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The Weather Channel keeps telling me that there’s fog out. Thanks, I can see it.

I have an impulse to go back to sleep for a half-hour, but I got a ton of sleep last night. I won’t get the will and trust docs modified this morning though. I’ll do that tonight. Both Bella and Oliver are in here, and the combo of them is not restful. Sigh. Oliver bit my foot, which earned him a trip out of the bedroom. I did sleep.

I have a meeting at 11 and one at 1, so no nap at lunchtime or no errands.

I tripped and fell, and my Apple Watch was concerned. I'm fine. It's good to have the emergency button on my watch though.

I need to clear some space in my living room to park the air conditioner for upstairs. It's been spending time on my porch.

Target Optical is open 9 - 6 tomorrow and Country Arbors Nursery is open 9 - 5. They are opposite directions from each other. If I could get to bed early, that would be good.

Lunchtime. Bella is watching Squirrel TV.

It’s chilly downstairs, but I don’t want to put on a hoodie only to take it off again when I go upstairs to work.

Bella stuck her nose in my carrot cake.

A guy wants to come by to buy the pet ramp that I bought for Bella, but she didn't need it. So I popped in my tooth and got some stuff out of the basement stairs. No response from him yet. He's coming by at 4 (done).

We're having a Munchie Bone emergency. I need to submit a Walmart order that includes them. And order a box of them from Amazon (done).

Urgh, my head is pounding.

There is a part Poodle and part Irish Setter dog that caught my eye. However, she's a senior dog, and I wonder if she could keep up with Bella, who is 1. She's a real cutie and is supposed to be sweet too.

It occurred to me the other day that I could get back into piano by playing what I want. I should look for some "easy piano" books (done).

Fed us all. Bella was annoyingly digging in the front yard. She likes to do that when the ground is wet.

Now I'm working on the will and trust documents. Okay, I sent drafts of the documents to the executor and trust people. I should head towards bed.

Thursday

Jun. 6th, 2025 06:04 am
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I overslept. So much for getting my recycling out. So much for my shower too. Put my clothes in the dryer. Fed us all.

I’m working on plans for my funeral for my will. I'm looking for a poem that I wrote many years ago, but no luck so far. Found it on the Wayback Machine for an old Web site! Yay! I think that I'll just say in the will to follow the funeral plans in the "End of Life Ceremonies" folder in the NokBox. Then I can keep modifying it without updating the will. (Actually, planning it is kind of fun. Is that weird?)

The Champaign County Master Gardeners are sponsoring a garden walk. It's the day after I get back from my business trip, but it's from 9 to 4, so I wouldn't have to get up really early? (Though I'll have to pick up Bella and Oliver first.) It sounds nice. I could use some ideas for my garden. It's only $10, so if I decide that day that I just can't, I wouldn't lose a lot of money.

Lily thinks that my leg is a scratching post. Ow.

Scrambled to get myself together for my therapy session because I forgot about it. She thinks that I need to get back to singing as a way to deal with frustration. (I booked some lessons. I also signed up for a Scales and Intervals singing class for the fall.) She thinks that I've had too many things go wrong for too long. I also was worrying about my job because it's detail-oriented and I'm really not, and she suggested looking at other jobs within the university. I don't have to take another job if I don't think that it's a good fit.

I forgot to mention that I got all my bills on automatic payment (except for the sewer, which is manual only) a few days ago. One less thing to worry about.

My new glasses are in, so I need to pick them up on the weekend.

I think that I want a nap after dinner.

Bella is picking up dog debris from the floor and flinging it into the air. I only live here.

Ordered dog food and dog treats from Costco. I noticed that they had a tennis ball launcher for dogs, but my inner voice asked me if I was too lazy to throw a ball for my dog. So no, I didn’t get it.

Took a nap and slept until 5 AM. I think that the pup thought that I was dead because she’s making a fuss over me :)

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Overslept a little. A branch of my tree cracked and is in the neighbor’s yard. I need to call a tree guy. I’ll get him to take down the tree at the same time. Bella grabbed one of my strawberry plants and trashed it. Sigh. Bella tried to get my donut. She’s full of it today.

