Week 47 - My Sore Thumb

My November medical stuff continued unabated and I got several other things crossed off my list plus had some fun. Same stuff different week maybe?

I had a dentist appointment on Monday morning and since I still have to take a huge dose of antibiotics before dental appointments because of my knee and not wanting a repeat of the yeast infection hell from my last appointment, I had 2 doses of diflucan ready to take - 1 with the antibiotics and the 2nd 3 days later. So I was protected for yeast infections but had digestive issues that not only lead to bad indigestion but also some funky blood test results. At least this should be my last round of antibiotics since I'll hit the 2 year mark before my next dental appointment. Unless another molar explodes but let's not go there.

My thumb was still giving me fits and by Wednesday morning, my entire had was swollen. As usual, I was packing my Wednesday with stuff so started the day with a fasting blood draw at the student health center in preparation for next week's annual physical. Immediately upon getting to my desk, I went into the patient portal and requested the earliest possible appointment to get a shot in my thumb and was thrilled when they called 10 minutes later with a cancellation at 10:45. I juggled a couple of meetings and headed there, meeting Rene in the parking lot (her gym is right next to my ortho doc's office) to hand off the birthday cake I'd made for Anne's birthday dinner scheduled for that night at Rene's. After picking up lunch at Whole Foods, I went back to the office for a full afternoon of zooms and meetings then it was on to Rene's.

Rene had recently moved into a new house and was hosting Anne's birthday dinner and giving us a tour. Her house is cute and has a great yard with raised beds already built, which was the major thing she wanted in her new yard. She made dinner and I made dessert. We chatted after dinner and despite no ingredients that would explain it, I had the worst indigestion I've ever had. I had an old tums in the car so took that when I left, took another when I got home and got up a midnight for another. I'd been so worried about getting another yeast infection that I gave zero thought to the fact that those antibiotics killed all my good gut bacteria. Luckily I was back to normal (I rarely have stomach issues) by Thursday morning. But the blood draw I'd done that morning also had a couple of odd numbers due to those darn antibiotics. Ready to be done with those!

Remember my vow to just so NO in November? Well I forgot about that and sent an email to Andrea suggesting a ridiculous itinerary for Saturday morning before our 1:00 spinning meeting in Fremont. It involved going to Omaha for Trader Joe's, a fiber event and a yarn shop all before noon so we could then drive to Fremont for 1:00. Crazy! Within hours of sending it, I realized how nuts it was and told Andrea as much. Then when Saturday arrived, I didn't even want to go to spinning. I was hemming and hawing when Andrea reminded me that spinning is not mandatory so I sent an email bowing out. But could I just relax and enjoy the newly free afternoon? Nope. 

Feeling guilty, I decided to start the spare room project, which had been my plan for Thanksgiving break. I pulled out tote after tote of yarn, pop up bins of yarn, random containers of yarn - are you seeing a pattern here? The front room was now FULL but I could see the floor and bed in the spare room so I was calling it progress. 

I did do some sorting on Sunday but only after spending a big chunk of the day on the phone and even facetiming with my Canadian friend, Eileen. We hadn't talked in ages so that was a treat. I also had chores to do (mostly laundry) and went to the cookie sale at St. Wenz to get some homemade Christmas cookies for tea next week. So not much yarn got sorted but with everything pulled into my spare room, it'd be waiting for me come Thanksgiving break. Good thing Anne and I were eating in the sunshine in the back room.

So it was another good week with another medical appointment crossed off, no yeast infection, a fixed thumb (I was able to knit a bit on Thursday night and was fully functional by Friday) and the next week was a short one. Add the start of my spare room project and I'd call it a banner week.

Week 46 - Too Much Knitting

Yes, that title is real. I actually did too much knitting and paid the price but there was plenty of fun before that.

There were a couple of fun food events. Nan hosted a Friendsgiving for the Monday Night Knitters so with pumpkin pie in hand, we headed to Fremont. The food was delish and we chatted for hours after dinner at her dining room table, not leaving until 9:45, which felt even later with the darn time change. Wednesday was a grilled cheese food day at work, which was something we'd never done (Ben's idea) and was a big hit. Our group was doing the grilled cheese (I bought the butter) but I made brownies too because I like to bake. It was all good.

