Week 50 - All the Packages

It was a festive week that started with a party and then it was packages, packages and more packages. It was all the Christmas hussle that's early December when I'm staying in Nebraska so have to ship all my presents. I was ready.

Monday was our office Christmas party - a brunch in a room near campus - and Lana, Cindy and I were on set up duty. I had loaded some stuff into the car on Sunday and had another pile by the door so I could get to campus on time Monday. And I did. After offloading some stuff in the office, we headed right over and got the room all set up and decorated before everyone arrived at 10:00. The party was fun and by the time we broke it all down, it was noon. I drove to UPS to drop off my sister's huge package (I'd tried before work but they weren't open yet) so my first package was on its way. Yay! I went to Aldi after work so was late to knitting but now I was home for the rest of the week. Nice.

The rest of the week was packages. Every. Single. Day. My aim was to be done by the weekend so it was all about wrapping, packing, printing postage and a mix of post office drop offs and scheduling pick ups. The smaller ones were easy (socks in an envelope mostly) but my last big one went out on Saturday and like that, I was done!

The rest of the week was fine. I trained 2 afternoons, which always makes those days fly, and we had some weather on Thursday - rain that froze when the sun went down so we had to postpone book club. Better safe then sorry. Then somehow I pulled a muscle in my back while pouring coffee on Friday morning. It was near my left shoulder blade and was pretty uncomfortable. My boss told me to take the afternoon off and not to feel guilty so I did. I spent 3.5 hours on a heating pad and it made a big difference. I was adult about it and declined to go to Fremont with Andrea that afternoon. Bummer but I didn't want to make it worse because I had things to do on the weekend.

With my last package waiting at the back door for pick up that afternoon, I started Saturday morning chatting with 2 friends, ran some errands and got BK for lunch and then it was time to decorate my tree, which had been up but naked all week. I always watch It's a Wonderful Life so got that streaming and then decorated my tree. After some light issues, the ornaments didn't take long so I knitted through the rest of the movie and then enjoyed some eggnog in the dark with the tree lights on, which is one of my favorite things at Christmas.

The next day being Sunday, I had chores and cooking to do. I made a pie, meatballs and cabbage casserole so was all set for food for the coming week. Clearly it was time to knit and I did, getting up and down all day to fiddle with the tree. 

I was feeling good about things and with the packages all sent and everything decorated, it was time to start my not going to Rhode Island pre-Christmas relaxation mode. There would be lots of knitting and watching vlogmas videos on YouTube (these are daily podcasts by knitters showing their holiday prep and knitting and I totally love them) to get me in the spirit. Ho ho ho!

Week 49 - Brimming with Festivity

The week started in November but somehow I was already feeling pressure to get Christmas stuff done. Probably because I'm not going to Rhode Island, yet again - 3rd year, and so I have to get packages shipped early and it felt like Christmas was coming fast.

Getting the parking cut down on Sunday was a good thing because by Tuesday morning, it was flurrying. It didn't amount to anything but made it feel extra cozy when I made a blackberry/apple pie and potato ham puff (using up the last Thanksgiving potatoes) that night.

Wednesday was an on campus day and our mission was to decorate our doors for the 2nd annual door decorating contest. Our plan was to tape over our door, with a socially acceptable decoration on the outside with a hole in the middle to stick your head through. This is what you saw on the non-PC inside view. We called our door Christmas in the Rear View.

The festivity continued after work when I met Darla for dinner of hot beef sandwiches at Virginia's Cafe before heading to Menard's. They had more trees and smaller ones too. I was able to get a nice 5' Fraser fir for <$50. Yay! Then I got home to find a package of the Christmas yarn I'd ordered and I immediately cast on fun socks. Are you surprised? 

On Thursday, all my fave knitting YouTubers started their vlogmas posts. If you aren't familiar with this, starting on December 1st, it's a daily video of their life and knitting as they prepare for Christmas. I started watching these in 2020 (my first pandemic Christmas) and it's become a tradition. I watch a few at lunch and a few more after work each day. I get a peek at other knitters' Christmas prep and it's especially fun to see the British ones.

