I found a puppy that I like at the place at which I adopted Bella. She's going to be around Bella's size and she's cute. I'm going to sleep on whether to contact them. I wouldn't be able to pick her up next week though.

Oliver is eating Zara’s leftover food. The vet told me to feed Zara as much food as she wants because she has been losing weight, but that means that I feed her more food than she wants.

I bought a lockable fireproof safe that takes file folders plus a laptop because mine keeps running out of space. (I got a 2 TB hard drive. That should keep me for a while.)

Bella is taking the stuff that I’m throwing out and is squirreling it away.

I woke up at 5 AM. I decided that I wanted to go back to sleep for a while but put clothes in the dryer first. Overslept my nap. Soaked a litter box.

The dentist will glue the tooth back on at 4 PM today. Excellent.

I emailed the shelter about the puppy. Either I’ll get her or I won’t. Lily is sleeping in the window.

My Bee Balm is blooming! And the rest of them have buds.

I’m getting the puppy!!!! They said that they could transport her the following week. I'll pick her up in Bloomington.

I tried to nap at lunch, but I was too excited about the puppy. Bella, on the other hand, is a "five more minutes" kind of gal.

My permanent bridge came in! Things are looking up. The dentist wants me to come in a little earlier, and they'll put it on. I’ve nicknamed the dentist “Dr. Payne” because he keeps doing stuff that hurts (to be fair, my teeth are very sensitive), but it looks great.

Hmm. Feeling dizzy. Must drink water. I get dizzy learning back in dentist's chairs.

Hmm. There's a cruise line that guarantees that you will see the Aurora Borealis during their cruise, or you will get a second cruise for free. I would like to see that. Ooh, I want their astronomy voyage.

I need to get to bed early because the tree guy is coming at 8:30 AM tomorrow.

Hmm, I'm missing a bra that I ordered a few weeks ago. I can live without it, but I wanted to take it with me on my business trip. Anyway, I need to do some maintenance on my "paper trading" account, do some dishes and tidying, and get to bed so that I'll get up really early.

Lily smacked Oliver. Cranky cats.

I was feeling very sleepy but drank some water, which helped. I need to get to bed. Ordered some ear wax removal drops and a bike helmet.

According to my dad’s system, now is a good time to buy stocks. I’ll “paper trade” some tomorrow.

Good. The tree people got back to me and they can come by on Tuesday morning “to assess my situation.”

I was eyeing a Lincoln plug-in hybrid car yesterday, but need to compare prices with other ones. The price was less than I expected. I wouldn’t want to buy a car until after I get the garage built. The Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid is more expensive. The Toyota RAV4 plug-in is comparable, so it’s all about which car that I like best. Also Consumer Reports, which says to get the RAV4. It doesn't have a report for the Lincoln though. Actually, I really like the Mazda CX-90 PHEV, but it's more expensive. (Consumer Reports says no on it though.) Actually, the CX-70 is more my size. Most dealers do not carry plug-in hybrids, so how can I test drive them?

Placed a grocery order to get Munchie Bones, lots of cat food, and some food for me.

Came in with Bella after an hour. She tried to grab my donut. Bad Bella! Urgh. I brought food into Zara’s room and noticed that she needed water. I went to get her water dish and Oliver busted in. Zara hissed and hid. I went to get Oliver out, and Bella ate Zara’s food. Sigh. What a zoo. I’ve got it sorted now.

I’m leaning more towards “Freckles” for a dog companion. If she’s still available after I get back from my business trip, I’ll look into her. Unless I go for “Rita”, but I don’t know if they will adopt across state lines. She looks like a real sweetie though. I saw the most adorable puppy at the place where I adopted Bella, but I don’t want a puppy. She sure is cute though. Look at that face!

I almost forgot to feed Bella with the brouhaha about Zara’s food. I filled her dish and sat on the stairs to the upstairs. I felt cat feet on my head and knew who it was (Oliver) without looking.

