Week 4 - Spitting and Swimming

The week started with a holiday and I'm happy to report that I did continue being productive on Monday. I finished the African violets, bringing in the yellow table I'd relegated to the garage when I got my new end table a couple of weeks ago to snug up with the treddle table in the north window. It held all my violets and the plants I'd potted up from cuttings I'd rooted and the poinsettas from Christmas. My dining room table was finally clear! To celebrate, I made some comfort food - hamburger stroganoff over egg noodles with Brussels sprouts on the side. Yum. I was feeling good about my progress and was ready for my 4 day work week.

The first days of the week flew by. I had a master gardener welcome back zoom after work on Tuesday and while I was on the fence about attending, I did. It only reinforced that I need to opt out of the MG program. The leader pisses me off and the program brings me zero joy. Yup, done with that.

Our team meeting was over just in time to catch the swearing in of Harris and Biden on Wednesday. I was moved to tears and felt a sense of lightness I haven't felt in the past 4+ years. I'm hopeful that our country is back on a path of integrity and healing. I taught a reporting class that afternoon and then jumped in the car to head to Lincoln for a 4:45 spit test. 

The students are due back on the 25th and there are strict protocols for anyone who will be on campus, which starts with 2 negative Covid spit test within 10 days. While I have no plans to work on campus, I want it to be an option in case something comes up so I'm doing the tests. Darla met me at the spit hut (I picked East Campus so it was right outside her office) and we chatted outside then hit Goodwill after my test. I met Anne and Rene at the gym and did water aerobics for the first time in a month. I hit Aldi for a big stock up after the pool and managed to spend $88! That's hard to do at Aldi but I hadn't done a big shopping in ages.

I woke up Thursday to find an email from Mary, who needed some numbers for a 9:00 meeting. I started working immediately and got what she needed so it was a good start, despite working before coffee and breakfast. Since I'd started so early, I stopped working at 4:00 and did the reward yarn job I'd been saving until I made progress on other things - sorting my sock yarn leftovers. I sorted them all by weight, rewinding many of the floppy skeins, and organized them in ziplocs and jars. That was fun.

By Friday, I'd finished most of the things on my work to do list, leaving me just a project that I don't believe is a good move. I spent some time rehearsing why it was ill advised and then scheduled a zoom meeting with my boss. I had barely started when Ben said he agreed that it wasn't the way to go. Big relief! He really is a great boss. I happily moved on to designing some benefits forms and the rest of the day was over in a flash.

It was going to be a cold weekend so I was happily holing up inside. I had some chores to do and spent Saturday interspersing them with kniting while listening to an audio book, something I haven't ever done at home. The only audio books I've done were in the car on road trips. It was lovely. I went to bed early but was awake in the wee hours, worrying about the birthday trip to Stromsburg the next Saturday. There had been ridiculous drama about it from Rene at swimming that initially put me off but I was rethinking the wisdom of going anyway. I emailed Anne and Rene to cancel it on Sunday morning and instantly felt better. It was the right thing to do.

With that settled, I made a nice breakfast of French toast and bacon and enjoyed my Sunday morning, watching the Sunday news shows and talking to my sister. Then it was time to get busy. One lingering thing on my to do list was cleaning the fridge. Not only was it a mess but I'd loaded all my Aldi shopping willy nilly in any available space. So after lunch, I started the fridge, which took hours and had some difficulties while trying to get the bottom shelf back in after washing it all out in the tub because it was too big for my sink. I was frustrated and sweating, despite being a wet mess from a runaway shower head while washing that shelf. But all's well that ends well. I tossed lots of food (old sauces and salad dressings mostly), filled the recycle bin and put everything back in the squeaky clean fridge. Let the cooking begin!

With a snow storm that could drop a foot of snow due on Monday, I did all the outside things - filled the bird feeders, dumped stuff in the compost heap, emptied recycling into the bin, took the glass recycling out to the garage, closing the garage door on my way back in, and taking all the trash out. All that done, I was ready to end my day feeling satisfied and watching PBS while knitting. I didn't get the bar and desk cleared but there will be time for that while watching the snow fly on Monday. I doubt we'll be knitting at the library with the snow not due to stop until the wee hours on Tuesday. I'm ready.

Week 3 - Big Tree Drama

It was another winter week of working at home during Covid. Should I stop there? Well, there was actually some drama worth mentioning. 

