days_unfolding

Overslept and got up at 7:30 AM. I have a strong impulse to go back to sleep, but need to get the dogs in first. There was a light dusting of snow. Where is Oliver? I called him and he appeared. He determined that there was no food and left. Lily doesn’t want to eat for reasons known only to her. She seems okay though. The dogs came in on the first try. I’m leading a charmed life :) Got us all fed. Nap time.

Ordered some vegetable seeds (lettuce, spinach, carrots, and peas).

Dog wrestling time. Gracie is shorter than Bella, and Gracie will stand over Bella, and then Bella will get up, leaving Gracie’s legs dangling in the air. Pretty funny.

Napped. Woke up before my alarm. Oliver is lying on my lap. Ate lunch. Took another nap.

Success! My car has a battery that works! The guys at Advance Auto Parts are always so nice. The battery that was delivered was the wrong type, so I had to return it and get another one that’s even cheaper. That’s a win.

I celebrated with dinner at Culver’s. Now I’m sleepy, but I need to wait for the dogs to come in. It’s snowing and very cold (20F/-7C with a wind chill of 1F/-17C), so maybe they won’t stay out long. All the weather forecasts say that it’s not snowing. Hello, I was out in it, and it definitely was snowing. Maybe we won't get much snow then.

Lily is making a fuss over me because she’s hungry! Fed us all. The dogs came in quickly, probably because it’s cold.

I need to get my music organized in the morning, so I plan to go to bed soon.

Oliver left a large scratch near my right eye. Thanks a lot, Oliver. I know that he loves me, but he’s a handful.

Woke up at 5:15 AM. I’m feeling hammered.

I did pull myself together and get the car jump-started. The guy came quickly and started it, but he said that the battery was bad and needed replacing. Sure enough, I ran the car for a half-hour and it won’t start now. I’m going to have to take Uber to my doctor’s appointment. Then I’ll try to have a battery delivered. Yes, I know that it’s more expensive, but I have a ton of things to do today.

So freaking tired.

A multicultural museum at the University has a book club. This month's selection is An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, but the discussion is in two days, and I can't read that fast. June is A Queer History of the United States, and I just ordered it, so I should be able to go. Oh! That was June last year! Oh well.

My appointment with my psychiatrist went well. I really like her. She’s concerned about my levels of vitamins though.

Ate lunch. Just emailed the battery people. Oops, they aren't in my area. Contacted Advance Auto Parts for same day delivery/installation. But it might be too late for choir. I emailed the choir director. Got the battery from Advance Auto Parts, but they didn't install it. Then the first place contracted me, but they wanted payment in advance and some things seemed fishy, so I'm in going to have the car jump-started tomorrow and have Advance install their battery.

Oliver and Lily are playing Pounce! I forget how young they are because they look like full-grown cats, but they're only a year old. (Bella is two and Gracie is one and Zara is 16.)

Oliver is snoozing on my lap, and I think, "How sweet". But see paragraph 1. He’s being extra cuddly today.

I think that I just want to crash tonight. I'll have to get up early to deal with the car.

I think that it would be cool to have a collie or a sheltie. Then I look at my two dogs and realize that I have my hands full.

I’m trying to nap but my brain is whirring. I got up to buy duct tape (to fix the mattress) and a lilac bush. I ordered a crabapple tree too after my nap.

Watched a little skating.

To bed, quickly.

Overslept an hour. Fuck. I don’t have time to take a shower, so I’ll just throw some clothes on.

Yep, I got tickets on both cars. Occasionally, I hate the city of Urbana, and this is one of those times. I’ll have to brush the cars off after work because I have French at lunchtime. I can't wait until I can get the cars off of the street.

I feel a little like crying, but everything will be okay. Today is a hectic day though. I just canceled my French lesson. (Our big presentation is right afterwards. We have them quarterly, but it feels like we just did one! Time flies.) That helps. I'm doing some deep breathing exercises. My French teacher-to-be was cool about my canceling and said that she could teach me some useful phrases for my trip.

It was a zoo getting the cats and dogs out of the upstairs for the presentation. The cats took the bait to go down in the basement. I had to shut the dogs in the bedroom. The presentation went okay. I stumbled over my words a little, but clicking the slides (I had the slides that were displayed for the whole presentation with multiple presenters, which is why I had to corral the fur faces) went well.

