days_unfolding

I got up at 7:30 AM with my alarm. I’ve been secretly hoping that it would rain so that I could go back to sleep for a little while. One forecast has rain all day (it’s raining very lightly) and another has rain at 9 AM. So I think that I can go back to sleep after I feed the critters and get my yoga clothes together (done).

Napped. It was raining when I woke up. Sigh. Bella did not want to come in even though it was raining. I really want to go back to sleep (it’s a sleepy kind of day) but I’d miss yoga. Found out where the yoga place is. Hmm, I’m really thinking of skipping yoga. It’s pouring rain and I don’t know where my yoga bag is. Probably in the pile of stuff in the back of the car. And I have the concert tonight. I’m going back to bed. Oops, Oliver is in here. I hate to take vacation time, but I might take Tuesday off to rake. No rain predicted then thus far.

I did one thing that was constructive and changed the battery on my smoke alarm. Now it’s nap time. Had a nice nap. It’s still raining.

Oliver is looking for trouble. He tried to chew my phone’s case and the straw for my cup.

I’m feeling not like going to the concert. I don’t know. I’ll eat dinner, take a shower, and see. Honestly, what I feel like doing is watching A Real Pain. Okay, I dug out clothes to wear if I don’t go to the concert.

I’m telling Bella that she’s a goofball dog. She has no sense of dignity whatsoever. Everyone is fed and is quiet.

Got my TV in the bedroom set up finally. Hulu was sending me in circles asking me to change my password, but I finally got it to give me a code to enter. I watched A Real Pain. It was good, but I expected to be devastated by it and I wasn't. While Kieran Culkin was good, I think that Jesse Eisenberg had the tougher role.

I'm going to go to bed early, I think. I don't feel like starting anything new.

The Internet is out on the ship. Bah.

You needed an engineering degree to figure out the shower. I finally figured out how to turn the water on (it wasn't obvious) but could not figure out how to get the shower on. So I took a bath and stuck my head under the faucet to wash my hair. And I almost wasn’t able to get out of the bathtub!

I took a lot of sweet rolls at breakfast. Then I discovered a place that would make me pancakes (which were quite good). I left with a contraband napkin full of sweet rolls. Waste not, want not.

I'm fighting the impulse to skip my shore excursion and go back to sleep. Note to self: don't book shore excursions at the beginning of a trip when you know that you will be tired. Now I'm thinking nap and wander over to the spa to see if I can get a manicure. Napped. Dug out my suntan stick in case I want to read in the sun.

I’m staying out of my room because I remember from the last cruise ship that they get upset if they can’t make up the room. I thought that lunch was at 11, but it looks like 12.

They’re playing the movie Conclave at 2 and 8:30. I would like to see that.

I had a moment of missing my dog. And I’m a little worried about Mimi. She’s been somewhat unsteady on her feet. But the vet said that she was okay, probably.

The room was made up. Now it’s nap time. I think that I’ll go for the later showing of the movie.

The pet sitter is sending me pictures of the cat food cans that she found under the cabinets and fridge. Not exactly restful.

Hmm. They put out a call for blood donors to help with a medical emergency. I had problems understanding the Captain on the PA, but it sounds like they are evacuating the ill person?

Read some of my book: Shift by Ethan Kross. It’s about using and managing emotions. It’s interesting so far.

I’m getting a little frustrated because the restaurant does not keep its posted hours.

Oh! They’re having introduction to pickleball tomorrow! I’ll be there!

My pet sitter can’t find Lily. She has to be there somewhere.

The Sweet Spot counter guy is always disappointed that I don’t want cookies. Ice cream, yes. I asked for one scoop and he gave me two.

Impressions so far: Holland America charges for everything. I spent more money getting the same amenities that I had last time, although this cruise is for two weeks, not one. Both staterooms were nice. The food was a little better on Celebrity, I think, but comparable. The ship is a lot quieter, which is nice, and there weren't late-night revelers (or at least, I didn't hear them).

I'm waiting to go to the movie, so I think that I'll post.

I had major problems falling asleep last night. I got up and ate oatmeal. Got up again and did some dishes. I finally fell asleep around 3:30 AM?

Got up with my alarm at 7:30 AM. It’s cold out with a wind chill of -2 F/-19C. The puppy didn’t spend as much time sniffing outside as she usually does.

Lily discovered the kitty highway above the kitchen cabinets. Both Lily and Oliver were up there.

Hmm. Got my check. I should take it to the bank today, but it's cold and I'm tired. I guess that I'll shower over lunch and go from there. It'll be just as cold tomorrow. Oliver was meowing while I was in the shower. I don’t know if he was afraid that I’d drown myself or just that I was doing something that he wasn’t involved with.

