days_unfolding

It’s pouring rain out. I’m glad for my raincoat; it kept me dry. Bella lasted for a few minutes and then went up on the porch, out of the rain. The ferns will like it.

Woke up at 7 AM. Bella found an enormous stick that she was dragging around. She chewed up one of the ferns :(

RIP Pope Francis. You were one of the better ones.

Yay. Another colleague is driving a colleague to his hotel (we're having an all-staff meeting Tuesday and Wednesday). So I can stop worrying. I went to lunch late though because the person "on-call" had an errand to run.

I'm trying to get ChatGPT on my phone but am having problems.

Crud. I don't have the money for the Doggie Day Care. I'll call them later today. Actually, I have enough cash. I won't be able to go out to dinner tomorrow night. I neeeed my check from the trust!

I found an outfit to wear tomorrow. Black-and-white striped top, tan vegan leather blazer, and jeans.

My psychiatrist recommended that I take a vitamin B12 and D supplement.

Bella is now insisting on me bribing her with treats to come in. It works though :) Now she’s trotting around with a pair of my underwear that she’s trashed.

I've been exchanging emails with my dad about Paris and Europe. I forgot that he looked for some books in French for me while he was in Paris.

Hmm. I was reading susandennis’ post about WiFi connected shades, and I wonder if I could get one on a timer in my bedroom to open when I’m supposed to wake up. That would rock. I need to do some research. Yes, it looks like it’s possible with Alexa or Google Home.

Got us all fed. Now what? I need to get up early to drop Bella off at doggie daycare and get to my meeting. Oh. I need to run an errand. And go to the library too.

Crud. I got myself together, but my phone’s battery is low. I think that I’ll skip the library today (I need to bring my charger to the meeting tomorrow) and let it charge while I post. I should be able to go to the store though.

I feel like all I'm saying is "No." "Bella, leave Oliver alone." "Oliver, quit chewing my straw." "Bella, stop barking at Lily." But they've settled down now. Sort of.

I found the itineraries for the Japan and Orient Express trips. The Orient Express trip still excites me; Japan not as much. They both are long trips, so I can’t take both of them and I should take a shorter trip as a second trip in the spring or summer next year. I'll look for a shorter cruise. Okay, I like this cruise. Or I could go to Bermuda on another cruise line.

One of the little plastic cat ball toys rolled down the stairs, and Bella chewed it into pieces. Once I get the check from the trust, I will subscribe to plastic cat ball toys if I can. They will get used and abused.

Woke up at 8:30 AM.

I got my blood test results, and my vitamin D and B12 levels are normal. That’s not why I’m so tired.

It’s raining lightly. Oh good, the rain will stop in the afternoon.

I’m using the MediSafe app recommended by bill_schubert. I think that it will be helpful. Notifications are off though, and I need to turn them on.

Crap. The doggie day care is full two of the days. Now what? Called and left a message at another place. There also is a third place, but it’s out of town and not convenient. The place that I called wants to do an evaluation on Thursday, so they couldn’t do Wednesday.

I really feel like going back to sleep. I’ll skip going to the library and go on Monday.

Bella already has a small pile of crap that she’s found to play with in the kitchen. I need to get after it with a broom while it’s still small.

Hmm. I’m looking at urns for Mimi, but nothing is saying ”Mimi” to me. Etsy has some that are painted to look like the cat, which I like.

Oliver came over for snuggles, and Bella promptly jumped on my lap. Jealousy….Later, Bella was about to poop on the kitchen floor, and I hussled her butt outside.

Well, took a shower anyway. I’m dragging. I was going to watch a movie, but my Hulu account is on hold because they can’t charge my credit card. I don’t want to use another card because I need to pay for Bella’s doggie day care. Netflix is hosed too. Okay, I’ve already paid for episodes of The Golden Girls. Watched a couple of episodes.

Now I'm going to feed the hordes and crash.

Overslept until 8 AM. Oh well.

