So many things can be read in so many different ways.............
Zoom in to see what I mean....
Hubby and I decided to make the most of our free babysitters before they go home tomorrow. (Can we all say WOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!)? We had thought about going to the movies on Sunday night but we hadn't gotten our act together in time, so we thought tonight we'd get there by 7.15pm for the show.
First I had to get through all Mac's questions....
Mac: Where are you going?
Me: To the movies.
Mac: What are you going to see?
Me: It's a film, with ,erm Julia Roberts?
Mac: Is it Robin Hood?
Me: Erm, no, it's called 'Duplicity.'
Mac: What does that mean?
Me: Well it sort of means two sides of something or two things the same...
Mac: So is it about twins?
Me: I'll let you know.
***********************************
So we got out of the house and got to the theater in time. We saw all the posters of what was showing as we went through the door, including the one for Slumdog Millionaire.
"I still really want to see that," says Hubby.
"Do you really?" I ask in disbelief as I have been telling him to go and see it forever.
"No, not at all." he answered sarcastically.
........
So we got to get tickets for Duplicity at 7.15 but now it seems to have changed to 8.15. Seems that the weekend times are different from during the week....Who knew?
So, we end up going to see.... you guessed it, 'Slumdog Millionaire.' Which I had already seen.
..........
This theater likes a 'personal touch' so there is always some guy who goes in the theater to welcome you before the trailers etc start. He was plugging the weekly e-mail schedule that you get if you join their free film club.
"I get that already," I whispered to Hubby.
"Does it not have the bloody times on then?" he said 'happily.'
He got his revenge later after the film (which he liked) when we weren't gonig to stay for the dance sequence as the titles rolled......we walked down the stairs whilst everyone else remained seated and he attempted to 'Ji-Ho dance' across the floor whilst I walked on ahead pretending not to know him.
Quite ironic that I saw the film for the 2nd time instead of Duplicity.......
I have heard this a lot on Radio 1 and it seems to have an 80s feel? Or maybe that's just me? But I quite like it.......
I am not sure why this may have come about. The only thing that could have triggered it, is that we started watching 'W' on DVD last week - only got about 20 minutes in and Hubby declared it crap. I still want to watch the rest of it though.
Seeing as George Bush is no longer president, he is at a loose end so he decides to do tours for folk at his ranch in Texas. Hubby and I end up going out there.
We get a coach along with a load of tourists to said ranch and we get to walk through. It is actually a bit run down but there are loads of feature walls that look like something out of 'Changing rooms' where empty frames have been taken and sprayed and used to just make patterns. It looks quite naff.
There is also a lot of painted concrete that looks like it has seen better days. All in all it looks shabby.
I happen upon Laura Bush - just sat on a window seat. I approach her in a very touristy fashion and say I have read her recent book and that I was most impressed. She thanks me. Hubby has wandered off by this stage. I also tell her I have read her daughter Barbara's book and also like that (I did in real life and it was ok) - I tell her she must be very proud of her and that she looked lovely as a bride (the daughter) - I wander further down the corridor.
There is a lot of teal on the walls. Hubby has gone down into a courtyard and I can see him wandering about - he looks like he is here under duress.
I bump into Barbara Bush - the young married twin. Actually I see her scooting down a hill on her butt and I think she looks like she still has her wild streak. Her new husband is with her - who has morphed into a young guy I know out here - married to a friend of Hubby's. I congratulate them on their wedding and tell them good luck - that I have got almost 13 years under my belt and point out hubby in the courtyard saying 'he's the one down there losing his hair, but he's ok really.'
?????
Anyhow, we move on to our assigned seating. Then Barbara Bush - the married twin calls me back and I have to go past all the Secret Service detail who are awaiting George Bush's arrival. Barbara wants to show me her new spring wardrobe and in it I notice some maternity clothes and she tells me they are indeed trying to get pregnant.
George Bush has now arrived and I follow his entourage to get back to my seat before he speaks. But a male secret Service agent stops me and says I should have been seated already. I have to watch his speech from afar but can see the guy is clearly drunk - he's swaying all over the place and slurring his words but I seem to be the only one who notices. I ask the Secret Service guy who has just stopped me, if he can't see that Bush is wasted and he just looks away.
