Random Musings #1

Random Musings are my posts that cover multiple subjects that are randomly popped into my head and/or not at all related to each other. The Leech Update Well, I had formulated a plan that, while probably mildly unfair to her, and quite possibly terribly painful for her, was probably going to be immensely satisfying to me, in a vindictive sort of way. I have recruited a friend, and possibly a second friend to help me simply pack up her stuff while she is working on Friday, sit with the house while I take locks to the locksmith to have them rekeyed, and generally provide back up should she try anything stupid. I’ve actually been sorta looking forward to it. On Saturday I asked her if she’d seen my camera, and she acted all shocked that it was missing, and gave me this whole song and dance about how she hadn’t seen it, and it HAS to be in this house somewhere. Now, on Saturday I looked at the couch, picked up the pillows and sorta felt along the cracks between cushions. Nothing. I did the same again on Sunday. When I got home yesterday she asked me again if I’d found it. I told her no, I’d checked under couch cushions and everything (actually, I did that yesterday afternoon before she got home around 7-ish. Again I got the whole “it HAS to be in this house somewhere” routine. So this morning, I rolled out of bed and headed to work about an hour and a half after she did, in an effort to 1. Get some extra time in since the plan was to take Friday off and 2. Get to work before the predicted freezing rain started. When I got home this afternoon about 4, she was not yet home. I brought in the cat food and a couple of other things. Once I’d gotten my clothes changed and got ready to come in here and get on the computer, some nagging voice told me to go check the couch one more time. Quel Surprise! There, on top of a cushion, under a throw pillow that I have moved and checked under and behind at least 3 times since Friday, is my camera! Ok, I could buy that perhaps I looked over it once, but not 3 times! I don’t know where she had it hidden (or pawned), but what I DO know is that at 6 last night, when I checked the couch, it was NOT there, yet obviously, she picked up from wherever it was and brought it in last night, probably in her lunch bag, as it won’t fit in her purse, and planted it while I slept this morning. I have not yet told her that I’ve found it, I’m just going to let her sweat, which is probably way too vindictive and mean, but hey, I am Evil, right? When she came through the door this evening, she said she’d heard from a property at which she’d left an application, and had been approved. YAY She’s moving in on Sunday. I suppose that I could push the issue and keep the original plan, kicking her out on Friday and let her figure out what to do for 2 days, but in the end, I’m too damned nice for my own good. It will also save me some drama of the crying and whatever she would come up with to try and make me feel guilty. I will just trust in the following: · She knows what she did is wrong · She knows that I know what she did, and that I know she knows · She will ultimately be judged for it So, as of Sunday evening, I have my home to myself again, without a thief, a liar, a leech, or any other undesirable sort living here with me! CAT FOOD A few days ago, when I had to get kitty litter, it did cross my mind to pick up some cat food at the same time, but the WallyWorld I was in didn’t have ANY in stock of the brand I feed them. For several years they’ve been on Maxximum Nutrition, which is their own brand, and in my experience, a higher quality food than even the pricey vet brands. In fact, my own vet assumed from the general health of my ancient Rhonda, that she was eating Science Diet. The problem I have with most dry cat foods is that they are mostly either meal of some sort, or chicken by-product, with a little bit of real chicken thrown in waaaay down the ingredient list. This afternoon, I HAD to stop, because the dish was very nearly empty, and I knew there would be hell to pay if I came home without food! So I stopped at the WW that I usually shop in, and usually find the food. NADA. ZIP. ZILCH. No food for my kitties. Not even a tag on the shelf showing where they keep it, but are out of stock. Yep, it seems that they are not carrying it anymore. SHIT! So then I have to spend a half hour reading EVERY package of cat food to see if there’s the slightest chance that any of them will meet the Chicken as the first ingredient. I found 2 options. Newman’s Own, and something new by Iams. Iams was marginally less expensive, so my decision was made that way. Hopefully it won’t give them any crazy upset tummies having an abrupt change in food! We’ll see how they do… That’s probably enough rambling for tonite. I’m gonna head for bed to listen to the freezing rain fall and hope that the power doesn’t go out this time like it did a few weeks ago when we last had some ice!

VIOLATED

It’s been a tough couple of days. Yesterday, I noticed a handmade barrette and a hairbrush missing from where I’d put them. I followed my instincts and went into my “roommate”s room. I found the barrette in her top dresser drawer. I guess roommate is the wrong term. Roommate would indicate one who shares in the expenses, wouldn’t it? Yeah, she’s not done that. Since she arrived in August, she’s bought perhaps $200 worth of groceries, mostly either bread, Dr Pepper, green tea, cereal, and the soy milk she likes. Not one penny toward the rent, the (almost doubled) utilities, or anything else to maintain the household. She still owes me a little over a hundred bucks on stuff I paid for that she specifically said she would pay back. She still owes a friend of mine $50 from TRF in October. This afternoon, when I got home, I got to wondering about some other things I hadn’t seen in awhile, and went in there again. This time I found 2 pairs of distinctive earrings, a distinctive pendant, a whole bunch of change, and a few other random pieces of costume jewelry, in the place where I had found the barrette yesterday. In another drawer I found another distinctive hair accessory. Now, I’m not the most organized person in the world, and frankly, I have so much stuff that never got unpacked completely, that I couldn’t begin to tell you where these things were prior to her appropriating them, however just because I wasn’t using them, and hadn’t for sometime, does not mean that she has a right to steal them. This is not the first time I’ve been stolen from. Back in ’91, my apartment in Dallas was broken into. Nothing was ever recovered. I thought I felt violated then. Yeah, that was NOTHING compared to the violation I feel this time. I suspect that it has to do with the fact that not just my space was violated this time, but also my trust in someone I considered a friend. Someone I did everything in my power to help. Someone I was naïve enough to believe when they told me their hard luck story. This week I will work on recovering my stuff that she’s hidden away amongst her things, and documenting photographically what I find, before I secure it safely away from her sticky fingers. I will also be talking with the local PD about the best way to get her out, with only her things, without a scene or retaliation. Her job requires her to have a firearm, and my friend who lives in Oregon has told me he wants me to have someone here with me when I tell her to get out. I honestly don’t think she’ll try anything, because 1. She knows she’s wrong, and 2. If I have to call the police on her, it may cost her job, as it requires her to be bondable, and with an arrest on her record, she’s no longer bondable. I don’t want to get her fired, I just want her out of my house. Once she’s gone, perhaps I can really get on track with the changes that I’ve been working on in my life.