Napped. When I got up, I had Bella with her paws on my chest, licking my face, and Oliver on my back shoulders. Got my groceries in. Ate lunch and read The Washington Post. Started opening packages. Found the “good” dental glue. I’m having a dizzy spell, so I’m sitting down and chilling carbonated water in the freezer. I need to clear a spot for the air conditioner, and then I’ll be done. Got the air conditioner in. (My next step will be to get someone to install the air conditioner.)

I started doing my “things that I need for my business trip” shopping.

I’m being poked with a Munchie Bone :) Finished my water.

Ugh, I don’t feel like going out. I should take my shower and fix my tooth though. I certainly have a lot of stuff to do here. Glued the tooth back in and it's setting. It came out when I took my partial out. I guess that I didn't let it set enough.

Took a shower. Bella was pulling stuff out of the garbage and strewing them on the floor. I told her that she was creating a dog mess. I need a trash can with a cover (ordered). I just remembered that I need to sign Bella up for obedience training.

It’s raining. Bella is noping out. I love my raincoat. I never use umbrellas anymore.

Do I want to subscribe to the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra? Most of their upcoming concerts sound interesting. They have a "pick 4" deal that I'm going to get. No online sales though; you need to send the order form in or call.

I can’t stop yawning. I need to make it an early night.

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.

Woke up at 6:30 AM. I was out with Bella when I realized that I hadn’t put my clothes in the dryer. Came in and did so, but it’ll take a while, so I’ll have to take my shower at lunchtime. Decided to go back to sleep for a half hour. It's a rainy, dreary day.

The recycling people didn't take my boxes, probably because it was raining. They left a mess, so I'll need to go out and drag the boxes back into the yard. Bah.

Forgot to mention that I bought a book on Medicare that I need to read. And my trust books.

I've got a paper trading account set up on Schwab, although they don't make it easy to find. I'll start following my dad's system next week.

I had an appointment to take Zara to the vet. When I went in her room, Oliver tried to come in and then Oliver and Bella were fighting outside the door. That freaked Zara out, and she retreated to the closet whenever I went near her. I called the vet, and have a new appointment for next Tuesday. Next time, I'll corral Oliver, Lily, and Bella before I try to get Zara.

I read an article in the BBC about the health benefits of saunas, including reducing the severity of tension headaches, which I get a lot. I’m looking for a sauna in the area but am having no luck. The big gym at the university has one, but I just read a comment about how they don’t keep the gym clean, which doesn’t make me want to go there. The YMCA has one. Maybe when my required membership at the university gym is up, I’ll try there. The membership at the uni gym was a minimum of four months, so it should be over soon if not already. I guess that my next step is to check the date and visit the YMCA to see if I want to switch there. Oh! It has a lap pool! And they have swim lessons! And a "gentle yoga" class! And an indoor walking track! And "learn to play pickleball" in the fall! Okay, I want to join the YMCA (joined). I need to cancel my uni gym membership.

I'm thinking of looking for a part-time job at one of the local public libraries when I retire. It would be fun and bring in a little money.

I've been bouncing back and forth from my work area upstairs to the kitchen. I'm processing videos at work, so I set one off for processing, went downstairs and worked on the kitchen, came back up to process videos, etc. I did get some cleaning done on the kitchen. The boxes are flattened.

Cleaned up the boxes outside. I have a video processing. If it's done after I post, I'll move it to the next step. Otherwise, I'll finish up tomorrow. Okay, I got the second video uploaded. I don't have the energy to start video 3. I'll work on it tomorrow.

Bella is being obnoxious again. She was going after one of the irises, after leaving them alone up to now. I hussled her back inside the house.

I didn’t get to bed early. I was mucking around on the Internet. I think that Bella wants me to go to bed, so okay. The girl loves her sleep.

I bought an external hard drive to clean off my home laptop. (Yes, I have a smaller one just for traveling.) I don’t need 1TB storage but there are few smaller ones. I bought an ultra portable one so that I can pull files off of both laptops. And store pictures on it.

Woke up at 7 AM. Yay. I was out with Bella for an hour but she finally pooped outside. I told her that she was a good girl.

