Hurricane Katrina

Doing my part to help those who have lost so much in this terrible disaster.

oh HELLNOYOUDI'INT!

Kay, here's a really simple rule:  don't invade my personal space.  Just don't freakin' do it.  Because no matter how pregnant I am I will still THROW DOWN and beat your ASS if you elbow me or grab my arm and pull me out of your way.  I mean, I TOTALLY understand that you're picking your kid up from school and you want your kid rightthisveryminute, but seriously.  What good are you gonna do that kid lying in a hospital bed because I beat your ass?  Think about that.

And, while you're at it, think about the fact that I'm 5'8", you're maybe 5'3", and when I elbowed you back, I didn't smile and say, "Sorry".  I snarled, pointed to my superhero cape, and said, "STEP OFF, SHORTY."

I'm gonna be reaaaaaal popular at that school this year.  I can FEEL IT.

Delving into the weirdness.

I'm going to tell about the other weirdness that happened, actually on Friday. 

Okay, so everyone knows the sitch:  Marissa's dad and I divorced many moons ago, he married another woman and lived happily ever after being an asshat and yadda yadda yadda. 

So.  On Friday I received an e-mail from the Mrs. (up north).  My heart started pounding when I noticed how long this e-mail was, but frankly I figured it was in response to that e-mail that I sent him before Marissa went up north (the one where I told him off, etc.), so I just prepared myself to get "told" by this chick in this e-mail.

WRONG.  Um.  Yeah, the Mrs. wrote and told me that R (my ex) left her for his mistress, that he and his mistress and his mistress's daughter are living in this house that they're renting, that she's concerned about Marissa because the mistress's daughter is very aggressive and pushy, and that she's writing to tell me all this because she's *pretty* sure I have no idea what's going on up there and the Mrs. is worried about Marissa.

I swear to GOD I couldn't breathe.  I mean, yes our lives are full of drama 'n crap, but this?  THIS is Jerry Springer to the core.  And the Mrs. was right, R hadn't told me that ANY of this was going on.  As far as Bryan and I knew, the Mrs. was living in this rented house with R, and that the mistress was really just their roommate.

The weirder thing is that I've told Bryan for some time that I thought R was cheating on the Mrs.  Just a feeling I've had.... but to have it validated so hugely?  I'm so getting my own 900 number.

Anyway, we talked to the Mrs. via telephone for about an hour and a half.  One of the things that I think was so hard for her to grasp was that this man, her husband, is only now showing his true colors.  I've known he was like this for years and years, but she's only now discovering his real nature.  It's hard for her to deal with, and I can't even IMAGINE how hard it must've been for her to write that e-mail to me.  I mean, confessing to the ex-wife that your husband has been having an affair and your marriage has fallen apart?  Not exactly on the list of fun things to do on a Friday.  That took some serious balls, and I'm really thankful that she told me what was going on.

Marissa is definitely displaying some behaviors that I would've been hard pressed to explain if the Mrs. hadn't enlightened me.  Marissa is confused about the situation up north, she's anxious, and she's clingy.  We have a very open household and talk about a lot of things, but I can tell she's not ready yet to talk about what happened up north.  It's hard for her to sort through her feelings, and I can't say as I blame her one bit.  It's hard to sort through MY feelings about it, and I'm not the one that was just living through it for 3 weeks.

I could go on and on about it, but I won't.  Things have been pretty crazy around here with Bryan going back to school, and picking Marissa up from her visit, getting a new car, getting ready for back to school on Thursday, and us looking for a new place to live, etc. 

I haven't checked my horoscope lately, but I'm sure if I did it would say, "Prepare for the WEIRDNESS."

CRAZY.

Lots of weird things have been going on here lately.  Lots.  The two best things that have happened were:  1. We picked Marissa up from visiting with her dad, and she's now at home and biding her time until school starts (and while that's not one of the weird things, it is noteworthy), and 2. My dad bought us a (new-to-us) car (which IS one of the weird things, obviously).

I KNOW.  Good weird, but weird nevertheless.

I'm not the queen bee. I'm the busy worker bee.

My favorite by far.  Grape and black cherry. 

Action shot:

And here's the Dell DJ carrying case that I made for Bryan.  I made it lined, with a vinyl window so he can see what the crap he's listening to.  I also made a little buttonhole on the strap so that he can plug his car adapter/headphones in.  I am SO THOUGHTFUL.

It's a little crooked, but that doesn't really matter.  What matters is that it rocks.

Top view:

Back view (with nifty velcro closure):

Here's Phoebe's apron top, with batik pockets on the front:

And the back view:

Okay, that's it for now.  I'm going to treat myself for all my hard work by going and paying my electric bill and mailing some packages at the post office.  YAAAAAAY!