Ok, So It Wasn't a Test Run

 It has been a long week...and it's only been a couple of days. 

Today is the first day that my eyeballs don't hurt. Ok, they don't hurt much...

So when last I typed I thought I was on the road to recovery after contracting a Flu, having tested Negative for COVID 19. 

Later that day...
The husband attempted to get his COVID test results but the testing company's website was having glitches. He contacted them and they couldn't get it to work either so they sent him a work-around. He was pursuing the work-around when we got a text from his work indicating they had his COVID test results and they were Negative. 

Unfortunately, that text was immediately followed by a 2nd text: "Sorry, COVID test result was Positive".

Also unfortunately, that afternoon I realized I couldn't get warm. About the time I figured out another pair of socks wasn't going to help, the body aches started again and my fever was back. 

The next day we got email confirmation of the husband's Positive COVID 19 test. So I made another testing appointment with Pima County. The young lady who did the 2nd test was a bit more determined to get a really good sample - it still tickled but this one made my eyes water a bit. 

Yep, got the Positive test result the next day so I'm official. My best friend (the nurse) suspects I got the "Negative" test result because I hadn't had enough time to build up a "viral load" when I got tested the morning after my first fever (or that I caught COVID on top of a regular Flu). 

The husband has been doing pretty well on recovering. I appear to be lagging a week or so behind. I've been taking a lot of naps and watching the DVR stuff I've recorded but rarely get to watch. I still haven't lost the sense of taste or smell but I am regularly queasy and, as previously noted, my eyeballs hurt. Ok, even my hair hurt for a couple of days but it's improving. 

I feel cautiously....what? Optimistic? Lucky? Queasy?
{Yeah, I feel queasy.}
This thing can be profoundly nasty...and sneaky. I already thought I was getting over it once and I was Wrong. And COVID can have long term effects.
So...I'll just be cautious for now. 

Spring Cleaning...a little early

 You know how you feel when you clean out your closets or drawers? 

Nostalgic? {I remember when...}
Embarrassed? {Now, why did I buy that?}
Waffling on the keep or donate decision? Or the telling sound when you stretch a waistband to hear the elastic crinkle and expand never to shrink back again?
Satisfaction - as you view the closet with more space and the empty vehicle after you drop off the donations? 

I spent some time today cleaning up the blog links. {Yep, something I can do whilst sitting. My legs are less wobbly today but...}
A few things have been pulled off. Some are still under review (particularly blog and podcast links) but not a lot of radical changes. 
(Wow...and we're down to 2 yarn stores in Tucson. Am I missing any?)

I'm not planning on changing the background...I'm so in love with the rich, blue, fiber-y yumminess! But yeah, it was time do tidy up the blog and do a review. 

Some links are still on because they are still spiffy but not much has been posted to them recently...not unlike my blog. (OK, I think my blog is spiffy...at least occasionally)

Some are delightful "rabbit holes" that I tried very hard not to go down.
{Yes, Knitty.com, that would be YOU!!   Have you-all seen the current edition!?!?!}

Especially during our year of COVID, when checking on some the un-updated blogs I have to wonder if folks are OK. Have they just wandered away from blogging? Are they recovering? Were they taken from us like Cat Bordhi? {Lovely brilliant woman, there. She had so many gifts and shared so much with us.} Are they just distracted by life and not currently investing time in pulling thoughts together or getting pictures reviewed and posted. {guilty} Are they distracted by another social media platform (Twitter) and rarely taking the time to type up the long-version of their thoughts/adventures? {very guilty}

Yes, with our current stay-at-home world, you would think we would have more time for blogging.
{Insert quiet hysterical laughter here.}
Some of us have been working though all this craziness. Some folks have people to care for, entertain, or teach. Some folks are being creative and inspiring {Thank you!!} Some folks added to the foolishness on a grand, historic scale and they don't have a clue {Yes, 45, I mean you.} {Grrrrrrrrr}

Back to link-checking. Bear with me as I tweak the blog-look. I don't think it's time to "recycle" the blog just yet. But I'm looking forward to viewing my trimmed-down blog page with some satisfaction. 

Test Run

Howdy. Yep, I'm still here. Still able to type, wonder, comment, be ignorant, study, learn, revise my perspective, wonder some more...

Ok, half the challenge of writing a blog anymore is selecting a topic. 

There is soooooo much sh*... uh, stuff going on!?! 

So, before I type more on three different topics and then delete it...here's this week's current event in my life. 

I got to have my first COVID 19 test.       It tickled. 

It was preceded by the Husband coming home from work nearly a week ago - running a fever. I had him call out from work for the next day, gave him some food/meds, and made a run to the grocery store for quarantine food in case it was COVID.

Over the week, his work {slowly} made arrangements for him to get tested (next week) and I was not included in those arrangements.
OK. Fine. 

A couple of days after his fever appeared so did mine. I was inspired to get together with Pima County and get a COVID test. It was easily setup and accomplished (Thank you!!).
And it tickled. 

