Bad Attitudes & a Broken Ankle....

Well, the 4th wound up being a considerably less-than-completely pleasant 4th of July, that's for sure. And, in part due to the SIL's bad attitude. My SIL has wrecked more cars in her 30 years than most people own in a life-time, and yet MIL handed over her keys to SIL so that she could pick up her older son from town & bring him out to spend the day with her & her most current boyfriend. (She already had the younger son with her.) Of course, FIL quickly found out about the car being lent to SIL (who isn't covered on their insurance, and only has insurance to drive her own vehical, currently a chevy S10) and reamed MIL a new one for allowing SIL to take the car.


On top of that, MIL fell last Sunday and "twisted" her ankle as she tried to catch the 3 year old nephew as he took-off down the drive. She'd called Sunday evening asking the hubby if he'd take her over to the fire-dept. to see if they thought she should go to the emergency room. He suggested she give it a half-hour, wrapped with an ice-pack, then call him back if the swelling was still bad. She never called back, so we assumed that she was ok and had just twisted it. Fast foward to Wednesday, as we were in the house filling our plates with food, MIL showed the hubby & I her ankle and it was twice it's normal size & black & blue & green all over, and she only had it wrapped in a support-brace she'd purchased from the grocery store. My inkling right off was that her ankle was very possibly broken. *sigh* So, we suggested that she needed to have it seen, and she decided to call her younger sister for a ride to FirstCare to have her ankle x-rayed. Sure enough, she broke it in 2 places. *cringe*

So, then she called SIL and told SIL that she couldn't watch the nephew any longer, that SIL would have to take responsibility for the boy (SIL's younger son). SIL, of course, claimed that something is going on with the bathroom at the house she shares with her new boyfriend and that she can't take responsibility for her own son right now. So their dad is back to having both boys.

(Both of the nephews are technically in the custody of their dad, but he just had back surgery a month ago so he asked the inlaws if they would take the younger son, the 3 year old, so he only has to worry about the older, the 5 year old. They agreed on the condition that the boy's mom, my SIL, comes over during the day to take care of the younger boy while the inlaws work. Since SIL doesn't have a job right now. She's living with her latest in a string of boyfriends, and doesn't want EITHER of her son's around for more than a couple of hours, but for the most part she's been showing up during the day to keep an eye on the younger rather than making the inlaws pay for putting HER kid in day-care. On Monday, MIL didn't go to work because of her ankle, so on Tuesday when MIL decided she still wasn't in any shape to go to work, the SIL figured that she didn't need to bother with taking care of her own son, her mom could do it. *rolling eyes* Seeing as she's now on crutches, MIL has told the SIL that the SIL will have to take care of her own son now until MIL's ankle heals or the boy's dad's back heals, whichever comes first. My understanding was that the SIL was rather pissed that her mom went & broke her ankle & stuck her with the younger son. Again, forget the fact that the MIL broke the ankle because she was running after the 3 year old to keep him from running into the road, and twisted her ankle doing so.)

So, FIL was pissed & grumpy over both MIL's messed up ankle, and SIL's highjacking of MIL's car when she doesn't even have insurance (again). Tay was, of course, bored & pissy because neither of the nephews was there to play with. And the dog was alternating between freaking out & shivering quietly on the garage floor.

Ah well, the chicken and macaroni salad were good. *wry smile* We also got home in time last night to watch the last of the "Macy's 4th of July fireworks show" on tv before bed. One of these day's I'd love to spend the 4th with Tay in a state that actually gets dark summer nights, so she can see a good fireworks show herself. Maybe I'll try to see if we can get down for my mom's family reunion in Spokane in a couple of years. I think she'd like Riverfront Park on the 4th of July. And I'd love to see my Aunts & Uncles & cousins again. I only wish the hubby wasn't so scared to death of flying, so he could go with us & meet my mom's family. I really think he'd get along well with my uncles. *grin* They've all got the "work hard, play harder" view of life. LOL

I called the MIL on Thursday morning to see how she was feeling, and DH and I had already discussed how it would be an idea for DD and I to go over & help MIL out with heavy-lifting household chores like laundry & vacuuming & anything else she may want our help on, as a broken ankle makes it hard to do the simplest of things (like carrying one's coffee cup from kitchen to living room, as the MIL discovered Thursday morning), much less the more active household tasks. And I doubt the FIL will help much. He and MIL don't seem to have said a civil word to each other in several months now. Well, the MIL said that she didn't need any help at the moment, but thanks for offering, and I told her I'd call back on Saturday. And I did, called early and asked if there was anything I could pick up for her at the grocery store, as I was going, or any movies I could bring over for her. Wound up picking 3 of our movies that she hasn't seen yet, and she asked me to get her a movie rental guide from the store, and pick up Great-Grandma's light-weight vacuume so she (MIL) could vacuume the house. I told her I'd pick it up, but Tay and I would come over and vacuume & do laundry for her, and anything else.

