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.
Long day reviewing existing things at work so the new group to cancel them. Whee. Kept having to impress upon career people that this was a vibe check, that we’re going to get sued, and so be it, we just needed to get through it and be done with it.
The husband continues to bake, this time a small olive oil cake. Very tasty.
Regular doc checkup tomorrow, and an appointment with the postal service to pay for and turn in my passport renewal. It’s well over due, so I have to go in person, and this way they can do the photo, too. Getting the little card as well as the book, first as a just-in-case it’s useful, and then as an added, more easily carried proof of citizenship. Because yes, I’m that paranoid.
Slept for shit last night, between eating too much Chinese food and the knee still setting down. So today was lots of video game grinding, then I watched a couple movies while finishing a dish cloth I was working on to try out some color work before I tackle a blanket in a similar pattern. But first I need to finish a shawl I’ve been working on.
Was sorely tempted to take advantage of Brooklyn Tweed’s going out of the yarn business sale, but I don’t need to spend the money right now, and I definitely don’t need any more yarn guilt.
Stomach’s calmer, so here’s hoping sleep will be easier. The husband is out of town with his sister to commemorate their Mom’s passing during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which leaves me plenty of knitting time.
Cortisone shot in the knee, which I babied the rest of the day (lots of video gaming, sprawled out on the couch). Back in four weeks to see how it’s doing, and see if we need a referral to another physician in the practice to do a camera scope inside.
Ordered Chinese in, ate way too much for someone who’s sedentary. Oh well.
A big policy document finally shook loose at work, so now we can turn to doing and back away from all the hand wringing. I am so, so very grateful that I recruited one capable, personable attorney from my old agency to work on my portfolio, and he in turn recruited another capable, personable attorney from our old agency for the same. Having backup that I enjoy talking to has been such a blessing, especially on days like today where I needed to be away and resting.
The husband has been dealing with work stress and that has meant he’s been baking. This past weekend was cupcakes, then a cake-for-two using the leftover frosting on Monday. Banana muffins on Tuesday. Today was peanut butter sandwich cookies. I am eternally grateful now that america’s test kitchen put out their “baking for two” cookbook this year, as it gives him ways to indulge stress baking without making enough for a dozen people. Six cookies was just enough. The cake-for-two was still a lot, but better than having an entire cake sitting around. Best gift ever.
Off to the orthopedist tomorrow to see what sort of injection he has planned. I just want normal movement – having the knee lock up while trying to walk ain’t fun.
As the small gubm’nt agency continues to try and thread the needle of courts versus policy direction, I keep hearing about things and being told that people at senior levels are either asking the agency head if they can read me into something, or they’re telling other people to come ask me questions about some policy they’re developing. In the first case the agency head keeps saying no, which I interpret as him trying to minimize the number of people working on things, but at a certain point it starts to feel personal. In the second case I have nothing to add because I haven’t been read into the policy (see case the first), so I have no clue what they’re doing. So when it all blows up, it’s not my fault, because they won’t let me do my job. Whatevs.
Tonight after work was another stop at the local market, this time for some more zucchini to sauté, and sweet potatoes to boil & mash, to go with the leftover meatloaf, which heated up nicely in the toaster oven.
I had a whopping one thing planned for today, to make breakfast ahead for this upcoming week. Got it done (a ‘crustless quiche’ – basically an egg bake with some veggies in it), and whipped out some meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner as well. Woo.
Was otherwise mostly a zombie today. I did also get a repeat done on a dishcloth I’m working on. It’s in a two color honeycomb pattern, and I’m treating it as a preview of a honeycomb blanket I have queued up sometime soon (I bought a kit, so the yarn is here and ready). I get it now, and the dishcloth is actually easy enough to do on the Metro, so I might work on it during the morning commute. Or not. Who knows.
Knee is still unstable. *shrug* Which was a large part of sitting on my ass knitting or playing video games today.
Had some friends over for games and a trip to the local Olive Garden. These were city boys who don’t get out to suburban restaurants, so it was a treat for them.
The new drug doesn’t seem much different from the old NSAID? Other than the fact that it’s a 3x a day pill versus 1x a day, which makes it easier to forget to take. Knee is still being obnoxious for walking, and this morning my skin was irritated from the firmer brace overnight.
My credit union sent me a “you haven’t used your credit card with us enough, so we’re going to close it if you don’t use it before this summer” letter, so I ordered the husband a doo-dad for his stand mixer (a cover that fits over the big whisk, that you pull down when you’re done to clean most of the stuff off of it; he’ll love it). Hopefully that’ll mollify them.
Managed to move my next orthopedist appointment to next Friday versus a week from Monday, and they gave me a stronger NSAID to start tomorrow. Going back to a bigger brace is helping, too.
Missed lunch because of a last minute meeting, but managed to finish something that we needed to get done for the agency head, so yay? Also, no real news on the budget yet, though other agencies’ plans have leaked to the press and they’re pretty draconian. I would not be surprised if ours was half of our current level, which would be consistent with the public plans that the think tanks announced prior to the start of this administration.
Ordered in dinner as soon as we got home, watched some fun British TV, then read some.