I’m speechless. 
{{{beebs}}}
Oh no beebs! Get better soon! I’ll be thinking of you.
Smartie, your stun gun fantasy made me laugh too. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with all that.
doggio, get to feeling better soon. What’s causing the dizziness?
HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO ALL THE DADS!!!
It’s beautiful outside, but I’ll be too busy to do any yardwork. I need to get to to the store and get fixin’s for lasagne, plus I need to take my son to a tux rental shop.
Yup, rigsy, my oldest spud graduated yesterday.
I guess I should hop to it.
{{{beebs}}}, sweetie, take care of yourself, dammit!
gt, yanno, if you need some place to store all that cherry jam, I have a whole shelf in one cabinet that’s completely empty. I’ll help ya out, because I care! 
We’re on break. After breakfast at Bob’s (meh) we went to check on the boat (engine started right up - yay!) and ran by Lowe’s for a couple things. We just finished the last of the bathroom framing, including installing 2 boards for installing the faucet and shower head. Next step will be the wall between the kitchen and bedroom. Oh, and we need to figger out why our garage door opener doesn’t have power. I heard a pop during last night’s storm - I guess something blew, but all the circuit breakers are on. A mystery…
We also came up with a cubby arrangement for my laundry baskets that should be easier to deal with than the baskets on a high shelf. And it looks like I’m getting my bigger studio right away. Our garage is huge and our cars are small, so we’re going to move most of FCD’s shop equipment up there and give him a little more space than in the basement. If he wants to do projects, we just have to back the cars out. It’ll work well till he can build his shop. So Yay for that.
SIL should be back any time now. woo. It’s been nice having the place to ourselves.
{{{Smartie}}} Also, I giggled at the stun gun fantasy, too. But my reserved seat on the hell-bound train has been in place for quite some time.
{{{beebs}}}
Any idea what’s causing the dizziness, CanineServant?
{{{Mumpers}}} Okay, guys, it’s time to start taking better care of ourselves and staying healthy and happy! And that’s an order!
You gotta stop just driving by and slow down and hang out for a bit, SpecialOne – I’m starting to choke on all these drive-by fumes!
Happy Fathers Day to the Dads!
I’m here, kinda. I was wide awake again last night, plus I was in the zone work-wise, so I got a whole pile of work done late. Which was good; that’s less to do today. But I’m feeling singularly non-ambitious this morning, so it will happen eventually.
Best of all, though? When I woke up, I just barely thought I heard the dryer running, but the sound was so faint, I wasn’t sure if I was really hearing it or imagining it. The old washer & dryer were so noisy they’d wake up the dead. (The laundry room shares a wall with the bedroom.) When I got up, I discovered that Papa Tigs had run a load through both the washer and dryer, and except for that 2 seconds of faint dryer noise I heard (a button clinking or something), I heard nothing. No spin cycle that sounded like it would vibrate the house to pieces. No water running in loud enough to sound like a fire hose spraying. No dryer buzzing when it was done loud enough to wake the dead. Nope, nothing but a button clinking. For about 2 seconds.
I think I like my new toys.
Well, that was interesting… My grandma is fixing dinner for Father’s Day. She asked me to put the scalloped potatoes in the oven while they were still at church. I went downstairs, got the potatoes out of the fridge, opened the lid and surprise! They were just sliced potatoes in water and the cookbook was sitting on the counter open to the recipe. No problem. I started to gather the ingredients for the white sauce… We only had margarine (no butter), skim milk, and no flour. :eek: So, I went back upstairs and rooted around in our kitchen managing to come up with a bag of dried cream of potato soup and some powdered white sauce mix, also some shredded cheddar cheese. I mixed the two dry mixes with some margarine and milk and then after they thickened I stirred in the cheddar cheese and poured it all over the potatoes and stuck them in the oven. Note: This is not a recipe that I want published in the Mumper’s blog. This is merely a story about how it scares me that my grandma sort of didn’t seem to have things together. I guess it’s really no big deal, but it just reminds me that she really is 78 years old and not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Don’t know if this all made sense or not. Oh, and this is not the way that she used to make scalloped potatoes at all. She couldn’t remember what she used to do, so she had to look up this recipe.
{{Pie}} Not fun, watching the small signs of change…
Feeling quiet today- it’s rainy and I’m in a reflective mood. Too much on my mind, these days!
