8/31/2020

It's 8:15pm on the last day of August and it's nearly dark out and I'm wrapped in a blanket, and wearing slippers cuz my feet are cold. It's supposed to get hot again during the day for the next couple weeks, at least, but for now it feels like autumn is definitely on the way. The leaves have started changing, and have been for the last couple weeks now. I do like when it cools down a bit. 

I stayed at work till 4 today, there was enough stuff to do that it just made sense. My coworker is coming in tomorrow cuz there's some stuff we need to go over that's easier to do in person than trying to explain it in an email or over the phone. Not sure what she needs to go over, but I made a small list of stuff to go over. My boss is still on vacation for at least another week. And I found out for sure that we definitely have Labor Day off and now I'm really looking forward to a three day weekend this coming weekend!

Last night, I started brainstorming about one of my characters from my book. I'm going to change his ethnicity which means a lot of research, but it's going to make the story much richer in the long run. I don't have a lot of mental energy for my book, but I'm hoping that these little spurts of interest mean that I might be able to get back into writing. This pandemic has definitely taken a toll on my writing and creativity. 

Leftover teriyaki chicken and rice for dinner, and Punky Brewster tonight.

8/30/2020

Well, today ended up being quite the adventure day. We had to go back out to get gas and yet a few more missed items from the grocery store, and we have been wanting to get some cloth and a pressure rod to set up a bit of door for the den, so we decided to go out to Joann Fabric's and the Safeway out on Aurora in Shoreline to see if the fabric store was open again to let people in. It was, as long as you wore a mask.

We looked around and found the perfect fabrics. We wanted one for each season, that was generic enough to keep up the whole season without having to worry about holidays. My sister sewed up the first one and now we have summertime sunflowers in the doorway and it's just so perfect!

It's sad that an impromptu trip to a fabric store was such a highlight, but it was. It was something we haven't been able to do for a long time, or even had a reason to do in a long time. And it was impromptu. I haven't done something on a whim really since the pandemic started. Everything is planned out now. I never realized how important spur of the moment things are until now.

For lunch we stopped at Ivars to see if they had reopened to the public. Before it was set up only for delivery, but now they're open for takeout or eating outdoors. We got ours to go and it was do delish! Again, it's been a long time since I've had it, but it brought with it a sense of normalcy.

We came home and watched POTC: At World's End, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I also got some chores done, including two loads of laundry. Leftover pizza for dinner and now we're watching So Dear to My Heart in our Disney watch. This is a first viewing for both of us. It's pretty cute.

No idea how work will go tomorrow, but it's nice to not feel stressed about it. Whatever happens will happen, and we have the ability to keep it under control better now. It may end up being a full day at the office, or I may end up finishing the day at home, I just don't know! Hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep, that's what I really care about!

8/29/2020

Lazy Saturday today. We had a few things we needed at the store, in spite of having done our grocery shopping last week, so our day started at the store. Then it was just lounging around watching movies till it was time to go to our parent's house to meet up with family again.

We picked up teriyaki on the way and sat around outside like we've been doing. It was really cold tonight and the mosquitoes were really bad so I wrapped up in a blanket but I'm sure I still got a few bites. We'll see what develops tomorrow.

On a positive note, my foot is doing better. No more pain, really. I still need to take it easy for another week or so before I consider starting to walk on it again more than just absolutely necessary walking. I hear it's supposed to be hot this week, so it's probably a good week to take it easy. But eventually, it's going to start cooling down and it'll be better for walking again. I might do outside walking until it gets too dark to go out safely. Then I'll switch to the treadmill.

We took home several pounds of potatoes that my mom got for free, so now I have to figure out what to do with them all. I might save some and make a potato salad, the one I developed after the SNL skit with Chadwick Boseman, next weekend for Labor Day weekend. I'll eat it in his honor...

8/28/2020

Today was a pretty good day, for the most part. I worked from home and it was pretty steady for the most part, but it did slow down in the afternoon. It was a lot less stressful than last week, which was nice. I was able to watch The Golden Girls, and then did a lot of episodes of Dear White People, and a couple episodes of the new Charmed on Netflix. I didn't do a lot of chores in the slower times. It's actually still pretty clean around here, for once! I did put the clean dishes away and caught up the dirty dishes in the sink, though.

I found out this afternoon from my dad that the chair I ordered on Wayfair was cancelled without any notice from them. He just logged in randomly to see if there were any updates and saw it had been cancelled. Now I'm back to square one with finding a reading chair for my bedroom. I'm really bummed because it's not really easy to get to places that sell reading chairs in a pandemic...I was really looking forward to reading in my room when the weather got cooler...

Pizza for dinner tonight. Always a fun Friday treat!

The sad news is that Chadwick Boseman passed away today. I had seen pictures of him recently and he didn't look healthy, but didn't know what the issue was. He'd battled colon cancer for four years, while filming all the Marvel movies he was in. I'm devastated. 43 years old is too young to die...

8/27/2020

Today went pretty well at the office. I was busy till about 2pm and then I took off to finish the day at home. There was some mail that had something messed up with it and on top of that, it went to the wrong address. With the state of the post office right now, we thought it was just never gonna come back to us. But it was waiting for me in our mail box today, so I was able to get everything fixed and out in the mail again to the right address this time. I was very happy!

I will be working from home tomorrow and hopefully my tv will work properly and I can watch The Golden Girls again in the morning.

