Working Wednesday, May 19, 2021

~ Jenny

I’m packing up books (remember them, the ones with paper and ink?) and storing them in the garage in nicely labeled boxes because this house is about to sink under its own weight. Next up: Yarn. Dear god, all the yarn.

What did you work on this week?

63 thoughts on “Working Wednesday, May 19, 2021”

  1. I’m getting ready to go visit family. I haven’t seen my dad in two years. That’s before I broke my ankle and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer! So, we’re flying there, now that we’re fully vaccinated. My sister decided it would be nice to have a BBQ while we are visiting her, and invited the extended family – who all decided to come! So, family reunion time!

    This also means trying to get my paying job into a state where I won’t be horrified when I get back. That’s probably a lost cause, but I’m trying to get the routine things out of the way so they won’t add to the pile o’ stuff post-vacation.

    This past Saturday, I took a Zoom class on creating a miniature quilt. I made one with little fussy cut bees in it – to give to my sister – and finished it up on Sunday. I made a second one with frogs, because they were cute and I had them.

    I also spent some time on my mosaic crochet cushion. I’m at the point where I need to decide if it is going to be a cushion, or potentially be expanded into a blanket or something. I’m feeling virtuous because I’m using the leftover yarn from another project, but that also means I could be playing yarn chicken if I opt to make it bigger.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CPDKLkOHiWk/

    Not pictured, but my neighbor texted me Monday evening if I could hem pants for her teen. He was going to an awards banquet Wednesday. I said yes, and worked on those Tuesday – and got an honest, hand written thank you from the teen when he picked them up.

    Since I’m not going to be sewing for the next week, I took my sewing machine to the shop for a little TLC. That’s where I saw a parade of goslings with a couple of adults shepherding the brood. It’s in the “happiness” post, but I’ll put the link in the next message here too – just because they are so dang cute.

    2. Why wait for Sunday to share the happiness? Those goslings are adorable!
      As always, your handicrafts are gorgeous and I was delighted to hear about the timely and personal thank you note. Perhaps you could teach him how to hem his own pants so that once he goes off to school he will not be helpless. I suggest this because my 16 year old great nephew got a scholarship to a 3 week camp at an art school and we are now trying to teach him some cooking skills so he eats something other than instant ramen for the entire 3 weeks.

        1. I was woefully unprepared when I moved into my first apartment. Anything you don’t have to learn at that point is a big bonus.

  2. I’m doing the clean up at work. I got a student to help out for one day.

    But there’s so much to do. Sigh.

  3. This week is confusing for me, because I worked a day shift on Monday, and threw off my schedule, my rhythm. When you’re accustomed to going to bed at three or four AM, sleeping until noonish, getting up at six thirty is hard. So I didn’t. I pulled an all-nighter and went to bed at four thirty in the afternoon for about five hours. And that sort of meant I did Monday twice. Confusing.

    I’m almost back to my normal, now, Except I got up at eight. Gonna need a nap at some point.

  4. The one thing I have discovered about yarn is that the more I knit, the more yarn there seems to be.

  5. I am now picturing Jenny’s garage as part library and part yarn store.

    I’m planning to convert one half of my garage into a space to work on my art resin pieces. It’s a seasonal material for me, because I don’t want it in the house, and can’t use it in the winter when the garage is cold. So now is the time to clear everything out and set things up.

    But first I have to get through my endoscopy tomorrow. I’ve never had a procedure involving sedation before and I’m quite nervous about the whole thing. I’m hoping by the weekend I’ll be feeling up to clearing out the space.

    1. Diane, my experience with my first endoscopy was that it was quick and I didn’t feel any different afterwards from how I felt before, except for extreme relief that it was over.

    2. I’ve had a few of them and have never had any trouble with hangover later that day. They wouldn’t let me take public transportation home afterwards, but that was more of a safeguard than a necessity. I wouldn’t plan on reading anything very technical immediately afterward, but after a nap or an hour or 2 on the couch, I was back up to speed. You’ll be tired for a few hours, but that’s all.

    3. The only problem I ever had was after my first one. The clinic was close to a very good deli that I rarely went to because it wasn’t convenient. I had my ride take me there afterwards (I felt just fine so it seemed too good an opportunity to miss) and bought some cheese. The next day I realized I had bought 6 different cheeses for a total of almost $100. So I guess my judgement was slightly impaired.

