Stepping onto my turf

So not only am a new bride and a woman looking to have a child, I'm also a step mom. It's a great job because Jeff's daughter is really sweet, well mannered and genuine. She crazes love and she's happy to get it from Jeff and I or from her mother and his boyfriend. I've never had that moment when those four words every step parent dreds leaves her lips and hits my ears "You're not my mother." She's happy to take direction from me and gives me the upmost respect.

This is something she obviously gets from Jeff. Eh hem...

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's a classic relationship between the old wife and the new. Now, we do play nice, mostly through gritted teeth. We don't speak ill of her in our house and we'd like to think that she does the same. But as nice as you are and as hard as you bite your tongue, there is always that kind of tension. It's a you vs. them kind of game. It's unspoken, but it's a game.

Tonight Jeff's ex and her boyfriend came over to pick Jeff's daughter up. We had her last night as a bonus (it wasn't our weekend) so we offered them dinner at our house. Jeff grilled and I played nice while he was outside. We talked about neutral topics, or at least what we thought was neutral.

I went cutain shopping my mom this afternoon while Jeff and his daughter watched a movie, so I told her about them. I told her the color and even showed her a picture (they are on order). Simple topic? Noooooooooooo "I bought two panels, they said it should be enough."

She thought that wasn't enough. "Oh no, the sales woman insisted they were." She tried to tell me I needed two more. I bit my tongue. "Oh trust me, my mom is the curtain queen and she said that was fine." She insisted that it wasn't.

"But really, I don't ever close them and both my mom and the sales lady said that would be perfect." She started to tell me that I needed a new rod. "Oh, no, this is the right rod. My mom knows what I have and she's certain it will work."

She started again and I could feel the cat in me ready to hiss. I wanted to yell "I'M 36 YEARS OLD AND A DAUGHTER AND GRANDDAUGHTER OF TWO WOMEN HOPELESSY DEVOTED TO THE ART OF CURTAINS! BACK THE F--- OFF!" But I didn't. Instead I decided Jeff needed help at the grill. And I got a kiss from the grill master to his curtain mistress.

Do I want to tell her what I really think of her many times? Oh yes. Will I ever? Probably not. Why? Because I love Jeff and his daughter too much. As Jeff friend said once, as he witnessed first hand how calm, collected and friendly I was towards her, "Dude, you are so going to heaven. Rock on!" LOL!

But it's true, I do it for Jeff. And I get my zings in from time to time. (Umm, I know she used our bathroom and, well, I guess I just didn't put the EPT package totally out of view. Jeff said she had to have seen it.

ZING!