You can't spell debacle without acle?

So on spring break (about 2 weeks ago) we descended upon my parents' house in an attempt to help them with the chaos that reigns there. I underestimated the true amount of crap and overestimated my mother's willingness to part with any of it. As in, she has no willingness. None whatsoever. Not even an ounce of willingness.

Now I should say that I have given her an out. They could have said no at the beginning. AND about a week before we went, I emailed them and said look if you don't want us to do this, tell us NOW and we'll adjust our plans and expectations. No answer.

I also seriously underestimated the level of mentally ill my mother currently is. I say mentally ill, not to denigrate those with mental illnesses, but because she has to be (albeit undiagnosed). There can be no other explanation for her complete and total unwillingness to part with any of her treasures. Even when faced with things that are obviously trash. OBVIOUSLY trash, she can't bear to part with them. As my sister and I discussed one night, it isn't as though these are things that have sentimental value because of our childhood or even her own... these are OTHER PEOPLE'S treasures. She buys all this crap at yard sales.

We unloaded the maybe 50% of the living room. That was the only room we could even really work in. But since she wouldn't get rid of anything we mostly refilled the room when we were done.

So on the positive - My sister resealed the roof, which took almost a day. My niece and nephew found a box that contained stuff from my sister (their mother) before she died. It had photos of them from a period of time they didn't have any photos. They were very glad to find those. My nephew and I got rid of a bunch of yard debris. We got some family photos taken before my mother completely and totally melted down on Saturday.

I guess the biggest positive that came out of this is that I don't have to feel badly about it and we don't ever have to go back to try this. I do feel concern about it when they both pass, but that will be so much easier since we'll be able to throw away so much without them stalking us.

Family Project Phase 1

I've mentioned before that my parents' house needs a lot of help. My dad is too old to do a lot of the yardwork. My mom (and probably my dad too) is a hoarder. I volunteered (like an idiot maybe) to help them out.  My sister and I flew out for Labor Day weekend to deal with their front yard. Unbeknownst to me, they actually had received a letter from the City citing that they were violating multiple codes. We did what we could and hopefully they are back within code compliance. My sister is planning on going back over Thanksgiving to help deal with the garage. I'm not giving up my Thanksgiving plans, especially since we'll be back there in March.



This is the before picture. Those two cacti are severely overgrown. The smaller one on the left edge is called a 'bunny ears.'  The worst part about the damn bunny ears... the needles. The prickly pear on the right (also overgrown and big) at least has giant needles which are easy to pull out when they pierce the glove. Bunny ears give you teeny tiny clusters of needles. Please note the giant pile of crap up by the house. 

My parents had rented a smallish dumpster. We filled it and then my sister would climb on top and jump on it to squash the plant stuff down further into the dumpster. I think she had to do that twice. Maybe three times. She's kind of a badass because I was not about to do that.

 

Before lunch on the first day, we had cleaned up this side of the driveway. I pulled out an entire bunny ears behind that great big cactus. It was a mess. That big cactus, I don't know what it is called, but it also has teeny tiny spines. There was also one on the left side of the drive way which I trimmed with a chain saw. Look how badass I am with a chain saw? :) The little one in front is a cholla. Chollas tend to have big needles, but they are also hooked. That sucks, but luckily that little one was the only one that they had that was still alive.

 

At the end of day one we had filled this yellow trailer. I had read on the county's website that the transfer station was open until 3:00. Didn't realize that the CITY owned the compost part and that closed at 2:30.  That was not pleasing. We loaded up a bunch more on top of this over the rest of the weekend.

 

While I was weed whacking this little guy ended up on the top of the weed whacker. (wacker?). Super cute and he (she?) sat there as I carried it around the house, found my cell phone, futzed with my cell phone and took the picture. I had to move it onto a plant. It didn't want to leave the weed whacker (wacker?)

We filled that bad boy. In fact it was kind of bulging on top because we threw a bunch of rose bush clippings on top of it and continued to stuff. It was like packing a suitcase.

This stack of wood represents all the wood that was randomly in their front yard. There's a wood buffet amongst that crap. It had been damaged by rain. I'm not sure why they bought it to begin with. To torment me I'm sure.

 

Monday morning we used these old cinder blocks from a side fence and built this little "wall" to hide my father's SIX scooter lifts. Why do they have six scooter lifts? Very good question. Only one is regularly used but suggest getting rid of one and you'd think we suggested murdering one of their cats or something. One doesn't work at all. We were super close to getting rid of it but then my dad changed his mind. He's been influenced into her hoarder world.