There was one downer in the week and that was at work. We'd heard that there would be a return to work announcement mid-November and we got a heads up that it would be coming out on Monday (early December - fail!) and the gist of it was that everyone had to come back to campus 50% of the time. Damn! Not 40%, not 60% but 50%. Of course I was cranky since I'd happily never set foot on campus again but I guess I should just be thankful that I got to work mostly at home for 3 years. We won't need to do the 50% until spring and after stewing for a bit, I decided I would do Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday. Any vacation time I take, and I'll have to start taking 2 days/month when I hit the max in my vacation pot in January, will be on those Fridays. Sheesh! But back to festive....

I started wrapping presents on Saturday, while watching Die Hard (yes, it's a Christmas movie). My goal was to have Dottie's package, which is huge because it has tons of thrifted yarn along with her stocking stuffers, ready to drop at UPS on Monday. It was fun to start wrapping and I made meatloaf so the oven was on, making it toasty and warm.

Lorri stopped by after church on Sunday and presented me with a bag of bulbs to plant. Luckily it had warmed up some so I dug another 6" out from my bird's nest spruce bed in the backyard and planted them immediately. And since I was outside, I cut the bottom of the inside tree and put it up in my back room. Naked but up. I'd decorate it later. I then went downstairs and ironed the vintage tablecloths I'd washed and hung on the line (they'd be part of the decorations at our holiday party) then made a drawstring bag that Carolyn had requested. My sister Dottie called at some point so I asked about which yarns she could use from my stash because her box wasn't full with the thrifted yarn. I ended the day getting her box packed, taped up and put in the car. 

Good week, right? It was only December 4th and I already had my biggest package ready to go and all the materials ready to wrap the rest. I had vlogmasses to watch while I wrap and my tree was ready to decorate. I would have plenty to do in the coming week but it was still early enough so as not to stress. Ho ho ho!

Week 48 - Thankful for Motivation

It was a wonderful week with a only 3 work days (and those punctuated with time off), a nice Thanksgiving, a fun Omaha run and outside productivity to end the week.

I had 2 more doctor appointments - my annual physical (she didn't push statins - yay!) on Monday and my eye appointment on Tuesday. That made for quick days and then we got out early on Wednesday. I was happily baking a blueberry pie at 3:00. I had spent lunches neatizing and cleaning so was ready for Thanksgiving on the cleaning front.

I started cooking as soon as I got up on Thursday. Anne was coming early so she could get home for some game or other but I wasn't cooking a whole turkey so it wasn't bad. I made stuffing (first time outside a bird), mashed potatoes (Anne's fave), Brussels sprouts (best veg ever!) and roasted sweet potatoes. We had a nice lunch in the sun in my back room then watched Spirited, which was fun. I had just enough light after she left to get everything cleaned it and it was time to sit and knit. It was a nice, quiet Thanksgiving.

I finished slogging through all the yarn on Friday, which felt great. With the early start the weekend before, I was done with My break project 2 days to go so I called Lori and scheduled an Omaha run on Saturday. I hit Trader Joe's before meeting Lori at our favorite yarn shop, where I was such an adult - only buying the 2 things I went in for. Then we went to Lori's for an afternoon of knitting, chatting and tea. After a stop at Aldi, I stopped at Menard's, where I had planned to buy Christmas trees and had even emptied my trunk and put the seats down for easy loading. 

I only get 2 small trees - the cheapest Scotch pine for the deck and a small 4 or 5 foot fir for inside. Nope. They had no small trees and and the prices were CRAZY. It would have cost me $130 so I drove away. I went by the farm store on the way home and they had even fewer and for the same price. I drove by SunMart, our little market in Wahoo, and they had 3' pines in a stand (meant for a table top I'm sure) so I bought one for my deck and would wait to figure out an inside tree. Was it time to go artificial? Not my jam but it might be.

