days_unfolding

I’m thinking of staying out one more day; I’m still having dizzy spells. Yeah, I emailed in sick.

I’ve been thinking about 9/11 for the past few days, probably because of the New York City trip that I had planned. Never forget. It was a very big deal when I lived in California because one of the flights was headed towards the Bay Area. There’s a memorial there that I never saw. I remember my mom leaving a message because I was still asleep: “You will find a lot has happened when you get up.” Hard to believe that it’s been 25 years.

I’m reading Byron Katie’s book Loving What Is. The basic idea is that our thoughts about an event cause suffering, not the event itself. I think that it will help. She has worksheets on her Web site. I want to download them on my tablet and work with them.

I think that Bella is a little annoyed with Gracie’s play fighting. She’s keeping her at bay.

Napped. Woke up a little after 12 PM. Rescheduled my COVID and flu shots for Saturday after my singing lesson. Ate lunch.

I want to lie back down, but the doggos are wrestling.

I need to pick out a song to work on in my singing lesson.

Napped. Threw myself together. Went and picked up my groceries. Made dinner.

Now I need to post and feed the critters one more time. I'm really tired.

Holy cow. A post on Facebook was about how they used ChatGPT to create their itinerary in Italy, so I asked ChatGPT to create a five-day NYC itinerary that included a list of places that I wanted to see. It delivered, including subway stops and walking directions. Wow. Some of them were what I figured (the Lower Manhattan day was what I had already figured), but there were some surprises. And they told me the best nights to see a play! I need to think about the play nights because I want to stick close to the hotel on the day that I get off the cruise ship so that I can check in, but I won't want to see a play that night because it'll be an early day, unless I can grab a nap. Do I want to take pictures with a GoPro of the cruise departure from Manhattan? Or maybe just use my phone with a tripod? Hey actually, I'd like to do the cruise around Manhattan on my first day. ChatGPT said that it would be better on the Greenwich Village/Chelsea day though.

Hmm, maybe I should do the WTC and lower Manhattan on the first day and make it an early night.

Overslept and woke up a little before 8 AM. I thought about napping at lunchtime and taking my shower after work, but I have a therapy session this afternoon (online). So I need to make myself presentable.

I got everything done at work that I wanted to get done before the long weekend. (I'm taking tomorrow off.)

I'm going around in circles with FedEx about the camera. I think that they delivered it to the pickup facility, but I'm not sure.

My stomach is doing flip-flops.

Crud, AAA had my old address in Lincoln, don't ask me why. The card said that it expired on August 15th. I logged on and changed my address, and it said that it actually expires in December. I asked for a new card. I'll have to wait to jump-start the Kia until I get it. Though I think that I can use my phone app as a card?

Okay, good, my retirement contribution went through.

I checked the weather in Bermuda, and it's raining every day, so I ordered a rain poncho. (I have a raincoat, but it's heavier.) I hope that I can have my beach day though.

Had my therapy session. Nothing much to report; I'm doing everything that I need to do. I just need to wait and see what happens with Gracie.

Yay. CVS has the COVID vaccine, and I made an appointment on the 5th. (I'm getting a flu shot as well.)

Fed us all. Opened up some packages. More used clothes. Some photography books. A tripod for my iPhone. My back hurts.

I'm thinking of going to bed soon and getting up early to do stuff. I don't feel like I have the energy to clean now.

Gracie woke me up at 5 AM. (I can’t remember when I went to sleep. 11?) I removed her from the bedroom and slept until 7:30. Much better.

My stomach is upset again. I don’t know why. I hope that food will help. Fed us all. Bella is busy stealing napkins.

I bought some reusable produce bags because I’ll need them when I start cooking. I also bought some reusable grocery bags.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the battery on the Kia is dead. I need to call AAA.

I checked, and Mint Mobile has an International Pass. Good.

Napped. I shut Gracie out because she’s more hyper, but Bella is always up for a nap.

Gracie met my neighbor and her friend. Gracie was thrilled by the attention. They pronounced her “cute”. They said that beagles like to run away, so now they know where she lives :)

I should return the stoneware to Costco, but I really want to stay home today and get stuff done. I could take the stoneware to Costco after my COVID shot. Or I could move my COVID shot to Tuesday. I moved my COVID shot to Friday.

My stomach is upset, so I’m going to lie down for a few minutes. Then I’ll shower. I’ll wear shorts because I’m going to be around the house.

Bella and Gracie were chasing Oliver. I told them that they can be little shits, but I was focusing on Bella because she’s teaching Gracie to chase him. I pushed her down and told her “No” repeatedly.

I guess that I feel a little better.

Hmm. I wonder if I’d save money replacing my hot water heater with a tankless one. I asked my dad about it.

I’m about to take a shower. Oliver jumped on my shoulders, claws extended, on his way to the top of the shower stall. I called him an asshole. Now he’s sleeping like a little angel. Not.

