Week 46 - Tot Came Home

I woke up with a start at 6:30 in hopes that Tot would be waiting at the back door. She wasn't. After checking the street again and calling her, I was perusing my computer for a picture of her for posters when she came up from under the deck. She was clearly spooked and had a bloody ear but I was SO relieved that she was home. She didn't go out for a couple of days and when she finally did, it was just for a few minutes. She didn't get back to normal until the end of the week. What a great way to start the week, right?

My goal for the week was to start slogging through the laundry room. Becky had announced another Stuff for Strays sale starting Friday so I was determined to contribute another load. I got started Monday afternoon and then spent Tuesday going through all the Christmas boxes down there. I scrubbed the metal cabinets and all the appliances and loaded the last donations on Wednesday afternoon. While it wasn't as big a carload as the last 2 (I could see out my back window), it was plenty - a full layer with the back seats down. 

Thursday was my campus day for lunch with Dodie at our favorite Bison Witches. Afterwards, I dropped the carload of stuff (gone is good!), did some thrifting (found yarn) then stopped at the little hardware store in Havelock to see about a handle for my sliding door. They were helpful but I still left empty handed and then hit the hardware store in Wahoo. Nothing there either but I decided to fill the stripped holes with my hot glue gun. While doing that I realized I had 2 new holes that I could use and after weeks of having a barely hanging on handle, it's as good as new - just mounted an inch higher than before.

Friday was the last warm day before our first hard freeze coming next week so I spent it bringing in plants. That sounds easy but I had to wash the racks then the windows and floors they'd be covering. Only then could I start bringing in plants, half of which needed to be repotted. It took all day but it's nice to have blooming plants in the house and I'll appreciate them even more in the dead of winter. It's mostly geraniums and lantanas. I also drained all the hoses and put them away. My yard is almost ready for winter.

Saturday was spinning in Fremont so Andrea and I did our regular run, ending at Aldi where I bought lots of Christmas treats. Otherwise, it was a lazy weekend. I potted up a couple more plants and knitted on my Christmas socks with the yarn I dyed last week. Can you see the stripes?. On Sunday night I cobbled together a rigatoni bake with a strange Italian seasoned smoked sausage I had in the freezer, the ends of random cheese from the fridge and kale from my garden. It was quite yummy and I loved using things up and making do with what I had on hand.

Another good week of retirement with lots of productivity, a bunch of stuff out of my house, all of which will benefit cats, and my plants all set for another winter. But best of all was Tot coming back and she was back to her mean self by the end of the week. Too bad she couldn't have come out of it with a better attitude. Ha!

Week 45 - Good and Bad

It was another chock full week of getting things done and running around with some edification too. A lovely week of retirement life. Mostly.

It was raining on Monday so the cats didn't wake me up. Despite the late start, I got a lot done. I went through the freezer, organizing it and clearing the ice off of some of the things in the way back, which I think was from a blocked vent or something. With that done, I made an apple pie to take to knitting and then made a batch of strawberry/banana jam. Yum on both and we knitted especially late at the library that night.

Aside from voting, I spent the day avoiding media so finished the last bit of the freezer (I hadn't done the door and a basket of bags of fruit) and then dyed some yarn. I did the same brand but one bit plain and one sparkle and dyed them red in the same pot. My intention is to knit striped Christmas socks with 4 rows each of the plain and sparkle, which will be subtle but hopefully fun. Things were looking bad by the time I went to bed but I'm determined not to worry about our country for the next 4 years. We survived his last term and we'll survive his next one too. I ordered some sock yarn as a pick me up. : )

I did a Lincoln run on Wednesday. I needed to pick up cat food for Husker Cats but the woman had forgotten about me so instead of picking it up on the way into town, I had to go back after lunch. Lana, Cindy and I went to the Chinese buffet, which I've been craving for months. We commiserated about the election but not for long because what's the point? I picked up the cat food and had a nice chat in the parking lot when Mike Z. helped me load it into the bin. After a stop at the grocery store, I headed home for tea and to cake up my newly dyed yarn, one of which was a tangled mess. I made quiche which I had with some wine while watching Survivor. I survived the depressing day.

Lorri had invited me to a talk out at the lake about woodlands in Nebraska so I was up, dressed and out the door early on Thursday. The NRD (natural resources district) put it on and it was interesting. While we were there, Lorri mentioned another program at her church that afternoon about the history of Wahoo's churches that the museum was giving. I invited myself and Lorri and Bob picked me up. I should have but didn't expect a social hour afterwards, complete with church lady baked goods. It was a gorgeous day so I walked home. I ended up being online with Philippe, the computer guy from work, until 6:00 fixing a problem I'd had while working last week. It was a good day.

