Growing Pains?

My therapist recently told me that I have a hard time with people who don't take responsibility. She explained that I was raised in an environment where being wrong was okay, therefore I am comfortable with saying, "I am wrong." The kicker: Because I don't like it when others don't take responsibility, I create strict boundaries until they do. This is not too great because then I create a situation where I push them away instead of telling them how I feel.

I want to forget that someone hurt me, but I need them to take responsibility before I can move forward. If this doesn't get resolved, I feel like situations will arise where we will circle back to where we once were, not admitting our faults.

Is it growing up when you find yourself censoring what you say, therefore feeling like you are compromising your personality and the very essence of your being?

Music to My Ears

Two words: No Cavities!!!

A Piece of Greece

We had dinner last night at my Mama's house and it was glorious! Yummy food, good company, and fun for all. A perfect blend of Dave's family and mine to celebrate his 25th year with good people.

Biggest and most fun surprise: I really missed Charley! I hadn't seen him in a while and it was so nice to see him. He has become such an important part of our family now that I felt my heart pull after not seeing him for a few weeks.

After dinner, and all had gone home, my Mama, Dave, Charley, and I sat on the front porch. We talked about Dave and I, my Mom and Charlie, and a potential family trip to Greece. When Charley emphasised that we need to do this quickly because soon Mrs. Smith and Tyler will have children and that he wants to take us to his homeland, it again, hit me: Charley is so a part of us now.

He plans his life with ours now. He considers us his, and he ours. It was such a seamless transition and such a perfect fit to have Charley a part of our exclusive club and tight-knit family.

Welcome Charley, wholeheartedly!

Just another day at camp...

So, I came into work and Kim tells me how a parent had some concerns and wanted to express them to a supervisor. This was a parent that we have known for years. She came into the office and read a note that was sent home with her child, it went like this: "Dear Andrea, today Andy had a hard time being respectful to his camp counselor as he and 3 other boys played dare and the dared each other to say "Suck my balls, Stubby" to a larger counselor. Please reiterate at home that those are not words allowed at the YMCA."

Um, how does one respond to this? I almost fell off my chair laughing! Andrea, the mom, looked dumbfounded, obviously concerned about her child and his choice of words. She too started laughing.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh and deal with reality later.

A Special Kind of Meeting

I think I have some sort of funk in my brain. By that, I mean that I have a feature that I don’t think is useful, but I love it because sometime it lets me relive some of my most fun days. 

Feature: I can remember a LOT of things. Specifically, names, first meeting, songs in relation to events, crazy amounts of celebrity trivia, etc.

Somehow I feel like me knack for building things quickly is related to this, but I have not quite ironed out how it relates. Anyway, in my mind they are related. 

What's so fun about this is, I can remember, in great detail, what it was like when I first met my friends. Additionally, I can remember names of all the people there. 

Even stranger is to know that I have dreams about those exact meetings as if my brain is trying to remind me over and over, not to forget. Like when we moved from the house I grew up in, I had dreams for about 2 months, and now every so often, about where all of our old stuff was in the house. I start out at the front door, and I go to every room making sure that everything is there. Crazy, right?

Here is where I find it handy and beautiful, when I remember meeting a greet friend. 

Last week my dear EP emailed me some news that dumbfounds me. It makes me scream and burst into tears. As I read her ever-positive words and grew jealous, just as she would have wanted me, of her new boobs to come, I never felt like I need a nap more than ever. I crawled into bed and wrapped myself up in my duvet tightly, as if I was hugging EP and feel asleep.

I dreamt of her and the day we first met. 

I was a nanny for the worst mother in the world. She was terrible and it would take days to compile a post that explains her, but that would be wasted time and space. That is how hideous she was. Anyway, I was splitting my hours with Melissa and I brought Payton and Avree over to a new friends house for a play date. I drove over a little apprehensive because I was 19 and having a play-date with older women and all of their children. When I walked in, I was bombarded by a little firecracker, Miss Joan. She instantly pulled on my hand to come meet "Finny." While balancing two small children in my hands, I made my way down the hall to Lisa's living room. I put the diaper bag on the floor and looked up to a blonde woman sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor. She was beaming at the little cubby red-haired baby in her lap and instantly introduced herself, "Hey, I'm Emily." Done. Friendship started.

