Week 49 - All About Christmas

 I woke up Monday and cancelled my Christmas trip ticket before breakfast. I had already made the decision to stay home and safe for Christmas so it was time to cancel. With that done, I was ready for re-entry to work and to start plugging away at the Christmas to do list I'd made on Sunday.

I made it through my first day back at work and took an at home covid test at 5:00 (48 hours from leaving the airport), which came back negative so I was good to go to knitting. Yay! Now to get going on Christmas.

First up was shopping in downtown Wahoo when I went to get my grab and go lunch on Tuesday. I found a few things for Carolyn and bought a few groceries at The Warehouse, which would get me through to the weekend when I could grocery shop. Nice. I trained all afternoon so the day went quickly. I normally cook on Tuesday nights but with minimal groceries in the house, I ate some baked ziti from the freezer. I had thought I'd thawed eggplant parm so was disappointed but survived.

Wednesday was my first one back on campus but it started with a cortisone shot in my thumb. I was at the ortho at 8:30, dropped the charity hats I'd knitted on a friend's porch to include with the donations for the elementary school his department adopts every year, dropped books at the Library Commission and was at work shortly after 9:00 for a get together for one of the accountants who was leaving UNL. It was great to see people in person and then it was on to our 10:00 team zoom. Shortly after, it was time to pick Dodie up for lunch at Cracker Barrel. I'd parked at a meter all morning and so parked in a garage for the afternoon. I spent the afternoon doing monthly reports, finishing right at the end of the day, when I drove my boss to his car to offload the circular saw from my garage that I was gifting him. Then it was on to Menard's, where Darla was meeting me to help me pick out my trees. I had sticker shock but got my trees - one for the deck and one for outside - plus a wreath and a gorgeous poinsettia. We spent so long chatting in the parking lot that I skipped grocery shopping in favor of getting home in time for Survivor. How's that for crossing things off?

It was unseasonably warm on Thursday so I put up my deck tree over lunch after getting back from doing a huge cash deposit from the Friends of the Library holiday decoration sale. I only managed to get it up but the decorating only took 5 minutes at 5:00 because it's just a single string of white lights and red bows. My deck tree brings me joy and will stay up long past winter. I ate the rest of the ziti and headed to the library for book club at 6:30. We had a good discussion and then chatted on the sidewalk so I got home later than I'd planned but you have to take advantage of the warmer weather while it's here.

I was determined to finish my shopping on Friday so started work early and worked through lunch so Andrea and I could leave for Omaha at 3:30. We started at Trader Joe's then went to World Market, where my goal was to fill in the gaps on Carolyn's stocking. I did great there, so much so that we skipped 5 Below. I wanted to hit Dollar Tree for some Christmas picks for my outdoor pots but couldn't find the one I'd looked up online (obviously not well) so we went to Aldi. I did a big stock up since I'd cleared my food out before my cruise and hadn't shopped since. We were home just after 8:00 and I was happy to be done with my Christmas shopping.

My goal for the weekend was wrapping, packing and shipping my stocking boxes. I briefly considered slamming through it to get at least one in Saturday's mail but I talked myself down from that idiocy so I could enjoy it. After a couple of catch up phone calls in the morning, I headed to the library in hopes of finding the fake Christmas flower picks I'd failed to get. It was a bag sale so I found a few picks and then a few other festive things to fill my bag. I used the picks and cuttings from both of my trees to make pots for the front and side doors. After lunch, I blazed up some Christmas tunes and wrapped one lot of presents. Then I finished my sister's mittens, which were the last knitting for stockings. I might have done more but my neighbor who fosters kittens invited me over for some kitten fun, which was a wonderful way to end the day. 

On Sunday, I wrapped and packed the rest of the stocking stuff, having to go out again to buy a battery for my scale. By the end of the day, my boxes were ready and I had a pick up scheduled for Monday. My inside tree was up but not decorated but I was feeling good about my progress. I hope your holiday prep is going well and that you find some joy in getting ready. With the heat was off for me, I plan to enjoy the rest of the holiday season. Ho ho ho!

Week 48 - A Thanksgiving Cruise

What to say about a week of relaxation interspersed with adventures in ports?

