days_unfolding

I did scan some really long songs to work on in my singing lessons. That should keep us for a while. I saw a condo in Champaign that I really like. But I won’t get a condo while the dogs are alive. Oliver and Lily will probably outlive them, and we three could move into a condo. Put the clothes in the dryer.

I forgot to mention that Gracie scratched a hole in the mattress. Damn dog. And she chews the comforter. I just bought a cheap “bed in a bag” that I won’t care about replacing.

Woke up at 9 AM. I’m having a leg cramp. Ow. Turned on the dryer.

I have two doctors’ appointments next week. I need to make an appointment for Zara to get some mats near her tail shaved, but I’ll wait until a less busy week.

I’m trying to psych myself up to get stuff done today. After a nap :) The dogs don’t want to come in. Sigh. Finally got the dogs in. Nap time after they finish eating and I feed Oliver and Zara. (Lily already ate.) I got Oliver out of Zara’s room, but he didn’t eat. I brought Zara her food—and Oliver busted in again. Gracie ate Zara’s food. I’ll try again after my nap, and will corral Oliver before feeding Zara.

Oliver was napping and didn’t want to come out. Watched a little of the pairs skating while I ate lunch. I had turned the dryer on before I ate, so I’m waiting for it to stop. (Peacock stopped broadcasting the skating.)

Bella is barking her head off at something. Gracie is barking too.

Hmm. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday all would be good days to go to the DMV and get the Honda’s registration renewed.

Showered. I think that I want to lie down for a little while, but at least, I’m clean. And yay, I can watch the ice skating later on NBC’s Olympics stream.

Napped. Let the dogs out, and they don’t want to come in. Started soaking clothes.

Oy vey. Oliver burst into Zara’s room again and smacked me in the head. I have to admit that I yelled at him. And Bella has stolen a cat food can.

I think that I’m going to go to bed early and get up early to jump-start the car. Watched some skating while I ate dinner. Got Oliver out of and Zara's food in Zara's room.

Oh, how stupid do people think that we are? I got a phishing email about a "Microsoft upgrade"--from an AOL email address. Right.

Overslept until 7:30 AM. Gracie did not want to come inside. I finally filled her bowl with breakfast and shook it, and she eventually came in.

I rescheduled my blood test for next week. I can’t cope with it this week. Now I can jump-start my car tonight and not have to get up early. I really want to nap over lunch, so I guess that I'll shower after work. Fed us all.

Someone (Bella?) is stealing the special unscented dish detergent that I got for the cats' dishes. One vanished, so I brought out the other one, and that vanished. She likes to hide things under the bed, so I need to get a broom to clean it out. I'm a little afraid as to what I'll find. And I need to get more and keep it under the sink. I bought a magnetic white board for the refrigerator to note down stuff for the next grocery order.

Ugh. I have a lot of work to get done but I'm soooooo tired. Well, one thing down.

Overslept my nap at lunchtime. I really conked out.

Oliver is being a "lover boy". This will last just a few minutes until he's off doing something else. Actually, he started digging his claws in and biting me, so I dumped him off of my lap.

Finally remembered to call to get my physical therapy for my knee set up. They're scheduled out to late February. My list of health care visits is scary. I have visits on 2/20, 2/23, 2/24, 3/2, two on 3/3, 3/9, 4/14, 4/23, 4/28, and 6/9. Sheesh. I know that you have more doctor's visits as you get older, but yikes.

This weekend is going to be a zoo. I need to catch up on work, plus I have an added incentive to work on the house. That reminds me to check on the status of the steam cleaner. Still sitting.

Blasted through some stuff at work. I still have a bunch to do, but it seems more manageable now.

Okay, I found a t-shirt that I want. It has pictures of Bach, Gluck, Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart with the caption "I listen to dead people".

I’m going to stay in my pajamas and deal with the car in the morning. If I get up early enough, I could have the Kia jump-started or get the Honda to the DMV. But I don’t want to go out now.

Spent some time talking to Zara and Lily. I told them that I know that Oliver is a little shit. But he’s MY little shit.

Ooooh. Costco has some interesting groceries. I should defrost my chest freezer and order some.

Crappity crap. Oliver jumped down from the ledge over the bedroom door onto my face, claws outstretched, and cut my lip. It’s bleeding a lot, but I don’t think that it needs stitches or anything like that. I’ll have to make sure that it doesn’t get infected. I told Oliver that I was unbelievably mad at him. The plus side is that I impressed him enough that he didn’t eat Lily’s food (though he tried). Damn cat.

All the critters are fed. I need to eat, but I’m waiting for my lip to stop bleeding to eat. Maybe I’ll post first. Well, it seems to have stopped, so I’ll make some food. I ordered some Neosporin (and some other stuff) rush delivery from Walmart. At least, I’ll get the unscented dish soap for the cat dishes that either Bella or Gracie is stealing too. I got the rest of my stuff, but when I canceled the first order because I used the wrong card and pressed "reorder," it didn't copy over the dish soap.

Anyway, I'm going to post, brush my teeth, put on some Neosporin, and go to bed.

