days_unfolding

It’s pouring rain out. I’m glad for my raincoat; it kept me dry. Bella lasted for a few minutes and then went up on the porch, out of the rain. The ferns will like it.

Woke up at 7 AM. Bella found an enormous stick that she was dragging around. She chewed up one of the ferns :(

RIP Pope Francis. You were one of the better ones.

Yay. Another colleague is driving a colleague to his hotel (we're having an all-staff meeting Tuesday and Wednesday). So I can stop worrying. I went to lunch late though because the person "on-call" had an errand to run.

I'm trying to get ChatGPT on my phone but am having problems.

Crud. I don't have the money for the Doggie Day Care. I'll call them later today. Actually, I have enough cash. I won't be able to go out to dinner tomorrow night. I neeeed my check from the trust!

I found an outfit to wear tomorrow. Black-and-white striped top, tan vegan leather blazer, and jeans.

My psychiatrist recommended that I take a vitamin B12 and D supplement.

Bella is now insisting on me bribing her with treats to come in. It works though :) Now she’s trotting around with a pair of my underwear that she’s trashed.

I've been exchanging emails with my dad about Paris and Europe. I forgot that he looked for some books in French for me while he was in Paris.

Hmm. I was reading susandennis’ post about WiFi connected shades, and I wonder if I could get one on a timer in my bedroom to open when I’m supposed to wake up. That would rock. I need to do some research. Yes, it looks like it’s possible with Alexa or Google Home.

Got us all fed. Now what? I need to get up early to drop Bella off at doggie daycare and get to my meeting. Oh. I need to run an errand. And go to the library too.

Crud. I got myself together, but my phone’s battery is low. I think that I’ll skip the library today (I need to bring my charger to the meeting tomorrow) and let it charge while I post. I should be able to go to the store though.

I feel like all I'm saying is "No." "Bella, leave Oliver alone." "Oliver, quit chewing my straw." "Bella, stop barking at Lily." But they've settled down now. Sort of.

Forgot to mention that ChatGPT found the maximum luggage dimensions for the train in Sardinia. A medium-sized suitcase would work.

I found a pet sitter who's a vet student and likes cats as well as dogs. I sent him a message. He's not available, so I'll try others.

Okay, I'm going to book the "Orient Express" trip if nothing at the meeting tomorrow dissuades me. I'm looking at a picture of Istanbul and going, "Oh wow". I also asked ChatGPT for "a bookstore tour of Paris".

I'm not taking out the garbage. I'm just going to bed and getting up early.

Got up a little after 7 AM. I got up in time for a shower, but I fell down a Facebook rabbit hole and didn’t have time for a shower.

Oh crud. They're predicting rain all weekend, and I need to get out into the garden to prepare the garden beds for seeds and plants. Beautiful day today. I had to bribe Bella to come in with a Munchie Bone. I’ll be glad when I replace the fence so I’d feel more comfortable leaving her out.

I distracted Oliver and Lily with catnip toys from the KitNipBox. Oliver, typically, wanted Lily's toy when he saw her having fun with it, so they switched toys.

I didn't shower at lunch because I wanted to take a nap. Couldn't sleep though. I'll shower before the Meetup about the trips and run an errand afterward.

I'm thinking that maybe I should get my plane travel clothes at Chico's. They have petite travel pants and some interesting blazers.

I felt a pang because I won't get email from my mom. (I've been emailing my dad about the weather and garden plans.) I have to hand it to Zara though, Of Zara, Mimi, and my mom, I would have expected Zara to pass away first. She's outlived both my mom and Mimi and is doing well. She's a tough old lady!

Received the little plastic cat ball toys. Oliver and Lily have no excuse to be bored. (I'll give Zara one too.)

5:35 PM: Load dishwasher
5:36 PM: Remove cat (Oliver) from dishwasher, sigh

Oliver was rubbing against me right before my shower. Then he was walking on top of the shower stall while I took the shower, meowing. Then he knocked two rolls of toilet paper into the toilet. One stayed dry, thank goodness, but one is toast. I told him that he and Bella are my resident goofballs.

Aargh! I scrambled to take my shower before the Meetup for the international travel, only for them to reschedule it for June. Sigh. Well, that gives me more time to clean. But I was looking forward to finding out more about the trips.

