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      Monday, July 20, 2026


otherstuff
12:52 PM - 07/20/2026
The current weather is hot hot hot!

The topic: Still kicking!

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The past few months have been boring. Just the same old stuff.

I've been in electronics hell. Computer problems, internet problems- all fixable, but taking care of it just gets old.

We did get a new washer and dryer set. I'm very happy with them; the old dryer was just so loud (I called it the boom boom machine), and honestly, we were never thrilled with it. And even better, SDG&E added the daytime hours of ten to two to the cheapest tier of service, so now I can do laundry every day. For years it was from midnight to six in the morning; on weekends and holidays, that was extended until two in the afternoon. I would only do laundry on weekends because it was cheaper to run the machines. 

The weather station I had for decades finally died. Two days in a row, the high temperature was 140°. The devices were all wired and came into a little box that sent them over to the display, which sent them up to the internet. I was kind of sad, but time (and technology) moves on. I don't have much control over what gets sent with the new station, but it works, so that's cool. You can check it out at https://weather.lisaviolet.com. The weather widget is scrollable to see more information.

When Brian had his kidney removed a few years ago, he had over a month and a half of downtime. He's gotten used to taking breaks. We watch a lot of tv. lol (It's hard for me to work when he's just sitting there; it shouldn't be, but it is.)

I haven't done much crafting lately. I have a hard time focusing. Maybe because the television is on? Dunno. I'll have to work on that.

Cats are all doing well. Chonky and sassy. 

Anyway, just a short update on life here at the cathouse.


      Wednesday, March 18, 2026


skystuff
10:40 AM - 03/18/2026

The topic: Fun with photos

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The weather here is nice in the morning, but hot in the afternoon. Pretty sucky for so early in the year.

Here's a couple of photos taken from the roof cam this week. 

 
 
 
 

 

geekstuff   


      Saturday, February 28, 2026


otherstuff
10:47 AM - 02/28/2026

The topic: Last day of February

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Jessie is slowing getting acclimated. Slower than I'd hoped, but that's just the way it is. She seems interested in the outside, but won't attempt the door to the backyard. She had no problem with the door to the garage. It's not a door problem.

Nooby has had a cough for a few months, I was reluctant to get him into the vet because I didn't know how he would take it. He peed in the carrier and went a little crazy once we got him out of the carrier in the examining room, ran behind the trash bin. I picked him up, held him close and Brian stroked his head while I nuzzled him with my face. The vet had the techs take his blood in the examining room instead of taking him in the back and doing it there. He was a great cat, not a problem. He was wrapped in a towel for his X-rays. 

He has allergies, which is why the cough. The vet didn't want to prescribe drugs until the bloodwork came back. He has borderline kidney disease and she wants to see him in a couple of months for a recheck. He'll be on prednisolone and an antihistamine for the allergies. 

We've used Gmail for our business mail for years. We have it set up to pull from our domain website. We've been using a thing called Pop3. Gmail is discontinuing that. It was advised to use forwarding from the website but it was hinky. Reply mail was sent to the customer and a copy to us. The return addresses were not correct. I did some research and decided to try Google Workspace. 

It took almost a full week and over thirty hours in chat with Google and Intuit. We use an old desktop version of Quickbooks for our accounting. There was a big problem with sending invoices. I couldn't send them from "sales" I had to send them from "Brian" and that just wasn't professional at all. Brian finally told me it would be worth the additional $14 a month to set up an additional user.  I spent two hours in chat with Intuit support and the guy was clueless. He kept having me try things that hadn't worked yet, but "hey, let's try this!" and finally said "the problem is you have an old version of Quickbooks, you'll need to upgrade to a newer version to do what you want to do". But, see, here's the thing. I doubt I send fifteen invoices a month. I'm not going to pay $185 a month to send. The online version is cheaper, but I don't want to deal with online. I have what I need set up. Anyway...

I ended up finding out what I needed to use (the app password thing), but then I got locked out of the account and couldn't log back in. So, back to Google support. I never want to do this again. Hopefully, Brian will retire next year and I won't have to.

I did get the new NAS set up. It's nice, not as scary as I imagined. My side of the office is a lot cleaner looking than it had been. Nice. I'm working on getting the movies I've purchased over the years downloaded. It's going to take a while, there are so many.

Other than that, things are just rolling along. 

geekstuff    catstuff   


      Sunday, January 11, 2026


otherstuff
08:53 AM - 01/11/2026

The topic: Yeah, time really does fly!

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Two months! Holy moly.  

Anyway, we're here, we're fine. 

First newest news, we rescued another kitty last month. Little girl, probably 4-5 years old, dilute tortie. We named her Jessie. She had been hanging around our entry way in the evenings for a couple of weeks and I was able to grab her before the coyotes did. 

Brian had set up the bathroom like he did with Natasha. It was only a few days before she had house access. Still not letting her outside, it's too darned cold to manage following her around outside. We still have the hissing going on, but that should lessen over the time as she's no longer hiding somewhere. Pictures to come.

I've been busy with computer and networking stuff. New router, new settings, really time-consuming, and it wears me out. I finally got all the old stereo cables and equipment out of the office since I have all the Google nest speakers. Pulled out cables no longer in use and finally set up a new router. Still fine-tuning it all. 

Closing out the books for 2025, setting up for 2026, upgrading windows 10 to windows 11 (because Turbo Tax won't work on 10). 

I think this will be the year I get rid of all the old things. I hope. Forty years of saving up, I guess. Lots of mugs (from when my dad died and mom moved to her home and from when she passed away and we cleaned up). I've already gotten rid of the appliances I just had to keep that I never, I mean never, used. They just took up space. Rice cookers, electric grills, you know, things that need to be plugged in. 

So much to do.

And my ingrown toenail is back. Last October I actually went to urgent care for it, but apparently I'd already gotten rid of most of the problem by digging it out (yeah, that effing HURT). The doctor scraped out a few remaining pieces and within days, there was no more pain. Well, it's back. Brian and I discussed him maybe dropping a sledgehammer on it, maybe they'd pull the nail off and no more toenail pain!  lol  Not gonna happen, but, damn, this is getting old. 

Anyway, have a load of laundry to get started. Daylight's burning.


      Friday, November 21, 2025


otherstuff
09:23 AM - 11/21/2025

The topic: Still here, still bored

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We're all doing fine. Had some rainy weather this month. 

Orders are way down. Not a surprise with how the economy is doing. I'm very happy we got the house paid off earlier this year. That's $2K I'm not scrambling to find any longer. That was never fun. The upside is keeping up with paperwork is a snap. lol

Getting used to the GLP-1 meds is ongoing, I'm thinking my body is still adjusting. Almost two months now. I'm down over ten pounds, which is nice. 

Brian will be hitting a grocery store, maybe picking up a couple of frozen dinners for Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, we're at the stage where holidays aren't a big deal, we've been there for a long time. His mom used to do the holidays, yes, the kids would all help out, but she was the glue that held us together. I miss that woman.

I have many idea for crafting things, but I can't seem to make myself get up and do them. And it's really annoying. In bed between trips to the bathroom (old woman pee breaks), falling back to sleep I think of all the things I want to work on. Next morning? Everything is back to "nah..."

Anyway, I just wanted to let those who still read this that we're alive and kicking. Not dead yet.


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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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