My Stepfather Needs a Fandom.
Nov. 28th, 2005 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lls_mutantSeriously.
I was doing some housework, partly because I was cooking, and partly because I felt like I should with the 'rents descending on me once the baby is born, and I got thinking about my stepfather. Really, he's actually my mother's husband- she didn't marry him until I was 23, so he's not really a huge father figure to me, but stepfather is easier to say. Now, I like him a lot, but he has way too much time on his hands, and he comes up with bizarre theories. The first was that my husband didn't really want kids, and was arranging his trips so that he was out of town when he really needed to be here, if you get what I mean. This came out of one off-the-hand comment Howard made before we even started trying for kids, about how it might take a while because of his traveling, and how he might not be in town when he really needed to be here. Bill took that statement and turned it into Howard didn't want kids and was too afraid to tell me. Somehow, he even convinced my mother this might be true.
See what I mean about bizarre?
The other was a more recent rant that I was thinking of while I was cooking. In August of 2003, my grandmother moved out to New York from Ohio. She had to leave a lot of her stuff (furniture, etc.), and when she had her stroke at the beginning of this year, she had to move from the place she was to a smaller place. So twice she's had to downsize.
Both times it's been offered I can take what I want. Both times I haven't taken much. Why? Well, Howard and I got married in 2002. We had all the kitchen implements we needed, and frankly, my grandmother's were quite beat anyway. (Plus, I'm pickier about my pots and pans because I LIKE to cook. I have a lot of specialized equipment, and I actually know what it's used for, unlike my grandmother who was many things, but not a cook.) Her couch was VERY floral. And we really didn't need much, especially the second time. Plus, when she moved the second time, my husband and I were both working. My sister and her fiance were working, but still putting their place together and my sis was putting herself through nursing school. Frankly, if there was anything there that was useful, I wanted her to have it.
Howard and I have all our dishes, both our every day ware and our good china- we got it for our wedding when we got married in 2002. And yeah, I AM picky about my cookware. I love my Calphalon. But here's the thing... I'm also the best cook on that side of the family. Not because my family can't cook, necessarily, but because I LIKE it. I enjoy cooking. I make an effort at cooking. And the results show up on my table. Recipes like caramel swirl apple cheesecake, ham tetrazzini, or honey-brined roast turkey with giblet cream gravy? Yeah, I didn't learn those from my mother. Plus, you really get what you pay for with pots and pans. Sure, the few Calphalon pans I have cost me money, but you can bet I won't be buying pans for a long, long, long time.
And oh yeah- my grandmother's dishes? TOTALLY from the 1970's.
Plus, I'm NOT in desperate need of stuff. I didn't go over to my grandmother's apartment to be a scavenger. I did actually take some things. I took a pair of wine glasses that have our coat of arms on them. I took the pocket knife and watch that my great-great-grandfather gave my grandfather. My brother was meant to have them, but my grandmother's so frustrated with him she decided they should go to Howard. Howard's not comfortable with that, but accepted them to her face and told me as far as he was concerned, they'd belong to our first child. I took my Dad's christening outfit. I took some pretty glass plates that my grandmother used occasionally for entertaining. I took a couple of magnets that I remember playing with on her refrigerator. Eventually, I'll take one of the oil paintings she did and some of her pictures (which is what I really want). Seeing the trend? Sentimental items.
Anyway, Bill started in on this rant to Howard about how I have to have new everything, and I need to learn to accept hand-me-downs. We thought this very funny, since I was at home washing three boxes of hand-me-down clothes my cousin had sent us for Toby. (Can I just say how cool that was of my cousin? The only thing she offered me that I did refuse was the christening outfit. For one, I have Dad's. For two- and more importantly- our church doesn't do infant baptism. I won't use it. But my sister married a Catholic man, so I asked my cousin to offer it to them when the time came.) It's one of those things about my stepfather that baffles me though, because look at the logic here: I got married in 2002, which is when I got most of the stuff I have for the kitchen. My grandmother moved in 2003 and again in 2004. Someone please explain why I should have taken her stuff?
Anyway, with the bizarre theories my stepfather comes up with and his irrational rants, methinks he'd be a good fit for a fandom sometimes.
And because I'm bored, I gakked this meme from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nessa_owen
20 years ago I was: Hating my parents. We had just moved from Schylerville to Clifton Park- in the middle of the school year. I was shy, totally uncool, and didn't remotely fit in with my new school. In the end it was far better we moved, but I wasn't convinced at the time!
15 years ago I was: A total wreck. My dad was sick, although I think he was probably coming home. I know he was home that year for Christmas.
