Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

For the good deed, that is. The young friend apparently had a cold at the end and the husband and I have it now. LOL I’m fighting it, he’s got it full blown. I’d tease the friend about it, but he’d take it way too seriously and go into a spiral right now, so I’m just teasing the husband instead.

That said, I still got in a workout this morning. Trying a one-week program from my favorite mobility site. So far so good, though getting in the steps while teleworking is a challenge. Speaking of, scuttlebutt in the office is that rather than a couple months we’re probably looking at 9-12 before we can move into the new building because of all the work that has to happen to get the IT systems up to snuff, including work outside the building to tear up the street and install better external wiring. So much for “move in ready” in the request for proposals. Not complaining, at all, just amazed at how messy this whole thing has been. All because a large agency head hated his building downtown, and his commute. Lawdy.

I’ve been slacking off on my PT exercises for the repaired knee, with the (expected) result that it’s been more sore lately. Splurged for a squat wedge, which is a lot easier to use for heel elevated squats. I can get a lot deeper into a squat than on flat feet, and that was one of the things they had me doing a lot when I was going to PT on the regular. Between that and the slack block my knee is feeling better.

Was back to work today, teleworking. Relatively quiet, so mostly cleaned out email and read a longish memo from justice that pertains to my small gubm’nt agency’s work, though it was written for a different agency. We’ll have to change some of our programs, and cancel some others, under this new guidance. But that’s a problem for next week.

The husband and I are going to take some trips via airplane next year so I’m applying for TSA’s PreCheck clearance. He’s already got it, and I consider it worth the cash to not deal with as much security nonsense at the actual airport. Less valuable in the DC area where it’s well known and so well subscribed, but for flying back I understand it cuts out a lot of hassle.

Slowing down in terms of work, speeding up in terms of other life things.

Work has been getting a tad slower. Most of the folks know what they should/shouldn’t be doing at this point, so there’s little need to consult the lawyers after you’ve been going at it for 35 days. We do get inquiries, but not as many. That may pick up as we start planning restart activities, for whenever Congress decides to do their damned jobs. There’s rumors of movement, but nothing as yet. It’s not like they can take the House’s bill at this point, since that only takes us through the week before Thanksgiving, and no one wants to deal with this mess all over again in three weeks anyway.

In happier news, I finished the latest scarf tonight. No pictures yet, as it’s still damp on a towel for blocking at the moment. Looking at the next things in the queue I may go nuts and cast on two projects – a chunky hat with an interesting bit of color work detail (in grey and dark blue), and this very 90s looking scarf that the husband asked me to make him when I was flipping through patterns (in the exact colors pictured, because my local yarn shop had that exact wool in stock). It apparently looks just like a sweater he had back in the 90s that he loved. The scarf will be a ton of mindless 2×2 ribbing, which makes it perfect for the few meetings I have, as well as new TV viewing, where the hat will need a bit more attention, so older movies I’ve seen will be the call there.

Caught up on comics last week, and again this afternoon. Not thrilled with the current book on my kindle, The Portable Door. Having just finished re-reading the Wheel of Time series, I’m finding the smart assedness of this one jarring. Not that I don’t love a book with a smart assed voice, but it’s not hitting for me right now.

Had what is likely my last physical therapy session for the knee today. I have a ton of notes I took on exercises, so I think I’m set. It’s surprisingly not sore this evening, even after some shuttle runs and turning drills. I won’t be running a race any time soon, but in theory I could start more walking with some running interspersed.

Early day metroing downtown for dentist appointments for the husband and myself. Walked him up to a different metro after, then I walked up to the U street metro, all around about a mile and 3/4 (2.7km). Hardest part was reminding myself to brace my core and stand upright. I’ve been walking oddly for so long because of the knee that I have to retrain myself to walk normally. But I’m determined not to be one of those old men who are permanently hunched over.

Home to cool off, then PT. The husband met me there, a quick trip for groceries, then home to shower and knit. Finished the body of the shawl, now I’m on the border. Between the afternoon and evening (post comics & dinner) I finished the last two rows of the body and the first four rows of the border. Fourteen more to go, then bind off and done. So maybe seven more hours? Ha.

After all that I’m hoping I sleep like the dead.

Both in terms of PT and the knitting.

At PT they’re upping the weights in hand, and changing up the exercises, as they should be doing. I’m mostly fine on steps now, still some numbness when I kneel on the knee, and I can walk and bike pretty much normally. Zero cardio capacity at the moment, though, so I need to get on the bike more to help build that back.

Four more rows on the shawl. I’m 70% there, but with a lot more to go. I’m determined to get through this, though I may break and do a dishcloth or two when I need a small piece.

My nieces are all crocheting these days, and it’s fun to watch them finish things.

