days_unfolding

I also bought an oatmeal-and-black linen blazer with a black top and black pants. I'll be stylish :) Which reminds me that I need to start going to the Unitarian Church, but I'm waiting until I feel better. The meds do seem to be helping, slowly. I can watch their YouTube video in the meanwhile.

Woke up at 7 AM. I'm at my wit's end with Bella. I was out with her for 45 minutes, and she peed, but she waited until she went inside to poop. I don't know what's going on in her little doggy brain.

I think that I want to buy coneflowers instead of growing them from seed. Maybe I should check out the local garden stores. Though Breck's has a set of coneflower plants that I like. I just need to figure out how many to get.

The WWF (Oliver and Lily) is now in session. Damn, they're fast.

I'm looking at plumbers to fix the leaky faucet and leaky toilet. I also want a bidet installed, but I might need an electrician to put an outlet in near the toilet first.

It looks like I got my herb plants.

Oliver and Lily are sleeping downstairs, where it's cooler. Smart cats. It's 91F/33C out, so no wonder. I need to turn on the a/c downstairs. I think that it's time to shave my legs to wear shorts.

Yay. Work is almost over, and I can go downstairs in the cool part of the house.

I'm looking at linen dresses for my Sardinia trip (and summer here). The problem is that most of them are low cut, and because I'm petite, they're super low cut. I did save a linen and cotton one that looks like it might work, and they have pretty colors. And they have pockets! Ordered a pink one and purple one.

The guys came and mowed the lawn. They did a good job, but they used a riding mower even though I asked them not to. One of the bungee cords on the back gate is broken. They recommended that I have the lawn mowed weekly. I said that I’d think about it.

It’s gotten very dark quickly. I think that it’s going to storm. (Yep. Tornado watch.)

I’m trying to get the energy to work on the kitchen.

What do you call the things that you can put on either side of an air conditioner to block the open window?

I started cleaning up the kitchen. I’m running the dishwasher. I want to do laundry tonight, so I’m hoping that the dishwasher will stop soon. (It doesn’t have a delayed start.) I did lay out shorts to wear though and changed the blades on my razor to shave my legs tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll start laundry tomorrow morning instead.

Filled litter boxes and put another one on to soak. Started charging the batteries for the mower.

When I asked for handyman recommendations on NextDoor, a bunch of handymen posted but no one gave recommendations. I found someone highly rated on Yelp, so I’ll give him a try.

Got up at 7 AM. Fed us all. Got my groceries. I texted the driver to close the gate and she did. Oliver wants my food.

I was going to go to the bank at lunch, but I had problems falling asleep, so I need to nap at lunch. I'll go in the late afternoon.

I need to find someone to mow my lawn using a handheld mower, not a riding mower, so that they can close the gate. I'll ask on NextDoor.

I'm asking ChatGPT to come up with investment learning plans for me. I need to clear off my desk upstairs to have a good study space. I could use a desk lamp too (ordered).

My glasses are missing. WTF? Ordered a new pair from Zenni. Okay, I found them under my desk chair. It still would be good to have an extra pair.

Got my new debit card. It’s a different number than the old card, so I need to change it in 15 gazillion places. There was a Panera nearby, so I decided to eat there. Well. They took the sandwiches that I liked off of the menu, so I had grilled cheese. They still did have French Onion Soup, which I ordered. The 1/2 a sandwich was smaller than it used to be. But the food was good.

I picked up a library book. Then I went to pick up my prescriptions at a grocery store. I now am the proud owner of a hibiscus plant! They had some outside and I found one that I liked. They were cheaper than at Lowe's.

I had to wait a long time for the prescription and then there was no price on the hibiscus, but eventually I made it out of there. Bella was really excited when I came home. You would think that I had been gone a year! I was singing “I’m So Excited“ to her. Logged onto work for a while.

Oh hell, I forgot to take out the garbage (done and my back hurts).

Ordered two plants for my shade garden to replace the ones that Bella chewed up. I received my new coral bells, so I should be done with it.

I'm beat.

Great. Bella grabbed my debit card off of the table and ran away with it. Eventually I got it away from her, but there are punctures in it. I’m going to have to go to the bank tomorrow.

Lily got into the napkins and dropped a bunch of them on the floor.

I only live here :)

Woke up at 6:30 AM. They’re predicting rain most of the day. I really want to go back to sleep, but I need to go to the bank to replace my debit card. Maybe I could take a short nap.