It’s going to be hot today.

Aargh. Bella ate Lily’s food. She is fast! And Oliver snatched a little of Zara’s food. Well, we’re all (mostly) fed. Nap time. I’m sharing my bed with a Munchie Bone.

Had a nice nap. Bella is still asleep. Now she’s up. Put clothes in the dryer, but I have clothes to wear outside. Made an emergency Walmart order because we’re almost out of cat food. They said that the cat food might be low in stock. I want to go there to get a rosemary plant, so I’ll pick up some extra individual cans. And I placed a backup Chewy order.

Had lunch. Bella, Oliver, and Lily wanted my food. Nice to be the center of attention.

I really want to go back to sleep, but I need to shower and take Bella out. Bella clearly wants to nap—she slept during my shower—so I’m not going to argue.

I added a rosemary plant and individual cans of cat food to my Walmart order.

Napped an extra hour than I had planned. Fed us all. I had a dilemma because Bella clearly needed to go outside, but I didn’t want her out when the Walmart order got here. So I hussled her out and in. Texting the driver to close the gate is working well. I just got the signs but no way to hang them on the gate. I’ll have to drill holes in them.

The rosemary plant that they gave me kind of looks pathetic, but it’ll bounce back. I just watered it.

I’m not feeling like starting the kitchen now. Maybe I’ll just go to bed. I guess that I'll transfer stuff to my new purse and crash.

Gardening is the road to bankruptcy :) Ordered more coral bells and some herbs and tomatoes (although the groundhog likes to eat some of my herbs, so it's a losing battle).

Cool, my Capital One credit card payment has posted.

Ack! The forecasters are predicting rain from 5 AM onwards!

Lily loves cherry turnovers. That’s something that she has in common with Zara, although grumpy old Zara wants nothing to do with Lily.

It is COLD out. The forecast said that the wind chill will be down into the 30s F at 11 PM.

Oliver projectile vomited in the living room. I’ll have to keep an eye on him. Bella licked it up, which was gross but useful.

Got up at 7 AM. I was thinking that it’s Monday, but there is another day of weekend!

It’s raining lightly.

Got what I think are the batteries for the mower.

Lily keeps dropping napkins on the floor. Then Bella grabs them. Sigh.

Fed us all. My plan of action is to nap, eat lunch, shower, and head out to pick up my plants. Hmm, I don’t see the pots for the African daisies. I’ll need to order some.

Ordered more recycled paper products from Who Gives a Crap?

Napped. While I was out with Bella, a guy came by with a pile of Amazon boxes. I got the fake book in which to stash cash, and it really does look like a book. Now I need to get the cash. I got some investing books, collars with a pocket for AirTags for Oliver and Lily, cat food, and some underwear and socks. Oliver has taken over one of the boxes. Oh, and there’s a tall box that I forgot about. I have no idea what it is. It’s the weeder.

Bella has a squeaky ball, and she’s kind of driving me crazy with it, but at least, she’s happy. Oliver got part of my pizza and Lily got part of my donut. I have cats who need to learn manners.

I’m fighting the impulse to go back to sleep. Then I’d lose the plants that I bought. I should get myself together and go.

Just remembered to order vitamin B12. My levels are borderline low.

I’m getting a headache:( Took some acetaminophen and I could lie down for a half-hour.

Went and got the plants. They got my order wrong and left two plants out of it. They found another astilbe of the same color and one of a slightly different color and gave them to me. (That’s fine; my garden won’t be perfect.) They thanked me for shopping the sale. It occurred to me that they probably were volunteers at Allerton, and that sounds like fun to do.

My eye is twitching. Napped but woke up after a half-hour. My eye is still twitching. Fed us all. I’m feeling too tired to clean.

I’m looking for stuff to buy. I need to stop that.

Maybe I’ll read What Color Is Your Parachute in Retirement? for a while.

Bella is having fun playing with the paper from one of the Amazon boxes.

Most of the team will be at the conference tomorrow, so it should be a quiet day. I need to figure out when to take the Honda to the dealer for them to look at. I also need to get my student loans straightened out.

