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.