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

Snow this morning was pretty, and no issues on the roads. The wind, however, picked up in the afternoon as the temperature dropped. As I type this it’s 21F (-6C), feels like -3F (-19C). Brrr. We decided to stay in the hotel for dinner rather than deal with the wind and cold tonight.

The last day of the Con was fun. We went to a session on drawing comics covers, taught by a professor in the art program at the local college. He was a lot of fun, and very informative about how things get put on covers to ‘sell’ the comic, and to draw the eye to various elements of the page. And the husband may reach out to him to coordinate on some research that ties into his own on media representations of higher education.

Quick, light late lunch, then we hit a local bookstore and wine bar, where we happened to run into the author of a book we picked up to buy when his book club came in to sip and talk. That was fun, especially as the author and the husband went to the same graduate school (well, the husband’s first graduate school, as he attended three for his various MAs and PhD, so far).

Quiet afternoon reading and trying to deal with the inevitable stomach upset of eating badly (for me). I look forward to a lot of rice and eggs when I get home.

Half day working, with official admin time given since we don’t have any political leadership at the small gubm’nt agency. Heh.

Comic run for the weekly haul. I was wearing a DC United (our local soccer team) hoodie, and got to tease some of the football people there about the newish (3 years) name of the DC football franchise (the Washington Commies, aka the Commanders). It was all in fun, but they really should have thought out how the name would be shortened. IHOP for lunch because it was there, we didn’t have any strong feelings on food, and our favorite place next to the comics shop is closed for renovations or reimagining or something, though we did see folks hauling in a lot of food this afternoon, so maybe they rented it out for Thanksgiving? Who knows. I just hope when they reopen that they still have the husband’s hotdog on the menu.

Did pop into the local Giant grocery store. While the lot was full, and there were definitely more people than usual, I parked almost exactly where I normally do, near the edge for a faster drive out, and once I got past the idiots who decided to just stop and stand in the entrance to the store while they hauled out and slowly read their shopping list, it went smoothly. For once they had enough checkers at the regular registers, which was a pleasant surprise. We were only picking up a few things because we’re not doing a huge meal tomorrow. Lots of side dishes, and that’s about it. I was once again grateful that I invested in my own shopping cart, a Clax collapsible cart, because checkout’s a lot easier without bags, and when you know everything will fit. Plus it’s hard to overshop when you’re putting everything in the crate you’re going to bring in from the car. And it’s more maneuverable than most store carts.

Caught the first episode of the last season of Stranger Things with the husband this evening. Still enjoying the show, but worried the answer to shutting it all down will end up killing off another character. Fingers are crossed that I’m wrong, but it’ll be months yet before we know.

Finally tackled a long-desired task, cleaning out the pantry. Did toss a bunch of overly old things, though nothing from before our move in 2020 this time (we were so ready to get out of the old apartment that we just tossed it all in boxes and dragged it with us, regardless of age). And now we have a better mental map of what’s there and what’s gone, plus we can see everything again. Plus it motivated the husband to use up the bananas on the counter; he’s making banana chocolate chip muffins as I type this. I know what breakfast is going to be the rest of this week.

Men’s knitting group this afternoon. Definitely feeling the need for some social time with knitters today, with all the shutdown stuff leaving me bored out of my mind. The knitting store we’re going to today has been offering free classes to furloughed feds, which is very generous of them. Not that this is the DC area’s first shutdown rodeo, but this one feels very different from previous ones, and not just because I’m directly affected this time (in previous ones my agency had funds so I worked fairly normally).

Done with my Continuing Legal Education credits for the year, as of yesterday. There are more offerings, so I may go ahead and bank credit for next year since I’m not doing anything else. The Virginia bar makes you do twelve hours yearly, but allows you to roll up to a year’s worth of credits from one to the next, so this would save me for next year.

I do enjoy a good freebie, so I wandered over to the local Starbucks this morning after doing some necessary shopping at the pharmacy next door. Ordered one of their seasonal specialty drinks because I had a coupon for a free one today. It was good, but it wasn’t coffee; it was dessert. I should have prefaced this by saying that I normally drink my coffee black, no matter the form (hot, cold brew, etc.). So the addition of flavoring, sugar, and oat creamer was so incredibly sweet. I don’t see how people drink those regularly.

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.

Made breakfast (egg bake) for the week. Prepped some chicken breasts for the freezer (pounded to an even depth, salted for a bit, then wiped down for freezing) because they had a good sale. Sautéed some squash for dinner & leftovers. Not bad. Also remembered that if one is getting tired of banana bread that topping it with vanilla ice cream is a good way to switch it up.

Men’s knitting group was good. I’m at the point in this shawl where it took me almost two hours to do four rows. I don’t even know how many stitches across it is, but I have another 50+ rows to go, adding 2-8 stitches per row. It’s gonna be pretty, but man this is getting long.

Back to work after a week off. Hopefully my work laptop won’t demand the damned bitlocker key again, which seems to be happening more often these days (it’s happened now four times).

Today was the annual “Free Comic Book Day” at local comic shops across the US. We popped in about an hour and a half after our local place opened to let the crazies clear out. Was busy, but not claustrophobically so. Then we popped next door for some groceries.

The husband had a friend over and they made a lemon pound cake, which we sent home with said friend. Smelled good, but as it was loaded with butter I forwent the experience. That’s okay, he made banana bread yesterday, so I wasn’t hurting for baked goods.

Slowly making my way back through the DLC for Horizon Forbidden West on the PS5. I had gotten up to the end, but never finished it, so I’m working through it now, including collecting some things I didn’t bother with last time around. Is a fun game, and I do hope they make a third one.

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.