Living the life of Reilly

Roomdog came to visit and you might as well just call me Reilly, because that's who's life I had. I went to pick up the rental car and they had none of what I had ordered so they gave me a brand new car with 8 miles on the clock and plastic still on the seats. It was a total soccer mom mobile and I loved it. (It must be my age because I thought I was really cool til one of the staff asked who's grandmother came to visit.)

Hanging out with Roomdog is just easy. It was so good to catch up, to be off work and have the freedom to go anywhere. I know that Roomdog will be fine when I spend hours in a shop or take forever to decide what I want to eat. I know that we can talk absolute nonsense or be very serious and it will be the same as it has always been...easy. I knew that when we went up to Stamford to see Randy they would have plenty to say and I didn't need to worry about them getting along or entertaining them and most of all I knew it was going to be fun.

It was.

Thanks little dude from across the sea for the blue skies holiday.

The return of the Roomdog

Roomdog is coming to stay this week for five days. The car is rented, the house cleaned, the shopping schedule is made and the beer is in the fridge, well not actually yet but it will be by Wednesday. I am taking days of work which is almost unheard of for me at this time of year. The world will be put to rights (everyone is out of step except us by the way) and order restored. There may even be a joint roomdog blog.
There will certainly be some stories.

Do you have a message for me?

Years ago my friend Carolanne and I went through a phase of reading things like the Insights of the Celestine Prophesy, The Prophet and the Enneagram. (We had been friends since high school and were bored with being 20 somethings, how funny is that.) We would read parts then try to explain them and how they fit into what was going on our 20 something lives and how they related the future. We had no clue what we were talking about then and I don't claim to now.

One of our favorite passages was about being alert for messages that the universe is sending to you. It went something like...when you meet someone ask...do you have a message for me? This always made us laugh and we did try it out a few times on the wrong side of happy hour, I don't think it was meant to be taken literally.

My mum is a big Enneagram fan and my sister is way into creative visualization. Both swear they work and I notice that when things are not going the way I hoped like lately, I tend to believe them more. I am have written a lot recently about how I am not good with change and about my nostalgia for times gone by. I am bad at change but I am even worse at being down and when I feel like that I start to pick up those books again, just in case I am missing something and I always start to feel better.

In the last couple of weeks I keep seeing Wayne Dyer mentioned everywhere. I mean is it just me? Friends mention him, I see his books, he is on TV, so tonight when I was looking for something to read to get me past the spring insomnia I found this Wayne Dyer quote...

" These are the good old days."

Now if that's not a message from the universe I don't know what is.

Firsts

The last couple of weeks have been the usual spring madness. Work is crazy busy and the sun is shinning and I find myself obsessing about how I hate my clothes and how my house is messy, how I am going to get everything ready on-time for the summer and what color my staff shirts should be this year but none of this is new for me, especially not for April. What's getting me really are all the "Firsts" I have to cope with at the moment.

I am not very good at change, and I thought I was done with all that change business for this year. I started dating Randy, Roomdog went home, I moved house, learned to drive, that's a lot for me! But the change continues. Randy has a new job and is moving to Connecticut. I am very happy for him and think it is a great move but it definitely means more firsts for me.

Once I learned where Connecticut was and practiced spelling it a few times, I realized that I am going to have to drive over a bridge (total fear of mine) to go see him. I thought that if I just passed the test I could get away with driving to Quick Check and Stop and Shop and would work my way up to the Mall and people would get off my back about not having a license but I think I am really going to have to drive...like on the highway. Then I realized that I really am going to live alone for the first time ever.

At work I can look after 400 children and 200 staff, work 20 hour days for weeks in a row, solve crises, break-up fights and talk people into doing just about anything. I can cope with a bus full of kids arriving without warning, natural disasters and no power but don’t ask me to change the font I have been using on my computer for the last seven years. I am slowly realizing that I like the normal things to stay the same. I like the same brands in the cupboard, the same sandwich for lunch and the house to look like it always did. I liked the way it was. I guess life is not really like that and I am going to have to do things for the first time even if I don’t want to.

Tell you what really got me last night though. After six tears of living in the woods, a tic had the audacity to bite me… for the first time.

I'm a driving girl, yes I'm a driving girl!!!!

