days_unfolding

Oh crud, it’s supposed to rain. Wet leaves will be fun to rake.

Oliver and Lily sound like a herd of rampaging elephants.

Got up around 8 AM. Fed us all. Napped. I forgot to put my clothes in the dryer, so I’m waiting for them to dry.

Bella and I are having a discussion about how toilet paper is not a dog toy. Oliver is annoyed by Bella, and I hardly blame him. She bugs him all the time.

Headache. Ouch. Napped. Showered.

My shade garden from White Flower Farms arrived, so I’ve been planting the plants. Some are bare root and some are not. Bella pulled out one of the plants :( And another. I can see that it will be Bella vs. the garden. Turned the water on and watered the plants.

My vets sent me a nice sympathy card about Mimi with personalized notes. It does help.

I’m feeling like I need to lie down but I need to eat and feed the beasts first. Okay, done.

Knowing that Bella needed to go out got me out of bed. I need to feed the cats, but I’ve been watching snippets of The Big Bang Theory.

Zara was loving me up and showing me her belly. I got a trill from Zara.

I’m still wondering why the Mexico cruise isn’t showing up on my future Holland America cruises. The travel agent never responded.

I have a singing lesson tomorrow morning, so I need to get to sleep.

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 university for which I work sponsors trips abroad for alumni. They have some nice trips. Something to keep in mind.

Had my Italian lesson. She wished me luck with Mimi. We were talking about “una casa stile,” a stylish house. She asked me if I had a stylish house, and I said that with four cats and a dog, I have a chaotic house :) She laughed.

Speaking of Mimi, she walked around the fountain to get to her bowl to drink. Sigh. She did eat her food though.

Mimi's bloodwork was normal. The vet is going to give us an anti-nausea medication. We're going to do a follow up in three to four weeks to see how her weight is doing. If she's still losing weight, then we'll do an ultrasound.

My dad recommended that I move my assets to Charles Schwab. I filled out a form for them to contact me.

I ordered the shims for the fish tank.

I have a taste for Chinese food, but shouldn't spend the money. I found a place on DoorDash though that has Empress Chicken, which I like. I used to get it in a great Chinese restaurant in Lincoln. Okay, I did order it. I should get three meals out of it though, which brings down the price a little.

Bella’s wet food bowl is missing. WTF? (I found it.) And I missed Bella’s cues and she pooped in the bathroom while I was outside getting my DoorDash.

The food was really good. Oliver earned a trip to the bathroom with the door closed because he tried hard to swipe my Crab Rangoon. (Bella and Lily were interested too but less obnoxious about it.)

Gathered the garbage with Oliver repeatedly crawling into the garbage bag. Thanks, Oliver. Got the toilet paper and paper towels that Bella shredded cleaned up in the cold bathroom. Oliver dashed down in the basement (I can’t get too upset because Zara and Mimi have been down there), so I took advantage of his distraction to get the garbage out. However, the door to the basement was left open, so Lily is probably down there too. Yep.

I worked on Operation get Bella to walk on a harness and leash. I got the harness on her, but it was a little tight. Also, the buckles were a bitch to get on and off. I took her outside to play ball, but the harness was bugging her, so I took her in and got it off. I gave her lots of treats while she had it on. Then I took her out to play ball without it. Bella lost the ball somewhere in the yard. I ordered a new, simpler harness for delivery tomorrow. (Bella is not used to a harness and leash. She grew up in the country where she was mostly off leash.)

Oliver came up from the basement but Lily was enamored of it. It took some time to get her trust down there. Then I abused it by picking her up and taking her upstairs.

I need to get into the nightly feeding routine and then post and print off some piano stuff. Then I’ll practice piano and singing; I need to get my act together about practicing, plus I can spend quality time with Zara. Then I’ll go to bed.

The pup is asleep under the kitchen table :)

I posted the following as a comment on dadi's journal, which I thought that I should post in my journal as well:

Thanks for your thoughtful post. I have been following the (US and world) news, but don't know what to do about it (plus I've been distracted by my new fur kids). I came up with a bit of an action plan:

1. Donate money to the American Civil Liberties Union, which often will sponsor court cases on civil liberties matters in the US.

2. Donate money to Amnesty International (although one of their action items is to sign a petition against Trump's actions. Yeah, like that would help.)

