days_unfolding

I had breakfast in the hotel. I’m not very hungry though. Took an Uber to the tour starting point. I’m here way early.

I met the tour guide and we waited for a couple. The tour guide was knowledgeable and we saw a bunch of Art Deco buildings. I tripped and fell near the end. I left the tour before we went to the gift shop; I blamed my knees, but I was just tired.

Napped for three hours in the hotel. Tried to look up the cruise terminal for tomorrow. I finally found it, but they didn’t make it easy. Door dashed some stuff from Walgreens. Had a rather good pizza in the hotel.

I’m going to make it a very early night.

Impressions of Miami: lots of people walking dogs. Lots of mopeds and motorcycles, I guess because of the good weather. Would I come back? I don't know. The Art Deco buildings were my draw to Miami Beach. It might be nice to go to the beach proper.

Woke up a little before 6 AM. The puppy was looking at me like, are you really going to get up now? I really got up now. It’s freaking cold out (wind chill of -5F/-20C) and my nose is running. There’s a cold weather advisory tonight with wind chills as low as 19 below zero (-29C).

Oliver is telling me, quit sitting and feed me! Bella says, pet me! Good to know that I’m useful :) Bella thinks that when I’m talking, it must be to her. Why would I talk to the cats? (I was talking to Lily.)

I’m mulling over a friend for Bella. There is a standard poodle that I was looking at, but the shelter from which I adopted Bella has a border collie mix that looked good. Hmm. The border collie is a puppy though. Do I really want a puppy? Though there would be a lot of grooming fees for the poodle.

I tried to shut Bella in the bedroom while I fed the cats but she noped out. Lily eats slowly, so I spent my time shooing Oliver and Bella away. I need to feed Bella (done) but I’m taking a break.

Napped. Took Bella out. She never does her business right away, but runs around and sniffs first. And she checks to make sure that I’m following her! I bring a ball out with us, but whether we play depends on how cold I am :) Today I asked her to go in, and she listened to me! That amazes me. In contrast, Oliver NEVER listens to me.

I don’t know why I thought that it was going to be warm today. It’s too cold to go clean up dog poop (12F/-11C with a wind chill of -11F/-24C).

I found a skin care place in Champaign that interests me. But I’m having a facial on the cruise, so I’ll wait until afterwards.

Got Bella her chew stick. She started whining in the bathroom where she has previously pooped, which got me vaulting up to take her out. I forgot my hat and pulled my hood up, which was made for a taller person, so I can barely see out of it. After all that, she didn’t do anything.

I’m trying to figure out my day. I think that I want another nap. Then I’ll work on the kitchen until 3 and then take a shower. My singing lesson got moved to 4:30. After that, I’ll cook. Then I’ll go upstairs and get the aquarium set up after putting Oliver in kitty jail. And then I’ll work on the kitchen again.

Hmm. Bella’s nails are long. But they’re black, so I’d be worried about cutting the quick. I guess that I’ll ask the vet to do them and see how far they cut them back.

Napped. The puppy is next to me on the bed.

Bella doesn’t like artificial chews. She picks them up and drops them.

For some reason, I’m remembering my mom hugging the elephant that I gave her, and that breaks my heart.

Hmm. I have a shoe rack over the door in the library, but I’m thinking to move it to the bedroom and put over-the-door hooks for backpacks and purses (ordered from Amazon).

Zara is being cuddly. I managed to keep Oliver out of my singing lesson. Bella too. Just me and Zara.

Had a great singing lesson. She started me on an Italian art song along with the sight-singing and the music that I’ll be learning in choir. Zara crashed out cold. I think that she likes having me in here. But I should take Bella out. I’ll come back later and practice piano.

Ugh. The cold isn’t messing around. It goes through my jeans.

Ugh again. I need a new stepladder, but Lowe’s is charging $79 for delivery. I’ll have to check Home Depot. It was cheaper, yay!

Oliver likes the warm stove. I’m baking pizza. It’s kind of cold in here. I should get to work, which would warm me, but I’m huddling next to the oven.

I should bring in the plastic food containers from the car. I want to set up a pet food center with labels for each food of the critter eating it. I have a label maker upstairs.

I printed off a ton of music for piano. My teacher suggested that I put it in a binder, so I went on Walmart's site to order one plus some other odds and ends. Then they said that there was a deal that if you spent $500 on Walmart+ Travel, you get $100 back. Sounded good to me, so I upgraded my hotel stay in Miami, and it's paid for so I don't have to worry about it. They didn't say that I'll get the $100 (actually, $133) after the stay. But it'll be good to have extra money then.

Mimi is being extra snuggly. It's chilly up here. I’m leaving the space heater on; it has an automatic shutoff if it tips over. I might bring up the large heater.

The pizza is knocking me out, lol. I’m thinking about feeding the critters and going to bed soon.

Got my second wind and started organizing pet stuff. I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on cat food and dog food can organizers. Set up the dry food containers.

Oliver thinks he’s a kitten and jumps onto my leg when I’m standing. Ouch.

Bella did her business rather efficiently, so I guess that she’s feeling the cold. I wore the hood over my hat and it helped. Everyone is fed. I was holding off Bella from eating Lily’s food, and then Oliver tried to eat the food, and Bella got in his face. “If I can’t have it, you can’t have it either.” LOL.

Ten o'clock and I'm going to crash.

