Tag: staycation

a bit of an update

I got my first shot. Lancelot is still a goober, albeit my very favorite goober.

The shot was fine, no issues at all. I actually woke up Saturday morning feeling better than I have in a while. So yay. The shot didn’t hurt or cause me any more trouble than any other vaccine I’ve ever had. It was less painful than the MMR, if anyone has an adult memory of getting that one. My only side effect was a slightly sore arm.

Eric has been particularly photogenic lately

I’m doing pretty well with life in general right now. I did a lot of food prep stuff this weekend that I think will be helpful and I have a plan of attack for getting the house in shape for next weekend. For the first time since Lancelot and I have lived here together we are having friends over, in the house, for a meal and a concert.

I am damn near beside myself with excitement.

Everyone in attendance will either be fully vaccinated or have their first shot, with the exception of L. These are also friends of ours that are just as careful about COVID safety precautions as we are. And that will start the week of celebrations. There will be dinner with my mom and stepdad, dinner out with L at our favorite restaurant, museums, I’m assuming Thai food, and my birthday is in there. I need this vacation so damn bad.

Dog Blossom is pooped too

The healthy eating/exercise/Noom stuff is going well. I’ve lost a total of 22.5lbs and now that I’m starting to feel better it’s time to get back to exercising. My goal (once again) is to hit 5000+ steps every day and to drink at least nine 8oz glasses of water every day. It’s just now coming up on 2pm and I already have almost 2200 steps so I consider that good. Thirty minutes on the treadmill will help quite a bit.

The food prep I did was mostly getting together more of the smoothie packs, partly because I had fresh spinach to use and partly because that was a big time saver. This time I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt and only 2.75oz. I also prepped four snack bowls with a hard boiled egg and two clementines and five “salad starters.”

I have these divided container things so I put fresh spinach in the biggest part and then chopped up a cucumber and divided that among the containers and used the smallest spot for shredded carrots. At lunch I dumped all of that into a big bowl and added a hard boiled egg, 1/4C roasted pumpkin seeds (also pre-measured), and my salad dressing (if you guess pre-measured you’d be right).

Having all of that measured ahead of time made my lunch preparation time today almost negligible. It was nice to have a little extra time during my break to do other things. Like laundry.

Mama, laundry is evil

an update in photos

This was the unofficial start of our staycation. Lancelot got me that gorgeous necklace, handmade by a friend of ours, and a yarn bowl that reads “I knit because murder is wrong.”

We got to spend a total of almost five uninterrupted days together and it was heavenly. And that was good because now he’s going to be working overtime, and that is not so heavenly. But I’ll be working extra as well, so I suppose it all balances out.

The one museum here in town is having a Jim Henson exhibit right now so I got to “hug” Bert and Ernie. We went on Wednesday at 10am and damn near had the place to ourselves. The exhibit was amazing and damn near made me cry. I grew up with these guys.

We knew that we wanted needed to really make the most of our time off so we tried to have a good balance of doing things that were safe and staying home like slugs. It worked pretty well.

Our big gift to each other this year is art for the house. We have an amazing local art gallery so we went there and got this amazing painting as well as another, much smaller, piece. This is in our living room and makes me feel like I’m outside in a flower garden.
Pippy spent lots of time snuggled up with her daddy. And Thanos.
Eric was actually a little bit playful.
Garth spent a lot of time napping in the sun and recovering from the trauma of having eye drops twice a day for a week. (he’s doing so much better now)
This might be my favorite thing though, custom knitting needles that L got for me. The translation from Gaelic is “Erin’s knitting needle.” How fucking cool is that?

At any rate, I’m really glad we had the time off that we did. L is being told that he’ll be doing overtime the next two weeks and with the way my workload is starting to look I’ll be surprised if I don’t end up working over the holiday break. Fortunately I’m making good progress on the last knit holiday gift and will hopefully get it done in time. Of course I left the most complicated/involved project for last, like a moron…

Lancelot and I did this thing…

It really is official now, and it still really doesn’t feel like it. But everything came off without a hitch and we are now well and truly Mr. and Mrs. Lancelot. And I do really love that.

My friend K took the photos for us and from what I’ve seen so far… WOW. She’s phenomenal and we’re totally lucky that she was willing and able to do this for us. I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures she took.

Everything went really well in spite of the crazy heat and we had a very nice time.

So since then we’ve been doing our best to enjoy our brief vacation from work. We ate out at a restaurant for the first time in utter ages. We went to two museums, both of which are practicing very strict social distancing, much to my pleasure.

I took a picture of us last year in the atrium of this same museum. Last year we were able to sit on the edge of the fountain, this year we stood. But still, I got to get out and do a few things. SAFELY.

Both of us return to work now, L tonight and me in the morning. We’ve hung up all of the pictures we received as gifts (did you know Etsy has a wedding registry? totally awesome), made a few purchases to spiff up the house a little, and taken some time to relax.

And last night we got to celebrate my mom’s birthday. With cheesecake. That I had to make. It was super yum.

Oh, I might have snuck to the yarn shop (with L’s full knowledge) and acquired two skeins of Mountain Colors “Twizzlefoot” that might just get turned into a single shawl…

just call me Princess Productivity

That is one of the shawls I’m currently working on. Safe to say this is the one getting the most love right now. The others are vastly different, but should start getting worked on soon. There’s something about finishing a project that makes me want to finish even more. Oh, that’s Eric’s tail in the picture.

Garth was busy enjoying the puppy still being asleep this morning. He was turning his little self inside out. So freaking cute.

I’ve been mostly productive lately and I think that’s mostly good. I’ve been powering through stuff at work. Yesterday was super good, especially considering I left early for therapy. Going to therapy helped with the knitting as well. I took the shawl with me and knit in the waiting room before my appointment. It helps relax me and sometimes someone will comment. Yesterday I had a woman comment on how beautiful it was.

