days_unfolding

Oliver has to “help” me scoop the litter boxes. Yeah, he’s a big help. Not. I’ve fed the cats and peace is reigning across the land.

It just occurred to me that I could bring a litter box upstairs for Mimi and put the gate at the top of the stairs to keep Oliver out while I’m working. I also could get another gate for the library room (or move the upstairs gate) to keep Oliver out.

Got laundry in the dryer and washer. Started charging my new electric toothbrush (which I got a while ago, but I’ve been busy). I need to order more toothbrush heads for it (done).

Got up at 7:30 AM after staying up late. Put the cat dishes on to soak. Lily and Oliver are squabbling. Fed all of them, and there is peace.

Napped until 12:30. Dreamed that I was lost on a cruise ship and had lost my card key. I’m trying to wake up enough to take a shower and get dressed. I should probably eat lunch.

The little cat toy balls are apparently in the mailbox. I’ll have to go get them for Lily and Oliver.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since the turn of the century. Woah. And people being born now might see the next one!

Oliver is looking for trouble to get into. No, now he’s snoozing on the table. I don’t know where Lily is. It’s nice and quiet.

Showered and dressed. The new electric toothbrush is great. My teeth and gums have never felt so clean. I need to get the WaterPik set up too. And the Gold Bond is doing a good job healing my hands.

Lily knocked down the lid to the toilet and ran away. I forgot to tuck in the string to my hoodie, and Oliver grabbed it. (I got it away from him and tucked it in.) Oliver gave me a little kiss. Aww.

Crap. It’s supposed to get really cold. I’ll order the coat and boots for Bella as soon as I get her, but it probably will take a couple of days to get here. I’ll delay taking her for a long walk until they get here.

Lunchtime. I had a broccoli-and-cheese potato for lunch. Lily really wanted it. I felt like a big meany telling her no. She has me wrapped around her tiny paws.

I feel like taking a short nap, but I’ll feed the cats and get the cat toy balls for them to play with first.

I’ve got to get the new heater set up upstairs.

Hmm. I was going to make the Barramundi with Lemon Chive Butter, but it comes with a salad, so I can’t freeze it. I’ll make it tomorrow night and eat the leftovers on Friday before I leave to go get Bella. I think that I’ll make Sage Brown Butter Chicken Piccata today. Hmm, I need to wait to take out the garbage until after I cook.

Lily told me that she wanted to eat. I started to soak their dishes, but I gave Oliver and her some dry food. Oliver kept on going after her food, but I finally got it sorted. (It’s going to be tough to get her in the carrier on Tuesday because she’s still leery of me. I need to find out what Churus she likes.) Zara and Mimi are used to eating later, so I’m going to nap first. I’m getting a headache.

I got the balls for Lily and Oliver. The first one that I dropped on the floor split in half. I put them down more carefully after that. Oliver is a little shit. Lily wants to play, but when she plays with a ball, Oliver drops the one that he’s playing with and grabs hers. I have no way to fix that. (He has a new nickname: FOMO-cat.) Maybe he’ll get bored with them. I want to get more, but I think that little rubber balls would last longer. Well, Amazon has foam ones (ordered).

Had a little quality time with Zara. Lily came in the bedroom! (Probably to get away from the Orange Menace.) Crud, Oliver just came in too. I want to nap!

Zara wanted food, so I fed them. I had to stand guard while Zara was eating, and then when Lily and Oliver were eating.

Napped for an hour. Lily jumped up on the bed! I lay very still so as to not spook her.

Hmm. I’m hungry now. Maybe I’ll have some frozen food.

I gave Lily a Tuna-and-Chicken Churu. She loved it. Oliver licked up the drips.

Ack! Lots of snow coming Sunday. I’ll get to try the snow blower. I have to charge it up on Saturday.

Ate. Lily ignored my Chicken-and-Shrimp Quinoa, but wanted my Louisiana Crunch Cake. (I didn’t give it to her.)

Started washing a litter box for Mimi. Oliver had to be involved. I thought that he was going to jump in the water, but he didn’t.

Put Oliver in the bathroom. Got the garbage and recycling out. I’m not sure when they’ll pick up because of the holiday, but it’s out there. Now I’m resting for a few minutes. Put clothes in the dryer and washer.

I was doing the dishes, and the cats, including Zara, thought that they were going to get fed. So I’m soaking their dishes.