 

On Monday afternoon the clouds rolled in. I convinced my sister that we were done at about 2:00. Good thing, after we cleaned up at the hotel, and went to leave to go get pedicures, it was POURING. And it continued to pour until Tuesday. Luckily SV weather is kind of weird and by the time we got from the motel to Denny's, that area barely was sprinkling.

 

 

We were waiting at the transfer station on Tuesday morning when it opened up. You may (or may not) be able to tell but there's a little brown road runner in the back investigating the contents of the trailer. I tried to get a better pic, but it wasn't having any of it. 

Here is the finished product. We got rid of all the wood. We got rid of all the weeds. That big white trailer... full of stuff. Sigh. We cut back a bunch of the cacti in the front yard. They can actually PARK in the drive way. Imagine that. Since they own 3 cars. Which is weird since there are only two of them and in general my mom doesn't drive. (although I did learn she still does periodically.)

 

Next up... Phase 3. I'm skipping out on Phase 2. Luckily that's not until March. 



The Ubiquitous Shoe Box

So my mother is finally on board with the great clean up project. I can't imagine how far we'll get. I'd like to think we'll make a good dent, but I don't hold out high hopes. So the plan is such: Labor Day we go for just the weekend to do front yard chores such as raking, tearing down a wall and cactus pruning. In March, during Spring Break, we go again to focus on the indoors. My goal is to get three rooms cleared out and detrashed. That might be too ambitious a goal. We'll see. I will imagine that my mother (and quite possibly on some level my father) will fight us tooth and nail over her 'treasures.' As my sister and I have both pointed out to her - if it is damaged due to neglect then it isn't a treasure anymore. For example, she has a headboard and footboard in the front yard. According to my father she has this whole image for my nephew's old bedroom (and before that it was Mandy's bedroom and before that it was Mandy & my bedroom together).  It involves that bed. Well I'm not sure when the bed was purchased, but in Arizona they are now in monsoon season. While for many, monsoon season means heavy torrential rains for days and days like in the Phillipines. In Arizona this means that the heat and humidity build and the ground bakes and this continues for many tortorous hours until about 2 - 3 pm. Then it pours down rain like a maniac for maybe 1/2 an hour. Then the rain stops and the sun comes out and the baking process begins again. Not so good for a 'wrought iron' bed frame. (I don't know what it is made out of. She claims wrought iron, my father claims "wrought iron."  Who knows.)

The hard part is how much these kinds of habits can impact your whole life. I've spent about 1/2 of today purging my extra crap. And most of what has been purged is trash or recycling. (Not gross trash, let me clarify that right away).  But I just dumped a bunch of old magazines. I'm chucking my ancient green bag that I used to use when I was a LITTLE girl for sleep overs. The oddly hardest thing to get rid of - shoe boxes. My mother is a big believer in shoe boxes. As children they were always kept because you can put stuff into them. Little things or slightly bigger things. Anything really. My mother used many of hers for old bills and paystubs. It took me several years to sink in that nobody gives a rat's ass about my pay stub from 1997 or that I paid my electric bill on time in 2002. My mother saved all of that stuff for YEARS. Somewhere in the 90s we were throwing away bills she had paid in the 80s. Why would you need to prove you paid the water bill from 1985? Obviously the water is still on therefore the bill has been paid.  The hoarder's mantra is "you never know when this will come in handy."  I confess this is a struggle for me. And yet, in the storage unit there are probably three or more boxes that I sort of know what is in them, but if I were to donate the box contents unreviewed to charity I probably would have no idea what is missing. And thereby wouldn't miss it.  Baby steps. If it ever gets to be under 100 I will pare the storage space again. And again until it can be pared no more.
One of the other things I struggle with is what exactly to do with the junk. For example, I have a broken rice cooker. I doubt it can be fixed. Is this something you can throw away? Do I have to take it to the dump myself? Is it going to fill a landfill and thereby cause problems for future generations? Can it be recycled? (Notice I get this hung up on a freaking rice cooker yet every day at work I throw a pepsi can in the trash because it is my own ridiculous mini rebellion since we do not have recycling in the building.) I have at least 3 ugly yellow plastic cups from Dickie's barbecue restaurant. What to do with them? I feel like donating them is shitty since honestly, what charity really benefits from them? They are the Top Ramen of donations. Currently they get used around the house, but really there are other things in my apartment that could do what they currently do. And since I have to take the recyclables to the center myself there are the bags of newspaper that fill the front closet and the bags of cans that fill the storage unit until I have enough to make the trek.