It’s supposed to storm today.

I need to figure out a way to get my tooth in for my meeting with the bank.

At least the tasks that we’re doing today at work are quick and easy. It’s raining out, and neither Bella nor I was thrilled, so I convinced her to come in early.

I read somewhere that dogs wag to the right for something they like and left if they’re nervous. Bella looks at me and wags to the right. I guess that’s good. Speaking of dogs, the one that I was interested in got adopted. The shelter asked me if there were other dogs that they had that interested me. I saw one that’s a “maybe”. He’s shy and Bella’s shy, so maybe they’d be in sync.

I gingerly got my tooth in. It just has to hold on through my meeting with the bank. Which reminds me that I need to list questions for them (done).

More weird stuff going on at work (technical stuff, not people stuff).

Talked to the vet. Zara's kidneys are stable, and they think that she'd do okay under anesthesia. We made a dental appointment for the week after I get back from my business trip. (I don't want her to be alone, even with a pet sitter, after recent surgery.) So that's settled.

I talked to a rep from Midlands State Bank about the will and trust. They can be the executor of the will and successor trustee and also can manage my money if I become incapacitated. They are a national bank and have a lot of trust and investment assets, but are small enough "to provide good customer service". I'm going to send them the drafts that I have of my will and trust documents for them to look at. Success, I think! I liked them and what they had to say.

I really want to take a nap. After I feed the critters. And myself.

The rain is coming down in sheets. Bella noped out. I stayed on the porch with her a while in case she needed to dash out and poop. It was kind of nice being on the porch in the rain. Bella went out a little later and walked around in the rain.

Took a nap. Slept until 12:30 AM. I’m gathering the recycling and my back hurts. Got the recycling in the bin. I need to get up really early to roll the bin and take the boxes to the street, but I’ll probably go back to sleep for a while afterwards. Fed us all. My tooth popped back out.

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Bella heard something and woke up and barked and growled. I got up and turned on the porch light but didn’t see anyone. The car looks okay.

Woke up at 5 AM. Took Bella out and lay down for a half-hour afterward.

My Italian lesson went well. My teacher said that my brain was working well today. I need to work on pronunciation. Maybe I could read News in Slow Italian and play the audio to check my pronunciation. Am I still subscribed to News in Slow Italian? An article I read about improving foreign language pronunciation said that it’s a good idea. I think that there also was an app that taught foreign languages using songs. That should help too. I downloaded an app called LingoClip. You listen to music and fill in the missing words in the lyrics. I found another site that will play a foreign language song and give you the lyrics in the language and a translation.

I think that I might want to add a small bequest to my Italian teacher in my will. I’ll have to see if there’s an issue with sending money overseas.

They were right about it being really windy today. Something (dust?) was making me sneeze. The sunflowers have been knocked over, but I left them on the ground until the wind dies down.

Great. I overslept my nap and was late to a meeting, I'm having problems with a database, and a crown came out already. I ordered some dental glue from Walgreens because the one that I'm getting from Amazon won't get here until tomorrow.) I just want to scream. This week sucks so far. Okay, a colleague probably figured out the problems with my database. (I'm testing it. It worked.) The glue has been delivered, but I'm going to wait until post-dinner to reglue it.

I still haven’t heard from the vet about Zara. I just said that I wanted to reschedule the appointment for tomorrow, but they are closed now. It’s 7 PM, and they’ve been closed for an hour, so I don’t think that I’ll hear from them tonight.

Fed us all and watered the plants in the garden. Listened to a song in Italian. Got the garbage out. Zara is hiding in the closet. I don’t know if she’s trying to keep cool. I should turn the ceiling fan on for her. Man, I’m boiling hot. Need to sit and cool off. Listened to another (depressing) song in Italian. In English we would call that a torch song.

