Week 29 - Plan B Vacation

On Sunday evening, Carolyn had called to say that Aaron, who was supposed to be at scout camp for most of my trip, was skipping the second week and was on his way home. Now this entire trip was planned around him not being around. July is fiscal year end and so not the best time for me to be off work and I had even finagled the dates around camp and so was flying Tuesday to Tuesday. Damn! It’s not that Aaron’s a bad kid, it’s just that his presence means Carolyn is in mommy mode, which seriously cramps our style. He’s only eleven and so can’t stay home alone for more than a couple of hours and the kid needs to eat. This was going to completely change the tenor of the trip but what could I do? I should also mention that Carolyn had found out Saturday that everyone but her and one other teacher had gotten recall letters, which meant Carolyn was unemployed. Talk about a double damper! The trip would still be fun but we’d have to work around Aaron and not spend much money. As if that wasn't enough, the friends who were going to have a cookout that would replace mine and Carolyn’s had cancelled so I wouldn’t be able to see all my friends in one fell swoop. This was seriously becoming a Plan B Vacation. Time to go with the flow.

The week started with mad vacation prep. Now the house was in great shape because I’d picked up so much for the cookout and the interim cleaning lady had come but there was still plenty to do. I skipped knitting at the library and spent Monday night slamming through my to do list. It didn’t take all night so I was able to watch a bit of TV before heading to bed early, feeling good about life in general.

Despite getting everything done the night before, Tuesday morning still found me running around doing last minute stuff. Since I was driving to the airport directly from work, I had to get everything done before leaving for work. Was I late? Damn right but only 15 minutes later than usual and I left a nice, clean house and well watered plants. As usual, my mantra is if nothing dies while I’m gone, I’m good. The day at work flew by, especially when I asked Nora for small stuff to fill the afternoon. I left work at 4:00 and headed for Eppley. The flights were uneventful and on time so I arrived just after midnight to pea soup humidity and Carolyn. Ick and wonderful at the same time.

Aaron had graciously given up his bed so I wouldn’t have to climb the stairs with my bum knee and heel (so far so good with the new shoes) so I went straight to bed. I was tired, tired, tired! We hung out Wednesday morning and had Carolyn’s super yummy scrambled eggs (she makes the best eggs ever!) and then Deanne picked me up for lunch. We went to Caffe Itri and had wonderful Italian food (the likes of which can’t be had outside of Italy, imho) and chatted for hours. They even locked the doors for their afternoon shutdown but let us sit over cappuccinos and keep talking. It was a nice afternoon. Sharyn called that night to say she couldn’t take time off work (it’s fiscal year end at Brown too) and so wouldn’t be joining us in Newport on Thursday. Major bummer but it was just more Plan B.

Now my sister Ginny, who is a teacher and so has the summer free, was supposed to have called my Auntie Margaret to set up lunch on Sunday but when I called my aunt to see if she was available for Newport on Thursday, she had no idea I was even in town. I had a few bad thoughts about my sister but was happy to hear Auntie Margaret was free for Newport. Aaron decided he would go rather than hang at his grandparents so we set off for Hope Valley (the back of beyond) to pick up Aunt Margaret. Kelsey, her grandaughter, came too so the five of us set out for Newport. The day was gorgeous and we had lots of plans - clamcakes and chowder at Flo's Clam Shack, going to the Marble House (a Newport Mansion - check out the link if you've never heard of them) and driving Ocean Drive.

Flo's did not disappoint ((I'd never been but had heard it was good and it was) but when we got to The Marble House, I was not happy to see that it was an audio tour with headsets. You see Auntie Margaret, who is a spry 89 year old, is legally blind (she can see around the edges but not detail) and so would have trouble punching in the numbers. We managed to get through the tour and then went onto the back lawn to enjoy the breeze of the ocean, which was heavenly. It was a picture perfect day! We drove Ocean Drive but didn't get out and then headed home. It was a wonderful time.

