Following the trail of devastation…

Last night after having dinner with Erica, Raymond and Deena, I came home to find Ansel in the living room. For those of you that haven’t yet been in the new digs, I’ve segregated the cats between the upstairs and downstairs. Benny, Baby, Schaeffer, Lilly and Patrick are upstairs, and Spike, Ansel, Nicholas and Lucy are downstairs. I’ve put up a folding door between my living room and kitchen to help with the segregation.

*As a side note, the reason I did this is because Ansel and Benny don’t get along. Benny is scared to death of Ansel, who is very bad and likes to chase Benny.*

So last night I came home and found Ansel in the living room, which isn’t where he belongs. He’d opened the folding door and was proceeding to leave a path of devastation in his wake through the living room and bathroom. I have a plastic water dispenser for the upstairs babies, much like water coolers you find in offices, only smaller. Ansel had knocked over the plastic tub holding the water and was using it like a hockey puck across the floor. He’d also knocked over the toiletries in the bathroom from the counter onto the floor, as well as the hardware for a bathroom shelf on the coffee table in the living room.

So, after shaking my head, I picked him up and put him back in the kitchen, blocking the door with a chair.

He could move that, too. And he did. So I put a box of books on the chair to weight it down, and he couldn’t move that. He’s such a thug.

No longer homeless…

I am now gainfully ensconced in my new digs. I settled last Tuesday, and after promptly departing the settlement table I went to let in the cable guy. While he was connecting the line out in the backyard, I started moving a few things from my car into the house. While doing so, I met my new crazy neighbor lady.

Crazy Neighbor Lady (CNL for short) was watching me out of her side door as I moved in my little TV, my duffel bag and pillows. As I made my second trip out to the car, she stepped outside and started yelling at me:

“I know you’re here to watch me, I know you’ve been sent to take pictures, I’m tellin’ you if you take any pictures I’m going to call the police! Don’t you be takin’ any pictures of me, now! I’m warning you! I’ll call the cops!”

At about this time, Ron the Cable guy walked into my front yard to come inside the house to connect my digital cable. She corners him in my yard, asking him what he thinks he’s doing trespassing on her property when there was nothing wrong with her cable. I hear him explain to her “Ma’am , I’m here to hook up your next door neighbor’s cable, I explained that to you when I went to work on the pole”.

So Ron the cable guy comes inside, and proceeds to tell me that earlier, when he’d first arrived, he had knocked on her door to explain he was going to need to gain access to her yard to work on the pole in back of her house. She said she understood, and let him through. (There is a big “No Trespassing” sign on her fence.) So he goes and works on the pole, and apparently on the way back, this chick forgot, and screamed at him to get out of her yard or she’d call the cops. So Ron the Cable Guy explains that he’s here for a work order and he’s installing her next door neighbor’s cable. So instead of calling the police, she calls her husband, and hands the phone to Ron the Cable Guy. So CNL’s husband proceeds to tell him that there is nothing wrong with their cable and to get out of his yard or he’d call the police.

That’s when Ron the Cable Guy comes over to my house and tells me “Your neighbors are nuts.”

So, he hooked up the cable, and I haven’t seen CNL since. I spoke to two of my neighbors across the street about CNL, and they said that she’s just crazy, and harmless, and has been accusing people of taking pictures of her for years. They told me next time I see her I should tell her that I AM taking pictures of her for government purposes.

T-Minus five hours and counting…

So in about five hours and change I will be the owner of my second house. I will actually be able to use my stuff, and put it away, and have my cats back.

Yay for settlement!

Sometimes I really hate my job, but other times….

So today was going pretty so so. I’ve gotten a few requests from someone with whom I work that completely baffled me, and was feeling a little…Aggravated. Then, I went to my office mailbox and found an interoffice envelope from what I thought was my friend Pam. Turns out, it wasn’t Pam. It was from her husband, Mark, my old manager. He sent me a thank you for working on my last study.

That was so sweet, it made my day.

And actually, I get to SEE Pam tomorrow. I haven’t seen her for about a year and a half now, and I’m very very excited.

Sell out

I know my friend Del will be very happy about this announcement….

I’m a sell out. I just got cable for my new house.

I know, I know. I’ll still listen to NPR all the time, and I probably won’t watch much TV anyway, but there was a package with high-speed internet…and I know Jason will be happy. I won’t have to listen to him whine and complain about how boring my house is and how there’s never anything to do. That reason alone is worth the money. And, I’ll have a 41″ tv to view all the TV I’m not going to watch. Whoo!

Introducing my new living room….

For my birthday, I decided to go out and get some big girl furniture for my new big girl house. Please welcome the new additions:

My Sofa:

My Chair:

My Rug:

My Entertainment Center:

My friends at storehouse are completely serious about credit security…when I went to apply for a card, I actually had to talk to the credit bureau myself to answer questions only I would know. Huh. But, now I have some great new furniture to play with in about two months. Ha!

