Not much to add...

I haven't posted in a while, I know, and I have virtually nothing to write about today. I was just feeling like I've missed my 2 readers (and you know who you are!) so I thought I'd pop in and say howdy-do!

So let's see, what's been going on...

Well, we went to the shower. It was lovely, and went off without a hitch. Well, almost. The groom's sister didn't come. That, to me, is unbelievable. Especially since the very day before, my niece and her fiance were at his sister's daughter's Communion. She said to T, "See you tomorrow, at your shower!"

And then, according to her phone call to her brother at 2:30pm (the shower started at 12 noon), she "forgot" about the shower.

Yeah, right.

Now there's a back story - she's married to a man who is, according to T's fiance, a jerk. With a capital J-E-R-K. He's apparently emotionally abusive and a cheat and an adulterer and a manipulator. This woman has been living without a kitchen for 3 years. Read that again: I said 3 years! He went out to do a job painting (his second job, that he uses for cover while he's cheating on his wife -yes, class act, this one!) and the customer said he could have the old kitchen cabinets she was tearing out so he came home, tore out his, brought home the others, and they didn't fit. So sister has been washing her dishes in the bathroom sink ever since. That was 3 years ago. T's fiance was living there for the past 5 years or so, so this comes from a reliable source.

To top it off, Jerk sent his wife an email at work last Friday that said he wanted a divorce and if she fought him on it or made a scene or did anything stupid, he'd tell the kids it was her fault.

Okay, he's a jerk AND he's dumb.

But fiance seems to think his sister will take the jerk back, yet again. Even though she's miserable. Because she's done it before.

I could not live that way. We all put up with stupid things our loved ones do, and I'm guilty of a few myself, believe me! But there are limits, and there are boundaries, and there is a line that you'd just better not cross. I personally think this man has crossed it, over and over, for years, and if it were up to me, I'd nail him to a wall!

So, back to the shower - my zebra stripes faded enough so that the dress looked nice on me and I didn't have to cover up with a sweater or a jacket. I need to find black sandals to wear with it so I can wear it to work - that's my goal this weekend.

This past weekend was Garage Sale Weekend in Hopatcong, the town our lake house is in, and we traveled all over looking for a deal. Found nada, basically, but we enjoy it! I did pick up some jigsaw puzzles for mom for Mother's Day, and a couple of beautiful quilted potholders from the nice Polish/Russion/Ukranian lady we know from church (I don't know what nationality she is, but one of those three is probably right!). Jack got a wand for watering flowers (for 50 cents! Can't beat that, he said!) and we got to meet official trailer park trash who live in a house!

Yes, you read that right, readers! It was 9:30 in the morning on Sunday, we were in the back-a$$ end of nowheresville, having followed the absolute BEST garage sale signs on the face of the earth to Church Lady's home and her neighbor, Trailer Trash Guy #1, had a motor for sale. It was tied to a dolly in front of his home, and marked $200, Must Sell. There was a phone number. Right next to the sign that said "Handyman Needs Work." Jack got out of the car to look at the motor and came back to the car to call the number. While he was dialing, Trailer Trash Guy #2 was walking down the street toward us, in dirty white painter's pants, with a flannel shirt and a t-shirt on, carrying a white supermarket bag with a 6-pack of beer in it. He walked into the yard of the house we were at, so Jack opened the car door and asked if it was his motor. It wasn't, but it was his buddy's and his buddy was home so he'll just go right in and get him. #1 came outside and the two of them stood talking to Jack for, like, 10 minutes. When he got in the car, sans motor, he said, "The two of them were already wasted!" We couldn't decide if it was leftover wasted from Saturday night or if they'd already started on Sunday morning, considering the 6-pack... Ah, rednecks-ville...

I had a really tough week or so at work. One of my colleagues was out and she put my name down as contact. In itself, that's fine, but there are three of us here. One of them has removed herself from coverage, and gotten away with it, and the other did a few faxes, that was it. All phone calls and emails were referred to me. Thanks bunches! When she came back to the office yesterday, arriving at around 11am 'cause she was "so tired from working 10 days straight," she said, "Hi." I said, in reply, "Hi! Change your voice mail!" And she was teasingly offended! "What? No 'Welcome Back'?" Me: "Okay, welcome back! Change your voice mail!" It was a rough week - so bad, in fact, that on Thursday and Friday, I think I did one thing for one of my customers, that's it! And that's not acceptable at the end of our fiscal year. I had a lot to do!

I know I'm jumping around from topic to topic, but it's a stream of consciousness thing... Got the invitation to my niece's wedding - it's beautiful. And I'm so angry and hurt. 10 years ago, when Jack and I were planning our wedding, we wanted a way to include our dads on the wedding invitations but we were talked out of it: it's a happy occasion and there's no pleasant way to include dead people on an invite. She managed to do it for this invitation (same printer!): Mr. and Mrs. REW request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter T to K son of Mr. GB and the beloved AMB. Why couldn't we have done the same thing???? I know it was nice to have both moms on our invite, but we really felt that our dads should have been acknowledged there, too, and they talked us out of it. I guess times have changed, but that really ticks me off, I have to say. I was 38 years old, not doing all the matches and napkins and programs that younger brides do. We couldn't even put something in the program about our dads. That's why I chose to walk down the aisle alone - that was my daddy's job, and for the 15 seconds it took me to walk down that short aisle, anyone who knew my dad was gone was thinking about it (and him), I certainly was, my mom was, too, and those who weren't aware were wondering - so for those few seconds, we were all thinking about Daddy in one way or another...

My sister just sent me a DVD of The Phantom Tollbooth. This has to be my all time favorite kid's book, pre-Harry Potter. I still read it at least once a year. The author is Norton Juster and it was illustrated by Jules Pfeiffer. I can't wait to watch the animated cartoon this weekend!!! Thanks, P!!! I looked it up online; apparently there were some internal problems at MGM studios and the release was held up back in the 60s. I read that the author is apparently not fond of the movie release - I can't wait to compare it to the book! I'm going to read the book again this weekend!!!

Well, it's 9:04am and I suppose I should get to work. More soon, and I'll try not to let so much time elapse before my next post. And I'll get some photos together to post, too...