Week 50 - It's Not Fungal!

Well, the week started with me feeling pretty desperate. Not only were my hands not better, they were killing me. Putting on the cream, which I was doing religiously, stung so much that I had to ice my wrists. It was clearly time to call the doc. I needed some immediate relief because I had a lot to do this week. Also, Carolyn was beginning to freak out about the idea of me bringing a fungal hand rash to her house over Christmas. With her eczema, it was the last thing she needed.

I called and made an appointment for Tuesday at 4:00 then go busy. I had lunch with Marcy from HR at lunch on Monday then picked up the photos I’d printed for the calendars at Walgreen’s. I knitted at the library after work and then went home to make a swag for my back door so I could bring the leftover greens to work for Cheryl who had a plan. Don’t we all this time of year?

When I got to the doctor’s on Tuesday afternoon, she took one look at my hands and said it wasn’t fungal. I had dyshidrotic eczema! With that it was all about moisturizing constantly, which was the exact opposite of what I’d been doing when treating it as fungal. She gave me a prescription for cream and a shot of steroids and sent me on my way. My hands sucked up the cream and instantly felt better. No stinging now! I got out my white gloves and aquafor to wear to bed. That felt great too. I was overjoyed to have a good diagnosis and a plan. It was like the weight of the world was off my shoulders. That felt even better than the newly hydrated skin on my hands.

The new Whole Foods opened in Lincoln on Wednesday so Nora and I decided to brave the crowds and check it out for lunch. We went at 1:00 and it wasn’t too bad. There were lots of people but not crazy. We had a lovely lunch and I vowed to go back and do the aisles before Christmas. I stopped at Yarn Charm on the way home to pick up Ginny’s socks, which had been on display for the last couple of months. I managed to spend $70 too. Chalk it up to supporting my local yarn shop. : )

Thursday was our office Christmas party. It seemed rushed and less festive than usual but the white elephant swap was fun. I ended up with a Husker condiment set that will be the start of a Wine & Dine door prize. Nora donated her gift towards the Wine & Dine too. Two down and I have at least one more at home. Nice. Did I mention I’m in charge of door prizes this year again?

I had continued to check things off my to do list all week, fitting things in either at lunch or after work. The best part of the week was I was finally getting some Darla time. We met at Cracker Barrel for dinner on Friday and caught up over fish fry. We then hit Bed Bath and Beyond for her Christmas gifts, which are a swap of As Seen on TV gifts. How fun is that! Anyway, seeing Darla was a wonderful way to start the weekend. It had to be a productive one.

Saturday’s to do list included errands, picking up the house, doing the calendars and putting up the tree. After a nice chat with Carolyn, I got busy and got it all done. NBC did fail me. I always put up my tree while It’s a Wonderful Life is on and it had been on the schedule but when I turned on the TV, their live  Sound of Music was playing instead. Good thing I have a small tree so I got it up in an hour while watching Rudolph on CBS.

Sunday was my last day before flying to get it all done. I did the house cleaning (must find a cleaning lady after Christmas!), cleaned the frig out completely including scrubbing the shelves and bins (I have a huge pile of food for Lori’s chickens) and then started wrapping. I had Dottie and Ginny’s stocking packages ready to ship but my printer failed me (it won’t print in black) so I had to save the shipping labels as pdfs and will print them at work and walk the packages over to the union. Then it was on to Carolyn’s stocking, which I finished at 10:00 p.m. All that’s left are gifts for Aaron and a few friends, which I’ll do one night this week.

The paper from the calendars and all the wrapping sucked the moisture out of my hands so they are a bit red. All the cleaning didn’t help either but the to do list is mostly done and I’m in good shape to fly out on Thursday. It’s all good.

Week 49 - More List Making

With just 2.5 weeks until I head east for Christmas, I went into full list mode. The weather was also going to get frigid cold so I was front loading the week’s list to get as much done in the first couple of days as possible. And I planned to make full use of my expensive parking, running errands over lunches too.

