Week 37 - Dude Settling In

I was feeling fully back to normal at this point and so it was a pretty boring week. Laundry, cooking, taking care of the shelter cats, a bit of shopping... that kind of week. Labor Day was a non event except for the fact that the library was closed so no knitting.

Little Dude was settling in nicely and I took his cage down on Tuesday and loaded it in my car to give to Anne, who would return it Becky. My cats were still unhappy, of course, but Dude was having fun exploring the house, especially after I took all the Chewy boxes down giving him full access to the house and basement. My cats were coming in at night without me having to drag them. Small but I'll call it progress.

I made tetrazzini and blueberry muffins Wednesday night because I was heading to Lincoln on Thursday after a talk at the lake about leaves. I had an Emeriti/Retirees Association board meeting then went to Helen's to hang out. She was doing much better and was able to eat again so we had muffins with tea while chatting the afternoon away. I left the tetrazzini for her supper so she wouldn't have to cook. I did an Aldi run on the way home.

After a few nicer days, I had to turn the AC back on on Friday, which I hoped would be the last hot day. Fall weather was finally due to arrive on the weekend and I was thrilled. On Saturday, I opened a long unused cabinet in the laundry room and found a bunch of ancient, unlabeled, homemade jam so brought them up to dump and save the jars. That lead me to my upstairs cabinets and a few more went down the garbage disposal - 11 jars in total. Note to self - label and date jam when I make it. Duh.

I was a lovely cool day on Sunday so I got busy cooking. I made squash soup, 3 bean salad and prepped zucchini for zucchini/pineapple jam. It's a British thing and I love it. You peel and seed zucchini then shred it so that when you mix it with crushed pineapple, it soaks up the flavor and being just the flesh, you can't see that it's even in there. I'd let it soak for a couple of days then make the jam. It's a favorite of mine.

Anne and I were watching the Friends of Grand Circle Travel group on Facebook and it wasn't looking good for our cruise. With the Danube and Rhine so low that they aren't navigable, people on the same cruise were reporting being in a hotel in Vienna, on one ship for a few days and being bussed around for day trips then a long bus ride that bypassed all the castles on the Rhine and meeting up with another ship in The Netherlands. Since we were just in Amsterdam in April and in Vienna last summer, the part we were most interested was the part that we'd miss. I was all for cancelling but Anne was back and forth between cancelling and wanting to go. I was a stressed out mess waiting to hear anything from Grand Circle. Anne and I even discussed driving to Canada if we cancelled the cruise. It was just a waiting game to see what the company would do.

So that was my week. Mostly normal with a new kitty to enjoy but stress over the trip. At least the weather cooperated and finally cooled down. I'll take it.

Week 36 - Ribbons and Kitty

What a week! I went to the state fair for the first time since it moved from Lincoln to Grand Island and more importantly, I got my new cat. Yay!

I started the week getting things done on Monday. I picked peppers from my driveway pots, dropped a thank you gift for watering while I was in RI at my friend Lorri's, hit the hardware store for a part to fix my hose and a picture hanger for my HUGE auction win painting then stopped at the shelter to love on Louie (not keeping that name). When I got home I cleaned up the kitchen and mended the hose so I could water out back. All that done, I finished a pair of socks for my friend Darla and ended the day sharing yarn at knitting. I call that a good day in my retirement life.

Tuesday was state fair day. Anne, Rene and I were making the drive, instigated by me because I wanted to check my ribbons in situ. Of course it was blazing hot and humid so the best part of the day was the drive in AC. Rene did a pro job of fitting into a street parking spot right near the gate and it was only $2.50 to get in that day. Our first stop was the 4-H building where open class was displayed. I was shocked how few entries there were and they were very unorganized. That done, we went in search of the quilts, which required walking outside in the blazing sun to get to that building. The quilts were great and we perused the vendors (bought nothing) in that building. We then decided to take the shuttle to see if there was anything else we wanted to see. We got stuck behind a marching band so it took ages but we were done. We got a cinnamon roll to go, paid through the nose for a sandwich in the Beef Pit only because it had AC, got ice cream and left. Never need to do that again. We had parked at Buresh Meats so shopped there before splitting up. 

