drama at 11 am - not!

2004-02-27 - 10:06 a.m.

Oh Crap! I just wrote a really good entry and my bad router lost the connection.... Which is incredible ironic, since part of the post was about the electronic failures that are plaguing me these days.... It's never good to try to rewrite a post, but I will try some different version of it.

I will start with the electronic plague: I've had a bad battery in my cell/palm unit for months. It's a factory default and I've been waiting for a replacement. It finally came yesterdya morning, unfortunately, it was a couple days late, because I really could have used a good cell phone the last couple of nights..... And our WiFi router probably got a surge or something, because it keeps loosing the connection... So our internect connection is intermittant at best, which turns out to be incredibly frustrating. We've become totally dependant on the net....

So Tuesday night we had all that Drama with hubby's grandmother. Wednesday, she was great. She made an amazing recovery and had a fabulous day, laughing and eating and telling stories.... We were so looking forward to a good night sleep Wednesday night. It wasn't to be. As soon as out heads hit the pillow, the phone rang and we got the bad news... We had to get dressed and go over to his mother's house to let her know in person. At first, she was actually OK, we were quite surprised. But when discussions of funerals and Shiva started, she lost it and we were back on her planet of confusion and non-sense. Hours of discussion and argument ensued. Thankfully, my brother-in-law was able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and finally get her to agree to stuff and go to bed. Still, by the time we went home, we were exhausted.

Why is it that *drama* never happens at 2 in the afternoon???

We did have some silver linings. My mother is starting her radiation in two weeks. i will be in Vancouver, but my dad will take her to ther first sessions and I will accompany her when I get back.

Also, my knitting/reality show combo is fabulous! After finishing my own sweater a few days ago (and wearing it yesterday), I bought some baby cotton and started making a little dress for our little dumpling-to-be. I loved starting it during Friends, but did have trouble follwoing along with the pattern during Survivor. I wasn't going to miss one second of Richard Hatch getting kicked in the pants (he doesn't even wear pants!!!). By the time I put The Apprentice on my cheap-imitiation-Canadian-Tivo, I was too tired to keep knitting, but still. I love the combo!

So if you don't hear from me for a day or two, it's a combination of funerals and lack of internet connection. But trust me, my return will be worth it. Because any interaction between me and my in-laws in ripe for storytelling....

Anything to add? 2

What the f*ck????

2004-02-25 - 5:24 p.m.

all I have to say to this is: G-d won't give me, or Julie, Julia, Shelba and all the other cool chicks babies of our own but they gave her one.... I warn you, this story will ENRAGE you.

Anything to add? 1

Oh what a night!

2004-02-25 - 11:25 a.m.

I don't categorize my entries, but if I did, the main ones would of course be TV, Shopping, Shoe Shopping (It needs it's own category!), Pink and finally, the Realization that I'm a Grown Up. I've posted several times on the things in my life that remind me that I can no longer pretend to be a cool, trendy, college student and must assume the responsabilities of being a 33 year old business woman, wife, mother-to-be, etc...

LAst night was one of those nights. At dinner time, my mom called to tell me the latest twist in her battle with breast cancer. She has been waiting for radiation since her surgery in December. First, she was set to start end of Janurary, it got pushed back to February, March, and now April You can thank free health care for that. Anyways, it's come to her attention that the English hospitals seem to have shorter waiting lists than the French hospitals (we live in Quebec), so she tried to have her file switched over, but thanks to the seperatist bureaucrats that still permeate the system, it's a bitch and a half to switch. We found ourselves calling our friend the doctor, who is currently doing research in Boston, for his help in fiding someone to refer her into the English system. He's a sweetheart and will look into it, but I hate to have to ask him stuff like that. He didn't bust his ass in medical school all those years just to do us favors...

Anyways, that wasn't the end of it. My hubby's maternal grandparents, both in their 90's, are still alive, but have been having more and more health problems lately. We will loose them sooner rather than later. That's the reality. The problem is, hubby's mother lives on planet what-the-f*ck, in a realm of reality all of her own.

I make fun of the zippers in her t-shirts, her refusal to drive on hills or highways or at night, and all the other quirks that make her a few bulbs shy of a chandelier, but last night, she really lost it.

Her mother (hubby's grandmother) has respiratory failure in the hospital. But my dear MIL called in the middle of the night, ranting and raving that they had killed her. She then refused to leave her apartment to go to the hospital. It was not a pretty sight. My role of outsider in this family comes in handy in these situtations. I started screaming at her. I called her selfish. I told her if her mom was indeed dead or dying, she had to go, to see, to be there for her dad who is also in the hospital a few doors down. She was still in la-la land, but I was bitchy enough to get her to leave the apartment and come to the hospital.

