Well, it's been a while. Let's see what's new. Jasmine did really well on her trip to Ohio for a baby at least. She cried quite a bit on the way home but nothing too major. We didn't get to go to the zoo in Columbus because it was below freezing out. When we got home we did end up going to the zoo in South Bend. She loves the lamas the most. She's finally sleeping normal hours again. Sigh of relief.
There's been a lot of family crap going on with my dad and my brother. I'll try to make a long story short. My brother has been really upset since he and his girlfriend (ex) broke up. They'd been together for over two years and she immediately started dating someone else. I tried to get my dad to help support my brother and it backfired. He just lectured him. Then, my brother took a friend to our dad's house to get something from his room and my dad's wife totally flipped out. My dad and his wife told my brother (who is almost 19) that he couldn't have friends over without permission and if he didn't get a hold of anyone then no one could come over. The reason for this is that my brother's best friend is a typical boy and tends to pee on the toilet seat. I don't think it's a huge deal, not a big enough to basically ban the kid from the house. Anyways, my brother didn't get an answer on the phone so he just went to the house since he was only going to be there a few minutes. My dad's wife followed my brother up the stairs to his room, cursing at him the whole way. Later she claimed that Jason had started the cursing (a lie) and that SHE was the one being "attacked." (a word they're using quite frequently it seems) When my brother got to the front door to leave, she shoved him out the door and slammed it. She pushed him hard enough that my brother almost fell off the porch. (she's a big woman) All the while my brother's friend is still in the house, watching in stunned silence. Now she claims that she just extended her arm to make sure he was clear of the door before she slammed it. She didn't change her story till she realized that her actions had caused a little war between us and my dad. Immediately after it happened, my husband called her to tell her she'd better never put her hands on my brother again and she claimed she was just as shocked as anyone by her actions. Sounds like she was admitting to doing it to me. When she talked to my dad however she told him a different story or else they made up the lie together. Who knows with those two. Anyways, my dad has been emailing me daily trying to get me on his "side" of the situation. No matter what happens, I'm ALWAYS on my brother's side. No matter what he gets himself into. So I haven't been emailing my dad back until I figured out exactly what I wanted my email to convey to him. He likes to use your words against you so you have choose them carefully. After getting yet another email from him today I finally wrote him back and told him that I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to say to him. That's ALL I said. He wrote me back several hours later saying that there was nothing to think about and they were basically not in the wrong in any way and my brother is a piece of crap. Not in those words but that's what the letter came down to. So it's been a lovely couple of weeks. There's always someone fighting with someone around here.
On Sunday, April 23 at 3am, the city of South Bend lost one of it's police officers. Please keep his family in your thoughts. He was shot during a robbery where he tried to potect a friend. His death was needless and thoughtless. The robbers were 17 and 18.