One of my irises is blooming. How exciting!

Fed us all. Bella ate Oliver’s food. I told her that she was being annoying.

Time for a short nap. Had a nice nap.

I was looking into whether I could get the bus to O’ Hare on Christmas for my cruise, and the answer is no. I’ll have to go up the day before.

Took Bella out and ran into my neighbors. Bella was very excited.

I got my Paris and Istanbul books and the security cameras. Now I need to find a handyman to put them up. Ordered the batteries for my mower.

Showered and dressed. I’m trying to decide whether to drive to Monticello to pick up my plants today or tomorrow. Rain both days. I’m feeling like sticking close to home and planting the plants that I have.

Went to the bank to get a new debit card. Their machine wasn’t working, so no card. One of the people working at the bank heard what happened and we exchanged “dog talk”. So, I withdrew money because I’m not sure if the payments to my credit cards have posted yet. Got my library books. Got gas for the drive to Monticello, but I’m still thinking of going tomorrow. It’s gloomy today but not raining so far. Bella burst out of the door when I came home, and I told her that’s not good.

Ate lunch with rapt attention from Oliver, Lily, and Bella. Oliver got a hunk of cheese and spinach from my Lean Cuisine pizza. Oliver and Lily ate the cheese, and Bella gobbled up the spinach.

The forecasters say rain in the late afternoon, so I need to get out and get planting. I’ll nap when it starts raining.

Got the plants out of the boxes, and I have coral bells, bee balm, and tickseed. The bee balm will be complicated because I want to pull up the fabric covering the bed, but don’t want to disturb the irises, which are blooming. Planted the coral bells. I need a few more for the side yard. Planted the bee balm. I’m done for the day. I’m pooped, and it’s supposed to start raining.

Napped, but it didn’t rain. Went out and watered the plants.

I’m thinking of going to bed early to get up and clean out the garden bed for the tickseed plants.

I found my missing glasses. Remarkably, they are not broken. They would have been useful when I was bending over planting plants.

Bella was whining, but it was a false alarm. When I was outside, I noticed another box of plants. I won’t order more plants until I know what it is, although I don’t think that it’s coral bells because they came from another company. It was tickseed.

I’m feeling too tired to start cleaning now. I’ll go upstairs and do some things on my computer, and then go to bed.

Ordered some Bonkers dog treats from Amazon. Bella thinks that they are canine crack.

I’m communicating with my dad about a possible trip to see him next year. I think that I’ll do that instead of taking a cruise. He said that late May to early June is the best weather-wise.

Asked for handyman recommendations on NextDoor.

I'll order some coral bells and start wending my way towards bed.

Bella pulled out my toilet paper. Sigh. She’s manic. Cats: We want food, etc. They are up on the table to get away from Bella.

Hmm. It’s going to rain on Sunday, so I need to get out and rake leaves on Saturday. Leaf pickup April 7 - 11. Some of my neighbors have bags neatly arranged already. Overachievers :)

Got my groceries.

Hmm, the pet waste people didn’t come. I guess that they didn't see my new credit card. Oh, they did, just later than before.

One of my colleagues said to use Scott's Turf Builder to fill in the patches on the lawn. I'll look into it. Maybe I should seed the lawn tomorrow too? But raking leaves should be enough work. I could go get the seed in the evening.

I got busy at work but got things done. Now I'm checking alt text on our Web site pages, which is tedious as hell but needs to be done so we can comply with new guidelines for accessibility. And I'm finding some pages that need to be updated.

I have a headache. I'm waiting for work to be over so that I can feed the beasts and lie down for a while. We all are fed now.

I’m looking for a dog groomer to trim Bella’s nails. They’re talons.

Completely hammered after a Harry Potter dream. Fed the cats. I need to go back to bed.

Now I'm thinking that raised beds for vegetables would look a lot neater near the patio. I'm looking at some at Gardener's Supply. Realistically, I should wait to put in the raised beds after the garage and patio are built, so no lettuce and spinach for me this Spring.

I'm also thinking about lawn seeding. I'll do the front and sides of the house in the Spring, but it doesn't make sense to do the back with all the construction that will be going on.

I found people for dog poop cleanup and leaf raking.

I found a listing for a Border Collie mix who loves playing with other dogs. If she’s still available after my trip, I’ll look into her. It wouldn’t be fair to adopt a dog and promptly go on a trip.

