Happy To See Her Come, But...You Know The Rest ;~)

I put my mom on the bus last night with the usual mixed emotions....it was good to see her, but it was kinda good to put her back on the bus just the same. LOL I love the woman dearly, but she causes everyone's stress level to rise. She tends to flip out for no reason sometimes, and I really hate having to rescue my kids and my niece from their own grandmother. I know it's not entirely her fault, but it's still a huge p.i.t.a. to deal with. It's not cool to scream obscenities at children when they're beating you at cards, no matter how many strokes you've had. That's something I've never allowed her to get away with during her visits, and she knows it. She has gotten somewhat better than she used to be, but she still tries to get away with it at times. It's like some sort of screwed up ritual every time she comes here...kid wins at cards, she gets pissy, I tell her to quit it, she gets all p.o.'d, I roll my eyes and say, "Mother, we've BEEN through this several times...you WILL control your temper when you play games with my children." She snaps that she can't help it and maybe she "should just shut her fucking mouth". At which point I used to shake my head and walk away. This time I glared daggers at her and I said in my best frosty tone, "First off, you bloody well CAN help it, and second....yeah, sometimes maybe you SHOULD shut up." OMFG...you shoulda seen her face. She looked like she wanted to retort soooo bad, but she held her tongue. Can't help it, my butt. She controlled her temper just fine when she was dealing with someone that won't put up with her tantrums. I've been telling her since Kaitlyn and the twins were old enough to play games that her extreme poor sportsmanship was unacceptable...it's not like I'm suddenly jumping down her throat about it. Awww, hell with it...she's back home now. No sense grumbling about it at this point. It's just same shit, different visit.The trip to the hot springs on Tuesday was rather enjoyable. I actually had a good time with my mother and my sister. There are worse ways to spend a Tuesday morning than to soak in the hot springs with light snow gently falling. I was kind of tense when we first set out. I didn't know what to expect, but Wanda and I actually got along really well and Mom didn't have a single hissy fit. I half expected her to. She thought we were bloody insane for wanting to take her "swimming" in the dead of winter. She had never been to a hot spring before, and wasn't really looking forward to it. She changed her tune as soon as she stepped into that pool. LOL After about 10 minutes, she swore that she was in heaven. After our soak, we went upstairs to the restaurant and had brunch. It was....well....kind of nice to be out with my sister and mom. Too bad they're so crazy-making more often than not.