Finished my book about Britain’s Royal Family. It’s a new book, and I learned some things about what has happened recently. It seemed like a balanced account, including a chapter about money.

Now to bed. Woke up at 7 AM. The dogs are back in. Oliver is loving me up because he wants food. Fed us all. Nap time.

Napped. Oliver is knocking stuff down and being annoying. I’m reading a decluttering book. The book is kicking my butt. Good.

It’s going to be freaking cold again tonight.

I found a recipe for Raspberry Lemon Bars in my Clean Eating cookbook. I want to make some to wean me off of larger desserts.

Started cleaning the kitchen. Go me. Now I’m taking a break because my grocery order is coming. Got the groceries inside. I think that I want to take a nap. Ordered two new cat collars with my number on them. I want some ID on Oliver and Lily.

I bought Bella a new crinkle chicken because she trashed the old one. I hadn’t taken it out of the package yet, but she knew that it was hers and took it out herself. She’s happy.

I seem to be talking myself into the weight-loss drugs. I need to find a gym though so that I won’t lose muscle. There’s one in Urbana that has personal training included. I looked into it and it’s open only until 7 PM. Not great. Personal training is $60 an hour. The Urbana Health and Wellness Center has free personal training and longer hours. And cheaper. I think that we have a winner. I need to get my gym clothes together this weekend.

Couldn’t sleep. Good. I’m caught up on my sleep.

An article on Facebook recommended Lynchburg, VA for reasonable housing prices. And you can take the train up and down the East Coast from there. Liberty University is there though on the down side. Still, I should check the place out.

Back to cleaning the kitchen. Gracie is getting in the way, sigh. Cleaning is hard enough without getting blocked.

Ordered an electric kettle and mug warmer on Mercari so that I can drink more tea to get water in me. I’ll have to check out my tea collection. Need to order more herb tea (ordered mint, hibiscus, and passion fruit teas).

I landed on the edge of my chair and it tipped over. I fell on the floor. Both dogs climbed on me and started licking my face. Bella bonked my hand with her snout. I said, “Really? I fell on the floor and you want me to pet you?” Sheesh. They made it hard to get up.

Yaaaaay. I’m getting my last payment for the app that I canceled back. Persistence pays off.

I was Web surfing and wound up at the Web site of India Hicks. She’s a designer who was a bridesmaid at Princess Diana’s wedding. She has some tablecloths that I like, but sheesh, expensive. And I don’t know when I’d use a tablecloth anyway. Maybe I could use it as a bribe for getting the place together? I like that. I found a palm tree pendant of hers on eBay that wasn’t too expensive, and I liked it, so I bought it and a gold-colored chain to go with it. She has some nice scarves, but I already have a ton of scarves from Mom.

Fed us all. It’s gotten late. (I’ve changed my internal clock because 7:45 is now “late”.) I have some stuff to do online and then I’ll go to bed.

I looked into Moody's for stock sector analysis, but they didn't have what I wanted. It turned out Yahoo! Finance does have what I want, and it's free. I need to start researching stocks for my self-managed fund, but I think that I'll save it for during the week when I'm too tired to clean. (That means that I'll spend all day on a computer, but that can't be helped.)

Woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn’t fall back asleep, so it’s not going to be a representative night for the sleep study. Nothing I can do though.

My throat hurts.

Ugh. Oliver ran into Zara’s room and Lily is in the basement. Okay, they came out. Fed us all.

Went back to sleep, this time with the dogs, and slept until 10 AM. Hmm. I’m not feeling like going shopping today. Maybe tomorrow? Or could I have stuff delivered? Placed a delivery order for tomorrow with the lentil soup stuff.

It was snowing when I let the dogs in.

Booked my flights for the "Orient Express" trip. I’m flying through London on the way back. Too bad I can’t stop there, but the trip is long as it is. Emailed the travel agent to see if I can pay for the trip now. I'd like to have it all paid for.

Crap. My car was issued a ticket for having an invalid registration, so I need to go to the DMV. I think that they open at 8 on Monday.

I’m trying to figure out what to do for a half-hour. Then I need to get into the shower. No, I just canceled my singing lesson due to my cough. So I’ll go lie down.

Bella has her chicken toy. I told her that’s okay; that’s a dog toy, but I think that she’s not sure what is and isn’t a toy. It all looks like toys to her!

Snow tonight. Lovely.

Ate an orange. Maybe it’ll help my cough.

I bought a hook from Home Depot for my purse. And a fruit basket from Amazon.

I was looking at cruises to Bermuda, which I want to be my next cruise, but only the luxury lines have their 2027 cruises up.

My dad says that I should skip lunch to lose weight. Hmm. That’s kind of a form of intermittent fasting, but most people skip breakfast, not lunch. But I can’t skip breakfast because I take meds that have to be taken with food. So lunch it is.

Went through the sleet to return my sleep study equipment. Made it, but one of my windshield wipers popped off when I was coming back. Sigh. I might need to have the Kia jump-started tomorrow.

I made a payment for the Orient Express trip using Zelle, but I can make only $3500 at a time.

