cats and trees

I bought a tree.  A small wonky Charlie Brown kind of tree that tilts very much to one side.  It's decorated mostly with ornaments purchased from Longs or Walgreens.  It's modest but it's ours and the lights at night make for a very warm holiday atmosphere.  I love our little tree.  

And we have a kitten.  Molly.  Well, I suppose she's a cat now because she's over a year old but she certainly looks like a kitten.  And behaves like a kitten.  And she's just the cutest little thing in the world.  Like a kitten.  

Anyway.  I'm sitting here on the couch checking email, etc.  Okay, I'm stalking on facebook, whatever, when I hear the jingle jangling of Christmas bells.  And lo and behold, our precious Molly is batting away at our bell ornaments.  It's adorable but shouldn't really be condoned so I pick her up and move her away.

And two minutes later...she's back.  Jingle jangle.  Bat bat bat.  So again with the picking up and moving.  This time a soft 'Meow' let's me know she's not happy with the relocating.

And two minutes later...the cat came back!  This time I'm armed.  With a water spray bottle.  A quick squirt and she runs away from the tree lickity split.  Now there's a phrase we need to bring back.  Lickity split.  Anyway, she tried a few more times to attack the tree and was rewarded with a squirt each time.   Finally, she surrendered.  The tree is safe.  And now, Molly's sitting in my large dry purse gazing with reverence at our lopsided tree and looking adorable as always.  Perhaps I should take a picture.  For our card next year.  

Yeah right.  Like we'll ever get our act together enough to send holiday cards.

Goodbye Raleigh

So last week I went to Raleigh to pack up my house.  That's right.  The beautiful fully furnished house that has been leased for the past two years has now been sold and so I had to go tend to things.  Decisions had to be made.  What to keep.  What to sell.  What to give Bill Brown to haul away.  And I was eager to do these things.  Eager to see old friends.  To see my old home once again.

I wasn't prepared for the difficulties.  It's hard to say goodbye.  4206 Camden Woods Court was my first house.  Mike and I first lived together under that roof.  

We barbecued on that deck.  

 

 

Laura, Joanna and I danced to Jet in that kitchen. 

We watched the super bowl (commercials) on that TV.  

We laid awake at night listening as the Korean church youth group let out and the teenagers would linger in their parking lot, not wanting to say goodbye.  Hoping to spend just a few more minutes with their friends before getting in their cars and heading home.  

I used to walk around that neighborhood (but not too far north, Heather, cause that's the hood!).   That was my home.  And oh how I will miss it.

The bright side is that all our kitchen stuff (like the fabulous cheese grater) and some new furniture my dad bought for the place (like an awesome leather couch) will be shipped out here to our apartment so we can do some redecorating which is always fun.  

The downside, or rather the reason to give pause, is that our beautiful three bedroom, two and a half bath house with a garage, deck, attic, dishwasher, laundry, hardwood floors, etc., only costs $100 dollars more a month than our one bedroom apartment in San Carlos.  Isn't that incredible?!  

It was so hard to pack up and leave that place.  And I visited Meredith College, where I used to work, and thought, 'I could totally work here!'.  And I visited with friends and thought, 'Wow, this is nice!'.   And for a moment I let myself fall back into that life and it felt GOOD!  Hell, it felt GREAT!  But it only lasted a moment.  Because the reality is that I don't want that life.  Well, not right now.  I want to be in San Carlos (or close to it) and I want to be a working actress and I want to get married here in the Bay Area.  And if that means trading a three bedroom for a one bedroom then so be it.  I mean, really, it's all about location right?  And in that category we've totally got Raleigh beat.  

Still, I will miss it.

And Mike did say that if we ever wanted to we could definitely move back.  

So there's always room for maybe.  Someday.