Hmm. I’m thinking of getting up really early to set things up upstairs, and going to bed after I feed the beasties and scoop their litter boxes.

Lily sniffed my nose! And she’s showing me her belly.

I'm going to bed.

I'm wondering if I should set up the space heater in my bedroom. I guess that I'll see if I can do without it, but I'll take it out of the box in case I decide that I need it. I brought it into the bedroom, but then I remembered the electric blanket. That should keep Zara and me warm. Zara loved the electric blanket. And I didn’t wake up during the night cold.

The cats think that the kitchen counters and table were cleared off for them to walk on.

I finished my current 44 Scotland Street book, but I don’t have money for the next one. I guess that I’ll start on the Italy books. Appropriate because some characters in the Scotland Street books were just in Italy. Oh! I forgot about a credit card, so I can get the next book and I will be able to ship the CPAP. I’m having problems with the card on Amazon though. I tried to order some magnets elsewhere and the charge didn’t go through. I’ll have to contact the card company.

Hmm. I’m wondering if I should stay home today because I have another return, but I need my new printer ink to process it. It’s supposed to come today.

I put Mom’s magnets on the refrigerator last night. I love how the kitchen is taking shape; it’s my favorite room in the house. I want to get a couple of magnets with conversion charts for cooking and put them on the side of the refrigerator. I’m looking at magnets with quotes on them and saw the “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end” and started crying. I’m not okay. The anniversary of my mom’s death is also coming soon (April 11th).

Some people knocked on the door to tell me about “a party in honor of Jesus’s death”. I was a little cranky and told them that I had been lying down.

I looked for a Great Books group locally but no luck.

I’m trying to figure out where to put the urn with my mom’s ashes until I get to Chicago to inter them. I guess that I’ll leave them in the bin that they’re in.

I had a nice nap. I dreamed about a guy with whom I was friends in high school. I had a crush on him, but he liked me as a friend. Then he was in the hospital for a long time, and I called him every day because being in the hospital sucks, so then he decided that he wanted to go out with me. But I was interested in a mutual friend by that point. Apparently they had a discussion about which of them got to go out with me, but I wound up dating the mutual friend. (And I wound up marrying another mutual friend!) Anyway, in the dream, I was writing him a letter, telling him what was going on.

Zara napped with me and is being cuddly.

I got the Daily Look box.

I went looking for one of the Italy books, and wound up with Four Seasons in Rome. I need my reading time! It’s good. Residents are insisting that Rome is the most beautiful city in the world. More beautiful than Paris, I wonder? The book reminded me that I need to spend some time with a tourist Italian book. I found one! I want to study a page a day. I need index cards. Berlitz has an app, so I’ll work with it first.

My goal is to get to a point where there are only book boxes in the living room. I also want to empty the hamper in the bathroom so that I can use it as a hamper.

Oh crud! The ink order says “Payment revision required!” I guess that I’m not getting the ink today. Maybe I should just throw myself together and go to Best Buy. Or Walmart.

I took a nap while my hair was drying from my shower. Zara napped on my legs.

The mixer that I bought from Aldi is broken, so I’m looking at used Kitchen Aid mixers on eBay.

Went to Walmart with a little trepidation because one of the articles that I read about withdrawing from my med said not to drive, but it was okay. I got my printer ink, some food, and index cards.

I have stuff to do, but I’m tired. I wrote up some Italian flash cards to study; I now know how to say “Where is the ATM machine?” in Italian. It’s a start. I need to dig up the info from my first Italian teacher about directions. I’m also noting down places from the Rome book that I want to see.

Some of my classmates in a group project want to meet tomorrow, so I should respond to them. Then I think that I’ll go to bed.

I told Zara that her legs will atrophy if she lies on the bed all the time. She says that she'll risk it.

The girls are taking turns lying on the bed or lying on a blanket that fell off the bed. Right now, I have Mimi with me.

Took a nap after breakfast. I was singing in my dream. Does anyone else do that? Woke up with Mimi lying on me.

Had lunch. I have Office Hours with my professor at three, so I'm going to do some homework in the meanwhile.

I need to make a list of errands for tomorrow. I want more boxes for the storage space. And I need to go work in the storage space. Hmm, the new mover hasn't called me. And I need to call AT&T.

I bought some leaf bags to clean up the garden pots that I'll bring to the new place.

I bought a subscription to Office 365 and downloaded it to my personal laptop. That will make life much easier.

