Category: Life

Life, Miscellaneous Ramblings

Life Lately…

Tara

It’s been insane in my world lately. And probably not in the best way possible, either.

We started the month of June by throwing Garrett his second birthday party (actual birthday is 5/30). Poor kid was sick at his own party. He went to the doctor the next day and was diagnosed with pink eye and allergies. He went back to the doctor three days later and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Kid can’t win. (He’s healthy now, though!)

Then it was hectic at my work because a co-worker was off for an unknown amount of time due to her husband having to have emergency heart surgery. Luckily I think she only missed 3 weeks … but it was the worst 3 weeks to miss at our work! So in addition to doing my work I had to pick up half of her work. And it was at the first of the month (billing) and the 10th of the month (payables). Ugh. But I made it through knowing that my mini-vacation was right around the corner.

And we had a blast on vacation. We left the kiddo at home and went to the Dominican Republic to see one of my very closest friends get married. She had a beautiful beach ceremony and a lovely reception at the Italian restaurant on the compound of our all-inclusive resort. It was a very nice time. And like I said very much needed after the previous weeks I had with all the work. But we did miss Garrett like crazy. We *could* have taken him with us, we were at a child-friendly all-inclusive resort. But we knew with the wedding/reception we would need help and he had to be 3 to be eligible for the children’s area. And since no one seemed interested in going to the DR with us for 4 nights, we left him home with the grandparents.

But it was what we were met with upon our return from vacation that has been the most difficult. My grandmother had been taken to the hospital the day we left for vacation. I knew she had been having some issues with a nagging cough. But she had seen her doctor and had medicine, and my mom said she seemed to be doing better. Maybe it was my mom not telling me the whole story, I don’t know. Either way, she was in the hospital with pneumonia. And her white blood cell count was through the roof. (Normal is under 10, she was at 24). So we got home late Monday night and Tuesday we were at the hospital visiting my grandmother. She looked horrible. The first time we saw her she wasn’t even aware of her surroundings. Never woke up the entire time we were there. The next time I went to see her she was at least opening her eyes and was aware of who I was, that was a wonderful thing for me to see after seeing her like she was before!

Now she’s got the pneumonia cleared up, but we’ve had to place her in a nursing home rehab facility to get her stronger. She’s on oxygen 24/7 now (and likely will be for the rest of her life) and she has therapy twice a day to get her strength back. Unfortunately, she was also diagnosed with dementia. We knew that her mind had been failing her for the last two years, but we were unaware of how badly she had deteriorated. My grandfather had really been covering for her so we wouldn’t know. It’s tough to know that it’s possible in a year or two she might not have any clue as to who I am. It just breaks my heart when I think about it really.

So that’s kind of where I am right now. I feel bad for my mom and aunt who are having to do so much when they can only do so little. My grandfather is in denial as to how badly my grandmother needs help. He doesn’t want her to remain in the nursing home indefinitely. They have the money for in-home care, but he doesn’t want anyone in his house. He wants to take her home with him and have it the way it was before she went to the hospital. Unfortunately that’s not going to be able to happen. He is so deaf that if she got up and fell in the middle of the night, he would never hear her yell for help. They will have to have care. But he’s fighting it tooth and nail. So of course my mother is incredibly stressed out and I hate seeing my family in this turmoil.

On the reading side, I’ve just started reading the book, Elizabeth is Missing for a TLC book tour. Unfortunately I’m having a very hard time getting through it. I’m only on about page 65 and have been “reading” it for three days now. The main character has dementia/Alzheimer’s. And I just can’t stand to read it knowing that that’s what my grandmother is going through. I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass on this review and it bums me out because when I was pitched this book it sounded so interesting. Now it’s just hitting too close to home. Part of me wants to read it just to have a better understanding of what she’s going through, the other part can’t bear to know what she’s going through. I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet.

Well that’s enough moping about my problems for now. I’m sorry to have unloaded it all on my readers, but I really needed to get it all out.

Hopefully things will start getting better in my world.

Until next time … have a great weekend!!

