days_unfolding

Forgot to mention that I found Airbnbs in Puerto Vallarta that are even cheaper than the hotels there, and they have a kitchen. Promising.

Set up coffee, and forgot to turn it on. Guess that I'm groggy this morning.

Both cats have been hanging out in the window this morning. Zara broke off the ends of some of the slats of one of the blinds in one of the windows (thanks, Zara), and sometimes I see a Mimi face in the hole when I leave or come home. Today, Mimi was dozing in the window when I left, so I saw a cat face with her eyes closed.

The college has a carillon that you can hear from my place. It plays at noon and 6 PM. The students probably think that it's hokey, but it sounds cheerful to me. I was humming along to "Cabaret".

I wanted to throw a coat in the wash, only to find that Zara was curled up on top of it. I tried to pull it out from under her, and she hissed. Okay, Zara, you win. I'll throw it in later. This house is run by cats. Zara was completely zonked out on my coat when I left. I can see why she thinks that it's a good cat bed.

Zara was still on the coat when I came home for dinner, but she got up when I came in. I grabbed the coat (bad Mommy!) and threw it into the wash. I substituted another coat, and she seemed to think that was okay.

Walked over dinner. Gold star on my calendar!

My third Spanish book came in.

I'm getting a spiralizer for Christmas, and I looked up some spiralizer recipes, and they sound good. Mozzarella, Tomato, and Pesto Zucchini Pasta Salad sounds like a great lunch.

Well, I've taken care of the catching up on my sleep part of my vacation.

Fed the ravening hordes, and am making pesto mac and cheese (from a box). I hope that it's good.

I'm going to a jazz concert tonight at the college with a friend. At first, she really wanted to go out to dinner, and I didn't want to spend the money, but said yes because she was insistent. But then she texted me yesterday, saying that she couldn't afford it. Works for me.

I want to stop at work before the concert to change my phone and e-mail messages saying that I'm on vacation, so I need to throw myself together soon.

Oh, I forgot to say that the temperature dropped today and was 39 degrees F. I can't complain though because it was warm for so long.

The students are on campus! The students are on campus! One if by land....Oh wait, we asked them to come here :)

It's been raining on and off all day. Gray, gloomy, dreary. I had problems getting up.

I'm in the middle of the tedium known as patron load. I hand-build files that are batch-loaded into our library system. It's going well, but I brought my laptop home to 1) build another file before I go to sleep (although I'm thinking of going to sleep and getting up early??), and 2) check the test load in the morning. I might have to bring my laptop home on Friday (my Saturday) too. But I can't complain; I don't work overtime much. And this year, I WILL learn Python and write scripts to format these files!

Starting next month, I want to get serious about the Mediterranean diet. I already found a recipe that I really want to make: Feta and Spinach Couscous patties. It calls for fresh dill, and a lot of recipes call for fresh herbs. That got me thinking about whether I should grow fresh herbs in my kitchen. I have the room for them. The question is whether it would be cost effective? Fresh herbs are expensive (does anyone know exactly how much the grocery store charges for fresh herbs?), but I'd be looking at $20 for seed and starter mix. Plus electricity for a grow light. I don't know...thoughts?

I'm also wondering if it would be cost-effective to join Sams Club (no Costco in this area), but I'd have to add the cost of gas for a 45-minute drive one way. Maybe not. I guess what I should do is get a pass to go look inside one and see if they have enough stuff that I would buy. (A "frugal living" blog said that they got cheap salmon at Costco.)

I'm tired. I think that I'm going to cuddle kitties and go to bed.