After I logged out of work today, I sat out on the lanai again and read. It's so relaxing and it's the perfect temperature that time of day. I had the rest of the bratburger patties for dinner tonight and made some fries in the little oven to go with it. The Office and Punky Brewster tonight. 

It's not a very exciting life, but this is actually a pretty typical series of events in a pre-pandemic world, so it's actually something I'm not complaining at all!

8/26/2020

I started the day at the office and there wasn't a lot of new jobs to work on, but there was some stuff to do that's more "once in a while" tasks that I focused on. By noon, though, everything was caught up so I came home and finished the day out remotely. That way I was also able to help cover the front desk so my coworker who is covering for my boss could have some time to breathe. I'm going back in tomorrow, as usual, and we'll see how long I need to be there, but we already decided that like last Friday, I'll work from home and she'll go into the office if anything needs to be taken care of.

Once I logged out of work for the day, I sat out on the porch and read for about an hour. It was lovely! The plants needed a good watering so I did that first. While I was out there reading, I kept thinking how it would be nice to have a cat around the apartment. I don't know that I'm ready emotionally yet, but it does seem like maybe I'll get there one day.

Dinner was bratwurst patties cooked up like hamburgers. My sister didn't like it, but I thought it was great. Now I'm researching fabric for our den to make a "door". We're thinking 4 kinds, one for each season. It should be nice when it's all set up.

The Office, Parks and Rec, and now Punky Brewster to finish out the evening.

8/25/2020

Another full day at the office. Not a stressful day, so that was nice. I got a lot of stuff done and have stuff to do tomorrow too. I've come to really enjoy listening to music on the speakers in the office. It really helps pass the time, especially when I'm generally alone in the office most of the time. One of my other cowokers was in the office today though, so that was nice to have her to talk to once in a while. My boss is on vacation so I definitely spent more time straddling the two jobs. It worked out pretty well and I think it'll keep going on for the next couple weeks.

My foot is pretty sore right now. I still can't tell if it's a break or a sprain. Sprains would be fitting with my life. My foot is fully functional, but sore. It gets a bit red now and again but there is no swelling. From what I read, most of the pain and the symptoms are the same, so it's hard to say. I could go to the doctor, but I know there's not much they could do about it besides tell me to not walk on it as much as possible, which is what I'm already doing.

We had some leftover chicken from our roast chicken this weekend so when I got home from work today, I made chicken salad for work lunches the next couple days. I put a bunch of spices in it and some slivered almonds and green onions in it. I put a pinch of curry powder in it and it's amazing! I've been eating tv dinners when I go to work but now that it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll be staying full days now, I'd be better off with actual lunches like I used to take to the office.

Leftover tacos for dinner, and now an evening of Punky Brewster!

8/24/2020

It was definitely a busier Monday at the office this week. I ended up staying till 4 before being done for the day and leaving. There's going to be a lot to do tomorrow, as well. Our boss goes on vacation starting tomorrow for two weeks so I'm guessing I'll be straddling both jobs again for a while. I don't mind. I like being busy and working at the office is easier than using the laptop at home.

Tonight's dinner was tacos, which turned out delicious, as usual! I've spent the rest of the evening drying my first batch of oregano. It smells absolutely terrible when it's drying up until it gets done and then it smells really nice, like traditional oregano in a jar. I stemmed it and put it into ziplock bags. I think I might take it with me if our family gets together on Saturday and give some to them. I think my plants are going to keep growing, so I'll have more to come.

We started rewatching Punky Brewster on Peacock streaming and it's just as delightful as ever. If anybody needs a huge dose of positivity right now, this is the show for them.

My foot started hurting more overnight and there's a little bit of redness, but no swelling. I took some ibuprofen this morning and it really seemed to help. I am icing it now, and hopefully that'll keep any swelling down.

Very tired, hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight!

8/23/2020

Today started off as a very productive day. I did all my chores before it got too hot, and cleaned up the place enough to take pictures of the apartment so I could share them with my friend from New York. She enjoyed getting a virtual tour! I also harvested the oregano and rinsed it off. Tomorrow when it has a chance to try thoroughly, I'll dry it in the oven. What I read said it should only take about 15 minutes in a very low temperature oven. 

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday: I reserved a time at the zoo next month for my sister and I to finally go for the first time since the beginning of the year. I cannot wait! I have missed it so much and we like to go when the weather is cooler because the animals are more animated then. And it usually cuts down on other visitors.

The rest of my day was spent watching Bug Juice and copying out recipes again. It was actually a really pleasant day. I had half of one of the most delicious peaches I've had in years! I'll have the other half tomorrow, probably.

By dinner, I just didn't have the energy to cook the tacos we were planning on, so we ran out and got Wendy's. 

Today is the birthday of my cousin who passed away a few years ago. Seeing the reminder on Facebook when I logged on this morning hurt. It always hurts. It sticks with you all day, that needling reminder that he's not here anymore, and I miss him, like I will always miss him.

8/22/2020

Today was a nice day. It started with a trip to Mountlake Terrace to go to a bakery which had some pretty tasty stuff! I got an almond croissant and an almond pastry strip, and a creme-filled pastry I'm saving for tomorrow. Then we stopped at Central Market and the Safeway out on Aurora in Shoreline so I could get the rest of the items on my shopping list.

