days_unfolding

On eBay, I ordered a small wheeled cooler for camping. It wasn't too expensive.

Woke up at 6:30 AM, but went back to sleep for a half-hour.

There is a heat warning for this weekend through Monday. I'm planning to stay inside and clean in the air-conditioned comfort, except for watering the plants. It'll be shorts weather.

Lily is sleeping in the window upstairs. Very cute. I really want a nap. Bella is sleeping in today. Now Lily is head-bonking me :)

I downloaded the AllTrails app on my phone. There are some trails nearby that interest me. Bella and I need to build up our stamina! I ordered a second set of a collar and leash to keep in the car in case something happens to the primary one.

Napped over lunch and overslept slightly. I think that I want a nap after work, although I need to water the plants outside.

Crud. The arthritis in my hands is flaring up. I would stop working for a while, but I'm "backup on-call" for our ticketing system, and the people with whom I work is the primary on-call, so I need to stay put. I left a half-hour early and am going to lie down. I took some acetaminophen earlier.

I would like a pair of the Orthofeet Water Friendly sandals. I can’t decide between black and leopard though. (I really would like blue, but it’s sold out.)

I got confused about what days it has been between being out sick and the holiday yesterday. I thought that I missed my singing lesson, but that’s on Sunday.

Bella wants to snuggle and get petted. I told her that my hand hurts, but she thinks that I should still pet her. These are the Dog Rules. Tried to nap but couldn’t sleep. I want to watch TV, but Bella is snoozing. I watched three episodes of The Big Bang Theory. And my hand no longer hurts.

Fed us all and watered the outside plants. I’ll need to water them every day while the heat wave is going on. It was nice taking Bella out at 8 PM and it was still light.

Now it’s 9:30 PM. I’m going to post, feed the critters, and go to bed.

Woke up at 8 AM. It’s starting to rain. They are predicting snow in Chicago this week, but not here. Bella is squeaking her squeaky ball. Got us all fed.

I spent a bunch of time finding my new moisturizer in my suitcase, but I finally found it. I’m ready for my voice lesson early.

Had a really great singing lesson. My teacher is awesome. Zara fell asleep while I was singing. Aww.

There was a groundhog in the neighbor’s yard. Bella was defending us against him or her :)

Had lunch. Now it’s nap time. Overslept my nap by an hour. Bella and I are both yawning. A smoke alarm is chirping, so I need to see if I have batteries for it.

Wrote the travel agent to get my Mexico cruise under my Holland America ID. Oliver and Lily are upstairs with me.

It's strange how different the household is without Mimi. I'm sorry to say that it's better because Oliver and Lily really wanted to come upstairs where I am during the day. Oliver isn't trying as hard to get out too. Lily is showing me her belly. Now she’s on my lap and purring. Oliver likes to lie in Mimi’s spot on the chair.

I need to get the quarantine aquarium set up and cycled. And I need to figure out what to do about the water in the aquarium while I’m gone. I might have to stage buckets with heated water upstairs. The pet sitter unplugged my fish tank, probably because she thought that it was bothering Mimi. That's not good.

I bought grass seed and topsoil repair and fertilizer from Lowe's for delivery tomorrow.

I have my Italian ready for Tuesday. I hate to tell my teacher that Mimi died. She loved Mimi.

Need to feed the beasties. I’m way dehydrated, so I’m swilling carbonated water. Lily is licking out the can for Bella’s food. We’re all fed now.

Hmm. I need to run a misdelivered Amazon box to my neighbors (done). Then I’m thinking of going to bed early. I don’t know why I’m so tired, but I am. Lack of sunshine today is probably part of it.

Oliver went into the poke bowl bag and fell off the kitchen table :) Now Bella is shredding the bag.

Crap. I was changing into my pajamas when Oliver tried to jump on my lap, lost his balance, scratched up my leg, and drew blood. I hissed at him and he backed off. Lily was sleeping through it all. She is a champion sleeper. I need to do laundry, but Lily is sleeping in my laundry basket, so I’ll get up a little earlier to do it.

Damn, my leg hurts. Oliver really did a number on it.

Crud. I apparently didn’t pay for my drinks package on the cruise, so I need to do that in the morning (done).

I signed up for the Yazio weight loss app.

Discovered that tickseed plants need full sun rather than shade, so I guess that I’ll plant them on the sunny side of the house.

Overslept and woke up at 8 AM. There were a lot of dog walkers out when I was out with Bella. One dog really wanted to play with Bella. The walker complemented Bella on how well behaved Bella was, and I told her that Bella is shy with other dogs. She asked how old Bella was, and I said, “a year”.

Got us all fed. I put the clothes in the dryer only a few minutes ago, so I’m going to just slap on some makeup for my lesson and shower later.

Sigh. Bella plays rough with Oliver, so he turns around and picks on Lily. She can give as good as she gets though. Mass chaos.

My singing lesson was good. She gave me a bunch of music theory homework. And we practiced some more complicated sight-reading lessons. I need to remember to pick a song from choir to work on for next time.

It’s really warm out (currently 48F). Bella likes it.

The local “Stand Up for Science “ group is looking for volunteers to organize a protest, but I’m going to be gone.

Hmm. I should donate to the local LGBTQIA group (done). I was wondering if they were going to have any protests. They also have an “aging” group that intrigues me. I also need to set up monthly donations to the ACLU because they’re filing most of the court cases against Trump’s actions (done). I’m trying to donate to the national LGBTQ Task Force, but I keep getting an error.

