Geez Louise

I've had phone calls two evenings running (right on dinner time) from my mother with a hint of desperation in her voice asking if we're okay in the floods. ???  Firstly we don't live anywhere near a river, and we're far enough from the creek, on high ground that if it did flood if wouldn't affect us at all.  I have been through a hideous year with Emily and various other things and no barstard bothered to ring then to see how I was getting on.  Mum didn't even acknowledge Josh's 13th birthday, nobody in my family did apart from Katy.  It's not his fault he's one of the younger grandkids and we live so far away from everyone.  Yes, she's old, but she managed to send Kate and my great niece Tani, cards for their 21st birthdays this year.  Just a card, or even a phone call would have been nice,  13 is a milestone too.  Anyway he didn't appear to notice, his other grandmother (the same age as Mum) sent Josh a lovely card and some money, and he phoned her to say thank you as my children always do if they're sent anything.  And by the time dinner is out and everything is done and cleaned up I'm tired and it's too late to return phone calls.  I also don't particularly want to hear all about her plans for Christmas with MY daughter and MY little grandson which I wasn't included in.  I'm happy that Ali has invited Mum to share Christmas Day with them, they're spending it at a cabin down near where she lives, but it hurts that she didn't ask us to come too, especially as earlier in the year we discussed going away somewhere together. 
Yesterday when I went to pick up the kids, Josh came down to the car alone.  Emily had apparently gone to Kim's place and was then going to the pool.  She had texted me a bit earlier, but I don't keep my mobile near me when I'm home (that's what the landline is for).  I tried to ring her but of course it went straight to message bank.  Now we've been through all this before, she needs to tell me if she's going somewhere straight from school.  Anyway Josh had a hair appointment and as he said she was bringing two friends home before going to the pool I certainly didn't want them in the house when I wasn't there so I locked it all up and left a note saying where I was and not to try to get in through the window, and she could either walk down to the hairdressers or wait on the porch for me.  When we got back, their bags were on the front porch where I'd left a note, but they were on the back porch, where I'd left another note about the front porch note.  I saw that she'd tried to get in through the back window and she lied about not seeing either note in spite of the fact that the back one was folded and put on the table (I'd stuck it in the screen door).  So I was pissed off at that, and then I noticed someone had spit on the glass sliding door that goes from the dining room out onto the porch.  How disgusting, I was livid by then.  Emily tried to get three beach towels out of the linen cupboard.  I'd already spent all day washing clothes of hers that I'm sure she hadn't worn, just dragged out of her wardrobe and thrown on the floor.  They'd been to Kim's, doesn't she have a towel?  I told her she could take one for herself only.  She walked out wearing only socks and before she left asked if I could make them sandwiches!!!!  I only let her go because I wanted her out of the house.  She got dropped home later in a four wheel drive which led me to believe that the friends probably could afford towels and was rude and dismissive of me for the rest of the evening.  I found myself feeling hurt and then I gave myself a slap.  She's a child and she will live by our rules, which aren't all that strict by the way.  I don't stop her going anywhere (except sleepovers) and all I ask is that she lets me know where she is going and with whom.  I asked her who spit on the glass and she eventually said it was probably Kim and I told her that neither girl was welcome here again.  She makes friends with the dodgiest kids, I think mainly because she is so rude to everyone and she gets the desperados.  I would rather have no friends than someone who would come to my home and behave that way.
Kids are both home today and I hope she stays out of my way.  Not a lot I can do to punish her but I'll certainly remember it when she wants something from me, and she will.
I had my ultrasound on Monday morning and the guy said it all looked okay, and even though my doctor is away till after Christmas, the receptionist said there was no red flags on my blood test or pap smear results so I'll wait and see my own doctor when she comes back. 
It's dawned overcast and humid and a gusty wind is whipping up outside.  I so hope that Wagga doesn't get the huge rains that are predicted for the rest of the week.
Yesterday I stripped our bed, and washed the old lambswool underlay, and the electric blanket.  I have never washed one of those before but the new one I got earlier in the year is one you can take the control plugs out of and wash.  I flipped and turned the mattress (all by myself!) and aired and sprayed it and the bottom of the ensemble and aired our new lambswool.  It is a magnetic one and won't fit into the washing machine, I will have to wash it by hand when the weather is hot so it will dry in a day.  I noticed a tiny tear in the mattress, not sure how that happened.  We've had this bed for 16 years and although that is old, I've looked after it very well and it's so comfortable, the thought of getting a new one doesn't appeal.  I wonder if I can repair the little tear somehow.  Must look it up.  I know we'll need a new bed eventually but when we do I want to get a good quality one again.
Oh and I found my garnet ring.  Oddly it was in a place I'd looked and looked.  I used to come home and put my rings and watch in a dish on top of the microwave.  When the garnet ring disappeared one of the first places I looked was on the floor under the bench where the oven sits and it definitely wasn't there.  I took my sapphire dress ring away from Em who had borrowed it, saying it was my only decent dress ring left.  I'm thinking she had the garnet ring and just put it down there for me to find, like she did with my old wedding ring when that disappeared in January.  I'm being much more vigilent with all my belongings now, as well as our wallets and any money we leave out.  Awful to have to be that way but we just can't trust her.