And the results were delivered the next day - Negative. 

So, I've been wearing masks and not going anywhere other than work/necessaries since, what, March 2020? I would have minor panic attacks at work because people were not taking the pandemic seriously. The fear has been there every day for the better part of a year. 
And the circle of the folks getting COVID is getting smaller and closer to us. It's no longer someone I know on line or the family of an acquaintance... now it's people I work with that are ill and the mother of one of my husband's best friends recently died from COVID. 

When I was at the grocery store after putting the fevered husband in bed, I tried not to hyperventilate into the extra layers of mask I was wearing. I kept thinking about the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people that have died from COVID and how many more have long-term effects. 

Who will take care of the cats? Nikoli/Mikale & Simon/Shadow-Cat need to go together. Who would Gato-Kitty trust? 

I need to jot down a will so the cats and yarn will find a good home. Ah, the looms too.

Can't work on any gift-items in case I transfer the virus...

The self-dialog was acknowledging the fear but trying not to panic as...oooh...I found an excellent deal on cans of soup (.99 cents each if you buy 8!!). 

Does it matter what type of soup I get if we won't be able to taste it anyway? 

Can a text of who should get my Sewing Machine count as a will? 

Would anyone want the yarn stash if I die of COVID?

I watched over the husband and tried to keep him comfortable. I researched COVID, took temperatures, dispensed pills, kept a log, cooked, cleaned, slept on the couch and yes, we were now wearing masks in our house and trying not to pet the cats just in case.
Neither of us lost our sense of smell or taste. 
By the time I was sick-er and he was recovering, he started making me meals (Thank you!). 

Our fevers are done. We're still coughing and tired. I'll feel even better once his COVID test is done and comes back negative.  As a flu, it was average. As a focus of the fear for most of the last year, it was riveting. But the fear is still there. Vaccines are happening. But not yet for us. We're older but not that old. We are "essential" but not on the level of the many amazing people who save lives, care-take, clean, heal or teach.
{Apologies...I'm sure I'm leaving out other truly essential folks.}

And I'll be going back to work in the next day or so - wondering if the next selfish person who feels it's ok to come and breathe on me without a mask might bring COVID. 

Having just done the Test Run, I think we'll need more soup. 

Well, Hellooooo! How are you? How have you been?

If I were to meet up with someone I hadn't seen for a long time, I might be a little embarrassed for not connecting with that someone for a while, but I'd be delighted to see them all the same.

So.... "Well, Helloooooo! How are you? How have you been?".

I'm doing well, thank you. A bit hot just now as Tucson is feeling more like Phoenix lately. Gah.
Monsoons have semi-started but they are absent this week and we're cooking. It's about 102 degrees in the shade (1:15 PM). The phone says it's 108 outside. Gah.

So.....I'm off school for the summer, back to working 6 days a week, doing a little knitting, working on the to-do piles around the house and considering what I want to do for my Weaving Independent Study in the Fall. The 3 options currently being considered are Ikat (primarily with Indigo), Summer and Winter Weave or Backstrap Weaving.

Backstrap weaving has been on the "list" for a while and I picked up a book on the topic at the last Tucson Handweaver's and Spinner's Guild stash sale. We shall see. I think I'd need to "build" a loom but I haven't read enough to see if I want to go there just yet.

I dabbled in Summer and Winter Weave last semester - seeing it as a type of DoubleWeave (i.e. weaving with multiple warps). I started with heaver yarns and was thinking rude comments like "ugly bedspread" as I started my test. I worked my way down to thinner weft threads and began to see the pattern improve from "ugly bedspread" to "Huh - kinda cool".
{?!? Seriously - I didn't take any pictures of the test on the loom at school?!? Sigh/Head-desk.}

I also read up a little on Ikat last semester and even setup a test during our Indigo dye session. As I understand it, there are three types of Ikat dyeing - Warp based (just the warp threads {which allows more control}), Weft based (less control), and Double Ikat where both warp and weft are dyed. With limited time amidst other class projects,  I decided to setup a card weaving warp with some Ikat resist. (Card Weaving is essentially all warp - you can only see the weft on the edges of the woven strip.) The dye/resist worked well but I have yet to weave it up.

Well, this post went pretty much as though I'd run into you somewhere and I started babbling about the current thing on my mind. Except I couldn't see when your eyes glazed over as I waxed rhapsodic about one of my favorite things. {wry grin}

I hope your favorite things are enhancing your summer and keeping you out of the Arizona heat.

I hope I run into you again soon!

Do I still get to have a Blogiversary if I haven't been blogging?

Yep, I started up my computer today and the back of my brain whispered "Blogiversary?".
And the front of my brain paused and mumbled "Uh oh. Isn't that at the beginning of July?"

This led to my logging into Blogger to marvel that folks still visit my blog occasionally.
{What's with the 50-some-odd-visitors on the 23rd?}

Anyway... I quickly found I'd blown past my July 6th blogiversary. "Sigh".
And then I wondered...do I still get to have a Blogiversary if I haven't been blogging?

