MaeLyn's Musings

 In 2009, we acquired four cats from my sister April. Originally we were going to "cat sit" for a year, and then return the two older cats, Abish and Ishmael to her, while we kept the younger ones, Moroni (Momo) and Lamoni (Lala). See other blog posts about the cats:  The Adventures of the Destructo-Cats ,  the time Lala caught a baby rabbit , The imposter part 1 ,   part 2 , and  part 3 ,   Ishmael's Ordeal . Momo passed away  in 2015 as we were preparing to leave on a trip.  Abish disappeared  in 2018 and we never figured out what happened to her.  Lala passed away in September of 2022. I didn't blog about his passing at the time. I think he had been sick for a while: he had lost a lot of weight, stopped using the litterbox, and meowed constantly. I was dealing with my second cancer surgery and overwhelmed with bills and life, so we didn't take him to the vet as we probably should have. It was kind of a relief when he pa...

Hannah married Moroni Torres, a Brazilian, in Portugal in May of 2023. (For a more complete backstory on the two of them, read my posts  here  and  here .)  Shortly after their marriage they began the process of applying for a visa for Moroni so that they could come to the States. Unfortunately the wheels of bureaucracy for trying to come to our wonderful country legally grind slowly, even when someone is married to US citizen. It wasn't until March of 2025 that the prerequisite for his visa application was approved... meaning they could move on to submitting more documents and have an interview and eventually actually get the visa. Meanwhile, Hannah had about a year left of schooling to get her college degree and she realized that if she didn't return to school right away, some of her credits would expire and she would have to retake several of her classes... So, in April she returned to the States, not with her husband, but with her cat, so she could go back to BYU...

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 Journal entry: Yesterday I worked 9-1 at the register. The news came that all JoAnn stores are closing after all which is really disappointing... February 26 Yesterday work was as busy as the week before Christmas as people came to stock up on craft supplies and use their gift cards before the store closes. Many people expressed their sorrow about the closing. I came home exhausted... February 27 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and again it was like Black Friday with condolences. Already, with three cashiers the line wove back to the aisles - and the sales haven't really started yet!... February 28 Yesterday I worked again, starting with orders, but then at the register as it got busier. It wasn't quite as exhauting that way... March 1 Yesterday I worked 9-1 and came home cranky, frustrated with the vultures who are waiting for the store to die, disappointed with the sales and complaining - while I am facing the end of a job I have enjoyed the last two years a...

I was at work and didn't see the text. It wasn't until I arrived home and noticed Steven's car parked on the street outside our house that I had any idea of what had happened. Thursday, February 13, 2025 Journal entry:   Yesterday... Steven was laid off from his job at Krayden. It wasn't a huge surprise - I just didn't know whether he would quit from frustration, but this way he got a nice severance package and can collect unemployment. ... Recollections: Steven said he was working on a project at his desk when he was asked to talk with some people in a conference room. He was told that the company had been struggling and so some people needed to be laid off, including him. They allowed him to grab his coat before they marched him out of the building. It was a few days before he was given the rest of his belongings - including his plants. 

Note: 2025 was an interesting year. It was a hard one with a lot of challenges, but also a lot of blessings. I neglected my blog last year, but I do want to record some of the major events that happened so I have a public record of them. (And blogs are more searchable than my journals at the moment...) Friday, February 7, 2025, 8:25am. Incoming call/Mobile/1 min 2 secs. from Peter  Friday, February 7, 2025, 8:58am. Video recorded: S aturday February 8, 2025 Journal entry: Yesterday morning Peter left for work in the morning but shortly after he called me to say he had gotten in a car accident. Driving east on 97th there had been a glare on the windshield and he couldn't see and ended up hitting a car parked on the right side of the road and then the van fell on its side. I walked over to where a fire truck and police car were blocking traffic while they took pictures and measured and waited for tow trucks to come get the vehicles. Peter was okay physically. he had been wearing a se...

Like the morning sun Gently rising, gaining strength: AI overlords! An AI generated image of itself influencing the world It seems like every time I go online or use my cellphone these days, there are invitations to use AI to help me in my tasks. If I do a search on Google, I get an AI overview of whatever topic I looked up. When I open my email, I get summaries of my emails, reminders to pay bills, estimates of package delivery times,  spam emails helpfully filtered out,  even  offers to write my emails for me, all compliments of AI.  Realizing that it has been way too long since my last blog post, I tried an experiment. I asked ChatGPT to write a blog in the style of MaeLyn's Musings on the influence that AI has on our lives today. Here is what it came up with: The Quiet Role AI Plays in Everyday Life Artificial intelligence sounds like a big, complicated idea, but most days it shows up in very small ways. It’s there when a reminder pops up at just the right t...