days_unfolding

Note to self: print off Bella and Gracie’s shot records. Buy small stapler. Print boarding pass and luggage tag (all done).

Just read an article about the impact of aircraft fumes on people. Just the thing to read when you’re about to take a flight.

Kept hitting snooze on my alarm and got up at 6:30 AM. I’m thinking about going back to bed for a while. I am so not a morning person. I did go back to bed but couldn't sleep.

Had a bit of a panic when I couldn't find my phone, which I need for two-factor identification at work, this morning. I finally found it still plugged in by my bed. Whew. (And I need it for travel too!)

Now I can't stop yawning. It's another gray day. (My light box is supposed to come today.)

Ran my errands. Deposited cash at the bank. Ran into a snag at the post office. They wanted $71 to send the box with the blanket to zhelana in Scotland, and I said, "No". Apparently the cashier goes to Scotland regularly. She said that last time she had to keep running around, and I said that I'm a "sit in a cafe and watch the world go by" kind of traveler, and she said that we should go to Scotland together.

I'll look for something for zhelana off of her Amazon wish list. Anyone want a plaid throw blanket (US Only)? I think that it has paw prints on it. (I got it from the Humane Society.) Oh for god's sake. It said that my credit cards were ineligible to buy things off of her wish list. But I could use them overseas!

Got a pedicure and manicure. The color that I wanted broke, and the color we used for the pedicure is kind of a peach color that I don’t like. I picked out a mauve color for my fingernails, and that I like. Picked up a small stapler (for the luggage tag for the cruise) at Walgreens. Picked up my printer ink and cell phone charger at Best Buy. Picked up some feather toys for the cats at Walgreens.

I didn’t know that Tim Curry played Mozart in Amadeus, which I saw on Broadway.

Changed the printer ink and printed off the boarding pass and luggage tag for the cruise. I need to gather a few things, start a load of laundry, and go to bed.

Got up a little after 7 AM. Went back to sleep after the dogs came in. Overslept. It's dark and gloomy out. Raining.

I'm quietly writing documentation for our new ticketing system at work. I like writing documentation because I used to do that as a living!

The snow is off of the roof of the garage!

I'm trying to decide whether to wear my Christmas sweatshirt and jeans for the flight out. Or for the Christmas Eve Loop expedition.

I don't know what to do about my snow boots for the trip. The snow will have melted before I leave, but I don't know about when I get back. I might have some ankle boots with a good tread on them.

For some reason, Oliver and Lily are picking at their food. They’re young, so I’m not so worried, but am wondering what’s going on. The dogs ate their food. Bella and Gracie are now fighting over the duck toy :) Hmm, I have new dish detergent, and I'm wondering if that's why Oliver and Lily aren't eating. It doesn't smell right?

I think that I’m going to give up on getting Christmas lights up and save them for next year. Too much is going on.

I'm wondering if I should try BritBox when I get back. On the other hand, I don't watch TV much and haven't made it through all of The Big Bang Theory yet. Maybe I should wait to catch up on my TV watching.

I need to figure out how to get from Michigan Avenue to the Loop in Chicago. I guess take it over the river and then head west? I'm got my Chicago friends on Facebook working on it.

Hmm. The weather forecasters are saying a "wintry mix". I wonder if I should skip the post office tonight. Yeah, it does look like a "wintry mix". Ugh.

Had a good session with my therapist. She thinks that I should contact a lawyer NOW to deal with the trust. I'm going to go through the info tonight and figure out how much money is missing between the last account balance I got and now. Spoiler alert: it's a lot. I'm going to contact some estate planning attorneys to whom I've talk to see if they know someone who would take my case. (She asked me if there was anything else, but I said, "Isn't that enough?" She laughed.)

Scrambled to get the stuff ready to mail. I'm still iffy about the weather, but I'll go out and see how it is.

Oliver must have seen my entry about wanting a lap cat because he's curled up on my lap right now.

I think that I will go to the Post Office on Saturday instead. I’m tired and hungry. And the beasts are hungry too. Fed us all. I think that I was right about the dish soap because I rinsed the cat dishes without soap, and Oliver and Lily chowed down. I need to get different dish soap for them. Preferably without a smell. Or let the dogs “clean” the dishes. They do a good job.