So I manage to get by him and go to my seat- the other Secret Service people ignore me. There is a female agent right next to George and she is about 3 chairs from me. She smiles at me. I stare at the drunken ex-President and assume that he has fallen off the wagon as he is so bored now, with no purpose with his time in office over.
He finishes his speech and leaves. The rest of the tourists all go to leave - no idea where Hubby goes but I end up dawdling around and missing the coach out of their ranch. So saunter down the corridors and bump into Mrs. Bush now flower arranging. Sit with her at the round table and she says she will drive me later.
How bloody weird is that then???
Any dream analysts out there care to tell me how completely mad I have become?
Whilst in-laws have been here we have been to a variety of weird and wonderful shops. Where you think they will buy things they don't and then on other occasions you can't believe they would buy such crap to take home. (Mother in law once schlepped home a full size kitchen pedal bin as the 'colour' was just so unusual. It was PRICELESS seeing father-in-law's face at that one...).
Last week we were at Costco (they bought gardening gloves and a swim suit to take back??) and I got a call from someone I hadn't spoken to in ages. So, with the Costco noise AND mother in law in the background, I spoke to this friend - a Doctor, whose husband works with Hubby.
They adopted a little girl from Ethiopia almost 4 years ago. Little girl has older siblings out there, who live with family (the girl they adopted was not an orphan, but the family just couldn't raise her). My friends send money back to help the family but my friend was calling as her husband was going back to Africa and planning to visit their daughter's Ethiopian family and she wanted to have some ideas of what was suitable for an 11 year old girl and a 13 year old boy, living in a mud hut, in Ethiopia. Oh and she needed the ideas right then as she was already in the car on the way to buy whatever we came up with.
So pushing huge cart around Costco, and never having even been to Africa, we discussed what could work for a 'present' without seeming completely frivolous. Easier said than done.
In the end we thought that maybe a soccer ball and cleats would work for the boy (who is into soccer it seems) and for the girl perhaps drawing books and crayons and maybe hair braiding accessories - my friend had a huge learning process dealing with braiding Afro-hair.
It still seems odd in a way, spending money on things that they don't NEED in the way they so desperately need other things.
But put on the spot like that, what would you have suggested?
It was the last day of 'tubing' as the winter season winds down.
I felt stupid not to have taken the kids' helmets with us - never have before, but with the Natasha Richardson death...it makes it all seem more relevant.
A good time was had by all although Rory was really most happy just eating the snow...
Yesterday, rather than have the in-laws just sit here in the mountains and watch crap tv, as they are prone to do, we encouraged them to get off their lazy Irish arses and do something like go out in the snow. We suggested 'snow shoeing' which is really just walking in the snow on the trails, with 'racquet like snow shoes' bound to your boots.
In the end it was decided that Hubby, Bee, Father-in-law and Mac would all go together. Mac was celebrating his half birthday it seems, as he announced to us at 5.30am that day ( He is now 5 and a half. Officially).
So I went and dropped them off at the designated Nordic Center and then went out to lunch with Paddy. Picked them up a few hours later and Mac, who assured us he wasn't tired at all, only 'exhausted' instead, had done really really well to say it was his first time. Bee was very pleased that father-in-law had fallen down more than she had. It was, all in all, quite a success.
So this morning, Hubby has taken the older two off to ski and I have just dropped the in-laws off to snow shoe. So father-in-law has yesterday under his belt, and mother-in-law was asking the most ridiculous questions as I pointed her in the direction of the trail:-
"I thought they were supposed to look like tennis racquets."
"I need two of them, do I?"
"Will it be cold, do you think?"
"Where will you pick us up again?"
to which I was tempted to answer......
"Yes they probably did, about 100 years ago."
"How many fucking feet do you have then?"
"No, it'll be hot, as this snow, this white stuff everywhere, it's all an illusion actually, piped in from LA you DENSE COW!!!"
"I can drive over that huge mountain, along the narrow trail and you then only need to walk 20 metres and you can just sit down and get a bloody suntan seeing as it is so warm."
They leave on Tuesday morning. I never said I was a patient person, but this is absolutely taking the piss.......
So, the in-laws are still here. STILL. Well actually we are now all holed up here in the mountains. Change of scene and all.
