And still more

(this feels a bit like cheating, but typing it all out would feel like repeating myself so....)

From May 17:

Per the enclosed article [note: I sent him an article about the preacher predicting the end of the world on May 21], if you get this letter, well, the world didn’t end. If you don’t get the letter, well, I hope I’ll be meeting you on the other side.

Shannon was confirmed on Sunday, so she’s now a full member of the United Methodist church and has voting rights in our local congregation. We’ve got a big meeting tonight, voting on whether or not to become a Reconciling Congregation, supporting the ability of gay/lesbian/transgendered persons to marry in the congregation and/or hold positions of authority, including being ordained as ministers. As you can imagine, this issue is dividing the denomination across the country, with some churches adamantly opposed to it, while others are in full support. Our particular church will probably pass it, though we won’t be at the meeting because the kids have a concert at school. Sadly, our denomination has come out with conflicting statements on the subject, saying that such behaviors are “incompatible with Christian teaching,” while also trying to uphold the dignity of all human beings. Because the church is made up of human beings, it is inherently flawed, and therefore, some have used the “incompatible” clause as a means to be mean and nasty to folks. As you can tell, I’m a bit in the middle, though leaning decidedly left. We have a couple of gay couples in our congregation and it doesn’t seem that strange to me. I come back to God as love and therefore we are called, above all, to love one another. It is not up to me, by any stretch, to decide if they (or anyone) are going up or down, kwim? But I also don’t like the way the issue is dividing the congregation and the denomination, creating such hostility. I don’t think God wants that either. *sigh*

So that was a bit heavy, wasn’t it?!

Mom and Dad did come for the confirmation, as did the Outlaws. It went as well as can be expected. MIL wasn’t horrible, though she’s just an odd duck. And she appears to be dealing with some short-term memory issues. She asked my parents three times in an afternoon where they’re living now.

Other conversations were just as amusing.

Me: Mom, here’s this great article I saved about local gluten-free stuff, including a website that reviews gluten-free food.
Mom: That’ll be a handy site
Me: Yep
MIL: I’ve got some gluten-free stuff at my house. How’s the flavor of that stuff? Do you think I could eat it?
Me: It’s hit and miss, but you could try it (thinking “WTH? Why would she have GF food? We haven’t been there in AGES”)
Conversation continues, including a mention of local bakeries that do big GF cakes for weddings, graduations, etc.
Mom, putting the paper on the sofa: Great article, Erica. Lots of great information.
MIL picks up the paper a few minutes later. Erica? Did you see this article on gluten-free foods?

Hello? Was she even there for the last 10 minutes? She actively participated in the conversation, so it’s not like she just walked in and randomly picked up the paper.

FIL seems to be having some issues too, but not as obvious or repetitive as MIL’s. Your family was over (and they went to church with us too), plus all the grandparents, for a total of 14 people in my kitchen for dinner. Your dad helped me make his “world famous” uber-simple noodles…..the ones with olive oil, garlic, basil, and parmesan cheese. So, after the meal, and your family’s departure for your grandparents’ party up north, the Outlaws started asking questions. I’d told them that we were going to have dinner in the mid-afternoon after the Pickett people got home from church that ended at 2:00. What church? They already went to church. No, they came for Shannon and then went to their ward. They’re Mormon? Yep (remember, MIL thinks that ya’ll are the root of all evil in her life). From MIL: But they’re such nice people! And FIL: But Marcus was confirmed today (yes, he said “MarcUs” and Marcos wasn’t even AT church—he thought 9:00 am was way too early). Um, no. He’s got a brother in the mission field, “my” missionary son that I got to talk to on Mother’s Day. Oh.

Not 20 minutes later, we had the same conversation all over again, including FIL *insisting* that MarcUs was confirmed at my church. LOL!

MIL still can’t get her head around the gluten-free thing. Some of that, I think, is her own ignorance, in spite of watching “The Doctors” religiously on TV (it’s a daytime talk show), and some of that is because she doesn’t see us very often. And this is a new-fangled disease that wasn’t around back in the day. She kept asking if Shannon could have gluten if it was cooked. And she had a hard time with the reasoning behind keeping Shannon’s peanut butter, jam, margarine and the like separated (I’ve got it marked with red masking tape). But she respected it. Or not. I really didn’t give her many opportunities not to. I put Shannon’s butter right in front of her, for instance, and it stayed there through the whole meal.

I contrast that with my parents asking carefully about things, including which toaster they can use, and your dad, who used a gluten-y spoon to wipe the garlic off the garlic-smoosher and immediately told me so that I wouldn’t use it for the garlic for Shannon. When I contrast the two, I really can’t tell if it’s a lack of experience or a lack of give-a-darn with my MIL, kwim?

One of Bruce’s nieces is getting married in August. I don’t know if any of us will be going to the wedding, though we’ll probably try to at least send Bruce. This niece has struggled with mental issues most of her life, OCD tendencies and the like, and she’s been finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is on a good combination of meds. She seems to be doing well, holding down a job, living with her boyfriend in Minnesota. They’ve been together at least 2 years. But MIL is convinced that the marriage won’t last. I think she’s been listening to the family members who’ve said for years that Niece’s problems were all because she didn’t have enough discipline/consequences as a child. These same family members predict gloom and doom for this poor child all the time, selling her short and poo-poohing any accomplishment. MAKES ME CRAZY! I hate it when people do that to other people. Like deciding that Marcos, with his struggles in school, will never be successful at anything. Sure, he’ll struggle with school, but he’s got other strengths that I think will serve him well. Niece is the same way.

