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Today I have 3 pairs of shoes coming from Amazon. I'm hoping against hope that one of them will be comfortable enough to wear a lot. If not, I do know how to return Amazon purchases.

So last week, after aqua yoga, I sent the Fitness Director a note explaining why I wasn't going to go back (boring, cold because no movement, too much breathing, not enough stretching). She responded by asking if they class made changes would I reconsider? I told her I'd try it once.

Honestly, I could tell within the first 5 minutes that I would be a class regular again. Lots of stretching and moving. My back felt really energized and so did I. 200% better. But, of course, next Monday is Labor Day, so no class. Sigh.

This morning was the first volleyball morning that I really needed to have lights on when I got up. Nice. It's still hot out but at least it's hot for a shorter period of time.

Today is house cleaner day and also time to start making some Halloween themed dolls and creatures. Steve asked me this morning if I'd ramped that up yet and I guess now is the time.

Two ball games but the first isn't until 4.

I'm still looking for my best shoes. Shoes that I can pop on any day, wear with socks and walk whereever/whenever I want that are NOT athletic shoes or sneakers. They need to fit well so I don't walk out of them and look decent (and my 'decent' gets broader and more inclusive every day). I have two pair of sandal-y shoes that I can actually wear every day all day and walk a fair bit in. I wore a pair of those the other day with socks and it worked out ok but not great.

Amazon is bringing me some more options later this week. And I still have one shoe store - the one my podiatrist recommended - that I haven't tried yet. If this week's Amazon selections don't work, I'll be heading over there to that store.

Otherwise, things are kind of on a good keel right now. I'm not on hold because of anything outside of my control - like SteveTheLawyer or the IRS. SteveTheLawyer has yet to settle the now 3.5 year old very simple trust. His last promise was to get it done by early 2025. Whatfuckingever.

The IRS still owes me money but it is clear that the chances of my living long enough to get it are growing slimmer every day. I went on their website this past weekend to check my transcript to see if there was any progress (none) and they asked me if I would take a survey. Sure. First question. Based on your visit today, how much do you trust the IRS. Hahahahaha. That was my giggle of the day.

It was a year ago that I switched financial advisors from the outfit I had used for more than 25 years to a new one. I am still delighted about that decision.

Two ballgames today - this afternoon. Aqua yoga this afternoon. I'll probably go out and puzzle some this morning and see if I can capture any hallway news.

I take a fair number of photos. All are automagically saved in Google Photo which is a great photo app but it has one fatal flaw. There is no way to embed a photo from Google Photo to this journal. You can link to the page but not show the photo in the entry.

You can, of course do that with Dreamwidth's Images but, honestly, as much as I love Dreamwidth, their Images situation sucks on several levels.

So I use Flickr. But Flickr's default for uploaded images was restricted to Private, it required more steps to make the images work here. So I had another app that took every photo, screenshot, video on my phone and sent them to Flockr and loaded them so they are Public. This system has worked fine for years and years. I snapped all day and then, when I'm ready to put them into an entry, they are all in Flickr ready to go.

The only flaw in that plan was that every single photo I took with my phone got loaded into Flickr viewable by everyone. I had to remember this if I took a photo of a check or a credit card or anything else sensitive. And it was hard to remember so I just rarely did that.

Lately, I've had occasion where I really needed to do just that. So this morning, I looked into how to switch it all around and I discovered that Flickr now allows your to 'share' photos as Public by default. So I can now upload easily OR not and keep them private and still have a backup copy on Google Photos (which is all private).

Cool!

Also, the Mariners catcher, who happens to be a very cool guy who's from Culawee, NC - a fabulous little mountain town, just tied the record for homers by a catcher in a single season. Then, two innings later, he breaks that record. And the game is only in the 3rd inning!

Here's the test photo.

Every once in a while, I find a mindless phone/computer/tablet game that sucks me in and won't let go. Most of the time, I can amuse myself by one game of majong solitaire and a couple of rounds of spider a day. And I can go years without getting sucked into anything more. But, not, apparently this year. I'm deeply, madly, irrevocably sucked into this stupid tile matching game. I cannot quit playing it and just that fact is driving me nuts. I will not be controlled by a game, except when I am. Sigh.

