MOnday's after the long weekend is sooooo hard.....!!!! I had a good one camping. Went to see Harry Potter AND Ferinheit 9-11 yesterday (it was pouring rain!). Food wise did OK and got lots of exercise...camping I always do well no matter how much crap I eat - you are working so hard outdoors!!

Kier - hope your wedding ROCKED!!!!

BBL

Morning Belle!! And anyone else around!!

Our American friends are probably enjoying the end of their long weekends. I worked all night on Saturday so the weekend went VERY quickly. And then a friend called me yesterday and invited me to her wedding at the end of August. I'm very excited for her because it's something she's wanted and it sounds like she's found the perfect guy. We lived in the same apartment building for a while and she actually had a key to my place but once we moved away we lost touch. It's nice to be included in her day.

My weekend was OK food wise - I went to WI on Saturday and after my non-points counting 3 week holiday I was only up 1.3 which made me VERY happy - I plan to be down at least 2 by the end of the week but TOM may have something to say about that - we'll see. I also have to work on Wednesday night and Friday night (I want as many shifts as possible over the summer so I can save more for school) I haven't been taking my noon walks because my lunch has been broken up into two half hours but I get to start again next week - I'll have to make a point of getting a walk in towards the end of the week to start to build myself up.

Belle - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your camping. You went with nieces right? Did they enjoy it?

I'll check back in if I get a chance this affernoon

KT

Hey KT - congrats on your controlled WI! NIce to see a not-so-bad gain when you are non-pointing, eh! I WI on Wed having missed a week again - yikes.

Camping was good. Julie (5 yrs) LOVED it and was very well-behaved. Carmen (20 months) was HYPER!! Everything was go-go-go and running around and she would peel into someone else's site, screaming "TREE TREE". There was NO downtime for this kid. She was going like stink. I think the sept long weekend, when we are going next, will be better with her as this was her first time in the "wild".

This week I am going to Winnipeg to visit my food-pusher 96 year old Grama. My psycho aunt lives there and will be at Grama's for SURE as we are bringing all three neices, even the baby. So she'll be all over that. This sounds bad, but I really hope that Carmen doens't like her. I loathe that woman (for those of you oldposters you'll remember all of the awful things she's done to me...she is clearly chemically unbalanced, but still, she is evil!!!) and I don't want her to have the pleasure of having one of our offspring like her.

At any rate, I am not going in with an attitude of anticipating her blow-out (yes, it will come, but I'll go in with a smile and be pleasant for Grama's sake and when she loses it I'll put her in her place. It's only a matter of time!!) I'll have both my sisters along too - which is good - she tries to pick fights with me the most, as I am the baby, she would try to lock me in rooms when she had me on my own, and she has hit me several times, but never ever tried that crap with my older, bigger, sisters. She still tries it with me - last May she raised her hand to me b/c I wouldn't let her take my necie for a sleepover (like I'd subject her to that cruelty) and I told her I am bigger than her, almost 30 yrs old and she would not ever lay a hand on me again...she was scared (which was good). It's weird b/c my parents never even spanked us! And Dad says he wasn't spanked either. She just has an anger management issue and wants to hit and bully on people she thinks she can bully, which was me, until I got bigger than her finally!!

I told her last year she will NEVER know my children and I mean it. ONce Grama dies, and that won't be long, she is 96, she is cut out of our lives and my children will never ever meet her. She takes exception to that b/c she is a pediactric nurse and thinks she is good with kids...not so. Never married, no kids, this woman knows nothing of relationships and hasn't a clue how to express love. She takes pleasure in being upset and stirring the pot.

All this is just the tip of the iceburg with how she's treated me (and my sisters bad too but me the worst). I could go on all day, but somehow just telling you all this makes it easier to deal with. Weird, eh?

THANKS for listening/reading or even just ignoring...

ANYWAY if you have strategies or tricks for dealing with food-pushers?

OH tell me what you think...one thing I have thought of to say to her in the event of any arguement re: me not speaking to her since last May (and also that "family" should just forgive and forget, mind you she doesn't do it, she expects us to and then brings up the past the next time we see her, it's a recurring scenario and no one calls her on it b/c she is mean to Grama and causes her undue stress because of it), is that being a relative and being family are 2 different things. I have MANY relatives. They are biologically related to me and it is inherent. It's a fact that we are relatives. But being FAMILY is earned. Some people I consider family aren't blood relatives, and some blood relatives are not considered family. So, being Dad's sister doesn't not give her a right to say rude or angry things to me, to be violent etc, or to have a licence to treat me as bad as she wants and then all is forgotten. All that it does is give her biological relation. Family is a privaledge, not a right.

Does that makes sense? It's the best way to express that I have thought of.

Jen L, if you are lurking, you seem to handle wierdos well - let me know if you have suggestions....

Hey Belle - I remember hearing about that aunt and I LOVE the family versus relatives line. The fact that she may not be able to comprehend it makes it that much better. And, like you say, you won't have to deal with her after grandmother is gone so it's good to smile and nod for grandma's sake and then call her on her insane behavior. If she brings up something you don't want to talk about, tell her you're not willing to discuss that with her - if she continues to bring it up, remind her that this is a topic that you've already told her you're not willing to discuss and the conversation is over. If she persists, walk away - she'll get the hint.

Have you seen her since you guys got the house and set a date? That may end up changing her attitude towards you in some way...you never know.

The food pushing issue...take the food, rave about how wonderful it is - eat one bite of everything and throw the rest out when grandma isn't looking. Or...say you'll have some in a bit you just want to rest or settle or whatever and then never have any...it might work...
KT