one, lonely donkey chewing on an electric fence

I had a really nice weekend.

It was week 4 of my 5-week Book Repair and Rebinding class. I've had an incredibly lovely time with this class and have learned a whole lot of things! I finished binding the last two books in my December 2025-flurry of projects. Yes, they've been sitting for months, but I'm really glad I had them as projects to finish because they would not have come out nearly as well if I hadn't gotten instructor guidance on them.

( Me nattering about some of the stuff I've learned, some of the tools I'm definitely going to invest in. )

Because I went to the shop on Lincoln, I ended up hitting the Trader Joe's and Pet Supplies Plus nearby. Wink requires her offerings. Still, as a small celebration, I picked up an inadvisable amount of cheese (some burrata and brie), some crackers, and some chicken meatballs for Sunday's adventures.

Yesterday was spent mostly slow-rolling house chores. I mostly just spent the day lazily clearing the decks. Four loads of dishes (I have a tiny dishwasher) that all got put away. My sink and counters are clear! Then sorting the garbage, deep cleaning the cat corner, cleaning the bathroom, making a ton of rice to freeze and refrigerate for lunches, an hours-long process of making banana peanutbutter bites (yay, freezer), and finally making a giant pot of thai curry with the meatballs and frozen veggies I had. I also pulled out a couple burritos for dinner tonight and tomorrow so I can use up the last of my salsa. And I played several hours of Stardew Valley in between cuddles with the girls.

All in all a productive and overall good weekend. :)

Wink is out of surgery! I won't be able to pick her up until ~5, but she's come through it and being monitored. I also left her some breakfast in case for when she gets hangry.

I am just really overwhelmed right now by both incredibly positive things (my friends are the best) and worry (Wink remains almost 17) and I am 100% going to spend tonight trying to snuggle with her while getting yelled at for not providing dinner faster.

Also, we just spent ~30 minutes in the basement because the weather got stompy. It was kinda hilarious because apparently? No one knows the protocol for tornado warnings? Girl, I had 15+ years of kindergarten, grade school, middle school, high school, and college tornado drills, AND I was staff at a location where we had 4 tornado warnings in one summer. I just walked the floors, yelled at everyone to go to the basement, and parked my ass in a chair until we were cleared to go up stairs.

The last couple weeks have been busy and weird. I've added a couple things to my plate in regards to work and I've been following up with some health things. I did tell my doctor that I'm taking August off from most doctor appointments because I am tired and just need a MONTH to not haul myself to different appointments.

On a cheerful note, I'm on steroids for a week, so I plan on enjoying feeling like a human with working joints and less pain for a whole 6 days. I am on day 2 and damn are those a mood booster. Turns out when your body doesn't constantly hurt? You feel happier!

In other news, I went and saw The Odyssey with mom this weekend. First time I've been in a theater since The Marvels back in 2023. I did not have a lot of fun with this one. I respect the sheer work put on screen, but everything was so loud and so grim. Mom and I had a chat over dinner afterwards and we both agreed it was not a film we would revisit. Mostly it reminded me of why I've not been to in-person movies lately. It is all so loud and so bright, it ended up giving me a headache. Add on that all the ads and trailers are so dramatic and SO HIGH STAKES!!!!! and idk. I vaguely miss the "watch it, or don't" attitude that pervaded the entirety of 1990's and early aughts film-going. Though, that may have just been my experience of it.

Related but separate, I do not recommend the Oakbrook 12 Screen theater at Oakbrook Center. The parking garages are a mess, and the elevator and escalator that leads from the garage to the theater weren't working. Which, not great for accessibility, guys!

Anyway. I'm contemplating starting a GoFundMe for Wink's upcoming surgery. I've run some numbers and with all the stuff that is coming due in August, things are going to be incredibly tight. It's likely responsible to ask for help at this point, if just to make sure I don't go into the red. I should also ask around to find out if there are any paid tasks people would be willing to offer up. Ugh, existence is so damn expensive. We'll see.

Procedure is concluded with fine, if mixed, results.

Tea ended up being a giant velcro kitty for the rest of the weekend. I woke up (from napping) multiple times with her right next to my head/face and with Wink cuddled next to my knees.

