going in circles

I'm having a lovely day... reading, organizing things, light gardening... Jo and I went to the hardware store and laid down wads of cash so that we could fill up the back of my truck with a huge load of STUFF to be butch with. Her hammock is heaven, by the way! In case you were wondering what happens when you're good all your life and then you die.

That long phone call with my mom yesterday is still bugging me a little. She just dug at every possible place in which to dig. Very rapidly! In turn! So that one minute she was saying, "PLEASE listen to me. What you SHOULD do - have you ever thought of this? - is go OUT and get a JOB, a full time job just doing ANYTHING, so that you can make some money and save up." Then -- two sentences later, It's important not to have Moomin in day care all the time, more important than anything, and it is my REAL work. Then -- I should save money. Then - immediately - I should buy a $17,000 car because mine is unsafe. Then - I should definitely reapply to Bezerkely. Also - I should not buy anything else ever and should get rid of all my stuff. Also, I need to buy myself some nice clothes.

Head still reeling. I didn't even get ticked off, in fact I just patiently repeated everything I've been repeating to her for years now.

Minnie points out that she is slightly more freakazoidy than usual over the wedding. This is probably true and I'll try hard to be super patient.

I feel a slight twinge of guilt over just selling that nasssssty handbag that my aunt sent. But hey! Some chick in the mom-club bought it for $150. I probably could have sold it on ebay for more. But now it's gone and I'm so happy about that!

Comments

[elswhere]

For some reason this reminded me of "Franny and Zooey." When the mom is sitting in the bathroom lecturing Zooey on what he should do and how his sister is just LYING THERE in the living room and the painters are coming soon. Except the Glass mom's advice is somewhat more coherent.

Yah. Probably the wedding. Weddings make people insane.

[Jo]

You must adopt a stance with your mother during this week, and never stray. You are playing a part in an intricately scripted movie, and YOU MUST NOT GO OUT OF CHARACTER, not for one moment. I'm thinking "daffy and happy-go-lucky punky fun chick" might work as good armor. Or possibly "cynically snide goth chick?" Actually no, you could never pull that off, your exuberence would ruin it within about twenty minutes, even if you tried hard to mope. How about "arty documentary abstraction chick?" Hmm. Nope, same problem.
But seriously, you need to find an artificial attitude and stick to it, or you will be crazy by week's end. It works every time with my family. Every. Time. I am "helpful nose-to-the-grindstone breezy space-cadet," and it is extremely effective.