Baby Book Addict, Life

Three Weeks In…

Tara

…at daycare and things are going really well!!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the whole situation. He’s never been cared for by anyone other than family. He’s never not been the center of attention. I didn’t know how he would react. But I’m so pleased to say that he has really taken to daycare. And I hate to say that he actually gets upset when he doesn’t go on Thursday and Friday!

Those first couple of days were rough on momma. The first day I chose to take off and stay close to home (I work an hour from home) just in case something terrible went wrong and I needed to be there. Hub and I both went and dropped him off. He didn’t cry, but he was apprehensive about us leaving. I was perfectly fine driving the 13 minutes back to our house. And was fine through a phone conversation with my mother. I lost it when I sat down on the couch with the dog and looked up at the pictures on our entertainment center. I broke down and cried like a baby. I second guessed our decision all day that day.

But I have never second-guessed it since. He loves it. His little personality is really coming out now. He’s such a ham! His vocabulary is expanding daily (he is a little bit behind where he “should” be, but not to the point where therapy is needed). In three days he went from barely being able to hold a fork to feeding himself with it. And can I just say that the kid now actually eats? Feeding time has always been a fiasco in our house … from the constant spit-up from his reflux as an infant to his pickiness now as a toddler, dinner time is a challenge. Not so much anymore, he does so much better now. He eats it without me having to constantly repeat “eat your food”.

I know I was apprehensive about placing him in daycare when it was technically a choice and not a necessity. But I am seeing my little boy blossom in ways I never expected each and every day.

And I respect my time with him more than I ever did. When you see your child all day every day, you tend to lose sight of what’s important. I treasure every moment I get with him on Friday, because that’s “our” day now.

Sometimes I tear up wondering where on earth my little baby has gone to. But at the same time I love seeing the little boy that he’s growing into. (He is more than likely going to be an only child).

How on earth will he be TWO next month?!

Life, Miscellaneous Ramblings

Catching Up…

Tara

I haven’t really shared anything non-bookish here lately. And unfortunately, I don’t have much bookish things to share this week. So what a perfect opportunity, right?!

I have lots of exciting changes coming up in our little part of the world.

First. We made the big plunge. We are placing Garrett into daycare three days a week. It’s time. Until now we have been relying on my grandmother and in-laws. It’s been a challenge, but it’s worked. But there have been a lot of problems here recently, my caregivers want to go on vacation, have doctor appointments, have friends who are ill and need help getting to and from the doctor. It’s starting to become an issue. I always knew I wanted to get through the first year without daycare, and we attempted to place him last year … but family got in the way and swayed our decision. We got extremely lucky that we were able to get a spot so quickly this time around. It’s just time. He needs interaction with other children. I need to get back to work on a regular schedule. He’s still going to get to see his current caregivers a lot (they are family, after all) and I will be able to have every Friday home with him. But I can’t tell you how nice it will be to be able to not worry about who will drive the hour to my house to watch my child while I go to the dentist. It’s definitely a relief on that aspect. It will be a tough transition, but it’s in the best interest for everyone involved.

Nathan bought a fishing boat. He’s been dying to have one for years. We live 30 minutes from Kentucky Lake. I finally gave in … actually I got sick and tired of hearing him whine about it all the time. He got a good deal, so it’s not all bad. But you should have seen us trying to get it back on the trailer yesterday after taking it out for the maiden voyage. Oh dear. It was slightly embarrassing. He’ll get better with practice, but it took us an hour. An hour. Everyone else had theirs trailered and headed out within 5 minutes. There we sat. Trying time after time. Ha. It was funny, but frustrating. Going to take some getting used to 🙂

We spent the weekend in Nashville with some friends. We had a very good time. The bar scene isn’t really my thing, but there were a lot of good bands downtown, so I was surprised by how much fun I did have. Although I would have preferred to have spent a little more time at the mall!