Monday was Christmas trees. I ran to Menard’s over lunch and got 2 trees – 1 for the deck and 1 for inside. It was so beautifully warm out that I put the deck tree up after knitting and then struggled with my old, lame saw to make a fresh cut on the inside tree. It was after 9:00 when I schlepped the tree down to the laundry room where it’ll stay for almost 2 weeks before I put it up on the 14^th (I always put it up the weekend before Christmas while watching It’s a Wonderful Life on NBC.)

I started Tuesday with a fasting blood test at the student health center. Lunch found me at Trader Joe’s, where I easily spent $100 on mostly Christmas chocolates, which was the last thing I needed for Dottie and Ginny’s stockings. I was exhausted but forced myself to swim after work. It felt good to swim but it killed the rash on my hands. It felt so good to go home, lube up my hands and sit.

I had planned to run more errands – Big Lots and Joann’s – over lunch on Wednesday but the weather had turned cold earlier than forecast so I stayed inside and called it good. I had a haircut scheduled after work and then got some online shopping done so still crossed things off my list despite the weather. Sharyn called right after Survivor to thank me for the socks I’d mailed her and we had a wonderful chat. But the best part of the day was getting the results of my blood test, which showed no problem at all with blood sugar. The rush of relief was unreal! I need to work on my LDL and triglycerides but at least it’s not diabetes.

I talked to my doctor’s office on Thursday about my results and at that time asked for another round of the oral antifungal meds because my hands were still a mess. I thought the pharmacy was open until 6:30 so I dinked around after work and got there at 6:12 – 12 minutes after they closed. I was pissed as I headed home to grab a quick dinner before book club. I’d only finished the book that morning and the questions were all aimed at 12 year olds (it was yet another young adult book) so the conversation lagged. To top it all off, the library commission had sent the wrong book for next week. Sheesh. And my hands were killing me.

Friday was a new day! I was at the pharmacy when they opened at 8:00, hit Starbuck’s, fed three feeders (last day covering the 2 extra – yay!) and was at my desk by 9:00. I had a nice lunch with Layton and picked up cat food next to the Chinese buffet (cross that off) and the afternoon didn’t drag. I skipping the market and headed straight home. By day’s end I had rebooked my return flight on the 26^th ($68 more seemed well worth not having to leave for the airport at 4:00 a.m.), ordered all Aaron’s presents and had a plan for a productive weekend.

Since we’d be knitting at Christmas on the Prairie from 2:00-5:00 on Saturday, I was determined to get tons done before I left for the bank to do the Friends’ deposit. I slammed through my list, neatizing the entire house, sweeping the back room, doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom. After stopping at the library to pick up more money, I hit the bank, the thrift shop bag sale (mostly got clothes for Lori but a few things for me) and Burger King for lunch. Check, check, check. The afternoon was perfectly pleasant and then it was home to make turkey soup for dinner and watch The Wire. It was a very productive and fun day.

Sunday was chores, a bit of cooking, shoveling (we got 4” of snow – it was gorgeous to watch falling) and calendars. I went through boxes of pictures looking for just the right ones for each page. It took hours! Then I had to scan, upload and order prints. I had planned to cook dinner but ran out of time. Good thing Andrea stopped by with homemade soup to save the day. I also managed to finish my last pair of Christmas socks so it was another good day. Now to work on the list for next week. I fear there will be yet another trip to the clinic for my hands. Bummer.

Week 48 - Checking Things Off

What can I say about a 3 day work week – isn’t it great? The work gods smiled on me and the days flew by. Then, as usual, they let us leave early (3:00) on Wednesday. I stopped at my favorite thrift shop on the way out of town and scored this gorgeous scrap quilt for $10. What a wonderful way to start Thanksgiving break!

For years I’ve hosted Thanksgiving at my house on the weekend because Helen works on Thanksgiving but this year Brenda was hosting on Saturday. All I had to do was make a couple of pies, which I’d do Saturday, so I had all the time in the world. While everyone else was slamming to have turkey ready on time, I got to sit totally relaxed knitting in the sun. Perfect! For the first time ever, I watched the entire parade and then the dog show. It was a lovely day and I was thankful for that. I had bought a turkey but didn’t get my butt in gear to have it done in time for Thursday so had ravioli and called it dinner. That was what we ate on Thanksgiving when I studied in France so it just felt right.