I woke up with no plans on Friday but saw an ad on TV for a baking sale at HyVee and they were practically giving away baking ingredients. I'm talking $.99 for flour, $2.99 for butter, $1.79 for sugar and more. It was all so cheap that it was worth the drive, especially because gas is also much cheaper - like $.40/gallon cheaper - in Omaha so that savings pays for the gas to get there. I had to be at the library at 5:00 so got in the car early and ran to Omaha for HyVee and a couple of other errands. I was home by 1:00. 

Merry Market, which is a city-wide holiday sale, started Friday night. Since the library participates with their holiday decoration sale but closes at 5:00, I always go from 5:00 to 8:00 and sit with Denise for the few people who trek the 2 blocks from the main street to shop the sale. I picked up a pizza on the way there for our supper. It was a rainy night so we had very few customers and Denise made the executive decision to close up at 7:00 and said we wouldn't be stay late for it next year. I was ready for a relaxing weekend.

Beside chores, the only thing I needed to do was sew a project bag that I'd offered as an October prize in my online sock group. After chatting with friends all morning, I headed downstairs, determined to get it done and in the mail that afternoon before the Monday holiday with no mail. I used the first Christmas fabric I found, which happened to be a pair of pajama pants I'd bought for the fabric. I slammed it out and got it in the mail in the nick of time then went down and made another one for me. Isn't it cute?

I did chores on Sunday and was pretty happy with my week but then Tot didn't come in that night. She never stays out overnight when it's cold so I was worried. I called and called, getting out of bed several times and walking the street with a fleece over my nightie at 2:30 am. No cliffhangers here. She did come in Monday morning - not first thing but after I'd been up for awhile. She was very skittish and had a bloody ear so something had gotten her. Good thing she's up on her shots. 

So other than the election results and the Tot worrying, it was a good week. If this is what retirement looks like, I'll continue to be happily retired. I got things done, did some fun cooking, crafting, dyeing and learned stuff too. I'll take more like this but without the worrisome end.

Week 44 - Just Busy Enough

Let me tell you, it doesn't take much post-retirement to feel busy. This week did include some actual work (my first on-call hours) but between errands, social events, trips out of Wahoo and continuing to slog through stuff, I'd call it a busy week. And as my friend Carolyn asked, "Was it a busy week or a busy week for a retired person?" You tell me.

I started the week cleaning my fridge. I've had an issue where my door wouldn't close if my crisper drawers were in so I took the bottom shelf out, cleaned it and the drawers (which have been out of the fridge for months) and tried to get them back in. Nope. Something is going on with the back wall of my fridge and I need to google to see what I can figure out. That afternoon, I had a meeting scheduled with my UNL computer guy to help with a OneDrive problem. 2 hours later! He was great and it was all good to go but the day was done except for knitting that night. Full day.

I started Tuesday working all morning helping Dana with grad allocations. I finished just in time to drive to Lincoln for lunch with Darla at Virginia's Cafe (one of our regular places). I then thrifted a bit before meeting Anne and Mark at the theatre to see Conclave. It was my first afternoon matinee as a retiree and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mark is still working so it was the 4:00 show instead of earlier but I'll take it. I need to do that more often but need some decent movies to come out.

My goal for Wednesday was to get my flu and covid boosters but to continue with my slog through my whole house project, I went through some of my linen closet before I headed to the pharmacy. I hit the Senior Center Thrift while I was out and finished some Halloween socks when I got home. OK, not such a busy day.

I felt a bit dumpy on Thursday after having a sore arm the night before. I did go out to get money for a cash box for the Friends of the Library Christmas sale that would be starting the next day and since I was out, I got BK for lunch. I spent 3 hours watching The Grocery Girls on YouTube and made a big pot of red sauce. I had bought 2 bags of candy but decided not to bother putting my light on. Because Boo in Wahoo is in Halloween, very few kids actually go door to door and since I didn't want to be up and down all night, I didn't bother.

I started Friday morning casting on Lorri's birthday socks, which I worked on while sitting in the sun all morning. I made a pot of Lacey's sausage/potato soup before heading to the dentist and then directly to the hairdresser to get a long overdue haircut. I made a cup of tea and went outside to knit in the sun when I got home. Not a hugely busy day but got a couple of things checked off.

