days_unfolding

I'm going to New York City next year! I got a discount hotel offer on Facebook for four nights at a good hotel. They made me call and tried to upsell me, of course, but I stuck to the original offer. I just need to book the train and flight as well as the hotel. Amtrak runs on Christmas, so I might leave on Christmas Eve.

Got up early. Go me. Cats: We want food, etc.

Forgot to mention that no one picked up the recycling. Suckage.

I’m eyeing a smart TV for the bedroom (on Facebook Marketplace). Though it's nice to have the bedroom a peaceful place. Need to think about that.

Out of the shower. I like my new eye cream. It seems to do a good job hydrating.

Did dishes and got the garbage out. It’s snowing. Hmm, I was going to return library books tonight, but maybe not with the snow. It’s a good day to stay home.

The house cleaner/organizer is here. She's working on the kitchen right now. She's great, by the way. I explained everything that was going on, including the guy coming to look at the garbage disposal, and she's working around it. She did a fantastic job organizing my kitchen! And she got a lot of my clothes put away!

At work, we "queue" up tickets in different areas. The guy who's "on call" to do that needed to be out for an appointment this morning, but I logged on early, so it all worked out!

Green Chef had a 50% off plus free salad deal, so I ordered it.

I'm trying to decide whether to get a parlor palm through easyplant. My other parlor palm dried up quickly. The easyplant comes with a self-watering planter, though I could get a cheaper plant and a self-watering planter. Yeah, I should do that.

I looked at the adoption application for a dog, and they prefer a fenced-in yard of at least four feet, and my fence is 42 inches. Bother, but I knew that it was short. They also want three personal references.

The garbage disposal guy came here and it took him about two minutes to unclog the disposal. He recommended that I get some cleaning tablets for it, so I ordered some from Lowe's for delivery (plus washer cleaner and dishwasher cleaner).

Sigh. The arthritic toe is bugging me. And I'm really tired. Just one more half-hour because I logged on early and took only 20 minutes for lunch.

The cleaner finished and the place looks great! I’m about ready to be alone though. Just ate. I need to feed the cats and take a nap. Mimi is not happy.

I made an appointment to see the fish tank tomorrow. I also contacted the person with the small TV, but haven’t heard back yet.

Napped. Zara kept me company. The cats are really tired. They didn’t get their naps today.

Huh. PetSmart is having sales on their aquariums. Their 20-gallon one is cheaper than the one that I’m looking at tomorrow, but it doesn’t include a stand.

I contacted Home Depot about a fence, and they want a document about the house that I don’t have.

Put the towels in the dryer and started a load of clothes. Watered some of the new plants.

Amazon is saying that my aquarium book should still arrive today. Um, it’s 11 PM.

Ordered some pet-friendly sidewalk salt because winter.

I’m looking at LGBTQ organizations to which to donate because the next four years are going to be hell.

Does anyone have a favorite discount or price-tracking Web site or extension? I have PayPal Honey, Capital One Shopping and CamelCamelCamel. And Rakuten for cash back. And eBay and Mercari to buy used things.

Eeep. 15 days until Christmas? Good thing that I don't have presents to buy, although I was going to donate some items to a local children's home. Need to look into it fast. The presents are due by the 13th, so I can't buy anything from Amazon, only Walmart. I'll go shopping at Walmart on Thursday and drop the gifts off at lunchtime on Friday. I should try Meijer too. Duh. I can have the items delivered to me (ordered)! That'll save a trip!

I have a boatload of things to do today. I need to make up some time at work. I need to practice piano and have my lesson. I need to get the garbage and recycling out and clean up the kitchen so that I can get someone in to look at the garbage disposal. And I have Italian tomorrow morning, so I should look over my notes.

And I want to text the house cleaner/organizer about some sessions. Done. She’ll come clean a week from tomorrow and we’re discussing the organizing. She’ll start the organizing after cleaning and will finish on Friday.

Had my piano lesson. It went well. I really like my teacher and I learn a lot from her.

Got the garbage out and a lot of the recycling, but I’ll need to finish the recycling tomorrow and clean the kitchen. Now I need to sit, so now I’ll work (done--it's funny how adept I've gotten at working with Mimi on my lap!)

Somewhere along the line, I need to find "something festive" to wear when we go caroling. Though caroling is a misnomer; we're doing some of the same songs as we did at the concert. I think that I have a sparkly top somewhere. If not, I have the purple dresses.

Now I need to do dishes and get to bed to get up early for Italian. Though I need to figure out what to talk about tomorrow (done).