I did get the turkey cooked on Friday but had a bit of a mishap trying to manage getting the juice out of the cooking bag solo. I ended up with a broken bag and all the juices running down the sink. In falling into the dish drainer, the turkey lost all cohesion. Even the stuffing fell out. Since it was already a mess, I pulled it apart right after I ate and had the bones in the crockpot to make stock overnight. Done.

There was a complicating factor for the pies though. I had a rash all over my hands and had gone to the doctor on Tuesday for drugs. Since it was contagious and Brenda’s pregnant, I had to make the pies wearing Playtex gloves. Let me tell you, that is NOT easy. And since peeling apples would have been a bear, I made pecan and pumpkin instead. I also dug out white cotton gloves to wear so I wouldn’t spread anything. Talk about odd. I was called Minnie Mouse and a mime. Family – gotta love ‘em! Everything was yummy and we had fun playing farkle after dinner. It was a perfectly pleasant Thanksgiving.

Since it was going to be gorgeous on Sunday – high 40’s – I decided to start the day outside. I needed to neatize the yard, put the hoses away, clear the deck and mow to mulch the leaves. It took a couple of hours but by 1:00 I was done, showered and enjoying turkey dinner leftovers. My laundry was hanging on the line and I’d made a dent in my chores so was feeling good about life. Andrea had asked me to come over and give her ideas on reorganizing her sewing room. I got there ~2:00 and ideas lead to moving furniture, sorting yarn and general reorganization. Why is it so fun to do that with other people’s stuff but not my own? Oh well. I made a cup of tea when I got home and sat for awhile to give my knees a break but was up again cleaning up the kitchen and finishing the laundry.

I didn’t get everything on my list done but will attempt to make a dent before and after work this week. Beyond chores, I made my Christmas to do list and have to be diligent to get everything done sooner rather than later to minimize pre-holiday stress. I live in hope. How’s your holiday prep going?

Week 47 - Not Ready Yet

Am I the only one struggling to get into Christmas this early? My regular radio station went Christmas a week ago and then my back up station went on the Friday before Christmas. That left me flipping between a rock station and NPR. I won’t be ready for Christmas music until mid-December so I’m sunk.

Not helping the holiday spirit was the weather, which was so warm at the beginning of the week that I was able to take knit breaks and sit outside. That all changed Wednesday, with some snow and bitter cold. I guess if that keeps up, I’ll be getting into the spirit soon.

Otherwise it was a pretty average week and it ended on a culture note. Andrea and I did one of our rare culture days. We had planned to see Twelve Days a Slave then do lunch and the quilt museum but my cousin Debbie called me out of the blue on Sunday morning we talked long enough that it was too late for the movie. We did the museum, which is always fun and just the right size to do in an hour, and then had lunch at Dempsey’s. Guiness and truffle fries were the stars. I ended the day with chores like a typical Sunday and was looking forward to the upcoming short work week. Hopefully I’d be able to get in the spirit after Thanksgiving.

Week 46 - Swearing Off Bowls

Last week’s 3 words were Hard to Quit. Speaking of quitting, this past week I swore off eating from the candy bowls that are everywhere at work. Because I have no self-control. Once I start dipping in, I find myself grabbing a handful every time I walk by, which adds up to who knows how many empty calories every day. So it’s cold turkey time. If I want candy, I’ll have a candy bar (that won’t happen much) but no handfuls. I did this once before and lost almost 20 pounds without trying. We’ll see how this goes.

Aside from the lack of candy, it was a really nice week, despite some mid-week sadness.

Things were going along swimmingly when I got an email Tuesday afternoon from my friend Lori that her mom, who had been battling ovarian cancer for as long as I’ve known Lori, had died. Although Nelda had been in hospice, this still came as a surprise. I’d seen Lori at knitting Monday night and there was no mention of her mom being worse. The next morning she died. The visitation was Thursday night and 4 of us from knitting converged on the funeral home in Omaha at 5:00. I had driven directly from work, Jan and Donna had driven from Wahoo and Andrea, who was rushing back for book club at her house at 7:00, had driven herself. The visitation was very pleasant - between Lori’s sisters, her cousin and aunt, I had plenty of people to visit with and the time passed quickly. I left at 6:00 and met Donna and Jan for supper at Upstream before heading home. It was an oddly nice evening and Lori and her family seemed to be doing OK, which was reassuring.

