days_unfolding

I watched a couple more episodes of The Golden Girls. The dog is fast asleep, so I’m going to get in my pajamas and join her.

Got up at 7. Bella defended the yard against a squirrel. She ate Lily’s food. Bad dog! She was trotting around with one of my bras that she found.

I was looking for pictures of Mimi because I think that I want the painted urn. Found some.

Oh shit! I just realized that a book that Bella destroyed was a library book! Guess that I need to go over and pay for it.

Tried to nap but couldn’t sleep.

I’m trying to decide what to do. I need to run over to Walmart to get Mrs. Meyers cleaner and Munchie Bones. I need to plant the new plants, which requires cleaning out the garden bed. And I need to clean the bedroom, kitchen, and upstairs.

It’s a little early for lunch, so I guess that I’ll get in the shower. Well, I needed to do laundry, so I guess that I’ll have lunch.

I’m looking for a new housekeeper because mine is moving out of town in June. I found someone who wants to support herself as a new grad student. I’ll contact her later in May.

My towels didn’t dry, so I threw on the clothes that I had on yesterday. I found my shovel and will go out and plant the ferns (done). Then the alarm on the Honda started going off. I shut it off twice, but apparently it had been going off since last night, but I didn’t hear it. I contacted an online Honda mechanic, and he said that the alarm system was built in. He said to bring it to a dealer to read the messages why the alarm was going off, but next week is problematic because of my off-site meetings. He told me how to disconnect the battery, but I didn’t have a small enough wrench. My neighbor came over and disconnected it.

I'm supposed to give someone a ride tomorrow, but that isn't going to work.

The pup is tired from being outside so long. Napped with her.

It’s a little late to go to Walmart. I’ll go tomorrow.

I started reading Judy Collins’ book. It’s interesting.

I don't feel up to starting anything new, so I'm going to crash.

Well, I dozed a little, but mostly I was up all night. I did get everything done that I planned to get done. Finished my last project at work. Now I'm cooling my heels waiting for the house cleaner.

United has a discount on checked bags if you pay for them over 24 hours before flight time, so I jumped on that.

The house cleaner said that she wanted to come a 10:30 today, so I was waiting for her outside. Nada. Eventually I came in. It's now 12:30 and nada. I texted her asking if she was going to come. Meanwhile, I have Bella and Oliver shut in the bedroom. I need to take Bella out. (They were probably glad of the nap time though because I kept them up late.)

Dropped Bella and Oliver off for boarding. Poor Bella did not want to go with the clerk and lay down in the hall. I told her that I would be coming back. It was heartwrenching.

The nail salon never confirmed my appointment. Just as well because I need to clean. I’ll take some nail polish with me. Or maybe I could get a manicure on the ship? They won’t let me book a treatment online this close to departure. Oh well. Maybe I could walk over to the spa when I get on the ship.

Note to self: charge the cordless cleaning wind. And then pack. Packed. It took me longer than I expected, but it’s done. Lily is playing in my closet.

Cleaned. I was up all night cleaning. Made it to the bus. Napped on the bus. Got to O’Hare.

My neighbor texted me that Mom’s car alarm has been going off. I told her how to get the key and get into the house. (Yay for my lockbox!) They decided to disconnect the battery. I apologized profusely. Yay for nice neighbors.

I slept my way to Miami. I was startled when they said that we were arriving.

I door dashed some soda and a brush and a seasickness band, which I forgot. Now I’m at the bar at the hotel eating.

I'm going to collapse.

Slept until 8 AM. Tired. It’s supposed to rain.

Mimi appears to be sleeping in. She didn’t come down last night too, but someone ate her food. No, I hear her now. Okay, the morning excitement known as “food” is over.

Woke up from my nap before my alarm at 11:30.

I think that I do want a TV for the bedroom. It would be nice to lie in bed and watch TV. Someone is selling a 32-inch Samsung, but it has to be picked up before 11 AM tomorrow.

Got the litter box for the new cat. I couldn’t figure out what that big box was.

I think that I need to stay home and tidy and clean tonight, though I might get that TV.