I taught on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, which always makes for a fast week. I then took 2 hours of vacation on Friday afternoon to do an early Fremont run with Andrea. We had fun at our usual stops - The Restore, the new thrift shop we'd discovered on Main Street, the Estate Dispersal Store, Goodwill and Aldi. It was well worth the 2 hours of vacation time, especially because I'll be hitting maximum vacation in January so will have to take 2 days/month or stop accruing, which will NEVER happen. I might as well take some hours here and there while the weather isn't cold so I'm not taking it in the dead of winter.

With my errands all done, I was happily home all weekend. I made mixed fruit chutney, which is the key ingredient to one of my favorite sandwiches - ham, cheddar and chutney. I make a batch every other year and it's a great way to use the last of the garden tomatoes and any other fruit I have. This year I cleaned out little bags of frozen berries and used up apples along with the last couple of tomatoes and dates and raisins. Yum! On Sunday, I made a project bag for Anne's birthday with Christmas kitty fabric I'd bought especially at Missouri Star on our recent road trip. All in all, a good weekend, except for the too much knitting.

Having sorted my sock yarn leftovers a few weeks ago, I was excited to cast on some new monster socks on Thursday over lunch. The Grocery Girls (my fave knitting podcast) were live and I knitted away my lunch hour and went right back to it that night, spending hours knitting monster socks, which are my favorite kind because... using things up, which is my favorite thing. With all that knitting, my thumb started acting up. I had last had a cortisone shot in May before my Faroes trip so clearly that had worn off. I switched to crochet thinking that would use different muscles but by the end of the weekend, my entire wrist was sore. Not good. Clearly I'd need to stop knitting. Yikes! Maybe there would be another shot in my future.

So that was my week. Fun, productive and painful. Getting old is not for wimps but better than the alternative. 

Week 45 - Mammograms and Mums

Before Covid, October was my month to get all my medical stuff done but it was all delayed during the pandemic so most things moved to November. Except my mammogram.

I had scheduled it for Halloween afternoon and other than having a new tech who seemed to lack confidence, it was quick and easy. Then I got a phone call saying I needed to go back for a diagnostic mammogram. With only one option available, I cancelled a much needed haircut and took the Thursday afternoon appointment. Now I'm not a worrier but hearing you need a second mammogram does give one pause. I had trouble concentrating on work Thursday morning and had to wait a bit before they took me in that afternoon, only to have the usual tech tell me I was there for calcifications. I thought my head would explode.

I've had calcifications in my right breast for years and they've been well documented. I told the tech that and she went out to tell the radiologist but still came back to do more ouchy squishing. Yikes! The radiologist, who ended up being the sister of someone I work with, did a good job of explaining the calcifications and told me they were fine and I didn't need to come back until a year out. So, complete and utter waste of time, worry and money. I'm going to fight the charges. What's the point of having my mammogram at the same place every year if they never look at the prior ones? Useless!

Otherwise, the week was fine. I didn't do Halloween - going to knitting at the library instead since so few kids trick or treat in Wahoo anymore. I got one final walk in at the lake on Tuesday after work and went to a movie (God's Creatures - a moody Irish film) then grocery shopping after work on Wednesday. All good.

The weather was due to change and there was a chance of rain on Thursday night so I spent the week prepping to plant some of the mums I'd had for fall decorations. This entailed watering 2 spots in my beds to soften up the rock hard soil, which I did every day until I planted them on Thursday after work. We did get 1/2" of rain overnight, which is more than we've had had in ages, so they got watered in. I hope they make it through the winter.

It was cold and dreary on Friday, as forecast, so I made a cozy lunch of mac & cheese and then spent the afternoon looking up dead people in SAP. Yes, that's a thing. It was perfect Friday afternoon work and it was 5:00 before I knew it. The weekend had begun.

It was warmer on Saturday and I spent the day puttering - doing chores, knitting and giving some love to all the plants I'd hastily brought in before the freeze a few weeks ago. The clocks went back but you can't reset a cat so I was up on Sunday even earlier than the clock change warranted. Darn cats! This left me tired but I survived. I had my last mow of the year and the gutters cleaned, which meant hanging outside with Tim while his son worked. After lunch, I headed downstairs. I had to make a Christmas project bag, which I always offer as an October prize for my Socks from Stash group. I'd bought fun, vintage Santa fabric on our Missouri trip and I was pleased with how it came out. Cute, right? Then I made a pie to take to Nan's on Monday for the Friendsgiving she was hosting.