John was coming into town from NYC (just for me - how lucky am I?) and we were driving to Stoughton to go to Ikea. Luckily Matt had the day off so he took care of Aaron and off we went. I LOVE Ikea! I got a couple more shelves for my reconfigured wall unit (moved to the basement this past winter) and bought some other fun stuff. We all had fun. From there it was back home and then I took Carolyn's car to John's mom's and we headed back to Newport for Grill Night at the Newport Yacht Club, where John's family belongs. His whole extended family was there so I got to enjoy drinks on the upper deck with his aunts and uncles. It was great to see them all, some of whom I hadn't seen in a decade at least. Only Marianne, Brian (John's mom and step dad) and the two of us stayed for dinner, which was yummy (you grill your own meet and the club supplies soup, salad and sides.) John and I had driven separately so we went home via Beavertail, which is the southern tip of Jamestown (the other big island in the bay) and was my mom's favorite place. We got there just as the sun was setting and had some nice bonding time. I then hung out at Marianne and Brian's, which is always fun, and got home at 11:00. What a wonderful day!

Saturday was a low key day. Carolyn and I drove to Exeter to a new yarn shop - Eneri Knits. It was in the middle of nowhere but the woman was nice. Carolyn found the perfect, although expensive, yarn for her shawl and I only bought 2 skeins of yarn - enough for a scarf. Aren't you proud of me? The only other plan was dinner with Bob and John but we'd gotten a call from Bob saying he wasn't feeling well and so wouldn't be up for clamcakes and chowder (our dinner menu - take out from Iggy's) so would come in the afternoon instead. So we picked up spinach pies for lunch and then called John to come over for a Job Lot run before Bob got there. Despite it being so early, John came over. But when we called Bob when we were about to leave Job Lot, he said he wasn't up for it and so wasn't coming at all. The kicker was every time we talked to him, he wasn't home. So, sick? Anyway, that left us with a chunk of time to kill before dinner when we could have been doing other things. Oh well. More Plan B. John and I went to Iggy's to pick up the food and then we gorged ourselves on deep fried seafood and hung out some more. So all ended well albeit not as planned.

The plan Sunday was lunch with Auntie Margaret and my sister. Since Carolyn had a family commitment, my sister was supposed to pick me up but my cousin was driving up with my aunt. As I suspected, the minute all 3 seats in the truck weren't taken, my brother-in-law came. Now Ginny in the presence of him is not my sister. She's a stepford wife. And I barely tolerate his existance, it was not the lunch I had hoped for. We ate and then went our separate ways. I ended up shopping all afternoon and calling Sharyn, who was expecting me to join the family gathering at her house sometime in the afternoon. But it was so late when I got home that I called and begged off, inviting her and her husband to dinner after she got out of work Monday instead. They agreed and we had steaks on the grill for dinner. Just before sunset, Carolyn and I drove to Rocky Point, which is the defunct amusement park that I worked at for two summers during college. The city had bought some of the land and had opened a pedestrian park along the water. We walked quite a ways into the park, taking pics of what I could see of the abondonned park (you know I love abandonned stuff!) while watching the sunset. Too bad neither of us wore good shoes for walking, leaving us limping back to the car. But it was still fun and a nice way to end the week.

So, can you see how I've called this Plan B vacation? But I'm in RI with Carolyn so even if everything falls through, it's still good. And hot by RI standards doesn't hold a candle to the heat and himidity I left in Nebraska so that's an added bonus. I'll be back to that soon enough (2 more days) but at least I'll be in my own house. It's always good to get back home.

P.S. I had this all done and ready to post on Monday but Carolyn's computer wouldn't do it. I'm sure it's hosed from all the junk Aaron does on it. : )

Week 28 - My Gorgeous Garage

Before After

The week started with a holiday – nice! Unfortunately I had been so tired when I went to bed Sunday night that I must have set my alarm while on auto pilot so my day off work started when my alarm blared at 5:52. Since I couldn’t fall back to sleep, I got up and got busy. Sheesh!

