days_unfolding

Oliver is snoozing upstairs. I ate a turnover and got Bella’s and Lily’s rapt attention. Lily has a favorite spot in the front window where she can see Bella and I come in.

I know. The pet-sitter-to-be can get water from the quarantine tank for the main aquarium. That would work.

Got up a little after 6 AM. Took Bella out and put the cat dishes on to soak. I’m going back to sleep and will take a shower at lunchtime. Overslept but made it to work.

Oliver and Lily seem to be playing Hide and Go Seek. Now they're wrestling. And galloping around upstairs. I found my work laptop knocked over when I came upstairs. Apparently, they play during the night. I hear them upstairs.

The trust people said that I would have my tax form ready when I got back. Now she says that she doesn't handle taxes, but she can see if the form is ready. They are annoying me.

Headache.

Fed the beasts. Oliver was being a jerk and kept eating Lily's food, even though he had food. The cats have settled down. Lily is looking out Mimi's window. Now she's crashed out cold by the front window.

Showered during lunch, attended by Bella and Oliver. Bella chewed a hole in my sock. Oliver was meowing.

I need to order canned dog food from Costco.

Bella had an appointment for booster shots, and she was a very good girl. She has figured out that when I ask her to go into the car, we're going from place to place, but I'm not giving her away, so she'll jump right in. She peed a little at the vet but otherwise was very good. I told her that after she gets dog training, I'll take her in the car to the dog park. They have a special place for more timid dogs. Also, she seems to like collars better than harnesses. Good to know.

I am not looking forward to explaining what happened with my cruise at choir. Well, some people didn’t know what to say, so I added, “But my other cats and dog were glad to see me “. Rehearsal itself went well. Bella was thrilled that I came home :)

I need to feed the beasties, take Bella out one more time, and crash hard because I have Italian tomorrow morning. I’m not looking forward to explaining what happened to my teacher too :(

Fed everyone. Ordered some more plants for my aquarium. Found my old music.

Took Mimi to the vet. The poor girl has lost four pounds. They're doing blood work on her and will contact me tomorrow. They also gave me an appetite enhancer. They also suggested getting Feliway.

l spilled water on my work computer keyboard, and need to get a new one. I'm trying to decide what else to get to make a full order from Walmart. Okay, I ordered more cat food for Oliver and Lily.

Ye gods, I'm tired. Will I make it through choir practice tonight?

I'm going to have to take the water out of the fish tank to level it.

Went to choir practice. We had some new people join. I was worrying about Bella because she has separation anxiety plus was unable to go out for three hours. But she did fine.

Damn, I’m tired. I intended to get some tax stuff together, but I'm beat.

Zara was scratching at the door when I finished my shower. I opened the door and said that I had fuzzy tyrants. I fed them, so they are appeased.

Damn, I'm tired. I think that I'll lie down during lunch and leave for errands late this afternoon and log onto work later.

Forgot to mention that I have one of the books in a Time Life Gardening Series. I looked for more on eBay and ordered a couple more of them. I'm excited about one for shade gardening because the north side of the house is in shade.

My high school friend Anne sent me some seeds for my garden. That was really nice. I'll have to thank her. Maybe I'll put them where I want to plant irises in the fall.

I looked at paving stones for paths, but I might just put in gravel. But paths are the last thing that I'll do for the yard. I have years of work on it!

Yikes. Freeze warning tonight. I'll pull the chives back up on the porch and cover them. They can handle freezing temperatures though.

Zara wanted more food at lunchtime. I exist to serve. She’s been going under the bed a lot though.

I think that I'll have to wait until fall for swimming lessons because of the Italy trip this summer.

Damn. I'm feeling too tired to run errands today at all. I could go tomorrow if I get going at a decent hour. I doubt that I'll get the lawn raked tomorrow.

The missing tax form was because the money market account earned less than $10 in interest according to the bank. So the tax guy should have all the forms.

In other exciting news, Zara wants food and is making it hard to type :) She had already had food, which Mimi promptly ate.

I've started watering the plants to prepare for my trip.

Crashed out good and proper after work and overslept my nap. I’m thinking of going back to sleep so that I will get up early.

I got my gardening books. I pulled out a book on Dahlias, a book on Peonies, and Perennial Combinations, a book about plants that go well together. The rest are about vegetable gardening and home repair.

I covered the chives in bubble wrap for the freeze tonight.

I've got the batteries for the mower charging, although I doubt that I'll get to mow the lawn tomorrow.

Here's the current status of the salad greens in the Aerogarden. They'll be huge by the time that I get back!

I keep looking at the kitchen, which looks lovely.

I’m looking at pegboard to organize my tools. I need to clear out the room in the basement though. The organization in the bathroom is paying off. I need a way to organize shoes in there because I keep the shoes that I wear the most in there.

Mimi is rubbing against the railings on the stairs. “I claim this in the name of cat.” There is a cat head sticking out meowing at me. She also filed herself in my "to file" basket. Goof.

Where can I grow blueberries in the yard?

I need to pick up some catnip at PetSmart on the weekend. I’m my cats’ dealer :) There was something that I needed to get at Lowe’s, but I don’t remember what. I remember; I need to get a plug for the bathtub. And bubble bath or a bath bomb. And I need to drop donations at Goodwill and go to the storage unit. And go to the UPS Store for Amazon returns and shredding. And Comcast to return the router. I need to make a list.

