days_unfolding

Hmm. Hibiscus is safe for pets. I’d love a container or two of them. But I’d have to winter it over indoors. I wonder if I could suspend a grow light from the basement ceiling? I’d like bougainvillea also. Hmm, it's mildly toxic to dogs. (I do have to worry because Bella eats plants.) On Lowe's site, I found a long grow light with a fixture to hang it from and a timer. That would work.

Now I’m thinking of a retractable awning for my patio-to-be so that I can grow plants on the patio. But I want it to be rainproof. Hmm.

I think that I cracked the dog code. Bella was refusing to come in the kitchen. I couldn’t figure it out, but then it occurred to me that it might be that the ceiling fan was on? I turned it off, and then she came in.

Got up at 7 AM with my alarm. Took an ice-cold shower, which sucked. I need to clear some stuff off of the basement stairs, and then I'll call Ameren to fix the hot-water heater. Lily, Oliver, and Bella attended my shower. Lily is a climber; she was at the top of the shelves in the laundry area of the bathroom.

It’s another gray and rainy day. I’m looking forward to my lunchtime nap.

I got a little money from my check. Placed a grocery order, including cat food and cat litter, and a Costco order for dog food.

Another thing to do in retirement: make printables in Canva and sell them on etsy.

I attended a webinar about the non-financial aspects of retirement, and the speaker gave a list of thought-provoking questions. It was very interesting. I took tons of notes. He said that people spend a lot of time thinking about money and where to live, but not the other aspects. I requested What Color Is Your Parachute in Retirement? from the library. I was able to get Purposeful Retirement for free with Kindle Unlimited, so I'll read it now.

Holy cow! I received a ton of plants for my garden. One set was the coral bells for my shade garden, but I think that the rest is tickseed? Maybe bee balm?

Tried to nap but couldn’t sleep. I think that the excitement about my garden kept me awake. I need to expand a garden bed, so I need to charge the tiller.

Got my food. Yay. I no longer have to eat Ramen and canned food. (That reminds me that I should replenish my stash though.) And the cats have food and litter. I need to get more litter when I get more money though. (All the boxes need to be changed out, and I have three jugs of litter.)

The Ameren guy came by and turned the pilot light on the water heater back on and told me how to light it myself in case it goes out again. The furnace is working.

Geesh. The rain is coming down in buckets. I don't think that I'll be able to plant my new plants today.

Hmm. There were a series of attempted vehicle thefts on campus that sound a lot like what happened to my car. They are targeting Kia and Hyundai cars.

Took Bella out, but it was pouring, so she noped out onto the porch.

Someone working on the slides for the presentation at work tomorrow told me of a change that I needed to make. I had to wait until he unlocked the file though, so I left work early with the plan that I would log on tonight. Meant to sleep for two hours but slept four.

The dog and cats were hungry and in my face. Fed us all. (I eat last so that they’re more likely to let me be.)

Found a new social group to try: the Illinois Club.

Oh crud. I forgot to buy napkins.

Okay, tweaked my slides and practiced the presentation. Wow, I'm going to be talking a lot!

I think that I'll post, take Bella out one more time, and go back to sleep.

Woke up at 7:30 AM. Fed all of us. Napped.

I’ve been staying out with Bella a good long time with good results.

I got my grocery order, but I forgot to get some “Munchie Bones” for Bella. I’ll run get some tonight or tomorrow.

I’m thinking of what to do today. I want another short nap. Shower. I need to work with Bella on her harness, use the shims to balance the aquarium, work on the kitchen, and work on music for choir.

Ugh. Trump is applying tariffs to Canada and Mexico. Coming soon to a grocery store near you.

Bella is chasing Oliver, and she crawled under the bed. I didn’t think that she could fit under there.

Napped. Went to sign up for Bumble’s friends feature, but they want four photos. I don’t have four photos. Okay, I found four.

The Worldwide Wrestling Federation (Oliver and Lily) are on my kitchen table. Now Oliver took a flying leap down the stairs. Craziness around here :)

Oliver knocked down my soda and various stuff on some shelves by my sink. Took a shower. Bella pooped while I was in the shower. I’m thinking about what she’s telling me, that she needs to poop around 5:30PM. Oliver went down in the basement when I was throwing the bag of poop down the stairs.

I found someone whom I like on Bumble’s friend feature. But they want $59.99 a month! Pretty steep! Okay, I did subscribe and filled out my profile. We’ll see how this goes.

Oliver is now complaining that he’s down in the basement :) But it makes it easier for me to feed Zara and Mimi and take Bella out. I’ll let him out and feed him in a little while (done).