I'm looking at swimsuits for my cruise. I should order relatively soon to be sure to have it for my trip. I'll definitely have two beach days plus pool time on the ship, and possibly some beach time in San Juan. I think that tankinis are the way to go. I'm thinking this one and this one. Or possibly this one. I definitely want the purple one. I just have to decide on the second one. I also need a "wet bag" in case I swim in San Juan and then need to pack the swimsuit for the cruise.

I found out what is the best swimming beach in San Juan and want to book the Hilton Caribe, which is right near the beach, and it also has a pool. I'll have to look into transport to the cruise dock (found transportation).

I discovered that most lawn weed-killers kill clover, which I included in my lawn seed. Bother. I hope that the clover crowds the other stuff out. I found some instructions on how to kill weeds without killing clover. This guy has a blog all about lawn care, including what to do when.

I overslept this morning. We had a meeting with a job candidate at 10. When I logged on at 9, I went "Eeep" because we'd need to be on camera, so I jumped hastily into the shower. (Yes, I made up the time.) The candidate was very good. We'll have to see how the one in the afternoon is. She was very good too. I don't envy the search committee having to make a decision.

The house cleaner is here. I forgot to mention the Italian stickers to her, and she removed two of them until she realized what they were. That's okay. She's doing an excellent job and she's super nice. She finished and did a great job. And she's not open for reoccurring appointments, damn it. She said that it all depended on her schedule, and we exchanged phone numbers.

The other night, I saw a listing for a cat who loves everyone, and "species doesn't matter". If she's still available, I'll check her out once the library room is done and I get stuff out of the living room. There's another one who is similar at the same shelter, which is convenient.

I intended to go to the DMV tonight, but apparently then close at 5 tonight, not 5:30. I'll have to get up early and go tomorrow.

I'm trying to figure out what to do after work. I guess that I should unload the car. I need to do laundry and pack. And I want to clean the upstairs. That's probably the least amount of stuff that I've had to do the night before a trip. Most of the cleaning has been done.

I'm tired, so I'm going to go to bed early and finish up in the morning. I need to get up early to go to the DMV anyway.

I emailed in sick and went back to bed. I set my alarm because I need to get the kitchen together for the house cleaner.

I put the cat dishes on to soak and looked up to see two pairs of eyes staring at me. I got the kitchen tidied up and still have time for a short nap before my shower.

I need a good place to put tax stuff. I got two items through snail mail, one of which I have in front of me, but I’m not sure what I did with the other one. I doubt that I’ll work on taxes before Spring Break.

The vet said that he won’t give Zara a prescription for the new food until he sees her again. Sigh. I wrote back that I’m up in Michigan with the cats. I’m getting tired of how complicated everything is. I wrote the Michigan vet, but I'm not hopeful because they didn't run a blood test on her. I guess that I'll have to wait until I can get them to the vet in Urbana.

I screwed something up at work. I’m not sure how at this point, but a project that I was working on screwed something else up. I suppose worst case, I could retire, but I doubt that they’ll fire me. But work might not be pleasant.

My house cleaner is running late. And while I’ve been waiting, the painter texted me to ask when I’m coming down to Urbana. See: tired of complicated. Arrgh. It's after 3 and the cleaner still isn't here. I really want to lie down.

I found a feed store in Savoy (just south of Champaign, IL) that carries bird feeders, bird baths, etc. I'll have to go over there. Hmm, I can get a bird feeder pole cheaper on Amazon. They have some pretty hanging feeders too. And I like this birdbath.

The cleaner is finally here without her helpers, so it'll take a while. Oh well.

I worked some on my program for homework. But now the cleaner is done, so I can take a nap! I couldn't sleep with the light on, so I think that I'll go to sleep very early and sleep myself out. I have a boatload of things to get done tomorrow.

Zara wants food again. She of the bottomless stomach. How she stays so thin, I don't know.

I ordered a better postage scale to come on Wednesday. I'll give the old one to Goodwill.

I don't know when the heck I'll be able to unpack if I keep going to Mom's house.

Tried to nap over lunch but my brain wouldn't stop whirring. Too much going on. I'm going to skip yoga tomorrow to go get keys cut for the house cleaner and pet sitter. I don't know how I can get it done otherwise. Ace Hardware closes at 7 PM.

Mom's friend Kate called. Apparently Mom has gone downhill over the last few days, including that she can't walk, so Mom's friend Ken called the paramedics to send her back to the hospital. The plan is to get her transferred to rehab. That might help with my going next week because of the dental appointment at 2 that day. Less rush. I'll need to work on getting the stairs rebuilt. I asked my mom where her checkbook is, though, and she said that she didn't know. I guess my first order of business is to find things. I said that I could prescreen helpers.

I just want to cry though.

I made progress on my homework, but emailed my teacher saying that it was going to be late. I'm going to sleep now.