They did have the Meetup. They had just changed it to the next one before the meeting. I logged in a few minutes late, but got my questions answered. The travel agent is going to send me a detailed itinerary of the Japan and Orient Express trips. Both trips are fairly full already, so I'd need to make a decision quickly. Also, you can skip any parts of the tours that you want. They're going to St. Mark's Square in Venice, to which I've already been, so I'd want to do something else. (Murano?)

Ran an errand. Fed the critters. Did dishes and started the dishwasher. Ordered groceries. I'm going to get up early to wash sheets and towels and tidy up for the cleaner on Friday.

I was looking at a potting bench on a gardening supply store, but it was $500! No. I found something on Wayfair that’s much cheaper.

One of the plants in my fern pots from Mom’s house is unhappy. I moved it to see if that helps. The other plant is happy.

Woke up around 10 AM. Fed us all. Now it’s nap time.

It’s 55 F/13 C already. It’s going to be a beautiful day.

Napped. Ate lunch. I think that I want another nap. Napped and woke at 7 PM.

Got my new glasses. I don’t know if I would order from them again because they take too long, but they’re nice glasses and don’t slip off when I bend over.

Oliver wants food and is parading in front of me in case that I don’t see him and realize that he’s hungry. He also tried to chew my new glasses and my phone case. Bella ate Oliver’s food when I turned my back to give Zara her food. Sigh. Fed us all.

I really didn’t want to take a shower (depression?), but I finally forced myself into one. Ran my errands. Now I can stay home tomorrow.

I think that I'll feed the critters and crash.

Overslept but got up in enough time to take a shower, which is good because I need to go get Mimi's ashes in the afternoon. It's raining lightly but not too bad.

Got my grocery order. It just occurred to me why I didn’t get everything on my list. People are hoarding food.

Lily is sleeping on the rocking chair upstairs in the front window. I'm glad that someone discovered that chair.

I’m in Bloomington. I picked up Mimi’s ashes, and I stopped for a bite to eat at Dairy Queen. I was jonesing for a plain hot dog, but all they had was a chili cheese dog. It was okay. I had an orange cream shake for dessert, and that was awesome. And it was cheap! DQ for the win!

Mimi-Bug is back home in her rightful place. Swept by the garbage cans outside because Bella found broken glass there. Ye gods, am I tired. I’m thinking of going to bed extremely early and getting up early to get the recycling out.

I’m spending a little time with Zara. I have to remember that even though she doesn’t demand attention like Mimi did, she likes my company.

I'm going to post and get ready for bed. At 7 PM.

Hmm, if I want to go to La Maddalena (an island off of Sardinia), I'd have to take an expensive one-hour cab ride to the ferry each way. But I'd really like to go there. I need to create a Sardinia document with my findings in one place.

I was outside, and Zara was sitting with her back in the window. I tapped on it, and she kept on meowing at me. So now I’m sitting with her in her room. She heard Oliver and went away and hid. So I’m keeping her door closed at night. (I was keeping it open in case she wanted to wander around.)

Overslept this morning and got up at 7. I went to the car repair place and signed the paperwork. Now I wait. The Honda is still running smoothly though.

Man, I'm tired. I'm wondering if I'll be up for raking tonight. It's a beautiful day for it though. (I dropped out of choir for this semester because I've missed a lot and I'm worn out. I'll pick it up in the fall.)

I was wondering where Oliver and Lily went, but now they're upstairs with me. They seem to have a napping spot of which I'm not aware.

Ow. The toes on my left foot are aching. Arthritis? Now the joints in my hands are hurting too. I had something like this happen several years ago. Aargh.

Ugh. It’s cold out and windy. The forecasters are predicting a freeze tonight, so I need to cover the plants. No raking today. After I eat dinner, I’ll do some dishes, take my nighttime meds, maybe watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory, and get to bed early. I have Italian tomorrow morning.

There was a discussion on Facebook about what clothes are made in the USA. I’m actually glad that I have too many clothes. Speaking of which, I went into the library room (Zara’s room) to visit with Zara, but Oliver and Lily busted in a couple of times, so Zara wouldn’t come out. I started sorting clothes and filled a bag to go to the thrift store. And I found my white jeans that I had been looking for. I’ll try to sit with Zara again before I go to sleep, when I feed her again. Practiced piano. I need to get more money from the trust before I can schedule more lessons, but I should practice anyway. There’s going to be a recital, and I want to do “Danny Boy”. I’m slowly picking up the threads of my life.

Watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Now I'm going to post, feed the cats, take Bella out, and go to bed. Oh, and cover my plants while I'm outside. I should let Bella in first because I could just see her grabbing the dropcloth with which to cover the plants and running with it.