Lori had requested lunch at Chips on Saturday so I got up and got busy picking up the house, which was a wreck, so I could offer knitting chez moi after lunch. But when I called Lori at noon, she was not up for going out after all. Friday had been a long day of the funeral and then driving to Bassett and back (more than 4 hours each way) for the burial. With the house pretty clean, I told Andrea I’d rather stay grubby and keep going than stop for lunch, which surely would have stopped my productivity dead. So I put all the plants I’d brought in outside, swept the floors well and then repotted everything, bringing in the plant racks from the garage and arranging everything for the winter to come. Only then did I jump in the shower and sit down for a cup of tea. I was pleased with my progress.

Luckily the productivity streak lasted because beside chores on Sunday, I did some mending, sewed a curtain for the spare room and did a bunch of cooking. By the end of the day, the house was neat and cleaner than it was on Friday, the laundry was done, the frig was stocked with food for the week (I even made a pie to take to knitting) and my plants were all safe and warm for the winter. If I could be so productive every weekend… I have a dream!

Week 45 - Hard to Quit

Why is it so hard to quit things, even when I know I should? Maybe it’s my mother’s voice in my ear “Winners never quit and quitters never win!” from back in 8^th grade when I wanted to quit band? (Which I did and it was the right decision, by the way.) Maybe it’s my Responsibility strength from the Gallup Strengths Finder? Whatever, I just find it incredible hard. What am I talking about you wonder? Stay tuned.

I read the book The Happiness Project awhile ago and the thing I took away from it was to find what actually makes you happy rather than what you think will make you happy or what you want to make you happy. The very first thing I thought about was being a Master Gardener. I first certified in Rhode Island but it was right before I moved so I had just gotten my feet wet. I had to recertify in Nebraska and from minute one I knew the program didn’t hold a candle to RI’s. But I stuck it out and did make a couple of wonderful friends through the program. But over the years, I’ve gotten less and less out of it and the volunteer hours have been a burden. I’ve beaten myself up for years and had come to resent any time I spent on community gardens while neglecting my yard. So, after reading the book, I started thinking about quitting. And thinking. And thinking.

On Tuesday I got an email from Lorri asking if I was going to the MG potluck on Wednesday. Now I’d gotten a newsletter while I was home after surgery and despite having all the time in the world, I hadn’t even opened the envelope. Seems like an indication of a lack of interest, n’est-ce pas? Regardless, my first response was that I’d think about it and get back to her but as soon as I hit send I started thinking – why was I even considering it? I had done almost no volunteer hours in the past year and was viewing the dinner as an obligation. Seriously? I knew then and there that it was time. Despite having another year before I needed to report my hours, I was ready to quit NOW. I sent an email to the MG coordinator and quit. Then I asked Lorri to stop at my house and pick up the box of data entry I’d taken as a volunteer project but had been ignoring for a year so she could return it at the dinner. I wanted to leave nothing hanging. It felt GREAT! Why did I wait so long? The guilt is gone with one email. I can only hope with that gone, I’ll spend more time in my own garden next year.

That was definitely the highlight of my week. The second milestone was I went back to the pool, which also felt great. Tuesday was my first class and it wasn’t a hard one and I was able to do just about everything. I took Wednesday off, not wanting to do too much, and went Thursday, which was hard. Agony with Alison proved more difficult and all the ab moves were painful and I skipped a few. But all in all, it felt great to be back in the pool. Life really is returning to “normal.”

And another positive is Nora, Cheryl and I got together at Nora’s on Saturday and did our calendar pages, which came out so cute. All done in early November! How’s that for getting ready for Christmas early? We had lots of fun and now they’re done. Yay!

So great week, huh? I hope yours was just a good.

Week 44 - I'm Back Baby!

It was like someone flipped a switch! I woke up Monday with all my energy back and feeling great. Good thing because it was going to be a busy week.