Anyway, productivity, yes. I got my pill trays filled, the sheets changed, a load of laundry folded and put away, my stuff for this weekend packed, the dishwasher emptied, and various stuff put away. It felt good.

This weekend this is dinner out planned, massages tomorrow morning, a movie, an Oktoberfest being discussed, breakfast with Mom on Sunday, and then Lancelot and I will be in charge of the homestead.

not dead yet

Hello y’all! Did ya miss me? Yeah, me too.

I have so much I want to write about, pictures to share, but there’s not enough time while I’m awake and kicking.

The time off with Lancelot was awesome. We cooked good food together, went to an art museum, saw the new Spiderman movie, and just generally enjoyed each other’s company.

I also blocked two shawls (that I got pictures of), got some beautiful new jewelry, and managed to get a few projects taken care of – like finishing a professional development course for work.

Right now I’m feeling very fortunate to be in good health, to have a job I love, a roof over my head, and food to eat. I know that there are a whole lot of other folks who are less fortunate, through no fault of their own.

Be kind to one another, and remember that you have no idea what battles your fellow person is fighting.

vacation eve AND evicted (no, not really)

This is my last day of work until July 22nd, ALL PRAISE BE TO THE ALMIGHTY CEILING CAT!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, love it even sometimes. But I’m ready for a break. Overly ready. And Lancelot is ready for a break from his job, so the time is right.

This isn’t going to be a big trip like when we went to Ireland, in fact we aren’t really going anywhere. And quite often those are the best kind of vacations. We’ll get to bum around and play tourist in our city, sleep late, and spend time with each other. I’m looking forward to it.

But first, I have a list of projects. Well, projects and random things I want to do. Like, the other day when I was out shopping with Mom I got new knobs for my bathroom cabinets. And I have a friend who’s been making beaded bracelets so I’m going to thin out my bead stash and send a package to her. And I’ve got a few shawls that need to be blocked and since Mom is now on her trip I can use her bed to do that.

The plan is to spend tomorrow during the day, while L is catching up on a little sleep, to start tearing into my list. I might actually start tonight depending on how I feel.

So, you’re probably wondering about the “eviction” part of today’s title. If you aren’t, you likely didn’t read the title and then I say “shame on you, you lazy little so-and-so.”

I mentioned that Mom is on a trip. Her bestie, who lives on the west coast, flew in and is going with her. I gave up my bedroom for her to stay in while she’s here. I’ve been informed that I have the most comfortable bed and the most relaxing bedroom ever and I’m going to need to find a new place because she’s taking over.

I may have to frame that and have it hung in my room. It would totally fit with the decor.

monday, part two

I have to hope that the worst of it is behind me, because to think that the rest of the day will be just like this – or even fucking worse – is truly unbearable.

There’s a lot going on right now, at home and at work, so I’m a little frazzled trying to keep it all straight. I’m sure it will end up fine but at the moment it feels like my brains have been replaced with scrambled eggs.

This morning I had the (not at all) brilliant idea that I didn’t need to carry my purse, just my billfold. Fine, except that meant I left the house with no sunglasses and no office keys. Fortunately all of the doors in our office suite are keyed the same so I got one of the other girls to let me in.

But still.

Three more days of work, yay! But that means I need to wrap up as much as possible, plus I’m trying to finish an online class I’m taking for professional development.

Guess I should get my ass in gear instead of talking to y’all.

so there I was, up to my false eyelashes in chicken feathers and ginger ale bottles

It’s been hot here lately. HOT. Sadly that means my energy levels are super low. I’m having one hell of a time getting motivated to start walking again, even inside on the treadmill with both fans going. And I know I need to get some activity in.

But…

Somehow, and I’m really not sure how, I’ve lost 2 1/2lbs since last Friday. And this baffles me because Lancelot and I didn’t exactly eat super healthy food over the weekend. We mostly ate crap to be honest.

Anyway, I’m excited, super excited, and I’m hoping this helps jump start my walking and activity. So YAY!

In other news, I finally got my new glasses.

They almost perfectly match my hair, they have tons of bling, and the clip on sunglasses are amazing.

With the exception of the weather this week is shaping up well. It’s a short week for me, only three days, and then I have a delightful five day weekend. And then the following week is only four days and then I’m off work until July 22nd. We aren’t going anywhere exotic this time, just taking time off work to relax and enjoy each other’s company. I can’t wait.

bundle of nerves

Lancelot and I are about to embark on a vacation together. Part of it will be spent in town just doing fun things and part of it will be spent taking a short road trip and staying in a bed and breakfast. I’m excited AF.

I’m also petrified. Utterly, terribly, 100%, petrified.

I have been bitten so many times, by other men, when it comes to plans that I am damn near immobilized by this. I know that he’s not like that. He’s never done anything like that to me. But still, petrified that I’ll do something or he’ll change his mind.

All because someone in my past who spoke false words of affection used to stand me up on a regular basis and make excuses as to why he couldn’t spend time with me.

I need to break myself out of this… How about a picture?

I finished the shawl and actually got the ends run in last night. The light in my office isn’t fabulous, but you get the idea. It looks pretty good with the all black outfit I’m wearing.

I am packed for our vacation. I’ve thrown in a sweater I knit myself, just because I like to show off a little. I’ll be taking the yarn and supplies to work on Lancelot’s hat. The yarn is a super soft, gorgeous tonal green sock yarn that I think is going to work up great.

I really probably should make a list, inventory maybe, of the various projects I have started that need to be finished. I can think of three shawls that are hanging out in various stages of “done” that probably could be finished pretty quickly.

What I should really do is go through the yarn stash and try to match yarn to potential patterns. And maybe think about making more than just shawls. Maybe.