Eeek. My professor said that she would be having Office Hours at 3, but a student said on Discord that it was at 2. I said a few choice words and jumped on. Most of the questions that I missed, I figured out, but I asked her about two of them. She seemed to be having a cold and not terribly happy about answering questions. But I think that I'm set. There are more students this year in the program, and I think that she's overwhelmed. Now I'm craving a nap now that I'm working on the problems, but I think that's plain procrastination. I want to come up with a draft, which I don't have to send until tomorrow, but I want it done. An isomorphism question is making my brain ache. I think that I'll go back to it later. I've got all the questions done except for the mind-bend problem. I think that I deserve a break.

I did work some on my presentation due in a week from tomorrow.

Took a nap and dreamed about the damned math problem, at least sort of.

Worked on the kitchen. Worked on the math problem again, and I still don't get it. Le sigh.

I think that it's bedtime.

Italian went okay, although my teacher has COVID that he caught on his vacation. And it's been hot there as well.

It's definitely cooler today. It's overcast, so that's probably why. No rain in the forecast though.

I ordered more cat food for the ravening hordes.

Intended to nap for two hours, but slept for four. Had a dream in which Leonard Cohen was giving me a massage. My mind is a curious place to visit :)

My feet have been swollen since yesterday. I consulted Dr. Google, and apparently that's common when it is hot. I'm trying to figure out how I can do stuff and still have my feet up. Maybe I should study Italian.

Zara doesn't want to eat her food. I'm hoping that it's just the heat that's affecting her. I'll keep an eye on her. She was rolling and showing me her belly, so she seems to feel okay.

Went and got boxes for the books in my home office. Picked some fresh basil for dinner.

Ordered some French grammar books. Flipped through my new anxiety workbook. It occurred to me that there might be a cognitive behavioral therapy book for procrastination, and I found one in Kindle Unlimited.

Got the garbage out. Started the brown rice for my Lemon Basil Chicken recipe. Made the recipe. It's pretty easy to make. I'm boiling from standing over a hot stove though. The food was pretty good. Kind of lemony and fresh tasting.

Started cleaning up the kitchen. Hey, it's cool tonight (currently 72F) so I think that I'll turn off the air conditioning and open a window.

I guess that I'm going to study French because I'm already looking up stuff to say. I found a teacher who interests me. Okay, I booked a lesson for next Saturday.

Zara's been scrounging food, which is good. She needs to eat. And Mimi is on my lap.

I bought some Yoga and Core videos for 50+ women.

Mom called. They completed the antibody regime last night. However, she's still in the hospital. Her hemoglobin is low, so they're giving her a blood transfusion. She asked her doctor when she'll start feeling better, and he said by Memorial Day.

It's crazy windy out. My garbage can was still there though, but I put it behind the stairs.

Got my library books ready to go. Ran to the library and returned books and checked out new books. Went to Dollar Tree, but they were out of soda. Bother. Picked up a few things at Aldi, after trying multiple quarters on the cart. It was fussy. Got some decaf soda at Walmart because that's all they had of the store brand. Picked up my grocery order. Got the stuff in. Now I'm sitting for a moment before I put groceries away and make pizza (done).

The pizza (Margherita with a cauliflower crust) was good. But now I can't stop yawning.

I've been having strange dreams about Bob Dylan. I haven't the foggiest clue why. I read his Wikipedia page tonight. I think that I'm going to crash and NOT dream about Bob Dylan.

Woke up at 9 after some strange dreams. One was that I was visiting with my ex-husband. (His wife was in the dream too.) I think that I was looking for a job in the area (in California). The other was that I was doing some work on a Melissa Etheridge tour. We were still in California. Someone asked me where are some good restaurants in Sunnyvale, which is weird because if she was playing the South Bay, she would have been in Mountain View. I said that I didn't know and that I knew San Jose better.

Mimi wanted onto my lap when I woke up, but I was too sleepy. We finally compromised with her lying right next to me. That was okay.

Bedhead with my new haircut involves my hair sticking straight out to the sides. Yikes!

I'm looking into renewable energy ETFs, but won't be able to invest in them until after my move.

Oh hell. I hope that New Orleans will be okay when Hurricane Ida passes over. It's a special place.

I've been surprisingly faithful about logging my meals in Noom. I need to get back to exercise.

Got us all fed. Posted and watched some Paralympic swimming. Oh, I love swimming. I love watching it and doing it. Threw in some laundry. Now it's nap time.

