Oops, just to be clear, that’s not a personal Dec. rant, it’s an RN one.
I’ve sat with many a young worman or couple on Christmas eve and done miscarriage teaching and support, never gets any easier.
He’s still called “Deputy Sparkles” in some circles after his learning experience with glitter + 9-year-old! (But he has threatened bodily harm toward anyone who paints his nails while he’s asleep… spoilsport! It will serve him right if the next kid’s another girl and he’s swimming in a sea of x chromosomes after the Boy leaves home!)
It started working again for me right after I posted that. Apparently threatening your browser in your browser confuses it so it starts working right.
You know, when you say “I’m joking, I’m joking, I’m joking,” immediately after making an asshole comment . . . you’re not joking.
Kind of puts a damper on the whole ‘pleasant lunch with Dad’ thing.
I think my concept of “time to relax” is probably different than normal. 
For the last eighteen years, I have either held two full-time jobs or held a full-time job, a part-time job, and gone to school. This spring is supposed to be the first time that I’m only working a single full-time job, using my off hours to look at grad schools.
Working full-time is time to relax. And I imagine I’m going to be desperate to get back into a more stressful routine once summer rolls around…
Anyway, I haven’t heard much more from the learning center nor my professor; it’s that two-week lull between finals and the ramp-up to the new year. I think it’s time for me to accept the whole “It’s Not My Problem” mindset and let it go; the logic program isn’t my baby… I just happened to be a really good nanny for it. My contributions to the program will still look good to prospective schools and employers.
With some families that would be good, comatose means too tired to be irritated by bothersome relatives. I second Chimera’s proposal; I’m sure your husband would look great covered in shiny garlands.
Last month I only worked two days: the final day of a job which ended, and the first day of a “some days here, some weeks there” new contract. I hadn’t billed the second day because I was supposed to get two weeks on it this month - which hasn’t happened. I just sent in the bill for that one day. My rant is that it will go towards buying a new dishwasher for Mom (the old one hasn’t so much given up the ghost as kicked it out), but of course after several weeks’ worth of calling the tech, him finally coming, then more weeks of waiting for a budget on the repair, then decrying it’s too much, then… I’m not sure what am I pissed at, appliance makers for being so good at making things which last 5 years plus change, or Mom because she won’t accept the word of three people, including one electrician (neighbor) that the washer is gone.
I’ll be honest. Back in the dark days I made snarky angry bitter comments and didn’t really mean them. Took being with someone I really loved to make me realize what an asshat I was being and break the habit.
You may need to tell him that comments like that are really hurtful no matter how he intended them, and you would really appreciate it if he would stop doing that. “You come off as an asshole and laughing it off doesn’t make it any better”
A small local paper, The Wake Weekly, has published a large selection of letters to Santa penned by the first graders at various area schools. They included a little disclaimer at the beginning of the section stating that the letters were printed as received, and with good reason – none of these kids can write! I’m not sure why they chose to do this; do they really think it’s cute when a child spells “girl” as “grul”, or when a kid cannot form anything resembling a complete sentence? Having been a victim of North Carolina public education, I already have a low opinion of the schools here, but this was just unbelievable.
On the plus side, this same paper had an article describing traditional English Christmas pudding. The headline read “Christmas pud”. (I’m quite proud of my juvenile sense of humor, thank you!)
Wait… you broke the asshat habit, and you’re hanging out in The Pit?
Isn’t that like someone in Anger Management Therapy vacationing in LA just to drive on crowded freeways?
Seriously, I respect your strength. Judging by a friend of mine, that might be a harder habit to kick than meth.
For fuck’s sake, honey, you’ve been married for seven years. If you don’t consider the place where you live with your husband and your children to be your “home”, something is massively wrong. (In case you’re wondering, she defines “home” as her mama and daddy’s house.) This isn’t a matter of where they live, either…they have a nice new house with two cars, and I’m under the impression that they live in a fairly good section of their state.
Very minor, but once again my husband is working out of town for the week that includes Christmas. I took some time off and we had a very nice time last week, but since I could this year I grabbed 24 hours to come to see him. After several hours of driving I arrived just as he got called out to fly, so instead of spending a bit of quality time I am in front of his computer bitching on the Dope. Oh well, it’s possible he won’t come back late and exhausted, and maybe we can grab dinner and an hour together before he has to sleep to be ready to head back. Maybe we can even have coffee tomorrow morning before I have to leave and drive home.
Grateful we have jobs, good health, blah, blah, blah, but I’ve only been able to do this once before and the same damn thing happened. This half-time living together sucks and I’m getting ready to pitch my career and let them foreclose on the house we will never be able to sell and just move to where he can work. I’m sure I can get some part-time bean-counting gig to keep the other bills paid.
I just found out that of all the baking I did last week (two types of squares, cookies, pumpkin gingerbread and tarts) I have 1/4 of one type of squares left. Where did they go? Approx 1/3 went to work and friends and most of the rest into my son’s stomach. Some of the rest was supposed to come to my aunts house tomorrow so tonight I get to make squares and gingerbread again in addition to all the wrapping that still needs doing.
