4th of July....Celebration of the crazies????

All of our plans for the 4th of July were really kind of up in the air. My Mom was planning on spending the day with my Aunt Tonya and Desi/Billy. I just didn't see how that could be relaxing at all... so we were super hesitant about committing to anything... but by the time the day actually came around I figured- "What the hell? Why not? They're my crazies and I love them anyways...."

So I call and check in with my Mom to tell her we're coming after all and to ask what can we contribute. She then tells me that the Bardons have decided to come down for the day, Dana and Cynthia were coming and even our neighbor Bernie was popping in for awhile. I was thrilled... after all the more the merrier!

We get there and Tonya is already kind of huffing and puffing about who knows what. She's manning the BBQ grill and is acting like she's under some sort of persecution.... considering that I consider BBQing to essentially be the equivalent of being smart enough to turn meat before it burns- I was not impressed with her whole, " I carry the weight of the world along with the responsibility of BBQing..."

Tonya was incredibly unfriendly to Dana and Bruce when they arrived and all I can figure is that she's maybe jealous of Dana a little?? I can't completely blame her for being a little jealous because if Mom had to choose between Dana and Tonya I think she would pick Dana. Dana is the nicest, sweetest lady in the world- a complete joy to be around. Tonya on the other hand is grumpy, opinionated, self-centered and in other words- she's a pain in the butt. At times she can be witty and kind, but those times are few and far between.

Everyone was getting their food and Kevin was bringing in a batch of hot dogs from the grill. My mom told Kevin to put the hot dogs on top of the toaster oven but Desi and Billy were blocking his way. So Kevin said once, " Sure, as soon as people move out of the way." He then asks Billy and Desi to move but they continue to stand there.... doing what I'm not sure. Kevin asks them to move again and Desi then realizes that he's holding the hot dog tray and plucks a hot dog out for Elijah ( She's still fasting) but then she moves back to her original spot. Tonya then speaks up and ( in a rude, condescending tone) starts telling Kevin that he needed to put the hot dogs down on the toaster oven like my Mom said. I jump in and say- " He'll put it down as soon as people move out of the way... just like he already said he would. " It came out sounding a lot sharper than I had intended it to be however, I wasn't about to have her speaking to MY husband in such a rude way. I was thinking to myself that it sounded snippier than I meant it to and I was actually thinking in my head that I should explain to her that I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did and that some of my irritation at Desi and Billy had somewhat undeservedly spilled out on her. But she had already practically leaped towards me yelling/hissing, " Don't you dare talk to me that way!" To which I replied, " Kevin already said it maybe three times that he was putting it down as soon as he could. You're just obviously deaf and couldn't hear him. I'll talk to you how I want."

Needless to say, she was pissed. My Mom advised me to stay clear of her for the rest of the day. Tonya basically stayed in the other room away from me or if I was near her she would avert her eyes and basically pretend that I wasn't there. She's such a raging baby.

In the meantime, Desi's crazy tendencies were in full force. In almost every conversation she would somehow try to turn it... We were talking about how awful some bosses can be and Desi tried to jump in and talk about how God put them in a place of authority to try to build their self-esteem. If they are mean or have problems- they must have self esteem issues. She's also always trying to insist that people have fear problems.... Basically she projects her core issues onto everyone else.

Bekah got out her guitar to play a couple worship songs. The boys loved it and danced in crazy circles and asked for more music. It was lovely, however after five or six songs, we had all kind of moved on to our own conversations. Desi sat down next to Bekah and kept asking her to play one after another until Dana told Bekah to put it away. For the rest of the day Desi would exclaim over how proud she is of Bekah and how blessed God is by her music. She said it at least 20 or 30 times. She sounded like a broken record or like Nilly Manilly ( or whoever they are- " Girl you know it's- Girl you know it's- Girl you know it's...)

Then Desi moved on to her hugging phase. She likes to hug everyone... a lot. However, yesterday Kevin seemed to be her main target. She was constantly trying to corner him to hug him and when she wasn't hugging him she was touching him. She would stroke his leg, or try to hold his hand, or rub his arm... Kevin was quite uncomfortable and was especially disturbed because in the past, Desi has claimed that she is especially sinful in having impure/sexual thoughts about almost every man that she meets. So to Kevin, every touch or hug seems very questionable in nature.

I actually had a good time yesterday... It just seems like there is always something with my family. If it's not a fight with Tonya then it's Desi claiming that we all have self- esteem problems as she is inappropriately touching my husband. What a day....