Anne had brought me a big cage to set up for Louie until he got comfy in my house so I set that up when I got home then made celery/date salad and brownies to take to Helen's on Wednesday. Then it was time to do the monthly tally for my sock group and since it was the first of the month, I cast on my September socks. I was only able to do all that because I had 2 recuperation hours in the air conditioned car between the ride home from the fair then home from Lincoln.

I was spending the day with Helen on Wednesday so finished setting up for Louie before heading to Lincoln via Raising Cane's for chicken fingers to go with my salad and brownies. Helen had been home for a week after having surgery but couldn't eat so watched me eat lunch. Worrisome. We chatted the afternoon away and I stopped at Sam's for a chicken and some gas but the lines were so long that I filled up elsewhere before heading to the shelter to pick up Louie. I went straight home and put him in his cage while I set up a Chewy box barricade so he couldn't get out of the back room. He was unphased by his new location.

I spent the rest of the week inside with Little Dude (testing out different name options) and he acclimated pretty quickly. Sirens on the TV scared him at first and his safe place was under the couch, where he barely fit. He was fascinated by the outside world, especially because my other cats, who were totally bent out of shape by him, were outside all day, only inside when I had to battle to get them in at night. When I wasn't cuddling Dude, I was streaming, knitting and cooking. I gradually moved the barriers so by the end of the week he had full access to the back of the house, keeping the bedrooms and front room off limits. I did get some chores done eventually. 

At least the blazing heat and humidity (in the 90's with feels like >100 every day) coincided with kitty acclimation time. The Sam's chicken I'd bought fed me for days and I had Acorn to stream and plenty of knitting for when the kitten was sleeping. Because growing kittens have 2 speeds - full on and full off. He's going to be huge too so has lots of growing to do for his body, which is already as big as 2 of my adult cats, to catch up with his feet. And he's only 5 months old! Maybe I should name him Bruiser.

Week 35 - Happy Being Home

I don't know what made me spend so long in Rhode Island. Maybe it was because I was using points to get a free ticket? Anyway, Monday was day 12 and I was already ready to go home.

I saw a message on Facebook that my sister's dog had died so I called her from Deanne's front porch, where I was knitting while she was dealing with something for her mom. She had an appointment at her mom's that she needed to be at so I called my cousin Bette, who was back in town, and we went to lunch at Cracker Barrel then she drove me to Deanne's after the appointment was over. Better than sitting in another room during the appointment for sure. After chatting with Mrs. for a bit, Deanne and I visited Mrs. Bassett, our old girl scout leader, then drove around East Greenwich for a bit sharing memories of growing up there. We went out to dinner at Deanne's favorite restaurant and I was happy that it'd be my last restaurant meal for awhile because I was flying home on Tuesday.

Deanne needed to talk to her brother on Tuesday morning so I was back on the front porch knitting, which was fine by me. We ate leftovers for lunch and I packed a sandwich to eat for supper and Dee dropped me at the airport. The lounge was not full and when I asked if they were looking for volunteers to check luggage, they said they weren't. Clearly the flight wasn't full but awhile later they came over and asked if I wanted to check my luggage and I happily handed it over. Then there were plenty of empty seats on both flight so I had room to spread out. Both flights were uneventful and I walked into my house at 11:05. I let the cats out and unpacked then showered. I was happy when they all came right back inside so I could go to bed. I guess they missed me. I was happy to be sleeping in my own bed surrounded by my cats. It's always good to get home no matter how much fun a trip is.

Wednesday was a catch up day with laundry, emails, tallying for my Ravelry sock group and trying to make food with what I had in the house. Grilled cheese on old bread from the fridge hit the spot. I picked peppers from my driveway pots and made sausage and peppers on Thursday and went to a talk at the museum on the New Deal in Saunders County. Then I hit the rummage sale at St. John's in Weston and found a few goodies. For supper, Andrea joined me for the BOGO burger special at Chip's. The last thing I need to feel back to normal was a grocery run and that was next.