We have a trip to the Dominican Republic planned in June. The girl who was my maid of honor is getting married on the beach down there. At least I hope I’m still invited to the wedding! I haven’t spoken to her since I told her that I wasn’t using her travel agent. I’m not sure what kind of a deal she had with her agent, but I was not comfortable using her since I had no idea who the woman was. Nothing against my friend or her agent, but I wasn’t comfortable using an agent that I would never meet in person and who lived 8 hours away from me. I know I ticked off my friend, but you know what … she should have been more upfront with me and told me that her and her fiancé had pre-paid the first night on 10 rooms and that she was going to lose that money if we didn’t use them all (although I think she got took, because that is not what the hotel’s cancellation policy is, so I have a feeling that her travel agent is pocketing the rest of that money… see why I didn’t want to use an agent I didn’t know?). She’ll eventually call me … I’m sure she’s just covered up between her work (she’s an attorney) and all the wedding plans … at least that’s what I’m telling myself, lol. If she un-invites me from the wedding I guess we will have a nice vacation, ha!

Other than that not much else is happening around here. Basketball fans know March Madness is in full swing. I pulled Kentucky in the office pool, so I’m still in it! Although “my” team is out … I was a Wichita State Shockers fan! (They’re in the same conference as my SIU Salukis!) They had a beyond awesome season, going undefeated until meeting Kentucky in the Big Dance. I would have liked to have seen them go farther, but it is what it is.

Hope everyone is having a great week. I’m off to read while my guy is still napping (guarantee he will wake up the moment I open the book, lol).

Life

One year ago…

Tara

February 29, 2012. It’s a day that I will never forget.

It is the day that the EF-4 “Leap Day” tornado hit my little hometown of Harrisburg, Illinois.

At 4:56am the tornado hit Harrisburg. It would be 35 minutes before I knew that my parents and grandmother was alive. It would be another 40 minutes after that when I would know that my other grandparents were alive. They were the worst 75 minutes of my life. I was 27 weeks pregnant. And hysterical that my son would never know my side of the family.

Today is the one-year anniversary of the tornado. For those of you who have followed this blog, you might remember my original post here.

I wrote that post just a few short hours after everything happened. It was still fresh in my mind. Now I’ve had a lot of time to process what happened to my family and my town. It’s been very tough.

Let me give you an idea of what my family went through.

My grandparents house ... or what's left of it.
My grandparents house … or what’s left of it.

This was my mother’s parents’ home. It was declared a total loss and had to be torn down. It was their home for almost 40 years. They were able to get very few things out of the house – only what was in the basement. I was there when they started to tear the house down. I will never forget the sound of her dishes breaking in the kitchen while the equipment was ripping into what was left of the house. It made my stomach turn. It was awful. My grandmother was very lucky that she was able to get from her bedroom on the second floor down to the basement before the tornado hit, or she would not be here with us today. My grandmother was in such shock that she thought she would be spending the night after the tornado in her house like nothing had happened. She is still not quite “right”, but she’s still with us and that’s all that matters to me. They have since purchased a house across town and are still struggling everyday with the after effects of the tornado.

Inside my other grandmother's house ... just about the whole house looked like this one room.
Inside my other grandmother’s house … just about the whole house looked like this one room.

This is the living room of my father’s mom’s house. She has a gorgeous 4000+ square foot house. She put a lot of money into it when she built it a little over 10 years ago. All along the back of her house is windows. That side of the house was in the direct path of the tornado. Every single window along the back was blown out and you see all the debris in the picture – that was pretty much all over the entire house. It was a complete and utter mess. Structurally her house were intact, but the inside was practically gutted and rebuilt. To be completely honest, since her house sits down in a little bit of a hole, the tornado went right over the top of her house and that probably is what saved her house from being destroyed completely. She was out of her house for 3 months while it was being rebuilt. She’s back in and very happy. She took things so great, after the initial shock wore off she actually told me that she had been thinking about remodeling (new paint/furniture) – well, she sure got that!

My parents' house ... they sustained the least amount of damage, but one year later they are STILL dealing with the last of the repairs.
My parents’ house … they sustained the least amount of damage, but one year later they are STILL dealing with the last of the repairs.

