Had to google what TENS is.

Lovely hair, Steph!

Thanks for the new year's wishes, all. I have a lot I want to accomplish and change this year (including seeing y'all, F2F!), so that's what mostly on my mind these days. How to change things, when, and in what order.

And now, some house cleaning and cooking. I think all of the food from New Year somehow only made me more hungry. We had So Much Food, my God.

The hair is lovely, Steph.

Good luck in accomplishing and changing things this year, Shir. I would like to do that myself.

A two-pound unopened box of cake flour that had been in the pantry must have smelled like mouse. Sometime during the night, Mr Peabody, who weighs 25 pounds, dragged it from the kitchen to the living room (about 15 feet with two turns). He chewed on the cardboard, but, fortunately for both of us, he didn't get through the plastic to the flour. There is, apparently, no limit to the potential for chaos.

I think we need to make sure bubba and Mr Peabody never meet. (Remembering the Splenda incident)

Oh no Mr Peabody! Flour is not delicious. I keep telling my cats the same thing about oats but every time i bring home a bag of bulk oats I can't leave it anywhere not locked down or the cats go bonkers for it and have an oat party in the kitchen while my back is turned.

I think the wedding hair is lovely, very flattering, and looks remarkably un-pooofy, especially for wedding hair which tends to be a very poofy-haired special event.

looks remarkably un-pooofy

Okay. I appreciate the supportive comments. Still not going to look like that on my wedding day.

It will be equally or more beautiful without the poof, I have no doubts.

Steph - I loved your hair! So gorgeous!!

The swirly back of the hair is amazing, Steph. I really like it.

So the notes I made for the new evaporative cooler were: Turn On. Set Tep. So, apparently I am intended to wait for Tep to set it. But I just picked a goal temperature and have been letting it do its own thing.

How's the healing, smonster?

I get a lot of wrong numbers from generally Hispanic people. I pick up the calls and try to explain that someone is giving the wrong number out, probably quite unintentionally. It makes me feel bad because sometime once in the last year, there was a vm from an immigration attorney. (I spent a few hours calling them back until I could get to a person and let them know the situation. I really don't want someone's dreams to be dashed because of this.) Four calls today. I've got this phone number ... maybe 15 years ago. These calls for the last two-ish of them.

I didn't want this crap to muck up commenting on Steph's gorgeous hair, but there was some drama last night and I wanted to talk about it.

Remember our friends J and S? The ones that poke at me about my faith and have poked at me about teachers and other things? Well, we were at a bonfire held in honor of our friend who passed away last year. As we were getting ready to leave, someone asked why we were leaving so early. I reposnded that Joe had to work and I was teaching in the morning. S says, "No you aren't - tomorrow's Sunday." I said, "Yes, I am. I start teaching Sunday school tomorrow." J says, "That's not really teaching." I was kind of tweaked, but responded, "Sure it is - I have about 20 kids 5th grade and under, I have a curriculum a lesson plan, and activities. It's totally teaching." She says, "I've been to enough Sunday school to know that that's NOT *really* teaching." That REALLY hurt. And pissed me off. So I walked to the car with another friend to get my cigarettes (I know, I know). While we were gone, Joe apparently tried to talk to her and she said, "I'm ignoring you." Then he said something to effect of, "For someone who claims to be spiritual, you are really narrow minded." She repeated, "I'm ignoring you." Well, that was it for Joe. We left and on the way home, he texted S and told him, "Your wife's comments were hurtful and disrespectful to mine. I will no longer subject my family to your ignorant wife. I am done with guys night. Thank you for your years of unwavering friendship."

I was agog. I asked Joe if he wanted to wait until the next day to send it - he'd been drinking a fair bit and was angry, but he said he wanted to, so he did. Then, he unfriended J on FB. This afternoon, after church, I discovered that she unfriended me.

I'm sad and yet ... relieved? The friendship was broken a couple of years ago when Joe and I weren't there for them when they were going through some pretty huge things - this is the couple that placed their baby for adoption. We totally abandoned them. But in the years since, I have apologized to J more times than I can count, have tried to explain why we reacted the way that we did and that we - especially me - knew it was wrong and that we were NOT good friends when we should have been. We have tried to make it right. I don't think she has ever gotten over it - can't blame her. We did a shitty thing. But we have tried SO HARD. And maybe it could never be fixed. But I am relieved to not have to put so much effort into a friendship that she had no intention of trying to repair.

SMH.

I'm sad and yet ... relieved?

I am so sorry. That relationship just sounds broken. Mistakes made / hurt caused on all sides and it's unfortunate that it can't be truly forgiven but it just sounds broken. Very painful. I hope the break helps that wound heal a little for you, Aims.