Week 7 - Enjoying Warm Temps

It was 77 degrees on Monday, which broke an old record, so the week started out outside. It ended outside too. I had a good mix this week of being out and about and vegging at home. I like weeks like that.

With the warm temps on Monday, I had scheduled tea in the park with my friend Lorri. With that my only plan, I opened the windows to get some fresh air in the house and then started cleaning, ending with vacuuming. Cleaning is rarely a priority so I have to go with it when the urge hits. I was almost done when I called Lorri and asked if she wanted to come to my deck instead and she said yes. I put towels over the cushions and a tablecloth over the dirty table and put the kettle on. It was lovely outside but the table was in the flight path between my crabapple in the front yard and the maple in the back. We got bombarded with bird poop, which was mostly crabapples. I laughed it off but after getting hit twice, Lorri was clearly skeeved and left shortly thereafter. I changed my shirt and called it fine, heading to knitting at the library after supper.

It was cooler, but still above normal, on Tuesday so I knitted in the morning sun then went out for a personal pan pizza and to exchange a pair of socks I was gifted from the local flower/gift shop. I came home with a pretty bouquet of stock (my favorite florist flower) and carnations. I had a relaxing afternoon of reading and tea in the front room then a short library board meeting that night. Perfect day in my book and a good recharge for the next 2 busy days.

Wednesday was a Lincoln day, starting with an appointment with my radiation oncologist. Not sure why I had to go having just been to the oncologist but whatever. I was in and out quickly then picked Dodie up for another birthday lunch - this time for spring rolls at Pho Factory. I dropped her back on campus then went into the office for a party to celebrate Dana getting a kudo, which is an award by the Board of Regents. From there I headed south, stopping at Anne's to drop off some scones before going to my friend Becky's for tea and scones. She recently retired and it was great to catch up. Becky is who I get my cats from. She's a peach and we chatted for hours. I picked up a spinning wheel from Rene, who had trash picked it for Andrea at my request, then hit Aldi on the way home and called it a day.

My friend Darla's birthday was Wednesday and we ususally do something around our birthdays so Thursday was it - a thrifting day in St. Joe, Missouri. I had mapped out ten thrifts and we were going to eat at The Big Biscuit so I was at Darla's house at 7:45 for an early start. She was driving which meant car knitting time for me. Yay! 

The first thrift store we hit was by far the best. It was called Pivotal Point and supported transitional housing programs. It was the nicest thrift shop I'd ever been in and we happened to hit a half price day. We both found lots of fun stuff and that ruined us for the rest of the day. We had a great lunch at The Big Biscuit. I had chicken and waffles and they were the best chicken fingers I've ever had. We had lots of other thrifts but mostly found nothing. I did score a beautiful aqua colored drinking glass and some other bits and bobs at a sketchy downtown Salvation Army thrift. Our last stop was Southside Flea, which was an odd mix of booths that had everything from crafts to antiques to stuff that looked like someone had cleaned out their shed. I found a bunch of bamboo stakes for gardening and a couple of other things. We were out of stops so headed home from there and got back to Lincoln relatively early. I dropped some cone yarn I'd bought to Anne, who lives near Darla, and then hit the best Lincoln Goodwill and found a couple of skeins for Dottie. It was a fun day all around.

I was home on Friday with zero commitments, giving me one day to recharge before another day out. I had bought a big heart at the first thrift so made a bow and hanger for that and hung it on my front door before doing a load of laundry and hanging it out. That's about all I accomplished that day but did enjoy tea outside.

Saturday was a busy day, which had been rescheduled from the following Tuesday. Since it was Saturday, I invited Andrea to join Lori and I for our plans. The first stop was the Nebraska Humane Society to pick up Pixel's ashes. Lori had warned me that I might have to wait but it took no time at all and I was able to hold it together, mostly. With time to kill, Andrea and I hit the thrift across from the restaurant we'd meet Lori at for lunch when her church retreat was over. We had a lovely lunch and then went next door to Imagiknit so I could use my birthday discount. I had a blue/green combo in mind but couldn't find any so settled on a pink skein of sock yarn. We split up from there and Andrea and I headed to Trader Joe's. The parking lot should have been a clue. The store was packed and the lines from every register were down the aisles. We gave up and went to Aldi instead. It was another nice day.

It was 70 degrees on Sunday (more freaky weather for February) so you guessed it - I did some laundry and hung it out and had tea on my bench in the backyard. It was a lovely end to a lovely week. There was snow in the forecast for the next week so our warm spell was nearing its end. I actually won't mind some actual winter weather. Snow is a lovely thing when you're retired and don't need to leave the house. : )