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My brother is down in his room so I just scanned in the few papers I have on hand that need to go to the CPA for tax info. Then I took the small stack that I need to deal with (check sheet, info sheet, etc) and then scan, into one envelope and the done ones into another. I'll leave them here near my table til it all goes off to the CPA which won't be until the end of February because the investment companies can wait that long, so do. But, I'm ready.

I held open house for my wonderful new storage area after elbow coffee this morning. All were suitably impressed.

Before that Bill and I went to the Issaquah Cafe for breakfast. Timber Ridge does not serve breakfast on Saturdays but the Issaquah Cafe is a favorite so it was fine.

Last night we had dinner with Gayle and Jim and it was lovely. Bill and Jim had a lot to talk about. Jim grew up very near where Bill lives now and they were both in the Navy. It was nice dinner.

Bill and I watched Episode 1 of The Hunting Party on Peacock. They just released Season 2 and we had not seen any of it. We watched til the end of the episode and were left wondering how the fuck they even got anyone interested in Episode 2, much less Season 2. It's a turkey of the first order.

Next up is Chinese dinner with Bonny at the dim sum place downtown. But, not til 5. I might just put my feet up and knit for a bit.

We have, in fact, made our way through the list. My bedroom closet now has ONLY clothes and shoes and my ironing board. Perfection. It just needs organization - designer coming Tuesday.

The storage area used to look like this:



And what you couldn't see was an even bigger pile o' crap.

Now it looks like this:



I need to go through all those plastic boxes and I'll be half that shit can go right to the dumpster but that's a project for another time.

In addition to the closet, the utility room gained some breathing room, too. Nice.

We took Biggie to the vet. His bladder is way better but he still has stones. One option was to operate tomorrow to remove them. But the option the vet recommended was to try one more time to dissolve the rocks. He's now back to a pill twice a day. For a month. If the stones are still there, then operation time. Meanwhile he's Jimmy Buffet stoned on the gabapentin I gave him for the vet visit. And it's pretty hilarious.

Me and Biggie at the vet.



We're off tonight for dinner at a dim sum place Bonny and I have wanted to try and we are taking her with us. Should be fun.

This will likely be a traveling entry. My brother should be landing any minute. He's landing at a gate that is connected to the airport by train so even if he touches ground now, it will be a while yet before I can pick him up.

My annual doctor's visit was very interesting. I aced my old people's exam, - remember 5 words, name animals, draw a clock. Then I asked her to mark my COPD as resolved and she was happy to do that. She listened to my heart and lungs and was very happy with what she heard. Then she asked me asked me if I had any issues. I explained that I thought my back was giving up the ghost and affecting my legs but I knew it was because I'm fat and old and out of shape and would work on at least the last part maybe but no promises. She was very cool about all of it and then started talking about semaglutides. She said "we used to say there was no magic pill but now there is one!" I told her that I thought you had to change your diet for those. I am willing to not eat as much but I am not going to turn into a kale tofu bunny. She said 'We'd look at this in terms of relieving your pain, not for specific numbers.' Interesting.

She explained the differences and the possible side effects and options and price.

She said that supposedly Medicare will be picking up coverage in April. "Wanna think about it and reconvene then?" I told her that sounded perfect.

Then off to get labs. I drank a giant bottle of water so I was ready and it turns out she didn't even order a urine test!! I guess diabetes is off the table. Nice. The blood taker was grateful for the extra hydration and, she got it all in one try. Woot!!

Now, of course, I'm trying to decide if I want to brave the porta potty here or hold it til we get to a decent toilet.

He has landed!! More later.

Tomorrow is a big day and so that makes today Big Day Eve! Ha.

It kicks off with my annual doctor's appointment. As an old person, I'll need to remember 3 words and draw a clock and a few more mind testing tricks. Then pee on command and donate blood. I like my doctor a lot and, fortunately, rarely need to see her. I do stress about missing a mind trick (I did draw the clock wrong once but corrected myself before I finished.) And insurance - is there a wrinkle I'm not seeing in this year's plan? And, of course, the peeing on command. But, it will all be fine.

And then I will stop by McDonald's for a sausage biscuit and coffee and head for the airport where I will arrive way too early. But, not early enough to come home first. My brother hasn't been here for a couple of years. We are in contact often but nothing beats a few days of idle chit chat, ideas exchange, and laughs. Plus just hanging out with the person who gets me.

It's rather luxurious to have the Timber Ridge guest room. Someone else will be making sure his bed linens are fresh and there are clean towels, soap, etc in his bathroom. I could have gotten a sleeper sofa and he could have stayed here but the guest room deal is so much nicer.

Today I plan on going back to that exercise class. Yesterday I walked out to the elbow a couple of times but otherwise did not leave my apartment. My back and legs were really pissed about that by last night. So today, I need to make sure I walk down to the lobby this afternoon at least once.

It's supposed to be dry today and rain tomorrow. But, someone fucked something up and it's pouring rain today. The dog park I can see from my window is a dog pond this morning. It's also pretty cold out right now, which is unusual. Around here, if it's cold, it's generally dry and if it's wet, it's usually warmer. This is why snow never finds us. There's too much fog to see the mountains that are usually capped with snow but I'm guessing they are getting a fresh coat.

I actually got started on my *brother's* project today! I started going through all the shit in the utility room. I'd really like to eliminate much and organize the rest. I thought I'd like to find a new/better home for the printer but now I'm thinking it's ok in there. But it needs more breathing room.