We chatted for hours and even set up plans for me to start watching her children. I felt instantly bonded with her and she was so unlike anything the Samammish Plateau had offered thus far. I soon found out that it was CO I had to thank for my new friend, not Samammish. 

After a few months, EP and I became great friends. She would talk about how much she missed her family and how much she loved her sister. I would join, and I honestly think it was the love for our sisters that sparked our lasting friendship. Soon I had to include her in my family, and she fit in so well. It was a perfect chance meeting and my dream took me back to that one fine day.

Over the years, EP has become much more. I love her children so very, very much. I think of her as an extension of my family. We both are crazy about our sisters. We love smutty magazines and good literature. We need warm cups of tea and delicious chocolate. Bad TV is our friend as well as swanky restaurants and amazing food. This is what we have talked about for the last 6 years. This is what has made me treasure that time and chance meeting with this blonde girl from CO.

Here is to missing you EP.

They Come in 3's, right?

Bad things, they come in 3's so I have heard. Okay, well 3 is ENOUGH!!!! This girl can't handle anymore bad. Can I just have some good?

1) Bad boss thing that is upsetting that I am freaking out!
2) Worst cramps of my LIFE this literally waking me up at night and radiating my body!
3) A ticket for running a red light at $125! Seriously???:(

I'm done.

Will.I.Am: Part 2

Last night we finished packing up everything at the Queen Anne apartment. We decided to leave the cats for last because we didn't want them hot and bothered while we moved and rearranged. So, around 8p last night we made our last round. On the car ride over, Dave explained to me with ample hand gestures and graphic noises, his experiences while trying to get Will in his cat carrier. We both agreed that with sensitive subjects for Will, I am better at negotiating and that I will try round 2 for the cat-in-carrier task. 

We open the front door, and I see Will being as cute as ever. He was brushing his body all over the place and loving the lack of furniture. But, when Dave stepped in the door, he dashed into the bathroom. Dave looks at me with a "Yeah Right" face, and I assure him that I am the cat whisperer. 

I walk in the bathroom, and Will has opened a cabinet and gotten inside. This isn't a regular cabinet, it's unfinished so the left side sits next to the tub and he has wedged his body in-between the ply wood and the tub. More or less, I needed to think fast because I was not going to be able to get him out on my own. Also, Dave and I were SO exhausted after moving, building, painting, and so on, that at 8:30 on our last night, we did not find this entertaining at all. So much so, that Dave suggested smoking him out and I considered it for a second. Or maybe a minute.

Anyway, I turn on the bath water full blast to scare Will enough to get him out, and....it worked!!!! Then, he runs into our bedroom and the task really begins. I buttered him up with love and cuddles, making him think I am the best Mama ever, when I pick him up. His body stiffens for a second and I reply, "There's a bug." This a phrase he knows well and gets very excited for, while instantly looking at all four corners of a room to find the bug. While looking for the bug, I walk over to the carrier and I gently guide him like it was more of a suggestion. When I noticed he was going to reject my suggestion and I needed to make his body in the carrier a requirement, he freaked out by back-peddling his feet and hissing franticly at me. Scared to death, of my own little Will, I immediately dropped him to meet Dave's glance that said, "Oh yeah right, like you thought it was that easy!" 

Plan B. Will in the bedroom with only the carrier and us. We tried to promise him the world and all snacks he desired, yet all he could say was FUCK OFF in hissing and growling. Will jumped up on the window ledge and planted himself there screaming obscenities at us for 20 minutes. Dave grabbed a long pole and was nudging him off the ledge with great force because Will's had feet turned into concrete and his body is not so light. Once on the ground, I realized that the carrier was not going to happen. I told Dave to get a moving box and he looked at me like I just told him that we should breed Will and raise all of his evil spawn babies. 

Dave gets a box and Will is intrigued. He loves boxes and now is some-what interested in his wacky parents that just turned the worlds worst game of carrier into fun box play. Even so, he doesn't budge. Again, Dave grabs his lion-taming-pole and gentling forces him into the box. Just then, Will turned into a Bengal and politely refused. Backed into a corner, we then decided to put the box up to the wall and let him go in on his own but with a little bit of force. 