Coach House Garages in Champaign has good reviews. I'll contact them after I have Mom's house money in hand and am back from my trip. And someone to try for the patio.

Today has been another pajama day. It's been quiet at work. We're testing a possible new ticketing system, so that's what I'm doing.

Freezing drizzle is predicted on Saturday morning. Well, I'm not going anywhere.

It turns out that the trust thought that I was asking for all the money in the trust, not just the proceeds from the sale of my mom's house. I don't know where they got that, but I told them that I wanted the house money (for now, anyway).

Fed everyone except me. I’m working on my food (done).

I have a lap full of Oliver and Bella resting her head on my arm. Oliver snuggled for a while, but then started nipping me, so I moved him out of the bedroom.

Napped. Woke up around midnight. I'm in the process of feeding the beasties. Then I'll go back to bed.

I overslept and couldn’t take a shower, but I made it on time for Italian. It went well. She asked if I had gotten more sleep because it went better.

I just realized that I put the garbage out a day early yesterday. I’m getting my days mixed up.

Apparently I broke my little toe when I fell. That’s why the foot hurts. The radiologist also said that I have mild arthritis in my big toe, but that isn’t bothering me. Oh, and I have the beginnings of osteoporosis. I need to start doing weight training. I also need to get some soy milk. (I don't digest regular milk well.)

I had been considering adopting two cats in Lincoln whose human passed away, but after talking to my colleague/friend, I think that adopting two new cats would be a bit much for Zara and Mimi. I'll just adopt one cat, and if the cat needs a young companion, adopt another cat later. It just occurred to me that I could put a new cat in the "guest room," although Mimi would not be happy because she looks out the window there and snoozes. But it would be cozy for the new cat. It would force Mimi and the new cat to interact.

Happy 100th birthday President Jimmy Carter!

I'm wondering if I should mow the lawn now that I know my toe is broken. On the other hand, I had been mowing it with a broken toe and nothing dire happened. I’ll wait until I hear back from the doctor.

I was looking into arthritis, and I think that I would benefit from an anti-inflammatory diet. I need money to get various foods though. I was able to get a book about it from Kindle Unlimited. I also got Exercise for Better Bones from Kindle Unlimited.

Crud. I went to the grocery store and bought a few things, but I forgot to get soy milk! Aargh. I did get some calcium vitamins though.

I watched most of the vice presidential debate. I intended to have it on as background noise, but got interested. I was surprised at how civil it was and how much like a real debate it was. Vance told some whoppers though, like Trump saving the Affordable Care Act?!? Oh, and I got my Harris/Walz lawn sign and put it out.

I'm feeling an impulse to drop my class, but I should just get my homework done. There's so much else that I want to do though. I need to think about this. I think that I want to learn Javascript more slowly than this class will allow. Yeah, this class is too accelerated for me. I need to get some good books and work through them. The trick will be to block out the time to do it. I'm going to drop the class, practice piano, and go to bed.

I think that's was the problem with my other programming classes too. I can learn programming, but I learn it more slowly than other people who are really good at it. I'm a slow programmer.

I tried to drop the class, but it won't let me drop. I emailed the head of my program to find out what I need to do.

I'm looking into ways to be held accountable for studying Web programming. I might have found an online meeting app, but have some questions that I sent to the company.

I'm going to practice piano and go to bed.

Overslept this morning. Had to wait until lunchtime to take a shower.

We had an interesting meeting this morning with a librarian who studies low morale in libraries. No one is saying that our organization is low morale thought; it isn't. It was more for our education.

I'm not going to have the money to plant bulbs this year. I'm hoping to plant some peonies though. Actually, I can get some tulip bulbs at a reasonable price on eBay. They're now saying no rain on Saturday, so it's grass seed day.

I can call Blue Cross Blue Shield tomorrow, so I think that I'll do so then. I don't feel like getting stuck on the phone right now.

Amnesty International is having an email campaign about the war in Lebanon, so I signed.

I finished my project at work, so I'm not sure what to do with myself. The person with whom I primarily work gave me some ideas. I also tackled cleaning off my work desk.

I went and got my vaccinations (COVID, flu, and shingles). The first two were trivial, but ow, the shoulder that had the shingles vaccine hurts. It’s the side that I usually sleep on too. I didn’t think that through.

I’m going to go to bed early. But I want to email my friend Lance first. I saw an old Christmas card from him when I was doing some tidying upstairs, and it made me wonder how he was doing.