In the end, Bubby is OK. She did have a very bad night, but this morning, she is no longer on any breathing machines, tubes, nothing.

The problem is, it's gonna happen again, probably soon. And next time, we might not have such a good outcome. And nobody knows what to do about my MIL. I realize it's very hard for my hubby and his sisters to do anything about her. In her daily life, she's functional and independant, just weird and loopy. But she is not in any way prepared for the loss of her parents. She is in her 60s. Her parents are in their 90s. What exactely does she think is going to happen to them?

So I fear it's going to be my role as the daughter-in-law from hell to play meany again when the time comes. It's not a role I relish, at all.

But I'm a grown up now. I must do what must be done. I must find a way to get my mother some radiation, I must find a way to keep my MIL from going so far off the deep end their is no coming back. Anyone got some Prozac handy? Not for her, for me!

Anything to add? 0

I'm a Charlotte.

2004-02-23 - 3:12 p.m.

OK. Which one of you has been feeding my blog to the writers of Sex and the City??? First, Charlotte converts to judaism, then she fails at fertility and now she adopts from China??? That's MEEEEE! That's my life! Except of course in realy life, it's taken us much longer and we are still waiting for our baby.....

Anything to add? 2

Candy and Me

2004-02-23 - 1:40 p.m.

Back in December, my husband gave me two books: Autobiography of a Fat Bride (Laurie Notaro), which I really enjoyed, and Candy and Me. While I don't think it's the best book I've ever read (frankly, sometimes I really didn't enjoy the writing style), the topic was absolutely fascinating to me.

I didn't have a special relationship with candy as a child. My parents didn't really prohibit candy consumption, but they didn't encourage it either. I think I just wasn't into candy. I did really like chocolate bars, but I got to indulge in one every Saturday and Sunday as a treat at ski school. During the week, when all my peers would spend all their money on candy at the corner store, I usually saved my money up to buy a new Bollo paddle. I remember buying lots of wooden Bollo paddles, and then eventually saving enough to buy the plastic ones with the hole in the handle to hold the ball.

That's what got *ME* excited at the corner store. I did buy candy, but nothing special that I remember. I do remember really liking the powder-type lollypops that had two colors. I always bought the ones with a pink half, never the yellow and green ones. I also like Fun Dip, the little fruit-shaped bottles filled with colored sugar, and Tootsie Rolls. I don't remember other candies. Maybe it's partly due to living in Quebec after law 101, which required all packaging to be bilingual. I know a lot of companies couldn't be bothered so some candy just disappeared from the shelves.

So after I finished reading the book, I decided to go on a mission to try as many kinds of candies from my childhood as I could get my hands on. Last week in San Francisco, I was able to try out NECCO Wafers and Necco Valentine Hearts. My local grocery store's Kosher section yielded a suprising number of candies mentioend in the book, including Mike and Ikes, which I am totally in love with! I've also found Swiss Petit Fruit and Pop Rocks.

Here is the totally weird thing about candy and keeping Kosher.... We have a large 4-jar old fashion candy machine in our front hall, part of my husband's attempt to save the 1950's. It's always hard to find candy that fits in the machine AND that's Kosher. Jelly Beans are the easiet to find, but I get tired of them after a while. But this week, I found two types of candy that fit the bill. You know what's weird? They'er EASTER candy. Why would anyone make EASTER candy that's KOSHER?!?!? That makes no sense, but I'm not complaining!!! So Easter colored Mike and Ikes and speckled eggs are now filling two of the four jars in the machine....

And my quest to try out new candy continues!

Anything to add? 1

Eat one, Knit two

2004-02-22 - 9:17 p.m.

Things I got done this weekend:

- Lots of socializing: we had Shabbat Dinner with new friends, Saturday night dinner with old friends and brunch with the same friends on Sunday. For people who usually go an entire week without seeing anyone but each other, this was a busy weekend for us!

- Lots of knitting! I've finished the front of the sweater and am working on the sleeves right now (both at the same time). My hands are a bit sore from knitting all day, but I can't believe how much I got done. I hardly touched the computer all day, I'm just so *in the zone*, the *knitting zone*!!!!!

- Absolutely NOTHING ELSE.

I wish I had something more inspirational or constructive to tell you about, but really, how much can I type about eating and kitting????

So you'll have to wait til tomorrow for some juicier entry...

Anything to add? 1


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