Day 3 of Vacation: Trojan In the House!

Sunday is the day of rest and I took it literally. I slept in and even took a nap in the middle of the day. But my mom wanted to hit the streets. So I caved and got ready. Since she wants my dad to build a closet in her room, they were going to head to Home Depot. Yay me. Thankfully, though, my dad's careful measurements concluded that there wasn't going to be room for me in the car after they loaded the materials. Thus, I was "allowed" to stay home.

The reason why my mom needs a closet is because my sister moved back home after being gone for twelve years. Naturally, Jackie took over the one in our room, the same one my mom used to put her extra clothes in. And why on earth would my sister do that to herself, you might ask? Because she got accepted into the Graduate School of Social Work at USC (University of Southern California), that's why! And well, while I've been trying to convince her that anyone in her position would love to have free room and board, she's trying really hard to be grateful for this every second she's home.

Once inside the house again where I belonged, I witnessed my sister writing her first research paper. I didn't envy her one bit. That was me two years ago. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, working full time and going to school. I told her, "Getting a B.A. is a joke compared to getting a Master's." Although she has a place to stay, it's really difficult for her to get any work done. Between dogs barking, cars bumping music, emergency vehicles driving by, car alarms going off indefinitely, my mother's birds screeching, and my parents fighting, Jackie's only way to block everything out is by using earphones to listen to acoustic new age music on Pandora while she sits in the middle of all the chaos.

The worst thing, though, is that her cat Tuxy hasn't adjusted to Southern California even though it's been two weeks since they relocated. She hardly leaves the room where she sleeps under the bed. The cat is terrified of my mom, possibly because her sixth sense knows that there will never be room in my mother's heart for any other cat than our beloved deceased Chiquita. She is bug-eyed, jittery, anxious, stressed out, hot, and hyper-sensitive to any disruption of silence. The only other person Tuxy likes is me because I'm a cat too, but mostly because I sound like my sister.

Here's hoping for a healthy adjustment for Jackie and her pet!

MacBook Pro's charger and hole puncher residue. 

Hot hole puncher

There she is, my little Trojan.

Cooped up in the room, poor thing. 

Jackie brought her out of her cocoon.

When all the evil people are fast asleep, aka parental figures, Tuxy comes out and plays.