days_unfolding

Woke up at 7 AM. Took Bella out, and she got hold of a pair of scissors that I forgot outside, and I had a hell of a time getting them away from her. And it was raining. Now I’m waiting for my clothes to dry to take a shower.

Emailed in sick this morning because my stomach was upset. Took a nap.

Bella met the groundhog that lives under my storage shed. She barked at it and stared at it, but didn't try to grab it. The silly thing went into its burrow but then came back out, so we had to go through the whole rigamarole again.

I spent part of my day at work editing close-captioned text for one of our recorded webinars. It had a really tough time with this webinar. My favorite was, for Ex Libris (the name of the vendor for our library software), it had "cleavage" :)

The orientation for the dog training is tonight. I’m scrambling to feed the critters and get my makeup put on. Made it to the dog training place. It’s not very far from my house, which is convenient. They showed examples of some of the advanced training that you and your dog can do after the introductory training. (I’ve thought of signing up Bella for nose training because she tracks the steps that an Amazon guy takes to deliver a package.) Then they talked about the introductory training and asked for questions. I said that Bella is very scared of other dogs and strange humans, and they said that the training should help her.

I’m glad that I moved my piano lesson because I got home right before it.

I’m having IBS symptoms, which is probably what my upset stomach of this morning was about. I need to get to bed soon and rest.

Overslept a little but made it into the shower. Got the recycling out. I'm so sleepy. Scrambled at lunchtime to put makeup on because I needed to be on camera for a meeting. (I'll have to do so tomorrow too.)

Mimi is giving me the cat pep talk (“Get your shit together and feed me.”)

I’m having IBS symptoms. Not a fun day.

I found a Panama Canal cruise in 2026 that I like. It starts from Panama, transits the Canal, and then goes to the "ABC" islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao). It ends in Miami, which I'd also like to see. Maybe I should book it. Oh, apparently I didn't check the singles rate, and it's going to be too expensive. Maybe I do need to take Celebrity again. Sigh. It is much more reasonable. I'm also looking at Holland America. Oh wow. Holland America has a reduced fare one for March of next year. It's quite reasonable. It also stops in Puerto Vallarta, which I'd like to see. I'd have to skip the St. Lucia trip though. There also is a Bermuda cruise in 2026. It ends in San Juan, so I'd get a chance to see what I missed there. But do I want to book two cruises in one year?

Maybe next year I should go to St. Lucia and Italy? (No, see above.) I asked the St. Lucia guide if there would be time to go shopping in Castries (I think that there is a large market there), and she said, "Yes, there is free time". So I just need to decide whether to book it or not. Hmm. I'm looking at flights to St. Lucia and they have either short connections or very long connections. Chicago to St. Lucia is not a popular route for the airlines :) I’ll sleep on deciding but I think that I’m going to do it.

Okay, now I'm thinking: 2025: Panama Canal cruise and Italy (Amalfi Coast). 2026: St. Lucia and Italy (The Lake District). Or do I want to go to Paris in 2026?

Urgh. I need to get my Christmas cards out.

Some serious snow is coming down. Okay, it stopped with some accumulation, but not enough to have to dig out. Good. I have some errands to run, but I think that I will wait until daylight tomorrow.

I received a really cool-looking and cozy set of pajamas (you could wear them with people over). I can't link to it because it seems to have been taken down off the Web site. Here they are.

I also received a ton of my new diet cookbooks. I just realized that I don't have tape flags to mark recipes, but I have some Post-It notes. Well, I just found tape flags. There are some interesting recipes. I'm kind of looking forward to cooking and "eating clean". There are some dessert-types of food too, such as chia pudding and rice pudding and yogurt with toppings. And the recipes that I've looked at so far emphasize protein. (It's Prevention's 28-Day Get Lean Diet for Women Over 40. The Skinny Taste Cookbook looks less interesting. Oh well, I can sell any cookbooks that I'm not thrilled with.)

I have to go get cash so that I can buy things off of Facebook Marketplace.

Hmm. I didn’t find a sparkly top for caroling, but I found a black top with gold, blue, and purple splotches plus a black velvet blazer that I would wear with black pants. It’ll do.

Lay down and dozed for a few minutes, then woke up. I need to practice piano and work on the kitchen. Now I’m thinking eat something, practice piano, go to bed, and get up early to clean.

Oh fuck. Target is taking the bookcases back and refunding the money. Did I say “Fuck”? The items go off sale this week, and I can't afford to order the twice. Some were delivered to the wrong address. What a mess. (I had an old address in my profile. My bad.)

Overslept, but got into work on time. I'm having a bad IBS day, so I might skip tai chi.

I got my Jenny Craig diet food. I’m glad that I have the freezer in the basement because it wouldn’t fit in the freezer in my refrigerator. My diet starts tomorrow. My only question is whether I can recycle the Styrofoam cooler that the food came in. I guess that I’ll put it out with the recycling, and either they will take it or they won’t. Though it might be good to have a Styrofoam cooler, but it doesn't have handles.

Apparently I do remember my Italian from the first lessons better than I thought. I plucked "you will do" (tu ferai) out from thin air. I didn't think that I remembered future tense.

Crap. The Murano glass circle from my watch from Venice is missing! I looked around but didn't see it. I found another Murano glass watch on eBay, but I'd rather fix the one that I have.

I did go to tai chi. The teacher and one of the people in the class told me not to get discouraged. I said that movement wasn't my strong suit and I haven't studied anything like dance.

I found the glass circle from my watch! And it's intact! I don’t have crazy glue in the house, so I’ll pick some up from Meijer tomorrow. I am so relieved!

I contacted Target about the bookcases, and they said that they would submit the order "for review," and someone will contact me via email. I tried a reverse lookup for the old address to see if I could contact the person who lives there, but got no results.

I thought about skipping Italian because I have to get up early and take down my desk and put the new desk upstairs and take out the recycling, but I did study. Now I need to get to bed quickly.