Some Haikus about Cheraw

Yesterday it rained

outside and inside the house.

That was really strange.

Attention students:

There is carpet on the wall.

Someone got mixed up.

Nathan stole my joke.

But it wasn't mine to start.

Forgive him, I will. 

Backing up. End of Icey Pop Challenge. Package. Life Story.

Blogs are stupid. Jin Jin. Windshield bear. 

Tree branch.

Milkshake. Traffic. Meeting. Winston-Salem. Greensboro. Back to Cheraw. Mexican restaurant. Left for home. No gas. Gas. Home. Bed. Trader Joe's. Grandma and Grandpa's. Claire's. Bath for Bianca. Back to Cheraw. Salmon. Mmm mmm. Nap. Now. 

Last night we saw Sex and the City in Southern Pines. Because there isn't a movie theater in Cheraw. 

It took a while for me to get started this morning, partly because I had the time to wake up, walk around, go back to sleep, make lunch... 

We didn't have to be at Sheila's office until 1 pm because today we went to court. Part of Sheila's job is to be a court advocate, so we got to go to two order of protection cases. We got to court early, talked about classes, met the judge, and then colored with one of the women's kids. The first woman was asking for an order of protection because her husband pulled out a shotgun when she told him that she was leaving him. He begged for her to come back home in court. In the second case, the woman accused her baby daddy of sexually assaulting her in front of her son. Neither of the women was awarded their requests, and both cases were painful to watch. No one understood why they didn't have lawyers. 

Will, Snayha, and I shopped at Wal-mart. Then I used a bag clip to clip my ipod to my shirt and blasted music while I set the table. 

And then, Matt, Hannah, and I went fishing. It was beautiful. We saw 2 beavers (maybe otters?), 2 frogs (I caught one, and then Hannah caught one), and a baby deer. Matt caught 4 fish, Hannah caught two, and I took pictures. We only kept one, and I petted him as he died.

As we were leaving, we got to the gate of the state park, and it was locked. So we stopped by Matt's boss' house. She had caught a black widow. 

 

Since my last post was a little lame for those of you who cannot read my mind, I'll give a brief recap. Wednesday night, Anthony, Snayha, Abbey, and I drove to Raleigh for a James Taylor concert. More specifically, Abbey drove, and the rest of us kept her company/ napped. When we got to Raleigh, we had dinner at Mellow Mushroom where we met a future scholarshipee. We went to the concert, found out our chairs were too tall, returned to the car, came back with blankets, and settled in with Hannah and her gang just as intermission was beginning. On the way back, Abbey let me steer while she drank part of Charlotte's unfinished Cook-Out milkshake. That was a highlight. Will let us know the next day that Abbey was locked out of the apartment, but hopefully not for too long.

The next day I lost my mind. I giggled all day long, and at one point to try and stifle my laughter I put my face on the table, but then I snorted. I had to leave the room every couple of minutes. I literally lost control. Perhaps from exhaustion. Perhaps from just general craziness. This was all while Ms. C was teaching me to crochet. Actually, Snayha and Ms. C taught Will to crochet (I heard he struggled) and then Will taught me. Minutes later, I was crocheting him a sweater- well it was really just one long chain of stitches. It is up to him to make it a sweater.

Oh. Ms. M left Thursday morning to move into her apartment. We helped pack her car, and she talked a little while about how we were her babies and I said something about us having not much to do without her around.

Reggie was supposed to come at 4 that day, but I went to sleep and he didn't call. I woke up around dinner. He called and said he wanted to battle me at DDR. Actually that was Wednesday maybe. No it only makes sense that it was Thursday. I told him whatever, just to bring the leg, which he didn't do, and when he was like "You promised that you would battle me in DDR (He actually calls it Dance! Dance! since he doesn't know the proper terminology.)" and I was like "You promised me you'd bring the leg today, so I think these things are negociable." Luckily, Hannah and the crew picked up the leg at Rent a Center today (2 hours after closing). Luckily because I felt as if the relationship between me and my bed delivery guy was moving too quickly for comfort. Hopefully, the Reggie saga has now ended. Mom and Dad visited, and Mom was like "Do you interact much with the locals?" I said, "Well, unfortunately, I talk to Reggie nearly every day." I heard when they went to pick up the leg he told them to tell me that he was sorry, even though truth be told he should have been sorry to Hannah as well since she dealt with him for the first week. 

Friday night I invited the small apartment over for dinner. I made salmon, broccoli, and I baked two challahs. They were a little bit sour (I thought), not as good as Yehudis', but they sure looked pretty. After dinner, we went to this carnival behind McDonald's on highway 9, and I am not kidding when I say that one of the rides made my stomach sore- like workout sore- which is a sad, sad truth but a funny one. 

It was pretty- spinning above the Cheraw carnival. 

Today, Mom and Dad visited, and we walked around Market St where nothing was open. Dad napped at the house, and now everybody knows where my napping habits come from, though if Dad and I were to make a race out of it, I would certainly win for length. We all went to a Mexican restaurant where they served salsa out of the same containers that the other Mexican restaurant had. Mom and Dad went home, Will got back from his trip, and after sitting around doing nothing, we watched As Good As It Gets. 

Which brings me to where I am now, eating jelly beans, complaining in my head about sore stomach muscles, and squinting my eyes because it is getting late and I am tired...

Chesterfield. Cases. Shower. Embarrassment. Concert. Steering. Sleep. Work. Packing Ms. M's car. Crocheting. Bojangles. Wal-mart. Laughing. Reggie the Creeper. Nap. Reggie the Creeper Part Two. Dinner. Cake. Challah. Scene.

