Entries tagged with mower

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Garden Day

Woke up at 7 AM. I want to go back to sleep, but I need to take Bella out. Fed us all. It’s gray and gloomy and raining lightly.

I think that I want to go back to Home Depot and get the sunflowers. I have a spot for them. And I found a place online that has pansies. Now I’m thinking of gerber daisies because they’d go better with the sunflowers. Either Home Depot or Lowe’s had peonies, which I want for the front yard, but you couldn’t tell what color they were except when they were blooming. I need to expand the front garden bed for them. Breck’s has some nice ones. Also, one of the places had some dahlias that I liked, but I’d need more pots for them.

I think that I want to nap for another hour while my meds kick in.

I’m thinking that I want to stay home and plant things. I can go to the garden shops tomorrow (although I don’t know if Prairie Gardens will be open for the holiday?) Or maybe I’ll go to Home Depot and Lowe’s. I need to wake up so that I can shower. Maybe I’ll read about wills for a little while.

I didn’t get an answer whether Prairie Gardens is open tomorrow, but probably, given that they were open on New Year’s Day. Lowe’s and Home Depot will be open. Bella thinks that I shouldn’t read but do something useful like petting her!

I’m trying to figure out what I want for estate planning. I think that I’ll have a local lawyer draw up the paperwork after I do my research. I want a revocable living trust. I need a trustee to step in if I’m incapacitated, and I can get one from Schwab. I want my money to go to charity when I pass away, so I need to look back into that. My dad has someone who will pay the bills if he’s incapacitated, and I want that, so I need to ask him who he got and what their role is.

The good news: I found a rubber mallet to put together my new strawberry pot. The bad news: Oliver and Lily went down in the basement.

I still feel like going back to sleep, probably because it’s gloomy out, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I take a nap.

Planted my dill and Japanese Spirea. Ordered pots for the two hibiscuses I bought. (The first one died. Apparently there was standing water in the container.) Planted petunias in my small strawberry pot. Planted ferns. Bella had a great time playing with the pots that they came in. While I was planting ferns, Bella was following along digging them up and destroying them. That earned her a trip indoors. Planted the remaining ferns. Weeded one of the iris beds, planted two new irises, and put up the fence. We’ll see how Bella interacts with it. Watered the plants.

The mower guy is planning to come tomorrow.

Bella completely ignored the garden bed with the fence. Exactly what I want her to do. If she keeps ignoring it, I'll buy more fencing.

Fed us all. I'm really tired. I'm going to email my dad, scoop cat boxes, and then go to bed.

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Hot Hot Hot

A guy from my hometown whom I know on Facebook wants to meet with me. I don’t want to go. I’m going to tell him that my mower guy is coming by tonight to mow and give me an estimate on cleaning my gutters (true). Oh okay, he's asking about the 21st.

Arthritis is bothering me. It's not excruciating, just mildly annoying. My concern is more about my fingers instead of my toes because that could impact working on the computer and piano.

I'm falling asleep at my desk. Crashed hard at lunch and overslept my nap.

I'm looking into BistroMD again. I got tired of their food, but I did lose weight on it.

83F/28C. It's hot upstairs. It feels like 10 degrees cooler downstairs, so I won't turn on the a/c yet. You can feel the heat as you walk upstairs. I'm wondering if I should get an air conditioner or bite the bullet and buy a heat pump for upstairs. I spend a lot of time in my home office upstairs. I'm running a fan by my desk. It's hotter in Urbana than it is in Miami. And a lot hotter than Chicago.

It's kind of giving me the creeps that people with whom I worked at the beginning of my tech writing career have passed away. But they were a lot older than me, so it shouldn't be surprising.

I got the strawberry pot. And the Japanese Spirea.

Hum. I'm wondering if I should go to bed really early and get up early to work on the upstairs. It's too hot to work on it during the evening unless I stay up really late.

Oliver went over to see what Lily was doing. She was flat out because of the heat, and swatted at him. He walked away to lie down on the floor too.