I need to replace my Echo Spot because it fell in Bella’s water dish and now it’s malfunctioning. Sigh.

Bella is ready for a nap. So am I. Overslept my nap. I was dreaming that I was living with my dad.

Saw the tree-obsessed neighbor while I was out with Bella. He was happy that I’ll be taking the tree down when I have the garage built. He liked Bella, but Bella didn’t like him. She was barking at him. People like dogs though.

Bella chewed off the end of my shoelace while I had the shoes on! Jesus, dog.

I’m reading the BBC. It’s scary how many votes were cast in Germany for the Nazi party. Dark times ahead.

I saw a really pretty garden with bushes and lavender. Maybe I’ll plant lavender in the area by the side of the driveway-to-be.

Got us all fed. Now Oliver was playing with my shoelaces. Sigh. He’s looking like such a grown cat though!

I’ve decided to work on packing tonight and tomorrow night. I ordered some jars for my moisturizer creams. Found some nice shorts that need to be washed. I also found a swimsuit with a wrap-around skirt. That would be good for the pool on the ship. Cleaning on the rest of the nights this week.

I’ll need to find a new housekeeper because mine is busy this coming weekend.

Oh wow. I saw some beautiful thornless roses on a Facebook ad. That would be great for the side of the garage.

I’m about to take a shower and have Bella, Oliver, and Lily in here. Yikes! Oliver just left.

Just ordered more pairs of underwear so that I can pack them and still have some to wear this coming week.

Bought a “cruise-approved” power strip and some magnets for my door. It will make it easier to find my cruise door with them!

Need to do laundry, but Lily is snoozing in the basket. I guess not.

I’m going to do some packing while my hair dries and then take Bella for a walk. Though hmm, she’ll need to go soon. She was snoozing though. Maybe I’ll post.

I bought some reef-safe sunscreen because I’ll have a full two weeks in the sun. Got my makeup organized for the cruise.

I had to take Bella out for an emergency pee and poop run, and now it’s feeding time. I’ve decided to get up early and walk Bella before we go to the vet. It would be good if she’s tired out. I’ll set up wake-up calls to make sure that I get up.

My prescriptions are ready for pickup, so I need to go on Tuesday.

I hope that Pete Buttigieg runs for president next time, but I hope that he does what is best for his family though. These are scary times to be running.

The fountain wasn’t working (wouldn’t turn on). I’ll figure it out in the morning. Got it working but no interest yet.

Woke up a little after 9 AM.

Now Lily is interested in the outside world. Hmm.

I can’t quite get rid of this cough. Kind of annoying.

Oliver was checking out the fountain but Bella bugged him. Got us all fed. I’m charging Mimi’s fountain.

Hmm. I need to run and pick up a prescription before my singing lesson. Napped. But I need to eat lunch, so I probably won’t make it to the pharmacy. Hmm. Maybe I could go over lunch tomorrow? Or maybe I should just have it delivered and wait. I have a vet appointment for Mimi tomorrow at 10 AM. I could drop Mimi off afterwards and run to the pharmacy.

I bought Oliver and Lily a cat toy with balls going around a track. They love it, but Bella is trying to get the balls out!

Bella is drinking from the cat fountain.

Managed to scramble to throw myself together for my singing lesson. And it went great! She had me sing an old song as well as new exercises, and my voice seemed brighter and stronger.

I signed up for life coaching every two weeks. I need to get unstuck.

Got the filter and heater working on the fish tank. I got my arm wet adjusting the sand so I had to change my hoodie.

I almost forgot to eat again. I guess that’s good?

Crap. I put a knee through my chair.

Had dinner. Filled Mimi's fountain. I need to get to bed early because I'm taking Mimi to the vet tomorrow morning. So I'll feed the critters and crash. Oh, and bring the cat carrier upstairs. And do laundry.

If I go to New York in December, I'd like to see the Statue of Liberty. I've never been there. (I can't forget Jon Stewart's monologue after 9/11 when he said that he used to see the World Trade Center from his house but now he sees the Statue of Liberty. This is going to be my post-9/11 trip among other things. And yes, I'm going to go to the 9/11 memorial.) I keep adding things that I'd like to do.

Stayed up too late and overslept this morning. I've got to quit doing that.

I've been playing a fun game of "guess where the cleaners put stuff". The most annoying ones are the doorstop for the bathroom door and the scale. I haven't found them yet.

Urgh. I definitely need to go to yoga today. My neck is killing me. (I need a riser for my laptops. I had one for work and one for home, but I don't know where they went.) I'm going to skip the Democratic volunteer session because I need the time. And I need to go get money for the pet sitter.

We're starting to study Javascript in class and it was confusing. I really need to buckle down this weekend and study. If I find a spot for my laptop at O'Hare, I'll use their WiFi and start reviewing CSS.

I've decided to get WiFi on the flight because it's only $8. Then I can work on studying.

My voice lesson was a blast! She thought that I sounded better than I previously did with more support. I said that I thought that the yoga exercises had something to do with it because my neck and shoulders are more relaxed. She said that we can work on the music from the choir when I get it. Today, I worked on Bonnie Raitt's song "One Part Be My Lover," which I dearly love. She also probably heard me loving the song too. It was great to see my teacher (I really like her, and she's the right teacher for me after some tries with other people) and great to sing!

I've packed and got stuff organized. I just need to use the power mop on the living room floor and go to bed. I won't get a full night's sleep, but okay.