I have a bunch of shoebox size hard plastic boxes that are really frames with drawers and are wonderful for storing miscellaneous shit. I've had them for years and years. There are a bunch in the utility room and a bunch more in the bedroom closet.

My grand scheme is to empty out the storage unit. Toss 90% of that shit - put the 10% in the way back and then install shelves upon which all these plastic boxes will go. I think my plan will work. Christian thinks my plan will work. But I can't help but think there is some road block I am not considering.

Guess we'll find out next week.

The shelves I originally ordered (2 sets) came in a big box. Two smaller boxes in the big box. I needed to return them in that big box. But that box was too big for me to carry to the car. Too big to get into the car. So I took the two smaller boxes out, broke down the big box flat. Got it all into the car with everything else and headed out to UPS. It was pouring rain. I got the flat box and tape out of the car and took it inside and taped the flat back into a box. Then I dragged the two boxes into the store and onto the counter and the very very nice clerk helped me get it all back together again. It was pretty hilarious.

I was describing it at elbow coffee. Bonny said "SUSAN! My car is plenty big enough and you play your old lady card to get them to do the rest for you!" But my way was funnier.

Next up. Find my label maker. I know it's here somewhere.

Christian is such a fun friend and such a wonderful interior engineer. We had a great lunch. I learned that Jathon, the building manager at the condo who drove me crazy, has left the job. Christian says he thinks it was mutual. They redid his list of responsibilities and he said NFW. And now he's gone. I would sure be doing the happy dance if I still lived there.

Then we came up here to talk closet. Christian is very good at big picture and equally good and close ups. He asks all the right questions and listens to me. We talked about a biscillion options and different ways to do different things. We agreed that the next step is to clear out everything in there except clothes and shoes.

This meshes perfectly with the first items on my brother's ToDo list!

We also looked at the storage area. The shelves I ordered are ones he has used and he says they are perfect for my use except I ordered the wrong size. NP. I ordered the right size. They will be here on Monday. I'll take the others back this weekend.

I was just getting ready to ask my one last question 'What about using one of the closet design companies?' when he said 'What about using one of the closet design companies?' So we agreed that 1st I'd get it all cleaned out except clothes and shoes and then have Closets By Design* come in.

I'm quite relieved and excited to get this all done and to get Christians ideas. He said his new clients are just getting started with their new apartment so he'll be in and out over the next month or so. The apartment they are moving into is huge. The previous resident was the original one who moved in 17 years ago! She's now 104 and has moved into the nursing wing. He has his work cut out for him.

*We have basically Closets by Design and California Closets. Ruth, one of Christian's other clients out here, recently vetted both and found that they came within $2 of each other but chose Closets by Design because they don't hang as much stuff from the walls. She's got a lot of experience with building and knows her shit. I'm going with her choice. Plus California Closets pissed me off in 2005, I can hold a grudge!

Also, turns out, Closets by Design wants me!! I just went to their website and filled out their form and requested January 15 at 10 am as my first choice for a consultation and within minutes I got an email and a voice mail saying the designer would be here then.

The only problem I have with Christian is his billing. He never bills me enough for his time. And he takes forever to send an invoice. I used to wait and stew about it. Today, I dug out a old invoice, gave him a raise and wrote him a check for his consultation today and even went downstairs to get it into the mail. (He also uses a bookkeeping system from the 80's - checks. ha!) Worth every single penny.

I was born and lived in the eastern timezone for the first 40 years of my life. For most of those years, I stayed up til at least midnight on 12/31 to ring in the New Year in one way or another. Then I moved to Minnesota and discovered that the Time Square ball drops there at 11 pm. WTF?? My world was rocked. If Minnesota can play fast and lose with midnight, what's to stop me from moving it to 9 pm? Turns out, nothing. So that's when I went to sleep last night.

Last month, I bought 3 tickets to each of 3 Mariner games in June. Since they don't do paper tickets, you don't have anything but bytes, a hope and a prayer that you will get into the game. For some reason, it struck me this morning that I should go check and make sure that at least the bytes are still there and I can get to them. Two are at Ticketmaster and one is at SeatGeek. I found them all, got order numbers and screen shots and am now feeling as confident as is possible that we will be bitching about the cold hot dogs in June.

I have no plans for today. I did all the laundry yesterday. I also made what I intended to be a quick run to the grocery store but, apparently also every other person in Issaquah had the same exact idea at the same exact time. AND QFC knew about it cause they had every check stand open and long lines at each. My leg and hip bugs me if I stand for a long time but other than that, it was fine. Good people watching and only a couple of people were not gracious.

I forgot to get milk for my brother's coffee next week BUT I did finally remember to get some fake milk to try on my oatmeal. I got oat milk - extra rich. It's good til mid-February so I have time to work up the nerve to try it.

There's a new puzzle out in the elbow so I might do some of that. The old puzzle needs to be torn down. I like to put the edge pieces in a baggie. If the next person who does the puzzle doesn't want that, they can just empty the baggie and mix them in with the other pieces. But, I know, I appreciate having all the edges isolated. It's kind of a pain but if they puzzle is good - like this last one - I'll do it.

I think the cats are settling into their new food. They don't love it but they are no longer sitting around waiting for their Fancy Feast. I can no longer tell the difference between Julio's pee clump and Biggie's which is the best sign. That tofu litter continues to be a giver.

I should go down to the gym today and I might but if you are betting - hedge yours.

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.