days_unfolding

Woke up at 5:30 AM after a dream about my friend Lance. I wonder how he’s doing. We usually exchange Christmas cards, but I didn’t hear from him this year. Oh well. Had a nap. I'm still not feeling well, so I'm going to postpone my trip until tomorrow. That means that today is study day after I run my errands.

Snow flurries?

Got my errands done, except for going to AutoZone. I want them to put on new windshield wiper blades, and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer. (It’s 23F today.) But I got the money for the move and pet sitter and flea meds for the cats.

I submitted a Meijer order, and added graph paper because our next programming assignment has to do with intersecting rectangles. The graph paper never made it into my order. So I ordered it from Amazon, and threw in some hair conditioner to make the order cost enough for overnight delivery. The program is due when I bring the cats to Urbana. It's going to be a fun two weeks. Not.

Now I think that I’ll lie down for a little while and then study. I'm printing off a bunch of stuff for my programming class. I studied my first section of my algorithms/math class. Now I'm going to go pack and rest for a while. Wound up sleeping for four hours. Ugh.

Mimi ran in front of me as I went to the bathroom. Me: Mimi, do you have to run in front of me? Mimi: Yes, I'm a cat. Me: Okay, then.

I put my pajamas on so that I could wash the clothes that I had on. I put some of Mom's clothes that I had been meaning to wash in with them.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to hole up in the car and study for my programming class while the movers are working on Monday. While they're emptying the storage space, I'll have nothing to do. When we get to the house, I'll need to tell them where things go.

Zara: Mommy, I'm HUNGRY. You slept a long time! Fed them and myself.

Printed out more stuff to read. Put my clothes in the dryer. Now to sleep.

I had a self-esteem moment. I realized that I accomplished everything that I set out to do last fall (well, I'm still wrapping up the move, but I'll get it done). Move the things that I wanted from my aunt's house? Check. Move the things that my mom wanted from my aunt's house? Check. Get good enough grades in my classes to continue with the program? Check. Move? Partial check and I'm working on it.

I had a feeling that when I got the mail that I'd hear from my friend Lance, and I did. He sent me a Christmas card. His handwriting is always challenging, but I got more out of it the second time that I read it :) He's itching to move somewhere else too (he lives in Kansas City), but doesn't know where or when.

I read some articles about keeping your mobility as you get older. They recommended yoga and tai chi, which is also in plan. And they recommended a walking habit. I looked at Mayo Clinic's walking plan, and it starts with five minutes of warm up, five minutes of walking, and five minutes of cool down. I can do that. And I pulled out cards for some of the yoga poses that we did in class to practice them. And I asked ChatGPT for the most commonly used yoga poses. Hmm, there is a tai chi place in Champaign that is on Tuesday nights starting from January 25th. But I'd miss yoga.

I just found a bunch of organizing books that I don't want to pay for, so I need to get a library card at the local library and have at it! I downloaded my electric and gas bill onto my phone along with my lease. I still need to get the printer fixed though. Speaking of my bill, it's rather high though, so I need to find ways to save on the bill.

I'm poking at kitchen boxes and found my utensils, which looks like a good place to start. I'm going to have to shift stuff around for some of it because I can't get books up until I get rid of more boxes. I'm looking for the box in which I packed the electric cord for my treadmill, but haven't found it yet.

The utensils were from the utensil junk drawer, which I don't have in this kitchen. I have exactly one drawer. I could put some of them in a pencil cup, but what about stuff like measuring cups and cookie cutters? Oh, someone suggested hanging them on the inside of cabinet doors. I could get command hooks. When I need a break, I need to sit down and figure out how to organize that stuff. There was a shallow pull-out drawer in which I put a bunch of utensils.

I'm looking at spice racks. I think that I found a winner, but I'll need two of them and sheesh, expensive. (I had them on the side of the refrigerator in the old place, but can't do so here, plus I had a lot of overflow.)

I need to take the recycling out, but I wish that it would stop raining. The forecasters are saying that it will rain until 11 PM though. Bummer. I threw on my raincoat and put it out.

I had a fabulous dinner of Meijer's shrimp and lobster bake. Now I want a short nap. I wasn't able to sleep, but I spent some time in a darkened room with a purring cat snuggled up to me. Very relaxing.

Now I've run out of steam, so I'm going to do some change-of-address work and then go to bed early on this rainy, dreary day. I can't nap during lunch because of classes and after work because of yoga, so I need to get some good sleep.