This and much much more will be the fun of doing my parents' house. Worse because I've gotten pretty good at paring down the things I don't need. They have a lot of stuff.

Laboring for Labor Day

My father has agreed that they need help. It took him awhile to reply to my email proposing the help, but he is in favor of it. The downside, he thinks the front yard has to be done before March. So my sister and I are giving up our Labor Day weekend to make the front yard look less ghetto. When I was there a couple of weeks ago for my reunion (which I really should post about), there was a smashed mailbox in the yard. I say to my father, 'dad, why is there a smashed mailbox in the front yard?' His reply, 'because I hit it with a trailer.' Not the response I was hoping for. Or looking for really. What I was really asking is why is there a smashed mailbox in the front yard and not in the trash. Much of the front yard is like this. SO, instead of going to Alabama to get a new tattoo (Alabama certifies or licenses or something their tattoo artists so that I don't have to wait the 1 year to donate blood per the blood bank's rules), my sister, my niece and I are going to AZ to spend 3 or 4 (depending on if I can get Tuesday off) cleaning up my parents' front yard and maybe building a fence. We have not broached this subject with my mother. My father is worried about that. My sister is handling that aspect since I handled my dad. We're still going to be going in March, this just makes their neighbors hate them a little less. (Since there is about 3 with for sale signs in front of their homes I'm kind of surprised they haven't snuck in in the night and hauled away all the unsightly junk).

I've been doing some research on what we could do with the front yard once we've got all the junk and dead plants out and it seems like a clover yard is an easy, low maintenance, not requiring mowing way to go. We'll see if there's time to put that down once we get the rest taken care of. I'm not sure if I have to do stump removal (which I will have to google) if I'll be able to get the lawn clover seeded. But they need SOMETHING and most of the cacti are dead. (Which will be so fun to remove.)

A pending project

I've mentioned before, I think, that my parents are hoarders. My pop is 75 and my mom turns 70 this year. Their house is out of control and there are a lot of household tasks that they can't do. (Like taking down and putting back up a fallen wall).  I have enlisted the help of the remainder of my family to give up a week of our lives to spend at my parents' house to attempt to at least get them to the status not the worst house on the block. (Seriously when I was there for my reunion I'm pretty sure a truck slowed down because they thought it was a yard sale on Sunday morning). Since I don't visit that often, I wasn't aware how crazy it had gotten.  I got breakfast in bed on Sunday morning, not because my mom is nice (well she is sometimes) but because there was literally (and I do not use that word lightly) nowhere to sit except on the beds or at my dad's computer. There used to at least be spots at the kitchen table. Not so much anymore apparently.

They're both overwhelmed. They'll both admit it. Unfortunately due to my vacation limitations and the fact that the fall is the busiest time for my job (we have a black out period where nobody is allowed to take vacation during this period of time and it is about 2 months), and my little niece is still in school so we won't be able to begin this project until March, my niece's spring break. My goal, although my sister doesn't know it yet, is to get the front looking less frightening and then make their bedroom, the kitchen/dining room and living room livable. At the minimum. I'll be renting a dumpster to make that part easier.

There will be a lot more organization required. They do pretty well for themselves with their side business of refurbishing stuff they find at yard sales and then selling it through consignment shops. The problem, amongst many, is that they don't know what all they have and what they do have may be getting damaged further because of the fact that there is no space.

I don't know what their reaction will be when either me or my sister mention it. I hope they will let us help them. I'm not sure what to do if they don't. Except I won't visit again and stay with them. There's no place to stay.

My baby sister

I don't know if I ever really mention my baby sister. I had 2 sisters. One older and one younger. The older one died 10 years ago June. The younger one is still alive. She has a kid, the kid's 16.

She's super cute. (But probably dates men who are less awesome than she is).

These two were taken when we went to Leavenworth, WA one Christmasish time.

She's done a lot of super cool things like get SCUBA certified and live in a foreign country for YEARS.

She's been to more international destinations than I have.

This is her when we went ziplining. I would have been interested in it, but I'm not sure I would have done it if she hadn't agreed to do it.  

She's raised her kid mostly alone. She's much more into family than I am. Probably because they liked her better. :) (This is at the fair. I did not attempt a 'bull' ride because I am easily embarrassed and a wuss.)

Have I mentioned she's cute? And pretty funny. Oh and I'm fortunate that she doesn't hold crap against me because she totally could.

