I had to write a post with one of the new icons Kelly made me. Isn't she cool!? If only I had a paid account again and could have lots of icons. I'll have to work on that.

Today I went to the doctor for a follow-up examination, though I didn't get to see him since he ended up being in surgery. So I answered a couple questions from his nurse Lisa, who really is just cool, and got to leave. My mom had driven here to take me since those here who drive and could do it go to work or school that time of day or have other things to do. It also gives an excuse for my mom to come up, which is cool. She lives an hour and a half away, so I don't get to see her often enough.

We ended up going to my Aunt Emma's after the doctor, which was nice since I see her even less, even though she lives right in town. It's amazing how you can lose touch with those who don't live very far away at all. It was also today that I saw my younger brother Tim for the first time in years. He went there to pick up Christmas presents from my mom. It was, to say the least, weird. I would never have recognized him if I'd seen him walking down the street. It was nice actually seeing him again, although our relationship has been rocky for these past years. Since my sister and I had our falling out, he kind of ended up leaning her way while Evan stood up for me. Tim seems to have mellowed over the years. He actually e-mails me on occasion with those silly things that get forwarded all over the place. At least it's some communication. He was even the one who took the first step since I had no way of contacting him at all. I likely wouldn't have anyway, because when I'd done that in the past, the only way that things would be mended was if I would take complete responsibility for whatever fracture happened to have taken place. I wasn't going to do that anymore.

But yeah. Hopefully things will continue to get better there. Tim has some things that Evan wants him to answer for as well, since Tim doesn't have the best histofy of treating our mom right. He does better now, but he still has times when he's downright nasty to her. Evan is very protective of mom, and doesn't forgive wrongs done to her very easily. But it would be nice if we could get a better relationship going between the three of us. Tim hardly knows his nieces and nephew, after all. He saw Evan's daughters, Bridget and Kayla, a few times when they were really young, and the same goes for Allyn. However, he's never met Jason or Madison, though I've sent a couple pictures. We'll see what happens, though.

I do know that things aren't likely to ever improve with my sister Gloria. She's far worse than Tim when it comes to treating people right. She's very self-absorbed, and can be just downright nasty. It's too bad, really. She sabotages relationships herself just by her overall attitude. I won't have my kids subjected to it, and I refuse to put up with her shit attitude against me anymore. If she wants to mend anything, she can bloody well make the first step. I doubt that will ever happen, but we'll see.

Anyway, I have to go. Allyn has a Christmas concert at her school, and we must go to hear her sing. I love Christmas concerts.

Thanks again, Kelly. You do rule!