one last thing

 I'm almost ready to leave tomorrow. 

Oh, I have to set more traps (yes, still fighting rodents, and I hate it a lot). And put things on timers so the house looks more lived-in. And put my toiletries and stuff in my carry on.

But I did complete one task today - I got my in-town cards out (mostly to people at church). I did also have to get one sympathy card - one woman whose husband had been unwell for a while, she finally lost him today. (So I sent a sympathy card rather than a Christmas one. And I sent D.'s mother a card but just said "thinking of you at Christmas" because I'm guessing, based on how much D. loved Christmas, and how much he did for it, it's going to be a hard Christmas for her). 

I'm almost done with the pioneer braid scarf and want to try to finish it this afternoon (I think one more repeat and then I can do the ending part). Partly because I'm taking a DIFFERENT scarf pattern and yarn, and I want the short-ish straight 6 mm needles I was using for it. 

One way Christmas break is different from Thanksgiving is how my responsibilities dwindle up to the time I leave - with Thanksgiving, you're kind of going full-tilt boogie until you have to leave (if you're traveling). With Christmas, I have more time to consider, so I was able to carefully plan what I'm taking in the way of clothes and projects. 

Two other things for today - at noon I helped with a Meals on Wheels run. Luckily, I wound up working with the woman retired from my department, so we had stuff to talk about while driving (I drove, she navigated, having lived here a little longer and having done this more times than I have. Everyone was very cheerful, which was nice. One of our recipients was a retired Methodist minister I recognized from the times he filled the pulpit at the church I belong to (the Disciples church) when the regular minister was on vacation. 

And tonight is the CWF Christmas potluck. I feel OK going because we're all vaccinated and most of us are also boostered, and it's a small group. (But I admit: I hate that I have to make these calculations, and try to weigh "what I really want to do" against "what is my risk of COVID exposure and getting a breakthrough infection" - while it's kind of fallen off our news cycle because of the tornado in Kentucky, it sounds like it's really spiking horrifically in places where omicron has arrived).

Then again, apparently a regular old natural disaster can also overwhelm medical services; a woman I know whose sister lives near Vanderbilt had tried to go to the ER there for some medical help (something to do with needing oxygen - her house had lost power in the storms so her concentrator wasn't working) and she wound up sitting in the ER over a day because so many storm victims were being brought in. I mean, it's better alive people are being brought in for treatment than the alternative, but....it would be better if there weren't so many injured, if more people had just minor or no injuries.

But wow, do I ever need a break, and need some time with my mom