Zara is lying on the heat vent, so I need to get her new heated bed set up. It's getting warmer, but it also has memory foam in it. (I got the top of the line for my girl!)

I’ve got the new travel laptop open. It’s a rose-gold color and pretty. (It was the cheapest color, so I guess that others didn’t like it.) I’m cleaning the kitchen while it’s doing its update. I've got it set up. Did I say that it's a really, really nice laptop?

I was creating a grocery list while I waited for the laptop to finish updating, when I realized in a panic that I didn't get any wrapping paper for the gift exchange at work tomorrow. So I added a gift bag and tissue paper to the Walmart order, and expedited the order. BUT I FORGOT TO GET SODA! I'll have to submit another order.

Anyway, I'm going to post. (I'm still on the new laptop.) I'll go to sleep after the Walmart order gets here.

Added: I was wrong about the amount of money in the trust. It matched the last valuation. Good because I don't want to deal with it right now.

Rain alert? Accuweather says a snow shower in the morning. A third site said a wintry mix. I hope that there isn’t ice in the morning.

Tuesday Night Wrestling (dogs) on the bed.

Overslept and woke up a little before 7 AM. I’ll take the fecal samples at lunchtime.

Hmm. I want to take a nap, but it’s early to get the dogs to come in. Got them in, but I had a piece of donut out for Gracie, and Bella snatched it. I then gave Gracie a donut hole, and Bella tried to snatch that too.

Hmm. A long time ago, I wanted to do indexing work (creating indexes for books or documents) freelance. Maybe I should do that when I retire. I've had indexing experience but want to get certified.

And now we have cat wrestling (Oliver and Lily).

There will be a high of 4F/-16C on Sunday. Yikes! It'll be a good weekend to stay home and snuggle in sweats. Speaking of weather, it's gray and gloomy and I want to go back to sleep. But I can't.

Dropped off the fecal samples at the vet. Go me. (Go cats!) The fecal tests came back negative, and they emailed the place where I want to board them with the results.

I'm sooooo tired. I'm thinking of skipping the Symphony holiday concert tonight and napping. It's dark, cold, and yucky. (Most of the snow has melted though. Just in time to get more tomorrow.) Ugh, I fell asleep during a meeting.

Maybe I bought too much over Black Friday/Cyber Week. I'm getting a package from Land's End, and I was wondering, what the heck is that? (Oh yeah, the second pair of sweats.)

I perked up a little at 5 PM as per usual, but I’m still tired and don’t feel like going out. I still think that a nap is in order.

I was sitting on the toilet and Bella was knocking my hand with her snout because she wanted to be petted. (After all, I was just sitting there….) I told her that she was being ruuuuuuuuude. She goes nuts over long vowels and started licking my face. I have a weird dog ;) That reminded me of when I was a kid and my dad used to imitate an air-raid siren to freak the dog out.

I should do a load of laundry. I have the gathering at my grandboss’ house tomorrow night.

Napped and slept until almost 1 AM after a dream in which I got back together with Erik. That ship has long since sailed. They’re saying up to four inches of snow tomorrow night, which makes me uncertain if I can get to my grandboss’ house.

Fed us all. I think that I’ll sleep in and take my shower at lunchtime.

I need to start a load of laundry before I go back to sleep.

Scanned my music and sent it to my singing teacher. Printed off some music to work on on the ship. Grabbed my passport. I can’t find my Global Entry card. I don’t need it for the cruise, but I’ll need it for my trip to Europe next fall.

I’m going to have to run to the vet to get flea meds for Gracie. I did, but they gave me HeartGard instead, so I used one of Bella's flea meds and just didn't give her all of it.

Cleaned out the car and put dog and cat food in it. I don’t have enough cat food, so I ordered an express order from Walmart. I couldn’t find my order of bulbs. Did someone take it?

Things that you say only if you have pets: “Oliver, stop sticking your head down my pants!” ( I was in the bathroom.) “Gracie, don’t put your nose there either!”

