The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
So...downer post...

Grandma passed on Sunday evening in NJ.

Yes, “lobster gravy” Grandma. Some of you will get that. She was the best person in my life (for my whole life. Brian got here much later!) She broke the rules and let everyone know I was her favorite.

Services are tomorrow morning, and I “can’t” go. I planned to skirt the FL>NJ quarantine by flying into another state and driving the rest of the way. I know I’m healthy, the only risk was getting pulled over. Fine.

Long story short (and sad) my younger brother is paranoid about the virus (so am I, I have asthma) but to an extreme degree. He talked my mother into it being a bad idea for me to go. She didn’t forbid it, but her intentions were clear.

I’m respecting that, but I’m all kinds of furious (and kind of devastated.) Took me this long to post anything. I’ll probably explode on the political thread later.

At this minute, I can’t see bothering with the family again. (This is just another thing in a long line of things.)

They can apologize in two weeks when I’m still not sick, but I can never get that day back.
I am so sorry Tony. I know how important your grandma was to you. Sending many hugs and prayers.
 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
Funny - that's what I was calling myself today.

When I spoke with my mother yesterday evening, she was saying on the one hand that I should think of other people besides myself, rather than "because you want to see Grandma." OTOH, she was saying she can't stop me from coming (to absolve herself of responsibility of basically telling me not to come.)

I said to Brian, "Oh, sure! So I can just show up in a red cloud like the Wicked Witch of the West and everyone scatters."

I thought you might relate on family stuff based on previous posts.

I don't think they even realize what they're doing. My mother kept saying, "I don't understand why you're taking it personally."

Really?

Because in this case, for this particular funeral - they should clear the room for me if I want to go. Or any other lame person who is afraid of me because I'm coming from the dreaded Florida, they can stay home. Because only two people rate higher than I do in that room, and that's my mother and her sister. Everyone else can stay the heck home for all I care. It's limited to 25 people, anyway.

I don't think they realize there is no forgiveness for this. And I am far more calm now than I was this morning.

I have no reason to ever set foot in New Jersey again.
Well if @figmentfan423 invites you for dinner, that would definitely be a reason to go.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
@Rista1313 , you mentioned lemon cake and E decided she needed to try it. So she looked up a recipe (a very fiddly one!) and we baked on Monday. We probably won't ever use the recipe again because it has several components that all need to be made by hand and it took forever. LOTS of fresh lemons. You have to make the lemon cake, lemon curd to go between layers, and lemon bavarian cream to go between layers, and then lemon buttercream frosting.

Our lemon curd was difficult because you have to get it up to between 170- 180 degrees and it has egg yolks in it, so really, you want to get it to about 175, but every time we got it up to around 170, the temp started decreasing again. We got it to about 172 and gave up. And we had to strain it because there were a couple clumps of scrambled egg. So with the bavarian cream, we started with a lower heat setting and heated it more slowly, but it only had to get to 160. So that was easier, but then we whipped the cream too soon and the custard was still cooling. By the time it was cool, the whipped cream had wilted and I had to go to the store to buy more. Then when we folded it in, the whole thing was just soupy and took forever to set, so we ended up not even using it in the cake, and used frosting instead. It was just way too much work.

108997563_1507241686115101_4864687194363508555_n.jpg107897600_1020543328382218_6931320653304098000_n.jpg109337104_623028551958143_5904054858143625220_n.jpg

E decorated her slice with strawberries, blueberries, and bavarian cream, but she dug in before I got a picture.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
I think it’s hostile at this point.

My family has issues. Always has. You know how some families are kinda messed up but they’ll do anything for each other? That’s not us. My mother has let me down at so many big, important moments, I don’t know why I ever expected any different.

My Grandma was my champion. She was always on my side. She always made me feel better when my mother acted nuts. She can’t do that anymore. I’m so grateful for her, and for having her around so long. Without her, I would probably have ended up a total disaster. By rights, I should have been. She was my stability, my grounding, my self-confidence, and my confirmation that I lived in a messed up house - and that wasn’t my fault.

If you go by the stages of grief - and I was as prepared for this as I could have been - my “denial” phase lasted until my head hit the pillow Sunday night, and I broke down. For the last 24 hours, it’s been furious anger - mostly because of my family. (And yes, I blame our leaders for this situation in the first place.)

But I can’t think of anything to say to my mother or my brother right now that would not be cruel and cause irreparable harm. I honestly don’t want to put anymore on my mother as she is burying her mother. But excluding me for BS reasons is beyond the pale.