3. Join the Unitarian church, which I've been talking about for years. They have Social Justice committees, one of which is on immigration. I'm not sure what they can do in the face of Trump's actions, but at least I'll be with like-minded people to discuss actions.

Any additional thoughts would be welcome.

Woke up a little before 6 AM. The puppy was looking at me like, are you really going to get up now? I really got up now. It’s freaking cold out (wind chill of -5F/-20C) and my nose is running. There’s a cold weather advisory tonight with wind chills as low as 19 below zero (-29C).

Oliver is telling me, quit sitting and feed me! Bella says, pet me! Good to know that I’m useful :) Bella thinks that when I’m talking, it must be to her. Why would I talk to the cats? (I was talking to Lily.)

I’m mulling over a friend for Bella. There is a standard poodle that I was looking at, but the shelter from which I adopted Bella has a border collie mix that looked good. Hmm. The border collie is a puppy though. Do I really want a puppy? Though there would be a lot of grooming fees for the poodle.

I tried to shut Bella in the bedroom while I fed the cats but she noped out. Lily eats slowly, so I spent my time shooing Oliver and Bella away. I need to feed Bella (done) but I’m taking a break.

Napped. Took Bella out. She never does her business right away, but runs around and sniffs first. And she checks to make sure that I’m following her! I bring a ball out with us, but whether we play depends on how cold I am :) Today I asked her to go in, and she listened to me! That amazes me. In contrast, Oliver NEVER listens to me.

I don’t know why I thought that it was going to be warm today. It’s too cold to go clean up dog poop (12F/-11C with a wind chill of -11F/-24C).

I found a skin care place in Champaign that interests me. But I’m having a facial on the cruise, so I’ll wait until afterwards.

Got Bella her chew stick. She started whining in the bathroom where she has previously pooped, which got me vaulting up to take her out. I forgot my hat and pulled my hood up, which was made for a taller person, so I can barely see out of it. After all that, she didn’t do anything.

I’m trying to figure out my day. I think that I want another nap. Then I’ll work on the kitchen until 3 and then take a shower. My singing lesson got moved to 4:30. After that, I’ll cook. Then I’ll go upstairs and get the aquarium set up after putting Oliver in kitty jail. And then I’ll work on the kitchen again.

Hmm. Bella’s nails are long. But they’re black, so I’d be worried about cutting the quick. I guess that I’ll ask the vet to do them and see how far they cut them back.

Napped. The puppy is next to me on the bed.

Bella doesn’t like artificial chews. She picks them up and drops them.

For some reason, I’m remembering my mom hugging the elephant that I gave her, and that breaks my heart.

Hmm. I have a shoe rack over the door in the library, but I’m thinking to move it to the bedroom and put over-the-door hooks for backpacks and purses (ordered from Amazon).

Zara is being cuddly. I managed to keep Oliver out of my singing lesson. Bella too. Just me and Zara.

Had a great singing lesson. She started me on an Italian art song along with the sight-singing and the music that I’ll be learning in choir. Zara crashed out cold. I think that she likes having me in here. But I should take Bella out. I’ll come back later and practice piano.

Ugh. The cold isn’t messing around. It goes through my jeans.

Ugh again. I need a new stepladder, but Lowe’s is charging $79 for delivery. I’ll have to check Home Depot. It was cheaper, yay!

Oliver likes the warm stove. I’m baking pizza. It’s kind of cold in here. I should get to work, which would warm me, but I’m huddling next to the oven.

I should bring in the plastic food containers from the car. I want to set up a pet food center with labels for each food of the critter eating it. I have a label maker upstairs.

I printed off a ton of music for piano. My teacher suggested that I put it in a binder, so I went on Walmart's site to order one plus some other odds and ends. Then they said that there was a deal that if you spent $500 on Walmart+ Travel, you get $100 back. Sounded good to me, so I upgraded my hotel stay in Miami, and it's paid for so I don't have to worry about it. They didn't say that I'll get the $100 (actually, $133) after the stay. But it'll be good to have extra money then.

Mimi is being extra snuggly. It's chilly up here. I’m leaving the space heater on; it has an automatic shutoff if it tips over. I might bring up the large heater.

The pizza is knocking me out, lol. I’m thinking about feeding the critters and going to bed soon.

Got my second wind and started organizing pet stuff. I just spent a ridiculous amount of money on cat food and dog food can organizers. Set up the dry food containers.

Oliver thinks he’s a kitten and jumps onto my leg when I’m standing. Ouch.

