The War at Home

Earlier, I was laying in bed, trying to take a nap. It wasn't happening, much to my chagrin. I asked Ace to check to see when dinner was or if we needed to feed ourselves. The next thing I know, Ace doesn't seem to be coming back and I think I hear my mother-in-law saying something about volunteering to cook.

Feeling tired but curious, I wandered to the kitchen to find out what was up. It turns out that apparently Ace (and I, potentially) should be volunteering to cook dinner from time to time. Forget the fact that it was never mentioned that it would maybe help ease tensions if we would before this or that Ace is currently studying for a test (he takes it next Tuesday) to get a license to get a job.

The probable cause of all of this happened earlier this week. Ace's mother decided that we all (my mother-in-law, father-in-law, oldest brother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece, Ace, and I) should celebrate the 4th of July on the 5th of July (since my brother-in-law is off, because that's more important than Ace's test to my in-laws) with a cookout. None of the men that are supposed to be here like to grill, but we're going to have the typical fare of hamburgers and hot dogs, because my mother-in-law wants us to. My father-in-law is less than thrilled, as it has been too hot for him outside lately and now he has to cook in the heat to keep his wife happy. Ace and I are supposed to make sides, but who knows what will happen at this point.

Basically, my in-laws are a fight waiting to happen, but it'll probably ignite on the 5th, when everyone is here. Until then, Ace is apparently their scapegoat for any frustration and anger. I don't think they realize the damage they are doing to their relationship(s) with their son, but if they keep all this up he won't want to keep in touch when we move out. You would think they would have learned their lesson when they didn't see us for a year and didn't know we had moved, but apparently not.

Oh, and Ace got in trouble for all the stuff put on the dining room table (Where else were we supposed to put the candles? Outside?). They had just cleared the table off, and we covered it with their stuff that was in their guest room (currently our room). My sympathy is at zero, since they should have gotten rid of a lot of stuff long before now (and because my mother-in-law still doesn't see her problem, even though she knows she doesn't have anywhere to stick this stuff).

And now that I've expressed all this, I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. After all, I've been tired all day (I took a nap after dinner). I think that maybe I'll be able to get a full night's sleep now that I've gotten all this off my chest (so to speak).