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

Work is just intermittent enough to keep me from really getting into a comfortable ‘not working’ groove. That said, I did finally finish the dancing droplets scarf on the trip up to Boston, and started the little Pierre skinny scarf as well. I’m about 1/3 of the way through that one now, and I think I’ll make some good progress on it tomorrow because my one morning check-in meeting was cancelled. It’s an easy pattern, four different sections (garter ridges, seed stitch, twisted ribbing, and textured triangles) of twelve rows each. I do have to have the pattern print out in front of me to follow along, but it’s easy beyond having to check where you are. I think the next one in the queue will be less needy in terms of reading the pattern, at least for most of it.

The visit to Boston and Salem was a lot of fun. We got to do more touristy stuff than we normally do when we go up to see family (though we did get to see my sister-in-law and her daughter). On a side note, high school seems to agree with the niece, as this was the chattiest we’ve ever seen her. Good deal. I overdid it walking; the knee was not happy with me, and I bowed out of some stuff a couple afternoons to rest it, but I think I’ve recovered sufficiently to start back on more activity now.

The husband managed to come down with a head cold the day after we got back, and I managed to avoid it until the following Sunday (this past Sunday). It’s more annoying than debilitating, but seems to be on the mend now. Had some tests with my gastroenterologist this week based on an anomalous test result from back in August at my annual physical, but it all came back fine, thankfully. The six week wait from August was annoying, but the practice was hopping as all of these furloughed feds catch up on doctor visits.

Overall the furlough is just … boring. Beyond the stress of the no-pay situation, the vast majority of us would simply like to be doing our jobs to serve the American public, so it’s demoralizing when our leaders keep fucking around with political gamesmanship rather than doing their damned jobs.

Lazy weekend. Picked up yarn for a small scarf for the house, and to make a gift scarf for a niece who just started college (in the green of her new school’s colors). It’s dangerous having a yarn store in walking distance from home.

At the moment I’m listening to the husband wailing in the bedroom as he tortures his poor calves with our massage gun. And I’m quietly giggling at the drama. He went out dancing Friday with friends and is paying the price for jumping around a lot more than he’s used to. I suggested the massage gun, which he initially balked at, but he relented so I got him started. I know the feeling – that sucker really does work your calves, and if they’re sore, it’s quite the change. But he’ll feel a hell of a lot better after. I know I always do.

Haircuts and a trip to BJ’s warehouse for the morning, then a quiet day at home, mostly catching up on comics for me.

After playing it low key this morning, I dragged the husband out to lunch, then indulged him by taking him to a comic shop to dig through back issues. He found several, so he had a good time.

Worked some on the shawl, and started a crochet scarf with some yarn a co-worker got me right after I had the surgery. Shawl was fine. Starting the scarf was wobbly, but okay once I got into a groove. I suspect that’ll last until it changes up the stitches in about three more rows.

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.

The husband and I are prepping for our annual get-the-heck-out-of-the-DC-area-and-away-from-national-politics anniversary getaway to the Eastern Shore of Virginia; we take off tomorrow. Cannot wait to get back to the shore. Supposed to be pleasantly cool, and perhaps a little rainy (which will hopefully keep the more obnoxious tourists out).

Saw the orthopedist at the end of last week. Consensus was that the shot didn’t really help this time around, so he’s sending me to another doc in his practice to see about going in to clean up the tendon on the inside of the knee and maybe the meniscus, a repair short of a full knee replacement at this point. Here’s hoping that will help get it all settled down, as I’m very tired of limping and not being able to walk normally, much less do any sort of exercise.

Work has calmed down somewhat, and I managed to empty my inbox of emails before I went out on leave. In a way the past week has been like “convention drop” – where you’re so keyed up during a convention with all the energy that brings that when you get home and all that energy is done you just collapse and try to recover. My little work group has been delving into some of our backlog, as well as prepping for all of the litigation that has begun and is coming. Full employment, for sure, but I could do without the messiness of it all.

But anyway. Books for the weekend are picked out and ready to go. Cat stuff is mostly ready for the neighbors to check in on them. Just need to pack clothes and head out in the morning.

Services went well. I didn’t burst into flames in the church, so that was a plus. But they also weren’t flinging around holy water (only incense), so who knows. Family was well behaved for the most part, and I have experience dealing with older relatives who simply want to talk, so I indulged them while the husband and his sister escaped after they’d had their (very short) fill.

Napped a little at the sister-in-law’s house while they played a couple games. The travel and hotel sleeping just caught up with me. A simple dinner delivered from a local place, and now the husband and I are back at the hotel, packed, and ready to settle in early for the drive home tomorrow. I kind of wish I’d filled up the car with gas this evening, but we’ll hit a station in the morning on the way out instead.

Made it through the first day. My sister in law is really good at small talk, and remembering who is who in the family. The husband is the youngest of the cousins on that side, so he didn’t really interact with a lot of them growing up, and having moved out of the area right after college has also not kept up with any of them. So it’s been good to have the SIL to tell us who is related to whom.

Trip to Walmart after everything to buy a pillow (I needed to replace one at home anyway). Here’s hoping that helps with sleep tonight. Tomorrow is an early one; have to be at the funeral home at 9:30, then presumably we move to the church at some point.

Good drive up, fairly uneventful, about 9 hours with lunch & pee breaks. Buying snacks ahead of time was definitely the right decision.

The immediate family is good. Wake is tomorrow evening, Mass is on Wednesday. Excellent dinner at a new-to-us Italian restaurant near the sister-in-law’s house, that had gluten-free gnocchi. Very tasty.

The hotel is an absolute dive. An extended stay place where they acted insulted that we asked for another pillow. Definitely not staying here again.

The husband and I have to head to the Boston area next week for a family funeral. Which also, unfortunately, means some suit shopping tomorrow because I don’t have one that fits at the moment. I am once again extremely grateful that the primary practice area for my small agency staffed up well before this administration and that none of them have left, so we have plenty of coverage while I’m out.

The cortisone seems to be more fully kicking in; walking is a bit more normal. But I still want them to go in and see what else can be done.

Easy dinner of eggs & rice tonight for me, mac & cheese for him. We watched The Gorge on AppleTV+, which started out really well, then quickly jumped the shark on the way over the putative gorge. We had fun complaining about how off the rails it went, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Another day, more back and forth with 47’s crew not knowing how to do what they want to do. Oh well. Full employment for me. For now. And no, there’s no way in hell I’m taking their fake ‘quit now, work from home for 9 months’ BS.

Dentist this evening. Thankfully he wasn’t talking down to me this time (I had a whole ‘dude, learn to code switch between clients’ talk ready to go, though). Three months and I’m back to do some sort of tooth repair that sounds unpleasant. Whee.

The husband met me after the dentist and we had dinner over in Dupont, which was nice. I miss the walk home together that we used to have when we lived in Southwest DC; that was a nice way to have some time to talk and bond over our days before the inevitable dinner negotiation. We don’t get that as much now, sometimes in the car from the Metro, but a 10 minute car ride is not the same as a 25 minute walk.