The cat that I first wanted has been adopted, but I can pick up the little orange cat tomorrow! I think that his name is going to be Oliver. Got an appointment at the vet for him next Friday at 5 PM. The trick will be remembering the appointment. Oh, and I need to pick up more cat toys for him.

The substrate was delivered as I left.

At the Honda dealer. Their service people seem nice.

The TV that I wanted is gone. There’s another 24-inch Samsung TV at a good price, but it’s a half-hour drive. I’ll wait until tomorrow to contact them for pickup on Sunday or Monday. Then I can take my time tonight picking out cat toys!

Okay, I really like the service guy. They listed a bunch of fluid flushes, but he helped me prioritize them. Got the car, and it’s running more smoothly now.

Went to PetSmart. Bought a ton of cat toys for Oliver, and one for Zara because she likes sticks with feathers on them. I also bought some kitten food (dry).

I also found some stuff for the aquarium: some smooth rocks, a Buddha statue, and a ceramic thing with holes for the fish to hide. They also had a 75-gallon tank with stand for only $499. I was tempted to get it, but I need to find out if the floor is stressed for it. Any ideas on who I could ask? And I found a betta that I liked, but I’m not ready for him yet.

Picked up some bowls at Dollar Tree. My “good” bowls are MIA.

Went to Walmart and picked up some munchies, including a Chicken Caesar Salad, which I just ate.

I need to put my Green Chef order away. Then I’m thinking of going to bed and getting up early to work on the library room. Well, after I feed the girls. I’m wiped out.

Added: Amazon had a 32-inch Toshiba Fire TV with a great picture for $99.99, so I bought it for the bedroom.

Land's End has long underwear in petite sizes too. Way to go, Land's End. I think that I will get waterproof snow pants and a coat for snow removal. I need to get the snow blower put together. (It's still in the box from last year.)

Mimi wants to be fed upstairs now. Spoiled much? Now she's crashed out on the blankets that I brought upstairs.

Now my doctor wants me to call a Mental Health place that already said that they weren't taking new patients. Sigh. I did find some psychiatrists outside of the medical complex who are taking new patients and are "Tier 1" on my insurance.

Yay, I got the check. About time.

I am really dehydrated, so I'm chugging down water. It's supposed to be hot today and tomorrow.

Deposited the check at the bank. Cleaned out the rest of Mom’s car. I’m feeling dizzy, so I’m going to skip rehearsal tonight. (I emailed the choir director.) Plus I need to get going early to pick up a colleague and drop them off at the Annual Meeting.

I’m feeling a little better now that I’ve eaten, but I’m still going to stay home and get to bed early because I need to get up early.

Looked at driving directions for tomorrow. I need to get up at 6 AM to make it to the hotel where I'm picking someone up at 9 AM. I just found out who I'm taking. Got my clothes ready for tomorrow morning.

I saw a Web site last night that was about the Village to Village Network, which sets up a network of people who can help older people. I'm wondering if we can set one up here in Champaign-Urbana. I'll have to see if other people are interested.

I think that I'm going to post and start heading towards bed. It usually takes me a while, plus I need to pack up my laptop.

Drat. I was supposed to put my vote by mail ballot in the envelope, but I just put my ballot in there. So I need a new vote by mail ballot. I just emailed them asking what I needed to do. Note to self: read instructions carefully!

Overslept this morning, but made it into work a few minutes late. Obviously, I didn't get up early to get the registration ID card for the Honda.

I just remembered a project that I forgot about at work. Sheesh.

My work has a social "watercooler" meeting on Fridays, but I don't feel like going to it.

The cats are fed and are dozing. Mimi likes sleeping in the "guest room".

Okay, this is weird. My doctor asked me to make an appointment about "medication management," but I was told that she was leaving, so I had made an appointment with someone else. They said that they missed the new appointment.

The Walker's Book Club is at 9 AM tomorrow, but I think that I want to skip it this time. I have so much to do. Though hmm, if I went, I could go to the DMV afterward. But I'm reading a book called Downsizing Your Life, which probably wouldn't be of interest to others.

I'm looking at used Bissell Iconpet vacuums on Mercari. They're supposed to be good at picking up cat litter, which I sorely need. I also looked at Waterpiks, and there are new ones for not a lot of money (1/4 of the regular price). And a new electric toothbrush for 1/2 price.

