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

Forgot to take painkillers with me to work, and the knee was not happy with me by the afternoon. More gross was that the AC wasn’t working well when I got in – whole office was 74 or higher, despite most thermostats being set to 70. My office dipped to 75 at some point over the day, but hovered around 77-78 for most of it. Yuck.

Work is a grind of prepping stuff as best we can while knowing we’re going to get sued. Oh well. Set stupid policies, get sued. I get paid regardless, so long as they don’t fire the lot of us.

Went to the DC Men’s knitting group today, and the shop had these gorgeous knitting project bags in leather. I’d seen them online before, but they were just as dreamy in person. Despite looking them over multiple times I just couldn’t justify another bag, especially one that would really just be used to haul knitting from floor to floor in the house (the lack of anything other than a single handle makes it unpractical for hauling outside). But man were they pretty (and they had all four shades on display).

Knitting went well. Walking to/from knitting went well, with the brace on. Apparently a possible side effect of cortisone is a flushed face, which I had both today and yesterday. Took my temp several times, all normal, before bothering to google side effects. D’oh. And I made some good progress on this shawl. The current section has me adding 10 stitches every two rows, so it’s really growing. Got to chat with a new member who took up knitting during the pandemic, and has stuck with it. He’s going to attend the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival for the first time this year, so we were sharing tips, like have a project list so you have an idea what you might want to buy, rather than just picking out every pretty skein you see, as that way lies an impossible yarn stash.

Slept for shit last night, between eating too much Chinese food and the knee still setting down. So today was lots of video game grinding, then I watched a couple movies while finishing a dish cloth I was working on to try out some color work before I tackle a blanket in a similar pattern. But first I need to finish a shawl I’ve been working on.

Was sorely tempted to take advantage of Brooklyn Tweed’s going out of the yarn business sale, but I don’t need to spend the money right now, and I definitely don’t need any more yarn guilt.

Stomach’s calmer, so here’s hoping sleep will be easier. The husband is out of town with his sister to commemorate their Mom’s passing during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which leaves me plenty of knitting time.

Cortisone shot in the knee, which I babied the rest of the day (lots of video gaming, sprawled out on the couch). Back in four weeks to see how it’s doing, and see if we need a referral to another physician in the practice to do a camera scope inside.

Ordered Chinese in, ate way too much for someone who’s sedentary. Oh well.

A big policy document finally shook loose at work, so now we can turn to doing and back away from all the hand wringing. I am so, so very grateful that I recruited one capable, personable attorney from my old agency to work on my portfolio, and he in turn recruited another capable, personable attorney from our old agency for the same. Having backup that I enjoy talking to has been such a blessing, especially on days like today where I needed to be away and resting.

The husband has been dealing with work stress and that has meant he’s been baking. This past weekend was cupcakes, then a cake-for-two using the leftover frosting on Monday. Banana muffins on Tuesday. Today was peanut butter sandwich cookies. I am eternally grateful now that america’s test kitchen put out their “baking for two” cookbook this year, as it gives him ways to indulge stress baking without making enough for a dozen people. Six cookies was just enough. The cake-for-two was still a lot, but better than having an entire cake sitting around. Best gift ever.

Off to the orthopedist tomorrow to see what sort of injection he has planned. I just want normal movement – having the knee lock up while trying to walk ain’t fun.

Knee was a mess today, so of course I forgot the three-a-day pain medication. Tylenol had to suffice (poorly). Mainly is when the knee is kept in flexion (bent) for any period of time. In extension (straight out) is fine, but after it’s been flexed it takes a while to recover. We’ll see what voodoo gets offered on Friday, be it anti-inflammatory, lubrication, or platelet replacement. Who knows?

Work was a hot mess of last minute stuff for senior people who finally decided to partially read the lawyers in at the eleventh hour.

I had a whopping one thing planned for today, to make breakfast ahead for this upcoming week. Got it done (a ‘crustless quiche’ – basically an egg bake with some veggies in it), and whipped out some meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner as well. Woo.

Was otherwise mostly a zombie today. I did also get a repeat done on a dishcloth I’m working on. It’s in a two color honeycomb pattern, and I’m treating it as a preview of a honeycomb blanket I have queued up sometime soon (I bought a kit, so the yarn is here and ready). I get it now, and the dishcloth is actually easy enough to do on the Metro, so I might work on it during the morning commute. Or not. Who knows.

Knee is still unstable. *shrug* Which was a large part of sitting on my ass knitting or playing video games today.

Had some friends over for games and a trip to the local Olive Garden. These were city boys who don’t get out to suburban restaurants, so it was a treat for them.

The new drug doesn’t seem much different from the old NSAID? Other than the fact that it’s a 3x a day pill versus 1x a day, which makes it easier to forget to take. Knee is still being obnoxious for walking, and this morning my skin was irritated from the firmer brace overnight.

My credit union sent me a “you haven’t used your credit card with us enough, so we’re going to close it if you don’t use it before this summer” letter, so I ordered the husband a doo-dad for his stand mixer (a cover that fits over the big whisk, that you pull down when you’re done to clean most of the stuff off of it; he’ll love it). Hopefully that’ll mollify them.

Managed to move my next orthopedist appointment to next Friday versus a week from Monday, and they gave me a stronger NSAID to start tomorrow. Going back to a bigger brace is helping, too.

Missed lunch because of a last minute meeting, but managed to finish something that we needed to get done for the agency head, so yay? Also, no real news on the budget yet, though other agencies’ plans have leaked to the press and they’re pretty draconian. I would not be surprised if ours was half of our current level, which would be consistent with the public plans that the think tanks announced prior to the start of this administration.

Ordered in dinner as soon as we got home, watched some fun British TV, then read some.

Knee was definitely worsening today; calling the orthopedist tomorrow to move things up. Pain, and more problems walking, which was highly distracting at work.

The plans for next year’s budget request are starting to hit agencies, and from the rumblings I’m hearing they’re pretty bad, as in pretty drastic cuts. We’ll see if Congress lets that happen as the realities of cuts in their states/districts starts to sink in, but given how cowardly this lot has been you never know.