I’m really tired. I’m thinking of going to sleep early.

Bella just shut Oliver in the bathroom :)

I was making dinner, when my phone reminded me that I had a meeting with the new life coach. She’s good. We came up with a plan for getting organized. I kind of hate that having an accountability partner will make a difference, but it probably will.

Hi Adrienne, great session today! Here's a quick summary of the action items we discussed: 1. Sunday/tomorrow you'll work to clear the kitchen. 2. Set a Google Home reminder to clear the countertop daily, to start on Tuesday. 3. Pick one box and write something on it to remind you it's just one box at at time. 4. Next weekend, move all the shed items out of the living room. 5. Once the living room is done, clear the library so the book shelves can be installed. Remember to set up that reminder on your Google Home to help reinforce the new habit of clearing the counter each day. I'm excited to hear how the idea of using music during tidying helps make it more enjoyable! I'm confident you're going to make great progress on this. Remember, it's all about building momentum and celebrating small victories. I'll check in on your progress next week and feel free to reach out if you need any support. - Amanda

The puppy is tired after running around. I still think that going to bed early is a plan. I just need to feed the hordes (in progress) and take Bella out (done).

Woke up with my alarm at 6 AM. The Echo Dot alarm did not sound, sigh. The critters think that this is too early to get up.

Ugh. Zara was out roaming around, and Bella lunged for her. I grabbed Bella. Sigh. Zara took off for her room. I took the puppy out. Now I’m thawing and then will gather the recycling.

Got the recycling out. I’m going to thaw for a moment, soak the cat dishes, and let Oliver out of kitty jail. (I’ll never convince him that I do that for his own protection.)

I read online that Neil Gaiman based his Sandman series on Tanith Lee's Tales of a Flat Earth series, so I went looking for the Tanith Lee books. The public library does not have them. The university library does have them, but the first book is checked out. I'm leery of buying it until I see if I like it or not. (I have too many books, so I'm trying to be choosy about what I keep.) And it sucks that Gaiman didn't give her credit and make her books circulate more! Though I'll probably set up a Little Free Library in the Spring, so I could recycle it there if I don't want to keep it. Oh okay, I got it for the Kindle.

We have some dedicated bicyclists for neighbors. I saw two separate people out riding their bikes. And it's cold out (31F/-1C, although that IS balmy compared to the weather that we've been having). Bella was fascinated by the bicyclists. She didn't bark but watched them intently.

I've been redesigning the yard in my head while I'm out with Bella. I want a six-foot-tall white picket fence to replace the current fence. There is a raised bed and trees by the side of where the driveway to the garage-to-be will be. I think that I want to take the trees and raised bed out (they're "junk trees'") and plant redbuds and holly bushes along the side of the driveway. Bark mulch underneath them. And I want a crabapple for the main part of the back yard and roses along the side of the garage. I probably want a path from the back door to the garage, but I'm not sure yet what to put in. I’m thinking a concrete sidewalk because its purpose is a way to unload stuff from the car, not to be pretty.

Bella did not want to come in when I took her outside after our nap. There was a garbage truck! And the outdoor cat went by the neighbor's house! Lots of interesting things to see. And it felt downright warm in the sun! Oh, it WAS warm, 37F/3C.

The doctor's office called to reschedule my appointment for next week.

When I paid my AT&T bill, they had an offer for one month of Hulu free, so I took the deal and added Max to it. I want to watch TV sometimes cuddling with the dog.

I had a nice chat with my neighbor who lives right next door to me. Bella barked at him for some reason, but he didn't seem to mind. I told him that the dog was new, and he said that he had cats, and I said that I had them too! He said that he liked my Harris/Walz yard sign, and we agreed that we weren't looking forward to the next four years. I like living in Urbana.

I'm thinking that I want to get the fish tank and plants set up, but I might wait to get fish until after my trip. I'd hate to get the fish and then leave them to the pet sitter or automatic feeder. I want to know more about how their rhythm is.

I'm also thinking that I should try to meet more people. I was going to wait until I got the house together, but meeting people would provide me with the motivation to get the house together. My therapist thought that was a good idea.

Because it's warmish, and it's supposed to get cold this weekend, I'll get the garbage out tonight. Nope.

Played a fun game of feeding the fur kids. I need to go get Bella out of the bedroom and take her outside. There was a person on a scooter walking two dogs. They stopped in front of the house for the dogs to sniff. Bella barked once and then retreated by my side for me to protect her.

I’m trying to figure out where Bella’s collar went. I have her harness, but I’m not sure where the collar is, but I know that it arrived. And I should get collars for Oliver and Lily. I need to spend this long weekend getting stuff organized. I think that I’ll start in one corner and do a 360-degree thing.