I did something to my foot today, big shocker, and the side of my right foot is in pain. I can still walk and fully function, but sometimes I get a little pressure building up in that side of my foot, kind of like when you need to crack your knuckles, and usually I stand up and just roll my foot onto that side and it kind of snaps the bone or ligament or whatever it is, and the pressure eases and it's fine again. I did this in the middle of the night last night, only this time the snap led to pain. I googled it, and it's possible the bone fractured, it's also possible that the ligament is just messed up, because if it had broken, they said it bleeds and causes bruising and swelling and there is none of that. I can pinpoint the pain, but that's it, no swelling, no bruising. I iced it when we got home and took some ibuprofen and it's not as bad anymore. Hopefully it'll just clear out in a day or two. There's always something going on with my legs!

We came home and settled in for an afternoon of watching Bug Juice and I copied out recipes from all the links I've bookmarked. We finally stopped and did some gardening stuff we've been putting off. Fred, my asparagus plant, has been potbound and not growing any new shoots for a long time and we bought potting soil for him but never took care of it. His last shoots finally died, but his roots are strong, so we trimmed them and repotted him in hopes that the roots will be revived and the nutrients in the new soil will stimulate him back to life. I really hope he comes back from this, because I've had him since middle school and will be very sad if he is truly dead. 

Tomorrow I will begin to harvest my oregano plants, which I just found out today are perennials. I will keep them inside or properly covered out on the lanai when it gets cold and hopefully next year I'll be able to grow more oregano! Since they'll be around for a while, I decided they need names. I've decided to name the flowering one Regina, and the non-flowering one, Reggie. 

Chores tomorrow and if I can clean this place up enough, it's finally time for me to take pictures of the apartment and share them!

8/21/2020

OMG, today was a day!! I worked from home, and of course, as predicted, the light week turned into a bonkers Friday, where we pretty much got a week's worth of stuff in a day. It was nuts. And the one day I had to watch The Golden Girls, something happened to my tv and there was no cable! I had to call the cable company and do the automatic restart, which worked, but by the time I had done that, Golden Girls was over. Sigh...! I barely had time to have my leftover Panda Express for lunch and rinsed and stacked the dishes. I was super busy till about 2:45pm when I was able to log into the front desk and start helping with that. It sure made the day go fast, though!

The weather was also bonkers. It was windy and rainy, but like really windy. Things were being blown off of shelves in my bedroom and even out by my bathroom, and I had to lug in some of the stuff off the porch!

After I logged off for the day, we went out and did our grocery shopping for the next two weeks. We occasionally have stuff we need to buy between the two weeks, but we're still trying to go every other week to the store during the pandemic. We bought a roast chicken and a box of stuffing and some rolls and made a chicken dinner that was quite delish! Leftovers tomorrow, of course.

Tonight, I purchased an ElfQuest mask that'll come in about a month's time. I'm pretty excited. It has a drawing of Cutter wearing a mask on it!

Tomorrow's plans include a trip to some bakery somewhere, and stopping at Central Market for some bulk things I can't get anywhere else. Then movies and Bug Juice for the rest of the weekend.

8/20/2020

I stayed busy at the office till about 1:30pm today before heading home to finish the day remotely. I didn't know until I was leaving that my coworker planned on swapping places with me tomorrow, so I will be working from home tomorrow unexpectedly! I definitely will be watching The Golden Girls in the morning!

On the way home, I stopped by Panda Express to pick up some lunch which I ate half of, with the intention of eating the other half tomorrow for lunch. It was quite tasty.

After logging off from work, I sat out on the lanai and did a chapter of my antiracism book, and then read a chapter of Roots. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice breeze. It's been humid today, but it is cooling down. The clouds are rolling in and a really ominous deep blue right now. I'm pretty sure it's going to rain tonight.

Dinner was a store-bought salad, toast, Cheetos, and a pickle. Dinner of champions. Not sure what tomorrow night's dinner will be. We plan on doing our grocery shopping after I log out of work tomorrow night so we won't have to do it over the weekend.

I've had a random fit of artistic inspiration for my book so I've been reading up a bit about the Roman Empire and how to connect more of my characters to other parts of the world. It's the first time in several months I've actively done anything for my book. I learned early on in this pandemic that I can't have goals for myself with it, it's just too much to handle. Moments like these are ones to take advantage of for as long as they last. I know Shakespeare wrote King Lear during an outbreak of Plague, but I'm not him, and he probably didn't work 40 hours from home and/or an office, so, you just do the best you can, right?

8/19/2020

Each day this week I've been coming home a little sooner than the day before. Today I left just around 12:30pm. It's still a lot of work at home, not so much with transcripts, but helping on the front desk. We're out of control with jobs right now. I think this week is light for transcripts because everybody's busy doing jobs right now. That means next week is probably going to be another out of control week. I anticipate being at work longer days for sure next week. And my boss goes on vacation for two weeks starting then as well, so that means my coworker who is currently helping me, will have to divide her time, so it'll be interesting again...! At least I know more how to do the back production job now, so that'll help. I brought in more cds and I listed to my best-of U2 cds today. Always a good band.

It's not that warm again tonight, so that's good. We have the fans going and the windows open and there's a light covering of clouds out now. I'm eating my leftovers from Monday and watching some more Bug Juice.

Nothing too exciting today. Just a simple day, not too hot, just right. This is the perfect kind of summer weather for continuing to reread ElfQuest and my Babysitter's Club books before bed. Cuz, why the heck not?!

