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!