let the fun begin!

so yes, i already missed a day of posts, but i can explain. and will do so today!

yesterday morning, i got up early and finished packing. i hauled my suitcase which fortunately wasn't too heavy to the el and got on the brown line. at washington/wells, i made the switch to the orange line and took it out to midway. i'd never done that before, but hey, i'm broke and thus 1.75 is a lot easier to handle than a $40 cab ride. it took twice as long but since it was more than twice cheaper, it was a bargain. anyways, i hopped on my southwest flight, made a pitstop in jackson, mississippi and then headed on to houston. mom was there waiting for me when i got to the baggage claim. we made our way home and my uncle chuck was already there. my aunt ellen and uncle jim were on their way over. chuck is the chicago uncle and ellen and jim are the dallas contingency of the family. my dad needed to be working and does this from home. so mom and i were left with the relatives (his brother and sister).

chuck is a natural organizer and hates clutter. my parents don't love clutter but somehow their house is beyond cluttered. to the point it drives me crazy and i really really hope that one day they sell this place before they die so i don't have to clean it all out. wow, moving my small places is enough work for me... this 3 story house?!?! oh boy...but i digress. so chuck wanted to get started right away going through everything the wicked witch had sent. i'm pretty sure i've told all of you that she set us over 100 boxes from both florida and maine. it cost over $13k to ship it all and most of it does not have much value monetarily but it does have a lot of sentimental value. and being the sentimental person i am, i am glad to at least have that even though the witch was such a bitch and still kept a lot of my grandmother's things and things that should be handed down to us. whatever. even worse, the witch sent us trash. and anything heavy. she cleaned out her f'ing attic of the house in maine that my family had owned since the early 60s. for example in a few of the boxes we received 1950s space heaters. 6 of them. more boxes of box of the unsentimental variety just bc they were heavy. then there were all the lp's. at least 5 or 6 boxes of those and you don't realize but those suckers are heavy! again, sock it to us. if you haven't figured out already, we paid for the shipping costs. she even sent us extremely dirty and moldy things. i mean when i say she went out of her way to be a bitch, i'm not exaggerating!

so, we sorted through things and made some good progress. there are a lot of things that chuck and ellen don't want which is good b/c that means we get them. and if we don't want them, then goodwill gets them. they voted my mom be the archivist and so all pictures and army related stuff (from my great grandad & gdad)and my nana and gdad's baby books and other interesting artifacts remain with us for my mom to preserve. awesome. but, that means my mom has a whole lotta work in front of her. which she doesn't mind b/c the history is fascinating, but still! they are leaving it to my mom to do which i find very selfish and odd. they don't think their children want any of it and they didn't want it b/c what were they going to do with it. i am super happy to have all of that memorablia one day so whatever. i just find it strange.

the items multiple people wanted all went in to a pile for the 'draft' as my uncle calls it. my mom had promised to stick up for me and get the things i wanted. she said i didn't need to be here, but i knew better than that and i was right. i was so angry last night! there is a little doll bed that used to belong to my nana. both ellen and i played with it growing up (i'll have to scan in a very cute picture to show you). ellen's daughter caitlin really wanted it and i think ellen did too. well, that was one of the most important things to me that i wanted. and my mom knew this! so when ellen said ohhhhhh, i want the bed - my mom said ok. just ok! what?! aren't you supposed to say that i want it too??? and that since it is in contention it goes in the draft. well, she didn't and i was pissed. not one to stay quiet, i made a stink about it. later my dad said he agreed with my logic, but during that time he was upstairs working. so here i am pissed as the stupid doll bed now apparently belongs to ellen.

after awhile, tensions were high. mom did it to me again on another item... can't even remember what it is now. but i was pissed! mom!!! really?! what was all this that you said you were on my team? sure didn't sound like it. she said she was just tired. she did feel bad later when we talked about it. same dumb excuse - she's the daughter and i'm just the grandaughter. yes, but ellen has drunken/dranken/drinken most of her memories away and i don't think she's any more important than me. and that's my view point. i spent a lot of my childhood with my nana. i would spend a month in maine with them every summer taking lessons and playing boardgames with my nana. she would tuck me in at night and read a bedtime story. she'd even play barbie dolls with me. i was her first grandaughter and only one until i was 8 or 9 so come on, let's be honest i was her favorite. and she was mine and i cherish those memories and i just don't feel like my memories and my love for her is any less important when i always felt and thought of her as a mother figure. anyways...

so we all head to dinner. tex mex. i thought dinner might be a little testy... but it was fine. phew. we then headed back to the house for some pie and ice cream. and the doll bed comes up again. i of course take my position. and i leveraged my persuasion. i knew my cousin caitlin really really really wanted my nana's wedding dress. i would love to have it too. however, neither of us can wear it. while my nana was tall (5'9) she was so small. i tried on the dress and couldn't get it over my shoulders. my cousin is smaller and also bigger than me. there is also a white mink that i knew ellen wanted so i said ok, i know caitlin wants both and i do too. but i'd be willing to give up the fight for the wedding dress if you'll give me the doll bed. she caved. yay!! it just wouldn't have been fair for her to have all 3. the reason i mentioned the fur is b/c i can't quite remember if i had to let her have that too... anyways... after all of this they left and we were exhausted. mom, dad, and i stayed up talking for a bit, but then it was time to go to bed. so see, it was a rather long emotional day and thus no post. but this is long enough and if you are still reading, i think it more than makes up for not doing one yesterday. i better head downstairs before someone tries to take something i want again!! the draft officially begins this afternoon once my dad can take a break from work. btw, i have no idea the last time chuck, ellen, or jim worked. chuck has 5 clients he manages money from, but it is his own business. ellen and jim used to own retail stores, but they sold those at least 10 years ago and haven't worked since.

ok, on to more fun! i'm sure there will be more stories and more long posts... stay tuned and check back in for my next daily post!!