My soapbox ranting for the day

All day today I was thinking of things I wanted to blog, but now that I'm actually in front of my computer, my mind is a complete blank.
Olive's grandson Logan came over for a couple hours today. He's adorable, but spoiled as Hades and has a massive attention problem. He was carrying around one of Olive's canes and I said, "That cane is almost as tall as you are." He replied, "Well, I'm only five years old." Touche.
Davis had a band over to keep working on their recording. At one point, as I was waiting for Olive so we could walk down and get the mail, I looked out the window and saw one of them standing near the bushes in a particular stance. I thought, "Hmm, I've been around guys enough to know what that means." As Olive and I walked past, I looked at him with a serious face and said, "So, did you pee all over the bushes?" He got beat red and said, "No" in a very unconvincing way. I looked over at his friend, who was looking at him like "You are in so much trouble" then back at the red-faced tinkler and said, "Really?" Then I laughed and said, "Just kidding. I don't really care." And I really don't, so long as they don't pee on the patio furniture. If I were a guy, I'd pee outside. As we walked down the driveway, I heard his friend say to him, "Dude, you are so red." I laughed so hard. It probably would have been funnier to say something witty like, "If you're going to water the plants, could you do the flowers as well?" But my mind doesn't work that fast.
Olive and Dorothy are driving me nuts lately. Dorothy asked why I was leaving and I told her I wanted to get back into school and that I was really homesick for Bozeman. "But you don't get homesick," she said. "I know," I replied. "But I am now." Then she started asking me, again, what I'd planned on doing after graduation and, again, I lied and told her I didn't know, that I was just focusing on graduating. She has never been one to loudly voice her opinions and her opinion on how much greater it is to have a successful career than to be a mother is one I have heard many times. So I would rather lie and tell her I have no goal for the future, rather than try and explain that I just want to be a stay-at-home mom. Then she went off on my sister and her husband (again) about how his particular career choice will make them no money and how Kendra got pregnant instead of focusing on her career. That led to asking what my brother planned on doing. I told her he would probably go to school, but she said something along the lines of him not being a good enough student. So, to defend my brother, I told her the mission has really made him grow and taught him how to work and she replies, "Well, he can write a better thank you letter." It really irritates me to no end how certain members of that family will do something nice for someone, then expect and DEMAND that they thank them profusely in an appropriate manner. The Savior himself said people who do that have their reward and will receive none in heaven. I'd much rather not have anything from those people than to get something great and have to scrape and bow for it.
Speaking of gratitude, I overheard Olive talking to her friend this morning about their mutual friend Marsha. She was complaining that Marsha had only been over once to "ask a lot of questions" and then leave. True, Marsha is one of those forceful, 'my way or the highway' personalities, but she's actually been over to visit THREE times since I've been here, always bringing a treat and visiting with Olive for an hour. It really bugs me how Olive complains about how horrible Marsha is, then bad mouths her to others for "not visiting". Argh. And I'm getting very weary of hearing how wonderful her family is one second and then hearing how terrible it is that they aren't doing things the way she thinks they should be done. I really, really don't understand how someone has to be so in control of every detail of everyone's life. She HAS to know every detail about what is going on, how long it is taking, everything. At one point, when she was telling me all the things she was going to suggest to Stan about what they need to do about Jeffery, I finally had to tell her that the situation was between Fran, Jeffery, and his father and that they need to sort things out on their own and everyone else (I didn't say you but she got the hint) needed to stay out of it. You DO NOT force a man who wants nothing to do with his son INTO his son's life thinking that will solve everything. How traumatic would that be for the already depressed 13 year old boy. Good grief.
And aside from hearing about how everyone around her isn't good enough, I have to endure questions about what I'm going to do in the future, what I'm going to do to be "a success", as if being a normal person is something to be ashamed of. This is nothing, however, to the constant comments about marriage and family and how my children are going to grow up to hate each other (like her grandkids) and how imperfect everything is going to be. I had to bite my tongue to not reply that "unlike some people, I plan on raising my children in the church". What is it about the older generations that makes them consider you a failure if you aren't married and popping out babies by the time you're 20? And just because their family turned out to be a disappointment doesn't mean mine is too. Argh argh argh!
I really need to get out of here before I turn into a nasty, snarky person.