One of those days ...

My day started out okay. Woke up, had a nice leisurely shower and breakfast, then got ready to have lunch with some college friends of mine. Well, that was after feeding Grandson his breakfast and watching him because DIL slept in again.

Lunch was great. We went to Sagebrush Cantina in Lake Orion. Anyone in the area ... it's a great place to eat. I so needed a break from home. My friend, G, wasn't too bad with trying to save my soul today. I guess she finally figured out that ya just can't push religion down my throat. J had to leave early, once again work called her back from her long lunch. J is only 19 and works in the County Crime Lab. How cool is that? And K, well, she's leaving to go away to college in the fall. She's also 19 and scared to death about going away to college. I guess it was our last hurrah for a while with the four of us. Ah well. It really was an enjoyable lunch. I had a "wet" burrito (drowned in salsa and  cheese sauce) and mexi-skins (mexican potato skins). Delish!!  Ate way too much, even brought half of it home for dinner.

Got home to find that DIL is working. I barely got in the door to be greeted ... tackled ...  by Grandson. Married Son was sleeping this time. I knew he'd worked all night, so I would give him a few hours to sleep before I woke him up. Until Grandson got on my final nerve that is. That's when I busted into their bedroom like I'd been shot out of a cannon, and raised the noise level considerably until his hindass, I mean highness, finally woke up.

I've decided I'm really not as kid friendly as I used to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my Grandson, but ... the kid irritates me by doing things that I'm pretty sure I would ignore when my kids did the same. I wish I could block it out like in the old days. I've lost that ability in my old age it seems. And this kid just doesn't want to take no for an answer. Something I never had problems with my kids over, they knew if no was the answer to drop it. Not this child. I think he learned today that I won't play the No Game.

Grandson enjoys tormenting my cat, Spot, a bit too much, too. Spot, well, he's too stupid to move away, so he sits there and takes it. He hasn't scratched, bit or even hissed yet ... why I don't know. I've hissed a few times. I swear.

But at least his daddy is up now. And of course, he's being an angel. He doesn't get away with jacksquat when Daddy's around.

Ya, I know. He's testing me to see how far he can get. Won't happen. I have no qualms about being strict with someone else's kid. Especially when they live under my roof and seem to think I'm a free babysitter so they can nap. Ha.

So now Grandson thinks I'm a mean ol' Gramma. Good ... next time I get dumped with watching him so his mom or dad can nap he won't try to pull the crap he tried today.

Tomorrow I work on my room ... my sanctuary. My little part of the world where no one but me is allowed. Make it a little more of a "living" space and not so much a sleeping place. Somewhere I can go and lock the door ... get some peace and quiet. I hate the thought of hiding in my room - in MY house - but I really need a place to go when that last nerve has been tested.

Waste Not Want Not ...

Oy! Talk about someone who wastes a lot of everything!! And I bet ya'll know who I'm talking about. Yup, the DIL.

I mentioned in a comment on my last blog that she used one steel wool pad to wash out the skillet she used for dinner and then proceeded to throw it away. It was still good!! Good enough to do some scrubbing of the stove top after she made a mess of it. Did she clean it up? Of course she did, but she used a second steel wool pad and proceeded to throw it away afterwards.

Okay, so my Irish genes are showing. Use it 'til it's useless. What's so hard to understand?

And just to add insult to the wasteful injury ... I'm emptying ashtrays last night. I never put them straight in the garbage (you read about fires all the time from smoldering ciggies) ... I dig into the garbage and pull out one of the plastic trays from the frozen chinese she made for their dinner last night to put the cig butts in so I can add water to make sure they're good and extinguished only to discover the tray is A THIRD FULL of food yet! Someone was too lazy to remove all the plastic wrap from the microwavable bowl to spoon the remainder of the food onto their plates.

Oh, and she's taken to using plastic utensils and paper plates for meals. Forget we have perfectly good dishes and utensils but ... wait ... those need to be ... gasp ... washed!!

We've gone from kitchen sized trash bag and a half a week to THREE large trash bags a week in garbage!!

The above were only two of the many examples I see on a daily basis. Surely my ancestors are turning in their graves with the waste she makes.

However, she lets the garbage go to overflowing when it's her turn to do the garbage detail, claims she's saving on plastic garbage bags.

What am I missing here?

I'm really trying to do the Fly Lady thing AND be more environmentally alert these days. I don't buy chemicals to clean anymore, not since I re-discovered the cleaning power of good ol' fashioned vinegar. But now the chemicals are coming back into the house thanks to DIL. Grrrrrrr ... and remember I am allergic to most cleaning chemicals. She's agreed to use them only on Wednesdays when I'm running errands for my folks, since I can't be around even the fumes for hours after she cleans. Then I still have to wipe down certain surfaces with vinegar (to remove chemical residue) before I use the bathroom or sit down to the kitchen table.

You'd think she'd have remembered all the issues I had with cleaning chemicals when they lived here the last time. Ha. Of course not.

I keep telling myself it's only been about a week. That it'll take time to adjust once again.

If not, well, I continue to be psycho mother in law from hell. It's a job I'm getting real good at. And I actually have a Mother In Law's license!! Really!