I had a few things left to prep for my annual 4th of July cookout but not too much. I had a pleasant day, interspersing setting up tables in the yard and such with lots of knitting. The weather was cooperating and it wasn’t too hot. By the time people started arriving after 6:00, it was gorgeous. Anne and Kate from water aerobics came, Nancy and Allan, the Harts, Andrea and the Huschers – 18 in all, which was a good number. Everyone had brought yummy food and I made hamburgers and hotdogs. After we’d all eaten, the kids headed to the driveway to light off fireworks and since most of my knitting friends were there, we all pulled out our projects and sat knitting on the deck waiting for dark.

When it was almost time for fireworks, we started gathering chairs and blankets, sprayed down with Off and headed down to the park. The city or chamber or whoever does the fireworks out did themselves. The fireworks went on for a long time and were spectacular. When we got back to the house, I found that somewhere before heading to the park, my friends had done most of the clean up so there was very little left to do. I took a much needed shower and went to bed, happy with after a fun night with my friends and another successful cookout.

I was tired on Tuesday (duh!) but luckily the day flew by while I worked on utilities billing. I stopped on the way home to buy all the supplies the guys would need to finish the garage – light fixtures, cat door, etc. By the time I left Menard’s the sky was looking fierce and it was clear I would be driving in weather. That didn’t stop me from heading to Super Saver to buy Kool Aid for dying – 120 packets at 15/$1.00. Such a deal! I drove like a banshee, hoping to outrun the storm but ended up driving through the worst of it. It was raining so hard that I hyrdroplaned twice but by the time I got to Wahoo, the storm had passed. There was almost an inch in the rain gage from a half hour storm. Nuts. I did the last of the cookout clean up inside and went to bed early. I was absolutely exhausted.

We got an email that a pump in the brand new pool had failed so we were back in the shallow pool again Wednesday night. While it’s harder on the joints, it’s better for chatting since we’re all crowded in one lane. After the pool, we went to Village Inn for dinner and knitting, which was fun. When I got home, my garage was done – siding, gutters, everything but the door, which would be installed Saturday. They did a gorgeous job. The gutters were so pretty that I called Jeremy to ask what it would cost to do the rest of the gutters so they’d all be pretty. $400. I’ll have to crunch some numbers and give that some thought.

My heel was still giving me grief so I stopped on Friday night to try on endless numbers of shoes, looking for the magic pair that would be comfortable, finally deciding on Clarks Waves. As long as I have them on, my heel doesn’t hurt so I’m hoping they’ll work for my week in RI. Wish me luck.

I had a decent sized to do list for the weekend and a Friends meeting to prep for so got up early Saturday. I got a call from my contractor while I was at the library saying that he was on his way to my neighbor’s to fix his lawn. On Thursday night, my neighbor had told Jeremy that his dad had run over his lawn when he was leaving after installing my gutters. We had checked but couldn’t find anything. Well, Saturday morning my neighbor called Tim, the other half of my contractor duo, and said he would put an ad in the paper saying their company abused handicapped people (my neighbor is in a wheel chair) if he didn’t come over and fix the lawn. Seriously? I left the meeting to head home. Tim had already put some soil in the rut and then installed my plant hooks on the garage. The garage door was being installed by his buddy. Despite the neighbor drama, I was happy. My garage was a thing of beauty. All that’s missing is some paint on the windows and door, which I figured I’d do in the fall when it cools down. Check out the before and after pics, noticing the blurry after because it’s so humid out that my camera lens fogged up the second I walked outside.

Cuz it was brutally hot! By the end of the day Sunday it was 93 degrees but with a heat index of 110. Yes, 110! I was outside for minutes while running errands and was instantly soaked. I HATE heat like that. I spent most of the day inside getting ready to be gone. Laundry, cleaning the frig, packing, etc. I ended the day meeting with a contractor I had called about painting the siding on the west side of my house where the finish has come off the metal. His quote was so low that I asked if he would also do the windows and door trim, which will completely finish the garage. The beauty is they’ll do it while I’m gone. I think the outside of my house is done. Can that be? Isn’t life grand? Damn skippy!

