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Everything's Booked for My Trip

Bella and Gracie got the chicken toy out of its wrapper and are fighting over it! I'm glad that they will have a Merry Christmas!

The dogs decimated the cat feather wand toys. Sigh. I need to go to PetSmart to get more. I checked Amazon, but they will get here the day that I leave. I ordered some toys for delivery from PetSmart.

Uhhh. No buses on Christmas Eve. I'd have to leave on the 23rd, and get up early to drop the pets off the same day. But I'd need to book the hotel for one more day. I decided that was too complicated, and I'll deal with that in the morning. No, I got it straightened out. I can work on my printables in the hotel. Plus, I got a room with a runway view at the Hilton O'Hare. There are restaurants there, so I can eat. I might pack some food too.

Got up a little after 7 AM. Nothing like a cold, wet dog nose in the middle of your back to get you up. Gracie’s good :) Bella stole Gracie’s donut. Little snot. I’m going back to sleep for a while. Dozed lightly. Oliver was in the room, and he went next to my face, purring. I had to move my head in order to breathe!

I need to pick up Christmas wrapping paper for the "White Elephant" gift exchange at work on Friday. Maybe I'll go to Dollar Tree and see if they have a gift bag and tissue paper.

I'm thinking that I want to go back to Firenze (Florence) to see the Uffizi Gallery (I missed it when I was sick on the tour), the Arno, Michelangelo's tomb, and some other sites. I'd also want Italian lessons. But it won't be next year.

Crud. I need new printer cartridges too (910). Need to go to Walmart. Oh! I can't go to the post office tonight because I have piano class! Have to go tomorrow. Maybe I'll go to the post office to mail my dad's card, and Walmart is across the street.

Hmm. Someone on Facebook mentioned an apartment complex (Elements on Main) that's pet friendly, not too expensive, and close to the hospital and shopping. That might be an idea for when I get older and can't cope with the house. It has an elevator too and covered parking. They have two bedroom apartments.

Hmm. It just occurred to me that I could take the "L" into downtown Chicago on Christmas Eve to look at the shop windows. (I'll be at the hotel at O'Hare.)

I do need another sleep study. They're going to contact me about a home sleep apnea test. They did, and it's on January 9th. I'll have to return the equipment the next day.

Ugh. Arthritis-y. I can't come up with a pattern for when it's worse. Changes in weather? It's warming up.

I think that I’m going to stay home tonight. I need to let the dogs out and feed the critters and myself after class. Plus I got the new travel laptop, so I need to set it up. I’ll go to the post office tomorrow.

Piano class went well. I have problems coordinating both hands at the same time. One song was driving me crazy, but when I went back to it to play for the teacher, it went okay.

That jerk Oliver ran into Zara’s room when I brought her food and water. But that solves a problem what to do with him when I bring the recycling out.

Fed us all. Started a load of laundry. Got the recycling out.

I looked into replacement keys for my "home" laptop, and it looks like I'd have to replace the whole bottom of the laptop. I might have a tech do that then.

I really want to go to sleep, but I want to finish my load of laundry first. I guess that I'll post and do some Christmas cards and packaging stuff up while I wait.

Clean up on Aisle MP3

I swim to music. I had a player once that actually allowed me to download from Spotify. But, it was way too fiddly. Now I just use music from my own collection of MP3's. I've bought many of these and ripped the rest off of CD's over the years. Lots of years, as it turns out - some are from 2009. 5954 mp3's to be exact. Not bad for a non-music person, I think.

They were in folders in folders in folders in two massive folders on my Google Drive. Most were there twice some 3 and 4 times. They were organized by ... well, actually, they were not organized at all. It was an unholy mess. Some have the song titles as the file names, some don't. When I say mess, I mean it.

When AI first came to my web page, the first thing I ever asked it to do was organize my mp3 files. No Can Do, says AI. I asked again and again every few months and got the same answer. Then, about a year ago, the answer came back, no, but... AI pointed me to some Windows programs and Mac apps that would do the work for me. Thanks, but...