What I don't understand, she'll take "my side" when I was nagging Married Son about doing something I've been after him since Friday to take care of. She was standing right by my side, telling him that "look, if you'd do it Mom wouldn't have to nag and we could all get along in peace."

It took every ounce of strength I had to not give her "the look" and say ... practice what you preach, baby.

But maybe, for her, there is hope. She had to work early this morning and actually did all of the dishes from last night before she left. She even left me a "shiny sink" that even Fly Lady would be proud of.

Grandson, on the other hand, is a huge little helper. He absolutely loves doing dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, feeding the cats, and taking out the garbage. A momma's dream child, and Gramma's best boy!! Now if I could just get him to pick up his toys when he's done with them. But we're working on that. He'll make a good Fly Lady ... um, Fly Lad ... soon enough.

Baby steps ... baby steps. I'm sure we'll get to that cooperative place eventually.

In the meantime, enjoy the blogs.

 

The saga continues ...

I really need to write a book. Oh wait, I blog. Isn't that the same?

Yesterday I had to take my dad to the hospital to get his stint removed. What a long day it ended up being. Once the procedure started (after a few hour delay) it went rather quickly. Being a smoker, we were banished to off hospital campus. Had to cross a busy six lane divided highway (three lanes each direction, with a median in the middle), to the center median to smoke. Got to really take a good look at some of the old buildings in the area. Beautiful architecture!! Met some crazy people, too. And I do mean crazy. Ya, crazy as I am, they made me look like a normal well adjusted person. Gotta love what you see downtown! LOL.

Got home to find that DIL hadn't done much. Dishes were in the sink, so much for the CAYG (clean as you go) talk we had the other day. "Mom, I'll get them. Promise." Ummmm, okay. But that's only part of my complaints. Doesn't she understand it's easy to clean them before crap cakes on 'em? No having to scrape and soak. Doih. And this morning her dishes still sit there. Not the way I'd want to start my day. Nope, not the way I want my day to start ... having to look at someones dirty dishes still waiting from the night before. I'm thinking I may have to smack her upside the head with the dirty skillet she left on the stove overnight.

So, I've been doing some genealogy research for a cousin of mine and her husband that I'll call Aunt or Uncle "Normal". Found out some real neat stuff ... ship captains, shipwrecks ... high sea adventures - okay more like Great Lakes adventures, but still very dangerous and often tragic stories. Some of my knowledge of early shipwrecks has come in handy already. I'm going to have to take a trip to my favorite town of Port Huron to research some of these things further!

Knowing that I have to take a day trip, Aunt Normal called to ask my address. She's sending me a check to cover gas and meals. Cool, every little bit helps. What's hysterical about this whole thing is that after I graduated they sent me a nice card, but no check. I wasn't upset, but boy was my mom peeved! "All the checks I've sent their two kids through the years, she could have returned the favor." Geesh Mom ... give it a rest. Please. And Mom's a bit upset I've spent hours researching their relatives. I look at it this way ... we're family. So they didn't send a graduation gift. Big freaking deal. Gotta love those family fights, especially between two elderly cousins ... talk about the ties that bind and gag! LOL.

Aunt Normal also mentioned that they both think I have a real knack for this stuff. She suggested I might even want to do this for pay. Good idea! Especially since every other job offer I've had has fallen through. Anyway ... researching what it'd take to become a certified genealogy researcher will involve MORE classes, assembling a portfolio of "case studies" and presenting them before a panel of judges to see if I qualify for a five year certificate. Won't happen overnight, obviously,but I'm looking into pursuing this. I love uncovering family histories. A "picture" of what our ancestors, the common "joe" or "jane", did to survive on a day to day basis really intrigues me.

So, it's food for thought.

In the meantime, between cleaning and organizing a la Fly Lady I'm spending my weekend going over shipwreck records. See what I can find out about three different shipwrecks captained by three of their ancestors. None of which survived, by the way.

Oh, and I just may end  up smacking a certain DIL upside the head if these dishes aren't done before she leaves for work today.

Un-empty Nest Day Two ...

Not even a full 24 hours later ... Oh, and thanks Amy ... blog material you want, blog material you get ...

Lunch finds DIL making creamy noodles for Married Son. The pot over-boils, flooding the burner with hot boiling milk. I *thought* she had cleaned the spill up.

Thought.

Five hours later ... DILs at work, their lunch dishes having been washed by moi. Guess I forgot to tell her washing dishes means clearing the table immediately after eating, putting dishes in sink (which she did, but she ignored the next steps), squirting dish soap in sink, running the water as hot as you can handle to fill the dish-tub, then taking the dish scrubby and WASHING the freaking things within a few minutes after having consumed the meal.

Does this make sense? Do you let your sink fill up with dirties? Personally, I follow the "clean as you go" mentality. Use pot(s), pile food into serving dish or on plate, and wash pot(s) immediately. No letting them soak while I enjoy the meal. Seems food tastes better to me knowing half the clean-up is already done!! I wash dishes within minutes of finishing the meal. Then I can sit, relax and let my food digest.