Go figure that when I got there, the SIL was there, with BOTH boys, and one of their friends. And bathing both boys in MIL's bathroom, and feeding all 3 of the kids in MIL's kitchen. And evidently SIL was somewhat incensed that I'd come over and help the MIL with household chores, so she told MIL that SHE didn't need the light-weight vacuume & that I could just take it back to Grandma's house, and that SIL would be over (with younger son) on Monday and would clean MIL's whole house for her. *shaking head* Whatever. So, I got sent BACK to Great-Grandma's with the vaccume & a symbolic pat-on-the-head for being such a good girl to offer, but MIL didn't really need my help at all when her daughter is willing to step-up. I'd be happy about SIL stepping up to help, if I thought she actually was. But SIL has NEVER been one to clean-house. In fact, everybody in the family knows that MIL often goes to SIL's place and cleans for SIL, on the pretense that with 2 boys, SIL can't accomplish it herself. (Then MIL goes on and on about how good a housekeeper SIL is, though I've seen SIL's various apartments when MIL isn't cleaning for her regularly, and it's never been anywhere NEAR "clean".) In fact, when I talked to MIL on Saturday morning, before going to the store, she hadn't heard anything from SIL since she told SIL about her broken ankle on Wednesday evening. It was only after I called & said I'd be coming over, that she talked to SIL and all the sudden SIL was going to come over & do the cleaning, but Monday. *rolling eyes* Smacks of SIL being pissed at me about being "shown up", and trying to put me in my place over who's REALLY important to MIL. And it isn't me. *sigh* Whatever. DH said that if they want to be that way, I shouldn't bother even offering to help any more. He also understands precisely what his sister is doing, and rather suspects that come Monday night, MIL's housework still will not have been done except by MIL herself. I'm not going to offer to help again.

Let's see.... Thursday, I got woken at 8 by DD, complaining of a sore shoulder. She slept on it wrong. *rolling eyes* At 8:30, I got called by somebody at a 1-800 number who was asking for the hubby and refused to leave a message. By 9, Puck was nudging me in the back with his cold, wet nose, whining about how he needed to go outside. Ok, so much for sleeping any more. After watering the neighbour's yard & my flower-beds, DD and I headed in to Pioneer Park (formerly known as AlaskaLand, the closest thing my town has to a "theme park") for lunch & some girl-talk with a friend of mine from HS. I don't get to see my friends very often, so it was nice to just get to walk & talk with her. And DD behaved herself well (after a talk in the car about how often she sees her friends, but this is one of the rare times that I get to see mine, so she better mind her manners) and it was a nice day. It'd be nice to get to chat with A. without a child tagging along, though. We're hoping that when I've got that next week off at the end of July, we can get together for lunch & catch up without kids along. LOL (DD will be at hockey camp, and I'm taking the week off because it'll be a day-camp where I have to drop her off in the morning and pick her up mid-afternoon. That schedual wouldn't work well with my work-schedual, so it's just easiest to take the week off.)

Friday I spent the day bumming around the house, nothing much to do except water the yards & my flowers & crochet & watch movies. I finished that baby-afghan (no picture yet, it's not even washed yet), watched the last 3 episodes of StarGate:SG1 and "HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban". (SG:1 has now ended, as a running show, and I'm going to miss it greatly.)

Then Saturday, as I wrote above, was spent grocery shopping & running to the MIL's and visiting with Great-Grandma a bit (as I didn't wind up needing to clean MIL's house for her). I wound up, late last night, doing a draw from my Goddess Guidance Oracle cards, asking for wisdom & guidance in how to handle the anger & act toward MIL & SIL, and the guidance gained was to focus my energies on MY household, keep MY home a safe place from MIL & SIL, and let out my feelings in creative endeavors. Ok. I guess that also means I need to kind of "let it go" in regards to MIL's & SIL's attitude toward me. Harder said than done sometimes, but I'm trying. And evidently Thanksgiving will NOT be held here any longer, as I really, really don't want MIL & SIL fouling up the atmosphere of my home. (FIL kinda indicated that he thought Thanksgiving would be best held at his place from here on out, but I was still kinda hoping to keep holding it here, but as I really DON'T want SIL in my house ever again....)

Which brings us to today. I've gotta get headed out. I'm going to church with Dad, then over to his place for lunch. Then hopefully back here to veg the rest of the afternoon, do laundry, etc. I'm making a stir-fry for supper. Kinda my version of Mongolian beef, though it doesn't really turn out quite as good as does the Mongolian beef from our favorite oriental resteraunt. Ah well, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, though. *grin*

Have a Blessed Day!