I’m getting IBS symptoms, so that’s probably what my upset stomach was about. I’m glad that I’m staying home.

I spent some time trying to figure out how to get my to-do list on my phone's Lock Screen. It didn’t work, but I think that I can create a graphic that says “Work on the House “ in Canva and use it as my Lock Screen. I’ll try it anyway. I got my Lock Screen to say “Work on the house!” with a link to my to-do list. Awesome.

I have a goal to save up the six months of money that you’re supposed to have in your emergency fund (a year would be better because I’m moving towards retirement). I have $1700 and I’m not touching it. Let’s hear it for automatic savings. It comes directly from my paycheck.

I’m getting back to the point that I look at things and say that they’re too expensive. This is good.

Oliver has another new annoying habit in that he’ll eat half his food, then abandon it to eat Lily’s food. I watch them eat though, so I tell him to stop it and move his food near him. (Don’t get me wrong; I love him, but I can love him AND think that he’s annoying.)

I'm still not feeling great, so I decided to open up some Amazon boxes (I got some Mason jars to prep salads or soups) and then I tackled my travel backpack. I got my charging cords organized, except for some usba to usbc cords that the dogs got into. (Now I'll have everything in my backpack and will zip it closed, so they can't get into anything.) I ordered the cords and a couple more US-to-Europe adapters. I had bought some Beats headphones (this was before my austerity kick), so I'm charging them. And I have a dongle to plug into the airplane seat's electronics to broadcast Bluetooth. I have no excuse to get bored on the plane.

I want to get up early in the hope that I'll feel better, so I need to go to sleep soon. I want to find my boombox first though (and feed the beasts).

The lawn is shaggy and I need to mow this weekend. And I should seed the bare spots. And plant my seeds. And clean the house. Busy, busy. Actually, I should wait to plant things until after the conference to which I'm going in early May. Speaking of which, I emailed a plant store, asking if they could ship my plants a week later due to the conference to which I'm going, but I haven't heard back. I need to check my spam filter. Okay, they did email me and they're shipping it a week later. Yay.

Woke up at 7 AM. Today is a work from home day, which is nice. Lily went into the shower and Bella was barking at her.

i keep forgetting about AARP discounts for travel. I should compare their price when I book hotels for my trips.

The Medisafe app is working well for medication reminders. I always remember the nighttime doses, but in the morning, I get distracted.

The May 1st protest will be in the evening, so I can go. I need to make my sign this weekend.

I had to turn my fan on upstairs. Spring tends to go from cold directly to hot in Central Illinois.

Silence from the trust about my check. I'm getting annoyed.

Had a therapy session. My therapist thinks that I should get a lawyer to deal with the trust. She also is concerned that I'm still having depressive symptoms and wants me to talk to my psychiatrist. I went online to contact the psychiatrist, only to find that I have an appointment on Monday. That'll work.

I don’t know what to do. I should go pick up a library book, but I’m crazy tired. I’m dropping the Kia off to be fixed tomorrow and don’t know if I’ll have it on the weekend. I did get new wrenches though, so I should be able to connect the battery in the Honda though. Ugh. My stomach is upset.

Slept until 11 PM. Started laundry. I figured out what I'm going to wear tomorrow. I have another offsite meeting. My colleague is going to pick me up at the car repair place.

Oliver, get off of the keyboard!

I’m losing my voice and am wondering if I should call in sick. Yeah, I did. It feels like someone rubbed my throat with steel wool.

The puppy is licking everything that she can reach :) Oliver (I’m assuming) knocked over the orchids. I gave Bella her ball. I’m not sure what she did with it. Fed the beasties. Bella is a “half-a-lap” dog.

I’m getting more money from the sale of Mom’s house than I thought, so I’m wondering if I should go solar. I found a solar calculator, but I need to find out how much energy I’m using. Okay, solar costs less than I thought. I might do it. It would cost me the equivalent of $1000 a year while I'm in the house. I'll have to check, but I think that's cheaper than my current energy bill. Yeah, it is. I also requested a quote on a heat pump. Why can't places email me quotes? Why do they have to call me? I'm not answering my phone. I DON'T LIKE PHONE CALLS!

Watched President Carter’s funeral until CNN’s feed started flaking out. Slept until 1 PM. Freaked out when I woke up because I forgot that I called in sick.

I need to remember to take the ball when I take Bella outside to play fetch with her.

The shelter from which I adopted Bella has a labradoodle who is deaf. He interests me, but I wonder how hard it would be to work with his deafness. And I have to wait until I get more money before adopting another pup. Actually, I did find an Australian cattle dog/blue heeler dog that sounds great, but the same applies. And they want a “family reference”. My dad is not going to help me get a dog, so I don’t know whom I would use.

