days_unfolding

I had my Italian lesson today. It went well. We spent half of the time talking about my Sardinia trip. My teacher wants me to go to Sicily!

I made a stupid mistake at work. And I keep making stupid mistakes today. With it, I'm not. I didn't get a lot of sleep. I installed a "countdown to retirement" app on my phone. Currently 2 years, 7 months, and 2 days (assuming that I retire December 31, 2027) :)

Hmm. I found an Amalfi Coast and Tuscany tour that's more what I had in mind. I want to go to Ravello though. On the day in Florence, I could go to the Uffizi Gallery that I missed when I was sick in Florence. I emailed them for more info.

I have a boatload of stuff to do this weekend. I want to go to the garden shops. Plant plants in the garden. Tidy and clean the kitchen and bathrooms. Work on my will and trust documents. (Maybe I should work on them after work because I'll have limited energy.) Oh, and tidy up the upstairs so that I can get someone to clean the carpet. Set up my security cameras.

I’m about to take a nap and am sharing my bed with a dog and a Munchie Bone. I pretended to eat the Munchie Bone, but Bella was unfazed. She knows that they’re for dogs. Had a short nap, but I'm going to be tired tonight. I need to make it an early night, especially because I need to log onto work early to get my half-day in the morning and still leave for my doctor's appointment on time.

I almost got scammed by the best phishing email yet. The login looked believable, but then it asked for my credit card number, and I said, "Wait a minute," closed the Web page, and used Xfinity's Web site to check. I did not owe any money. I should change my password on the site (done, but it has two-factor identification also). I also changed my email password out of an abundance of caution.

Oh man. I have hit the wall with 1.5 hours of work to go. I was going to try to stay up tonight until an early bedtime, but I might need to take a nap. Or go to bed REALLY REALLY early.

I've decided not to go to the island La Maddalena on my Sardinia trip because 1) the cab fare to the ferry is really, really expensive and 2) I will be jet-lagged, so two days at the beach sounds about right. Maybe next time, I could stay closer to the ferry.

I’m redesigning the area next to the garage-to-be. I had thought red buds, soft holly, and lavender. But now I’m thinking red buds, willow shrubs, and creeping thyme. Realistically, I won’t be able to landscape the area until next spring, which will give me a lot of time to clean it up.

sunshine_two, I hope that the fires in Manitoba aren’t near you.

Swapped a clean litter box for one to soak. Started laundry.

Intuit sucks. I used part of my tax refund to get Will and Trust Maker, but I never got a login for it. I called Intuit customer service, and it gave me a bunch of info about my tax refund and hung up on me. Will and Trust Maker doesn't seem to have a customer service number. So I'm screwed.

I guess that I'll use the free Will and Trust tool. I started working on my will, but realized that I need to add all my bank accounts, and I'm too annoyed to have the patience for it. I think that I'll go to bed early and work on it tomorrow. Actually, I might be in the right mood to work on the kitchen. Cleaning is always better when you're pissed off.

I checked into the premiums for Obamacare if I retired before I'm eligible for Medicare, and holy cow. Expensive. I think that my proposed retirement date is solid.

Overslept a half-hour but made it to work on time.

Now I'm mulling over retiring at the end of next year. I'll be 64, which isn't too terribly early to retire. But I won't have Medicare yet. Waiting until the following year would be better.

The good news: I received my check from the trust, finally. The bad news: the money won't post to my account until next week, so I can't pay the pet sitter and go to the conference. I'm in the process of trying to cancel my reservations and get refunds. Now I wait to see the fallout. The people at work have been nice about it though. Okay, I was able to cancel the hotel with no penalty and the conference with a $50 cancellation fee. My train tickets are non-refundable. I told work that I'd pay back any money lost, so I owe them $92. Not bad. They said that I don't have to reimburse them. That was very nice. Have I mentioned lately that I work with great people?

I can't wait until I don't have to deal with the trust anymore.

I've been drinking protein shakes for lunch to keep from spending money. Maybe I'll lose some weight, which will be good.