Zara came upstairs to find me because she wants to be fed.

I found my scale. The cleaners piled it under some stuff. I found out how to sync it with my iPhone too.

Took a nap and overslept. Now I’m waiting for my razor to charge. Just remembered to cancel my Dailylook box. I don’t need to spend money on clothes when I have so many. Canceled my Silk and Sonder subscription because I don’t like it. Mimi apparently just woke up, and she wants food. Zara is still asleep. She woke up when I got their food.

The guy who took over the house that I was renting hasn't paid his garbage bill. I need to send him a nastygram because I'm certainly not going to pay it.

I'm in the mood to work on homework, and I'm not going to waste the mood.

Had a large breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Went to my mom’s house and took the cuttings. I even was able to dig up one of her ferns from the side of the house! Now I’m cooling my heels waiting to hear from the handyman. I really want to load the car and get on the road.

I finally left. Got my car loaded, but found that I couldn’t see well out of the left side. Pulled off at a restaurant and reorganized stuff. I was feeling hungry, so I got a Coney Dog and fries.

I just passed the Toledo metro area. I was feeling tired, so I stopped earlier than usual and closed my eyes for a little while. Well, I couldn't sleep but decided that I was dehydrated. So I drank some water, and went back in to use the washroom again. On the way back to my car, my mind was elsewhere, and I tripped on a curb and fell down hard. I was lucky that my nose wasn't broken nor were my glasses because my face hit the ground. I had a scrape on my hand. My foot hurt. I can vouch that Apple Watches can tell when you fall because it was beeping at me and asking if I was okay or needed emergency services. I should have gotten Mom an Apple Watch when she was living alone. I limped back to the car and left because I had no choice to get back. The adrenaline from the fall woke me right up, and I was wide awake the rest of the trip.

I stopped at a rest stop a way later. Oh fuck fuck fuck, it hurt to walk on my right foot. But I needed to use the washroom. So the only way to get there was to walk, so walk I did, digging my fingernails into the palms of my hands to deal with the pain. I discovered that putting my weight near my big toe helped.

And drive I did, hobbling when I needed to stop. I made it home with Mom's car, and it's parked behind mine. I even made it upstairs. I don't think that my little toe is broken after all, but I smacked the side of my foot down hard.

So, the cats are fussing over me. Zara gave me a little kiss. I think that I'll post and then see if I can figure out how to fix my CSS position in my homework. Or maybe I'll lie down with my feet up.

The power mop makes mopping the floor easy. I’m glad that I bought it!

On the bus now. I overslept, but made it.

At the gate at O’Hare. I had a lunch of cheese popcorn and a danish. Lunch of champions :)

I’m at my mom’s house now, after a scramble to find the rideshare area at the airport. I tried the air pump, but I couldn’t get air in the tires, so I’ll let Midas deal with it.

I picked up my mom's car. Now I'm at the hotel, and I'm exhausted. I think that it's bedtime really soon.

I overslept and woke up just before work.

I ordered the Apple Watch from Target. I should get it on Friday.

I enrolled in the swimming class. It's for beginners, and I probably remember some of the strokes, but the next class up requires you to be able to swim the length of the pool, and I probably can't do that because I'm out of shape. I'll hand them my paperwork to get access to the gym (and pool!) next week because classes start next week. I also enrolled in the yoga class for fall. An ex-boyfriend of mine said on Facebook that he’s getting exhausted just reading my posts. I need to get a hot body for dating! (Not him—He’s happily married, I like his wife, and he’s “old business“.)

I signed up with an exercise coach. We'll see how this works. Also, the uni is offering free attendance at group classes next week, and I might try Core Conditioning, Zumba, and Flow Yoga. Well, Zumba and Core Conditioning are back to back, so I need to choose one. I think that I’ll try Zumba because I’ve always been curious about it, and I have an idea what a “Core Conditioning “ class would be like. Hmm, maybe I need to get my paperwork over to the gym this week then. I'll go there tomorrow before yoga because I'll be dressed anyway.

