chillin' solo

I'm feeling a little lonely tonight. Matt's off at a bachelor party and I'm just sitting at home waiting for the call to be the DD.
Sydne and I walked around the block so we could get out of the house. She got to meet the kiddos next door. Both were completely infatuated with her and she loved every minute of it. But now I'm back home; I'm back to watching TV and wishing I had something better to do. It's a little sad when I start reflecting and realizing I only really have about 2 people I can hang out with (besides Matt) and, while I love them both, I know they don't want to spend their free time with someone whose life is so terribly exciting. Maybe that's why I've gotten so big into mundane, repetitive things like cross-stitch; it takes up time and I can do it alone. But for tonight, it's a girls night. I already watched Center Stage so I guess the rest of the night will be chick flicks and TLC shows...

Bring it on "bee-ches"

So yesterday there was this feeling, a feeling of relief (now I'm having "Pee in the Woods" running through my head--it's a song. No I didn't write it). We got the couch out of the basement and, despite Stuff and Goodwill both turning it down (yes, both stores are obviously on crack. It's a good couch!), we put it on the street to find a new home, albeit a ghetto home. *attention, the rest of this post is a rant, an ordinal, ranking rant (yes, ordinal and ranking)*

Anyway, this morning I put the keys in a card and provided the landlords with the new address so they can send us our money. Well, while Matt was in the shower, and I already at work, She-landlord called and left a message that they wanted to know what the status of the house was, the couch, when we could do a 'walk through' and that the lawn needed to be mowed "like it was when (we) moved in." First off, yes, they were in our old place yesterday before we ever gave them keys or anything so that's how they knew to mention the couch. Second, we have never had to do a walk-through before and have always gotten our deposit back. Third, when we moved in, someone was already living next door and they mowed the lawn. It was not and I repeat NOT mowed in celebration of our entry into that piece of crap property! Matt, recognizing that I am the more diplomatic of the two of us (don't know where he gets that from) asked if I wouldn't return her call since, on the message, She-landlord addressed it to me. I returned the call, but He-landlord answered the phone. I told him the couch was out, the keys were on their way to their home, that we did not have time to do a 'walk through' and that the lawnmower had been moved to our new home and we had no way of taking it back to the ghetto. His response, "so the grass will be long." (Um, yeah.) My response "I have no way of getting it cut." So he said, "well, alright, we'll take a look and get back to you."

Okay, so first things first....They suck as landlords and, by my guess, as people in general. Second, what the frickin' deuce?! The people that are moving into our place won't be here until August and I'm pretty tootin' sure that the grass will have grown by then. Third, the grass cutting was not on our move-out checklist, which in itself was pretty ridiculous. Fourth, the checklist is not listed in our lease and neither is the walk-through. So while I am glad to be done with them and hope to never have to see them ever, ever, ever, again, I secretly hope they do something stupid so that I (with Tenant Landlord Act in hand) can give them a legal F&*K YOU! (Teehee)

Ahhhhhhhh

That's the sound of freedom, folks. Freedom from evil, crooked landlords who believe they have the right to do what they want; landlords who don't hold up their end of the bargain but fully expect their tenants to do theirs.

Tomorrow is a happy day. First, it's Friday. Second, it is the day before the birthday of one of our ladies at work, one of our wonderful ladies at work, which means lots of yummy treats will descend upon her. I just ordered a dozen of the most delicious muffins to take in. I feel bad for not cooking, but I just got home (and it's 9:35 pm) after getting the couch out of the ghetto. That ended up being more of a feat than I ever thought it would. Funny how the phrase "taking the door off the hinges" means something entirely different to Matt than it does to me. In my mind, it means taking the pins out of the hinges; to Matt it means unscrewing the hinges from the frame of the door. Guess which one takes longer... :) It was a bonus because Meganne's Matt and E-flat came to help. Meganne's Matt helped me rehang the door and E-flat helped get the ole' couch out of the basement.
I have to admit that E-flat is a loyal friend. He's the type of person that drops whatever he's doing to lend his truck, muscles and insights into moving furniture. His only flaw is that he can be a "hellicopter friend." (a phrase I got from Molly) That means, he tends to hover frequently. In our case, he calls to see if Matt will play Texas Hold'em, Risk, Basketball, and other obscure games. At times, it's super-fun, but most times he calls on days where we want to lay low and hang out together. So Matt's off to hang out with E-flat and the gang; his payment for the assistance in moving. I have several acts of contrition to do for Meganne's Matt. Word to the wise, it's not a good idea to swear in front of a pastor (current or future), especially in German, when he's Lutheran. Ooops, double-oops, and triple-oops.
I'm betting I'll sleep well tonight. :)
-peace, love and health

Almost done...