Couldn't sleep. Just as well because I have a lot to do. Ate lunch. I keep debating whether to do homework or clean the bathroom, which is stupid. Just pick one. I need to do both. I think the problem is that I don't want to do either one but too bad.

I think that I want to make a Basil-Corn-Tomato Bake next instead of the tuna. I'll go to the store tomorrow.

I think that I use food to combat boredom. I'm working on my homework now and really want a cookie even though I'm not hungry. I looked at LJ instead for a break.

Okay, homework assignment #1 done.

Now mower guy says that it's too hot to mow. Sigh.

I was listening to the audio book that I was going to listen to while cleaning the bathroom, and got drowsy, so I decided to take a nap. First, though, I tried to find my toilet brush, which is nowhere to be seen. What could I have done with it?

Talked to Mom. She has had two small spots on her lung that the doctors were monitoring. Well, one of the spots has doubled in size. The doctors are going to do a biopsy. I'm concerned, needless to say, but Mom is surprisingly upbeat. The weird thing is that I had a feeling that something was wrong in the Thursday-Friday timeframe, which is when Mom found out. I had thought that something was wrong with my aunt though.

I'm going to go bed early after emailing some recipes to Mom. I need to do more homework and clean the bathroom, but I think that would wake me up now. I'll get up early and do stuff.

Mom talks politics a lot. Last night, I said that I was keeping my head down, working and taking my music classes, and avoiding politics. Is that wrong? I read news from five different sources though (New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, BBC, and The Guardian).

Got up a little late, so I'm doing an abbreviated version of my morning routine. I'll get the rest of the stuff done after Italian and my singing class. Italian is an hour earlier because I asked for it a half-hour earlier because of the singing class, and another student said that she'd like it an hour earlier. The other student hasn't responded. I hope that she'll see the message.

The other person in my Italian class came a little late because she just got the message that we were starting earlier. Italian was hard today. We were working on directions in a city. I need to study more.

Had my voice class. We were working on stretches to open up the body (specifically the diaphragm and rib cage). I found some of them hard, but I've been trying vocal warm ups and I do sound more resonant. I feel wide awake now though, and I was going to have lunch and take a nap!

Zara likes to lie with part of her touching me when I lie in bed. Aww. But it's probably because she likes my body heat.

I just had a flashback to a shopping center in Kahului on Maui, Hawaii. Oh, I want to go back.

When I'm in the middle of a dream, sometimes I won't hear the alarm. I dreamed a business idea in which you'd deliver coffee or hot chocolate, a newspaper, or flowers to a person in the morning. But that would require getting up early so that's not for me. I'm looking into a vibrating alarm clock for those times that I absolutely have to wake up early.

I watched the people with the four cats on Facebook, who were playing Hot Wheels with their cats on a Facebook Live. Facebook is my time sink.

Got the garbage out, although they probably won't pick it up tomorrow because it's a holiday.

Got a lemon pound cake in the oven. I'm looking for a big plastic bowl that I used to use for salads, but I can't find it. I guess that I'll have to use the bowl that's in the dishwasher, so I guess that I'll chop up the strawberries and kiwi, and wait to tear up the spinach until tomorrow. No, I found the bowl. Made the salad. It looks yummy, and it's waiting in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. The pound cake is cooling.

Practiced piano and guitar. The guitar C chord is still driving me crazy. I practiced it until I was ready to throw the guitar across the room.

Watched My Octopus Teacher on NetFlix. It was amazing, though sad at the end. Well worth seeing.

Woke up around 10 after strange dreams in which I was cleaning up trash areas in dorms. Plus in the dream, I hadn't slept for days. Weird.

Zara refuses to eat her food until after she eats Mimi's leftovers. Sigh. But she does eat it eventually.

Nap time. Had a good nap. Apparently there's been a dust-up in the cat pecking order and Zara was snoozing on the bed.

Threw myself together. Got Zara's meds, plus some milk and bread. It's been raining lightly, which is watering my garden. The lettuce and spinach (which I've been growing from seeds) are growing well. Not quite large enough to thin though.

I've been studying for my programming final.

Got my chicken breasts in the oven (covered in soy sauce, poultry seasoning, minced onion, and minced garlic). I'll put frozen riced cauliflower in the microwave when the chicken is close to done.

Back to studying.

The chicken was overcooked. I'll have to play with the amount of time that it cooks.