My parents actually had the least amount of damage to their home. But they’ve had the most problems getting things taken care of. Part of this is because they’ve had some issues pop back up – like the new roof that leaked about 5 months after being replaced. And the carpet that can’t be laid completely because there was mold in the closet subflooring. And when the subflooring was replaced it came to their attention that their house was sinking very badly and needed to be repaired first. It’s been like that with everything for them. Just seems to be one thing after another. My mom constantly tells me that it would have been so much easier for them to have had their house destroyed and start from scratch than to deal with all the mess they have been. I think part of this stems from the fact that she has hated that house since the moment they bought it in 1997 – my dad picked it out 🙂

Anyone who has either dealt directly with a tornado or has heard stories of other people describing their experiences will tell you how strangely tornadoes act. Like how one house can be demolished while the house next to it won’t have been touched. Or the person who has a kitchen in complete disarray with everything destroyed but the one vase on the counter is completely untouched. There’s no explaining this. But let me show you a picture that shows this phenomenon perfectly.

IMG_0405

My grandmother has three china cabinets full of gorgeous pieces. And not a single thing in those three cabinets were broken. Like I said, it’s amazing what tornadoes can do and how they will leave certain things untouched and then demolish something two inches away.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since this has happened. Some days it feels like it was just yesterday and then other times it feels like an eternity ago.

I never thought that something like this would ever happen to me. Never in a million years would I have thought it could ever happen.

I used to love storms. Now I’m petrified.

I used to love my two-story house with all the bedrooms on the second floor. Now I want a basement.

I used to take my family for granted. Now I don’t. I can’t. I won’t.

Life, Miscellaneous Ramblings

Needing a vacation from my vacation!

Tara

ALOHA!

Wowzers. I had one heck of a vacation. And I am absolutely exhausted!

We went to Hawaii. We did the 7 day Norwegian Cruise Line Pride of America cruise. It’s essentially a way to island hop without having to deal with the airport. It was nice – we sailed out of Honolulu and then went to Maui, Hilo, Kona and Kauai. We had a blast. We did way too many things and completely wore ourselves out.

I will write up a more detailed vacation post when I have time later on. I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I am still here – just a little MIA at the time. Oh and I have to say that we attempted to do the sunrise at Maui based solely on Trish’s (Love Laughter Insanity) recommendation. You can read her write up about it here. Unfortunately, you will notice that I stated we “attempted” it. We had a big major fail. It was miserable. Cold. Rainy. A little sleet here and there. And yep, you guessed it – nothing but cloud cover. The sun came up and you could see absolutely NOTHING. Oh well. Oh, and Trish if you read this – we were actually one of those crazy bike riders on the way down 🙂 That was fun and made up for the disastrous sunrise.

However, I am excited to tell you that I have THREE reviews to write! Yep, that’s right – I finished THREE books on my vacation! Woo. Of course it takes a long time for us to get to Hawaii. We had to drive to St. Louis (3 hours from home) take a plane to Dallas (2 hours) and then flew nonstop from there to Honolulu (8.5 hours on the way out; 6.75 hours on the way home). Lots and lots of free time to read. But you will have to wait for one of the reviews, I’m not scheduled to post it until early January. I still have a lot of books to read – I have a couple more review books coming up that I must get to ASAP, but at least I got the two most pressing review books out of the way.

You have no idea how excited I am that I was able to sneak those three books in – it definitely made my yearly total look much better than I had originally thought it would be. If I finish one more book this year that will make #35 and I would be absolutely ecstatic!

The bad part about taking that vacation? Time change – it’s now 11:43pm here as I’m typing this and I am wide awake … because it’s only 7:43pm Hawaii time. Ugh. Which will not be pretty when Garrett decides to wake up tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Guess I’d better get to bed.

I hope to be writing some reviews and posts in the coming week. I need to start wrapping everything up for 2012. I still can’t believe it’s almost 2013! INSANE!

Life

Today is the day!

Tara

The day that I personally have looked forward to for what seems like forever. Finally the annoying ads and attacks will stop … at least until it’s time to do it again.

