anecdata

The forecast is for frost tonight, so I ran out and covered some plants.

It’s dog-wrestling time. Sigh.

Gracie woke me up at 7 AM. Fed us all. Time for a nap. Dog-wrestling time again. And shrill Gracie barks.

Woke up after an hour. Had lunch. I had a dog (Bella) poised and ready to nab anything that fell on the floor.

I forgot to mention that some of my irises have flower buds. How exciting!

I did my volunteer work. Then I went to the University library. I was so out of it that I tried to drive off with The Club still on my steering wheel. I think that I need a snack and a nap.

Good news: the garage guy finally cleaned up the gravel. Bad news: we have a power outage. The power just came on.

Napped. Fed the fur faces. I’m making myself some food and will watch Heated Rivalry (done).

I’m wondering if I should put plants in the garage (freeze warning).

Gracie woke me up at 6:30. I let the dogs out and went back to sleep. Then I drastically overslept. Fuck.

A lot of people at work seemed to have had a tough week. Yay, weekend.

Fed the cats and showered at lunchtime. I’m wearing used clothes and will change later before the concert.

It’s a good day for planting tomorrow–a high of 56 F/13C. It’s supposed to be windy though, which isn’t great for assembling the planters. I guess that I could put a brick on the instructions? I need to find my stapler to staple the instructions together. I checked on crops, and I should plant green beans as soon as I get the planters built. Sweet potatoes are a warm-weather crop, and I like them. Zucchini? I ordered bean seeds and sweet potato slips. I’m going to order my soil on Sunday. I’ve been looking at and saving green bean and sweet potato recipes. I bought a book on canning.

Hmm. I added a cooling comforter to my Amazon list (not expensive because Gracie chews stuff). But I’ve been sleeping without a comforter, so do I really need it? But that does give Gracie easy access to me to wake me up. I need to dig out my linen sheets.

I fell in love with a t-shirt that is artsy and would make a good travel t-shirt. But it’s $72! Yikes! I found the perfect shirt for my mom in the same catalog, sigh. I would get it for her if she was still alive.

Gracie came in at the last minute before I had to leave. Give me a heart attack, dog. I slammed their food down and left. I left early for the concert because the first floor is sold out, and I didn’t know what parking would be like. I found a spot though, and I’m in my seat chilling. It’s interesting to people-watch. Most people dressed up a little (including me—I’m wearing a linen top, pants, and blazer), some are wearing jeans, and some dressed to the nines. I’m in the balcony. Some people got seats right above the stage, which is something to think about for next time. Most of the people are older. I guess that classical music attracts an older crowd.

They did a good job building the venue. There are no bad seats.

This is my second time to see Joshua Bell. I saw him once in California.

The concert was fabulous. His wife has a lovely voice. He substituted the Massenet "Méditation" from Thaïs for one of the songs, which is one of my favorite violin pieces ever. He played it in honor of a friend of his from Indiana University who got a job at the University of Illinois, where we are. The friend had an untimely death while on tour. He commented that he was from nearby (he’s from Bloomington, Indiana) and said, “Go, Hoosiers,” and we all laughed. We gave them two standing ovations and they did one encore. Then he made a gesture with his hands that clearly said, “Enough “.

I’m sitting with a Diet Coke waiting for the traffic to clear out. Well, we ended with a bang with a tornado warning. The staff brought us down into the basement where the sets for plays are made. A nice person found me a chair.

I’m home now. It’s storming but not too bad now. At least I know that my phone makes a nasty noise when there is a tornado warning.

Gracie woke me up at 6:30 AM. Sigh. I’m going to go back to sleep. Overslept my alarm.

Shit. I shouldn’t have let the dogs out because I have physical therapy at 1. Bella came in at 11. Gracie came in at 11:30. Yay. Fed everyone. I didn’t have time for a shower, but I took one last night, so it’ll do.

Physical therapy went well. She had me doing stuff like balancing (it’s hard on a squishy mat), pushing a heavy cart, etc. She thought that I did pretty well.

