Time - Not Really My Friend Today

Just a fast post today. It's a swimming day, DH is already stirring (during MY quiet time) and my internet connection required me to actually move to the study to do my morning meditation. Thank goodness I was able to connect downstairs because upstairs simply didn't happen this morning. 

A fast post this morning. I have about ten 
minutes before I need to leave for the swimming 
pool. 

Yesterday's crazy schedule actually went quite well. I got my injection - I'm always a bit astounded by getting an injection in the back of my arm instead of into the upper arm muscle, but it's almost completely painless in this area, and the more standard way of injections always is painful. So I guess it's a win even though it's a massively expensive procedure. This is for bone health, which I don't really have - LOL. My exercise regime and my diet help my bones, but not enough. Chemical assistance is necessary. But I'm done for another six months now. Yippee! 

I was getting Prolea for my bones, but the Doc switched 
me over to some other name now - a generic. Since each
 injection is almost $2000! (Yeah - that many zeroes), I'm 
fine with whatever he recommends. Thank goodness for 
health insurance or I'd be totally sunk. 

I got quite a lot of cooking done. I found a wonderful package of six boneless pork chops that were calling my name. So I made a quick cook of those yesterday and I have my meals for the next few days ready. The trash and recycling were finally picked up, and my recycling bin is already at least 1/3 filled with what I couldn't fit into it yesterday. Just missing a single pickup can really mess things up and I was off schedule on the last pickup. My bad. 

I usually only have one week's worth of 
trash, but this time I was double that, and 
the recycling was a month's worth. My 
cans were FULL. 

My swimming friend, Rosemary, has been MIA and we've all been concerned about her. Sabrina, our "Gate Gargoyle" was determined to make sure she was OK (Rosemary is elderly and lives alone with only a land-line, no cell phone). We both were very concerned. But she managed to contact Rosemary on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently she's sick - too sick to swim. No surprise there - she spent a week closed up in a large rental house with her three sons and their assorted families. It's a New Year's tradition for the family - they come to Northern Minnesota from all over the nation for this after-Christmas reunion. She ALWAYS gets sick from the kids. Always. Hopefully she'll be feeling better today and will be back at the YMCA to reclaim her swimming lane. 

So, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow on another very busy day with another doctor appointment - the story of my life sometimes - LOL. Slava Ukraini. 

It's a VERY Busy Day Today and a Wellness Check

Today is VERY busy, and fortunately the roads seem like they'll be good. I have to get up to the clinic in the Northern part of the Cities for my semi-annual infusion, and then I can actually go grocery shopping. I also have to get a few things at the local Target if I can squeeze in the time between doctor and cooking. 

I get a subcutaneous injection twice a year to help 
keep my bones intact. Today is the day for this six 
month period. 

My friend Rosemary has been MIA from the pool. That's concerning because she's as regular as clockwork. I knew she was spending her after-Christmas with the extended family - her three sons and their families come in from out of town/state and everyone rents a large house together for a week. Well, that's her three sons, their wives, and their assorted kids. A LOT of people. It's a tradition and she looks forward to it every year, but she often will catch whatever flu or cold has been going around because kids are germ machines. 

If you ever want to get sick for any reason, hang out with a 
bunch of kids. They're germ machines! 

That's what happened this time also, we found out. She's been MIA from the pool, and she NEVER misses except when she's with the family for this get-together. But the family thing ended last week, and she hasn't returned to the pool. We've been worried. My Gate Gargoyle, Sabrina, determined that she would phone Rosemary yesterday and I gave her the information for her to access the e-chart for contact information. She contacted Rosemary's son yesterday and found out that, indeed, she's been down for the count with a case of the flu, or just a cold. Whatever, she's been sick. Perhaps she'll be at the pool today, or not, but at least we know why she's been MIA. 

Rosemary is a regular - five days a week in the pool, rain 
or shine, every week of the year except right after 
Christmas, when she gets together with the family for a 
family celebration of one week in the Frozen 
Northlands. 