Hmm. Maybe I should have lunch before I shower (done).

Oliver knocked down my laptop and the I key fell off. This is a new laptop! Thanks a lot, Oliver. I wonder if I could get it fixed.

Operation Cat- and Dog-Nap went off without a hitch, although Zara was hissing at me and tried to hide. They’re settled in at the boarding place. This is the part of the trip that I worried about the most.

Ran my errands. Got my meds. I was able to get everything else that I needed at Schnucks. Contacted my singing teacher and told her that I wasn't going to make the lesson. Got the new filters for my hearing aids and she changed them and the dome for me. I saw a display of Dubai chocolates and grabbed them.

Got home. Put clothes in the dryer. Checked into my flight. Now I think that I'll pop a couple of Dubai chocolates and go pack.

Well, hell. I went to email my dad my cruise details, when I discovered that I had also booked a flight on American Airlines to and from Miami! I used a different email address than I usually do for some reason. I want to use the airfare for a trip to New York a year from December, but I couldn't book that far out, so I booked it for March and will change it in January.

I can't stop yawning. This is not a good sign because I want to pull an all-nighter to make sure that I don't miss my 7 AM bus. Maybe I will take a nap after I finish packing.

Well, everything is piled up on my suitcase, but I couldn't find the shampoo and conditioner bottles. So off I went to Meijer to get some bottles. I also found a nice shave cream in travel size. I'm taking a break now to eat something.

I'm packed. Now I'm going to do some tidying up. I think that I'll post now though.

I forgot to mention that a guy pushing a baby buggy called Bella and Gracie drama queens. (They were going nuts as he walked by.) He’s not wrong :)

I found a fleece-lined set of loungewear in Coldwater Creek’s catalog. It’s over $100 for a set, so pricey, but if I wear it all the time, it might be worth it. A perk of working from home! I tried eBay, Poshmark, Thred Up, Mercari, and JJill with no luck. I’m looking at the track suit at Costco that susandennis mentioned, but Costco’s site is down. I found something on Walmart’s site that might do. I ordered it in purple and pink. It’s certainly a lot cheaper than Coldwater Creek. I think that the Costco suit will be too long for me. I’m short and fat. Oh well. I found a nice set on Amazon and bought it in wine and lavender. They are nice enough that I could wear them to run errands. I guess that I’ll use the Walmart ones as pajamas.

When I was falling asleep, I realized that I didn’t do laundry but didn’t want to get up. I threw it in the wash as soon as I got up. I cobbled something together to wear to my singing class. I’ll change some of my clothes before I go get my hair cut.

I was a couple of minutes late to my singing class, but my teacher didn’t seem to mind. It was a good class. (We’re practicing major, minor, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, and chromatic scales. It’s hard, but I like that she pushes me.)

Fed the beasts and had lunch. Now I have some phone calls to return. I’m playing telephone tag with the doctor’s office. I reached the hearing aid guy, and he said to change the dome and filter on my right hearing aid.

I need stuff to do that won’t get me dirty before my hair appointment, so I think that I’ll clear stuff off of the basement stairs. I might also break down boxes. Oh, and open some packages. I got my new purse, so I transferred stuff from my old purse.

Got my hair cut and brows waxed. She did her usual good job.

Stopped at the local grocery store. I did more shopping than I had intended because everything sounded good. (Yes, I was hungry.) I forgot to get oat milk though, so I went back in. When I was leaving, I felt happy for no apparent reason, but I’ll take it.

While I was bringing groceries in, Bella and Gracie burst out the door, Gracie without her leash. So I was chasing her with the leash, but she’s pretty smart, and I was having no luck. I convinced them to go into the garage and shut the door, which confused Gracie enough to get a leash on her. Whew.

I was going to take a nap but it got late, so I’ll put the groceries away (done), eat dinner (done), feed the beasties (done), get the recycling out (done), and go to bed early. I certainly got my exercise chasing Gracie!

Gracie pulled me down the stairs and I fell again. Dang dog. She is a handful. I offered Bella a Milkbone-like treat for coming in. She came in but didn’t want the biscuit. I offered it to Gracie, and then Bella grabbed it!

