Day 9 - LA County Dept of Health MANDATES indoor masking

L. leaves for South Carolina…

7/25/21. Sunday

8:30 – 9:00 - Up and I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  Today, she’s awake and ready to go!  She doesn’t bother jumping on the couch for a tummy rub so we go straight outside and she does her business right away. I see some poop on the patio and I clean it up (sigh).  Return inside and cheese for her, coffee for me. I go upstairs. I weigh 99.5 today.  I’m a pound up?  I don’t understand.

9:00-11:00 – Blog posts.

11:00-2:00 – I go downstairs, enter my office, and post what I’ve written, then spend the next chunk of time working on personal admin. PBS Newshour segments and BBC Global News are playing in the background. 

-B. and I are going to Vegas in October for his birthday and I’m looking for tickets to either Terry Fator (ventriloquist) or Absynthe. The Terry Fator theatre is dark for October, but Absynthe is a possibility.  Unfortunately, you need a special app to purchase tickets so B. will  have to purchase them on his phone because I don’t have apps, nor do I know how to use them. Pathetic, I know.

-I research and then purchase travel insurance for myself from Travel-Ex for the Ireland trip that B. and I are taking in November.

-I scroll through news headlines and read a few articles. I rarely have time to actually read the news, but when I do, I end up going down one rabbit hole after another, losing track of time, and wondering “What the hell happened?” hours later.

-Still working on cleaning out my personal email In-box when I see an email ad for the Laguna Beach Art Museum. I’ve never heard of this museum and they have an exhibit called Art People, where live volunteers agree to undergo paint treatments that make them look like statues.  This looks so interesting!  I’m in the mood for a “personal” adventure so I reserve a ticket for tomorrow at 11:00.  Tickets are incredibly cheap - only $5.00 – what a steal!

-I watch another vegan video from Mina Rome then take a break to make the vegan oatmeal recipe again, except I’m out of instant oatmeal and only have “steel-cut” oats. This was a purchase L. made when she used to do the grocery shopping for me. You can’t cook steel-cut oats in the microwave so it takes me 45 minutes!! to make the oatmeal. 45 minutes! I make extra. Same recipe as yesterday: I add blueberry-banana puree and So vanilla yogurt – it’s a small bowl. I read Formation while I eat. 

4:00 – 5:30 – L. leaves to pick up take-out for herself from the Newhall Refinery and I take a shower. She has to take my car because her car is acting up. When she hasn’t returned after 90 minutes – for a trip that should only take 30 minutes – I text her and ask if she’s been in an accident. Not only am I concerned about L., but she’s also in my car. She texts back, “LOL. I’m at Trader Joes.” I am NOT “laughing out loud.” Couldn’t she have told me when she left that she was also going to TJs?

Lotion. Yoga pants and my favorite ‘merch’ T-shirt from True Crime Garage. This T-shirt says “Ban the tan sedan” because everyone knows that creepy suspects and perpetrators drive either a tan sedan or a white van.

-L. returns with 2 bouquets of flowers for me – tulips and irises.  How nice!!

5:30-6:30 – L. has some time so I ask her to airdrop the introductory videos that I recorded yesterday into three of my Canvas shells for College No. 1. It takes forever to upload a 3-minute video into each shell and then I work on figuring out how to designate the video “Page” into the master “Home Page.”

I ask L. to find a good Laguna Beach restaurant for me, preferably for breakfast, and she comes up with a couple places with ocean-front views.

In between uploading my introductory videos, I start working on the sweet potato recipe for dinner tonight. It’s from the vegan video that L. and I watched a few days ago.

-I also ask L. to email me her flight information concerning her South Carolina trip.

6:30-7:30 – I bake the sweet potatoes in the microwave, then sauté onions.  I add corn, spinach, and butter to the onions and stuff the potatoes with this mixture. I try to clean as I go, but the kitchen is still a disaster.

7:30-8:00 – The sweet potato dish is surprisingly good. L. agrees. I read Formation while I eat.

8:00-8:30 – Take the dog for a walk.  I listen to This American Life.

8:30-9:00 – Continue listening to This American Life while I check email for L.’s flight information. She neglected to send me the “Return” flight information so we have a “conversation.” Then, she emails it.

9:00-9:30 – I print out the directions to LAX in case my Garmin stops working.  The fact that I’m still using a Garmin is a red flag – I’m dating myself.

9:30 – 10:30 – L. and I leave for the airport to catch her midnight South Carolina flight to visit her Dad. Turns out, L has the directions on her phone and navigates while I drive. It’s smooth sailing the entire time, EXCEPT when we hit the LAX area, at which point it’s bumper-to-bumper traffic. What pandemic? I’m concerned that there will be NO spaces for “passenger unloading”, but I find a spot outside the American Airlines terminal. It is crazy busy with traffic – I’m a little stressed.

On the way to the airport, L. tells me, again, that she is worried about her car and thinks the transmission is slipping. She asks if I can drop it off at Trident Auto Repair while she’s gone so I tell L. I’ll handle it.

L. and I agree to email while she’s in SC for fear that her Dad might hear L. potentially trashing the family via a phone call. I give L. a hug and say, “I love you.” She does the same, grabs her suitcase, and disappears into the crowd.

10:30-11:30 – Driving.  I shed a few tears over the next 20 minutes.  I’m going to miss L.!  Good thing I’m wearing my glasses and NOT my contacts right now. No traffic at this time of night.

11:30 – 1:00 - Home and I read a Money Diary then do a 40-minute Insanity – Cardio Recovery workout.

1:00 – 2:00 – I check email to see if the Docusign contract came through and it did! I read through the contract and electronically initial and sign.  I’m actually getting my garage floor stained! This is so exciting!

2:00-2:30 – Kitchen duty. I finish ALL the dishes, ready my coffee for tomorrow, and prepare snacks for my lunch bag.

2:30- 3:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.