8/18/2020

Another split day at work. Started off in the office, ended up at home. I'm going to keep doing that for at least this week and then we'll reassess to see if there are days I can work from home entirely with my coworker covering the transcript desk if I'm busy with production. It's been a really light week so far, so it's not truly indicative of how a typical week will go. But that's the thing, there isn't a "typical" when it comes to this job. You just have to take it as it comes. I'll be curious how it'll go when it's a busy week for transcripts, but I no longer have to deal with the letters element of production. That'll really cut down on the time it takes from start to finish, for a transcript.

One of the things I did this week that's new, is I set up some speakers in the back and brought in some cds to listen to at work. Today was Hamilton, and it was awesome! Except at the end when it got sad and I'm at work and crying cuz the ending is so touching. That was ridiculous! But I like having music. I'm going to stream Christmas music this year, that's for sure!

After work, I showered and we ran out to get some Taco Time for dinner since tonight is the end of my sister's 2 days off from work, her mini vacation. My leftovers from last night will be dinner tomorrow night instead. We have now started our annual summertime viewing of Bug Juice, which is always fun!

It's much cooler tonight. We have the fans going and the windows open and it's just lovely. I wish it would always be like this in the summer!

8/17/2020

I really thought I'd be at the office all day, so you can imagine my shock when everything cleared out and I was able to leave at 2pm! I finished the day working remotely, but I just never thought I'd do that on a Monday! Having my coworker help definitely made a huge difference, but i think it was also a lighter day, in general. Each week and each day has it's own pattern, so who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I'll be back at the office for at least half the day.

Ironically, it got busy when I got home to work remotely! I logged into the front desk and did both for a while. It's kind of out of control right now. I'm wondering if other businesses aren't up and running right now, so we're getting more work than usual. I like being busy, though, so that's good.

After I logged out for the day, I showered and started watching the first night of the Democratic National Convention. I had not planned on it originally, but it was on the tv and I couldn't think of anything else to watch. It was really well done. The National Anthem and Michelle Obama's speech stood out to me as the highlights. My sister hates that kind of thing and she's back from her mini vacation tomorrow so I'm assuming tonight's the only night I'll catch of it.

It's a "clean out the fridge and freezer week" since it's so hot and I don't feel like doing too much actual cooking. Tonight was ham and roast potatoes and greenbeans, the last piece of my sourdough bread, toasted, and a pickle. Delish! Some candy and popcorn followed. Now that the convention is over for the night, I finally decided to start a Call the Midwife rewatch. It's such a good show...!

STFAH: 8/16/2020

Today was the hot day. We managed it pretty well, except now a thick set of clouds has rolled in, which means the heat is trapped and likely to be sweltering through the night. I hope I'll manage to get some sleep tonight cuz I have to go to work tomorrow!

I did get some chores done today too, before it got too hot. I did that last two loads of laundry and folded it and put it away. I kept the sink under control in the kitchen. I swept the hardwood floors and took out the compost/garbage/recycling.

The biggest adventure for me today was going to Taco del Mar to pick up lunch. For the most part, today was a movie day. We watched the rest of Chef, then the second POTC movie, and I was finally willing to try the remake of The Parent Trap. It's ok, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original. Then I watched the Agents of SHIELD series finale, sigh...And now I'm watching the Chef commentary. It's such a great movie. If you're into food movies, this is probably one of the best out there. I highly recommend it.

It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow but still cloudy off and on all week. I just hope it's not humid. I can handle heat, but I can't handle humidity...!

STFAH: 8/15/2020

Today was a movie day for the first part of the day. We watched A Very Brady Sequel, Julie and Julia, in honor of Julia Child's birthday today, and most of the movie Chef. The second part of the day was a family gathering in my parents' backyard and we had to stop the movie before it finished to get there on time. We'll finish it out tomorrow.

I also did two loads of laundry today and got the sink and by-hand dishes washed. It's supposed to be super hot tomorrow so I wanted to get the most heat-inducing chores done today. I still have a couple loads of laundry to do tomorrow, but that shouldn't be too bad.

Family time tonight was great, as always. My sister and I picked up Dairy Queen so that I could finally try the frosted animal cookie Blizzard. OMG, it is fantastic!! Highly recommend it while they still have that flavor. They said it was one of their summer flavors, so it might not be around much longer. Chicken strip baskets for dinner. Always a good meal. We talked and got caught up, and then played trivia. Trivia questions seem to work out really well for social distancing and not needing to touch anything, so I think we're going to stick with it.

We have all the fans going tonight in hopes of sucking in as much cool air tonight as we can before we have to shut all the windows and shades tomorrow. It's supposed to be almost 100 degrees, so it's definitely going to be a day to take it easy! Definitely not an oven-friendly day!!

I've also been thinking about the title of this blog series, which has changed a bit from when I was staying at home exclusively, to then returning to the office sporadically. Because I'm going to start going into the office very day, even if it's not a full day there, I think the best thing will be to drop the title, and just use a date only. It's really all that matters, in the long run. I'll start that on Monday...

Today I Went to Work: 8/14/2020

It was another long day at the office, but it was a good one. We got a lot done. Not a lot of new stuff came in, so we focused on the piles and piles of transcripts that had built up over the last month when I would call to see if an office was open only to get no response. My manager came in today and looked around and told us to go ahead and just mail everything out. Downtown Seattle stuff we usually send by bike messenger, and we've been able to send out a few, but they got out of control again. We probably single-handedly saved the USPS today...!

