A Christmas Story

Folsom · « **Reply #120 on:** 29 Dec 2015, 11:52 pm »

Tell her to share the meds...

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #121 on:** 30 Dec 2015, 07:19 am »

Quote from: thunderbrick on 29 Dec 2015, 11:24 pm

Jake, you have no idea how much the laughs, flames, and shared experiences from other AC members have helped. It HAS been an outlet, the responses to which have really carried me through.

My (hidden) blind rage of the past few days is beginning to ease; maybe in a month or so I'll be OK. Revenge could come now or later, when they least expect it.

Oddly enough the warden is over-the-top cheerful and I can't get past the facade. It's not her usual MO. I can usually "sense" her mood and often take step to defuse/improve the situation but this time I'm at a loss. That could be good. Or not.....

I'd like to think I feel your pain, but that's not possible. Lithium by Nirvana, I think that's the song that comes to mind.

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #122 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 12:35 am »

Quote from: Wind Chaser on 30 Dec 2015, 07:19 am

Lithium by Nirvana, I think that's the song that comes to mind.

Yeah, that's the song. Turn it up to 11 when everyone is sound asleep.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #123 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 12:57 am »

Tomorrow the last of the inlaws departs. That's the good news.

Bad news is that Missouri flooding may make the trip to the airport much longer than I'd hope.

The Warden is absolutely bouncing off the clouds about having the good son and his (FINALLY!) fiancee here. They're in another room with the big TV, watching some British spy spoof and laughing their asses off.

I can no longer handle the stimulation. I have retreated to the ManCave, where there's no sense listening to music because their movie is waaaaay too loud. Maybe I'll check for a half-assed bowl game.

I am worried she may have an emotional crash when they fly out. And THAT, gentle readers, will be a minefield of unimaginable terror when I try to discuss how fucked up most of her family is....

Edit: I was planning to post photos of the garbage they left at my door, but I left my camera at work.

Late last night I pulled the crap out of the trash and it's in safe place should I decide to mail it back to them.....

sfox7076 · « **Reply #124 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 01:01 am »

I am in NY dealing with the hum in my stereo. Sigh.

daves · « **Reply #125 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 12:27 pm »

Bob, just come in on 70 to the airport. The only southern ring highway into St. Louis that is open is Telegraph, and you can't access via 270, 141, 44, 21, or 30. It officially is a nightmare.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #126 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 12:38 pm »

Great idea, Dave, but all the bridges between here and I-70 are closed.

Who knew this was a double feature? National Lampoon's Family Vacation and Christmas Vacation for one *low* price.....

Did I mention I drive a 20-year-old Buick wagon with wood grain on the sides? Cue the Twilight Zone theme.......

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #127 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 02:23 pm »

Tell me about it. Last night, the floods and road closures took my normal 40 minute drive home and made it a 4.5 HOUR trek.

Despite the couple lanes that still manage to stay open from Jefferson County getting into St. Louis county, I called in work and said, "Ain't no way I'm coming to work, since some rivers haven't crested yet, and there's a possibility I'll be stuck on the wrong wide of the river for a few days". About a third of our employees were not there yesterday. Today will be a ghost town.
Have a nice day.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #128 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 03:05 pm »

From a friend of mine. I thought you folks might get a kick out of it:
(For those of you not in STL, these are the flooded highways, and "JeffCo" is short for Jefferson County, which is just about cut-off from STL county)

thunderbrick · « **Reply #129 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 03:13 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 31 Dec 2015, 02:23 pm

Tell me about it. Last night, the floods and road closures took my normal 40 minute drive home and made it a 4.5 HOUR trek.

Despite the couple lanes that still manage to stay open from Jefferson County getting into St. Louis county, I called in work and said, "Ain't no way I'm coming to work, since some rivers haven't crested yet, and there's a possibility I'll be stuck on the wrong wide of the river for a few days". About a third of our employees were not there yesterday. Today will be a ghost town.
Have a nice day.

That's OK. Your customers are "up a creek," too....

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #130 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 03:18 pm »

Since some of their cars won't be getting repaired until "next year", you're very correct.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #131 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 03:24 pm »

How's Manchester Rd?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #132 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 03:27 pm »

Quote from: thunderbrick on 31 Dec 2015, 03:24 pm

How's Manchester Rd?

