Happy New Year

Hey, what did you do for New Year's Day? We played Scrabble. That's me, EM (aka Lee, forget these nicknames--he has commented enough) and Younger Boy playing, with Older Boy serving as Scrabble Consultant. It really was fun, even if RM did not like it when Lee used the word "aler." So, I guess you can see that things are already settling down fairly nicely. Our weird little family commune (including my sister) had a nice New Year's meal together and it all went fine.

Mundane Stuff from the Last Few Days

What's been going on other than that? I went to Lee's on Thursday after work and we ended up deciding to paint the kitchen cabinets. We did our first picking of colors together, and it was really fun and funny. We matched his china, which is roses. What cracked me up is that after careful matching, we ended up with the colors I would have picked off the top of my head--a color like a light butternut squash for the cabinet doors, a deep rose for contrast, a pale sage and for walls, a creamy yellowish white. Then I REALLY laughed when we got back and realized the creamy white is exactly the color already all over the kitchen. It looks FINE in small doses. We spent a lot of time Thursday night working on cabinets, then having some fun, then working some more. We knew we were overly in love when we were having fun and smiling while cleaning cabinets with a bleach solution. We got the second coat up on Friday morning. Now he's working on painting all the insides of the cabinets white. A huge improvement. The original plan was to replace all the cabinets, but since there is no long term plan to stay there, paint seems like a better idea now.

Next, we braved a really horrible rainstorm on Friday night to go help my sister install the printer we picked out for her. She fixed a delicious meal featuring mushrooms and shrimp on pasta. (We have been eating a LOT of mushrooms lately--the kids are reveling in the fact that Lee likes eggs and mushrooms). Anyway, the sister and the boyfriend got along just fine (they bonded over the fact that when they ended long marriages everyone said, "Oh we never liked your spouse," but had never told them before). So, that was one more item off the list of "potentially awkward things we have to do."

Saturday, while he painted and waited for his ex to come get some stuff, I went to the yarn store as usual and taught a nice lady some knitting, and worked on finishing my Silk Garden top-down sweater. I DID finish it, and will have a photo soon! I even washed it, which made it very soft, but a bit blocky. I love wearing it. Then I went home and knitted and knitted. I got a little peeved that what I thought would be a short time with the ex turned out really long, but got over it once I realized it was a misunderstanding. Sigh, if only SHE had gotten over it...we ended up having a perfectly nice evening.


Next on that list of potentially awkward things was meeting some of his relatives. This happened Sunday (New Year's Eve), when we eventually got in the car and drove to somewhere near Ponder, Texas for his niece's wedding (we just got a slow start--went to church and listened to live New Age music that went on and on and on, then came home and enjoyed mushroom omelets that the Younger Boy requested...eventually got to leave). It was a most interesting event, with many fun bikers and many more really heavy smokers. And lots of fun liquor, which I tried to not over enjoy, but the Everclear-soaked pineapple was GOOD. It was in the biggest manufactured home I ever was in--like two double-wides together. Lee's favorite niece was a very sweet woman, and her new husband seemed very nice. Their respective kids were all extremely cute boys, and dressed so cutely. They did great in the wedding. Everything was red and white, and there was a path of white fake snow and rose petals leading to the altar set-up. And the minister was a hoot--funny as our Chuck, and he had obviously known both of them a long time. I get a little weirded out at weddings (due to my ISSUES with patriarchal institutions and bad experiences with them), so Lee had to endure a post-wedding meltdown from me, but we still ended up having a good time at our scary little motel. Oddly, the honeymooners were at the SAME hotel but in the "fantasy suites." But, the good news was that I met at least a few relatives and was nice enough to them to pass muster. One more off the list.

Funny fact: we actually slept through our first New Year midnight, but woke up later and said "Happy New Year."

We drove back on New Year's Day, and it was a lovely day. We had a nice talk about hopes and dreams for the future, and I did a lot of knitting on the first hat for the twins. The pattern is great. Photo to come--I did finish it. I had brilliantly pre-c00ked the peas and greens, so it was easy to get the New Year's meal going when we got back to my house. My sister brought a ham for RM, and we were all set. I am so grateful that everyone is getting along well. The kids can see that no one is rejecting poor EM, and that he and Lee are respectful of each other. So they are pretty happy, too. We just had a ton of fun playing games and goofing off later!

The only thing that marred it all was that I got a really disturbing email from the STBX woman. Sent to their son, too. Mostly I was creeped out that she talked about reading all my blogs, referred to my children by their names, and wanted us all to have a bit ole email chat. I don't think so. After all those years in the Dysfunctional Nonprofit Organization, I know enough to not engage in THAT kind of email exchange. Anything you say can and will be twisted into meaning something else. I have to say that the email ruined my nice day. I do not want to let someone have the power to do that to me. So, this won't continue.

Back to work today. We spent a lot of time worrying that the son had not answered phone calls. But eventually, tonight, got through to him. He wanted to talk to me, so I did. One more potentially awkward moment off the list. I think it went fine and we liked each other fine. It's just awkward for him, I am sure. He does not need to be put in the middle of these things. I reassured him he did NOT have to take sides, and that of course he should be there for his mother. I did mention email ethics. But, he seemed real nice. And I figure it will all work out eventually.

When I realize the STBX had sent ANOTHER email cc-ing all the world (she seems obsessed with "proving" Lee told a lie about something), I went to the endless draft email to her I had written, cut most of it out (see, I DO learn lessons from myself, email pals), and said please don't continue. I am not participating in "he said, she said." If she keeps at it, I just won't respond. That has always worked well.

All right, this is too long. I'll post a nice happy picture or some knitting next time. Things are not bad, not bad at all. Just dealing with those consequences of our decisions that we knew we'd have to deal with.