Pity party cancelled

Well, I have to say it was the most craptacular Mother's day ever! And one of the lousiest weekends ever that didn't involve death, wrecked cars, or hospitals!

Friday evening was nice, Saturday I got up and went to kickboxing class (which I really enjoyed). After that I picked up my mom and I went to CostCo to pick up the seafood for our big seafood feast we had planned.

It all went to hell in a handbasket after that.

We planned to go out in the boat Saturday afternoon and meet the boy up at the lake (he was with his grandpa). My mom shows up at 3 - minus the MIL. She never got out of bed Saturday. Now, we had this big talk with her last weekend and she agreed to start getting on a schedule etc and blah blah, but you know what she followed through on this week? Squat. The whole not bothering to get up, sleeping all day at least once a week - no change.

So, we were all a little frustrated when we arrived at the lake. Hubs backs us down the ramp, and guess what??? The boat won't start!!! Woo hoo! A super fun half hour ensues where we are trying to contact Randy (who sold us the boat) who is out on THE SAME LAKE so we can figure out why our brand new boat isn't working. Hub is pretty much on the verge of an aneurism. Me, I just wanted a beer.

It turns out (although we didn't know this at the time), but the stereo isn't correctly wired, it was wired directly to the battery. So it was draining the battery constantly. We could have jumped started the boat, and the engine would have charged the battery and we would have been fine. But we didn't know that. So we went home.

So, mom, hub and I go home, drop boat, and go to get something to eat. I sure as heck wasn't cooking, and mom had to hang around to pick up the boy from the lake when he was done skiing with Grandpa. We use the time to have a serious talk about MIL. She is driving my mom insane. It's the little things, and the big things. Like my mom had bought 3 bags of expensive dried fruit (on sale) and when she went to get a couple of pieces the other day they were gone. She asked MIL if she knew where the dried fruit was, and MIL just smiled and rubbed her belly. Or the fact that she can get up if she has a doctor appt, but doesn't bother any other day. Or that she keeps asking to borrow $$ for her prescriptions from my mom, but spends 10 bucks a week on creamer for her coffee. Or that when her dog wants breakfast she opens her bedroom door and just lets him out, closing the door behind him. If mom isn't up, then MIL's dog Winnie wakes mom up so SHE can feed him. You see how this could get old.

The woman has been living with my mom 4 months. She got back over $500 from income taxes, which she spent on clothes and unnecessary crap, while she lives in my mom's house free of charge. None of us ever dreamed at the beginning she'd still be with my mom after 4 months. My mom has put up with stuff that would have driven me over the edge. So, over dinner the 3 of us decided that MIL had to be given a deadline to move out of my mom's out. We decided to give her a month's notice.

But hub's out of town next weekend, and then mom & I are taking the boy to Key West and will be gone the following 2 weekends. So we got to tell her this on Mother's Day.

Sunday morning I got up early, fed all the animals, and went to do the grocery shopping. It was beautiful, and I asked my husband if we could go out on the boat. At that point, we knew we could jumpstart it and be okay, and we had to take it to the marina anyway to get fixed, and we can't use it the next 3 weekends. So off we went for a very pleasant 2 hours at the lake. But of course it couldn't last. The boy proceeds to act like a total horses ass as we are getting the boat out of the water. He heads home with my mom, & hub and I head home.

At this point, we have 8 loads of laundry, the house is trashed (he was sick last weekend so it got a light surface cleaning only) and none of my cooking is done. Oh yeah, and I haven't gotten a bath since kickboxing the prior morning! After we got home, I got the lentil soup in the crockpot for my breakfasts and went to get cleaned up. Hub works on laundry & the house. By the time I'm out of the tub and had a bite to eat the moms are there!

So, its 4 pm, no cooking is done, half the laundry is done, and the only housework done is vacuuming. Oh, and the sink is full of dirty dishes.

I start on supper while mom loads the dishwasher and peels the shrimp. Hub goes out & talks to MIL. MIL is totally distraught and won't look at us, speak to us, and just sits outside crying. Mom and I bust our butts to prep food. Hub grills shrimp and scallops. We cook crab cakes, steam crab legs and a lobster tail, make a salad, and make alfredo noodles. Dinner is a lovely affair, with MIL barely touching her food while everyone makes awkward conversation. After dinner, she asks hub to drive her home, because she doesn't want to ride with my mom.

Turns out hub has stated things in such a way that MIL thinks mom wants her out. Which is true, but this wasn't my mom’s idea or solely her decision. So after dinner we have a lovely 2 hour conversation, the gist of which is that we've helped s much as we can for as long as we can. Now she has to start helping herself and/or enlist other family members to help her. She has chosen not to tell her sister or other son anything about what has been going on down here.

They finally leave at 8, boy goes to his room with phone glued to ear, wife (aka me) heads to store for 6 pack. Luckily I was too tired to stay up long enough to do much damage.

Instead of 2 "free" meals, it was more like 1 meal and 1 day, and you can imagine my mental state when I went to bed last night.

I woke up bright and early this morning (3:45), bolted upright, and realized I'd never put my soup in the fridge and it’s been out on the counter all night!!!! Needless to say, I'm way too upset to even dream of going back to sleep. I get up, sit in the living room, and cry for 15 minutes. Then I made the decision that I wasn't going to let my eating be ruined all day Monday because I don't have anything prepared. I'd already "wasted" a day on poor food choices, and I didn't want to waste another.

At 4 am I headed to the kitchen and started cooking. At 5:30 I'd done quite a bit, but needed a couple of things from the store, I got dressed and went to the grocery at 6. I bought myself a basket of geraniums while I was there. I got home, finished my cooking, packed lunches, and sat down for breakfast with my family. The boy and I headed out the door at 7:05, headed for school.

It was a beautiful morning, a hint of fog that hadn't finished burning off, clear air, and birds chirping. At one point I caught a whiff of diesel exhaust, which always reminds me of going to the field in the Army. It was like morning in Hawaii, the cool air and beautiful sky. The day seemed poised on the edge of something happening. I've been smiling ever since.