Week in Review

The last week didn't proceed at the frenetic pace of the previous three, mostly because our temporary injunction hearing was pushed back to this coming week, but it was still pretty darn busy. I am not complaining.  We have been so slow for so long that busy is good.

The twins turned 12 on Wednesday.  How is that possible?  My sweet babies aren't babies anymore.  Since they had a big end of school party, we kept their birthday low key.  My niece was here, and they invited another friend to their favorite burger joint and then back to our house for cupcakes and to watch Teen Beach Movie.

Our big gift to them is a shopping weekend with mom in which we stay at a fancy resort hotel near a huge mall to do their back-to-school shopping.  That will be next weekend, since their mid-week birthday was flanked by family weddings on the weekends. I'm excited about out our girlie time.

So, we brought my youngest niece, who is 10, back with us after my brother's wedding.  OMG, she is so funny.  She is so precocious and has a fantastic sarcastic sense of humor (much like mine, but much more fantastic on a 10 year old) that belies her years. My brother is coming in today for our cousin's wedding, and to retrieve his kid. He says my mother will be here.

So, she can make it 350 miles to her niece's wedding, but not 1 mile (literally!) to her son's wedding. I do not want to make a scene at my cousin's wedding, but if she speaks to me it will get ugly fast. I have nothing nice to say. She is the most selfish, narcissistic person I have ever met and apparently put not a moment's thought into how humiliating it would be for a groom to explain over and over why his mother wasn't at his wedding. Fortunately, a lot of people assumed that our stepmother was his mom. She was a bit bothered by this (she didn't marry my dad until we were adults, so she never had a "mom" role with us),  but I told her, "Hey, you're here.  That's enough."

DH and PS are at an out-of-town robotics competition, so it is just me and the three girlies (yesterday we were out and a sales girl said "Wow, they must all be your mini me's because they all look just like you." My niece found this hilarious.  She said, "I fit in more with your family than my own." Her sisters are all clear-skinned blondes and we are all freckled brunettes.) I think we will go to the arboretum this morning before getting ready for tonight's wedding.  Everybody wants their hair curled, so it will take a while!

Furious

My brother's wedding was tonight. My mother did not show up.  I am so freaking pissed. Who the fuck doesn't show for her own child's wedding. My brother was incredibly hurt. This may actually top all of her previously crappy behavior. 

In other news, life has been insane.  A client got smacked with a TRO and basically two years worth of discovery has been expedited into two weeks in preparation for the injunction hearing. I think the shortest day I've worked in the last two weeks is 12 hours. I am exhausted. 

I was supposed to have today off for the above mentioned wedding.  But my firm wanted me to handle a deposition today (the opposing expert and key witness!) and offered to fly me  out for the wedding. (A pretty awesome compliment.)

So this morning DH and the kids dropped me off at my depo and hit the road for Hometown. I followed by plane a few hours later. And did I mention that it's DH's birthday? So he was stuck on a long road trip for my brother's wedding while I get to fly in.  And then the wedding. And then driving my grandparents home. I have to say he's been pretty freaking awesome today and I owe him big time.

Happy Independence Day!

Thank FSM today is a holiday! The last week and a half has been insane.  We have been so slow for so long, and then, suddenly, there is a shitstorm in every case. I gave birth to a summary judgment response late yesterday, and by the time I finally got home I just sat on my sofa drinking wine with the cat curled up on my chest, unable to do anything else. (Isn't that really what a major brief is like--giving birth?)

But guess what else I did this week? I started fencing classes with PS and TT! The classes are at the sports complex where SS has volleyball, and I've been trying to talk TT into it for a while (mostly because I wanted to do it).  Then PS heard about it and she thought fencing sounded like great fun. (She's been working on a novel for which she has recently been doing research on swords and sword fighting, and it is not bad.  It needs a bit of polish, but she writes better than most adults.) And so we all went together for the introductory lesson.

PS and I quite enjoyed it, although TT thought it was rather boring. Most of the team was at a competition, so we got a lot of attention from the few who were there. And my fears about being too old to take up a new sport were quickly quelled. Our instructor had to be somewhere near 80.

The girls went back last night, while I, sadly, was still at work.  I don't know if TT will stick with it, but I want her to give it a few more tries before giving up. And I am happy to find something that at least PS and I can do together. She's a bit of a renaissance woman with her robotics, and web designing and art and writing, but she needed a physical activity. I think fencing fits perfectly, and all the better if its something she can do with her mom.  If TT continues, it will be a double score!