I'm feeling frustrated... and I need to vent.

Tonight was the baby blessing for my nephew's first baby. Dilbert didn't want to go since he had invited another family here, not realizing we had another commitment. We got in a big argument about it. I complained that he didn't respect my family and it was always a big argument to go to family stuff. I argued that we needed to attend to show our support of the new family, etc... He argued that we needed to spend time here with our family. After much back and forth, he finally reluctantly acquiesced. I hate fighting with Dilbert. I hate making him do things he doesn't want to do. I don't do it often, but when I feel it is really important, I bite the bullet. I only do it when I feel really strongly about something. It was a classic case of choosing something better over something good, I thought.

We headed over to Bountiful at the time I had been told to show up, with my plate of cookies. As I walked in I was greeted by my sister, saying, "I hope you don't mind, but we didn't wait for you. We already had the blessing." I stood there, not knowing what to say. I was just filled with this sense of dread that I made such a big deal about how important it was to be there to Dilbert and felt like I had compromised my relationship with him for nothing.

I had talked to my sister only the day before and confirmed we were coming so it wasn't like they didn't know for sure if we were going to come... Anyway, so much for my arguments. I guess next time there is a family "thing" that Dilbert doesn't want to attend, we wont be there because I wont be able to make any argument to Dilbert that our attendance is important. That's the part that makes me the most upset... that I had a fight with my husband over something that I thought was worth fighting over and I came to find out it wasn't.

Merry Christmas

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Each year, you really get into the spirit of Christmas. Which is much more important to you than nifty presents.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

I am thankful...

M and Scout after High School Musical

Halloween 2007

A bit late but here it is anyway...

I wanted SG-1!

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in with? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) You have entered the dark side of the Star Trek universe. The paradise of Earth is far from you and you must survive despite having enemies on all fronts. But you wouldn't have it any other way because you thrive in conflict and will know what needs to be done to take care of those around you. Now if only the Founders would quit trying to take over the galaxy. Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 100% Heart of Gold (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 100% SG-1 (Stargate) 94% Serenity (Firefly) 94% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 88% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 88% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 81% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 75% Moya (Farscape) 75% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 69% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 63% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 56% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 50%

Gratitude

Today I am grateful for my cold. It got me out of a lot of stuff I didn't want to do yesterday and allowed me to be able to stay home and get some stuff done I needed to do (laundry, kitchen floor stuff, etc...)

Children... always I am grateful for them. They make me laugh--and cry--but mostly they make me feel important and who doesn't need that?!

DVR's. I love being able to watch TV on MY terms. I don't have to be home to start them recording, don't have to have empty tapes, I can flip past commercials and I can delete the crap. Oh, while I am at it, I am also grateful for remote controls so I can do all the above without having to more more than one finger.

Treadmills. To make up for the lack of movement as a result of the remote (above), I love having my own "George Jettson dog run" in my bedroom. I often find myself pondering the irony of the thing that makes me work so hard to do nothing but spin my wheels.

Gratitude

In honor of Thanksgiving and to pay homage to txmommy I am going to start a list of things I am grateful for. Feel free to join in!

Public Schools. What a good deal! Free babysitting for 6 hours a day! No, seriously. Education has been kind of a hot topic here in Utah for the last little while since we had a school voucher bill on the ballot yesterday. I have to issue a disclaimer here that I have taught in the Utah Public School System so my opinion is clearly suspect, but I think the public schools do a pretty awesome job turning our illiterate babies into literate, functioning human beings. Sure there are problems and sure there could be improvements. And yes, there are kids who fall through the cracks and teachers who shouldn't be teaching and classes that are too crowded and lunches that shouldn't be eaten, but consider the enormous task of educating EVERY child in the country! Bravo! to the schools!

Kleenex Tissues with Lotion. Tissues, hankies, sleeves, whatever you use for most days, just aren't enough when you have the BAD COLD. I am grateful for a little nose pampering on days like this.

Taking Time to Vent

I KNEW this was going to happen.

I volunteered to be in charge of the High School Musical playbill for Scout and N's play. I love messing around on the computer so I figured it was a good spot for me to put in my mandatory volunteer hours. I even had someone else sign up who WANTED TO HELP! How lucky was I!!!

The dad who signed up, we'll call him "Mr. Smith" (because that is his name), said he had done many of these sorts of things in the past and would love to do all the computer work if I did the other stuff (selling ads, confirming spellings of names like Karsyn and Jazmyne--someone shoot their moms!-- and talking cast pictures and stuff like that). Besides, the printer wanted it in a format I couldn't do on my computer and he said he could, no problem. I should have been suspicious when he didn't seem fazed by all the e-mails I was sending. As a matter of fact, he was completely silent on the whole matter.

The deadline for the publication to be to the printer was rapidly approaching and he still hadn't made a peep. Then the deadline came. Still nothing. The next day, still nothing and he wasn't answering my repeated phone calls and e-mails. Finally yesterday, three days past our printer's deadline, he showed up to practice with a few cd's. He handed them to me saying he didn't have enough free time to finish it. I asked him what I should do with what he had already done since I didn't have the program required by the printer. He said he did it in Word--NOT one of the formats the printer requested.

I just grabbed the cd's and went and found the director. I told her what was going on and told her it was my responsibility and that I would make it right. I ran home and started working on it. I had to miss 4B's concert last night because I was in charge of the book group discussion on "The Thirteenth Tale" (another thing I need to vent about--later!) so I couldn't ditch. Quickly the time between play practice and the book group was dissolving so I began calling around to see if anyone could lead the discussion for me so I could keep working on the program. Come to find out only one other person had finished the book and no one was coming because they didn't want it ruined (except the handful of ladies who found it too offensive to keep reading! What were they reading because I didn't find anything so offensive in it that I had to put it down. Maybe I am too liberal, I don't know, but honestly! I was more offended by "The Secret Life of Bees"). Anyway, I canceled the book group even though a very kind lady in the ward had prepared her home for our meeting and another very kind lady had prepared refreshments.

So there I was, stuck at my computer for hours, trying to manipulate files so huge I crashed my computer numerous times. My night was a series of "not responding" error messages. I finally fell into bed at two and got up at six to finish. Here it is, almost 2 and I am just finishing uploading it to the printer. Sigh... I am going to bed. I hope Mr. Smith is happily spending time with his wife and children. Mine had Halloween candy for dinner (thank goodness they got a lot of Reese--you know, peanut butter is a protein).

And I am ticked because Dilbert had to work today and probably tomorrow, too, which means my kitchen still isn't done and wont be for another week. I know he wants it done as much as I do, but I am really cranky now (lack of sleep will do that to a gal). I want grout. I want tools off my counter. I want a back splash. I want a nap.