I chatted with Lori on Friday morning and then went to the shelter to do the cats. Deb, who's in charge, was there and I talked to her about adopting Louie, having told myself that if he was still there when I got home from RI then it was meant to be. She said she'd prepare the paperwork and I could sign it Sunday. Yay! I went to Lincoln that afternoon and met up with Anne for some yarn shopping and ice cream at Zesto. I loaded up on produce and a few other things at the market and headed home for the weekend, happy that I could do some cooking. I checked the state fair website when I got home to find that 10 of the 12 things I'd entered had ribboned. My winnings were $104 and I'd be donating $100 for my cat so he's my ribbon kitty. I won't be keeping the name Louie but isn't he cute? That face!

I had a lovely, relaxing weekend cooking, cleaning a bit and the like. When I did the cats on Sunday I signed the paperwork and paid for Louie, arranging to pick him up Wednesday evening after he was done with his last meds. I ordered a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut and got an offer for a month of Acorn free. I took the offer and settled in to knit and stream the day away.

It felt great to get back to my regular routine and now I'd have a new kitty to look forward to. My first male cat in decades and he's such a sweetie but more about that next week. Until then....

Week 34 - Fabulous Beach Week

Are the beach weeks every not fabulous? Relaxing with a view and friends visiting every day - what's not to like?

John went out for breakfast with friends on Monday so I happily sat on the deck  knitting the morning away with the awning keeping me dry from the misty rain. I also made calls or texted friends and had visits all arranged before John got back. After a lunch of spinach pies from the farmers market, we did a Job Lot run, which we'd saved knowing the weather wouldn't cooperate. I made zucchini butter pasta for supper, which was an aberration because John usually does the cooking.

Janice came over on Tuesday morning and brought my favorite donuts - lemon filled chocolate covered, which Dunkin no longer makes but Market Basket does. Yum! Lunch was just turkey sandwiches and we played Boggle, with Janice winning every single game. John joined us and I beat him but Janice was still the champ. Kate, who was in John's class and was the owner of the cottage when we originally rented it, came for supper. It was a lovely time, as usual.

Cornelia came for lunch on Wednesday and we had saugies, which are a RI hotdog, for lunch. We talked all afternoon, which is easily done. We rarely talk beyond the beach week visit but boy when we do! John's Uncle Tom and Aunt Gail came for drinks and nibbles that night. It's always fun to see them too.              

I had called my cousin Bette about having lunch on Thursday but she was out of town so I called her brother, David, and he was free so we agreed to meet at Aunt Carrie's for lunch. David is as close to a brother as I have so it was great to see him. Our food had just arrived when John got a text. He was supposed to meet his friend Nancy for lunch, which he'd never mentioned to me, and had completely forgotten. He felt bad but we enjoyed lunch. We bought swordfish in Wakefield then hit the local farm stand for sweet corn before heading home. Deanne came for supper that night. More fun with friends.

Just like that, it was our last full day. We had planned to go to the beach with Carolyn and Matt but it was rainy and cold, meaning we'd been there all week and never set foot on the beach. Oh well. We met halfway between us at Providence Wood Fired Pizza. After a delicious lunch, we did Job Lot again (they're all have a few different things) then I hit the local yarn store for a skein of thank you yarn for Andrea taking care of my cats. And just the one skein - how adult of me was that to not get one for myself? We went back to the cottage for our last evening. We snacked on some of the leftovers and John made us burgers late then we had huge helpings of ice cream to finish it up. For the first time in my life, I had horrible acid reflux. I couldn't lay down so was up sitting on the couch chewing tums until 3:30 in the morning. Yikes! If this is what people put up with, holy crap! It was brutal.