It's a mess. Being a main thoroughfare from the center of downtown STL, through the county, though the 'burbs, an out into "the sticks", it's been overcome with cars that have no other route to take.

ACHiPo · « **Reply #133 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 05:07 pm »

Quote from: sfox7076 on 31 Dec 2015, 01:01 am

I am in NY dealing with the hum in my stereo. Sigh.

It's back?! Bummer!

Meanwhile Thunderbrick, continue the rant--it's cathartic and entertaining as all get out!

thunderbrick · « **Reply #134 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 05:42 pm »

Quote from: ACHiPo on 31 Dec 2015, 05:07 pm

It's back?! Bummer!

Meanwhile Thunderbrick, continue the rant--it's cathartic and entertaining as all get out!

Yeah, it beats the hell out of photos of cute puppies from some northern clime.....

sfox7076 · « **Reply #135 on:** 31 Dec 2015, 07:05 pm »

I am trying to eliminate the hum without new cables... No luck so far.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #136 on:** 1 Jan 2016, 12:52 am »

To ~~borrow~~ blaspheme the amazing words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last."

JakeJ · « **Reply #137 on:** 1 Jan 2016, 04:53 am »

Hallelujah, brother! Take a few days to decompress and then try, oh so delicately, to convey to "the warden" your emotions that these in-laws generated over the holiday. She can't be completely immune to their obvious poor manners and bad behavior....can she?

As amusing as this thread has been I really hope you get this all sorted out. I don't want to read this again in 2016.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #138 on:** 1 Jan 2016, 11:17 pm »

Well, as I feared, we are in the post-family-gathering letdown period, and that's not good. She has that "look," that thousand-mile stare that means things could go very bad, very fast.

We took good stepson and his fiancee to the airport yesterday, despite flooding and closed interstates. Now, you have to realize my wife has a pathological fear of being late for an event, so I'm getting hourly traffic updates from my GAS buddies (THANKS, ScottF and BISL!). Were we to get hung up in traffic and NOT get there an hour (or 2 or 3) before the flight, sitting in gridlock would be like sharing a cell with Hannibal Lector, only not as pleasant.

I have everything planned down to the inch. I even explained it to her the night before, in hopes up putting her mind at ease. Fuggedabout it!

Now, about 20 minutes before we reach a critical road junction, she pulls out her #RQ&&%$#Q(*)&%)@!!R!!!

cellphone/GPS, which gives a DIFFERENT driving route that would basically take us home. Attempts at reassurance go for naught. I consider saying "here, let me see that", and accidentally launching it out the window at 70mph, but that wouldn't give me enough time to say goodbye to my testicles.

Traffic turns out to be no worse than rush hour with a few 18-wheelers thrown in for fun. In fact we get near the airport SO early that we have time for a sit-down lunch. Shove the "kids" out of the car, give them some cash, and wait until they disappear into the terminal. As expected, wife looses it. On the way home we take in some retail therapy. Me in one end of the store, Frau in the other.

Finally home, watch MSU get their ass handed to them in a bowl game, and off to bed. Neither of us sleep, which brings us back to an IED-filled New Year's Day. At home.

Anyway, the kind of quiet I'm dealing with scares the shit out of married men, especially guys married to women with adult children who have kids themselves. Did I mention getting between a momma Grizzly and her cubs? Usually fatal. And slow.

So, I hide under the couch in fear of the words "time to take down all the Christmas decorations." Nope. Now I'm REALLY scared! I carefully offer to bring up from the basement the 40-cubic-yard dumpsters in which she stores her few decorations. Offer refused. Uh. Oh.

Maybe. Just maybe, I'll be alive to post tomorrow and finally upload the photo of trash dumped at my door. If there's no word in a few days there'll be a helluva good deal on a pair of Maggies on STL CL. or at Goodwill. All the boxes and packing are in the basement storage room, should you need to ask...

thunderbrick · « **Reply #139 on:** 1 Jan 2016, 11:44 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 1 Jan 2016, 04:53 am

Hallelujah, brother! Take a few days to decompress and then try, oh so delicately, to convey to "the warden" your emotions that these in-laws generated over the holiday. She can't be completely immune to their obvious poor manners and bad behavior....can she?

As amusing as this thread has been I really hope you get this all sorted out. I don't want to read this again in 2016.

I'd like to read this thread next December. Written by someone else...