Thursday, June 25, 2009

Mixing It Up

This* and this just piss me off. I have a tendency to be that person that gets all anxious and worked up about things I hear in the news. I try very hard to balance it all out. I don't want to stick my head in the sand, but I don't want to watch the news and see nothing but things like this either.

That being said, I've been mumbling "THIS is why we home school!" under my breath a lot lately.

***

My MIL has finally come clean about how she REALLY feels about us homeschooling. Needless to say, it's not supportive. Which is fine - it's a different decision, I don't expect everyone to think it's the right one. But the fact that she yells it at MM, and drops random comments to BW? Now that ticks me off.

My response is to just ignore the whole thing. I was mad, but now I'm over it. No big deal, she's entitled to her opinion. However, coupled with the fact that BW's birthday was June 6th and she still hasn't called, sent a card, an e-mail, something, well...that has me a little angry.

Actually beyond angry. I'm done. She has either forgotten entirely or has been reminded by someone else for the last four years. I get a feeling the only reason she remembered the first four was because I always called and invited her to his birthday parties. Who the hell forgets her grandchild's birthday? Oh yeah, the one who forgot her own son's when he was a kid....

So, I'm done. I was always the one who kept in touch, who made sure BW got to see them. MM didn't ever really make an effort one way or the other. So I quit, I give up.** From here on out, this can be MM's job. And since he rarely does anything to keep in touch, I guess that's that. I kind of feel bad about it, but I'm tired. I feel like if her own son doesn't think it's a priority, then why should I?

I guess I should explain that I'm a little touchy about this. Several years ago, I was accused of "keeping them away from their grandson" which was totally baseless. It irritates me that I was accused of this by the people who never make any effort on their end. Am I wrong? Anyone want to weigh in?

****

My friend C and I do this thing. I like to call it Celebrity Death/Natural Disaster Notification.*** Whoever hears first that something horrible happened quickly updates the other. As you can imagine, today was a busy day.

Farrah, Michael, and Ed, all gone. In what, 24 hours? Farrah and Ed we could all see coming. Michael was a bit of a surprise, though.

***

Work? Umm. It's work. I'm looking forward to finishing the training part up, which should be soon. Another day, and then next week we finally get to start doing what we were all hired for.

I did find out that I'll get 10 college credits for the training, so that was a nice little surprise. Not that it seems to count towards my major, but it's still nice. I'll be back in school in a few months, and I still haven't made a decision about what I'll do. I told MM my goal is to work as little as possible for as much money as possible, so I can be at home with BW more. I'm trying to plan out how exactly that'll work. At least I feel like it's a goal!

*****

*Ibuprofen. Strip searched over ibuprofen. Sure, that's a totally logical response. I would totally trust the school system that makes those sorts of calls. Wouldn't you?

**Nothing's good enough for anybody else, it seems.... Name that tune?

***I think it started with Princess Di. And I have no idea why it's continued, but we've notified each other of things like 9/11, the 2004 tsunami, and countless celebrity deaths. We didn't notify each other of Anna Nicole's passing, but later discussed the parameters of our system in response to her death, and what to do in future situations. And we're really not the celeb gossip type. I find the whole thing odd, but it is what it is.

6 comments:

Shelley said...

My husband and I have had a long-standing agreement that has worked pretty well for us. My family, I deal with it...his family, he deals with it. Your mother's birthday? You call her, she's your mother. My mother's birthday? I will call her, cuz...yeah, she's MY mother. Strangely, my mother NEVER forgets my kids birthdays, but his parents? It's a crapshoot, they usually remember late.

And your decision to homeschool? Is none of her business. I say more power to you. I could never do it, but I give a lot of credit to people who can. I just don't have the patience. I was pretty happy with Chandler public schools. I guess we'll see in a couple of months how the CO schools measure up. :)

lisafer said...

Yes, I think that's what we're going to have to evolve to. I've always been the one reminding him it was her birthday or mother's day or something. Your way works much better for me!

I'm sure you guys will find a great school in CO!

Zayna said...

Sick, sick, sick. I'm with you, I don't want to play ostrich but I get so easily depressed by shit like that...I can only stand it in very small doses.

As for the MIL, you are not wrong.

My MIL works similarly in that she has no issue of letting MONTHS go by without making any effort (did I mention she lives like 10 minutes away) to see her granddaughter and then complains that Emma doesn't seem to have anything to say to her when we do get together. Well, d'uh!

Yeah, Hubby just told me about Farrah and Micheal this morning...I knew the former was sick but the latter, that really surprised me. Weird.

Congrats on the college credits, it's unfortunate they don't go toward your degree but it's still better than a kick in the pants.

:P

lisafer said...

Sheri - Same here - it's my fault that they're not close! Ummm...nope. Not taking the fall for that one!
Odd. All sorts of people are telling me this is totally normal for their in-laws. I guess I just need to stop letting it get under my skin, then! :)

Vicki said...

I've come to the same conclusion: If he doesn't want to answer his family's calls or call his mother, than I'm not doing it either anymore!

lisafer said...

Vicki - That's it, I'm sold. From now on, it's his responsibility. Now I won't need to get all worked up about it.