1721 Munchausen Backstory (part A)

Saucy Scale: getting sleepy

If you missed the incident(s) which have driven me to finally writing about her, you can read it here (back one entry).

I first met Munchausen and Baby Crazycakes at a Mommy & Me class at the local YMCA.  Her daughter is exactly one day younger than Gus.  As the class progressed, I made attempts to connect with certain mommies in the class that I felt I might get along with on a personal level.  I made a point of NOT making an attempt to get to know Munchausen further than the YMCA class level.

I don’t remember how or why exactly…but I think she pushed her way into a discussion I was having with a mommy about getting the kids together for an outing.  She bullied her way into the conversation and suddenly it was no longer a twosome, but a threesome getting together with the kids.  That’s how she ultimately got ahold of my phone number.

I knew that our conversations were always off-center.  We didn’t have a whole lot to discuss on a deeper level.  I did get the sense that she was very lonely.  So, I kept getting together with her.  I figured it wouldn’t kill me to have a shopping buddy every once in awhile.  So, the majority of our outings involved one mall or another.

She’s one of those women that drives you crazy when you find yourself shopping in the same vacinity.  She routinely would park her stroller in the middle of the aisle.  She is just oblivious to the fact that other people might have a reason or desire to get around as well.

She’s a crazy bargain hunter.  And when I say "crazy", I don’t mean an amazingly talented bargain hunter.  I mean she picks out 30 items, asks the clerk to doublecheck the lowest sale price on each item, she buys nothing, she puts a few pieces on hold, and she returns just about everything that she buys on a much later date.

Whenever my children have received gifts, they are large and over the top.  I don’t mean they are generous and lovely.  I mean they recieve the biggest piece of discount crap at the lowest price she could possibly wrangle.  We’ve not kept, worn, or played with a single present.  It’s all gone to Goodwill, b/c it isn’t even worth attempting to sell on eBay.

She’s obviously stuck on using "money & stuff" to make herself feel better.  Her husband has a relative level of success and she likes to talk about it ALL THE TIME.  Her husband works for one of the major firms that does tax accounting.  He recently earned a pretty major promotion.  Which she never ceases to discuss.  The thing is, she will use a key phrase to describe something…and then she will repeat that same key phrase to describe that thing every single time she discusses it…for months at a time.  

Her husband is now "an equity partner in a prestigious firm" (I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard this phrase!!!).  As such, he is never home.  And, I do mean NEVER.  He travels extensively and when he is in town, he works 12 hour workdays.  If it is tax season, he works more.

He is a bit of a control freak.  Their house has to be spotless.  They have lived in a ticky-tacky cookie cutter McMansion for a few years & to date there is no artwork on any of the beige walls.  She told me once that she’s frustrated about the fact that he hasn’t hung anything & I told her to just hire a handyman to do it.  Oh no.  That’s not an option.

He is the most hands-off father I have ever met.  It isn’t just that he works a lot.  He has no desire to be a daddy.  Oh, he wants to have children, but he doesn’t seem to think that he needs to have any part in actually participating in the raising of those children.

When he plans a family vacation, he takes no consideration what his wife & child might like to do on vacation.  Where they might like to go or how they might like to spend their time.  In the time that I’ve known them, they have been on at least 5 trips.  Every single one of those trips was to Disney World.  Every single time, he planned the trip & chose the hotel.  He couldn’t care less if that’s what his family wanted to do.  He just had to control the situation over the people that he can easily control.

He is a little, little man.  He has nothing to offer, but his business success.  Not that I can determine.   

Oh, there’s more…LOTS more, but I’m getting too tired to continue.