You Can Totally Tell

You can totally tell that we haven’t lived on the east coast for a long time. The other day, Lori and I were walking down the street – it wasn’t raining but mostly cloudy with the sun going in and out. There were people in short-sleeved shirts, people eating outside at cafe’s and restaurants, people without jackets. Then there was us – coats zipped up all the way, scarves wound around our necks, and I believe Lori even had gloves and a hood on, possibly a thermal shirt, too. My mom was even making fun of us today with our scarves on. I mean it was 45 degrees people – where I have lived for the last 15 years, it’s approaching hypothermic proportions! Can’t wait till winter (sigh), but first we gotta survive the summer (double sigh).

In other news, my wonderful sister has been fixing up our Oakland house that she and Tess will live in. She’s having the office and living room floors redone as the wood under the carpet wasn’t too bad at all. Check it out – people who have been there – you won’t believe your eyes – isn’t it gorgeous? Go go Lorena!

Today we got our car inspected, the first step on our journey to make Rollie (our car) a true Marylander. Next week we will spend countless hours walking on red-hot pieces of sharp, jagged glass, oh sorry, I meant at the DMV. We went to a few more stores to get some needed items and then picked up my poor uncle from the car dealership. He and my aunt had just pulled into my parents’ place when their car broke down, then broke down again when he was taking it to the dealer, in the pouring rain. Fortunately he was able to call from another business and the tow truck got him. Went to the Outback for dinner and Lori had a 10 oz Porterhouse with a side of grilled shrimp. Just kidding, she had salad and a baked potato. Lori and I shared a bottle of wine with my aunt called Little Boomey, which neither Lori nor I caught onto until we saw the little boomerang picture on it. What can I say, we are are still slow on the uptake!

Finished the evening with apple pie, an adorable video of one of my 2nd cousins (or is it a cousin once-removed if he is the son of my first cousin?) and a scintillating debate with my mom over the wisdom (or lack thereof) of us buying a water purifier. Lori scored us a great parking spot across the street where we can park on weekends only until we get a permit after visiting the thirteenth circle of hell, I mean the DMV, nope I mean the MVA.

Non-sequitur (I thought of a complex word, hooray!): Hey can one of you Maryland people tell me if I can at least buy alcoholic beverages at Costco? You can’t buy them at grocery stores here. If I can’t buy them at Costco, I will die of shock or of drama queenliness, whichever comes first.

And lastly, Nikkyo is once again demonstrating why we nicknamed her Pica (for you non-mental health field or medical types: pronounced PIKE-uh, it is a pattern of eating non-food materials). Shortly after this picture was taken, she began gnawing on the corner of the mantle on the right. Tomorrow the landlord will come down and block off the hole under our sink, otherwise known as “the place Buster went for 7 hours,” possibly also known as the gateway to hell, but I’m pretty sure that actually has to be in the basement, if all of those horror films I used to watch are to be believed.

Anyway, as you can tell, I’m pretty delirious and Buster tells me it’s time to crash. We have a long weekend of major unpacking ahead of us.