So ... back to the milk. Single Son is making his dinner. He's got the pan on the burner, burner on HIGH ... and voila! Poof!! Flames! I forgot how fast dried spilled over milk can catch fire.

And all this time, Grandson is under foot! You should have seen how fast he moved when the burner burst into flame. In the opposite direction of course, but boy, did he get out of the way! And his Daddy slept through all this fun.

I made Married Son get up before the smoke cleared ... it was time to feed the kid anyway.

Did I mention they may live here again, BUT I raised my kids. I'm not feeding, clothing, or entertaining someone else's child so they can nap the day away. Or PAY me compensation. I hear babysitters make a pretty penny these days. And I ain't cheap!

So Married Son is all grumpy now. Awwww, let me tune my violin. Play you a sad song. And while I'm serenading you with my song, get your ass off the computer and CLEAN up the book-bag, boxes and other crap you abandoned in the living areas!!

I need to have the FlyLady talk with my son and Grandson next I see.

Flylady? Flying ... yeah. I'll settle for a flutter.

And to think I turned down a dinner with a male friend at a French restaurant tonight. I would have missed all this fun!

Empty Nest?

Not here, not anytime soon.

Today is the day I dreaded ... Married Son, DIL and Grandson finally have moved back in. Chaos and confusion are back. Loudness is back. Blogging material. Definitely blogging material.

So instead of unpacking and settling in, the hallway is packed with boxes and laundry baskets full of their clothing. Barely enough of a path to reach the bathroom.

And where is DIL?? She set up her computer five minutes after getting here and has been goofing around on facebook for two hours now. And I'm sure she'll be up half the night once she's finally ready to unpack.

Ah ... hold on for dear life, I have a feeling it's gonna be one long summer.

July 4th, 2010

playing bean bag toss

Police Chief's picnic and Village of Lake Orion Fireworks

Fourth of July

Yesterday was the big annual Lake Orion (pronounced OR-ee-un) fireworks. No street fair as in past years, but we had fun all the same.

The evening started with the Chief's picnic. Lots of good food, great conversation with cops and their family and plenty of activities for the kiddies.

Single Son had to work the event. Married Son and Grandson and I got to hang out for the day. DIL met up with us later.

I had to laugh at Grandson. The little flirt. He made friends with a little girl about his age. They were pretty much inseparable - well that is until her Daddy (cop) left with her. Poor Grandson. Nothing left for him to do except flirt with the older girls (ages eight to about thirteen). Oy, poor Married Son is gonna have his hands full with this one once school starts in September. And .... mean ol' grandma here is thinking "better him than me" ... or "paybacks are a bitch". Take your pick.

And of course, her daddy took her away before I could get a picture of them together. Oh, I have plenty of individual pictures of them. Grandson asked me if he could borrow my camera. He then wandered off to the other side of the Chiefs huge yard and between him and his little sweetie, the both snapped off a lot of pics of each other.

Finally it was off to the park for fireworks. I hear from different sources that it's the second biggest fireworks in Michigan outside of the Detroit/Windsor Freedom Festival fireworks. I believe it, too!! And they were great!! I was able to film the finale, with the fireworks reflecting off the lake, it's just beautiful. Not to toot my own horn, lol, but searching youtube for others who had filmed the fireworks, I have to say mine are about the best I've seen. Something about the fireworks being reflected off the water. Ya know?

Great show. And the traffic was surprisingly manageable afterwards. In years past three hours drive time wasn't unusual (normally it only takes us half an hour to make the same drive). This year, with Married Son driving we were home in about 45 minutes.

The Fourth is also my dad's 79th birthday. When I called to wish Dad a happy birthday and find out the day's plans, Mom had answered the phone. She fills me in that she's not talking to Dad today. I'm not sure what he said to tick her off, but I bet it was a doozey of a cut-down. He's a little too good at those these days. My reaction is to counter his comments, but Mom's not as gutsy as I am. She needs to learn how, or lose her sanity for sure. Anyway ... she's pissed off and says that she's cancelled his birthday plans. Good grief. I'm sure I'll get a call tomorrow to meet them at their favorite restaurant for a birthday dinner.

She gives the phone to Dad. I wish him a happy birthday and we talk about stuff in general. He never once indicated he's in the dog house.

Old farts. God bless 'em both. But at the same time it makes me glad that I'm single. I don't think I could handle what Mom does on a daily basis.

In other news, I just tonight found out I'm going to be a gramma yet again. Care to fathom a guess as to who is pregnant? If you guessed Alien you would be right. And after only having a baby seven months ago. Her story is that the birth control pill failed her. Don't know ... could be. Could be she quit taking it. Seems the Idiot has her convinced they want a large family. The number eight keeps coming up in conversation. Eight kids? Good grief. Be real. This day and age ... unless you're Kate Gosselin or Octomom ... or some other publicity hungry momma, you DO NOT NEED to bring eight kids into this world. Especially when the sperm donor can't hold a job because of his criminal past.

So ... back to the 4th. Here's the link for my Lake Orion Fireworks Finale video. It's only seven minutes in length. The finale starts at about the minute and a half marker. It's the highlighted video, can't miss it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LCM1219