I'm Still Here

Really, I am. There hasn't been a whole lot to tell lately. Just work. And snuggles with my Bug. I will post pictures soon.

The biggest news is we are having some drama with BIL. The long and short of it is that BIL is bent that we won't take his "good advice" and buy a house that we can't afford near him, 40 miles north of here. It means nothing to him that we don't want to move north. And we wouldn't be that excited about the traffic we would get stuck in to drive to work. What is particularly ridiculous is that BIL moved north because he didn't want to commute to work anymore (and his commute was against traffic). Of course, it's perfectly fine for us to have to commute and deal with traffic. I think not.

So anyway, G told his brother that we didn't want to move and that he didn't mind driving north the few times a year that we all get together. BIL took this as meaning that G was content to see his family only a few times a year. As BIL has these romanticized notions about being a very close knit family spending lots of time together, he didn't take this well.

This has been going on for awhile. A few weeks ago, I called BIL's wife to ask after what the kids might want for Christmas. We made some small talk and then she said this:

So we are hosting Thanksgiving this year. We didn't know if you were going to be out of town or doing something with your family or just planning on seeing everyone at Christmas, but you are welcome to come. It will be pretty low key.

She kept sort of talking around things and her half-hearted invitation. I said thank you very much for extending the invitation but I would have to check with G. Then we talked about Bug for awhile and got off the phone.

According to G's mom, who spoke to BIL's wife the following day, the invitation wasn't really an invitation. Rather, it was her attempt to invite me into a heart to heart about the disagreement between G and BIL. It would have been nice of her to tell me this. In any event, we are not going to their house for Thanksgiving and I will making my very first turkey for myself, G, Bug, and Uncle Jeff.

G is going to start a dialogue with BIL's wife in an attempt to clear things up so things aren't too tense at Christmas. It should be interesting.

Tuesday at Bug's House

These are things that happened today, in no particular order:

The guy at Jiffy Lube thought it was hilarious that my car had 66,665 miles on it. I half expected him to ask me to do laps in the parking lot until it reached 66,666.

Bug threw a temper tantrum because I wouldn't let her play with the toilet brush.

She ate grilled salmon and rice for dinner.

She tried to fit herself in the cupboard with the pots and pans.

None of the pants at The Gap fit me.

I drank wine from a box (from Target) out of a pint glass because it can go in the dishwasher and the crystal can't.

I still haven't finished XT's birthday present. Maybe tomorrow.

I went to the mall and somehow resisted the urge to buy chocolatey snacks. This was a big victory. Perhaps it was the lingering effect of the pants not fitting.

I bought nothing at all at the mall.

I went to work and got out of going to a meeting because I had to do busywork on a deadline.

I'm Baaaack!

Thanks to our ISP, we had no dsl at home for nearly two weeks, so I couldn't post anything.

But now, things are up and running and I can share photos of my Bug (that shirt always makes me giggle) and tales of things that annoy me. Or strange adventures on the way to weddings.

Two weeks ago, GW (of the group norms) and CS got married. Bug was to be the flower girl. Unfortunately, two days before the wedding she came down with a fever and, while it had broken the night before the wedding, we expected that she would be rather moody. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Yours truly, having realized that there is more of me to love than there was the last time I had purchased a dress to wear to a wedding, went shopping earlier in the week and found something that I didn't hate. G, made his shopping trip the day of the wedding. We were to meet up with the bride at 3:30 for Bug participate in pictures. The wedding was about 15 minutes from our house. So we were going to leave, fetch G's new suit, and take pictures.

Of course, we left a little late. G's suit was great and we pulled out of our parking space. And then, the van died. We ran out of gas. Swell. There was much cursing. Luckily, we were about 1.5 blocks from a gas station, so G headed over there in pursuit of a gas can, complaining about how I hadn't filled up the tank.

So there I am, in the middle of the aisle at a parking lot, gussied up for a wedding, and hanging out with the two kids. I told Doof that it wasn't my fault we ran out of gas and explained why. See, G had stayed home with Bug the day of her fever, so he had the van. And he was the one who drove north to fetch Doof. And he was the one who drove us all to fetch the suit. So it wasn't my fault.

He came stalking back, cursing. The gas station didn't sell gas cans. Luckily, the world's most helpful guy was also in the parking lot, so he and G pushed the van while I steered. Let me just say that steering a minivan without power steering is hard work. Probably not as hard as pushing it, but still. There was lots of yelling and screaming at me, which I tried to tune out, but it still stressed me out.

We called GW and told him we wouldn't make it for pictures, but we would be there for the wedding. We changed Bug into her dress at the church, at which point she began screaming and was basically inconsolable. So much for her walking down the aisle with the ring bearer (age 3) and his mom (the matron of honor). Instead, I ended up carrying the crying child down the aisle, walking around the pews and right back outside, where she stayed with G for the length of the ceremony.

We ceremony was lovely. The bride and groom looked fabulous. And it all took about 30 minutes. Then it was off to the reception site, where there was an open bar (hurray!), a chocolate fountain with lots of goodies to dunk in it (hurray again!), and lots of passed appetizers. Alas, Bug was still Miss Crankypants and dinner ended up being a little late for us, so we had to leave well before cake and dancing.

G apologized profusely the next day, recognizing that the gas situation was his responsibility and it was wrong to blame me.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. Bug is now 18 months and has finally hit the 20 pound mark. She's eating well and growing. She's picking up words. Everything is "mine". I think she picked that up at day care. She has a best pal there name CJ and they are apparently inseparable. She likes to say "eye" and then poke me in mine. Oh and she has taken to pulling up my shirt, poking my belly and saying "baby." No, there is no baby there. Not even close.

On the knitting front, I have finished my second pair of socks and am finishing up XT's birthday present (only about 6 weeks late).