Oliver and Bella seem especially tired today. I wonder what they’ve been up to. They’re both asleep, and I’m kind of stuck here because I don’t want to wake them.

I cleaned off the heater for the fish tank, but it's getting late, so I'll fill the tank tomorrow. Paid bills. Now I think that it's bedtime.

I disabled my OKCupid account because I'm not interested in dating right now. It's just sucking up money. I'll get back into the dating game after I lose weight.

Mimi likes lying on the mat for my standing desk.

Slept until 10. Did my morning routine, took a nap, and slept until 2:30.

Crud. I forgot to charge the mower batteries. I think that maybe I’ll do stuff inside today, although I should do some weeding. I did something weird to my back while I slept, which will cramp my style. I’m pressing my back into the chair to stretch it out.

I’ve been sitting here reading The Wishing Year, and it’s getting interesting. At first I thought that it was going to be a Law of Attraction book, and there is some of that (which wasn’t what I was looking for, but she’s convincing me to try), but she is getting philosophical about desire, which is what I need.

The short version: she was pondering how many people don't go after their wishes until after a loss or tragedy. I was thinking that it’s strange how much of my long-term wishes are coming true since my mom died, most notably the house and the trip to Italy. I need to do the work to get the rest of them.

She said that she liked the Hindu God Ganesh, and I found a statue of him reading a book that I kind of want. I need to figure out what I did with my Kwan Yin statue.

Earlier, she was writing about the things that were blocking her from getting what she wanted. For her it was remorse about an affair that she had. For me, it’s my stuff and my weight, which I’m working on.

I think that I want to take my Italy poster to Staples to see if I can get it laminated. Oh crud, they’re open only until 6 and I won’t make it. Oh! FedEx is open until 10 and they do lamination! I can’t find the command strips that I ordered from Amazon, but Walmart has them. Plus I need a flash drive if I don’t have one upstairs. (I couldn’t find one.)

I found my “Don’t stop until you’re proud” and “When you change your habits, you change your life” magnets and put them on the refrigerator.

I’m feeling kind of tired and want to study Italian, so I will. Studied the flashcards. I'll study verbs later.

I had accused Facebook of following me around because my hairdresser trims my eyebrows, and as soon as I came back from my appointment, I saw a Facebook ad for an eyebrow trimmer. I wound up getting it so that I can trim them myself.

I added Lingopie to my Italian repertoire so that I can watch videos in Italian. They also show the words written in Italian, which would be easier than watching Italian TV on Sling, at least at this point.

I found my command strips, although I ordered more from Amazon, but I’ll use them. So I ordered the USB drive from a Meijer order, which will come tonight (done). I just need to run to FedEx with the poster. Well, hell. I threw myself together and went to the car and brought up FedEx on my Maps app. Well, I don’t know where I saw one open until 10 because the local one closed at six. They’re open tomorrow.

I had joined the local chapter of Girl Gone International to make friends in the local area. They're having a meetup at Sholem Aquatic Park next week to walk the lazy river. Sounds like fun, although I'll have to scramble to get there after yoga. (I think that I'll wear my swimsuit under my yoga clothes.)

Started excavating the corner of the living room that has the chest on which I want to put the upstairs TV.

I keep running back to look up stuff on my phone. I was looking for a used utility cabinet for cleaning supplies to put by the stairs in the basement, and found something that would work. The question is whether I could get it in my car? I’ll ask for the measurements.

I cleared out enough to get to the chest that I wanted to bring upstairs, and wrestled it upstairs. I need a break, so I'm going to study Italian. Mimi is on my lap. Oh, I figured out where I could put my personal "altar": under the stairs.

Cleaned out the chest. There are some old sheets that I will give to Goodwill. There are some flannel sheets that I will try on the bed, but the bed is a full and the sheets are queen. I'll get rid of them if they don't fit. There are some Lithuanian tablecloths and such that I left in the chest. Hmm, I could put travel stuff in there because it won't get used often. Put the TV on the chest. I have no idea where the remote went, so I ordered a universal Sony remote and also a power strip because the Roku needs to be plugged in.

So, success. I'm going to study my Italian verbs, do dishes and scoop cat boxes, and toddle off to bed. Oh, in The Wishing Year, she put a piece of paper about the type of guy that she wanted to meet under her bed, and it worked. I figured that I might try it; the worst thing would be that I wasted a piece of paper. I'll put two things: that I want to have sex with Mimmo, and that I want to meet and get involved with someone who turns me on as much as Mimmo. So I'll do that. And I want to put my new linen sheets on the bed.