week 47 - Ready for Winter

I got my wish for a week with less drama. I had some fun and did my final prep for winter. All good.

I woke up Monday craving a burger. I called my friend Lorri to see if she'd be up for going out to lunch but she was busy so we scheduled it for Thursday - an early lunch for her birthday. I thought I could make it until then but decided I didn't need to so took a load to the burn pile, stopping on the way to place a take out order at The Branding Iron and picking it up after unloading. It was delish and totally hit the spot. After lunch I roasted some garden tomatoes and made banana bread to take to knitting but despite making it my entire life and knowing the recipe by heart, I screwed it up, using baking powder instead of soda so it didn't rise. Sheesh!

After knitting Monday night, I only had a library board meeting on Tuesday night and a dentist appointment on Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise I was knitting and watching Ken Burns' American Revolution series on PBS. His documentaries are perfect for knitting because they focus on a picture, in this case all paintings because photography didn't exist back then, and talk for a few minutes. I don't have to worry about missing something if I look down at my knitting and learned a lot so it was a good watch.

Thursday was my social day. I finished my monthly challenge socks in the morning then picked Lorri up for her birthday burger lunch. When we were done, we went to the local coffee shop - Mocha C's - to chat for a bit. I dropped her home and headed to Lincoln for turkey dinner in the dorms with Anne and Rene. They were going to volleyball at 7:00 so dinner was early at 5:00. It was our 3rd year for turkey dinner in the dorms and it really is delicious and a good deal at $11 for retirees. I dropped them at the arena and then hit Super Saver to buy my Thanksgiving vittles, hit the nearby Goodwill (bought nothing) and got gas at Sam's. Only when I was halfway home did I remember that I'd meant to go to Menard's to buy my Christmas trees. Oh well. I finished a charity hat when I got home and cast on another.

Friday was drizzly and cold so was recharge day for me. I chatted with friends and my sister Dottie, again. It was the 3rd time that week but this time she was calling from Goodwill in Indiana about some potential sock yarn she'd found. It looked like it to me so she bought me 3 bags and sent this pic when she got home. Yay! That'll come with my stocking presents and I'll bleach test it then. I made a big pot of red sauce, which simmered for hours on the stove, which was nice on a chilly day. I ended up with 10 individual servings for the freezer plus enough for pasta that night. 

The weather on the weekend would be our last warm temps so I was on a mission to do absolutely everything that needed doing outside to be ready for winter. First up was cutting the perennials in the parking (the strip between the sidewalk and street) because if I don't, it acts as a snow fence and dumps all the snow on my sidewalk. After I took that load to the city burn pile, I dumped the last few pots and planted my two medium sized mums in the same bed where I'd put the rose bushes from the east side bed. I put the sprinkler on that bed to give them a good soak before winter and then disconnected the hoses and drained them, leaving them on the slight slope of my driveway in hopes that gravity would get the last water out. 

With all that done, Sunday was easy. I put the hoses in the garage and swapped the baker's rack for the new plant stand I'd tried that didn't work. When my mower kid came for the last mow, which was really about chopping up the silver maple leaves rather than cutting the lawn, I called it good. I was ready for winter just in time for cooler, late fall weather.

I call that a good week. I had some fun with friends, crossed a few things off and was 100% ready for winter - not just the garden but mentally too. I would be hosting Thanksgiving for Anne and Rene the next week so would be cleaning like a banshee for a few days but then would be ready for Christmas prep and cozy inside days. Anyone else?

Week 46 - Too Much Drama

It was a busy week with a mix of fun, frustration and ridiculous drama. I was also getting things done outside to prepare for winter. At least the week started well.

When I was driving home from a Fremont run on the weekend, I heard something funky with my car and found that the shield that's under my engine was hanging. I called Ozzy's, the local mechanic, first thing on Monday and asked if they could reattach it. They said to come right in and they not only did it while I waited but didn't charge me. Gotta love small town business! I drove directly to Helen's for some cousin time and stayed all day, getting home just in time to scarf some dinner down before heading to knitting. 