Last year, when I was having to feed the cats that overly pricey cat prescription food, I bought it mostly from Chewy. Amazon would run out and/or fiddle with their delivery processes and the stuff was so expensive it easily cleared Chewy's free shipping hurdle. But, then, when we got to go back to cheap stuff, that free shipping hurdle became an issue. And I get 5% back off Amazon purchases. And toilet paper, toothpaste, kleenex, cat stuff... subscribe and save. And I let Chewy go. Really out of laziness. They each have about the same number of items on the 'Pro' list - where one is good, the other is not - and not too much on the 'Con'. So Amazon wins because I'm lazy.

But, then yesterday. They sent my brother flowers and a lovely note.

I immediately cancelled all my Amazon subscribe and saves and set up everything for autoship on Chewy. We are now, officially, Chewy all the way. No regrets. No second thoughts. Flowers. They sent flowers.

Yesterday, I ran into Hazel and her son and his wife in the hallway on their way down to get something notarized. BUT I'm a notary until the 3rd of November. So I did it. Hazel has never liked her daughter in law and now I get it. She was all consumed with setting up Hazels sad old Samsung tablet with audio books. Except. Hazel will never be able to use them and won't enjoy audio books at all. But there was no dissuading her. Also, she had no idea what she was doing. I showed her how to log in and why it was set up with no password and no credit card (so Hazel can click on anything she wants and not get charged). She had no idea how to overcome that obstacle so I just left her to it.

They left and Hazel sat down to chat with me. It was nice. She said she had been stopping at Joan's every day to report which I know Joan just loves and it's so nice of Hazel to do. She said that Dick and Jan (who barely even know her) had been popping their heads in every night to check on her. She said that John was ready to die and hopes it is soon. And noted that it probably will be since he's not eating. She said she was so grateful for this time that they have now. We've just been talking and reminiscing and visiting and it's really been nice. We haven't even had the TV on. She's very calm and cool and together about it all.

I was going to get up and swim this morning but, when I got up, I remembered why I stopped doing laps in the mornings. The fucking sun. There is a 20 foot floor to ceiling wall of windows at the pool and they face east. The glare is exacerbated by the water. Dark goggles help but not much. It's just not fun. I could go later but even now I already for 5,769 reasons why not. Sigh. So I'll do aqua yoga at least one more time tomorrow.

Biggie is not a lap cat. He wants to be on my lap but will not settle. He walks back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. I give him 3 times and then put him on the ground. Once in a while, he tries to sneak on. Very very very slowly, he starts with one paw and then just as slowly, he adds another. It cracks me up. He did it just now so he's now standing on my lap with his belly on my arms while I type. Oh Biggie, you are a weirdo.

I have a podiatrist appointment this week but I am to cancel it if everything is working. Both issues are clearly better. The peeling hard skin feet with ugly ass nails is totally on the mend. The nails will take 6 months or so to get 100% but they are on the way for sure. The other - the nerve thing - I'm not sure about. It's way better but still twinges now and then. But, I think I'm going to cancel for now and then go back if it gets worse.

The Phils play at 10:30 and the Mariners at 1. And there will be laundry doings. And probably some puzzling.

I check my investment balance every day which they say you should never do. But, 'they' are then boss of me. Anyway. On days when the total is down, I happily blame the current regime and just know that there are only 3 more years. (Yes, it might not get better but whatever.) But, when my balance is up, as it is today, substantially, I do not give credit but, instead, just guiltily enjoy the bonus.

My phone and my watch got upgrades - software - and both are now doing new things. Not bad things but doing things differently and it's disconcerting. My new phone arrives at the end of this week which is kind of cool. In the past, Google had 3 or 4 weeks between pre-order and delivery. This is much better. Amazon delivered my case yesterday but I think I can probably use the case I've already got. They do appear to be the same.

