I spent most of last Saturday at home, stomach tied up in knots. Whether or not it was due to the tasty, healthy, but somewhat questionable Indian food I’d had for lunch on Friday, or the very good but (naturally) not-so-good-for-me fish and chips Friday night, I’m not entirely sure.
One thing’s for damn sure: I sure miss the iron-stomach that I had as a teenager.
By Saturday afternoon I was feeling okay, though, so I decided to take up my new neighbor on her invitation.
(Before you all ask: mid-to-late-forties and has boyfriend. Now, stop it, y’all.)
The backstory: Thursday the week before her fridge had died. The landlord had it fixed quickly enough, but thawed already was everything she had in the freezer: chicken, pork chops, vegetables, etc. Needing to cook it all up before it went bad, she spent most of Saturday in the kitchen.
My place is downwind of hers, and believe me, my neighbor knows her way around a spice rack. Seeing her that morning, I playfully joked that I might have to move out if she was going to be cooking such fantastic smelling dishes all the damn time.
She had friends coming over to help her build closet shelving that evening, and seeing the huge amount of food she had to use up (and being a friendly neighbor), she invited me to join them for dinner.
And so it was that Friday night I found myself in the backyard, eating dinner with my new neighbor and two of her friends, making conversation.
Such a radical change. Three months ago I had neighbors that, while I don’t think they’re bad people, were most definitely not a match so far as having shared walls.
Now I have a neighbor who’s friendly, good to talk to, courteous, and just as quiet as I am.
What a difference a couple of months make.
The GeekHiker 
Yayyyy!! It’s about damn time that NeighborKarma started working in your favor!!
By: Ms. H on April 29, 2009
at 3:34 am
I second that – YAY! for nice neighbors 🙂
By: ECT on April 29, 2009
at 4:16 am
Bravo! But I suspect you may have to his the gym some more if she keeps feeding you 🙂
By: Homer-Dog on April 29, 2009
at 7:03 am
Luck you! My neighbors are either strangers or jerks 😦
Darn, I was going to say “yay – cute neighbor?!” 🙂
By: k on April 29, 2009
at 10:36 am
I hope the food was excellent and the company even mroe so; here’s to more weekend nights socializingl after all, might she have single friends? : )
By: Kori on April 29, 2009
at 12:26 pm
oops, I meant even MORE so. Hey, I have a wordpress question, can you shoot me an email?
By: Kori on April 29, 2009
at 12:27 pm
Yea for nice neighbors man. Now indian food, I can live without. I had one bad experience and have yet to go back. I’m all for socializing. My neighbors are a bit quieter than I anticipated. It was weird.
By: Melinda on April 29, 2009
at 12:57 pm
That’s great! And you never know where the new relationships will lead you…maybe she has a hot younger cousin who likes to hike. 😛
By: Mel Heth on April 29, 2009
at 1:26 pm
I’m so happy to hear about your nice neighbor! It’s always nice to have someone close by that you can talk to or borrow sugar from heh. And plus, she might have some cute friends, ya never know! 🙂
By: Little Miss Obsessive on April 29, 2009
at 2:34 pm
It seems as if things have taken a turn for the better. Having good neighbors is great. Having good neighbors who can cook is even better!
By: Dingo on April 29, 2009
at 8:41 pm
Whoohoo!!!
& I’m glad I’m not the only one missing a stronger stomach that could deal better with all sorts of junk foods.
By: narami on April 29, 2009
at 9:04 pm
Fabulous! Dontcha love sleeping through the night! 😀
And mmm, food…
By: just a girl on April 29, 2009
at 10:23 pm
where are you from in california that you say “y’all”??
so glad you had a good time & got to meet some new friends!
By: kristinblakely on April 30, 2009
at 5:28 am
oooo….now I want to move back to California, where there’s a chance of a neighbor who cooks Indian food!
By: hebba on April 30, 2009
at 6:23 pm
hopefully you were charming enough to get invited back. and bringing dessert always helps.
and, dude, i remember the cast-iron stomach days. they were glorious. sadly, they are over for me also. started in peru in july, and now in morocco. i have to start traveling with diapers.
By: blakspring on May 3, 2009
at 3:04 pm
If I had known you were going to partake in questionable Indian food, I would have invited you to the big-fat-HinJew-wedding this weekend. There were not one, but two!, empty seats at our table. As if to remind not just me, but the friend I grew up with, YOU ARE STILL NOT MARRIED!!! Sigh.
By: Mrs Chuck Bartowski on May 3, 2009
at 9:44 pm
Ms. H – Tell me about it!
ECT – Thanks.
Homer-Dog – LOL, good point.
K – Oh, I have spent many, many years in that place, my friend.
Kori – I wish. All the people she knows, I think, are male pilots!
Kori – Oops, just saw this. Will do.
Melinda – Oh, you should go back. If done right, it can be quite tasty.
Mel Heth – Heh, not so far as I know…
Little Miss Obsessive – I’m starting to sense a theme amongst everyone…
Dingo – It is if you’re partaking of the food, otherwise having neighbors that are good cooks can be torture!
Narami – Yeah, getting older sucks, eh?
Just A Girl – I do. I need my beauty sleep. 😉
KristinBlakely – My Dad’s side of the family is from the south. 😛
Hebba – LOL
BlakSpring – We shall see, though she had desert at the ready as well. Great, I knew I should have traveled more when I was young. *sigh*
Mrs. Chuck Bartowski – Darn, if only I’d known…
By: geekhiker on May 4, 2009
at 9:58 pm
Ditto on the teenage stomach. Remember when having a mint-chip ice cream sandwich, Doritos, and a diet coke was considered a full meal??
By: thecoconutdiaries on May 5, 2009
at 4:59 pm