I added the ingredients for Overnight Oats to my grocery order. (My dad is encouraging me to get the kitchen together and cook.) I'm going to go to sleep soon and get up early to hit the kitchen hard.

Bella and Gracie got the chicken toy out of its wrapper and are fighting over it! I'm glad that they will have a Merry Christmas!

The dogs decimated the cat feather wand toys. Sigh. I need to go to PetSmart to get more. I checked Amazon, but they will get here the day that I leave. I ordered some toys for delivery from PetSmart.

Uhhh. No buses on Christmas Eve. I'd have to leave on the 23rd, and get up early to drop the pets off the same day. But I'd need to book the hotel for one more day. I decided that was too complicated, and I'll deal with that in the morning. No, I got it straightened out. I can work on my printables in the hotel. Plus, I got a room with a runway view at the Hilton O'Hare. There are restaurants there, so I can eat. I might pack some food too.

Got up a little after 7 AM. Nothing like a cold, wet dog nose in the middle of your back to get you up. Gracie’s good :) Bella stole Gracie’s donut. Little snot. I’m going back to sleep for a while. Dozed lightly. Oliver was in the room, and he went next to my face, purring. I had to move my head in order to breathe!

I need to pick up Christmas wrapping paper for the "White Elephant" gift exchange at work on Friday. Maybe I'll go to Dollar Tree and see if they have a gift bag and tissue paper.

I'm thinking that I want to go back to Firenze (Florence) to see the Uffizi Gallery (I missed it when I was sick on the tour), the Arno, Michelangelo's tomb, and some other sites. I'd also want Italian lessons. But it won't be next year.

Crud. I need new printer cartridges too (910). Need to go to Walmart. Oh! I can't go to the post office tonight because I have piano class! Have to go tomorrow. Maybe I'll go to the post office to mail my dad's card, and Walmart is across the street.

Hmm. Someone on Facebook mentioned an apartment complex (Elements on Main) that's pet friendly, not too expensive, and close to the hospital and shopping. That might be an idea for when I get older and can't cope with the house. It has an elevator too and covered parking. They have two bedroom apartments.

Hmm. It just occurred to me that I could take the "L" into downtown Chicago on Christmas Eve to look at the shop windows. (I'll be at the hotel at O'Hare.)

I do need another sleep study. They're going to contact me about a home sleep apnea test. They did, and it's on January 9th. I'll have to return the equipment the next day.

Ugh. Arthritis-y. I can't come up with a pattern for when it's worse. Changes in weather? It's warming up.

I think that I’m going to stay home tonight. I need to let the dogs out and feed the critters and myself after class. Plus I got the new travel laptop, so I need to set it up. I’ll go to the post office tomorrow.

Piano class went well. I have problems coordinating both hands at the same time. One song was driving me crazy, but when I went back to it to play for the teacher, it went okay.

That jerk Oliver ran into Zara’s room when I brought her food and water. But that solves a problem what to do with him when I bring the recycling out.

Fed us all. Started a load of laundry. Got the recycling out.

I looked into replacement keys for my "home" laptop, and it looks like I'd have to replace the whole bottom of the laptop. I might have a tech do that then.

I really want to go to sleep, but I want to finish my load of laundry first. I guess that I'll post and do some Christmas cards and packaging stuff up while I wait.

Ugh. 0F/-18C. I’m bringing out an extra blanket. (My house is old and a little drafty.)

Woke up at 6 AM. I’m fighting the urge to go back to sleep. I need to drop off the fecal samples at the vet.

Hmm. The fecal sample from Zara seems old. I guess that I’ll wait until lunchtime to see if she produces another one. So I can go back to sleep. Got the dogs in. Now I’ll nap. Napped and overslept. Squeezed a shower in.

My eyes are stinging for some reason. I'd go out sick for work, but I'm "on call" for tickets and don't want to dump work on my backup.

Approved the quote from the electrician for the garage. I'm going to be broke very soon. They are going to do the work on January 7th.

Tears were rolling down from my eyes while I was at the computer, so I don’t want to try to drive. I’m going to lie down for a while. Overslept my nap, but my eyes feel better.

I'm switching to winter mode. It's 24 F/-4C, and I caught myself thinking, "Hey, it's warm!" (Well, compared to last night anyway.)

Enrolled in Long-Term Care. I could afford only $50,000 worth of coverage, but that's $50,000 more than I currently have.

Got Gracie in finally. Fed the beasties.

On Facebook, there was a video with half-dressed male firefighters carrying rescue dogs. Something for everyone:)

My eyelids were bright red. I guess that’s why my eyes were stinging.

My singing lesson went well. My voice is sounding a lot better. I’m feeling fairly comfortable with my solo. I found pointing at the notes on the “hard” song helps a lot.

I couldn’t have gotten to the vet at lunchtime anyway. There was a water main break and the road was blocked off.

I don’t feel like starting anything new now, so I think that I’ll go to bed soon.

It looks like I'll be singing "Carol of the Bells" solo in choir. I need to scramble to practice it.

I did wake up at 4 AM. Ate breakfast, but I want to go back to bed. Got up at 7:45. I decided not to take a shower because I need to stay awake at lunchtime because we have a presentation in the afternoon.