      2. Yeah, you are legally impaired for up to 48 hrs in some jurisdictions. When I had my first endoscopy my dad, who was my responsible adult, actually had to come to Recovery to get me, I wasn’t allowed to leave on my own. I lived a 3-block walk from the hospital.

      1. My gag reflex wouldn’t let them do one without sedation, but it is stronger than average and I didn’t like it either. It also helps if you get a doctor who has had some practice instead of a student. But every time I’ve had one with by an MD and with sedation it has been easy and painless.

      2. I will have sedation for sure. I can’t imagine being able to tolerate it otherwise.

    5. I’ve had a number of them, and I consider them the best naps I’ve ever had.

  6. Well, there’s this https://www.instagram.com/p/CPDbasnrBYB/?utm_medium=copy_link

    We replaced a section of fence that Fred the dog wrecked, I think I said that before, finally got the board cut and painted for the missing piece of toe kick under the new (3 year old) cabinet and set in place, rototilled the garden which will have to be redone after 2 days of drenching rain and now snow.

    We hauled yard stuff like the grill out and got them set up, fixed a saggy gate, and had a lovely drive day to a bunch of greenhouses and I bought plants. We put up the last of the drywall in the laundry room and it is mudded and taped. I have a few corners left to deal with and then I can start sanding. Then comes fixing the mudding because I am not a professional drywaller who can mud in one pass.

    Today is physio and pricing out materials for the new deck and fire pit area. We aren’t doing a high deck, more of a patio-type platform that isn’t attached to the house so we don’t have to monkey with permits and railings and inspections.

    I think next week I’m doing census follow up work and I have training tomorrow for that.

    I’ve also been watching Schitt’s Creek (wonderful show) and a whole lot of horror movies. Paul and I have been watching The Last Kingdom and we’re deep into season 3.

    Paul has take a few days off so he doesn’t go back to work until Saturday night so he’s happy.

    All of that and naps too.

  7. I had a good writing week–met with a friend on Zoom to talk about the mutual editing we’re doing on our memoirs in progress, and have continued to write toward our next session. Met with my poetry writing buddy for more of the same. Got poems together and sent off to a writing contest.
    Finished one project-that-pays, got a new one last night that is about to start, with all the usual avalanche feelings>getting up to speed on what the client wants and whatever crazy online platform they’re using.
    Had an enjoyable visit to a local art association members’ exhibit on Sunday. My poetry buddy is also a watercolorist with two paintings in the show–one of my beloved cat that left a year ago. Then we went for ice cream.
    Life is good. My college just suspended mask rule for all fully vaccinated folks; feels good not to be masked.

  8. Working on getting the vegetable/herb garden planted for the year plus new shrubs/trees established before it gets too hot. Much digging and hauling. Adding still more dirt to the raised beds and trying to decide if I’m going to plant the lemon and lime trees in the ground and put a greenhouse over them in the winter. For now they have big pots.

  9. My work is done. Filming for the musical is done and I’m off from that show for a month while they do editing/put on another show.

    Now I am just making clothes for costumes for my other show….

    1. Congratulations on surviving the confusing recording for the last musical.

  10. I did two scary writer-business things on Monday – submitted two things for this year’s Rainbow Awards, and pitched my series ‘Co-Stars’ to the Big Gay Fiction Podcast. Squarely in the class of ‘very likely nothing will come of it’ but getting out of ye olde comfort zone once in a while won’t kill me.

    Aside from that, did some blogging and other bits & pieces. Thought about what to write. Started thinking about how to approach a photographer I’ve discovered on Unsplash about doing some custom work for me.

    Day Job yesterday (after a day off) was awful. Today’s not going to be much better, so I’m stalling on getting started.

  11. I’m working on getting the household back to normal after losing our oldest cat (19 yrs old) a few weeks ago. She was an institution and the grande dame of the house, and her loss left the other cats in a tizzy (and us in mourning).

    In writing world, I’m working on the final book in my Victorian Romance series! It should have come out last fall but, you know, pandemic, during which I jumped into a new pen name, new series, new books… Now I’m back to finish this series and am excited about it again.

    In household projects, my ADD husband, who always leaves partially finished projects and messes in his wake, has reached a record number of unfinished tasks. So I’m creating a master schedule with deadlines, and need to line up professional help for if/when he misses them. Basically, I’m becoming the project manager for projects I never signed on to do. On the bright side, by the end of the summer, I’ll have honed my management skills and will be ready for the project I want to do: a master bedroom/bathroom reno. Because I’m a masochist.

