#2997 pdin 16 stay-at-home Sunday

stay home and paint

There is something so satisfying to me about being able to stay home and fill the time doing exactly what I want to do. Today was one of those magical days, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

I had three big things to do today: bookkeeping, changing the sheets, and watering the plants. Those were the must-do items. On the want-to list was reading, arting, and writing. I'm happy to say I have done it all! I do need to clean my bathroom, so I'll probably get to that tonight, too.

As forecasted, it rained here this afternoon. It was grey and overcast all day. While I was doing the bookkeeping here in my office, I had candles burning, the dogs were sleeping on their pillows, and a pleasant playlist was providing soothing background beats. 

The trees in the neighborhood have nearly all shed their leaves now. It's safe to say there are more leaves on the ground than on the branches. It's fun to shuffle through the crunchy leaves. I like the sound of the dog's feet walking through the leaves, too. 

In my backyard, one the of maples is totally bare. The other maple has less than a dozen leaves remaining. The honey locust tree still has its leaves, but they are all crumpled and dry. They are just hanging on to be stubborn. In the front yard, the aspens are bare and the mulberry tree is dropping it's leaves. Here's a photo from my front room looking out at the trees:

a rose is still blooming

Maybe next weekend I'll get the clippers and trim down the rose bushes and rake the leaves. Maybe. 

This week I'll be working in the office every day except Wednesday (WFH Wednesday!) I will be training my co-worker to take over my role upon my retirement. Monday afternoon, I get to have a mammogram. Wednesday is my beloved sister's birthday. MT and T will be home for the weekend, although I'm not sure what day they will arrive. On Saturday, I have an appointment for a haircut. There may be some snow in the valley this week, or maybe just a bit of rain. Either way, the temperatures are coming down. Winter is around the corner. 

Have a wonderful week! Be safe and happy.

#2996 pdin 15 a walk in the garden

mid_November vibes

Today seemed like a good day to take a walk at Red Butte Garden. I hadn't been there since toward the end of October, and I needed to drop off my bloom log, so why not stay for a stroll? The weather was perfect: mid-60s, partly cloudy, soft little whisper of a breeze, and I was ready to stretch my legs and fill my soul with the beauty of the garden. 

It's no exaggeration to say that the garden is gorgeous all year 'round. Each season shows a little different side of the personality of the place. You might think the garden in winter isn't anything to see, but you'd be wrong. There is a hush to the place in the cold months. The waterfall often freezes. The air is crisp. Berries look bright and tempting to the birds and squirrels and bunnies. It is a beautiful sanctuary of calm. In spring, it is pure magic to see and smell the sweet blossoms of wisteria, lilac, and viburnum. The air is cool and tinged with the promise of the warmer days to come. Summer is a bounty of colors, textures, and scents. It is also hot, so being able to catch a cool breeze there in the evening is a treat. In autumn, it's fun to see the different colors and the unique shapes of the tree trunks and branches. You can see little creatures better, too. I love the softer light of the season, too. 

Of course now it is late fall, and a lot of the trees have dropped all their leaves. Red Butte Garden is in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, so a bit higher elevation than my home in the valley. This morning here at home, I put a couple more of my outdoor plants to bed for the winter, and I was just wearing joggers and a t-shirt. I put on a light hoodie and a hat, as you can see in the photo, for my walk around Red Butte.

Here are some photos I took:

forest path with a rose

autumn light

obligatory waterfall pic

reflections in the pond

cool wild grasses in November light

a friendly little squirrel

I was also taking a few seasonal pics with my little fairy figurine. Sadly, she fell to bits from a tree limb in mid-pose. RIP little fairy. Here is one of her last photos:

she will read in the garden no more

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

#2995 pdin 14 just hanging out

The menfolk left for Idaho this morning. The dogs were extra happy when I got home tonight. They've been accustomed to having us around, so I think they were a bit lonely.

I stopped by Trader Joe's on my way home. Since I'll just be making food for myself, I'm keeping it simple this week. I'll be training my replacement at work, so I'll be in the office four days a week for a the next few weeks. It will be good to pack a lunch and to eat light when I get home. I have been feeling a little chonky lately. 

Guess what? I watched a movie tonight! It was called French Lover  (Netflix). I actually had to watch, too, because it is in French with English subtitles. I caught a few words here and there, but they spoke so fast I couldn't follow the French much at all.  It was not great and not terrible, just a nice way to spend an evening. 

My big plans for the weekend include:

• cleaning the house
• doing the bookkeeping
• playing around with the travel journal
• going for a walk to Red Butte Garden
• getting the oil changed in my car
• art time / reading time / writing time

Maybe I'll watch a bit of football. Maybe I'll watch another movie. Ideally, I'll stay home on Sunday and just chill and putter around the house. There's a chance of rain on Sunday, so being home sounds great.

I hope you had a good week and have something to look forward to this weekend.

Ciao!