Work is kind of a zoo with people changing last-minute stuff on the presentation. My boss said that it's "a miracle" that everything comes together.

I'm feeling arthritis-y.

I haven't heard from my pet sitter, so I think that I'm going to ask if the boarding place can take Zara and Lily too. Then I also won't have to finish cleaning, although I'd like to have the place neat before I go so that I don't come back to a mess. This actually sounds like a better plan (though Zara and Lily won't be happy).

The presentation went well. I contributed a picture of Gracie for our question slide, and people said that she was cute. Speaking of which, I was able to successfully shut all the critters out of my home office during the presentation!

Choir rehearsal went well and was kind of fun. Fed us all when I got home. I'm freaking tired.

Crud. I forgot to renew my car registration. I’ll need to get up early one day next week and go to the DMV.

I think that I found a Halloween decoration that I want—an animated singing skeleton. I’ll sleep on it, but I think that I want it. And maybe I could put out a Bluetooth speaker and play wails. And maybe wear a witch costume? And “park” some witches’ brooms?

I wound up staying up late messing around on the Internet. I had some problems falling asleep because I hurt. Woke up at 10:30 AM.

I’m telling Bella that I can pet Gracie if I want. She says, “No. I was your first dog. I deserve all the pets!” Gracie likes the new Milkbones.

It’s been a three-ring circus here, but I fed us all. Nap time.

Had a nice nap. Ate lunch. Got my groceries so I brought some in.

Checked the refill on some of my meds and it’ll be on November 4th.

Showered. I have a big, ugly bruise on my left knee from the fall yesterday. I think that I’m going to work upstairs until my hair dries. Then I’ll clean off the porch. Started laundry. My stomach is upset, so I’m going to lie down for a little while. Slept for three hours. I feel shaky. And I have IBS symptoms.

Got the front stairs mostly cleaned off. There are a few big boxes that I need to get tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that I finished the Cary Grant book a few days ago. I want to see To Catch a Thief, Indiscreet, and Bringing Up Baby.

Fed us all. Put away some stuff I bought. Started reading a bio of Rock Hudson. I think that I’ll go back to sleep. I’m going to sleep in my clothes so that I can get up and just do stuff.

Crap crap crap. I saw that it's supposed to go below freezing tonight, so I brought in the rosemary and Italian parsley--and Oliver got out. I tried opening the front door, and he came on the porch, and I was able to touch him but couldn't grab him, and he ran back down the stairs. I hope that he doesn't freeze his little butt off.

Now I am going to bed after I pay my car registration. (I realized that the registration was for the car that I'm not driving now, so I can get it by mail.)

I ordered two more pairs of cheap Zenni glasses for inside the house.

Overslept and woke up at 8:30 AM. I'll shower at lunch time.

The joint is jumping at work. I'm not going to be able to take a shower at lunch time, so I'll jump in after work. (I have a singing lesson tonight.)

Ate lunch and fed the critters. Now I'm in a Zoom meeting.

Someone needed a space heater on Buy Nothing, so I'm giving away one of mine. Every little bit helps....I'll put it on my porch on Saturday, which should also provide incentive to clean up the porch!

While I was outside with Bella and Gracie, I tripped and fell down hard on my knee, and I want to lie down with it up. I have a lot to get done at work, though, so I’ll log on later tonight or tomorrow. Living down with a pillow underneath it felt good.

People keep recommending to use pine horse bedding pellets as cat litter because it’s cheap. I’ll try that after I get back from my trip. We have lots of litter boxes!

Had my singing lesson. We worked on some of the possible solo parts. The fall also banged up my neck and shoulder, and you could hear it in my singing. I need to practice the the solo more. Oh, and I forgot that my teacher lives in New Orleans! Cool!

I didn’t get candy for Halloween because 1) I got only a couple of Trick or Treaters last year, 2) I don’t know how I’d manage Bella, Gracie, and Oliver, and 3) there’s junk on my porch. I left the front and porch lights off. Maybe next year. Hmm, I could get Halloween decorations cheap after the holiday?

Fed us all. Submitted a Walmart order. Everything that hit the ground today hurts, so I took some acetaminophen and will use some Aspercreme and will go to sleep to rest my battered body soon.

For some reason, I was remembering that my mom’s friends Art and Pete dared me to eat a Gaines Burger (in the 60s and 70s, it was a moist dog food shaped like a hamburger patty). And I ate it!

I saw a Facebook post about someone wanting to be a “grocery buddy”. One of the people responding said that she had cancer and a 15-year-old son and her husband left for Tennessee. I’m wondering if I should help her. I also found the address of a local Little Free Pantry. Damn government shutdown.

Overslept and woke up at 8:30 AM. I really want to take a nap at lunch, but I have a meeting at which I'm taking minutes after lunch, so I'll take my shower instead. (I worry about oversleeping my nap.) Maybe I could nap after work.

My shower was attended by Oliver, Lily, Bella, and Gracie, so it was a full house. Gracie sniffed my butt right before I got into the shower. Dogs gotta dog.

