It was a long week, rife with work stress and a small backtrack, health-wise, but Friday morning brought relief from both challenges, as I felt great and had the day off. I brought Mogo in for  an 8am “30 day courtesy check-up”, during which they checked all his diagnostics, topped off his fluids, and gave him a complimentary car wash, all before checking in with me to see if I had any questions or concerns about how he drives and operates. (I had none. I love driving Mogo!) On my way out, another customer waiting in the lounge complemented my DC superhero mask. (I get complimented on it, and my Spo-made marvel mask, quite often.)

Once home, I took advantage of my well-being and finished setting up the patio and cleaning off the outdoor furniture, in anticipation of nice weather this weekend.

My energy levels are still low, so that took a lot out of me, and I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the day, reading digital comics on my iPad and lounging with the dogs.

Saturday was errand day, and I was still feeling pretty darn good, so Jeffrey and I headed out early. First stop: pick up my new contacts and glasses.

My prescription changed a bit and what a difference wearing the new contacts and glasses. (especially at the same time*smirk*)

Then it was on to Lowe’s for some grass seed, flower feed and a hand cultivator, and finally, a stop at Fresh Food Market for some fresh fish for dinner. We were please to find bacon wrapped scallops, swordfish steak and vegetable skewers, and tuna steaks.

This was my biggest excursion out and about since March 2020. We are both fully vaccinated (two shots + well beyond 15 days from second shot) but still double masked, got in and out of all stores as quickly as possible, and used hand-sanitizer once we were back in the car. No wavering on our vigilance, friends.

Back home, I enjoyed a small lunch of 6 delicious broiled bacon wrapped scallops with garlic and butter. I also leaned how to use (and not use – it’s possible one of the wood skewers aught fire) my oven broiler (and where it actually is, incidentally. Not in the bottom, as I erroneously assumed, but along the top, which is quite obvious when you take a peek inside.)

The, begrudgingly, we spent some time in the yard raking up soil along the retaining wall, around a couple rock beds, and in a few other select spots, where we then planted scads of wild-flower seeds, covered with soil and flower food , and watered. This is probably not the best (or right) way to plant flowers (I am so not investing the time to grow them in small pots and transplant them,) and we don’t know if this will yield anything, but I am by no means a “gardening” type person, so it was the best I was going to do and the most effort I was willing to make to try to get a little more color and plant variety in our backyard. While I enjoy being outside, I don’t like working outside. I hate the dirt and sweat and heat and bugs, and prefer to sit under shade, sipping a beverage and enjoying the fresh air and sun from afar. Aside from keeping the lawn mowed and relatively free of debris, this is the most effort we’ve made to do yard work, to date.

After planting the flower seeds, we covered our yard with grass seed. We need to bring our lawn back after it was torn up last summer during various projects (new fence installation and septic repair.) It is supposed to rain today, so we really wanted to get the seeding done before it rained, to take advantage of it.

I finished up the day doing a few odd tasks about the house, then we prepped the grill for dinner, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. Upon opening our seafood purchases, I discovered I did not actually get two of the non-marinated swordfish/veggie skewers which we had ordered and had been looking forward to. Instead, we got two tuna steak/veggie skewers in some kind of marinade, which I could not eat, since I didn’t know what the marinade was, and could not risk getting glutened. Huge bummer, and lesson learned – always verify I am actually getting what I ordered. Sigh. Jeffrey grilled and ate the skewers (which were too spicy for is taste) and I grilled a small tuna steak. Good, but not what I was looking forward to. The side of delicious grilled asparagus helped a little. It was great to be outside enjoying our patio and grill, and the fabulous weather, none the less.

We ended the evening with cocktails and some TV, and a little emotional breakdown (see yesterday’s post.) It is not uncommon for me to get emotional upon exiting a “bad health spell.” There is always a huge sense of relief and gratefulness upon a return to normal, and after such a great day following a bad 3 months, it was no wonder a it took so little to get the waterworks flowing. But it was a good emotional purge and I slept soundly last night, husband and dogs at my side, relieved that all was well in my/our world, once again, at least for now.