I forgot to mention that yesterday while shopping at Wal-mart, I saw this woman with her hair covered wearing a tallis while grocery shopping. I wish I had mustered up the spunk to ask whether she was Jewish or what her deal was, but alas I failed.

I did not however hide my spunk while calling Reggie today at Rent-A-Center to get our beds. He told me he was running behind, and I told him that if he arrived within an hour, there wouldn't be any problems. I told him that I'd been sleeping without a bed for a week because of him and that if he didn't come in an hour, there would be trouble. He said that normally he doesn't do the delivering, but that this time he would. 

It is 5:28 pm, two minutes before his deadline, and I see him outside of the window.

Today at work, we talked to Alma for a good two hours, and then decorated the flower pots with Ms. M and Ms. C. Ms. M was so worried about us going to Myrtle beach over Memorial day weekend. She has taken to calling us her "babies." Ms. C drew a nice picture for Ms. M wishing her luck in her new home. Ms. M leaves on Thursday for her apartment, so on Thursday there will be just one resident. I told Ms. C that she could help me build the garden.

I just finished making a honey cake, though I really wish I was asleep. But then again, now that my bed is here, I can climb in and not wake up until dinner. 

It is 2:59 am. I wish I had a power drill. 

I had the day off, so I woke up late. Don was in South Carolina, so he took a bunch of us out to lunch at El-Sharef's, the Italian/ Greek/ American restaurant. Then I shopped at Wal-mart, where I lost my grocery cart and I thought I was going to have to re-shop and I was terrified that some Wal-mart worker was going to find a cart with spoiled Organic milk and a hundred dollars worth of other stuff. But then I found my cart with two bottles of Vitamin water that did not belong to me. Mysterious! The whole losing the cart thing was really stressful though. 

After shopping, I made dinner. Rosemary apple chicken, sweet potatoes, salad, and chocolate cake. We talked about marriage over dinner, soul mates, our "list," etc... 

Now we're watching When Harry Met Sally. 

We got back from the beach and ate Chinese. That was the only thing open on Sundays.

Tomorrow, I am going to start building an herb garden.

Today, Rui, Snayha, and I took a walk on the beach. We walked to the pier, and when it started to rain, we walked around the shop at the end of the pier. 

This afternoon, we went and saw Indiana Jones, which was fine except the whole love part was lame. And when Indiana and his little girlfriend and his son rafted down three waterfalls, they emerge dry like five seconds later.

We went to Anthony's for dinner for a pig pickin', and tonight Anthony, Matt, Nate, Hannah, and I went to the hot tub, then the pool, then the ocean. 

Dad emailed the president of Sprint, and I found my phone at the gym. Sprint hasn't decided to build a tower, but they aren't charging us roaming fees this month.

Snayha went to court today, so Will and I hung out with Ms. Delayne and Ms. M. Will and I picked up Ms. M's medicine in Cheraw in the morning. In the afternoon, Ms. M got a watermelon for her birthday, so Will cut it up. Delayne told us to try the watermelon ourselves because Ms. M doesn't like anything, and sure enough the watermelon was sweet but Ms. M didn't like it. She was super upset about her neck bones. They were in a pot in the fridge, but someone put all of the food scraps on top of them. 

During our break, we talked about philosophy on the swing, and then we helped Ms. Shirley add mulch to the roses. Ms. Shirley brought in a recording of her singing country. We were listening to it when a car pulled up that we didn't recognize, so we all dispersed throughout the house and pretended to be busy. But it was just Ms. Alma and Ms. Sheila. 

After work, we went to the Chinese restaurant where they now know Will's order and where I took forever trying to decide what to get. Then I napped for 20 minutes and then we went to the gym. Then I packed and we went to Myrtle. 

I can't find my phone, which doesn't matter much because even if I could find it, I probably wouldn't be able to find service.

Dad told me to buy a phone at Wal-mart, but I don't mind being disconnected. Will was surprised my dad hadn't convinced Sprint to build a tower in the middle Cheraw, which just goes to show how much time I've been spending with Will because that's a fair expectation, and he's never even met my dad. 

I spent the entire day with Will and Snayha. Six hours at the shelter, which went quicker than the other days. We participated in a group session with Delayne and a resident. The topic was creating a safety plan. I don't think the ideas quite penetrated. Ms. M was convinced the only safety plan she needed involved a meat cleaver. "My meat cleaver don't know nobody..." 

It was Ms. M's birthday, and I bought her a Happy Birthday sign at Wal-mart for $1.86, and it made her so happy. She said she was going to drape it around her. We gave her a bunch of birthday cards too, ones that we had made during Arts and Crafts. That and her pasta salad made her so happy.  

Ms. M said that she'd like a garden where the residents could work, and I think that's a wonderful idea. We'll definitely do flower pots next week.

Will, Snayha, and I sat on the porch swing for over an hour talking about injury stories and childhood stories and anything really that came up. Now I know about how Will kicked his shoe on top of a building and missed a Michael Jackson special and how Snayha stuck a bead in her ear when she was in 2nd grade. And how Will refused to touch the base after he broke his ankle.

After work, we ate Chinese, and then we joined Rui in a town miles and miles away from Cheraw. We helped Rui set up, missed free hot dogs, dropped Rui off, went to the gym, and then went to Bojangles where I had an egg and cheese biscuit. 

Tomorrow to Myrtle.

I am tempted not to write this. I am tempted to let this summer drift away the way I have let this year pass. Without documentation and analyzing and all the things that complicate life.

But then I will remember less.

The girls upstairs found a kitten, and they named her Delilah. She's orange like our old cat. One second. I can't remember whether I took yogurt out of the fridge and then forgot about it.