scody,

I thought these were all in the thread about your mom the other day :-)

I hope you feel better.

HA!

Aw, thanks. I do feel better -- just have to let off steam sometimes, then remind myself that "this is who she is," and that she does love me and my sister very much, even though sometimes that love gets buried under all sorts of increasingly weird layers. The thing that makes me feel bad is that the more I complain about her, the more my boyfriend starts to dislike her, which I feel guilty about because she (and my dad) really, really do like him and have been warmer and more welcoming to him than pretty much anyone I've dated for 20 years.

She called yesterday to leave a message thanking me for the first part of the Xmas present that arrived. I haven't called her back yet... I actually should do that now. (Well, I think I'll time it for about 3 minutes before my meeting that's coming up in about an hour, so that way I have a built-in excuse to go quickly!)