Week 27 - Hot and Productive

It was a hot week, with summer weather finally arriving at the end of June. No complaints here! Other than a couple of days, who can complain about not using AC until then? Along with the heat and humidity, we got an email that a pump in the new pool blew (yes, it’s only been going for 2 weeks!) and there would be no swimming all week. So what did I do with all my free evenings? Knitting. Go figure.

Jan and I were the only ones to show for knitting on Monday night. Andrea had flown back from California that day so I wasn’t surprised when she wasn’t there, nor Anne Marie who would have picked her up. But when she wasn’t home when I stopped afterwards to return her key, I was concerned that I her flight was delayed enough that I’d need to feed her animals again. So I called Anne Marie’s and she was there having birthday cake for Andrew’s 13th. I stopped by to drop the key and she was sitting like a zombie in the corner, surrounded by sugar charged kids. So I rescued her and took her home. I attempted to go to bed early but Tot was on the roof and not coming down. So picture me at midnight in my nightie up a ladder dragging her off the roof. Yes, I am the crazy cat lady. It’s official.

The interim cleaning lady came on Tuesday night for a walk through. She was going to start the following Wednesday, which meant I’d have to clean my house AGAIN before my party. Yikes! On Wednesday the heat arrived so I closed up the house and put on the air. I knitted with Anne at lunch and then Darla and I braved the heat for a Starbuck’s run in the afternoon. It was so hot that my frapuccino was melted within minutes of walking out the door. After work, I went to Jiffy Lube and sweated in their waiting room. From there, I sweated at Village Inn, where the service was so bad it was funny. Then it was home to watch the first DVD from True Blood season 3, which had arrived in the mail that day.

Thursday was even hotter. Good thing it was a food day because I had no intention of leaving the building, not even for Starbuck’s. I stopped at Ace Hardware on the way home to grill the clerk on what could be wrong with my grill. With my cookout just days away and my grill non-functional, I was worried. When I got home, it was an easy fix so that was a big relief. I went through coupons and prepped for the dreaded Wal Mart run Friday after work. Between my cook out and being out of lots of staples, my list was huge. Good thing it was dead quiet at work on Friday because it gave me extra energy to handle the crowds on the way home. There was nothing pleasant about that shopping but I hope I stocked up enough that I won’t need to go there again anytime soon.

The pulled muscle in my butt was still an issue and my heel was so sore that I wore sneakers to work most of the week (I still wasn’t convinced it wasn’t a back problem) but I still agreed to meet Lorri at the library to garden Saturday morning. It was a gorgeous morning and we worked for almost two hours. Afterwards we got an iced mocha and sat outside catching up. It ended up being a nice morning and it actually seemed to help my back/butt/whatever. The Charlie horse in my calf was gone and my butt was no worse. Hmmm…. I went home to shower and then picked Andrea up for an Omaha run. We hit Penzey’s, Sur La Table and Trader Joe’s. I spent way too much money but did get a few stocking stuffers at least. Sunday was a prep day. My goal was to get most everything outside done so I could do inside stuff on Monday. I ended up doing some inside, some outside, interspersing knitting between chores. It was all good. I ended the week with a doable list for Monday and feeling like things were under control. Not bad.

Week 26 - Good Yarn Mojo

It was a relatively normal week but when I look back at it, knitting seems to have been the trend. What else is new, you ask? Hmmm….

Having scored so much good quality yarn at Goodwill on the previous Friday, I decided to hit all the other Goodwills on Monday. I went way south at lunch and then hit the downtown one – nothing. On the way home, I went to the last one. Again, nothing. So much for my theory that the central warehouse was sitting on a huge stash. I knitted at the library on Monday night, as usual, and did show and tell of my newly dyed yarn, which I’m still loving.

