Week 22 - My May List

Any week that starts with a Monday holiday is a good one but more importantly, this was the last week of May. I had big plans to get things done so I could start June off on the right foot. But first Monday...

I did something I haven't done in a long time. I wanted to go to Fremont to run some errands and I called Andrea to see if she would be willing to go with me. In the same car. We weighed the risks and decided it was OK. There was not excitement on the list - just a couple of grocery stores - bit it felt SO normal. We picked up some goat milk at someone's acreage for Andrea's next cheese batch then I found my favorite tea at Baker's - Tetley's British Blend, which was the reason for the trip. Then Aldi and a quick stop for a 4 pack of petunias and we were done. I was very disappointed that Starbuck's was closed so my 2+ month Starbuck's drought continued. Anyway, the normal errand day felt like an absolute treat. 

Tuesday was a busy work day and I had my normal grab and go lunch from Mocha C's. I had an 8:30 meeting on Wednesday so did something I haven't done in months - I set an alarm! I woke up before it went off but couldn't take the chance. The meeting lead to more work, this time on another form for HR. After work I mowed, which still feels great after years of not doing it myself. Love my new knee, which isn't do new anymore.

Thursday was a big day. I had vet appointments for all 3 cats in preparation for registering them for the first time. Getting Gansey into a carrier is always iffy but I had all 3 in carriers and in the car with no drama. I sat in the parking lot at the vet while they came out for one cat at a time so I never went inside. I even paid in the lot. After dropping the cats back home, I went to City Hall and registered them. Good thing I'm not spending money these days because all this cost almost $400, a big chunk of which was the flea treatment. But done is good. My month end to do list was getting shorter each day and even shorter when I finally did my taxes that evening. I know. Late!

Friday was going to be a banner day. Anne was coming over after work to walk at the dam and get dinner. It had been a long time since we'd done that so I was excited. When I got a message that our friend Susan (the woman I drove to Oregon with last summer) was in town, I invited her to join us for dinner. Excellent. Then I got a call at 11:30 from Rene, who was in the area and wanted to do lunch. I had sloppy joes on the menu so she came over for a quick lunch on the deck. Two social events in one day! I finished HR's form that afternoon and Anne arrived just after 5:00. Since Susan was coming at 6:00, we had to shorten our walk a bit but it still felt good to move. We had a lovely dinner and then I did a fire in the driveway. Another night that felt like the old normal. Nice way to start the weekend.

I woke up to a glorious rainy day on Saturday. It was downright chilly and I loved hearing the rain on the roof. I took advantage of one of the last cool days and made homemade Boston baked beans. Yum! I hadn't made them all winter and they require the oven to be on for hours so this was the perfect day. I did some general neatizing and chores because I had big plans for Sunday. 

A few years ago I'd rearranged my bedroom so that I could take advantage of the brand new spots on my non-flipping mattress. I'll never by one of those again. But I digress... While it did give me a firmer spot, it also meant the only floor vent was under the bed. This is fine in the winter when I use my heated mattress pad but in summer having the only AC vent blocked sucks. I've made do for years by moving the bed away from the wall and putting the mattress as far down in the frame as it will go to create a slot for some air to make it into the room. This creates a walking hazard trying to get around the bed so I had decided to go back to the old configuration. This meant moving a stack of yarn totes out of the room, which of course meant a total reorg of all my yarn, and when I moved the furniture, I had to clean everything - walls, floors, furniture. OMG - the dust bunnies! So that's what I did all day Sunday and it was so worth it. Not only was my room clean and cool but it looked so much neater with those totes gone. 

I was ready for summer just in time for blazing heat that would be arriving on Monday. And my May list was done. All of it. That's not to say I don't have plenty more on my to do list for the summer but I got lots of things done that I'd been slacking on since quarantine began. Time to get busy with the new normal and come up with a summer routine. No excuses anymore.

Week 21 - Cruise vs. Home

It was a pretty average week, if you can call sheltering/working at home average. But since that's the new normal, I'll go with that. But not only is work at home but so is vacation. I should have been prepping to leave for my cruise and flying out on Thursday. Oh well.

I did have some high spots in the otherwise mundane week. The first was the delivery of my new bench. Cindy had taken it home in pieces on her last visit and her husband rebuilt it. They delivered it on Wednesday afternoon and I was happy to welcome it back, all shiny and new. This is the place I'm mostly likely to sit in my yard. The seat is just big enough for me and a cat and the arm is just wide enough for a cup of tea. I enjoyed it the very next day for the first of many tea breaks. Since Cindy's husband was with her, it was just a drop off and not a visit. Time to schedule an actual visit.