Actually, I'm feeling kind of loopy, so I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll write Lance tomorrow morning while I'm on hold with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

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.

Got up early. Put the hose away.

I'm "backup on-call" at work right before winter break, so I can't leave for New York (assuming that I go to New York) before the weekend. Why do I think that we have a concert that weekend? Must check. No, it's the week before. Good.

I'm wondering about Mom's house. I must check the progress when I'm up on the weekend. I'm worrying about it being listed before it gets cold.

I read that flavonoid-rich foods and drinks, including tea, may cut risk of dementia. Must drink tea.

The mower guy showed up. I like this guy. I didn’t have to remind him. He just showed up. And I think that I hear him using the weed whacker! He did a good job. Nothing from the cleaners thus far though. That's probably just as well because I'd like to look for someone cheaper. I might have found someone new.

The lawn guy gave me a quote for over $300 to weed the yard though. I don't have the money.

Had my songwriting class. It was great and gave me a lot to think about. I ordered a book on chord progressions and need to bring out my guitar, although I prefer piano. He asked me to send him some songs to analyze, and I’m thinking “The Dimming of the Day” by Richard and Linda Thompson and “Graceland” by Paul Simon. And maybe "A Touch of Gray" by the Grateful Dead because that's the kind of song that I want to write.

My piano teacher rocks. I told her that I was looking for drums on my piano (it has different instruments and can record music), and instead of saying that’s not what I’m here to teach you, she connected me with some online software for writing songs. She also suggested that I get speakers for my laptop to make it easier to hear her and make it possible for her to hear my piano.

I love making music!

I kind of want to continue working on piano, but I have other stuff to do. Got the recycling out. My foot hurts :( Signed up for an AI app called Makes You Fluent to get conversation and pronunciation practice in Italian. Signed up for Band Lab, which is free music-writing software.

I need to get to bed early to run to the Department of Motor Vehicles tomorrow to get a replacement registration card for the Honda. It's usually not too busy when it first opens.

No contact from the lawn mower guy so far.

Had a nice nap at lunch and overslept.

Crud. My dad thinks that the economy is acting a lot like 2008 and there is likely to be a recession. He said, "If it happens, the shit will hit the fan between the third week of September and the third week of October." That's when my mom's house is likely to go up for sale. Dad said that if there is a recession, it is not likely to affect the real estate market right away.

Contacted the real estate guy who's managing the rehab of my mom's house, and he said that the waterproofing of the basement is done, and they're just doing some odds and ends like the backsplash for the kitchen.

Ran out to mail the package containing the backpack that I sold on eBay and dropped off stuff at the thrift store.

I attended the volunteer session for Kamala Harris. They mostly are looking for phone bank volunteers, for which I did not sign up because I suck on the phone. (I hate phone calls.) I did sign up for some social media work though. And I'd do postcards, but they didn't have a slot for postcards. Illinois is a reliably blue state, but I'm wondering if I should knock on doors in Wisconsin? But they don't like Illinois people up there? I ordered a lawn sign.

Well, the lawn guy came and mowed. He said that he ran into a metal pole and it almost destroyed the mower. if it's the one that I think, it's visible coming up to it. Now he wants to charge me an extra $100 for "cleanup," when he didn't actually clean everything up. I am not happy with this guy. And now I’m not happy with their support team because they just keep sending me email on how to approve the quote, which I did not approve. He said that they did not pay him for mowing, which they should have done. I told him that I was going to talk to the company, and he said, “Okay.”

I need to put out the recycling and get my blood pressure down (done).

Today is the day where reality sinks in. I’m not going to get a chance to study Italian or exercise before I leave for my flight on Friday. I should have plenty of time to study Italian at O’Hare Airport. (I should start throwing stuff, including Italian verb exercises, in my backpack for the flight.)

I need to empty the dryer, put clothes in the dryer (done), and write some emails and messages (done). Then I’ll go to bed.

Cool. I changed my Apple Watch face to the skyline of New York City in the hope that I’ll go there soon. The picture changes according to the time of day, here instead of New York. I never have seen the nighttime view because I’ve always been busy during the evenings until now. It’s lovely. Sometimes it’s the little things.

I just remembered to check whether I entered the number for TSA Precheck on my flight. (I have it through Global Entry. Some of the best money that I've spent.) I didn't, so I fixed it. I just need to throw some stuff in the backpack that I'm taking with me, and then I really will go to bed. I'll pack my suitcase tomorrow.