#I’ve got so much shit in my tbr pile but I’m too lazy to look through it all😭

[babrieeee]

My favorite tag has been SO DRY lately 😭

[jinxedncharmed]

Back from a long weekend with the family! Look at this precious darling, my niece. She's the spitting image of her father and looks nothing like my sister or I, but that's ok. She's outrageously cute and smart. We celebrated her first birthday, which technically is tomorrow but close enough, eh? Also I clearly have no idea how to hold a baby. It was good to see her, and Mom and Sis. I hadn't been to their new place, which is nice with three monstrously large bedrooms. My Sister and BIL are lazy slobs, however, and so it is kept like a garbage dump, which is unfortunate. It's in a poorer neighborhood and because many of their neighbors are black, they call it a hood. "This is not a hood," I said, "these people are merely poor, like you. Come to DC and I will show you a fucking hood." My racist family. I'm the Mike to their Archie Bunkers. Of course, they do live in North Carolina, which is a disgusting state. I was so happy to return to the north where I belong. I got to leave work early in Friday thanks to a fortuitous water main break which I swear I had no part in. The drive was long and miserable; by the fourth hour my leg was screaming, and by the fifth my back was too. But it was worth it. Niece is a brilliant happy angel. She is walking quite well and we very happily played in the floor on Friday night. Saturday was taken up by the birthday party, which included many of BIL's white trash relatives. How white trash are they? Between the five of them, they did not have a complete set of teeth. The yard had two trucks on cinder blocks. Mountain Dew was all they would drink. BIL's grandma was only one year older than my mother; her first husband was murdered and all they recovered was one ear, the second husband was a convicted rapist ("But them girls [yes, plural] was lying"). Thankfully he's in prison and she did divorce him. So yeah, we got to get Niece the fuck away from those people. Niece received many gifts; we must be careful or she'll be spoiled. I see now how easy it is to raise a spoiled child; I'd move heaven and earth for her. She particularly liked a tiny pink piano and a massive kitchen set Mom got her (Me: "You're only re-enforcing harmful gender stereotypes." Mom: "You had a kitchen set and you loved it." Me: "Liar!"). She is very fond of music and toys that make noise; in her nursery she was happy to show me a little guitar, which had been a toy of my BIL's. The highlight for me, though, was seeing Mom interact with Niece. We fed her and bathed her and played, and Mom was incandescent with joy. She loves kids, and kids love her; she reminds me of Tim Allen in "The Santa Claus," how children are drawn to her and follow her around. It was wonderful to see her so happy. Mom has long wanted grandkids, the one thing I can never give her. I love being an aunt but have no desire for a child of my own, and frankly, it would be cruel to pass along my more genes. I would be a bad mother, but I will try to be a good aunt. It was wonderful to see my mom so happy. She deserves that happiness. So it was a good weekend, topped off by the incredibly fun Foo Fighters concert. I sang and danced and had a blast, and today my body pays for it. But Dave Grohl is always worth seeing. Now, thankfully, I am back home. It is good to be back in DC. I won't see them again until Christmas; Sis does Thanksgiving with BIL's family, so I'll see Mom but not her. I hope the next time I have to make the drive, the pain is less. I've got my laundry in the dryer, and I cleaned up all the cat shit (Charm has separation anxiety, I may board her at Christmas) and scrubbed myself in a long hot shower. I'll turn in early tonight, as I slept little. The weather here is gorgeous and promises to be for the rest of the week. Tomorrow I see my psychiatrist, who I don't like, and Thursday I am getting two tiny cavities filled (rescheduled from last week, when another patient had a seizure and badly upset the whole office. I don't want a dentist drilling me after he's gone through that). Friday I'm bringing breakfast for the office, which is something everyone takes turns doing. Now to start a new book. I'm still in my Queen's Thief madness and listened to "The King of Attolia" on my drive, but the TBR pile beckons. It never grows any smaller, no matter how much I read. What a great problem to have!