed inside. My front room reading in the sun book was The Fourth Wing, which I was totally sucked into and finished that afternoon. I immediately reserved the 2nd book in the series, which meant I'd be braving the cold (high temp of 2) on Wednesday to pick it up. I hit The Warehouse before the library and went right back to reading as soon as I got home. I kept reading Thursday too. By that point, the Wednesday night Saunders Medical Center's program on beef at the lake had been cancelled as well as the student dinner at Southeast Community College on Thursday night, which was why I'd delayed my surgery. Oh well. I was happy to stay warm inside anyway.

It was 23 degrees on Friday, which felt absolutely balmy, and I finally had plans to leave the house. After my rescheduled pre-op physical that morning, I'd be driving to Lincoln for lunch with Darla and final errands and grocery shopping. Despite telling me my labs from January would be good enough, they told my doctor that they wanted labs so after a cursory physical, I had blood drawn and an EKG so just made it to Virginia's Cafe at noon. Darla and I had a nice lunch and catch up after her birthday cruise. I gave her a cowl I'd finished the day before using the yarn inspired by our favorite Mexican restaurant in Lincoln. I think she liked it.

Awhile ago, I had found a crocheted afghan on pinterest that I loved and I asked Dottie to make it for me. She called me to say that it worked best with the soft acrylic that she told me she didn't like so I've been giving it to Anne for years whenever I find it in a Goodwill grab bag. Here's the first test square that Dottie made and original from pinterest. Love it! So my mission for Friday afternoon was to hit every thrift shop in Lincoln to find more. Of course I only found one skein but did find tons of good quality yarn, including some sock yarn. Anne had also pulled some so I stopped at her house to pick those skeins up and we chatted for awhile, of course. After a stop at the grocery store for my last stock up, I headed home for the weekend.

My surgery would leave me with a lifting restriction (10 pounds) so this was my last chance for awhile to do heavy cleaning - vacuuming, washing floors, changing litter boxes, doing final laundry, etc. I had upped my Chewy autoship date so unloaded that huge box and immediately filled it with yarn to ship to Dottie, using my new shipping scale to weigh it and print my own UPS label at half the cost of walking into a UPS Store. Between chores, I chatted and visited with friends. Andrea stopped by and we went over the Jean Moss book that I'd be mailing out to all the Jean Moss alums from our old knitting trips (we were both choked) and my friend Lorri came over for tea and blueberry muffins.

By the end of Sunday, I was ready for surgery. My house was clean enough, my fridge was stocked and I had friends lined up for transportation and post-surgery help. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. On to surgery!