I'm texting with the vet about Gracie and Bella. I told them that the dry food firmed up Gracie's stools, but I'm battling with Bella over dry food. I got some new food that I'll try. And I asked about new treatments for Gracie's Giardia. He said that the other treatments are no longer recommended, and that the treatments that they did were the only ones, so no more treatments. I asked him if he'd talk to my boarding place, and he said that he would.

I really want to nap over lunch, but I need to take a shower because I have a therapy appointment at 5 PM.

I had to talk to my boss about a collision of priorities, and she was cool about it.

Bella didn’t like the Costco dry food. She’s eating the Science Diet food. Sort of. Now she and Gracie switched food. Dogs! The cats are not eating, and I don’t know why. Well. Oliver finally ate, but Lily didn't. I ordered a doohickey that opens a door just wide enough for a cat to come in but not a dog. I'm going to put it upstairs to give them a sanctuary, and maybe I'll feed them up here.

I'm investigating cochlear implants, but my hearing needs to get worse before I'd be eligible. They would be nice to have though.

It's chilly today, and I really want to hibernate. I think that I'll nap after my therapy session.

Therapy was okay. She hopes that everything, especially the trip, will work out for me.

Slept until midnight. Gracie is barking at the cats. I need to start laundry, feed us all, post, and go back to sleep for a little while. I need to get up at 5 AM to drop off the car.

I asked Oliver if it was strictly necessary that he dig his claws in my leg. Apparently, the answer is yes. I have claw marks up and down my thighs. I’ll look great for my cruises. Put on clean pajamas, started laundry, soaked the cats' dishes, and started nuking food for me.

The garage guys are going to take down my shed tomorrow. I need to remember to take the dogs out on leashes.

Manic cats are running around upstairs.

I’m looking into a possible Iceland cruise for next year. It would have to be only one week because I’ll have the long trip to Europe in the fall. I like the Viking cruise, but sheesh, expensive.

Hmm. I was thinking more about paddle boarding, and my balance isn’t the greatest. Maybe not. In that case, there doesn’t seem to be a shore excursion on the “private island” that I want. I guess that I’ll just spend the day on the ship.

Went to choir rehearsal. We were given a new piece that’s in Latin with a lot of embellishments, so that’s going to be the piece that I send to my voice teacher. Everyone liked my “My dog thinks I’m cool” t-shirt.

It’s the time of year to practice Christmas carols for the Dial-A-Carol thing. We’re doing one that I didn’t know, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” in choir. That got a lot of requests last year for Dial-A-Carol. I need a book of Christmas carols (ordered) and need to practice ones that I don’t know.

Stopped at the local grocery store on the way back to pick up a few things. I decided to get a garlic chicken sandwich from the deli, and it turned out to be very good. I wound up with a couple of lipsticks in colors that I like. Oh, and it’s apple cider season so I got some and some Apple butter and English muffins on which to put the Apple butter.

Dogs: “You’re home! I missed you so much! I’m so happy that you came back!”
Cats: “Good, you’re home. Feed us.”
Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Oliver is biting Lily for some reason. I told him that he was a little shit.

I need to feed the critters and go to sleep.

Got up at a little before 6 AM to roll the recycling bin out. Went back to sleep. Overslept and woke up at 8:30.

Bella is having diarrhea, but I don't know when I can get her to the vet. Tomorrow is problematic. Well, I have an appointment for her at 11 tomorrow. I'll have to drop her back and then go to my doctor's appointment. I feel like I’m living in a nightmare.

Had a case of the shakes after my shower. Food helped.

I'm trying Chronometer that bill_schubert mentioned. But I know why I've gained weight; eating lots of dessert. I need to get myself to eat fruit for dessert. Okay, I saved some recipes for low-cal desserts. Maybe I should focus on that first, and then the meals.

Man, I'm tired. My sleep consultation isn't until December too. I guess that I'll keep dragging myself along.

Picked up my groceries. Ran in to pick up some of my “cheap” makeup (I wear the cheap stuff for running errands and the expensive stuff when I go out of town, but you could argue that it should be the other way around) and some desserts.