The stock market is back to where I can buy stocks again, so I need to do some research.

Done with work. I need to go outside and do some gardening, but I have a headache, so I’m sitting for a minute. I should drink lots of water. I got outside later than I intended because Mentour Pilot was discussing the Tenerife air disaster. Got the raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes, lilac bush, and some ferns out of their boxes and watered them. I need to get out early on Saturday and clean beds and plant. The raspberry bushes don’t look happy, so I need to get them into the ground quickly. The blueberry and lilac bushes look perky.

Fed the fur faces. Got my clothes together for the concert tomorrow. Gracie keeps barking and being annoying. I’m going to eat dinner while watching Heated Rivalry. No, I watched the season finale of The Pitt! It’s going to be a long wait until next season.

I need to get my clothes out of the dryer and hang them up for tomorrow. And give the critters their nighttime crunchies. I hope that Gracie doesn’t wake me up at 6:30 AM tomorrow.

Woke up at 8:30 AM. The computer couldn’t find my router last night, so I unburied it, and it’s working fine this morning. Whew.

I was told not to take a nap, but I took one anyway. I was really tired at lunchtime.

Now I’ve cut off caffeine. Wow, I’m going to be tired tonight.

I couldn’t find Lily for quite some time, but I found her on top of a small chest with small drawers (kind of like an old library catalog). She crashed out on the futon upstairs for a while, completely outstretched because it’s hot.

Had dinner and I’m about to take a shower. A possible ending for a poem that I started several years ago popped up in my head. I don’t know why now. I was wondering where I could get a piece of paper. Duh, phone. I wound up writing the whole poem.

Fed the hordes and left for the sleep lab. Damn, this bed is high. I almost can’t get up on it. Of course, it’s ridiculously early for me to go to bed. The lab guy hooked me up to a zillion electrodes. Then I was supposed to sleep. It took me over an hour, but I did fall asleep. The next thing that I knew, he was waking me up at 5 AM.

Drove home. Let the dogs out. Bella was thrilled that I was home, and she was jumping on me. Lily fussed over me too. I was missed.

I need to submit a grocery order and go back to sleep.

Booked a massage for next Saturday (Note to self: 4:30). My entire body hurts. I’m sitting in the kitchen waiting for acetaminophen to kick in.

Woke up at 6:30 AM. Feeling groggy. Fed us all. Nap time. Showered and got myself together.

Planted the Japanese Maple. The wind keeps threatening to knock it over. I think that it needs a stake, so I ordered some garden tape.


I received two extra peonies from my order last year. I guess that I could expand the left-hand flowerbed in front and plant them. I might need one more.

Hell. I’ve been hauling bricks away from the side garden, and then I was going to use the tiller. Well, Bella and Gracie burst out of the front door. So much for the tiller. Maybe I could do the wildflower patches in front.I don’t know about assembling the raised boxes because the instructions will blow away.

And no, the garage guy never showed up. I hate him.

It was splatting raindrops, so I came in. It’ll have to rain harder for Bella and Gracie to come in. Lily is making a fuss over me because she’s hungry. Fed myself and the cats. Bella came in but Gracie would not.

I’m really, really tired. I’m thinking of posting early and getting to bed early. Gracie came in at 7. Fed the dogs. Watched the first episode of Heated Rivalry. Now I’ll post.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I found the garage keys! They were in a pocket of a pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in a while. Yay.

I’m wondering if I could do cursive transcription as a sideline. I can read cursive unless the handwriting is really bad.

Woke up a little after 7 AM. Went back to sleep after a little while, and woke up a little after 9.

I was waiting to let the dogs out until the dog poop scooper person came by. They’ll go out at lunchtime (done).

Oliver burst into Zara’s room when I fed her, so I went in and guarded her food while she ate. Oliver did try to rush at her dish a couple of times. Little shit. Zara ate all of her food!