I persisted and today I was rewarded handsomely. Today I asked Gemini again, how the fuck can I get order out of this chaos and BTW the only operating systems at my disposal are android and ChromeOS. Well... this time, the first answer was a recommendation to look at a web tool called FileRev. It rapidly scans whatever drive you tell it to and reports duplicates, empty files, empty folders and all kinds of cool shit.

The free version lets you see how it works and does some stuff but I quickly bought a month of the top tier version and whoa mama! I deleted a million and a half duplicate files. I deleted 256 empty folders - how the hell did I get so many empty folders???

But then I drilled down on the mp3's. They were so nested into many layers of folders. With jpgs and pdfs of album covers and other junk. I got everything cleaned out and the extra files and empty folders gone but still then had 4,500 + mp3 files that needed to be collected out of their folders and into one big folder. I'm about 75% done.

Then I will copy them all onto an external drive just for safety. I keep about a couple dozen on my player and swap them out for different ones when the player comes in for recharging. Now I have a way bigger, easier to access, pile to pick from. Woot!!

lumberjack & jill

Me, August 2025-"Won't it be quaint....living across from one of Raleigh's oldest fire stations?

Me, December 2025-"JFC! Cant we go one #$%& night without a #$%& siren?! Aaaaaagh!!"

And after

They had to chop off a bunch of his hair so it didn't come out really good. But once it's grown out his next grooming he will look just as cute as he can be. But he's a really sweet dog and looks and feels, I'm sure, a lot better.

Dangerously close - Matt, the yorkie

I volunteered to take a recent hard case to Pets Mart for emergency grooming. Turned out to be a Yorkie and had that shell shocked personality that Beaux originally had.
You can hardly see a dog in the mess that is his hair. It is all matted and coated with crap.

But he's obviously been with someone nice. He has manners and is OK in the car.

I didn't ask too much about him. He'll get adopted quickly. He's a perfect backpack dog. Long walks on the beach.

I'll get another picture after he's done. It will show better what he's like. He has a great life just around the corner. Much as I'd love to add him to the herd I'm going to resist.

Good pickleball today but it was drizzly and the tennis center was shut down so we had too many people. I mildly complained. We're supposed to have a maximum number of 21 for three courts. That means nine people are waiting at any given time and twelve are playing. Games take about fifteen minutes so it should be fifteen on/fifteen off. Or so. But add a couple of more and it skews the numbers. Not good.

I continue to slowly lose weight. It occurred to me that I have in the recent past struggled to buy a 40 pound bag of salt for our water softener. I can carry it but not easily and I can lift it up to dump it in but it is not easy. In two more pounds that is how much weight I've lost since I decided to lose it (maybe 18 months ago) by signing up for Noom. I think my knees and back and feet thank me. I've got another ten or so to go, I think. I can tell a difference moving around the pickleball court. I can't imagine strapping a 40 pound bag of salt to my back and trying to play but that is what I weighed when I started playing.

Every now and then I'll check to be sure The Onion is still on track.

It has been a quiet couple of years but we're making up for it this week.

As long as we blame it on evil we're in the clear from actually doing anything but for Sunday mornings. An hour or so in the pew and a couple of prayers and some sage nodding at the right time and we're good.

No one tried to say a thing
When they took him out in jest
Except, of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along, alone
With his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
“Nothing is revealed”

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
Written by: Bob Dylan

Current Mood: wearing a lighter coat
Current Music: Marty Paich Trio

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something I am grateful for today

a break in the cold, it's actually thawing a bit today!

3 stars at best

Turns out neither cat is loving the new food. They are eating it but they are not eating it with the relish that they give the cheap stuff. I still have a couple of more choices to try but they have a lot of the meh stuff to get through first. I did get some new treats yesterday and they were a hit. Again, lots of crappy treats left but at least we have some motivational food for Biggie.

He's still peeing which is lovely. They would have to completely upend the definition of lethargic to use it for him. If anything, he's even more active these days than usual. I hope that rock is melting.

I did finally get the car vacuumed yesterday. It was a lot more work than I expected. But it's done. And looks nice for now.