Bella did her business rather efficiently, so I guess that she’s feeling the cold. I wore the hood over my hat and it helped. Everyone is fed. I was holding off Bella from eating Lily’s food, and then Oliver tried to eat the food, and Bella got in his face. “If I can’t have it, you can’t have it either.” LOL.

Ten o'clock and I'm going to crash.

I was wrong about the yoga center's class; it's face-to-face AND online. I bought a pass to try it out. Two yoga classes a week would be good.

Woke up at 5:30 AM. Zara decided that it was too early and went back to sleep. Napped after breakfast. Overslept but still was on time for my singing lesson.

My singing lesson was great! I wanted to work on sight reading and so we did. She showed me a site to use to practice sight reading. I booked more lessons: piano next week and singing in January. Now Mimi is settled on my lap and I need to eat lunch. Such problems :)

Booked a massage at a different place in January. I had a massage therapist tell me that I needed monthly massages because of the tension in my neck, but I haven't kept up with them. (He was in Hawaii, so he wasn't just trying to upsell me.)

Hmm. I was eyeing a Road Scholar "women's trip" to Costa Rica in late 2016. If I want to go, I should book early to be sure that I get a single room. I put a deposit down.

Ack! I screwed up! I had the recital in my mind as 5 Central Time. No, it was 5 Eastern Time. So I missed it.

The Meijer shopper was great. I got my groceries in. I can't cook tomorrow because we have choir, but Tuesday, I need to get to chopping.

Oh crud. I have Italian tomorrow and have homework. I guess that I know what I'm doing now.

Ah crap. Someone got and tried to use my debit card number, so I need to go get a new card tomorrow.

I signed up for Dial-A-Carol at the University. I had thought that they could patch calls to us at home, but was a little cranky to learn that I had to go to a dorm on campus. I was more cranky because there was fog and I couldn't park where I wanted to, although I did find a spot.

But it was a blast! My favorite callers were the person calling from New Zealand, and the person who said when I was done singing, "You're real!" Some people asked for carols that I didn't know, although my mom's incessant playing of Christmas carols from Thanksgiving though Christmas paid off. I need to scramble to learn the Mariah Carey song because it's popular.

Okay, I finished my Italian homework. Time to go to bed.

Woke up at a little after 9 AM. The cats are restless and want food. Mimi is complaining loudly. Fed the girls and myself. The Earl Grey tea was good.

Napped. Now I need to get up, but Zara is on my lap. She got up when I typed that! Had lunch.

I checked the wallet in which I have Euros, and I have over 50 Euros in bills. (I also have one Euro coins, but I want to save them for toilet stops. Many toilets in Italy are pay toilets.) I'll call the bank on Monday and see if I can exchange the bills. I checked PNC's Web site, but they say to call the branch for details.

Oops, now Mimi is on my lap. Busy lap today. She's complaining that I'm not petting her.

Took a nap after my shower to warm up. Went outside, and it wasn’t too bad (21F/-6C), probably because it wasn’t windy. Came back with caffeinated soda. I think that I want some tea.

Logged into work. I was running a test of some Analytics fields, but I couldn't find the test analysis, so I gave up and scheduled the email to send Monday morning.

Now I'm wondering if I should go to bed and get up early. I need to practice piano and singing. Maybe I'll take my nighttime meds and practice while it kicks in.

Added: Oh crud, I need to put clothes in the dryer. My warm pajamas are in there.

Overslept but made it to work. I managed to take a shower before work.

I ate lunch at 3 PM, which says something about how the day is going. Busy, busy. Lots of meetings plus class.

Had my therapy session. She thinks that it’s important to get my mom’s house up for sale to get some resolution and closure in my grief. She suggested that I get another real estate agent if they don’t list it soon. She also said that it’s not certain that I will have the same mobility problems that my mom did because I’m more physically active. I told her about my fall, and she wants me to talk to the doctor about it. While we were talking, I realized that I could do chair yoga while my knee and foot heal. She sent me links to some chair yoga videos that she likes. She also said that because I’m worried about dementia, I should ask my doctor to take a baseline reading of my cognitive state.

Had my singing and piano lessons, and they were kind of a fiasco. My voice was “tight” in singing. I was tripping over myself in piano. I’m really tired, which might be part of it. The French have a saying about feeling uneasy in your skin, which is kind of how I feel. I need to get to bed early.

