We have another August birthday to celebrate in our house — Daughter #1. That’s right, Devi is a grand old lady of 7 years old today. Dad gave her her very own steak for dinner (as well as some dried dog food “Doritos”). No doggie birthday cake, but I think she was happy enough…
Happy birthday, Sassbox!
Time flies when you’re doing stuff! So, let’s see… tomorrow will be the end of my first full week at my new job. I love it! Well, other than the extreme frustration of getting the enormous University of Phoenix project up and running on my machine. Today it finally happened — I can actually do some work now! Sigh. Otherwise, I really like it so far — the people are outstanding and have been extremely welcoming. I can cock my head to the side about 4 inches and look straight at the Space Needle. And I have a bus pass again! Yay for subsidized transportation.
This is also the end of the first full week with Meredith’s new nanny, Esmerelda. We really like her so far — she’s taken the girls (Meredith and her new 9-month-old pal Aurora!) to the park or out for a walk every day so far. And, best of all, Meredith hasn’t been bursting into tears when I leave her at Aurora’s house like she did at Michelle’s. I don’t know if she just has more fun there or if she’s moving past the separation anxiety thing…either way, I’ll take it! No broken heart first thing in the morning is a good thing. :>
What else…Kevin had lunch with an old friend from his hometown who is living out here right now. AND had an excellent interview that might lead to good things in the near-future, so cross your fingers on that. (I’ll let him elaborate on that if he wants.)
Devi is still Devi: adjusting slowly to the fact that there are new people showing up at the house every day…
Cute Meredith thing of the day: she’s learning how to blow. Earlier at dinner, I was blowing on her grilled cheese sandwich to cool it down for her. After dinner, when Devi was eating, she was standing there blowing as though Devi’s dinner needed cooling…
So, this is representative of, like, 75% of the conversations at our house nowadays…
Meredith is grabbing Dad’s fingers, trying to step her foot up high enough to step on the footstool. Never mind it comes up to her armpits…
Dad: Sweetie, You can’t step up there, it’s too high for you. (Yes, I giggle. Deal with it.)
Mom, as Meredith: Everything’s a step for me, Daddy!
Dad, as Meredith: I’ll step on your head, Old Man!!! … I mean, I love you, Daddy…
Mom: She’s been taking lessons from Devi…
Devi: Looks at Mom, then Dad and Meredith
Mom, as Devi: No, you bitch! You’ll give away our secret!
Dad, as Devi, or maybe Meredith: Shut up, you fool, you’ll ruin us both!!!
Everyone breaks into giggles except Devi, who slinks away…
fini
-K
Hey, it’s a legitimate label…
So today, Meredith was playing with a balled up Flip & Tumble grocery bag, in its neat, little ball form. She’d hit it and it would roll in a wobbly fashion across the floor and she’d chase after it, only to hit it again and repeat, giggling most of the time. Devi came in the room and watched that for about half a nanosecond before deciding, “Hey! That’s a ball! You’re chasing it! I know how to do that!” and joined in for a bit. There was a little growling, but she does that with me, just playing fetch, and she did drop it in front of Meredith once, to let her hit it, so we’ll let it slide for now (but with a watchful eye.)
Anyway, later, playing fetch with her own jingle ball, Meredith sat in the middle of the room, watching and laughing as Devi scampers back and forth. Devi kept glancing at her, though, possibly trying to comprehend what was so funny. I don’t know. But, at one point, I had the ball, and Devi moved out from me a bit, ready to chase, as she is wont to do… and she stands right next to Meredith. So, I throw the ball. Devi bowls over Meredith like she wasn’t even there - like she didn’t just walk up to her and turn towards me - and chases after it. Fortunately, Meredith thought this was hilarious (this time) and laughed her fool head off. I had to go over and pick it up before Devi started chasing that, too. Devi brings back the ball and the scene repeats… The third time, she trots over by the self-righting Meredith and looks at me… who’s giving her the evil eye. She looks away at the ceiling for a moment, ears laying back, before glancing at me again… still giving her the eye. “Oh, should I maybe move over here, a foot to the left, or something? *trot*shuffle* I have no idea why you would want this… It’s not like I’m trying to assert my dominance over the other one that apparently also plays with balls, or anything…”
Yeah, that’s better… these girls are too damn clever for me… especially that one…
Passive Aggressive Bitch.
-K
So, how are we all doing here? Half the apartment boxes are unpacked - most of the remaining are kitchen stuff which needs to be sorted through and nabbed or put in storage - Mom and Dad and Dog are quite exhausted… driving and unloading and sleeping on the floor and working and managing the movers and unloading and handling Meredith and house-hunting and dealing with closing work on both the old house and the new and closing old accounts and shopping for loans and… well, you get the idea. Poor Devi has been so frazzled by all the driving and new places and strange people that she just wants to curl up in her throne, but she doesn’t get that there are three other apartment doors outside, so every time someone’s close, she thinks they’re here and gets all huffy… which just wears her out further. Poor girl.
So, tonight, we’ll probably be moseying down to the Greenwood-Phinney ArtWalk, which runs down the main road about 2 blocks from the house we’re trying to close on. Our agent, Mary, called to say she’s going to be there with her family and we should ring her if we get down there, to meet up and say, “Hi!”
Nice lady. Nice neighborhood. Nice.
-K
Some sad news from our good friend Bridget: her basset hound Iphy had to be put down, possibly due to severe pancreatitis. Iphy was a sweet loving girl who was Devi’s best doggie buddy. She bayed like an airhorn when she got excited and tried to tip over the garbage every time she was at our place without close supervision — a real character. She will be missed.
Bridget has had a rough couple of weeks, with an emergency biopsy/surgery (all clear, thank goodness) and now this. She’s definitely in our thoughts.
Meredith, Devi and I had a full day of errands and goings-on. First up was Devi’s annual checkup and her very first veterinarian’s nail clipping. Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about it. A muzzle and three people holding her down later, nails were done and another appointment was made for next month. It felt pretty good not to be the one wielding the clippers. Although I’m officially in awe of Dr. Shepherd’s skill with the clippers now: it took him about 5 minutes what it usually took me 20. Amazing! I guess that’s why he gets paid the big veterinarian bucks.
We returned home and I continued to clean up the living room after adding our credenza to the living room furniture last night. (Pictures soon!) It looks great, but there were a lot of things that needed to be picked up and put away to get the room back to it’s usual state of dishevelment. Plus I had to disassemble the wire shelves and disperse them through the house: one rack to the kitchen, another to the library.
Then Meredith and I were off to Target for some supplies, especially a couple of plastic totes for all Kevin’s cake supplies, which will no longer be gathering a fine layer of grease up on top of the cabinets. (GROSS! I wish we had a real vent hood.) Meredith loves going to Target; so much to see! And the cashiers alway comment on her cuteness, naturally.
Now we’re just waiting for dinner in the crockpot to finish (Portuguese Seafood Stew) and for Dad to return from yoga…