My Italian teacher was nice about skipping next week. (We have an in-person meeting, and I'll be driving to it during the Italian time.)

The travel Meetup people also have a Yosemite trip that I might do sometime. I never went there when I lived in California!

Oliver is playing with his beloved little plastic ball. He carries it around in his mouth!

Got my groceries.

I saved a link to a hydration pack for larger people. That might be good for wandering around Italy. (I haven't forgotten almost passing out in Florence.) And the Sardinia trip will be in August.

The car repair people called. They want me to bring the car by so that the painter can match the color of the car. I said tomorrow morning. No, I'm going to take my shower during lunch and come by in the late afternoon. Crud, on the way back, I discovered that the stereo isn't getting any power. I called the repair shop, and they'll look at it when they put the new lock on. Hell, is this ever going to get over with?

The next "official" protest being held by the group that I joined is on May 1st. Crud, that's a work day.

I'm having a tough time finding someone to let Bella out at lunchtime during my meetings next week. I'm looking into doggie day care as an alternative. Called a place and they're sending over a release form.

I'm thinking of shelling out for a Roam hardside suitcase. They're pricey, but are supposedly well made. My Hartmann case has gotten stained, which is the disadvantage of softside luggage.

Bella, Oliver, and Lily attended my shower. Lily walked around on the shower stall and then jumped in. I thought that she might want to leave, so I opened the door and Oliver walked in. Then Bella walked in. I got Bella to leave but had to remove Lily, protesting. Oliver decided to leave on his own steam. Partway through my shower, both Oliver and Lily were standing on the shower stall batting at each other. Those two are a laugh riot!

Flaming headache.

Apparently my cleaner was texting me to confirm for tomorrow and I missed the messages. I hope that we're still on. We are.

Received the ferns for my garden. They are bare roots plants, which Bella likes to dig up and play with. I'll need to plant them this weekend, rain or not, and dig deeper to hide them.

Hmm. I haven't gotten the itineraries from the Meetup travel people yet. I'm pondering going over to Paris an extra couple of days early to wander around and follow ChatGPT's tours.

I went on the BBC’s app, and they were streaming the debate in Canada, so I left it on while I was cleaning up the kitchen. It was interesting. They brought up some of the same issues being discussed in the US. They are taking Trump's wish to annex Canada seriously. The discussion about healthcare was interesting. They were saying that their system was getting more privatized, and I was wondering why. There also was a discussion about Canada's role in supporting the Ukraine now that the US is no longer doing so. The polite Canadians were talking over each other! Anyway, I learned something and also got stuff done on the house.

I got a bad case of the shakes and did something to my knee. I'm going to go to sleep and get up very early to finish tidying. I'll set a wakeup call to make sure that I'll get up.

Overslept but still managed to shower. I had thought about going back to sleep for a 1/2 hour, but managed to get my butt in the shower instead. Go me :)

Things are coming together nicely. My cleaner is supposed to come on Friday, but I thought that I had an offsite meeting, but that's the following week.

I put the plants that I wanted on a credit card. I didn't get the lilacs because they were a petite variety. I have to pick them up the weekend of May 2nd. Now I’m second-guessing myself on the lilacs. The fence will be six feet, and the lilacs will be four feet. Not sure how that would work.

Oliver likes sitting at the top of the stairs to the upstairs room. That way, he can see what's going on both upstairs and downstairs. My watch cat!

Hmm. I should make arrangements to board Bella and Oliver when I'll be at a conference in May. I'm leaving on Sunday, but I think that the vet is closed on Saturday. I guess that I'll have to drop them off on Friday.

Sigh. Another frost advisory.

The university is sending almost daily updates on the impact of Trump's cuts. Sigh again. These are the Days of Sighs.

My broken-and-healed toe is hurting again. Why? Another sigh.

I should call Schwab to get the ball rolling with transferring my money. Speaking of Schwab, I found some tools that they have to learn about stock trading.