All in all, it was a good week. I'll adjust to the time change and don't really mind that it'll be dark after work. All the more reason to hunker down and get cozy. I'm ready!

Week 44 - Walking in Daylight

It was my first quiet week and I was excited to have a free weekend but before then, I had some busy evenings.

I was keenly aware that the clocks would be falling back soon so planned to take advantage of the light after work and that started Monday. I walked to the library for Monday Night Knitting and then bummed a ride home with Nan. Less than a mile but steps are steps.

Despite vowing to not make plans, I had suggested a few week before that Lorri and I go to a Nebraska Statewide Arboretum event at the new hotel on campus after work on Tuesday so we'd bought tickets. I picked Lorri up and we arrived 5 minutes before the event was to start. Not even started yet and most of the food was gone. We did manage to find seats inside the bar but clearly there were many more people than could fit inside so people spilled outside, where there were benches around fires. Unfortunatelly they opened the doors, which were right behind our table and it was cold outside. Then there was no sound system so despite being only 12 feet from the speakers, we couldn't hear. Add the $18 we paid for a glass of wine and a small beer and it was a total bust. LAME.

As usual, I made the most of my Wednesday on campus. I bought a thumb drive to backup my laptop when I did my morning Starbuck's run, had a lovely lunch with Dodie at Bison Witches, which we've declared is our new spot, and bought new slippers and cookies after we were done eating. Nice. Then I hit Super Saver for a big produce stock up after work and was home and in my jammies for Survivor. Way to maximize my on campus day.

Ben asked me to zoom at the end of the day Thursday and I got a new project for Mary, which I worked on all day Friday so the day flew by and it was time for my weekend at home. At 5:00, I head off for another walk at the lake, which was a lovely way to start my weekend.

With the whole weekend in front of me, I had endless possiblities to choose from on Saturday so, of course, I played with yarn. Cindy had given me a set of plastic drawers that had been languishing in the basement for a long time so I brought it up, gave it a good clean and sorted all my leftover sock yarn into the drawers by weight. It was a happy chore. Then I frogged (knitting lingo for ripped out) a pair of socks that wasn't working for me and immediately started another pattern with the same yarn. I worked on them on and off over the weekend and they flew off the needles. I finally watched the newest Downton Abbey movie Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The weather was dreary on Sunday so I didn't get to enjoy knitting in the sun all morning. But dreary was perfect for cooking so I got going, clearing out the fridge and making blueberry pancakes, roasted tomato sauce with some of the last produce from my garden, a loaf of bread for sandwiches, banana bread to have with tea and steak and rice for supper. 

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and just what I needed. I am looking forward to more of these in NOvember, when I will be saying NO to any social obligations so I can stay home and recharge. And with one more week before the clocks go back, I hope to get some more walks in too. It's good to have a plan. : )

Week 43 - Last Busy Week

Like most of this month, this week was busy and ended with a mini road trip. All fun but after weeks with no downtime, also exhausting. I do hope this is my last busy week for awhile.

I took Helen to lunch for her birthday on Monday. I don't see enough of Helen so it was fun to catch up over Mexican food. I got DQ after knitting that night, which is always a treat. All this made for a nice start to the week.

Monday was also Boss' Day but since we wouldn't see Ben until Wednesday, I had volunteered to make Twix cookies, after learning last week that Twix was Ben's favorite candy bar. I'd found a recipe online and had bought a bag of Twix at Aldi so was good to go. My plan to make them at lunch on Tuesday was thwarted when I saw that the dough had to be chilled for at least 2 hours, which the recipe specifically said should not be skipped. I put the dough in the fridge and waited until after work. They were a total pain to form (should have formed them before chilling) and then the caramel made it hard to get them off the sheet. But it was only in the 40's so having the oven on felt good and I put homemade pizza in as soon as the cookies were done. Yum!

The cookies were a big hit on Wednesday and a bunch of us were going to Tico's for magueritas and nachos after work so I had that to look forward to. I decided to skip lunch, eating leftover pizza at my desk, so I could leave at 4:30 but that made the afternoon drag. My solution was a visit to Dodie in her new office, which broke up the afternoon nicely. Tico's was fun and with a belly full of nachos, I was home in time for Survivor. Another nice day.