There was a blizzard due on Friday and the winds that would be blowing the snow around started Thurday afternoon. Looking out the window while working, I watched trees blowing side to side and of course started worrying about my neighbor's nearly dead tree that will have a good chance of taking out my deck and maybe my back room when it comes down. The wind was blowing hard Thursday night as I sat watching TV and at 7:40, I saw a huge spark on the line in the alley and the electricity went out. With nothing else to do, I went to bed and read. The power came back on just after 9:00 so I got up and reset all my clocks before heading back to bed.

It wasn't until the sun came up the next morning that I saw what had killed the power. The tall, scraggly fir tree next to my neighbor's garage, which is not the one I worry about, had blown down and taken out the lines. It was at least 50 feet tall and I could see snapped roots that were the size of an adult thigh. The tree was blocking the alley. 

I called the city to see what they'd be doing about it and in talking to the clerk, I mentioned the other tree that I worry about whenever the wind blows. Well, she said that it could be declared a nuisance and they'd send out an inspector to look at it. OMG! I never knew this was an option and would have called sooner had I known. She said they would send a registered letter giving them 30 days to let them know the plan to remove the tree, which will need to be done within 60 days. Yay! Cara got the neighbor across the alley to cut up the downed fir but she will absolutely have to hire a tree service to take down the maple. It's 70 years old, has multiple enormous branches and the entire main trunk is hollow and growing mushrooms. Time for that sucker to be taken down before it comes down on my house.

The week ended with a long weekend and MLK weekend is always super productive for me. I try to do all the things that were on my to do list for break that didn't get done. But before I could dig in, we had our first ever virtual spinning meeting, which used my zoom account. It was fun to see everyone and lots of people had their wheels out and were spinning as we chatted. I, of course, was knitting socks. When we signed off at 4:00 I got busy.

The first thing on my list was to go through 2 huge totes (think foot locker sized) of yarn that I have posted for sale on Ravelry but it wasn't priced. I got through one whole tote and the took a break when Lori called. I kept going while I watched Loving, in honor of MLK and finished up the 2nd tote on Sunday morning. One bid thing checked of so I headed to my front room to tackle the next.

I brought home all my office plants last spring and my dining room table had been covered ever since. I pulled out some new pots and started repotting. It was lovely to be working in the sunshine in the front room and I made a good start and still had Monday to finish them up. Gotta love a long weekend! I was hopeful that'd I'd get more done on Monday.

Week 2 - Back to Work

Well, break was over and it was back to reality. Too soon for me.

The first business day of the month is always monthly reports and it was a good thing that I had that to start my re-entry to work. Between that and weekly reports, the day flew. That was not the case for the rest of the week. I struggled to focus and was longing for the weekend by Tuesday afternoon. Not good.

I was on a zoom call on Wednesday afternoon when I started getting messenger alerts on my computer. The zoom was a long one and I checked my messages as soon as it was over and immediately turned on the TV. OMG! Between calls from friends, I was glued to the news from 3:30 until bedtime. Trump had finally done it! He'd crossed a line that all but his basest supporters couldn't support. He's cemented his legacy as an unhinged crazy man. So while it was sad that the capitol police officer had died, it wasn't all bad because Trump was now DONE. Good riddance.

Thursday was a fun day. We were meeting at the office for our team meeting - the first time since March. I left Wahoo at 9:15, dropped a big box of yarn for Dottie at UPS and was at Starbuck's at 10:00. They were training new baristas so I got a free frapuccino too. Nice. Then we went to the office to exchange gifts (I brought homemade blackberry peach jam) and chatted until 11:30, when Ben and Brook left. I moved boxes back into my cubie but didn't really unpack. Cindy and I decided we should get take out burgers from Honest Abe's so placed our order, ran to St. Louise's Gift & Thrift while they cooked our burgers then took them back to the office to eat. Yum! 

I had one more stop to make at Nora's to pick up bear sticks - more yum. She was in a meeting so I grabbed them and left, leaving me time to stop at 2 Goodwills before leaving town. I scored some fabulous yarn, for once more for me than my sister and Anne. I was back home and working at 3:15. When I logged off, I sorted yarn, which is always a lovely way to end the day.

I had a Friday afternoon meeting that gave me something to dig into for the rest of the day, which I needed. I was SO ready for the weekend. Sheesh!

The only plan for the weekend was meeting Lori and Andrea at the library to knit from 11:00-1:00. It had been gray, dull and dreary all week and it still was Saturday, which killed my favorite thing - sitting in the sun all morning in my nightie knitting. It's a good thing I'd had a big breakfast of French toast and bacon because we didn't end up getting Chinese food to eat while we knitted. When the library closed, Lori came to my house to pick up a spare crockpot I had and we talked in the driveway, freezing as it was. I went in to warm up with a cup of tea and then got busy.