Got my tooth back on without glue. It then came off. Now I put it on with glue. My tooth is screaming. I turned the ceiling fan on while I sat in the kitchen (I shut Bella in the bedroom because she wouldn’t stop bothering Oliver) and Oliver took off like a bat out of hell out of here. Apparently he’s scared of it as well as Bella. The tooth came out again. I'll wait until I get the better glue from Amazon. Bella is doing well in time-out.

I need to go upstairs and do some more work, although I need to get up on time because I have a 9:00 meeting tomorrow. All's well that ends well with work. My mini-project was successful, and now I'm back on track. So I'll get to bed.

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Okay, I put the people with whom I'm meeting on Monday as the executors of my will. I can change it if necessary. So I finished my trust document. I also contacted a local bank to possibly serve as a successor trustee and maybe executor?

Damn, my tooth hurts. I hope that they'll fix it tomorrow.

I got Lily to come upstairs, but then Oliver went down in the basement. It’s a zoo here.

Fed us all. My stomach is upset.

Smoke from Canada has arrived here.

Got up at 6:30 AM. My stomach is upset. I need to get into the shower early because I need to put on my makeup for my dental appointment.

Oliver and Lily are being cranky with each other and are doing whappy paws.

Well, hell. This morning I had a dental appointment to get impressions for my permanent bridge. It wound up being surprisingly painful. They numbed me up, but they kept on pressing on a tooth that still hurt. The good news is that they replaced the missing crown with a temporary one, and that tooth feels fine. But I told work that I was taking 1/2 a sick day and was going to lie down, but that I would be in for a team meeting. Ate a little yogurt. Clio mini greek yogurt bars are pure crack. I love them.

It occurred to me that Munchie Bones are kind of like dog currency. Bella was like, “You expect me to come in FOR FREE??” I went and got a Munchie Bone, and she came in. She saves them for a while too.

Nothing from the bank that does trust work so far. I might have to call them this afternoon because I want a choice of who to pick to handle my estate.

Well, hell. The people whom I wanted as executor cannot serve as executor. They suggested that I try another firm. I'll call the bank first. I set up an appointment with the bank for Wednesday afternoon.

It's freaking hot upstairs. I just remembered that I saw a combo air conditioner/heater at Lowe's that seemed to be small enough for the windows upstairs. I need to measure to make sure. Nope, the window is a smidge too small. Ack! Up to 90F/32 C tomorrow. Shorts weather. Maybe I'll shave my legs tonight because I have Italian tomorrow morning. I ordered an air conditioner from Amazon. I’ll deal with heat in the fall. At least you can put more clothes on when it’s cold.

I got my new “Dog in Yard; Please Close the Gate” signs. They’re copper and a little fancy for my lousy fence, but they will look good when I replace the fence. I need to get wire to attach it to the fence. I also got my NokBox (Next of Kin Box).

My dentist was worried about the temporary bridge and crowns coming off, so I bought some filling repair stuff to take with me on my business trip.

I am not feeling great. I think that I’ll go to bed early. The sore tooth hurt a bit when I ate. Submitted a grocery order for tomorrow morning. We’re low on cat food. I bought cloth napkins and placemats as well as food. Oops, I want microfiber cloths too (done).

I brought the NoxBox supplies upstairs, but it's too damn hot to clear off the top of the filing cabinet for it. I'll go to sleep soon and get up early to do stuff up here. But I do have some packages downstairs to open before I got to bed. The downstairs is quite comfortable. Also, I have some Italian homework, but I'll bring it downstairs to do.

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I need to figure out what to do with any cash left over in my bank accounts for my will. Maybe donate to a food bank? Note to self: Eastern Illinois Food Bank

Bella did need to go out. It can be hard to tell with her.

Ow, there’s a pain pulse in my knee.

Woke up at 8 AM. Went back to sleep and woke up at 10:30. I kind of want to stay home today and weed and plant stuff. I can go to the garden shops tomorrow. Fed us all except for Bella, whom I will feed after I get up from my nap so that I can get her outside right away.

Woke up early from my nap. Bella is still asleep.

