Sambuca Smile

I did not leave my apartment yesterday and I ate way too much and it was a lovely lovely day.

Today I have nothing on the calendar. No clue why aqua yoga was canceled but I'm delighted. I will probably go out and puzzle some. I might order a meal for pick up. I will watch the Phillies game (the Mariners are off today) but, that's the entirety of the plan.

Looks like my new coffee table might get here on Wednesday which means I might actually have it on Thursday. They used to let us come pick up packages after they were delivered but now you have to wait for them to bring them to you and that's generally not until the next day. Annoying but not a huge issue most of the time. It will be a huge issue when I order a new phone or some other new tech gear. I'm not sitting around waiting for it. BUT I want to use my special case begging for exception for special cases. And Thursday will be fine for the table.

I started a one line a day journal in January of 2023. It's a 5 year book. and I noticed last night that I am now more than half way through the book. I do my entry when I get into bed at night. It is interesting to peek at what happened last year and the year before. This week two years ago I was just about to start thinking about CCRC's for real and looking into places like Timber Ridge.

This morning I went through another round of stressing about my backup email. All it takes is a glance at a random tail about someone losing access to their google account and boom - into a tailspin I go. The last round - not even that long ago - sent me to set up a backup situation where all my emails were sent to my susandennis.com hosting server. But, turns out, that's just not practical for several reasons. So now it's back to outlook.com. It cost me $20 a year and Microsoft is about as dodgy as Google if my account gets hosed but at least I now have two places - cloudwise - I can find out what size swimsuit I bought from that place where I used to get them way back in the before times - easily.

I somehow forgot to do laundry. I remembered last night but it was too late to start so that's what's happening now.

We're going to have a few days of really hot weather here this week but it's fine. I do have to go outside on Wednesday but it will be in an air conditioned vehicle. We're almost done here. The days are getting shorter and if/when more heat comes, it will only really be for a few hours. I can handle it.

Today is baseball and knitting. AND I have the gift of nothing on the calendar tomorrow. Nice. They had meatloaf and chicken on the buffet last night. I got both. Ate the chicken and plan to see that meatloaf on a fabulous sandwich today. Last night was my last night for this month's $600. I had $3.00 left after the buffet. I breezed into the bistro (our 7/11) and told Nohn who was on duty, my problem. "What you need is a toffee ice cream bar. Yep. He was right. It's in the freezer now for this afternoon and my account is $0.

Time now to watch Tia Watson's Sunday morning video. She bought a house for $1 and is fixing it up. She is as good as house fixing up as she is at video editing and it makes a delightful way to start my Sundays.

Mainly, I'm pretty sad this morning about my brother's wonderful dog. The two are spending their last weekend together and it's just sad. I'm getting used to seeing the old die but it's still mostly sad.

I have a fair number of friends here who are turning 89 this year. 1936 must have been a great year for sex. Several play volleyball. Last night I went down to scoop up some take out dinner from the buffet and ran into Steve (who's only about 85, I think) and Wally (one of the 89 year olds) and his wife, Marilyn. They were getting ready to go into the dining room and asked me to join them so I did. It was lovely. Wally had spent the afternoon watching the very long Mariners game that had just ended - as had I.

After dinner, I picked up my new sofa feet - the 2"ers to replace the 4"ers. Steve offered to come back and help but I said I thought I could do it and I did get them swapped out and, turns out 2" was right. Just enough height to make getting up easy.

Now I'm considering replacing my ottoman and c table with a coffee table that pops up. Actually, I just ordered it. Be here Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the ottoman and c table. Well, the table will fit into storage but the ottoman... It will all work. And look less hodge podge.

Today I'm going to the Goodwill in Bellevue. I have two things I want and I think I can find them there rather than go into Seattle. It's not that much closer but a little easier to deal with maybe. And I might stop at that big Daiso store on my way home.

The shade rehanging was done gratis as it should have been. I swapped notes with the sales guy and thanked him and then revised my previously revised review - back up to 5 stars. All is good.

The shades have been rehung. The same guy who hung them originally was back. Nice and efficient. This time I knew what to look for and change before he left. This time he did not clean up his mess but it wasn't a big deal. Hand vac did it. The original installation left scars which he didn't even mention. Like I wouldn't notice. I noticed. But, decided not to worry about it. If it bugs me, I'll fix it OR put it on the list of projects we can do when my brother makes his next visit in January.

My Amazon deliveries should be here within the hour.

Aqua yoga was canceled for next Monday. No reason given. This was in the weekly newsletter. BUT then we got an email from Erica, the Fitness Director, that the pool was closed til further notice. This morning we noticed that it was not as clear as usual. Last time they lost control of the clear, the pool was closed for six weeks. But, this time, they caught it much earlier so maybe it won't be so long.

It does mean, however, I need to find a volleyball substitute. :( Probably I'll go get on one of those bikes or the elliptical machine. Which I hate.

It's still cloudy and so dark. When I got back from volleyball, just after 8, it was very dark in the living room. I got two wall sconces last Spring for just such dark mornings and, this morning, I fired them up for the first time. Perfect. Just a splash of soft light which is all I need and want first thing. And, they have a 1 hour button so I can just press that and forget about them. I charged up both last night so I'll be interested to see how long a charge lasts at an hour a day.

It's warm in this living room this morning so I opened the door to the terrace which I rarely do. Both cats are fascinated with the smells and sounds.

Amazon is sending my lower risers today. I have a plan for swapping them out. But, Plan B is text to Steve who's ready if Plan A doesn't work.

The shades installer/reinstaller is on tap to be here sometime between noon and 3. He needs to take down and rehang the window shade. There will be holes. I should dig out the paint pot I have for that wall color. But, mainly I want him to be a little tidier this time in how the middle meets and the ends align. We'll see. I do still love the look and the function of these blinds. They are so much better than the ones I had in condo - as far as smartness is concerned. The only problem I have is trying to remember if telling Alexa to raise them to 75% means they will go mostly up or mostly down. Usually, I tell her 50% because that one's easy for both of us.

The checkup light on my car's dashboard came on yesterday. This is how I know it's time for my annual visit to the nicest car fix it place in the world. I called yesterday and they are going to fix me up next Wednesday. They are always so lovely to deal with. After years at the hands of the snotty, rude Mercedes people, these folks are a joy. I don't expect any big issues. It's running fine and does not yet have 40,000 miles on it. It will turn 14 years old next week.

I was working from home using Comcast internet and they had an outage and I couldn't do any work things so I got into my Ford Fiesta and drove to the Smart Car dealership. I'd been thinking about it for a while but had yet to actually go get into one. It was a blistering hot August day and I thought, if the a/c works, I'm buying it. They had several ready to sell and two in excellent colors. I picked the green one. Handed the guy my cash and my Ford keys and drove it home. I love it as much today as I did that day. About six months later, Mercedes bought the brand so I never went back to that dealership.

We had another Comcast outage the next week and my boss asked 'so... what are you buying today? a horse?'

The Mariners are playing a day game today and the Phillies aren't playing at all.