The air quality has been kicking my ass left, right and center. Add in post-anesthesia malaise and you've got a very sleepy me. I am also struggling with the lack of fresh veggies, but I just had a mild taste of that shennaniganery and I do not wish for a second rodeo. Roasted and cooked veggies only for the near future. Though, I am deeply craving stuffed zucchini, so I might look in to making those this weekend.

I also asked one of my student workers to give me some music recs. My afrobeats knowledge is fairly limited - I drifted from the genre in my late teen years - but I'm liking some of Ayra Starr's stuff. The beat for "Birds Sing of Money" is catchy as hell, and I 100% think the full album (The Year I Turned 21) would be a great gym album.

I'm also excited as my book binding course is starting this weekend! I need to dig out the books I want to cover and assemble my tool kid. I guess you can buy one at the center, but I've got most of the tools and don't feel like spending the $$. Though, there's apparently a glue brush included that might be fun to use? IDK, I'll figure it out.

1. I fried up some of the chicken crumbles I got at Costco a few weeks ago. I made ricepaper wraps with them and the basil and mint I've grown. They were pretty tasty! I'd use peanut sauce next time though.

2. I chipped away at a couple more adulthood tasks. This includes scheduling bloodwork and surgery for Wink. August is going to be expensive, but it is what it is. *sigh* That said, I'm tap dancing up to starting a GoFundMe for this. I have the $$, but it will absolutely bite into my remaining savings in a pretty severe way. My surgery (out of work), plus Tea's teeth cleaning, plus this is... well, it's a lot. I'm ok, but woof.

3. My book binding class is coming up! It's not until the 25th, but I am super excited to go learn things in a structured environment. My nerdy little brain is ready.

4. I had a nice meet up with Mom on Sunday. We went to see Bill's grave, got breakfast, and I got to do a couple loads of free laundry. We also talked abit about some possible future stuff, and we played a card game.

5. I have had many naps.

At some point, Wink broke her remaining front fang. I only noticed it this weekend, but it's definitely broken and now I need to take her in and get it removed. I was all cheerful Tea's cleaning wasn't as $$$$$ as anticipated. Guess that's on me for thinking I caught a break.

Still, she gets to go impress all the nice vet techs with how lovely she is. For real, when I took Tea in (drugged to the gills) and apologizing, three of the four techs on duty remembered Wink and did the "Oh! Wink! She's lovely!" face while staring at her terrible sister.

In other news, I've started ESA paperwork. I'm also doing some long-term planning which may or may not work out. We'll see. Otherwise, the medication adjustment is ongoing. I fell asleep at 7pm last night and slept all the way through until 8:45am with only a short detour at 6am to feed the girls so they'd stop yelling at me. I could go for another nap too. Uuuugh.

IDK, man. There's just a lot going on and I haven't done the work to plan anything fun this year because that feels like a lot of extra work and stuff I don't have the capacity to plan for. Also, everything seems up in the air and all this uncertainty has my anxiety at an 11.

I am doing to work to get things in order to address current problems, but man. I could use a nap, a snack, and a week by a lake in the woods that magically has zero mosquitos.

But in the spirit of reframing things and not just staring at a mile-long list of tasks, here's some nice things that have happened lately.

1. I made bread and cinnamon rolls! Both ended up fine. I do need to have cream on hands if I make cinnamon rolls again. Also a plan on who to gift them to. I ended up throwing out half of them.

2. Apparently, you can mix zero sugar Jello pudding mix into yogurt and it makes a tasty flavored yogurt? Cheesecake has been delightful. Also, I found a carton of strawberries for $1 on sale, and now I have breakfast for the next few days.

3. At the recommendation (request) of my management company, I am buying a new bracket system for my AC. I was a smidge grumpy (the board I paid $3 for back in 2012 works fine!) but honestly? I am down for new, more secure options. Plus, the board is gross and a metal bracket is easier to clean when I uninstall the whole thing.

