Family crisis. Well, my sister's family, but she is here now.
My niece has been caught lying, dating a 32 year old (a troublesome ex-neighbour with whom her parents already have a history) and self harming.

It will blow over of course.
But right now, the discovery that the little blue-eyed girl has been going behind their backs to this extend has sent explosions through the whole family.

And it's arrived here this afternoon.
Christmas looks like being pretty much cancelled :(

Anyone want to come round on Boxing Day?
Mum has food in for the 5,000, and we'll be four less than we expected. So an open invite for the first 4,996 anyway.

The above is why I might not be around anyway.

That's awful SG. I'm sorry about your niece. I hope she gets over this soon.

Oh my... the holidays tend to bring out the worst in some. I hope all works out for the best.

Hey, if there isn't a crisis, it isn't Christmas.

(The Cellar: putting the Crisis in Christmas.)

my left shoe is too small. wtf?

Why is that the funniest thing I've heard in a long time? Guess my brain is officially fried. Did you kick something with that foot, causing it to swell?

Get your blood pressure and your heart checked...

or shave it down a bit. Perhaps you could use a this

:lol:

Thanks all. Selfishly, I am concerned about MY mood and the mood of the 'rents. We're all on a major downer, when we'd previously thought everything was rosy in our garden. Rotten of me, right? Which makes me feel worse! But also that Mum & Dad as usual have pulled out all the stops for a great Boxing Day... Which can't happen now. And again, I feel rotten for putting their expenditure on food above a teen's welfare.

I didn't mention btw that my niece is 15. And she has at least been in contact with this chap since she was 14. She claims it's only been going on a few weeks, but then she has denied everything every step of the way until proved otherwise. She still denies any physical activity although sexual images were on her phone.

I'm torn between concern for her, worry about my sister's handling of it (screaming at my niece that she's destroyed their family...?) and worry that this is being escalated to an extent that she will run away to be with him given the atmosphere at home. NOT being a parent, I have a more laissez faire approach. Not to the coupling of a 15yo to a 32 yo, but to the lies and deception. I did it at 15 (lie I mean) as did my sister (the other I mean - I read her diary!)

Oh and my 12 yo nephew of course. Who was crying his eyes out when the police got involved and saying, "Just tell her that I love her and I want her to come home safe!"

Sorry to blurt it all out.
I've just been in the house with it for hours and (selfishly) needed to vent to people who know only me in this story.

Nowt selfish about that m'dear. Or, rather, it is selfish, but we are all selfish, it's part of being human. Vent away. To them you give your concern and support; with us you can share and express how it all affects you. This is how it aught to be.

SG its a shame that something had to rain on your parade after your happy x mas tree episode. Its so hard to tell the whole family can we please love each other and have a nice time? No one has died and things can be put right I hope for you and your family.

Hugs to you SG. You're not being selfish at all, you're simply being concerned for people you love. I haven't got any helpful advice to offer - but don't be hard on yourself, in the middle of all this, hey?

no...i found a pair of shoes that were in surprisingly good condition at the bottom of my shoe pile when i cleaned a while ago.... now i remember why i stopped wearing them. the right one fits fine....the left, not so much.

Glad its the shoes :)

But I'm still not sorry about your finger

Nobody cares about my finger.

I do, keep it warm and moist.

I thought it was cool and dry.

I care about your finger. But only the good one.

I'm extrememly concerned about ur finger, and if you don't remove it soon, I will be consulting my lawyers.

What size do you wear? I might know someone who could use an odd shoe...

Tomorrow morning I have to call 5 different people to bitch about 5 different screwups, all involving money.

And my left knee is swollen up like a freaking grapefruit. No clue why.

I fell on the way to work...
Had to get x-rays on my wrist/arm/elbow... I have moved the bursa visibly in my wrist and have a 65% chance I have a hairline fracture as well. We have to see if my body will heal it on its own, or if they need to cast it. Add to that my hip took the rest of my weight.... so now the dr is worried about a bad bruise and blood clots! He is talking cast on my wrist AND physio for my hip/leg. UGGGG

I got all but 2 hrs of my shift covered at least, and I plan on going in tomorrow if possible, my store needs me. But for now its web surfing with my left hand, and icing the right side of me 20 min on 40 min off.....

That sucks Jaydaan *hugs* hope it's not as bad as they fear.

This got me wondering. Do people kick out with their left feet? Do left handed people kick out with their left feet?

Maybe kick boxers are good at kicking with their left feet or car sales men when testing tire meebe. ;)

@ Jaydaan. I hope you heal quickly!

Yes lefties are typically left side dominant. Not as much so as righties, but still the vast majority are.

I've never thought to watch a left handed person step out on their left foot. My dad is a lefty. Now next time I see him he'll be wondering why I am watching him funny.