I had non-stop meetings, so I didn't get a chance to contact the garage guy about the garage door.

My glasses fell out of my pocket and Gracie destroyed them. Again. I guess that I need to get really cheap glasses (no Transition lenses) for inside the house. That way, if Gracie destroys them, it won’t cost me megabucks. I can wear more expensive glasses outside. I ordered a pair of really cheap glasses for inside (plus I had points, so most of the cost was expedited shipping) plus a pair of “outside” glasses. I wanted to get two pairs of the cheap glasses, but they didn’t have a way to do that! I’ll order another pair later. Now it’s nap time.

Crashed out hard and slept for three hours. The dogs crashed out too. Usually they stir when I wake up, but I shut off the alarm and looked at my phone, and they didn’t stir until I sat all the way up.

My left arm really hurts. I think that it's tendinitis. I thought about going to the doctor, but I've had it before, and they'll just tell me not to use it and to take over-the-counter pain meds. I did find some Aspercreme that doesn't have a child-proof cap, and that seems to help a little.

Fed us all. (Oliver says, "About time!") Now I'm going back to bed.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the garage door won't lock. Sigh. I need to call the garage guy about it. Right now, the garage is empty, but it's annoying that the wind opens the door.

I was unable to get the child-proof (make that adult-proof) cap on the Icy Hot off. They know that people with arthritis might use it, so why do they make it so hard to open? So I did without. It took me a while to fall asleep because my arm hurt.

Woke up with my alarm at 8 AM. Dozed for about 15 minutes.

I want to nap over lunch, so I'll take my shower after work.

Ordered a bunch of dog treats. I need the bribe for Bella to come in! I'll need to get more for Gracie after the fence is put up!

Yay, I got my slides done at work. Now I’m off until Thursday.

I’m looking for another eye cream because the one that I’ve been using is freaking expensive. I’m trying Rodan and Fields, which still isn’t cheap but is cheaper. If I like it, maybe I’ll try their moisturizer.

Home Depot has a really cushy chair with an ottoman that I kind of like for the library/music room. And they have a really cushy-looking mattress. I’ll have to check them out. I saw a Beautyrest mattress in the Beautyrest online store that I like, but I'll need to check their return policy if I buy it online. I think that a new mattress will be my Christmas present to myself. I like plush mattresses, and my mom’s mattress is very firm.

Fed us all. Now I’m gathering the garbage but taking breaks because I’m tired. Done. It's raining. Got some stuff off of the porch. Now I'll post, feed the beasts again, and go to sleep.

I woke up at 6, hit Snooze for a while until Gracie thought that was enough, and took the dogs out. I decided to go back to sleep for a while. Woke up at 7:45. Checked my calendar, and I have meetings before and after lunch, so I need to take my shower now.

I asked my boss if I could take Wednesday off because I have a hair appointment in the afternoon, and she said, "Yes".

Things are heating up at work. I hope that I get everything done. Somehow I wound up with the most slides for a Zoom meeting that we're having next week.

I was NOT amused that someone (probably Gracie) chewed through the strap of my purse! I knotted it up and left, but I'll need a new purse.

Choir went well. I stayed late to try out for a solo part. There were two people who were really, really good, so they should get parts. As for me, I'll see.

I decided that I needed Ben Gay or equivalent more than I needed my smoothie, so I went straight to the grocery store after choir. I got Icy Hot with lidocaine, which should cover all the bases. My arm is driving me crazy. The result of the massage didn't last long. I also decided that I wanted bagels for breakfast. I might get the smoothie on Wednesday, when I'll be off.

I'm feeling stronger though than I did last week. Nothing from the doctor, although someone called from her office on Friday but didn't leave a message.

Anyway, I need to feed the beasts and crash.

I forgot to put my hearing aids on. With it, I’m not. Dropped off the car to be fixed. I've heard that it's not a great place to buy a car, but they have a slick, well-organized operation in their service department.

It's COLD today (38F/3C this morning). I was toasty last night under the comforters though.

My neck is killing me. I was going to skip my massage until after my cruise, but maybe I need to squeeze it in. Okay, I booked for Saturday at 4:30. I'm wondering if I need to consult with a chiropractor.

The car is ready but I’m waiting until after my 1:00 meeting to pick it up. I'll go get it at 4 PM (done).

I'm a little nervous about our in-person meetings tomorrow and Wednesday. I'll be glad when they're over. I'm doing a last-minute survey and some notes for one and a presentation for the other. Must remember my hearing aids!

Gracie cracks me up. I was going "SSSSSSSSHHH," and she cocked her head like, "What is that noise?" Now I know how to shut her up :)

There was an accident right outside at the intersection. The people involved are okay, but the cars aren't. I heard it upstairs. My neighbor said that's because we have a "Yield" sign rather than a "Stop" sign.

The retirement place at which I was looking is indeed REALLY expensive. I found one in Bloomington that's more reasonable, but I'd really like to stay in Champaign-Urbana. There is one in Savoy (south of Champaign) that is worth checking out.

My hearing aids were dead as a doornail (how did that phrase come about?), so I told my choir director that I was staying home. That also will make it easier to get my things together for tomorrow and to sleep early.

