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sarea
I don't want to jinx things by getting too specific, but I've made an offer on a house in my parents' neighborhood. I'd really like to get this settled if I can, because I don't want it hanging over my head anymore (essentially, it would be for my parents, primarily my mom -- long story -- to live in). It's a very cute place, it used to be a model home and has never been lived in, and my mom really likes it. We're in the process of endless-seeming counteroffers now, so I'm not sure if we'll ever come to a point where we see eye to eye, but fingers crossed.
Ugh, so one of my cousins is getting married in July and my aunt, his mother, wants me to go. I don't want to go. I'm not close to him, it's his second marriage, and I hate flying. I didn't even go to my cousin A.'s wedding, and I'm closer to her (but she lives in NY, so that was even more of a bad flying thing for me). The problem is that my aunt and my mom are very close, so in that sense I feel pressured to go. Ugh. K. has booked a flight on Jet Blue, and if I act fast I can get on her same flights and share her hotel room. We'd literally just fly in the day of the wedding then fly out the next day. Which makes it even less worth the fare, plus the cost of kenneling Talis, the trouble I'd have to go to, and the dreaded flying. I wouldn't even want to stay longer, I mean I JUST took vacation time. It's like, seriously, it's not reasonable to expect me to go, imho. ESPECIALLY because, I'm being really harsh here, but my aunt BARELY CARES about her son, herself. Long story, but she basically abandoned him to his dad. So yeah, a little hypocritical at this juncture to expect OTHER PEOPLE to go out of their way for him, just because they now have a slightly better relationship and technically he's her son. PLUS I don't even get any of my own invites. If B. wants me at his wedding, he could make the effort to find my actual address. My aunt told K., "Well, it's assumed that N.'s invitation includes her kids." Um, I'm 32 freaking years old, I have my own residence, I think I deserve my own fucking invitation if you're going to expect me to go to your wedding. /annoyed The only reason I even remotely want to do this for her is because she's very good to my mom. I'll call my mom tomorrow and see what she thinks; if she wants me to go hopefully the same fare/seats will still be available.
Update: Okay, I spoke to my mom and she doesn't think I should feel obligated to go. Apparently my aunt has never before voiced any specific desire to have me go, and my mom thinks that she only suggested it in order to ensure that K. would go (she dotes on K., the very opposite of how she feels about B.), because if I went then it was more likely K. would not back out. My mom pointed out that her invitation specifically says it's for her and my dad, and we both agree that it's not really reasonable to assume that a 32-year-old "child" is automatically included on the invite. In fact, from what I know of weddings, headcount is super important, for seating arrangements, food considerations, etc., and it could be that they are DEFINITELY NOT expecting me to attend, and if I did so out of some misplaced sense of guilt, I'd not only be adding stress to my own life, but theirs as well. Plus, my aunt is notorious for making assumptions that are totally wrong because they meet her own ends -- in this case, the desire to have me go (for whatever reason), vs whether B. and his fiancee actually even expect or want me to go. It might even be worth it if I could use it as an excuse to go to SoCal then extend it into a real vacation -- but I already did that recently for Esalen! I wouldn't feel right doing it again so soon. So I'd have to go through the expense and trouble of this 1-day trip, when there's a possibility that I'll be creating problems for the bride and groom by going! So yeah. Decided not to go.
I've already gotten my mother her Mother's Day gift. I'm pretty happy with it this year. Usually I never know what to get her. Anyway while I was with her last week she was asking me about pressure cookers because she was looking into getting one, and I told her that if she wanted a really good one, she should get a Kuhn Rikon, which the NY Times called "the Mercedes Benz of pressure cookers" (K. has two). It costs like 5-6 times what an average pressure cooker costs. My favorite thing about it is that its pressure monitor is very easy and intuitive (specifically the Top Model line), which is not the case with most pressure cookers (especially the ones with the rattling tops). So yeah, I am getting her a KRTM, and she is thrilled. I've already ordered it even though Mother's Day is like a month away, so she should be getting it next week. I figure she can start to get use out of it right away!
Yesterday I went to Lowe's to rig together a low-cost lighting solution for my seedlings. They're growing very tall and spindly, and are all leaning in one direction, toward the window. Obviously they're not getting enough light, so I read up on it and this should fix it. I just bought one of those clampable lamps, along with a "grow" lightbulb, which is supposed to be better for seedlings. I've read that it doesn't really matter, plain fluorescent light would work, but with me at the helm I figure they need as much help as they can get. Hopefully it's not too late. I noticed that a couple of the cotyledon leaves are wilty now, maybe from shock? Or is it because I've removed the plastic covering so the greenhouse effect is gone?
Or is it just the natural process? I mean, it IS the natural process for cotyledons to eventually wither, but I'm not sure if this is happened very suddenly, after I put them under the light. I don't think they were that wilty before. Anyway, a few of the seedlngs are starting to show the beginnings of true leaves! Very exciting. Also, it's very cute, on the ends of a few of the cotyledons you can see the "shell" of the seed they sprouted from. Nature is so amazing. You can see there are a number of issues with my seedlings: 1) They're too long/spindly and leaning; 2) There are too many and I need to thin them (cry, it's SO HARD, it's like Sophie's Choice!); 3) There seem to be various shoots in the same pot; that's because I started over after my first failed attempt, but it looks like some of those first seeds are now actually sprouting; 4) I didn't label anything and so now I have no idea what is growing where... I do know the first 3 columns are tomatoes but not sure which varieties are where; 5) They're overwatered, which I did not realize until this morning when I was moving the trays around. And here I had been afraid they'd dry up too much while I was gone!
