The Commune's First Full Week

It seems like I haven't written in a decade, although it's only been a week and a half. Let me tell you, though, it's been a busy week and a half.

At the end of May, Kat and her son Rook moved in. That move went smoothly and they are safely ensconced in an area that, if you squint and look sideways at it, could be called "their own space." They've got beds, lamps, a dresser, a table, a couple of chairs, a screen and a very clear view of the giant television that John showed up with (fresh from HIS house).

Speaking of John, that poor man has been singlehandedly moving stuff from his house to this house for the better part of two weeks. The movers (gotta love those Two Men and a Truck fellas) brought the big stuff on Friday. Now, for the first time since I ditched my cream-with-gold-trim girlie furniture at age 18, I have a real bed with a headboard AND a footboard! Correction: John's sharing his furniture with me since my room was the only place it would fit. Uh-huh.

Cat update: After a few days of hissing and growling on little, misnamed Phoebe's part and a whole lot of eye rolls and snubbing tails from Juno and Jupiter, there seems to be an understanding between the felines. Basically, it's this—we will use your litter box and you won't use ours. We'll eat your food (because it's far yummier than what our mom buys us) and you can eat ours if we don't catch you. You can sleep on our human's beds if we're locked in the laundry room. You can hang out in the backyard with us if you promise to let us back in the house when we're ready and not do that thing where you sit by the door and look rude.

Phoebe's given out enough sass to put the other two in their places, so we're all good. The funniest moment: Phoebe was inside and the other two were outside looking in. He hissed at Juno, she hissed at him. Jupiter walked up behind Juno so she hissed at him too. We thought it might be a variation of "Yo, indoor cat, shut your mouth. Jupiter, shut your mouth too. It's probably all your fault, anyway."

Kid update: Rook has been very polite and obliging to me. Awesome! He's also picked up quite a bit of "summer brother" wisdom that I'm sure Kat would have been okay with him not knowing for, say, another few decades. (The term summer brother was coined by our friend Trista. She uses it to refer to the boy she watches in the summer... and who teaches HER son things she wishes he didn't.) At least Rook will be super cool when he starts his new school in the fall. He'll have the full download from Lettuce and Cubes about every term for every body part and activity known to man. I'm just hoping he doesn't get brain damage from the farting.

Lettuce and Cubes seemed to have a great time hanging out with Rook and having a third guy to try to outsmart-ass and beat on video games. They went back to their dad's today, which will allow all three boys to get some sleep, finally. This morning I asked Cubes, "So, what do think about The Commune now?" Grunt. "What's the best part so far?" Grunt. "What's the worst part?" Grunt. Granted, it was early. And he's a teenage boy. And he didn't fully understand that I was interviewing him for this post.

Flashdance has given Kat her stamp of approval. "That Kat, I like her." She's more lukewarm on John for the moment since I finally have a real reason to make her sleep in her own room. She LOVED having the trampoline that he put together for her, though, and logged a few hundred thousand jumps on it already.

Grownup update: What do you get when your throw three introverted (or the two of them and me) adults into the same house? (I've been working on a punch line to that question for a few days and haven't come up with it yet...) You get three adults, some more than others, that need to retreat to their corners and recharge occasionally. Guess who's recharging right now (write now)? Yep, me. We've already figured out that it's okay to not spend every waking second together as a social threesome, bantering on about world issues and moving logistics. We've also all enjoyed the down times when we do just that. Meals have been awesome, with all of us chipping in some portion of the meal prep and cleanup, and having a good time with the kids.

It's been fabulous for me having Kat around to supervise the kids when I'm doing something with John and John around when I'm with Kat. I'm trying to keep a good ledger in my head to make sure no one's doing more than anyone else (I will forever worry that I'm a lazy-bones). I love Kat for doing the dishes so often: "Don't get me wrong, I like leaving my dirty dishes in the sink like the next person, but I figure with all these people around if we don't keep up with them, we'll be screwed." And I love John for working harder than I thought a human could, just to get this house organized and comfortable. The man hung bikes on pulley systems in the garage so everything would fit, including the cars! He's a catch, I tell you. 

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Saturday night to christen The Commune with some wicked beergaritas. My headache is almost gone. Really, thanks. 

So that's it. Kat has two interviews tomorrow, I got hired to be a freelancer (wait, is that possible?), and John's got a huge proposal going out for work. Week two has some great potential!