Mother in law normally comes over to see us twice a year. Father in law tags along once a year. His choice. He, apparently, wants to see the kids, but gets bored very easily and is a very uneasy houseguest (read 'bloody nutter').
There was an incident a few years ago when I was pregnant with Rory and we were over in Britain. There was a huge row with father in law when he was winding up the kids as a way to really press my buttons - he was bored, you see, and he needed to get a little bit of fun in life by causing an almighty row. Things were said which I will never ever forget and since then, I have pretty much had the man marked as a maniac. Mainly for Hubby's sake, I have tried to endure the in-laws as he is actually quite close to them. Our balance is that he goes over there alone to see them for his fix and then we have their one/two visits over here (which we pay for - financially as well as in oh so many other ways).
Well father-in-law seems to be itching to pick a fight again. I mean it is seriously strained here. Seriously. He is bored, despite having been here just a week. He is doing his usual asking questions and then saying 'is that right?' like he really doesn't give a shit what you answer. I have cooked proper meals daily, provided endless supply of food I know they like, and beer and have kept a close eye on the kids around him.
When I have all the kids in my car and both in-laws, one of the in-laws has to squeeze in the 3rd row of seats between Bee and Paddy. It is tight to say the least, but is ok.
However yesterday father-in-law was back there and was winding them up completely. Elbowing them the whole time to get them to moan and complain. It maybe sounds like nothing but they were really screeching with it and I was driving on the freeway at 70mph having to look in the mirror the whole time as I didn't trust father in law. Said repeatedly to them ALL to give it a rest as I needed to concentrate on driving etc. It was half joking but serious in that it was dangerous. Father-in-law kept doing it and goading them saying dumb things like 'ah you just want to be the best but I am the best.' Yes, indeed, like a bloody 5 year old. The kids were really trying to ignore him and rise above it but they are only kids. Mother in law was sat beside me and saw how I was really getting wound up with his taunts and heard me telling them all to just sit still and be quiet for a bit. She didn't say a word, but she knew it was not good.
When we got home I was furious. Not so much with the kids but the ridiculous behaviour of father-in-law. Told the kids to stay out of his way for the rest of the day. Got them in bed and then hubby and I went out. Told hubby about it all and he was semi-understanding but also didn't want the whole thing to blow up like the Scotland situation had.
So today, father-in-law came down to breakfast asking the kids if they had 'ratted him out' about in the car the day previously as Hubby had asked him what the problem had been. Father in law knew it was me who had said something, obviously, and then he got in my face and siad 'Yeah, SOMEBODY was making a big deal out of nothing.' I just looked at him and left the room. I was so fucking mad. Then mother in law waltzes in and says 'it's horrendous sitting in the back with those two, they just don't let you get buckled in or anything, and they were just all having a laugh.' So not true as well she knows. Alone she is rational with the kids, with FIL she just loses perspective too - defends him and blames the kids.
Has been a horrible day in this respect. Tension just sitting there. Haven't said much to them at all. Just counting the days until they leave. Have kept older kids especially away from them and Hubby has told his dad a couple of times to just leave them alone. He knows I am seriously pissed off with them.
And they are so so tight. Today, mother in law could not find her snow boots she 'thought' she had left here. I told her she could use my old ones- she claimed they were too tight. So we were in town and she went to look for new ones - in the sale - about $60 - a real bargain. FIL was so disgusted with her that she was wasting money on boots she 'didn't need' - (she was wearing flats in 5 inches of snow) that he walked out of the shop, mad at her.
They decided to get the bus back here - and said they would get some dinner when out. This will have only been the 2nd meal they have funded themselves this trip. Oh, 3rd if you count the orange he mad a fuss of buying the other day. They went to Wendys ffs. WENDY'S dollar menu.
This does not bode well for summer and our trip to Europe where we will have to spend a little time with them in England. And hubby wonders why I am not excited in the sightest about 6 weeks vacation? I am seriously going to need some medication to get me through.
Any suggestions? Xanex?
"I think that is a horrible photo of you, mumof4. It doesn't look like you. You don't suit your hair pulled back off your face at all. You almost look like Fiona Phillips. No, I wouldn't even have it in that frame.
And Mac there with his cheesy fake grin, just awful."
WELL WHO EVEN ASKED YOU, YOU STUPID COW?.....I thought to myself as MIL just sat there, satisfied and having said her piece.