Mower guy said that the lawn was too wet to mow. It was foggy this morning.

For my guest room, I was looking at the 8-drawer Van Gogh dresser that susandennis bought. But eight drawers is really more than I need. I found a 3-drawer version. If someone has more clothes, they can put them in the closet. Though if I got the 8-drawer one, I could keep colored pencils and such in some of the drawers. And some travel stuff.

Speaking of travel stuff, I looked at the linen outfit that I wanted to wear on the plane, and the color that I wanted is sold out. I could do a black-and-white top and white pants and a white blazer. I bought a “flax” top and pants and a “driftwood” blazer. That should look okay with my brown shoes.

Done with work. I have a cat (Oliver) in my face and a dog being manic. Fed us all. I was going to take a nap, but it’s late enough that I should probably go to bed for the night.

I started reading a new biography of Jennie Churchill. It’s interesting.

I’m feeling kind of dizzy.

Bella is out cold on her bed. She got up when I did though.

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Mower guy

Woke up a little before 7 AM. Bella kept us out a long time before doing her business.

My neck is really stiff. I need to book a massage.

I'm trying to decide whether to take the train when I see my dad next year or fly. Probably fly so that it will take less time.

Made an appointment for Zara’s checkup at the vet.

I found a tall grow light on Amazon for wintering over the hibiscus, rosemary, and thyme. I might have to put the rosemary and thyme on buckets to get them close to the light.

I asked ChatGPT for a list of college towns near water to retire in. It mentioned Athens, GA, which intrigued me, but I didn't see any water on the map. In that case, I might as well stay in Urbana. It does have a senior living place that interests me.

None of my food sounds good to me.

A guy is coming over to do an estimate for mowing at 6:30 PM. He came and we did a walkthrough. His price was reasonable. The only thing is that he’ll be here on Monday, which is later than I had hoped.

My recycled paper products arrived.

I’m trying to get up the energy to get the recycling out (done, and my back hurts ).

I’m looking into getting my gutters cleaned. They need it badly.

Napped, and slept until a little after 1 AM.

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Hibiscus!

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.

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Investing

Lily promptly sat on my book. Sigh. Lily sez, “I don’t understand what you mean by ‘reading’. Books are for lying on.”

My Fidelity choices available kind of suck. They went for the cheapest index funds. I bumped up my international funds because they are doing better than the US funds.

Woke up at 6:30 AM. Bella was watching Squirrel TV. Fed us all. Now it’s nap time (done). I’m trying to explain to Bella that if Oliver is yowling, it means that he is not happy. Bella doesn’t speak cat. Ow. Bella just scratched my face. She’s getting hyper.

Ate lunch. I think that I’m going to nap for an hour and then shower. Had a nice nap.

I need to find my chargers for my business trip.

My dad is going to teach me his system that he uses for investments. He’s done quite well for himself, so it should be useful.

Oliver is occupying my lap and Bella doesn’t like it. Got my lazy butt into the shower.

One of my irises has a bud. How exciting! I have a headache but need to get going. Back from the library. I was able to check out The Economist as well as The Economist’s Guide to Financial Markets. I could save a ton of money in retirement by using the library more fully.

Ow, my fingers hurt. Ow. Only one of the mower batteries seems to be working, but I got most of the front yard done.

Fed us all. I'm feeling really tired, so I'm thinking of going to sleep early.

Crossposts: https://days-unfolding.livejournal.com/983905.html

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A Productive Day at Home

Woke up at 1 PM. Yikes.

I heard Mimi thumping around, and at first, I thought that she was going after Zara, and I told her to cut it out. Then I looked, and she had a bandaid that had fallen off of my hand. She was tossing it in the air and playing with it. I took it away from her in case she might swallow it. This place is full of cat toys that she could play with.

Mower guy came by. He asked if he should wait to mow my lawn, and I said "Yes" because it looked pretty good. He said that he would come by later in the week.

