Good morning all! Good thing I got gas yesterday. I was not scheduled for driving carpool, but D is out sick. It was a crazy crazy go go go weekend. Friday was the cookie exchange at church. The resulting 6 DOZEN cookies are being enjoyed in the payroll breakroom. Sunday, I had to go to the animal org Christmas party and to the church caroling, both because I had hostessing obligations. DD15 was stuck with homework. The x has a new pattern: have family activities outside the house during his time, forcing DD's time with me to be nothing but homework. She sees through it too. We did get to the River of Lights Saturday evening at least. Because I will be seeing the xBFF next week, I had to make a very unpleasant call home. If you want details, you can read my rant. I updated my pet sitter with the new status of the house felines (1 adoption, 1 death, no more meds). I got LOLs done and actually put them away! The most critical of the church webwork is done. My house is a disaster.
Tonight's motion will be belly dance! Other critical things are:
- Minutes and notes for the animal org
- Add some ugly to the Christmas sweater
- Finish church webwork
The first two both need to be complete by Wednesday morning.
<skippable rant>
Saturday, the x wanted me to pick up DD15 because they were going to a party. Yes, it's another invitation from the xBFF. The pattern is for her to have large parties, which I am invited to. The weekend before that, there is always a small dinner party for the "special" people, which always includes the x, the other woman, and some other usual people. I used to be invited to those. I'm so disgusted with her I can't see straight. Because I will be seeing her next weekend, I had to bite the bullet and tell my dad her latest response to mom's Mardi Gras invitation. She plans on bringing her boyfriend and staying in a hotel instead of in my family home, where, under no circumstances would she be assigned a room with a boyfriend, even if he had been invited, which he wasn't. My parents have never met and were not aware of boyfriend's existence! Mom planned an experience for her daughter, another friend's son, and my daughter, in keeping with the family nature of Mobile's Mardi Gras. Us moms are part of the fun, but not the main focus. xBFF wants to turn it into a romantic Mardi Gras vacation with entertainment and babysitting services provided by my family. When I told my dad, his comment was, "That's ... blatant." Did he mean blatantly disrespectful to the host family, blatant flouting of the moral and social conventions of the hosts and the society in which they live, or blatant trampiness in front three generations of his family? I''m not sure, but it's amazing how much disapproval was conveyed in two words, even over the phone. What the xBFF does not understand is that in my hometown, you can get away with many things if you are absolutely discreet. However, if you force us into awareness, especially if children will become aware, we cannot and will not be seen as condoning it. My dad is going to "give it some thought." Translation: he is talking to mom about how we can get out of this without going so far as to rescind an invitation. I am going to suggest instead of rescinding the invitation, we reiterate it! And give other useful information for the trip. Clarifying by stating in no uncertain terms the presence of children and the fact that our family and those we associate with do not want open, blatant unmarried bed sharing in front of those children. In fact, the adults find it distasteful and uncomfortable to be forced to acknowledge it.
All we want is for her to give the appearance of respecting the social conventions of our hometown for five or six days, so she does not embarrass our family. I won't tell her the italicized part, because that would be rude.