I am NOT pleased. This always happens, I make or buy food and he eats it unless I hide it under lock and key. He’s not even eight yet! I’m afraid what the teenage years will bring…
OK, your son needs a snack shelf in the pantry, and in the fridge. He is allowed to eat anything on either of those shelves at any time, except one hour before mealtimes. If he DOES help himself to other foods, then he has to do other chores and/or has to pay a forfeit (going without TV or other pastimes) to “pay” for the food. Your job is to keep those snack shelves filled with healthy but tasty food. He has to learn that it’s OK to eat healthy foods, but if someone makes or buys special treats for special occasions, he has to leave that food alone. And definitely make him help make more treats.
Now, if he’s actually hungry, he’ll eat the healthy foods, though he might complain that he wants other stuff. And you might be underestimating how much he really does need to eat. You might need to give him regular afternoon snacks, for instance, as well as bedtime snacks. But those snacks don’t have to be cookies or other sweet treats. And they don’t have to be enormous quantities of food, either.
When my daughter was younger, she’d frequently want to snack when she was bored. She’d COMPLAIN that she was hungry, but she didn’t want a healthy snack, she wanted to go to McDonald’s, or she wanted cookies, or whatever. If someone says that s/he’s hungry, but refuses healthy foods, s/he’s not hungry, but probably is bored.
Person A “Wow! I just received a (insert brand name of watch/ camera/ computer). It is great”
Person B “Oh they totally suck. You should have got XXXX brand instead!”
The mentality of Person B in this exchange beggars belief. In the situation, if you can’t possibly accept that someone is thrilled at their new posession, there is no need to trash it. Don’t say a thing.
(And this is not confined to this season).
Flutterby, be very afraid.
We had our family gathering today for Christmas. It went reasonably smoothly, but…
In-laws, if you tell me you’re gonna be here around one, here’s a little hint: Eleven am is not the same as one pm. I’d’ve been much happier and more relaxed today if I’d actually had my shower, bathed and dressed the baby, and mopped the kitchen before y’all got here! And I know that you guys genuinely don’t care whether I’m channeling Harriet Nelson vs. Roseanne, but just once, I was on track to be closer to the former than the latter… if you’d actually arrived when you told me you would! (And I admit that I was pretty darned proud that I would have had everything ready, considering that the baby was up and down all night, woke this morning with a mild fever and the sniffly sneezes.) Just once, I’d like to sort of pretend like I’m a semi-relaxed hostess!)
Oh well, we had fun, and my in-laws will forgive much thanks to the fact that they now have grandchildren!
Sounds like a good idea. I’ve kinda started to do that. We are pretty lenient with the snacks. He’s hungry, he asks for something or go gets something off the approved list (basically healthy, there are always apples, carrots, raisins, cheese and crackers in addition to granola bars the occasional chips or cookies and the like) but an hour before supper is no snacking and same with immediately before bed (he uses it as a stalling tactic, if he really seems hungry I have no problem giving him a snack then though).
But give him half a chance he will eat anything in the fridge if you don’t specifically say not to, and I have a bad habit of buying something with the vague intention of eating it and not (some things I just don’t want to bring to work, others are more involved than I want to do at work, and I don’t want to tempt myself at work because I can too easily munch..) Then I have my meal at home and don’t snack at all so things will sit until I go ‘hey, I want that’ and find its been eaten. In those cases it’s 50-50 if it’s Velociraptor or my mom.
This time just galls me though because I told everyone that some was for tomorrow’s family thing. If there was enough left to bring a plate it wouldn’t be worthy of a rant.
So it’s half past two on Christmas morning and they are repairing the railway bridge on the road at the end of my road. I can see the digger lights ablinking and hear the motors arumbling.
Soon I shall go up to bed where I shall be one storey closer.
I do understand why it makes sense to do the work over the three days that people won’t be doing much travelling. I appreciate that it’s been a massive inconvenience that the bridge has been one lane only for the last five years since it was discovered to be unsafe. Hell, it’s been an inconvenience to me since that meant removing the two bus stops before the bridge. I just hate that it’s happening. Stupid bridge. That’s all.
That’s annoying to be sure, but frankly I’d rather have someone show early than late. I hate, hate, HATE it when someone says they’ll be somewhere at a certain time only to casually show up hours late without calling. :mad:
I have a high degree of anxiety, sort of reverse agoraphobia? about people in my house - to the point that if there is a service person over to do the annual maintenance on the furnace I have to leave the house and just go sit in the car somewhere else until they are gone.
I do not let people into my house until it is the designated hour. I don’t care if they have to go drive around until the invited time. I actually left and got a hotel room one time my parents were visiting Virginia Beach when we lived there and they came to the house instead of us meeting at their hotel as planned. I admit that was the episode where I had to emphasize my house is MY house, and I am an adult to my parents. It did actually start getting them to treating me rationally and listening to my needs for a change.
December’s been kind of been a shit month for me.
The other week I got jumped outside a club for a trying to help my asshat friend, resulting in a wonderful orbital bone fracture which required surgery. Thankfully the surgery was successful so my eye isn’t going to sink into my face, yay.
Then a few days of ago my dog died. She was 12 and had been doing pretty poorly for a while now and it was only a matter of time. I had been contemplating putting her to sleep but like the good dog she was, she spared us the tough decision. Better this than to suffer needlessly. I wish I could have comforted her more in the last moments but… Oh well.
Lesser gripe, Christmas in Korea has mutated into some sort of second Valentine’s Day, making it a day for couples (not family) and this makes me feel a little bit more miserable about being single, but nothing to write home about.
I’m hoping next year/month has something good in store for me, and considering the shit this month has offered, I kind of feel like I deserve something nice.