Just heard thunder. The forecasters are predicting "on and off storms" this afternoon. Works for me. I'm staying at home. And here comes the rain.

Logged on briefly to print the recipe for my veggie lasagna off (need to find the notebook that I keep recipes in) and hastily got off because of the storm. I have the laptop plugged into a surge protector, but still, my mom's computer fried during a storm, so I'm paranoid.

Now I'm trying to get up the energy to make the lasagna. It's kind of a fiddly process in which you cook the mushrooms, spinach, tomato sauce, etc., and then assemble the lasagna. Need to bite the bullet and do it.

The lasagna is cooking in the slow cooker. I have to remember that my mind tells me that things will take more effort than they will take. That's a good topic for an article for my blog-to-be.

I think that it's nap time. Dozed for an hour.

Had a bite to eat. Got a load of laundry going. Started tackling the papers in the kitchen. Need to get them thrown out or filed away. Got my Google Home up and running again.

The lasagna is as good as usual.

I've made a lot of progress on my papers.

I'm playing around with a "where's my best place to retire?" Web site. You enter criteria, and it'll spit out suggestions. When I choose the West Coast, my top choice is Eugene, OR, which already is high on my list. East Coast, the top choice is the DC-metro area including Maryland, which is on my list. Now I just tried a cross-country search with no population requirements, and the top choice was...Seattle. (The rest of the choices were places in which I have no interest.)

Renewed AARP. They force you to auto-renew if you choose a one-year membership, which I really don't like. That reminds me, though, to contact AT&T and see if I can get an AARP discount on my cell phone.

Got my new Capital One debit card activated. The instructions that they sent me didn't match what I had to do to activate it. Grrr.

Changed my address with Hawaii Magazine, but need to wait until the address updates to renew.

Put my laundry on the drying rack.

Looked at the 30-day blog challenge that I signed up for. It requires creating a site on bluehost, which works for me because they're a good company, but they require a full years' hosting cost up front. Need to wait until next month.

Spent a little time on my TESOL class. I need to set up ID verification, and I'll wait until tomorrow to do that.

Crossposts: https://days-unfolding.livejournal.com/976045.html

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Entropy Day

Woke up at 9 AM. I could have slept longer too. I should have caught up on my sleep with 11 hours though.

The lawn mowing guy picked up the money for this month.

Put away clean clothes from the drying rack and put new wet clothes on it. The only down side to the drying rack is having it in the middle of my kitchen.

Well, hell. Apparently one of my car's tires was flat, and I didn't notice, and the tire fell apart. The other library worker offered to change the tire, but he couldn't get the tire off, which made me feel better because I can't get tires off. I called Roadside Assistance and got the spare put on, but I can't afford to replace the tire until next month. I guess that I'll walk to work if it isn't raining. Am I weird that I kind of enjoy the problem solving when there's a problem? Maybe it's residual project management skills bubbling up.

I bought Trevor Noah's book Born a Crime for the library. It looks fascinating. There are a bunch of books that I bought that I want to check out, but I didn't buy them for myself, honest.

My phone and work laptop have been acting weird also. I guess that it's entropy day.

I've been looking at used entertainment centers, although I won't be able to afford one for at least a couple of months. I have one that I got from Ikea, but one of the drawers has fallen apart. I want a big old wooden tank of an entertainment center that would be able to handle moving. My old Ikea dresser fell apart after one too many moves as well, and I replaced it with a big old used wooden dresser that won't self-destruct.

I went and got a backpack out of storage to use when I walk to work.

I'm continually amazed at how fast my clothes dry on the drying rack. That's an easy way to save money. I also bumped up the thermostat a little. If I was really trying to be super-frugal, I'd turn the a/c off, but I don't want to go there.

I think that I'll do a few chores, pack my lunch, and then crash. I need to get going early if I'm going to walk.