Oh, by the way…
Happy Father’s Day
I will get it together to do Father’s Day for my husband…
I’m going to make porterhouse steaks on the grill, corn on the cob and this special potato dish that takes forever, but is a favorite of my husband’s.
Boston cream pie for dessert. Store bought, not homemade- too much to do for next weekend to do a lot of scratch cooking!
I’ll save a window seat for the rest of you because I definitely have a lifetime achievement ticket on That Hellbound Train, which by the way is one of my favorite stories by Robert Bloch and probably the best “beat the devil” story ever.
So on the down side I didn’t sleep very well last night, but on the up side there was nobody to get cranky because I turned on the light to read myself back to sleep. I think Pratchett’s catching on that something’s up because he’s been kinda searching around for Himself and being extra lovey dovey to me. I don’t know how to make a tiny pot of coffee and it tastes like crap. 
I know I’m better off out of that toxicity, just as I know it’s better for him to be in a wider world without a convenient scapegoat to blame for all his feelings. Not that it’ll stop him, mind you, I’ll still be blamed for everything but since nobody else will allow him to be an asshole to them directly he’ll have to throttle back on the expression of anger and sublimate it. He’ll also have to go out and get a job because I highly doubt there’s anyone willing to foot his bills as I’ve been doing. I’ve been trying to get him to do this for a while now, not so much because of the money situation (although that would have been nice) but just to get him out of the house and out of his own head. He doesn’t realize that the HUGE ISSUES he thinks he has with me are actually, in comparison to what the real world has to offer, quite minimal. I’m not the easiest person to be around and tend toward the bossy but compared to a boss and cow-orkers I’m a goddamned dreamboat–and I think he knows that when he’s being honest with himself.
I wish I could get up a head of anger to make this easier but I just don’t have it in me anymore. After so many lather-rinse-repeats of this scenario I’m just numb to it. I seriously only have one issue with him and that’s the fact that I can’t express anything negative, no matter how slight, to him and have it addressed with respect and a cooperative spirit to resolve the issue. He goes into full attack mode, with sarcasm and barbed comments and the martyr trip (“oh, I forgot, I can’t do ANYTHING right according to you, and of course YOU’RE never wrong!”) and if I pursue it he gets progressively angrier, louder and will not allow any dialogue AT ALL. It’s a rant, pure and simple and it will continue ad infinitum even if I put on headphones and drown it out–he’ll just keep yelling even though I can’t hear him! I often wonder if when I leave (which I often do) if he keeps on yelling to an empty house–that’s just so weird to me. Then there’s the name calling–just imagine the very worst things you could imagine saying to someone who just killed your beloved pet in front of you and I can pretty much guarantee I’ve had it screamed at me because I dared to tell him he’s not keeping up with the housework (his part of the deal in exchange for me supporting him) or because I interrupted something he was saying.
It also pisses me off that if we had anything remotely approaching decent health care in this country he could’ve gotten mental health counselling long ago to address some of this, along with medication to get his blood pressure into something like normal human range (it’s my hypothesis that people with HBP are more angry because they feel the kind of physical cues most of us only experience under dire stress ALL THE TIME.)
Please don’t think he’s like this all the time, either–he’s always weird and touchy but only gets this bad sometimes. He just has zero conflict resolution skills and some profound issues stemming from an emotionally abusive upbringing that he doesn’t have the faintest idea of how to address on his own, and rather than asking for help (anathema!) it’s so much easier to say “it’s 'cuz you’re a bitch” and leave it at that. Problem is that I’m not nearly as much of a bitch as I should be, and when he first started on this cycle with me twenty years ago I should’ve broken his arm or shot him or something just to let him know that ain’t a proper way to mess with me. Gee, I guess it really IS all my fault! 
Too bad they didn’t have cheap stun guns at Target back then…
I’m really sorry to vent all over the place like this but I so hate to burden family and friends with it AGAIN. This would be so much easier if he wasn’t the perfect guy for me about 95% of the time and if I didn’t love him to distraction. All I have to say is that I truly, deeply hope that there is indeed a hell wherein the vicious, hateful bitch who raised him can rotisserie for eternity. She took a pair of bright, beautiful, loving kids and twisted them into her monstrous image–his brother never got away and the process is complete in him but Himself had a chance but the damage was too severe and he falls back into that early childhood pattern like a satellite with a decaying orbit falls inevitably back to earth.
