I Ache

My mum was over this week. If you know her, you'd know she had me hopping. Time to sit on your ass? Hardy har-har. Thank goodness she has a bad back. She's been hell-bent on dismantling the boys' bunk beds, repainting my red dining room a pastel or something icky, moving bedrooms around and bringing my main floor laundry to the basement. On the flip side, my kids were treated with the best soup in the country and I got caught up with lots of chores while Mum kept Baby Boy occupied.

I did, however, make a serious dent in my Christmas shopping while she was here. I'm just kicking myself in the ass for not picking up a Little Tykes digital camera for my nephews though. I went back to the store after Dad took her home and they were all gone.

It looks like Husband is going to visit family yet again. My father-in-law had a bad fall months ago and it looks like he'll never totally recover. This means he's going to be put in a nursing home of sorts. This also means that Husband and his brothers have to plow through all sorts of shit to get the old man settled. This may mean a really fucked up Christmas, but I hope not. Husband may not be westward AT Christmas, but with the lost work days, he's going to have to make them up somewhere. Such is life. We knew this day was going to come at some point. It's just a crappy time because he gets lots of patients calling just before Christmas. But I can't complain too much. My brother-in-law and his wife are doing the lion's share already.

I feel sorry for Husband's dad. He doesn't have much so he really prided himself that he lived alone, despite his disability. Now he doesn't even have that. And we're going to have to get rid of almost all his stuff. I mean, there's nothing really that anyone would want and he won't be able to take them along. I'd love his old photos, but I'm sure he can take those with him. It's his doodads and furniture I'm talking about. Actually, he does have this velvet green day-glo painting of a couple going at it – in a driftwood frame no less. I'd looooove that but:

a) could I hang that up in the house with kids around?
b) is it middle-of-the-road enough for Mr. Milquetoast, I mean, Husband?
c) would Husband actually carry it through an airport all for the love of me?

No, no, aaaaaand no.

So, to get me laughing again, Middle Child and I watched this series called Making Fiends on the internet tonight. The school librarian told me all about it after we learned we both share a great love for Franny K. Stein. There are a few similarities, though Franny is much, much friendlier than Vendetta.