One of my friends from work, who lives near the 'hood apartment, asekd me today if she lived in the ghetto. She felt she lived about 5 blocks away from the edge of the ghetto, an approximation with which I concur, but it made me think and somehow I was able to quantify whether or not she lives in the hood. Granted, I had to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy (which scares me just a little), but here's what I came up with:

If your street (and neighboring streets) appear on the Daily Activity Log of the Police at least 5 times or more per week, you live in the ghetto.

So to make sure this was an appropriate assessment, I went through the blotter for the last few days and, sure enough, there is at least one listing per day of my former street. And I thought 5 was a high number.

I hate spyware!

Somehow, I have managed never to have an ugly virus or spyware enter my computer over the last 7 years of owning my own. Yet, somehow, this weekend was the end of my lucky run. (Notice I am not blaming this on Matt. I seriously think it's my fault) Sometime on Sunday, I was noodling around and came across a warning and then noticed not one, but two programs were downloaded to my computer. I looked at the User Agreement for the first and stopped reading after the first sentence, which basically said, "By downloading this software, you agree to let us track the websites you visit and provide pop-up windows in related areas." I'm sorry, but who in the hell wants pop-ups on their computer? Isn't that why there is a specific tool in every internet search engine that blocks pop-ups? So, I immediately uninstalled that piece of garbage (when I probably should have deleted it outright) and ran SpyBot (which I love), which was fairly sucessful but couldn't get rid of 3 programs that it found. With a bit of grumbling here and there, I went to work and asked Brian to recommend some software that would knock it out. He gave me a disk he said he trusted, which I installed and ran between the chiropractor and massage. It also found lots of crap, but still I got those stupid, freakin' pop-ups.
Today my computer got to go on a field trip....to work. Again, Brian tried his magic, downloading lots of spyware killers, but to no avail. So it looks like next week, while working around July 4 vacation (um, yippee), I will be completely rebuilding my poor little laptop to try to rid it of the nasty infiltrating spyware. Not to mention, I will owe Brian big time, maybe a few good steaks will do.
If only there were a way to make spyware harrass the crap only out of those people who create it. I just keep remembering karma will get them...one day.

If I'm not even, does that mean I'm odd?

That's what Dr G asked me when I told her I was off to the chiropractor to get "evened-out." For the past 2 days my left and right shoulders have not been level, not even close with the left shoulder a good 2 inches higher than the right. My only thought as to why I was off kilter is the numerous Cinderall moments during the vicious cleaning in the ghetto. So this morning, with 800 mg of Ibuprofen already underway, I headed off to work. At 10 I started counting down the time until I could redose (with 3 hours remaining). So I made 2 appointments; one with a chiropractor and another with a masseuse. The chiropractor was good, I got all evened out with a few snaps, crackles, pops and groans. Then I had to wait for 5 hours for the massage. It was a visit, well worth the wait and now I feel like Jell-o, but in a good way.

The girl that gave me my massage was someone I hadn't met before, but I instantly liked her. I realized tonight that although my life is far from exciting, I have lived in places and had experiences that give me some great stories. After all, how many people can say they've been to Mayberry (yes, Andy Griffith land)? So I had a great time talking about not only the crazy people in the ghetto, but also other people I have known and experiences I have had. So I think in these last few days of any connection to the ghetto, I'll have to reflect on the crazy (and not so crazy) people I've encountered over the last 3 years. From Mohawk Man to the kids up the street, there should be some good fodder for someone's pen.