I’m not going to ask them to transmit it. And I’m scheduled at work at that hour.

Thanks for all your messages. We’re not dealing with normal family dynamics here. I hope they don’t even text me. All I can think of to say back is “no forgiveness.” That won’t do well.
You can honor her and remember her without them. I'm sure she knows what's going on and understands why you won't be there are the service. And from the sounds of it, given the choice, she'd be with you rather than with them. Have your own celebration of her and be done with those who don't support you. And I disagree that she can't make you feel better when your mom acts nuts. You have her words, the memories. When you're mom is being a jerk, your grandmother's words will be there to help you again. You'll just have to say them to yourself and imagine her voice. You know how she felt about you. Let that be your guideline rather than giving in to the negativity of your other family. Let them have the physical body to lay to rest....you will have her spirit with you, which is much better. I'm so sorry that it happened this way, and that your family are being doinks about it. Your grandmother wouldn't have wanted it that way, I'm sure. But you said she always took your side and supported you...that will never change, and they can't take that from you. Let them have their weak imitation. You'll have the real thing.
 

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
So I just woke up, first thought was how much work I have to get done by a certain time this morning. Then I remembered everything.

It's a good thing I'll be busy this morning.

Adding to the list of things I maybe shouldn't have done: About 2AM, unable to sleep, thinking about what I would say if any of them sent me a patronizing message this morning...I blocked mom, bro, & sis on facebook. I blocked bro's number on my phone. Fell asleep while deciding whether to block the other two. My sister has not been involved in this yet.

Over the last several years, my brother and my sister separately stopped talking to me for a few years at a time. It's a go-to skill learned in our house, perfected when your father leaves (they have a different father than I.) Once you learn to block out your father (and you're rewarded for it by your mother) then you can block out anyone. I learned to undo the influences of that house much sooner than my younger siblings started to. I put a lot of work, thought, and intention into not being a product of that house at a relatively young age. When they started blocking out other people along the way, I advised them that was not the way to handle things. It should be reserved for absolutely toxic people, like their father (not mine.) (When they were 12 and 14, a court ordered them to go to counseling with their estranged father. By the end of that extensive counseling, the kids were told by the professional they'd be better off forgetting they have a father, because he has a distorted sense of reality, and a productive relationship is unlikely to occur.)

Anyway, over very minor things, they each blocked me out, various Aunts, cousins, etc. It was just something they did. We were in a rotation.

I feel like it's my turn. And I feel hypocritical about that, having told them it was not appropriate. But in reality, I don't need their consistent drama and nonsense, who isn't talking with whom, mother sucking up to two of us when she's at odds with one of us. Keep that in New Jersey. More likely I will keep them blocked on facebook - they don't need to be that involved in my day to day, and I will take a phone call (except today) but I will keep my distance.

I have held back or toned down my worst thoughts. I wanted to say out loud what my mother has already known for years: Grandma is number one; you're number two. I didn't say it. I wanted to put on the card (with the flowers I sent to the funeral parlor) "Grandma, I love you more than [I love] everyone in this room put together." That's just hurtful for the sake of being hurtful. I'm good at that. It comes from being abused and only able to fight back with words. I ended up sending: "Grandma, you are the best person I have ever known. Always in my corner. Nothing but love. XOXO..."

If you're looking for it, the dig at my mother is still in there, just more subtle. (I think?) Too late now.

There are true things I can say to all three of them that would be much worse. Just gratuitously hurtful. I've made the decision to not do that.

But I can't rule out a good New Jersey f-bomb in response to any outreach this morning. So I thought it best to block the outreach. And yes, it's possible that outreach might have included a live Facetime of the service. I'd still reply with the same f-bomb. I'm damned mad.

And I really have to take a little CBD and get to work now. If I can get my order in by 9-ish, I should be able to pick it up by 10:30-ish on my way to work, and then I don't have to go back and forth to get it in the afternoon. Service is at 10, store opens at 11, second person comes in at 1. I can't cry this morning, my eyelids swell up (since about 15 years ago, I don't know why.)

Thanks for listening. Sorry if some of this was uncomfortable or TMI. I could not post this on FB but had to get it out.
 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
@Rista1313 , you mentioned lemon cake and E decided she needed to try it. So she looked up a recipe (a very fiddly one!) and we baked on Monday. We probably won't ever use the recipe again because it has several components that all need to be made by hand and it took forever. LOTS of fresh lemons. You have to make the lemon cake, lemon curd to go between layers, and lemon bavarian cream to go between layers, and then lemon buttercream frosting.