I should have left for my cruise on Thursday and woken up in Amsterdam on Friday so as a consolation prize I took Friday off. My goal was to spend the day chatting with family and friends. I went to a local restaurant to pick up a burger and onion rings for lunch and after I was done, I called my Auntie Margaret. We had a good, long chat. I also caught up with my friend Eileen in Canada on Sunday. It was lovely to see her and chat for awhile.

I did get some gardening done, pulling out the hoses, testing them all and setting up the best of the lot. This might sound like not much but it requires snaking 2 hoses under my deck and then tucking a long one behind an entire garden bed to use with the sprinkler in my veg beds. Once that was done, I put the sprinkler on and once the water softened up the soil, did some much needed weeding in my veg beds.

I had a bit of a lost weekend sitting on my butt knitting and attempting to catch up on Marvel Agents of Shield. I'd given up a couple of seasons ago so that because my background streaming between chores on the weekend and while knitting. I got through an entire season only to be so unhappy with the last episode of that season that I gave up on the series again. Done with that.

So a quiet week replaced a knitting cruise on the Baltic Sea. I took joy in knitters around the fire on Monday, my grab and go lunch on Tuesday from Mocha C's and knitting socks, including a new pair cast on just for zoom meetings. I'm grateful for these small joys in this funky time we're all living through. I hope you're finding some joy to brighten your days too.

Week 20 - Friends and Gardening

It was another decent week with productivity at work and home and way more socializing. Responsible, of course.

The socializing started with driveway knitting Monday night. It was pretty chilly and I laid a fire but hadn't heard from anyone so was about to call it off when Erica posted on Facebook that she was on her way. Erica lives 30 miles away so I called Andrea and told her to come on over. I got the fire going early and we chatted until dark, when Andrea left. The fire was going out but Erica and I just kept on talking, having not seen each other in months. By the time she left at 10:45, I was chilled to the bone and crawled into bed with the electric mattress pad on high.

I watched the Survivor finale with Dawn on Wednesday and then Dawn joined Cindy, Lana and me for a zoom over lunch the next day. We miss her SO much. The accountant who replaced her is an introvert. All this was just a prelude. I went full bore social on Friday afternoon when I took the afternoon off.

I ate a quick lunch and headed outside in glorious weather to start planting my containers. It was fun to finally get started on them and I got about 2/3 done before I headed inside for a shower at 2:30. Have I mentioned how much I love my containers? They make me super happy. 

After a much needed shower, I actually contemplated putting on jeans and even had some half on before I saw the error of my ways and threw on a dress. I was due at Van's for driveway beers at 4:30 and then dinner at Anne's with Rene too. But first I wanted to hit Aldi and Trader Joe's and stopped at Urban Trails, a favorite nursery in Lincoln, on the way south. I ran through the 2 markets and got to Van's only a few minutes late. We sat and chatted over my favorite vanilla beer. I left a bit late but got to Anne's just as she and Rene got back with the Mexican food. We sat on the deck until well after dark, chatting away. It felt SO normal. I loved it.

It was supposed to rain all day Saturday but as has been happening all too often lately, it was just dreary with very little rain. Since I hadn't planned to garden, I went to the farm store for more plants, including a beautiful fuchsia, popped into Andrea's shop, grabbed BK for lunch  and then went home. The only thing I managed to do outside, foolishly assuming it would rain any minute, was to break up sticks for the next knitting fire. Lorri stopped by and dropped off plants and Drae dropped by with some groceries she'd picked up for me. Both visits involved chatting in the driveway, which was nice. So not a super productive day but I swore to make up for it on Sunday and settled in for YouTube and knitting.

I got outside before lunch on Sunday and kept going on my containers, planting most of the plants I'd bought the day before. I would have finished but I wanted to make sure to get my veg beds planted and had a 3:00 tea date at Lorri's. I just got them done in time to shower and head over to Lorri's. I was inside her house, which felt odd, and I think me sitting 6 feet away at the other end of their dining room table didn't count as social distancing. Whatever. Lorri and checked out all her garden beds and then I headed home for pulled pork, which I'd cooked overnight and had already shared with Andrea and Lorri. I still had plenty left - the roast was 7+ pounds.

So all in all, it was a good week. I appreciated the time with friends and loved finally getting some time to garden. I can only hope we get some decent weather and it doesn't go to blazing hot right away. Spring weather in Nebraska is so flaky. Wish me luck.