Having failed at Goodwill (well, I did get 2 skeins of Husker Red 100% cotton for dishcloths), I got an email Tuesday that I had won a drawing on Ravelry and had a $30 gift certificate for Blue Moon Fiber Arts, home of Socks That Rock yarn. How fun! There were a gazillion colors to choose from but I ordered a beautiful one. Free, gorgeous yarn – what’s not to love? I knitted with Anne at the Union over lunch on Wednesday and she helped me find the middle of my leftover yarn from Darla’s hat that I’m making mittens out of. Picture two women, perched at a small table with yarn everywhere as we unraveled the remaining yarn, put a knot at the middle and rewound it. It’s good to have yarn buddies. After the pool that night, we met up with the Village Inn gang and knitted some more. Unfortunately they hadn’t gotten my email that we were coming so there were nine of us crammed around a round table for six and none of them brought knitting. It was good to see them again though, having not seen them since before Easter.

The days flew by and the weekend arrived in a flash. I managed to mow and mulch between my veggie beds on Friday night, having been thwarted by what seemed like constant rain. Every storm just makes me cringe, knowing what’s good for my garden is adding to the flooding along the Missouri. Anyway, with the gardening done and no plans for the weekend, I made a chore list, which included breaking out my cleaning supplies and vacuum for the first time in years because my interim cleaning lady was a no show on Friday night (not her fault but the fault of my heavily medicated, recuperating cleaning lady who forgot to call her.) After cleaning the entire house on Saturday (as much as I was willing to do anyway), I decided to reward myself with my first ever kool aid dying.

I broke out my packets, deciding on pina pineapple (yellow) for one end and soarin’ strawberry lemonade (pink) for the other, figuring that the two colors would suck up to the center and create orange. So I put the two ends in the bowls and no sucking occurred! I had a bright yellow end, a melon-y peach end and white in the middle. Back to the cupboard and I found a packet of ice blue raspberry lemonade (bright blue), which I stuck the middle in and promptly got green, blue and purple. I had created a rainbow on my yarn with every color except the orange I was trying for. I put the yarn in the oven to set and sat down to knit, my whole house smelling like wet sheep. I had time to kill while the yarn cooled, after which it had to be rinsed and hung to dry, so sat down to knit. Sitting was clearly going to be a trend.

Despite my big list of chores, I spent most of the rest of the weekend knitting and ignoring my to do list. I ripped out my colorwork mittens again and interspersed reknitting them between the chores and by the end of the weekend was almost done with one mitten. This may not sound like much but we’re talking tiny needles, equally tiny stitches holding two strands of yarn and following a chart for every stitch. Trust me, this is an accomplishment. Anyway, it’s a good thing I’m happy with my knitting progress because I ended the night Sunday with very few things crossed off my list. I’m calling it good though. Every once in awhile I need a slow, lazy weekend. At least I have knitting and yarn to show for it. I could have been sitting like a zombie. Good thing next weekend’s a long one because I have lots to prep for my 3rd annual Fourth of July Cookout. Yikes! I’m feeling pressure already. Breathing now……

P.S. Here’s something funny from this past week that I can’t resist sharing…. Polly and I were heading toward a picnic table to eat our lunch on Thursday when we saw a man walking with his ~ 3 year old son and dog. When we approached the table, the little boy waved a baby carrot and said, “I got this carrot from that man (pointing to man at the next table.) Carrots make my poop fluffy.” And he walked away.

Week 25 - Born to Dye!

It was another busy week and was complicated by mind numbing fatigue. It’s that time of year when the sun’s out so late that I inevitably end up staying up too late, only to up with the sun by 5:00 the next morning. Starbuck’s saved my butt several days this week.

I was still suffering from my pulled butt muscle on Monday so went grocery shopping instead of swimming then went knitting. I haven’t been swimming on Mondays because I knit but with only 3 nights a week in the summer, I’m going to have to start, which will make for a super rushed night. Oh well. On Tuesday, I had to drop the big white kitty at the vet for her check up (I was sure she’d already been spayed and I was right) so had to leave for work quite early. I also loaded up trash cans so I could pick up mulch at the landfill for between my new raised veggie beds. I swam after work, picked up the cat, stopped at the market and then went for mulch, which they didn’t have. Bummer! I’ll have to buy some of mooch grass clippings from neighbors.

