Some Winter Storm!

All I've heard for the last few days is that a major winter storm is heading our way. Then the forecast was amended to a dangerous ice storm.

The temperature has not moved above freezing. Tree branches were covered with a layer of ice (so pretty!), so we might end up getting some downed power lines.

Trust me: I am an unskilled photographer. Today I took two photos from my back porch, one of which is shown above. When I faced the camera in the opposite direction, the yellow porta-potty next door was the only thing to grab one's attention. 

#BensonNC

#TulipHouse

#bigwinterstorm

Ravioli Meal

It was an ordinary day when I opened a jar of Alfredo sauce. The home phone rang, so I walked to the living room to answer it. I was gone for only a minute.

That's when I heard the familiar sound of something falling to the floor -- a sound which invariably draws me to the source. Tulip had dumped half of the Alfredo jar's contents, as well as the jar lid, to the floor.

I never knew that cats liked Alfredo sauce. Tulip never got a taste of the cheese ravioli.

New Lows for Tulip

I have two sets of file boxes I bought from Temu.  They are stacked in groups of three and packed with books, papers, etc. The goal was to be Tulip-safe, yet more accessible than plastic bins.

Today I discovered that Tulip can open them.  The first time, I had a hard time convincing her to get out of the box. I closed the cabinet and went to my regular Scrabble game.

When I got home, lo and behold, one of the bottom doors was open. As per usual, she started emptying the bottom cabinet.

Two packs of business cards (one is outside of the shot) were spread out between the kitchen and living room. (Thankfully, both wads were rubber banded together.)

Tulip may not realize that the second set of these cabinets is in the office. It's only a matter of time.

#thetroublewithtulip

#catexplorer

I should have known better

While I was in the office, Tulip stopped by briefly. Nothing scintillating was happening, so she returned to the living room.

I could hear her noshing on paper. WHAT NOW?

....found today's mail where I'd left it, on my recliner. It was a seven page letter from Aetna. Three pages were damaged.

Eureka! I think I've got it!

My website is looking better all the time. 💻

For the banner, I still want to put the slogan I started with:

"Life is better with books and cats"

I'm a bit frustrated. The header consistently shows up at the bottom of the books, no matter how many times I reorder the four choices. 

Once I add a few tweaks, I'll be done for a while.

===========================================================================

UPDATE January 20th

OOPS...I don't have it. Tried to add a logo to the ABOUT page. Definitely goofed up. Now nobody can access the page.

#learningmygooglewebpage

#reluctantwebdesigner

#googleblogger

A Busy Week for Tulip

What hasn't Tulip gotten into?

In the living room:

A camouflage mesh curtain (shown on the right side above) separates one end of my house from the other. It used to close itself with magnets. A few days ago, Tulip was actively trying - and successfully freed one magnet.

Two office activities: 

• Anyone can see the daily detritus left behind from the half-eaten fabric and cardboard bins. The evidence ends up all over the carpet. Besides denuding these bins, Tulip has begun to eat the uneven pile carpet. Bad, Tulip!

• Wondering where my cat found a yellow piece of paper to chew, the answer was on the wall above the printer. NC Representative Wiley Nickel's address and phone number were written on a Post-It note there. She bit off a corner of the post-it note.

                    

What's Next? 
I expect she will start "cleaning" the office wall that faces me where there are other notes.

#TheTroublewithTulip

#Tulip

#cat_destruction

#PaperEater

Knock It Off

Yesterday, I was going to do two things at once: I put a bottle of Ensure on the counter, then turned around to take my morning meds. Then I heard something hit the floor. Forget the pills!

Tulip broke the bottle. The result was a large puddle of pricey chocolate milk.

This Ensured that Wednesday was off to a bad start. 

But don't take this literally, Tulip.

Knock it off! 

Found!

Nobody can accuse me of being a Suzie Homemaker. 

My house has needed vacuuming for WEEKS. Until today, I only swept the back hall as needed. (Stepping on litter pellets is akin to walking on Lego blocks.) Today, I girded myself to haul out the green Bissell Super-Sucker machine.

As expected, the machine unearthed the usual dust bunnies; no surprise there. But, wait -- there was so much more!

When in the living room, the one question I often ask myself  is, "Where are all these little bits of paper coming from?"  Of course, You-Know-Who is responsible. (And if you don't know, you haven't been paying attention).

It was surprising to find a folded News in Review and a packet of Post-It-Notes beneath my recliner. The newspaper was dated December 19, 2025. (It was there only a few weeks. Now, if it were from 2024 or earlier, I'd be worried about me). 

Beneath the companion recliner, I came across a jump drive. I can't remember when I last needed to handle one of those. Who knows how long it had been there? 

When I confronted Tulip about it, she ignored me. Right now she is curled up, sleeping behind me. She looks as innocent as the day is long.

Housework has done me in; I need a cat nap too.

AHA! Conquered (sort of) the Banner

And let me tell you, it was not easy. I created so many versions in Google "Word," Google Sheets, and tried converting the documents to JPEG and PDF formats. Some were twice as tall as I needed. So, after much trial and countless errors, I'm sort of done. . . for now. 

Today I borrowed a book from Smithfield Library..."Getting Started with WordPress."  Chapter 2 is about blogging with Google. I have trepidations about uploading the books from Amazon onto the website.

So my banner looks like this: 

Tomorrow I will tackle uploading images from other sites. My web changes show Merilee's Journey twice and doesn't contain the proper link. There is so much to learn!

I feel like a dunce! I went to the web with the intention of copying a picture of a dunce cap, but I'm not interested in paying for a vector or PNG image. When the dunce cap was created centuries ago, it was meant for really intelligent people to wear (according to Wikipedia). Dumb people rebelled, so the meaning changed to quite the opposite. The appearance of the cap changed as well, to more of the fool's cap. 

If my website looks weird...

It's because I am trying to teach myself how to make changes to things.

Technical Issues Part II

• When checking KDP Amazon today, the book is still not released due to unclear images. 

• In the future, if I ever do a book with a lot of pictures, I will insist upon text with the insertion of jpegs.

• My job this week is to learn all about Google's Blogger. Trying to do it myself is proving to be a challenge.

A Key Issue

I have been touch-typing for over fifty years. Still, there are times when I would like to peek at the keys. 

Check out this pic of my laptop's keyboard. 

The keys used most often are Left Shift, E, R, T, and A. Soon to be worn into oblivion are S, H, N, M and CTRL; all are beginning to show wear and tear.

Technical Issues

My ebook was launched a few days ago. Now it's not.

My paperback was launched. Today it's not released. The 2-page cover was uploaded, but everything after the cover sits on its left side. You won't believe how much agita this has caused!

Now I realize I don't know how to update the blog. I had one guy do everything for me.

The laundry list of Things That Need Updating grows ever longer.

2026 has not started well.