Not How I Like To Come Home From Vacation
Posted By Kristabella on April 12, 2010
So yesterday I returned home from a wedding weekend extravaganza in Houston. When I opened my front door of my condo, I saw this:
That is my back door OPEN. The one that goes to the balcony. The balcony that is OUTSIDE. MY HOUSE WAS OPEN ALL WEEKEND!
First thing I did is looked to the coffee table and saw my laptop. WHEW! Second, I looked for the cats. Simba was in his usual spot, sleeping on the blankets in the laundry basket that I need to take to the laundromat because my washer is too small. I wasn’t too worried about Simba. He is a smart cat. He knows that if he were to run away, things would be dire. He knows how good he’s got it in my house.
But Kitty Kitty, she likes to bolt any chance she gets. She likes to try and sneak out the front door when I leave in the mornings. She thinks there is an awesome world out there that I am DENYING her. I figured I had seen the last of her.
I went out to the balcony and looked for her. I called her name. Finally she came running. She had been hiding in her usual spot under the futon in my second bedroom.
*DEEP SIGH OF RELIEF*
Then I turned on the heat because it was like 55 in my house! Brrrr!
Here’s the thing, as I was leaving Chicago on Friday morning, sitting on a plane bound for Houston, hoping that I didn’t stink like all the beer I drank the night before, I thought “I bet you the back door isn’t locked. And I bet you I’m going to come home to a wide open door, no cats and a ransacked house.”
Thankfully I forgot about this thought. Otherwise I would have had ruined my awesome weekend. And really, there was nothing to do at that point since no one has keys to my place. (NOTE TO SELF, GIVE SOMEONE A SPARE SET OF KEYS!)
But as soon as I landed in Chicago Sunday afternoon, I was worried about what I was going to come home to. I prayed that everything would be OK. And as soon as I got off on the elevator, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. It was COLD in the hallway. It’s never cold in the hallway, unless some window (or DOOR) is open.
And my fear was confirmed – Door. Open. WIDE. OPEN.
After I found the cats and killed the flies that had come in, I then proceeded to make sure no one was in the house. I armed myself with pepper spray and pulled back the shower curtain, opened all the closets and looked under the beds. No one was there. I really got away scott free. But I slept with the pepper spray on the nightstand just in case.
Oh, and you’re wondering, I’m sure, how the door came to be unlocked? Let’s just say I had a visitor on Thursday night after going out to a bar and this visitor is a smoker and there is no smoking in my house. And said visitor is an idiot and didn’t lock my door, which is why I will never be calling/texting/seeing said visitor ever again.
Also, I woke up with this on my arm after hanging out with said visitor:
So not only does this visitor not know how to lock a door, said visitor also gave me some sort of rash/allergic reaction. (My friend Teri said she had something similar and the doctor said it was an allergic reaction, generally to food or a preservative. SO SAID VISITOR CLEARLY ALSO DRUGGED ME. Or something.)
But I’m very, very, very thankful that this all turned out for the best. And that my kitties are still OK and still puking on my carpet like nothing has changed.
And tomorrow I’ll tell you all about my awesome trip to Houston and how it was just what I needed.
:::::
So because I was so lucky and got away with no harm to my house, etc, I feel like I should pay it forward. Like donate money to charity or volunteer my time or SOMETHING. I want to thank the universe for doing a good thing for me. Any ideas internet? I have to help someone else for me being so lucky.
About the author
One time I left my back door open when I went to work in the early afternoon mid-winter. I came home at like 2 a.m. and it was like 20 degrees inside, and someone else’s cat was hanging out in my kitchen while my cat hid in the bedroom. Since then, I’ve had recurring dreams that I have to pick my cat out of a bunch of random cats.
OMG! What the F? Maybe you had a reaction to his cologne or something?
.-= Raven´s last blog ..i’m just judging you =-.
That is so scary and I am so glad that you escaped with no damage (except the flies of course). The obsessive-compulsive in me is always checking to see if I locked the doors, turned the stove off, unplugged my straightening iron, etc., etc., so that anxiety must be the worst!
I think you are already doing a public service by letting us along for the ride in Kristabellastan.
http://walk.networkofstrength.org/Page.aspx?pid=1383&frsid=48548
Sarah, who I used to work with, walks in the Mother’s Day “Walk to Empower” for Breast Cancer….and the cause is very near & dear to her heart.
I don’t think you need to pay it forward….just taking advantage of your blog to promote a great cause for a great person.
What about a donation to your local police dept? bc you’d be best friends with them, had something actually happened. (And yes, I write this after having divulged to you my hatred of the Chicago PD based on the one Chi cop I know and his making me cry at Joe’s on Weed.)
Dude. You were DRUGGED? I really hope you weren’t.
The door being open is freaky, but I’m glad everything is OK.
.-= Angella´s last blog ..Just ‘Cuz =-.
Glad all ended well. I think you could pay it forward with free babysitting for a lucky mom — hahahaha!
.-= Snarky Mommy´s last blog ..Infectious laugh =-.
Once left my keys in the door of my house, with keys to both my and my husband’s cars (which were parked int he driveway), while I went out with friends.
I still haven’t told him.
I am insanely OCD about locking doors. I will run around the house checking them three times before I go anywhere or to bed at night. My husband? Not so much. On more than one occasion I’ve come down in the morning to an unlocked door. Yeah, we live in Baltimore. Murder capitol. Clearly he’s trying to get rid of me.
Glad everything was okay.
ha – you falied to mention the rash when i asked how your night ended up after i left! i am a hypochondriac and would’ve been way more worried about that than the door. But glad the kitties and condo are OK! you can drop a spare with me too if you want, then you can have your casserole and books back :-)…has the visitor called since?
I had a similar experience to that. Except replace “my door” with “the door of the apartment in a Major American City where I was housesitting.” I think I got my payback via my love life debacle, and maybe that is why you got a rash. Good and bad, all in perfect harmony.
This is so typical, you with all the bad decisions. Someone should probably stage an intervention.
Heart: THROAT. When you tweeted about this, I thought you meant a sliding glass (patio) door – i.e. that it wouldn’t be evident that a door was open. Even then I OMG’d.
I’m also OCD about locking my door/windows, so imagine my utter PANIC when I came home to find my door unlocked not once, but TWICE (and the laundry room door ajar the first time). Swear to Jeebus someone was in there. Needless to say, the lock was changed and one of those flip-over hotel locks installed immediately.
Glad everything was where it was supposed to be!
.-= Chibi Jeebs´s last blog ..Did you wear pink today? =-.