chezmax

I'm not going to swim today cause I don't wanna. I have other stuff I want to do. I could do both but nah.

I have a new bunny idea currently in production. I have some sewing I need to do. And then there is just regular day stuff like emptying the dishwasher and tidying up.

Biggie is being a bit weird today - actually, they both are. I did not get up until 6:30 and they were both sound asleep still. Usually they are making noise and jumping on me.

The Mariners announced the broadcast team for this season. Same asshats as last year. There is one guy who is not too painful to listen to and he's retiring after this year and going to be replaced by one of the ones who is very painful to listen to. So for sure, I have many years of crappy Mariners broadcasts ahead of me. Sigh. We also don't know yet what the broadcast streaming situation will be or rather how much it will cost. We had our own sports network and they folded and MLB.TV took over. That's either going to be ok or horrible. And no clue yet what it's going to cost. Spring training is doing a trickle start. It's not official for about 2-3 more weeks but they are gathering.

My closet/dressing room is complete. It's cozy and tidy and sooo functional. I did get a request for review from Closets by Design but I declined. I don't hate what they did but they sure could have done a less sloppy job and been less irritating about the whole thing, not to mention way cheaper. But I do love the end result and that's the real joy. I've never had anything like it. Like a whole lot of kids, I was totally into tents, and my room and cozy little spaces all my own. This is the grown up adult version of that.

My brother reminded me of the song about having too much to dream and it's been me lately. My dreams have been long and involved and more like scripted TV without the ads. This morning the alarm went off in the middle of about the 3rd act. It was not hard to get up but it was really hard to shed the groggy. I had to think hard to figure out it was not Saturday.

I ran into Hazel and John yesterday. I was trying to get on the elevator and they were coming off and they blocked me. Hazel said she wanted to come see me so I could set up the new 'flat phone that John bought me'.

NFW to the max. I told her that she needed to find another avenue for that endeavor. Call IT (they never come). Take it down to the Kid Tech Helpers (oh they talk over my head). The IT team - two very nice guys, are here to help people with their Timber Ridge provided TV and wifi. IF IF IF they have spare time, they might also help with phones and computers. The Kid Tech Helpers are volunteers who come to help with whatever technical issues you have.

I have this horrible vision of my setting up Hazel's phone and then every single time she wants to use it, she will be at my door to have me show her one more time. This is the same woman who brings me her tablet every three months. All she does is play solitaire on it but then, of course, clicks on everything because she can't really see the thing well enough and then it fills with crap and I have to clear it out again. And she wants to use a smart phone??????

John still cannot get on his computer. I think they are both mad at me because I won't help them. But neither of them makes the tiniest effort to help themselves. They also have a son who could help them. I do feel guilty but all of my energy goes to fighting that feeling. They can be mad all they want.

Oh I did fix an Apple watch today. In the middle of volleyball, Holly's watch kept trying to call 911 and she couldn't get it to stop. I figured it out (works just like my Pixel watch) so the game could continue. It was the first time I'd ever touched an Apple watch. They are a nice piece of hardware.

Another one of our regular volleyball players had to leave the game today early so she could get ready for her birthday party. She's 96 today.

My closet/dressing room continues to delight. I am now two clear boxes away from done. I needed four but I was just not sure how they would work out and they come in packs to 2 so I ordered one pack to test. Perfect so the second will be here today and the closet will be done.

There's a very small space behind the dirty clothes hamper and yesterday I threw down an old Mariners fleece blanket. It's the new favorite cat spot.

Today is house cleaner day. But also day two of bunny exploration. I'm trying out new patterns. I think I have the one I want. The first one (below) I did was ok. The second one was too big. The third one might be perfect but so far I've only done half. Martha came by last night and approves but says they need ribbons so I'm going to make up some and she'll decorate them.

So, I'm standing in my new dressing room this morning putting on my swimsuit and figured out exactly what was missing. A mirror. I have one, inconveniently hooked on the bedroom door which I never use because... it is inconvenient! So I took it down and leaned it against the space where my swim suits hang to dry. PERFECT!!

I think I'll move the suits to the back of the bedroom door. Or maybe the door to the bathroom. Doesn't matter. And, godbless Command strips. I put in a work order to have them come hang the mirror. It's going to be awesome.

I had decided to skip the swim this morning but then, changed my mind and got in a good number of laps while it was still not quite light. It was pretty crowded down there. Dixie was doing her lane walk. Dixie is married to Butch who also lane walks sometimes, usually during volley ball. Dixie knits amazing dolls - big ones - to order. They are incredibly detailed and beautiful. She's the one who tracked me down to find out how I did the curly hair because she had a curly hair requirement for one of her college mascots. Fin man was in the other lane. He always swims with yellow fins. I have no idea what his name is but he's in the top 10% or of people here who are able bodied. And he's in the top 1% of men who are. I need to find out his name.