Bought some books about determination because I could use a jump-start.

Brought groceries in. Damn, my back hurts. Ate and fed the critters. Started laundry.

I’m mulling over joining Planet Fitness because it’s nearby. I’m trying to decide on my membership. Do I want access to massage chairs and red-light booth? Yes, I joined, including the massage chair. It would be better to have meetings with a personal trainer, but I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good. I'm more likely to drag my butt five minutes away. And it's 24 hours.

My back still hurts. It's kind of pathetic that bringing the groceries in messes me up (see above), but there it is. I need to get the rest of my (non-perishable) groceries off of the back stairs, but I want to lie down and stretch out my back. I'll get up early to clear the stairs.

Cool. My travel credits on American Airlines will pay for a “main select” ticket to NYC with money left over. I’m thinking of spending another day there and coming back on Sunday. (It'll be a little rough because I'm going to get in late and will need to get up early to pick up Bella, Gracie, and Oliver.) I'm also thinking about staying at the Residence Inn for both ends of the trip because it has a kitchen, and I could buy some milk and cereal and eat breakfast in the hotel.

Overslept an hour, so so much for dropping off Gracie’s sample. I’ll drop it off at lunchtime.

Gracie went over to where Lily was but backed off immediately when Lily moved. I think that Lily has made her feelings known about being bugged. Oliver kind of wants to play with the dogs, but Gracie is too rambunctious for him.

I'm freaking tired, but I need to run errands over lunch, so I'll have to just deal with it. Dropped off Gracie's sample at the vet. Mailed the check for my pet sitter, who charged a cancellation fee.

I'm singing "I want to go to sleeeep" to the tune of "I Want to Hold your Hand" inside my head. I finally lay down for a few minutes and overslept. I'll need to log on this weekend. The person from the tree care stopped by but I was asleep, so she made it possible to pay by credit card.

The vet called, and Gracie still has Giardia, so I need to run over there and pick up new meds (done).

I ordered some books on budgeting from Amazon and the library. Started reading one of them.

I’m looking at the guidebook for NYC, and it’s a good guidebook. I have one day figured out so far.

I don’t have Giardia, so yay.

Ye gods, I want to go to bed. I need to feed the dogs and take them out first (done). The Frisbee was a hit! Bella and Gracie were both trying to get it. Oh, I need to start laundry before I go to sleep.

I forgot to mention that I'm thinking about the new fence, which I'll get after the garage is built. I had wanted a tall picket fence, but Gracie can squeeze through very small spaces. If I got a wooden fence with the boards next to each other (a "privacy fence") then the dogs couldn't see what was going on down the street. That would cut down on the barking, but they enjoy seeing what's going on in the world. I guess that I'll sort out my concerns with the fence seller. I saw some privacy fences with windows cut into it with iron bars.

Gracie barks at the cats. I think that she wants to play with them, but they are not interested. I'm getting tired of the barking and they probably are too.

I ordered a plant-based dog chew toy. They don't like the nylon ones.

Aargh. Apparently I didn’t latch the door all the way when I took the dogs out, and Oliver was coming outside. Gracie pinned him, and I grabbed him and put him inside. Lily was in the doorway too. Get with it, Adrienne.

I took Gracie to get her stitches out. I expected to be chewed out because she wouldn't wear the cone collar, but they said that her stitches looked good and they took them out. She has been throwing up a lot, so I made an appointment for her for tomorrow.

I was playing around on Carvana, and found a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander for a great price. Hmm. I can't deal with this until I get back from Italy though.

Well, hell. I waited for a half-hour for the pharmacist, and they wouldn’t give me the COVID shot because the CDC is saying to wait for the new formulation. That was a waste of time. I returned library books, except for one that I think got scooped up when I was cleaning out the Kia. I’ll look for it.

I’m feeding the critters and wiping out. I’m going to put the full recycling bin and some boxes out to make sure that they get picked up, but I’ll get up early to work on the other bin. I fed the critters and am making myself some food. Then I'll get the bin and boxes out.