So all I have to say for Father’s Day is that if you have a good dad who raised you right make sure you tell him how much you love him, and if you are a dad please take to heart how much your children look to you for an example and do your best to be a good one. The repercussions of bad parenting resound down through generations–I’m just glad that in our family the bad stuff isn’t passing down to the Grandboy, because 70+ years of shitty parenting is more than enough!
{{{beebs}}}, and I don’t care if you’re the anti-hug! Get better and I sure hope they figure out what the heck happened because seizures are spooky!
Sorry to hear your grandma story, Pie. Potatoes sound like they were probably yummy, despite their sad source.
Continued hugs to Smartie.
Back from church, brunch and a stop at Whole Foods. Need to get cherries pitted and make the next batch of cherry jam and whatever else I’m making.
Tired, but I have lots to do before 5:00 when I need to leave for dinner… Might still take a nap first…
Back later.
GT
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! This is one that hurts a bit, since I lost my dad when I was 17. Don’t take your dads for granted!
yawn I’m a bit sleepy today.
{{{{{beebs}}}}}
Wow, Smartie…I just don’t know what to say. Go ahead and vent all you want here. We’ve got big shoulders. Continued hugs to you.
I’ve managed to take my shower, but I need to fix my hair now. Sigh…sometimes I wish it was fashionable for women to be bald. I get so sick of having to mess with my hair.
Smooches all…
Apply as needed:
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I’ve decided that the 1931 version of Dracula (the iconic one with Bela Lugosi) is too heavy-handed and in desperate need of a soundtrack. It will never separate me from my one true vampire love, Nosferatu.
Just for fun here is the latest installment in the Further Mockery of Advice: Family is so hard to deal with.
New MMP here
have a happy fathers day guys!
Didn’t have time to read, so VROOM!!
{{{Smartie}}}
I can relate a little bit. My late husband was always angry like that, or at least always on the verge. He was verbally abusive, too, with me and my son (his stepson.) It was a hard time for me, and I still hear him in my head (it’s been five years since he died.) Everything always got turned around to be my fault. He was a much better arguer and debater, and always won the argument - usually because he just wore me down. I stuck it out with him because he had a terminal disease, and was on disability.
If he’s anything like Steve was, you are so much better off. I wanted to divorce Steve so many times, but felt I was stuck with him.
Since meeting Mr Rebo, I’ve never been happier! 
I feel good about myself now, at least most of the time.
Good on ya for giving yourself a chance at real happiness! Mwah!
Ok, I know the new MMP is up but I figure I needed to wrap up here first.
Snowbunny I understand that. My dad has been gone for four years and Father’s Day is kinda sad.
SmartiePants just to say what others have said, this your place to vent. Vent away. We’re here for ya.
MOOOOOM the same sorta thing happened to me re garage door three years ago. Turned out, it was lightning that caused the problem. It fried the motor and I had to get a new garage door opener. That turned out to be ok, cause I found a way better one than the one I had on sale. If that’s the case for y’all, maybe y’all will have that kinda luck too. They’re not hard to replace. Heck, I did it myself and nuttin’ blew up!
Today turned out to be kinda fun. Remember how I said I was goin’ back to bed? Well, that didn’t happen. Shortly after I posted this mornin’, JoeDawg’s daddy called and invited us over to his house. He and his partner were doin’ a big ol’ lunch for his father. It was kinda funny cause he said he felt bad callin’ at the last minute but he had talked to his dad just before he called and his dad had asked if ol’ y’all know who and I were comin’ cause he’d like to see us. AWWWWWWW…
This is particularly jake cause both of us have lost our fathers and really like the man. So, we went over to have lunch. Interestin’ group. His folks, his sister and her current flame (Sis has been married twice, no kids, and has had a string of boyfriends down through the years. No judgement, mind y’all, I really like her), his brother and his partner (bro is also a really good friend of ours) and us. Heh. Mr. Frank (the dad) was glad to see us both but he said to me, “Hot damn! Somebody who knows how to make a decent Bloody Mary!” Made me proud.
Anywho, ‘twas a nice time and best of all, I did not have to cook. JoeDawg’s daddy and Partner are pretty good cooks. I commented on how moist the fried chicken was and JoeDawg’s daddy told me that was high praise considerin’ how picky I am about fried chicken, which is true. The ‘nanner puddin’ for dessert was not to shabby either.
Ok, that about wraps it all up. Now I shall go say howdy in the new MMP.