life in the old lane

Just because I didn’t do anything all week long doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the weekend.

I wonder, what is it that old women are supposed to do? Never mind that the President of the United States is older than I am. (Speaking as an old person. He is too old and the other one is too evil.)

Let’s think about this. Things that an old woman needs to do. Well,

1. 1. 1. I have to get out of bed. Pretty obvious,  gotta pee and the coffee isn’t delivered bedside anymore. Thank you, Carlton. 
      2. Make the bed. I guess if I had an actual bedroom I could skip this one.
      3. Get dressed. Because,
      4. I have to leave the Old Bat Cave and seek out other humans.
      5. Go outside. If only for an instant. 
      6. Do something that can be considered exercise and something that requires a couple of brain cells. 
      7. Remember to take essential meds.
      8. Do at least one nice thing for another living creature.
      9. Don’t kill anyone. Even if they deserve it.
      10. Finally, get back in bed. Sleep well and start back at #1 the next morning. Now, how hard can this be? 

What I need to learn is to accept that this is “good enough”.   If I do more. Great. If not it’s still OK. I am not Captain Marvel.  (But I would like to be.)

What a difference a week makes. 

Don’t know why the stink bug picked today to come in my room. Could it be because I had the window opened? Don’t you love his pattern?

Lots of drilling and hammering going on with the brickwork next door. An excellent excuse to go outside for walkabout.  I made it 2.75 miles down the road. Then I hopped a bus back home.  By then the drilling was done. 

Happy Hour soon. 

The Tax Boy’s new-improved data capture portal is not the most user-friendly thing ever. But, really, I guess it just doesn’t work like I work.  I shouldn’t be mad at it. I did uncover 2 errors. That doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I spent all day fussing with the taxes. And that was just the easy parts. The hard parts will arrive late in February. 

The Twilight Zone

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How will the taxes get done when I don’t have enough brain cells left to get the taxes together for Tax Boy?

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Mid-60s today. Maybe 70 tomorrow. But. Gray. Damp. However, the orchids are enjoying the humidity. It is up to 62% in the orchid part of the Old Bat’s Cave. 

All nice and above-freezing today. Cloudy. But not frigid. I was loving it. Got in a nice 4 mile walk. Puddles but no ice. All good.

Went to the Post Office.  That was the reason for the walk. I stopped in the bodega along the way for some cumin and diversity. Also stopped at Trader Joe’s for a couple of  “sumo” oranges.  

We have a new food ordering system and it’s not ready for prime time. The tomato cost 50 cents. But the onion and lettuce were lagniappe. The burger was excellent. They do burgers, fries, and ice cream well. The rest of the menu is questionable. 

Gratitude

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Grateful to be outside for a while.

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Hoping for good weather (warm) weather on the cruise. Who knows, I might even take my snorkel gear. I left my wetsuit in Kona. But, I have my mask, pipe, and I think maybe some fins. 

I have been wasting far too much time online lately. I plan on using my upcoming cruise as a digital detox. I will still listen to audiobooks, take pictures, and read books on the Kindle. I will not be online. I refuse to pay the WiFi price. It’s not that I can’t afford it. It’s just too expensive. And, I am just addicted. Doom Scrolling. Or looking at cat videos. I don’t know which is worse. Both.

Seems like MidJourney is familiar with “death and taxes”.   

Last year I had to get a new tax guy. And figure out his system. Well this year, the new tax guy, now just the tax guy, has a new system. It is completely online. So, I can not do what I am used to doing which is to “do what I did last year with this year’s data.” 

Taxes and yoga and wondering about what the world might be like this time next year took up the day. 

I am determined to go outside today.  

Got in a nice 2.5 mile walk. By the time I got back, I was “hot”. But, a buzzard followed me for part of the walk. That is a little disconcerting. 

Still frustrating myself with kusudama origami. I plan on folding 4 more of these things and see if I can get them together.  This model was invented by a Russian woman about 15 years ago. I figure she must have spent a lot of time indoors during the long Russian winters. 

At about 3:45, I make a serious mistake. I look out the window.

Clouds. While I wasn’t watching clouds arrived. I was almost reduced to tears. I am not handling winter well.

What to do but: Make Soup. 

Discovered that the cupboard was lacking cumin. Used chili powder instead. Too lazy to walk next door to the grocery for cumin. Cumin was the first ingredient in the chili powder.  Chili powder which inexplicably came from San Francisco. Wonder where I got that? 

And so another precious day was frittered away.

Still way too cold for me. But, the sun is out. I am in. 

The orchids got watered. And the laundry was done. The Papers were read. Paper was folded. The book was read. And, I thought about my upcoming cruise. 

I will go outside tomorrow. 

It is simply frigid today. Don’t think it got past 24° and the wind was howling around. It was so cold that the kids didn’t even sled down the hill.

A good day to step away from the computer and do some origami. I worked from a diagram, not a YouTube video.  

The leftmost was try #1. It was sort of like trying to reassemble a live king crab. I tried using glue.

Next is #2. I used staples and paper clips. 

I am rather happy with this one. So, I decide to make it out of foil paper. That would be  Try #3.  I am pleased with it. Rather nice, I think.  No staples, paper clips or glue. 

BUT WAIT. I check the picture. Mine doesn’t look anything at all like the picture. I had folded it backward. Or maybe inside out.

Try#4. I had to use glue. 

I’ll try this one with double-sided foil tomorrow and see what happens. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can spend an entire day folding paper.

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Only I could fold an origami model  inside out. 

Whatever happens, I what I planned.

Snow is better in black and white. It it 3PM and I have accomplished nothing. Zero. Nada. Zip. But, that’s OK. 

Maybe I should get out of my comfy chair and do something constructive. Or wander over to the bed and nap. 

Okay, that was quick. My cruise is in 3 weeks. Baltimore to Bimini and back. One of my Asylum Sisters has gone on this trip every February with her daughter and granddaughter for years. A couple of weeks ago, I told her that hey since she was driving to Baltimore, I might as well come along. As luck would have it the cruise was completely booked. But a couple of times a day, I checked back. Just as I was heading off to bed last night – a couple of suites and one outside cabin amidship way down at the water line opened up. Without hesitation – fired up the credit card and snagged the cabin. So, I spent the morning filling out forms, installing apps, and renewing my medical evac insurance policy. 

And wondering “What the hell am I going to do on an old-school cruise ship”. 

The ship stops for a day in Charleston. And, it docks downtown. I enjoyed Charleston when I made my Covid escape in the spring of 2021. So, that will be fun.

The ship, Vision of the Seas, also spends a day in Port Canaveral. I suspect that is to sell packages to Disney Land. I suspect this trip’s purpose is to sell me add-ons, packages, and excursions.  Sort of like your printer’s purpose is to sell you ink. Royal Caribbean will find my wallet shut most of the time. But don’t tell them that.

It was crazy cold today. And I ended up working all afternoon. I am rather tired of my computer. So. That’s about it for the day.

Oh, I decided that hot chocolate isn’t worth the calories. I’ll take a mug of coffee and a nice piece of good chocolate. About the same calories. Much better. Easier too.

PS: Just booked a quicky little cruise for next month. Going nowhere great. But it’s not here. 

Here I sit. In my vintage recliner. Pondering what to put in the blog when i spy a large bird. I think it’s an eagle. Indeed it is. Leap out of recliner.  Grab telephone. Open window. And just as the bird is flying over the building get a lucky shot. 

That is much more fun than the two shots scheduled today.

All the schools were closed. And the government was closed.

Today’s event for the day. Went to the dentist. Treated myself to Uber. Both ways. My fragile old lady bones are worth it.