It's been a hard day's night...

and I've been working like a dog...
Today I spent over 5 hours cleaning and it wasn't even the new place; it was the ghetto. We received a ridiculously detailed list to clean from the Landlords which includes washing the windows inside and out. Um, there are screens on the windows and no way to remove them to wash the outside. Plus, I'm pretty sure that has never happened. Still, I did a lot of work. We vacuumed every room, edges of the room, baseboards, registers and then there was the kitchen. I rinsed out the cabinets, cleaned the top of the stove, cleaned under the lid of the stove including the underside of the lid. The oven was my biggest challenge (and only injury--I burned my pinky) as there was something crusted on the bottom that I scrubbed off. Then I cleaned the refrigerator, which now looks like brand new. I finished by getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing the floor with a brush about six inches long and 2-1/2 inches wide. Needless to say, I didn't get it all done, but you can tell where I stopped. So tomorrow I envision myself cleaning the rest of the kitchen floor and completing some of the requests (Who ever asks tenants to wash/wipe down doors?) It looks like the rest of the night will consist of a long shower, curling up with a blanket and Ibuprofen, lots of it. Bet I sleep well tonight.
peace and love

crooked, crooked landlords

We have 6 days until we have to officially turn over our keys to the ghetto abode, but I am hoping to make it sooner. The past few weeks Ken and Lisa have shared their saga of the "Security Deposit" and given me even more insight into recognizing what conniving people our former landlords are. Monday I went over to try to do some cleaning and get more stuff out of the place. I knew Mr. Landlord had been in to install additional smoke detectors (he asked Matt about it), but the first thing I noticed once I walked in was the lighted ceiling fan attached to the living room ceiling, a new addition to a room that previously had no lighting. So I cleaned the bathroom floor, scrubbing around the base and washed the baseboards. This morning (after all the rain), we got a call from Mrs. Landlord (who I'd rather give a much less flattering name) saying that because of the rain, Mr Landlord might be in the property to check on flooding in the basement, because other places were having problems. Matt dropped me off at work and headed over to do some cleaning and get the last few things out. When he got there every door in our apartment was unlocked and open. The screen door on the side of our house was not even latched and no one was around; no minivan, no truck, no Mr. or Mrs. Landlord! (Some of the items still in the house included Matt's computer) Matt called me because he was so very, very mad that he knew he would say something inappropriate if he called, so I did it. I called and ended up talking with their daughter who said she would pass on the message and have them call Matt; no one ever did.
THEN I got a call from Lisa. After giving Mr./Mrs. Landlord a significant hard time about the 30 days (that ended yesterday), she got her security deposit back minus the carpet-cleaning fee. That, I was happy about. Then I got an additional tidbit of information about Mrs. Landlord, she conveyed to Lisa that she wasn't worried about having to do work on the apartment after they moved out, but said she thought she would have to do "a lot of work" on our place. What the hell?! Nothing like getting slammed by a lying, cheating, stealing slumlord.
So needless to say, I was tempted to leave the place in as horrible a condition as I could, so she wouldn't be disappointed, but I think I am going to clean it up, take a crapload of pictures and sue the holy hell out of them if they try to keep any of my money. But unlike Ken and Lisa, I am not going to let them know about my knowledge (or possession) of the Tenant Landlord Act. I'll let them dig their own graves. They've done a pretty good job of screwing themselves my moving crap into their other places. They're not keeping my honest money.
Now to sell the downstairs couch...

update for the week

It's been a busy week. Lots of things to do, but nothing terribly important. So here's the update

Monday
I worked all day. Then Molly came over afterwards to do laundry and hang with a bottle of yummy wine (mmm, wine). It was super fun, except that I fell asleep on the floor (I'm so cool).

Tuesday
"Murphy's Law"Day--Got to work early and had a voicemail (which never bodes well). Alyssa was sick, dizzy, bad stuff so she wouldn't be able to come to work much less help with the MT session. On top of that Soomie was getting her wisdom teeth removed and Megs was being a camp counselor. (No problem, I can handle that, right? Right) Then I got an email from the student leaders of the group saying the theme for the session had changed from "Transportation" to "Bugs" and the session is only 3 hours away. So the hubby scored massive brownie points when I called saying "I'm sending you pictures of bugs, please print them out and bring them to me along with construction paper." No only did he do this, but he printed them on photo paper because it was clearer and called to see if I wanted them laminated (which he did) and bought me a whole packet of construction paper when he couldn't find the stuff we already packed. Luckily, the session turned out very well and got great responses from all the staff.
After work was more furniture shopping, still no luck but looking. I did get a new pedometer interested to see how many of my 10,000 steps I get each day.