She used to be a gymnast and a diver and a cheerleader. You can tell by her form. (This is at a lake here in Texas. Total old school swimming hole).

I have a digital photo frame in my office. One of her pictures came up and I realized she really is awesome. I probably don't tell her that enough.

Twas the weekend before Christmas

My family all came to visit.  We survived.  Well, not all... the older niece and nephew weren't here.  I think this year may have been the last one I buy them any presents for Christmas.  I never get one from them nor do I ever hear from them. 

With the exception of the massive hospitalization of my mother, the weekend was pretty fun.  Mandy, Kayla and I got to go ziplining like we wanted to.  It was really fun!  Not too scary.  Although I kept flipping around backwards on the line which scared me a little bit since I couldn't see where I needed to start the stop procedure.  (Well and to stop you need to have your feet facing forward to land on the platform)

We went to ICE at the Gaylord Texas.  It was awesome.  It was so neat.  They bring in some insane quantity of ice and they have Chinese artists carve it into various sculptures.  This year's theme was Charlie Brown's Christmas.  It was so beautiful.  (Well and cold!)

After that we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  That was a nice treat.  All in all it was a pretty good trip (hospitalization aside).

Confessions from the still sleepy

My mom went to the ER last night and got admitted to the hospital. She'll be out today. It was dumb. On friday she brought her cat, Max, over to the apartment and Sam did not respond well.  In fact he cornered Max in the bedroom and was hissing and yowling and growling at him.  There are certain noises that when an animal is making that noise you don't touch it. She did and Sam bit her.  She bled a lot. And over the course of yesterday her hand swelled up with infection.  And then it started running down her arm.  So we went to the ER.  We got sent to another hospital. (She via ambulance) and finally at around 1 AM they admitted her and we got to go home. We'll pick her up today.

I invited my parents?

My sister is coming to Dallas the weekend of the 18thish to go on our zipline tour (1.2 lbs to go!) and we'll go to holiday in the park at 6 flags and to ICE a ice sculpture show at a fancypants hotel here in Dallas.  Because I'm a sap and easily influenced by my sister, I invited my parents to come and join us.  They might actually do it!  Now since my palatial apartment isn't THAT big they'll stay at a nearby hotel.  (There is a hotel literally next door to my apartment complex. We share a fence). 

I went to a party tonight.  That's a big deal.  I don't usually do social things but I have to.  I'm sick of being by myself all the time.  There weren't really any possible contenders to be my local friends, but it is good for me to practice talking to people. I'm not so good with that.  Tomorrow I'm going to a gf event what a mexican place and then next week I'm going to a bowling party with my apartment people.  Just call me buttterfly. :)

I have an interview on Wednesday.  It is for one I phone screened for before Thanksgiving.  Since I hadn't heard anything I presumed it wasn't happening so I was pleasantly surprised to get the call.  Although it was funny because there was an email accidentally sent to me from someone about whether or not the people they wanted to interview had been called in yet.  Oops.  :)  It is a phone interview and then I suppose if I move on it'll be an in person one.  If I get called for that and it happens to be on the 20th (the day I'm taking off to spend time with the fam) I'll take that as a sign the job is MINE.  I don't want to have to take time off to go interview.  My boss is a freak about that shit.  The recruiter and I are salaried employees.  Typically even if a salaried person doesn't work 8 hours you get paid for the full day and don't use PTO to pay if you leave early or whatnot.  She charged my coworker like 3 hours of PTO when she left early.  In WA that wouldn't be legal.  Unfortunately here it is.  She also won't let the 2 hourly employees do things like work through lunch or take only 1/2 hour lunches for the week to make up leaving early for an appointment or whatever.  Have I mentioned that the 2 hourly employees are not allowed to work later than either me or bboss?  One of us have to stick around if the employee works late. So bizarre. (Usually it is less than 10 minutes so not really a big deal but so stupid!)  Anyway I've got high hopes. The job would be within my area of expertise but doing something really different than what I do.  I wouldn't have to administer leaves of absences anymore!  (I LOATHE administering leaves of absence.)

Ho ho ho

I am finding myself full of the Christmas spirit lately.  Like I want to decorate my balcony and put up my tree AND I was even thinking of getting a real live tree this year! (I love live trees!) Currently I am downloading all my holiday cds into itunes so I can make a holiday play list for work. This is unlike me.  I haven't put up a Christmas tree since 2003 or 2004. I don't believe in the "reason for the season." 