Brushed off one of the cars. I’m inside thawing (currently 10F/-12C with a wind chill of 9F/-13C) and I let the dogs out. I need better gloves. Ordered some waterproof ones for brushing off the cars. I’ll go back out when the dogs come back in and I feed them.

Aargh. Got car #2 brushed off, although I want to get up early to scrape more ice off the windshields because I couldn’t see well. But then Bella stole my hat and ran to the bedroom with it and put it under the bed. Gracie thought that we were playing and scratched me hard in the face. I finally fished the hat out from under the bed and put it in a safe place to dry. The hat is a little small on me though, so I need a larger hat (ordered).

Apparently the laundry basket in the bathroom fell over and Bella stole a sock. Sigh.

Fed us all. Paid my parking tickets. Submitted a grocery order for tomorrow. Got a new pair of jeans out of its package. Now I need to post, feed the critters their crunchies, put some handwashed clothes in the dryer, and go to sleep.

Oh, how stupid do people think that we are? I got a phishing email about a "Microsoft upgrade"--from an AOL email address. Right.

Overslept until 7:30 AM. Gracie did not want to come inside. I finally filled her bowl with breakfast and shook it, and she eventually came in.

I rescheduled my blood test for next week. I can’t cope with it this week. Now I can jump-start my car tonight and not have to get up early. I really want to nap over lunch, so I guess that I'll shower after work. Fed us all.

Someone (Bella?) is stealing the special unscented dish detergent that I got for the cats' dishes. One vanished, so I brought out the other one, and that vanished. She likes to hide things under the bed, so I need to get a broom to clean it out. I'm a little afraid as to what I'll find. And I need to get more and keep it under the sink. I bought a magnetic white board for the refrigerator to note down stuff for the next grocery order.

Ugh. I have a lot of work to get done but I'm soooooo tired. Well, one thing down.

Overslept my nap at lunchtime. I really conked out.

Oliver is being a "lover boy". This will last just a few minutes until he's off doing something else. Actually, he started digging his claws in and biting me, so I dumped him off of my lap.

Finally remembered to call to get my physical therapy for my knee set up. They're scheduled out to late February. My list of health care visits is scary. I have visits on 2/20, 2/23, 2/24, 3/2, two on 3/3, 3/9, 4/14, 4/23, 4/28, and 6/9. Sheesh. I know that you have more doctor's visits as you get older, but yikes.

This weekend is going to be a zoo. I need to catch up on work, plus I have an added incentive to work on the house. That reminds me to check on the status of the steam cleaner. Still sitting.

Blasted through some stuff at work. I still have a bunch to do, but it seems more manageable now.

Okay, I found a t-shirt that I want. It has pictures of Bach, Gluck, Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart with the caption "I listen to dead people".

I’m going to stay in my pajamas and deal with the car in the morning. If I get up early enough, I could have the Kia jump-started or get the Honda to the DMV. But I don’t want to go out now.

Spent some time talking to Zara and Lily. I told them that I know that Oliver is a little shit. But he’s MY little shit.

Ooooh. Costco has some interesting groceries. I should defrost my chest freezer and order some.

Crappity crap. Oliver jumped down from the ledge over the bedroom door onto my face, claws outstretched, and cut my lip. It’s bleeding a lot, but I don’t think that it needs stitches or anything like that. I’ll have to make sure that it doesn’t get infected. I told Oliver that I was unbelievably mad at him. The plus side is that I impressed him enough that he didn’t eat Lily’s food (though he tried). Damn cat.

All the critters are fed. I need to eat, but I’m waiting for my lip to stop bleeding to eat. Maybe I’ll post first. Well, it seems to have stopped, so I’ll make some food. I ordered some Neosporin (and some other stuff) rush delivery from Walmart. At least, I’ll get the unscented dish soap for the cat dishes that either Bella or Gracie is stealing too. I got the rest of my stuff, but when I canceled the first order because I used the wrong card and pressed "reorder," it didn't copy over the dish soap.

Anyway, I'm going to post, brush my teeth, put on some Neosporin, and go to bed.

I had a hard time getting up this morning. Called Carle and rescheduled my doctor's appointment from today. Told work that I feel better but need a nap. The dogs aren’t letting me sleep. Gracie is going to get evicted from my bedroom in three-two-one. I didn’t evict her, but she wound up snoozing with her head on my leg.

Slept until a little after 11:30 AM. Fed the critters. Ate lunch.

Bella the glove-stealer is busy stealing gloves. Sigh.

The forecasters are predicting light snow.

