More patience??? Really???

[ces67]

Morning all, journal stuff.

The weekend went pretty well. On Friday night, we went out to dinner as a family and then I took S13 and one of his friends to the movies while W & D10 did some shopping. Saturday was a low-key day. I did the regular grocery shopping and W worked around the house.

W has been waivering on starting this "cleansing diet" where she really watches what she eats. She decided to start Monday. So, I was picking up some cheap wine we use for cooking and the store manager offered a taste of some new wine they had. It was actually pretty good and I typicall don't like wine. So I bought a bottle and took it home.

I told W since she wasn't starting her diet until Monday, I'd picked it up for us to have that night. So the kids went to bed early, W took a bath and enjoyed the wine and we had a nice evening.

Sunday was good also, church and then we all went to the gym together. W treated D10 to a massage (because she got a deal with her membership). So while they did that I worked with S13 on a work out and climbing a rock wall.

We relaxed at home in the evening and I washed & waxed the cars. My W actually really enjoys driving a clean, shiney car and she thanked me for cleaning it. So between the clean car and maybe the residual effects of the previous night's wine, we had another nice evening together.

We also had a few basic conversations over the weekend as well:

W worries about our D10 as she has not made any really, really close friends in our new home. She feels partly responsible for this based upon her actions and focusing her ties back to our old home.
W talked about being frustrated with herself for constantly wanting to buy things for herself that she does not need. Her friend/boss is about 1 1/2 weeks late in paying her and we need to money for some home repairs and bills. W also wants to use money to buy more clothes. At this point I took a risk and held her in my arms. I told her that I did want her to have nice things and that I hoped she believed that. I also said that I want her to have nice things and not need to feel anxiety about what we can or cannot afford. She let me hold her for a moment.

We also talked about our D10 going through changes and the impact of body-image on girls. I was happy to hear that W talked to our D10 about a certain store that we don't like because of the way it depicts young girls in its advertising. Its the first time in a long time I've heard my W mention this standard as her behaviors (and shopping) had not supported this view over the past couple years.

Today we try for MC again. I resisted the urge to remind her of the time or set alarms for her. She's an adult. If she wants to be there, she'll get there. If not, I'll cross the bridge if I have to.