For the first time in I do not know when, I have nothing on order at Amazon and nothing to return. If they are not too busy with Christmas to notice, they will probably send out a hunting party for me.

My four trips down to the center section and the other miscellaneous steps put me way over my average. I'm going to try it again today. It would be lovely to make it a habit. We'll see.

I've really got no plans for today so I think I'll go consider my options while I swim some laps.

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AARGH!

Woke up at 7 AM. I wanted to go back to sleep, but Gracie got me up. The dogs came in. I’m going to lie down if the dogs will let me. They did, eventually.

I'm still a little sleepy. I want to nap over lunch, but I can't because I have the meeting with Mom's trust in the afternoon. Showered over lunch.

Ugh. The CPAP people said that I need a new sleep study because mine is over four years old. I messaged the doctor. Nothing is simple.

Note to self: photocopy passport and send it to SURS along with the Christmas cards.

The amount in the trust account has gotten even lower. WTF???? I need to get the money away from them. Hmm, I'm wondering if I should create printables on etsy for extra money. My first one should be a medical journal. (I'll look at the one that I have for ideas.) I’ll work on them during the trip. Hmm, did I get WiFi for the flight to San Diego?

The garage guy now says that we'll have to wait until spring for the driveway. So I'll have to keep digging my car out (and I got stuck in the snow last night too). AAARGH!

I am not having a good day. Ugh. Crashing headache.

Let the dogs out. Gracie tried to ignore the donut, but decided to come in. Cheeky Bella stole a part of her donut.

I have the Christmas cards, so I need to write them (last chance if you want a card, comment), get my SURS paperwork in order, and find a box for

zhelana’s fleece blanket. Then I’m hoping to go to the post office tomorrow. Oh, and I need to get garbage out.

I found a box for the blanket but need packing tape. I just submitted a Schnucks order for the tape (with also some markers, bagels, and cream cheese).

One Christmas card down. I need to think of what to say to Lance. I think that I’ll go copy my passport as proof of birthdate for my pension fund.

Something is setting the “dog alarm“ off.

I kind of want to go to bed, but I need to wait for the Schnucks order. Got it. I am such a cat mom. Oliver was asleep on my down coat, so I went outside without it. Copied my passport for the pension fund. I'll finish packing up the blanket and the pension fund stuff in the morning.

Another note to self: get a hook for my purse to put in the kitchen.

I need to book the bus to and from O'Hare and the hotel at O'Hare if I haven't already booked it.

Oops. I forgot to mention that someone from

holiday_wishes sent some toys for the cats and dogs! I'll have to thank them. Oliver is very interested.

Tuesday

I started a chat group for meal reviews. We get new menus every week with different meal choices for lunch and dinner. The new menus start on Mondays. So for dinner and lunch, they will have the same options for a week. (There is a buffet at dinner that is a different menu every night and a cafe that is a different menu every month, so we have lots of options.) Anyway, the idea is if you eat something for lunch or dinner that is particularly good or bad, share it - especially early on in the week. Right now there are only 4 of us but I'm hoping with time, the crowd will grow. Still even with 4, is better than 1.

Last night I had Shoyu Ramen Chasu (pork belly, soupy noodles and a very softly boiled egg). It was fabulous. I will have the rest of it for lunch and have it again for dinner at least once more this week. Martha reported that the grilled ribeye was really thin but tasty. I'll probably give that a go. Oh and all reported the side dishes this week all suck. So I'll get the ribeye to go and have my own sides ready to eat up here.

Biggie is giving in on the treats. This morning, he took one sniff, gave me the WTF side eye and ate them all pretty much right away. He's still peeing and this morning's contribution was a good amount. He has one more antibiotic pill and then it's just up to the Very Expensive food. Julio and Biggie are really going at it this morning. Running, chasing, squealing, hiding. Julio is usually the one who tries to get Biggie to play but today Biggie's leading the charge. They are a pair for sure.

I'm still struggling with how to get some walking, stretching, moving, stamina building, etc, into my life on a regular basis. So far, no scheme I've come up with is sustainable. And, of course, sustainability will be the only way to make it work. My legs are so week and I have no core strength. I can absolutely see the day when I just can no longer move. That alone, should give me what I need to keep up some kind of program but, alas, 76 years of sitting on my ass is a hard habit to break.