What I intended to do while the husband was out was to look at my yarn, see if I had any that would make a good chicken, see what else I needed to knit one, print the pattern, walk to the local yarn/sewing shop for said supplies, and dig in.

What actually happened was I dug out the yarn to finish a Santa hat I started last fall but ran out of yarn for, then waited months to get the same yarn from the local place I got the first batch from, and then never got around to finishing. So I finished that, had some lunch, then walked over to the local yarn store. Got the extra bits, even managing to find it all without help, but then I also spotted two cross stitch kits that were to fun to pass up. Bought it all, brought it home, and immediately dug into one of the two cross stitch kits, because it was very simple and I wanted to surprise the husband with it. Almost had it done by the time he got home – just some extra backstitching I added to make the stars pop. Got it set in the hoop and zipped upstairs to show him the finished pattern, which was five gold stars on the top, with the words “Great place for a shit” underneath.

(here’s where I should explain that we have a half bath on the 2nd floor where we hang all of my cross stitch; I think this new one is going to go right above the cat’s litter box)

Never did start the chicken. Did frog the yarn I’m going to use, which was partially done up in a scarf that I wasn’t loving. The pattern I love, but not necessarily with that yarn.

The other motive for walking over to the yarn shop was just that – walking. Wanted to see how I did on a short (quarter mile/400 meter) walk with no crutch, and it went well, though I think I was paying way more attention than normal to how I was walking. Survived it, so now I need to do more of that.

This morning was the latest check-in with the orthopedist. He’s quite pleased with the progress. The numbness I still have around the bottom of the kneecap, though it’s been receding, is normal. Twelve weeks is this guy’s mantra for recovery, so we power on through PT. Physical therapy is more like a workout now than earlier on, progressively heavier weights as we strengthen the quads. Whee!

But it’s nice to have some external validation that the recovery work is humming right along on schedule.

Past that I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that my small gubm’nt agency keeps humming along. The latest draft budget out of the House wasn’t nearly as much of a cut as 47 proposed, just $2B less than the current budget, as opposed to $5.1B less. We expect the Senate to be even less enthused with his request, but none of this is final until it’s final, so I’m just keeping going as long as they’ll let me.

We did some random out of the house shopping this past weekend. Tried a new (to us) used bookstore, where I found some fun stuff. Tried to go to a thrift store, but the parking lot was full, with more cars in the aisle. Luckily we were able to turn around and get out without getting trapped. Ikea for some shelves for Legos, lunch at some point in there, and home to nap. Did walk a bit too much without the one crutch that I’m using out of the house, but that’s another thing I’m trying to stretch.

First PT appointment. Third time seeing this particular therapist and he was glad I finally had surgery to fix the knee. Ran me through my paces, took measurements for posterity, and gave me homework for the next two days until I see him again. Whee! Took my bullet journal with me and took good notes on the exercises. Surprisingly still not feeling the need for pain medication, even after the session. The most irritating part was getting in and out of the ubers with the brace on, honestly.

The husband is off to dinner with a friend, and they’re going to pick up the weekly haul of comics. I’m probably over a month behind on those at this point, but I’m not stressed about it yet.

In the meantime I’m currently stuck on the couch under a cat, so I’ll figure out the rest of the evening later.

Did get to bed early last night, and up early this morning. Biked, even (in the trainer). Knee is tolerating both. However, I had dinner with a former coworker to catch up in person, and didn’t get home until 9ish, so I’ll not be in bed early (for me). ‘Twas worth the delay this evening, but I think I’ll be dragging more tomorrow.

The five bullet nonsense is back, and is now weekly, because my agency is wussing out and not telling us not to respond. I’m getting my eye exercises in just thinking about them. You know, because I keep rolling them so much.

And this is the last month in our performance review year (april to march). I did pick up a little book about giving feedback that was recommended at the first half of training, which arrived today. Hoping that helps with writing up my own stuff, and giving management some assistance with the folks I’m unofficially helping with.

I’m on my feet a lot more now that everyone is back in the office full time. I’m doing some very informal coordinating of some of our joint work, so I’m up and about a lot. I took the standing desk down once for a meeting that ended up over in a conference room instead of my office; otherwise it stayed up all day because I was bouncing in and out of the office all day.

For all that I am an attorney, I don’t have a lot to do with actual court cases. My role is typically to advise and let the program people run and do what they’re going to do (or help clean up after the fact). So having to even tangentially keep track of all of the cases in various courts and all of the sundry temporary restraining orders has been a hoot.

After this week I’m going to need to adjust my sleep & waking schedules to adjust to this new work schedule. I’m making it in, but without any time to exercise. And I know myself well enough to know that if I don’t exercise first thing it’s not going to happen. That’ll be next week’s adjustment, I think; this week has had enough to adjust to with the normal stuff, let along all of 47’s chaos.