Rob's HH #12: Sisterhood of the Pattinson

[Tornado]

Hey everybody!

My cousin's visit will finish today and I will be taking her to the airport later. Her mother is still very unwell and the doctors aren't sure what they can do for her. She has so many problems that if they try to fix one another one is caused by whatever they do to her. It's difficult to know what action to take. Hopefully they can find a way to help her.

I'm not doing much else today, just grocery shopping, but that's okay. It's been nice to see my cousin, even if it is under less-than-ideal circumstances.

[Songbird]

*walks in and collapses in a chair* Hi, sibs. I have zero energy. The last 2 weeks have been nothing but work work work. Bug had her GRID (musical theater) performance on the 17th and 18th, which my in-laws came for, which meant I spent that week pretty much deep cleaning everything I could think of. My MIL of course STILL managed to find something not to her liking. I cleaned the cupboard doors, the outside of the dishwasher and the oven, etc, but I didn't scrub my garbage can, and when she threw something away, I asked her to please close the lid to keep it from smelling (it's trash for cripes sake) and she informed me that if it was smelling, I needed to clean it. Who cleans their garbage??? So anyway, I spent that week TRYING to MIL proof my house. Then Bug had 3 performances that weekend. She did so well! Then I had a few days to bake and get ready for Bug's birthday party with her school friends, then after that was over (Wednesday), I had to get the house back in order and bake for the bigger party with the family and friends. This time my MIL was unhappy with my coffee machine. Apparently I shouldn't keep it by the window where the sun comes in, because it breaks down the plastic...never mind that she keeps HER coffee machine by a window, too. And the thing is that we have a very small kitchen. If it were up to me, I wouldn't HAVE a coffee machine. We don't drink coffee...the thing just takes up space that we don't have, just so we can serve her coffee twice a year on the kids' birthdays. And because we don't have enough space, I have a stash of baking/serving dishes on the counter in front of the coffee machine that we don't use, because they are out of the way there, but we can still access them. My mother-in-law told me to put them away. So I asked her "And where exactly do I have room to put them away". She says "Well, not in front of the coffee machine! You can hardly get to the coffee machine." I just walked away before I bit her head off. She's really a lovely person, but she really disapproves of how I run my household and she doesn't understand that what SHE views as helpful advise or guidance, I view as rude criticism and judgment. But, we got through it and I managed not to throttle her, Bug had a great time and got all the presents she wanted. She got her ears pierced, she got one of those looms to make the elastic band bracelets, she got a bunch of other craft stuff, the journal she wanted, the next book in the series she loves, and the Tinkerbell movie about her twin sister.
MM is becoming quite a little fish! They were practicing swimming through the hole yesterday and the hole is 3 meters from the edge, so they have to jump in and swim 3 meters under water, through the hole, without coming up for air. Hubs said he swam all the way to the stairs, which is like....20 meters. That was the part of the swimming test that Bug had such a hard time with. She was scared to go under water so long. For the first diploma it's 3 meters, and the 2nd it's 7. MM should have no problem with either of them. He's much more athletic. He's doing a 1k kids run in June.
Hubs was in an accident on his way to work last week. One of my worst fears. He was not hurt and I really think God was watching out for him. I pray about that a lot because I hate that he has to commute on a busy highway. But he was in an exit lane to get from one highway to another and a semi came up and wanted to get onto the other highway too and didn't see hubs. Fortunately it was a side swipe, not a heavy hit. It pushed him off onto the shoulder of the road though.
I had a dream about Rob last night...he wasn't famous in my dream...he was from my home town and we were doing community theater together and we had the leading roles opposite each other. He was pretty well known in the community from doing the plays before, and I was a nobody, but he was so sweet. I'm pretty sure we were still in high school, though I'm not positive. But he insulted me and I stormed out of rehearsal because he knew all the lingo and I didn't and he asked me a question I didn't understand and then insulted me that I didn't know what it meant, so I left and then he came to find me and apologize. And I THINK there was something about a snotty ex-co-star who had dated him and she was trying to get him back and was very jealous that I was playing the lead opposite him and she was trying to sabotage me, but I don't remember how. Just that he stood up for me kept ignoring her, which made her hate me even more.

Lynne, I'm so sorry Rochelle can't pay you right now! Hopefully some of the book signings work out for you. Did you ever get paid by the one book store? Sounds like the class you are doing with the kids is going well.
Happy belated anniversary...that restaurant sounds good. I'm a dessert lover.
How is your aunt doing now? Have they been able to do anything for her?


Sarah, of COURSE pets count as kids...and sometimes husbands do as well. Glad the cat's adjusting. I'm not a real big cook either. I enjoy baking, but there's something about the cooking that just bugs me. Perhaps it's the fact that I HAVE to do it, rather than like baking when I can decide when and what I want to bake. And MM is SO picky it's hard to find things that we all like, so a lot of the time I'm making dinner for us and heating up a pizza or leftovers or something else for MM so he eats SOMETHING. He's skinny! And I remember from when I was a kid, my mom was very strict and I HAD to eat everything even if it was something I had tasted before and hated. There was no option of just not eating. So I don't want to make food a battle ground with my kids because I know it doesn't help and there are so many other things that are much more important than shoving food down their throats that they hate. But it gets exhausting trying to come up with things we all like, etc. And then we have kind of a busy schedule with MM's swimming lessons, physical therapy, and Bug's GRID (which is now over until after summer vacation), plus my choir stuff. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to plan meals around everything and it just takes the fun out of it! It's definitely not just you who doesn't enjoy it.

Sean, how many kittens did you end up with?