I was getting more tired with every passing day but was powering through. I don’t know if fatigue was impacting my knitting but I had to rip out my orange socks 3 times in an attempt to fix a problem with a twisted stitch. The last time was at the Union at lunchtime on Wednesday. Realizing I needed something easier than lace socks to work on, I started more chapstick cozies, which are cute and make nice gifts. I swam on Wednesday and was still thrilled with the new pool. Nancy was supposed to bring pizza chez moi at 7:00 so we could catch up. I ran home and madly started neatizing the house. But when I saw that it was 7:30 (she usually late but not that late), I checked the machine and she wasn’t coming. We talked on the phone for a long time and I was late getting busy, heading out to water my containers after 9:00. Sheesh!

By Thursday, I was the walking dead. I had had trouble falling asleep Wednesday night and was still awake after midnight then woke up with the sun. Paul was supposed to install my baseboards so I moved all the furniture to the center of the family room and cleaned the bathroom before I left. I felt numb and useless all day and didn’t wake up fully until I dove into the pool. While I didn’t work very hard, at least it woke me up and I was all showered and ready when Nancy came with the pizza at 7:00. Paul had not come that day so we hung out in the front room and had a nice time catching up then went to check out Hitler Kitty’s kittens. While we were chatting with Hitler (aka Toyko’s) owner, she mentioned that she’d had another cat with kittens who had disappeared this winter. I gulped and asked for her description. Yup, I had spayed and found a home for her cat! It was Possum. I felt bad for a nanosecond but got over it because this woman is not a responsible pet owner. I can only hope she’ll say Hitler-Tokyo, which she said she will. Nancy took her kittens (she started with taking one and went back for a 2nd) and I actually made it to bed earlier than usual and slept like a rock.

I had my 2nd French get together Friday after work so got up and made dip to take before heading to work. The day dragged (go figure) and I had a list of errands to run before the French thing at 7:00. On my way to errand #1 (Big Lots), I stopped at Goodwill and found someone’s quality yarn stash for sale. I scored a few skeins of good yarn, which made me wonder if there was more good yarn at other Goodwills. Luckily there was one right by the French thing so I stopped there on the way. Yes! More good yarn! I was excited for the French thing but got there and it was in one of those sparsely furnished, echo-y houses and a lot of people had come. It was also hot so when I was struggling to hear Sam, who was standing right next to me, I ended up in the living room, speaking English with 2 other women, one of whom was a founder of the Apero group and she couldn’t hear either. So while I spoke very little French, it was still fun and I stayed later than normal, not getting home until 10:00. The baseboards were gorgeous! He had chosen a taller one with cove molding at the top for the back room and even the bathroom had a fancier version. It all looked great. I went to bed early feeling great. Saturday was set to be another busy day.

I woke up excited for my first ever Dye Day with the Fremont spinning group. I had 4 lots of wool to prep and then Andrea was closing her shop at noon so we could drive an hour north to Patty Wilson’s house, which was in the most gorgeous location at the top of a hill overlooking a tree line and spring fed pond. The weather was gorgeous and she has the perfect set up, complete with a fully equipped studio that opens out to a covered patio. Since we had arrived late, most everyone was done dying so we had lots of instruction and dove right in. It was a blast! I absolutely LOVED it! I did a blue and green sock blank and a “skein” of yarn that I hadn’t tied so it was in a wad. Once our dye jobs were in the oven, we sat on the deck and pulled out our knitting. It was a near perfect afternoon (a cup of tea was the only thing missing.) We left near 6:00 with our gorgeous yarn then stopped in Fremont for errands and dinner, getting home ~8:30. It was a super fun day and I was totally inspired to break out my dye kit and do more. I went to bed feeling great.

