auntbijou: (Golden-eyed Weasley)
Okay, first... Friday night, I was on-line chatting, something I don't do often because (1) don't really have the time because of my Little Interruptions and (2) sleeping, I really like doing that when I can! But, I was chatting and really enjoying it when I heard something very large crashing around in the bushes outside my side-yard window.

Now, this is something we hear frequently, and it usually turns out to be a cat, a raccoon, a possum, or a lost dog. If it's a cat, we shoo it, if it's a raccoon or possum, we leave them alone. If it's a lost dog, we check for tags and either leave the gate open, or call the owner to come get it.

However, this was... large. Like... sounding like a drunk elephant large. And seconds later, the Impertinent Daughter texted me frantically that there was something outside her window and it was freaking Calcifer out to the point of hissing.

Well. That's new. So, being a brave and intrepid Auntie, I grabbed a flashlight, yanked on some shoes, and went out into the night to beard the Dragon, so to speak. And realized a few things.

(1) We have no lights whatsoever on that side of the house.

(2) It's really dark over there, because we have very little in the way of street lights in our town.

(3) I am 5' 3", didn't grab a baseball bat like I usually do, and was only armed with a mini Mag-light.

I shone the light into the bushes and started to stomp my way into the side yard, and... didn't, because it suddenly occurred to me what would happen if the critter in the bushes was on two legs instead of four. Already had the phone in my hand pre-dialed to 911, but you know, that just isn't enough, right? I shouted out for any person possibly there to come out, and nothing. Tossed a ball into the bushes to startle any four-legged creature into sprinting out.. and nothing.

That's when I decided to tell the daughter it was a possum and to go back to sleep.

So, yesterday, I was telling the Husbandly One about it when we heard a ruckus outside in the bushes again, except it was daylight and... we went outside to see what was going on.

This time, it was a squirrel hung up in a window screen, but it got itself sorted and took off into the bushes. Fine. So, THO and I went to look in the side yard, because we'd speculated about the big noise the previous night being a dog (a month ago, we'd had a stray dog settle himself in the bushes of the side yard quite happily). And... found something we had not expected at all.

Item One: Two milk crates shoved into place behind the bushes under the Impertinent Daughter's windows, convenient for standing on for viewing purposes through said windows.

Item Two: The wooden fence on that side is leaning INTO the yard.

Item Three: A nice little path through the grass and plants from the leaning in portion of the fence straight to the milk crates under ID's windows.

O.O!!

Then THO said, "Oh, the fence has been leaning in for a while..."

I said, "You know, a path that established takes a while to pound out."

It was rather startling to see the amount of fury building in my husband's eyes. And for a little while there, I was all for pounding down the door of the creepy neighbor's house in order to strangle one or more of their sons.

I am speaking, of course, of the Fireman and the Coffee Lady. However, upon further thought, I'm not convinced it was necessarily them. Why? Because, unlike our yard, theirs is open to the street behind us by expedient of having a large cattle gate in their fence, rather than a wooden one, and it has openings large enough for someone to just bend down and slip through. Plus there are handy garbage cans and barrels to stand on in that corner of their yard to use to climb the fence.

We've decided it would be worth it to install motion sensitive lights on that side of the house. And heavy shades for Miss Impertinent's windows.

*sigh*

The second thing to happen this weekend is that my mother called Friday afternoon and said she and the Flaky Sister were coming to visit on Saturday. Oh, well, at least I got 24 hours of notice this time, and not a call from my mom after they were already on the road!!

It was most fortunate that THO and I had already made a start on playing catchup, after two weeks of everyone being sick, because last week, the house looked like goblins had invaded and trashed the place. So there wasn't a lot to do other than cleaning the kids' bathroom, cleaning the kitchen, and tidying up in general. However, it was at some point Friday night, before I started chatting with [personal profile] keiramarcos and her minions, that I stopped myself from doing the manic "OMG-I-have-to-OCD-clean-EVERYTHING!!!" and said to myself, "Why am I doing this?"

Yeah, it was one of those moments. You know, the self-epiphany thing? And it all came about because of something I had said to my mother a few weeks ago, after Mom had gotten upset because the Flaky Sister had gotten sarcastic after a rather heated exchange between the two of them. I had said, "Mom, Flaky is 62 years old. She's more than an adult now, and you don't have to raise her anymore. Plus, Flaky, Blondie, and I all inherited Daddy's Smart-Ass Gene™, and you can't hold it against us. It's our sacred right to be sarcastic, especially when we're mentally exhausted, tired, or just plain cranky."

And Mom agreed.

Well, I was about to drive my family nuts with a frantic need to spotlessly clean my house when I thought, "Wait a minute... what am I doing? Why am I working so damn hard for approval I am never going to get from my sister??"

See, I had gone through this sort of epiphany about my dad back in my mid-twenties, so you could say I was sort of overdue this with my sister. The Flaky sister has a tendency, like my dad, to be hyper-critical, and to set impossible standards, and expect me to live up to them, and to withdraw affection and approval when I don't live up to them.