Important to note: This is where Dave and I had a serious discussion about the methods used. Really, were we putting our cat in a box? Similarly, we wondered quietly to ourselves, and later revealed, I wonder if the new apartment owners like cats? Nonetheless, we proceeded in putting our cat in a box with a pole.

Once the box created a barricaded against the wall with Will in it, we were relieved. But, now came the kicker, "Now what?" We had no idea how to get him from the sideways box against the wall, to a closed box with a happy cat inside. Whilst thinking, my crazed cat said "screw this" and pushed over the box to seek refuge in the bathroom. 

The bathroom was much easier to strategically get the cat in the box. Once in there, Dave used his circus pole and I worked my magic and voile la, cat-in-a-box! We quickly closed the top and put it right side up and just starred in wonder at the freak show in front of us. The box was growling, hissing, and making weird throaty noises I have never heard of. Then, it started moving. I cut some holes in the sides and arm would come through and lash out at nothing. When you looked into a hole, all you saw was the iridescence of his eyes. I had crazy in a box and was terrified of my sweet little baby I loved so much.

After seeing that show, Fluffy gladly walked into the carrier on is own. On the ride over, Will was crying and sounding like my little baby again. We got him through his new front door and Dave and I discussed how we wanted this transition to take place. An anonymous vote decided that we should open the box and run. We let Fluff out and he walked around like a perfect bit of feline perfection and then we pulled the tape on Will's box. Silence from inside the box and outside the box. We pulled back the 4 flaps to reveal my little love in the corner. I was going to reach in, when he hissed at us like I have never seen. I think it lasted 30 seconds and it was followed by a swat and he jumped out from the box going directly under the sofa. Right. 

For the next 3 hours, every time  you walked by, sat near, looked at, talk about, or thought about the underside of the sofa, he would lash his arm out to get you and scream obscenities for about 5 minutes. Fluffy tried to comfort him but only got a clock in the head. He took it gracefully and walked away giving Will some space. We had other errand to run so we decided to leave the wildabeast under the sofa and shower Fluff in love and head out. 

When we returned, we found a very curious Fluff following us everywhere and panting because of the heat and his hectic day, and Will exploring. We tried not to make a big deal of it and we soon discovered that he doesn't want to be friends with us right now. We know this because of the language he was using. 

Last night, Fluff slept with us ALL night. No sign of Will.

This morning, I awoke to a very friendly Will. Rubbing and following my everywhere and I was quite shocked. I got some food, let them out on the balcony where Will quickly noticed the tree and started chewing on it, then came inside and barfed it up on the carpet. Ahhhh, I miss hardwood floors! Then I realized, he's hungry. We tried to find their food last night, but we couldn't and figured they would be okay for the night. So, he was out and about exploring because his fat ass was hungry! Brilliant!!!!! Now he is wondering around saying, "Where the hell is the food in this new place?" while making me happy because he isn't under the sofa yelling at me! Although, now I am nervous to feed him because I fear I will never see him again, until he is scratching my eyeballs out in the middle of the night, scorning me for the box fiasco.

Note of advice: When moving, take away the cat food the day before so your cat is hungry when you get to your new place. They will be searching for hours, thus exploring and getting used to their surroundings. 

The Past 3 Days

Things I've Loved:

1. The warm weather

2. My at loves to be in the freezer which makes us both happy

3. Moving to a cheaper apartment

4. The quiet in my new surroundings

5. Spending time with my Mom painting

6. Living by Michael and Mallory

7. My new organizational tools from The Container Store

8. New Furniture from Dave's Mom

Things I don't Really Love:

1. Sweating so bad that Dave and I both took about 4 showers a day and my cat were literally panting!

2. My cat loving the freezer so much that he is planted in front of the fridge daily scratching at the door waiting for me to put him at ease in the heat. 

3. Having to paint

4. Trying to fit all of our new furniture in our home and figuring out what piece doesn't make the cut

5. Having to spend 1 hour on getting Will in his carrier...more on this later, this requires a separate post.

In all, we like it! I think I can handle not living o the Hill, but I will throughly miss it! Come see my new house....