That Neighborly Feeling

In the wee hours of the morning, with all the windows open upstairs, I can hear the alarm clock belonging to the neighbor across the way, as well as the neighbor himself, loudly blowing his nose and coughing something up. This is a lot of togetherness between me and someone with whom I'm not intimate, and it also leads me to think that I should probably start closing my bathroom door more often. ;^)

On a different subject, last night I saw In Her Shoes for the second time. I'd seen it once by myself, but my sister and I wanted to see a movie and I thought she'd like this one; besides, I liked it a lot and didn't mind seeing it again. The movie follows the book by the same title, and it just so happened that my sister and I had read the book. There was a time when I wouldn't have spent time reading what one friend calls "brain candy," but since I my son's birth I often seek out light reading for sleepless nights, and popular novels are just the ticket. I have to tell you -- the movie version of In Her Shoes is waaaay better than the book, although the book did get me through some bouts with insomnia. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the movie, except to tell you that if you don't fall in love, at least a little bit, with Mark Feuerstein's character, you must have a heart of stone -- stone, I tell you! ;^)

Anyway, we were to meet a friend at the theater, but she accidentally went to another one, so she saw the movie there and we met up later for dinner with our friend and her boyfriend and had a delightful time. We had to shout a bit above the general Italian restaurant din, but it was fun swapping stories and drawing on the paper-covered table top (yes, one of those places), and the food was good, and I hadn't done any of that for longer than I'd like to admit. Good stuff. Our friend's boyfriend slyly picked up the check and adamantly refused reimbursement later, which, as my sister pointed out later, is a sign of true graciousness and, I might add, typical of that couple. I really appreciated their kind gesture.

Afterward, I drove the 90-odd miles home (yikes) and made it in one piece. I'm quite accustomed to the drive, and I'd had about 50 Diet Cokes, so I was in no danger of nodding off. Once home, however, I stayed up to watch a few minutes of television and fell asleep on the couch. I awoke about four or five hours later and here I am. When will I learn to pass up the couch and go straight to bed?

A man is due to notify me soon of his dog's return to California (from Mississippi) and there's a slight chance I'll be able to meet the beautiful pooch today. If not today, then possibly tomorrow. If we hit it off (the dog and I), there's a chance it'll come to live with us right then and there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The house is pretty darned quiet with the kiddo away.

In the meantime, there's work to do...