Week 19 - Much Better Week

It was a much better week. The boss' new no pressure mode continued and that made a world of difference.

I started the week with a catch up day, getting things done from the previous week and finishing monthly reports. I spent some time with the UAAD treasurer converting the treasurer's report to a better format on Tuesday and ended the week doing a new report for Mary. It was a productive and mostly uneventful work week. Not being under constant pressure helped increase productivity, for the entire team I'm sure.

I had some mower drama on Wednesday. My UAAD meeting over lunch was short so I headed out  to mow, thinking I'd easily get it done in half an hour. The mower started but then petered out so I added gas and then it wouldn't start at all. Am I the only person who didn't know about old gas? I called Cindy's husband who told me old gas was bad so I drained it out of the mower, put it into my car and then drove to the gas station to fill up my tank (to further dilute the old gas) and filled up my gas can. Adding new gas didn't work and it still wouldn't start. A man who was mowing across the street even tried but nothing. I tried again after work and when it still wouldn't start, I called John to mow. He came over that night and mowed so that took the pressure off. Cindy's husband said he would look at the mower when they came to deliver my bench. Sheesh!

It was raining on Monday night so there was no driveway knitting and there was very little social interaction for the rest of the week. Anne was supposed to come for Survivor on Wednesday but cancelled so I spent the 2 hours IM'ing with Dawn, which was lovely. Then on Saturday I watched the Grocery Girls live (a knitting podcast) which almost felt like having friends in the room then later zoomed with an online friend who lives in Germany. It was our first time chatting but we got along great (I knew we would) and we chatted for hours. Other than picking up my lunch at Mocha C's on Tuesday, I don't think I saw anyone in person except the mailman until Sunday. Wow! But it actually didn't feel weird at all.

On the knitting front, I cast on new socks for the new month using yarn I'd bought in Norway and was loving them. Then I was starting to get low on socks for my #socksofsocialdistancing project on Facebook so I dug into my mending bag. I found monster socks I'd made years ago but one of the yarns had shrunk so they didn't fit anymore. I found a yarn that approximated the old one (it's the right sock in the pic) and finished them late Friday, which meant I slept late on Saturday. Oh well. No plans were disrupted. : )

After making delicious meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans on Thursday night, I ended the week cooking for the coming week. The star was a roasted chicken that I stuffed - like a mini Thanksgiving. I shared a bunch of that with Andrea when she stopped by. It's good to have friends. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

Week 18 - Flood Gates Opened

It was another stressful week with a crisis midweek followed by some relief. I have high hopes that the relief will last.

With the drama on the form for HR settled on Sunday, Monday started with me digging in and getting most of it done. I made another delicious pizza for lunch and when Andrea called, I offered her some. After all she'd made the mozzarella I used. She stopped by and ate it on the deck while we chatted. I got more social time when I had knitters in the driveway. We didn't have a fire but enjoyed the company. 

I knew something was up when Cindy wasn't in our morning zoom meeting so called her as soon as we were done. She was a mess after speaking with Ben about being overwhelmed. Not only didn't give her any assurance but suggested she might not be suited for her job. WHAT? I did my best to comfort her and reminded her she's been doing a great job for years. I finished Layton's form, went to Mocha C's for my weekly grab and go lunch then taught all afternoon.

It was very windy Tuesday and when I went outside after lunch, I found a squirrel in the middle of my lawn who must have been blown out of my maple. He seemed stunned so I put him in my wheelbarrow so the cats couldn't get him. I checked on him over the course of the day and after a bit, he started bleeding from his ear and he appeared to be paralyzed from the neck down. I left him there, figuring he would die overnight. But he didn't. I woke up Wednesday and he was still breathing so I had to do something I've never done before and put him out of his misery. I went out in my nightie and bludgeoned him with a shovel. I was bawling before I had him in the ground and got right into the shower in hopes that I'd cry myself out in there. Not a chance.

Once I started crying, I could not stop. I called Cindy and cried some more and was still crying during our morning zoom. I tried to hold it together but couldn't. Then Brook said that if we were waiting for him to do something specific, let him know because he was feeling overwhelmed and had dropped some things. Cindy and I were overwhelmed but that didn't seem to register but now that Brook was overwhelmed, Ben seemed to be getting it. I burst into tears again, suggested it might be time to reevaluate some of our deadlines, and then I left the meeting. I tried to finish the form I was working on between tears and called in sick for the afternoon. I was done! Nora called after lunch to talk through some work and it finally got me focused and I was able to stop crying. I called John and we talked for for a long time that afternoon and I messaged with Dawn during Survivor. Things were looking up.

