And now, on "As the Stomach Churns..."

*names have been changed. just so you know*


OK folks, I've really tried to keep family draaaama out of this blog, but I gotta tell someone, and you're it. Besides, if you don't wanna read this crap, you need only scroll past it.
6 weeks ago, La Diva came driving up to the doorstep crying. Her children were in the backseat, silent. A 7 year old and a 2 year old are NEVER silent. (and awake) She was afraid of him. She was afraid that her boyfriend (Tacoboy) would hurt the children. Afraid that he would hurt her, or have her arrested again. (yes, I said again.) She uproots her children, moves in with us and forces Miss Primadonna Pooperschnitzel (7) to change schools in the middle of the year. Prim hates him and is afraid of him. "Tacoboy is ruining my life." No child that age should know how to suck up to someone because they're afraid of them. But she does. I've seen her. She kisses his weaselly little narrow ass so that he won't scream at her and shut her in her bedroom. "Hi Taco, I love you Taco." This...thing is not her father. Problem, though. He is Mr. TrainTrain BusyPants's(2) father.
So...this week. Miss Prim is at her daddy's having a sleep-over (it's school vaca week) and La Diva picks up Pants...and disappears. No phone call to let the people she lives with know she and Pants are OK and not dead on the side of the road, nothing. She rolls in about 9:30 the next morning, sans Mr. BusyPants, and proceeds to start stuffing clothes and diapers into plastic bags. I am not a stupid woman. I know where Pants is, and I know where she's been. But I must go to work. So I leave it alone, except..."Hey, Prim's daddy called here looking for you." "*diatribe about how he could have called her cell, and what a useless piece of crap he is.*" "OK, well, just giving you the message, dude." "*vitriol, vitriol*" "Well, gotta go to work, bye." And an offhand reminder that Prim is having a sleepover guest (Miss Chatterbox SnugglyBear, 7) that night.
So why do I have Mother mine, Prim's Daddy(The Inkerator) and Bear's mama(Ka-to) calling me at work all day? *Sigh* Because they know I'll fix it so that the girls can have their sleepover even if La Diva is a no-show as usual. In Ka-to's defense, she has 3.5 other children to marshal, and one disappointed 7 year old can screw up the mix real bad for her. The last thing you need whilst incubating, neh?
The sleepover goes off without a hitch *phew*. LaDiva even manages to sleep at home that night. Last night, however, she took her children out to "Get her oil change done." And proceeded to drop the children off at 7:30 this morning to be watched so she could go to work.
Part of me wants to call Inky and tell him what's up. He already hates Tacoboy and doesn't want the guy near his daughter. Part of me wants to tell LaDiva what. All of me wishes that Taco would just fall off the face of the earth because of all the hurt and misery he's caused my family. Seriously...I can't wait to leave. I'll miss the children, but I can't be a part of this anymore. it's affecting my work, my sleep, my stomach...I don't mean to sound selfish, but there is NOTHING I CAN DO FOR THESE CHILDREN. I can't change what's happening to them, or take them out of what I know is a bad situation. All I can do is love them when I see them, and patch up their physical hurts.
LaDiva I'm done with. She'll get "excuse me" and "pass the salt" out of me.

Dobedobedo...selling ev'rythin...dobedobedo...all has gotta go

Yep. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig yard sale this weekend. Kinda feels like I'm selling the last 8 years 5 bucks at a time. I have some trepidations about driving 1700 miles and not having any furniture when I get there, but it's also a great big weight of my pack-rat past that's coming off my shoulders. As I was looking through the mountain of boxes and bags that came from Summer St., I saw things I hadn't looked at in a year. OK, fine. Happens, right? Then...then I saw shit that hasn't seen the light of day since before Peepeehead left. Whoa. Why do I hold on to this crap?? Even if I wasn't moving halfway across the country, I have trucked this garbage to 4 different homes now. Jeebus, there's 2 liquor-store boxes of it!! So the motto for this month is: Sell It, Give It Away, and if all else fails, Chuck It.
The worst part? I have to get rid of sewing machines. ACK! And Fabric. And thread. and *shudder* YARN.
As a matter of fact, I have to have a yard sale in order to clear off the top layer of junk...so I can find the rest of the stuff I'm getting rid of. Double ack.

This Month's Experiment:

I noticed that living in this town makes me crankier the longer I'm here. I'm beginning to think it does that to most everyone. So I'm experimenting, something I call The Great Smile Experiment.
On super nice days like today I will go for a walk in beautiful downtown Concord and smile. At everyone I pass. At folks in cars. At people in shops. Hey, it's a gorgeous day, the sun is sunny, it's not too hot, the smell of coffee is wafting from the open doors of the coffee and bagel shops, the kids have the week off from school.
So I did. Great big "it's too nice out to be cranky" smiles. At everyone, and everyone's dogs and children.
Nada. Nothing. Zip.
Not one return smile.
Yep, this town is cranky.