days_unfolding

Woke up eightish. Had a kitty squabble because both Mimi and Zara were peering at me from the doorway, and they were too close.

Mimi thinks that it's a work day because I woke up at the usual time, fed them, and I was sitting in the office posting to LJ. She's settled on my lap. I need to go eat breakfast, so I see some disappointment happening.

I'm looking for a place to stay overnight when I'm in Chicago. I found a place with a "pod room" (basically a bed) and a shared bathroom. I think that's the best that I'm going to do without spending tons of money. It's on Michigan Avenue, and I think that there's a bus from there to the train station.

Tried to nap, but couldn't sleep. I'm trying to figure out what to do. I need to go to the store, but want to wait until later when it's less crowded. I could clean or do some weeding, but I'm not sure how hot it is out. (78 F. Not too bad.) Hmm. I was thinking that I need to go to the store earlier because I have nothing for dinner, but I could bake a potato in the microwave and have it with sour cream. That should hold me together. Maybe I'll leave a little earlier and get some boxes to go through, which reminds me that I should go through the ones that I have.

I had a bad case of the shakes, so I ate lunch. I know people who can go for hours without eating, but not me. Zara was highly interested, which I'm glad to see. She's been sleeping a lot, so I worry about her, but maybe it was because of the heat over the last few days. She seems more lively today.

cerezamarrero's post reminds me that I wanted to check out Madison as a possible retirement place (with snowbirding). Maybe that's the trip that I should take this fall. I checked their COVID stats, and they aren't too bad. Ugh, the housing prices are high though. I'd have to live in a condo, and I'd prefer a small house with a garden. They do have community gardens though. (That' s what I plan to do in Champaign.)

Went through a plastic drawer and found a good USB microphone on which you can plug headphones. I want to use it for singing and for presentations at work. Excellent. Now I' m going to do some Italian as a break. I've decided to do one paragraph of reading a day, looking up all the words that I don't know. Or maybe several paragraphs on the weekend?

I sent an article about a link between smoky air and COVID, and my dad sent me an email that could be summed up as "correlation isn't causation". Okay, I guess that I deserved that. But I wish that he'd get vaccinated.

Box#2. I found a picture of Harlee and Nima, and I put it near their urns. Also excellent. (And this is why I have to go through all the boxes.)

Hmm. I put on some shorts and a tee for cleaning and got my Bluetooth headphones to listen to an audiobook, and sat down for just one moment. Zara decided that she wanted lap time. I guess that I should thank her for the procrastination time. Studied Italian while Zara was climbing on me.

The baked potato was good. I found a recipe for making it in the microwave and topping it with butter, cheese, and sour cream. It was tasty. Zara was a little out of control because she wanted the toppings. I ate the whole thing, including the skins.

Somehow it got late, so I'm going to the storage place tomorrow.

Ran to the grocery store. And crud, I just realized that I forgot to get a pizza. I bought a pair of shorts that were on sale.

Got home right before my mom's call. I was stuffing my face with a croissant when my mom called. Apparently there was a big nasty storm there on Wednesday, and her cable is down so her landline is down. And mom is going crazy without TV. She thinks that I should definitely take the trip to Madison. I just need to figure out when. She's a little nervous about me walking around the Loop at night when I go up to Chicago for the concert. I've been having issues with static during the calls, and I think that the problem is that I didn't have WiFi calling turned on. We'll see how it goes next week. Oh, and she was thrilled to learn that you can "bake" potatoes in the microwave. She said that my schooling was worth every penny :)

Okay. I found a hotel in Madison that I like. I need to double check the drive, but I think that it's four hours? 3.5 hours.

Hmm, thinking of snowbirding, maybe I should get a condo in Orlando, and Airbnb it while I'm not there. I'd have to hire someone to manage it. But I could defray the cost of the place. Hmm. Just found the perfect place, right near Universal. Well, hmm. A lot of condos don't allow Airbnbs. I did see a house almost across the street from Universal, but it's kind of pricey.

Need to crash. I want to get up early to shave my legs in the shower before Italian.

Harlee got out of her room again when I came home for dinner. I think that I've stymied her. But I was talking to a friend at work, and she said that Harlee needed to check the new place that she's living out, and then she'll settle down. So I let her out when I came home. She ran around complaining for a while, and I told her that the neighbors didn't really want to hear what she had to say, but then she settled down. When I fed the girls, Harlee nosed Mimi aside and started to eat Mimi's food, and Mimi let her. Did Mimi get a total personality transplant while she was being boarded at the vet? I convinced Harlee to go back in her room and eat her own food. She's being quiet, so the jaunt around the house helped.

I went outside for a moment, and found Mimi eating Zara's food when I came back in, so maybe not a total personality transplant :)

Zara's having a great time climbing the kitchen shelves. I knew that she would. She's easy to satisfy.

I'm still tired. I'm working tomorrow to make up some time, although someone is coming here in the afternoon to read the water meter to transfer the water bill over to me. I'm going into work afterward.

I had planned to work Saturday too, but I think that it's more important to get my stuff out of the old place.

I've been buying comfort food. WalMart had some raspberry kolacky, which I bought, and it's very good. It makes me think of my late cat, Nima, who loved raspberry kolacky. Silly kitty :)

I had a bad case of the glums today (probably partially because of the weather). I needed to call back a recruiter, and was pleased that she wasn't at her desk so I didn't have to talk to her.

So I decided to take the evening off and see a movie. I went to see Babel. It's interesting and engrossing, but lacks something. In the movie, a series of bad decisions by several characters in different places turn to possible tragedy. The reviewer who said that she was "shaken, but not stirred" by the movie got it just right, IMO. Seeing all the different locales in the movie was fun.

So now I'm home again. Random and Harlee are sticking to their respective territories and not interacting with each other; Nima is a sort of roving ambassador who eats everyone's food. I'm appreciating the peace and quiet.

Tomorrow I'm planning to get cracking on stuff around here. I might stay home all day if I don't go stir-crazy.