I woke up Thursday feeling, as my mom would say, punk - low energy and mood. I wondered how I could call in but I don't do mental health days (I feel too guilty) so logged on at 8:00. It didn't take long for me to decide to use vacation time to take the afternoon off. Knowing that made it easier to get through the morning. After eating my weekly grab and go for lunch, I cleaned up all the pans from my cookie baking then headed downstairs to make some project bags. I had the idea to make Halloween project bags for my friends but the 1st one was a total hack job and I fixed all my problems with the 2nd bag but it wasn't big enough. Done with that. The afternoon was very restorative so worth the 4 hours of vacation time.

Friday was busy at work and the day flew by. When the clock struck 5:00, I put on my sneakers and headed to the lake, stopping for birdseed at Bomgaar's on the way. I downloaded a pedometer app (didn't know about iHealth) and spent the next 45 minutes walking across the jetty and back. Just shy of 2 miles and nearly 4k steps. Not bad and a great start to the weekend.

Saturday was a fun day. I picked Andrea up at 8:15 and we headed to Lori's in Omaha for a mini road trip with her and her cousin Michelle, who used to knit with us.After driving through Scooter's for coffee, we did the 3 hour ride to the Missouri Star Quilting Company in Hamilton, Missouri, arriving at noon. There are a dozen or so different shops, each one specializing in one type of fabric. We shopped the first few then went looking for lunch but every restaurant we tried was closed so we ended up at the only open one, which was a toy store/tea shop with a seriously limited menu. It was yummy and they brought our food out on multi level plates. We then finished the rest of the stores, which are an entire side of one block, with shops upstairs too. We finished right at 5:00 when they all closed. We'd all found fun things to buy and headed north towards Lori's, eating scones Lori had made in the car. I was home at 9:00, had a bowl of cereal and went to bed.

I slept until 8:00 on Sunday, which is late for me, and then had a relaxing day. The weather was nuts again - high 80's and very windy. I believe we broke a heat records set in the 1800's, so I spent the day hiding inside where it was cool. I talked to my sister, knitted, of course, and caught up on my blog while watching podcasts on YouTube. I cobbled together meals that didn't require the oven (too bad I just ate the last casseroles from the freezer) and settled in for an evening of PBS. 

So my month of weekend commitments is done and I'm happy about that. Everything I did was fun but I'm ready to hunker down and get some stuff done in the house. We have 2 more weeks before the clocks change (why are we still doing that?) so I plan to get more walks in after work. It's a nice way to end the day and I need the exercise. Here's hoping I actually do it because talk is cheap, right?

Week 42 - Fun in Fremont

This was supposed to be an off week without commitments but you know me - when something fun comes up, it's hard to say no. But the work week was pretty quiet and I made more progress in the house before my busy weekend.

Like I said, it was a quiet week. Work was extra quiet when we arrived to find that none of the accountants were in, having come in Monday instead. I had lunch at one of the dorms with Jennifer, who used to work in Accounting before they were sucked up by Central Administration and moved across campus. I got some yarn that I'd ordered awhile ago from the UK - gorgeous! The weather was crazy - back in the 80's and so windy once the fall temps came back that I had to hang my laundry in the basement for fear that it'd blow off the line. Sheesh!

My going through stuff mojo was still strong so I spent several evenings in the kitchen annd back room. I cleared off the chest under the side windows, inventoried the freezer (I'd done the basement freezer a few weeks ago but not upstairs) and made a dent in the crap that always collects on the bar. Not bad. Just a bit more to go through to finish the back room.

Saturday was the first ever Gallery Walk in downtown Fremont and Heidi, Andrea and I were going. Heidi was heading to Omaha afterwards so met us at the Restore, where Andrea bought a mid-century modern record/hifi cabinet and I found a few goodies. Then we headed to Main Street. There was a map of all the locations with art, some of which was paintings and such but some was musicians, and if you got 10 stamps on your map, you got a free drink. We had fun shopping all the stores, where I got some fabric scraps for my crumb quilt and quite a few stocking stuffers. Nice. We ate snacky things along the way - cookies, mini muffins, popcorn and such - but ended the day with a free beer at a brewery. We'd bumped into Nan and her husband so they joined us outside for beer in the sun. After a trip to Aldi, we headed home. I was starving and had nothing ready so ordered BK from the car for supper. 