I want to see A Real Pain when it comes out. It’s about two cousins who go to Poland when their grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor, dies. It’s getting rave reviews. It would be kind of fun to see a movie in a theater. Hum, Fandango offers it in streaming.

That little stinker Oliver got upstairs and cornered Mimi, who was screaming. I finally picked him up and put him in the bathroom so that I can come and go without having to deal with him wanting to come upstairs.

Bella is getting better at entertaining herself while I'm working. Bella barked at a dog across the street today. I guess that she has adopted this house as her home.

I'm feeling wiped out, so I'll go to the bank tomorrow. I need to brush off the car though, so I'll do that tonight.

Ugh. My cough is worse when I lie down. (Is that why I couldn’t sleep last night?) I lay down for a nap, but couldn’t sleep. I’m going to throw myself together and go to Walmart for soda and duct tape.

The weighted blanket fell down, and Bella is chewing holes in it. Sigh.

It’s too damn cold to go run errands. I’ll go tomorrow. And I need to get up early because I have Italian tomorrow. Worked on the kitchen.

Hmm. I need to have the faucets dripping to keep the pipes from freezing.

I can’t find the heater for the aquarium. I checked the delivery notice, and they put it in a spot where I would not have seen it. I’ll look in the daylight tomorrow. I’ve got the decorations set up, and need to add water and heat it up for the plants. I have the electrical cord set up. I need to see if there’s a heater in the equipment that came with the aquarium. (Yes, so I'll fill the tank tomorrow.) I need a basket for aquarium paraphernalia.

I’m going to feed the critters, take Bella out, and go to bed. Oliver got in the upstairs again. Sigh.

Costco isn't sending me a card. I need to go over there and visit the membership desk to get my photo ID. Meanwhile, I have a digital membership card on my phone.

Hey, I don’t need to set an alarm tomorrow! So I woke up at 5:30 AM. Sigh. Fed myself and the girls and won’t set an alarm while I nap. Slept until 10:30. That’s better.

Yikes, American Airlines had a ground stop. I’m glad that I’m not traveling.

I’m trying to figure out what to do. This is a “working” vacation for me (plus I have nothing to do for Christmas). I think that I’ll chop the stuff for the chowder tonight and put it in the slow cooker tomorrow. I need to finish cleaning the aquarium and get it upstairs. I guess that the rest of the time will be spent in the library room. I’ll bring a boom box and play Christmas carols.

Hmm. My chopping knife is missing. I came up with a Walmart order for delivery, but the earliest that it will come is Thursday. So I guess that I need to shower and get dressed and go over there. I checked Costco, but they’re all about expensive knife sets. Meijer didn’t have much of anything.

I played a fun game of “where are my bras hiding” but finally found them. (The house cleaner/organizer reorganized my clothes.) It’s great to go into my drawers and pull stuff out though.

I decided to take another short nap. Walmart is open until 6 PM.

I want to see A Complete Unknown, but I’m not sure when I’ll go.

On my way to Walmart, I passed a Domino’s Pizza and thought that pizza would be good. I told myself to buy a frozen pizza at Walmart because it would be a lot cheaper. I found an Uno’s pizza there, and I love Uno’s. Got the chopping knife, some food storage containers, and some frozen food. Oh, and some caffeinated soda because I’m going through it quickly. Now I’m preheating the oven for the pizza. Zara wants food.

I can’t eat a deep dish pizza without thinking of Jon Stewart saying, “What is this, a casserole?” :)

I got my musical notes clock! That’s a great Christmas present to myself. The only thing is that I want to move the piano under the stairs, so I need to wait to put it up.

I’m getting lots of aquarium supplies from Amazon. And some of my plants should get here this weekend. I hope that I get the substrate, which has also been shipped, before I get the plants.

The pizza was delicious. Food coma now though. I’m lying down, and Zara has happily flopped down next to me. Love my girl.

I’m in my sleep dilemma again. Instead of taking a nap, I should just go to bed. I need to pay my piano teacher for some music and print some music out, but then I’ll go to bed.

I thought about going to see Oppenheimer on Saturday night, but then I thought, "I can't go because I talk to Mom on Saturday night." Some habits take a long time to break.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the phone with Kroger because my delivery address and billing address are different. Yeah, I get that they're trying to avoid fraud, but sigh.

I attended an interesting webinar about machine learning and libraries. Some people from Amazon gave it, and they were trying to sell their services, but the projects were interesting. Oxford used their software to orient scans of coins and extract data from on the coins. And the software is capable of doing more sophisticated operations.

