Single Again

So my roommate has moved out. She and her fiance bought a house, and they're moving into it (into separate rooms, get those thoughts out of your mind!) with his son. This will save them having to pay rent in two different places plus a mortgage. She was a little stressed with moving yet again, but at least this time it's to a permanent home. I wish them well, and I'm sure I'll be over there having dinner in the next week or so, or when they get settled in.

My new kitty had a traumatic week. He's doing better now, eating the canned food I've been putting out for him, and he's found a new hidey hole down in the basement, where I put him so it would be quieter. Although, now that my rommie's gone, I might consider moving him upstairs to her old room. Probably not, though. I kind of miss having him under my bed, but that was too easy access for others in my house. I'm hoping he will get over his shyness a little more now that he's in a quieter environment.

My week was pretty traumatic too, what with the new kitty, roommate trying to be helpful but really making it worse, the cleaning person coming over and second-guessing me in everything, and then, to top it off, a friend of mine passed away last weekend, and the funeral was the same day everything with the kitty came to a head and I decided to take him to the vet. He was not happy about that. But he's my little buddy, and I couldn't stand the thought of him slowly starving himself to death. He wasn't drinking anything, either, or so we thought. turns out he was. The vet was very reassuring. And very understanding. She was great. Buddy survived, and now he's eating. Still not using the litter box, but apparently cats can hold it for a very long time. Days even. And now that it's just him and me and Padme, I think we'll do ok. In hindsight I should have waited a week to pick him up. Oh well. Buddy survived, Kitty only hissed once in reaction to the chaos in the home, and now my house is once again mine.

I would classify the roommate thing as a good experience. I learned a few things about myself that were good to know, Lisa really is a sweet person, and now I have more space for when people come to visit. I do keep inviting my nieces and nephews to come live with me, but so far haven't had any takers. They seem to think they have lives in California. Hmph. Well, at least they're willing to come visit me. That's important.

Some craziness at home

While my travels have stopped for a while, things at home have been a little topsy-turvy.

First, I currently have a roommate. She's very sweet. Her name is Lisa, and she's engaged to a man in our ward. Since good little mormon girls don't live with thier fiance's before they get married, she needed a place to stay. Anyway, this caused me to clean out my second bedroom on the top of my townhouse. Man, did I have a lot of junk in there!! I took all the craft stuff into my room, purposely leaving the unfinished projects out where I'd have to look at them, and put all the books and stuff in the basement. Fortunately for me, Lisa said she wouldn't have any problem with me leaving my desk and all the junk on top of it in her room. Still don't have a bed in there, but she manages very nicely with an air mattress. They are in the process of buying a home, though, so once that happens she will be moving out while her fiance stays in his apartment.

Second, I have a new cat (that seems to be going around). He's a little black cat, about 3 years old, with white face, chest, and paws. More than that I can't really see since the poor guy is still hiding under my bed. I brought him home Sunday, driving through a thunderstorm to get to him, and he's been scared and sad ever since. But last night he was foraging around, investigating his new home. I'm encouraged by this, even if he did leave a little wanton kitty destruction behind. His name right now is Isaac, but I'm seriously considering calling him Anakin, or Ani for short. To go with my other cat, Padme. Although Anakin did end up strangling Padme in the end, so maybe that's not such a good idea.

Speaking of Padme Kitty, she knows something is going on. She got into my room last night and was sniffing around. Issac stayed under the bed, though, so they haven't met yet. A couple more days... I hope. Once Issac is comfortable enough to come out and say hello to me, I'll exchange them for a couple hours--Kitty can examine my room for the presence of the interloper--uh, I mean new friend--and my new buddy can examine the rest of the house. Not sure he knows what to do with stairs--he's been kept in a 8x10 room most of his life. Even my room is bigger than that. And full of things, besides.

Once Lisa moves out, I'm thinking I might move all my bookcases downstairs and make a sort of library out of the den. And maybe get a daybed for the upstairs room, for when company comes. Or maybe the air mattress I have will be enough, as long as there's space. For now, anyway.

Three weekends, three states...

California

So I went to California three weekends ago, to see my nephew before he left on his mission to Colorado Springs (yes, Jenni, I told him to watch out for you!). It was his last Sunday to talk in Church, and oddly enough the topic was on families and mothers or some such. So his opening remarks were about how he'd asked his mother to do his talk for him :D So funny. It was great to go hang out with his family--my family. And I even got to meet Zach!

Isn't he cute??? So aside from the trip being way too short to really see anyone or talk to anyone or even watch Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with my family (ok, I did watch it until the Jedi left Naboo with Queen Amidala--I just can't resist Qui-Gon, but it had been a really long day), it was a good trip. I forgot my camera, but my phone takes pictures. Which means I have them now to share with you!! I should do this more often.





Movies in Maryland
The following weekend was one of movies--my friend came up from VA and we saw The A-Team and The Last Airbender. No, wait, the A-Team was a few weeks before. Knight and Day. That's the other one we saw. Hmm, maybe I'm seeing too many movies if I can't keep them all straight. Naahhhh...

It was also Independance Day. I watched the Capitol Fourth on PBS. I was wondering why they had a Chinese guy participating. He may be the best pianist in the world, but it's an American celebration. Shouldn't all the participants, well, be American? Maybe he really is, but I didn't get that impression... He did play beautifully, though. Maybe that's all that matters.

Iowa
Then last weekend I went to Iowa. Why Iowa, I can hear you asking. I went to grad school there. One of the guys I went to grad school with pulled us all together for a reunion. It was so much fun! While there, I joined the Physics Band. We now have an official name--the Absolute Zeros--and we have HATS!! 0K is OK! (Zero K, as in Kelvin, is OK--it's physics humor)


The Band. L-R, Amy, Grant, Jim, and Tracy. Tak and I weren't in this number.



Rock-and Roll Dog Tasha. Yes, she is big enough to carry around small children.












This is the place I used to live--only it was pink. I was on the first floor, third and fourth windows from the nearest corner. Considering the Physics and Astronomy building was right behind me when I took the picture, you know how convenient that was. it was great. I lived there my last year.



Tracy again, smiling. He actually giggled a few times too! I suppose most people reading this wouldn't know this, but Tracy doesn't show emotion. He mostly just stands and observes others. Finding out he's a drummer is a real shock to some people. That he was actually smiling! I'm so glad I was able to catch it on--well, not tape, but digital electronic bits of something anyway.

So that's where I've been the last three weeks. I'm looking forward to just hanging out around my house, and not going anywhere for a while. Well, except to VA, to meet up with my friends to see more movies this weekend. But I don't have to pack, so it doesn't count!!