Yes, that's the kind of people we are here in the Frozen Northlands. We look out after each other. Rosemary is older and lives alone. She'a also at the pool every day during the week without fail. For her to be missing for something other than the family get-together (which she reminded us was happening so that we wouldn't worry about her) ... well, if she's missing, we'll do a wellness check on her every time. 

Since Rosemary lives alone, we're always super worried 
about her when she's MIA. Hopefully she's feeling better 
today and can return to her daily swimming routine. 

So, I'm out of here. It's a trash and a recycling day, I also have to drive WAY OUT to Coon Rapids for my semi-annual infusion injection, and I need to do grocery shopping and some cooking as well as my usual three loads of laundry for a Wednesday. Whew! I'm exhausted already just reading about my schedule. LOL Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Mixed Up Days and Time

It's hard to be running behind at 4:00 am, but I'm succeeding in that difficult task - LOL. It's the first of my three swimming days today, and I need to be in the car, heading for the gym, in less than 30 minutes. I do have a little bit of fudge room if needed, but I like to be early, not late. I've always joked that I must have been an eight-month baby because I always want to be early. Was I in real life? Who knows? 

I always joke that I must have been a premature 
birth because I despise being late for anything. 

Are you like me in this? Do you like to be early for appointments and events rather than on time or (heaven forbid) late? Were you the one waiting for the bus as the first person on the corner? Or were you the person running for it to catch it quickly before it left for the next stop? If I have my preferences, I'll always be early. I can always sit and read a book or do a quick puzzle on my phone. I'm usually on a rather strict time schedule and don'e have a lit of wiggle room available. To get my swimming in before the next group of people start arriving to share lanes ... it's important. 

Of course, if you're catching a bus, train or plane, you 
always want to be early. They're scheduled, but they 
also run late or, sometimes, early. 

I have Wednesday in my head today. Have you ever had that feeling when you think of the day as one day but it's actually another one? I don't get those often (that's lucky since my days are crowded at best). When I get them, it messes everything up. Last week was messed up. I put the garbage and recycling out, but it wasn't a recycling day. The calendar provided by the service is less than readable. So, I had to leave the recycling until tomorrow which means my bin is EXTREMELY full and I'm stashing some recycling until after the bin has been emptied tomorrow. 

Sometimes I need a signpost like this to keep the days 
straight. Holiday times, especially, mix the days up - 
holidays in mid-week, days off other than Sunday. 

So, I'm going to get this moving and head to the swimming pool. I hope you have a fabulous and a bit less mixed up day. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini! 

Shaking Things Up - Cleaning, Charging and No Running Shoes (Yet)

I'm shaking my schedule up a bit today because I forgot to charge my phone overnight. Now ... if it was a swimming day, that wouldn't be a problem. But it's a treadmill day, and I use my phone to listen to Sirius Turbo on the radio while I'm looking at scenery on the screen. Without the music and the scenery, I don't treadmill. So, I plugged the phone into the quick charger and I'll take care of my blog first to allow it to get enough charge to get me through my 45 minutes on the treadmill. 

I'm shaking up my schedule today to allow my phone to 
get some power before I start my workout on the treadmill. 
I always listen to the phone while "running", and it's TOO 
boring for words (even with the virtual scenery) to deal 
with in silence. 

My goal for yesterday had originally been getting my running shoes. I did "fess up" to DH about losing my certificates from the holidays, his response was "they're probably around here somewhere". *sigh* But, since I still hadn't found them, and he wasn't paying much attention to the fact that I really need some new running shoes, I just followed the leader yesterday. He tackled the dining room and made some serious inroads into that room by the end of the day. We've been using that room for basic storage for years. Now things look almost civilized, a lot of trash was added to the trash bucket, and I did a ton of shredding old paperwork. It might not have been what I really wanted to spend my Sunday doing, but I was quite happy with the end result. 