Crossposts: https://days-unfolding.livejournal.com/975553.html

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Chop Chop

Woke up a little after my alarm at 9 AM. I get to go to work a little later because another worker is subbing for the usual front desk worker, and she's working until 1 PM.

I was in the bathroom, and Mimi was right outside the door meowing. Sheesh Mimi. I promise that I will come out.

I'd like to take a nap, but I'm trying to connect with the mower guy to pay him for this month. I should do food prep.

Went to get the clothes out of the dryer, and they were still wet. Did I forget to turn the dryer on? So I set up the drying rack. I don't have enough room to put underwear on the rack, so I'll need to hang it up on the shower rod after my shower.

Cut up the sweet potato. Tried to cube it, but I gave up and used the food processor, so it's more shredded. Some time, I'll learn how to use the food processor to slice. I'm hoping to get the tomato, garlic, and onion sliced over dinner.

The mower guy never showed up.

I like the Pride Google Doodle.

I'll be damned. The clothes are indeed drying even though it's humid. I flipped the clothes over when I was home for dinner.

New "bucket list" item: a bike tour of Britain's Lake District. They have electric bikes because the area is so hilly.

Budget Bytes has some interesting recipes.

The girls are batting at each other through the clothes that I have on the drying rack. Goofs :)

I made some pesto tortellini because it's quick and easy. Then I started chopping veggies for the veggie burritos. I don't think that I'll have them often because it's a lot of work, even with a food processor. I want to get everything chopped so that all I have to do is cook them tomorrow.

Finished chopping and cleaned up after the carnage. I'm going to put away the dried clothes tomorrow morning.

Crossposts: https://days-unfolding.livejournal.com/966749.html

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Done with the Big Pile of Boxes in the Kitchen!

I fed the girls Harlee's old food. Zara's having a hunger strike, but Mimi polished it off. So I guess that I'll feed it to Mimi and give Zara other food. I have to see whether they'll eat salmon food too.

Read most of the lawn care business book, but I think that dog poop is the way to go. LOL.

Woke up a little after 10 AM. Not sure where Mimi is, but Zara is taking advantage of Mimi's absence by jumping on my lap several times for snuggles.

Mimi had been dozing on the bed, but she got up and took my chair again. I only live here.

I got on a roll with boxes and finished the one that I started last night plus two more, and one was big. Pleased with myself. I think that it's time for lunch.

Ran into my neighbor. She was unhappy about the grass thrown by the mower onto her mobile home. Told the mower, and he was pissed. Another reason to mow my own lawn.

Ate lunch and lay down for a nap, but couldn't sleep.

Dug out the jeans on which I got indelible marker and an old t-shirt for cleaning later. Took a shower and shaved my furry legs because it'll be shorts time before we know it. (Although my clock with a thermometer says the it's 68 F in here. It feels warmer.)

Switched gears and put together a bookcase in the TV room. Got the stereo out of the closet and put it on the bookshelf. It turns on, although I didn't play a CD. Put the vacuum cleaner, steam mop, and some buckets in the closet. Scrubbed a litter box. Started another box, but I need a break. Uh-oh, now Zara's on my lap.

I'm running out of steam, although I don't want to because I'm making serious progress. I'm going to have a bite to eat.

Instant Zara. Just eat ice cream. I'm probably encouraging her making a nuisance of herself because I let her lick the spoon when I'm done. Of course, she wants ALL the ice cream. Good luck with that, Zara.

Finished another box. Put the rags in under bed boxes and stashed them under the futon in the TV room. (Have to be creative with space here.) Got the kitchen floor picked up, so that all I need to do later is sweep and mop.

Talked to Mom. She's doing okay. She's going out of town tomorrow to visit a friend.

I might never be able to put cookbooks on the small bookshelf in the kitchen. The girls like to lie on the shelves

I wanted to finish cleaning the kitchen tonight, but I'm running out of steam. I'm going to eat after the girls finish eating, go to sleep, and get up early. I'm going in late tomorrow because we're open until midnight for the big day before finals bash.