And my glasses are missing again! I think that I need some of those dorky glasses chains to keep them on me. Found the glasses. They fell out of my pocket.

Fed us all and took the dogs out. Checked the weather to decide what to wear tomorrow. It’ll be cool.

I’m trying the “Coffee Meets Bagel” dating site for a hoot. I don’t expect much from it.

Ugh. The "work all hours" culture is back in Silicon Valley. They're calling it "996," a demanding 72-hour workweek, working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. But I used to work longer hours than that. I remember working every day for a month. I'm glad that I left that behind.

I've got my clothes for tomorrow in the wash. When they're done, I'll go to sleep, although I also need to pack up my work laptop for tomorrow.

Hmm. I saw an ad for gardeners that do weeding. I wonder how much they'd charge to get the brush by the side of the garage cleaned up.

Got up at 7:30 AM. Got the dogs out and showered.

Picked up my hearing aids at Costco. Everything sounds loud. Hearing aid technology has improved since I last had them though. The hearing aid guys told me to go walk around at first--I think that the guy who fits hearing aids wasn't there--so I walked around and saw a TV that I like for the living room (once I get it organized).

My ears are itching, but I want to keep the hearing aids on to get used to them.

Lily is snoozing while waiting for me to feed her. She’s so cute.

Shit shit shit shit. My glasses are missing. I don’t see them in the usual dog places though. And I looked for another pair of new Zenni glasses but didn’t find them either. Shit.

I took the hearing aids out. My ears were itching like crazy. I put them to charge (I don't have to buy batteries!) in the small bathroom and shut the door so that the cats don't play with the hearing aids. I think that it's better than putting them in my bedroom because the dogs sleep there, and I could just see one of them gulping one down.

Fuck. I took the dogs out. A dog walked by while we were sitting on the bench, and Gracie pulled me down, and I got a splinter under my thumbnail from the bench. I've had it. I want to go to sleep and hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

I woke up an hour after my alarm went off. I wasn’t going to take a nap this morning, but I think that I want one after I feed us. Okay, we’re all fed except for Oliver, who is refusing to come up from the basement.

Ate lunch. Fed Oliver. I’m still feeling tired, so I need to lie back down for a while (done).

I can’t find my scissors. And I’m feeling boiling hot (76F/24C). I guess that I’ll shower and put cooler clothes on. Actually, I think that I’ll just put on clothes from yesterday. No point in showering to clean my kitchen.

I’m cleaning the kitchen floor. My toes are hurting when I bend over. Fed us all.

Re-read Dominick Dunne's article about the trial of his daughter's killer. I don't remember how that came up.

My knee and back hurts, so I'm going to lie down and get up early.

Shit shit shit. Oliver got out and ran under the porch, where I can’t get him. I guess that he’s going to spend the night outside. I hope that he’ll come in when he’s hungry.

I’m achy and feel like crying.

Gracie woke me up at 7:30 AM. I took the dogs out, and no sign of Oliver. Bella got stuck under the porch, so I brought Gracie in and got her out. I opened the door to get some soda, and Oliver came in! Gracie jumped on him though. I got scratched trying to get Gracie off of him. He ran upstairs. But at least, he’s home. Whew.

Gracie is nonstop barking at Oliver. She’s giving me a headache.

Fed us all. Nap time. I think that Oliver is upstairs sleeping. He might have had a rough night. No, he’s napping on top of the refrigerator.

The arthritis in my toes and fingers is bothering me. Getting old kind of sucks.

Had lunch. I’m taking nap #2. Put my linen pants and top in the dryer to dewrinkle. Scanned another song and sent them to my singing teacher.

Gracie is barking at Oliver again. Sigh.

Showered and got myself together. Fed us all. Now I’m at the theater for the symphony concert. The concert was all right. None of it was music that I’d want to hear again. I got drowsy during the third piece, but I think that was because I was dehydrated.

Stopped at the grocery store on the way back. I wanted hot dogs to use as rewards for Bella and Gracie. I also picked up some bread and cake. Ate some of the bread and cake. Now I’ll post and feed the cats and Gracie.

Oliver is now showing zero interest in going outside. Yay.

I’m glad that I work for the State of Illinois and not the federal government.

Oliver is trying to school Gracie by smacking her. She seems unimpressed. Sigh. The dogs were on the bed, as was I, and Oliver wanted to come over to me. Gracie chased him out of the room.

Woke up 20 minutes late.

Ack. I have a CT scan appointment on Friday, so I rescheduled my car appointment for the Honda. I need to get the Kia's battery jump-started.

Had my dental appointment. I knew that part of it was the rest of the cleaning, but I knew that there was "something else," which turned out to be a CT scan. No big deal. They're filling out the paperwork for preauthorization for my implant.

I got my trip to see my dad next May okayed with my boss and Dad. I want to book the flights early because it'll be over the Memorial Day holiday (done). I chose Economy Plus and Priority Boarding because the older that I get, the less that I want to deal with the hassles of traveling.

I'm going to try Misfits Market for groceries. It's supposed to be a lot cheaper than most grocery stores.