Also, happy birthday,akscully!
Ugh, so one of my cousins is getting married in July and my aunt, his mother, wants me to go. I don't want to go. I'm not close to him, it's his second marriage, and I hate flying. I didn't even go to my cousin A.'s wedding, and I'm closer to her (but she lives in NY, so that was even more of a bad flying thing for me). The problem is that my aunt and my mom are very close, so in that sense I feel pressured to go. Ugh. K. has booked a flight on Jet Blue, and if I act fast I can get on her same flights and share her hotel room. We'd literally just fly in the day of the wedding then fly out the next day. Which makes it even less worth the fare, plus the cost of kenneling Talis, the trouble I'd have to go to, and the dreaded flying. I wouldn't even want to stay longer, I mean I JUST took vacation time. It's like, seriously, it's not reasonable to expect me to go, imho. ESPECIALLY because, I'm being really harsh here, but my aunt BARELY CARES about her son, herself. Long story, but she basically abandoned him to his dad. So yeah, a little hypocritical at this juncture to expect OTHER PEOPLE to go out of their way for him, just because they now have a slightly better relationship and technically he's her son. PLUS I don't even get any of my own invites. If B. wants me at his wedding, he could make the effort to find my actual address. My aunt told K., "Well, it's assumed that N.'s invitation includes her kids." Um, I'm 32 freaking years old, I have my own residence, I think I deserve my own fucking invitation if you're going to expect me to go to your wedding. /annoyed The only reason I even remotely want to do this for her is because she's very good to my mom. I'll call my mom tomorrow and see what she thinks; if she wants me to go hopefully the same fare/seats will still be available.
Update: Okay, I spoke to my mom and she doesn't think I should feel obligated to go. Apparently my aunt has never before voiced any specific desire to have me go, and my mom thinks that she only suggested it in order to ensure that K. would go (she dotes on K., the very opposite of how she feels about B.), because if I went then it was more likely K. would not back out. My mom pointed out that her invitation specifically says it's for her and my dad, and we both agree that it's not really reasonable to assume that a 32-year-old "child" is automatically included on the invite. In fact, from what I know of weddings, headcount is super important, for seating arrangements, food considerations, etc., and it could be that they are DEFINITELY NOT expecting me to attend, and if I did so out of some misplaced sense of guilt, I'd not only be adding stress to my own life, but theirs as well. Plus, my aunt is notorious for making assumptions that are totally wrong because they meet her own ends -- in this case, the desire to have me go (for whatever reason), vs whether B. and his fiancee actually even expect or want me to go. It might even be worth it if I could use it as an excuse to go to SoCal then extend it into a real vacation -- but I already did that recently for Esalen! I wouldn't feel right doing it again so soon. So I'd have to go through the expense and trouble of this 1-day trip, when there's a possibility that I'll be creating problems for the bride and groom by going! So yeah. Decided not to go.
I've already gotten my mother her Mother's Day gift. I'm pretty happy with it this year. Usually I never know what to get her. Anyway while I was with her last week she was asking me about pressure cookers because she was looking into getting one, and I told her that if she wanted a really good one, she should get a Kuhn Rikon, which the NY Times called "the Mercedes Benz of pressure cookers" (K. has two). It costs like 5-6 times what an average pressure cooker costs. My favorite thing about it is that its pressure monitor is very easy and intuitive (specifically the Top Model line), which is not the case with most pressure cookers (especially the ones with the rattling tops). So yeah, I am getting her a KRTM, and she is thrilled. I've already ordered it even though Mother's Day is like a month away, so she should be getting it next week. I figure she can start to get use out of it right away!
Yesterday I went to Lowe's to rig together a low-cost lighting solution for my seedlings. They're growing very tall and spindly, and are all leaning in one direction, toward the window. Obviously they're not getting enough light, so I read up on it and this should fix it. I just bought one of those clampable lamps, along with a "grow" lightbulb, which is supposed to be better for seedlings. I've read that it doesn't really matter, plain fluorescent light would work, but with me at the helm I figure they need as much help as they can get. Hopefully it's not too late. I noticed that a couple of the cotyledon leaves are wilty now, maybe from shock? Or is it because I've removed the plastic covering so the greenhouse effect is gone?
Or is it just the natural process? I mean, it IS the natural process for cotyledons to eventually wither, but I'm not sure if this is happened very suddenly, after I put them under the light. I don't think they were that wilty before. Anyway, a few of the seedlngs are starting to show the beginnings of true leaves! Very exciting. Also, it's very cute, on the ends of a few of the cotyledons you can see the "shell" of the seed they sprouted from. Nature is so amazing. You can see there are a number of issues with my seedlings: 1) They're too long/spindly and leaning; 2) There are too many and I need to thin them (cry, it's SO HARD, it's like Sophie's Choice!); 3) There seem to be various shoots in the same pot; that's because I started over after my first failed attempt, but it looks like some of those first seeds are now actually sprouting; 4) I didn't label anything and so now I have no idea what is growing where... I do know the first 3 columns are tomatoes but not sure which varieties are where; 5) They're overwatered, which I did not realize until this morning when I was moving the trays around. And here I had been afraid they'd dry up too much while I was gone!
Also, happy birthday,
akscully!