My contractor was coming on Tuesday to finish my bathroom. He came with a crew because he was injured and couldn't do much himself. They changed my sink and shower fixtures then spackled and painted. Of course it's not 100% done because the new shower head didn't come with the cord thing so it's still brushed chrome and will be replaced at some point. Unfortunately they didn't wait long enough for the spackle to dry so I can see everywhere they painted. I guess I'll just touch it up myself. They were done around lunch time so I had time that afternoon to make this cute project bag I'd offered as an October prize in my online sock group. I made a pan of blondies for the next day.

I had had a package I'd shipped returned to me because apparently rules have changed and you can't put stamps on anything over 1/2" thick. I took the yarn and the project bag to the post office but couldn't get either the yarn or the bag into the already stamped envelope so left without mailing either and headed to Lincoln. I've had a sensor failing - the open door one - in my car so it would go off when I turned corners. Well, on the way to Lincoln it came on and stayed on, which meant I had to turn off my interior light and couldn't lock my car with my fob. Just another thing to fix when I get a tune up at Ozzy's next month (they told me to wait to schedule it when I need an oil change).

That was the end of the frustration for the day though. I had a nice lunch with Dodie, went to Nuremburg with Anne, stopped at Stuff and found some sock yarn then went to Lana's for a work party. It was great to see everyone and Lana's not so new house. I stayed until 8:15 and when I got home, I found a package with this skein of gorgeous sock yarn from one of the members of my online sock group, which she said was to thank me for being a moderator. How lovely!

After such a long day, I'd have liked to stay home but there was a talk at the lake on water at 9:00. Since we'd just had the boil water thing last week, I was hoping to get some answers. The presenter was not good but there was question time after he was done and there was someone who had some info about Wahoo's water problem, which apparently happened because they're been replacing water mains and that's when problems can happen. After I dropped Lorri at her house, I went to the post office to try again. The clerk was very nice but a guy who must be her boss stuck his nose in and was a total jerk. I mailed both packages after paying a bunch more money and left near tears. Total a-hole. And when I got home, I found a registered mail notice on my front door (it had been there for days because I never use that door) so I had to go right back to the post office. Luckily I didn't see the guy again. I went back home for garden therapy, which helped my mood immensely. I dug up all the plants that I wanted to save from the east side of my house, which will be dug up in late winter when my basement wall gets reblocked. I planted them in one of my veg beds and went inside to make a pot of soup. I had hopes that the drama was over for the week.

Not so much. I started the day Friday meeting Anne at the Quilt Museum for their artist sale, which was fun and I found some yarn, of course. I won't go into nitty gritty detail but when I went to my cousin's to drop something off, I ended up in a text blitz with her husband that left me feeling totally crappy. Not cool. I hit HyVee and went home for tea. I felt shitty for the rest of the day and am thankful I have friends I could vent to. By the end of the day I was feeling some better.

Saturday was spinning in Fremont so Andrea and I did the usual run. I found fun stuff at the Restore before going to spinning which had more people than any recent meeting. Afterwards we hit Goodwill, Aldi and Baker's, where Andrea and I went through every single turkey to find the smallest one for her. This is not the first time we've done that. It's kind of our specialty. 

As usual, Sunday was my chore day. I made a nice breakfast of waffles and bacon then got busy with laundry (it was warm enough still to hang things outside) and cleaned up the deck, planting the 2 little mums that have been on my deck table for a couple of months.

I still had fun but there was way too much drama for my liking. Here's hoping next week is drama free.

Week 45 - Boil Water Order

Well, I got a mix of things again, including a fun road trip, but there was also lots of frustration. I guess I need to be careful what I wish for.

The week started in the 70's but we were having our first hard frost at the end of the week so my priority was to finish the outside work and bring in the plants I overwinter. I started Monday afternoon, dumping containers and potting up plants to bring in. I was outside again Tuesday afternoon, clearing veg beds, cleaning dahlia tubers and dealing with more containers. On Thursday, I brought my plants inside. On Friday, I dug up all the daffodils that needed dividing, which I'd marked with white plastic knives in the spring. I dug a new bed and enlarged another and got many, many bulbs replanted but still have lots to share.

