hobby lobby, my trip, and some advice to future grandmothers

we got home yesterday afternoon, and all is now well. I had 3 spats with the MIL and she's crazier than ever, but we all survived teh trip. Grandpa who's 100 is doing well, although he's still a racist. He took umbridge with missM's black cabbage patch kid. I'm sure he'll send a very expensive white doll to replacve the cheap black one as a christmas present. that black cabbage patch doll really offends old people where ever we go.

I LOVED my 15 mins in hobby lobby and was sorta miffed that they sent me in with the MIL to babysit her while yarn shopping. Michaels and Joanns are the two craft stores near me and they're kinda crappy. My sister has an AC moore and a Benjamin Frankloin near her and they're pretty good, I think i mostly visit her so i can go to either one of those stores. Today i looked hobby lobby up online to see about shopping online and guess what? there are 2 planned hobby lobby stores near me! i don't know when they'll open, but i'll be THERE when they do. I noticed several midwestern stores are starting to move east and i saw a few eastern stores crop up in the midwest since last year.

on our way to bloomington i made a shawl for myself and while there i made some more clothing for the cabbage patch kid mentioned above and on the wya home I made a checkers game that needs a bit more work and will be done. I need to work on 2 baby blankets but everything else i previously mentioned in older posts is now completed. I listened to "My Antoina" and "PErsuasion" while in the car. Since librivox is all volunteer, some of the readers aren't very good, but i liked it just the same. The woman who reads jane austen is top notch and could get paid to do it. There were 5-6 different people who read the willa cather book and some were great and others okay, but I can hear the loe of the work in their voices and the fact that it's free is nice.

I am starting "uncle Tom's Cabin" and a work of classic short stories. After that I'm going to DL some agatha christie and perhaps some more cather?

I do have one small wors of advoice for you broards who will be grandmas in the future (most of you). NEVER OFFER advice about parenting unless the person out-right asks. Many of the people I know are older than I am, which is fine, but I'm starting to get tired of all the Free Advice that's piled upon me. Free advoice is worth what you pay for it. I think this trip was extra taxing because my MIL's mental state is worse than ever and she's lost the ability to butt-out. I finally had to tell the old bitch that I do one thing every day, all day and that's be a mother. I'm the world's only expert on Mandolin, and as such, I don't need or want any help from her or anyone else. If I ask for help or advice, then by-all-means, but if I don't speak those words, STFU.

Because the in-laws are in their mid-70's and haven't had toddlers since they were in their 40s, they oftne forget what is appropriate for a 2 year old. They wanted to engage in several great touristy things that were not 2-year-old activities. I had to have a mini-shouting match in the middle of the Columbus Zoo for them to understand that yes, the trained animal show is neat, and if they want to see it, they should go see it, but a 2 year old will not sit for 30 mins for that. They have strange notions, and one of them is that when one goes on a group trip, one may only engage in activities that ALL members of the group can do together. In short, I spent 7 days with 5 other people every second of the day, 3 of which have mental health issues and one of which is 2. In a mini-van.

The other short parents spot was over food. MissM is now in the "i'm never eating again" stage of life. It's normal and I'm not worried. Every 5-7 days she'll eat a good meal and most of the other days she'll eat 1/2c apple sauce and mayve some crackers and be done for the day. Fine. One day she asked for lunch and we bought it for her and she refused to eat it. I told her she wasn't getting one bite of food again until dinner and left it at that. Awhile later I caught the MIL feeding ehr and we had a fight. When I say "NO FOOD" it means no food.

So ladies, listen to me, when you're blessed with grandkids, do NOT go back on the ruling of the parents. "Grandma's" or "Granpa's" privilidge only goes so far. The MIL was informed just what would happen if she fed the kid again. She went into a lengthy speech about how her son (my guy) had a stomach illness that almost killed him (i'm well aware of this) when he was 2, so when he wanted to eat, she'd feed him, no matter what it was he wanted to eat. Fine, that's how she felt she needed to do things. that's not the situation I'm in and that's not how I do things. Get on board with me or get off.

anyway, i'm going to cut that rant short and I promise some pictures soon.