Hmm. Someone in my plant group said that a local grocery store is offering orchids with fading flowers for $2.99. Worth a look, but I'd rather go tomorrow because I have to leave the house for yoga anyway.

Hot damn. I used a Target coupon, and I ordered two cube bookcases for the upstairs for only $12.89! I want to get a guy in here next week to assemble some items. Crud, one of them went through as a driveup order. I guess that I'll go there tomorrow after yoga.

Ugh. The imaging department at the hospital where my doctor works was calling me to make an appointment for an ultrasound. I called them and told them that I wanted them to look at my previous mammograms to compare, and they said that they never received the films from Lincoln. So I called Lincoln, and they said that they never had any requests for the films, but they'll send them now. Why I had to be in the middle, I don't know. Sigh.

Hmm. I also want to get a guy in here to take the bags of yard waste. (The garbage people won't take them.) I need to rebag them because they've gotten rained on. I should have ordered extra bags from Walmart, so I guess that I'll submit a new order and order cat litter as well to make the minimum amount.

I've started carrying the boxes of photos upstairs. They will be the last organizing task that I will work on. There are a bunch of them. (Mom had them in 1.5 dressers.) They would be a good winter task.

I bought a few gardening tools that should make my life easier. One was a weed-puller, one was a drill-type thing for planting, and one was an expensive weed-killing tool from Sharper Image that got mixed reviews, but I'll try it and see if it works. That reminds me that I need to order my bulb plants soon. And I need to get someone to look at my water and get the outside spigot turned on (in time to turn it back off, but I'll need to water what I plant).

Hmm. Someone in Bloomington-Normal is selling an antique oak cabinet that would work, but it isn’t as pretty as the one on Amazon. But it’s cheaper: $55. Need to think about this. No, I think that I want the Lotus one on Amazon. It’s more in keeping with the look that I’m trying to go for. No, someone said that the doors don't hang properly on the Lotus one. I created a poll about what I should get.

And I bought a wall-cleaning mop and some wall cleaner. There's an area with white paint at the top of the stairs upstairs that did not get painted, and it's dirty and needs washing. Well, it really could use some paint, but I'd need a roller with a really long handle to do it. I'll wash it and see how it looks. I want to hang pictures up there. I did find a long-handled paint roller at Lowe's, but I'll wash it first.

Stuff in my freezer has been melting. So I investigated. Apparently someone put the freezer down at the lowest setting. I tried to move the control, but it was frozen shut. So I got a pair of needle-nosed pliers (have I mentioned lately that I love my toolbox?) and tried again. This time, it moved, and I put it on the medium setting. We’ll see if that fixed it.

I had thought about mowing more of the lawn today, but I really don’t want to. I’m in the mood for decluttering. I’ll do some for a while and then exercise and then declutter some more. And work on Italian. I need to grab a piece of paper because I want to write sentences with my new words. And I need to take boxes out for recycling (done). I have some other recycling stuff, but they didn’t pick up the bins last week and they’re full. Oh, and I need to pay some bills.

I ordered some toenail fungus stuff and laser hair removal as a reward for losing weight. And I think that’s the end of my splurge, except maybe for the cabinet. Oh, wait a minute. I was going to get the cabinet for over the coat hooks. But I can’t get it in until the bookcases are built.

I walked on the treadmill and did legs and abs bodyweight exercises! Go me! It's good to exercise before I study Italian (done) because I need to sit and chill afterward.

I've decided to go to Michigan the week after Labor Day weekend so that I'll have Labor Day weekend here to get stuff done. I need to book my flight and hotel, but need to check with my boss about the day off.

I started putting my clothes away in the new dresser. I started with my shorts.

The yoga class for fall is up on the Urbana Park District site. I need to enroll in it.

I’m giving away an extra wallet on the local Buy Nothing site. It’s great for decluttering.

I want to get an over-the-toilet rack for the guest bathroom. There currently is a bookcase there on which I put toilet paper and such, but I want to bring it upstairs to use for my home office books.

It just occurred to me to use a rotating organizer that I bought a long time ago for mail. I could put different types of letters in different slots and scissors and pens and stamps in the small slots. I'll do that.