Work is a zoo right now. Well, I got through my email :) I might have to work a little this weekend. Well, no, a colleague kindly took some work off of me. I work with nice people.

I want to put in a coneflower garden this Spring. Also, I’ll need to order roses for the side of the garage. Hmm. I stopped ordering bare roots plants because Bella dug them up. I wonder if she’ll stop now that we have Gracie? I could put a fence up too. She can knock down the little garden fences that I put in, but she respects them. I ordered some beautiful roses. I’m excited!

Here's the flashiest of the roses:


My dad was telling me to walk to get exercise, and it’s important because I’ll be walking in Europe this fall. (Do I need a cane? I bought an “all-terrain” folding one in purple.) I decided that I would trade off taking Bella and Gracie for walks because the two of them can almost knock me over. And I’ll be walking with a cane.

I wanted to make some frozen burritos for dinner, but they require an air fryer. I need to get it set up this weekend. I also need to find a good recipe to make some from scratch. Found one.

I might need to change my car appointment on Friday to another time because I need to renew the car’s registration. I’ll see if I’m up to getting the registration renewed tomorrow, but I doubt it. I’m planning on going to bed soon though.

Woke up a little after 6:30 AM. Got my groceries. I forgot a couple of things, so I’ll have to submit another order tomorrow. Got an enormous bag of oranges, so I’ll have to work on eating it. And I think that I'll pop some blueberries.

I put my compression socks on after my shower. I put on the ones with pink flamingos because I thought that they'd go best with my "under-the-ocean" hoodie. Style is important :) I'm saving the navy polka dots ones to wear with my navy London hoodie tomorrow. I hope that they work. And I bought an enormous water pitcher to bring upstairs with me. The socks feel kind of good, like they're massaging my legs.

Oliver is growling at Gracie. I don't blame him because earlier, Gracie pinned him down, and Gracie and Bella were play-biting him. I had to break it up. He was Not Amused. I'm asking Gracie how someone as cute as her can be such a little hellion.

I need to get two more pillows for the pillow shams. I'm buying cheap pillows because Gracie chews on them.

I read an article called "How to Make Your Economy-Class Seat a Little Less Miserable," and one of the things that it says is to get an aisle seat for long-haul flights. I haven't booked my flights to Europe later this year yet (I'll do that this weekend), so I'll get an aisle seat.

I have meetings right before and right after lunch, so no nap today.

I need to make some lentil soup to get some B vitamins in me. I'll look for a recipe. Found one. Maybe I should go grocery shopping after I return the sleep equipment tomorrow. I need a blender for the recipe. Do I have one? Yes, I have a fancy one that Mom's friend bought her.

I did get a short nap. My 11:00 meeting ended early.

My boss and I were taking about cats and dogs and such, and I just remembered that I need to put up the bird feeder. I'll add it to my weekend list.

Made an appointment to have my car looked at a week from today. (It's making sounds like something is dragging and thumping noises when you turn the steering wheel hard.)

Off work for the weekend. Fed the critters. (I’m not hungry because I ate lunch late. I’m not sure what to do until I need to go to the sleep clinic. I guess that I’ll work on a grocery list (done).

I’ve had a sore throat and slight cough all day, but that’s it for symptoms.

The book that I’m reading suggested Factor Health for extensive blood tests. Quest Diagnostics has something similar, but I think that Factor pays for two blood tests a year. Yikes, they take around 10 vials of blood.

Got the sleep study equipment. He asked me when I was going to bed and I said, “I don’t know,” so he picked 11 PM. I think that I’ll have to sleep without the dogs. So I’m going to eat (done) and post.

The local schools are having a remote day tomorrow. Maybe I'll wait until lunchtime to brush off the cars.

Crud. I forgot to order food. I’ll do so after I get up.

Ugh. -3F/-19C with a low of -7F/-22C. Yep, it’s cold.

Woke up a little after 2 AM. I was going to go back to sleep, but I wondered if I woke up because I needed to pee, so I got up and did so.

Woke up a little after 7 AM. Gracie was trying to get me up, and I was pulling the covers over my head. It’s 0F/-18C, and the dogs came in quickly.

Rob Reiner and his wife were killed. That made me gasp. Horrible. That shook me up.

Ugh. I really want to go back to sleep, but I should shower so that I can brush off the cars at lunchtime. I finally did shower and have my Christmas sweatshirt on.

