Weekending

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

I'll back up to Thursday since it's weekend adjacent. I had a sub job and I can't think of the last time (if ever) there was a day when I was genuinely glad to have a sub job. As in I would rather be at school than at home where I know I would be tempted to read news article after news article. After Charlie's assassination and the school shooting on Wednesday, I knew I needed a distraction mentally from the awfulness. This day was Sept 11 and charged with its own national emotion (though it's safe to say that the vast majority of those in the US view Sept.11 as a terrible day in our history while for many, Sept. 10 is a day of celebration- so two days of national emotion but quite different ones). I've subbed on Sept. 11th before; I knew that the principle reads a short statement about the significance of the day during the morning announcements. Staff can wear patriotic shirts or sweatshirts to school which is nice. 

The school day was good. Several staff members with whom I share political views (that we've somehow or another uncovered in the past) came up to me with hugs due to our collective sadness over Charlie's death. Several staff noted that students throughout the day discussed it among themselves. They didn't, thankfully, appear to be celebratory, rather they discussed it soberly. I was a floating sub so I had a couple of nice breaks during the day. Distractions are good but so are breaks :).

Friday was a day! First off, Happy Birthday to my amazing sister! Here she is one of my nieces. 

Wish I could have been there but it was not possible this year. I subbed for half a day in the morning. It was a good and easy morning for which I was thankful. Who would have thought that the zenith of the day was being in school??

I went grocery shopping shortly after arriving home. I did the dumbest most irresponsible thing that I've done in a long time. Upon completing my purchase, taking the items that I'd bought to my car, and returning the cart to the cart coral, I somehow did not notice that I'd left my PURSE in the shopping cart. That I placed in the cart corral. I realized that I didn't have my purse with me almost right away. I went back to where I thought I'd parked to check the corral near there. No purse. Oh dear. I went into the store to ask if someone had turned it in. It would have only been a few minutes but I was hoping that someone had turned it in. Nope. Oh dear. I started thinking of the hassle that getting a new of everything would be. Including the purse that had value but that I'd gotten at a good price and wouldn't be able to replace it with at that price. I drove home and emptied my car of its groceries (I had a lot of perishables that I didn't want to spoil) and hoped that somehow my purse was in the back with the groceries. (I never put it there but then I never leave my purse at Kroger either.) It was not anywhere in my car.  I drove back to Kroger and found the correct corral that I'd used. I know it was the correct corral because my PURSE WAS THERE IN THE CART IN THE CORRAL Thank goodness!!

When Donnie got home, I decided to go to Urgent Care. Long story and I will not share the details because the details require pictures which I have a ton of but do not want to put on here. In a nutshell, over the course of last week I started to get rashes in several places on my legs and back and in a few places, the skin became very red over a large swath and inflamed. On another area, the skin around the rash became almost like hard and then a red and warm area began spreading from the marks. I knew that was a sign of an infection and that was something I'd need antibiotics for. So, I went to Urgent Care and was back home within twenty five minutes (life in a small town for the win...). The NP whom I saw at the Urgent Care (after gasping when she saw what my skin looked like) prescribed an antibiotic and a steroid to reduce the swelling. I got the script filled later that evening and started my first dose.

Was disappointed the next morning when the areas looked worse. (I sometimes have this thought born out of nascent narcissism or a bad case of looking at the cup as half empty- I know not which one- where I come to the conclusion that nature doesn't nearly always apply to me. For example, I think that antibiotics won 't work on me and planting seeds in the ground won't result in plants growing and my vegetable and fruit detritus won't turn into compost. Thankfully I'm usually wrong!) Later in the day, I could begin to see a positive difference in my skin issues, thank goodness!

I picked some tomatoes in the garden and made marinara sauce.

I accidentally got a little matey when I picked the other one.

Something kinda funny- I was texting friends to let them know that I'd gone to Urgent Care the evening before. I was saying that last year when I was bit by a bee, my body had a moderate reaction to it (the area around the bite became red and enlarged to the size of close to a baseball). So I told my friends that I've had reactions to external things happening to it. (The NP said it was possible they were bites from insects but I was never aware of being bit.) I mentioned the bee sting, mentioned my reaction to it and said that I was aware right away that I had been stung. However, before I typed the word "stung" in, my phone suggested the word "dying." No iPhone, I was not aware that I was "dying." Why on earth would I be writing a text about knowing I was dying last summer? Operative word being "I." 😏

I ran on the treadmill after eating lunch. I'd not had much energy or appetite the past few days (probably due to the infection) but I ate lunch and then felt a bit more energized than I'd been.

After I showered, I grabbed one of the "healthy" sparkling water drinks that we'd been given. (My desire to drink pop had been way down the past few days- I sure fire way to know that I'm not feeling 100% is when pop doesn't sound good.)

This flavor was really good!

Did I need to reduce anxiety? Based on reactions to Charlie's assassination, a decent amount of people think I deserve to die due to me having different political views than they do. You make the call!

Do I need to reduce stress? Well, I was recovering from having infected large swaths of reddened and hardened skin on my body. And while grateful for the meds, it's safe to say that I was a bit stressed.

Do I need to reduce fatigue? I've been a poor sleeper since I've been aware of my sentience so I'm gonna say yes to that one.

Do I need to reduce spiraling? I don't feel like I'm spiraling #thankgoodnesforfaith

Do I need to reduce group- text dread? Only when my phone suggests to me that I knew I was dying last year!!

The drink wasn't a panacea (DARN IT- I had SUCH hope that the drink would solve everything!!). But it did taste good so there is that. 

Saturday evening, Donnie's uncle came over to watch the Ohio State game with us. He doesn't have the streaming service that the game was on. Donnie grilled steak for dinner beforehand and then we sat outside and watched the game. It was a beautiful evening to sit outside and enjoy company together.  Ohio State played Ohio University. It wasn't much of a game and despite becoming an almost Ohio State fan in the past year, I have to say, I generally root for the underdog if I don't feel too strongly about either team. Of course, Ohio State won!

Sunday, we got up and went to church. Our pastor's message was so good. He addressed Charlie's assassination and had such true and wonderful things to say about Charlie and his legacy. He also mentioned this- that I hadn't heard but did when I got home and read a Daily Wire news article- that over 32,000 students have contacted Charlie's Turning Point USA organization indicating interest to start a chapter at their high school or college. Currently TPUSA has a presence in about 3500 high schools and colleges around the country.

Also during church, we sang the beautiful hymn that we used to sing in my little country church (ok it was in a town of about 400 people!) and that is, "When We All Get to Heaven" that was a favorite of my mom's. I couldn't help but think of her and smile. She's in heaven along with my dad, brother, grandparents and other loved ones. And Charlie Kirk.

One of the verses says this:

While we walk the pilgrim pathway

Clouds will overspread the sky

But when travelling days are over

Not a shadow, not a sign

And the refrain:

When we all get to heaven

What a day of rejoicing that will be

When we all see Jesus

We'll sing and shout the victory

Donnie needed gas so on the way home we stopped for that. I got myself a Big Gulp- gotta celebrate that want a pop feeling...

After church, I went to the garden and picked more tomatoes, a red pepper, some jalapenos and a PUMPKIN! I had one pumpkin growing on the vine from a seed that I planted (yes, seeds that I plant do (often) result in plants).

Had to do a little photo shoot- pumpkin on pumpkin on pumpkin

I was going to make marina sauce with the tomatoes but I think I'll wait until tomorrow to get a couple of more tomatoes. 

We face timed Abby for a long time on Sunday- so good to "see" and hear from her. All is going well in TN.

We watched the Bengals game partially outside... and then finished it inside. Glad they pulled off the win despite Burrow getting injured.

Bengals won, Colts won, Cowboys won- it was a good football game at Chez Rineer.