Hmm. It occurred to me that I could plan a quieter, gentler trip to Italy. Maybe I could go to Sardinia, stay in Cagliari, poke around, and go to the beach. I’m doing some research. I found a hotel that I like. Maybe I could do Italian language lessons? I think that there is a language school there? Language school I'm trying to find out how I'd get there. It looks like I'd need to fly to Rome and then take another flight to Sardinia. Excellent. The language school is a 10 minute bus ride from the hotel. I found a guidebook to Sardinia too. The weather is still good in Sardinia in September. I found a good flight too. (Apparently the more direct route is to fly to another European city, in this case Munich, and then get a flight from that city to Sardinia. I saw another route that had four flights! No!) I found a store that sells linen clothes that I’d like to check out.

Got up at 6:30 AM. The Kia is still here, so I need to stay up. Maybe I’ll start work early.

I found a place that sells astilbe (the bare-root plants that Bella has been digging up) in pots. Not cheap though.

I rescheduled my massage appointment to later this month. My membership renewal is upcoming, so I didn’t know if the massage would be paid for. Plus, I can just come home after the protest. I need to figure out where I can park for the protest. Okay, I have a plan.

They picked up the Kia. Apparently, I was supposed to leave the keys in the car, but they didn't tell me that.

I talked to the people who have Mimi's ashes, and I made arrangements to take 1/2 a vacation day on Wednesday to go get them in Bloomington (about an hour from here).

Got my food delivered.

Overslept my nap. I am so freaking tired.

Here comes a storm. Urgh, the weather will be lousy for the protest tomorrow.

Hmm. Holland America wants to "help" me book my flights. I wonder if they would book it earlier than the cruise starts.

I took Bella outside, and she wanted to come in right away after she peed. I told her that she wouldn’t like it out! It’s pouring now. And there’s thunder and lightning.

Someone on Facebook posted a protest sign, “You know things are bad when librarians start protesting”. Totally stealing that.

Apparently, the car repair place called for me to come sign an authorization. I didn’t get the message until after they closed though, so I’ll go on Monday morning.

Napped and woke up at 11:30 PM. Oliver had snuck in and was biting my leg. He was hungry. All right then. Bella was playing in the mud outside. :(

I’m too groggy to make my protest sign now, so I’ll get up early to do it.

Ugh. Bella got a big smear of mud on my jeans. And I want to wash them to wear tomorrow.

I had problems falling asleep, so I watched two episodes of The Big Bang Theory. The early episodes were not as good as later episodes, but I suppose that’s to be expected. The objectifying of Penny is not funny. I got up again and ate oatmeal. I finally fell asleep.

Got up at 8:30 AM. So far, it’s not raining. Got us all fed.

I looked at dog toothbrushes and toothpaste. I’ll try it with Bella. I think that Oliver and Lily would take a chomp out of me if I tried to brush their teeth. Well, maybe I’ll try cat toothbrushes and toothpaste with them and see what happens.

Napped. It’s storming. I need to find out what store has poster board and paint stirrer sticks to make my protest signs. I also need to get hot dogs and string cheese as rewards for Bella.

Tornado warning; take shelter now. Bella doesn’t think that she can get down the basement stairs. Sigh. I’m here with Lily. Here’s Oliver. Placed the order for the poster board, etc. from the basement. I wish that I had grabbed my food when I went in the basement. Oh well. What did we do in tornado shelters before we had cell phones? Okay, the warning is over. Apparently, there was some light damage in Savoy, SW of here.

Had lunch. Napped again. Got us all fed. I’m trying to convince myself to take a shower. Looked up cruises to South America. I remember one that took in both Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, but I haven't found it yet. Okay, it was on Oceania. Oliver and Lily were wrestling upstairs.

I’ve got my cleaning person coming right before I have someone come in to let Bella out during the all-hands meeting.

Headache. Lay down. Wound up oversleeping. I want to get up early to get stuff done.

I got a paw print from Mimi in the mail. I'm not sure if her ashes are behind the paw print? Probably yes.

I ordered a martingale collar (recommended by the dog training folks) and a double-handled leash for Bella.

Woke up at 7:30 AM. Ordered groceries for delivery.

shadowcat said that A Complete Unknown is now on Hulu, so I want to make time to see it. Also, I want to see A Real Pain. Maybe on Sunday? Or maybe one of them tonight? I used to have a Friday night ritual where I watched movies. I liked it. Or maybe after raking on Saturday. I'll be too tired to do more stuff around here. No, the Mozart Requiem concert is on Saturday. I need to figure out what to wear.