*Editor’s note: The couch and chair will not be bright red, they will be a dark denim to match the dark blue in the rug. The WALLS will be red again (of course). Good times!*

Alexandria hyjinks

Happy birthday to me!

So far my birthday has been pretty laid back. I got down to Alexandria on Weds. night, and Jason and I hung out at Barnes and Noble (our routine meeting place so I don’t get lost trying to find his house) for a while, then we went to a bar called Mango Mikes. It was ok. Yesterday, we went to IHOP for breakfast. I haven’t been to an IHOP in YEARS. It was pretty good. Then we went shopping in Clarendon, a haven of materialism, and met up with my friend Geoff for dinner. That was yummy. We headed back to Geoff’s new apartment (yay for Geoff!) and he told us that he and his roommate Dave had hung an American flag off the balcony and the landlord told him that he needed to take it down because some of the other tenants COMPLAINED. That’s right, Geoff had to take down the American flag because someone complained about it.

I couldn’t believe it. Geoff’s father was a Green Beret, and works at the pentagon, and gave them a “Don’t tread on me” flag to fly instead. One of Geoff’s neighbors said she would help him petition, because a) we’re in DC folks. As close to the nation’s capital as one could possibly be and b) we’re in America. It’s our fucking flag. I still can’t believe it.

So today, Jason and I are going to this great coffee shop around the corner from his house and doing other touristy stuff if we ever get up and moving. He’s still asleep.

I’m very glad I’m here.

The Countdown Begins!

17 Days till I move in! My poor sellers, though, their house won’t be finished by the time we close on the 23rd. I feel awful for them. We’re still settling, but they’re going to have to put their stuff in storage and find somewhere else to live in the meantime.

Whoohoo!!!!

And! 6 more days till my birthday!

Interview: Courtesy of VegasGustan

I’ve just finished my interview from my friend VegasGustan. This was great fun, and I’m glad he sent these my way.

1. What do you want more than anything for your birthday?

That’s a really good question. There are a couple of ways that I could answer this. First of all, this year, more than anything else, I wanted Jason to remember it. We’ve either a) been separated by a very great distance (i.e. I’m in DE and he’s in Bosnia) b) not been dating or c) Jason just forgot. So this year I’ve made it a point to make sure he knows that if he doesn’t remember he’s getting dumped. And so far, he seems to have very grand plans (which were not necessary, I just wanted a card and a “I love you happy birthday, honey”, but grand plans are fun, too).

Secondly, more than anything else I want my cats back. I hate not having them with me. Dogs are great, don’t get me wrong. Mama #2’s dogs are the bestest, that’s for sure, but I miss my babies. I can’t wait to have them in my new house where I can see them whenever.

What do I physically want? I’d like a new coach purse, an Ipod, and rollerblades. And a shotgun. Can’t forget that shotgun. But those are things that I want, not need.

But realistically, I’d like to get into my house on the 23rd, have my cats back, and have more time to spend with Jason. That’s what I really want for my birthday.

2. You just found out your adopted how do you react to the news?

Well, technically I HAVE been adopted, by my second family. But if I really found out I was adopted, I wouldn’t be surprised. My biological family is f-ing crazy. Although I look exactly like my mother when she was my age, and have my father’s temper, so you might have a hard time convincing me.

3. If you could rewrite the ending to any ONE movie, which movie would it be and how would you write it?

Ok, two choices. One Oscar winner and one personal Becky favorite.

Cold Mountain: Inman wouldn’t die, obviously. They’ve waited so long to be together and I just wish it would have worked out for them, so they could have had more time together. However, it’s beautiful the way it was written.

Bourne Supremacy: Bourne’s girlfriend, Marie, wouldn’t die. So, in my version, someone would try to kill her, she wouldn’t die, and Bourne would still go on his killing rampage taking all of the CIA with him, because he was royally pissed someone would dare to try to hurt her.

4. Are you scared to die or to grow old?

I’m not too thrilled about the growing old part, because of how my grandparents have aged. But I’m not scared to. Dying, not really, but I think that stems from me being almost 25 and convinced I have a while to go yet. I guess my biggest fear would be dying without being able to tell my loved ones goodbye, which is a really good reason to tell them I love them every day, just in case.

5. (James Lipton Moment) What is your favorite curse word?

Mother-fucking-son-of-a-bitch. Hands down.

1. Leave me a comment saying ‘interview me please’
2. I will respond by asking you five questions on your blog (not the same questions you see here)3. Update your blog/site with the answers to the questions
4. Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, ask them five questions

Birthday Countdown

11 days till my birthday! 11 days until I’m a quarter of a century old!

In other news, I have tried to get the babies prepped for a flea free life at the new cat ranch. Sadly, the cats were not too receptive to the whole frontline plus shenannigans. Spike was not happy that mama wanted to put flea stuff on him. He was much less happy that I wanted to comb him for fleas. So now I will be wearing things that cover the parts of me that got scratched to oblivion.