Our lemon curd was difficult because you have to get it up to between 170- 180 degrees and it has egg yolks in it, so really, you want to get it to about 175, but every time we got it up to around 170, the temp started decreasing again. We got it to about 172 and gave up. And we had to strain it because there were a couple clumps of scrambled egg. So with the bavarian cream, we started with a lower heat setting and heated it more slowly, but it only had to get to 160. So that was easier, but then we whipped the cream too soon and the custard was still cooling. By the time it was cool, the whipped cream had wilted and I had to go to the store to buy more. Then when we folded it in, the whole thing was just soupy and took forever to set, so we ended up not even using it in the cake, and used frosting instead. It was just way too much work.

View attachment 483830View attachment 483831View attachment 483833

E decorated her slice with strawberries, blueberries, and bavarian cream, but she dug in before I got a picture.
It looks delicious. Sorry the lemon curd didn't come out ok. I use a recipe that doesn't use eggs and is really easy to make. The recipe calls for soy milk, but I always used almond milk or any other plant based milk. Pretty sure that any regular milk will work. https://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/03/05/lemon-pie-filling/
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Just as a side note here: many of us do not have "normal" family dynamics either.

Wishing you peace and comfort.
Without saying to much, I knew that we weren't unique, but, I never had any separation of closeness with my daughters until 2016. Events then and much more recently have placed a wedge between them and me and it really hurts. I can't even explain how much. I have had a pretty fortunate life comparatively. I've been at the top and I have been kicked to the bottom. I always had that connection that made me optimistic about the future and that when I got knocked down I would get back up. Now all of a sudden my center feels like it disappeared completely with no way to get it back. For the first time in my life I feel completely alone. Life has beaten me and taken my strength and purpose away.
 

Figgy1

Premium Member
We had PlayStation and Wii.

But mostly because the PlayStation played Bluerays and we had multiple controllers for the Wii but not the PS3. Also one lived in the basement and one lived on the upstairs TV. Plus, there were two kids, so with two gaming systems, there were fewer fights if one was on one system and one was on the other.
We have 3 generations of Playstation. All bought several years apart.
 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
Without saying to much, I knew that we weren't unique, but, I never had any separation of closeness with my daughters until 2016. Events then and much more recently have placed a wedge between them and me and it really hurts. I can't even explain how much. I have had a pretty fortunate life comparatively. I've been at the top and I have been kicked to the bottom. I always had that connection that made me optimistic about the future and that when I got knocked down I would get back up. Now all of a sudden my center feels like it disappeared completely with no way to get it back. For the first time in my life I feel completely alone. Life has beaten me and taken my strength and purpose away.
That is just so sad. From what we know of you, you are a great father and have always been there for your kids. The current situation the country is dealing with has truly put a wedge between many family members that I hope can be healed. Are you no longer playing golf with your sil and grandson?
 

Figgy1

Premium Member
So you cook the ones in the cans? Do you add olive oil to it? One time I took the time to remove the skins from the canned ones because I read it makes it smoother. It just takes too long. That is what makes me not want to make it.
I use dry beans and remove the skins. It's a PITA but worth it. James is getting pretty good at removing the skins;)
 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
So I forgot to mention this the other day. Just when you thought the cheer drama was over......(play Jaws soundtrack in your head).

I get a text on Sunday from the coach who was the head of youngests old cheer program. She sent me a video. I clicked on it. The video was a Snapchat video. It had the name of one of the fired coaches on the top left, so I figured she took the video. Anyway the video showed a bunch of the moms I couldn't stand and another coach that was fired. There was a huge bonfire. You know what they were doing? They took the gyms uniforms (the gym where dd used to cheer and the program they destroyed) and threw them into the fire. They were cackling away. I was just stunned. Literally stunned. I sent the video to a couple of others and they were as flabbergasted as I was. Those people are just plain evil. The fact that this coach even posted that on Snapchat and participated in this is just mind-boggling. And there were kids there! What kind of teaching moment was this for those kids??? That there parents are the lowest of lows and morons? No, they see this now as something acceptable.

Some parent who saw the video put a fb post about it admonishing the behavior. Her child was going to go join that program, but has now pulled her kid. Good for her.
 

MySmallWorldof4

Well-Known Member
I use dry beans and remove the skins. It's a PITA but worth it. James is getting pretty good at removing the skins;)
You need to try this recipe. It is so good! Amazing what some walnuts and cashews can make. I add pickle juice to the recipe. Really amazing.
 

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