Ben was off on Thursday and it was a much better day. I worked on the project Nora had called about all morning, taught that afternoon and then ran to The Warehouse, where I bought a bag of lettuce for the first salad I'd had in months. Taco salad and it tasted amazing! Then the phone rang and it was Cindy. She was in the ER high on morphine and was having her appendix out that night. Holy crap! Her husband called me at 9:30. She was out of surgery and would be going home yet that night. I guess no one gets to stay with Covid-19 in the hospital.

Friday brought a new an improved boss. He was full of praise and put no pressure on us. At last! I volunteered to do all of the monthly reports to give Brook time to catch up and that more than filled my day. I went into the weekend hopeful that this would last.

I spent Saturday picking up the house and doing some basic cleaning and I started cooking first thing on Sunday. I made a banana cake, Indian spiced chicken and rice and headed to Cindy's to drop it off. I thought I'd be in and out but Cindy was sitting on the deck and had a chair six feet away for me. We chatted for over and hour and the bonus was her husband remade my compost screeners while we chatted. From there I went to Nora's to drop off fabric so she could make more masks (she'd run out) and then to campus to put a sign up in my feeder. Someone had been rogue feeding crap food and it was attracting bugs and raccoons. It warmed my heart that my cats came to greet me when I drove up. I hadn't been there in months but they still remember my car. I got KFC and headed home for an evening of PBS.

So there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel. I had hope that Ben had finally seen the results of the pressure we were all under and would lay off. I'd made it through the squirrel tragedy and the resulting tears probably did some good. Take care everyone and stay healthy.

Week 17 - Finding Some Happiness

With work in continual suck mode, my plan for the week was to find some happy to offset it. I had been developing some routine around working from home so it was time to embrace that.

Unfortunately my thumb was problematic on Monday. I don't know if it was all the gardening or knitting too much but it was sore and starting to swell. But it hadn't been that way when I first got up so I'd already taken my meds, which meant I couldn't take the 800mg ibuprofens my doctor had prescribed last time this happened. I dug out my brace and wore that all day, which made typing difficult. I started the big guns pills on Tuesday and between those and the brace, the pain subsided pretty quickly. I'll take that as a win. 

I needed a win because it was so windy that I couldn't have a fire for driveway knitting but it was otherwise too cold to sit outside so I cancelled. Bummer.

I went to Mocha C's for lunch again on Tuesday and ran 3 other errands that involved no human contact. That afternoon I started watching training videos for one of the programs I have to learn. BORING! When the day was done, I put together an under the sink shelf that I've had for years in a box in the laundry room. With that done, I completely organized that area, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. Then I moved all the violets I'd brought home from work to the front table, reclaiming my bar, and put all of the houseplants I'd overwintered outside. Making progress always feels great.

Wednesday was mostly a snooze fest of training videos but I ended it watching Survivor with Dawn again, which is something I look forward to. I also look forward to Thursday's lunch "hour" because one of my favorite knitting podcasts - The Grocery Girls - are live at lunch. I happily watch them while I eat. Then that night, I met Cindy at my favorite nursery to buy my first plants of the season. We had planned to find a wide spot in the road to sit and chat but Cindy needed to get home so we just chatted a bit in the parking lot. Flowers and friends are good, even if it's quick.

Friday ended with another train wreck at work. I had a 3:00 meeting on a new form HR needed designed and from what Layton (my friend in HR who I've been having lunch with every Friday for 20+ years) said, it wouldn't be too hard, until he sent an email that evening that blew the whole thing up. Instead of a little addition to an existing form, it would be days of work and there was a tight deadline. I went ballistic (more on that later), barely slept that night and yet again, Carolyn talked me down on Saturday morning. My concern was that my boss wouldn't support backing off even though Layton had completely misrepresented what he needed. Carolyn helped with an email to Ben and then I headed to Lincoln for some garden therapy at Nora's. 

On the ballistic note, Carolyn and I discussed the fact that these days lots of people have a hair trigger. It takes very little to go from 0 to 100 on the irate scale in a flash. I'd had 2 bouts of this in the past week and Carolyn had had one herself. I then found out that a fire storm of nasty posts on a friend's Facebook page, which I'd noticed and mentioned to Carolyn, was actually caused by a snarky comment I'd made. I felt awful but it was yet another instance of everyone being right at the edge all the time. I think the constant stress is taking a toll on everyone. Anyway.... back to happy.