Wednesday
Nothing terribly exciting, just work. I went to Target after work to find some more "bug" items for the kiddie's group on Thursday morning and had to stop myself from over-shopping. It was getting to be a lot of fun.

Thursday
Kiddie session went okay. There were a few places I could have changed things that just came to a screeching halt. I think giving the kids more of an opportunity to move would have helped, after all they are 3 years old. I also got my data back regarding part of my study and the results came back just as I had hoped it would. After work, hubby and I had dinner with a group of people from school and then watched Rocky Balboa. Now, I'm not a huge Rocky fan. I usually watch them to be with hubby, but for some reason, I really liked this one. I mean, a Sly Stallone movie actually made me feel something other than sympathetic pain (ala broken bone), an emotional response. That was followed by a night of attempting to sleep through very loud claps of thunder and a terrified puppy. Oh, and my brilliant sister is now a PAC. Way to go, 2bit!

Friday
First, yay for Friday. The day was very lacking in things to do (no patients, no files to score, no data to enter), but I worked on the paper. I desperately want it to be done, submitted and either accepted or rejected, but done nonetheless. Lunch today was my favorite, sushi, with the lovely Jana. We had a great time talking and chatting about anything and everything. After lunch, nothing was accomplish, but good times with good people. I tried to work on my paper some more, but spent the majority of the afternoon chatting with everyone else who stopped by my office.

The weekend looks like thunderstorms, but I hope I'll get a chance to sleep.

goofy post

I love the FURminator! No, it's not an animal version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, it's an amazing tool. I saw an infomercial for it and thought, "hmmm, if it actually works, that would be cool." Last night Matt and I went to Yo-Mama's for supper and wandered into the pet store next door when we were sufficiently sushi-ed. After playing with a very cute Golden Retriever puppy (with a pointy dome on her head), we started to leave, but knew I would need a peace offering so that Sydne wouldn't disown me. Matt started looking at random treats to get her and I happened to notice a TV monitor with an advertisement for the FURminator. So I asked the girl behind the counter whether they sold them there or just advertised/teased their customers. "No," she replied," we have them over here. Now there is a bit of sticker shock, but my parents bought one for their three cats and they love it." Well, Matt and I discussed the purchase of one because, yes, they are a little more expensive than one might want to pay for a brush/comb, BUT considering I am having to run a Swiffer across my floor every day to pick up enough fur to make a small dog, we decided it was worth it. (I bought a smaller, blue one since Sydne loves to be brushed anyway)
Once home, Sydne would not stop sniffing me, clearly pissed that I smell like another dog. So we took her out to the back yard, taking a bag with us (we were told to have bags--multiple--ready for the fur we would remove). We gave Sydne her newest pig ear and I began to brush. HOLY COW!! There was seriously a significant amount of fur coming off and Sydne, well she looked like she was stoned; eyes half-opened, gazing across the year with a pig ear hanging out of her mouth. I truly wished I had a camera for that image. We managed to fill up one bag before Matt recognized my OCD monster beginning to emerge and made me stop before I got too carried away. (I still kept going for about 20 minutes after that) But I have to admit, anyone with a dog or cat that sheds NEEDS to get one of these. In fact, I'm going to go use Synde's again--small doses may be better for me than one big event. Plus, it will save on Swiffers.

a sad Friday

This morning Matt and I found out that sweet, little Kennis passed away. Her mother's note on her blog made my heart just break. Posted at 10:33 this morning,
"I wanted to let everyone know that my angel is gone to heaven. She passed 45 min ago."

It's one of those situations where I want to be able to do something to make it better, anything, but I know there is nothing I can do to change what has happened. My heart hurts for her parents and her little sister. She fought for a long time and was a very brave and very strong little girl. Even though I know she's not in pain and she's not sick anymore, I know her family is so very sad. If you are a praying person, please pray for her family. If not, please think a happy thought for them.
Bye for now Kennis.

