If it makes you feel any better, Sparky, it sounds like your friend's wife may have some mental health issues. Sometimes people just need to get a clue, but if someone regularly makes these lame excuses (Christmas!), then it sounds like they're covering for something else, or at the very least have some strange co-dependency issues.

Of course, I don't know either of them, so could be talking out of, um, well, you get the picture.

I need a video camera in this house y'all. Oz (who likes carrots BTW) was practicing his basic obediance stuff. He's not great at it, being only 4 months, but we work on it anyway because it's great me paying attention to him time.

So I'm sitting there on the couch practicing sit. He's doing it pretty well, so I figured I'd move to lay down. Max has been watching Oz get treats for doing this stuff she knows how to do. So my next sit command, she comes over and sits next to Oz. I go to lay down and not only does she lay down, but puts her forearm over Oz so that he goes down when she does.

She does that to him a lot because she doesn't like him running around while she's laying down, but to see her make him follow the command was pretty cute.

Oh, God, Heather. That's just too cute for words. You need to get one of those digital cameras that makes videos and put them on the web for us to see. I'd watch it every Christmas!

ION, I had to go tell our lovely neighbor downstairs to turn down his music. It got very, very quiet after my little visit.

I think he's afraid I'll call the cops on him again. Hee!

ETA: It's like I have this card I can pull out at any time. It's the yeah-well-remember-the-time-you-were-on-my-fire-escape-at-2-am? card. It's a good one to have in the back pocket.

Mr H has a phone that will do video, but only about 15 seconds, and I never know when they're about to do something adorable. If I did, I'd have video of Max training Oz, the great animal freakout of 2005 (for amusement), and Oz coming over to snuggle Max when she was freaking out during a thunderstorm (possibly only cute if you know that they usually chase each other and fight like cats dogs and much younger dogs).

the good thing about academia is they tend to respect that their employees have lives.

Heh. I mean, yeah, but right now? Heh.

I personally want to track Sparky's friend's wife down and beat the crap out of her.

Aimee, I hope you can find some sort of compromise. Honestly, if it were me, I'd just be completely upfront with her and say that I just couldn't afford the spa-shower. It sounds like you're already dropping buckets of cash on participating in this wedding and there is nothing wrong with saying no to some of it.

I'm now furiously going through my wedding memories and trying to remember how much I put my friends through. All of my bridesmaids are still really good friends so it couldn't have been too much. I paid for half the dresses and shoes. I couldn't expect people still in college to pay over $100 for clothes. No showers for bridesmaids--just a bachelorette party than included a hotel suite and lots of drinks.

Dear Relatives:

I am sorry that the fact that we decided to purchase a house that has a bathroom on the 2nd floor (and not toilet on the 1st floor) causes you consternation and makes you feel betrayed by us. However, as it is our house, I'd appreciate it if it wasn't brought up with a rueful sigh and non-funny jokes about installing a port-o-potty in our back yard during EVERY SINGLE FUCKING CONVERSATION about our home, including conversations that we are not even present for. Please to get over it, most of you live in two story houses ANYWAY.

GOD. Who wants you whiners over to visit ANYWAY?

Signed, it's fucking hot and I hate people. Especially my family. Buncha gossips.

They'd rather walk OUTSIDE than upstairs to pee??? WTF?

You should joke right back, "Yeah, we looked at one with extra bedrooms and bathrooms so that you all could come visit whenever you liked, but then we were afraid you might."