We had a good talk today too about how work will go, going forward. I think it might end up being more of a combination of going into the office and working from home than I thought at first, which will be nice. I have more freedom to pick and choose my hours and break/lunch schedule than I thought, so I'll feel more able to control my life a bit more. That's very good during a pandemic when we feel like we have no control over anything!

Tonight was Azteca taquitos and flan for dinner, always delish! We ran out to Fred Meyer and Bartell's afterwards for a few items we need for the family gathering tomorrow night. Stuff like bug spray! And cream for after you get bug bites! We changed up our dinner plans for tomorrow so we can get Blizzards, so we'll be hitting up Dairy Queen, which is always tasty.

Tomorrow is Julia Child's birthday, so I will be doing my annual viewing of Julie and Julia in her honor. One of my favorite movies of all time!

Today I Went to Work: 8/13/2020

Things went a little smoother today but I was still very busy the entire day. I almost finished everything but at the end of the day, stuff started to go wrong and since my coworker's coming in tomorrow, I decided I'd come in too so she can help walk me through it all. I also had some mistakes pointed out to me which is always very difficult for me and my leo ego to handle. I think it's also good that I'm coming back to the office because most of the issues will sort themselves out when I'm no longer working remotely. Sometimes it's fun to work from home, but ultimately, I do better working in an office setting. I like having my work be in one place and my home in another place. I've always thought this would be the case, and it turns out to be accurate! It'll be nice for snow days or Christmas Eve or the day before Thanksgiving, or whatever, but for the most part, the office is best for me.

My hedgehog door stop arrived today and it is super cute! Hopefully it'll work because I've been using my jewelry box till now and I'd like to not have to move it every day.

My family is getting together again at my parents' house this weekend, and I'm looking forward to it! We all sit 6 feet apart, with masks on, so it's very safe. My dad bought a new fire pit thing that should be warmer this time. It does get cold in the dark and they have mosquitoes and bats that fly around, so I definitely need to take a blanket too to wrap up in cuz I'm definitely not in favor of either of those things. My sister and I are going to get stuff from the teriyaki shop down the street that we really like, so it should be fun.

Leftovers from last night for dinner tonight. Not sure what the plan is yet for tomorrow night, but it will be from some type of restaurant. To go, of course. This is probably a good sign, but I'm pretty ready for the weekend...!

STFAH: 8/12/2020

Today there was so much work in the in-box it was a solid 3.5 hours before I could stop for breakfast. It's getting out of hand! I spoke with my boss this morning and we decided we have to readjust again. Working from home the majority of the time and coming in a couple days to catch up works ok when you're down to a quarter of the work you normally have, but we're back to normal and down an employee, so it's not longer practical. I volunteered to come back to the office every day, and resume my schedule, and he took me up on the offer. My coworker prefers to work at home and also lives in West Seattle so it makes sense for her to come in less. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the plan is to have me work in the back exclusively so we can keep everything under control and have her take over my job those two days. The rest of the week we'll probably continue to share the work. I'm supposed to reach out and share the work, which is still very strange to me. It's so ingrained in me from the past to never need help and to do too much, so having people who want to help and are willing to share the work is very unnatural to me.

Starting next week, I'll go back to the office. There are a few of the restaurants reopening in a different capacity than before, but I might try to eat out once a week to support them during this time. I'll go back to my hour long lunch break so I can go out and support the Pike Place Market more easily too. I'm looking forward to the sense of normalcy again. I'm apprehensive, of course, about doing the bus more, but people are wearing masks more than they were when I started back a couple months ago. When Metro starts charging people again, I'll probably go ahead and start buying a monthly bus pass again. If I use the bus every day, it's cheaper to get a monthly pass than to just put cash on it.

I just bought a new chair for my bedroom to give myself a bit of a library. It'll show up in a few weeks and I'll rearrange some of the stuff in my room to put in where I'm planning to put it. I'm really excited about having this space and I can't wait to use that part of my room to just sit and relax and read.

In spite of the busy day, I still managed to catch up with the dishes in the sink, and did a chapter in my antiracism book. My leg is a lot better today, probably because I wasn't on it that much, and I did not do the treadmill. I also made dinner tonight which turned out to be quite delicious. You can't go wrong with bbq chicken!

Back to the office tomorrow. Probably another full day of making up for today's absurd amount of work and whatever else shows up throughout the day

Today I Went to Work: 8/11/2020

My knee is still stiff and sore, but way less than it was yesterday. It was way less painful during the day. Hopefully it'll keep getting better. It made it easier to hobble around in the office to have a more functional leg again.

It was another full day at work, but I got through those letters that have been building up for three weeks now, so I feel very happy about that! We're all scrambling and struggling to keep everything under control. My boss mentioned at the end of the day that we need to discuss tomorrow the fact that our numbers are pretty much back to pre-pandemic levels, as far as jobs on the books, but we still have one less employee than pre-pandemic days. I'm not sure what the best course of action is, but I suspect that for some time to come, I will be heading back to the office more, if not daily. It makes sense, because when I work from home, I'm always playing catch up at the office. If I just stayed there, I could do a job from start to finish right there. It's more likely I'd get each day's worth completely done by the end of my day. That does have an appeal. And I'd probably go back to having a normal break and lunch schedule again, which I wouldn't mind. It was my lunch break that I used to write my book and that has screeched to a halt now that I don't have that time anymore. Even though working from home can be nice at times, I miss the structure of a normal work day. And there's only so much Hallmark channel I can watch during the day...! We'll see what we come up with. It should be interesting, whatever happens.