My sister is coming in December and we're going to do our own little Christmas the weekend before Christmas.  I'm TOTALLY excited about going to CA over Thanksgiving.  Totally ready for a few days away from work.  There's a lot of excitement around me.  Yay! :)

Ahh Texas

So while I was walking around the grocery store like a normal person does when I came along the "international" aisle. The heading on the aisle: Mexcian & Chinese. Cracked me up a lot.

My sister is here in town. It is so exciting. I like it when she visits. We're going to Six Flags today. Tomorrow we're going to Wicked. It'll be a good time (albiet expensive). :)

Like a bra but different

My mother is being rather supportive of my planned job hunt and move. Of course the problem with my mother being supportive is that she tends to go overboard. She's now decided I need to work for the feds. They have great benefits she says. And, in reality, I don't think you ever get fired with them. I'm not against the idea, per se, but I'm not in love with it either. Here's part of the problem... I rarely ask her for help. When I finally do, she gets all excited about it and goes overboard and kind of becomes overbearing. If I were smart, I would ask more frequently for help from her and then not have to deal with this weirdness.

Changing my mind

I had a whole post about the Lion King in my head but I've since been sidetracked by other thoughts. I logged into facebook tonight and there was a notice about funeral services for someone I went to high school with. I don't really remember her that well, but I was trying to figure out what she died from. So I went to the news paper in the town my parents live in. I couldn't find the obit I was looking for, but it turns out my mother's best friend died. She was only 66. I don't know what happened there but that's sad for my mom and for her friend's family. She had a daughter and a son and 5 (or possibly more at this point) grandchildren. I always liked her.

One thing I've picked up from both my parents, I don't seem to need/want a lot of friends. Michelle was my mom's only friend. (Oh holy crap, I am turning into my mom! MY BFF is a Michelle.) Neither of my parents are particularly social people. They'll talk to people in the stores and what not but not really the hanging out or going out for coffee with other people kind of thing. They never threw parties or anything like that and in reality, I cannot recall my father even having a guy friend to hang out with or whatever. He seemed really content to go to work, come home, potter around the house. He took his lunch to work with him every single day and as far as I know ate it at his desk, so no need for someone to go to lunch with. I think that was partially because he worked on an army base and civilians can't use a lot of the services on the base, but my dad's not really a going out to eat kind of guy. I know they would never have friends over or anything crazy like that, but I do not remember them ever going out with friends either, except for Walt and Michelle (and that was when I was older since my sister and Michelle's daughter were in gymnastics again), and my dad didn't really like them either. We're a weird people, my family. A weird people.

My mother thinks I'm a lesbian

That's the only explanation I can come up with for the shirts and dress she bought me for Christmas. Not only am I a lesbian, but I'm a 45 year old or older lesbian. AND she bought them at Dillards. We don't even have a Dillards here in Seattle. Guess what we're doing Michelle when I come and visit... (Do you have Dillards in LA?)

In other news, Leavenworth is gorgeous. I'll post pictures when I get around to getting them off the camera. The bus ride was okay and fairly uneventful. Vancouver was a brief trip surrounded by interminable car rides. We spun out on the freeway coming home and went to a hotel to spend the night and get off the freeway. We went to a hotel in Burlington, a Fairfield I think. It was really nice and definitely worth the bucks we spent. In contrast, I'm not 100% certain the hotel we stayed at in Leavenworth was worth it.

Today we got back from Leavenworth (after deciding to spend an extra night) and went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We also went to the movies - Seven Pounds. I did not really enjoy it honestly.

Hopefully I will be on a plane on the 26th to CA. (I say hopefully only because due to weather many of our flights have been fucked and there is a slim possibility I may get stranded.)

Let it Snow

The snow has been coming down off and on since Thursday. It is so beautiful. I really love it. My sister is enthralled with it. We went out for manicures and coffee and dinner and it was really coming down. It was really beautiful.

We're off to Vancouver BC tomorrow. I'm excited to go. Tomorrow we're going to Leavenworth via Greyhound. We'll spend the night there. It should be beautiful. I'm pretty excited by that too.

Wednesday we're going to Stephen's for Christmas eve dinner and we're going shopping. And then she goes home on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get the Christmas presents before Christmas and so I won't have to send Mandy's on to Florida.

Again my mother insisted she send them a way that requires my signature. What part of I'm not home during the day to sign for packages is confusing to her?? I thought they were going to redeliver yesterday but they didn't. They may on Monday. I don't know. So peeved by that.