Hmm. I found a travel set that I like, but they don't have petites. Should I buy it and get it altered? It would be good for the flight to Italy. I'm itching to go shopping. Come on, trust check. They also had shorts-and-top combos that I like. Talbots has a petite set that I like.

I should set a Google Flights alert on my flights to Sardinia. I want to use my United credit for my flights to San Diego for the cruise.

Damn, I really want to go on the "Orient Express" trip that the meetup people are arranging in 2026. It goes to Paris, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Istanbul. I'd have to cancel the Costa Rica trip though. If I do that, I should brush up on my French. I found the price information and both it and the trip to Japan are expensive. Japan: $6810 single occupancy. Airfare: $1300 - 1900. Orient Express: $7090 single occupancy. But probably worth it. The flights to Paris and from Istanbul would add around $1000.

Ugh. Lily hasn't learned that if she sticks her claws in my leg, it hurts. I need to get her claws clipped.

Started laundry. Filed my taxes. I should get the garbage out, but damn, my toes hurt. Maybe I'll wait a few minutes to let the acetaminophen kick in. I guess that I'll post. Oh, and get new computer wallpaper for the places that I want to go.

I was looking at a potting bench on a gardening supply store, but it was $500! No. I found something on Wayfair that’s much cheaper.

One of the plants in my fern pots from Mom’s house is unhappy. I moved it to see if that helps. The other plant is happy.

Woke up around 10 AM. Fed us all. Now it’s nap time.

It’s 55 F/13 C already. It’s going to be a beautiful day.

Napped. Ate lunch. I think that I want another nap. Napped and woke at 7 PM.

Got my new glasses. I don’t know if I would order from them again because they take too long, but they’re nice glasses and don’t slip off when I bend over.

Oliver wants food and is parading in front of me in case that I don’t see him and realize that he’s hungry. He also tried to chew my new glasses and my phone case. Bella ate Oliver’s food when I turned my back to give Zara her food. Sigh. Fed us all.

I really didn’t want to take a shower (depression?), but I finally forced myself into one. Ran my errands. Now I can stay home tomorrow.

I think that I'll feed the critters and crash.

I forgot to mention that I asked my dad for a recommendation for a macroeconomics book. I want to understand what's going on with the economy better. I bought a couple cheaply from Thriftbooks.

Overslept a little and got up at 6:30 AM. I heard the recycling truck while I was out with Bella. Got my leaf bags out, which was the important part, but I won’t get the rest of the recycling out. I’m going back to sleep for a little while.

Got us all fed. I have to watch Oliver and Lily eat because a certain dog will snatch their food if I'm not watching. Zara is behind a door, so she's okay.

I was wondering why Oliver and Lily like to run around upstairs so much, but then it occurred to me that the dog isn't there to chase them.

A grant awarded to the organization for which I work from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was canceled. Trump's cuts have reached my work. Sigh. It won't impact our staffing though, just a program that we were going to lead.

My therapy session went well. My therapist said to wait a week or two to see if the tiredness wears off, and contact my psychiatrist if it doesn't. She also said that I don't need to work at coming up with as much stuff to talk about as I did this time (the cruise, Mimi, and the car)! I said that I hoped it would be totally boring with nothing to talk about!

I was feeling pretty good about myself, but then I made a dumb mistake at work. I don't handle that well.

I got a free issue of The Week, or rather my mom did, and I read it cover to cover. I think that I want to resubscribe to it. I’m also thinking of subscribing to The Economist. I’m sorry to say that US and world events are very interesting right now. Hmm, I might be able to get an academic discount for The Economist.

Bella wants me to follow her around the yard. She’ll stop and wait and stare at me if I’m slow (which is always because she’s a young dog and I’m an old human). I got out the collar and leash to take her for a walk tonight, and she got so excited and cooperated when I put the collar on. It’s a vast improvement from when I had to chase her through the house to get her harness on and when she’d freeze on a leash when I first got her. It was nice to walk in twilight. And most of the dog walkers were already gone. I’m not sure what she’d do if we met another dog. Hide behind me?

