And I understand that grandma loves the kid and thinks she is a better parent.

Love the kid all she might, she's not the legal guardian. Until and unless it goes to court, she's got nothing but anger.

But, ugh, what a thing to have to go through.

We are hoping that her internet research and discussions with people that will talk to her has convinced her that a custody pursuit would be fruitless. She has a very volatile nature and it would not shock me if in just a few days she was all sweetness and light and acted like it was her idea for the child to move in with her mother.

It's not really the emotionally healthiest thing but this would actually probably be for the best. Unless she really wants to sue for custody, smile and move on. If the only way she can do that is to pretend it was her idea, it still ends the same.

What a traumatic thing for everyone. Laura, you did awesome getting the legal facts and then getting things resolved. Much better for the girl.

Families are so stressful.

You should have no news more often! I enjoyed the glimpse into your pantry, madam.

So my brother stopped by to visit my mother and she was massively relieved. She was convinced he was going to be devastated and depressed and he was ok. (His MS drugs have bad depression side affects) He reported with shy pleasure that his former FIL called him to say he was on his side. Then my niece stopped by with her kids because my step-dad texted her that he was at their house. Then my sister told me that she talked to him on the phone and he was way more talkative than usual. I feel more hopeful for him than I have for some time.

What a lovely thing to hear after a really, really hard day, Laura.

I hope your very neccessary intervention continues to bear positive fruit, Laura.

I don't know how to spell nessessary.

I may have had a couple of cocktails.

Whee, cocktails! I am grateful to be back on my laptop at the moment because my Nook doesn't give me those nice red squiggly clues that I am misspelling things. I treasure the red squiggly clues.

For my soup tomorrow I'm thinking of dumping dried green lentils, roasted sweet potatos, jarred tomato sauce, uncooked rice, water, and curry powder/salt/pepper into the slow cooker in the morning. I figured I'd fine tune seasonings and add spinach when I get home. Sound like it might turn out okay? Should I cook the rice separately?

Sounds yum to me. For some reason I can't recall putting rice in any of my slow cooker concoctions, although I may have. I would think it would be fine. I have baked casseroles with uncooked rice and it was yummy so I would expect slow cooking would work fine.

It sounds kind of like a stew I made last week that was part of the 21 day vegan thing. It was very yummy. Since I am closing this laptop for the night I will paste the recipe in case you are interested. It said it was 6 servings, but if so they were LARGE servings. I can't eat onion so I just dumped in a bunch more garlic. I added spinach too just because I had some and I love it.

1 tablespoon water 1 teaspoon cumin seed 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 teaspoon dried basil 3/4 teaspoon sea salt Few pinches cayenne pepper Freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups onion, diced 3-4 medium-large cloves garlic, minced or grated 3 – 3 1/2 cups yellow or orange-fleshed sweet potato, diced 1 can (14 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained 1 can (14 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed 3 cups vegetable stock 3 1/2 cups water 1 1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

In a large pot over medium heat, add the tablespoon of water with the spices and salt. Cook for a couple of minutes, and then add the onion, garlic, and sweet potato. Stir through, cover, and cook for about 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions have started to soften. Add all remaining ingredients except ginger, and increase heat to high to bring to boil. Once at a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes, until lentils are fully dissolved. Add fresh ginger, stir through, and serve.

eta: and of course I winged the spices some because really I don't have both cumin seed and ground cumin in the spice cabinet, and I hate fennel, etc.

well, good for you laura - sounds like things are going in a positive direction now.

and I love the talk of food and yes that includes pantries

and lack of sleep - -brings my anxiety to a level that I think I should do something - and then I get sleep and the hyper anxiety goes away and we are back to normal levels of worry about things.

Laura, you are good people.

I've never had rice turn out right cooked in a stew, smonster. Others' experience may differ, but slow-cooked, even for hours, the rice just stayed hard. Mmm, crunchy.

Laura, that's wonderful news about your brother. From a fraught morning, all kinds of family good. That's a good day!