Saturday had been the better day for working outside but the yarn shop isn't open on Sundays so that made the decision. With colder weather coming, I was determined to work outside on Sunday despite it being gloomy and chilly. The one yard thing that had to be done before snow flies is cutting down the perennials in the strip between the sidewalk and street. If I leave them up, they act like a snow fence and snow dumps on my sidewalk. So that was first on my list. It didn't take too long and I was able to load up the brush in my car and take it to the city burn pile. I also put up my cute deck tree ($30 well spent), my holiday flag and decorated pots at my front and back door. With that all done, everything outside was ready for Christmas and winter. Nice. 

I ate the last of my Thanksgiving food on Sunday and made a big pot of soup for the next week. What a great week and Thanksgiving break! Got my last 2 medical appointments done, had some good food and time with friends plus got lots of things done. If my upcoming Christmas break is half as good, it'll be a good one. But before then, I have packages to get ready. That's next on my list. Wish me luck.

Week 47 - My Sore Thumb

My November medical stuff continued unabated and I got several other things crossed off my list plus had some fun. Same stuff different week maybe?

I had a dentist appointment on Monday morning and since I still have to take a huge dose of antibiotics before dental appointments because of my knee and not wanting a repeat of the yeast infection hell from my last appointment, I had 2 doses of diflucan ready to take - 1 with the antibiotics and the 2nd 3 days later. So I was protected for yeast infections but had digestive issues that not only lead to bad indigestion but also some funky blood test results. At least this should be my last round of antibiotics since I'll hit the 2 year mark before my next dental appointment. Unless another molar explodes but let's not go there.

My thumb was still giving me fits and by Wednesday morning, my entire had was swollen. As usual, I was packing my Wednesday with stuff so started the day with a fasting blood draw at the student health center in preparation for next week's annual physical. Immediately upon getting to my desk, I went into the patient portal and requested the earliest possible appointment to get a shot in my thumb and was thrilled when they called 10 minutes later with a cancellation at 10:45. I juggled a couple of meetings and headed there, meeting Rene in the parking lot (her gym is right next to my ortho doc's office) to hand off the birthday cake I'd made for Anne's birthday dinner scheduled for that night at Rene's. After picking up lunch at Whole Foods, I went back to the office for a full afternoon of zooms and meetings then it was on to Rene's.

Rene had recently moved into a new house and was hosting Anne's birthday dinner and giving us a tour. Her house is cute and has a great yard with raised beds already built, which was the major thing she wanted in her new yard. She made dinner and I made dessert. We chatted after dinner and despite no ingredients that would explain it, I had the worst indigestion I've ever had. I had an old tums in the car so took that when I left, took another when I got home and got up a midnight for another. I'd been so worried about getting another yeast infection that I gave zero thought to the fact that those antibiotics killed all my good gut bacteria. Luckily I was back to normal (I rarely have stomach issues) by Thursday morning. But the blood draw I'd done that morning also had a couple of odd numbers due to those darn antibiotics. Ready to be done with those!

Remember my vow to just so NO in November? Well I forgot about that and sent an email to Andrea suggesting a ridiculous itinerary for Saturday morning before our 1:00 spinning meeting in Fremont. It involved going to Omaha for Trader Joe's, a fiber event and a yarn shop all before noon so we could then drive to Fremont for 1:00. Crazy! Within hours of sending it, I realized how nuts it was and told Andrea as much. Then when Saturday arrived, I didn't even want to go to spinning. I was hemming and hawing when Andrea reminded me that spinning is not mandatory so I sent an email bowing out. But could I just relax and enjoy the newly free afternoon? Nope. 

Feeling guilty, I decided to start the spare room project, which had been my plan for Thanksgiving break. I pulled out tote after tote of yarn, pop up bins of yarn, random containers of yarn - are you seeing a pattern here? The front room was now FULL but I could see the floor and bed in the spare room so I was calling it progress. 

I did do some sorting on Sunday but only after spending a big chunk of the day on the phone and even facetiming with my Canadian friend, Eileen. We hadn't talked in ages so that was a treat. I also had chores to do (mostly laundry) and went to the cookie sale at St. Wenz to get some homemade Christmas cookies for tea next week. So not much yarn got sorted but with everything pulled into my spare room, it'd be waiting for me come Thanksgiving break. Good thing Anne and I were eating in the sunshine in the back room.