My Home Depot order with the grass blankets and rake arrived. I forgot about it when I let the dogs out, but they put it over the fence. I went outside and got it into the garage.

Napped. I’ll take my shower after work.

Bella came in at 1:15. Gracie came in at 2. It keeps threatening rain but I haven’t seen any. The darkness is making me sleepy.

I’m thinking that I’ll need to mow the rest of the grass while the new grass is growing. Once it has grown, then I’ll get someone to mow the lawn for me.

I’ve been wanting a peace flag for the house for a while, and I’m wondering if I should get one. I want one with a dove on it rather than the peace sign.

I think that I need more Japanese forest grass for the shady side garden. I want to plant them between the Astilbe (or maybe the ferns?), so I’ll count how many I need when I plant the Astilbe. I also have a ground cover type thing for which I need to use my plant identifier to find out what it is.

Gracie was going berserk at the window. The cats thought that she was nuts and bailed. I told her that they were right.

Well, hell. Something wacky is going on in Lessonface, and we can’t schedule tonight’s lesson. I tried some things to no avail. I guess that there’s no lesson tonight. Oliver came into Zara’s room and is being manic and obnoxious. My teacher said that she was able to book my lesson, but by that point, I had put my food in the microwave. What a mess.

I’ve been feeling achy and keep on starting to fall forward. I don’t know what’s going on. I think that I’ll finish feeding the critters and go watch Harry Potter (done).

I need to get to bed soon because tomorrow will be a busy day.

I was doing my PT exercises, and Gracie and Oliver had to get in the middle of what I was doing. The hazards of doing exercises at home.

Someone on a frugal living Facebook group suggested getting shoes on Poshmark. That never occurred to me, and they have some nice shoes in my size. Also, I have some boots that I want to sell, so I’ll try selling them there.

Woke up before my alarm a little before 7 AM. Let the dogs out. Went back to sleep. Got up a little before 9. The dogs must have gotten good exercise because Gracie is totally crashed out. (Bella probably is too, but she’s downstairs.)

Called about rescheduling Zara’s appointment at the vet. Apparently the vet with whom we were scheduled is out sick. The new appointment is a little over a week out.

Overslept my nap a little. I’m getting caught up on my sleep.

Made some phone calls. Started to call the Secretary of State for the registration number and PIN for online renewal, but the Web site said that it should be on the prior registration card. Left a message for the garage guy about getting the gravel out of my yard.

There’s a lively conversation on one of the listservs at work about whether the new Obama Presidential Library would join our consortium. That would be pretty cool. I’d like to see it when it opens. (The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield is a member of our consortium, and I’ve been to the museum.) I’m wondering if we could get a group of people from high school to go together.

One of the books that I requested from the university library is in. I want to wait for the rest of them, though, before I trek over there.

Ordered a ton of fall bulbs from Breck’s. This time, I will stash the bulbs in my garage until I’m ready to plant them. (My last set got stolen.) I still need to order peonies for the front garden.

I’m waiting for my piano class and talking to Zara. I told her that she’s one tough kitty. Of the older contingent of my mom, Mimi, and Zara, I wouldn’t have thought that Zara would be the last one alive. (I think that she’s 17 now.) Piano went okay. I was working on a pretty piece (simplified Gurlitt Andante? I’m not near the music.)

I shut Oliver in the bedroom so that he won’t eat Zara’s food. Also, I need him in there when I get the recycling out.

Got the recycling out. I didn’t get the boxes on the porch, but I did put out some boxes from inside. Got the registration card for the Honda, and it did NOT have the registration number and PIN, so I need to call them tomorrow. I also discovered that the battery on the Honda is dead. Sigh.

Filed my taxes. It was more expensive than I thought because I had to pay for TurboTax as well as pay the taxes. Life is expensive right now (says the person who spent a pile of money on bulbs). I forgot to mention that the refrigerator isn’t working properly, so I need to get it fixed or replace it after I finish the kitchen.

Anyway, I should wrap things up and head to bed.