My mom is leaving for Italy tomorrow and because she is who she is, we had Thanksgiving yesterday at her house. Thing1 came in from Chicago, my brother, sister-in-law and niece were there. My niece's boyfriend was there, too. Niece is 17 and boyfriend is 18.

My DD26. my son-in-law and granddaughter and me rounded out the group. DH was at a trade show in the town where ASS goes to school. More on that later. BabyVoice and KarateKid didn't want to go to my mom's (can't say I blame them there - lol).

So, my SIL is a Philippino woman whom my brother met about 18 years ago when he was on vacation. She is 35 and my brother is 52. He went back to visit her a few months after they met and what do you know? She got pregnant. Fast tracked for fiancee visa and she comes to America. She is a horrible woman and I don't like her AT ALL.

Last night, as we were having dinner, she says that "all these new women at my gym are so annoying. They wear their hijabs and that really bothers me." They live in the city which has the highest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. Lots of Chaldeans (Christians) but also lots of Muslims. My niece goes to a high school where the student body is about 75% Middle Eastern. It's not like women wearing hijabs should be a big shock to her.

I just looked at her. Thing1, who was sitting next to me, said "and?" DD26, who was next to Thing1, said "what does that have to do with anything?" I LOVE my kids Anyway, SIL starts blathering on about immigrants and how they don't speak the language and how they should have "just stayed home" and I just lost it.

"SIL you do realize that YOU are an immigrant and based on the way you speak the language, people probably say the same things about you. So you think YOU should have just stayed home? Do you think that you are the only person who could have possibly wanted a better future for herself and came to America (totally NOT the reason she came to America, but my niece and her boyfriend were sitting right there so I was nice)? What is WRONG with you? You live in fucking ______________, why on EARTH are you surprised that a hijab wearing woman might want to work out? What possible difference could it make to YOU, an immigrant who lapses into tagalog ALL THE FUCKING TIME, what a person wears to the gym? You'd better be careful sweetheart. Your racism is showing and for the love of all that is holy, put that shit away!"

Then I got up and went into the family room to watch the baby sleep.

Okay, now the ASS update. So, DH had dinner with ASS and DH's parents on Saturday night. Turns out that DH's parents were already planning to visit ASS that weekend, so DH just tagged along for dinner. Here is the conversation we had Saturday night.

Me - so, how is ASS?

DH - good.

Me - how's school? Has he decided where he is going to live next year?

DH - he's doing well, yeah, he and two other guys are looking at apartments this week, so they will know soon what's going on next fall. He is going to stay up there this summer and work his student job, so he'll probably have to sublet something for the summer. His biggest concern right now is freaking out about how to meet girls.

Me - Does he still look like a terrorist?

DH - yeah

Me - hmmm. that's probably a good place to start then.

DJ - I guess so

Last night, I was driving Thing1 to the Amrtrak station to catch the train back to Chicago. As we were driving, we were chatting about the absence of DH and the skids. I relayed the story about ASS. First thing Thing2 said was "does he still look like a terrorist, cuz THAT'S gonna be a problem for him."

I LOVE that kid