I'll start with the ship time. We found a spot on deck 3 (Promenade) where we plunked ourselves in deck chairs and knitted the days away, leaving only to eat. And eat. And eat! We mostly ate at the informal buffet (you'd point and staff would dish the food) but did get breakfast a few times and dinner twice in the fancy main dining room. We also partook of afternoon tea several times. We did do walk the promenade deck a couple of times (4 laps was a mile) to break up the knitting. In the evenings, we watched movies in our cabin. Yesterday (the Beatles themed movie) and lots of period dramas. There was knitting and snacking during the movies, of course.

We got to San Juan at dinner time on Monday so ate early and then were off the ship. We walked around and checked out the Christmas lights, planning our next day as we went. We found a smoothie stand so enjoyed pina colada smoothies before hitting Marshall's for a straw hat for me. Our last stop was Walgreen's to replenish our M&M's. 

We hadn't booked an excursion so hit the tourist office first thing Tuesday and then set out on our own. We went to the closest fort and then walked to the other one. It was SO hot and humid. We stopped along the way to sit in the shade and drink water. We opted not to go inside the 2nd fort, despite our ticket from the first fort being good there too, because it was just too hot and the walk up to it was long. We checked out the cathedral then went back to our smoothie stand to cool down before heading outside the wall to walk along the water. Surprisingly there was some shade on that walk but we were still exhausted and depleted after so much time in the sun so we headed back to the ship for a swim. It felt wonderful! After sitting by the pool knitting (and I had the one and only drink I had on the ship - a blended strawberry daiquiri) it was time for a shower and dinner. It was a lovely day.

Wednesday was St. Thomas and we'd booked an excursion to Magens Bay beach via a mountaintop where we could take pics. We had 2 hours on the beach so did some walking, quite a bit of swimming and I sat in the shade happily knitting. After nipping back to the ship to change, we headed back out and did some shopping. The grocery store was a bust - no different than at home - but Anne bought some Crocs and we got another smoothie before going back just before sailing time. 

Thursday was another ship day for Thanksgiving. After another relaxing day, someone mentioned that the main dining room, where were were planning to eat dinner despite having to dress up (sea days are gala dress nights), didn't have mashed potatoes. That being Anne's favorite food, we decided to eat at the buffet. Along with said mashed potatoes, they did serve turkey and stuffing but it wasn't how I wanted it so there will be a homemade turkey dinner in the near future chez moi.

Friday was our last day and we were going to a private island for more beach time. Having already gotten plenty of sun, I found a chaise in the shade while Anne sat in the sun. We went a bit early for the huge BBQ they put on and it's a good thing we did because it started spitting rain as we got back to the beach. This is what it looks like when sand sticks to raindrops on your skin. By the time we got to the tender to go back to the ship, it was pouring. So it was a short beach day but we still had fun and it was nice to take a warm shower and get into dry clothes. It was our last night on the ship. How did that happen? We packed, put our suitcases outside for pick up and went to bed.

We had gotten the latest time available to get off the ship but even so, we were off just after 9:00 and ubered to the airport. Since our flight wasn't due to leave until 6:10 pm, we decided it was worth every penny to pay and extra $150 each to take a morning flight, which was even direct with no plane change in DC. Perfect! We were boarding group C so sat apart for the first leg but sat together with an empty middle seat for the 2nd. We stopped at HyVee to buy milk and an at home Covid test for me and I was in my house before I would have even left Florida. Totally worth the money!

I unpacked Sunday, did laundry and generally caught up. With that done, I went right into Christmas mode and started making lists. The cruise was fun but it felt great to be home too and I had a busy week ahead. Time to get holiday ready with Christmas in less than a month. Ho ho ho!

Week 47 - Countdown to Cruisin'

Anne and I were leaving for the cruise at o' dark thirty on Friday and besides getting ready for that, my work week was jam packed with zooms and training plus an eye doctor appointment and some yard work snuck in too. Busy busy!

I had an eye doctor appointment on Tuesday afternoon and it was super warm outside. I walked there and back (it's a block from my house) and then slammed through clipping the parking before going back inside to finish the work day. I could have waited but was happy to get my last pre-winter yard work done. I have to cut the perennials between the sidewalk and street before snow flies or they act like a snow fence and my sidewalk ends up piled with snow. Done is good.