Had my quality time with Zara. Practiced piano. Zara was chirping at the piano for a couple of minutes and then sat and listened.

I’m going to go upstairs and practice Italian. My trip-to-be is motivating me. I studied Italian until my brain went into vaporlock. I'm tired.

I'm going to post, feed the critters, and crash.

Hmm, if I want to go to La Maddalena (an island off of Sardinia), I'd have to take an expensive one-hour cab ride to the ferry each way. But I'd really like to go there. I need to create a Sardinia document with my findings in one place.

I was outside, and Zara was sitting with her back in the window. I tapped on it, and she kept on meowing at me. So now I’m sitting with her in her room. She heard Oliver and went away and hid. So I’m keeping her door closed at night. (I was keeping it open in case she wanted to wander around.)

Overslept this morning and got up at 7. I went to the car repair place and signed the paperwork. Now I wait. The Honda is still running smoothly though.

Man, I'm tired. I'm wondering if I'll be up for raking tonight. It's a beautiful day for it though. (I dropped out of choir for this semester because I've missed a lot and I'm worn out. I'll pick it up in the fall.)

I was wondering where Oliver and Lily went, but now they're upstairs with me. They seem to have a napping spot of which I'm not aware.

Ow. The toes on my left foot are aching. Arthritis? Now the joints in my hands are hurting too. I had something like this happen several years ago. Aargh.

Ugh. It’s cold out and windy. The forecasters are predicting a freeze tonight, so I need to cover the plants. No raking today. After I eat dinner, I’ll do some dishes, take my nighttime meds, maybe watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory, and get to bed early. I have Italian tomorrow morning.

There was a discussion on Facebook about what clothes are made in the USA. I’m actually glad that I have too many clothes. Speaking of which, I went into the library room (Zara’s room) to visit with Zara, but Oliver and Lily busted in a couple of times, so Zara wouldn’t come out. I started sorting clothes and filled a bag to go to the thrift store. And I found my white jeans that I had been looking for. I’ll try to sit with Zara again before I go to sleep, when I feed her again. Practiced piano. I need to get more money from the trust before I can schedule more lessons, but I should practice anyway. There’s going to be a recital, and I want to do “Danny Boy”. I’m slowly picking up the threads of my life.

Watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Now I'm going to post, feed the cats, take Bella out, and go to bed. Oh, and cover my plants while I'm outside. I should let Bella in first because I could just see her grabbing the dropcloth with which to cover the plants and running with it.

Hmm. It occurred to me that I could plan a quieter, gentler trip to Italy. Maybe I could go to Sardinia, stay in Cagliari, poke around, and go to the beach. I’m doing some research. I found a hotel that I like. Maybe I could do Italian language lessons? I think that there is a language school there? Language school I'm trying to find out how I'd get there. It looks like I'd need to fly to Rome and then take another flight to Sardinia. Excellent. The language school is a 10 minute bus ride from the hotel. I found a guidebook to Sardinia too. The weather is still good in Sardinia in September. I found a good flight too. (Apparently the more direct route is to fly to another European city, in this case Munich, and then get a flight from that city to Sardinia. I saw another route that had four flights! No!) I found a store that sells linen clothes that I’d like to check out.

Got up at 6:30 AM. The Kia is still here, so I need to stay up. Maybe I’ll start work early.

I found a place that sells astilbe (the bare-root plants that Bella has been digging up) in pots. Not cheap though.

I rescheduled my massage appointment to later this month. My membership renewal is upcoming, so I didn’t know if the massage would be paid for. Plus, I can just come home after the protest. I need to figure out where I can park for the protest. Okay, I have a plan.

They picked up the Kia. Apparently, I was supposed to leave the keys in the car, but they didn't tell me that.

I talked to the people who have Mimi's ashes, and I made arrangements to take 1/2 a vacation day on Wednesday to go get them in Bloomington (about an hour from here).

Got my food delivered.

