The "pre-talk talk" was mostly Jamie wanting to know if it was okay if she talked to Mom alone. Obviously everyone was fine with that, and not just because we were dreading it but because Mom always takes difficult conversations with Jamie better. I've stopped analyzing why, mostly because I don't care. I just want problems solved, I don't need to ( Read more... )

I didn't have quite enough PTO left to take the entire week between Christmas and New Year's off, so I'm working just today, then I'm off tomorrow and Monday. Work is always very dead for me at the end of the year, because most of what I do is generate and supply documents about our products (Kosher certificates, organic compliances, allergen ( Read more... )

The decorations had been put out when I got home from work on Thursday, so I did not have to murder my entire family, fake my own death, and start over in a South American country with no extradition. Further buoying my spirits, the package from sirena73 had arrived, which included, among other things, more monoi oil and the new Elizabeth Hand book, A ( Read more... )

There have been heaps of Christmas decorations on every downstairs horizontal surface since Tuesday. I keep telling Rian to put them out, and every time he mumbles something about Mom wanting to do the decorations ( Read more... )

Rian's been decorating the house this week, which is nice because David and I certainly can't be arsed. I like having the tree up but if it were up to me I'd set the rest of that moth-eaten old crap on fire; David doesn't like Christmas so he probably wouldn't even bother with the tree ( Read more... )