I had zooms all day on Wednesday - ALL DAY! One after the other, ending with my PD with The Ripples Guy, which I normally enjoy but was so zoomed out that I didn't get much out of it. Oh well. I started packing that night, which mostly meant transferring the stacks I'd made into a suitcase. I also made lists for the next day, which would be jam packed with everything pre-cruise that I hadn't done yet.

I had done some work Wednesday night (I'm a sucker for answering late emails since I'm in front of my laptop anyway) and then woke up early on Thursday so started work early. I had a training demo to do at 3:00 and then had 2 covid tests scheduled - a spit test on campus and a nose swab behind the mall. Working the extra meant I didn't have to put in 2 hours of vacation time. Nice. I did my spitting on East Campus then had a peppermint mocha with Darla in the East Union before heading to the mall. I was there early so was home early too, which was great because I had more to get done and Anne was picking me up at 6:15 the next morning so it all had to get done. And it did. It helped that I was using my big suitcase so had plenty of room. There may have been extra sock yarn thrown in over the course of the night.

I set the stove timer and an alarm clock but woke up before either of them went off. I had a bowl of cereal and some coffee before Anne arrived and we were off! We talked our way into free bags on United (at least Anne's should have been free since she used miles and is the primary card holder on the United visa we charged the fees to but something wasn't right so we both had our $35 waived by the agent - yay!) and had a completely uneventful flight, which seems like a gift these days. Anne had passes to the United lounge so we had snacks and good wifi during our layover - another gift before our second leg. We called the hotel shuttle when we got to Fort Lauderdale only to wait nearly an hour in the rain for it to arrive. We ate at a seafood restaurant next to the hotel and went to bed early. The next day was cruise time!

Our boarding time had been moved earlier 3 times already but we still had the morning to kill so walked towards Walgreens to pick up a few things, settling on Dollar General when we saw that first. It was hot so we were sweating but happy. We checked out, took an uber to the ship and were ready to go! We checked in, showing our vaccine cards and negative test results, and were onboard. Our veranda room was palatial compared to cabins on our previous cruises and we were ready to relax. We had 48 hours at sea before we'd get to our first port so settled in, explored the ship in search of the best knitting spots on deck where we could take our masks off and scoped out eating options. Let the cruising begin! It felt great to be out of town and in warmer climes. Life is good!

Week 46 - Cat Delivery Service

I started the week with a sore back from all my gardening on the weekend but it only lasted a day or 2 so was super worth it. And I was in full swing by mid-week.

I'm supposed to be working on campus on Wednesdays but the boss isn't bothered if we don't go and this week I had a dentist appointment in Wahoo at 11:00 so it wasn't looking good. Until I volunteered for cat delivery service. When Andrea said she was ready to adopt a new cat (her old cat died 2 years ago), I put her in touch with Becky, the woman who bottle raised my cat Gansey. There was some back and forth and Andrea had gone to pick up the cat and he wasn't "ready" so Andrea left without him. I stepped in and arranged to pick Tiberius up on Wednesday after work so I did head to Lincoln after the dentist.

I started with lunch with Darla at Noodles, which was lovely, and was at the office at 1:00. I had a carrier in my car, which Becky picked up and the plan was for me to head south after work and pick him up at her house. Well, Becky was coming back to campus to work the evening so she delivered him to my car, which saved me tons of time and meant I was home earlier than I'd expected. The cat was a dream on the ride home, despite all Becky's admonitions that he was the worst cat every (Becky was the problem, not the cat) and I got to Wahoo before Andrea was done working. I knitted in the parking lot then followed her home. She set up the litter box and food, let him out of the cage and he was fine. We chatted while he roamed around, exploring the house. All good. Here's a low res pic of Tiberius - a total cutie. Gotta love a ginger.