Talked to Mom. She's starting to get the yard together. We decided on late July for my visit to her. She also thinks that a Costa Rica trip next year for my 60th birthday is a good idea. She thinks that I'm nuts for considering retiring in Chicago.

It's raining again.

I've run out of steam. I'm thinking of going to sleep early and getting up early to study.

I started looking at housekeepers for when I start the new job. I need to declutter first though.

Mom called to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving and to tell me about Uncle Art. I feel like the wind was knocked out of my sails, but I'm sure that I'll bounce back. She loves the idea of the turkey-and-stuffing casserole, but she still thinks that it sounds like work.

Zara was sleeping in, but now she's up. She cracks me up when I feed her. She gets excited and runs back and forth.

Napped. Had a dream that I was closing a dorm for Break, but students kept on saying that they needed more time, and someone said that the dorms were open until 10 when they closed at 5. Then I woke up.

Put the turkey breast tenderloins in the oven, which is the first step. They'll need to cool after cooking, so I'll be eating late, but that's okay. Printed off the casserole recipe.

I'm wondering if I should join Hulu to see Happiest Season. I can afford it, but need to see what else I could get with Hulu. Okay, subscribed. I mulled over adding HBO Max, but I don't watch TV that much, so why spend the money? Hulu has Rocky Horror, so I might watch it for kicks. It's been what, 40 years since I last saw it?

The turkey tenderloins look a little pink, but the meat thermometer says that they're done. Now the casserole is in the oven. For some reason, I thought that it cooked for an hour, but it's only 20 minutes, so I'll wait for it. And then watch The Crown while I eat (which is wrong somehow, but there it is).

Zara was licking the pan in which I cooked the turkey tenderloins. I took it away from her and put it in the dishwasher.

I'm feeling a lot more perky.

Ate dinner and watched two more episodes of The Crown. There's just one left, so I'm thinking of watching it tonight. I should bake cookies first though. No, I cleaned up the kitchen and got everything laid out to make cookies, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to make them. I've done enough cooking for tonight. So I'll go watch the last episode of The Crown.

Crap. My phone isn't charging. I need to pull myself together and get a new charger.

Woke up with an upset stomach again.

I discovered that I didn't have clean clothes to wear when I go to AT&T, so I threw a load of laundry in. Now it's nap time. Zara's been lying on my feet a lot.

I dreamt that I was teaching an information literacy class and it was going really well...and then my alarm went off an hour early. Bummer. I got up. My class will have to be partially taught. I was just getting to the good stuff too: what is a credible source.

Kitty Drama. Zara wanted to look out the window, so I opened the blinds. Then Mimi decided that she wanted to look out the window too. Zara started growling at Mimi, telling her to keep away. Then Mimi started acking at Zara, telling her to keep away. I washed my hands of them and walked away. No fur appeared to have flown.

I ordered a couple of investing books that I checked out of the library from Amazon. They look good. Also bought a book on economic indicators.

Because my phone wasn't working, I had Google Home quoting stock prices and dividends. I'm amazed at how much I use Google Home. I discovered that IBM has a larger dividend than Microsoft, but its stock price is stuck. Plus I've worked for IBM, and have no illusions about it.

Finally got my weary butt into the shower. Went and got a new charger, and my phone is now charging. Also picked up one of my guitars from storage. Wrote down the model number of the lawn mower so that I can order a battery for it.

Added more food to the grocery order. I want to find a fettucine alfredo recipe with homemade alfredo sauce. Found a recipe that sounds good. But Walmart doesn't have a block of parmesan cheese. Found some freshly grated parmesan cheese on Amazon that people were raving about, and it will save me some work. (Pricey though.) I also saw a recipe that I saved for Tuscan Chicken, and I want to make it next weekend. I have some frozen chicken breasts that I want to use up. I guess that my appetite is back.

Well, crap. My mom's phone is going straight to voicemail. She isn't answering her cell phone. She probably isn't calling me because she saw my email about my phone charger.

Finally got through to Mom. She said that her phone didn't ring, and it wasn't showing any messages. I don't know what was going on. Mom's doing pretty well.

Not sure what to do now. I had planned to do my taxes, but I keep yawning. Maybe I should go to sleep. Oh, I need to submit my grocery order.

Crap. No pickup times tomorrow for the grocery order, so I had to enter it on my shopping list. Did I say, "Crap"? Hmm, I could go now in that case, but I'm tired. And cold.