Bella was ripping up the paper towels. In front of me! I rescued them.

Ack! They’re predicting more snow tonight. 3 to 4 inches. Must remember to charge the snow blower.

Bella and I played outside with the ball. She was having a blast. She was trotting around with it in her mouth. A passerby with a dog said that she was a pretty dog :) Bella was shy with the dog. She now has the ball with her in bed.

I looked up dog daycare per one_raido’s comment and also dog groomers because I could picture Bella getting muddy in the Spring.

Oh lord, she is squeaking the ball.

I was petting Bella and I stopped, so she got up off the bed and flumped into the dog bed. My little drama queen :)

Tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t sleep.

It occurred to me that I should get the TV in the bedroom set up after Bella wakes up. And I should move the pictures.

Cool. Bella’s collar shipped.

The puppy was whining because she wanted on my lap, but Lily is there. Life is tough.

Bella pooped in the bathroom while I was upstairs. I got it cleaned up and put the bag outside so that it doesn’t stink up the place. Then I took her outside, but she didn’t need to do anything. I gave her her ball, and she’s currently squeaking it. She really wants to eat the dry cat food. I told her that she has her own food, but it isn’t as tasty as forbidden fruit. Well, she had finished her food so mea culpa. I fed her.

I want to make some Ramen to soothe my throat (done and eaten). Had frozen yogurt for dessert and Lily wanted it.

I've got the cat dishes soaking. Zara and Oliver went nose to nose. Then Zara hissed, but still, progress. Oliver got upstairs in Mimi's lair, and that didn't go so well. I've since dumped him out. He's getting smarter about how I was keeping him out, using the gate itself to corral him.

I think that I want to go back to bed soon.

There's a big honking rain storm heading our way, so yes, I'm staying in today. Yikes, it's getting really dark. And here comes the storm. Mimi doesn't like the thunder.

Forgot to mention that the rosemary is very happy that it's outside now and is putting out shoots like crazy.

Had a nice long nap. Hmm. Now it's saying no more rain until 10 PM, so maybe I could go to the storage place. Oh hell, I need to do laundry first. I still could make it.

My back hurts. Maybe from standing at the party? And I have stomach cramps. Now I'm thinking that I'll go get the bicycle before I go to Springfield tomorrow.

Zara seems to have bounced back from Mimi beating up on her and is eating again. Good.

I ordered a book called The Art of Happy Moving from the library. I stumbled upon it in an article.

I was reading about plasma donation, and they recommend drinking protein shakes (and also eating spinach), so I'll get some at Walmart tomorrow. So I won't go donate tomorrow. I found a recipe for Spinach Apple Salad, so I'll eat that for lunch.

Talked to Mom. She didn't realize that it was Saturday and wasn't answering her phone, but when I kept calling, she was concerned that someone was really trying to get in touch with her and checked the number. I was starting to panic, but all's well that ends well. She saw her cardiologist, who told her that she was accumulating fluid in her legs because she isn't eating enough protein. Her primary care physician wants her to see a pulmonologist for her cough, but she complained that she would be seeing a doctor every day of the week. Oh, and they also want to give her another blood transfusion because her hemoglobin is low. Getting older can be the pits :(

I'm feeling kind of tired, so I think that I'll go to bed early and get up early.

Zara cracks me up. She eats on the counter, and when I feed them, she'll jump down and jump back up multiple times to make the food appear. And hey, it "works"! She also asked for more food during lunch, and I gave her some. I'm wondering if I should call the vet about it, but I'll wait this weekend (it's hard to get weekend appointments anyway) and see how things go. She seems fine otherwise.

Now my WiFi adapter on my desktop is working now that I ordered a new one. Well, I guess that it's good to have a spare. That at least answers how I'm going to do my homework this weekend.

Had an upset stomach this afternoon, but I took some antacid tablets, and it seems to have settled down. Headache too. I might just crash after my shots, though I was planning to watch TV.

My new "oracle" cards are in my mailbox. Awesome. I'll pick them up after my shots. Also the new band for my Fitbit Charge 4 is here too. I'm glad that I picked a tracker for which you can change bands. (I originally had a Garmin and the band broke and that was that.)

The new USB headphones have been flaky and I need to return them. I threw out the packaging though. I wonder if Amazon will still take them back.

Just remembered to pay my Italian teacher.

Hmm. My mom doesn't want to get one of those emergency buttons for older people, but I wonder if she would be willing to get a Web cam or two. I'd have to set it up for her. Then if I don't see her, I could call a friend to check up on her. I'm looking into a Nest cam. Maybe I could go over to Best Buy while I'm there.

HBO Max has been sending me non-stop emails since I subscribed. It's getting a little annoying. I'll have to see if I can unsubscribe to the emails (done).

