Bowling Day

The bowling day. Well the day is somewhat uneventful. We are hanging out at our place for the most part. Grant, Bev and Joe come by. Joe needs to sleep so he crashes on the couch. Sharpo takes the kids to Camden for a visit as none of them will leave the confines of the cramped house on Shabbas. Grant and Bev head out to do some shopping and Ermma who call to say she is doing the same. Overall a nice relaxing day before bowling.

Bowling works out great. I do my best to ignore my Mom and Sid who have become inseparable. In fact she can’t talk about anything other than Sid. It is inevitable that I must interact with as she is paying for the food. Despite her, things go very well. She now will not even acknowledge Ermma’s presence and with righteous indignation to boot. She’s now saying things to others like “it’s Ermma’s loss if she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.” And here’s the kicker, “I tried, I went over to her last night and said a nice hello and she ignored me the rest of the night!” Stupid as well as nasty. A deadly combination. And of course Sid agrees with her.

Later that night a bunch of people are over visiting. Peter and Lisa are there. Ermma is there as well as Bev, Joe and Grant. Ermma is finally relaxing and enjoying herself when Peter starts in on her with his poignantly yet ill timed thoughts on Ermma’s role in all of this and that for her to say she doesn’t care is only a smokescreen for many underlying issues. This all may be true but for god sakes can’t the girl just sit and enjoy the evening with her so-called family without feeling like she’s on a shrinks couch? This upsets Ermma who has had enough and gets up and leaves. Now everyone is thinking that Peter hit too close to home and she couldn’t handle hearing it. In fact Ermma was only upset about the fact that at 1:00 AM she was still getting it. Who could blame and although it may not have been the best way to deal with it it was her way. Peter, upset by her disappearing act, does one himself in an attempt to go after her and make things right. This is only discovered because everyone else decides to leave when Lisa discovers that both Peter and the car are gone. Grant and Bev offer to give Lisa, who at this point is rightfully pissed off, a ride to the home they are staying at. Turns out Peter reappears just as they are getting in the car and take care of Lisa and her hurt feelings from being left like that. So ends another day.

Fucked up Friday!

Today is when things really kick off; both good and bad! Ermma and Scooter have arrived overnight and are sleeping at the hotel. Joe has arrived in the morning and most of Sharpo’s family are arriving later today. As the day progresses people start to congregate at our place. Scooter and Ermma are here. Joe, Grant and Bev as well. At some point Toby calls to find out about time for dinner at Kay’s later in the evening. She gets Ellenor who tells her and then gives her the run down of who is visiting. Instead asking to speak to Ermma when she learns that she is here, Toby hangs up.

Rick and Mary have planned a Shabbas dinner for the two immediate families. This irks my Mom to no end because her brothers were left out. So much so that earlier in the week she completely ruined a surprise appearance by Peter and Lisa. At the last minute they decided to drive here and thought it would be nice to make it a surprise. So instead of calling me to find out details about the weekend such as where and when they called her. Knowing full well what the deal was for this dinner she tells about Friday claiming not to know if they were invited or not. She then eludes to me that there are surprise guests from out of town coming and they should be included in the dinner. She won’t tell me who it is and I tell her that it’s not my call to make. Again she talks to Peter who then calls me a) to let the surprise out of the bag and more to the point b) to find out if they are included in Friday. Of course this is after dancing around the issue for several minutes with questions like “so there is this thing on Sunday (the Bat Mitzvah you schmuck!!!) and bowling party on Saturday and that’s it?” Yes i tell him and again he runs through it. Again I tell him yes that’s it as far as organized events go. Then he finally asks outright “well isn’t there a dinner or something on Thursday or Friday?” feigning ignorance of the fact that he knows very well when it is. I have to then explain to him that this is an event being hosted by my in-laws and that due to numbers they have cut it off at immediate family only. I also point out that Toby knew this from day 1 and should have never said anything in the first place. So that’s that and a nice surprise is ruined all because she can’t help herself from starting up.

But I digress! Friday evening rolls around and we take Ermma and the kids over to the in-laws for this dinner. We are to meet Toby, Bev, Grant and Joe there. This is where the fun starts! Upon arrival it is quite clear simply from the look on her face that Toby is not happy to be there. She immediately walks in and after a few quick hellos’ to few guests makes a b-line for Ermma, shakes her hand while saying with her patented venom “Hi Ermma! It’s good to see you, it would have been even better to hear from you!” and she turns and walks away without another word. Keep in mind that this in a room full of Sharon’s family. I’m so angry I have to leave or I’m going to punch her. I go out and take a breather then come back in to see how Ermma is. She is just barley holding her emotions in and who can blame her. She is visibly upset by this rude and classless move. She says she’s just counting to 10 because she is so angry and that she will keep it together. Kudos to her for not blowing, but who’d have blamed her if she did?

Dinner proceeds under the pal of Toby’s negative energy and despite her best efforts everyone is having a good time. She on the other hand continues to be classless, rude and and just plain nasty, bad mouthing the paintings on the wall etc. Again this is in front of everyone! Then she decides, right at the table, to have another go at Ermma who tries her best to ignore Toby’s calls for her attention. Finally she relents and acknowledges her. Toby, again with her usual venomous tone asks her how Scooter is. What an ass! Dinner is finally over and Toby can’t get out of there fast enough. And so ends what should have been a wonderful evening that became overshadowed by her presence. Ermma has decided, and albeit sad with good reason I’d say, that she is done with Toby.

Another day and...

Not much happened during this day. Bev hung out with Toby. Did my usual Thursday stuff. Can’t for the life of me remember what or even if we ate for dinner. Grant arrived in the evening and came over later with Bev for a visit. We watched Survivor together and then they left and we crashed. Again nothing to eventful beyond being harassed by my mother about ridiculous little things

Hot Greeks...

Bev arrived; we picked her up from the airport and brought her back to our place where Toby joined us for dinner. Sid was welcome to join us but declined. More on that later. We had hot greeks from Pembi Village. Nothing to eventful.