April 19, 2012
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Chewlee Warns The Beast
TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM
Chewlee went shopping with the Beast this afternoon. Not all that unusual except this time he was taking her to buy her some clothes that she could wear to church with the Beast. Now, I have no idea exactly what took place or what items were involved but...she told him this: *Papa! You have to stop telling me NO when I want something or I will just ask my OTHER Papa and HE will buy me whatever I want!!* She was so serious when she told him that, he said it was almost more than he could do to keep from laughing at her.
He bought her two outfits and a really nice shirt to wear with her jeans. The Princess buys her some really cute ones but some of the shirts are actually a bit small on her. She just grows too fast to keep up with it at times. Chewlee likes the dress the Beast bought her but is so-so about the capris and top. I think they are both adorable but I was surprised that was all he could find for her. I think he just didn't know where to look. I told him next time, I am going with him even if I DO have to do it on one of those motorized carts they have. If he doesn't like it, he can stay in the car with the dog.
I was getting mad at Chewlee today because of how she was handling the cat. I finally told her to put it outside for a while and she told me she wasn't because the kitty didn't want to go out. I, however, knew the cat would be glad to get away for a while and come back in later on after she was gone. The poor cat doesn't even get left alone when she's tired and trying to sleep. After the Beast and Chewlee left for church, I had to walk thru the house to find out where she had hidden the cat, I found her in the master bedroom closet. She was very glad to get out of there and followed me to the back door to be let out. Chewlee is afraid I am going to give *her* cat away to someone else. How hiding the cat in MY house would prevent that if it was what I wanted to do, I have no idea.
Chewlee's *other* (paternal) grandfather (aka Papa), suffers from feeling guilty that he can't be as involved with her as he would like so he over-compensates. I, personally, am grateful for him. He started a trust fund for her and that was part of the reason he spent a year in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor. Very high pay, no taxes and even a high insurance policy that she was made the beneficiary of with the Princess as trustee. He's bought her some high end items (new bed, mattress, TV...you get the idea) and he loves to buy the good, name-brand clothes for her. All because his son is a real asshole and he really does want her to have a sense of family from the rest of them. The grandmother, great-grandmother and second-cousins all seem to be nice, loving people without having actually met them. They never forget her on a Holiday or her birthday and have wanted to have her for part of the summer a few times. They wouldn't be able to do that no matter how much they would like it. Kids have short-term memories about people they don't see much of and Chewlee would be frantic for her mother.
I know from different things she's told me about her *other Papa* that he probably does spoil her silly and buy her the things she seems to really want. But I think it's kind of nice for a kid to have someone who loves her that spoils her at least a little bit, don't you? I would love to be able to do that. Instead, I am the one that just gives her a lot of love, spoils her a little but I get to see her so much that I count myself as lucky. If I could have spent as much time with all my kids and grandkids, we would have entirely different relationships now.
Time to put this to bed. Love you all. Remember to tell those you love that you do as often as you can. Life is short. Sometimes shorter than we suspect.