So it was another good week with another medical appointment crossed off, no yeast infection, a fixed thumb (I was able to knit a bit on Thursday night and was fully functional by Friday) and the next week was a short one. Add the start of my spare room project and I'd call it a banner week.

Week 46 - Too Much Knitting

Yes, that title is real. I actually did too much knitting and paid the price but there was plenty of fun before that.

There were a couple of fun food events. Nan hosted a Friendsgiving for the Monday Night Knitters so with pumpkin pie in hand, we headed to Fremont. The food was delish and we chatted for hours after dinner at her dining room table, not leaving until 9:45, which felt even later with the darn time change. Wednesday was a grilled cheese food day at work, which was something we'd never done (Ben's idea) and was a big hit. Our group was doing the grilled cheese (I bought the butter) but I made brownies too because I like to bake. It was all good.

I taught on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, which always makes for a fast week. I then took 2 hours of vacation on Friday afternoon to do an early Fremont run with Andrea. We had fun at our usual stops - The Restore, the new thrift shop we'd discovered on Main Street, the Estate Dispersal Store, Goodwill and Aldi. It was well worth the 2 hours of vacation time, especially because I'll be hitting maximum vacation in January so will have to take 2 days/month or stop accruing, which will NEVER happen. I might as well take some hours here and there while the weather isn't cold so I'm not taking it in the dead of winter.

With my errands all done, I was happily home all weekend. I made mixed fruit chutney, which is the key ingredient to one of my favorite sandwiches - ham, cheddar and chutney. I make a batch every other year and it's a great way to use the last of the garden tomatoes and any other fruit I have. This year I cleaned out little bags of frozen berries and used up apples along with the last couple of tomatoes and dates and raisins. Yum! On Sunday, I made a project bag for Anne's birthday with Christmas kitty fabric I'd bought especially at Missouri Star on our recent road trip. All in all, a good weekend, except for the too much knitting.

Having sorted my sock yarn leftovers a few weeks ago, I was excited to cast on some new monster socks on Thursday over lunch. The Grocery Girls (my fave knitting podcast) were live and I knitted away my lunch hour and went right back to it that night, spending hours knitting monster socks, which are my favorite kind because... using things up, which is my favorite thing. With all that knitting, my thumb started acting up. I had last had a cortisone shot in May before my Faroes trip so clearly that had worn off. I switched to crochet thinking that would use different muscles but by the end of the weekend, my entire wrist was sore. Not good. Clearly I'd need to stop knitting. Yikes! Maybe there would be another shot in my future.

So that was my week. Fun, productive and painful. Getting old is not for wimps but better than the alternative. 

Week 45 - Mammograms and Mums

Before Covid, October was my month to get all my medical stuff done but it was all delayed during the pandemic so most things moved to November. Except my mammogram.

I had scheduled it for Halloween afternoon and other than having a new tech who seemed to lack confidence, it was quick and easy. Then I got a phone call saying I needed to go back for a diagnostic mammogram. With only one option available, I cancelled a much needed haircut and took the Thursday afternoon appointment. Now I'm not a worrier but hearing you need a second mammogram does give one pause. I had trouble concentrating on work Thursday morning and had to wait a bit before they took me in that afternoon, only to have the usual tech tell me I was there for calcifications. I thought my head would explode.

I've had calcifications in my right breast for years and they've been well documented. I told the tech that and she went out to tell the radiologist but still came back to do more ouchy squishing. Yikes! The radiologist, who ended up being the sister of someone I work with, did a good job of explaining the calcifications and told me they were fine and I didn't need to come back until a year out. So, complete and utter waste of time, worry and money. I'm going to fight the charges. What's the point of having my mammogram at the same place every year if they never look at the prior ones? Useless!

Otherwise, the week was fine. I didn't do Halloween - going to knitting at the library instead since so few kids trick or treat in Wahoo anymore. I got one final walk in at the lake on Tuesday after work and went to a movie (God's Creatures - a moody Irish film) then grocery shopping after work on Wednesday. All good.