Sunday was supposed to be chore day and I had a decent start when I sat down to wind my orange/purple yarn. It took hours. Seriously, like 4+. Andrea arrived toward the end and helped me with the last of it, making it go more quickly for sure. I had discovered that my dad’s desk was coming apart from being moved for the baseboards install and had to completely empty the heaped top to get it back together. I nuked some lasagna from the freezer for a quick dinner and then flew around trying to get a few things done, with only moderate success. But my messy house was worth it. I’d had a wonderful weekend and had some beautiful yarn to show for it so the chores will have to wait. Life will go on.

Week 24 - A Great Week

What a wonderful week! It started out blazing hot but that only lasted a couple of days. The nice weather was just the icing on the cake though. Lots of things went well.

Monday was the first water aerobics class back at Mabel Lee pool and I had planned to go (I usually don’t go on Mondays) but that didn’t work out. Since I wasn’t swimming and had done so much cooking over the weekend, I invited Andrea over for dinner before knitting. I had everything ready to go and just had to put the shish kebabs on the grill. After admiring the work Paul had done – repairing my bench and building sides for my raised beds (this made me so happy!), I went to turn the kebabs only to find the gas had run out on my grill. Figures. It was super hot and now I had to turn on the broiler. We finished eating just in time to head to knitting, which was fun. Anne Marie informed me she was giving the socks she was working on to me and I got to try them on. How nice!

On Tuesday I found out I had won the prize for my KALendar (the KAL is for knit along) group on Ravelry, which I’ve never won before. All that knitting I did last month paid off. By Wednesday the weather was near perfect and I finally got to swim in the deep end, which was great. I loved jumping into the deep end and after a second day on Thursday, I was feeling muscles I hadn’t used in a long time. Also, my knee was already feeling better since it wasn’t getting beaten up in the too shallow pool. I felt great! Lots of stuff left the house this week too. I offloaded a big bag of clothes to a friend who has lost a ton of weight. Getting rid of stuff always feels great and even better when it goes to someone who can use it. I took all my office paper and cardboard recycling to Lincoln. And on Thursday night I finally finished the two at a time socks I’d been working on since March. And it was going to be cool on Friday so I could wear them. Yay!

Between all this and having a good week at work, I was excited for the weekend, which would start with a cookout at Mary’s for her belated birthday. I had made tabbouleh and was ready to go when the phone rang on Friday afternoon. Someone had dumped a cat on campus. I checked it out on my way to Starbuck’s (Dodie and I were having an end of the week treat) and indeed it was tame and so I needed to catch it. I went back with my car, carrier in hand and tried my best. Luckily Richie, the man who helped start Husker Cats, came out and he was able to get her in the carrier. It was cool and gloomy so I was able to leave her in the car while I tried to get in touch with the sometime fosterer. When I hadn’t heard anything by 5:00, I gave my tabbouleh to Lynn to take to the cookout and headed home to set up my spare bedroom as kitty land again. Sheesh!

The cat was fine in the car and I set up a litter box and food and let her out of the carrier. She instantly became mean and was growling constantly. Only after doing an inventory of my cats did I realize that Wrennie must be under the bed in the spare room. After failing to get the white cat back into the carrier, I put a chair outside the door and spend the night knitting and trying to coax Wrennie out from under the bed. I finally went into the room and sat on the bed, talking to the cats the whole time, which is what got Wrennie to come out. I felt bad that I had put the white cat under such stress but at least I was able to go to bed without having to worry about the cats.

Saturday was another gorgeous day and I had big plans. I went to the farm store and bought bags of composted manure and then headed home for garden duty. I had to dig in the edges for the beds, mix the soil inside and plant everything. Other than a brief break for lunch, I was out there all day. Unfortunately I pulled a muscle in my butt trying to move the first wheel barrow load so was feeling it every time I bent over but by 4:00 everything was done. I headed in for a shower, exhausted but feeling good that I’d accomplished what I had planned. I also had my swap box to open. It had arrived while I was outside and I was very adult about it, setting it inside until I was done with the garden. It was wonderful - full of hand spun and dyed yarn, felted hand mades and lots of other goodies. It was worth the wait. The evening seemed endless thought. I struggled to stay awake and went to bed early.

