Hey all, thanks for the condolences and stuff.
It’s the first time I’m in a sorority 
Those don’t exist in Spain and, because they’re limited to undergrads, I never could even find out what the heck they’re supposed to be about while I was studying Over There.
Mind you, Over Here, “single daughter of widowed mother”, while not a legal status, is definitely a civil one. Last wedding we went to, we had to give warning that if I got seated at a table where she was the next-youngest person I’d just leave, period. My brothers, male cousins and female cousin with both parents get seated in “cousins and friends” tables; I was being seated with “uncles and friends of the parents”. One of my female cousins lost her da recently and ran into the same problem. So, uh, how do you spell “I am Mom’s daughter, not her husband”? In shorter terms that can be understood by harassed people preparing weddings, wedding aniversaries, 90th birthdays, christenings et al, I mean.
While I prepare Mom’s demise, she’s preparing SiL’s. Which I guess explains her revert of last weekend… in times of crises, you see the best and worst of people. One of Mom’s bad traits is equating food with love; another is equating hard work with love. SiL is currently responding to the ongoing medical opera by being more and more self-centered and by some behavior toward my family that’s a bit hard to explain. On one hand, she equates us with her family (for example, she assumes I make as much as her bro; I make 5x as much). On the other, she discounts us at every step. Her main remarks last weekend: “gee, this people sure were into colors” (as I explained and Ms I’m-such-a-fan-of-House’n’Garden should have known, sunny colors on walls are very popular in places that often get grey skies) and “well Hubby, your being so thin must certainly be genetics, because now my Mom is doing all the cooking and she’s such a wonderful cook” (if you call watery and greasy wonderful, then yes; I’d never seen a roast chicken that managed to swim in a liquid formed by about two parts water to one oil; and yes I do realize most people like their Mom’s cooking - my brothers like mine because I used to be the main cook when they were kids). Not a single remark about the food that was actually on the table. Both Bros had seen the place when it was almost bare; both had liked it even then but remarked on how much better it looks now. Later they went to Lilbro’s place, which is still very empty, to bring some stuff I’ve given him. Her only evaluation, looking at a piece of kit furniture that Lilbro spent several hours assembling and feels very proud of (it’s his first DiY): “cheap things are always too expensive”. Gee, thanks dear, have you seen the wengue furniture in the living room?
The Nephew is turning 1yo next month. Mom had told SiL that she’d buy him a coat for his Bday and tried to set up a date for both of them to go choose it; SiL said “oh, I’m so busy, there’s time”. Monday she went and bought the kid’s coat. SiL’s Mom hates shopping - Mom loves it.
SiL has very definite ideas about how everybody should dress. My Bro is mad about anything sea-related (runs in the family), so Mom once bought The Nephew a bodysuit with an embroidered ship. She gives it to SiL, SiL opens it; Bro loves it, SiL says “oh but I don’t want him to have anything with sea motifs” to which Bro says “oh…”. Her Godmother/Aunt, who was visiting, says “that would leave out a lot of things, dear” and hands her a package. SiL opens it. It was the same exact bodysuit. While SiL stood there with her mouth hanging and my family went purple to keep from breaking into giggles, her aunt said, very deadpan “looks like this particular design is particularly suited for your baby, sweetheart.”
I think I’m going to see if I can find any 1-yo ship-shaped toys 
Last Saturday I let him play with these soft cars I have, about the size of two fists bunched together (I have small hands). One is a taxicab, one a police car. Since they don’t have any pieces, they’re just fine for a kid his size. SiL didn’t let him have them until she’d tried to read the safety labels and found that they were in English, at which point she had to take my word for it.
Are doggy and spats trying to invent a new post as MMP Bard or something?
In response, I’ll share something I whipped up earlier this evening. One of my friends on LiveJournal has been tagging her back entries, and she used the tag “tv or not tv?” for her TV-related entries. Now, I couldn’t pass up a big, dangling lure like that, so I wrote this:
