Where does the time go?!

Having WAAAAYYYY too much fun with Sims2! I've created my own neighborhood, and last night I started creating families and populating it. I've got one family set up with jobs & they even had their first baby. :) They're both Knowledge Sims but the hubby (I think I called him Dan) had a want spin up to have a baby so I locked it in and took that as my cue to ready a nursery! As they're Knowledge Sims I don't know if they'll spin up another want to have a baby so the little baby girl that was just born has a strong likelihood of being an only child. I have one other family who I've moved in but haven't done anything more (I still need to buy them furniture). They're a couple of Family Sims with one child already (I'm already imagining the major remodeling I see in this couple's future to have enough room to hold all the children they'll end up wanting to have). I have another couple waiting to move in. That couple is a Fortune Sim and a Knowledge Sim. I wonder if they'll ever want to have kids? Only time will tell, I guess! FunFunFunFunFunFun!!!! :D

Last night I also made a wise and important discovery.
Before the arrival of Rose, when HTB & I were sharing one old slow computer we ate dinner together each night at the kitchen table.
Once we got 2 computer desks & 2 computers we've been eating dinner at our computers...

I just figured out that it's probably in our own best interest if we make an effort each night to unplug from our electronic addictions long enough to make dinner together & eat together at the kitchen table. Where communication can occur that utilizes more than the little corner of each of our brains that's not plugged in to what ever game or computer thing we're doing.

I'm SOOOO glad it's Friday! I've been working like a mad woman at the office all week trying to get budget numbers crunched. We have to turn them in on Monday at 4pm, but the big boss D is out on Monday so we have to have most everything done today so he can give it a final look over.

Frustrating!!

So my brother shows up from out of town to visit (thank heavens he stays with my folks). After canceling twice I didn't exactly have the times of his visit etched in stone.
So my mom called monday to basically tell me my brother was in town and 'asked' me when I'd like to come over to have a one-big-happy-family visit. I said how about Tuesday, she said no (dad has karate that night so no time for a family dinner/visit). Wednesday it was then.
Or so I thought. Tuesday evening around 7:30pm or so my mom calls and says that my brother is going to go over and visit another relative Wednesday evening so the family visit has to be rightnow so please get over here.
HTB had an awful day that day. I was tired & exhausted & stressed from being right smack dab in the middle of 2 of my busiest weeks of the year at work, but we both changed out of our sweats & comfy clothes and showed up to visit.

We only stayed about an hour because we were both just so tired.

I found out yesterday that my brother was all upset because i didn't ask him any questions about his life or what he's been doing.

Well excuuuuuse me!! I didn't know I had a brother that actually gave a shit! Just because he's deciding this is a fabulously perfect time to come descent & visit with family doesn't mean it's a good time for me to be all social. My brother has never cared about my life or what I do, so now that he's decided he wants to ask questions about all those things I'm all of a sudden supposed to flip a switch, turn from stressed out & exhausted introvert to social & interested extrovert?
And my mom pretty much told me that next time he's down visting no matter what my mood I *must* ask him questions about his life.

This is of course *after* mom explains to me how exhausting my brother is, even when he's trying hard to be nice, *after* she talked about how he kept critquing every other thing she said as being judgemental, *after* she talked about how he kept defending his minimalist lifestyle (which he always does in such a way that attacks everyone else's lifestyle), and *after* she talked about how he always demands solid facts to support & defend any opinions/beliefs you share with him.

I absolutely hate how she expects me to bend over backwards for him.

He knows my email address. If he wants to know so bad about what's going on in my life he can ask me. He can also learn a little common courtesy. He can also *ask* when a good time is for him to come visit if he wants me to be receptive to his visit and capable of setting aside the time and energy needed to interact with him and ask him questions about his life.

But what I absolutely hate the most is how I'm expected to cater to him. Nothing about how he needs to do anything differently. *I* need to change and behave differently. I'm the oldest, therefore I need to set an example. (so yeah, I may not be as objective as I should be about this - I've heard this type of thing from my parents all the time growing up and they always had these kinds of expectations for me).

It's just SO.GODDAMNED.FRUSTRATING!!!!!!