My scheme du jour is to walk from here to the lobby at least 4 times a day. I've done one - since the pool is on the other side of the lobby from here, getting there and back counts. It's a hard thing to force myself to do if I don't have a reason to go. But, it's worth a try anyway. I have a package to pick up (that's 2) and dinner to pick up (that's 3) so I'll really only have to invent one other trip.

Plus, shockingly, the car has not yet been vacuumed.

It's house cleaning day. My favorite day of the week.

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Stuck Car Day

The local schools are having a remote day tomorrow. Maybe I'll wait until lunchtime to brush off the cars.

Crud. I forgot to order food. I’ll do so after I get up.

Ugh. -3F/-19C with a low of -7F/-22C. Yep, it’s cold.

Woke up a little after 2 AM. I was going to go back to sleep, but I wondered if I woke up because I needed to pee, so I got up and did so.

Woke up a little after 7 AM. Gracie was trying to get me up, and I was pulling the covers over my head. It’s 0F/-18C, and the dogs came in quickly.

Rob Reiner and his wife were killed. That made me gasp. Horrible. That shook me up.

Ugh. I really want to go back to sleep, but I should shower so that I can brush off the cars at lunchtime. I finally did shower and have my Christmas sweatshirt on.

Gracie: Oliver is on your lap!!! Yes, Gracie, I know. He has a right to be there. Oliver is now walking on my keyboard, knocking stuff down, and being annoying.

I think that I'm going to have to be dug out before I can brush off the cars. I'll contact the snow guy. He said that he'll be there shortly. The dogs got out when the guys were done, but they helped me catch them.

Brushed off the Honda. I didn’t get the Kia because my hands were cold.

Busy day at work. I'm just getting started on the things that I need to get done. Meetings otherwise.

My car got stuck trying to get it out. No caroling today. I took the time to brush off the Kia because I’m sitting waiting for AAA. The guy called by AAA was very helpful and pulled me out. He dug around the car so that I can get it out tomorrow. But I’m dubious about going anywhere tomorrow.

I need to let the dogs out (done). Fed us all. I've just about had it with today. I want to go to sleep soon.

set the timer for 15 minutes

Happy Gotcha Day to Maxwell Juniper, Your Favorite Mustached Black Cat !!

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A small seasonal success

Occasionally I get around to writing here, or doing other things, but not very often apparently. Between work, sleep, chores, errands, etc., for the remaining time I find myself opting to passively and motionlessly consume entertainment. Even after a long sleep, it's often with reluctance that I begin to actually move any muscles. Sometimes I start the day with ambition and enthusiasm but I tire out easily, more mentally than physically.

Still, a small success: this evening I finally got Christmas cards written and ready for posting. I have moved around a lot and mostly lost touch with family and friends, and I suspect posting cards is an increasingly archaic activity anyway. After some omitting people who've not sent me a card for years and may well have moved house, I am now down to sending a whole six cards this year, nearly all to people rather older than I. Nonetheless, I am glad to do a seasonal thing. I shall post the cards on my way into work tomorrow morning.

I am taking some time off from work over Christmas. For the most part, it will be just me and R., and L. our dog. We have a couple of small road trips planned into England, perhaps with sufficiently clement weather for L. to explore parks and beaches and the like. L. remains a fine little fellow. We finally got the breed test done, he turns out to be mostly Shih Tzu with a bit of Lhasa Apso.

I'm a weirdo

Last night I started watching a perfectly good show. It met all my criteria, people getting killed, pretty scenery, smart police, interesting outfits... A rich guy gets killed early on. But, does he? And is he really rich? There are all sorts of interesting characters and 3 seasons. And one fatal flaw. The part of the rich guy is played by Alec Baldwin. I have never liked anything he's ever been in. I don't like him. I don't like what I read about him. And I could not gin up the enthusiasm about whether the character he played lived or died or was right or not... simply because it's Alec Baldwin. Ha. My TV standards are weird.