Anyhoo, I hope you take advantage of your civic duty today. Because I’m a firm believer that if you don’t vote, you shouldn’t complain about the results.

Baby Book Addict, Life

Random Mommy Ramblings…..

Tara

This post is going to be long and have absolutely nothing to do with books, just a heads up 🙂

Breaking up is hard to do ….. breaking up with your pediatrician, in this case. I have had it with my pediatrician and her office. I originally loved our pediatrician, she was so nice and attentive when we were in the hospital. She answered all my (silly, first time mom) questions with ease and enjoyment. I was glad I had a good recommendation for her, it made me feel good that he was going to be well taken care of. Then came his two-week appointment – she was out of the office that week and I would have to see one of the other doctors. Okay, I can deal with that – it was just one appointment after all. I went with my list of (still silly, first time mom) questions, Garrett and my mother in tow. And I felt absolutely dismissed by the doctor we saw. It was like she wanted nothing to do with me or Garrett, she just wanted to get in and out of there as quickly as she could. Because of this I let Garrett’s reflux go way too long (she did tell me that it was “completely normal” – how was I supposed to know any different??). Everything seemed to be going smoothly until about a month ago we noticed that Garrett was starting to have more trouble with his reflux again. We tried to make an appointment – we were told it would be a week before we could get in to see our doctor (but we could get in immediately to see the abovementioned doctor we saw at the 2 week appointment, um – no, thank you!). I was beyond irritated. A WEEK before you could get in to see your doctor? I could understand if she was the only one in the office – and this wasn’t necessarily a sick baby appointment anyway. We almost switched doctors, we argued back and forth about it. In the end we ended up not taking him to the doctor, but did switch his formula on our own and, while he still has reflux, things are much better – I’m almost completely positive that he was allergic to Similac or something along those lines.

So what does all this have to do with finally deciding to break up with our pediatrician? Well this week Garrett has developed a cough. I’m not really surprised, I had a cold two weeks ago and did everything I could to make sure I didn’t pass it to him. Plus the weather is turning – it’s just starting to become cold season. I didn’t think much about it until yesterday when he really started coughing. I definitely started to take notice at it a lot more closely. Then this morning he woke up terribly stopped up. I told Nathan we would have to have a doctor’s appointment today. So I called in to work and waited around for my doctor’s office to open (8:30am). I finally get through to make the appointment and I start in with my spiel about who I am and why I’m calling and immediately the woman who takes appointments transfers me over to the nurse desk (no, I did not ask to talk to the nurse, if she had let me finish what I was saying she would have realized I wanted to make an appointment to see the doctor). I start in on my spiel again and immediately the nurse asks me if he has a fever – no, he does not. She then proceeds to tell me that I should keep him elevated, get a humidifier, and a saline nose solution for him and not to call back unless he produces a fever … and she hangs up. That is not what I wanted. I wanted an appointment with my doctor. I don’t care if I spend the $200 to see my doctor for her to tell me the exact same thing – it’s what she’s there for and by golly I want to see her.

So I called Nathan and told him exactly what happened. He, like I am, was immediately ticked off. This is not the first time that this office has ignored our concerns. But it sure is going to be the last one. He calmed me down and said he would call me back, he had a meeting or something to go into. When he called me back he informed me that he had spoken to his co-workers (he works around 3 or 4 women who are mommies themselves and who know that we’ve had disagreements with our doctor in the past) and they all said the same thing – SWITCH DOCTORS. So that’s what we are doing. We are going to see another pediatrician today, we have an appointment at 3:30. They didn’t question him wanting to see a doctor when he called the other doctor’s office – they just made the appointment. Which is exactly what the other office should have done. But I am at the end of my rope with the doctor’s office we’ve been going to. And as much as I hate switching doctors, I just can’t deal with this anymore. I need a doctor who will listen to my concerns, answer all my (silly, first time mom) questions, and put me at ease. Plus I’m paranoid about colds – when I was 16 I let a cold go from bad to worse and ended up with pneumonia – so I know what colds can turn into if not taken care of. Hopefully we will be a lot better off in the long run. And I’m sure this cough is nothing but the common cold, but he’s only 3.5 months old and I want to know that he is okay – not to ignore something because I’ve written it off as “just a cold.”