I received the dongle to use my earbuds (from Roma!) with my iPhone, so now I can finally listen to audiobooks on the treadmill. I just bought some "self-help" books to which to listen. Yay.

Yay. The real estate guy sent me a picture of the dumpster gone and the car parked in the driveway at my mom's house. Now I’m thinking that I should drive it for a while after my mom’s house sells and earn interest on the money. It looks like this.

Hmm. I've been looking for something to plant along the short driveway to the garage-to-be, and soft touch holly looks like it would fit the bill. It's cute! I wouldn't plant it until after the garage is built though (which depends on my mom's house selling).

I think that I want to get gutter guards after Mom’s house sells.

I’m getting slightly more extroverted and more patient. They might be related. Our yoga teacher never showed, and I was chatting with the other person in the class, telling her that I had a hard time finding my yoga stuff because of the junk in my car from my mom’s house. She seemed upset, and, to be fair, I don’t know how long a drive that she has to get there. For me, it’s trivial. I said, “Well, the flowers are pretty,” and kind of shrugged my shoulders.

Mind you, I’ll never be a major extrovert. I’m too introverted for that.

Emptied the stuff from Michigan out of the car. I was holding the picture of San Francisco that I gave Mom high above a doorway to see if it would fit there, and it slipped and fell. I need to reframe it. Oh well. I’m resting and cooling off for a few minutes with Zara on my lap. Then I’ll get the garbage out.

Today is garbage day. I decided to clean out my underwear drawer and threw out old ugly underwear and bras because life is too short to wear ugly underwear, right? And I found this plaque. It’s a Tennessee Williams quote, and it’s going over my bed. Hmm, it’s a little hard to read with the glare. It says, “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks”. I love it.

Now I’m resting after taking out the garbage. Then I need to work a little and then study Italian.

I signed up with an app called Fottur that gives you hiking recommendations and directions based on your location and fitness level. I’ve lost all the advantages of all the walking that I did in Italia. It should help. It listed trails that I didn’t know about in Champaign-Urbana.

I got the email saying that yoga is canceled this week after the time for the class was over!

Studied Italian. My Italian suffered from the time away for it. I need to get back to it.

Now it's bedtime.

I'm already debating about whether to get a flight or take the train when I pick up Mom's car to drive it back to Illinois. The train would be more eco-friendly, but it would take all day long and get in late. The flight would be faster, even with the bus to O'Hare added in. But I'd need a way to get from the airport to my mom's house. Either way, I need to wait until I get a new check from the trust.

I wanted to dig up a hosta to bring back with me to my house, but I forgot to bring a shovel. I'll see if I can get one at Meijer tomorrow.

Hmm. My mom had talked about a trip to Charleston and Savannah, but that was a trip that we never got to take. Road Scholar has a trip to Atlanta, Asheville, Charleston, and Savannah. In general, I don't want to take Road Scholar trips in the US, but that would take a bunch of places off of my "bucket list".

Okay, I'm going to book a mobile mechanic tomorrow morning. The earliest appointments are in the afternoon. I was going to book online, but I want them to deal with the license plate, so I'll call in the morning.

The first place that I called didn't service the area. I then called a mobile battery service, assuming that the battery on my mom's car was dead. While I was waiting for the guy, I went through the boxes in the garage. I texted the organizer's helper, Donovan, to help me get the boxes of stuff into the dumpster tomorrow. Then I waited for the battery guy. He finally came, pronounced the battery completely dead, and replaced it. The car now starts. I talked him into replacing the license plate with my Illinois plate.

Then I had lunch. I came back and tackled the closet under the basement stairs. My mom saved a ton of back issues of the Wall Street Journal, don't ask me why. She also saved some of my clothes from when I was a kid, which was sweet, but I don't need them. I filled a garbage bag full of them and donated them at the Salvation Army (which goes against the grain because I don't like them, but they were the closest clothes donation place).

Then I came back to the hotel and took a nap. I bought a Hot Pocket and an ice cream bar at the front desk of the hotel. Bedtime soon, I think. I'm going to have a long day ahead of me because I'm driving back after meeting with Donovan and picking up some stuff from storage.