Don't ask the question if you're not sure you want the answer

So, remember the post a few days ago (ok last week I admit it) where I mentioned my sister and the cancer and all that? I asked my mom which type of Leukemia she had had. She had CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). If you read the wikipedia entry you see that had she gotten the disease four years later, she most likely would have lived. Gleevec was approved in 2001. She was diagnosed in February of 1997. (And died in 02).

My older niece is in college now. She started this week I think. I don't know if she got a lot of money from the school or if satan is paying her way, but he promised to pay my nephew's way too this year and apparently that fell through. My pop doesn't know if it is due to satan or due to my nephew. Chris is a bit of a stubborn stubborn boy. He apparently has a weird refusal to fill out a FAFSA to see if he could get other aid. He's an orphan who earns some ridiculous minimum wage working for Target... he should be getting grants up the ass. Silly boy.

Old Age

I'm always fascinated when I hear a certain famous person is some age beyond 70. My dad turned 71 this year and I swear he must be the oldest 71 year old in the history of people. So when I realize that Barbara Bush is in her 80s or John McCain is 70 something I'm kind of amazed about how different their lives are. Besides the obvious, but more how they're getting out there and doing stuff regularly and not really slowed down as much as my dad is. You would think this would encourage me to lead a healthier lifestyle. So far it hasn't. :)

Kill me now...

I'm turning into my mother. My mom believes that if one is good 10 must be better. Yesterday when I stopped into QFC to pick up some bacon salt for Michelle, I wasn't sure what kind to get her. I had called and left a message but my cell was at home so I didn't see her text response. Originally in my message I had said I'll just get original but if you want the other two let me know and I'll pick them up to. While at QFC I thought, well I'm here and I'm currently thinking of it, I'll just get all three types and if she doesn't want the other two I can either use them myself or give them to someone else. That is exactly what my mother would do. I'm so ashamed.

18

My niece is turning 18 years old this month. (Around the 19th or 20th I think). What the heck do you get kids that age these days? I'm pretty sure I can't go the same route as I did my nephew who just turned 21. I bought him booze. I don't think my niece would be really thrilled with me if I bought her cigarettes and p0rn for her 18th birthday. Or maybe she would be... who knows. :)

In CA

Do you miss me??

I got here on Sunday. It is HOT. Much hotter than I'm used to and it surprised me.

Michelle's baby is cute. She posts pictures on flicker but those do the kid little justice. Seriously. I just like touching her head because she's fuzzy and soft. She's a good baby. Between Kenna and my friend Janel's baby Trygve I may not dislike infants as much as I think I do.

Totally unrelated, I was talking to lyday the other day about adopting kids. My theory on this is that I meet up with a social worker and say you tell me who would do good with me. I do fear adopting a black baby though. Only because I've been listening to my scout moms talking about what you have to do with little black girls' hair and it freaks me out. Hot combs. Wax or something like that. Seriously it is intimidating. Lyday, who is 1/2 black herself, gave me a compliment. She said she thought I'd be great with any kind of kid really. That was nice of her.

So far, we've gone to Mongolian bbq and hung out. Michelle's grandmother, aunt and other aunt came by for dinner tonight. That was a ... tiring meal. It was nice and her hubby cooked a fabulous dinner. One of her aunts, though, had an anyuerism a few years ago and it definitely has affected her. There were kind of weird conversations going on, but in reality every one was nice and civil to each other so that beats most meals with my family 100%.

Slightly related... I wonder if my mother ever told my grandmother about Kayla before my grandmother died. When my grandmother heard Amanada got married, she implied that Amanda HAD to get married. In a fit of righteous indignation my mom lied and said no she didn't. Rather than do the logical thing like announce the baby a year later and just keep Kay a year younger than she really is, she continued to deny the existence of Kay. So weird...

Still on the agenda:
Christmas tomorrow at Michelle's mom's house.
Arts & Crafts projects - Maybe glass etching. Definitely scrapbooking.
A movie - I want to see Juno. Looks funny.
After Christmas shopping
And perhaps tattoos. I am still thinking a horseshoe and now I'm waffling on placement. I originally was thinking between my boobies and now I'm thinking the top of my left foot.

Recently I saw Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story. HYSTERICAL. Definitely see it. Tonight we watched Spider Man 3. I can't help but think that may have been the most boring movie ever. Ok not EVER, but it was seriously boring.

Merry Christmas!! Have a wonderful day tomorrow and I hope Santa Claus brings you everything you want!