I was alone in the office, eating lunch at my desk today, and perusing the news, and saw that Biden has picked Kamala Harris as the VP and I almost screamed I was so excited! I'm very happy. I hope the happiness will last into November, and beyond!

It's clouding over tonight and while it was a bit humid on the way home, it's really nice right now. I'm wrapped up in my blanket, and watching Hey Dude. We're on the final season already. It's been a good watch. Chicken burger for dinner tonight. Oven baked bbq chicken tomorrow night since I'll be working from home and can get it ready in a more timely manner.

Today I Went to Work: 8/10/2020

Boy is my knee stiff and sore after being on it all day at work! Work went ok. I spent the first half doing my stuff, and the second half in the back room getting everything caught up from last week and today. It all went really well and I was done with a little extra time to spare. There's still some stuff I want to get caught up with that I haven't had a chance to do when I had to cover everything. Now that my coworker's back, the pressure is off because I can ask for help if I need it. I think I'll be able to do a half day at the office tomorrow, at the most, assuming there's not a lot of new stuff coming in.

I'm so tired tonight! With my leg, there was definitely no walking on the treadmill tonight. I had enough energy to heat up a couple Polish sausages for dinner tonight. It's nice and cool in here tonight, so that's a good thing.

I think I'm going to take a couple ibruprofen and ice my knee again. I think it's swelling from standing and walking on it all day. Hopefully a good night's sleep will help it too.

STFAH: 8/9/2020

Today was definitely a lazy day. I did a few chores, the by-hand dishes, taking out the garbage/compost/recycling, and I watered the plants. I did not do laundry, and hopefully tomorrow the maintenance person will figure out what's going on with our washing machine and maybe even resolve the issue so I can do laundry again!

Most of the day was spent watching movies. In spite of not doing a whole lot, I'm pretty tired already. My leg is still stiff and sore, but not like it was, even yesterday morning. I'm going to the office tomorrow and probably Tuesday, like the last few weeks, and I'll try to leave early to give myself more time to walk slowly to the bus stop. It's definitely important not to walk too fast right now!

I think I cut the side of my tongue on the madacamia nut brittle I got yesterday, because it's hurt to eat and drink all day long! I'm hoping it gets better soon.

My coworker is back from vacation, but the plan is to have her quarantine at home for two weeks while I continue to come into the office. She might take over some of the stuff I usually do as she works remotely to give me more time to work on the office work, which would be nice. Then, in a couple weeks, we'll probably go back to the way it was before, where we go to the office together and get through the office stuff faster so we don't have to work multiple full days there like I'm currently doing. I wouldn't complain about that! But it's been going ok, doing the lion's share by myself. It's good to know that I'm capable of handling it all.

Currently watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I know a lot of people hate this one, but it's always been my favorite!

STFAH: 8/8/2020

Well, today we didn't actually stay at home, even though it's the weekend. We started our day off with a drive to Issaquah and a Burger King breakfast, eaten in the car. Then we drove to Boehme's Candy store and stocked up on some goodies. We didn't find a bakery around there so we drove back and stopped at Top Pot to pick some doughnuts up on the way back home.

It was too early for lunch, so we watched a couple episodes of Hey Dude before heading back out and doing our grocery shopping for the next couple weeks. Then we picked up pizzas from Papa Murphy's for a late lunch. I can't believe it's August and I am using the oven, but it was rainy and cold this morning. I wore my sweater out!

My knee is still sore, but it seems to have taken a turn for the better and has reduced the pain and stiffness of the last couple days. I thought all along it felt different then the other time I wrecked my knee. Hopefully it's on the mend and will clear up sooner than the month it took the other times I wrecked my knee to recover. I still have to take it very carefully and it's still stiff and sore, just maybe a quarter of what it was the other time, so that's good.

Our washing machine dripped again, quite a bit, and now the maintenance guy is going to come on Monday to check it out. It's strange because it's not happening every time we use it. Of course it was my sister's laundry, and not mine, and now I'm worried about doing mine tomorrow, which is my usual laundry day. Maybe I'll put it off till after the maintenance guy can check it out. It probably wouldn't do to have it spill all over the place unnecessarily. If it takes a bit to fix it or replace it, hopefully they'll let us use one of the unoccupied units' machines. Or I can just wear jeans to work on office days, I guess.

We watched some more movies from our summer movie list today, and even took a bit of a break because we both got so tired we needed a bit of a nap. I got an 8 hour night's sleep and it's not like we did a lot today. I have no idea why I got so exhausted, but I am sure I'll sleep pretty well tonight...!

STFAH: 8/7/2020

Today I worked from home. Rumor has it that the office is more back to normal now, so I should be good to go for Monday. There was a good balance of stuff to do so I stayed pretty busy today, though I was able to do a chapter in my antiracism book, and caught up with the latest episode of Agents of SHIELD.

It was so cold today I did not sit out on the lanai, and wrapped up in my slippers and a blanket all day! In fact, I'm still dressed like that!

