I evicted Bella and Gracie from the bedroom because they wanted to wrestle and I wanted to go to sleep.

Woke up a little before 7 AM. The puppy was missing her collar, so I put the slip-knot leash on her. We have a problem in that the puppy wants to go in before Bella has done her business, and Bella comes in. I found Gracie’s collar, and it is intact. I think that I’ll order an extra one just in case. I also ordered personalized collars for Gracie and Bella. Crud. The collar is sold out at PetSmart, so I ordered one from Chewy along with puppy food to get free shipping.

Bella is barking more. Protecting the puppy?

Cats: we’re hungry! (Fed them.) Bella ate Gracie’s food. Gracie ate Bella’s food. At least, everyone is fed. Nap time. Bella and Gracie are wrestling, and Oliver is looking at them in total alarm.

Hell. Someone (Gracie?) chewed off the charger for my Apple Watch. I bought a bunch of chargers for same-day delivery.

I shut Bella out because she and Gracie were wrestling. The puppy let me sleep. She’s crashed out.

Took Bella and Gracie out. Wow, it’s a hot day. The heat index is 93F/34C. Should we stay in? I really need to weed and plant things though. Hmm, they’re saying possible thunderstorms. Maybe we will stay in. I have plenty to do inside. Anyway, it’s lunchtime. I need to drink water. I’m falling behind on that.

Got a cat food can away from Bella. Oliver knocked them over, and I must have missed one picking them up.

Now they’re saying no storms, so I need to water the plants at the very least.

Treated Zara’s ears. She hissed at me.

The clock got chewed up too. Sigh.

Oliver is out cold. He is breathing though, so I guess that he’s okay. Bella and Gracie are wrestling though and making noise.

I’m going to take another short nap. It’s been an eventful weekend. Gracie is crashed out on the dog bed.

Oh! The clock is working! The outlet was turned off. I ordered another one, but I think that I’ll keep it as a backup. Alarm clocks are important.

Realized that I didn’t take my meds. Got up, and the puppy followed me. Bella came into the bedroom while we were gone. Bella is letting the puppy chew on her. I told Gracie that she’s perfect, and she covered my face with puppy kisses.

Oh fuck. I forgot to book a singing lesson for today.

Oliver is on my lap. It’s good to spend time with my little boy.

Opened up some boxes and found my new sandals to try on. Also, the new bathmat looks good.

I like the Orthofeet water-friendly sandals, but not so much the slip-ons. So they go back. I saved the box just in case. The swimsuit from the Vermont Country Store looks good, so it's going to Sardinia with me along with the sandals.

Bella and Gracie are playing tug-of-war with a Lean Cuisine box.

Fed the critters and took Bella and Gracie out. Gracie barks at passersby a lot.

I’m wondering what to do now. I think that I’ll sweep the front hall. Someone, probably Bella, has shredded toilet paper there. Hmm, I need to get up early to return the shoes. They cost $200, so you better believe that I'll return it if I don't love it. So I need to go to bed soon.

The puppy held it and peed and pooped for me outside. Excellent. She really wants out of the bathroom, and I told her that I’d let her out after Bella has done her business.

I need to wait for Gracie’s new collar to get here before staking her outside. I will feed us all and take a long nap.

I was right about Gracie being able to wiggle out of the yard though. She’ll have to go out on a leash.

Gracie is smart. She’s already figured out the stairs upstairs, which Bella has never figured out.

Fed us all, except for Bella because she hasn’t pooped yet. Bella and Gracie are playing on Bella’s bed. **Dies of the cute**

Now Bella and Gracie are under the bed. Bella pooped in the bedroom, so I cleaned it up and shut the door while they were out of the room. Now I’m up. Gracie went into the bathroom with me, and Bella was crying. BFFs? And Bella is leaving Oliver alone, which is part of what I was trying to accomplish.

Gracie is tired and yawning. I tried to feed Bella, but Gracie is eating her food. I might need to feed them separately. I’ll take a shower in a minute while we’re waiting for Gracie’s collar to arrive. I almost forgot to eat lunch (done).

Got Gracie’s collar and leash. She’s not thrilled because Bella runs around and she wants to run after her.

Gracie has figured out how to jump on the bed. Bella is crashing out.

I’m getting tons of doggy kisses. Started to take a nap, but Bella was barking at something. Now she and Gracie are out cold.

