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The pool is still cold and getting colder. The fixers are due to fix but no joy yet. So no swimming. No volleyball. I should go down to the gym and use one of their machines go get my muscles going but I've discussed this with my muscles and they are not giving me a compelling reason to go. The old saw of we won't work one day just isn't cutting it. So I'm declaring it vacation week.

At the risk of jinxing it, the cats both seem back to normal. They have eaten their breakfast and Biggie's had his treats and they are both just hangin' out here in the living room instead of hiding in the closet like they have been. No red in anyone's pee and nice little Tootsie roll poops. Biggie goes back to the vet a week from Thursday.



I scored big at Value Village yesterday. I spent $25 and got all manner of soon to be creature hair. All different colors and different textures. I got one unraveled yesterday and will do some more today.

I discovered while I was out yesterday that someone tanked the temperature around here. It was really cold out. I was going to fill up the gas tank but that soon evolved in NFW. I have enough to pick up my brother at the airport next week. I'll get him to fill it :) Filling my car with gas is a chore, like emptying the dishwasher, that I just hate. For more than a handful of years at the condo, I didn't even use the dishwasher because I hated emptying it. Not filling the gas tank is a little trickier.

My 'vacation' will be interrupted today by the house cleaner. I'm perfectly ok with that.

I got a notice from Social Security about my 'salary' for this year that starts on Friday. Because they fucked me over last year, I'm getting a $500 increase this year. I'm still pissed about last year but I'm perfectly Ok with the extra scheckels. My Timber Ridge rent is going up so coverage. Next up income tax. But, I'm pretty sure I've over paid the estimated so no big bill. I will be glad to get it sorted and done, though. Next year, and the years that follow, will be easy breezy tax wise.

I think I'll go pop in a load of laundry and then get dressed.

When I lived near Pittsburgh, I got to go to the opening of the new Three Rivers Stadium (baseball). It was a big huge fucking deal to get to go and I was thrilled. I heard this summer that they are talking about replacing the stadium that replaced Three Rivers. Ha!

This weekend I learned that they are retiring NYC Metro cards. I am a subway token girl. The tokens were a little smaller than dimes and clung to the bottom of your purse, especially when you were in a hurry. I was long gone from NYC by the time they retired tokens and now they are retiring the token replacements.

If ya live long enough...

It is still pretty dark and also foggy. Perfect for swimming but not in ice cold water. I wonder if we will be able to volleyball tomorrow. I'll go down to the pool/gym later today to find out. And probably do some time on those horrible machines. Oh! I just got a note from Erica (the fitness director) saying this morning the pool is 79 degrees which is, technically, within (bottom) the range for lap swimming but not for my lap swimming.

I do think I'm going over to the second hand shop this morning and see if I can score a purple or green sweater to unravel for hair. I know the goods will be better and more varietal at Goodwill BUT also there is a whole lot more stuff to tempt me at Goodwill so best to stick to Value Village.

But they don't open til 10 so I guess I'll get dressed first.

Hazel has come into my apartment 3 times this week to ask me to fix her tablet. Three times I have said that I would all she has to do is bring it to me. No tablet yet. She downloads shit and then gets warnings from malware. I think if I ever see the tablet again, I'll find her solitaire games that she can play offline and then turn off her wifi access.

But, the big news is she said that John (her husband who can't turn on his computer) has ordered her a big cellphone. Probably a large size, off brand smart phone. "he got the big one so I can see the numbers". Hazel cannot work a traditional handset because she forgets how. There is no way in the world she will be able to operate a cellphone. She will be in here every time she tries to turn it on. John does not know how to operate a smart phone. He can barely manage his feature flip phone. This is going to get ugly fast. I think my game plan is to show her to to call our IT guys here at Timber Ridge.

Elbow Coffee was not as bad as it has been and not as good. But, it is over for another week.

I'm just tired of old people.

I did my Safeway run and it is really cold out. I have no reason to test it further. I might puzzle a bit and then settle in with some TV and knitting.

