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Twists in our family tree, too. My late ex-husband's grandmother had been married twice. Had two children. Neither child was the biological child of the husband of the moment. Long into my marriage, his real biological grandfather died - in an insane asylum...Makes genetic investigations interesting.
 
Tabitha said:
Pinga it does make me wonder about your family dynamics. It seems unusual that your brother would share part but not all of the story with you.
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I should have made it clear that the stories were two different sides of the family (paternal and maternal).
If i had pressed to find out from my brother I could have, but, I had no interest. Barely knew my grandpa due to many challenges and distance.

Shucks, I am kinda like @chansen . Lots of stories. I am sure that our family is not the only family where a child was had by a young mom, (that young mom is now almost 80). Back then there were secrets and storeis, and families held them close.

Tabitha, and yes, those secrets have consequences, and often are related to mental health. It hits a generation. A child of an alcoholic / womanizer isn't someone who had a great mentor or childhood- that plays out in the next generation.
 
On my father's side, my one uncle stole metal plating from the steel company he worked at and the union got him at least a partial pension on his way out the door as he was close to retirement age. He's an arrogant prick. My memory is of him puffing on a pipe and looking superior. He tried to make my grandfather live a pauper's retirement to leave a larger estate and steal from that. We lost contact with that entire family over the fight that my grandfather should stay in his house after grandma died in '76. All the other siblings took my uncle's side, and my grandfather lived alone in a series of attic apartments for the next 12 years, and then there was almost nothing left in the estate, when before there was plenty of money and a paid off home. My parents took what they got and put it all toward a vehicle for me to go to university with a couple years later. Said that side of the family favoured the other grandkids and never did anything for me before, so they could get me to university.

My mom's brother is an entire book of drama mixed with stupidity, from childhood right on through.
 
Pinga said:
I should have made it clear that the stories were two different sides of the family (paternal and maternal).
If i had pressed to find out from my brother I could have, but, I had no interest. Barely knew my grandpa due to many challenges and distance.

Shucks, I am kinda like @chansen . Lots of stories. I am sure that our family is not the only family where a child was had by a young mom, (that young mom is now almost 80). Back then there were secrets and storeis, and families held them close.

Tabitha, and yes, those secrets have consequences, and often are related to mental health. It hits a generation. A child of an alcoholic / womanizer isn't someone who had a great mentor or childhood- that plays out in the next generation.
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I would tell some real doozies ... but I'm told by some on this site that whining is not acceptable ... just doesn't exhibit power ... thus silence is black gold to some and they can't see any hurtz in the world ... hertz sometimes come in waves too ...
 
Also, family stories are interesting. Now that I hear his story in today's terms, my great-grandfather was very clearly bipolar, with the same regular-as-clockwork periods of mania and depression shared by his granddaughter and her grandson, my mother and my oldest son. In the official family history, though, still according to my aunts and uncle, their grandfather was "simply" the erratic black sheep of the family drunk.
 
BetteTheRed said:
In the official family history, though, still according to my aunts and uncle, their grandfather was "simply" the erratic black sheep of the family drunk.
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That's kind of how it goes, though. We can often look back at family "black sheep" and realize that mental illness or substance abuse or other such factors were at play but, in the end, the attitudes of the time it happened tend to shape the narrative.
 
What!!! Attitudes compounding genetic disorder ... in a simple world view would that be rejected as Chaos Theo ... the great O or Zero ...
 
We had bell satellite, rogers cable, bell landline.
Yesterday I phoned to make the move, and today i have bell tv (fibe -4k), bell phone with NA calling, bell internet (fibre).
Cost is less than Bell satellite & phone were.
Next step, downgrade Rogers until my families emails are transitioned off of it.....and after we confirm that we have decent connectivity and my voip is not jittery. Should be fine, but, we shall see.

Surprised by how quick they were able to put it in.
 
How are the Christmas preparations going? I am busy making a scarf for my son-in-law. We draw names every year and tradition dictates that part of the gift needs to be handmade. Happily I am enjoying this project. If it is not finished in time it will go into the gift bag still on the needles.
 
I was glad to get all my out-of-province (non-express) parcels out in time for the Canada Post deadline. There's still one purchase that I'm waiting on (through Etsy) that will have to be sent to ON when it arrives... but it should be able to go by lettermail.

My Mom refused to mail shortbread so I'm getting the recipe instead. I guess I'm making shortbread next week!
 
Cooking/baking = x
Christmas cards = x
Decorating = x
Shopping = I have a few things to get still, but majority is done.
Grocery shopping for the stuff that gets done ahead of time = x
And the laundry has piled up.

So basically behind where I want to be but fairly typical for this time of year (although decorations is really late, due to Chemguy's flu)
 
Still have not decided about erecting Christmas tree. Hoping to get cards out to U.K. relatives this week; will order flowers for their 'main' Christmas dinner next week. Have acquired a few little things for my limited little family and will put them together in baskets with some baking/candy making. A friend of mine has edited an anthology of Canadian humour this year, so bought a copy for an appreciative brother-in-law and popped over to college to have it signed today. Having given daughter and old guy tomorrow as deadline for my son's Christmas parcel, hope to get that in mail tomorrow.
 
Re Xmas prep - On the weekend, got the house decorated & the tree up & decorated - so that looks more Chistmasy. My little neighbour girl - age 9 - dropped by with an ornament & card for me on Sunday afternoon - so lovely to chat with her. I invited her in for a bit to see that we were putting up the tree. She exclaimed -"but where are the presents??? There are no presents under your tree!!" She was quite concerned for us :-) So we had a good chat about different traditions etc. which was quite entertaining.

I packed the big box for Whistler & got it to the post office by 4pm on Saturday - anticipating the usual 5pm pick up time. Well - no - they picked up at 2:30 on Saturday. Okay then, said I, I'm sure with it being Xmas there will be a pick-up tomorrow? No - it's Sunday. Okay then, said I, is there a morning pick up on Monday? No - 5pm. Excellent work Canada Post! My parcel sat in the post office for 49 hours before getting on its way. Delivery time? Well, that would be 9 business days, not guaranteed - she said - and we don't count the pick-up day, and Saturday and Sunday don't count either. Really? Seriously? Even at Xmas?? Shame on you Canada Post - need to do better than that in the holiday season. So .. perhaps it will arrive before Xmas ... but who knows? I used to sent the Xmas parcel by bus - one week to get there! But the substation in Mississauga closed up, so now I would have to take it to Oakville or the airport to drop it off - mail seemed easier. Not next year!
 
My rescue grand-dog has been found to have flees. Likely brought them with him from the shelter. He had only been over once, but I am worried he infected the cat. Might need a big house cleaning and treatment for the cat. Had planned to make cookies, but this might need to be priority.
 
Oh fleas! We used to occasionally end up with them in the house when we had cats & my husband seemed to be the one who attracted all the biters! I actually used to tease him that he was the one actually bringing them home, not the cats who never when outside!! Mrs.Anteater - hoping none have been left behind at your place as an extra little Xmas gift!!
 
Had a friend die this morning. She had cancer, and although she lived much longer than most with the former, she had been awesome until recently.

I will miss her.
Her coworkers, friends, and people who she provided service to will miss her.
 
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