Wednesday, December 28
Dec. 29th, 2022 02:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Pleasant weather.
We went to see friends of ours, after we did chores.
Again, it must seem really odd for people for whom visiting tends to focus on food. They made me hot chocolate with sweet whipped cream without asking me if I wanted it, so I gave it to my husband. Then they brought out a tray of nice dainties, also which I don't eat (and my husband is trying to cut back, especially since he had two hot chocolates).
Then they were also kind enough to bring out a big bucket of mixed nuts n' bolts, which I ate a little bit of, but it is STILL PURE SIMPLE CARBS.
I did get some nice tea.
I find the holidays hard to keep turning down food, and then my Sweetie is home and I buy junk food for him, so I end up eating some chips when I really don't need them.
Overall I stick to my chosen food. Eating vegetarian is based on my values, and is easier than turning down carbs and sugar, even though it is for my health and maintaining a healthy weight.
I feel a bit rude constantly declining food, but then no one seems to catch on and offer a nice veggie tray while still putting out other stuff for others who are so inclined.
Anyhow, it was nice to see our friends. It has been quite a while since we sat down and had a visit with them.
This is the woman that I fundamentally have a lot in common with, but she tends to dominate the conversation. I have drastically cut back on phone calls and visits because there have been too many occasions where I felt like she didn't care much about what was going on in my life at all.
Tonight she was really revving up to bitch about her mother in law, right in front of her husband. She got going about some big RV her in laws used to own and how her MIL is lazy and makes everyone do everything for her, and now her payback is that she is physically declining (somehow being 82 and frail is a moral problem). I CUT THAT SHIT OFF AT THE KNEES and pulled the conversation back to something that didn't feel like a building rant.
She still managed to just talk right over her husband any time he tried to speak. It led to this terrible dynamic where my husband and hers were talking, and then she talked to me, so it was two separate conversations at the table. They do this a lot. It seems very rude to me.
At the end of the conversation, I had managed to speak a tiny bit about the work we got done on the house, but not much. I mentioned our cat Hans, who has been with us for about a year and a half now, and I know I've mentioned him, and she didn't remember. We didn't talk about Fatty's passing, or anything about the work that I am doing with River, or pottery.
She didn't even really talk about herself. She talked about how health care is going to Hell, so I said "Maybe people need to stop voting for the Conservative party that is gutting it" (knowing full well that they support the Conservative party). That at least did make them stop and think for a moment.
In spite of how hard it can be to visit with them, or to feel like anyone gives a shit about what I am doing, they are good people and they have done a lot for us. Our visits go a lot better if we play cards.
I can't help but think that one day, she is going to have it dawn on her that what River and I are doing is actually pretty amazing, or that maybe I am a pretty good potter/painter or something, and she will wonder when I was developing my skills and why she never heard me talk about it. The odds are low.
Then we came home and watched "The Muppet Treasure Island", which is a fine movie with Tim Curry in it.
Otherwise a quiet evening of reading and petting the kitties.
I learned that Universal Studios has a set that is a street, called Colonial Street. It has been home to Desperate Housewives, Psycho, Leave It To Beaver, The Munsters, The Hardy Boys, The Burbs, Dragnet, Delta House,Nancy Drew, The House Of the Seven Gables and more, all on the same "street". Built in the 1950, it remains in use today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Street
http://www.thestudiotour.com/wp/studios/universal-studios-hollywood/backlot/current-backlot-sets/colonial-street-wisteria-lane/
Pleasant weather.
We went to see friends of ours, after we did chores.
Again, it must seem really odd for people for whom visiting tends to focus on food. They made me hot chocolate with sweet whipped cream without asking me if I wanted it, so I gave it to my husband. Then they brought out a tray of nice dainties, also which I don't eat (and my husband is trying to cut back, especially since he had two hot chocolates).
Then they were also kind enough to bring out a big bucket of mixed nuts n' bolts, which I ate a little bit of, but it is STILL PURE SIMPLE CARBS.
I did get some nice tea.
I find the holidays hard to keep turning down food, and then my Sweetie is home and I buy junk food for him, so I end up eating some chips when I really don't need them.
Overall I stick to my chosen food. Eating vegetarian is based on my values, and is easier than turning down carbs and sugar, even though it is for my health and maintaining a healthy weight.
I feel a bit rude constantly declining food, but then no one seems to catch on and offer a nice veggie tray while still putting out other stuff for others who are so inclined.
Anyhow, it was nice to see our friends. It has been quite a while since we sat down and had a visit with them.
This is the woman that I fundamentally have a lot in common with, but she tends to dominate the conversation. I have drastically cut back on phone calls and visits because there have been too many occasions where I felt like she didn't care much about what was going on in my life at all.
Tonight she was really revving up to bitch about her mother in law, right in front of her husband. She got going about some big RV her in laws used to own and how her MIL is lazy and makes everyone do everything for her, and now her payback is that she is physically declining (somehow being 82 and frail is a moral problem). I CUT THAT SHIT OFF AT THE KNEES and pulled the conversation back to something that didn't feel like a building rant.
She still managed to just talk right over her husband any time he tried to speak. It led to this terrible dynamic where my husband and hers were talking, and then she talked to me, so it was two separate conversations at the table. They do this a lot. It seems very rude to me.
At the end of the conversation, I had managed to speak a tiny bit about the work we got done on the house, but not much. I mentioned our cat Hans, who has been with us for about a year and a half now, and I know I've mentioned him, and she didn't remember. We didn't talk about Fatty's passing, or anything about the work that I am doing with River, or pottery.
She didn't even really talk about herself. She talked about how health care is going to Hell, so I said "Maybe people need to stop voting for the Conservative party that is gutting it" (knowing full well that they support the Conservative party). That at least did make them stop and think for a moment.
In spite of how hard it can be to visit with them, or to feel like anyone gives a shit about what I am doing, they are good people and they have done a lot for us. Our visits go a lot better if we play cards.
I can't help but think that one day, she is going to have it dawn on her that what River and I are doing is actually pretty amazing, or that maybe I am a pretty good potter/painter or something, and she will wonder when I was developing my skills and why she never heard me talk about it. The odds are low.
Then we came home and watched "The Muppet Treasure Island", which is a fine movie with Tim Curry in it.
Otherwise a quiet evening of reading and petting the kitties.
I learned that Universal Studios has a set that is a street, called Colonial Street. It has been home to Desperate Housewives, Psycho, Leave It To Beaver, The Munsters, The Hardy Boys, The Burbs, Dragnet, Delta House,Nancy Drew, The House Of the Seven Gables and more, all on the same "street". Built in the 1950, it remains in use today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Street
http://www.thestudiotour.com/wp/studios/universal-studios-hollywood/backlot/current-backlot-sets/colonial-street-wisteria-lane/