As planned, I puzzled. While I was out there, Joan came out and as usual asked a bunch of nosy questions most of which I dodged. And then set on her list of complaints du jour. Top today was that "the IRS will no longer accept checks so I have to get an account but I can't set it up and my daughter tried for hours yesterday and couldn't do it either."

The subtext here - which she actually tried me on last April - is I need you to get on my computer and set up my IRS account. How many ways can I say NO FUCKING WAY EVER????? Her daughter is an attorney. Her grandson is an IT manager for a large bank. And you want to give me your social security number and have me go on your computer and do the job for you? And then, when you forget how to do it, come back and do it all again? Every quarter? Sure, I'm up for that. Not.

And...as I told you last April,Joan, your premise is incorrect. The IRS website - IRS.gov/payments clearly states that while they would like you to set up an account and pay electronically, here are the

Other ways you can pay

Same-day wire — Bank fees may apply
Check or money order — Through U.S. mail
Cash — Through a retail partner and other methods can

So I printed it all out for her - large font. And delivered it.

Nice try, old lady, but you didn't catch me this time.

Plus, in doing that, I that I forgot to attach my printer to the wifi extenders' SSID so that was a whole thing but it's done. And I have quashed Joan's IRS rants. And I did laundry. A good day so far.

I have this new yarn project in my head that I can't get out of it. It's taking my DK (smaller sized) yarn and chaining it into fat yarn and then knitting or crocheting something with the fat yarn. I don't want to stop making minimonsters yet so I'm hoping that I cannot think of anything I really want made out of fat yarn so that the idea will go away.

My swim this morning was particularly good except the music was not. Turns out I am not only listening to my 6,000 mp3's but all mostly, so far, deleting them. Wtf was I thinking with some of this stuff?? Tomorrow's line up is way better.

I ordered two dinners - beef Wellington, crab cake, baked potato and ginger cookies and turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, a charcuterie selection, and two gingerbread cookies. I put the turkey dinner away for tomorrow. As well as the charcuterie. I ate the beef Wellington which was waaaaay over cooked but did actually have some flavor and the crab cake which had a lovely white sauce on top. I scooped out the baked potato and added a bunch of shit to it and put it back into now 2 twice baked potatoes. I saved the cookies. Oh and I picked up some sushi in the Bistro on the way home.

Tomorrow is a buffet which means seeing people plus the menu isn't all that appealing so I'm just going to eat what I now have which, honestly, is plenty and looks all very delicious.

The cats have been asleep in the closet all damn day. They've each come out once, checked on the food situation and then gone back to sleep there, I'm considering doing a breathing check. Oh, wait, as I type this, here they come out now.

We were supposed to have a ginormous windstorm today but apparently someone canceled it. Just as well, I like my electricity.

For many years now I have wanted my Echo, to chime every 15 minutes like a clock. There have been various work around and tricks to make it happen but none have ever worked well or consistently. i ran a program on my PC for a long time but when I retired the PC, the program went, too. Then, about the time I moved in here, I found an android app that does what I want. It gives me a Big Ben Chime every 15 minutes and bongs out the hour count. I run it off and old phone and it works great but it's never been loud enough to hear throughout the apartment.

This morning I decided to look on Amazon for a small Bluetooth speaker in hopes of getting some volume. I was just starting the search when I realized that my Echo's will all Bluetooth! I have one in the center of the house that has nice volume. I paired it with the phone and it's perfect! What the fuck too me so long to figure this out???? No matter. I'm enjoying the bongs and, with the extra volume I can also have the seconds ticking. It's a lovely sound.

Oh and in other small victories. Apple TV+ let me back in and gave me 3 free months! For some reason last year they locked my account and wouldn't unlock it. I could have called but I just said fuck it instead. I guess they got a little butthurt and changed their minds. They offered 3 free months so I tried again and bingo bango, I'm back in. Til March, then we will divorce again but this time, I'll be the plaintiff.

Time now for some more Shetland.