Visitations

First, let's update on what's been happenin' around the Casa de Brandon:

Daisy came down last night as she'd planned, and it was very nice to have some company for a while in the otherwise quiet house. She didn't get here until almost midnight (or something like that, I lost track of time while waiting for her to arrive, as I was reading a book of poetry).

The cats have gotten used to Daisy's visits at this point, even Sadie -- who is normally so skittish that when a friend visits, she will hide under the bed until they leave. She did do that last night for a long time, but eventually came out. She was much more social this morning, even allowing Daisy to pet her and talk to her. Sadie doesn't do this with anyone but me, and never has. Even when my longtime ex still lived here, Sadie wasn't a huge fan of anyone but me. She's always been "my" cat, my shadow, ever since she was a tiny little kitten. When Sadie was no bigger than my hand, she used to jump up on my lap when I lived in my first apartment in Missouri, and would climb inside my robe to go to sleep while I was sitting at the computer, and in the winter, even five years later, she still does this occasionally. I think she's really protective of me, so the fact that she came out while Daisy was here -- much less let her pet her -- says quite a lot. When Lady and I were together, she was here almost every weekend, and Sadie always kept hidden most of the time.

Daisy came bearing gifts, both from her and her mother -- she brought me a huge can of Tim Horton's coffee back from Canada, as well as a big travel mug and a t-shirt that says I'm a Type "Eh" Personality, which I found hilarious in that kitschy, tourist-y way. I'm so going to wear it all the time. She also brought me a can of Gatorade powder (because it's so hard to find here anymore), which was awesome to get. I've already made two 2L bottles of Gatorade with it. Mmm, Gatorade.

Daisy's mother sent a bunch of food with her, as well -- an entire bag of potatoes, a bunch of ears of corn, some fruits and vegetables (cherries, plums, peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber), rolls, bagels, tortillas, a can of beans and a new jar of salsa, etc. All sorts of different stuff. I haven't even looked through all of it yet because there's so much of it -- I'll have to make final assessments later. Last night we just fridged the cold stuff and put the rest in the pantry.

I am very, very lucky to have friends (and parents of friends, even!) who care so much about me and want to do everything they can to be nice and sweet, even when -- and especially when -- they don't have to at all. Daisy is like family to me at this point, as is her mother, so it's like I've got a surrogate family of sorts out here in the midwest -- even if said family is a five-hour drive away from here. I do find it really sweet (really, really sweet) that Daisy would spend ten hours on the road, driving here and back, to spend a little more than twelve hours with me -- about half of which we were sleeping. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have people like her in my life, even if they are few and far between. The ones who I matter most to make it known to me, and I make it known to them that they are important to me.

I immediately felt really guilty, and like a total fool, for not getting over my social anxiety for a few days just to go up there and spend time with her family. As a small token of thanks I did send a thank-you gift back with Daisy for her mother, when she left about two hours ago. If you know me at all, you probably already know what it is without me even telling you.

Daisy fell asleep around 2:30 or so, and that's when things got interesting.

If you're my friend on Facebook, you probably saw that two nights ago, I cooked a fantastic dinner of lightly-fried spaghetti, tossed with olive oil, garlic, tofu, butter, and spinach. Lots of tofu and spinach.

Tofu and spinach aren't normal staples of my diet, really, though I do love them both. I rarely have spinach in the house, and even more rarely do I have anything tofu or tofu-derived. Daisy brought them both down here the last time she was here (before her long vacation) and I'd just gotten around to using them. It was, as I mentioned, a fantastic dinner, and one that filled me up quite nicely.

Well, around 3AM last night, um, ahem...it wanted back out.

That's about as delicately as I can put it, really.

I spent most of the night awake and uncomfortable because of this, while Daisy slept like a rock. This is fine, of course -- all of us spend the occasional night awake due to an upset stomach. The timing of it could've been better, that's all. It did clear up by the morning, and I was able to sleep a few short hours -- during most of which Daisy was already awake and texting/playing on her phone. Eh, it happens, I suppose. I'm really tired now, and I'll sleep later once I know she's home and safe.

Also, I accidentally swallowed a plum pit while I was eating one of the plums Daisy's mother sent me. Yeah. I did that. I'm an idiot sometimes.

No, before you ask, it shouldn't hurt me. I'm just an idiot. I've done it before, too, years ago. Again, idiot.

Still, the plums are really good.

Daisy left around noon; I tried to feed her, give her stuff to eat and drink so that she wouldn't be hungry all day for her drive home (I do have plenty of stuff she can eat, despite her veganism) but she refused. I think part of it is that she didn't want to eat anything that she thought I would need to survive on over the course of the next few days, which is really cute, but she did bring a lot of foodstuffs with her from her mother. I even offered her some of my completely vegan waffles, made with almond milk and flaxseed, but she didn't want any. For some reason, it doesn't feel right to not feed a guest in my home; maybe this is something I've carried into my adult life from my parents. I suppose it probably is. Still, it feels so weird. I usually cook for my guests or take them out to dinner. It's just strange for me, really.

It stormed last night for a little while, right as Daisy went to sleep. I watched the lightning and rain (yes, holy shit, rain in Kansas in summer) for a while as I was awake and not feeling well. It rained for maybe half an hour, and by this morning everything had dried up again. It looks like it could storm again any minute, but I doubt it will.

Anyway, yes, there's more to write, including my collaboration thing with Adam, but I haven't had the chance to work on it yet. I'll be working on it over the next day or two.