Nora's daughter's school has a plant sale fundraiser every year so I'd ordered a few plants at the last minute. I called to see if she was home (duh!) and drove to Lincoln just after 5:00. It felt wonderful to be on the road, this being only my 2nd time getting out of town in more than a month. Then I realized halfway there that I'd have to drive right by Aldi so called Andrea to see what she wanted (she's been getting things for me at Aldi for the past month.) It felt great to be in a market and I thoroughly enjoyed shopping. Everyone was doing the social distancing thing and I felt as safe as I could. Then I went to Nora's and we walked around her yard looking at plants and chatting for an hour. I left with the plants I'd bought and a pot of lily of the valley she dug up that I had the perfect place for in my yard.

I was happy to find an email at the end of the day saying I didn't have to do the form and that Layton would be on his own. But did Ben tell Layton that? No. So I sent an email telling him as much. Fast forward to Sunday morning when Layton called to discuss it and come to find out, he didn't really need any of the changes he'd emailed because he already had all of that information. So I was back to the easy form and could now get it done before the deadline without working more on the weekend. Sheesh! HR is not known for their logic or efficiency.

A happy thing Sunday was doing my first mow of the season with my newly tuned up mower. I have hired out my mowing for the past 2 years and while John did an OK job, he missed things that I was happy to address. I then went on to edge my front lawn and since I had some nice grass that had been growing over the sidewalk, I planted it in some bare spots in my backyard. Then I reclaimed the garden bed at the top of the driveway and planted the lily of the valley then planted all of the perennials I'd brought home. It was a good day and it felt great to go inside and take a shower. I nuked the last of the casserole I'd made earlier in the week and called it a week.

So if work continues on its current trajectory, I will take solace in some of my new routines. Driveway knitting with friends on Mondays, with or without a fire and sitting 6' apart, Mocha C's for my fave lunch on Tuesday, Survivor with either Dawn (via Messenger) or Anne in person, Grocery Girls over lunch on Thursday, sharing food with Andrea and then spending weekends in the garden. I have no idea, nor does anyone else, how long this working from home will last but I'll do my best to soldier on and survive it. Hopefully between bouts of productivity, knitting and my happy routine, I'll make it.

Stay healthy everyone. And happy.

Week 16 - Super Crappy Week

Well, I cannot say it was a good week. While there were a few nice moments, overall it sucked. 

Most of the sucking was work related but on top of that, I woke up in a foul mood on Tuesday and just couldn't shake it. I was crabby all day but sad and teary on and off too. And Tuesday is my out and about day so I picked up lunch at Mocha C's - my favorite chicken salad croissant, yellow Lay's and a scotcheroo, but even that didn't help. There was nothing to do but tough it out and I was fine on Wednesday morning. I had zoom meetings all morning, trained on Zoom that afternoon and had a lovely dinner of pasta with wine while watching Survivor with my friend Dawn in Virginia. So Wednesday was much better.

And then came Thursday. During our morning team meeting, I was basically told that I need to learn 3 major lots of new software. Great. Just what everyone needs to hear when working from home during a pandemic, with stress around every corner. I was PISSED! I called my supervisor that afternoon and got zero satisfaction so decided then and there that I needed a less interesting job with less stress and closer to home. I'm writing this almost 2 weeks after this happened and I still feel the same. Oh well. I may be stuck in my job anyway because who's going to be hiring anytime soon? Nobody.

On top of that, during the team zoom meeting the next morning, my supervisor invited himself and his wife to my house. He said he's bring my favorite totchos and we could eat by the fire. WHAT??? Not only have I never so much as had lunch with this man, but you ambush me in front of other people with an invite during a pandemic? And after pissing me off the day before (not that he had any idea how pissed I was)? NO. No for so many reasons. I stewed on that and barely slept Friday night, worrying how to tell him no without offending him. Thankfully, Carolyn talked me down on Saturday morning and literally dictated a 2 sentence email that said no gently and got me off the hook. OMG!

There were a few bright spots. I started the week on a good note finally defrosting my basement freezer. By the way, I have enough pureed fruit to make jam for an army regiment. On Thursday night, Heidi was picking up some yarn I'd pulled for her and called to ask I wanted to split a BOGO burger deal for supper. She delivered it and it was delicious. By then we were in the middle of a snow storm. Yes, we had 6" of snow in April. But it was gone by late morning on Friday and it was like it never happened by tea time. On top of that, it didn't leave the ground soggy at all.

After spending most of Saturday morning chatting with friends, on the phone and zoom, I was thrilled to head outside. I spent most of the weekend outside in the garden, letting nature redeem my crappy week. I can only hope for a better one to come.