I'm wiped out with all the stress and drama. I think that it's nap time after work. At least, I don't have to scramble to clean the house before the conference.

Oh. I've gotten distracted. The water in the shower was only lukewarm today, so something is wrong with the pilot light. I'll have to look at it and call Ameren.

Eeek. Someone emailed me directly, asking me to moderate a session at the conference to which I'm going in June. So I said yes, but public speaking nerves!

Hmm. When I retire, it occurred to me that I could work part-time on Web Site accessibility remediation. Though the Title II updates are due next year.

Fed us all. Bella is being a prima donna and wants to be fed in our bedroom. She camps out on the bed. Oliver is being a snot and tries to grab my food while I’m eating. Bella was barking at people who were walking by, which I’m not thrilled about. I told her, “Yeah, you’re a watchdog—NOT!” She also whined when a dog walked by. I’ll send her occasionally to doggy day care when I have the money.

Got the recycling out. This time I got smart and corralled the cats before going in and out. Now it’s nap time.

Huh. I was going to take a nap, but it’s late enough that maybe I should just go to bed? Bella has been happy to hang out with me though.

Some of the garden plants that I ordered are supposed to arrive tomorrow. It’s probably good that I’m not leaving this weekend. I’ll also have to pick up the plants that I bought from the university plant sale. And I can clear garden beds and plant seeds. I think that I’ll wait a little longer to bring out my dahlias though.

I found places to replace the garden plants that Bella chewed up. (Note to self: Lady fern and Japanese forest grass. At least I know that they’re pet safe.)

Lily is really coming into her own. It’ll be interesting to see how things go when Oliver gets here.

I need to order cat food, but I’ll do so tomorrow.

Oops, I need to set up weekly pet waste cleanup.

Woke up at 6 AM. Lily is here and said, “Hi”.

I’m trying to decide whether to work or not. I have this week off, but in general, I’d like to save my vacation time for travel.

Ordered a new pair of Kiziks because Bella did something with my old ones. Ordered cat food and human food.

Zara is warily watching Lily, who is ignoring her. Fed Lily and Zara. Did dishes.

Hmm. I really want to go back to sleep. I decided to take today off and go back to work tomorrow. I sent a message to work telling them what happened and that I’m back. Called the vet where Oliver and Bella is being boarded and said that I would be by in the early afternoon to pick them up.

My boss could not have been kinder. She said that if I needed time to recover from the sad end to my trip, to take it, and that sick days cover mental health too. But I’m okay except for dreaming that I had a stroke.

My vet left a message with her condolences.

Got our groceries. Lily thinks that my food is her food, or at least, she hopes so.

Yeah, I needed a quiet day. In a few minutes, I’ll hop into the shower and then go pick up Oliver and Bella.

I’ve gotten set with the pet waste people.

Holy cow. I forgot a bottle of soda in the freezer. I took it out to thaw. It just exploded all over my cabinets and stand mixer. I wiped them down but need to go over them with spray cleaner. The bottle is now in the sink where I should have put it in the first place.

Lily was trying to catch the waterdrops on the shower. And she had to go in when I got out.

Bella and Oliver are home. There was an issue with my credit card, but we got it straightened out. Bella’s tail is on max wag. However, she ate (and pooped out) her collar. They gave her an x-ray and she’s okay. Don’t know what I’m going to do with that crazy dog though. Oliver and Bella were faves at the boarding place though. And Bella jumped into the car and gave me a kiss!

Uh-oh. Oliver and Lily had a little squabble. And Bella needs lots of reassurance, not surprisingly. So much for taking Bella for a nice long walk. (I’m not going to choir tonight. Actually there is no choir because of Spring Break.) She needs a collar or harness. I ordered both from Amazon.

The pupster is settling down.

My stomach hurts. I’m going to lie down. Slept with Bella and slept so deeply that I wasn’t sure if it was morning or night. The pup is still asleep. Oops, she just woke up. She just rolled over.

