* Had my blood draw today. Did not get a donut after as planned (my logic being: if you can EVER eat a donut, it's right after your yearly fasting blood draw) but it was after 9 am and as I drove up to the donut place, I could see through the plate-glass windows that the cases were nearly empty, and I didn't feel like whatever was left from a picked-over selection, and also there were several people sitting at the tables, unmasked and talking. So I went to Pruett's and bought cinnamon rolls instead. They were okay. (I have more, but I feel less bad about slowly eating them because....)
* My checkup next week is going to be telemedicine. I presume this means no weigh in? At least, I haven't a scale here at home (long story: I had one in college and it made me too sad and obsessive, and decided it wasn't healthy for me to have one). BUT after walking around all day griping about how my chinos were sliding down on me (and I kept having to hike them up), I decided after I got home to try on one of the skirts I tried on 4 or 6 weeks ago (I guess it was closer to 6, it was right before Thanksgiving) and could not zip, and that pushed me to eat more carefully and exercise a bit more. and....it zips. Oh, it's not quite comfy enough yet that I'd want to wear it for a full day (at least not a day where I was sitting a lot; my pudge redistributes when I stand and tightish things are more comfortable). But it zips.
Other things I can check - I own a pulse oximeter and a thermometer and an electronic version of a syphngiomanometer. I will have to look at the intake info and see what vitals they require. If they really insist on a weight that's gonna be a bit of a problem but maybe if the campus nurse's office is allowing people in they would weigh me. Or maybe they let it slide for once, especially since I don't seem to have got bigger.
* Of course it will depend on blood work. I always worry a tiny bit about Type II diabetes, because of a weak family history of it (and being fattish). But I'm also active and I try to limit sugar - not as much as someone with diabetes would, but I try not to eat excessive amounts and balance it out with vegetables and lean proteins.
But if it comes back good? Maybe I slack off a little on the restrictions but keep the higher exercise levels up as much as I can. As the weather gets nicer I may take Friday (and maybe Tuesday, the other day I don't have afternoon commitments) and go to one of the local areas where you can walk and just walk for a while. At least unless they lock us down hard like the UK is locking down, though I doubt that will happen here.
Also being back on my feet part of the day teaching will help.
* It was nice though to go back to putting sweetener (I use Golden Syrup, which is a cane sugar syrup) in my tea at lunch after a while of not having any. It's a small thing but it's a small thing that makes life nicer.
* Leaving my tree up a couple more days. The superstition I have heard is that it's bad luck to leave it up after Epiphany (which is Wednesday) but I need the prettiness for a few more days. I might, after taking it down, clear off my coffee table and move it to where the tree was, and put a bunch of the cut-glass things I have out on it, and put candles in them, and just light the candles periodically.
Alternatively - I find a place that sells bouquets (Pruett's used to but they took that section out to make room for the "pick up at the curb" staging area) and buy myself flowers every couple weeks, just for a morale thing. Again, unless we have to lock down hard.
* I also want to try to finish the current "simple socks" which are in the WYS colorway called "Fairy Lights" before Epiphany - but as I'm just up to the heel turn, I don't know. I need to eat some dinner and sit down and start knitting on them. (Though I also need to change the sheets on the bed tonight, they are in the dryer right now).
* I also either want to start something new, or haul out the long-stalled crochet afghan and work on it. Just something different.
* At least the two packages that were missing for a long time or temporarily seem to have arrived - I got an e-mail that my sister-in-law's and niece's gifts were delivered. (I am surprised they did not call, which makes me slightly apprehensive that it wasn't actually delivered, but then, they aren't always the best at calling....). Also, I ordered a copy of the Pioneer Woman's autobiography for my mom, she used to be a big fan of that show (and still might be). It was through the National Cowboy Museum (which I follow on Twitter).
My mom knows something was coming for her and I said not to bother to call specifically when it arrives, if it's not arrived when we talk Wednesday night will be soon enough - I couldn't contact them about "hey it never made it" before Thursday anyway.
* Got my syllabi written today but wow, doing that soils one was a gut-punch: the last time I wrote a syllabus for this class was January 2020 (or, more likely, December 2019, before I left for Christmas break) and....I had to change EVERYTHING. And also just the memory of how innocent things seemed then and how my biggest concern with the class was learning how to use the new soil analysis system we had gotten. The other two big classes were ones I had taught in the fall so I already had "pandemic syllabi" to base off of. And the fourth class (advanced biostats) is very small and what I cover changes from year to year depending on the needs of the students - and we may even do that one as an entirely-over-Zoom class, I think the people taking it both work and it might be easier for them that way
* And I received bad news over the lunch break, so right before I was going to do the soils syllabus. The husband of a couple who had been long, long term family friends (like: I have known them all my life) had been in the hospital, where he contracted COVID, and he died a few days ago. So now I know personally two people who have died, and maybe a dozen more who have had it, and a few more who tested positive without bad symptoms.
One funny story about this couple: at one point they felt they had grown apart and decided to divorce. (I remember their daughter, who had become a friend of mine - about my age - saying "If he winds up marrying another woman I will never speak to him again" and that was her dad, so...). Anyway, about a year later they decided they still actually did love each other and wanted to work out the issues....so they remarried. And they remained so....until he died this week.
I really did know them all my life; the woman was a co-worker in the research office my dad worked in for a while at Akron, before he moved over and became chair of the Geology department there. So it's kind of...I don't know. I mean, it had been 25 years since I saw them but still. It bugs me to be gradually losing people who had been part of my past like that. Oh, I know it was bound to happen but it's still hard.
I very much want the losses to stop for a while, to just have a few months where I'm not mourning anyone or trying to console someone else's pain.
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