a rant, followed shortly thereafter by a rave...

went home to peoria this summer with the impression that i would be living in my new house through may (at least)... came back to discover that the landlords had moved and were putting the house on the market, thrusting us into a month-to-month lease. now, really, property in indianola doesn't fly, so it could be 6-9 months before the house sells. however, it could also be a couple of months, which would screw us over royally, since nobody, but nobody, wants to give out 3-6 month leases in general, much less people with 3 cats (janet) or a cat-dog combination (me) and lots of furniture. as my parents would say (not in the sense that you're thinking), that'd be up the butt, bob. definitely irked, which made me not very nice to the real-estate lady and a wee bit growly toward her son, the appraiser, who obviously does not have any kind of contact with animals, which makes me suspicious of him in general. baker didn't stop barking the entire time he was here. i explained to him that the puppy just simply doesn't like men. after this week, i'm starting to agree with him. can you become a lesbian if you aren't attracted to women?

in happier news, we met this amazing woman at the workshop we've attended over the past few days. she's an older teacher, and her students call her hecate, which she's so not. carole, hw, and i bonded with her (we each reminded her of her daughter, and she was every good female mentor i've ever known), and she decided to treat us to lunch yesterday. as we were leaving, two additional women from the workshop invited themselves along (which was neither anticipated nor appreciated)... anyway, at the end of a great mexican meal (during which many "why are they here?" looks were exchanged), hecate told the waitress to bring her our bills as well, but not the others'. in a private afterwards, she confided to hw and i that she would be traumatized for the next two weeks, because that is just not what a southern-bred lady does. i thought it was great, the perfect end to lunch.