I’m ordering a poke bowl on DoorDash. I got one DoorDash order, but the other one seems to be stuck? After putting me off for a while, they said that there was a problem with my Dasher, and do I want to reorder or cancel? I reordered because I was hungry. This time, the food made it to me quickly. And it was worth the wait. (I did lose around an hour’s time though.) I’d like to figure out how to make poke bowls myself. The question is where I’d get the tuna, but there is a large Asian market nearby that might have sushi-grade tuna. Worth a visit, anyway. Hmm, and where is my rice cooker? It has spoiled me for Minute Rice.

I checked the Social Security Web site (after consulting with my dad) and I'll be eligible for Social Security and Medicare (when I turn 65). I'm not sure how my pension will affect Social Security though.

Lily is eating the leftover rice grains from my poke bowl. Fed us all (and not rice for the critters). My back really hurts, so I want to stretch out and go to bed soon.

Woke up a little after 7 AM and fell back asleep until 8:30. The dogs are wrestling on the bed.

“Storms continuing though 3 PM.” Okay, it’s an inside day. While I was out with the dogs, it started raining pretty hard, so I brought them in. They don’t usually do their business in the rain. Here comes a full-blown thunderstorm.

Gracie is upset that Oliver won’t play with her. She’s emitting ear-piercing barks.

I got intrigued with Coldplay due to the kiss-cam brouhaha. I discovered that I like their music. I gather that makes me uncool, but I don’t care. Bought a couple of albums.

The Dynamic Duo are wrestling. I might need to kick one of them out. I bought them some tug-of war ropes and a Kong toy, but they prefer to play tug with random things. Bella has a plastic bottle that she’s ripping apart, and Gracie wants it.

Napped. Woke up after an hour but went back to sleep for another hour.

Someone on Facebook suggested putting affirmations in a digital photo frame. I asked ChatGPT to create some for anxiety and stress, but it put them all in one graphic, which isn’t what I wanted, but I’ll work with them later. I should look for digital photo frames on Mercari (done). I also want one about getting things done for the kitchen.

Oliver wants some food, but I told him that it was too early to feed him. He’s cuddling next to me. Had lunch. I’m going to take another short nap.

More thunderstorms are coming. I might not get out today.

I ordered some more pairs of underwear and socks for my trip. One thing that I need to do after I shower is to try clothes on and pack. I need to make a list of stuff to buy.

Showered. I’m trying to decide what to do. I need to try on clothes and to feed the critters, but it’s not supposed to rain for the next two hours. On the other hand, no rain on Monday.

Tried on clothes. I like the blue striped linen dress and the black striped shirtdress. They were both a little wrinkled, so I put them in the dryer. The blue dress is still wrinkled, so I need to try out my clothes presser. Bought ballet flats to go with them. I also had a Columbia dress that was very cool (temperature-wise), so I looked for another one. One of my Chico's dresses is missing. I know that I got it, so it's here someplace.

Fed us all and took the dogs out. Gracie somehow got her leash off--her collar was still on--and she went through the gap in the fence and took off down the street. I couldn't figure out where she went, but she came back to see Bella, so I ran over and put the leash on her. When I was getting her in the yard, it was Bella's turn to take off. She came back though, and I let her in the yard. Yikes. The collars with AirTags and my phone number can't come too soon.

I checked out goop because Coldplay --> Gwyneth Paltrow --> goop. I was surprised that I found some blush and reef-safe sunscreen that I liked. The prices were similar to those for high-end makeup.

Bought a strapless bra from Underoutfit because some of the dresses have narrow straps. I also bought some "cooling thigh protectors".

My tooth is hurting. I think that I want to go to bed and get up early. I'm feeling cranky. Actually, I should do an hour of work on the kitchen and then go to sleep.

The Guardian had an article about cohousing developments, developments that have separate units but also a communal house. Many of them are intentionally multigenerational. That intrigues me. Madison has a few of them. So does Asheville. Portland (Oregon) and Seattle seem to be the nexus of them (not surprised). There is one in Bloomington, IL.

Facebook has its uses. I read a post about Grazia Deledda, a writer from Sardinia who won the Nobel Prize for literature. I’ll read her books on my trip.

Woke up at 7 AM. It’s a dark and rainy day, so I decided to go back to sleep for a little while and take my shower at lunchtime. I overslept work by a half-hour, sigh.

I'm caught up on my project for work. So, yay.

Bella and Gracie were cracking me up. I let Gracie run around the back yard with her leash trailing behind her so that I can grab her if she moves into the front yard, where there's a gap in the fence. She and Bella were playing tug-of-war with the leash. I need to get another leash to use when I actually take her somewhere because this one is getting grotty.

Had my therapy appointment. My therapist was glad that I’m going to take better care of myself. I vented about work to her. She said that I was doing everything that I could do to manage the work situation.

I’m feeling exhausted and am having digestive issues. I think that I’ll go to bed early (really, Adrienne, do so) and get up early to go to the store.

Fed us all and took the dogs out. My joints are aching. I'm going to bed. And it's still light out!

Ugh. Feeling arthritis-y. Need to go to sleep.