And in other weirdness, I have a flashlight fetish. Especially flashlights that do other things. I own a million. You can hardly be anywhere in my apartment without being in arm's reach of some sort of flashlight. I do not need any more. Does that stop me? Nope.

I bought a pack of motion sensor lights - flashlights for when I walk by a wall. AND another 3 pack of night lights that plug into the wall and can also be motion sensor or not and also can charge up your cellphone and also can be flash lights!! I should take them all back. But, of course, I will not.

I did not vacuum the car. Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow while the housecleaner cleans.

And another $415 later

Toby is still sick and apparently developed some pneumonia on one side. I do think he'd not feeling well so it makes sense. But, of course they had to take an x-ray so $200 there, plus meds plus doc time. He's now been sick for almost three months.

Beaux is NOT sick but has an occasional cough and sneeze. Texas has year around allergies so I think it is a permanent thing. But he's fine and perky and just as happy about walking and anything else going on as he can be.

Today was pickleball day and it was right around freezing. I'm now an indoor PB player for good, I think. This time last year I'd have been putting on my cycling gear and heavy coat and gloves and playing. That was OK but I was sure happy to be NOT doing all that today. It will be the same in the summer when it it hot at 9AM and we're playing in the AC.

Meanwhile I signed up for a mixed doubles series of matches with the wife of the couple we had dinner with. She'd signed up for this Thursday afternoon not realizing that she was supposed to sign up with a male partner. So she looked at me and said please and what could I do. It will be fun and I will be exhausted on Friday morning for those games. She is late forties, a little order than my eldest son, and has way more energy than I do. But we play well together and she's smiling whether or not she wins. Perfect partner.

Living for long enough is painful at weird times. I keep getting caught off guard.

John Prin's death at the beginning of the Covid epidemic was a gut punch. It still rattles me. I'm not sure why. Lots of others around that age, just ahead of me, have died and I just nod and move on. But his landed.

Rob Reiner is the same. It is going to be a long while before I move past it. He was a mainstay in my life due mostly to All in the Family. Sally Struthers is the remaining member now. Of course Reiner did a lot more than that and there are column inches and hourly podcasts being built right now to honor the works.

The last couple of days have been pretty bad in general. I need to sit with it all.

Biggie watch

I keep watching waiting for him to crash and burn, but so far, no dice. He just drank a bunch of water and his still peeing. Both he and Julio are gobbling up the new food. I guess they both have gourmet pallets. The Chewy order I placed on Thursday, arrived last night. I got a notice that it was delivered so I grabbed my cart and high tailed it down to security before they had a chance to do anything with it (such as put it in another part of the complex with the, likely, boatload of other deliveries from the weekend). It was a smart move as the box was right there by the door so I don't have to wait until this afternoon or maybe tomorrow afternoon to have it delivered.

He's still looking for his Temptations. I sprinkled about 6 of the new treats over the carpet and he sniffed every one and then walked away. But, not long after that, I noticed they were gone.

My TV streaming consolidation try is over. I killed YouTube.TV and am going back to paying for individual streams. The idea of using Prime to house cheap subscriptions turned out to be a 'get what you pay for' situation. The Max/HBO shows not only have ads, but tons of ads and sliced into places where ads should not go since most of the programming was designed for no ads. PLUS not all of the catalog is available.

So I'll buy annual plans for those I care about and get that Hulo/HBO/Max bundle monthly because they don't offer it annually. And then, probably, do this whole segregation/desegregation thing again next year.

Today is Costco with Bonny. And laundry. And that's about it for plans for the day. Maybe today would be a good day to vacuum the car...

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COLD Day

Got my new sweats. I'm not sure why they delivered it at 9:30 at night, but okay.

The third blanket kept me toasty warm.

Woke up at 7 AM. I was wondering what to do about the dogs and the dangerous wind chill, but both Gracie and Bella peed inside. I’ll let them out in the afternoon. It’s currently-5F/-21C with a wind chill of-11/-23C.

Oliver wants food now! Fed us all.

I’m feeling dubious about Dial-A-Carol later tonight. I guess that I’ll brush off the cars later and go from there.