I was headed to Omaha on Saturday. It started out as just knitting at Lori's but a man she golfs with, Gary, had all his late wife's yarn and craft supplies and wanted to know if Lori wanted to go through it so that's what we did. He gave us a tour of his house and all the many collections he had then we went to the basement and took all of the yarn. After a stop at Imagiknit, where I bought a skein of sock yarn, of course, we went back to Lori's to sort. I only took a couple of skeins for myself but had lots for Anne and Dottie. We had tea and knitted for a little while but Lori goes to Saturday mass so I headed out late afternoon for a HyVee (grocery) run on the way home. It was a full and fun day.

Sunday was the Project Close Up turkey dinner at the high school, which I always enjoy, so after chatting with my sister and with Lorri (2 R Lori so different from 1 R Lori from Saturday) stopping after church, I went zfor take out turkey and enjoyed that for lunch. I spent the rest of the day knitting a shawl that I started with one of the skeins I took from Gary between my usual Sunday chores.

So whether that's a busy week or just a busy week for a retiree, I'll take more of them please. I had a good mix of social stuff, a touch of slogging through stuff (OK, this week was pretty light on that) and got a few things checked off my list. Add finishing a pair of socks in the nick of time to wear them for Halloween and ending the week with new yarn and knitting, I'd call that a banner week. Busy or not. : )

Week 43 - Hanging with Connie

Connie was due to arrive Monday and I was pretty much ready but had a full day ahead. Imagine my surprise when she called at 7:50 am to say she was already on her way and would be there mid-afternoon. Yikes! I had in my head that she'd be arriving in the evening and had even planned to go to knitting at 6:00. My morning immediately went crazy.

After dropping a carload of donations, I was taking my cousin out for lunch in Lincoln. Luckily I only had to frost the cake I'd made the night before and wrap her present but did the last minute cleaning I'd left for the morning, threw some pork in the crockpot and was out the door by 10:00. I was a sweaty mess after dropping the donations off at a house with 3 steps to the sidewalk and another 6 to the porch but made it to my cousin's at 11:30. We had a nice lunch at Piedmont Bistro (my fave restaurant in Lincoln that's literally a block from my cousin's) and then went back to her house for cake and presents. I had thought I'd stay all afternoon but left at 2:30 to pick up a few groceries and meet Connie. She had just arrived and unloaded her car when I got back. Nick of time!

We had never discussed how long she'd be staying and I assumed it would be a few days. But no. She told me she had arranged to pick up 2 cats she was adopting on Sunday morning so would be staying the whole week. Yikes again. We had talked about doing some touristy things in Omaha but since Connie is not good at just vegging, she was already antsy on Tuesday morning so there'd be no knitting in the sun for me each morning. We walked at the lake on Tuesday after lunch and then she left for Lincoln to meet a friend for coffee before having dinner with her daughter.

I had a work party - a bridal shower of sorts - on Wednesday at lunch so Connie had made plans to have lunch with a friend. She picked me up afterwards and we went to visit the 2 cats that she would be taking home on Sunday - Millie and Willa, who are gorgeous. Connie had very specifically said she had no interest in shopping so I was surprised when she suggested antiquing. We went to a shop she'd seen by where she had lunch and then we spent hours walking the entire antique mall off I-80 and finding nothing. When I commented that we could have gone thrifting instead, she agreed and didn't remember her shopping comment when I mentioned it. Sheesh!

Thursday was our day out in Omaha. We started at the Joslyn Museum, which had only recently reopened after a major remodel. It was wonderful and we had a nice lunch in the cafe before heading to the pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River between Omaha and Council Bluffs. It was windy but a nice walk and we went to Dundee to get a coffee to warm up before grabbing some groceries and heading back home. Connie's daughter Rachael was coming over for supper. It was nice to see her although we keep up via Facebook.

Friday was a more relaxing day. Connie went for a walk while I got some knitting time in, which you know I loved even if it was only 20 minutes. I brought a puzzle up from the basement and we worked on that in the front room between watching movies and had leftovers for supper. That's my kind of day.

Since I hadn't thought Connie would be staying so long, I had signed up for a retreat with my spinning group on Saturday. I skipped the morning so was home until Connie left to meet her grandson and his daughter at Omaha's zoo, which I've still never been to despite living her almost 30 years. I got to the retreat in time for lunch and had a nice afternoon working on my afghan while others were doing classes. Have I mentioned that I don't spin? I always said I'd learn after I stopped working but despite having retired, it hasn't made it to the top of my list yet. Maybe in 2025? Anyway, we watched more movies when I got home that evening.

Connie had arranged to pick the cats up at 7:30 Sunday morning so was out of the house at 6:45. It had been fun to see her but I felt pressure to keep her entertained so I felt some relief when she left. I had chores to catch up on - stripping beds, doing laundry, cooking, etc. - so had a nice day of getting things done and catching up.