Gracie isn’t using her bed—she prefers mine—so maybe I won’t need to get one for Oliver.

They’re up now. I need soda, but I want it delivered after dark. Okay, showered. It’s so quiet in here right now. The pup is snuggling up to me. Aww. I was napping with Gracie and Bella until I fell out of bed. That woke everyone up.

Took Bella and Gracie out. Someone left the gate open and Bella got out, but she came back in. Bella and Gracie wrestled a lot. Came back in and fed the cats. I need to go out and water the plants. Oh hell, I’ll water the plants tomorrow. I want to eat. I had Bella, Gracie, and Lily on me :)

I’m thinking of going to bed early. I’m tired! But it’s still light out! Oh wait, I have a grocery order coming at 9 PM. I'll post in the meantime.

Woke up at 6:30 AM. Gave Zara her ear med. It’s kind of shocking to see a cooperative Zara, or at least a stoic one.

I was wondering if I’d drink more water if I had a refrigerator with a water spigot, but I can’t get everything. I’ll just drink what comes out of the tap. I’m watching for sales on refrigerators though. I wonder if there's a way to set something to automatically watch prices? I tried Google Shopping and found an open box refrigerator for a really good price. If it fits my kitchen and is still there tonight, I'll get it. Oh wait, they're in Missouri. I signed up for Discount Appliances' mailing list. It looks like Lowe's, Home Depot, and Best Buy have the best prices though.

The critters can trash the large bathroom in no time flat. Even when I get on a cleaning schedule, I need to clean it on the off weeks. Cat litter everywhere!

Bella and Oliver are attending my shower. I asked Bella if she was going to be a good girl and not chew the bath mat. Oliver is literally on my back.

The transport tomorrow is on for the puppy!

I got an answer on the sheet colors, so I'll order it (done). I read an article that highly recommended the sheets and comforter, but I don't know if it was sponsored. They give a 7-day free trial before charging your card.

I finally understood something that was confusing me at work. The person with whom I was working is brilliant and assumes that everyone can follow his logic. But now I get it. Next week, starting on the 2nd, it'll be really busy with our "annual statistics". (Our fiscal year starts on July 1.)

I have the dog and cat dishes soaking, but I want to finish what I'm working on. Fed us all and watered the outside plants.

Hmm. I’m wondering if I should go to bed early and get up early to clean the bathroom. But it’s still early. I think that I’ll take my nighttime meds and start cleaning, go to bed after my meds kick in, and get up early to finish and bring in puppy stuff. I just realized that I need to wash rags before cleaning the floor, so I’ll need to stay up for an hour. Gave Zara her ear medicine.

Scrubbed the sink, toilet, and tub. I'm going to wait a minute and post before sweeping the floor.

I took Bella out on a leash. No possums though. Now I’m cooling off for a moment, and then I’ll give Zara her pain med. It wasn’t too hard to give her the pain med. She wasn’t thrilled, but she’s a lot easier to handle than when she was younger. (I gather that it tastes funny.)

I didn't make it to the store, but I did log on by 8:00 AM because I have the training session with Bella at 5 PM. I'll go to the store at lunchtime.

I kicked Bella out of the bathroom because she was chewing on the bath mat, leaving Oliver in with me. That was good; he got some lap time. I thought that Lily was going to be the cuddle bug, but it's Oliver. Usually Bella gets jealous. (I had to remove him from the shower stall though.)

The water reminder does seem to be working. It's reminding me on an interval, and I'm drinking.

CNN Wirecutter recommended some sheets and a comforter for cooler sleep. Given that Bella doesn't like ceiling fans, it sounds like a good idea. I'm not clear on what their colors are (maybe it's the screen on my laptop), so I emailed them my question. I suppose that I could get white sheets and a gray-striped duvet cover.

I found an attorney's office that does both estate planning and real estate law. (I'll have to transfer the house to the trust.) Note to self: Tummelson Bryan & Knox. And they're nearby!

1% raises this year from the university due to "fiscal uncertainty". Thanks a lot, Trump.

I'm eyeing Monarch Money for a financial dashboard. It supports multiple accounts and types of accounts, and costs $100 a year. This is roughly the same thing for which Mom's trust wanted to charge me $100 a month. (I said no and a few other pointed things because Mom had just died, and I had other things on my mind.)

