Another long week.

But a slightly better one. I worked overtime three nights of it, and I was pretty much caught up until the system went down yesterday afternoon. Thankfully, I had my knitting and made some progress there while waiting to see if the system came up before quitting time. (It didn't.)

I also had plenty of time to clean off my desk and dust my cubicle. We are having bigwigs in the office next week. No jeans until they're all safely gone. Everything shipshape. I'm assigned to the kitchen committee. Quelle joie! Which means that every so often I need to go in and make sure that the counters are spotless and that the break room looks as if nobody ever eats in there. I got to muck out the big fridge yesterday afternoon.

Today I did the Costco run and the Braum's run and washed six small-to-medium loads of laundry, sorted by color, urgency, and dryer heat. The last load is about to go into the dryer. Everything else is folded and put away, which is in itself a miracle on the order of the loaves and the fishes.

Strangely, I am not knackered.

There has been knitting. And reading. And I finished my tax return but cannot file it until we get an exemption certificate for Middlest so I don't get dinged for my kid having no insurance. No job = no income = no insurance =  frustration on both our parts, because last year I just filed with none of this nonsense and no repercussions.

It was a glorious day to be outside running errands. Temperate breeze while I tanked the Tardis. I love feeling my hair fly about (as long as I am not wearing lipstick, that is).

I tried on the cowl I'm knitting, and it fits exactly as I'd hoped. I'm not sure how much longer to make it. I'm inclined to knit until I run out of yarn, but if I knew that I had enough yarn for it, I'd stop now and knit coordinating mitts. As it is, I think I'll just keep going with the cowl and find a fatter yarn in the funky neutral and whip up another pair of Fetching.

The new Gudrun Sjödén catalogue arrived midweek, at the end of an exhausting day. I stayed up way too late drooling over it. Basically, I want one of everything, in one color or another, and a walk-in closet or maybe just a larger house. *snort*

The yarn is calling. Later, gators.

A long week.

I made it to work all four days from Tuesday through Friday. Got my emails wrangled. Got my ToDo's pretty much whipped into shape. Got all of the outgoing mail sent. Reviewed the mail my coworkers wrangled while I was out and deleted those folders. Endured three separate meetings and watched switchboard during a meeting for the admin team.

Came home the first three nights tired but triumphant and grateful. Came home last night grateful for my anti-anxiety and muscle relaxer prescriptions. Not to mention 28 minutes of inadvertent overtime. I was ready to pinch SemperFi's head off. I was almost ready to email the office manager and ask her to assign me to someone else.

At home, Middlest was having an equally difficult day. When I messaged to saying that my day had gone south at the end and that I was taking myself out to dinner so as not to bring that toxicity home with me, my kid asked me to bring something home as well. And then my phone went berserk as I walked down to the Tardis and sent Middlest about a dozen crying/screaming stickers, which I didn't see until I was halfway home, and which didn't help my beloved child's mental state at all.

I decided that Panera take-out was a more sensible solution than the steak/baked sweet/Caesar salad (surrounded by people) that I'd initially envisioned. So I picked up my dinner and hit Bueno for Middlest's, put Middlest's on the kitchen counter, and took mine to my room.

I was almost immediately grateful that Middlest had asked me to do a small kindness, and it was almost immediately effective in beginning to turn my attitude around. I knitted a little after dinner, read my scriptures, and crashed somewhat earlier than I've been doing since going back to work.

Today has been a good day. Adequate rest last night, successful runs to Daiso (for disposable face masks) then Costco then home. Quick lunch after helping to put the food away. Lovely nap. Knitting in companionable silence while Middlest ate dinner. Loading the dishwasher and making my own dinner, eaten with my legs up in bed. After which I ran to Braum's for the usual plus a dozen eggs and a package of discounted white chocolate macadamia nut cookies that I have divvied up for lunches next week.

I've downloaded the first book in one of my favorite mystery series (Lord Peter Wimsey) to my Kindle for re-reading. It's time to take my evening meds, sort out my pills for next week, and go knit or read until I'm ready to sleep again.

I am so looking forward to attending church tomorrow. I haven't been well enough to attend in almost a month. I need to take the sacrament, and I want to see my friends and fellowship with them.