Switching gears – I have determined that I have absolutely, 100% lost my entire mind. I have baby fever. WTH!? How can I have baby fever when my baby is still a baby? LOL!? Never in a million years did I ever think that I would want another child. I thought Garrett would be it for us. We would be a family of three. But the last few days I’ve realized how quickly Garrett is growing up and that my family doesn’t feel complete yet. Obviously I don’t want another baby right now. My goodness, if I was to get pregnant tomorrow they would only be 13 months apart! That’s insane. But I think it will happen before I originally intended for it to happen. I had originally said that I wanted to get Garrett out of diapers before I started thinking about another one. Now I’m thinking that I will try again after his 1st birthday. Nathan and his brother are 21 months apart, my dad and uncle are 25 months apart and my mom and aunt are 29 months apart. I’m honestly beginning to think that it would be the ideal time to start trying again. Everytime I think of this the first thing that runs through my head is “you’ve lost your f’in mind, Tara!” but I can’t help myself. I’ve even already got names circulating in my head – and yes, I think I will be one of those cheesy parents whose children’s first names all start with the same letter! Please, someone tell me how insane I am, lol! I don’t want to even think about how hard keeping track of two children will be … one is hard enough and he’s not even moving yet! But I think part of my problem is that I am slowly inching toward that next big age milestone – 30 – and I always said I didn’t want to be pregnant in my 30s (I don’t have a particular reason as to why, I just don’t want to be). Either way, it’s definitely something that I’ve been thinking about 🙂 And Nathan is so funny. We recently booked a trip to Hawaii in December. Just the two of us, my parents are going to watch Garrett. When I started talking about having another baby he looked at me and said “isn’t that why you wanted to go to Hawaii?” Haha. No, that’s not why – but it could be fun 😉

Baby Book Addict, Life

A little irritated

Tara

I will apologize in advance to my readers who want strictly book reviews. This blog will no longer fit that bill. I’m not trying to make this a mommy blog, but this is now a big part of my life and will be reflected as such on my blog. I hope I don’t lose readers due to this. And if I do, it’s your loss.

So what am I so irritated about now? WORK!

Here’s the deal: I work as a bookkeeper for my dad’s concrete company. My work is not hard, it’s repetitive and time consuming.

Because of my OCD when it comes to my job I elected not to take advantage of their offer to get a temporary worker to do my receivables while I’m on maternity leave. Instead I chose to get a work laptop and do all the receivables work from home. This is working out quite well for me. It gives me something to keep me a little sane.

However the rest of my work (payables, quarterlies, payroll, transactions, trial balances, bank reconciliations, etc) I was told not to worry about. That the other two bookkeepers would be able to take care of that while I’m off. Okay. Great. Right? Wrong!

My payroll has already been messed up every time it’s been done since my last day. The first three weeks they used the wrong EFTPS password to call in the taxes! And then yesterday … They forgot to do payroll completely!!! Seriously!

The payables have been a disaster as well. We do those on the 10th of the month (or as close to it as possible). The health insurance bill is due by the 15th or they could charge us late fees. As of yesterday they hadn’t gotten the insurance check written. So it’s now going to be late. And that’s not really the bill you want to be late either.

In the midst of all this one of the people covering for me is in the middle of building a house. This is only about the 5th house she’s built in the last 10 years, and that is not an exaggeration. And the other person just doesn’t care at all about his job and making sure everything is done. And it’s not as of they didn’t both know that they were going to have to cover for me. They had plenty of time to be prepared, I was pregnant for 9 months for goodness sake, it’s not as if me being off came out of the blue!

And then yesterday one of my co-workers (the one building the house) actually had the gall to ask me when I would be coming back to work. My baby is 2 weeks old for goodness sake! I think it might be a few more weeks. I was planning on going back in August but they both seem to think that I need to be back by July 10th. Um, not happening.