It had been a busy week and I learned my lesson on not asking how long she'd stay. But then her coming to me is not the norm and was only a replacement for the week I was supposed to go to her in September but got the awful cold, which lasted weeks. I miss having Connie closer so these visits have to do. 

Week 42 - Cleaning and Crocheting

It was another wacky weather week that included our first freeze but ended in the 80's. In addition to being in clear out mode, I had some major cleaning to do because Connie would be arriving the next Monday. It was a busy week.

First thing on Monday I started clearing out the spare room, which is my dumping ground. Once the bed was clear, I washed all the linens and remade the bed. I went through tons of stuff, adding bunches to my donation bags. Then the cleaning began and on Friday, I went through my gift dresser, which was full of things I'd bought over the years that would make good gifts but had never been gifted. I loaded up a big bag of kitchen items for the library to make gift baskets with and loaded up an entire laundry basket with stuff for Becky's sale. After more deep cleaning and some decorating, I was almost ready for Connie's arrival.

I had a nice lunch with Lorri on Tuesday. We had planned to eat out but she had a pie in the over so I got grab and go from Mocha C's and took it to her house. The apple pie for dessert was delish. With our first freeze due that night, I went home to bring in plants. They were everywhere but there was no frost for the rest of the long-term forecast so they went right back out Wednesday morning. That afternoon, I loaded all the yarn into my car for delivery on Thursday. I had a meeting at the library about the expansion on Wednesday night.

As usual, I had loaded up my Lincoln day. First stop was the UPS depot, where I found a permanently closed sign that directed me to the UPS Store. I knew it would be more expensive but mailed the big box of yarn to Dottie anyway. When I recalculated the amount when I got home, it was almost twice as much as PirateShip would have been. Lesson learned. Time to buy a bigger postal scale for next time so I can ship from home. But I digress... Next stop was dropping off all that yarn. Turns out that the house had 3 steps up to the walkway and another 6 to get up to the porch. I was a sweaty mess by the time I was done but gone is good. I stopped at Anne's to catch up before my lunch date.

I was picking Cindy up on campus for lunch at 12:15 so left Anne's at noon. I texted from a red light by campus that I was 2 minutes out only to get a reply from Cindy that she wasn't on campus. She was at the hospital with a friend who was having emergency bypass surgery. Damn! It was too late to arrange something else and Anne's was in the wrong direction so I headed home, picking up Chinese on the way. Truth be told, I was pissed. I listened to Sarah Millican on the ride home to improve my mood. She's hilarious so check her out on YouTube. 

I spent the afternoon crocheting. Yes, you read that right. I had started an afghan earlier in the week after being inspired by a social media post. I was using the only acrylic left in my house after giving it all to my sister - pastels. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and barely knitted all week. Shocking! Aren't the squares pretty?

The rest of the week was mad cleaning between bouts of crocheting. I loaded the car Sunday night with the second round of donations and made a decadent chocolate cake to take to my cousin's on Monday for her birthday. It was another productive week of retirement. : )

Week 41 -Last Working Day!

I was going to title this post Fall Garden Chores because I spent a lot of time working outside this week but that pales in comparison to this week containing my last paid day of UNL employment.

It was up to me to figure out the day I would run out of pay between using my vacation and floating holidays. The problem is that while on vacation, I was continuing to accrue vacation, which needed to be prorated. I didn't know that SAP would show my October accruals on October 1st but then remove them if I didn't work for the whole month. When this was pointed out to me, I panicked and started doing math. The day I was doing it ended up being my last day of pay - Tuesday, October 8th. Wow! Talk about end of an era. I'd get my insured benefits for the whole month but my last paycheck would be about a 1/4 of normal. Let the budgeting begin!

I worked with the HR person in the business center to get my paperwork done, which entailed separating me and then rehiring me as an hourly on-call employee. The separation nuked most of my system security so I had to do paperwork to get it back. There were also benefits forms to do, which I did on Wednesday when I was on campus for lunch with Dodie. Of course I thrifted while I was in Lincoln. As always.

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On the garden front, I finally finished breaking up the last of the brush pile, which filled the empty spot between the cherry tree and my compost bins. I ran out of boxes so started filling paper grocery bags and then ran out of them. There's a small pile of stick parts that I'll use at the base of my compost when I start autumn clean up and I have the makings of many nice fires when the cool weather arrives, which is taking its time this year. Anyway, with that done, I spread woodchips between the 1st raised bed and the garage. All that'll be left is between my raised beds and the neighbor's fence. There's a temporary compost pile there and some branches that need to go to the burn pile so spreading woodchips there will wait a bit. I also sifted some compost and mixed it with potting soil for future potting up, filled the bird feeders and did some hose mending. I'll call that a good lot of gardening crossed off the list. There's always more to do though.