Yeah, sorta.   Kinda, maybe.    Yes. I've decided "yes".

I'm going to skip the lack-of-blog-post reasons. I already started a blog on that topic over a month ago and it didn't make it to posting 'cause I thought it was boring.

Today I'm embracing the random aspects of my thought patterns (you already noticed that, I'm sure) and I'm just going to post for the sake of posting. What did I see on Twitter the other day...? Something about write every day. Even if it's crap. Even if you don't show it to anyone, still write.
I liked the idea and it sounded a bit like, if you practice something every day, you'll get better at it. {Hmmmm. Pondering the "every day" part of that theory.}

Anyway x 2... what have you been doing on your summer vacation?

Me?    I'm not really on vacation, per se. I'm not taking time off from work and not traveling anywhere. But I am out of school for the summer and I've been indulging my long-neglected organizational desires.
{i.e. "OMG, I can't stand it anymore!!!!!! I must put something away!!!!"}

There's been a fair bit of recycling, de-piling, donating, sorting (yarn into bins), dusting (wherever the cats don't dust with their lounging furry persons), consolidating to-do lists, and finding homes for paper, fiber, school projects, and personal knitting/weaving projects that have accumulated whilst I was dashing from one school deadline to the next.

And I've been...
Well, there were a lot of and, and, ands...in the paragraph I just deleted. It reminded me of when my youngling nieces/nephews would tell me about their day.

Anyway x 3... I'm going to get back to the reason I turned on the computer in the first place. In excavating my craft room, I became pretty sure that I gifted away a skein of yarn that I had plotted/promised to use in knitting a shawlette for a friend. So I've "shopped" through my stash for replacement options and I was going to e-mail her a oops-I-gave-it-away confession along with a  how-bout-one-of-these-yummy-replacement-yarns offer.

So, I'm off to confess.
I hope life is treating you well.
"Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and CraftLit are helping me maintain my sanity during the home excavation and our country's embarrassing political upheaval. {gah/sigh}
Miss typing at you. I'll try to work on that.
Happy Belated Blogiversary {to me}! Thanks for visiting.

Would a hug help?

Last night, as I inserted the last of those silly, charming, fun, and interesting videos and links into yesterday's blog post, I could hear that the News was on in the next room. Not good news, either.

The continuation of the global brutality and confounding violence, intolerance, and hate has been the top story for weeks now. Yes, I know, the top stories are always nasty, but I think it has been a lot worse lately.

I avoid watching the news. It gives me nightmares. If I can sleep at all. {sigh} I suspect it relates to being a bit too empathetic, a "fixer" {or wannabe fixer}, having a vivid imagination, and tending towards a "Lawful Good" D&D alignment. {Yes, even when I'm being serious my "geek" and odd sense of humor shows.}

The nightmares are definitely bleeding into every part of every day life.
Add to that the potential of my country electing a megalomaniac "reality" TV personality as our president and.....  
       ......      {Must remember to breathe...}

?
...
?

There has been a long pause in the typing.
I'm trying not to write up a tirade of "What the hell is going on?!?!?".

What it comes down to is this...I can't understand what is going on.
I didn't understand what was going on in December 2012.

The only thing I can do is try to help as I can and do the best I can in my tiny place in the world.
{Yes, this is me trying to dial down my personal panic, sadness and fear.}
I keep wondering if some compassion would have stopped these people from doing what they've done.
Would a hug help?
Would a lot of hugs help?
{Sigh}

Two more offerings:

These two videos show we are capable of doing better. Of being better.
Heck, that we've been better.
The vast majority of our lives are made up of small moments. Small decisions. Small gifts.
Perhaps the small day to day efforts can inspire change or the culmination of many small actions can result in something big and wonderful and heartful.

E-hugs. Many, many e-hugs.

"Video that will change your life. I have no words left."

"Arigato from Japan Earthquake Victims" 2011

Ya know that "Easily entertained" thing about me? It's still true.

So I've been going through my, uh, substantial pile o'e-mails. It's one of my summer goals to reduce the pile in my inbox by over 400 e-mails. {Well, I can dream, can't I? Oh...well crimony! I've already reduced it by over 170! Guess I should keep dreaming. ;-}

So, during the e-mail perusal (excavation), I have come across a whole slew of "ya gotta see this" emails with charming, interesting, and fun links to a wide range of videos.

Yep, gonna share:

A very recent yarn-y video gift from a newish friend: "Film Muffler".

This is technically a public service announcement - but beautifully presented: "Embrace Life".

And the Louisville Leopard Percussionists kept me entertained for quite a while:
Steel Leopards: "Check Yes Juliet and Happy"

"Zeppelin!"

Simon's Cat always has something fun:
"Field Trip"

And has become something I like to check out daily:
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the day. Extremely spiffy!

Lastly, this is an old favorite: NASA/SDO's 2012 Transit of Venus
"NASA/SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit"

Enjoy!