It barely rained at all overnight (another bad forecast) so I would have to water at some point but other than doing some laundry, I took it easy on Sunday, still nursing my pain in the butt. I got lots of knitting done and updated all my yarn and projects on Ravelry. Over the day I did a few other chores but mostly had a nice, quiet day. I picked my first strawberries, talked to Ginny at the end of the day and got the sprinkler going on the garden. It was a nice end to a wonderful week. The only negative was my neighbor told me at the end of the day that my new cleaning lady, who is her best friend and was due to come on Tuesday, fell and shattered her ankle so wouldn’t be cleaning my house anytime soon. I may just have to buck up and clean it myself this summer. Yikes! But I think I may be OK with that. I’ll keep you posted. : )

Week 23 - LONG Short Week

What an incredibly LONG short week! The days seemed endless and emotions were running high. I’m just glad it’s OVER!

Tuesday was catch up day at work so I’d be ready for solo deans’ reports since Dale was at Disney for the week. I got lots of stuff done and was able to do a few things for Nora too. After work, I went thrifting and bought a bunch of sweaters – some for felting and a few to try taking apart for the yarn, something I’d been reading about on Ravelry. A skein of luxury yarn costs a ridiculous amount but you can buy sweaters for pennies at thrift stores and there are directions for how to look for the kind of seems that allow you to take the sweater apart and reclaim the yarn. So I started deconstructing a sweater on Tuesday night and it was interesting. Not something I’m going to keep doing but I wanted to try it. Cross that off the list.

I started running reports from home at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday and kept up a quick pace when I got to work. I had decided not to stress about it but just plod through and by the end of the day, I had both mine and Dale’s tied, which surprised me. I still had plenty more to do (deans’ reports are just the first step) but was feeling great. I went to the pool afterwards and then had a nice chat with Andrea, who had just gotten back from a trip.

Thursday was more of the same – running reports, doing emails (91 of them!) and updating spreadsheets. But I had started the day on a high note, seeing that my swappee had gotten her package and loved it. Then I had a nice lunch with Dodie and even got a free frapuccino at Starbuck’s. I was feeling great! And then the phone started ringing. My stressed boss was not happy, having found a few minor mistakes (attachment in the wrong place in one email, missed a new dean on another and attached one file twice on a third) and my supervisor was hearing about it. Really? First time doing them solo and I got them in 2 days! Regardless, I went into beating myself up mode and it wasn’t pretty. I left work fighting tears and vented to all my friends in the pool then to Carolyn on the way home. I felt sick to my stomach and couldn’t eat. Like I said, not pretty.

I woke up Friday feeling much better and determined to go in and make NO mistakes, chalking the previous day up to stress on everyone’s part (there’s too much of that lately.) I had a productive, nice day and was looking forward to a calm and productive weekend, glad the four day work week that felt twice as long was over.

It was a nice weekend. I had Friends on Saturday morning and then ran errands in town, stopped at Andrea’s and then got BK for lunch. I spent the rest of the weekend getting stuff done. The guy who tills my garden did it Saturday evening and I called Paul, a friend of my friend Donna, and he agreed to make wooden edges for my veggie garden beds. I was SO excited to finally go back to how I gardened back east so got out my graph paper and seeds and planned my garden on paper. Paul and Donna came on Sunday morning and we talked details. He’s also fixing my trellis bench in the backyard and installing baseboards in my bathroom and family room. SO exciting! I got tons of chores done over the two days too. What a nice weekend, which I needed badly.

I did a lot of cooking on Sunday and so will start the week with a frig full of healthy food. Thursday was also our last day in the old pool so we’re going back to Mabel Lee, which is so exciting. I’m hoping that being in the deep pool again will do wonders for me knee. So there’s a lot to look forward to this coming week, despite the 100 degree temps to start the week. But it’ll be cooler by week’s end and I’ll be out planting my veggies in my new raised beds. Better late than never.