On the knitting front, I finished my obligation knitting - my cousin's birthday socks and all the projects I made for Cindy's Justice in Action sale - on Thursday. That done, I cast on a pair of Halloween socks and spent most of Friday morning knitting. I then ran errands in town before picking Andrea up for a Friday Fremont run. I've always loved getting errands done on Friday so I have the weekend free and being retired hasn't changed that. It was the Estate Dispersal Store weekend and going on Friday meant we were able to hit Thriftology, which isn't open on Saturdays anymore, before the usual Restore, Goodwill and Aldi. I found some treasures, including a fold up sewing table for the machine that's been in my front room on a chair for years but never used, a double decker bus piece of original art, a Corelle (not Pyrex) pie plate, which I've never seen before, and a fun vintage tablecloth. Books were $.29 at Goodwill so I bought a few for my retirement goal of reading actual books during daylight.

With my errands done on Friday, I had a nice relaxing weekend of chatting with friends and puttering. With a frost in the forecast, I put together the cold frame I bought years ago at Aldi to cover my 2 eggplant plants, both of which have a small eggplant I hope will continue to grow, and took cuttings from 4 different colors of impatiens to root for next years baskets. So more gardening ('tis the season) to end the week. A banner week that marked the end of my UNL career. Happy retirement to me!

Week 40 - Exploration and Productivity

It was a perfect week with a great mix of productivity and socializing plus a mini road trip too. Yes, the weather was still crazy, starting the week in the 90's and then seesawing between fall weather and heat again. All week long. : (

Because of the wacky weather, I didn't spend much time outside. I cut some sunflowers, which were dry and crispy from drought so never formed seeds, and took a load to the burn pile. I did some intermittent stick breaking, making some good headway with getting rid of my brush pile behind the garage. Just a bit more to go.

Tuesday was the first of the month so I cast on new socks for our bending stripes challenge and spent the morning knitting. I also had to tally entries to fulfill my moderator duties in my online Socks from Stash group, which takes at least an hour, then I slogged through more yarn to donate to the upcoming Stuff for Strays garage sale. I tried to watch the debate that night but I was a nervous mess because Goodie wasn't coming in so I walked the alley and called and called. She came in eventually and was scared so I can only assume she was hiding from the big white cat who roams the neighborhood and bothers my cats. Will I ever stop worrying about my cats? I hope someday.

I went to Lincoln on Wednesday, which is becoming my usual day, for a lunch for Liwei - one of the accountants who is leaving. The whole work gang was there, which was nice. After hitting a couple of thrifts and scoring some sock yarn (YAY!), I spent the afternoon at Helen's then hit Aldi and was home in time for Survivor. It was a nice day.

Rene and I were going to Norfolk on Friday for one of our exploration day trips. Since she was picking me up, I spent some time on Thursday doing some cleaning between stints of breaking sticks. Will I ever be done? Rene drove on Friday, which meant I could knit for 200 miles worth of driving time. I got so much done on the socks I was making for Cindy's charity sale that I finished them that night.

So Norfolk, which is pronounced Nor Fork for my non-Nebraskan readers, was fun. We took the scenic route there and back, exploring every little town that we passed. Other than a remnant I bought at a quilt store in Norfolk, all my purchases were food related. We stopped at Buresh Meats on the way there so we both scored so meat deals and there were a couple of bakery stops. The reason for picking Norfolk was Nofo Pizza, which was delish. We got a gelato afterwards and shopped along the cute downtown main drag. We missed the bread bakery owned by the same people as the pizza place by 15 minutes. From there we tried to find the old Norfolk State Hospital but the razor wire dissuaded us. We headed home, exploring more small towns. I was home by 5:00. It was a nice day.

It was 93 degrees on Saturday so I hunkered down inside. It was a perfect fall day on Sunday so I spent a bunch of time outside. I'd found that the birdseed in the barrels on the deck had molded so cleaned all that out (ick!), fixed some hoses and actually watered the grass out of fear that it would die from drought. It was still crunchy but maybe it did some good. It was also Colon's roast beef dinner so I picked that up for lunch and had plenty more for some suppers next week.

So, nice week, right? If my retirement keeps looking like this week, I'll be a happy camper. All except the crazy weather that is.