Magnificent Magnets and Scary Slacklining

"Kacey. This is Joanne. Tom's mom."

Tom's mom? She never calls in...

"Hi, Joanna! What can I do for you?"
"What happened yesterday?"
"What?"
"What happened yesterday? Tim had tears in his eyes, crying until he fell asleep that he didn't get to see you yesterday."
"He did get to see me. I didn't spend all day with him, I have other people that I needed to take care of, but he saw me for quite a bit of time."
"Well why is he so upset?"
"Joanna, I have no idea."
"I don't want him coming home upset."
"I'll do my best to make sure he gets all the time he needs."
"Thank you."
click!

Cassie walks up to me.
"What was that all about?"
"Heaven only knows."

Work.  Since we changed the structure of the program one of my individuals (well all of them actually, but he's the only one that makes such a big fuss about it) has been feeling neglected. I want you all to know that the amount of attention I give him is no less than before. He just gets... seperation anxiety I guess.  I've now worked out a system with him that if he doesn't talk about me and participates in the activity I'll spend some one on one time with him.  It seems to be working.  I wonder if it works with kids... I'll have to test that out someday... Today he asked me to go to lunch with him again. Last week I said no. This week I said, "I don't think my boyfriend would like that very much. You'll have to ask him first." That seemed to shut him down for a bit. We'll see how long it lasts.

Speaking of my boyfriend... I spent some time with him and his family last weekend. His dad makes me smile. We're very similar. Sometimes we'll get talking and Felipe will zone out. And if I'm around when he calls Felipe, he now asks to speak to me. Sunday night he just made my day: He was talking about the photos he put up on facebook and how all his family teased that I was his new girlfriend. He laughed and said "If I was twenty four I would grab you up so fast! No one would have a chance to date you because I would marry you so fast!" I laughed and said "Pass that word along, okay Kleber? Pass that along..."  He laughed and said he would. He makes me laugh.

The other night I went over to Felipe's house and just hung out. I'm tired of being home alone. With no West or Michayla, my life is sad and lonely. So I'll just go over to people's houses and do nothing. Felipe was winding down, so we watched this revealing magician's secrets show. Every time he paused and gave me a chance to guess how they did it. I said "Magnets!" like six times. He always laughed and said, "no, not magnets." After I went home, I guess he saw two tricks that used magnets. He made sure I got to watch them later. I told him we should run away and be magicians.  I think I've got him half convinced to do it...

Friday night was especially lonely. Felipe was at his capeoira class, and I just didn't want to be alone. So I ran over to Chelsea's apartment. We had a nice printing excursion and I diagnosed her with some physical manifestations of her stress. Afterwards she said, "You know, you live so far away, you should just sleep here.  We'll give you some blankets." Liz gave me some pants and I fell asleep while they watched Smallville. I dreamt about zombies I think. Oh, no, I dreamt about Dutch Jews and public pools in the 60's. And Saint Bernards. Yup. That's what couches do to me. But it was fun. I'm glad they let me do that. I might try and do it this Friday again.

Sunday was extraordinary because Felipe actually got to sit next to me during Sacrament Meeting. The other ward was so depleted that we were combined, but they hosted. So he got to sit with the congregation! It was soooo... strange. I didn't hardly know how to sit next to him. I ended up mostly ignoring him (sorry, Babe). Of course, that was before he viciously elbowed me in the back while trying to get a pen from my hand. After that there was no ignoring. There was war. It was twenty minutes past the normal time that the meeting ends, so I thought it was fair enough.

Last night I rushed home to check my phone (cause I left it at home) and asked Felipe if we were hanging out that day. (We're both booked for the rest of the week.) He said yes and "dress warm. Sporty warm." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? He gets to my place and says, "Hurry! We've got to do this before the sun sets!" "What am I supposed to wear??" "Not that." "No jeans?" "No jeans." "Boots or tennis shoes." "Those-" he said, pointing to my sketchers. "Okay."

What was the big hurry? Felipe was taking me slack lining. He set it all up in the trees next to my apartment. Slack lining... it's like tight rope walking. I looked at him like he was crazy and said, "No way, Felipe." He laughed. My face didn't change as I stated, "I will die."

"It's two feet off the ground. You're not going to die."
"If anyone can manage it, I can. Do not underestimate my powers of bad luck."

It ended up being fine. I didn't die. Felipe showed me some sweet tricks. I almost fell a couple times. Then I had to one up myself when he said it was easier barefoot by stripping off my socks and shoes, crossing the snow, and jumping on the rope. I'm proud of me.

So, life is boring right now. Good. But boring.

Now all I need to do is think of a great name for our new magic show...