Speaking of Marcos, he and Tristan built some shelves for the shed in your yard and Marcos was SO proud! I think he’d do really well at some kind of hands-on field like carpentry or plumbing or even cooking. He’s just got to find his niche.

Tristan developed strep over the weekend. He had insulin pump issues so his sugar got really high, and then he got a headache and sore throat, followed by a fever. He didn’t go to church with us, and he didn’t really participate in the meal afterwards either. MIL was convinced he was dying and his horrible parents weren’t doing anything about it (I was waiting it out…if I rush them to the doctor every time they get a fever, well, I might as well move in!). My mom thought he had a migraine and offered us some of her prescription migraine meds. Um, NO! Sunday night we decided to take him to Urgent Care, since the fever was creeping back up and we could tell his tonsils were swollen (he was talking like he had a huge gumball in his mouth) and the test came back positive. We got home around 11:30 and all the grandparents were still up. MIL said “she couldn’t sleep until she knew he was okay,” and my mom just worries about this stuff. So he stayed home from school yesterday, the mandatory 24-hour “quarantine” to keep it from spreading, and he was back to wrestling with Bruce last night.

Bruce called his parents to make sure they got home okay. MIL first insisted they’d called, but there was no record of that on any of our phones. Then she grilled Bruce again about Tristan and he repeated the same info we’d given her Sunday night and Monday morning. *sigh*

From May 18 [mundane and boring, but here it is]:

I had a lovely visitor today, from Murray’s finest. I was hoping it was about my break in and them telling me that they’d found my camera or the GPS. Nope. It seems that they were getting repeated hang-up 911 calls from a cell phone that they’d traced back to my house. Um? Say what?! So, I polled the kids, checked all the phones, and nothing. The calls were coming from an “unregistered” phone, meaning one that currently did not have actual service. And, they’d traced the *signal,* not the number, to within 0 meters of my house. I thought they only did that on TV! The officer was very nice, and said that the important thing was that everyone was okay and we didn’t need any emergency services.

Today, at work, I got a call from Shannon at school. She was in tears, poor thing. Her insulin pump had run out of insulin and she didn’t have all the supplies she needed at school so she was very upset. It really wasn’t a big deal, honestly, and I don’t know why she was in tears over it. She didn’t really know either! So, I took off and got her the things she needed and she went off to class. I’ll never completely understand teenagers, even when I was one!

I was right about our church. They voted to become a Reconciling Congregation. I hope it doesn’t create more division.

We got the house mostly put back together after a weekend of a zillion visitors. The trailer came down yesterday, after a fortuitous break in the weather that allowed it to dry out. I’m waiting for sunny skies to wash the sheets as I like to dry them outside on the clothesline.

The kids had a concert last night, both orchestra (Shannon) and symphonic band (Tristan), plus a couple of songs combining the two. It was really good. It’s been a long road to get here, going to concerts from the time they were in elementary school, squeaking along on stage! But they’ve all made such progress and it’s wonderful to hear and enjoy.

May 20, 2011

This “Rapture” stuff has gone viral! It’s really funny. One of the local news stations put a “Just in Case They’re Right” forecast up, with just a temperature for Saturday, and nothing for that night or the rest of next week…..it’s just an empty graphic! Too funny! There’s also a FaceBook event titled “Post-Rapture Looting,” for those who are left behind. The comments are hilarious! Talk of attending if they’re not too hung over from the pre-rapture partying, lists of things they’ve got their eyes on (houses, furniture, cars). It’s gotten pretty ridiculous. What do these people do when it doesn’t happen? This guy is absolutely positive that *now* is the time. His followers believe it too. What do you do when you’ve staked your whole life on something like this? I know! I’ll send some fresh-faced Mormon boys over there!

Talked to my friend whose inlaws were killed. She’d called the state police for one reason or another and spoke to one of the responding officers. Well, on her way to Boise, she was pulled over for speeding….by the same officer! He took her to where they had the car and let her remove their personal belongings from it. She said it was really hard, but she was glad she did it and not her husband because it would’ve been that much more difficult for him. She seems to be doing all right, but I worry. I don’t think she’s getting much sleep.

It’s raining. Again. Some more. Forever. Maybe the rapture isn’t such a bad idea? I’m sick sick SICK of the rain! This morning, we had a thunderstorm that shook the rafters and landed Alana in bed with us. I was a little surprised we didn’t have all 3 kids plus the dogs up there with us! The back yard looks like a jungle and I may never get to use my clothes line. The garden seems okay, but we haven’t been able to spray the apples. It’s pointless to do it until the rain lets up a bit or the spray just gets washed away, but we need to do it before the blossoms close up completely to keep the worms out (the worms form in the seed/center of the apple and eat their way out). It could be a banner crop of apples this year…..full of worms! *sigh*