 

The only thing different about Monday was I made it through the day without succumbing to fatigue and nap time. I had some incision tenderness but nothing I couldn’t live with. I worked all day, grabbed dinner at home and then went to knitting. All in all, it was a perfectly normal day, which felt like a gift after being under the weather for so long. Tuesday was pretty normal too and was marked by my last lunch with Darla, who had accepted a new job – still at the U but at the ag research center in Mead, which is near where I live but lunches will be out of the question. We got pizza and salad bar at HyVee (one of our regular places) and I bought Halloween candy while I was there, which ended up being a good thing. Stay tuned. We had a food day on Wednesday so I went home to make 2 apple pies. I cheated on the crust so it was just a matter of peeling and slicing 6 pounds of apples, which I did while watching TV. The pies smelled great while they baked but they were for work. Darn!

 

 

 

The food day was fun and my pies were delicious, if I do say so myself. All was going swimmingly until 4:00, when Student Accounts finally sent the allocation file. I immediately started prepping the files (allocations had to be done by the next day) and sent them off to the programmer. We went back and forth on that until 6:30, at which point I called the payroll manager at home to ask him to dig into some bad data (he agreed) and then I drove home. I ate dinner and watched Survivor then signed on from home and worked until 10:30 prepping files to send to the grants people, who are early birds at work so I wanted them to have the files before I got in.

 

I spent Thursday morning under the gun, slamming to finish allocations because I was teaching all afternoon and wanted to leave early to prep for Halloween. I got the call that the final batch had posted at 1:10 and then headed down to my class. What a relief! It was while I was stressed to the max and working full bore that my co-worker decided it was the perfect time to tell me how I was bugging him. When he wouldn’t back off (seriously?) I told him to F off and he was not happy, telling me I shouldn’t talk to him for the rest of the day, which frankly worked for me since I was trying to get him to not talk to me. But you know me, I was beating myself up for the rest of the day. Sheesh! But at least I was able to leave after my class was over so was home by 4:30, having stopped at Dollar General for emergency shower gifts since I hadn’t been able to shop the night before. I got busy changing my flag, sweeping the walk and carving my jack-o-lantern. I had the candle in the pumpkin and the light on just in time. I had only bought 5 bags of candy so ran out just after 8:00 and turned the light off, which was fine because it was all older kids by then anyway. I do like Halloween and got lots of kids. It was a nice end to a hectic couple of days.

 

Friday was monthly reports day and Josh called in sick. I was determined not to let that affect my mood so just plugged away at my reports and had a nice lunch with Layton. The day was over in a flash. I had a baby shower after work for two new moms from water aerobics, which was lots of fun. Good food, fun presents (the hand knitted hat and booties were a hit and they seemed to like my Johnson & Johnson gift sets from Dollar General too) and a game where we all brought baby pics and had to figure out who was who. Baby showers are always fun. There was another scheduled for the next morning for Helen’s daughter-in-law but it was a 2 hour drive west so I’d opted out in case I wasn’t comfortable with the long drive. I’d sent a nice gift from Target.com so was all set. Anyway, after a quick stop at the market after 9:00, I headed home to start the weekend.

 

I had my favorite Saturday routine to look forward to – Friends meeting at the library, bag sale and lunch at Chips with Lori and Andrea. I got just enough stuff to make the bag sale fun (Lori, who said she wasn’t into it, got 4 bags to my 1) and then had a wonderful lunch of salad and buffalo chicken mac and cheese. I got home at 3:00 and started in, albeit slowly, on my chores. My house was a dirty mess after a month of minimal effort so I had to make some progress. Andrea and I went to the pancake feed (her favorite one) at the Mead Catholic church first thing on Sunday, which meant I was home, well fed and ready to rock and roll just after 10:00. I picked up the house, got laundry started and cleaned up the kitchen. Later in the day, after several knitting breaks, was the bathroom and floors. By the end of the day the worst of the chores were done (vacuuming and dusting would have to wait) and I had food in the frig for the week and a big bag of scraps for Lori’s chickens. It was enough done that I was feeling back to “normal” in the house department. All that was left was to get back in the pool, which was on the list for the coming week. I’m back baby!