Well, this sucks. I called to get the shuttle to the car dealer, and they aren't answering. I left a message but I'm not hopeful that they will call back. I called again and finally got someone live who said that they'd get the shuttle guy to come out. 20 minutes later, a guy called and asked if I was ready for the shuttle. I said, "Yes! I'm already outside." He came another 10-15 minutes later. Getting the car itself was a lot quicker. The guy read the total, which was substantial, and then he said, "Oh, you have a card. I was hoping that you'd pay cash (so that I could see it)." I told him that I didn't carry that amount of cash, but I told him about my aunt's stashes of cash around her house, which was more than that. The car is running a lot better.

And now I'm back. I'd like to mail my packages, but because I was already gone, I don't feel like I can duck out again. I'll mail them tomorrow. Luckily, the post office is open until 5 PM tomorrow.

brittdreams mentioned Quince for clothes. They have a lot of nice clothes for reasonable prices. They have some $50 cashmere sweaters that I'm eyeing. And there's a really cute sherpa jacket that I'm coveting. No petite sizes though, so I can't get any maxi dresses or skirts. They had a cashmere midi skirt that you can pair with a sweater. That would be fab to wear to the Unitarian church when I'm back in Urbana, along with my Ann Taylor wool coat.

Took a nap and slept through until 1:30 AM.

My new alarm clock actually encourages me to sleep later because I keep hitting snooze.

Italian went okay. We had a long conversation about the storms we had here. We had a tough exercise in which I had to pick the word that is actually a word in Italian of a choice of two.

Zara wants more food (done). Her new fountain is in the mailbox, so I need to to get it today.

French went okay. We did some listening comprehension. I need to write a dialogue about what I put in my suitcase for next time. I answered a question in Italian rather than French. Oops. (My French teacher thinks that it's neat that I'm studying Italian.)

I've decided that it's too hot to return my library book. It will cool down on Monday.

Aaaand my car has a flat tire. Lovely. I'll call tomorrow to have the spare put on.

Talked to Mom. She's okay, but frustrated that she had to deal with stuff. And she's still having problems walking. She said that she wants me to help her get a smart phone, etc., but when I ask her if I should come out, she says "Eventually.... "

I think that I'll charge Zara's fountain and set up the new laptop. Then maybe I'll watch Bagdad Cafe. Oh, and put clothes in the dryer (done).

The fountain is charging. And, oh wow, I've got the docking station already.

It's a nice laptop. And it's using Dropbox to transfer my files to the new computer. Slick. I think that it's movie time while my laptop charges and the files transfer.

I saw a reference to the Open Path Psychotherapy Collective, and they have some promising therapists with online therapy at good hours. Must look into it. They also have online classes. I'm eyeing their self-esteem, and anxiety and stress classes.

I've been trying some shampoo and conditioner that I used to use called Eufora. It has stripped off the buildup on my hair and is making it shiny, but the bottom part of my hair is still frizzy. Maybe due to the color? I need to decide whether the products are worth it because they're expensive. Actually, I found it cheaper at a beauty supply place.

81 F today! Holy cow. It will be cold part of next week though. (I'm hoping to get the rosemary outside soon.)

Tried to nap, but couldn't sleep. Filled up a bag of garbage in the kitchen. Now I think that I'll watch a Harry Potter movie (done).

Zara wants more food, but I'm not giving her more. She had her two meals and two snacks.

Zara is a little off her feed. I'm not surprised, given the ordeal (in her mind) yesterday. I put the carrier away so Zara won't worry about my grabbing her while she eats. (I grabbed her while she was eating yesterday.)

I read an article about a couple who got student visas to go to Italy and study Italian for a year. That's another idea if I can't get a Lithuanian passport. If we go remote, I could work from Italy if I could get a visa. 8 AM here is 3 PM there, and I'm a night owl.

The Wanderlust in Berlin book looks good. It has a picture of a place on each page and a short description.

Zara popped out of her box (she's freaked me out by doing that when I've walked by) and polished off her food. Good.

I want to see the movie Drive My Car. I've heard good things about it, and it's available for $6 on Amazon Prime.

Got my library books ready to return. Ran out and picked up prescriptions, returned the library books, and bought cat litter. I've discovered that the local Farm and Home has cat litter cheaper than Walmart. They also have the Hill's weight loss food for a dollar cheaper than Amazon. But I want Mimi to eat the food that I have first.

Studied German numbers while Zara was eating.

Talked to Mom. The doctor said that her body was trying to make red blood cells, but then multiple myeloma was introducing errors into the cells. Her doctor wants to put her on an antibody treatment. So, it's better than I had feared. My aunt is still in the hospital with a partial bowel obstruction.