When I came in on Tuesday after working outside, I saw a Facebook post from the city saying that they'd found e-coli in Wahoo's water and we were under a boil water order. That's a first in the 29 years I've lived here. Now I'd been drinking tap water all day while working outside so I'd probably already been exposed but I got busy and started boiling water. I spent the week using boiled water for drinking, cooking, brushing my teeth, etc. Total pain in the ass! Luckily my dishwasher wasn't full but I had a sink full of pots and pans. I finally gave up and boiled water to wash them on Friday morning. Between boiling then cooling some then boiling more to wash them and more to rinse them in a dishpan, which I found in the laundry room with canning jars in it, it took me all morning to get those pans washed. They started hyper-chlorinating the water (the smell when running the faucets!) and said we might get the all clear on Friday but didn't until Sunday. It made for a long, frustrating week.

I had my appointment with the medicare agent and am now all signed up for all the parts I need - medigap and prescription - all effective January 1st. Cross that off my to do list.

Wednesday was a fun day. Anne, Rene and I were going on a day trip to Nebraska City. We stopped in Unadilla for the meat market and thrift shop then headed to Arbor Day Farm hoping to find apples. Nope. They were sold out so we took this nice pic of the 3 of us and left. We found a great restaurant for lunch then walked downtown, checking out all the stores. When we left, we took the scenic route rather than the highway and checked out all the small towns along the way. I had tickets to dinner at Southeast Community College and got back to Rene's just in time to change into more presentable clothes and get there. Lorri met me there and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal, which was a mix of midwest and Korean fare. It was a long but fun day.

Merry Market started Friday night and I always work at the library with Denise staffing the library's holiday decoration sale. I picked up pizza and was there at 5:00 when the library normally closes. We had more customers than last year and made some money. I fed and medicated my neighbor's cat on the way home and called it a day.

I woke up early Saturday and threw clothes on and went to do the cats again. When I got home I got back in my nightie (ha!) and enjoyed a morning sitting in the sun, knitting and chatting with friends. After lunch, I went to Fremont for HyVee's annual baking sale. The prices on everything needed for holiday baking are so cheap that it's worth the drive. I chose Fremont because I wanted to pick up turkey dinner at a church in Cedar Bluffs on the way home. I usually get early turkey from Project Close Up at Wahoo High but they aren't doing it anymore. This was a good replacement.

Sunday is normally chore day for me and it was cold and windy so a perfect day to stay inside. When we got the word that the water was OK, I started cooking. I made corned beef casserole with fresh green beans and a pumpkin pie to take to knitting. I'd been eating out of the freezer all week so I wouldn't have more dishes to do. I was so happy the water was safe again!

Despite the water issues, I still had some fun. Everything was just hard with having to deal with water but I survived. Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

Week 44 - A Nice Mix

It was a week with a mix of all things including working some at my old job, taking next steps on medicare, attempting to do my civic duty, having some social fun and even learning something.

I got a call from Dana Monday morning about a problem with grad allocations. I had documented those to the Nth degree and she'd followed all the directions but something was wrong. We slogged through everything and, of course, it ended up being something that had never happened in the 20+ years I'd done them. After working all morning, I rewarded myself with a chicken finger lunch from DQ. I did some laundry and ended the day knitting with friends.

On the medicare front, I made an appointment with my GP to discuss my medications because if they were going to change, which she'd mentioned they might last winter, I'd need to know that before signing up for my Rx plan and I also wanted to get another 3 month refill before I was done with my COBRA through UNL. She was fine with leaving them as is so I made an appointment for next week with the agent who was helping me with medicare sign up. Cross that off the list.

We had our first chance of a frost so I covered my plants on 2 different nights and they all survived just fine. I'd have to bring the ones I want to overwinter in soon but wasn't ready so was happy the covering worked.

I signed up to phone bank for Dan Osborn, who is running against our awful senator, Pete Rickets. I signed onto a zoom for orientation and then attempted to do the calls, which are done through an app with a script for what to say. The first caller couldn't hear me so the guy had me try doing the audio through my phone instead of my computer. That didn't work either so after a 3rd failed call, he told me that he was just filling in for the regular person and couldn't fix my problem so I called it good. I tried!