Check out time is 10:00 so we were up and packing first thing on Saturday. We pretty much have it down to a science and since we'd eaten most of the leftovers, there wasn't much food to pack. Our first stop was Tom and Gail's for John to offload because he'd be staying there that night. We hung out for a bit before heading to Carolyn's. We were all going to Bob's retirement party that evening so we hung out all afternoon. Bob's party was fun, hosted by Michelle and planned so John and I could be there. How nice was that? I got to talk to some of Bob's friends and his brother, none of whom I'd seen in ages. John dropped me at Deanne's, where I'd be staying until I'd fly home on Tuesday.

Deanne has been going through tough times as she's taking care of her mom who has terminal cancer so it was good that her brothers were taking care of her mom while I was there to give her a break. We started with going down to the beach to get lobster rolls for lunch on Sunday. Delish but $86 for 2 - yikes! We then went to Wakefield where Dee got a manicure while I sat outside knitting. We hit the chocolate store for goodies for Mrs. Bassett - our old girl scout leader who we visit every summer. We tried to stop by but she wasn't home so we went back to Dee's and she made yummy Italian sausage and potato bake for supper. I'm sure we streamed something but couldn't tell you what. It was a fun day and I'm sure it took Dee's mind off her mother.

So, another beach week in the books - our 7th. While I didn't so much as dip my toe in salt water, I wasn't bothered by that. It's about being AT the beach not ON the beach and mostly spending time with friends relaxing and catching up. I got lots of knitting done, of course, and even had tan stripes on my feet where the evening sun got under the awning. Life is good!

Week 33 - To the Beach

Another beach week was here. I was flying on Thursday and had things to get done before then, of course.

I was still dealing with leftover yarn from the sale but moved it all the front room so it was all in one place and took empty totes (yay!) to the basement. I'll deal with the rest later. I had decided to enter things in the state fair and went big, prepping 12 items and getting them entered online, printed tags Tuesday night when I was the library for a board meeting and all attached and packed to drop in Omaha on the way to the airport on Thursday. There was packing too and getting the cats ready to be inside for 13 days, which meant there was no point in doing any cleaning.

Of course I had a jam packed Wednesday. I was having lunch with Dana, Lana and Cindy to start then had the slow leak in my tire fixed so I wouldn't come home to a flat tire in the airport parking lot. Then it was Zesto with Anne for the first peanut butter soft serve of the season (it's their fall flavor) and then I dropped donations at Stuff. I did the final laundry and finished packing and was pretty much ready to go.

I was worried about the Southwest flight, which would be my last since they no longer do free luggage so what's the point? Anyway, I had seen posts about their passenger of size policy and was worried they'd give me grief. I lost sleep over this. At least I had an assigned seat on the flights there (I used almost all my points for a free ticket but didn't have enough to get an assigned seat on the way home.) It wasn't an issue but my first flight was delayed enough that I wouldn't make my connection in DC so my only option to get there on Thursday was to rebook through Midway with a 3.5 hour layover. They were asking for volunteers to check their luggage for free because the flight was full and I jumped at the chance. Nice.

I was fine with hanging at Midway and found a nice table to sit at in a food court where I could see the flight board. I streamed and knitted then walked to the big food court for a Chicago hotdog for supper. Then the gate fiasco began. I was back and forth between the A and B terminals 3 times as they changed gates. I was a hot mess by the time I got on the plane but had a row to myself. Good thing I wasn't dragging my suitcase that whole time. I got in after 9:30 and stayed up chatting with Carolyn until midnight. I had made it to RI and was ready for fun.

Carolyn and I hung out chatting in her dining room on Friday morning. Matt was out and about so after he got back home, we went to a bakery near Carolyn's for croissants. I treated and $20 didn't cover 3 pain au chocolats! RI is super expensive compared to Nebraska. Anyway, from there we went to a burger place in East Greenwich (the town I grew up in) and got the best fries I've ever eaten. Carolyn agreed. The burger was tasty too but those fries were amazing. We went back home and hung out all for the rest of the day, having our pastries late afternoon, mine with tea, of course. Much to Matt's dismay, we weren't hungry so skipped dinner then streamed something and went to bed. It's been a long time since I've had face time with Carolyn so it was a great day.

