SD22 did not join us for the trip to scatter my mother-in-law's ashes. Whew. Whatever DH said evidently got through to her because we even rented a seven-passenger van so the lack of space in our five-passenger vehicle was moot.

On a related note, SD22's Facebook and Twitter pages are now locked down tight. So I'm guessing she wanted to make sure she could say nasty things about me without me finding out (I've found out before). Oh well.

So this has nothing to do with MY step situation, there is nothing sweet about it. But I just had to share.

Friend of mine posted on Facebook about her stepdad, who passed away 20 years ago. Evidently today is his birthday, and she was talking about how much of an impact he had on her as a child. It was so sweet. See, sometimes step-situations don't turn out so bad.

I do 95% of the housework. I do 100% of the cooking. I do 95% of all dishes. I do 80% of all laundry (DH does only his own clothes, BD11 does towels and sheets). I do 95% of all childcare. I do 25% of all outdoor work. I do 20% of all pet care (DH is pretty good about that). I also work full time outside the home.

So last night I am making dinner. DH has a bad habit of disappearing into our bedroom, with the door shut, for hours at a time. So it is just BD8 and BD11 and myself.

I am a hands-on parent. I am not a "stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not happening because you don't know about it" parent.

So I got suspicious of BD11 who has had her cell phone glued to her side, even having it in bed with her. I feel free to check any electronics paid for by me, so I took it and began going through it. What I found concerned me, not to mention BD11 following me through the house trying to see what I was seeing.

So I go into my bathroom where DH is, BD11 follows me and is justifying/arguing.