[Chernaudi]

Hi everyone.

I don't have any big plans for today. I'll be fininshing looking up some Audi stuff, and trying to do some gaming and maybe some fan fic writing.

I found one of my mom's old Reader's Digest disaster books, and I've been looking for and older one we had called Great Disasters. I might be buying a copy from Amazon.com when I get some money, as well as 1001 Images of Cars to replace an old discarded library book that I've had for over 15 years.

But as I said, I don't have a lot of plans today. I'll be trying to keep cool, as it's warm and humid today. It's also supposed to be a bit stormy for the next couple of days, but it'll cool down after that.

Songbird: We had only two. The cat had another one a few days later, but it was stillborn. But the other two are OK and our 5 month has been helping out, too.

I'll be back later

[Tornado]

Morning all!

My cousin went home yesterday. It was sad to see her go, but I won't be able to be sad for long, because another cousin (her younger sister) is arriving tomorrow and staying until Monday! Our house provides very convenient access to the hospital for interstate visitors.
My aunt is still not doing well. She doesn't think it's her time to die just yet, but I'm not 100% sure about that. She is certainly very ill and there's little they can do for her unless they can get rid of her chest infection, which is proving just about impossible at the moment. I don't know what the doctors are going to do.
Rochelle has asked me to do some work from home for her today because she really needs it done and swears she will pay me before the end of the financial year. We'll see.

Susan - sorry to hear that MIL was such a pain! I'm glad Bug had a good birthday and that MM is doing so well in swimming. No, I still haven't been paid by that bookstore. I noticed one lady from our church is friends with her on Facebook and I asked about her and she said that she does have a reputation for being a bit of a cheat when it comes to money. I had stopped hounding her because one of her staff had said her child was very ill at the moment, but I asked my friend if she'd seen any mention of this on Facebook. She said no. So likely her staff just cover for her when she's hounded by people to whom she owes money. I will probably have to go down to the bookstore and have an instore confrontation with her. I am not looking forward to this.

[Chernaudi]

Hi everyone.

Pretty humid here. I had to use the fan that I use in the kitchen when I'm on my laptop to keep somewhat cool last night. I'm hoping for thunderstorms today to cool things down and the front should push though tonight and bring some cooler air and such.

I plan on finishing looking up some Audi stuff today, as well as some gaming and maybe fan fic.

But my biggest plan for today is to stay cool and relaxed.

I'll be back later

[Tornado]

I managed to finish editing Rochelle's book yesterday. Unfortunately, there are some problems with the ending that Rochelle had hoped the author had fixed up. Not in my opinion. This one is supposed to be released in August too, so we're kind of in a hurry to get it finalised.

My other cousin comes to stay with us today so she too can visit her mother. She'll leave next Monday.

[TwilightFan87]

Hey all!

I can't believe it's already Wednesday, where does time go? Monday was a holiday here, Memorial Day, but we didn't have it off since the schedule is just too busy to re-book people during the week. It wound up being fine, an easy day with no one around (people who are chatty tend to slow us down), and we ended up going to my parents house for dinner. My Dad and Jason grilled and we all hung out so it still felt very holiday-ish despite working all day.

I'm still working on New Moon and I love that I can still enjoy the books after so many re-reads! I also downloaded Eclipse to my iPod and have been enjoying listening to it while I work. I'm thinking BD 1 will be my next download, maybe next month. Every once in a while I can convince Jason it's necessary for new stuff to listen to at work since my iPod is pretty much on all day while I clean

Lynne-when is the end of the financial year for you guys? I'm sure that's stressful not knowing if/when Rochelle can pay you. Not to mention having to hound people to pay you

Sorry about your aunt :/ That's really sad!

Song-good to hear from you! My goodness, you have been super busy!! I love hearing what your kiddos are up to..are they on summer break yet? Sounds like Bug had a great birthday party...I think MM swims better than me

MIL's can be really stressful :/ That does NOT sound like fun, dealing with her.

I can cook pasta and that's about it. Thankfully Jason likes to cook so he helps, but I'm trying to find other dishes to make..I just hate touching raw meat. It's really gross to me!

[Chernaudi]

Hi everyone.

Things are a lot more pleasant where I'm at right now. It's cooler, not stormy, and I have Social Security money coming in tomorrow.

I'll be looking up some stuff, doing some gaming and possibly fan fic. I'll be posting more already completed chapters for my story soon as well.

Other than that, I don't have much going on today. So far, I've given grandma her breakfast and such with the morning routine.

I'll be back later

[Tornado]

Morning all!

My visit to the school went well yesterday. They seemed to enjoy it. I've got three emails from the kids already (there were thirteen yesterday) and they have a lot of questions.

My aunt is apparently looking a little better. There's now talk that they might be able to do the bronchoscopy they were planning to do. That would be good. Then they can see what's really going on in her lungs.

Sarah - yes, time sure does fly! I'm glad you're enjoying the books again. I'm trying to read as many new things as I can at the moment to increase my awareness in the genres my book is in - YA, sci-fi/fantasy and romance. The end of our financial year is at the end of June.

[Chernaudi]

Hi everyone.

I have some stuff to finish up later. I got my groceries today and it'll be enough, aside from some minor stuff, to last me for a while. Got some pretty good stuff, too.

My PC game's new mode turns out to be a ball to play, aside from only being able to save once per stage and the game can crash often. But there, its old design and loading screen stuff does work in it's favor.

The Le Mans test is this weekend, and there's an IMSA race I'd like to watch tomorrow. Aside from that, I had a good breakfast from Burger King and I have a couple of things to do gaming-wise today.

I'll be back later