Try pointing at an object about 10 - 20 feet away. Then DO NOT MOVE YOUR HAND close one eye and see if you are still pointing at the object. If so, the open eye is dominant, if not the other is. Typically this will correspond to your dominant hand & foot as well.

sounds complicated

I have a better test. Hop on one foot while patting your head and rubbing your stomach. The leg your hopping on will correspond to your dominant side. You go first.

If pointing at something is complicated then you have bigger worries than which side of your body is dominant :rolleyes:

1) stress at work --god, I hate transactional stuff
2) my lips hurt. Not the ones on my face
3) BD#1's new son may have hyperthyroidism

annoying things:

transactional stuff

biting my lip - the one on my face

and I am

sorry about the new child cloud :(

Sorry Cloud.

My literature professor made us do this one day in class last quarter. Same lit class I shared with Brianna. Remember that, Bri?

The staff at my firm just found out they are not getting paid until next Tuesday. Ordinarily, checks would be passed out Thursday (and direct deposit on Friday). This leaves everyone without money for the long holiday weekend.

In 10 years of working here, they have never once missed a payday. I'm sure they have their reasons (year end income and accounting stuff, apparently), but this is a seriously ROTTEN thing to do to us. Some notice, so alternate plans could be made, would have been nice.

:(

That sucks, Cloud. When my ex-employer did that on two separate occasions, individuals in management were told to make personal loans of a few hundred dollars to any employee who needed it for groceries or whatever, until the paperwork got sorted out.

Pushing the payroll into the next tax year...hmm. :eyebrow:

I tried the eye pointing thing today. Turns out, I'm left-eyed. However, I'm right-handed. A study in contradictions, I am.

Cloud, that's a bunch of sux. I think Bruce nailed it. That action violates decency, but since you work in a law firm, probably no laws. I've been in the public sector so long I forget what private companies do to make the books. Business, it is above my head.

yeah, i do!!

I'm sick of taking antibiotics - I'm on round THREE for this sinus infection..

I think sinus cavities are a design flaw. One of MANY..

The thing is everyone knows which hand is dominant!

It is a dumb test made up by people with extra federal research grant money to spend.

left/right.

lefties tend to spin/turn clockwise and righties counterclockwise/antclockwise.

When people walk into a store, they turn right. Stores plan for this.

yebbut that's convention, not left/right thing. It's the other way in the UK -where they drive on the other side of the road.

Really? Seems like wherever I shop, people walk into a store and stop dead in front of me to have a conversation.

stores ought to plan for this.

bastards.

Or call home, which they left 5 minutes ago, to ask what they are supposed to buy. :mad:

That's because they are ambidextrous and momentarily confused.

they decided to give us a check we can deposit on Saturday. so, yay!

Hurrah!

If you hadn't spent everything you could beg, borrow, and charge, on Christmass presents.... :p

Something made me upset earlier today so I got impatient and yelled at the baby(my nephew). I feel bad about it now. :(

Ouch, that sucks. But y'know. Babies have short memories :P

What's upsetting me is the bloody snow. I am sick of it. I am getting increasingly worried that trains will be disrupted on Monday and that'll screw up my research trip. They're predicting snow right through the week and Sunday night down South. Hopefully i'm fretting over nowt, but my room was booked as non-refundable (months ago) in order to get the discount.

Could any of you guys up in PA please come down here and take yer freaking cold ass weather home to where it belongs? Thanks. Looking forward to summer in Savannah, The Merc.

I hear that.

Actually, my nephew is 5 yrs. old. :p As he always say, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy." Hehehe....I'm thinking of apologizing to him later although he may not remember what happened, just in case he does. :p I want him to grow up being able to trust me and confide in me. Yeah, I'm thinking too far ahead.

Dana: I hope the snow stops so you won't have to miss your trip. Crossing my fingers for you. :D

You are a sweet auntie Tulip. I am sure he will forgive you. We're all human like that.

and Dana, I'll keep my fingers crossed!:fingerx:

I went to an interview today. The third one at the same state agency.

At the end the one main person asked me if I had any questions.
Thinking I won't get this job either I asked for a critique. I never usually never NOT get a job offer after so many interviews and I wanted to know of any impressions. Anyway one of the women in the panel said they did not offer feedback after interviews but the supervisor allowed it told me very kindly that they have been up to 200 interviews per position because so many people were out of work. She said I did fine but that was what they were up against.

I knew the economy was bad but to hear the staggering number floored me. When I went to my car I teared up for the first time since being dislocated.
I don't say this to get sympathy because I am alright. It was just upsetting.

Can you imagine 200 people interviewing for the same job?

In this day and age. Yes. Lots of people are in the same boat.

Did you also hear... :mg: