Monday, May 16, 2005
Hassles, Drama, & More Bling!
Whew! Graduation is finally over! It's so nice, however a tad bittersweet, to have that chapter behind us. Yeah yeah, the Bar still looms, but I'm not worried. He'll pass. We had a kick-ass graduation party for family and friends and ended up hosting over 60 people at a reception last night. Fun Fun Fun!! My fil footed the bill, I did the party planning. It was a nice way to put a period at the end of law school. But during all these festivities there were a few notables to mention:
THE HASSLES:
The spontaneous decision to buy the mack-daddy of hottubs has given us (me) a few headaches. First, we make the snap decision to buy the beautiful montrosity the day Mr. Chick leaves for an overnight business trip, which means *I* have to make all the transportation arrangements on my own. We bought the thing from Costco, which means we have to move the damn thing ourselves. So I have to put the call out to Mr. Chick's law school buddies and sweet-talk them into helping me move this from point A to point B. Then I have to arrange for a truck big enough to accommodate a 7 ft 3 inch square spa. U-Haul tells me their biggest truck (26 feet!) has an opening large enough to just handle the hottub. Great - I reserve it and coordinate times and places for all our muscle-bound friends to be. I arrange for my neighbor to watch the kids and everything. All this within 24 hrs of buying the spa, and without Mr. Chick. So I meet the guys at the U-Haul place and we get the gigantic beast of a truck and drive it across town to Costco. The Costco dudes put the hottub on the forklift and go to raise it to the base of the truck, at which point we all stand around completely dumbfounded: the spa won't fit in the truck. U-Haul was WRONG. The door was not big enough, off by only an inch or so. DAMN!! I have all these guys here, graciously willing to give of their time and brawn, and the fucking hottub won't fit in the fucking truck. There was nothing to do but ask the Costco dudes to store the beast for another day and thank our friends for coming for nothing. I was pissed. Thankfully U-Haul didn't charge me anything for the truck rental or mileage.
The next day Mr. Chick is back and I'm quick to turn over the coordinating reins to him. We learn that Home Depot rents flatbed trucks (who knew?) that are big/wide enough for our beast to fit. So we fly into action. We decide that it's a wise idea to expand the cement pad to the proper dimensions before getting the spa (we are so brilliant!) so Mr. Chick runs around buying fat cement blocks and the right kind of gravel and we get to work getting everything level and prepped for the hottub. That was some kind of hard labor I'm in no hurry to do again, thankyouverymuch. Then we have to wrangle more friends for round two and Mr. Chick goes to get the spa for the 2nd time. This time it's easy and he's back in two shakes. We have 8 burly dudes willing to lend their brawn and the spa is so heavy that it's almost not enough. These guys were straining and practically killing themselves to get the hottub off the truck, roll it (yes, roll it) across my neighbors lawn and through the fence, and finally landing it on the newly-enlarged pad. We are NOT moving that thing again - we will sell it with the house in a few months.
Now we find out that the electrical we were so thrilled was already in place is wrong. The previous owners hottub only required 110 and our hottub requires 220. So now I'm calling around to get bids from electricians on upgrading the stupid outlet. I swear, it's just one more thing that's making me re-think our spontaneous decision. But the rewards will be sweet when I can soak in my hottub all summer long, right?
THE DRAMA:
My MIL is psycho. In a nutshell, she's wacked. Plain and simple. I don't think there is enough space provided on this free blog of mine to tell you the myriad of scenes, episodes, and strange behavior she's exhibited over the years. This "visit" for graduation was no different, of course, and has left Mr. Chick and I just shaking our heads. Each and every time we see her something happens and she does weird stuff that leave using asking "WTF?!" This trip? Well, first off she bailed on the party. With her parents waiting for her to give them a ride from the hotel to the party. And let me just say that her parents, Mr. Chick's grandparents, are wonderful, wonderful people. I love them - they're great. Their daughter, on the other hand, is psycho. They haven't travelled very far in years due to some health problems, but they flew from Michigan to be part of Mr. Chick's graduation. It's a big deal that they came. Mr. Chick, despite being an only child, has a huge family on his dad's side. His dad has 10 siblings so there are tons of aunts, uncles and cousins. But his mom's side is small. Really small. Just him, his mom, one aunt, and his grandparents. That's it. No cousins. So they are greatly outnumbered by the other side.
Graduation ceremonies started at 1pm. But the doors to the auditorium opened at 12:30. People started lining up to get him at noon. We got there early and saved something like 50 seats for this gigantic family. I had special seats reserved for MIL and the grandparents (GP for short to save my typing fingers). We had people in the lobby scouting family members as they arrived to show them where we were all sitting. But MIL and GP were MIA. No one could find them. I was getting pissed and worried. The ceremonies started and we still don't know where they are. I'm having all sorts of violent thoughts towards MIL for missing this, a very important event for her only son. At the end of graduation we find them. They had simply found their own seats. I was so relieved that they didn't miss it, but disappointed that they didn't sit with us. They were tired and wanted to rest between the graduation and the party, so they went back to the hotel. The party started 90 minutes later. We all go in our own directions and then go to our party. The party rocked - the food was good, the people were good, the drinks were good, and the music was good. It was all good. But they weren't there. They didn't show. We were wondering what happened. Did they get lost? Did they fall asleep? Then after the food was taken away (big buffet) the GP's arrived by taxi. WTF?? Where was mil? No one knew. She had the rental car. She went to the hotel with GP, but then she disappeared. They were waiting and waiting for her to show up and then go to the party, but she was gone. This is SO TYPICAL!! Here are her parents, who are in their 80's and have travelled across the country to attend these special events, and she stands them up. I'm able to get them plates of food to eat and find them a place to sit at a table. It works out. But MIL is still missing. She's missing the party celebrating her son's graduation from law school. She had to travel to get here. Her grandchildren are wanting to know where Granny is. No one does.
We first think she's lost, but after a few hours we know that can't be the case because this town is NOT big enough to be lost for that long. Truly. She eventually shows up and meekly sits down and orders a drink. No food, just booze. Again, typical. She's very vague about where she's been. She mumbles some bullshit about wanting to see the law school and driving over there only to get lost, horribly lost, and only managed to make it back to the hotel when someone agreed to show her the way, and then the hotel took her to the reception. Fishy, very fishy. She doesn't stay long. FIL, a very gracious man, was talking with her and being complimentary, blah blah blah, when suddenly MIL starts to tear up and cry, babbles something about realizing all she's missed, and take off. Her parents had long since gone back to the hotel. How do they continue to put up with this crap?? We finish up our fun at the party, dancing our asses off with friends (I had someone take the kids home and put them to bed), and then head home ourselves. I drive the sitter (a cousin) home and when I get back Mr. Chick is one the phone with mil. She called. She was drunk. She was going on and on about who-knows-what, totally pissing Mr. Chick off. He's pantomining throwing the phone across the room while he's listening to her. He's telling her over and over (and over and over) that he needs to go and get some sleep, that he'll talk to her in the morning, to go to bed, reassuring her he loves her, but she doesn't get off the phone. He's mad, he's frustrated, but he's stuck. He then realizes that he doesn't know for sure that she's back at the hotel. He's asking her where she is and she won't tell him. He was asking her where she was earlier when she missed most of the party, and she babbled something about meeting someone and having a good conversation with them - ? and then she was lost. She essentially admitted to wanting to chat with strangers more than be at the graduation party. Nice, huh? So when Mr. Chick got off the phone we didn't know where she was, only that she was drunk and completely unstable. He was angry and saying she's probably in jail or something. Again, she managed to ruin a visit, not only for him but for his GP, too. Saying something to her would do no good. GP are very sensitive to protecting her and do not discuss anything unpleasant. For a long time we've suspected she's mentally unstable and/or depressed. We think she may be bipolar but she refuses to seek treatment of any kind. She's a chain smoker. I have a hard time being around her. I used to think her intentions were good and her heart was in the right place, but she continually fucks up. She goes AWOL. She's bizarre.
The last time we saw her was over spring break in March when we flew to Michigan to visit GP and she came, too. She wanted to come with us to take the kids swimming, only she never made it out of the locker room. For an hour we swam wondering where the fuck she was. We had to go looking for her and never really did get any understanding about what upset her and made her take off instead of come swimming. Later that night when she was supposed to be babysitting the kids with her mom she instead snuck down to the basement and got drunk. Alone. Instead of spending time with her grandchildren. Thank GOD her mother was there to watch the kids. I absolutely don't trust her with the kids. That's the kind of shit she does. Every time.
MORE BLING!
To end this story on a high note, I have to share what a romantic man I married. At our graduation party he stood up to make a speech, thanking everyone for coming, etc. It was a perfectly lovely, heartfelt speech that left everyone feeling warm fuzzies. t the end of his remarks he called me up to stand with him. I had Lauren in my arms. He says some wonderful things about me, making me blush, and then pulls out a small box. Girls LOVE to get gifts that come in small boxes. Especially when they have the name of a jewelry store on them. Inside I was stunned speechless (a rarity!) to see a perfect, brilliant, loose diamond. He bought me a fat, big diamond! He wanted to upgrade my center stone in my engagement ring and chose this particular event to give it to me. I LOVE my engagement and wedding rings. I'm perfectly satisfied with the diamonds. My center stone is about a .6 carat round diamond, cut very complimentary and it looks bigger than it is in the setting we have. He gave me a 1.01 carat diamond. Nearly doubled the carat weight. He admitted he's had it for 4 years or so, purchased back when he was working for an Israeli-based company with connections to the Israel diamond exchange. He got a good deal, apparently, and has been saving it for just the right occasion. OMG!! I was thrilled with my new Coach purse and the hottub - to add some serious bling to the mix is too much.
Later that night when we were in bed (because you KNOW I was putting out and giving it to him but good for giving me such an incredible gift) he told me he had planned to essentially propose to me again, down on one knee and everything. Then he chickened out. So he pretty much did it privately, in bed. I said yes. :) And then he got some, and it was good!
THE HASSLES:
The spontaneous decision to buy the mack-daddy of hottubs has given us (me) a few headaches. First, we make the snap decision to buy the beautiful montrosity the day Mr. Chick leaves for an overnight business trip, which means *I* have to make all the transportation arrangements on my own. We bought the thing from Costco, which means we have to move the damn thing ourselves. So I have to put the call out to Mr. Chick's law school buddies and sweet-talk them into helping me move this from point A to point B. Then I have to arrange for a truck big enough to accommodate a 7 ft 3 inch square spa. U-Haul tells me their biggest truck (26 feet!) has an opening large enough to just handle the hottub. Great - I reserve it and coordinate times and places for all our muscle-bound friends to be. I arrange for my neighbor to watch the kids and everything. All this within 24 hrs of buying the spa, and without Mr. Chick. So I meet the guys at the U-Haul place and we get the gigantic beast of a truck and drive it across town to Costco. The Costco dudes put the hottub on the forklift and go to raise it to the base of the truck, at which point we all stand around completely dumbfounded: the spa won't fit in the truck. U-Haul was WRONG. The door was not big enough, off by only an inch or so. DAMN!! I have all these guys here, graciously willing to give of their time and brawn, and the fucking hottub won't fit in the fucking truck. There was nothing to do but ask the Costco dudes to store the beast for another day and thank our friends for coming for nothing. I was pissed. Thankfully U-Haul didn't charge me anything for the truck rental or mileage.
The next day Mr. Chick is back and I'm quick to turn over the coordinating reins to him. We learn that Home Depot rents flatbed trucks (who knew?) that are big/wide enough for our beast to fit. So we fly into action. We decide that it's a wise idea to expand the cement pad to the proper dimensions before getting the spa (we are so brilliant!) so Mr. Chick runs around buying fat cement blocks and the right kind of gravel and we get to work getting everything level and prepped for the hottub. That was some kind of hard labor I'm in no hurry to do again, thankyouverymuch. Then we have to wrangle more friends for round two and Mr. Chick goes to get the spa for the 2nd time. This time it's easy and he's back in two shakes. We have 8 burly dudes willing to lend their brawn and the spa is so heavy that it's almost not enough. These guys were straining and practically killing themselves to get the hottub off the truck, roll it (yes, roll it) across my neighbors lawn and through the fence, and finally landing it on the newly-enlarged pad. We are NOT moving that thing again - we will sell it with the house in a few months.
Now we find out that the electrical we were so thrilled was already in place is wrong. The previous owners hottub only required 110 and our hottub requires 220. So now I'm calling around to get bids from electricians on upgrading the stupid outlet. I swear, it's just one more thing that's making me re-think our spontaneous decision. But the rewards will be sweet when I can soak in my hottub all summer long, right?
THE DRAMA:
My MIL is psycho. In a nutshell, she's wacked. Plain and simple. I don't think there is enough space provided on this free blog of mine to tell you the myriad of scenes, episodes, and strange behavior she's exhibited over the years. This "visit" for graduation was no different, of course, and has left Mr. Chick and I just shaking our heads. Each and every time we see her something happens and she does weird stuff that leave using asking "WTF?!" This trip? Well, first off she bailed on the party. With her parents waiting for her to give them a ride from the hotel to the party. And let me just say that her parents, Mr. Chick's grandparents, are wonderful, wonderful people. I love them - they're great. Their daughter, on the other hand, is psycho. They haven't travelled very far in years due to some health problems, but they flew from Michigan to be part of Mr. Chick's graduation. It's a big deal that they came. Mr. Chick, despite being an only child, has a huge family on his dad's side. His dad has 10 siblings so there are tons of aunts, uncles and cousins. But his mom's side is small. Really small. Just him, his mom, one aunt, and his grandparents. That's it. No cousins. So they are greatly outnumbered by the other side.
Graduation ceremonies started at 1pm. But the doors to the auditorium opened at 12:30. People started lining up to get him at noon. We got there early and saved something like 50 seats for this gigantic family. I had special seats reserved for MIL and the grandparents (GP for short to save my typing fingers). We had people in the lobby scouting family members as they arrived to show them where we were all sitting. But MIL and GP were MIA. No one could find them. I was getting pissed and worried. The ceremonies started and we still don't know where they are. I'm having all sorts of violent thoughts towards MIL for missing this, a very important event for her only son. At the end of graduation we find them. They had simply found their own seats. I was so relieved that they didn't miss it, but disappointed that they didn't sit with us. They were tired and wanted to rest between the graduation and the party, so they went back to the hotel. The party started 90 minutes later. We all go in our own directions and then go to our party. The party rocked - the food was good, the people were good, the drinks were good, and the music was good. It was all good. But they weren't there. They didn't show. We were wondering what happened. Did they get lost? Did they fall asleep? Then after the food was taken away (big buffet) the GP's arrived by taxi. WTF?? Where was mil? No one knew. She had the rental car. She went to the hotel with GP, but then she disappeared. They were waiting and waiting for her to show up and then go to the party, but she was gone. This is SO TYPICAL!! Here are her parents, who are in their 80's and have travelled across the country to attend these special events, and she stands them up. I'm able to get them plates of food to eat and find them a place to sit at a table. It works out. But MIL is still missing. She's missing the party celebrating her son's graduation from law school. She had to travel to get here. Her grandchildren are wanting to know where Granny is. No one does.
