Hello Everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend. The heat in NY is to die for, literally. I stayed in most of the weekend except for Saturday. First let me give you an update, i'm sure you're dieing to know what happened. Friday I had nowhere to go, my apartment had brand new tiles and the landlady called me saying the floors still weren't dry, so I couldn't spend the night or move any furnitures around until Saturday. Since my cousin was making a big deal about me staying another night in the apartment she shares with my brother, a friend's sister offered me her place to crash. Gladys lives in a 2 bedroom appartment with her 13 year old daughter, she made me feel right at home, treated me like family and she even cooked. I really wasn't expecting much, all I needed was a bed to lay my head on. First off I went to my cousin's apartment to pick up my stuff, she wasn't home but my brother was there and he was fuming about me spending the night at a stranger's home instead of family. But he had no control over the situation and although he said he was going to have a serious talk with my cousin, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be around to witness them barking at each other. I made it to Gladys' house that evening, she had dinner ready for me and we chatted most of the night. She was like the big sister I never had. On Saturday she went to work until 4pm and I was at her place watching movies and chilling with her daughter, when she got home she suggested we go for a stroll in Prospect Park and we also stopped by the Brooklyn Librairy which is nearby. It was a hot day but it felt great being out feeling the nice breeze at the park and many people were barbequeing. I took some pics with my new digital camera but I have to figure out how to download them to my blog.

It was Saturday afternoon when I contacted my landlady to find out the scoop on my apartment and she informed me the place would be ready after 8pm but after eating a hefty dinner at Gladys and telling her it was time for me to head home, she convinced me to spend another night.

"Why go home so late? what if the floors are still not dry by the time you get there?" she said.

She was right. When I called the landlady again after 8pm she said the floors were not ready unless I'm willing to sleep on a mattress in the kitchen. I stayed one more night at Gladys and the next morning (Sunday 7/30) I left and got home at 11:00am. To my dismay the place was like a zoo, all my furnitures were still in the kitchen and bathroom but when my eyes fell on the tiles I was in love...they did an awesome job.

My apartment looks so much brighter with the new tiles. I've been gone for five days and I think it was worth it, well, except for the tiny drama with my cousin. I had nowhere to sit or lay down and so I moved all the furnitures on my own including the sofa bed. I was sweating like a pig. My back is not hurting yet. Although the landlady had told me to wait for her to come back from church to help me move the stuff around I got impatient, I mean I was there since 11:00 a.m. and she didn't get home until 4pm, what was I going to do all these hours?

By the time she made it home I had all my things in place and she was shock to find out Cathy is indeed SuperWoman :)

Oh yeah as far as my cousin is concerned she never called me to apologize (not that I expected it) and her brother and his wife never slept over the apartment. My brother said it was probably her way of getting me out of the apartment nicely. Will I invite her to my housewarming? I've given it a lot of thought and appreciate all your comments and advice. Most likely she will be invited but I will cross my fingers hoping she doesn't show up.

** Pleasure Principle** I had to post the poem below, I couldn't help it, hope you all like it.