It felt great to be working from home on Thursday. I truly would be fine with never working on campus again. There are so many reasons but having time to get things done is near the top. I spent Thursday lunch going through papers and finished up that evening, including clearing off the desk, which has reverted to my hot spot since I no longer work from there. And on Friday, I cleared the bar. Yay! I went into the weekend with surfaces clear. I also made a pumpkin pie at lunch. Yup, I love working from home. : )

I can't tell you what I did on the weekend. It was my last weekend before my cruise so there was planning and cleaning for that plus some knitting and streaming, of course. I did finish my sister's Christmas socks so got that crossed off too. All good and in less than a week, I'd be cruisin'! I was feeling good about my progress and had high hopes that I wouldn't be stressed as I got ready to leave. Four more days!

Week 45 - A Quiet Week

I finally had a quiet week at work with no training sessions. And that was even with monthly reports and going to campus on Wednesday for the first of what will be the norm going forward.

Monday was full with monthly reports and on Tuesday my day started with a snag. Normally I check my calendar as soon as I get up but for some reason I didn't on Tuesday. When I logged on at 8:00, I saw that I had an 8:00 meeting that I was already late for and I was still in my nightie. I got dressed in a flash and was only 7 minutes late. When the meeting was over, I went into my bedroom and found the nightie that I'd thrown on the bed had no armpit. My rotten cat, Gansey, had chewed 2 holes in it. Grrr....

Wednesday was the rescheduled donut party for Mary's retirement and I was on donut duty. Not only did I have to be dressed in socially acceptable clothing and be on campus by 8:00 but I had to pick up donuts before leaving town. I made it and the party was fun. Having not seen each other in 20 months, we all went around the room and gave an update. It wasn't an hour after her retirement party that we got an email from the Vice Chancellor saying he was leaving UNL and Mary would be the acting VC until the job was filled. So much for retirement! It was a busy day and weird being on campus so I wasn't upset when my friend cancelled our movie date that night. It felt good to go right home.

And it felt great Thursday morning to not set an alarm and start my work day in my nightie. Going back to campus, even just one day a week, is going to be a slog. I've gotten so used to my working at home routine that working on campus is a huge disruption. Woe is me. I know I shouldn't complain but that's my reality these days. I thoroughly enjoyed working from home on Thursday and Friday and was ready for the weekend.

A warm and sunny weekend was forecast so I would be spending time outside again, which is what convinced me to do a Fremont run Friday night for groceries and a Dollar Tree stop to get bins to finish organizing my yarn. With that done, I was in for the weekend.

It was sunny and reached 70 on Saturday so I spent hours outside getting the yard ready for winter. I started by cutting down the dead sunflowers in the parking and took a load of those to the city burn pile then grabbed BK for lunch. As soon as I was done eating, I started sifting compost. I had some still in the working bin so sifted that into my old wheelbarrow then added the last of this year's soil on top of that. With the bin empty, I decided to start clearing my veg beds and start filling the bin. Then with the big wheelbarrow empty, I dumped all my containers into it and got the pots into the garage. I then drained the hoses and was done. 

Andrea had invited me over for a beer so we sat on her front steps in the sun, chatting and enjoying a cold one. I left when we lost the sun. My lower back was singing with pain so I took a shower, got into my nightie went to bed early just so I could lay down.

My back was still sore on Sunday but quite a bit better. With my yard as ready as it needs to be for winter, I was staying in. I started the day frogging knitting projects that I knew I'd never finish. That felt good and when I was done, I went to the high school to get a take out turkey dinner from the Project Close Up fundraiser. I look forward to it every year and missed it last year when it was cancelled. I only ate half of it but was still stuffed. I did some chores and then went down to my craft room to make a Christmas knitting project bag, which I'd donated as a prize in my Socks from Stash group on Ravelry. I made 2 - one for me since I don't have a Christmas bag. It was dark as I finished them - damn time change.

So now the darkness begins. I'm glad I had a couple of nice weekend days to get things done because once it's dark at 5:00, I find it really hard to get motivated. I need to figure something out to get moving so I don't have a sore back after a few hours of gardening. I need to get busy! Wish me luck.

Week 44 - Prepping for Winter

Well, my mood was still high at the start of the week and it didn't flag as the week went on.