We first think she's lost, but after a few hours we know that can't be the case because this town is NOT big enough to be lost for that long. Truly. She eventually shows up and meekly sits down and orders a drink. No food, just booze. Again, typical. She's very vague about where she's been. She mumbles some bullshit about wanting to see the law school and driving over there only to get lost, horribly lost, and only managed to make it back to the hotel when someone agreed to show her the way, and then the hotel took her to the reception. Fishy, very fishy. She doesn't stay long. FIL, a very gracious man, was talking with her and being complimentary, blah blah blah, when suddenly MIL starts to tear up and cry, babbles something about realizing all she's missed, and take off. Her parents had long since gone back to the hotel. How do they continue to put up with this crap?? We finish up our fun at the party, dancing our asses off with friends (I had someone take the kids home and put them to bed), and then head home ourselves. I drive the sitter (a cousin) home and when I get back Mr. Chick is one the phone with mil. She called. She was drunk. She was going on and on about who-knows-what, totally pissing Mr. Chick off. He's pantomining throwing the phone across the room while he's listening to her. He's telling her over and over (and over and over) that he needs to go and get some sleep, that he'll talk to her in the morning, to go to bed, reassuring her he loves her, but she doesn't get off the phone. He's mad, he's frustrated, but he's stuck. He then realizes that he doesn't know for sure that she's back at the hotel. He's asking her where she is and she won't tell him. He was asking her where she was earlier when she missed most of the party, and she babbled something about meeting someone and having a good conversation with them - ? and then she was lost. She essentially admitted to wanting to chat with strangers more than be at the graduation party. Nice, huh? So when Mr. Chick got off the phone we didn't know where she was, only that she was drunk and completely unstable. He was angry and saying she's probably in jail or something. Again, she managed to ruin a visit, not only for him but for his GP, too. Saying something to her would do no good. GP are very sensitive to protecting her and do not discuss anything unpleasant. For a long time we've suspected she's mentally unstable and/or depressed. We think she may be bipolar but she refuses to seek treatment of any kind. She's a chain smoker. I have a hard time being around her. I used to think her intentions were good and her heart was in the right place, but she continually fucks up. She goes AWOL. She's bizarre.
The last time we saw her was over spring break in March when we flew to Michigan to visit GP and she came, too. She wanted to come with us to take the kids swimming, only she never made it out of the locker room. For an hour we swam wondering where the fuck she was. We had to go looking for her and never really did get any understanding about what upset her and made her take off instead of come swimming. Later that night when she was supposed to be babysitting the kids with her mom she instead snuck down to the basement and got drunk. Alone. Instead of spending time with her grandchildren. Thank GOD her mother was there to watch the kids. I absolutely don't trust her with the kids. That's the kind of shit she does. Every time.
MORE BLING!
To end this story on a high note, I have to share what a romantic man I married. At our graduation party he stood up to make a speech, thanking everyone for coming, etc. It was a perfectly lovely, heartfelt speech that left everyone feeling warm fuzzies. t the end of his remarks he called me up to stand with him. I had Lauren in my arms. He says some wonderful things about me, making me blush, and then pulls out a small box. Girls LOVE to get gifts that come in small boxes. Especially when they have the name of a jewelry store on them. Inside I was stunned speechless (a rarity!) to see a perfect, brilliant, loose diamond. He bought me a fat, big diamond! He wanted to upgrade my center stone in my engagement ring and chose this particular event to give it to me. I LOVE my engagement and wedding rings. I'm perfectly satisfied with the diamonds. My center stone is about a .6 carat round diamond, cut very complimentary and it looks bigger than it is in the setting we have. He gave me a 1.01 carat diamond. Nearly doubled the carat weight. He admitted he's had it for 4 years or so, purchased back when he was working for an Israeli-based company with connections to the Israel diamond exchange. He got a good deal, apparently, and has been saving it for just the right occasion. OMG!! I was thrilled with my new Coach purse and the hottub - to add some serious bling to the mix is too much.
Later that night when we were in bed (because you KNOW I was putting out and giving it to him but good for giving me such an incredible gift) he told me he had planned to essentially propose to me again, down on one knee and everything. Then he chickened out. So he pretty much did it privately, in bed. I said yes. :) And then he got some, and it was good!
// posted by MP @ 8:45 AM 
Comments:
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Congrats on being finished with law school. That's huge!!
What a sweet hubby you have- Coach bag AND a 1.01 carat diamond in the same week!
We wanna see pictures once you have it reset!!
Thanks so much for your comments on my blog.
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What a sweet hubby you have- Coach bag AND a 1.01 carat diamond in the same week!
We wanna see pictures once you have it reset!!
Thanks so much for your comments on my blog.
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