Sydne made a friend

My puppy has officially made a new friend in the neighborhood. We took Sydne outside for some play time (ie, fetch) and while she was taking a break between runs, we heard a wimper across the street. I looked over and there was this pretty little black dog just crying in our direction. Sydne noticed and ran as far as her leash would let her; then they both stopped and stared for what felt like 3 minutes. The staring was followed by numerous play-bows and barking. She had a little girl with her (little = 10 or so) who decided to take her for a walk. Meanwhile the dogs are still eyeing each other and continuing to wimper the "I wanna play with you wimper" I've heard so many times from my little girl. So I called out, "You can bring her over if she's nice." So here comes this dog, dragging her little girl behind her. Tails are wagging feverishly; lots of sniffing to be done; followed by chasing.
Maddy is a beautiful black Border Collie who is so sweet and so soft. She and Sydne made an instant connection. They started running around the yard (with Syd's 25 foot tether) playing chase as much as they could. It was really a happy sight for Syd-dog; like ebony and ivory (let the music begin. Thank you, Paul McCartney). Plus, we found out the previous owners of this house? Not so nice. They actually fussed at kids for playing in their yard the day they moved in! Now I can understand the build up over time if kids are messing up the yard, being too loud, etc., but considering the reports are that the people never used their yard or their porch? That's just mean! Maybe that's the Southern in me...At least our neighbors should like us better.
Happy thoughts for a happy puppy!

Carried away

The last two days have been pretty quiet. Work at the hospital and some time for friends. Last night I joined Megs, Max, Matt and John at B-dub's for yummy dinner and trivia. Megs, John and I all won one game and then consumed yummy chocolate cake. I only ate a little being completely stuff with wings and onion rings. Afterwards, I got to go shopping, which doesn't seem that bad except I got to shop with the hospital's procurement card (i.e., shopping with other people's money). I bought a ton of toys for the kids in our program. Amazing what you can find at Target for $4.99! MP3 players, Transformers, Polly Pockets, stamp and stickers boxes, the list goes on and on. I filled an entire cart (only one, I did restrain myself that much) with lots of toys, but I have to admit that I did get a little carried away. From what I calculated, I bought approximately 50 toys. The check-out lady was really impressed with my shopping skills.
This morning, I got to unload my haul. I felt like a kid myself and wanted to play with all the toys. I got the seal of approval from the ladies I work with, except Maura who said I sucked because my team had better toys than hers, but I still take that as a compliment. Well, normally, we keep all those toys in a Rubbermaid bin, a 20 gallon or so (?). Well, let's just say my excitement got to the point that the bin was full as well as the cabinet in front of the bin. Yay for toys! There will be some happy children coming to visit us in the next year or so!

Tee-hee

What a fun day! This morning was our first music therapy group with kiddos at the speech and hearing center. I didn't actually participate today because Dr G was absent. Still, it was fun to watch the other part of our gang play. We have a 20-month-old boy, a 2 year old girl and a 3 year old boy; all have either a CI or a hearing aid. They are sooooo cute. I was a little jealous that I didn't get to play, but I got to make fun comments with the SLPs in the observation room. It makes me smile to think about that 30 minutes of today.
This afternoon was sooo slow. Alyssa and I ate lunch outside and soaked up some Vitamin E as well as split-pea soup, my first time trying it, which I'm guessing had other yummy vitamins. Afterwards, though, it was really hard to get anything done, mostly because we were so productive this morning that there was little else needing attention. So we looked at Alyssa's pictures from her Appalachian trail hike last week and my pictures of 2bit's wedding. An hour later, we tried again to be productive, but to no avail. We then imbibed in cookies (if you can imbibe in cookies) to celebrate the last day of one of the students...mmmm, cookies. The funniest part of the day came when I went to mail my orientation evaluation. It was a rather interesting survey; one in which I included the need for either treats earlier in the morning (not 10:30) and/or a better breakfast (i.e., a full, yummy one like everyone else mentioned before my orientation).
Anyway, on the way back to my office, I bumped into a girl one of my friends has been quasi-interested in for some time. (He and I eat lunch together almost daily because we seem to be hungry at about the same time and haven't really fit into another lunch group in our department.) We call her "Beetlejuice" because every time we talk about her (or mention her name 3 times), she calls him. While trying to make polite chit-chat with Beetlejuice, she pointed out what I thought was my "Financial education" pamphlet I had just received in my campus box saying "oh, is that new?". Only it wasn't the pamphlet, she was pointing out my wedding and engagement rings. Almost immediately, I could see the wheels turning and I knew what she was thinking. So I proceeded to tell her that I have been married for almost three years. She followed with "huh, I never noticed." So I tried to give her an excuse like, "well, I don't always wear my engagement ring because the stone isn't set right. "Yeah, maybe that's it" she replied and very quickly indicated that she had to go. Thus, the end of our conversation...
Needless to say, I speed-walked back to my office and emailed this dear friend, letting him know what had transpired. My last sentence was "I think she thought I was making a play for you." He returned the timely notice by coming over to my office IMMEDIATELY and we both did our evil, you-gotta-be-kidding-me laughs and then went home...what a day. Betcha he gets a call tonight.
peace & love