Got up at 6:30 AM. Bella did her business quickly, so I decided to go back to sleep for an hour and shower at lunch. I overslept work an hour. Suckage.

Today is Friday, right? This week has been a blur.

I found a propane heater in case the power goes out in winter, but I need to think about how much money I want to spend on something that might never happen. (I could use it for camping though. Speaking of camping, I have the down sleeping bag for if the power goes out, but that won't help the critters.) On the other hand, this area has a danger of ice storms because we’re far enough south that snow can turn to freezing rain. And hmm, the food supplies would help being snowed in.

Fed everyone and took Bella and Gracie outside. It’s hot out (90F/32C). I think that I need to stop feeding Gracie kibble because it seems to give her loose stools. I'd have to feed her another can of wet food. Showered and put on shorts and a t-shirt and sandals.

Hmm. I should order some tubs in which to keep emergency supplies, but I should wait until I get them to see what size I need.

Medium doesn't allow you to make money off of AI-generated text, so I need to rewrite the blog entries. In that case, I might have to wait until retirement. We'll see. I am so busy right now. Maybe I could work on some in my hotel room at night during my trip. Or at the airport.

I have a strong urge to go back to Hawaii, to Maui, but it won't happen anytime soon. Plus, I want to wait until Lahaina is rebuilt. I wonder how long that will take. Maybe I should check out Molokai? That would be a nice sleepy place for "R&R". You have to take a commuter airline from Oahu or Maui to Molokai. I found a flight that I like. Hmm, should I go to Molokai next year? It would have to be a short trip because I will be taking a lot of time for my European trip in the fall. I was going to go see my dad though. Hum. I have three weeks of vacation and two personal holidays right now. I'll take two weeks in Italy and a day or two in January at the end of my cruise. I need to figure out how much time I'll take for the European trip (how many extra days I want to stay in Paris and Istanbul). I have airfare that I need to use up before mid-June. (Too bad that I already booked the flights for the cruise. But part of it was from the flight that I didn't take earlier this year after the full cruise.)

Oh. I forgot to mention that I bought a second travel vest the other day because I wear mine all the time for the pockets. They're very useful. I have a burgundy one and the new one is black.

Hmm. Do I want to go work downstairs now? It's 93F/34C and kind of miserable upstairs. Luckily, I'm not doing anything that requires two monitors.

Oh no. David Gergen died. I liked him on CNN. He was a presidential advisor that became a political commentator.

Bella is so jealous. If Oliver or Gracie jumps on my lap, Bella jumps on my lap (well, as much of her that will fit), chases them off, and kisses me. "I am YOUR DOG! And don't forget it!"

Zara didn’t eat most of her food (which is concerning), so I gave her food to Oliver and Lily. First Bella jumped up with her paws on the counter. I made her get down. Then Gracie jumped up. I made her get down. Then they both jumped up in unison, and I cracked up. I told them that they were dorks. I got Oliver and Lily to sort of share by moving the dish around so that Lily could get some food.

I ordered some dog DNA tests for Bella and Gracie. The results should be interesting.

One of the things that I need to do this weekend is find the chicken wire so that I can plug the gaps in the fence and let Gracie run around. She’s small enough that she could get out, and I don’t trust her to come back like Bella does.

I’ve added seeing the giant rubber duck that one_raido wrote about to my bucket list. Waukegan this year would be doable except that I’ll be in Italy. Sorry not sorry. I’ll have to bookmark its Web site. They should bring it to Chicago (if they haven’t already).

I started going through Amazon boxes. My emergency supplies are starting to arrive. Some will also work for camping, such as wipes to use in lieu of a shower. I got my weather radio and have set it up for alerts in my bedroom.

Note to self: go through my travel chargers this weekend and order anything that I need. Also check on my travel adapters and transfer them to my medium suitcase. I have my travel pillow and sleep mask, but I ordered a second sleep mask in case I lose one on the plane like I did on my last trip to Italy. Pack my swimsuits (or do I want to go swimming before I leave?)

Oh good. I’m yawning. I want to get to bed early so that I can get out early to do some weeding and planting.

Shit. Zara isn't eating at all. I'm really worried. The vet gave me some appetite enhancers, but I was going to crush the pills and mix them in her food. I wonder if she would take one mixed with a Churu. I also ordered some pill pockets, but I remember in the past that she would eat the pill pocket and spit out the pill. I'll call the vet on Monday if I can't get her to eat.

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Entries tagged with ouch

Zen and the Art of Scheduling

Damn It, Oliver. You Hurt Me.

I Actually Started Cleaning the Kitchen. Go Me.

Neither Rain, Nor Snow, Nor Sleet--Wait, It's All Three

Everything's Booked for My Trip

TGIF

Presentation and Choir Day

Crud. Oliver Is Out Again.

Ouch. Happy Halloween!

So Tired

A Gray and Rainy Day

Choir Night

Discombobulated

What a Mess

Tired Day/Cleaning Day

Oliver's Big Adventure

Poke Bowl Saga

I Really Need to Block the Hole in the Fence

Cohousing

I'm Worried About Zara