Amy sent me a picture frame filled with pictures of Tubby, and I liked it so much that I put it up on the wall to the side of my monitor, so that any time I want to see Tubby, I can just cut my eyes to the right.
A lovely side effect of hanging the frame where I did, is that I can use it almost as a mirror, so if Fred’s trying to sneak up on me, I can see him, know that he’s there, and thus am unafraid. Also, if Fred is sitting at his computer and I am sitting at mine, and the SPUD, who has suddenly become the most nosy person on god’s green earth, wants to stand in the kitchen and eavesdrop, I CAN SEE HER. But I realized this morning that as I was sitting in front of my computer and something in the picture frame/ mirror caught my eye and I looked into the frame to see what it was (it was the Bean, stalking across the top of the bar on his way to stick his face in the sink of water wherein chicken is defrosting, and DO NOT EMAIL ME TO TELL ME that thawing chicken in a sink of water is a one-way ticket to salmonellaville, I know that, and I care not. I’ve gotta die someday, it might as well be from salmonella. Do people die from salmonella?), and I realized that anyone watching me would think that I was, well, staring intently at the wall.
So I think that cats use walls as mirrors in ways that mere mortals such as you and I cannot quite comprehend. The next time you see your cat staring intently at the wall, wave at him. He’s probably trying to figure out what the hell you’re doing.
* * *
Friday night around 9:30 (I know! Late for us, but we had to stay up and watch an episode of Taken, and then we watched the Joan of Arcadia we’d DVR’d earlier. Big times, late nights, whoo!) Fred said “Are you ready for bed?”
“Yeah, if you are,” I said.
“Bring a book.”
“A book?”
“Yeah, a book. I think I’d like to read for a while before we shut the lights off.”
I stared at him. “You’re telling me to bring a book.”
“Yes, Bessie,” he said with exaggerated patience. “A BOOK, so we can read.”
“You’re telling me especially to bring a book, because if you didn’t, I wouldn’t bring a book with me.”
“I want you to have something to read,” he said kindly, perhaps worried that if I didn’t have a book to read, I’d just lay and stare creepily at the wonder that is Fredrick And3rson.
“So you’re telling me to bring a book with me, because if you didn’t, I’d have nothing to read,” I said again.
“Yes,” he said, sighing in that long-suffering way that should be grounds for murder. (“He sighed at me, your honor, and then I had to kill him.” “Case dismissed!”)
“So it has escaped you that every single night for the past seven and a half years, the majority of which we’ve gone into the bedroom together, that I never ever go to the bedroom at night without taking a book with me?” I said slowly.
“Don’t forget your book!” he said, and high-tailed it up the stairs.
* * *
1. What was the last song you heard? Hey Jesus, by the Indigo Girls.
2. What were the last two movies you saw? Uh.
Matchstick Men and
Schindler’s List.
3. What were the last three things you purchased? A grilled California Cobb salad from McDonald’s, tickets to Hawaii, and bird seed.
4. What four things do you need to do this weekend? Find a hotel for when the spud and I are in Hawaii, do the backup-reformat-reinstall dance for my computer, vacuum the entire house, balance the checkbook. (And I did ’em all!)
5. Who are the last five people you talked to? Fred, the spud, my mother, my father, and the chick at McDonald’s (when I bought my salad).
* * *
I bought our tickets to Hawaii last night, and
Expedia offered me a deal for a room for the entire time we’re there that I just couldn’t resist. Online reviews for the hotel are pretty good and it’s only about 3/4 mile from my father’s hotel, so I went for it. (Fred encouraged me to just go for it so I’d stop yapping about it. Awwww!)
Originally the spud and I were going July 10th through the 17th and my sister and Brian were going to visit the week after, because there’s just the one hotel room that my parents will be staying in, and while 4 people can cram into one hotel room, 6 people makes it miserable and crowded. Once I saw the deal Expedia was offering with the hotel room, I changed the date of the tickets so that we’d be in Hawaii for the same dates as Debbie and Brian. Did you know that flying in and out of Hawaii on the weekend adds $150 to the price of your ticket? Good lord! So, the spud and I will be flying in on the 14th and out on the 21st, both Wednesdays, and we’ll have all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and most of the day Wednesday (since our flight doesn’t leave ’til 9:30 pm!) with Debbie, Brian, and my parents.
Well, except that my father will be working during the days.
But, Hawaii! We’re going for sure! Even if my father’s trip were to suddenly fall through, the spud and I have a place to stay, so we’re going one way or the other.
Whoo!
Also, instead of only connecting once, in Atlanta, I chose the flight that would let us connect in Dallas and in San Francisco, since that breaks it up often enough so we won’t be sitting on the plane for 9 hours at a time. The longest flight we’ll be on is from San Francisco to Hawaii, which will be just over 5 hours.
Of course, I just looked at our itinerary and found that we only have 25 minutes to get from one plane to the other in San Francisco. Fun!
* * *
Really not the most flattering angle.]]>