^ HAHAHA!!! ^

And just to clarify, I would stab my own sons hand with my fork if he tried to take food off my plate too. It's about the manners, not the food. I always gladly share (especially with a child), but I'll be damned if some urchin is just going to help themselves without asking first.

In fact, I probably wouldn't even lie about the meat being tough. When they started to cry, I'd just say, "That's what you get for trying to take my food without asking. Now pipe down, I'm trying to eat." }:)

My SD once described me as a "moose" to our family therapist. When asked why, she explained that it's because I am, "Big and strong and I don't ever let anything get by me."

When the therapist asked SD if she thought those were good qualities for me to have, SD replied, "I know it's a good thing, but I don't always like it."

Then SD smiled and sat next to me on the sofa.

It was a real nice moment.

Then BM found out we were going to family therapy and she decided to tell the skids that "therapy is for idiots" and teased them about going. After that, those family sessions were never the same.

F*ck.

You know, just like all the other step-moms out there, I DID try. I really did. I've just been harangued and rejected to the point that I don't give a sh*t anymore. Every move I made, ended real badly for me and even worse for the skids because BM is a flipping lunatic and will stop at nothing to PAS them. So why bother?? Who's actually GAINING anything?

The more I step back from the skids, the less crap BM fills their heads and hearts with.

^ HAHAA! Yeah, it was certainly a Disney moment and everyone was really happy. *cue the music* We all experienced ONE moment in which we were a family...