It has been a long, weird, frustrating day, but it is ending on a good note at least. And now for the word vomit:

I spent most of the day in my car. I had a court appearance this morning at a court that is about an hour away from home. Then I drove an hour from court to the office. This afternoon I drove for another hour to another court that I haven’t appeared in for at least five years. It was a total shit show. I left feeling very frustrated, and quite hungry since I hadn’t eaten all day. I devoured a burrito supreme in the Taco Bell parking lot in Union, MO sometime around 3:30 pm.

This evening started out somewhat poorly as well. Freya’s phone is fucked – which is to be expected after being soaked in urine, especially given that it was cracked and already had two actual holes in the screen. When we paid to fix her phone the last time, we told her that we would not be buying her another iPhone if she fucked this one up. We were very clear about this with both Freya and her mom. (We pay for the phone on our plan). D and I feel strongly that just buying her a new iPhone every time she fucks her’s up is teaching her all the wrong things. Her mom seems to be upset with us because she wants to give Freya her old iPhone, and we will not agree to put it on our plan. If she wants another iPhone, even her mom’s old one, we feel like she should have to save up the money to purchase it at fair market value. We will buy her another phone so she can communicate with us, but it is going to be the cheapest one we can get at T-Mobile. Oh and it isn’t going to be tonight, as her mom requested. She can survive without a phone for the weekend for fuck’s sake.

When she first got home tonight, Freya was sulking hardcore and kind of being an entitled brat. Thankfully, as the evening moved along, she got into the right mindset, and is now trying to come up with ways to earn money to buy another iPhone. This is exactly what we wanted to see happen, and so we are pleased. I told her she can come to the law firm over winter break and I’ll pay her to do all the filing that none of us have time to do. I also talked to the neighbors to let them know that she is available to babysit. I really hope that she will learn a valuable lesson here. D and I both believe that if she is forced to buy her own phone, she will take much better care of it.

The importance of taking responsibilty for your actions cannot be understated. I see the consequences of not doing so every single day in my law practice. It’s a no good, very bad situation.

In other news, we sat down as a family tonight to do some Christmas shopping. We ordered gifts for the cousins and also for the other parents. Yay Amazon! I have wish lists for both of the kids, and I have a decent handle on what I want to get for D. I’m not sure what to get for my mom and sister, but I’ll figure it out. I’m not even sure at this point if/when I’m going to see them. It will be a relief to get all the shopping done, and the gifts wrapped. Fuuuuuuuuck I hate wrapping gifts. So. Much.

In kitty news: Sansa is coming home on December 23rd. It works out perfectly that both of the kids will be gone that day, so I can get her home and situated without them seeing her. We will pick the kids up first thing in the morning on Christmas Eve, and the plan is to bring her out as soon as they get home. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to meet her. Angela swears that she is the sweetest kitty ever.

Freya and I actually ended up having a pretty good night. After we finished the dinner/online shopping portion of the evening, she and I sat together and chatted for about 40 minutes about a variety of things, but mostly about our shared love of fashion. She told me I have been a huge influence in her life, and that she didn’t think she would end up being the kind of person she is now, but that she likes it, and I have played a part in that.  I’m not really doing it justice, but it was nice to hear, and I cherish these time when she’s talkative and loving instead of withdrawn and sullen.

Jackson was in good spirits like usual. It’s rare for him to be in a bad mood. I am allowing myself to (foolishly) believe that he will stay sweet even as a teen. I know, I know. Anyway, we spent the early part of our evening playing old school Oregon Trail, which his teacher has a link to on her class blog. I think I’m going to play some right now, actually. I fucking love Oregon Trail.

I get to sleep until 6:45 am tomorrow, and I am so excited about this! It’s the little things.

Oh and tomorrow night I’m seeing Wicked. Finally!

And tomorrow is the pre-sale for Alanis Morrisette. Yay!

Okay I think I’m done for now.