Kind of a weird but good day.

Lots and lots of sleeping. I could probably get an Olympic medal for sleeping. Not much else has happened. Less coughing than yesterday. A little coloring while listening to "Adventures in Music" tonight. Several more chapters in the novel I'm reading. Multiple trips to the shipping notice to see if my latest order is still hung up in Cologne (Koeln). It is.

I did a (very) little work on my taxes today. Changed my password, confirmed my personal information, and entered a handful of numbers. I set the timer in the kitchen so I would not lose track of time and sit here too long.

The Cranberries' lead singer is dead at 46. I loved her voice. Cause of death is not known at this time. She leaves three children. I hope she is at peace, and I pray that her family may be comforted.

Today is Beloved's fifth angelversary. Ordinarily, I try to spend this day in service to others, but that's difficult when I'm convalescing. I'm pretty much limited to prayers (not a small thing), positive thoughts, and scattering joy on Facebook.

One of the best things that happened was finding the name of an artist I'd never heard of (Rackstraw Downes) in an interview of an LDS artist on Segullah, googling him, and IMing Fourthborn's roommate the artist's name. As I'd hoped, my friend was delighted.

Another good thing was a picture my dear friend R shared on Facebook, painted by a Haitian artist, of Dr. King gently shushing the POTUS. I shared that as well, and I will probably get unfriended by a lot of people for it, but the man is anything but presidential. I was not a huge fan of the prior POTUS's politics, but I respected him as a human being. I wish I could say that for the sitting one.

Happy thoughts, need some happy thoughts. OK, here's one: I spent a few minutes this afternoon whirring ginger cookie crumbs in the food processor and adding them to the stash in the freezer. I think we are almost to the point where I can use them as the crust for a pumpkin cheesecake.

A very happy thought, indeed!

Turning the other cheek

That's all I seem to be doing these days. Sit up in bed until my tush goes to sleep. Lie on one side until my hand goes to sleep. Sit out here in the dining room on a hard chair until my legs go to sleep.

Today is my sixth wedding anniversary. It's been a lovely, calm day, dampened only by the fact that I kept my germs at home instead of going to church. Two of my kids have posted photo memories on Facebook.

I've knitted, colored, listened to classical music, taken a long nap, and figured out things to eat that won't make me cough. There really has been minimal coughing today, and very little drainage. While I'm still not fully recovered from this flu, I feel infinitely better than I did a week ago today, when I dragged myself to the after-hours clinic and came home with an Rx for Tamiflu.

I just want to be well and stay that way for a good long while, if that's Heaven's plan for my growth. My parents have been popping up in my dreams with increasing frequency. They're typically reproving me when they do. And they weren't picky-picky people in mortality. Maybe the next time I'll have sufficient presence of mind to ask if this is a big hint from the Universe or if they're just there to remind me that I need to do more family history research.

Willing to do that, absolutely. (The latter, not the former.) I need to be able to sit with my legs and feet down long enough to make it happen.

In which your intrepid heroine finishes a book!

After 65 years, I've finally read The Princess Bride. It's good, different in several respects from the movie, and I liked it.

I'm also on the third volume of Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars series.

Yesterday I frogged the cowl I'd been working on for a week and cast on something else. Today I frogged that and am forging ahead with a different idea.

I'm at the crabby stage of convalescence. (I may have said this before.) Doc says I can think about going back to work on Tuesday. I've been coughing a little all day, not sure why. I just want to be well and whole and normal. Back at work, earning a living, visiting with my friends.

My appetite is erratic. And imperious. If I'm not hungry or eating, I'm napping or thinking about it.

Popcorn. Ooh, yes please. Later, gators!

Three days later, and I'm still on the mend.

Which is a good thing. I sent a secure message to my doctor's office, inquiring as to when I'm no longer a danger to public health. I suspect to hear back sometime tomorrow. I have zero intention of going into work until next week, or my doctor OKs it, whichever comes first.

So what I have I done today? Read a nice chunk of The Princess Bride. (Don't faint, Fourthborn.) Cleared one small spot on the living room floor and moved its contents under the orange buffet thingie by the window in what used to be the breakfast nook. Cleared a smaller spot and finished filling in under the buffet and between it and the tall chest of drawers. Swept up some feral dust bunnies that had set up camp around both cleared spots. Finished loading the dishwasher and ran it.

That's about as domestic as I got. A friend from church was kind enough to include our short list in her Costco run and drop it off. A different friend will make a Braums run tomorrow for fresh milk, OJ, and the like.

I've done some coloring and completed the first lace band on the cowl that I'm knitting. A handful of items have gone into the paper bags by the front door that will be tossed into the recycling bin once they're full. A handful of other items are tossed against the door to the garage and will get washed tomorrow (or whenever).

It's supposed to freeze tonight. We have our taps dripping slowly. I have zero desire to walk out into the garage and start a load of darks. Ask me again tomorrow.

I needed to come out here and sit in a different position than I settle into when I'm resting in bed. My tush is no longer asleep, but my legs are both tingling in warning. Later, gators. Ms. Ravelled is feeling remarkably human again. Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts.

What am I supposed to be learning from this?

I've been puny for a little over two months now. And I'm sick (ha ha) and tired of it. I did not go to church yesterday, because the cough that sprang up Friday night got worse over Saturday, and while I didn't think I was contagious, I also didn't think it was fair to my friends to go and be wrong.

It is a measure of how lousy I felt that Saturday night I set the alarm for 9:00, reasoning that it would give plenty of notice to the bishop and two friends who could sub as chorister, entirely forgetting that this is a new year, and we are now meeting at 9:00. Thankfully, one of those friends stepped in.

I was at the after-hours clinic a little after they opened at 1:00, and I was not the first person there. I tried hard not to cough on anyone. I had a pocketful of Ricola, which I consumed well before I got called back to an examining room. I was sitting in a chair that backed up to a window, and I was not wearing a jacket. After I'd been there a couple of hours, I started shivering. As soon as the bench emptied which backed up to an inside wall, I claimed it.

When the nurse took me back for triage, she swabbed my nose for flu and took my temperature, which was 100.2. (In normal people terms, that would be 101+. And my BP, which is normally around 106/65-70, was 143/79.) She sent me back to the waiting room until an examining room became open.

The doctor was great. His name was Short, and he was not. I pointed out to him that that was false advertising. He gave me something more than a pity laugh and confirmed that I have the flu, and since I am diabetic we would be attacking it with Tamiflu.

Thus far, I am impressed. I've taken three doses. My temperature is only about half a degree above normal, my coughs are productive, less frequent, and no longer bone-shattering. It will probably be a day or two before my abdominal muscles forgive me. I could barely roll out of bed this morning. I'm sleeping a lot. And I'm finally developing an appetite.

I was ravenous when I got home from the pharmacy last night, and my body kept NOPE-ing. Buttermilk? Three sips and put the cup in the fridge. Leftover chipotle mashed potatoes? Three bites and what the hell do you think you're doing? One pretzel and you spit that out right now, missy, and go straight to bed! So I did.

Somewhere around the end of the day I was sufficiently awake to search Ravelry for a one-skein cowl, cast it on, and work most of three rounds. As of this writing, the picot hem at the bottom is finished, and I'm ready to gallop onward. Since the yarn I'm using is DK, and the pattern is written for fingering, I'm eliminating rows methodically in hopes of having enough. I like what I'm seeing thus far.

I wore one of the new stripedy shirts to the clinic yesterday. It fits perfectly. The skirt and tights that I ordered last week are scheduled to be here on Friday. Now I just need to be well enough to wear them out in public.

First FO of 2018!

First finished object of the new year. Knitted "necklace" from Daniel Yuhas's Knitting from the Center Out ~ a find at Half Price Books several weeks ago. His design features two yarns and round after round of twisted knit stitches. I opted for Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Painted (the first yarn I've liked from that company) and no twisted stitches.

I've now cast on Willow Cowl by Amelia Lyon. I'm knitting it in the same Araucania yarn that I gave to my sister for Christmas. The shop owner wound the ball for me and forgot to pop the ball band into the core of the ball, so I've emailed my sister to ask her for specs. I'm three rows in on the picot hem at the bottom, knitting it very carefully on DP's. This will be a stay-at-home project unless and until I move it onto a circular needle. I've only dropped one stitch thus far.