Gracie: Oliver is on your lap!!! Yes, Gracie, I know. He has a right to be there. Oliver is now walking on my keyboard, knocking stuff down, and being annoying.

I think that I'm going to have to be dug out before I can brush off the cars. I'll contact the snow guy. He said that he'll be there shortly. The dogs got out when the guys were done, but they helped me catch them.

Brushed off the Honda. I didn’t get the Kia because my hands were cold.

Busy day at work. I'm just getting started on the things that I need to get done. Meetings otherwise.

My car got stuck trying to get it out. No caroling today. I took the time to brush off the Kia because I’m sitting waiting for AAA. The guy called by AAA was very helpful and pulled me out. He dug around the car so that I can get it out tomorrow. But I’m dubious about going anywhere tomorrow.

I need to let the dogs out (done). Fed us all. I've just about had it with today. I want to go to sleep soon.

shadowkat mentioned Merlino wool socks, which I looked at because I'd like to keep my feet warm this winter. But they're pricey, and I'm trying to shut down the spending money spigot. I'll think about it. (I found some cute ones though.) Hmm, they have two pairs of knee-high socks for cheaper. I could save them for times that I'm tramping through the snow.

Hmm. I should find the package with the Christmas cards. Oh no, Amazon says that the delivery "is running late".

All the pets are flaked out. Gracie is lying on the floor with her head on the stairs. How is that comfortable?

I’ve been feeding Oliver and Lily some dry food late at night to use up some dry food that I have. (Waste not, want not, etc.) Zara won’t eat it.

Bella says, “Why are you reading when you should be petting your dog? Clearly your priorities are messed up.”

Woke up at 7 AM.

I’ve been getting tickets for a parking violation on the Kia, so I need to brush it off and get it jump-started today. Hmm, tomorrow would be better.

Ugh. Wintry mix tonight.

Oliver almost got out. He stopped when he realized Gracie was in the doorway. Sigh.

Fed us all. Nap time. Oliver was in here but he left. Good. His interaction with the dogs is not restful. Napped. I feed like I need another nap but I need to eat lunch first.

I think that I’ll turn on music when I work on the kitchen.

Up from my nap. Feeling shaky.

Now they’re saying snow and flurries tomorrow morning. Sigh.

Things to do:

— Shower and put on new sweats (done)
— Put new laptop upstairs. Measure old laptop and buy sleeve for it
— Open packages. Find lights for tomorrow. (Done).
— Work on kitchen (a little)
— Wash clothes from cruise (in progress) and put them back in the suitcase. Fill toiletries bottles.

I started opening packages while I wake up. I got my Elemis travel set to put in my suitcase. Got the dash cam, which is actually worth some $$$.

Hum. I’m waiting for the package with the knee scooter. Nothing yet. I want to wait to let the dogs out until after it comes. Maybe I should take a shower.

The Medicare Web site says that I don’t have to sign up for Medicare until after I retire, but they suggested asking my job to make sure. I still have two years to go anyway.

My Christmas sweatshirt is now supposed to arrive tonight. Maybe I’ll wear it tomorrow while I put up lights. Oh drat, I didn’t get light clips. Maybe Walmart has them? Ace Hardware does. I’ll run over there tomorrow. Actually, I’m trying to order some from Walmart, but it says “low stock”. We’ll see if I get them.

The Christmas sweatshirt is cute.


I’m trying Olay moisturizers because they’re cheaper. I got an eye cream first because the dogs stole mine :(

The sweats are cozy and warm. They look better than average sweats. I’m tempted to look for more. I don’t need to spend the money, but I could wear them to work on days that I don’t go out. I ordered a pair of “peach sorbet” sweats, marked down for Cyber Week. I will be cozy this winter.

I’m hungry. Made some food. Oliver says to feed him “Right Meow“. Fed us all. Gracie hasn’t eaten her food yet.

I need to stay up until the stuff from Walmart arrives and possibly the knee scooter. I think that I’ll wash my clothes from the cruise next. And do some dishes (done and done and my swimsuit and coverup are soaking in the sink).

I’m trying Hup. You put a Web cam in your home and it tells you what cleaning to do.

I guess that I’ll post while waiting for the Walmart order. Oops, I need to bring the laptop upstairs too.

I overslept this morning. I’m going to call the car place and tell them that I’m sick and reschedule for next week. The question is, should I lie down again? I need to be showered and makeupped by 8:30 AM for my meeting. Yeah, I guess that I will. No, I won’t. I’ll just hang out for a while.

