5/2/2013. - Day 37 - Tonight's goal: Terminate the cockroaches. And don't scream if you see them because that makes them scurry into hiding places you will never ever find.

5/2/2013. - Day 37 - Tonight's goal: Terminate the cockroaches. And don't scream if you see them because that makes them scurry into hiding places you will never ever find.

Today was another mundane addition to the daily grind. On one hand, I feel like I am squandering my precious time in Charleston; and on the other, it’s nice to just slow down and do normal things like enjoy breakfast in the morning at an actual table, and occasionally walk the dog.

We take a later afternoon trip to Trader Joes. I blame my aunt Donna for introducing me to this establishment in Oregon. I am now addicted to their chocolate bars and wonderful selection of foods I find surprisingly edible and affordable. We collect necessary items and a few unnecessary ones, sample the lemonade, and return home. I’m not fond of eating out for some reason, which I realize is strange. I am also under financial restrictions so cooking is a much more frugal route. And both Jamie and I appreciate frugality.

We talk about college and how poor we were and how our trips to Target were limited and our purchases were even more limited. I jokingly comment on our grown up status and professional employment (well, in my case past professional employment) and say that I think we have stayed grounded despite our fame and fortune because we still buy everything at Target. Jamie responds that she agrees, but now she can get everything she wants at Target instead of having to choose like we did in college. Happiness for Jamie and me today is simply defined: it’s being able to get whatever you want at Target. That is probably the most basic definition of happiness that will ever be given.

Queen of the kitchen.
And queen of making wonderful culinary creations. 

Jamie and I have made an agreement that she will be the main cook, I will attempt to assist, and I will clean up after dinner. We are well versed in cohabitating with each other. I vacuumed today because I needed a cleaning fix. I also did some other domestic tasks just so I felt functional and productive. And again to satisfy a need to clean and organize since I cannot clean or organize my own house given my current gypsy status.  Jamie does not even react to this behavior anymore. We all had our trials together in college as we worked to coexist peacefully and we have both accepted random traits in one another. Jamie is a great cook, I despise the kitchen; I love to clean and Jamie would rather do anything but. It’s good to have friends who recognize your strengths and needs and still like you anyway and let you just do whatever it is you need to do, even if it’s vacuuming. My nesting activities in Jamie’s home do not trouble her. Dodger however, is terrified of the vacuum, and cowered out on the porch during the entire ordeal. Dodger will never save us if there are intruders at large.

In just a couple days we have already settled into a nice routine after dinner where we watch The Voice or something and then the news while we chat and scratch Dodger’s ears. Tonight, as we sit in tranquility, learning about the weather forecast, an intruder races across the living room floor, pausing just long enough for me to gather myself before I scream.

When something startling happens, it takes me a few seconds before I can react. And then I react by screaming loudly most of the time. And when it involves cockroaches I scream much louder. Jamie and Dodger do not even see the unwelcome guest. I try to point it out to Dodger who cares as much about protecting us as he does about his tennis ball which he has been known to drop out of the window of a moving car. In the calamity I have caused, the roach has retreated into the shoe closet. Jamie sighs and calls it a lost cause. My eyes almost bulge out of my head. I have to SLEEP out here, just a mere 6 feet from that closet. And it’s IN THERE. Jamie reasons that we will never find it even if we take all the shoes out of the closet. I start to take the shoes out of the closet. But then I lose my nerve because I have no idea what I’m even going to do if I find it. Scream more?

Charleston is one of my favorite places in the entire world. There are only two things that discourage me about this place: one is the humidity that makes you want to lie down and die. The other is the cockroaches.

I make it my goal to find it tomorrow with the help of Dodger, and terminate it.