Thanks mom.

As I approach the oven from my sanctuary atop a step stool, reluctant to reach out and actually grab the tempura shrimp from the stove top, my nemesis sprints out from beneath the greasy black appliance, runs head first into the "wood" paneling on the far side of the kitchen and slithers his (or her) way into the cabinet under the sink. I take a deep breath and look around to see my mom's cooking supplies, her snacks and leftovers and various coffee cups (i don't drink coffee) spread out along the kitchen counters. Of course in my mother's mind it's my fault we have mice.

I've finally figured out exactly what it was that has bothered me so much about my mom these last 10 years. It's not the blatant hypocracy (although that doesn't help), it's the fact that she can't go 10 minutes without giving unsolicited advice. Uninformed, inaccurate, unhelpful, hypocritical, bad advice. Every tidbit of anything that she overhears or snoops out turns into ammo for her half informed AK47 of emotional destruction. For years she's been asking me why I never want to talk to her, why I never tell her what's going on in my life, and until now, I never really knew. But tonight, when she came to tell me about the ways I can be more careful as to "not attract rodents" it became painfully obvious why I moved out when I was 18, why I've talked to her as little as possible over the last 6 years and why it's so depressing being back here now. She's nosy and pushy and, an overwhelming percentage of the time, just plain old wrong. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

It's been a long week. I've spent a lot of time just thinking about how and how soon I'll be able to get out of here. More than once I've left the house and wandered aimlessly, just to get away from my mom's badgeresque behavior. On the bright side, I'm getting a lot of exercise and doing a lot of reading. On the not so bright side, I think I'm losing my mind.