Monday, Monday

...do you hear the Mama's and the Papa's in the background?...Well, it's the first of the week. Nothing spectacular to report, except, oh yeah, I don't live in the ghetto anymore. Yippee! I managed to leave for work at the same time I used to leave the old place and I got to work earlier. That's right, earlier. What a happy problem to have.
Coming home this aftenroon was equally "horrible": straight shot home; no problems with traffic; neighbors politely waving as I pulled in. I think this new neighborhood may help improve my exercise regime. Since Sydne doesn't have her fence yet, I took her for a walk around the neighborhood. It was only the short route but I'm sure we'll do the larger version after dinner. Maybe we shouldn't put the fence up. Then again, I don't know how much Matt would like walking her at 6 a.m. when it's below freezing.
peace

GO ME!

I don't mean to toot my own horn. Okay, maybe I do (toot! toot!)but I just assembled my bed all by myself. I realize that may not mean much, but it's a queen-sized, (heavy) metal, sleigh bed. Matt told me I should wait until he gets home, but he was supposed to be home an hour ago and still isn't so, not to be redundant, Go Me! Girl Power rules!!!!
I picked the matress and box springs off the floor, which wasn't easy to start with. Who knew those things were so frickin' heavy? I put my frame together (no easy feat), put the box springs into the bed--they sit in the frame, added the matress and made it up so it looks nice and pretty. I probably gained between 5 and 10 bruises, but hey, I did it all by myself. Now I'm eating some deliciously chocolate, Cold Stone ice cream in celebration (but just a little bit). There's a thunderstorm rolling in. What a great night for blustery wind, some thunder and rain.
peace and girl power!

