Resting On Monday

I took the day for myself today.  I almost never ever do this.  However, my stress level has been so high and I really needed a break.  I'm tired of being at the bottom of every one's list.  Mr. Morton was so busy with work recently that he hadn't noticed how stressed out I've been.  At least he didn't notice until I broke into tears because I dropped a glass while doing dishes.  I cried like a baby and ended up sitting on the kitchen floor bawling for a half hour.  Afterwards, I decided it was time to take a mental health day.

I went to see a movie.  I stopped at the library and picked up two books.  I had lunch with my girlfriend.  When I got home, I took a nice long bath and had a glass of wine.  When I got out, Mr. Morton had dinner ready, the table set, and the kids were nowhere to be found.  Apparently, he spent the better half of the day calling favors from the kids' friends' parents.  

It was the most perfect day and if I could, I'd do the whole damn thing over again tomorrow.

Extra Hot Sauce

Mr. Morton sent Pepper over to help Mustard with her yard yesterday. My ex-sister-in-law lives down the street from us. At the play the other day, she mentioned that she needed to mow the yard but never seemed to have enough time in her day. One of the things I love most about Mr. Morton is that he is always willing to help others.

I was making dinner when Mr. Morton came in yesterday after sending Pepper down the street and picked up the phone. I heard him tell my brother that he'd sent the kids down to help with Mustard's yard. I heard him say that it wasn't sides we were picking. He explained that we love Brother and we love Mustard and that while they are divorced we have feelings for both. He then asked if Brother and Sauce would like to come to dinner this week-end. AND HE SAID YES!

So here I am having to pretend that I'm not royally pissed off at Sauce. I have made a lovely dinner plan and Paprika made a great salad. Despite what The First and Sauce think... I am not a horrible person. I think it sucks that I have to prove this over and over again.

My Brother and His New Wife Are Idiots!

I have to say that it has been a long few days here at the old Spice Rack! The First has been full of parenting ideas but doesn't wish to actually follow through with any of them. Apparently, that is to be my job. Boo seems to have decided that he can change around all kinds of computer accounts that Mr. Morton sat up for the kids because he "works in the IT field". He's managed to wipe out much of the history and several parental controls in a matter of moments.

To make matters worse, I got a stupid email from my brother's new wife (Sauce) . She's upset because I still communicate with my brother's first wife (Mustard). Apparently, I'm weakening the new wife's position. Sauce negates that for the ten years that my brother was married to Mustard, I lived down the street from them and became very close to Mustard. In fact, I'd venture to say that my relationship with Mustard is stronger and was always stronger than the relationship I had/have with my brother.

My niece, Hotdog, and my nephew, Hamburger, invited me over to see their summer camp play. My brother never mentioned the play or even that the kids were in camp. So, Mr. Morton and I decided to go to the play to see the kids. When we got there, Mustard was sitting with her parents and we quickly slipped in next to her.

My brother and Sauce showed up 15 minutes into the play and huffed over to sit behind us. My beloved brother leaned in and asked what I was doing here. I told him the kids invited us and why had he not said something about this. Sauce and my brother left without saying goodbye to Mr. Morton or myself. In fact, they acknowledged the kids with a drive-by hug and were out of there.

Now, my mother and Sauce are both upset because of the situation. Sauce is upset because she doesn't feel I value her place in the family. My mother is upset because my brother mentioned that he doesn't know if family events can happen because of my misplaced loyalty. It is all a crock of shit.

Mr. Morton keeps telling me to continue doing as I'm doing. I did decide to make a bigger effort to start talking to my brother directly. However, I called twice last night and he didn't pick up either time. He called back this morning on my cell phone and left a message saying he was busy and he'd call in a few weeks. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes, I wonder who the hell he thinks he is! Either way, I'm sure Mustard is going to start taking a small step backwards in my life and that I may never forgive Sauce for that fact.

Stepmother Trouble

Evil Stepmothers!

I was talking to my friend yesterday. We were talking about image. For example, stepmothers have a horrible image in the media. The truth is, I'm an evil stepmother. If you talk to The First, she'd make a long list of everything I do wrong for Paprika and Pepper. In fact, I received an email recently on why Paprika hates me; written from The First's perspective.

However, if you talk to Mr. Morton, I'm the perfect stepmother. I do and say everything according the the great book of mother rules. In his eyes, there is little I could improve. At least, this is what he responded back to me when I forwarded The First's perceptions.

What I decided to do, sit down with Paprika and talk to her about our relationship. She does not think I'm evil nor does she think I'm perfect. In fact, she referred to my logic as flawed. We talked about where I could improve and where she could improve to make things better. All in all, I felt much better after talking to her.

Yet the truth is, I am an evil stepmother. The bigger truth, I am doing a pretty good job at this parenting thing.