4. Tea's street legal for the next three years and in really good shape for an 8yo lady. Love that for her.

5. I signed my lease and that's mostly over. Just waiting for a sign off from the land lord.

6. My house is still in good shape from the deep clean. For real, it's so delightful to have a clean home. I really do want to tackle some decluttering/Swedish Death cleaning though. I have a lot of stuff I can just get rid of, and it would make my life a lot easier. But that's life-long, so it is what it is for now.

Otherwise things are toodling along. Hope everyone is well!

In the last month I have had the following issues:

- Management company won't get back to me (at all but especially) re: lease renewal (it is due on the 30th)
- Friend's spouse went into hospice
- Friend's spouse died
- Cat went in for teeth cleaning (she's fine) and vaccines, but ANESTHESIA
- Advocate, my health organization, rolled out required AI permissions for virtual appointments without a.) telling anyone and b.) having an opt-out
- Follow up appointments with new specialist (now with multiple blood draws and more appointments)
- I now need to find a new therapist due the Advocate thing
- BIL is in hospice
- Barometric pressure remains an asshole
- Everything just HURTS and I'm tired of it and I just want to go for a walk
- The whole situation with my phone
- Dealing with getting everything together to get my house cleaned

I am very tired.

I paid a lovely human an exorbitant (to me) amount of $$ to come and deep clean my home. It was SO. WORTH. IT.

My home is delightfully spic and span. I spent most of the time deep cleaning, reorganizing and weeding my bookshelves and DVDs.

Everything hurts and I refuse to do anything tomorrow.

Interesting few days. I had a reasonable and efficient encounter with the healthcare system, so my luck for the decade has been expended. Still, hopefully things will start turning around re: my health. If not? Eh. I'm doing my best.

Had a nice Saturday too. Got a massage, which means my back and ribs got put back into place. One day, I'll have another massage where I relax and fall asleep, but Saturday was not that day. I also got to have dinner with the lovely annieeats! We tried Union Dumpling House in Lincoln Square. My takeaway was that the Mapo Tofu Bao were delightful and delovely, and the other dumplings were pretty nice too!

Another nice thing about the day was that I got to go to the Sulzer library branch! I hadn't been in a hot minute, and I forgot how nice it was to just wanted around and enjoy the space. I even borrowed a book that I've started!

Sunday was mostly house chores, although I have not gotten around to doing what I need to do to have the house prepped for this Saturday. (I am getting my house cleaned!!!) Tonight, my goal is to sit and shred/sort a bunch of documents and mail so they can go in a filing box and be out of the way. AND I am going to hang all the shrugs/hoodies in the closet so they're not in the way. Small goals, right? And if this place does a good job, I think I might try and go for a cleaning once a month or once every other month for a bit. I deserve a nice, clean space and I just haven't had the ability to do it right in a long ass time.

Saturday, I'm also going to be taking ALL the rugs (AGAIN), and all the house textiles to the laundry. Also, some coats. Might as well clear the decks, right?

Tea's scheduled for a vet visit and a teeth cleaning later this month. I've been working with her on a routine to get her used to taking medication. She now doesn't get fed at night unless she goes through the motions (getting picked up, put on the freezer, me pulling the pill bottle out, getting out the pill, opening her mouth, and touching her tongue lightly), and she's been really good about it! I know this will not last once I pill her with the damn gabapentin, but if I can get her mostly doped up for her check up, I'll take it. (They'll dart her ass for the teeth cleaning.) Wink will be delighted for the entirety of Juneteenth because she will be freed from the bonds of dealing with her sister for 8 whole hours.

UGH, I am so tired of spending $. I've budgeted for all this, but man. It'd be nice to have a few months off. I'm also staring a $100/month increase in rent in the face starting August, and I know I have some car stuff happening AND I need to get a new phone come December.

Also, if you're reading this and haven't received a text from me in the last three weeks, please text me with your current #. I thought I'd gone through my contacts to write out all the numbers in my little physical address book, but NOPE. Or it's an iPhone and hates specific people. One of my Canadian besties can't get through, but another is 100% fine. *throws up hands*

I am excited to start my class in book recovering/binding in July. Hopefully it will be fun and informative. I'd definitely like some guidance in labels/materials. I can always be better!