Took Bella out. She needs to sniff every square inch of the yard. I need to get someone to rake leaves. Fed Bella and the catlings are in process (done). Ordered cat food covers because I now have an odd number of cats. But Bella ate the extra food :)

Oliver and Lily are playing "Catch Me If You Can!" upstairs. I'm going to take Bella out one more time and then go to bed early. I'm still tired.

The fountain wasn’t working (wouldn’t turn on). I’ll figure it out in the morning. Got it working but no interest yet.

Woke up a little after 9 AM.

Now Lily is interested in the outside world. Hmm.

I can’t quite get rid of this cough. Kind of annoying.

Oliver was checking out the fountain but Bella bugged him. Got us all fed. I’m charging Mimi’s fountain.

Hmm. I need to run and pick up a prescription before my singing lesson. Napped. But I need to eat lunch, so I probably won’t make it to the pharmacy. Hmm. Maybe I could go over lunch tomorrow? Or maybe I should just have it delivered and wait. I have a vet appointment for Mimi tomorrow at 10 AM. I could drop Mimi off afterwards and run to the pharmacy.

I bought Oliver and Lily a cat toy with balls going around a track. They love it, but Bella is trying to get the balls out!

Bella is drinking from the cat fountain.

Managed to scramble to throw myself together for my singing lesson. And it went great! She had me sing an old song as well as new exercises, and my voice seemed brighter and stronger.

I signed up for life coaching every two weeks. I need to get unstuck.

Got the filter and heater working on the fish tank. I got my arm wet adjusting the sand so I had to change my hoodie.

I almost forgot to eat again. I guess that’s good?

Crap. I put a knee through my chair.

Had dinner. Filled Mimi's fountain. I need to get to bed early because I'm taking Mimi to the vet tomorrow morning. So I'll feed the critters and crash. Oh, and bring the cat carrier upstairs. And do laundry.

I was wrong about the yoga center's class; it's face-to-face AND online. I bought a pass to try it out. Two yoga classes a week would be good.

Woke up at 5:30 AM. Zara decided that it was too early and went back to sleep. Napped after breakfast. Overslept but still was on time for my singing lesson.

My singing lesson was great! I wanted to work on sight reading and so we did. She showed me a site to use to practice sight reading. I booked more lessons: piano next week and singing in January. Now Mimi is settled on my lap and I need to eat lunch. Such problems :)

Booked a massage at a different place in January. I had a massage therapist tell me that I needed monthly massages because of the tension in my neck, but I haven't kept up with them. (He was in Hawaii, so he wasn't just trying to upsell me.)

Hmm. I was eyeing a Road Scholar "women's trip" to Costa Rica in late 2016. If I want to go, I should book early to be sure that I get a single room. I put a deposit down.

Ack! I screwed up! I had the recital in my mind as 5 Central Time. No, it was 5 Eastern Time. So I missed it.

The Meijer shopper was great. I got my groceries in. I can't cook tomorrow because we have choir, but Tuesday, I need to get to chopping.

Oh crud. I have Italian tomorrow and have homework. I guess that I know what I'm doing now.

Ah crap. Someone got and tried to use my debit card number, so I need to go get a new card tomorrow.

I signed up for Dial-A-Carol at the University. I had thought that they could patch calls to us at home, but was a little cranky to learn that I had to go to a dorm on campus. I was more cranky because there was fog and I couldn't park where I wanted to, although I did find a spot.

But it was a blast! My favorite callers were the person calling from New Zealand, and the person who said when I was done singing, "You're real!" Some people asked for carols that I didn't know, although my mom's incessant playing of Christmas carols from Thanksgiving though Christmas paid off. I need to scramble to learn the Mariah Carey song because it's popular.

Okay, I finished my Italian homework. Time to go to bed.

The BBC has a story about buying old houses in Puglia, and in it, a guy was speaking Italian. It reminded me how much I like listening to Italian. I understood part of it.

Got up early. Threw myself together and fed the cats. Mimi, apparently, is sleeping in.