So you can see why I am not a very happy camper right now. To be completely honest, if my husbands work offered better health insurance I would quit my job and be a stay at home mom. We could afford it, it’s just the insurance situation for us.

I’ve tried talking to my dad about this. But he’s clueless. He seems to think I can come back by the 10th of July as well. He knows what a mess things are at work and he just wants me back do that everything will be done correctly and on time again.

But I need this time off. I need to bond with Garrett as much as possible. He needs me right now more than ever. I’m not being selfish, I’m trying to be the best mother I can be. And my child is going to trump everything else in my life.

I actually was in tears on the phone wot my husband during his lunch break over this. It’s got me that upset. It’s as if no one understands how important this time is for me and my son. And they just don’t care. Work is important, but my baby comes first.

And I’m tired of being made to feel guilty that not only did I have a child but that his birth just happened to occur during our most busy season. I can’t help the way things worked out. And I won’t be rushed either.

I just wish people had a little more respect. That’s all.

Life

Some people have no concept of what’s important

Tara

And by some people I really mean my in-laws.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice people. They’ve always treated me great. I love them.

But they can be so senseless. Honestly.

As my loyal readers know, my hometown was hit by a tornado. Six people lost their lives. Including one of my mother-in-law’s co-workers. Hundreds of others were injured. Hundreds of homes were either damaged or destroyed. My mom’s parents lost their home completely, my other grandmother has major damage and my parents have pretty serious damage. I’m feeling the effects of this tornado in a way that a lot of people can’t comprehend.

Which is what brings me to the topic of today’s blog post.

My in-laws have no concept. They just don’t get it.

My baby shower is temporarily called off. It’s honestly the least of my worries. To be completely honest, I’m about 6 seconds away from cancelling the whole damned thing. It’s no longer a priority. It was supposed to be hosted at my grandmother’s house with a local caterer catering. Well as I mentioned above, my grandmother’s house is trashed. And the caterer’s building is shut down for at least another 6-8 weeks after suffering major damage there. And now that I can’t have exactly what I want, I don’t want it at all. I’m stubborn and I don’t like change. But I’m also only going to have one baby shower. I should be particular. I have every right to be. And by golly, I’m the mother-to-be. I should have a pretty good say in what I want for this.

So the last thing I need is my mother-in-law calling up telling me that (a) I don’t have the right stuff on my registry  and (b) I need to hurry up and decide what to do about a date and a place. THIS IS NOT HER SHOWER. I don’t need someone breathing down my back about this. And there is no way on earth will she be hosting this shower – not ever going to happen, not in a million years.

End rant one.

Begin rant two.

So we find out last night that my husband’s 45+ year-old uncle (I honestly don’t know how old he is, all I know is older than 45 and younger than 56) is going to be a father. Again. With a 35-year-old woman he’s been casually dating. I personally don’t see anything wrong with this. They are both old enough to know better, but you know what, things happen. And maybe it’s just my pregnancy emotions, but I don’t see anything really terrible about bringing a child into this world. Sure, it’s not an ideal situation, but nothing in life is ever ideal. But the way his mother was talking, you’d think the world was ending. She actually said that this whole thing was “detrimental to my mom’s health.” Please. She is not in any way, shape, or form on her deathbed. She’s relatively healthy for her age. This is not going to kill her. I’d like to know where they get off thinking they’re so darned perfect. (And I need to add that this is the same uncle that got divorced about 3 years ago, that was a huge scandal as well.)

I guess I am just too liberal for his mother’s family, because their conservative ways of thinking is really starting to get on my nerves. No wonder his dad doesn’t get along with his in-laws, he’s quite liberal as well.

End rant two.

I think that’s all I’ve got for today. I’m almost done with the book that I’m currently reading: The Immortals by J.T. Ellison. It’s only taken forever, but after the tornado hit last week, I haven’t had any time to even think about reading. I hope to finish that up tonight so that I can get a review posted in the next day or two. It sure will be nice to finish a book, it’s been so long I’ve almost forgotten what that feels like!!!