The Nike outlet store might be my best bet. I'm not really 
looking for any specific model or appearance, I just need a 
set in my size that will work for my treadmill. I generally 
use my running shoes for up to five years (or more), so 
I'll get my money's worth from them, once I finally 
purchase a pair. 

I did take a little time late yesterday afternoon to check the costs of new Nike running shoes. OUCH! Expensive! There is a Nike outlet store at the outlet mall and their prices seem much more reasonable. I'll keep wearing my current set until they're a bit more dead, but then I'll head to the outlet store for my replacements. I probably won't find the certificate, but paying a bit more than $100 is a LOT better than paying a bit more than $200 for a set of shoes. OY! When did things get so expensive? 

I just purchased a GaN fast charger from Amazon 
and received it late last week. I've been using 
it and it works like a dream. It's a LOT faster 
than just plugging in with a normal charging cable. 
I'm now at 57% charged and I've only been 
writing this for about 15-20 minutes and had been 
below 10% power. 

I had plugged my phone into the fast charger when I sat down to write this. It was at 8% power. I've been writing this and just checked - I'm up to 46% power now. I still have to plug in my pictures and get things posted, so I'll be at more than 50% by the time I'm finished with this and changed into my exercise gear. I can live with that. A treadmill run without music is just TOO boring for words! LOL. So, I'm hoping I'll have a good Monday, and I hope all of you also have a good one. I'll be back tomorrow for a quick post before heading to the swimming pool. Be kind - the world needs kindness right now. Slava Ukraini. 

Still No Certificates and Working on Fridays

Instead of a day off yesterday, I worked for most of the day in the basement shrink-wrapping artwork to put out onto the sales floor. We have a massive amount of artwork and a lot of it can be backed and shrink wrapped and easily put out for sale. It's not necessary to frame them - that just adds to the cost for the customer. This way we can keep costs under control for everyone. 

My shrink wrapping equipment is almost identical to 
this set-up. The wrap is on the large roll, it actually 
threads onto the shorter black post which separates the 
two layers of the wrap. The larger hinged item with 
the large black handle is a heat sealer/cutter. When 
you've pulled off the right length of wrap, you depress 
the long heat bar which seals and separates the 
sealing material from the roll so that you can then 
use the heat gun (standing on top of the very back 
of the equipment) to actually shrink the wrapping around 
the artwork and to coax any wrinkles out of it. 

Still no luck with finding the certificates, so I'm going to have to "fess up" to DH and admit that I managed to lose them. He won't be pleased, but I'm hoping he'll still buy my new set of Nike running shoes, in spite of my not having the proper certificate from hin. The other ones, I really don't remember as clearly, so they're a bit less of a serious loss at this time. I need new running shoes desperately, though. My old pair are on their last legs, so to speak. 

I need a new set of Nike running shoes. I've tried other 
brands in the past and they just ended up hurting my 
feet. I use my shoes every time I'm on the treadmill. 
But they're VERY expensive and I have to actually try 
them on to see what set feels right on my feet. *sigh* 
I'm doomed. 

I rather enjoyed the quiet, yesterday. I spent almost all day in the basement framing room dealing with the shrink wrapping equipment and the vertical cutter that is used for mats and glass. I enjoyed the solitude and not having to deal with customers. I love our customers, but sometimes it's nice to not have to assist people with their particular projects or what they're looking for. 

My Fletcher vertical cutter is mounted to the wall 
of my small framing room at the shop. It's what I use 
to cut cardboard backing for the pictures I was 
shrink-wrapping. 

I suspect that working on Fridays will be a constant from this point onward until we've managed to close the store, so my Wednesdays will be VERY full and I'll be doing all of my kitchen work either Wednesdays or, maybe a little bit on Sundays. I haven't heard from Travis (I really thought I would be getting a call from him by now) so I'll have to phone him to make sure we're on track and he's on track as well. 

