Erisue’s Weblog

This post is for Terri:

My mom wished that I had one ten times worse than me.  I’m not going to say that her wish didn’t come true because I’m pretty sure this is only the beginning…but ten times worse than I was is pretty damn bad…as you might recall.  And honestly, by the time we started hanging out I had calmed down drastically.  But, to wish for a grandchild ten times worse than your own child…that’s just evil…and to wish something that evil on your own child, well, you can contribute that to two things – my mother being evil and me being an absolute joy to raise. J

However, in my own defense, look what I was working with.  My sister was the outright favorite of my mother…and a smart ass little bitch, too (oh, she thought I was too.)  My mother made no attempt to hide the fact that she liked Sally more than me and that she was the most perfectist child in all the world (can you hear the angels singing their songs of joy at such a perfect child?) (But really, I’m not bitter about that – that just meant I didn’t have to deal with my mother as much as Sally did – and that was a good thing.) *Note: I must add now that my sister fell from grace quite a few years ago and joined the ranks of the outcasts.  We get along MUCH better.*  Karen, also, used to smile when my dad was beating my ass.  She only smiled cuz she thought she got one up on me.  Lord knows I heard, “You just fucking wait until your dad gets home.  You won’t be such a smart ass then,” every freakin’ day.  (Me?  A smart ass?  That woman was delusional!)  Only she was wrong.  I WAS a smart ass when he got home…that’s what led to the ass whoopins.  Now, I just think she was weak for not disciplining me herself.  My brother was one of the weirdest freakin’ kids I’d ever met, and I spend a good part of my childhood in fist fights, sticking up for him.  (Asperger’s runs in the family, ya know.)  And my dad…well…need I say more?  (The Nazis are coming…the Nazis are coming.)  So…I think coming from all that, I turned out pretty freakin’ good.  I mean, let’s face it, I was never anyone’s favorite child, and there wasn’t a whole lot of encouragement in that family…which is one reason I just now got my Associates degree (I know…but please hold your applause until after the blog.) 

So…wishing upon me a child ten times worse than me…that’s just freakin’ mean…and evil.  And so far, her evil little wish has failed.  So far…*knock, knock, knock* 

But with all of the stress and frustration of raising Ris, I would never wish for a grandchild ten times worse than her…just like her, yes, but ten times worse, hell no.  Why would I want to do that to myself?  I mean, I would still have to deal with that child seeing as how it would be my grandchild (there’s a funny thought – me as someone’s grandmother – ha ha.)  There’s no way I would wish that upon myself…even if I did want Ris to endure it.  Actually, I wish no child on Marissa; she hates them and doesn’t want them anyway so at least we can agree on one thing.

And anyway, Ris isn’t being raised in the same environment in which I was raised or in an environment worse than I was raised.  So, as of right now, my mother’s evil little plot to finally destroy me has failed miserably….mwahahahaha. 

I love Chicago. 

Often, I daydream about winning the lottery and buying a condo downtown. 

That would be very nice. 

I would like that a lot.

E and I met my sister and her kids in Chicago on Saturday.  Ris was supposed to go, but she’s grounded…again.  She, apparently, thinks she is above the law – the law being me.  When I left her with my mother to listen to people singing about Jesus being God all day, she realized she is, in fact, not above the law – at least I would hope she realized it after that, along with me removing her bedroom door, grounding her until the end of September, and taking her cell phone away and giving it to E since he’s more responsible with it.  But hey, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t come to this realization though…she is, after all, a teenager.  We are going back next month to the Museum of S&I.  Hopefully, she will have her head out of her ass by then so she can come with us.

So anyway, E and I went to Chicago.  We had never been anywhere, just the two of us, and I’m glad we had the opportunity to do so.  And what better place to spend time with someone you love than in Chicago?  (Or Disney World, but that’s a different story.)  Did I mention that I love Chicago?   Or that I get all giddy every time I get on the Dan Ryan and can see downtown, with all of its buildings and seeming mass confusion, right in front of me?  So now, E loves Chicago, too.  He didn’t particularly like being stopped for all the traffic/road construction, and I can’t say that I really enjoy that part of it either.  I really don’t mind driving in Chicago though, but I like DRIVING in Chicago, not sitting on the interstate in Chicago.  At least he was able to sleep for a while so I didn’t have to listen to him complaining about it. 

Across the street from the Field, there is a Children’s Garden which has a replica of the moon that is about three feet in diameter.  E sat on it, and I took a picture.  He was very enthralled with it…especially since I am reading him The Little Prince before bed.  It was neat to him to pretend he lived on his very own planet, too.

Anyway…have I mentioned that I love Chicago?

ooOOoo…pretty…

Ahhh….

ooOOhhh...

I love fireworks.

We went to the Coast Guard again this year.  Man, I love that place.  It’s like front row seats to watch the fireworks.  We’re so close that you can feel the heat from some of the bigger ones, and anything on the ground is going to move because the ground shakes from the explosions.

So, we’re all waiting around for the fireworks to start, and Troy, a guy who used to work with my sister in the recruiting office, comes over.  He was sent to a base in TX a couple years ago, but his wife is a local so they usually come back for the 4th.  Anyway…he started telling us a story about his next door neighbor, “The little boy that lives next door to us is autistic…”  This is where Ethan, who was lounging in a chair, in Ethan’s World, not paying any attention to us (so we thought), raised his hand in the air and gave a shout-out to all the autistic kids in the world by saying, “Hey…I’m autistic…woo woo!”  After giving his little shout-out, he went back to Ethan’s World.  Yes, son, yes you are.  That boy cracks me the hell up.

I have spent the past couple weeks looking around the area for peonies – at a lot of different locations.  I had a very difficult time finding them, and I actually broke down and went to Greenview.  Greenview is incredibly over-priced, and honestly, I haven’t had much luck with their plants.  However, since they were the only place around that actually had them, I bought two for the side yard.  If they were anywhere else, I would have gotten four, but it made my eye twitch to pay that much for a peony when they line driveways all over town.  I should have just dressed in black, grabbed a spade, and went on a field trip.

Anyway, we planted peonies, a hydrangea, hosta, a dwarf lilac, and some irises, then mulched and lined the beds with red bricks on both sides of the house, both sides of the driveway, and under the window in the front.  Plus, I moved the three hosta that were on the side of the house to the front since the other hosta are doing so well there.  We planted some impatients in a pot for one side and put a bird bath on the other.  Bird baths aren’t the greatest thing to have around here since Illinois is so high on the West Nile list, and I realize I’m probably paranoid about it, but it will get dumped frequently none-the-less.  Poor birds aren’t going to have much of a bath.

I feel a bit better knowing my yard looks better than it had previously.  I bought the house four years ago, and even though I’ve done a lot to the yard, I’ve never felt it was good enough.  I still don’t feel it’s good enough, but it’s getting there.  I would feel even better if my neighbor’s gutters didn’t empty into, and flood, my side yard.