Our House It Has A Crowd

During the time the ex and I were married he worked at a number of manufacturing plants in their accounting departments. He made friends over the years with a few of the other accountants and line managers and kept in touch with them for some years after leaving the jobs where he'd met them.

One of these friends of his popped into my mind today. I don't even know if the two of them stay in touch any longer and it really doesn't matter anyway since it doesn't pertain to this story. What does pertain is that this friend, who is Mexican-American, was the patriarch of a rather large, extended family. His siblings were always falling on hard times and since he was working and making a decent salary he ended up supporting them financially or allowing them to stay in his home for one reason or another. He even ended up raising a few of their children when those hard times became habitual or routine.

Personally, my open-door policy wouldn't have been so open-ended. I'd have allowed for one such trip through, possibly two if in need. Any more than that and it isn't need so much as indicative of a habi. Those sorts of habits usually end up with one or the other of us holding hard feelings. No thanks.

So far in the year that the ex and Yo (who is also half Mexican-American) have been married, her mother and her mother's boyfriend -- and their small dog -- have lived with them three times. Ex is pretty much supporting them, but to be fair, Yo's mom has been doing all the cooking and cleaning and housework for the family. Her boyfriend works, I believe, but only part-time. He does a lot of odd jobs around the house.

Kiddo seems to have adjusted well to having the two of them in the house and, if truth be told, I know she enjoys not having to do much housework or cooking. But when I spoke to her today I heard a puppy yapping in the background and casually mentioned it. Her response was an aggravated one. "We have more people living here now and they have a puppy."

I didn't ask how many or how they belonged to Yo. I didn't have to; I knew they did and that there were at least two of them. That house has three bedrooms (Ex and Yo's, kiddo's, and Yo's son's) and had six people and three dogs living in it BEFORE the however-many-others and their puppy have come to camp out. What is it with packing people in like fleas? Isn't the ex sick of living on top of other people? Is he planning to end up like his friend?

All I can say is I thank all that's holy that I'm not living there now.

Hm. I wonder if kiddo will want to come live with me?

((Song: "Our House" by Madness. Lyrics here:
http://www.lyricsplanet.com/index.php3?style=lyrics&id=52762 ))

It's Been A Long Time....

I've been sorely neglecting this little blog. I've been neglecting a lot of things the last couple weeks because I've been indulging an old habit/hobby of mine -- online gaming. I have tried various avenues for this -- most notably WoW -- but the constant grinding and farming for quests just wasn't able to hold my interest as much as the heavy roleplaying systems based on the Neverwinter Nights game. NWN is much like old school Dungeons & Dragons and that has always been near and dear to my heart.

I quit the game about a year before my divorce for a number of reasons, none of which I feel the need to slog through at this juncture. I've recently picked it back up (mostly because of HD, actually, who began again as well) and I've already found an enjoyment in it that was missing by the end of my last time through. Who says you can't revisit something and find something new when you do?

There's not been a lot to say anyway. Life's been rather placid. About the only thing of any consequence has been my continued correspondence with Grey. He told me once just about a week ago that I knew how much he cared about me. I told him then that sometimes I didn't, but thinking about it now? Why, yes. Yes, I do.

((Song: "Wait" by the Beatles. Lyrics here: http://lyrics.wikia.com/The_Beatles:Wait))