Why am I so damn tired? It isn't like I don't go to bed at a decent hour. I've just been having problems with the actual sleeping lately. It's the heat and the hot flashes and the caffiene and the laying around watching TV instead of doing something constructive. Although, last night was probably more about guilt. I was feeling bad because I made Hubband feel bad. And when Hubband don't sleep, and nobody sleeping...or something like that...unless he goes downstairs...which he eventually did.

This all stems from my realization that this Sunday is family reunion Sunday for Hubband's paternal relatives. Where? Hold your left hand out in front of you. See that knuckle that attaches your index finger to your hand? Right about there. Where do we live? About a half-inch above your wrist straight south of there. And I mentioned it's on a Sunday? In Michigan? In July? Up North?

Yep...sucks to be us.

The ironic part is that Hubband is still going out of some twisted familial obligation to his mother, who's been dead now almost four years. The only people we'll know or care about will be those members of the family that we see pretty regularly. (SIL, BIL, Aunt L., Cousin A., her daughter and their twins.) He kind of blew a gasket when I told him our niece and nephew wouldn't be there because, "All we end up doing is sitting around talking to Uncle Hubband and Aunt Caribou. We can do that at home."

Riiiiiiight.

Why are we going again?

Oh, right. Because my MIL haunts me from beyond the grave.

But I came up with this idea to try and make it fun. Why not drive up Saturday night and get a hotel room somewhere? Hopefully, one with a pool and some cable TV. That way we can pretend we're on a little vacation, the Boy can have some swim time, it won't seem like such a chore.

So that's what's the plan for this weekend.

I know there are people that love family reunions and look forward to them every year (my SIL is one of them) but I'm just not used to that type of "togetherness". My family doesn't do reunions. I guess they figure that's why we have funerals.

My mom's family is fairly small and disconnected. She was an only child, too and Grandma might as well have been. (I believe I've gone into some of the crazy relationships she had with her siblings.) Mostly it consisted of me, my parents, my Grandma, and my Great-Grandparents. There was Uncle T. and Aunt M. and their two kids (wives, offspring, etc.), but we didn't much like them and after Aunt M. died, tried like hell not to see them.

My Dad's family used to get together, but then it got difficult. Someone was always on the wagon while the other three brothers weren't. Aunt M. wouldn't let anyone in her house if they were living out of wedlock - which always included one or two of the family - including me at one time. It got difficult to keep straight who was a wife and who was an Ex-wife, who was on parole, etc. I think the last time we all got together was the year Uncle D.'s wife kept complaining about where the Christmas tree was set up and how she wanted it on the other side of the room. My uncle finally picked it up and threw it across the room ... fully decorated.

We suddenly all had somewhere else to be and haven't been together since.

This is why the idea of 5 generations getting together once a year to say, "Hey" seems pretty foreign to me. I'm much happier in my little nuclear world.

In the meantime, I'm going to get my hair all cut off this afternoon...YEAH! I've just decided Hubband can deal with it. So THERE! We're ditching work in the afternoon and I'm going to spend the meantime scouring the antique stores in search of ephemera and I'm not going to feel the least little bit guilty about it, because yesterday I spent the whole afternoon hangin' with my Boy going to garage sales. (Where we ended up getting this really nice exercise bike for $15. Anything to get the Boy some cardio!)

I'm out now. Must get some work done and then answer an email. Toodles.