Kindness and other delicious things

"Mike! Oh, Michael!" Hearing no response I crept into the apartment giggling. Behind me I lugged my laptop bag, my overnight bag, and six bags of groceries.

Mike has been under a lot of stress lately with the end of the semester looming, so I wanted to lighten his load a little. I remember being in grad school and having that stress, and I always wished that someone would take care of the little things for me...things like grocery shopping, cleaning, and laundry. So that's what I was going to do for Mike. I came into his apartment while he was at work, bringing enough groceries to tide him over for a week or so. After putting the groceries away I tidied up his place a little (very little - I'm always afraid to move things around too much for fear that I'll throw something important away or lose something) and cleaned his cats' litter boxes. Then I tacked a note to the door saying that I was here, what I had done, and explaining that I'd be deeply asleep when he came home so he should feel free to watch TV or play music.

Then I plopped on the couch and began blogging. And I stopped speaking in the past tense...now.

One of the best things about being with someone is doing stuff like this. I always love taking care of people, which is why I became a speech therapist in the first place. Nothing makes me happier than to do a small kindness for someone I care about.

While I was at the grocery store shopping I looked at the Old Dutch section in the potato chip aisle. Earlier today Dykewife had dedicated a long journal entry to the wonder and glory of Popcorn Twists. She said they were unavailable in most parts of the U.S., but since I'm so far north I figured I'd look for them anyway. I found Bac'n Puffs almost immediately (turns out they're pork rinds - I don't know what a pork rind is, exactly, and ignorance is definitely bliss), but it took me a minute to locate Puffcorn. I think that Puffcorn is the same as Popcorn Twists since the main selling point on the bag seemed to be that it was popcorn without the hulls, which was Dykewife's main piece of praise about the product. I bought a bag and will complete a thorough analysis and report tomorrow.

A Friday night well spent.

Huh

You know which two people I keep mixing up? L. Ron Hubbard and Ron Howard. I really shouldn't do that.

Additionally, I'm slightly ashamed to note that the only reason I wasn't shocked to recieve a pink ten dollar bill at the gas station yesterday was because I had heard about it in a recent Diesel Sweeties comic. I should really turn on CNN once in awhile, or use the newspaper for something other than Sudoku.

T-Shirts

I'm really developing a soft spot for amusing t-shirts. I try not to buy them often, and I sincerely hope that someone will stop me if I get to the point where 40% of my wardrobe is worn for irony's sake.

Anyway, Busted T's has several shirts that made me smile, including a homage to everyone's favorite educational game, and a shirt I'm going to give my English-major brother.

Go look!

Just Go Away

Apparently, Liz just can't leave me alone.

I'm so frustrated by this. Since I sent her my final "leave me alone" email on March 15th, she's contacted me four times. One long email on the 16th telling me how this was all my fault, two text messages on the 18th, thee more last Friday, and two emails from her phone which I recieved this morning. On Friday she wrote:

I'm sorry it ended like this. You were a good friend. I just needed a catharsis, that's what this whole year has been about. Btw someone has 1860s blue dress. Ps I don't bad mout you at work and you don't bad mouth me. Deal?

I was pretty irritated that she's mentioning the museum. And about the dress...we workers would check out costumes to wear while we worked, and we'd return them at the end of the season. I returned all my clothing last fall so I know I don't have a dress, blue or otherwise. I figured Liz was just trying to make me call her out of fear that someone thought I had museum property. Instead of calling her I called our scheduler and left a voicemail that "someone" told me that they thought I had the missing dress, but I didn't.

I'm quitting at the museum. It's not worth it if Liz is going to try to use it to manipulate me.

Late last night she sent me two emails from her phone. They said:

You were angry with me as soon as you found out about jim, I'm 34 I have a right to be happy, why hate jim? Why hate me for loving jim? You were showing such animosity towards us, how could i help but be pissed off at you. she wasnt a saint to him either, so no judgement.

Jim. Her married lover. And he's not in an open marriage either, he's just cheating. She's right in that I don't like him, but I never overtly said anything against him until they were discussing having kids together. However, I never cheered her on in their relationship, never eagerly analyzed his actions with her, never encouraged her to go further with it like I did when she dated other guys. I'm not judging, but I'm not endorsing it either.

The thing is, she's really bothering me. I've had a few nightmares - dreams in which I was being chased by women wanting to make out with me while I ran away crying because I didn't want to cheat on Mike. Mike and I laughed about it later, but at night those dreams are very unnerving. All this morning I've felt nauseous and depressed. I have no idea why it gets to me, but it does.

I've been following my dad's advice...just keeping silent, not responding.

"You can't reason with an insane person," he said. "Just don't enable her by responding."

How long do I wait to find out that's not working? What do I do next? I don't want a restraining order - Liz would put one right back on me, I'm sure, and as an educator I don't need that on my record. And besides, if this did get legal I can't afford a lawyer, not with trying to pay for a wedding.

This July when I move in with Mike I'll block her from my phone. I'll see if Mike can keep the utilities and phone in his name so I don't show up in the phone book. He doesn't have his name on his mailbox, and neither will I. And in October my name and email will be changed. I hope it doesn't come to all that - I hope she just gets bored and leaves me alone - but at least I can do those things to ensure my privacy.

Crazy Cat People

Last night, Mike and I did something that cemented our status as way-too-concerned cat owners.

We put cat items on our wedding registry.

Yes, Mike and I registered last night at Amazon.com. I know it's a little early to be registering, but yesterday we didn't have anything else to do wedding-wise, and we figured it would be better to register now, when it's fun, rather than later, when it's another chore.

We plan to register at two other stores, but Amazon was our first stop. The problem is, we both have a lot of household-y stuff since I've lived on my own for so many years and because Mike's parents always have an eye out for sales. After a few items we found ourselves staring at one another trying to come up with inspiration.

"Can we put cat things on our registry?" Mike asked after awhile.

I just laughed. "Cat things? I guess we could put cat things."

"What kinds of things would the cats need?" Mike asked.

I pondered. "A cat tree!" I exclaimed. And so we searched for a cat tree that fit my criterion (it can't be too expensive) as well as Mike's (it needed a hiding place).

So we found one. We also found a kitty drinking fountain that purifies the cats' water. Normally I'd think that was silly, but his cat Edison is fascinated by running water so he'd get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

I'm sure I'm going to hear about this from my family when they look up our registry. But luckily I'm related to a few crazy cat and crazy dog people, so our cats will be provided for.