Laura, ~ma to your mom.

Erika, I'm sorry your brother continues to be such a pain.

We went to the movies today, and now we're home preparing snack dinner for friends tonight. I'm attempting to make a lime and herb simple syrup for cocktails.

My sister lives about 1-1/2 miles away and visits at least a couple times a day and my nephew is very close. His wife is a teacher and should be off for the summer soon and she will visit a lot too. My step-dad dotes on her and I am confident she is being cared for lovingly. I hope they don't keep her in the hospital long.

So much to do, but I will feel better when I get up there. At the moment I am thinking of driving up with my eldest son and the dog and leaving Bobby with his dad to help finish projects here. We'll see how the plans come together.

Mmmmmm, cocktails.

Health~ma to your mom, Laura.

Not his fault this time. He has a point, even. I just hate how shocked he can be by simple things. The sun's hot, water's wet, selfish people do selfish things. Der. Yeah, Laura, hope your mom will be back in shape soon.

Angry. I never get to talk about myself. I feel guilty for even wanting to. I would like to be able to talk about my problems without being overridden by someone talking about their much worse problems, or trying to distract me by talking about inconsequential things, or derailing the conversation yelling at their kid, or simply changing the subject because they're uncomfortable. Maybe going back to a therapist was a good idea just so there's someone who will listen to me and shut UP.

Grrrr. I'm sorry Zen.

Had a good update from my sister. Copy and paste because it is late and I am going to bed... (xpost to Natter)

hi...just got home from the hospital. had some good news. When the doctor came in this evening with an update from the pulmonologist after he had the opportunity to review the xrays, etc. more thoroughly, he found that the infection was not as large as he had originally thought because he found that there was a shadow on the xray making it appear larger than it really was. since he originally had said that it wasn't large this is particularly good news. now believe that it started as a virus that wore her down and developed into pneumonia. she was told that folks over 70 don't usually have fevers until things are seriously bad and that they need to react to simple symptoms like a cough or body aches much more seriously especially at 92 yrs old. there were no problems with her blood work. they had gotten two courses of iv antibiotics through her already and had her on a nebuliser (sp) a few times and expect to send her home tomorrow for sure with some oral antibiotics and prednisone. thank god as she was not taking well to being incarcerated at all. amen for now.

Relieved!

Zenkitty, you deserve to be heard.

Laura, that does sound like good news.

Happy Birthday, Epic!!!

Thanks again you guys!

::dumps a bucket of JOY on Epic::

::frolics about in JOY!::

Steph, I thought that dress was only OK online, but it is SUPER CUTE on you. Clearly it was meant to be yours.

Laura, glad your Mom's on an upswing.

Erika, sorry the fam's such a pain in the patoot.

Zen, totally here for yo...ohwaitdidItellyouaboutmything? JK, I'm sorry the people in your immediate circle are making you feel less than relevant. I'm glad you've got a therapist (and Buffistas, of course) to let you have your moment to share.

Man, extended family can be *difficult.* We're going on vacation with Tim's family in 2 weeks; on the drive down, we always go partway and stay in a hotel overnight. We've always stayed in a nice, reasonably priced Holiday Inn, which is fine by me because we end up being there for maybe 16 hours tops. Plus they have a free breakfast dealie that is ridiculously lavish.

Sister-in-law (who I utterly adore; she is a fantastic person) has decided we need to stay in a fancy hotel on the way down, because "the first night of vacation needs to feel special." So the hotel is more expensive, has no breakfast, and -- in that odd way that fancy hotels often do -- charges guests for internet access.

Tim and I are driving down with his dad, and (because his dad is paying the entire amount for the rental houses at the beach) paying for his hotel room. So that means we pay for 2 expensive hotel rooms AND breakfast the next day (the breakfast thing really pisses me off -- and I know it's weird to let a minor detail kick me into raaaaaage), all because SiL wants the first night of vacation to "feel special."

Shit, man, it would bother me less if we were staying for more than 16 hours (8 of which we will be sleeping). But I can guarantee, based on every single time we've done this drive, that we won't even get to the hotel until 8 p.m. or later. And then we get up the next morning, scarf down (free) breakfast, and hit the road. It is, quite literally, just a place to stop, sleep, and eat before hitting the road.

But I have this feeling that SiL will be pissed if we don't stay at her super-special expensive hotel. And I also think Tim's dad will be difficult if we don't stay in the same hotel as the rest of the family. It feels like a total no-win situation for us: if we don't stay at the fancy hotel, people will be pissed at us, but if we *do* stay there, *I* am going to be resentful and surly, because spending a ton of money for a 16-hour hotel stay is NOT, actually, a good way to make vacation "feel special" for me.

I'm going to let Tim field this one, because it's *his* family. But it still feels like a no-win. Bah.