Anyway, it was a good swim. During the six weeks I didn't swim, Google updated my Pixel watch. It used to just show time elapsed while I swim. I had to wait until I had sync'd with the app before I could learn number of laps, etc. But now I can get that and much more data right on the watch while I'm swimming. It's pretty darned cool. I used to have a fancy swim watch that did that but it was a crappy every day watch. Now my very cool every day watch has stepped up its game!

I need to do laundry today. And I realized that now would be a very good time to switch from mini monsters to Easter bunnies. I have a nice bit of monster backlog that will enable me to keep up supply while I work on bunnies. I may start that today.

As I suspected the cool temperature in the pool room did not really impact the swimming which was lovely. The window shades are still broken so on a sunny day, I need to get down there and done before the sun. Just barely made it today. It's going to be increasingly buggerish from here until Fall. BUT a flawed pool, in this case, is sure better than no pool at all.

I got caught up last night watching a documentary about George Carlin on HBO. It was particularly well done and included so many great, now old, comedians. Even Steven Wright. I still have half of it to go. It's not a short.

While the rest of the world is focused on snow, no electricity or Minneapolis, here we are all about the football. The game isn't until 3:30. There are giant football balloons everywhere and the conversation is where are you going to watch the game???? Costco and maybe Trader Joe's. I wish it was a 1 pm game. Oh well.

I have tossed out/donated/gotten rid of so much stuff lately, it's hard to keep track. It's wonderful to have the space, tho. I opened a drawer in the kitchen last night and found what I wanted. I remember that drawer being jammed to the gills with shit and now it's not at all. I have zero recollection of what used to be there.

My fingernails are crumbling. I keep them short but even so they are snagging on everything. And it's pissing me off. I may get out my tools today and spend some quality time encouraging them to behave.

And really, that's all I got for plans. In fact, this whole week is free as a bird. Volleyball and swimming and that is it really. No other nothings on the calendar. Nice.

We have 16 people for Elbow Coffee. Rarely do we ever get the full 16. Today we had 15 and the chatter was lively. A lot of it was about computers. I kept my mouth shut tight. An planned my closet organization in my head. Everyone (except Bonny) expected me to jump in with answers to their questions. I did not. No one asked me anything directly so I had no reason to be rude. Just silent. Bonny did praise me after for my restraint (and then asked me why her iPhone no longer had the screen she liked on it - but she knows I don't 'do' Apple).

So after and after I got some lunch, I went into the closet. My arms are really closet tired. My left arm is no longer interested in putting hangars on the top rods. My right arm said ok but not to get carried away.

I reduced the hangings by 17 items and there are another 5 that are on the cusp. Also two pair of shoes bit it. All the detritus is now bagged up and in the trolley to go down to the donation bin this afternoon. The summer stuff is in the far corner. The solids are together, the favorites are in front with the pants. The jackets, vests and hoodies are in their own section. The summer shoes are up high. The favorite shoes are on the bottom. The ones most likely to be culled next are in the middle.

I have clear plastic boxes coming Monday and I know where they are going to go and what they are going to house (bras, panties, socks). I have hooks for both my swim suits and both my swim bags.

The ironing board makes a perfect table when needed - half or whole and rolls easily into its garage out of the way when done. Also it will be easy to iron anything quickly.

It is the perfect closet for me. And now it's organized and I love it. Next up, go through all the drawers on the shelves in the storage unit and organize them and toss out what I no longer need. That will not be today. My closet arms seriously need a rest.

He finally got out of here at 2:15. He did do a good job of cleaning up but the work itself is pretty shoddy. Gaps here, bad fits there. I'm not unhappy. But, for instance, if Christian had paid $4k for this for a client, Closets By Design would be in serious trouble.



I need to weed out some clothes. There's a 20 inch section down on the bottom right that now houses empty hangers and my dirty clothes hamper. I could take those out and have more room for clothes but I think I want fewer clothes. The shoe situation is perfection.

I'm going to get hard clear plastic boxes for the shelves. (That dark one up there has nothing in it now but I do not want shit hidden. The ironing board rolls in and out beautifully. There is room to dance in there. So very cool.

And on a completely different topic, Fairlfe protein shakes are pretty darned good. I feel like I have mentioned this but I can't believe that I think a protein drink is delicious.