Gracie was barking at the cats. I told her to shut up. Now she and Bella are wrestling on the bed. Gracie just scratched near my eye. I yelled.

Had a nice nap. The sun is shining on my chair in the kitchen, so it’s warm. I have a dog (Bella) partially in my lap, a cat (Oliver) in my face, and another dog (Gracie) looking at the cat. I’m trying to explain to Oliver that I fed him this morning, and he’s not going to eat right now. He is not convinced.

Now they’re having a severe weather advisory going all day. I’m going to change my Dial-A-Carol signup. I don’t want to go out tonight. I removed my signup for tonight. I didn’t see a time to sign up for later. I’m going to brush off my car tomorrow.

I want to let the dogs out, but I’m worried about my Amazon order arriving while they’re out. Maybe I should stand out with them, but it’s cold. I’ll go put my boots on. Maybe I should start brushing off the car while I’m out with them. Or not. I’d rather stay on my porch. I stayed just inside the door, and tried to bring them back inside in about 15 minutes. Bella came in, but Gracie did not. I waited a few more minutes inside, and then Gracie was on the porch saying that it’s cold outside (Me: No, really?) and came in. Whew.

I’m thawing a little, and then I’ll take my shower. I’ll wear my new sweats because I’m not going out.

I bought a blue topaz ring that says “Fuck it and begin again” on the inside. A good sentiment.

The cold bathroom is COLD. I felt like an icicle before I got the hot water on. Now I’m cozy in sweats and wool socks. I’m making soup to make my insides as warm as my outsides.

Oliver: maybe if I get in Mom’s face, she’ll feed me early. Dream on, cat.

Oh crap. My Christmas cards are now arriving on Tuesday. They’re going to be late.

Had my soup. I got dizzy when I took it out of the microwave and spilled some of it. The dogs were happy about that. I think that I’m going to lie down for a little while.

Had a nice nap. The dogs came in on the first try. Cold out there, isn’t it. Fed us all. I need to go measure the laptop and order a sleeve for it while I’m thinking of it (done and ordered).

Oh crap. The laptop that I was going to take with me on the trip is not turning on. I’ll have to take the “new” laptop. The sleeve that I just ordered will fit it though. Heck. I’m wondering if I should order another small travel laptop. I saw one for $265 that would get here on time. What to do. Okay, I got it. I travel enough that it’s worth it. I need to get rid of the old one.

It's a nice night for some tea (steeping). I think that I'll go to bed early because I want to get up early and brush the snow off of the cars.

Social butterflies that we are

Pickleball strikes again. We're fairly reclusive. Dana has her few friends, women of a certain age, she goes out with for meals once a month or so. I've got my three networking friends I have lunch with nearly every month. And that's about it. No chummy neighbors, no meets downtown for coffee or, heaven forbid, at our house. We do have a couple or three leftovers from the company that we see now and again but it is never really much more than a lunch two or three times a year.

So going out for an evening with a couple is VERY rare, almost unheard of. But, pickleball. One of the many really nice women in the group we play with three times a week asked if maybe we wanted to get together for dinner one night. I think she was actually trying to get her husband out and social much like Dana tries to do with me but regardless she is a very sweet and positive person and I thought it would be fun. And it was.

We went to a place in downtown Georgetown (GT is very festive this time of year):

We ended up having to wait for over an hour for a table but it was really lovely weather and we sat outside and talked. Turned out we are all in tune and the whole thing was really fun. One of those kismet kind of things. They are a generation behind us having kids in college and us having, nearly, grandkids in college but it was more like talking to contemporaries (who have a bit more energy than we do).

So we ended up being there until about 10 and didn't get home until 10:30. Turns out we live less than 2 miles from them. And we have a ton of other things in common. It was an interesting evening and really weird to be with people and not end up feeling exhausted. And, of course, I see Amy at pickleball two or three times a week and we end up playing together and talking between games so the relationship will have a natural pace and we'll end up hanging out with them again, I'm sure. Weird.

Meanwhile we are having winter today. Down below freezing by tonight. By Thursday it will be back to above 75 degrees, sunny, and time for shorts again.

