What the . . . ?

You know how you know when something in your house just isn't right? I came home from work yesterday and 2 of the 3 doors to the outside were unlocked. That's weird. My son is a rule-follower. He leaves the house he locks the house. Period. And he wasn't home. So fine, he must have been in a hurry, but I was still shaking my head.

Once in the house I noticed a can of Diet Pepsi on the kitchen counter. A full, unopened can. My BF arrived about the same time I did so I asked if he had left the pop there. No, he hadn't. And it wasn't really cold either. Again, weird. But - whatever.

I went to my bedroom to change my clothes and happened to notice as I walked past a bookcase in the hallway, that a blanket that my daughter had so thoughtfully folded and tossed onto one of the lower shelves last time she was home, was no longer there. What the .. ? I glanced into her room and the blanket had been tossed in there, onto the floor in a little bundle. I started to think I was losing what little of my mind I have left. I mean, who notices little things like a moved blanket and a can of pop on the kitchen counter? It's not like there aren't a million other things on that counter.

Later in the evening I saw something on the carpet. I looked closer and realized it looked like one of the cats had puked and someone had cleaned it up. Not well, but none-the-less. Now, I know my son. He will only clean up cat puke if he steps in it (sometimes not even then) and never if it is not in his immediate path. He may see it in another part of a room - but if there is no chance he will be stepping over it - he keeps his blinders on. So who the heck cleaned that up?

Andy came home shortly after that and I started asking him questions so they would stop rattling around in my brain. Yes, he did lock the doors when he left. No, he didn't leave any pop on the counter. I would ask him a question and walk away. A couple minutes later I would go to the back of the house and ask him something else "hey, did you clean up cat puke today?" No, he didn't do that either. He was starting to look at me in a really strange way and I was saying to him "it's just so strange. I mean, I know no one broke into our house. People don't come into a stranger's house and clean up cat puke ... " and I walked away again scratching my head.

Finally when I approached him one more time with the question "oh, would there be any reason you would move Dani's blanket from the bookcase .. " "SHE DID IT!" he blurted. I was startled. "What?" Blink. "Who?" "Dani. She was here! Don't tell her I told you!" Oh. My. God.

Turns out my daughter had given her boyfriend tickets to see Blue Man Group for his birthday. It was kind of a last minute thing but they drove the 4 and a half, 5 hours up here, and stopped at the house before heading downtown. It was only after they got to the house that Dani realized they wouldn't be able to wait for me to get home from work to see me before the show, and when it was over they needed to leave right away to drive the 4 to 5 hours back. So my daughter in her infinite wisdom decided it would be better if I didn't know they had been here at all. I wouldn't need to know she had been in town and hadn't visited her mom.

Silly girl.

I called her today and said "Did you really think I wouldn't notice the doors all unlocked, the pop on the counter, the cat puke cleaned up and the blanket tossed into your room?" She knew I wasn't mad and she totally saved herself with "Well if it makes any difference I felt really bad being at the house when you weren't there and I missed you." Aww-w-w ...

And I felt totally better knowing that I didn't have a weird intruder who cleaned up cat puke and moved blankets, AND - I wasn't imagining things either. Whew! Dodged another dementia bullet.

I've got that going for me. And that's important.