I'd heard from most of the knitters that they couldn't knit on Monday so I had planned to stay home myself but when I called Andrea, she was at the library pinning the quilt we'd helped her lay out the previous week. She had to leave at 6:30 but I wanted to see it so I headed to the library. I wasn't staying there alone but the Christmas decoration sale was starting that week so I got to rummage through the boxes and found some fun decorations to buy. That was worth going out for.

The work week flew by with, you guessed it, yet more reporting classes to teach. I was also slamming on allocations so was super busy. I ended the week with my annual physical and mammogram on Friday afternoon. I had planned to go back to work but had already worked plenty of extra hours so headed to Fremont with Andrea at 3:00. We got to the Habitat Store 10 minutes before they closed and someone had donated an entire fabric stash so Andrea bought it all. Then we hit Goodwill and Aldi then got sushi for supper, which was delicious. And I do like starting a weekend with errands on Friday so I can be home Saturday and Sunday.

After ridiculously warm weather for most of October, the weather was changing on Sunday and we'd have our first hard freeze. That meant I was outside on Saturday. I bring plants inside to overwinter every year, which meant cleaning shelves and repotting plants. I also went through my veg beds, harvesting the last of the produce. I do love fall.

It was dramatically cooler on Sunday, which wouldn't bode well for trick or treaters. I had given thought to having a fire in the driveway but it was super cold and I worried that I'd be out there alone so I opted to stay inside. I turned on the light and spent the first hour doing more work in the front room, which I'd moved furniture out of earlier in the day. Once I had things sorted and the table cleared, I brought in my laptop and watched Call the Midwife. When that was over at 8:00, I'd only had about a dozen kids and had lots of candy left, despite only buying 2 bags. I turned the light off and called it good. 

I don't know if it was the cold, the pandemic or the fact that there were only 3 houses out of the 12 on my block giiving out candy but that was a pathetic showing. I have always liked seeing the kids. Oh well. Hopefully it will be better next year.

Week 43 - A Total Turnaround

The week did not start well. I was in a total funk - sick of work and the crazy amount of training I was doing, tired of the pandemic and just plain over it all. Luckily that turned around as the week went on.

I don't know what the deal is with everyone on campus wanting to come to my training but it feels like all I do these days and it's getting old. My classes were so full plus with full waitlists so I had to schedule my 4th round of classes in 6 weeks. Then I was asked to demo the database I'd designed to help departments and it was scheduled for right after my monthly Ripples professional development, which kind of killed the joy of that because I had to leave early. When my friend Layton called me on Wednesday, I was in a total funk. 

Then I got an email from Holland America late Wednesday. Now I've been getting a couple of emails a week since my cancelled Baltic knitting cruise in May 2020 but I just trash them unread. But this one came up in my preview and I noticed the magic words - vaccinated cruise! I read further and saw that they were not only requiring proof of vaccination but also a negative test 48 hours before the cruise. My interest was piqued and I got chatting with Anne. Long story short, Anne and I were on the phone with the travel agent until almost 10:00 that night and on Thursday we booked a cruise over Thanksgiving week. Yay!

We'll be flying to Fort Lauderdale the Friday before Thanksgiving and will cruise from Saturday to Saturday, hitting Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and a private island. All of these are American so have better access to vaccines than other Caribbean islands. Plus we upgraded to a veranda room so will have fresh air and our own private lanai to hang out on should we feel the need to social distance. And between our cruise credits, free tickets getting there using miles and my Southwest credit going against our flight home, it barely cost anything. Talk about happy! This was just what I needed - something to look forward to and travel that's as safe as you can get during the pandemic. I'm smiling just thinking about it. 

The week just kept getting better! The Ikea wall unit that I'd ordered in August was delivered mid-week and it was a desperately needed rainy weekend so I got busy with that happy project. I put it together on Saturday, having to run to the farm store midway when I broke some of the dowels after I screwed up and had to take it apart and redo it. But I got it up and called it good. I had more fun on Sunday, sorting all of my sock yarn. I put all my indy dyed and better quality yarn on my new shelf, sorting by fiber content as I went. The work horse yarn went into under the bed boxes in my spare room. How's that for a happy project!

What a turnaround - from nearly despondent to happy with a trip to look forward to and a gorgeous wall of yarn that totally brightened up my front room. Life is good!