I got on Nextdoor for my neighborhood. Someone was advertising yard work, but I think that I should save money and do it myself. But I also was wondering if I could get a housekeeper to clean the kitchen and the bathrooms, so I don’t know. I’m a little tight on cash right now, which is affecting my perception.

I talked to the trust. They can have my taxes prepared for me for $300 from the trust, which I decided to do. They're connecting me with a tax specialist.

I can rent a tiller from Home Depot for $46 per day. I think that I'll put in my vegetable garden myself and pretty it up later. Actually, Gardener's Supply sells edging. Sweat equity :) I also checked how much a sprinkler system would cost. Probably not any time soon. I also found out that you can rent an aerator from Home Depot! That's the way to go for the lawn!

Today I got a plethora of Amazon boxes. I agreed that they all could arrive the same day, but I thought that would reduce the number of boxes. Nope. I got cat toys (I left them in Michigan and kicked myself because they weren’t cheap), a colander (I’m all about pasta), a tea kettle that I’m going to return because they got mine clean, command hooks to hang the “Please don’t let the cats out” sign, a level for hanging pictures, more picture-hanging hardware, and a toothbrush holder. And I’m probably forgetting something.

Because the cats are sleeping, I think that I’ll take my nap now and process a clothes bag later. I also need to process my long list of Amazon returns and flatten boxes.

The estate sale people said that they did $7500 in sales today, and it isn’t even the weekend yet! Awesome!

Oops, Zara is up and wants food (done).

Tried to nap but just dozed lightly. I decided that I was hungry. Just as well because I need to go get some tape for my returns. Hmm, but I want to go to bed early. Meijer opens at 6 AM, so I could go get tape in the morning. Lowe’s is open early too.

I’m pondering where to put old towels that I use as rags.

I ordered a set of bath bombs for slightly more than one costs at Bath and Body Works on Amazon. So I’ll have some nice baths to come.

Well heck. If I want early crops like lettuce and peas, I’d need to plant them around the end of the month. I’m not going to have the garden set up by then. I could grow green beans in the summer.

I'm going to go to sleep. After I finish petting Mimi, who has decided that when I sit down at a computer, it's petting time.

I forgot to mention that I got another heart-attack inducing letter from the IRS. It said that I owe...$27.86. I can actually afford that :) Just paid.

Okay, I cleaned out the car and flipped the back seats down. I didn’t brush snow off of the car because it’s still snowing.

I had to really think about what day of the week it is. I’m totally confused.

The power snow shovel was in limbo somewhere in transit, so I ordered the really expensive one, which is available now, and canceled the first one. All I can say is that it better work well! I'll pick it up tonight.

...And now they're saying ONE inch of snow tomorrow night and rain during the day. I'll be ready for anything, I think. It'll be good to have the shovel down there.

Hmm. Maybe I should try to get back on Saturday because it'll be a high of 5F on Sunday. But I'd get a late start because of the Internet guy. Oh, I don't know. And will the rain freeze? I'll play it by ear on Saturday.

I attended a webinar on goal setting. During it, I realized that what I want and need to do is start walking to get in shape for my Italy trip. Losing weight is secondary (although the weight that I have lost is helping me walk and I get less backaches).

I forgot to order oatmeal, but I don't really want to park at Meijer or Kroger with the power snow shovel in the car, so I placed a delivery order for tomorrow morning before I leave.

I don't know why I'm so cranky tonight. I drove to Lowe's and got a non-power shovel and the keys cut. I was going out to the car and a car cut right in front of me. I called him an asshole and said that "I always let people cross" in a totally smug tone. Then I went to curbside pickup and got the power snow shovel, which they brought. Then I went home. The postal delivery person stuck a book in the mailbox that I was having problems getting out. I finally had to take everything else out of the box and rotate it vertically to get it out. There was something else that annoyed me, but I don't remember what it was, which says something about how trivial it was.

But things are working out. I have the power snow shovel, although I spent more money on it than I intended but I've got one. I have DVDs to bring; apparently one of the packages was the Smothers Brothers DVDs. I think that I need a slice of cake (I'm canning my diet until I move) and some snuggles with Mimi. Oh, and I didn't start laundry today (got busy at work), so I need to start it before cake and Mimi.

The strawberry shortcake is heaven on a fork. Snuggled with Mimi.

The new down jacket is very nice. It’s Ralph Lauren, not that I’m into designers, but I like it.

I got Martha Stewart’s Organizing. She’s a little TOO organized, but I got some ideas just flipping through it. And the Pottery Barn’s organizing book was the one that got stuck in the mailbox.

DVDs that I’m bringing: The Smothers Brothers, a Great Courses course on photography, and two dog-related DVDs (The Dog Whisperer and People Training). And I didn’t need the portable DVD/CD sleeves that I ordered to come tomorrow morning.

I’m going to have to play Tetris with the car. I put food-related stuff in a bin. I have the power snow blower. My suitcase, backpack, and work bag (in case I get snowed in, but that doesn’t look likely). My basket with the DVDs and odds and ends. The organizer that goes above the toilet. (I’ll leave that if space requires it.) And the paint.

I think that I’ll post this and then my clothes should be dry.