Well, crud. I couldn’t find my purse anywhere. I finally remembered that I brought it into the music room, but by that point, it was too late to go to the DMV. I’ll go tomorrow, unless I go this afternoon.

Zara is eating Mimi’s food.

I priced used MacBooks because my piano teacher recommended one, but they’re too expensive for me. Hmm, I might wind up needing both my digital piano and an acoustic piano because I think that the digital piano has MIDI capabilities. (That is, you can download what you play onto a computer.)

Turned the sprinkler on on the lawn again. Sunday has a fall fertilizer that I might get.

I've got a house cleaner! She's unfazed by the boxes (and thinks that the place will be "so neat" when I get done organizing it) and she likes the cats! I just need to get cash for her and the pet sitter tonight. (She just met with me today. She's cleaning tomorrow.) She also said that she was available to help me organize. I might ask for her help with my clothes.

I might have to get some grass seed because I don’t see any seed although they said that they overseeded. Sunday has one for patchy lawns, which I have. (And a third to a half of the lawn is weeds, so I need to figure out what to do about that.)

I feel a little like I’m in battle: Adrie vs. The House. I hope that I’ll be victorious. Okay, I ordered grass seed. I ordered a brand that has clover in it to be more hardy.

I tried the AI for Italian in Makes You Fluent, and it would talk over me. I deleted my account. I tried LanguaTalk, and it was much better. Speaking is HARD though! But it's what I need to do. Did my grammar (verbs) work.

Practiced piano and singing. I'm thinking that I'll take the music with me and practice at rest stops and such using a faux piano on my phone. It's not perfect, but I need to spend more time on it.

And I've run out of steam and need to get up early to go to the DMV.

Oh crap. I lost my entire entry that I wrote in Google Keep. I can re-create the parts that I also posted to Facebook. I'll see what else I remember.

I think that I want to get a shoe bench with a top that flips up for storing hats, gloves, and scarves. I like this one.

My Web programming class went well. I'm really enjoying it.

Had a therapy session. We talked about motivation, and she suggested that I set natural deadlines for things. I commented that my singing and piano lessons will take place in the library room (I almost called it the "room that no one talks about," which was my mom's name for a room that she was using for storage) so that provides incentive to get those boxes out of there. She thinks that I should just hire someone to mow the lawn, so I'll look into it. I booked a lawn care appointment. They also treat the lawn and do aeration and overseeding, so I'm considering having that done too. I was going to do that myself, but it might be good to get help with it. I also booked a cleaner. I can spend the long weekend decluttering!

My therapist also was encouraging to take a trip over winter break. (I want to take a trip because I used to get together with my mom over the holidays.) Road Scholar has a trip to Costa Rica that I was eyeing, but it's kind of pricey. I previously had been thinking of a trip (not with Road Scholar) to New York City, which would be a little cheaper. I'd like to take the train to New York. Both depend on selling my mom's house, so we'll see.

I was the only student at yoga again today. My instructor seemed to enjoy having only one student and tried a bunch of new things and ran over time. I’m getting more limber, which is exciting. I’m still way less limber than the teacher, but still, progress. Next week is the beginning of the fall class, and I hope that she gets more students though.

Because I’m going to travel a lot, I bought a yearly travel insurance policy for cheaper than Road Scholar’s insurance, and it will cover my non-Road Scholar trips too. It’s probably better insurance too; people have complained about Road Scholar’s insurance. (Road Scholar trips are good though.)

Studied Italian.

I have some hassles going on at work and might need to work this evening. Zara says that she’ll make everything better with kitty snuggles. And a lot of my colleagues will be online tonight too.

Crap. I way overslept my nap. Had my second Tony Bourdain dream ever. He was nice in the dream.

Scrambled to get some stuff done at work.

Attended another lovely yoga class. The teacher worked us hard this time. She is really nice though. I was doing a pose wrong, and she just said, “I don’t think that you’ll get the stretch the way that you’re doing it”. I have a couple of poses that I want to work on on the days that we don’t have class.