Hmm. I looked into online therapy, but it will cost me more than in-person therapy, although maybe they're more flexible on hours? Note to self: I looked into doTherapy. I was planning to look in to therapy after the first of the year. I tried another one (Better Help) and it also was more expensive. I have good insurance (finally!)

Best Buy will recycle my bad monitor if I pay them $30. It might be worth it to get it out of the kitchen.

I ordered a yearly planner for next year that I can start on my birthday and work on at my mom's house. (I was thinking of on the train but I forgot that I'm driving.)

I need to go pick up Zara's meds tomorrow.

Okay. I got my shots (COVID booster and flu). They weren't too bad. (I'm a little needle-shy.) I thought about going to get Zara's meds but decided to go straight home. What I really want to do is a Tarot reading, but I'm not sure what I did with my cards. I wanted a "classic" Tarot deck so I ordered one. Now I'm done with birthday presents! I can give myself an Oracle card reading anyway because I received the cards.

I love the Oracle cards (Queen of the Moon Oracle). They're attractive and speak to me. I drew cards for November and December. November was Assessing (appropriate for a birthday month) and December is Attraction. I'm interpreting them as time to take stock and clean house and set goals and get out of living in the whirlwind and make space for the new. And I will put the cards where I won't lose them!!

Hmm, I'm yawning and am a little headachy, so I think that I'll just go to bed early.

Urgh. Upset stomach this morning. But I just need to make it through Italian and then I can take a nap.

All three students showed up for Italian and we had class. It went well. We're learning verbs such as the Italian verbs for "to want," "to be able to," etc. Useful.

Zara showed interest in my lunch, which I'm glad to see. I worry about her.

Had a nice nap. Went and got the mail. I got only one potato bag instead of four, so I wrote the seller. Sigh. I checked my potato planting instructions, and it said to cut up the potatoes three days before planting. So I'm off to do that. And my carrots are coming up!

I was going to go to the gym later, but they're predicting rain. Yes, I'm being a wuss. But it's supposed to be clear tomorrow night. I'll use the exercise bike instead. And maybe do some Pilates? Got the garbage out. Soaked a litter box. And here comes the rain.

Used the exercise bike. I'm working with Think Confident Be Confident. What I found out so far as that I'm quasi-confident, neither bad nor good. But work is where my anxiety comes out. I started to follow a Pilates video, but discovered 1) my laptop isn't running on battery and 2) when I plug in the laptop, I can't see it to follow along. However, I had a Pilates book, so I did a couple of exercises.

Ouch. I was turning around in my desk chair and had a sharp pain in my knee. I'll go to the doctor if I have to, but I want to try exercise first. (Losing weight would also help.)

I'm feeling tired, so I think that I'll just go to bed.

Ugh. I'm wondering if I have some allergies. Sinus headaches out the ying-yang (which is a nice trick :)) And a sore throat. And my face is warm, so I might skip guitar tonight. I wonder where my thermometer is. I need to run out tonight though to run a couple of errands.

I'm accumulating resources for learning Greek. I have a book and recordings waiting at the library, but I don't know when I'll get over there. Probably Tuesday or Thursday. Read an article: "Greece has reopened, but here's why you might want to wait to go". Bother. The upshot is that a lot of places aren't open, plus you have to find a place for a COVID test before going back. Well, the Greek islands are supposed to be nice in the spring. However, I'll be moving, so scratch that. May of next year?

Hmm. Costa Rica is open to people from the U.S., and TravelZoo is listing a $599 trip from the U.S. But the only departures from Chicago are May 11th and 13th. No can do. Oh, there are more departures at a higher rate. For that matter, there is one in November during my birthday. Hmm. I think that I'll ask about the rate for one person because it's double occupancy. But I'd have to drive, and I don't think that it would be a good idea to drive by myself where I don't speak the language. Tours are more expensive, not surprisingly. I did find one tour that wouldn't break the bank.

I'm thinking about abandoning low-carb and getting some oatmeal for breakfast. It'll keep me full a lot longer. I wonder if I have some sugar-free syrup to put in it? Hmm. I should start calorie counting. Weight Watchers will let you join for only $10 a month, although there are free calorie counters out there. Noom is much more expensive.

I did do guitar (I should just do things and not think that I have a choice), and it was okay, except I'm painfully slow on the chord changes. I need to practice. We were doing "Margaritaville," and I was wondering what the young girl in the class was thinking of it.

I ran errands...and forgot to get sugar-free syrup. Bother. Maybe tomorrow. I did get the oatmeal. I could put fruit in it.

I tried calling Mom tonight instead of tomorrow night, but couldn't get through.

I'm trying to get up the energy to do something constructive, but I'm tired. Maybe I'll study some Italian and Greek (done). That requires zero energy. Italian is really easy to spell. I was nailing the spelling exercises.

I just can't do more. I need to sleep. Pronto.

Crud. I didn't do laundry. I guess that I'll do it in the morning.