Carolyn makes the best scrambled eggs and knows I love them so made them for breakfast on Saturday. We hung out until John picked me up at noon then we headed right to The Crow's Nest for my favorite fried clams. Delish! With full bellies, the next stop was Trader Joe's for some groceries then it was time to check in a the cottage. By the time we unloaded the car of luggage and groceries, unpacked it all and made beds, it was time for supper. Good thing John had some Thai leftovers because we hadn't bought anything at TJ's that would work for supper. Ha!

We remedied that Sunday morning with our first stop at the farmers market across the pond near Galilee. We got some fresh produce then hit Stop & Shop to fill in all the gaps in our groceries. The remote for the awning over the deck wasn't working so John drove back to town for a battery, which didn't solve it but he googled how to reset it and got it going again. The deck knitting with tea and hermits (a New England molasses cookie with raisins) began then we played scrabble on the deck (John smoked me, as usual) and had steak and date/celery salad for supper.

We were all settled in and it was time to start planning for the week ahead. The weather was going to be perfect and I was looking forward to seeing all my RI friends. Let the visiting begin!

Week 32 - A Recharge Week

This was not a super productive week for me. I was out and about a bit but also spent lots of time recharging after last week's yarn sale. And that's OK.

I woke up at 4:30 on Monday and there was no falling back asleep so I got up and made pancaekes. I was heading to Helen's to hang out, which is always fun, and stayed so long that I didn't have time to cook so ordered a pizza for supper. I then grabbed yarn and headed to knitting, taking the yarn that I'd decided to donate so my knitting friends could have first dibs, of course. They took a few, which made me happy.

Tuesday was a catch up day. I cleaned out the fridge (long overdue) and cleaned up the kitchen. That done, I always want to cook so made chicken and rice for supper. I had time in there to read and was enjoying Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng that Carolyn had recommended.

I had driving duty on Wednesday morning taking Anne to get a cortizone shot. It took longer than I thought but I was knitting in the waiting room so it didn't matter. Anne was loopy and almost fell off the curb but I got her settled at home and then met Dodie for lunch. I made a beeline home afterwards without doing any stops and spent the afternoon reading, finishing Our Missing Hearts. I highly recommend it.

Thursday was a social day. I talked to both Carolyn and Deanne then went to pick up a couple of book club books that needed returning (long story) and ended up talking to Jackie, a new member of the book club, for 1.5 hours. I went to the shelter to love on Louie since I was out then went home and finished all the work with the yarn, ending with even more to donate. It won't count until it's out of my house but at least it's sorted.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on Friday dealing with an attempted hack of my Fidelity retirement account. I had gotten a text saying I'd requested a dual authentication code and I hadn't so I called Fidelity. But they wanted my account number, which I didn't have because everything is electronic and I couldn't sign in. I finally got authenticated and they confirmed that nothing was gone and reset my account and locked it. They wanted me to call Verizon and have them figure out who called and to block that account. Verizon had no way to figure that out but I still spent an hour on the phone with them. Then I called Huskertech because Fidelity wanted my phone "cleaned", which made no sense because I've never logged into Fidelity from my phone. They were super nice and helpful - gotta love the UNL phone gurus. I was on and off the phone all day and figured it was 4.5 hours total. I did go out to do the cats at the shelter and moved all the yarn totes to the basement but what a day! The good news is no one got to my money.

I ran Wahoo errands Saturday morning, picking up The Correspondent at the library to prepare for the rainy afternoon. We got .6" (every bit of rain is a gift this summer after it was so dry for so long) and I enjoyed reading the afternoon away. The zinnias in my garden are loving the rain too and they're attracting some nice butterflies. I'll take it.

My neighbor a few doors down was working on my next door neighbor's yard on Sunday and had a chainsaw for the weed trees. I asked if he'd be willing to cut a limb off my crapapple that was hitting my roof and blocking light from my front room. He did it in 5 minutes and then took the limbs away. I made some banana bread as a thank you and delivered it while it was still warm. Goodwill towards neighbors is important. I finished The Correspondent that evening. Another fabulous book that I read in 2 days.

