It has been awhile. My apologies.

It has been busy of course. Been rearranging the house. The three dogs we have worked it over while they were puppies. They are more grown up now and it is monthly that they get into something they shouldn’t, instead of daily.

Bernie Bear started out at 20 lbs. and has a tendency to chew on walls, window sills, and molding. Now he is 126 lbs and doesn’t rip up his chew toys. The other two dogs, Shad and Sarah, still like to rip up their toys but understand better what is off limits.

We decided it was time to do some spring cleaning in summer a year and a half late. We have gone through our whole house dusting, patching, and painting the house. We also decided to rearrange the furniture and we bought some new furniture too. Next project is to fix up the outside.

This definitely needs some tlc. The back deck is falling apart but patched that together and laid some outdoor carpet. However it needs to be repainted and rose bushes around the edge of in are in need of serious trimming. Don’t get me started on the grass. I got a list too long on that. Lastly is the steel barn we have out back. It has probably been there 20 years and the insulation is falling from the walls and ceiling. We are going to wait until fall to start these projects.

For the meantime the inside looks good and the outside is tolerable. We have had a couple of parties since fixing it up. The first was our friends were, of course, I got trashed. It was great though. We ended the party by watching 300 with my bose speakers cranked til our ears were almost bleeding. The second party was with family this last weekend. It was good. Everyone came. They were nice to each other. The wife and I cooked up some awesome fajitas. Then they got the hell out. The wife was sad that our family didn’t want to stay longer. Not me, I was glad for them to leave and let me get some sleep.

In-Laws

Why is it that something always goes wrong when the wife and I go visit my family? It seems like every time we go there something goes wrong. Tonight I said we would be home by 9pm. It is 10:34 right now. I got her home an hour and a half late.

She was worried about the Dogs.I mean she does have points. I did say we would be home at 9 and one dog does need medicine for an infected wound on his leg. Points taken. I think. We haven’t talked for the whole drive back home literally doing 90mph or more most the time. I have said I am sorry a couple of times but …. She is clammed up tighter than… shit, I don’t know. We just aren’t talking. I will try to get communication from her again tomorrow.

This kinda seems the way it is going to be though when we visit my parents. I have no problems with her father or family. She definitely does not like mine though. I guess that isn’t fair. She does like them. Right? I am not sure. She says she does, but then every single time in my memory there has been an uncomfortable feeling around her when she is around my parents. I am guessing that is it. It is not that she does not like them, but that she doesn’t feel comfortable around them. And that is the reason she wants to leave so bad every single time. I am trying to remember a time………. Yep, every single time we have gone to visit them the dogs have been a scapegoat to get out of there.

So how do I make her feel more comfortable? I honestly don’t think I can. We can’t bring the dogs. Mom doesn’t want them in the house. Wife doesn’t want them outside. Dammit sometimes my wife treats the damn dogs better than if we had some damn kids. They are dogs! But they are also part of our family. I guess I am just going to have to arrange it so that the dogs can be taken care of by Dad-in-law, but then we have to get back before it is too late to pick them back up. I would be in the same boat as right now, except getting home later b/c having to drive out of the way to pick them up.

My parents are not going to change. They are pretty set in their ways. They have actually gotten better in the recent years vs. when I was in school.  Her family is nonjudgmental and more reserved. The opposite is my family. I come from a bunch of Southern Baptist folk. My family likes to say what is on their mind when it is on their mind. They also have a way of pestering us about going to church. So, pretty much, my wife does believe there might be something out there but doesn’t really care and probably never will care. She feels like most evangelistic Christians are hypocrites. (Yeah I am screwed.) I guess growing up in a household with a prayer alter and church three times a week makes my family at one time very evangelistic. Gladly I can say that presently Dad still teaches Sunday school, they go to church only Sunday morning, and will occasionally drink some alcohol. There have been some good changes but there is still tension.  

I guess I am just used to my family and brush off some things that they say. My wife is not as forgiving about some statements. I had to live with them most of my life. I got pretty good at being good around them. They would be disappointed with me, if they knew a quarter of the stuff that I have done. My family to me is just a daily balancing act of acting one way certain times and another way at other times. My wife is pretty much the same person all the time. Let’s just be honest. She is the most honest and law abiding citizen between the two of us. The glaring problem with this is that she will be the one going to Hell b/c she is not saved. HaHa, lucky me to be saved when I was young! Ah, I am now just rambling.To sum it up…(Yeah I am screwed.)