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 forgot to mention that I asked my dad for a recommendation for a macroeconomics book. I want to understand what's going on with the economy better. I bought a couple cheaply from Thriftbooks.

Overslept a little and got up at 6:30 AM. I heard the recycling truck while I was out with Bella. Got my leaf bags out, which was the important part, but I won’t get the rest of the recycling out. I’m going back to sleep for a little while.

Got us all fed. I have to watch Oliver and Lily eat because a certain dog will snatch their food if I'm not watching. Zara is behind a door, so she's okay.

I was wondering why Oliver and Lily like to run around upstairs so much, but then it occurred to me that the dog isn't there to chase them.

A grant awarded to the organization for which I work from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was canceled. Trump's cuts have reached my work. Sigh. It won't impact our staffing though, just a program that we were going to lead.

My therapy session went well. My therapist said to wait a week or two to see if the tiredness wears off, and contact my psychiatrist if it doesn't. She also said that I don't need to work at coming up with as much stuff to talk about as I did this time (the cruise, Mimi, and the car)! I said that I hoped it would be totally boring with nothing to talk about!

I was feeling pretty good about myself, but then I made a dumb mistake at work. I don't handle that well.

I got a free issue of The Week, or rather my mom did, and I read it cover to cover. I think that I want to resubscribe to it. I’m also thinking of subscribing to The Economist. I’m sorry to say that US and world events are very interesting right now. Hmm, I might be able to get an academic discount for The Economist.

Bella wants me to follow her around the yard. She’ll stop and wait and stare at me if I’m slow (which is always because she’s a young dog and I’m an old human). I got out the collar and leash to take her for a walk tonight, and she got so excited and cooperated when I put the collar on. It’s a vast improvement from when I had to chase her through the house to get her harness on and when she’d freeze on a leash when I first got her. It was nice to walk in twilight. And most of the dog walkers were already gone. I’m not sure what she’d do if we met another dog. Hide behind me?

Had my quality time with Zara. Practiced piano. Zara was chirping at the piano for a couple of minutes and then sat and listened.

I’m going to go upstairs and practice Italian. My trip-to-be is motivating me. I studied Italian until my brain went into vaporlock. I'm tired.

I'm going to post, feed the critters, and crash.

I did get some snuggle time with Zara. Yay. She’s still my girl. And it fills me with oxytocin (the “love hormone“), so it helps me too. She's still eating well and seems to be in good shape. (She's 16, so I'm keeping a close eye on her.)

Overslept this morning, so I wouldn't have time to shower before Italian. But my Internet was down. I finally figured out that I missed a payment and they suspended my account. I paid it, and it came back up at 8 AM. Technically, I could have logged into Italian, but I wasn't in decent shape to be seen, so I told my teacher that I was still working on the problem. But the Internet was up in plenty of time for work, and I had time to take a shower.

It's freaking cold out. The plants that I covered look okay, and so do the daffodils, tulips, daylilies, and chives. (I figured that they are used to a cold snap, so I didn't cover them.) I think that it's too cold to rake today, so I'll just give the recycling people what I have. I'll hire someone to rake once I get the money from the trust.

Urgh. My neck is getting really stiff.

I’m mulling over getting a wood stove for the living room. It would be very cozy. It would have to have glass doors to keep curious creatures out.

I need to spend some time cleaning up the upstairs this weekend because I want to get the carpet cleaned as soon as I get the trust money.

Got the garbage out. Took Bella for a walk. She was really happy. I need to spend more time making Bella and Zara happy. Oliver and Lily are more independent.

I forgot to soak the cat dishes, so I came up to post. Then I'll feed the critters and spend some time with Zara, practice piano, do dishes, put laundry in the dryer, and go to bed.

Here is a picture of Lily and Oliver in the window that I took yesterday:

Oh, I forgot to mention that I discussed the timing of the Sardinia trip with my boss, and she said to do what works for me. She's also planning a trip to Italy, so we talked about it. I'm glad that I have a cool boss.

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.