I did a few chores today, in spite of my sore knee. I cleaned my bathroom sink and the bathroom counter, and I put away the dishes from the dishwasher, and cleared out the kitchen sink. I didn't leave the apartment, and have massaged my knee several times today. Unfortunately, time is really all that works for this type of injury. 

Tomorrow, we plan to head to Issaquah to go to a few places in a small outing. It's also grocery shopping weekend. I need to finalize my menu and shopping list. This is the hard part about every other week shopping instead of weekly shopping.

It's sprinkling tonight. I wonder if we're in for a wet, cold weekend...

Today I Went to Work: 8/6/2020

Today I had planned to work in the office, probably all day, but the world had other things in store...The first sense that something was off was getting off my elevator and walking towards the office, and seeing that the office next door had a large fan set up and everything on the wall it shares with us, pulled away. Having no context, I assumed they'd had their carpets cleaned and were drying it out. But then I turned towards our office, and saw and heard giant fans there too. The door was locked, but the alarm was turned off. It smelled bad and everything in the kitchen had been moved to different parts of the office. There were stains on the carpet that took over half the office area. I went into the kitchen to drop off my yogurt in the fridge and there was a panel in the ceiling missing and that yellow fluff stuff poking through. No notes, nobody around saying what had happened. The first thing I did was call my boss, who was busy and unable to take my call and told me to call the other coworker who isn't on vacation to see if she'd heard anything.

I finally got through to my boss and broke the news to him about what was clearly extensive water damage, and found out that we had a meeting scheduled for 11am there. We scrambled and moved the meeting to the conference room next door. At one point, a maintenance man came in and told me what had happened. Last night, around 8pm, security noticed water dripping into the lobby and they discovered that our hot water heater, which is for some odd reason, in the ceiling, had burst. At least it was clean water and not sewage, but it still smelled really bad and was really humid in the office.

I changed my plans from staying all day, to getting what I couldn't do remotely and then leave and finish the rest at home. I'm working from home tomorrow too. It's going to make next week more difficult as I have to catch up with all those extra things, but the important thing is that I'm getting things out electronically to our clients and the paper stuff can wait. It's not the priority.

I left around noon and it took almost a half hour for my bus to come by even though it said it was 10 minutes out. Good times! I finally got home and showered and set up my laptop and spent the rest of the day working here. It was pretty busy.

Because my knee got messed up again, as it seems to do over the last couple years, I did not walk on the treadmill today. It's a little lower down in my knee than before, so it's a little more usable, but I need to massage it and take it easy for a while. It'll be nice to work from home again tomorrow and have less walking to do.

Dinner was, in fact, sloppy joes. It was cold and rainy today so I used the oven to make some fries and toast my hamburger bun. It was quite delicious. I had some extra tomatoes to use up, so I chopped some up and threw them in the pan with the ground chicken. It'll be even tastier as leftovers tomorrow. I was invited to do dinner with my bff tomorrow, but with my knee, I can't make it there and back without too much pain. My sister and I have a couple things to do this weekend that I need to conserve my walking.

It's cozy in here tonight. I'm wrapped up in my blanket and we're watching Hey Dude. Good times!

STFAH: 8/5/2020

Today was a busy work day in sections. Enough stuff came in that I'll be going into the office tomorrow to stay on top of it all. In between work, I did a chapter of my antiracism book, cleaned my bedroom, gathered and took out the garbage/recycle/compost, vacuumed and swept the apartment, hung up some of the pictures, cleaned up the den, and organized my sister's pantry cupboard. I also cooked some grains for salads, ground some flax for my oatmeal, thawed some chicken to marinate, and made a grilled cheese and ham sandwich for my lunch. I also picked up a couple items that my mom dropped off, as well.

After work, I hung up some more pictures and walked on the treadmill. It was so humid today, miserable humid, and I see now that I actually did a lot today, maybe too much, which is probably why I'm not feeling so great right now. I'm drinking lots of water, but I had to change my dinner plans to make it a little easier on my stomach. Hopefully I'll be ok by morning because I have a lot to do at work tomorrow!

The chicken was marinated in Greek seasoning, salt, pepper, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, and olive oil and I fried it up with some olives, chopped tomatoes, and oregano from the planters on my porch. I cooked up some spaghetti and mixed it all together. It was quite delish, actually!

I heard it's supposed to cool off a bit tomorrow and even rain a little, which is probably why it's so humid today. I won't mind cooler weather! Sloppy joes tomorrow for dinner.

Today I Went to Work: 8/4/2020

I went into the office and got caught up with yesterday's stuff. I was able to do some video stuff that had come in, as well. I got a few more of the change letters prepared as well, which I was happy about. It was a slower-paced, but still very busy day. No major system freak-outs or meltdowns. I got caught up enough to work from home tomorrow for sure, which will be nice.

If time allows tomorrow, I have some house cleaning to do and I want to work on hanging pictures. I'd love to start photographing the apartment to share with everybody! I'm going to try to do another chapter of my antiracism book too, if I have time. And my movie will probably be Summer Magic, and I definitely have to see if The Golden Girls is back on Hallmark channel now that it's August.

As I walked home from the bus today I saw all these people flocking to the ballot drop box outside the library and it was so cool to see democracy in action. Everybody wore masks and stayed 6 feet apart, so it was also caring for others in action.

It was hot again, but it's cooling off nicely already, so that's good. I did more Swedish meatloaf and another baked potato for dinner. If I have ground chicken in the freezer, I might do sloppy joes for tomorrow.