Now I was thinking that I should go to the garden shop after all, but they close at 5 PM and it’s now almost 3 and I need to eat and shower. I don’t feel up to planting though. Maybe I should work on my will (and I need to make up time for work).

Got my weary butt into the shower. Now I'm working. Done with work. Fed us all. Bella was yawning and making me yawn, so I’m going to lie down for a little while. Napped and slept until 10 PM.

Took Bella out. Now I'm working on my will. Hmm, it won't let me assign specific assets to people, only a percentage. I guess that I'll divide my assets between the Humane Society and a food bank. Okay, I'm stuck on the executor. I contacted a firm to serve as the executor and have a meeting with them on Monday. I discovered that I have a dental appointment on Monday!

I think that I'll pack it in for tonight. I need to feed the critters and have a snack and go to sleep.

I keep forgetting to post a picture of my sunflowers. They make me smile. sunflowers.jpg

Lousy Day

May. 29th, 2025 08:31 pm
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I had my Italian lesson today. It went well. We spent half of the time talking about my Sardinia trip. My teacher wants me to go to Sicily!

I made a stupid mistake at work. And I keep making stupid mistakes today. With it, I'm not. I didn't get a lot of sleep. I installed a "countdown to retirement" app on my phone. Currently 2 years, 7 months, and 2 days (assuming that I retire December 31, 2027) :)

Hmm. I found an Amalfi Coast and Tuscany tour that's more what I had in mind. I want to go to Ravello though. On the day in Florence, I could go to the Uffizi Gallery that I missed when I was sick in Florence. I emailed them for more info.

I have a boatload of stuff to do this weekend. I want to go to the garden shops. Plant plants in the garden. Tidy and clean the kitchen and bathrooms. Work on my will and trust documents. (Maybe I should work on them after work because I'll have limited energy.) Oh, and tidy up the upstairs so that I can get someone to clean the carpet. Set up my security cameras.

I’m about to take a nap and am sharing my bed with a dog and a Munchie Bone. I pretended to eat the Munchie Bone, but Bella was unfazed. She knows that they’re for dogs. Had a short nap, but I'm going to be tired tonight. I need to make it an early night, especially because I need to log onto work early to get my half-day in the morning and still leave for my doctor's appointment on time.

I almost got scammed by the best phishing email yet. The login looked believable, but then it asked for my credit card number, and I said, "Wait a minute," closed the Web page, and used Xfinity's Web site to check. I did not owe any money. I should change my password on the site (done, but it has two-factor identification also). I also changed my email password out of an abundance of caution.

Oh man. I have hit the wall with 1.5 hours of work to go. I was going to try to stay up tonight until an early bedtime, but I might need to take a nap. Or go to bed REALLY REALLY early.

I've decided not to go to the island La Maddalena on my Sardinia trip because 1) the cab fare to the ferry is really, really expensive and 2) I will be jet-lagged, so two days at the beach sounds about right. Maybe next time, I could stay closer to the ferry.

I’m redesigning the area next to the garage-to-be. I had thought red buds, soft holly, and lavender. But now I’m thinking red buds, willow shrubs, and creeping thyme. Realistically, I won’t be able to landscape the area until next spring, which will give me a lot of time to clean it up.

[personal profile] sunshine_two, I hope that the fires in Manitoba aren’t near you.

Swapped a clean litter box for one to soak. Started laundry.

Intuit sucks. I used part of my tax refund to get Will and Trust Maker, but I never got a login for it. I called Intuit customer service, and it gave me a bunch of info about my tax refund and hung up on me. Will and Trust Maker doesn't seem to have a customer service number. So I'm screwed.

I guess that I'll use the free Will and Trust tool. I started working on my will, but realized that I need to add all my bank accounts, and I'm too annoyed to have the patience for it. I think that I'll go to bed early and work on it tomorrow. Actually, I might be in the right mood to work on the kitchen. Cleaning is always better when you're pissed off.