The weather was due to change and there was a chance of rain on Thursday night so I spent the week prepping to plant some of the mums I'd had for fall decorations. This entailed watering 2 spots in my beds to soften up the rock hard soil, which I did every day until I planted them on Thursday after work. We did get 1/2" of rain overnight, which is more than we've had had in ages, so they got watered in. I hope they make it through the winter.

It was cold and dreary on Friday, as forecast, so I made a cozy lunch of mac & cheese and then spent the afternoon looking up dead people in SAP. Yes, that's a thing. It was perfect Friday afternoon work and it was 5:00 before I knew it. The weekend had begun.

It was warmer on Saturday and I spent the day puttering - doing chores, knitting and giving some love to all the plants I'd hastily brought in before the freeze a few weeks ago. The clocks went back but you can't reset a cat so I was up on Sunday even earlier than the clock change warranted. Darn cats! This left me tired but I survived. I had my last mow of the year and the gutters cleaned, which meant hanging outside with Tim while his son worked. After lunch, I headed downstairs. I had to make a Christmas project bag, which I always offer as an October prize for my Socks from Stash group. I'd bought fun, vintage Santa fabric on our Missouri trip and I was pleased with how it came out. Cute, right? Then I made a pie to take to Nan's on Monday for the Friendsgiving she was hosting.

All in all, it was a good week. I'll adjust to the time change and don't really mind that it'll be dark after work. All the more reason to hunker down and get cozy. I'm ready!

Week 44 - Walking in Daylight

It was my first quiet week and I was excited to have a free weekend but before then, I had some busy evenings.

I was keenly aware that the clocks would be falling back soon so planned to take advantage of the light after work and that started Monday. I walked to the library for Monday Night Knitting and then bummed a ride home with Nan. Less than a mile but steps are steps.

Despite vowing to not make plans, I had suggested a few week before that Lorri and I go to a Nebraska Statewide Arboretum event at the new hotel on campus after work on Tuesday so we'd bought tickets. I picked Lorri up and we arrived 5 minutes before the event was to start. Not even started yet and most of the food was gone. We did manage to find seats inside the bar but clearly there were many more people than could fit inside so people spilled outside, where there were benches around fires. Unfortunatelly they opened the doors, which were right behind our table and it was cold outside. Then there was no sound system so despite being only 12 feet from the speakers, we couldn't hear. Add the $18 we paid for a glass of wine and a small beer and it was a total bust. LAME.

As usual, I made the most of my Wednesday on campus. I bought a thumb drive to backup my laptop when I did my morning Starbuck's run, had a lovely lunch with Dodie at Bison Witches, which we've declared is our new spot, and bought new slippers and cookies after we were done eating. Nice. Then I hit Super Saver for a big produce stock up after work and was home and in my jammies for Survivor. Way to maximize my on campus day.

Ben asked me to zoom at the end of the day Thursday and I got a new project for Mary, which I worked on all day Friday so the day flew by and it was time for my weekend at home. At 5:00, I head off for another walk at the lake, which was a lovely way to start my weekend.

With the whole weekend in front of me, I had endless possiblities to choose from on Saturday so, of course, I played with yarn. Cindy had given me a set of plastic drawers that had been languishing in the basement for a long time so I brought it up, gave it a good clean and sorted all my leftover sock yarn into the drawers by weight. It was a happy chore. Then I frogged (knitting lingo for ripped out) a pair of socks that wasn't working for me and immediately started another pattern with the same yarn. I worked on them on and off over the weekend and they flew off the needles. I finally watched the newest Downton Abbey movie Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The weather was dreary on Sunday so I didn't get to enjoy knitting in the sun all morning. But dreary was perfect for cooking so I got going, clearing out the fridge and making blueberry pancakes, roasted tomato sauce with some of the last produce from my garden, a loaf of bread for sandwiches, banana bread to have with tea and steak and rice for supper. 

All in all, it was a perfect weekend and just what I needed. I am looking forward to more of these in NOvember, when I will be saying NO to any social obligations so I can stay home and recharge. And with one more week before the clocks go back, I hope to get some more walks in too. It's good to have a plan. : )