Bella cracks me up when I feed the cats. She comes to me for petting as a distraction because otherwise, she might lose control and eat the cats' food. LOL.

The groceries were delivered earlier than I expected, so they sat out for a while. But now I have soda and food.

It’s warm out, and Bella didn’t want to come in, but she did so grudgingly.

Overslept my nap. I'm tired.

I'm definitely going to go to the Hands Off! rally on Saturday, 4/5, but there's also one for trans rights on Monday, 3/31. It's two hours during lunchtime, and I'll be working, so I'm not sure how that would work. I couldn't work late because I have choir. I need to get some poster board and markers. At Dollar Tree? Actually, Hands Off! has printable signs. The problem is that I agree with most of them. Hard to make a decision. Oh, there's one with everything. I think that I found my sign.

The cats knocked down my trackball and the ball part is missing. What did they do with it? I'm glad that Oliver is happy but sad that it took Mimi dying to make him happy. He just stole my pen!

Oh, it occurred to me the other day that I'll have to get someone to let Bella out at lunchtime on the days that I have my in-person staff meeting at the end of April. I'll look on Wag first.

Goofball Bella was rolling on her back outside. She clearly loves the weather.

I'm actually feeling warm with my hoodie upstairs, so I took it off.

Oh man, am I stiff. I definitely need to go to yoga tomorrow.

Lily's stomach clock is good. I feed the dog and cats after I take Bella out after work at 5:30 PM. Lily was on my lap, purring and head-butting me at 4:45. Lily has gotten so big that I do a doubletake, thinking that she's Mimi (although she still is smaller than Mimi).

Speaking of Mimi, I haven't gotten a call about her ashes. I'll need to call on Monday and find out what's going on.

I really want to learn Forex trading (don't worry; I won't risk money for a long time after paper trading), so I made a list of books to get. I asked ChatGPT how to learn it and it gave me some recommendations. I also asked about Web site building, but that might wait until retirement.

Hmm. Daily OM has an event that kind of interests me and it isn't too expensive: Expert-Led Fascia Stretches to Eliminate Sitting Damage

Hey! I can get a Senior Membership to the Urbana pool and gym. They have free Folk [Music] in the Park, and a beginner’s Pickleball League! And I think that choir will be over for the summer, so I will have more nights free. They have a rail trail ride if I get back up to speed on bicycling.

I think that I’m going to go to bed early to get up early and rake. I have yoga and the concert tomorrow too, so I need to get up really early. Crap, now they're saying rain tomorrow. I'm still getting up early.

No Italian. We got snarled up in the time changes. We rescheduled for next week. I guess that I'll start work early after I feed the critters.

I'm feeling kind of chilled. And tired.

I saved the links to some exercise classes (yoga, weight training, pilates). Now I just need to do them.

I overslept my nap, dreaming that I was staying at my mom's house, but my dad was taking me to the airport.

It won't stop raining.

Called Holland America to get my bookings straightened out on their app. I had two IDs, and they are in the process of merging them. I hope that it will be fixed tomorrow.

Oliver and Lily are best buds, except when they're eating. Then it's every cat for himself or herself.

Ordered more canned dog food for delivery.

I have a little over a month to get things in order for a new pet sitter when I go to a conference in May. I need to set goals for myself. I should meet with the life coach to set goals, but I don't want to spend the money right now. Hmm.

I tried some Dubai chocolates from Costco with pistachio and knafeh. Oh, are they ever good. I tend to be picky about chocolate because I don't like chocolate unless it's cut with something, but these are great!

Lily is crashed out on the guest room futon. Not sure where Oliver went. Now she's loving me up because she's hungry.

Bella seems to recognize dogs as dogs, but she is nervous around them. One guy who walks his dogs on our street is trying to get her to say “Hello” to his dogs or him, but she hasn’t quite gotten the nerve up yet.

Hmm. There are some Corgi mixes that like cats and other dogs and are 73 miles away. Their adoption fees are reasonable too.

Huh. I was looking at a Lucid Air, but sheesh. Expensive. I don’t think so.

Got us all fed. I need to clean up the kitchen because Bella shredded toilet paper in here, but I think that I need a nap first. I got up early today. Slept through until 5:30 AM.

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.