    1. I’m sorry about your grande dame. I’ve had many cats over the years, but only one lived to 19, and she was my very first cat when I was an adult, the first one I chose.

    3. So sorry about your cat. They leave such and empty place when they leave.

    5. I’m sorry for your loss and hope the other cats help distract you from it.

  12. My work is just the same old stuff, and all the exciting work is being done by someone else — after more than a year of waiting for a new roof, I finally have contractors doing the prep work (structural repair needed to support the roof). They showed up yesterday, unannounced, but at least not until noon, so I wasn’t startled out of sleep by the sawzall and hammering.

    Definitely the right contractor for me (not a morning person) — I thought his mid-day arrival yesterday was a fluke, but he showed up today at ten (yay!) instead of the usual crack-of-dawn arrivals for prior contractors. Years ago, when I had an apartment added to my house, the carpenters would show up at dawn, run the sawzall right outside my bedroom for about an hour, until I couldn’t stand it any longer and got out of bed, and then they’d promptly take a coffee break, and silence reigned.

  14. Yesterday my sister and I drove into a small town in southern Wisconsin to order a Stressless recliner. The stores in my town do not carry samples of all the styles in the size I need (small) and I didn’t want to spend that kind of money without actually sitting on the model I wanted to buy. The gps and Google maps gave us horribly complicated directions for how to get there, but since we didn’t have a specific appointment time, it didn’t matter.

    Going into this furniture store was just like being in Scandinavia. The store is called Hansen Interiors, the chairs are made in Norway and the address is on Ole Davidson Rd. And the salesman’s name is Torben Oveson. It had every thing I love about shopping at a small business combined with a better selection than the big chain offered. And there were no add-ons to the price except sales tax. Delivery and a leather care kit are included and they drive up to Chicago once a week.

    I now have to wait three months for the chair to arrive, but I feel good about my choice. By the time I bought the chair yesterday, my neck muscles were in knots from tension and from sitting in the wrong sized chairs, which made it hard to tell whether I was making the right choice, but the salesman showed me how I could adjust the placement of the foam in the headrest in case my needs. change over time. Since I’ve already lost 2 ” and will assuredly shrink more over the years, it was good to know that I can make adjustments if I need to.

    One thing I didn’t have trouble choosing was the color. I ordered a fairly bright blue and I can’t wait to get more color into my apartment. Since I’ve been looking at consignment shops, almost everything I’ve seen is brown or black. And my couch is off-white. So this, when it finally arrives will be a badly needed piece of me in my living room.

  15. Yesterday I went to the garden shop and bought some geraniums to put in hanging pots, got home and went to the shed for the pots and no pots. Someone had either cleaned the shed or I was robbed but they left the lawnmower and generator and tools. I have a suspect in mind.

    Today is bring the screens up from the cellar day, hose them down and tomorrow will be put them up day.

    Had an appointment with my dermatologist for a full skin scan today so I’m good to go for another year. Just have to keep and eye on things.

    As I was leaving the doctor’s office I saw an old work friend that had retired twenty years ago. She was surprised that I recognized her. She looks wonderful for 85, I want to be her when I reach that age.

  16. I’ve been recovering from my mystery ailment, planting the garden, and celebrating my birthday. Also researching buying a new Mac. The meeting re possible work on a gardening book is tomorrow morning. That’s going to determine how fast I need to buy the Mac and when/if I need to chase Penguin for more work. I also have huge amounts of work to do on both my gardens. Plus more mending.

    But I have cleaned & tidied the house.

    2. Happy birthday, JaneB my benefactor! Hope it was the greatest.

      jinx (formerly known as the square root of 49)

  17. I got some more plants into the garden this last weekend, but most of Saturday was dedicated to planting two new heritage apple trees. Sunday my best friend came over to help me move my (heavy but very cool) new fountain, which it turned out I had set up under the living room window where the air conditioner will be going in soon. (In my defense, it was the only flat piece of ground at the front of the house, and also, it was still chilly when I set it up the first time.) There was lots of weeding and digging of dirt and attempts at leveling the space and then a lot of shimming with rocks. But eventually it was sitting in between the two living room windows that face out toward the front yard.