Got my clothes together for tomorrow. I need to wear a sleeveless shirt under my hoodie because I’m getting shots.

Oh crap! It's supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday, but I need to seed the lawn! Though it's a low chance on Saturday.

Made up my class time for work. I think that I'm going to bed now and, I hope, feel more together tomorrow.

Oh, wait a minute. I need to pay some bills.

I booked my next piano lesson, the songwriting and music theory classes, and the hotel for my trip to Michigan the weekend after the next one.

I forgot to mention that I found two trunks (one, two) that I’d like to use as end tables. But I’d have to drive to the Chicago area and Crown Point, Indiana. But they’re cheaper than buying similar ones on Wayfair. Hmm. It would be faster to go to both places in the same trip. I'm thinking of going on Sunday. No, I don't have enough money for them right now plus take my trip up to Michigan.

When I start dating, I might try Chemistry.com. I read an article about dating sites and it sounded interesting.

Overslept but logged on in time for work.

Reading LJ reminded me that it was 9/11, so I went back to read my LJ entries for that day. I'm surprised at how coherent my discussion of it was. And my mom got into an argument with rillifane. I can't believe that I've never been to New York since then. I hope this year. Mom had been back. In fact, she went to New York two weeks after 9/11, and she went to Ground Zero. I don't know if she ever saw the memorial site through.

Found a notebook to use for my songwriting and music theory classes. I need to take a shower because I overslept my nap at lunchtime.

I’m trying to “tell” my mom that I joined a choir. She would be interested. My dad, not so much. He never liked my singing. (I think that he thought that it was a waste of time. Something that makes me happy is never a waste of time.)

Well, great. The songwriting instructor hasn't showed up. I guess that I'll practice piano and singing until my music theory class. No, I ate dinner.

The music theory class did happen. I had a hard time hearing the teacher, so I ran and got my headphones. I'll need to order an extra set (done).

The songwriting teacher said that he had checked last night and no one was enrolled, so he assumed that the class was canceled. I enrolled after he checked. He said that he would be willing to gave the class just for me though. Cool!

I was practicing piano when my back started hurting, so I went to sit down and study Italian. I also need to get the garbage out (done). Finished practicing piano and practiced singing and one of my choir pieces. Scanned that choir piece for my singing teacher and sent it to her. Studied the Italian imperfect tense.

Now I need to do some work for work, do dishes, scoop cat boxes, and go to bed.

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.

Found a really nice tan leather blazer in a bag of stuff from Stitch Fix. Went on the Internet to find ideas of how to wear it and bought a white sweater and green jeans. Actually, I think that I’m going to wear it on the Detroit-Chicago flight with blue jeans and a white sweater.

Woke up at 8 AM. I’m trying to convince myself not to go back to sleep because I need to practice guitar and voice.

I bought a cashmere sweater and skirt in burgundy from Quince. Actually, I bet that it would look good with the tan blazer. Or better yet, the pink leather blazer!

Bought some music flashcards. Practiced guitar.

We almost finished the crawl space. I have some papers that I need to go through, and there is some stuff way back in the space. Also, there is a ton of stuff that needs to be shredded, and I discovered that the UPS Store will do that. So I need to gather the shred stuff in boxes before I go there for my Amazon returns tomorrow.

I was sneezing from the dust in the crawl space until the organizer recommended that I wear a mask. It helped.

Had lunch and fed the hordes. Now I'm practicing voice.

Music theory and voice went really well. Guitar was a fiasco. Ah well. I’m kind of muttering,”I do this for fun?” I did buy a system of learning guitar chords that I’ll try when I get back. My teacher wants me to learn “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” but I’m stymied by the C chord.

I’m really tired. I think that I’ll get my laundry started, pack up some stuff in my backpack, set up the AirTags in my suitcases, and go to bed. I need to do some cleaning in the morning.

Mimi has been complaining up a storm, probably because she didn’t get her snuggles this afternoon. She wants me to go lie down. Now she’s snacking.

Got the laundry started. Filled a litter box. Gathered stuff to wash the bathroom floor in the morning. Packed up most of the things to go in my backpack. I couldn't get the AirTag containers that attach to fabric open, so I just tucked the AirTags in pockets of my luggage.

I just remembered that I have French homework. Le sigh. I can't remember what sections of the book we were in though, so I guess that I won't do it.

Time to crash and get up early to clean.