It feels really nice to be home after a long day at work and to relax in this new apartment. It is so much more livable than the other one was. I think I might have some popcorn tonight. It just sounds good.

Today I Went to Work: 8/3/2020

What a day! It was a total Monday! My workload was actually reasonable, and I might have gotten it all done, if it wasn't for a couple of surprises I didn't anticipate. There was a mistake with some of the exhibits I sent out last week and we had to sort it out, which involved doing some stuff on the Fed Ex website I didn't know how to do and had to reach out to my coworker to help me with. It got all sorted out, and then the main copier decided the toner box was full and needed to be switched. I don't know if you've ever tried to use the illustrations that pop up on the copier on how to do stuff, but they were less than helpful. Luckily, Youtube really does have everything and I found a video on how to do it. Then I had to run around looking for the boxes of toner containers to switch. I got it all done, till the last step of putting the two halves of the machine back together. They were connected, but noooooo, the machine said it wasn't. I tried it probably ten times. My coworker said to try it slowly but with conviction, so I did it one last time, and actually squeezed myself in front of it between the machine and the window and did it from the front instead of the side. It finally worked! All in all, I probably lost about 45 minutes between those two issues.

And then somebody needed exhibits that one of the other employees forgot to mail in so I had to get in contact with her to run them into the office. I got the mailing label and the exhibits and stayed a couple minutes late to get it done, but they really needed them, so I wanted to get them out asap. Needless to say, I'll be going into the office tomorrow too to finish everything!

I used my new Golden Girls mask at work today and it worked really well so I think I'm going to make that permanent. It's lightweight, doesn't fog up my glasses, and the straps don't hurt my ears.

I was so exhausted by the time I got home that I was just done for the day. It was humid today. Warm too, but it was the humidity that was the worst. It's cooling off now though. We have all the windows open and fans going.

I came home to a second cable bill in the mail when I had just mailed out my latest one. I was concerned so I called in to check to make sure I didn't have two accounts open, and it turns out it was because we moved in the middle of the month and it's all good. But I'm glad I called to check. The person on the other end was really nice.

Swedish meatloaf and a baked potato for dinner tonight. Maybe a repeat tomorrow. Not sure yet.

STFAH: 8/2/2020

Today has been a very pleasant day. Not too hot out, and I got a few chores done before it warmed up. I made us a French toast brunch and we watched White Water Summer. I did the by-hand dishes and we took out all the garbage and recycling when the movie ended. I started a load of laundry and then we watched Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. After that, we went out to get gas and pick up sandwiches from Tub's Subs. I've only ever gotten the half sandwiches before. It turns out the whole ones are gigantic! I am taking the other half to work to eat for lunch.

Once we got back, I did an episode of classic Batman while walking on the treadmill. I have noticed that I tend to not sleep well Sunday nights because I usually sleep in Sunday morning and then I do nothing at all during the day, so I haven't used up any energy. I'm hoping this will help. Then I showered and started another load of laundry. We watched To Wong Food, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newman and I continued to work on my Christmas project. Now we're watching National Lampoon's Vacation. I have been waiting all summer for this movie!

I have recharged my ipod and my phone, so I should be all set to go to the office tomorrow. Each week is so unique, I can't gauge how it'll be. Slow? Busy? Medium? Only time will tell. I have a few things from Friday that I'll need to do, but other than that, it's just whatever shows up. But I'm not going to stress over it anymore. Work will get done when it gets done! Not sure what I'm going to do for dinners this week. It's hard to gauge it with the weather right now and when I don't know what days I'll be in the office or working from home. But I have a couple of potatoes I need to use up, and Swedish meatloaf in the freezer, so I'm thinking that'll be a couple meals.

We're still putting up pictures, but once they're ready, I will take pictures of the place to share!

STFAH: August 1, 2020

Today started off cloudy and super chilly so I wrapped up in my blanket and sat out on the porch and did one of my antiracism chapters. Then I came back inside and paid bills and finished working on my ballot. I felt very accomplished. I also watched a few youtube videos that I bookmarked a while ago but never had time to watch. When my sister got up, we put together the two new shelves we got, which finish out the last of our furniture. We also emptied out the last of the boxes and organized everything in the living room. She emptied out a few more boxes from her room and everything is finally coming together!

We watched a couple movies from our summer movie list today and I worked on finding recipes for my Christmas blog project until it was time for us to leave.

We actually had plans today! We went to our parents' house, with our own food for dinner, and some stuff to drop off, and my cousin and her family came over and we all sat 6 feet apart from each other, while wearing masks, and got caught up from when the pandemic started, and played some trivia games until it got too late and dark. It was really nice and I really loved being able to be around family again. To actually have something to do again! We'll probably give it two weeks to make sure we all remain symptom-free, and then from there, see about doing it again sometime.

While we were there, we had my dad put some Disney artwork I'd collected over the years back when I pre-ordered Disney movies coming out of the Vault. They always had a deal for a free picture with the dvd, and I couldn't pass it up. Well, now they're framed, and tomorrow we're going to work on putting up artwork. Once that's done, and I've vacuumed, I will finally be ready to take pictures of this place and start sharing them with everybody!

We bought a loaf of Safeway bread to go with our dinner tonight and have half of it left, so our pancake brunch tomorrow is going to become a French toast brunch, instead. It should be delish! Hopefully more movies from our summer movie list tomorrow too. It's always so much fun!