1. I put off some of my online work until today so my morning will be fraught with hurrying up to get it all done. Though sometimes, I work better that way. I remember when I worked at FSU and every other Friday I took a half day with my husband and we’d go to lunch and see a movie. It was free babysitting for a date because all the kids were in daycare/school. Anyway, those Friday mornings, I got so much done! I knew I only had about 3.5 hours to wrap up any work so I didn’t have to deal with it over the weekend. Hopefully this morning I can do just that. Though to be fair, I was normally not bothered too much then. Everyone (minus my oldest who is working today) is home!
2. My goal is to get all this done before 11:30 then make lunch and get in the pool. I was just about to do that yesterday when the AC guy called. The one moment I went into the bathroom to get my suit on, he calls! That’s how it works, isn’t it? Luckily I think he has fixed the issue. The upstairs (brand new as of November) unit was not cooling down as quickly as it should and the pre-loaded amount of freon was low, comparative to the length of line. It does have to go all the way upstairs so he topped it off and it did better last evening. This is about the hottest it’s been so far so we really are testing this thing out for the first time.
3. I’ve been wanting to talk about the issue I am having with my sister and can never find a way to explain it briefly. I have a few of you who are consistent readers here so if you don’t mind, I’d love your opinion. Ok, so, back story is that during Spring Break my family went to N.O. with my parents. I did not invite my sister and her boyfriend because we figured they could not go or afford it. (Retail and food service, respectively) But that whole thing is a trap because if we had invited them, she would have said, ‘how dare you assume we can go!’ My mom told me my sister could not, in fact, meet us for dinner on our drive back because she had to work. Well, apparently, she told me she could but I forgot or didn’t hear her; I don’t know. Anyway, on the drive back (Pensacola is half way), we decided not to stop and just push on home. My son had driven separately and he called to tell me she was PISSED. I texted her and apologized profusely and owned up to it being my fault, etc. But man, she just did not want to let it go.
4. In the following weeks, she ignored me entirely. She was mad she changed her day off but her boyfriend even said, ‘what does it matter which day you were off?’ She’s coming at it from a very selfish place and keeps saying how we put our family first. Well, yes we do; we have 5, you have 2. I was glad we pushed on home; my son actually ended up in the ER right after we got here! Anyway, I was really upset about it but I knew that in time, it would be ok. Fast forward (and maybe I did talk about this on the blog) and my dad comes up with a plan that he thinks will solve the problem. See, they live in the same town and see each other at least once a week. So unbeknownst to me, she was still complaining about this rift. He decides to use some of the money they got from my grandpa dying and help my sister get a new car. The logical next step then, being that her Honda would go to my son, who was about to get his license. So she texts me and says she’ll “let it go” since she is going to do something nice for her nephew. OK, cool. I felt better. My parents said they’d drive it over but no, she insisted. So she set a day and said they were coming but couldn’t stay. I felt bad about it so I wore her down and convinced her to go to lunch. That day was a literal shit show. She was late for one (I mean, I realize it maybe didn’t matter but we needed to eat lunch and had plans later on), she refused to get my address, claiming she’d remember where we lived, but ended up driving around for ten minutes, then when she got here, she told me she didn’t bring the title. Sigh. We go to lunch (no one spoke up about what they wanted to so I picked our local Mexican place, learning later she doesn’t like Mexican!), and during lunch, Ash reminds Isaac to thank his grandfather. She was offended! She was like, ‘no I did this’. No, our dad made this possible and your leftovers shifted to us. They left soon after and it definitely felt weird; she was clearly unhappy.
5. On vacation, we watched a movie I remember her really liking so I texted her and she ghosted me day after day. So I finally asked her if she was mad and apparently, yes. She says that I always call the shots and people defer to our family. She even referenced how, when Ash and I went with her and her boyfriend to Texas in 2022 and claimed we never let them make any decisions. So, you mean, during the trip WE paid for entirely when we took HER and her boyfriend to a Cowboys game because it was always what he wanted to do? You’ve got to be kidding me. I cannot help her if she won’t speak up or take agency over things. The fact that she is still mad about not picking food from 4 years ago is just, wtf? She’s like, ‘this is an ongoing thing and I won’t let it go.’ Well, I honestly don’t know what to do here. It’s so silly and I have to say, she is so damned predictable. Liberal as heck and playing the victim? Surprise surprise. She is so miserable in her own life that she’s putting it on me. Anyway, if you’ve read all this, congrats. If you have ideas on anything I could say to rectify it, by all means, I am all ears. We’ve never had a close relationship but we also never had problems. And it’s bothering the heck out of me!

5.5 Thanks for reading, all. I have been agonizing over it at the same time ad trying to let it go and hoping time will fix it. She has always been such an odd duck; she’s been with her bf for 18 years and won’t get married. She had a friend in high school – her best guy friend – who became a woman and then died of AIDS and I think that scarred her so much she won’t even make new friends. She works a lot and doesn’t do much else so I see why she’d be unhappy but why is it my fault? Anywho, I am trying to move on and hope that she and I can reconcile, at least before my aunt dies, since she and I will be the sole heirs and I don’t want a property dispute to ruin any sisterly relationship we may have. Sigh. I’m off to finish grading and move on with my life! Happy weekend!