chocly anyone?

So I did end up securing the rental car, and made it to my sister's and back. My brother had the bright idea of taking the S. Dakota route because he "hates Nebraska", which added about 3 hours to our drive, we pulled in about 5 a.m., and was wakened mere hours later by screaming children, my brother on the other hand was pretty much non-functional the entire time we were there, he regained functionality just in time for us to drive back.

So, you know how you get with your family and you are pretty much sucked back into your childhood roles, or at least you aren't seen as an independent adult no matter how old you get or how long you've been out supporting yourself. Romaine, my oldest sister (just had her 40th b-day on friday), had this extremely grating way of treating me as though I hadn't progressed beyond age 12, or maybe even 10, pointing out obvious shit for example, "this car is an automatic", Oh really?, I hadn't yet learned the difference between an automatic transmission and a manual transmission, thanks, I guess you learn something new every day. So I can't say I wasn't a little short with her due to my annoyance. My nephew Teddy can best be described as a little hellion, the poor kid has absolutely no boundaries, is never punished and is only bribed with chocolate. And her obsession with cats is beyond anything normal, apparently she cut back to 12, and I'm sure not without much complaint. I love Romaine, really, but she needs some serious therapy. Per usual, my other sister, Noelle, and her husband balanced it out with their normalcy and their well behaved children. Overall I had a lovely time, once I got past the cat pee smell, and my niece is a sweet little babe, I just hope she stays mellow, for her sake and my sister's.

I came home to the pleasant surprise of a clean apartment, not just a quick cleansing either, Betsy really went to town and scrubbed and stuff, the pumpkin was gone, cats alive and seemingly well fed, it was great.