#2994 pdin 13 growing the empire

The big thing that happened to/for our family today is that we closed on another rental property! The home is in Pocatello, not far from where we used to live and also not far from the other property we have there. The place needs some work, so MT and T are leaving tomorrow to get started on the rehab. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm hopeful it doesn't take six months like the other Pocatello property did. There is less work on this one and it isn't as big, either. It does have two units; it is a two bedroom house with a mother-in-law apartment.

With this property, we now have 11 doors. "Doors" is the term the property people use to describe the number of housing units they have. Most of our properties are duplexes, but there is one stand-alone house. That's not counting the house we live in, either.

It's gonna be mighty quiet around here without the menfolk during the week. I expect they will come back to SLC on weekends; we'll see how it all goes. This won't be T's first time working with his dad, but it's the first time for awhile, and it's the first time he's going to work since the back surgery. I think it will be good for both of them, at least I hope so. I'm glad for T to get out of his room and have a change of scenery. It will be nice for him to spend a little time with his Idaho grandparents, too. 

What will I do while they are gone? Probably pretty much the same things I do now. Maybe I'll watch more TV? I will have sole control of the remote!

And now, just for fun, here is a cute pic of Lizzie in Woodstock's nest at Knotts Berry Farm from when we went with Mom in February.

#2993 pdin 12 TBR

 

It was time for bold and decisive action on my Goodreads Want to Read list. There were 79 titles on that list. I add new titles all the time, and I don't add titles that I own. Mostly I use the Goodreads list to look for books at the library, but how am I supposed to narrow it down from 79? I had to do something, so I got rid of any book that I added in 2023 and 2024, then from the remaining books, I got rid of any with a Goodreads rating of lower than 3.5. I'm down to 47 now, and I've made a strategic decision. At the end of each month beginning in January, I will remove books that I added in that month in 2025. For example, at the end of January 2026, any book that I added in January 2025 will be removed UNLESS I feel very strongly that I must read it, then I can carry it over for a month. 

So many books, so little time. Although, I actually will have more time to read in less than 30 days.

I learned a new word today from Pinterest, and it was appropriate:

This can be amended for virtual piles of electronic books on my Kindle and on my Goodreads list.

Happy reading!

#2992 pdin 11 a weird commute

Thank you, Veterans!

I drew that little doodle at lunchtime today. Happy Veterans Day and thank you to all who have served!

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I just wanted to tell you about a strange experience that happened on my commute to the office this morning. It happened around 8:20 am. I was on I-15 heading north to the office, listening to a book and minding my business when I noticed a white pick-up to my right. The driver was even with me, and he was smiling and waving, so I smiled and waved back. I thought it must be someone I work with, but I couldn't really tell. He stayed right along side me. When I sped up, he sped up. When I slowed down, he slowed down. At one point he rolled down his window and was gesturing, like waving. I thought maybe he was trying to tell me there was something wrong with my car although there weren't any indicator lights on the dash that I would expect to light up if there was a problem. I decided to focus on the road and ignore the dude, but he wouldn't go away. I was unable to get over to exit I normally take, and that annoyed me, so I sped up and finally got in front of him. You know what he did? He moved over to my left and continued to stay right alongside me. He rolled down his passenger side window and was gesturing, but I couldn't tell what he was trying to say or indicate. It's quite difficult to communicate at 70 miles an hour on the freeway. I was trying to remember if I'd inadvertently cut him off or swerved a little or something to make him so persistent, but it didn't seem like road rage. It seemed more like road stalking. I waved my hand at him with the universal "shoo" motion, a flick of the wrist, and I peeled off at the next exit to get to the office. At the stop sign, I felt kind of shaky, and realized I'd missed some of  the book, too, as I was low-key freaking out about the dude in the truck. I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see if he'd figured out a way to get on my road even though I know there isn't an easy, quick way to do it. The relief I felt when I got to the office was real, let me tell you. Nothing like that has happened to me before, and I didn't like it. I walked all around my car to see if something was amiss, but everything was fine. WTF?!

Tomorrow I get to work from home, and I'm glad.

 

#2991 pdin 10 oh yeah, it's expensive

 

I spent some time on the phone with a health insurance representative today. I went through this open market open enrollment show last year getting coverage for my aunt and for my son, and I can tell you the price difference is significant. Of course, for my aunt we are talking about supplemental since she has Medicare and she's under the umbrella of the University of California system. T is just one person, and he's young and doesn't have a lot of money. I'm sure his coverage is going up, too. I've had a flood of mail about insurance that I need to look through with him. 

Anyway, back to me. OOF! The first set of numbers the guy showed me made me want to throw up in my mouth. That was through the ACA, and I can tell you that it isn't affordable. The next set of numbers was more reasonable, but still awful, at just over $1,000/month. It made me really grateful to Granite for giving me such good coverage for so many years. This new insurance plan is through a private market company and we had to complete an application for it. We will find out if we are accepted in the next day or two. It's good coverage, so I'm hopeful it works out. My hell, though! It's shocking.

More to come on that. I think I need to do a little art to put my mind in a happy place, then I'll read and probably finish this Dan Brown book.

Have a good night!