The 'Rents

My parents are currently speeding toward me on an overnight train to Virginia. From there, they will rent a car and drive to Philadelphia. I hope my mother is not offended by the new baby pope statue I have placed in my window (only $7.77 from Circle Thrift). I couldn't help it; I'm just trying to fit into South Philly. Spent some time last night cleaning up the pounds of fluffy gray (why is it gray? None of my cats are gray) cat hair from my apartment, left with enough to furnish two dozens wigs for cats undergoing chemo. They're only staying for one night before continuing on to Danbury, CT to visit my stepbrother, John. I have bought wine and cheese and crackers and almonds. I might take them to the authentic Italian restaurant we visited last weekend. It's better than living in Fishtown where the closest place to get food is the corner grocery. I have several sewing projects lined up for my mother and have racked my brain for something that my stepdad could fix...Is it too much to ask him to take out the dropped ceilings in the two bedrooms and replace them with real ceilings? How long would that take, anyway? My place is never messy--it's always picked up but never very clean. I only seem to have the energy to fight the dirt when I know someone else will see it. Me, I can handle a bathtub with dead skin, because, hey, it's my dead skin, but I certainly wouldn't want to go to someone's house and have to deal with his/her dead skin. I don't think my mom has met Emma Carol yet, and I'm hoping she likes her. Who wouldn't? Hopefully, she will perform well by catching flies in mid air and eating them as she does almost every night (the cat, not my mom). They will probably not approve of my street which typically is filled with garbage, but I don't know if I have the energy to clean the block.

Saw a dead pigeon lying on a hot dog bun near the subway today and was reminded of this episode of The Waltons where the older sister (Mary Ellen?) sees a deceased crow on her way to the corn shop and everyone says it's an omen of bad luck and then she has a miscarriage, most likely b/c of the dead bird. It made me worry that I would have a miscarriage on the Broad Street Line and then I remembered my dream from the previous night. In the dream, I was supposed to put on this play for my church but we hadn't rehearsed at all and the costumes needed ironing and there were a ton of props to deal with, including a puppet. Later in the dream, I discovered I was pregnant and couldn't understand how that could be; was calculating the days since my last period and the last time I had sex and it didn't match up. Then I had a bad dream about Shawn where he was making out with me and then telling me he had to really go to meet Elizabeth but hey it was cool if I wanted to go too. I woke up panting and relieved to be back in my life. Why must all my dreams be stressful and so transparent? You'd think I'd be more imaginative.