-insert Cheshire grin here-

What a week it has been! I have been through the emotional roller coaster of packing, waiting to close on my house (making sure the money goes through), closing on my house, and moving. What happy, happy times (with the exception of the aforementioned waiting for $$--and even then it was short-lived).
Most of last week is a blur, waiting for Thursday and Friday to come. Thursday was a fun time, especially the, oh, 45-minutes where we weren't sure the money would be there in time for the closing. But once it was, it was a happy time. Friday I was so excited to move that I woke up at 6, got ready and left my house at 7, stopped at a great coffee/pastry shop on the way to work bought muffins to take to the hallway of wonderful women I work with, or who tolerate me (I worked a half day). I was pretty distractable most of the morning while I waited for noon to arrive. Then I kidnapped Alex (for his muscles), bought him lunch and made him help us load the truck along with Trombonium and Lothar's wonderful girlfriend, Suzanne. We got all of the big stuff out of the ghetto-house and into the wonder-house by 3:30. We spent the evening drinking beer and feeding grilled food to our movers. We also met our backdoor neighbor, whose name I never got. So until I get a chance to get his name, I've been calling him backdoor-man (I'm so creative). Anyway BD-man seems innocent enough. He has three boys, the youngest I believe to be about 20 months or so. He was talking to Matt when I walked out, but made it a point to mention the fact that there are a lot of children in this neighborhood; new baby across the street, little one next to that one, pregnant woman next to that one. He tried to do a little backpeddling, but was still pretty adamant that we need to conform to the neighborhood standard. It was "interesting" to say the least.
Saturday morning, I hopped up to get the day going and getting the ghetto-place more empty. Lisa and Ken showed up around 10:20 to help me move the things that won't fit in the GPrix. They are a God-send, an absolute Godsend. We spent about 4 hours moving various boxes, lamps, shelves, cabinets so now I have almost nothing left in the ghetto place---except I realized a few hours ago that I have no shoes for work tomorrow. Give you one guess where I'll be going around 7-ish tomorrow morning. But I digress...I got a chance to show Ken and Lisa around the place. I think they were pretty impressed. While we were in the back yard, BD-man was playing with his littlest one and I waved in a neighborly fashion, to which he responded "You need to get one of these." Yeah, I can just run to Target and get myself a kid so that I'll fit the neighborhood norm. All he had to do was have an orgasm. I'd have to get fat, push the kid out, breastfeed and all the other fun things that come with having a baby.
BUT I AM NOT COMPLAINING. VERY NOT COMPLAINING!! The biggest worry I have around here...well, I don't have one. All the kids race around here on their scooters. It's awesome.
Oh, and we met our next door neighbors tonight; Clint and Nicole and their 2 kids, Adison (18 months) and Joe (8 months-adopted). They are both too cute (the kids), but I have a soft place in my heart for Joe. I'm betting it's the dimples; deep, cavernous dimples. Clint and Nicole are really nice too. He's a high school Chem teacher, but has a horrible, monotone voice (poor chem class). Maybe that's the nerves of meeting the new neighbors, but I think it should become commonplace. There are a lot of houses for sale and people moving in & out. Saturday, people moved into the house across the street. It is sooooooo nice to sit and watch TV without worrying about my house shaking or crazy crap going on outside.
It's nice to sit and watch the Tony's on TV...even if I am secretly looking for Dad & Jo. They're there. Yes, they went to the Derby, now they're at the Tony's. I'm glad, though, Dad needs the breaks. He's been working too hard for too many years. And sometimes Disney just isn't enough.
Happy days, sweet dreams!
-peace and love

new paint job

I know this last week is gonna be a doozie! "How do I know this?" you may ask. That's simple, catboy got a paint job. Judging from the outcome, I can be pretty sure it wasn't professional work. The best part is this time I actually saw cars slow down and stop while driving down our street. I watched as passengers' heads stuck out the windows of vehicles driving by, careening to see what the heck was wrong with that car. That's actually a first. I mean, I figured in the past this happened, but I actually got the opportunity to witness it several times today.
Now there's a question about whether this new coat has some hidden meaning behind it. Is it a comment on the dichotomy between good and evil; happy and sad; heaven and hell (per his previous magnet)? I don't know. I find it ingenuitive to incorporate his former decorations into this new aesthetic covering. Yes, he did divide the doll's face in half. I didn't get a close enough look to check the cat's head, but pretty sure he was consistent. Just another fun day perhaps. Or maybe he was bored. Anything is possible. Still, it's scary that he works with people who have cognitive delays. You be the judge.

up to my eyes in....boxes

I have had a great weekend. There wasn't one particular thing that made it great; it was just a good combination of things. Friday night, we got to go downtown for dinner with some friends. They were setting up the tents for Art Fest so I didn't get to see any work, but the buzz of people around and the music in the air was awesome. (The bottle of wine didn't hurt, either). Saturday was spent mostly packing boxes, happily packing boxes, and hanging out with friends from work. That basically consisted of going to their house, setting up for the cookout, watching all the testosterone leave to pick up the new kiddos' playhouse and running inside when it started *pouring*. About 45-minutes to an hour later, the men returned and were thoroughly saturated (I think we could have wrung them out, not just their clothes). Still, I had fun hanging with Linda and grilling. That was one way I felt like I was being productive. Today, packing, packing and more packing. I've gone through 4 rolls of bubble wrap and filled many a box with fragile items as well as books. I haven't even reached the "damnit" box yet, which makes me very happy because I was sure I would already be there by now. Still have a long way to go, which proves I have too much crap, but that's the fun of moving. As George Carlin said (to paraphrase), you buy a house, fill it with junk so you buy a bigger house to fill with more junk. I look forward to that possibility.