I had been putting up with my train wreck of a house all week so was determined to get it back in order. I started with cleaning up the kitchen and doing all the pots and pans while I still had daylight. After dinner, I took the tree down in the back room. I'd been enjoying it but it was time. On Sunday morning, the tree in the front room came down and I immediately packed everything up and put it back downstairs. Then I finished the yarn organzation in the front room, finally exposing the floor so it was open for some cleaning. I swept and washed the floor then vacuumed the rugs there and in the bedroom. Then I did the floors in the back room. My house was looking better than it had in ages and with a single load of laundry done, I was officially ready for the week. 

I hope this next week isn't a slog. Because this is how desperate I got this past week - I pulled up Cat TV on YouTube and watched my cats watching TV. It was exactly the diversion I needed from the craziness in Washington. The sun will be returning this next week and it'll be warm enough to melt the rest of the snow and I plan to hang out sheets. In this Covid world, sunshine, warmth and laundry on the line is enough for me. Maybe a little Cat TV too. : )

Week 1 - My Pandemic Break

I love the week we get off at Christmas. It's one of the best things about working in academia. But normally my break starts in Rhode Island for Christmas then flying home to enjoy a few days before heading back to work. But there was no travel this year and pretty much no leaving my house so I wondered how I'd feel about this year's break. Well, I needen't have worried.

When I tell you I stayed home all week, I mean I barely left my house. I did go to Monday Night knitting on Monday but after that, the only time I left the house was to pick up my grab and go lunch on Tuesday and drive through Pizza Hut to pick up a pizza on Friday night. That's it. Beyond the 2 hours at knitting, I was in my house all but 20 minutes in 5 days. And it was wonderful.

I got up every morning whenever I wanted, sat in the sun watching morning TV while drinking my festive coffee and worked on my to do list in the afternoons. I ate leftover lasagna all week and went to bed when I got tired. If this is what retirement is like, sign me up!

As usual, new year's was a total non event for me. I streamed something (can't even remember what), finished my FU2020 socks and went to bed before midnight. I missed having my knitters' tea on the first so got pizza as a consolation prize. I didn't even wear my new socks after rushing to finish them. Oh well.

I did manage to get some things crossed off my to do list but as usual, not as much as I should have. I spent a bunch of time sorting yarn, which is always fun, and filled my huge trash can for the last pick up before I go to will call again and by the end of the week, my car was loaded with donations. By Saturday, I was ready to go out.

I had arranged to buy a drop leaf end table from Facebook Marketplace so made a day of it in Omaha. I drove through a Goodwill to offload a trunkful of stuff then picked up the table. I then tried to go to Trader Joe's but there was a huge line so I called Lori and we met at ImagiKnit - our favorite local yarn shop. We masked up and shopped for awhile then tried to chat in the parking lot but even in the sun, it was too chilly so we headed out. I went across the street to pick up cleaning supplies and some bins at Dollar Tree, dropped my glass recyling in the parking lot (how convenient) then stopped at Aldi for a few groceries. I was home by dark, driving through pea soup fog again, which was weird because the sun was out east of the Platte River but I couldn't see 2 car lengths ahead in my county. During the day.

Sunday was regular old chore day, getting ready for the coming week. The break had been absolutely wonderful and I was not looking forward to going back to work, even working in my jammies sitting in my comfy chair, with my laptop on my new end table, which was perfect. I even did the math to see how much vacation time I'd need to save over the next 4 years so I can be at the max and retire 2 months early. Yeah, break was that good. Hell, at this rate I might be doing what 1 friend just did and another is planning to do - retire 18 months early and buy health insurance through COBRA until Medicare kicks in. It's sounding better and better all the time.

Now to get through 2021. First step will be the vaccine. I'm ready as soon as it's on offer.

2021 - Just One Word

I usually start my blog year going over last year's word and seeing how I did with that. What's the point? My word for 2020 was Intent but like everything else, it went right out the window when Covid struck. I intended to go on a Baltic Sea knitting cruise - nope. I intended to be able to leave my house - again nope. Let's just chalk 2020 up to a big old never mind and look forward to a better year in 2021. 