Bella thinks that the hot dogs smell good. She was a very good girl at the training session. She didn’t stress pee and stayed calm even with all the dogs in the ring. She mastered sit and down, but did the worst job of the group at walking on a leash. Personally, I think that it was a victory even being there. I tried some of what we learned at home, and it flew out of Bella’s head. We’ll work on it.

Watered the outside plants. Fed us all. Now I need to get the recycling out (done), but I want to corral Oliver and Lily so they don’t go down in the basement. Oh, and I need to give Zara her pain meds and ear infection meds (done). She’s eating well.

I'm looking for someone to clean out the area of weeds by the storage shed/garage to be. I'm also looking for someone to pressure wash the tiny patio because I'm not going to get a new one this year.

I’m turning on the ceiling fan in the kitchen even though Bella doesn’t like it because it’s so humid in here. One more day of heat wave.

I'm beat.

There was a young possum running across the yard, and Bella grabbed it. Apparently they die of fright when she picks them up. Bella wanted to bring it inside, but I said, “No”. And Bella didn’t get a chance to pee.

Zara was suspicious when I went in her room. I had to open the closet and pull her out, but I got her in the carrier.

I’m hungry, but I’m going to have a fasting blood test done after I drop Zara off for her dental appointment. (I had to get up early anyway….) Dropping her off took longer than I expected, given that I got there right when they opened. Got gas for the car and got my blood test done.

Tired, tired, tired.

I did find one white crabapple tree for sale, but it has to wait until the garage is built. Almost everything in the yard needs to wait until the garage is built.

It's feeling hot upstairs already, so I need to bring the laptop downstairs for the afternoon.

There are some abnormal results on my blood test and urine test. Some of it was dehydration, so I'm trying to remember to drink water (which I don't like). Hmm, I wonder if there's a way to get my Apple Watch to remind me to drink. I installed a reminder app on my phone, and it also installed it on my watch. I'm concerned about a reading that said that my platelets were small. My mother had multiple myeloma. But my platelet count was okay. The statin seems to be working; my cholesterol was within normal ranges.

Zara came through her dental procedure well, with a lot of extractions. I'll pick her up at 5:30. Picked her up with two pages of post-op instructions. She was glad to see me but got grumpy when the vet tech showed me how to give her the pain meds and ear meds. (She also has an ear infection.) The bill was almost exactly what I guessed. It was a lot but not shocking.

The plus side of getting up early is being able to feel accomplished before I even start work. But it’s 7:30 and I’m collapsing. I was going to go to the store to get hot dogs and string cheese to cut up as rewards for Bella (the training class is tomorrow night), but I just can’t. I’m going to go to bed early and get up early. The grocery store opens at 6 AM.

Got the garbage out. I still need to swap out Zara’s litter box for a clean one.

I’m resisting going upstairs to post because it’s as hot as hell today. I should bring my laptop downstairs or set up the new one. But not tonight.

The water reminder seems to be a bust. I need something that is as aggressive as my meds reminder to remind me to do it now.

Now there’s a heat advisory through Thursday. Ugh. I guess that it gives me a lot of time to work on the house.

Ack! Bella was digging in the cats’ litter box and got litter on the clean floor. I need to dig out my stick vacuum to clean up the floor.

Okay, it’s 7:30 AM. Where are the tree guys? They’re here now.

I contacted some garage builders. I'll call them back tomorrow. I don't feel like talking to them today. So tired....

The guys are still working. I’m lying down during lunch.

I gave up and brought my laptop downstairs after my meeting. It's much more comfortable, but the tree guys are louder. I wonder when they'll be done because I need to take Bella out soon. I took Bella out on a leash, and the tree is gone! Amazing! The tree guys removed the unwanted trees from both sides of the house! That saved me a lot of work.

The yard looks totally different without the tree. It got me wondering if I wanted a small pool to take dips in. I found one on Wayfair that I like, but I’m not doing anything until the garage is built. I also want a crabapple tree, but the white ones are sold out, so I guess that I'll get one next year.

I think that I'm too tired to clean tonight. I can’t stop yawning. I’m going to go to bed after I eat dinner.

Someone knocked on the door trying to sell an alarm system. I don't want an alarm system. They do have better cameras, but it's not worth it. She's coming back on Saturday to give me a quote though. Sigh.