I found the hotel at which I want to stay in Miami's South Beach. The question is how early I should book for Spring Break. That's a peak time for Florida.

I forgot to mention that I told my therapist that I told a colleague/friend that I had a therapy appointment and that I was going to dump my baggage from the Chicago trip, and my therapist said, "Just call me your porter!" I'm glad that I found this therapist. We click well.

Mom called with the info to order her an Uber for tomorrow. And she wants me to be awake at the time that the Uber is supposed to get there; so much for sleeping in. She had an issue with the billing for her prescriptions, but that got straightened out. She's wondering how to turn her driver's license over to the Secretary of State's office without a car.

Note to self: Potential move date is the week of December 19th.

Took a nap and slept through until morning. I set my alarm in case there was an issue with Mom's Uber, but she was already on route when I logged into Uber.

The Smithsonian travel webinar was fantastic! I took pages of notes. And they covered domestic travel as well as international travel. A couple of notes: Skyscanner is the best Web site for the lowest flight fares. google.com/travel/hotels is the best hotel site, followed by HotelsCombined. Hotel Web sites have the best prices, however.

I've found my next recipe: Lemon-Garlic Baked Cod with Quinoa. I might already have the cod and quinoa. I need to clean off my chest freezer and see what I have.

cerezamarrero, I got your Elvis postcard from Memphis! I'll have to compare notes with you because I want to go there.

I'm wondering if I should book the Miami flight plus hotel in Expedia when I get paid again and pay installments or save up the money and book later. The prudent thing would be to save up the money. I need to crunch numbers to see if the Expedia package would be cheaper than paying for the flight and hotel on other sites. But I could book Expedia later too. Booking on other sites is not quite $200 cheaper. It would pay for a day trip to Key West. (I'm now thinking that I should give Key West another chance and spend the day there. When I went there, a close friend of the family had died of AIDS, I had been stressed out in work for months, and I really needed to collapse. Plus, I was getting over a cold. Key West was not the place. But I have some fond memories of parts of it.)

Swimsuits are on sale (50% off) in a plus-size online store at which I occasionally buy stuff. I could use a new swimsuit. And hey, I'd need one for Miami (but I'd get a tank so that I can also use it for lap swimming).

I cleaned off the kitchen table, which is my contribution to order today.

There's a fly in here, which is entertaining Mimi. She's telling it to fly over to her. Good luck with that, Mimi.

It's cooler out, finally. I turned off the a/c and opened some windows. Yay.

Woke up at 8:30 AM. Decided to go back to sleep. Woke up at 11, when my meditation session was. Oh well. Forgot about it.

Oh! I did order Earth Breeze (detergent sheets) already! Just got it. Oh well, I'll have two orders of it. It should last me the better part of a year. I emailed them asking to cancel the new order, but it's no big deal if they say that they can't cancel it. They shipped it already but refunded the money anyway! Wow! I told them they are great people!

I skipped ahead in my Bora Bora book to things to do in Bora Bora. It looks like the hotel that I picked is on the sunset side of the island. Cool.

Went to apply cleanser to the tub, only to find that the bottom of my cleanser is coming off. Aargh. Smeared cleanser on to soak and then ate lunch.

I feed the cats at 6 PM. It's now 4 PM. Zara has started her food watch. Now she's sleeping in the middle of the kitchen floor so she can keep an eye on me but still get her Z's in. Goofy cat :)

Looked at Hawaii Web cams. Looked for Bora Bora Web cams, but they all seem to be gone. Oh well.

Got the tub scrubbed out. Good. I'm waiting for it to drain and am soaking dishes in the meanwhile. Need to scrub the kitchen sink (done). Did dishes. Scrubbed the tub.

Showered and shaved my legs and am feeling squeaky clean. Threw on shorts and a tee-shirt. Fed the girls six minutes late. They weren't thrilled. (Well, actually, I'd hate to have to wait to eat until someone fed me, so I sympathize.)

My a/c has been going non-stop. (It's 88 F out.) My electric bill is going to suck.

Cruises are really cheap right now. I kind of wish that I wasn't moving this year, but I'll be happy once it's done. I would like to do something nice for my 60th birthday in the fall however. I wonder how much a cheap trip to Florida would cost? Clearwater Beach? Hmm, airfare to Miami is cheaper, and it's a place that I've wanted to go to. Oh! I found the perfect hotel in South Beach. I want to make this happen! I ordered a Miami book. South Beach is a bar kind of place, and I'm not a bar kind of person, but if there was a brunch place with mimosas and Eggs Benedict, I would indulge. (Found a place!) Otherwise, I love Art Deco, so I'd run around taking pictures of the buildings. I think that I'd take a day trip to Key West. I've been there, but I love the Overseas Highway. Key West is also kind of a party town, so I think that I'd take a glass-bottomed boat trip there.

I'm pricing a cruise in Australia and in New Zealand because I want to take my really expensive trips while I'm still working. I should price a cruise up the Yangtze in China too.

Peeled and chopped the sweet potatoes for my burritos, so they'd be ready when I get hungry. I'm starting to feel shaky though, so I should get started. I decided to roast the sweet potatoes so that they will be good and soft. Made the burritos. They're tasty and filling. Now I'm feeling sleepy.

Got the food put away and dishes soaking in the sink. I think that I will go to sleep early and get up early.