Overslept my nap. I am so freaking tired.

Here comes a storm. Urgh, the weather will be lousy for the protest tomorrow.

Hmm. Holland America wants to "help" me book my flights. I wonder if they would book it earlier than the cruise starts.

I took Bella outside, and she wanted to come in right away after she peed. I told her that she wouldn’t like it out! It’s pouring now. And there’s thunder and lightning.

Someone on Facebook posted a protest sign, “You know things are bad when librarians start protesting”. Totally stealing that.

Apparently, the car repair place called for me to come sign an authorization. I didn’t get the message until after they closed though, so I’ll go on Monday morning.

Napped and woke up at 11:30 PM. Oliver had snuck in and was biting my leg. He was hungry. All right then. Bella was playing in the mud outside. :(

I’m too groggy to make my protest sign now, so I’ll get up early to do it.

Ugh. Bella got a big smear of mud on my jeans. And I want to wash them to wear tomorrow.

I was trying to fall asleep when I heard someone outside. Bella heard the person too and made some sounds like a mix between a bark and a yip. I went to the door, turned the porch light on, and looked, but didn’t see anyone. I left the porch light on.

I was having problems sleeping, so I got up again and made some oatmeal.

Got up with my alarm at 7 AM. I stepped into cat vomit on the stairs when I went up to work, sigh.

I took Psychology Today's depression screener and it came back as "Some signs of clinical depression".

The Bermuda cruise isn't quite as cheap as I thought because I forgot the single supplement fee. Still not really expensive though. I need to make a decision about going to Italy instead. (Italy won't be a relaxing trip, but go-go-go. I need to decide if I'm up for it.)

The cats are being subdued today. I wonder what's wrong :)

Son of a bitch! Someone smashed my car window last night. Bella and I heard some people outside late last night, and I bet they had something to do with it. I didn’t have anything valuable in the car at least. I was going to take Bella to dog training class when I discovered it, but I need to call the insurance company. At least, I can get most of the money for the class if I drop right now. And it’s supposed to rain. I have a plastic drop cloth that I could tape onto the window. Did I say son of a bitch? Called in the claim. They said that if I drive the car over to the glass place tomorrow, they can vacuum up the glass and put some sort of shield over the window. The appointment to replace the glass is next Tuesday.

I want to get my garage built sooner rather than later.

Oh, and there was another tornado warning while I was dealing with the car.

Gathered my recycling, but I'm waiting for the rain to stop before taking it out. So I'm posting :) I want to get to bed early and get up early to call the glass place and go over there.

Overslept. I’m feeling kind of sad. Actually, I’m feeling massively depressed. I don’t know why. Mimi? (And yes, I took my meds and some vitamin D.) I emailed my therapist. I looked for an earlier appointment, but the earliest that I could get one was two days before the one that was already scheduled. I'm debating contacting my psychiatrist.

Emailed the trust asking for a contact for my tax forms and what about my money? Radio silence thus far. Maybe I could do the administrative work on my taxes, but that won't take long. And gather my other forms.

Emailed in sick and napped. I had to eject Oliver and his ball. Bella saw some small dogs outside and clearly wanted to play with them. Progress. Forced myself into the shower. Logged into work. My next challenge will be to get myself to go to choir. All I want to do is sleep.

Oliver brought his ball upstairs! Apparently, he loves it.

I emailed out of choir. The struggle will be to feed the pets before I collapse, but I should do it. I need to snap out of this tomorrow because I'm taking a day off to rake. (I think that I will cancel Italian though.)

I contacted Schwab because I’m fed up with the trust.

Headache.

Fed us all. Tried to nap but couldn't sleep, which is a good sign. I received my tax form, so now I can do my taxes. Did most of my taxes. But aaaaaaah, I have a tax issue with the trust. Last year, I was told that my distributions were taxable. This year, I was told that there was "No reportable income" on my Schedule K-1. One of them must be wrong. So no, I can't finish my taxes now.

I'm going to pay some bills and go to bed.