I was up in the wee hours unable to sleep and with most of my chores already done, I was ready to veg on Sunday but that was not to be. We were having a killing frost overnight so I had to deal with my plants. I overwinter geraniums and lantana each year so had some decisions to make. I spent all afternoon setting up shelves, repotting plants and picking the last of my garden produce. I was also saving some geraniums from planters at the library so drove there to dig those up. I was exhausted by the end of the day but my plants were all safe inside and ready for winter.

I'm ready to hunker down myself. The weather has been all over the place lately but I have high hopes for a nice fall and some time at home. I only have one more event in October and then can be home for the long haul. Sounds great to me.

Week 41 - Stromsburg Spinning Retreat

It was a nice week with quite a bit of socializing during the week and then was capped off with our annual spinning retreat, which this year was at Spindle, Shuttle and Needle yarn shop and wool mill in Stromsburg. But before I get into Saturday, here's what went on during the week.

One of the things I found when sorting through my death pile last week was a stack of recipes that I intended to write into my keepers recipe binder, one of which was Firecracker Brownies. We'd had a brownie bake off in the office years ago and my old supervisor from my HR days had brought these, which were his mom's favorite brownie recipe. They didn't win but I thought they were the best entry so had asked for the recipe, which he gave me on paper. Ick. Anyway, when my friend Lorri asked me to come to lunch at her house on Tuesday, I offered to bake these. They were delish and we had a lovely lunch on the deck but it got me thinking. 

I worked with a woman named Lila at Brown and her brownie recipe has been my go to for decades. Since I wanted to compare them to the Firecracker Brownies, I made a pan Tuesday night and brought them both to work to have people do a taste test. Well, it was totally inconclusive with votes split pretty evenly. I left with a plan to combine the 2 recipes because I prefer using cocoa but also wanted less sugar. I'll share the results when I get to that.

Here's the recipe for Lila's Brownies if you want to try them.

2 squares baking choc

1/3 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp vanilla

½ cup chopped walnuts

 

Put butter and chocolate into microwave to melt. Beat eggs into sugar until creamy. Add melted choc/butter and mix. Add in rest of ingredients and mix. Pour into greased 8x8” pan and bake 25 mins at 350.

After the brownie taste test, I had a nice lunch with Dodie at Bison Witches, which is going to be our new lunch place. Yay! I heard from Honda that my rebate was approved and then went to Aldi after work. I went home for Survivor and enjoyed tetrazzini, which was my last casserole from the freezer, with wine for supper. It was all delish but I don't know if it was too much rich food in one day or what but I was up in the wee hours puking. : (

On that note, let's move onto spinning. Since I was going to Stromsburg for the retreat, I decided that I should take the sheep fleece I had in the basement and have it spun. I had gotten it years ago from one of the ITS programmers I worked with whose dad was a meat sheep farmer who had no use for the fleeces. I had prepped some of it years ago and it was worthy of spinning but I have no plans to spin anytime soon so called the mill owner to ask about options. When I found out she could blend it with nylon so I could use it to knit socks, I was in. I was afraid of what I'd find but when I pulled the bag out from under the basement stairs but it was fine. I spent lunch hour on Friday sorting the poopy bits out and ended up with a big bag of yarn to drop off. It won't be ready until February but I'm excited to get it. I'll have fun dyeing it with Kool Aid for sure.

The actual retreat was fun. Janet came to my house and Andrea picked us up. We stopped for coffee at a wonderful, little coffee shop in Osceola and got to Stromsburg right at 10:00. Other spinners were late so we were delayed getting started dyeing but I spent that time choosing yarn, sock of course, to buy from her shop. We did a bunch of dyeing using all different techniques, walked down the block for a yummy lunch at the cafe (burger and tots - my fave) then went back for a tour of the mill. After a stop at the grocery store on the square, which has all kinds of fun Swedish items, we headed home. It was a long day but fun and look at the fabulous yarn I dyed!

Sunday was a catch up day of chores and cooking plus some knitting on my cousin's birthday socks. I'd been on the lookout for a baker's rack to use in front of my slider this winter for overwintering my plants and starting seeds. I found one on Facebook, contacted the seller and drove to Cedar Bluffs to pick it up. It was perfect and even folded up. The trip there and back only took an hour so didn't take too big of a chunk out of my day. Totally worth it

Fun week! Baking, yarn, friends... all good. And I have several pounds of yarn to look forward to this winter. Maybe it'll be ready to make it a birthday trip to Stromsburg but that's a long way off. I hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather as much as I am. Happy fall.