Hmm. I've been studying German, and I'm ready for my lesson with a half-hour to go. I need to study Italian, but I don't want to crowd out the German swirling in my head. Maybe I'll post. I know, I'll look at my book on Munich and Bavaria that just arrived. German went well. I'm learning slowly.

I watched a couple of videos on eating on a budget. It gave me some ideas. One person had a book that's free to me with Kindle Unlimited, so I checked it out.

I think that I'll get up early and study Italian before my lesson.

Mom talks politics a lot. Last night, I said that I was keeping my head down, working and taking my music classes, and avoiding politics. Is that wrong? I read news from five different sources though (New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, BBC, and The Guardian).

Got up a little late, so I'm doing an abbreviated version of my morning routine. I'll get the rest of the stuff done after Italian and my singing class. Italian is an hour earlier because I asked for it a half-hour earlier because of the singing class, and another student said that she'd like it an hour earlier. The other student hasn't responded. I hope that she'll see the message.

The other person in my Italian class came a little late because she just got the message that we were starting earlier. Italian was hard today. We were working on directions in a city. I need to study more.

Had my voice class. We were working on stretches to open up the body (specifically the diaphragm and rib cage). I found some of them hard, but I've been trying vocal warm ups and I do sound more resonant. I feel wide awake now though, and I was going to have lunch and take a nap!

Zara likes to lie with part of her touching me when I lie in bed. Aww. But it's probably because she likes my body heat.

I just had a flashback to a shopping center in Kahului on Maui, Hawaii. Oh, I want to go back.

When I'm in the middle of a dream, sometimes I won't hear the alarm. I dreamed a business idea in which you'd deliver coffee or hot chocolate, a newspaper, or flowers to a person in the morning. But that would require getting up early so that's not for me. I'm looking into a vibrating alarm clock for those times that I absolutely have to wake up early.

I watched the people with the four cats on Facebook, who were playing Hot Wheels with their cats on a Facebook Live. Facebook is my time sink.

Got the garbage out, although they probably won't pick it up tomorrow because it's a holiday.

Got a lemon pound cake in the oven. I'm looking for a big plastic bowl that I used to use for salads, but I can't find it. I guess that I'll have to use the bowl that's in the dishwasher, so I guess that I'll chop up the strawberries and kiwi, and wait to tear up the spinach until tomorrow. No, I found the bowl. Made the salad. It looks yummy, and it's waiting in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. The pound cake is cooling.

Practiced piano and guitar. The guitar C chord is still driving me crazy. I practiced it until I was ready to throw the guitar across the room.

Watched My Octopus Teacher on NetFlix. It was amazing, though sad at the end. Well worth seeing.

Got my tired butt out of bed around noon. Apparently I did something to my right knee yesterday, and it hurts. Oh well.

Lightly dozed during my nap. Someone was running a lawnmower that was annoying me, and it turned out to be my lawnmower guy. He doesn't usually work weekends, so he must have gotten busy during the week.

Zara is bouncing out of her box and smacking Mimi. Oy.

I hadn't cleaned by my bed yesterday, so I cleaned up and chased the books and magazines into their proper spots. I found my "No Mud No Lotus" bracelet and put it on because I'm kind of mired in "mud". And I kept going to clean the floor of my closet. While I was cleaning, I found a purple mesh bag that's perfect for my Tarot cards.

Taking a break. Zara is on my lap. Unlike Mimi, who would be happy to be petted forever, Zara wants me to pet her only when she wants to be petted. When we first adopted her, it took a long time for her to realize that when she's tired of being petted, she can just walk away, and we won't follow her. So I don't take her affection for granted.

Pulled out a set of cleaning shorts and a t-shirt because it's 87 freaking degrees F out. Put away clothes from a laundry basket until my back started hurting. Need to figure out where to put my walking/running clothes.

Showered and shaved my legs because shorts. Some of my shorts won't fit me. Bah. I'm feeling a lot cooler. Took out garbage until my back started killing me.

In the bedroom, I set Eufy out for its inaugural run. It tried, but I'm still going to have to sweep. I've yet to find a vacuum cleaner that works really well on bare floors. Maybe it'll work better when there isn't a lot to pick up. I'm waiting for Eufy to decide that the part of the floor that it's working on is "done," although I suppose that I could shut it off. I'd like to get the floor done before I make dinner.

Swept and ran over the floor with the floor scrubber. Took out the rest of the garbage.

Made a Dinnerly meal: Herbed Chicken with Yogurt Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. It was pretty good. Now I plan to clean up the kitchen and run a mop over the bedroom floor to make it clean enough to eat off of (done and done).

Now it's Harry Potter time....