My anniversary is this month so you know what that means. Yep, it’s gift giving time. But here’s the thing: we’ve been together so long there’s nothing left to give. My mother-in-law gave us an early gift; we got a chef that comes in twice a week and weekends for the next year.


Now, I can see most of you frowning but this gesture reproduced me to puffy ugly face tears because I’m a cook. I love cooking however I’ve been so stressed out with writing, teaching Kink courses and other general day-to-day BS….its been difficult to whip up a three course meal. In most homes under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a problem however this is Casa de Ames….we ain’t normal!
 

Here’s you cast of character living in Casa de Ames:

The lovely Greg: The long suffering hunk-o-hubby. Goodness, I could put that man on a piece of bread and eat him!

Eva: My daughter-at-large. She goes between Switzerland (school) and home.

Clinton (BC): My girlfriend’s son whom we took in after she topped herself.

Zora: The French nanny from hell. She scares the kid and she doesn’t speak very much English which means half of my day is spent translating what the hell she’s saying. But she fits right in with the nut bunch so I can’t let her go.

Daniel: My copy editor. Yep, he lives with us but still keeps a place in the city...that he hasn't slept in in over a year.

Lawrence: Daniel’s friend from West Virginia. He came to visit and never left. He’s also in publishing industry so it works out wonderfully. We love him!

Caroline (name changed to protect her rep): My girlfriend and fellow author who also happens to be Daniel’s girlfriend and client. Don’t ask…

The Pets: Charlie (Cat-Vader), Chutney, Dog and Cat (we just got these two so they don’t have names yet). Sadly, Jaws, Eva’s goldfish passed away…twice. We renamed him Lazarus after he died early one morning then proceeded to resurrect himself by the time Eva came home later that day. Freaky shit happens in Case de Ames.


Anyway, back topic. I love my mother-in-law! Yes, sometimes she makes me wanna poke her in the eye but then again everyone makes me wanna do that at one time or another. She saw your girl slipping into literary darkness and she threw me a lifeline. What's with WASP giving 'people' as gifts? You may remember Greg gave me a housekeeper for my birthday. There's much to be said for WASPy over-privileged guilt! I got a chef!

Okay this post wasn’t supposed to end this way. It was supposed to be about Greg’s gift to me but somehow I got off topic and this post is now blog-tastic. I’ll post about Greg’s gift tomorrow.
 

Tracy