The State of New Jersey has finally given me a driving licence!!! My boss was very helpful today and did not bring up any stressful topics all the way to Lodi. I managed not to mangle any cones and (despite needing a taxi to the sidewalk when I parallel parked) passed my road test. I know most of the world manages to reach this milestone at 17 but I am happy to say that finally at 33 I am a driving girl. (There is a song here, sing along if you know it.)

With very little in the way of good news at work today I returned to the office triumphant looking for people to share my good fortune with and to lift their spirits. My other boss;
"Good, but you know you are too late to get this into the insurance company today."
Yeah awesome thanks.
The secretary, " Well you know Stella's daughter, crashed the car the very day she passed."
Encouraging.
The Book keeper, " Now you will have a car payment and insurance too, do you even know how much gas costs?"
I was reminded of that SNL sketch " Along comes Debbie Downer" which made me laugh and skipped off to Randy's car to go on an errand I have been meaning to do all week, and now I can!!! I laughed at myself behind the wheel all the way down Macopin Road and managed not crash or even worry too much about the cost of the gas I was burning. No more trips to the supermarket for you Randy and Roomdog, I will pick you up from the airport girl, know why? Cause I'm a driving girl.

Roomdog's New Roomdog

Roomdog has a new roomdog. Well she has a new "house mate" and I feel that it is my duty to provide her with an orientation to living with roomdog. (Roomdog helped Randy out before she left and gave him some useful tips, if I was smart enough do put a link in here to an old post about this, I would) As I will not be in Ireland for a while I thought the following might be useful to you, Lou, just a few tips to get you started.

• Roomdog likes to clean. please do not feel guilty about this, she doesn't mind your mess, she just likes to clean. Don't try to stop her. On particularly manic days she can be found vacuuming walls and searching for imaginary fluff, it's kind of a hobby. I did also find her combing the fringes on a rug one day.


• She is not allowed red wine.


• Room dog is a smashing wee cook, she will whip you up a tasty wee dinner in no time made to specification. Enjoy.


• She hates surprises.


• Room dog is a food snob so please keep your tins of beans or packets of noodles hidden at the back of the cupboard.


• She needs eight hours of sleep but will deny it.


• Roomdog's favorite leisure activities include shopping of any kind, TV and gossip magazines but will tell you she likes to read plays and go for walks.


• She is a little obsessed with laundry.


• Roomdog does not like to carry any stuff with her but will expect stuff like tissues, pain killers and sweaters to be available. This is where you come in.


• She likes funny stories, it's the facial expressions that make her laugh.


• Roomdog would give you her last dollar/pound/euro. She is very generous.


• She likes wee cups of tea and chats and she smokes like a train. She is crazy smart and will give you good non-judgemental advice. She works hard and has mad skills.


• Roomdogs birthday is February 2nd and she likes it celebrated.
  

Hope you have as much fun as I did.

Wish you were here.

Randy is in Cancun, which is apparently in Mexico and not in Vietnam as my mum thought. ("Oh hen what's he going there for?" Took a while to get to the bottom of that one.) He is sitting by a pool, sunning himself and sipping on his all inclusive cocktails, doing young people things and having fun. Not that I am jealous mind you. Oh no I would much rather stay in New Jersey where it snowed last night and rained all day today. I would much rather be at work for the 15Th day in a row. I am not completely bored or anything. It's Randy who is missing out on what has been an eventful few days. Just to catch you up because I know the phone calls cost a fortune Randy here are my stories for the week.

On Wednesday I slammed some doors for a while at work then came home and did more work. I wondered why I wanted chicken soup so badly, made it, ate it then realised I was sick and had a fever. Awesome. Cracked a tooth on some chocolate I shouldn't have been eating anyway and went to bed to sleep not at all.

Thursday's made me take a lot of Advil. I would tell the work stories but I doubt you would believe them and Roomdog and I are saving them up for a book one day. I called Roomdog who made me feel better, went home and took some more Advil and more work.

Friday, Funday! I know all of the emergency service numbers for every possible crisis one could have and am ready to move onto HR standards, which will be featured heavily in the above book and I am sure will be funny one day.

Saturday I start at 8am woohoo!

So you can keep your foam parties and boat rides, conversations and dinners out my friend, I am having a party all of my own right here.

(but I do miss you just a wee bit)