    When we were done and it was set back up and running, we stepped back to look at it and discovered that it looked completely crooked. We were baffled, because we’d used a level and everything.

    Turns out my whole house is crooked. (It IS 130 years old.) So it is an optical illusion, but still annoying. I’m hoping that once the AC is in and there are some plants on the ground on either side, it will look better. Sigh. It is still a beautiful fountain.

    Here’s a short video on Instagram. If you turn up the sound, you can hear it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPEZt8BnYDB/

    2. Instagram is still insisting that I sign in to my non-existent account, drat it! I love fountains.

    4. That is very cute! I see what you mean about it looking crooked but I think I’d try for a mental attitude that it’s an old castle of a fountain so doesn’t want to be straight, just like the Leaning Tower doesn’t want to be straight.

  18. I think I’ve planted enough stuff. Now I have to keep everthing watered.

    My rain barrel is almost empty and no rain in the forcast. The weather is wonderful, though.

    My brain is mush; I was up late with our primary election. And the work with that will continue for a couple of weeks. Thank heavens our board has a competent chair.

  19. I have completed the second of 21 radiation treatments (early stage breast cancer, the lumpectomy was done in early April). My appts are for 8:00 but since they were double and triple booking people in, I wasn’t getting in until closer to 8:30 which played havoc with getting to work on time.They called me earlier today and said some of the staff offered to come in early (7:45)so I can have the first appt of the day. I said yes right away. Now I don’t have to worry as much about losing time.

    Aside from that, I have been battling the dandelions in my yard!

      1. Thank you, it was a complete surprise to me when I had my yearly mammogram and they found a small lump.

  20. I spent the morning helping plant potatoes with my parents after having my first vaccine shot yesterday. My arm is a bit sore but it helped work out the stiffness to plant 40-odd hills. It’s been years since I have been around to help and it felt great to get my hands in the soil of home again. We are very dry here in Manitoba and there are forest fires staring around in the north, so it is getting a bit smoky. I hope we get some rain soon – although it may be snow at this time of year! Looking forward to a great summer in my home province.

  21. I had a wobbly event when trimming the large orange tree. Tachycardia and shortness of breath. Fortunately I was wearing the Apple Watch and the alarm went off, and it was enough to get me to sit. I forget I’m almost 73 and can’t do what I did when 37.
    Talked with cardiologist on Friday and we both think it’s my mitral valve prolapse, which has not given me any problems since my pregnancies. Kids are 38 and 40. Guess I’ve had a good run?
    I’m being monitored and worst part of that is keeping it dry while showering. Two weeks of this nonsense. I’m doing all normal activities just not going at it like a bull in a china shop. So hard for me to slow down. We’ll check the electrical side of the heart. Then discuss.
    In a month or so we’ll do an echocardiogram to see how bad the prolapse is. I think it was just a one off thing due to overwork and possibly dehydration. It was early morning and post two mugs of coffee, still it does need to be checked.

    1. I have tachycardia, but it isn’t related to my mitral valve prolapse. Apparently some people have extra electrical impulses that cause rapid heartbeat, and that’s me. I hope yours turns out to be a rare issue and one you can prevent or treat.

  23. I think I’ve already reported most of my activities — recover from Saturday, usual Sunday, catalytic converter anti-theft device installed on Monday, with a completely unexpected informal photojournalist interview. Today was, as usual, Elder Shopping for litter, canned cat food, and some small stuff. Saturday is the appointment for my second Moderna vaccination.

  24. My two sons (32 and 30) who know me VERY well got me silk plants and silk flowers for my birthday! (I was lamenting the lack of green and color in my condo.) However, being very aware of Mom’s black thumb, they took the safe route. Works for me! I get to enjoy the plants without all the work of watering, repotting, trimming back, etc. I usually forget, and then the plant dies. Not this time! Just keep them dusted! (And I’ve probably got all you plant-savvy people shaking your heads…. )

    Other than that, had another eye injection (reversing Wet Macular Degeneration for me, I will likely have shots the rest of my life – unless they develop another treatment) that wipes me out for 48 hours each time. Puts a big dent in my productivity. Good thing I’m retired.

    1. Happy birthday Moira! Growing smarter not older I think?

      From a fellow deadly-to-plants, admirer of others’ thriving off-shoots, and lover of fun substitutions (small Calder-like balance sculptures in my case).

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