I changed the address for the DMV and Capital One. PNC and Comcast are not coming up, so I'm going to pack it in and call it a night.

I didn't get up as early as I had planned, but I was ready on time for Italian. (I shower and put on makeup to look okay on video.) Italian is getting kind of hard because my teacher rattles off Italian and expects me to understand. I need to study more. I bought a calendar yesterday on which to track my progress on daily tasks by putting a star on it. He also said that people in Italy are worried about a war in the Ukraine because Italy gets 90% of its gas from Russia. He asked what I thought President Biden was going to do about it, and I said that I didn't know. We also talked about places where we have been and places that we want to go. He said that he has friends who have been to Lisbon, and it's beautiful.

Started laundry. Nap time. Overslept.

Had dinner and then talked to my colleague about her letter of recommendation for my iCAN application. Updated my iCAN application, updated my resume, and uploaded the resume to the application.

Okay, I have a solid draft of my next Medium article (about working with a psychiatrist). I'll edit and post it tomorrow. Now it's kitchen-cleaning time. Plus, I need to empty the dryer because I want to wash towels and rags.

Ordered another Chirp audiobook. They have more interesting books than I can afford, but this one is called The Little Book of Big Change, and it sounds interesting. Hmm, she also has an online companion course for it. And a course to become a certified change coach!

Whoops, I forgot to take the trash out (done). Do one thing and drop the other.

I cleaned off the kitchen table, so I got a gold star on my calendar. It's cheesy, but it helps. I broke the command hook with which I was going to hang the calendar, so I had to order more. I also discovered that my friend Lance sent me a Christmas card!

Does anyone have a good idea where to store coupons and catalogs?

I did wake up in time for Italian, but I already canceled it. Oh well. It's raining with a flash flood watch. The cats seem calmer now that they've settled into my being back. They were hungry though, and I must obey. Texted the pet sitter to tell her that I'm back; I forgot to do that last night.

Nice day for a long nap. When I got up, Zara clearly wanted more food, so I gave her dry food. She looked at it like, "What is this shit?" I finally gave her half a can of food and she's eating it.

I think that I want another nap. I need to wash clothes first though. Started on homework.

I finally, finally remembered to email my friend Lance. I know him from IBM in California, but he left there to become a nurse, for which I have a lot of respect. I kept on thinking that I should email him when I was away from a computer.

When I was talking to ravengirl, I realized that I've been on the hamster wheel too much, and never watched any TV shows or movies that I had planned to watch. I want to watch "It's a Sin" on HBO Max, which I'll subscribe to briefly and binge watch. (I couldn't remember the name of the series, so I googled "tv show gay men 80s". I remember those times in the San Francisco Bay Area.) And "The Chair" on NetFlix.

I did nap. And kicked my alarm forward another hour. I was going to run a couple of errands, but it's storming, and I feel wussy. And I have homework to do. And I should chop up veggies for soup. But rats, I think that I need more soy milk to make it. And I have to turn on a library for work. Actually, I have a chicken soup mix that my aunt gave me, so I might make that. Fed the girls, and Zara is chowing down again, so I wonder if she was off her feed while I was gone. That doesn't bode well for November.

Now I'm looking at a Caribbean cruise next year for my 60th birthday because of the timing; my birthday is in November. If I can afford it because it'll be after my Champaign move. (It's $2600 with the single supplement.) Now I'm wondering if I should just stay at a resort in St. Lucia. Hmm, they drive on the left there, so I'd need to take taxis or buses places.

I'm also looking at luggage because my carry-on is falling apart. I'm looking at hard-side luggage so that it will fit better on planes.

I did my task for work. Now I'm thinking to just go to sleep early and get up early.

I pried myself out of bed early and got my clothes in the dryer. I'm tired.

Picked up The Favourite at the library. I need to make time to watch it.

I got a Christmas card from my friend Lance. We're kind of hit or miss on cards, but it's good to hear from him. We don't usually talk or email these days.(Apparently I told him in my card about wanting to learn to sew, and he wants to know when I'll be on Project Runway :))

A book about Florence and a map of Florence arrived. I'm going to have great fun with them.

I'm trying to figure out my weekend. I have a lot to do this weekend. It would be better if I got groceries tomorrow so that I can make the soup in the slow cooker on Saturday. But I might need the time to study Italian. If I'm just picking up groceries, though, that won't take long.

I need to submit my grocery order before I go to bed. I need to pay bills too, but I might wait until tomorrow. I also need to do some Italian homework.