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!

Week 42 - Helen's Birthday Fun

Despite the gorgeous fall weather finally arriving, it was not an easy week. In addition to yet more training at work (4 sessions), I was stewing on something that kept me up a few nights. The absolute highlight of the week was an afternoon with Helen to celebrate her birthday.

I took Thursday afternoon off and Helen and I spent the afternoon in Omaha. We started at The Cheesecake Factory because Cake! Our table was well separated from anyone else and we talked and talked, far past when we had finished eating. The waitress was lovely and Helen made a point of telling the manager as we left, which was nice of her. After a stop at Trader Joe's, we went to a yarn shop. The best one in Omaha was closed for the day but we made do with another and both found some yarn to buy. With Starbuck's in hand, we drove back to my house for more chatting while Helen opened her presents. It was a lovely day and we need to make the effort to get together more often but life always seems to get in the way.

I was perseverating on something that had me still awake at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. I had already turned the light on and read a couple of times and finally got up and took a benadryl. I got up to let Tot out at 6:30 but it was so chilly in the house that I went back to my cozy bed and slept until 9:30! I then spent the morning on the phone, first with Carolyn who helped me think through what was bothering me, then Deanne, Lori and Dottie. It was 1:00 before I got dressed and I can't say I did much more that day. Oh well.

With my mind at ease, I fell asleep quickly on Saturday night but I woke up hot at 4:00 and never fell back asleep so got up at 5:00 and made an omelet for breakfast. It was a long wait for the sun and there was no CBS Sunday Morning so I called Ginny early and then headed to Omaha to Lori's. We were going to have lunch and knit on her patio. We had a lovely time, joined by one of the neighborhood girls she had recently taught to knit. Lori needed to leave for yoga at 3:00 so I dropped donations at Goodwill then grocery shopped. It was another nice afternoon, which I needed badly.

So I ended the week with my mind more at ease and looking forward to enjoying the fall weather. Here's a happy autumn picture from my deck. The bright woodbine is a volunteer that I think I'll let grow for its lovely fall color. But more important is the English ivy that has finally taken off. This was my third attempt to transplant ivy from the house I grew up in in Rhode Island, which originally came from my dad's parent's house in Providence. I had planted some when I first bought my house but ChemLawn came to the wrong house and killed it with what they sprayed. I'd tried again a few years later but it didn't survive. Third time lucky! I think this is the 4th year from when I planted it and it's finally thriving, which makes me happy. I'll take it. Now to see if I can encourage it to grow on the railings instead of across the floor. : )

Week 41 - Campus and Covid

After a super productive weekend, I was ready for a good week ahead. Hmmm....

I should have been suspicious when one of the regular, as in comes every week, knitters didn't show up on Monday. I'd seen her on Saturday and she hadn't mentioned anything and when I called her from the library she didn't answer. I emailed later and she responded Tuesday morning to say she had woken up with a cold and didn't want to share germs. OK. After teaching a rare morning class, I had lunch in the park with Lorri at lunch and didn't give it much thought.

I was working a full day on campus on Wednesday, not because I needed to but because I had errands to run. I had made plans to eat lunch on a bench with Dodie and somehow offered to bring my regular grab and go from Mocha C's for both of us. So not only did I have to set an alarm, get dressed, make up my thermos and be out the door by 7:15 but now I had to pick up lunch, which I ordered at 7:00 when they opened and picked up before heading to Lincoln. I was at the Library Commission just before opening (had to knock on the door) to drop the book club books and was at my desk just after 8:00. Not bad.

I have to say that despite enjoying lunch with Dodie and going to the Union Starbuck's with Lana that afternoon, absolutely nothing made it worth the effort of going to Lincoln to work. I'm expected to go back every Wednesday as soon as our new office is ready - probably early November. I am NOT looking forward to it at all but guess I will have to suck it up and cope. Oh well..

I trained on Thursday afternoon (my 4th class in 2 weeks - where are all these new employees coming from?) and it was over capacity but I was hoping to get out early enough to head to Fremont to get a Covid booster. I did get out on time, registered online and headed north. I picked up a few groceries, got my shot and used the $10 gift card (totally unnecessary considering it's my 3rd shot so I didn't need the bribe) toward my groceries. I was feeling pretty good and hoping for no side effects but it I had them, it would be on sick time on Friday. Ha!

I heard from my friend on Friday that it wasn't a cold but rather Covid AND SHE HAD BEEN IN MY HOUSE ON SATURDAY!!!!! I looked it up and the 48 hours before symptom onset is when someone's most contagious, which is when she was in my house. I started freaking out, not for myself but worried that if I had an asymptomatic breakthrough case, I might have passed it on to my 80+ year old friend I'd had lunch with on Tuesday. Or my younger but just as dear to me friend who I had lunch with on Wednesday. I called my doctor's office to find out where I could get tested, put in sick leave and drove to Lincoln, where I got a test in a tent behind the mall. I drove through Panera for my favorite salad (had to get something good out of my 3rd trip out of town in as many days) and went home to wait for results.

I had no plans for the weekend so hunkered down and did a tiny bit of cleaning and lots of cooking. I made bread pudding, banana bread and roasted tomatoes from Connie's garden to make red sauce, which was a first for me since I never get enough tomatoes from my garden. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I got my results - Negative! I was so relieved. Even as vaccinated as I can possibly be, I'm still scared of Covid. I drove some of my cooking over to my Covid cootie friend, dropping them at her door and running.

Now I was free to leave the house but did I? Nope. I spent Sunday morning on the phone, did some chores and started cooking again. This time was egg roll in a bowl, an apple pie using mostly the apples Nan had given me from her friend's tree (mystery variety) to take to knitting and a small quiche with the extra pie dough. I had to stretch a single crust recipe to get the extra crust for quiche because I was out of flour. And when I called my friend Lorri to ask when she was going to CostCo again (she gets me the 12.5 pound bag of King Arthur unbleached a couple of times a year), she told me that she had gone to the mall in Lincoln a few hours before me on Friday getting a Covid test herself (nothing to do with lunch with me) and she was negative too. Happiness all around.

So it was not as relaxing and normal week as I'd hoped for but I made it through and there's another week coming. I have high hopes for this one. : )