Re: Hey Laura

Hey --

Thanks, Arnold! I will e-mail this to myself and keep it for the days ahead. I think Trapper will come to Virginia and make a mess out of me if I don't get them out soon... ;)

What were you doing for Obama? Hmmm..."Oil Pulling for Obama" -- was that it??? (E-mail me and let me know how it went!)

What's up at this forum, anyway???? I have been out of town for several days and it seems like it has been really quiet here. I do value the relative calm of OP, but 4 days without a post???? How IS everyone????

Well, since nobody has posted about oil pulling in the past couple of days, here is what's up with me!

I barely survived being with my extremely bossy and supercilious younger brother for the past few days. Why is it my family speaks in code? By this I mean, I say, "Are you OK with XYZ?" and they say, "Sure," and then I hear about their not being OK with SOMETHING ELSE, and then when I ask about it (i.e., "Mom, Michael said he was OK with XYZ...is there a possibility he's not???" and she says, "Well, he is a little upset about ABC..." -- JEEEEEEZ. It is enough to drive you crazy.

Or, I hear about a bothering factor later -- in this recent case, an e-mail from my brother today suggesting we find a new home for our adolescent dog because Michael doesn't like the dog, and the dog upset my stepfather (keep in mind, my brother is moving to VIET NAM in three months, my stepfather is miserable and doesn't like anything, and the dog was there for TWO DAYS, OUTSIDE on top of that, is much nicer than either of them for sure, and lives with us two and a half hours away most of the time). (Our dogsitter was AWOL and why would I spend $70 on a dog kennel when my mother lives out in the country, a dog's paradise?)

Besides, I keep mother/stepfather's dog, a yappy-snappy terrier, while they travel three or four weeks out of the year -- now, this is a dog who growls at and snaps at my children, has never been/will never be fully housetrained, is a complete and devoted pig about food, and otherwise is not very pleasant. She hates to be patted the wrong way (i.e. you think you are petting the dog, and then you find out with a huge snap or growl that you have been aggravating her), she goes after my cat, she flips out if you get to close to her while she's eating, and so on. So, imagine my shock upon hearing that my stepfather did not like our sweet hound dog who is fully housetrained, friendly, and would never ever bite anyone! As it turns out, Pip was barking outside at TEN IN THE MORNING, which annoyed him. I suppose I would be bothered by barking at TEN IN THE MORNING. Especially if I had a terrific hangover from the night before! Their dog barks inside and out, morning noon and night and I don't think I have ever complained about having her here. (I also was surprised to learn that my stepfather even heard the dog. Most of us cannot stand to be within two rooms' distance from him as he keeps the TV on the very highest volume and nobody can hear themselves think, and in my opinion he is the last person who should be complaining about household noise pollution as he himself is the major committer of it when we are all there.)

Can anyone tell I am just furious to get this sanctifuc*ingmonious e-mail from my brother suggesting we find another home for our dog? And that I don't really believe it's about the dog, but that he is just angry with me and the dog is getting scapegoated here? His e-mail was essentially about how he doesn't like the dog, stepfather doesn't like the dog, ergo, why don't we "find another home for the dog"...Let me add here that my brother and his wife, before going to Viet Nam, are having a baby and will live with my mother and stepfather (my brother is too chintzy to pay for a house before he goes), and we'll see how they do with the yapper, and how Stepfather does with a baby in the house. They make a whole lot of noise...

Any comments are welcome (as long as they are in support of me in this situation). I guess I would like to know that other peoples' families are this insane...? Sheesh.

Laura