Jo Jo Moyes has a new book out. I really enjoyed a lot of her books but the one before this latest one was way too romantic novel for me. I used to buy them automatically but after the last one, I decided I'd just wait in line at the library even though her queues are generally years long. Last night I finished my current book and went to settle on the next one and saw her new one in Audible so I went to Libby to see if it was in the library yet. And, yes, it was - apparently arrived minutes ago because there were 10 copies and 0 checked out!! Ha! So now, I can read it for free and if I don't like it I can 'gift' the next person in the queue.

It's supposed to be stupid hot for the next forever days so I'm not going anywhere. Sorry new car battery. You'll just have to hold up on your own.

Time now to go get dressed for Elbow Coffee. Could be an interesting one today. If so, dets here, I promise.

One of the things I abandoned when I left Live Journal was all the spam. I'd forgotten. Well, it apparently has finally found its way to Dreamwidth. I'm getting subscribes and mail from people who joined that day and have 0 friends and 0 everything else. At least banning is easy. I hope they give up soon.

Let's recap. So far today:

Laundry done and put away.
Phone ordered.
Car fixed.

Now it is 4th inning and the Mariners are losing... again.

The battery guy was weird but very efficient. He says batteries last about 5 years and the fact that since I moved here, I take the car out far less frequently, makes my dead battery a noble soldier. He put the new battery in without even a snark about having to work in the tiny, inconvenient space that the Smart Car has.

Everything sprung to life the minute he connected it. Started right up. He said to start it up and run it 5 to 10 minutes every other week, at least.

The only wrinkle was paying him. He wanted cash, check or zelle. I could not bring up zelle on my phone. I was using the BECU app and I think maybe I needed the Zelle app. He then suggested we go to an ATM. Which we did and it was fine.

And, no, I did not feel sketchy at all as an old woman withdrawing hundred dollar bills to hand off to a young kid. Not sketchy at all.

It was fine and he was really sweet and I'm all fixed and it's not even noon!

I did stop by Taco Time so early lunch while I was the Phils increase their lead.

As long as they are done by 1:30. Food and Bev meeting.

Tonight is fried chicken night at the buffet. If it looks good, I might buy dinner for two and put the second dinner in the freezer.

P.S. When I bought the car, the salesman explained there was no spare tire but there was a can of air in the car that would, hopefully, get enough tire to get to help. I never questioned. I never looked. I never found any can of air.

Yesterday, when pulling back the carpet to get to the battery, I found a little cubby with the cutest little air pressure machine in it and a bottle of what appears to be tire hole plugging juice. The instructions are in German. I've only had the car for 14 years. As my brother pointed out, could be time to read the manual and see what other secrets it is hiding.

Tomorrow there is nothing on the calendar. Not even a baseball game. Today I have a baseball game (both my teams) and the Google event and the car repair guy all at the same friggin' time! Geesh. Also a Food and Beverage meeting.

I told the car guy that anytime Thursday or Friday was best. So he picked 10 am today. ??? Whatever.

The Google event is at 1 pm eastern time which is 11 am here. BUT the Google store has a countdown timer for when the phone will be available to order and it says that there is 1 hour left. Meaning 9 am. Which would really suit me better. I am going to buy a new phone and trade in this cracked one. I would love to get my order in before the car guy comes. (The sooner you order, the better your color choices are and the sooner your delivery date is.)

I put in a load of laundry last night and set the machine to start this morning. It's got 10 more minutes. Then I fold and put away.

Also today, they are coming around to change the batteries in our thermostats and clean out the HVAC filters. I don't need to be here for that. Last night Joan stuck her head in the door and yell 'ARE YOU GOING TO BE HERE TOMORROW???' She always does that. Are you going to Safeway? Are you going to be here this weekend. It annoys the shit out of me. I have vowed to answer 'why do you ask, Joan' but last night I put the game on mute and said that mostly I would be. "WELL I HAVE A 1:30 DOCTORS APPOINTMENT IN CASE FACILITIES COMES AND WANTS TO KNOW". OK. 1. They don't need you here or care. 2. Neither do I. 3. Tell Bonny, not me! She's working my last. and 4. Don't yell at me ever.

Ok, laundry's done. Folded and put away. So at least there is that. So far, so good.