I started wondering when that became so important to me, when it hadn't really mattered before.

I have never been a model housekeeper. I never will be. My house will never, ever be spotlessly clean, nor would I want it to be. It will always be, at most, organized chaos, because I will always prefer spending time with my husband and children to spending time cleaning my house. Unless they're helping. And really, the only people I need to please are the three people who live with me. It's their opinion that matters to me, and if they don't have a problem with the way I do things, then... that's all that matters to me.

My husband loves me very, very much. And I love him very, very much. He pretty much knew what he was getting when he married me. He knew that I'm an indifferent cook, but I'm one WHEEE!! of a baker. And he's pretty okay with that. He loves me for my wit, my sly sense of humor, my fierce loyalty, my thinking abilities, and my extreme mattress-dancing skills. If my kitchen skills aren't quite the match of his, that's fine with him, and that's all that matters.

I had to remind myself of all of that. Because the Flaky Sister has the ability to make me doubt all of that, and I had to wonder when I gave her that power over me. Because it never mattered before.

That's some pretty stunning realizations to make about oneself, you know? Which is probably why I went online for chat, to distract myself from it, because believe me, the stress was incredible.

And Saturday, it was just worse. I actually asked the Tall Blonde to come hang out for the duration as a buffer because if there is one thing I know about my sister, she won't misbehave in front of company. She'll work at tearing me to shreds in front of my husband and children... but not in front of strangers! And while I realized that her opinion doesn't matter a hill of beans to me any more, I kind of need some time and distance to absorb it, and let it sink in, so I can parry her shots with indifference.

I love the Tall Blonde, by the way. She is... awesome. Period.

Had a good visit with my mom, who is looking better. Actually, she looks pretty darn cute, to tell you the truth, with her fluffy silvery-white hair and big smile! It gives me a pang to hug her now and feel how small she is. She's 84 now, and every time I hug her, I wonder how much longer.

So, Flaky was reasonably well behaved, and when they were gone, the Husbandly One made his awesome margaritas and poured one down my throat to combat the Killer Stress Migraine that hit me afterwards. I love his margaritas, they are delicious, and with my low alcohol tolerance, they knock me out pretty fast.

So, that was my weekend! How was yours?
auntbijou: (Calcifer)
Migraines suck.

Totally.

Especially on a beautiful, sunny day.
auntbijou: (Default)
So... I spent Easter curled up in bed with a pillow over my head because someone turned the sun up too damn bright.

Migraine.

We were supposed to go into Houston this weekend, so some things for my mom like, mow the back yard, salvage some plants that she doesn't want to see die because she can't care for them like she used to, clean house for her, etc.

Instead, it was spent with me hiding under the covers and trying not to snarl and snap at the people who would ask, "how are you feeling?" and "how's the head?" every five seconds.

Wanna know how bad it is? The Husbandly One has hidden the scissors, the shaver, etc, because he knows I'm just itching to shave my head. Can't help it, really. Every time my head hurts this bad, I get this irresistible urge to shave my head. Logically, I know it won't do any good, but the little reptile in me is just convinced if I could get rid of all the heavy, thick hair (even though it isn't so heavy or thick any more), I'd feel so much better!

If it weren't for heat packs, I don't know what I'd do.

But y'all? I would utterly kill for a neck and scalp massage. Really. I'm totally gagging for it.

*sigh*

I'm going back to bed now.

*whimper*
auntbijou: (Default)
I have the migraine from hell, I'm beyond cranky, and I feel very sorry for the Husbandly One when he gets home.

I think I'll go shave all my hair off now.

I have spoken.
auntbijou: (Default)
I have a migraine. All I wanna do is crawl into my bed and sleep for the next six hours. So of course, Murphy's Law had throw in its five cents worth, right? That is why my neighbors have decided to start working on some sort of DIY project at 8 am that apparently involves nail guns, jack-hammers, power saws, dentist's drills, dynamite, cluster-bombs...

... and Megadeth fer gossakes!!! At full blast!!!

Okay, it's daytime, I get that, but...AAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHHHHH, there ain't enough VICODIN on the PLANET!!!!

And the earplugs ain't workin', either.

*snarls*

P.S. Iconage by the Impertinent Daughter.

*crawls back into bed and stuffs pillows in ears*

Bang Shang-a-lang!

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 05:55 pm
auntbijou: (Default)

I haven't been present much online lately, except for the odd comment here and there.  It's not because of any of the drama so much as just that I've been tired, and I'm dealing with another Headache From Hell.  

