Your Killing Me Smalls

When you move to a place it is always like the first day of school when meeting your neighbors. These questions may go through your mind when thinking of introducing yourself:
What should I wear?
Should I stop by when they are outside?
Should I ring their doorbell?

You may also find that you are analyzing the objects they own to determine what kind of person they are. It is the luck of the draw when meeting the neighbors. My husband and I finally took a courageous leap and bought a home a year ago. At first we didn't have a single neighbor on our street and now the street is full. We are happy to announce that we got lucky! Our neighbors are close to our age and interested in the same things we are. How we met is a not as seamless as you might think though.

A chain of events happened when we moved into our new home, one of them being a puppy appearing on our back patio. This seemed to be a great thing because we were thinking of getting a second dog. That little pup was full of surprises and played a central role in how we met our neighbors.

Our new puppy which we named Smalls was quite a handful. He was used to the outdoors life and tore our carpet, busted through a metal pronged crate, and destroyed every remote we owned. As a temporary solution we would leave the dogs outside when we had to leave. One day while sitting at home our doorbell rang and when I looked through the peep whole I noticed the man as our neighbor.

Sweet Puppy Smalls with humans around, Smalls the Hurricane when no one is looking.

I was so excited that our neighbors were interested in meeting us!

Neighbor: "Hi my name is John."
Me: "Hi, I'm Cameo"
(We shake hands.)

Neighbor:"So, I stopped by to let you know your black and white dog (that would be Smalls) has been digging under our fence. He has been coming into our yard and playing with our dog."
My smile immediately disappeared and I could feel my face getting flush, I was so embarrassed!

Neighbor: "It hasn't been that big of a deal, I have been trying to cover up the whole on my side but he keeps digging under. I stopped by to let you know because now he is starting to dig under our gate to get out."
Me: " Oh my gosh! I am so sorry. We will take care of that."

Neighbor: "Thanks. Oh, also, my wife says she thought she heard one of our squeak toys on your side of the fence."
Me: "Really? If I see any of your toys I'll throw them over."
Neighbor: "Thanks. Have a nice day."

I went straight to the background and sure enough, there were the neighbor's toys. Smalls was a thief!

I threw over an Angry Birds squeak toy and frisbee he drug under the fence on his way back. I went inside and said "Your killing me Smalls!" He lived up to the name.

Our neighbors turned out to be very understanding and we are thankful for that. I hope you and your neighbors get along.

Psychic Abilities

Yes! I admit, I have been to the psychic fair in Austin. Luckily, the psychic did not see instant danger in my future. I actually enjoyed the experience, so much so that I want to return. There was no specific prediction that I recognized right away but she did mention a little something about all the thoughts at the front of my mind. My husband, my house, my job, which could be similar topics to many other people seeking what their future entails, but I will say that I went with three other women and all of our readings were different. So what does that mean? Is it all about reading people or is there actually something special sense that a person possesses to predict the future? Is it possible that the essence of my thoughts were transferred through tarot cards and that is why the reading noted something about everything on the top of my "what is going on in my life" list?
I don't have enough experiences to determine the answers to those questions, yet. The whole reason for the adventure at the psychic fair was due to a Babes & Books (book club) pick, by John Edwards, the psychic medium. My expectations were high upon arriving at the fair but in the end my expectations didn't matter. I found myself pondering about what she had told me even though there were no precise predictions given, no dates, or times, or names.

Maybe this is the reason I want to go back, she left me pondering what else is there? Two months from now will the reading be different? Should I listen to her advice?

When sharing my experience I have encountered some skeptics, but until you actually try it yourself there is no evidence that it doesn't work or that she was just picking up my characteristics from my clothing, how I speak, or the questions I asked and didnt' ask. Only time will tell I guess.

Predictions:
I will move because of a job.
I will have a child within two years.
I will have 2-3 kids.
I will move up in my career field.

Broad predictions. Personally, I think some people have psychic abilities but I can't prove it. Will my predictions come true? I will certainly write about them if they do.

The Solution For Keeping Your Coffee Creamer Safe at Work

After collaborating with colleagues, friends, and family members a plan to stop the coffee creamer thieves was put in place and has worked flawlessly so far!

Just to give you an idea of how the brainstorming went to stop this common travesty here are a list of ideas presented as "the fix":

• Put sour milk in an existing coffee creamer container
• Put vinegar in the existing coffee creamer container
• Use a rogue container so no one will know what is in there
• Hide it in a lunch box
• Hang out in the break room until the thief is caught
• Install a tiny camera to see who the thief is
• Pee in the coffee container

While these ideas were all good, one of my co-workers decided to put a plan in motion. She brought a rogue container labled breat milk. So far no one that we know of has been brave enough to take a sip, except for the small group that knows what the container really holds. To date the coffee creamer has not disappeared at an accelerated rate and everyone is happy, in my group anyway.

There is only one problem though. The last time I poured the "breast milk" into my coffee someone that does not belong to my group at work witnessed the whole thing. So either our secret will get out or rumors of me using "breat milk" in my coffee will circulate around the office! I think I can sacrifice being "that person" for the greater good of the coffee creamer.