I had a fun day on Halloween. Darla was off so I met her at my favorite breakfast place in Lincoln - Cook's Cafe, which has the best sausage links. We chatted over breakfast then hit Goodwill and Dollar Tree before parting ways. I then went grocery shopping and even bought Halloween candy. I haven't handed it out in years but had a fire laid and planned to put the firepit at the bottom of the driveway and hand out candy from there. Alas, the wind picked up that evening so I couldn't light the fire so I gave up. We get very few kids walking the streets anyway because they all go to Boo in Wahoo at the fairgrounds. Oh well.

I had a relaxing weekend with knitting, doing the tallies for my sock group and starting new challenge socks (a 1st day of the month thing), doing some chores and chatting with friends/family. I did go out Sunday afternoon to a program at the library on Forts on the Missouri by a local historian. It was interesting for sure and it was great to end the week learning something. It was warm enough that I had tea on my garden bench after the program.

So, a nice week, right? I love a good mix of things and it was the perfect amount of busy - not too much and plenty of time for relaxing. Hopefully I'll have more weeks like this soon. In the meantime, here's a pretty sunset pic I took out my windy.

Week 43 - Finished Anne's Socks

I started the week with a mission - to finish Anne's Husker socks in time to give them to her on Wednesday. I started the week with one sock done and the cuff of the second. A cold front came through and helped me out.

The temps dropped mid-morning on Monday, which made it easy to sit and knit the day away. I was past the heel with half the foot done by the end of the day Monday and finished the sock just after lunch on Tuesday. Mission accomplished! With that done, I went outside to move plants against the house and cover them because there was a chance of our first freeze. They made it through just fine, even the impatiens that I left hanging from the garage so no freeze Tuesday night. I had taken cuttings from the various impatiens to root over the winter, which sometimes works. Not much to lose so I'll try again this year.

Wednesday was a Lincoln day for an emeriti/retiree association program on gerrymandering and I was meeting with the membership chair about helping with their data beforehand. Anne was meeting me there, which is why I wanted to finish the socks because she'd need them on Saturday for the game. She loved them. From there, I picked Dodie up and we went to Pho Factory for our favorite spring rolls. Yum! I did a big Aldi run to restock my fridge and cupboards and was home for tea. I made carbonara for supper and had some wine. It was a good day.

I had recovered the plants and they survived again but I did see frost on my neighbor's car when he left for work Thursday morning so I'm glad I'd covered them. And while you'd think I had enough knitting, I spent the morning knitting in the sun. I zoomed with Cindy for a bit and then cleaned up the kitchen, which lead to a complete scrub down of the stove. I also put the flowers back in their spots because there was no frost in the forecast. That evening, I went to a town hall meeting for Dan Osborn, who is running for senate against the loathsome Pete Rickets. I signed up to help so we'll see if they get in touch.

My coffee maker died Friday morning so I had a decision to make. I could buy one locally, which would give me zero choice and be expensive, or I could drive. That's what I did. I went to Lincoln after lunch and got one at Walmart for $17 and was in and out in literally 5 minutes. I got cheap gas at Sam's (the savings covered the cost for driving one way) and then scored some fun yarn at St. Theresa's Thrift Shop, which is only open on Fridays and Saturdays so I rarely get to shop there. Nice.

I finally heard back from my contractor. We'd always used Messenger to communicate but he hadn't responded and I was getting concerned. I finally looked up his email from when he'd sent pics when I was in Europe and got an immediately response. He had taken Messenger and Facebook off his phone to eliminate some drama and so wasn't seeing my messages. He said he'd come on the 11th to swap out the shower head, the sink faucet, the towel bar and install a 2nd one. Yay!

I was back in Lincoln on Saturday to hang out with my cousins. We chatted the afternoon away and then Michael came with his family for supper. It was lovely family time and we even did some crafting (Christmas ornaments) after supper. I got home at 10:00.

After all this out and about, Sunday was a recharge day. I did the bare minimum of chores and relaxed (aka knitted/streamed) all day. It was a nice end to a busy week.

Yeah, it was a good week with lots of socializing, learning some things, doing my civic duty and getting some stuff done outside. The socks and family time were the icing on the cake. Hearing from the contractor was great too. I'll take more weeks like this please.