(no subject)

 I went to Petco this morning and saw something that reminded me of my rant yesterday.  There were two iced coffee cups on one of the shelves.  (Yes, you might be from New England if it's 34 degrees out and you're drinking iced coffee.  One of the employees admonished her coworker for not wearing a coat, but said nothing about the iced coffee she was bringing in.)

Thing is, the store had just opened.  So either the employees left the coffee there, or they didn't clean it up from a previous day.

I wanted to find some canned grain free food because I read that is good for cats who are prone to diarrhea, as my cat is.  She's old and crotchety and poops everywhere.  Gotta love cats!  I did not find any canned food except in individual cans (I was hoping to find something in bulk) and even then I couldn't find any that was grain free so I picked a dry food that said grain free and added some water to it (along with a scoop of her old food, to ease her into it).

I figure, I know she's probably nearing the end of her life, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna grab a few cans of Fancy Feast and call it a day.  I gave her a can of tuna yesterday and she gobbled it up.  We've tried so many kinds of food, I don't even know.  It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't poop on the floor.  My husband thinks it's psychological, but that doesn't explain the diarrhea, and the vet didn't find anything wrong either.  Puddles of poop are not fun.

I talked to some other moms I know online and got a lot of feedback that not many kids go to birthday parties.  (yes, I'm still hung up on this birthday thing) I find this kind of sad, but at least now I know I should invite more of the family.  I found out through my mom that my aunt was kind of hurt that we didn't invite her and her family to the party.  She called on his birthday and I explained to her that we just had a couple kids over from his class.  I honestly didn't think extended family cared to go to kids' birthday parties.  My bad!

It's awkward because my parents are divorced.  My dad and stepmom were on vacation on Josh's birthday this year, so I didn't have to worry about inviting them, but most years, it's a struggle with the holidays especially since I have in-laws, too.  Before we had Josh we used to go to three different homes on Christmas (none of them particularly close together, either).  Now we pick and choose.  My dad and stepmom like to get together a couple weeks before Christmas at a Chinese restaurant in my old hometown because there is good shopping there.  The restaurant isn't very good anymore, but it's tradition, and they seem to like it, so I don't say anything.  It's nice to see them before the craziness of Christmas day and then on Christmas we usually go to my mom's brother's house and hang out with his family which is a lot of fun and I always drink too much wine and get a little sentimental.  So does everyone else, though, so it's all good.

So anyway, back to my point.  My parents basically haven't talked since I turned 18 (they got divorced when I was 16) and my mother, after all this time is still bitter towards my dad so I never really want to invite them to the same thing if I can help it.  At the same time, I know they both love Josh (and so do their SO's) and want to see him on his special day.  So it's hard.  Then, nobody really likes my MIL, either, and she smokes which my mother is really sensitive to, so they can't be at the same place at the same time either.  LOL. It's like a crazy algebraic word problem.   "If Jackie and Sherry can't be together but Jackie and Ross can, however nobody really likes Jackie anyway and Kate just wants everyone to be happy...who can see each other on what day?"

(no subject)

 I had an online friend who I used to talk to a lot.  We kind of bonded because our sons are the same age.  She used to say her son looks at pictures I post of my son and calls him his friend.  We don't live too far apart, about 4 hours, but we have never met.

Recently she just stopped talking to me and is ignoring my facebook messages.  We were also in the same close group of women on facebook that spun off from another parenting site, where we met.  There was some fallout in the facebook group and she left because she disliked a couple of the women there and she felt they were purposely ignoring her, and when they weren't ignoring her, they were being snarky.  Since she left we still talked some, but recently I was getting rid of some of Josh's books and I messaged her to see if she wanted any.  She never responded.

I don't know if she's upset because I didn't send anything to her pregnant daughter for her baby shower, or if I didn't offer the books to the daughter instead of her, but I honestly didn't think of it.  I don't often send things to people I don't know, even if I feel I can trust them with my address.  One, I'm lazy, and two, I just don't.  I don't donate money to people, I don't buy gifts for online friends for Christmas.  I have done card exchanges and other swaps but not often.

I don't know if I should persist, or just let it go.  There's always a lot going on in her life, with her kids, herself, her family, so maybe she's just busy and overlooked the message, but I sent her two.  I don't want to ask anyone else in the facebook group if they still talk to her, because it's still sort of a sore spot that she left.  Other people don't see the cattiness she experienced.  I see it, and I'm not overly warm towards the two, but I'm not about to leave the group over it.

Which raises another point, is she mad that I'm still in the group and speaking to those women even though she told me these two women are not actively supporting her?

Here I go again, refusing to pick sides.  I'm still not sure if that's a wise choice or not, always trying to remain neutral.