MONDAY....

Well I'm back! Did you miss me? (just lie to me and say you did)... OK, here's about the trip... I'm going to summarize it pretty quick... then I'll hit some of the other highlights in other posts...

DAMN! Driving to Arkansas - Northern Arkansas is a long ass drive from North Texas!!!!! We left out about 9 pm and got to our Uncle's house about 7 am on Friday morning. D was exhausted. We chatted with cousins we hadn't seen in years (12 years for me, 25 for D) and with cousins we had never met. The mood at Uncle Bill's house was very somber, it had not been a good morning, our Aunt Lisa had gotten a call that morning that her father had passed away. Damn... My oldest met my cousin Bill's daughter - who happens to be just 3 weeks younger than my oldest - and they became instant best buddies. It was soooo damn cute. They wanted to go out and play in the snow - it had snowed I think the day before, so there was a nice beautiful covering of snow for the kids to play in. My kids had never played in real snow before... we have had one 'snow' in N. Texas since my has been alive, but it wasn't even enough to even make a snow man out of... but we tried... (I have pictures to prove it!) and it all melted by the next day... So they were out there playing in the snow and throwing snow balls - it was adorable! I'm glad we let them out there to play then, the temperature started to rise as the day went on and by the end of the day it was really slushy... and muddy. D took a long nap in the afternoon... she needed on.. it was a fucking busy day for her.

Anyway... more people started to arrive, my dad was in town but not at my Uncle Bill's house, as daddy was pissed off at my Uncle Herbert because Uncle H had asked daddy to not smoke at the funeral home and my dad got his panties in a knot about that... sheesh... he can be such a stuborn ass some days... many days. Lots of people showed up at Uncle Bill's house. It was packed. We headed off to the funeral home for the viewing before the funeral, I saw my dad and his bitch... I mean wife... and Daddy had a couple of dolls for my girls for Christmas... the girls loved them. This was the first time my father had seen my 18 month old. I asked my dad how long he was going to stay in town and he told me he and his bi... I mean wife... were planning to leave as soon as the funeral was over... *sigh* so I tell D and she said "lay the guilt on him." so I do, I mention that he has never seen the baby, yadda, yadda, yadda, he says that he would stay but he can't really swing paying for another hotel room tonight. *sheesh* I tell D what he said, she gives me a $50 to give him and instructs me to continue the guilt. So I head off, I beg my dad to stay and spend some time with my kids... he starts to say no but I beg and give him sad puppy eyes and pout (I'm so good at that) so he says he will talk it over witht Bitch... er.. wife... and let me know.. Later daddy says that he will stay the night and we can bring the kids to the hotel room because he's NOT going to be anywhere his brother Herbert is. I don't even know what to say, I just walked away and told D, who got royaly pissed off, threw down her bag and headed off to have a few words with daddy. I spouted off to my Uncle Bill and was about to cry. D comes back in about 15 or 20 minutes, looking smug and tells me that Daddy is going to go appologize to Uncle Herbert and that he WILL be over after the funeral to spend time with my kids. hehehehe... apparently she threw a fit and bitched him out big time, then started to cry. Daddy could not take that... he said that he just could not handle her crying because she is the oldest... he can handle me crying because I'm the baby and my brother because he's... well... he just is... *snicker* so she won that. We had the funeral.. I won't go into that... it was very sad and very hard for my aunts and uncles. So after the funeral we are heading off to the cemetery for the grave side procession and someone had cut into the processional of cars, at the stop light they turned and the light changed, my Uncle John (read sad little stupid crack head) ran the light and hit someone elses car... Fuck... D was going to stop but I told her that Uncle John was fine, he was running his mouth, so just go on. (yeah I'm a bitch)... So we head off. Someone did stop and check on him. We wait at the cemetary for him to arrive.... I'm holding my youngest who is asleep now... and it's cold, and my arms are tired... about half an hour later, he shows up... now let me take a moment to explain something... all my uncles and aunts were seated ... that's all the seating that was set out... enough for the sons and daughters who were goign to show up and two chairs to be left empty for the two who could not attend... well Uncle Crack Head.. I mean John shows up with his latest bitch... er, ho... um... what is the word for it... oh... yeah.. stupid woman who's hooked up with a looser... and he sits in one chair, and bitch says "oh this must be for me" and sits down! Shit... what a moron... no one elses spouse was seated... what the fuck made her dumb ass think that she was supposed to sit? My uncles and father were PISSED... but the preacher started his thing and we couldn't do anything.. I think everyone was ready to LEAVE the cemetary by then. Oh yeah, my Uncle Crack Head's ex-wife showed up at the funeral and the grave side service... uninvited and unwanted.. that's a WHOLE other story that I may or may not go into at a later date.. it's so fucked up.

Back at Uncle Bills house we had a nice time with the cousins, although the house was so fucking full of people, I was about to go crazy.. I could not even find a place to sit... and my youngest was just charming the pants off everyone.. Anyway... we stayed until Sunday... and more happened... I'll cover some parts in other posts... the interesting parts that is... ;o) I'm sure your tired of hearing about me and my family by now.