days_unfolding

I was feeling shaky and headachy and tired, so I emailed in sick after an hour of work. Two of my colleagues sent me emails saying that they hoped that I would feel better. They are so nice. And then I lay down. Napped for a couple of hours and got up for my knitting class.

The knitting class was an exercise in frustration. And my low frustration tolerance came in to play. The teacher had me dump what I had done and start over. Actually, I started over a couple of times. Then I got a couple of rows of decent knitting. Then she taught me to purl, and I had a really tough time learning that. If I see someone do something, I often can't replicate it. But I started to get the hang of purling near the end. My end result had some visible mistakes, but it looked more like what you expect knitting to look like than the last time. She wants me to practice for a couple of weeks and then send her an email, and she'll set up another session.

Had some lunch and got orange juice drippings all over me. Started getting a headache again, so I decided to skip piano class. Took another nap.

I was looking for another book on how to deal with low frustration tolerance and found another cognitive-behavioral therapy book. Got it for the Kindle.

Woke up and lounged in bed for a while, only to find Zara staring at me, telling me she's hungry. I told her to give me ten more minutes.

I'm starting on my grocery list for tomorrow and am trying to figure out what to make the rest of the week. Maybe peanut butter chicken? I need to thaw chicken breasts then.

Found a book with some knitting patterns for dishcloths that I'd like to try. I also found a yarn shop in Champaign that has a knitting group that meets on Saturdays.

Watched a ton of the Olympics: men's high bar gymnastics, track and field, women's balance beam gymnastics, and men's springboard diving. So much for the evening :) Oh, and they showed the UK platform diver knitting in the stands. I've seen some of what he's made and he's really good :)

Put a litter box on to soak. Submitted a grocery pickup for tomorrow. I'm really thirsty, so I'm going to go drink some water. And get to bed early. I need to pick up Zara's meds tomorrow as well as the groceries.

I found beginners crochet and knitting classes on Zoom that won't break the bank. The only thing is that the knitting class is on a two-hour lunch during the week, but it's only two sessions, so I probably could work it out.

Okay, they're repeating the crochet one in August, so I just need to attend the knitting one now. I booked the class.

Eeek! Mom called and said that she'd be here tomorrow! I was going to go to Home Depot tonight, but I guess that I'll stay home and clean. (I was expecting her on Friday.)

A while back, Mom suggested Charleston, West Virginia as a place to check out for retirement. It has some interesting places and is cheap to live in. Need to do more research. Morgantown, where the main university is, is another possibility. It's close to Pittsburgh.

Cleaned out the car. Did more laundry. (I need to wash my mom's bedding.) Cleaned my mom's bathroom. Started cleaning my mom's bedroom (the "TV room"). However, I'm really tired and keep on doing a little cleaning and collapsing. I need to go to bed, but I need to stay up until the first drying cycle for the futon cover is done. It's thick and needs two cycles. Maybe I'll go sweep and wash the floors in Mom's bathroom and bedroom.

I lay down for a nap last night and slept straight through until morning. Good. Zara: "Get moving Mommy, I'm hungry!" Fed them and peace reigned throughout the land. Threw in a load of laundry. Started to make my smoothie only to find that the blender needed charging. The smoothie seemed especially tasty today.

I added the GoPlus folding treadmill (courtesy xinas_island) to my Amazon wish list (I'm not thrilled with the manual treadmill because you have to hold on and it hurts my wrists), but it'll be a while until I can get it because I'm saving for the cruise. Plus if I join the U of I gym in the fall, do I really need a treadmill? There will be days when I have to bug out for music lessons though.

Read a Kiplinger article about retiring without kids. It offered some food for thought. That reminds me that I need to look into long-term care insurance. The whole saga with my aunt and uncle proved that. (My uncle really needed to go into long-term care but they couldn't afford it.)

Hmm. It's raining, and the forecasters are predicting "strong" thunderstorms. I'm staying home but need to throw stuff out. Maybe I could pile stuff up by the door and wait out the storm. And no walk today. (See need treadmill.) Maybe I'll use the exercise bike.

Read a Conde Nast Travelers article about your first cruise. Helpful.

And here comes the storm....

Went to take a nap but couldn't sleep until the dryer stopped. (The washer and dryer are next to my bedroom.) Had lunch with great interest from Zara. No, Zara, you are not starving.

I'm trying to figure out a game plan for tackling the place. I guess that I'll throw on some cleaning sweats, then throw some bedding in the wash and soak litter boxes. And then I'll work on the kitchen with cleaning breaks for my mom's bathroom and the TV room (her "bedroom").

Hmm. I looked into online knitting groups because I have an intro book, needles, and yarn. Most of the groups are from public libraries though. Can I join their group if I'm not from the area?

Got my accordion file for music and my singing exercises book. Got my music filed in the accordion file. Much neater. Cleaned off my mom's chair.

I kind of do things in fits and starts. Empty out the dryer? Rest for a minute. Etc. The girls are interested that I'm rearranging stuff. Had a moment of overwhelm. Just. Keep. Moving.

Oy. Mom isn't coming tomorrow after all. My aunt put her cell phone on a tray at the rehab place and someone threw it out. She got it back but it's not working properly. So my mom is trying to replace her phone. It's a prepaid phone, so I suggested Walmart and Target, which led me to log on to find the closest ones to her. Hell's own bells. I guess that I'll do homework soon to get it off of my plate. I've been washing my bedding, so I'll keep doing that to get it done. Mom said that she might come down later in the week.

Apparently my aunt is mad at me because I didn't ask her how she was feeling when Uncle Art died. I swear that I asked her how she was holding up, but apparently that wasn't dramatic enough for her. I am so tired of her. She says that she no longer has a family. Whatever.

Well, I'm off and running on my four-day weekend. However, I earned my pay at work today. I've always said that my unofficial job title is "problem solver," and I solved a bunch of problems at work tonight (credit card billing issues, technical issues). Tired me out though.

I also did the dishes tonight when I got home instead of leaving them until the morning. Sometimes it's the small victories.

Someone on Slate was writing about knitting as an alternative to playing with their phone. They do say that you should stop using electronics an hour before bed--not that I usually have problems falling asleep--so I ordered a knitting "starter kit". I'd rather work on a latch-hook rug, but good latch-hook rug kits are expensive. This knitting kit, OTOH, cost less than $20. I also ordered some Mediterranean Diet cookbooks.

So, progress. So, tired. I was going to get a fasting blood test done tomorrow morning, but I'm going to postpone it to Saturday. Need to sleep in.