Today is a good nap day, I think.

Sunday

Picture 6 cat treats sprinkled on the carpet and two cats sniffing and then going to to their naps. That's zero star review of the approved cat treats. Julio ate one yesterday. Biggie did, too. This morning, Biggie did his usual begging for treats so I sprinkled the 6 out on the carpet. He sniffed at them and then gave me the stink eye and wandered off.

He peed a little - a very little this morning but then hopped out of the litter box and spent five minutes actively playing with Julio. He sure does not seem in pain or even uncomfortable. Just annoyed about the treat situation.

Nothing much going on today at least that I know of. I plan to go for a swim after I finish this. And then watch my usual Sunday morning TV and maybe some puzzling.

Entry tags:

Another Snow Day

Canceled a bunch of subscriptions on PayPal. I think that all I have left is Netflix, which I want to keep. Oh, and I should resubscribe to Hulu.

I checked into my cruise, but the boarding documents won't be available for a few days. I also bought the Have It All package, which includes WiFi, drinks, and one specialty dining meal.

Bought a ring that looks like hugging arms, and it'll have "Mom" engraved on the inside.

Now I really need to go to bed. I have a boatload (so to speak) of stuff to get done this weekend.

Gracie is trying to play dog play with me on the bed, and I told her to go play with Bella. That’s why I have two dogs. Now she’s snoozing with her head on my leg.

Woke up a little before 6 AM. I explained to the dogs that the cats get fed first. They don’t think that’s fair. Fed us all. My stomach hurts. I’m going back to bed. The dogs are wrestling on the bed and not leaving me any room. The snow has started.

Woke up a little before 11 AM. I’m feeling cold. It’s 15F/-10C out. So yeah, cold. I’ll take a shower in a few minutes. After lunch.

BuddhaStoneShop had a bracelet that I liked for only the shipping cost, so I got it. They also had a ring in the shape of a cat for shipping cost, so I got that too. And a Tree of Life bracelet. And a Yin-Yang necklace. They’re probably getting money from part of the shipping cost, but still, it’s cheap.

Oliver was warming my lap and purring.

I’m IBSing. But I’m staying home today so I guess that it’s okay.

Ate lunch.

Finished the book on James I. I just ordered a book on Charles I to continue my investigation into the Stuarts.

Oliver is knocking stuff down and being annoying.

The Precip app says 3.3 inches of snow so far, to make a total of 6.5. It’s like living in a snow globe. I saw a map on Facebook with the words “Stay home” over our band of snow. Will do.

I think that I’ll have one more nap. Slept for about an hour. I’m feeling cold and trying to warm up before my shower. It seems like the dogs and cats are sleeping. At least, they aren’t in the kitchen.

Opened packages while I and my clothes were warming up. I got the file folder wall holders for sheet music. I need to dig out my drill.

Hmm. UNICEF Market has a lot of rings that I like.

The dogs are barking at who-knows-what.

I think that I’ll have some soup.

Final snow total: 5.7, for a total of 8.4. Now we’re into the cold part of the weekend (currently 0F/-18C). I'm going to pull out another blanket and go to sleep. I hope that Gracie won't chew holes in the blanket. Oh, and I need to set the faucets to dripping.

Cat Attitude

According to the vet, Biggie should be writhing in pain, not eating, not peeing. Biggie, shockingly, is not following the script. I think he's basically miffed about the lack of Temptations. But, he's also not wild about the new food. He'll eat it but he's kind of like 'where's the good stuff, woman??!!' And he's not writing, just crawling all over me so I'll get up and get him some treats.

I broke my rule and volunteered to go to Safeway and get Joan some bananas. It is the very last time. I am not doing that any more. But my mouth did not get the memo so I went and got the bananas because I told her I would. The last time.

I figured out the wifi repeater issue and my signal is really strong and I think I know how to keep it that way.

Oh and Fitbit told me I'd been over doing it and should consider a rest day - hahahaha Oh Fitbit, your algorithm is not made for old fat people but it's sweet that you try.

Now for an evening of TV and knitting.