So a busy enough week with the yarn all sorted and mostly put away so the sale work is done. I had some socializing and got lots of reading done, which I'm enjoying this summer. I think of reading in the afternoon as a winter thing and look forward to that this winter but it also works when it's blazing hot outside so I'm hiding inside in the AC. Fall cannot come soon enough for me this year.

Week 31 - Fair and Sale

The week started out with blazing heat and humidity but a storm came through on Wednesday with 1" of rain and a temperature drop. Not that I got to enjoy the cooler temps because it was all about the county fair and prepping for another yarn sale on Saturday.

I spent Monday morning prepping my entries for the county fair. I had lots of socks, of course, but also my temperature blanket and my huge crocheted granny's daughter afghan. I had room for one more entry on my sheet so decided to make a peach crumb pie since they only need 1/4 of the pie so I took the rest to knitting, where it was a big hit. Heidi was fresh from her trip to Alaska via Canada so brought the President's Choice mac & cheese boxes that I'd requested and had OMG's to share, which are my fave Canadian candy. Yum! Then Andrea offered to take my fair entries so I didn't have to leave early. It was a good day.

Tuesday was another scorcher but I was busy inside. I finished sorting the yarn I'd already pulled and moved it to the front room, all ready for the sale. But I wasn't done so pulled sock yarn from my Ikea to sell. Yes, selling indie dyed sock yarn since I have more than I can ever knit. There was more pulling, pricing and packing on Wednesday, which was a rainy day. 1 inch! It was done raining by the end of the day when it was time to check my ribbons. At long last, I won best in county! My temperature blanket won! I was pretty happy to have finally won after 2 years of getting runner up best in county. My thrown together peach pie also won best of division, which means best baked good in the county. That was a surprise.

Thursday was a full day. I had a scheduled phone call about the Emeriti/Retirees Association membership data then met Lorri at Chip's for the BOGO burger special, after which I hit the bakery and The Warehouse. I always go to the bakery so close to closing that there's very little left but I got a handpie and had it with tea before heading to Lincoln. Anne wasn't swimming but had given me some cone yarn she didn't want so I added some of mine and dropped it at Stuff before going to the pool. Of course I found more sock yarn there. Good thing I'd been culling my stash for the sale, right?

I loaded the car in the cooler weather on Friday, worried that all the totes wouldn't fit. Well, not only did they fit but I had more room. Of course I pulled more yarn and still could have fit more but I was done. I got pizza for supper and made blueberry/chicken salad to take for lunch at the sale. I went to bed confident that I was ready for the sale.

Andrea was going with me again so I picked her up at 7:00 and we headed to The Bagel Bin to get breakfast and were unloaded and set up with time to spare. Based on the many requests I had for acrylic when I did this sale in February, I had brought pretty much all the acrylic in my house, which is bigger and sells for cheaper, so I wasn't expecting to make as much money (I made $900 before). Well, I broke $700 in profit so was pretty darn pleased with that. I dropped a bagel at my friend Lorri's before getting home and collapsing. It was well worth the effort because as I always say, gone is good and the kind of gone where you make money is even better.

After chatting with my friend Dee Sunday morning, I ran to the fair to pick up my entries and then went to scoop poop at the shelter. Then it was time to unload the car and decide what to do with all the yarn that didn't sell. I had to figure out what sold and mark it as such in my Ravelry stash but I also went through everything that didn't sell and marked lots of it as gone and put it in the donate bag for Stuff. I figured that if it didn't sell at two sales (mostly single skeins of very nice yarn), it was time for it to go. I talked to my sister on the way to Lincoln and swam for the last time this summer.

So, what a great week! I finally got my best in county rosette and the sale was a big success. The fact that the ridiculous heat had broken was icing on the cake. Now to deal with the yarn that didn't sell or get donated and get ready for my next adventure - my annual Rhode Island beach week. Life is good!