10 years ago I was: In college as a senior, working on my chemistry thesis. I also knew I needed to have an operation to have tubes put in my ears YET AGAIN over Christmas break.
1 year ago I was: Living here, working at the Department of Agriculture, and living the life I'd lived for the past year before that and until just recently.
Yesterday I was: Sitting and waiting, just like I'm doing right now.
5 snacks I enjoy: Clementines, soft chocolate chip cookies, chocolate in general, BBQ chips, jalepeno poppers.
5 songs I know all the words to: "If I Had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies, "My List" by Toby Keith, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf (because who in my generation doesn't?), "Holy Water" by Big and Rich, and "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers. (It appalls me now that I used to sing that so loudly when I was a kid.)
5 things I would do with a million dollars: After singing the song... Pay off the bills, pay off my in-laws bills, go to Italy, get a laptop, and save the rest.
5 places I would run away to (or at least visit for a little while): Hawaii, Italy, Egypt, Greece, anywhere warm and tropical.
5 things I would never wear: prison garb, Madonna's pointy cone bra, a micromini (even when I'm in shape I just don't have the legs), eyeliner that I apply myself, earrings
5 favorite TV shows (currently): The only one where I watch the current season is Rome. But on DVD we've been watching The West Wing and Scrubs, and I will always have a special place in my heart for the Simpsons and (even better) Futurama.
5 bad habits: Biting my nails, playing with my split ends, not double-checking my sources, comfort eating, and procrastinating.
5 biggest joys: My husband, my family, friends, writing, and traveling.
5 favourite toys: My computer, Scrabble, the Harry Potter universe, my cooking toys, and something I'm not sharing >:)
5 fictional characters I would date: Sirius Black (if he'd even notice my existence), Faramir, Eddie Willers, Lucius and Titus together (you really need to balance those two), and Christian Bale's Batman.
I was doing some housework, partly because I was cooking, and partly because I felt like I should with the 'rents descending on me once the baby is born, and I got thinking about my stepfather. Really, he's actually my mother's husband- she didn't marry him until I was 23, so he's not really a huge father figure to me, but stepfather is easier to say. Now, I like him a lot, but he has way too much time on his hands, and he comes up with bizarre theories. The first was that my husband didn't really want kids, and was arranging his trips so that he was out of town when he really needed to be here, if you get what I mean. This came out of one off-the-hand comment Howard made before we even started trying for kids, about how it might take a while because of his traveling, and how he might not be in town when he really needed to be here. Bill took that statement and turned it into Howard didn't want kids and was too afraid to tell me. Somehow, he even convinced my mother this might be true.
See what I mean about bizarre?
The other was a more recent rant that I was thinking of while I was cooking. In August of 2003, my grandmother moved out to New York from Ohio. She had to leave a lot of her stuff (furniture, etc.), and when she had her stroke at the beginning of this year, she had to move from the place she was to a smaller place. So twice she's had to downsize.
Both times it's been offered I can take what I want. Both times I haven't taken much. Why? Well, Howard and I got married in 2002. We had all the kitchen implements we needed, and frankly, my grandmother's were quite beat anyway. (Plus, I'm pickier about my pots and pans because I LIKE to cook. I have a lot of specialized equipment, and I actually know what it's used for, unlike my grandmother who was many things, but not a cook.) Her couch was VERY floral. And we really didn't need much, especially the second time. Plus, when she moved the second time, my husband and I were both working. My sister and her fiance were working, but still putting their place together and my sis was putting herself through nursing school. Frankly, if there was anything there that was useful, I wanted her to have it.
Howard and I have all our dishes, both our every day ware and our good china- we got it for our wedding when we got married in 2002. And yeah, I AM picky about my cookware. I love my Calphalon. But here's the thing... I'm also the best cook on that side of the family. Not because my family can't cook, necessarily, but because I LIKE it. I enjoy cooking. I make an effort at cooking. And the results show up on my table. Recipes like caramel swirl apple cheesecake, ham tetrazzini, or honey-brined roast turkey with giblet cream gravy? Yeah, I didn't learn those from my mother. Plus, you really get what you pay for with pots and pans. Sure, the few Calphalon pans I have cost me money, but you can bet I won't be buying pans for a long, long, long time.
And oh yeah- my grandmother's dishes? TOTALLY from the 1970's.
