Long day reviewing existing things at work so the new group to cancel them. Whee. Kept having to impress upon career people that this was a vibe check, that we're going to get sued, and so be it, we just needed to get through it and be done with it.

The husband continues to bake, this time a small olive oil cake. Very tasty.

Regular doc checkup tomorrow, and an appointment with the postal service to pay for and turn in my passport renewal. It's well over due, so I have to go in person, and this way they can do the photo, too. Getting the little card as well as the book, first as a just-in-case it's useful, and then as an added, more easily carried proof of citizenship. Because yes, I'm that paranoid.

Went to the DC Men's knitting group today, and the shop had these gorgeous knitting project bags in leather. I'd seen them online before, but they were just as dreamy in person. Despite looking them over multiple times I just couldn't justify another bag, especially one that would really just be used to haul knitting from floor to floor in the house (the lack of anything other than a single handle makes it unpractical for hauling outside). But man were they pretty (and they had all four shades on display).

Knitting went well. Walking to/from knitting went well, with the brace on. Apparently a possible side effect of cortisone is a flushed face, which I had both today and yesterday. Took my temp several times, all normal, before bothering to google side effects. D'oh. And I made some good progress on this shawl. The current section has me adding 10 stitches every two rows, so it's really growing. Got to chat with a new member who took up knitting during the pandemic, and has stuck with it. He's going to attend the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival for the first time this year, so we were sharing tips, like have a project list so you have an idea what you might want to buy, rather than just picking out every pretty skein you see, as that way lies an impossible yarn stash.

Cortisone shot in the knee, which I babied the rest of the day (lots of video gaming, sprawled out on the couch). Back in four weeks to see how it's doing, and see if we need a referral to another physician in the practice to do a camera scope inside.

Ordered Chinese in, ate way too much for someone who's sedentary. Oh well.

A big policy document finally shook loose at work, so now we can turn to doing and back away from all the hand wringing. I am so, so very grateful that I recruited one capable, personable attorney from my old agency to work on my portfolio, and he in turn recruited another capable, personable attorney from our old agency for the same. Having backup that I enjoy talking to has been such a blessing, especially on days like today where I needed to be away and resting.

Knee was a mess today, so of course I forgot the three-a-day pain medication. Tylenol had to suffice (poorly). Mainly is when the knee is kept in flexion (bent) for any period of time. In extension (straight out) is fine, but after it's been flexed it takes a while to recover. We'll see what voodoo gets offered on Friday, be it anti-inflammatory, lubrication, or platelet replacement. Who knows?

Work was a hot mess of last minute stuff for senior people who finally decided to partially read the lawyers in at the eleventh hour.

I had a whopping one thing planned for today, to make breakfast ahead for this upcoming week. Got it done (a 'crustless quiche' - basically an egg bake with some veggies in it), and whipped out some meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner as well. Woo.

Was otherwise mostly a zombie today. I did also get a repeat done on a dishcloth I'm working on. It's in a two color honeycomb pattern, and I'm treating it as a preview of a honeycomb blanket I have queued up sometime soon (I bought a kit, so the yarn is here and ready). I get it now, and the dishcloth is actually easy enough to do on the Metro, so I might work on it during the morning commute. Or not. Who knows.

Knee is still unstable. *shrug* Which was a large part of sitting on my ass knitting or playing video games today.

Managed to move my next orthopedist appointment to next Friday versus a week from Monday, and they gave me a stronger NSAID to start tomorrow. Going back to a bigger brace is helping, too.

Missed lunch because of a last minute meeting, but managed to finish something that we needed to get done for the agency head, so yay? Also, no real news on the budget yet, though other agencies' plans have leaked to the press and they're pretty draconian. I would not be surprised if ours was half of our current level, which would be consistent with the public plans that the think tanks announced prior to the start of this administration.

Ordered in dinner as soon as we got home, watched some fun British TV, then read some.

After doing really well with daily journaling for the first two months of the year I dropped off a month ago. Sorry. I'm just really tired now when I get home and this spot isn't the first thing on my mind.

Busy as all get out still at work. Still employed, still trying to thread the needle between the various court cases and doing what 47 wants us to do. Still awaiting news on what the budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts in October is going to be like.

Knee began acting up, badly, two weeks ago so I saw the orthopedist, and have a follow up in another week and a half. In the meantime he wanted me to start PT again, but I haven't had any time to get that scheduled. In the meantime I'll be walking along and the damned thing will 'glitch' on me (not sure how else to describe it). Just for a second, and not badly enough to make me fall, but enough to throw off my gait and require a moment to get back in order before I can start walking again. Yuck.

I did get a couple teeth fixed this morning, and was pleasantly surprised that they had a new, friendly, competent hygienist working today (the one three months ago at my twice yearly cleaning was ... useless). Let them know the new one was a lot better.

Plugging along otherwise, trying to check in on the other attorneys in our office, offer them a safety valve to vent, and keeping my eye on how stressed out people are getting to quietly let actual management know if I see a need for them to intervene. We're going to lose another attorney to a family move out of the area, leaving us with just one in that practice area (which probably needs three, but we've had two for forever). I'm eternally grateful that we hired up in parts of my portfolio and those folks are still here.

I had taken this Friday off from work as the day after the end of the now-cancelled training. Then the husband and I decided to grab the last open tickets we could get for 9-to-5 the musical at one of our favorite dinner theaters for tomorrow, and given that it's in the opposite side of the area from where I work I went ahead and took tomorrow off so we could get there on time. Then I remembered I have an ophthalmologist appointment Monday where they'll dilate my eyes so I won't be able to work after that, and took Monday off as well. So here I am with an inadvertent five day weekend. Go me. I look forward to some sleep. And the musical. And a clean bill of health from the ophthalmologist.

Did get to bed early last night, and up early this morning. Biked, even (in the trainer). Knee is tolerating both. However, I had dinner with a former coworker to catch up in person, and didn't get home until 9ish, so I'll not be in bed early (for me). 'Twas worth the delay this evening, but I think I'll be dragging more tomorrow.

The five bullet nonsense is back, and is now weekly, because my agency is wussing out and not telling us not to respond. I'm getting my eye exercises in just thinking about them. You know, because I keep rolling them so much.

And this is the last month in our performance review year (april to march). I did pick up a little book about giving feedback that was recommended at the first half of training, which arrived today. Hoping that helps with writing up my own stuff, and giving management some assistance with the folks I'm unofficially helping with.

Survived another week working for the chaos machine that is the US government these days. Go me.

Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on some meaningful sleep this weekend. Because it sure wasn't happening during the week. The Garmin watch I've been wearing since December gives you a "body battery" score based on how you're recovering, sleep, dealing with stress, etc., and all this week it's been in the low to mid 20s. Out of 100. Yikes.

Only plan I have for the weekend, other than sleep, is looking for some walking shoes at the local REI. And maybe some knitting.