Reading labels on our food has become second nature to me, because my migraines mostly come from food-related triggers.  Anything with MSG, anything with sodium nitrates... there's a whole host of stuff I can't have.  Well, I COULD have them, if I was willing to medicate myself into oblivion, but Auntie isn't a very happy person that way.  Besides, I can't handle most of the prescriptions for migraines, either because of weird interactions with my asthma meds, or because they make my heart do strange things.  Like, "Okay, my headache's gone, but... I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"

So, anyway, the current banging in my head is thanks to the Impertinent Daughter's recent bout with strep.  Yes, Stephen the Strep bug made a little visit to our house.  Thankfully, only affecting the Daughterly One, and not anyone else *Auntie knocks frantically on wood*  So, there she was with massive tonsils, a sore throat, hungry, but unable to eat because... her throat hurt, or it didn't taste right, yada, yada, yada...

*rolling of eyes*

So, I made her some Lipton Cup-A-Soup.  Only, the only Cup-A-Soup our local grocery store carries has to be made in mass quantities.  Not one little cup, no, no, no, you see, THAT would MAKE SENSE.  CUP of soup.  One cup.  ONE.  *grrrrrrrrrrr....*  But no, THIS one has to be made FOUR FRIGGIN' CUPS AT A TIME!!!

*pant, pant, pant*

So, I made it.  Poured out a cup for her.  She took... three swallows, and passed out.  I was left with three cups of soup in the pot.  And no, you can't put this stuff in the fridge for later.  You want to know why?  Because the noodles SWELL!  Yes!  They swell to the approximate size and appearance of yellow slugs.  SLUGS!!  And they're slimy and gross and even the Impossible Son runs away from them in horror.  It's... sickening!  

Well, I was hungry, and I was about to make a bit of lunch for myself, and I looked at the soup, and I thought, fine, I'LL eat it.  I don't normally eat the stuff I make for my kids that they don't eat.  I save it for later, or throw it out.  Why?  Because that way lies the path of massive weight gain.  I watched both of my sisters do that.  I learn from observation.  No, thank you.

Anyhow, I managed about half a cup myself, decided it was too vile for words, and dumped the rest.  Later that night, I was literally mid-conversation with the Husbandly One, when someone slammed a rail-road spike through my right eye.  Yay.  When I could actually see, and be coherent, the Husbandly One and I sat and tried to figure out what triggered it this time.  And after going through everything I'd eaten and done that day, he went in the kitchen and grabbed the box of the instant soup.  Hello, they started adding MSG again.  So, the Soup of the Slugs of Death will no longer be making an appearance in our pantry.  Yay whoopee yay.

Now if I can just get the drunk elephant in the stiletto heels to stop dancing on my head, everything would be peachy keen and hunky dory.

Oh, and you know what?  Having some bimbette phone solicitor call from somewhere up north  and say, when she hears my voice, "Oh, your accent is just DARLING!!  You just sound so SOUTHERN and SWEET!!  Would you please say y'all again?" did not exactly put me in the best of moods.

No, I didn't buy whatever it was she was selling.  I snarled, "No thank you, Y'ALL!!" and hung up the damn phone.

No, Auntie is not in a good, sweet, and Southern belle kind of mood right now.  She's more in a snarling, tearing, Texas wild-cat kind of mood right now.

*slinks off into corner, growling and hissing*

Sigh

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 04:56 pm
auntbijou: (Default)
Some days, you get the bear, some days, the bear gets you.  Or your daughter.

Okay, no more Jiffy Pop popcorn for this family.  We haven't bought it in ages, because while it's fun to watch, it's just... to expensive.  It's more fun to just pop regular popcorn in the old dutch oven on top of the stove, so I can make mega amounts that fit in the big mixing bowls, and flavor it the way WE want.  But when we went to the grocery store, the Impertinent Daughter talked us into buying one Jiffy Pop doohickey, because she wanted to watch her brother's face when he saw the thing puff up.

Yes, we are suckers.  SUCKERS!!

So, today, Miss Priss decides to pop it up.  And she takes it outside when done to share with their friends (lasted all of fifteen seconds, with those big ol' appetites, I'm telling you!  Open wide and INHALE!!).  And thirty minutes later, she's curled in a ball on the couch with a migraine.  It's the only thing different she's had in days.  I looked up the ingredients I didn't recognize and yup, big migraine triggers.  *grumble grumble snarl, snarl*

Guess it's a good thing I didn't sneak a bite, or I'd be curled up with her.  So, she's in her room, the blinds closed, a hot pack on her head, her stuffed cat, Salem, in her arms, and Ed purring at the foot of her bed.

I'd soooo hoped she wouldn't inherit migraines from me.  Sorry, Hunnybunny, Mama didn't mean to pass on THAT part of the DNA.  Take it back if I could!  Really, really.

*turns around and smacks her dad on the back of the head for passing migraine DNA in the first place*

The light! The light!

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 10:41 am
auntbijou: (Default)

I have a migraine.  I haven't decided which would be more effective... hiding under the covers... or banging my head repeatedly into the wall.  Any votes?

Okay...going to shave all the hair off my head now.  That'll help. 

*crawls off to find dark corner*

 

 

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