Last Day of Work This Week!

I was kind of with it this morning--well except for putting the coffee in the coffeemaker and not turning it on--and wrote down a grocery list, including ingredients for my tomato-basil quiche. I want to make it on Thanksgiving. Yes, I know that it's not traditional Thanksgiving fare, but it is GOOD. I haven't made it in a while.

I also did a load of laundry before I went into work.

The cats were mellow this morning. I felt like saying, "Who are you, and what did you do with my cats?" Harlee didn't like me taking her out of the bedroom this morning though when I separated them to be fed.

I received a notice to call the people who take my trash for a service issue. I thought that the owners of the place pay for the trash. Need to straighten that out.

Work was quiet, not surprisingly. The College is closed tomorrow through Sunday, so most of the students have taken off. My boss was playing with a Raspberry Pi that he bought. We got a flurry for interlibrary loan requests from one person. I was wondering if we should put a maximum number of requests per person, but at least, someone is using the service.

The platform for my bed arrived today. It was too heavy for me to lift, so I needed to kind of roll it inside the front door. I was worried that Zara might run out, but she took one look at the big box and decided that she was having none of that. Good girl, Zara. Thank you.

Went to the grocery store after work. Beside the food, I wound up picking up a rechargeable scrubber, figuring that anything that makes cleaning go faster will pay dividends in the long run. Even if my friend's nephew starts cleaning here, the faster it goes, the less I'd have to pay him. Plus it will be a big help over the long weekend.

When I left this morning, Zara was in the living room/kitchen, Mimi was behind the gate in the bedroom, and Harlee was behind a gate in "her room" (the office-to-be). When I came home, Zara was in the living room, Mimi was also in the living room, and Harlee was behind the gate in the bedroom. I knew that Harlee could squeeze through the gates because she's so thin, but I have no idea how Mimi got out. She's chubby.

Quiet Morning. Except for Harlee Meowing.

On the weekends, I have been annoyingly waking up when I get up for work, but today I slept an hour later. That's something I guess.

Coffee is brewing and my grits are cooking in the microwave.

Mimi isn't rushing the door when I go out as much as she used to. She's still right there, but she isn't pushing her way out. So I'm not shutting her in the bedroom as much as I used to. Good girl, Mimi.

I decided to get my mom a DVD of elephants. (She's into elephants.) However, I'm going to send my aunt and uncle's and my mom's Christmas presents that I already have to my aunt's house on Friday so that I don't have to carry them on the train. The DVD will be small and easy to slip into my luggage.

Harlee and the Cat Tree

My mom empathizes with Harlee because they're both older and have health problems. Mom is thrilled that Harlee can get up to the top of the cat tree in the living room. (It's one of Harlee's favorite spots.) Way to go, Harlee. Her body might be frail, but her spirit is indomitable.

Done with breakfast. Dishes are soaking in the sink. Cat food dishes (for canned food) keep on disappearing. I had six, and now I'm down to four. What are they doing with them?

Wild Critters

I just read an article about how the wild turkey population in the US has exploded due to them having no predators except for humans.

I haven't seen any around here, although I don't doubt that they're around. I haven't seen many wild animals in Lincoln, which is weird because it's so small. It's surrounded by farmland though, except for the parks.

California was another story. I saw a mama turkey and three babies in my condo complex. And there were the wild pigs that took over the complex once. IBM had wild pigs, coyotes, deer, and rattlesnakes on the parcourse, which was reason enough for me to never use it.

My mom has a big problem with deer eating her garden. She had two baby deer born in her yard. There also was the time that a possum had babies in her garage, and the chipmunk that got into the house.

True Crime

I have a weakness for true crime books, which I don't usually admit because it doesn't go with my image. It's the psychological part that I find fascinating. On Scribd, they had Paul Watkins' book about his time with the Manson family. (He left right before the murders.) I used to have that book, and found it fascinating reading. I have no doubt that I would have been susceptible to someone like Manson as a teenager. He didn't start out murderous, but had a bunch of followers who he made feel "special". Now I want to read Helter Skelter, the book about the trial of the Manson family members. We have it at work. (We have a collection of "serial killer books" for the criminal justice students. They told me about it when I interviewed there, and I was wondering about the place.) The youngest member of the Manson family recently wrote a book about her time there, and I just ordered it from the public library.

I finished Paul Watkins' book this afternoon, and then took a short nap. Now I'm working on the kitchen. It's too late to make my veggie lasagna, but I want to set it up in the crockpot so that all I'll have to do is turn it on tomorrow. I'll have both lasagna and quiche, but that's okay. I want to freeze the lasagna.

I've got the new scrubber charging.

Oh, and I bought the elephant DVD for my mom. The one that I wanted to get was $75 on Amazon. No. I tried eBay, and found it for $18 plus free shipping. Much better.

Kitchen Progress

I burned incense tonight. I kind of thought of it as paying tribute to the household gods. It was nice.

I found instructions online to reset my kitchen clock, and got it properly set. I need to find my hammer so that I can start hanging stuff up.

Got the freezer cleared off, including emptying the box that Zara likes to lie on. Sorry, Zara. Now I can use the top of the freezer to wrap presents (there's very limited counter space here) and put the food that I make into the freezer.

I also found the "CD boom box" that I keep in the kitchen. Tomorrow I'll grab some CDs from the car and have music while I unpack boxes.

I need to dial it down because my neighbors like to go to sleep early. I think that I'll wrap some Christmas presents (that shouldn't be too loud) and write Christmas cards.