Another Busy Weekend.

It seems as though the busier I keep myself, the better I feel during the day, and the better I sleep through the night. This makes complete sense. It's just that, until last week, I never felt like even getting dresses for the day, let alone get out and do something constructive. I going to remain positive and say that this is a sign that I am starting to recover. I must remain cautious, because its only week two since the last med change.

Well, this was a busy weekend, indeed. It started on Friday when I left my PHP (Post Hospital Program) early to meet my parents and Patty for our weekly lunch. I like this little routine, and I think its a good way to keep in contact with the family. Otherwise, it might just be the occasional phone call and that would be it. I know this from the past. When I first moved back to Florida ten years ago, my parents lived maybe two miles away, but I rarely saw them or even received phone calls. I believe this was their way of "not interfering." I would have preferred for them to call and visit more often. They know this now, so this is probably one of things that started this weekly ritual.

Back to my busy weekend. After having a delicious lunch at Country Pizza Inn, we drove over to see Patty's new apartment. As we were there, we were discussing each other's furniture and how this would be better there and that would be better here, etc. All this would require moving furniture between four different houses. "Let's wait until tomorrow," most of them said. Being the newly 'medication induced' ambitious one of the crowd. Of course, I ofter to get things started right away. After all, it was only 2:00 in the afternoon. Plenty of time to beat rush hour. First, I had to drive up to Weeki Wachee to get the trailer. Then we drove to my apartment, loaded my dining room set, and brought it to Nicole's new apartment. Once that was unloaded, we loaded the slate pub table she was borrowing and brought it back to Patty's place. Then, to make room in Patty's dining room, we loaded her baker's cabinet and brought it to my place. I've always loved that cabinet. Now, everyone had the furniture they wanted, and all were happy. Boy, did I sleep well that night. I don't even think I took a sleeping pill.

Saturday was another long day. I think I woke up later than intended, around 9am. Joe and I drove up to Weeki Wachee to drop off a car. On the way, I stopped at the store to pick up Birthday gifts for Dylan and Mom. I wrapped them both, and we quickly headed back to Tampa. I took Michelle and Christina (big mistake) and was on my way to Dylan's birthday party. I had no idea what time it was or what time the party was, but I kept getting phone calls while I was driving, so either Michelle or Christina would talk to whoever it was calling. Well, this lead to a corruption in the communication. I arrived to Dylan's birthday party, only to discover that it was over. This lead to and angry outburst, Sharon style. This did not make Christina happy at all. She grabbed my phone and called her father to come get her. Now its not like she's never seen my have an angry outburst, but suddenly she's a delicate little flower, RIGHT! Now I headed back to Patty's house, where she was watching Dylan while his mother worked. We brought in the presents, he seemed to enjoy his, she seemed to be pleased with hers. All was right in the world again...until Joe called. He wanted to talk to Christina. "Yes," she said, "I still want you to come get me!" She said this even though I had apologized to her for my upsetting her with my outburst. Whatever! At first, Patty didn't seem to be too pleased about letting Joe know where she lives, but she agreed to it. He arrived and we all had a nice family discussion about relationships and different points of view. It went surprisingly well. I sort of like having Patty as an Alie when discussing certain things with Joe. It was nice having me, Joe and all the kids together at the same time without any fighting. This is a rarity for sure.

Sunday, the Renaissance Festival. We've been to several of these over the years and they can be lots of fun. The whole family went, and we even met up with Patty and her friends for a little while. Michelle and Christina were dressed up in costume. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The girls all had tarot cards read. We watched the part of the Chess game and the Jousting match. Michelle and I got temporary tattoos. I'm not really sure what the boys did, since we were separated most of the time. The downside of it all; it's hot, it's crowded, it's expensive, and we always lose each other. We finally found each other at the Pirate stage, next to the exit. We were all exhausted and ready to leave. Christina starts in with her "thanks for pushing me" bullshit that she does. God forbid your arm touch hers when you walk next to her. Well, for some reason, this put me in a REALLY bad mood. Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back. One the drive there, Joe, Joey and Christina were all giving Michelle a hard time. Just all four of them being rude and crude back and forth. Hearing this stuff, just breaks my heart. It makes me realize that we will NEVER be a whole happy family again. I went into a rage, and Christina kept looking over towards Joe. That made me feel ever worse. It used to be me protecting her from him, now its the other way around. I don't like how she manipulates everyone. I started crying on the way home. This is the first time I have cried in over a week. Damn. I think I need to stay away from her. It's good that she lives with Melonese. She disrupts this family WAY too much. I love her, but I hate to be around her. Her negativity is like a contagious viral disease, nothing you can do to make it go away. Just ride out the storm. Yuck, no thank you. I'm in recovery, I don't need it.