Plus, I'm NOT in desperate need of stuff. I didn't go over to my grandmother's apartment to be a scavenger. I did actually take some things. I took a pair of wine glasses that have our coat of arms on them. I took the pocket knife and watch that my great-great-grandfather gave my grandfather. My brother was meant to have them, but my grandmother's so frustrated with him she decided they should go to Howard. Howard's not comfortable with that, but accepted them to her face and told me as far as he was concerned, they'd belong to our first child. I took my Dad's christening outfit. I took some pretty glass plates that my grandmother used occasionally for entertaining. I took a couple of magnets that I remember playing with on her refrigerator. Eventually, I'll take one of the oil paintings she did and some of her pictures (which is what I really want). Seeing the trend? Sentimental items.
Anyway, Bill started in on this rant to Howard about how I have to have new everything, and I need to learn to accept hand-me-downs. We thought this very funny, since I was at home washing three boxes of hand-me-down clothes my cousin had sent us for Toby. (Can I just say how cool that was of my cousin? The only thing she offered me that I did refuse was the christening outfit. For one, I have Dad's. For two- and more importantly- our church doesn't do infant baptism. I won't use it. But my sister married a Catholic man, so I asked my cousin to offer it to them when the time came.) It's one of those things about my stepfather that baffles me though, because look at the logic here: I got married in 2002, which is when I got most of the stuff I have for the kitchen. My grandmother moved in 2003 and again in 2004. Someone please explain why I should have taken her stuff?
Anyway, with the bizarre theories my stepfather comes up with and his irrational rants, methinks he'd be a good fit for a fandom sometimes.
And because I'm bored, I gakked this meme from
nessa_owen20 years ago I was: Hating my parents. We had just moved from Schylerville to Clifton Park- in the middle of the school year. I was shy, totally uncool, and didn't remotely fit in with my new school. In the end it was far better we moved, but I wasn't convinced at the time!
15 years ago I was: A total wreck. My dad was sick, although I think he was probably coming home. I know he was home that year for Christmas.
10 years ago I was: In college as a senior, working on my chemistry thesis. I also knew I needed to have an operation to have tubes put in my ears YET AGAIN over Christmas break.
1 year ago I was: Living here, working at the Department of Agriculture, and living the life I'd lived for the past year before that and until just recently.
Yesterday I was: Sitting and waiting, just like I'm doing right now.
5 snacks I enjoy: Clementines, soft chocolate chip cookies, chocolate in general, BBQ chips, jalepeno poppers.
5 songs I know all the words to: "If I Had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies, "My List" by Toby Keith, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf (because who in my generation doesn't?), "Holy Water" by Big and Rich, and "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers. (It appalls me now that I used to sing that so loudly when I was a kid.)
5 things I would do with a million dollars: After singing the song... Pay off the bills, pay off my in-laws bills, go to Italy, get a laptop, and save the rest.
5 places I would run away to (or at least visit for a little while): Hawaii, Italy, Egypt, Greece, anywhere warm and tropical.
5 things I would never wear: prison garb, Madonna's pointy cone bra, a micromini (even when I'm in shape I just don't have the legs), eyeliner that I apply myself, earrings
5 favorite TV shows (currently): The only one where I watch the current season is Rome. But on DVD we've been watching The West Wing and Scrubs, and I will always have a special place in my heart for the Simpsons and (even better) Futurama.
5 bad habits: Biting my nails, playing with my split ends, not double-checking my sources, comfort eating, and procrastinating.
5 biggest joys: My husband, my family, friends, writing, and traveling.
5 favourite toys: My computer, Scrabble, the Harry Potter universe, my cooking toys, and something I'm not sharing >:)
5 fictional characters I would date: Sirius Black (if he'd even notice my existence), Faramir, Eddie Willers, Lucius and Titus together (you really need to balance those two), and Christian Bale's Batman.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-29 01:44 am (UTC)I am also hoping that there will be no more posts in your journal for a while because of delivery!
My dad jumps to those crazy conclusions, too. They really are leaps! He once told me I was an ungrateful snob because I didn't eat a chicken salad sandwhich my mom made for my lunch. (The reason I didn't was that I was too nervous to eat as it was openning night of Anne of Green Gables and I was playing Marilla!)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-29 04:33 pm (UTC)It's amazing how people can make some bizarre leaps of logic, isn't it? The other rant my stepfather liked for a while was the name Toby, with the full name Tobias. What if he doesn't like it? My point was a LOT of people don't like their names, probably just because they're their names. I don't like mine, and it's Melissa. What's wrong with Melissa? Absolutely nothing. It's probably just that it's my name. (I also don't like Missy, but ever since I switched to Lissa I have no complaints.)
The older generation can just be plain weird!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:32 am (UTC)Agreed.
Also? CONGRATULATIONS, dear! Welcome to LupinsLittleNephew a/k/a Toby! I do hope you and LupinsLittleBrotherInLaw are getting some sleep! ;)