Caught!

Our neighbor is an older lady. I’d guess she is about 75 or so. Since the first day we moved in our house, she has been very friendly. She is like a watch dog too. When Ray and I were both working, it wasn’t uncommon for her to give us reports on such things as someone turning around in our driveway during the day (no, I’m not kidding)!

When we sent out our pregnancy announcements, we taped one to her door. She immediately called to tell us how happy she was for us. She also said the announcement was the “cutest thing she’s ever seen” and that she’d “treasure it forever”.

A few weeks later, she saw me outside and called my name. When I turned around, she motioned me to come over. She asked me if I’ve ever heard of the store Tuesday Morning. I told her I have, that I’ve been there before. She said, “Well, if you like that store, then you’ll love the Tuesday Morning Warehouse. It opens a few times a year…and if I’m not mistaken, they’re open now. You need to go because they have such cute baby things!” I smiled and told her I just might check it out one day. She told me to call her when I’m ready so she can give me directions.

About a week later, she called to tell me that she got a flyer from Tuesday Morning. She said she was having her son put it in our mailbox because it had the Tuesday Morning Warehouse address and phone number on it. I thanked her, and that was pretty much the end of the conversation.

Since then, she has called me twice and stopped me a several times to ask me if I’ve been to that gosh darn Tuesday Morning Warehouse! Every time, my response is similar (i.e., “No, I haven’t. We’ve had a lot going on. I might one day”). She responds by telling me again how big the place is and how many cute baby things they have.

Needless to say, I now feel very annoyed by her! I avoid her at all costs. Every now and then, Ray and I see her outside when we drive up. Even if he doesn’t notice her, he knows she outside when he hears me say, “Oh ****”. So, we’ve established a routine. When we stop the car, I take a few minutes to gather my purse and any grocery bags or whatever that I can carry. This is my attempt to give her time to go inside, rather than waiting to talk to me! More often than not, it doesn’t work. Therefore, Ray and I have a routine he is very familiar with. He hands over the house keys. I take my load to the door, stick the key in as fast as I can, turn the knob, smile, and say “I MADE IT!!!” to myself about 5 times! Poor Ray is left out there to fend for himself. Usually, she doesn’t bother him. But every now and then, he gets stuck out there for a few minutes. When he comes inside, I greet him with a big smile! :)

The awesome thing is that I’ve successfully avoided her for over a month now! And it wasn’t easy! But the other day, she CAUGHT me! I was walking the dogs out in our front yard. All would’ve been good and fine, but one of my children wouldn’t listen (for the record, it was Bad Boy Hobbes). I had to say his name over and over, more and more forcefully each time! Finally, he listened to me. BUT Hobbes not paying attention to me did more than annoy me! It let our neighbor know I was outside!!!

From the corner of her carport, she yelled, “HELLO TISH!” I don’t remember, but I’m sure I rolled my eyes before turning around and saying, “Yes ma’am?!” She said, “How are you doing? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you!” I was tempted to say, “Yeah, and how wonderful it has been!” Instead, I said, “Yeah, we’re just in and out all the time”. She said, “You look just darlin’!” That was very nice of her to say because all I did was throw on Ray’s big LSU Championship sweatshirt, pull my hair up in a ponytail, and completely omit make-up that morning. I said, “Thank you”. She said, “You are having Ray take pictures of you along the way, huh?” I said, “Yes ma’am, sure am”. She said, “Good!” Before she even thought about asking me about the MUST SEE Tuesday Morning Warehouse, I looked down at Hobbes and said, “Come on, Hobbes! You listen to me when I say your name”. Without looking back, I continued to give him a “good talking to” as I hurriedly walked inside!

I was SO sick of her asking me if we’ve gone to that place yet, that if she would’ve asked me again, I think I would’ve blurted out that we went and it totally sucked!!!! :)