So, time to wrap this up and start my Saturday. Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Monday morning. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Friday and I'm Falling Behind Schedule

 I'm giving up on my certificates, and I'll have to tell DH about it. I think I'll do better with that in writing, so I'll have to type something up to give to him. 

I'm giving up. If the certificates show up, that's 
great, but I'm thinking they are long gone now. 

In the meantime, today is a very busy day. I'll be losing my Fridays soon - if we're going to be able to close on time, I'll have to be in the shop for at least part of those days. Right now, though, there doesn't seem to be a great deal that I can do to move us forward. I have to start some serious thinking about what needs to be done before we begin our liquidation sale. We have less than two months to have everything ready to go, and we're nowhere close right now. 

The time for our Going Out of Business Sale is quickly 
approaching and we're nowhere CLOSE to being ready 
to go. This might be a disaster of epic proportions. 

The whole idea of liquidating the shop is absolutely frightening, but maybe that's why the initial payment to Travis is as large as it is. It fixes the reality firmly and puts us onto the schedule. I need to phone him - we were supposed to have received a questionnaire of some sort, but I haven't seen anything come my way yet. If he sent it, I haven't caught the email. 

I'm generally a pretty positive person, but I've been turning 
into a Negative Nelly. I don't like that aspect of myself, so I 
need to work on turning things back to the positive. 

Anyway, I don't have a lot of positive things to say today, so I'll just say that I had an excellent run/walk this morning on the treadmill, and a great hot shower afterwards. That started my day in a super positive way. Have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap things up for the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Still No Success - My Certificates Just Aren't Here Any More

Yesterday's swim was more normal. The roads, although typical winter, weren't skating rink icy, and the usual group of swimmers showed up. (I rather missed my "private pool" - LOL). It was good to see my friends again though, and to share my lane with Jolene. Even Meg showed up, her Hubby having once again dropped her off in her wheelchair. I'm sure she's getting closer and closer to being able to put that wheelchair behind her, but it was a serious lower leg break that she experienced at the dog park, and she did say it would be a minimum of eight weeks before she'd be able to walk on it again. I think it's been longer than that by now, so her doctor must be erring on the side of caution. With a weight-bearing fracture like that, caution is a very good thing. 

Winter up here in the Frozen Northlands can be beautiful, 
but we all know to dress appropriately, and have the proper 
boots for walking on ice and through snow. I really feel 
sorry for our ancestors who didn't have down coats, internal 
self-heating vests, or good snow boots. 

I'm still looking for my "certificates" from DH for this past Christmas, but I'm almost ready to give up the hunt and admit to him that I have lost them. It's totally tearing at my heart. The certificates are my absolute favorite gift that he gives to me. Losing/misplacing/throwing them away (all possibilities) just makes me sick to my stomach. But, there's nothing much I can do about it. It's rather like a lost sock in the washing machine. You know you put in a pair, but there's only a single one when you remove the load. It's rare, but it does happen. In this instance, I had a brain glitch and I have NO idea what I did with the certificates. *sigh*

Sometimes my brain glitch really stops me short, and losing 
my certificates was a brain glitch. I've totally run out of 
places to look, however, so it's time to tell DH about my 
stupidity. *sigh*

I did, however, get a LOT done in the kitchen yesterday. I did my "Ogre Juice", I did a new batch of baked fruit for my breakfasts, and I did at least two different things for my dinners. My empty shelving on my side of the refrigerator are once again filled. What a relief! 

I squeezed in a quick run of baked fruit in my kitchen 
work yesterday (I don't do the crumbles that this photo 
has, but the general fruit mix is pretty close). I adore my 
baked fruit for my breakfast, along with a couple of 
pieces of toast and a nice, hot, cup of tea. 

So today I'm off for my final swimming time of the week. I listen to audio books while I'm swimming, and my current book's characters are in the middle of a hidden city inside a glacier - very cold and icy. Highly appropriate for a Minnesota winter's day - LOL. I'll be back tomorrow, so have an excellent Thursday. Slava Ukraini.