Done. Have an appointment for next week. Now I need to shower.

The guys are building the garage this morning. Wouldn't it figure. I'm glad that I'm home with the pets, although they don't seem too alarmed. The dogs were barking at first, but now Gracie, Oliver, and Lily are fascinated. The garage guy was right that it goes fast once they start. Right now, the walls are up and the roof is on. It just looks like they need to put up the siding.

The morning meeting is over. It was a meeting with the top candidates for my grand boss’s position. They were very strong candidates, and I think that any of them would do.

The garage is finished and the guys have left. It looks great!

The yard looks very different, of course. Smaller, but the garage looks like it was always there except for the driveway. I contacted the electrician to let him know that it's ready for him. I also asked him to put a floodlight on the front of the garage (on the driveway-to-be).

I had planned to plant roses on the side of the garage, but now I'm wondering if I should build the patio next to it. I had planned to build the patio by the house because there is a small (very small) patio already there. I need to look at the light and shade patterns with the garage in. Also, eventually I want to put in landscaping on the other side of the garage, but I'd need to take the remaining trees down (I want to plant redbuds), but that would cost over $3000, so I probably want to wait. But I might plant wildflowers on that side for now after I get the brush cleared out.

Oh. I did find the missing glasses and yes, Gracie chewed them. Sigh. I'll order another pair. I need to watch them like a hawk!

Silly critters. It’s after work now, and I’m feeding the beasts. I gave Bella and Gracie some dry food with wet food mixed in it. They switched bowls, but okay. Bella ate the wet food out of the dish and walked away. Oliver came over to check the bowl out, and Bella chased him off and ate a little more of the dry food. “I don’t want it, but it’s MINE!” They make me laugh.

Another silly dog thing: I gave some treats (“Bonkers”) to Gracie, who hasn’t eaten them before. She ate them, but wasn’t very enthusiastic. I gave some to Bella, who likes them, as a bribe for coming in the house. She gobbled them up, and Gracie suddenly was a lot more interested in them!

Had my voice lesson. I told her that I was tired, but she still worked me hard, but in a kind way. We were working on a song that drives me nuts, so I don’t know it as well as I should.

My piano teacher also teaches a piano class on Lessonface. I’m not ready to start up private lessons again yet, but I asked her about the class and she thought that it would be a good fit. So we’re arranging a prorated fee for October.

I also bought some self-study music theory books. I can read music, but don’t know much beyond that.

Did some dishes. Now I’m staging stuff to go to the electronics recycling tomorrow morning (done). I need to post, feed the beasts, take the dogs out, and go to bed.

I’m glad that I work for the State of Illinois and not the federal government.

Oliver is trying to school Gracie by smacking her. She seems unimpressed. Sigh. The dogs were on the bed, as was I, and Oliver wanted to come over to me. Gracie chased him out of the room.

Woke up 20 minutes late.

Ack. I have a CT scan appointment on Friday, so I rescheduled my car appointment for the Honda. I need to get the Kia's battery jump-started.

Had my dental appointment. I knew that part of it was the rest of the cleaning, but I knew that there was "something else," which turned out to be a CT scan. No big deal. They're filling out the paperwork for preauthorization for my implant.

I got my trip to see my dad next May okayed with my boss and Dad. I want to book the flights early because it'll be over the Memorial Day holiday (done). I chose Economy Plus and Priority Boarding because the older that I get, the less that I want to deal with the hassles of traveling.

I'm going to try Misfits Market for groceries. It's supposed to be a lot cheaper than most grocery stores.

I’m ordering a poke bowl on DoorDash. I got one DoorDash order, but the other one seems to be stuck? After putting me off for a while, they said that there was a problem with my Dasher, and do I want to reorder or cancel? I reordered because I was hungry. This time, the food made it to me quickly. And it was worth the wait. (I did lose around an hour’s time though.) I’d like to figure out how to make poke bowls myself. The question is where I’d get the tuna, but there is a large Asian market nearby that might have sushi-grade tuna. Worth a visit, anyway. Hmm, and where is my rice cooker? It has spoiled me for Minute Rice.

I checked the Social Security Web site (after consulting with my dad) and I'll be eligible for Social Security and Medicare (when I turn 65). I'm not sure how my pension will affect Social Security though.

Lily is eating the leftover rice grains from my poke bowl. Fed us all (and not rice for the critters). My back really hurts, so I want to stretch out and go to bed soon.