I checked into the premiums for Obamacare if I retired before I'm eligible for Medicare, and holy cow. Expensive. I think that my proposed retirement date is solid.

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Crap. I forgot to check my dad’s “stoplight system” for whether to invest or not. (It’s based on some Wall Street Journal stats.) I don’t want to go back upstairs and log on though. I need to put a note on my computer to do that. Hmm, it just occurred to me to note the stoplight readings on my email calendar. That would be a good way to view trends. I did remember to do it tonight. (It's a yellow light - hold.)

Woke up at 6:30 AM. Discovered that my phone didn’t charge and my Apple Watch needed charging too. Got the good charger. Took Bella out, but it was raining pretty hard, and she noped out. I’m going to go back to sleep for a while. Hmm, the Dynamic Duo (Oliver and Lily) are in here now. Good, they just left. Had a nice nap.

At work now. The Dynamic Duo are being very dynamic and are running around.

ChatGPT can be useful. I want a paragraph in my will stating that my friends can take one personal item each to remember me by, and it gave me a nice paragraph in legalese.

Speaking of my will and my trust, the big question is whether I include the house in the trust or not. I want the proceeds of the sale of the house to go into the trust, which makes me think that it should be included in the trust, but I'll probably sell the house before I pass away to go into a retirement community, which makes me think that it should not be in the trust. Dad said in a roundabout way to put the house in the trust because it keeps someone from suing me and getting the house. He said that if I’m the trustee, I can sell it whenever.

I somehow wound up with not one but two doctor's appointments on Friday afternoon (psychiatrist and eye doctor). My boss said that I could take the afternoon as sick time. Have I mentioned lately that I work with great people?

I forgot to feed the critters this morning. I suck.

I put the YMCA's "Gentle Yoga" class on my calendar, starting next week. That'll give me time to find my yoga clothes, mat, etc. Their Pilates classes are at an inconvenient time. And their Aqua Fit evening classes are at the same time as yoga. (I don't do exercise in the morning. If I get up on time and shower, I'm ahead of the game. Though hmm, the Deep Water Total Body Workout on Wednesday mornings sounds like a good class. Maybe I should try it and see if I can get up. They have the class on Fridays and Mondays too.)

I've been weeding a little while I'm out with Bella. Some weeds are going to need the weeding tool, but I've been able to knock off some easy weeds to pull up. I've got the bed for the tickseed cleared, but need to pull up the landscaping cloth underneath before I plant them. I want to order some begonias for the back of the house, which gets part sun and part shade. Hard to find plants for that exposure that are also dog-safe. Pulled up the landscaping cloth and planted tickseeds. I’m wondering if I should leave the sunflowers in their pots. They would require a big hole to plant them. Now I’m thinking about putting them on the patio. Maybe I could plant Black-Eyed Susans where I was going to plant them. Prairie Gardens has them. I also want to go to another big garden shop in the area this weekend. The ASPCA Web site says that begonias are toxic for dogs. The search continues….

Bella played tug of war with the landscaping cloth that I pulled up. I finally gave up on throwing it out. I’ll have to go outside without her to get it. (I got it when I took out the recycling.)

I read an article on places to retire in if you want to travel, but I think that I'm pretty well located. I can hop on a bus (or train) to Chicago and fly out of O'Hare Airport, which has nonstop flights to a lot of places. But Urbana is cheaper to live in than Chicago.

I've decided to replace the living room furniture (loveseat and chair) with new washable pieces. And I'll put my mom’s white chair, which is in good shape, in the library room and buy a cheap footstool for it. Though actually, I have a rattan footstool, I think. And I found a small trunk table on Wayfair to use as an end table. I can put a throw in it for cozy reading. I’ve thought again about getting a grandfather clock for the library room. The trick is finding a nice used one for not a lot of money and getting it over here.

The Swedish Death Cleaning book was talking about “curating” your stuff. That’s an interesting way to look at it.

I’m resting for a moment before taking out the recycling (done). I can’t rest long because I have Italian homework to do and I need to order some fencing from Lowe’s (done) and groceries.

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