It’s funny that I’m into yoga because I don’t think of myself as a “yoga person,” who is skinny and bendy and kind of trendy. My teacher is encouraging me though.

A guy was watching us, or more likely, watching the teacher, through the window. I got kind of annoyed because we weren’t there for his entertainment. Though to be fair, I was eyeing Italian guys in Italy…but I wasn’t staring through a window at an exercise class. I think that part of it was that we were on our hands and knees, and I didn’t particularly want to be watched doing it.

Did enough work tonight to satisfy the person with the open tickets that I am working on their request. Paid some bills. Asked on the local "Buy Nothing" page if anyone has any outdoor bird feeders that were gathering dust. I would like a bird feeder as Kitty TV.

Studied Italian. I'm working my way through the Italian verbs poster. Sent a message to my teacher asking her if I found the right textbook.

Now it's late and it's bedtime.

My work computer was impacted by the Microsoft issue, so I'm dead in the water. I can access email and I'm going to do a couple of Zooms this afternoon on my personal computer (done--I'm glad that I was still able to get some work done).

I had originally thought of putting framed posters on the slanted walls upstairs, but I don't know how to hang them. I'm going to stick my Italian posters directly on the walls. I just discovered that Art.com has laminated posters, which I could stick directly on the walls and be able to wipe them off. I want to get pictures of Positano and Ravello as another way to encourage myself to accomplish things before my trip there. Hmm, I'm wondering if I could get my Italy map and Italian posters laminated at Staples.

Got my hair cut. I told her that I wanted to grow my hair out, and she said that she would just do a light trim. She does such a great job cutting my hair. I lucked out having her as my hairdresser.

A strange plant bloomed in the garden, which turned out to be a lily. It’s pretty.

Napped for 3.5 hours.

I think that I need to run get a flash drive in case that I need one to fix my work computer.

I'm going to study Italian. I had planned to come up with sentences for each verb that I study, but maybe I'll save it for tomorrow, when I'll have more time.

Woke up early, decided to go back to sleep for an hour, and overslept. Took the world's fastest shower and slapped on makeup. Only to find that my Jenny Craig appointment was a phone call, not a video call. Oops. The cats are not happy that I haven't fed them yet.

Hot damn. The money for the bookcases has been credited to my account, so I can buy bookcases to go to the correct address now! They're still on sale!

The Jenny Craig meeting was informative. Apparently I need to add a source of protein for breakfast, vegetables for lunch and dinner, and fruit as a snack. They're sending me a meal plan and a grocery list.

Things are stacking up at work. I'll need to work some this weekend to make up the time that I didn't make up last night.

Crap. Something is wrong with the garbage disposal in my sink. That'll require another service call. Though hmm, I watched a video about troubleshooting, and they suggested checking the circuit breaker, and come to think of it, the electrical outlet near the disposal isn't working either. I'll check it after work. I fixed it by pressing the reset button on a wall outlet.

The a/c guys were fast. They got the thermostat for the a/c working quickly. (No, they didn't. They just turned on the cold fan.) They said that the furnace didn't have a filter rack, and the filter was blocking the cold air, so they need to come back. What they did helped. It's even feeling a little cooler upstairs!

Submitted an order at Meijer. I wanted an apple corer because mine is missing, so I ordered a few more things from them.

I'm finding it harder to diet today, although part of it is the lack of vegetables and fruit. I wound up eating dinner early. And I got my grocery order and had some yogurt, but then I wound up consuming some Jenny Craig popcorn.

Crud. Only one bookcase is available at Target, and I want them to match. I was looking at some on Amazon, which are more expensive, but they are a little cheaper on AliExpress' site. I'll need to get them for the library (music room) and buy some for the living room later. AliExpress' site is buggy. Crap, I can get a maximum of five from Amazon. Okay, I bought seven from Walmart. And I know that they have the right address because I buy stuff from them all the time.

Studied Italian. I'm going to go to sleep in air-conditioned comfort.