I am very hopeful for 2021 and have chosen a word that I hope works mid-pandemic and after:

Reclaim

With 2021 featuring still not working on campus, still social distancing and still spending all my time at home, reclaim can work for spending time reclaiming my house. I made some great progress this past fall and hope I can continue on that path. I have a few months before I can head outside to my garden so I'm hoping this winter finds me culling the crap in my house. I like to call it decrapification.

And once the vaccine is fully available and hopefully brings life back to some semblance of normal, I'll be looking to reclaim normal life. Travel - I cannot wait to get to Europe! And I want to sit in Carolyn's kitchen in Rhode Island and chat over coffee. And shopping without worrying about getting sick? Yeah, I'd like to reclaim that. I'll also be reclaiming mobility at some point when I get my knee replaced. Yup, reclaim seems to work. I hope by the end of 2021, the world will have reclaimed life as we knew it or at least something close to it.

Week 52 - My Covid Christmas

Well, that was different!

I had done my best to make this holiday season festive. I had 6 different advent calendars so started each day opening presents. Since 2 of the calendars were beer and cheese, I made that dinner on way too many nights, drinking more beer in December than I normally drink in six months. I also did a 12 days of Christmas swap so had knitting gifts to open for the 12 days before Christmas (I know, not the traditional 12 days). Then I bought festive frankenfood - peppermint mocha coffee mate, which I used the tiniest amount of because it was SO sweet. But it was also yummy so I enjoyed festive coffee every morning. And I ended most nights with a little glass of egg not All this was fun but nothing could make this year feel normal. Nothing.

But I had some fun anyway. I started with getting a buzz cut on Tuesday morning. It's something I've always wanted to try and I figured now was the time. If I looked awful, I'd have some time to grow it out before I'd see people. My hairdresser used a 1/2" blade and only left a tiny bit in the front longer so I could have enough bangs to cover my forehead lump. I was suprised that it didn't look bad at all. I had thought I'd have to spend a month wearing a hat but I clearly wouldn't have to. Not a great picture but what do you think?

Good thing I didn't need a hat because it was in the low 60's on Tuesday and I'd taken the afternoon off to deliver presents. I left for Lincoln right at noon and spent the afternoon dropping jars of jam and gifts all over town. I had mapped out my route but when I found the bag of book club books on the back seat that needed to be returned to the Library Commision downtown, I changed it up. Dodie was on campus so I met her outside her building and then headed across town, hitting a few thrift stores on the way to my boss'. I spent half an hour chatting with my friend Van and then headed to Anne's. Rene was picking up dinner and we were meeting at Anne's. I brought beer from my advent to share. We had a lovely evening, having a fire after dinner. Then my boss came by to drop off bags of Christmas candies she'd made that afternoon. It was a wonderful day!

We only had to work until 3:00 on Wednesday, which is always nice. I made a cup of tea to go with the Christmas cookies Anne had made and sorted the bags of yarn I'd bought on Tuesday. I was now officially off work for 11 days. Nothing wrong with that!

The warm weather didn't last and it snowed overnight - just enough to be festive. I had some cooking to do and was worried that I'd bail on shovelling if I left it until later so I got my butt outside and shovelled the driveway first thing. I put the lasagna together then made the cream for Anne's banana cream pie. With my obligations out of the way, I made some tea and picked up the phone. I talked to Sharyn, my Auntie Margaret and John before watching Becoming on Netflix. An odd Christmas Eve but pleasant.

I had 3 stocking boxes to open up on Christmas morning. Despite the challenges of shopping during a pandemic, both of my sisters and Carolyn did a great job. Ginny won for best stocking stuffer - a window cling of the Queen to put on my back car window. Ha! With presents opened, the Christmas calls started - Ginny, Carolyn, a zoom with Deanne and then Dottie from the car. I was headed to Anne's with lasagna and homemade banana cream pie, which I'd nixed for Thanksgiving (that's not a Thanksgiving pie!) so had made for Christmas. I baked the lasagna there so we ate a late lunch then had a fire and chatted the afternoon away. Anne and I had as nice a Christmas as possible during a pandemic. I'm lucky to have such a great friend in my bubble.

Christmas was done and I had 9 days off ahead of me. I had made a big list of possible projects but decided to start with a normal weekend. I put all my presents away and did my regular weekend chores. And lots of knitting, of course. I had saved yarn named FY2020 to cast on socks in hopes to finish by the 31st so did a lot of work on those.

I had done very little cooking and baking (none really) all month and I brought home half the lasagna so was set for dinners. I had high hopes for being productive in the next week and certainly was well rested to start. I hope you found some joy in your Covid Christmas. 2021 was coming and can only get better, right? Here's hoping.