This morning, I really, REALLY dislike my kid sister

I would say that right now I hate her, but it's the Sabbath and so I'm scaling it back a bit.

My niece invited me to her birthday dinner. She selected the restaurant, as the birthday girl should. It was the Olive Garden. Not my favorite place, but she's 15 and for her it was high living, definitely a step up from Old Country Buffet, her choice in years gone by. My sister began complaining about the service. I thought she was a little unfair. It was Saturday night, the restaurant was packed, I thought the waitress was probably doing the best she could. I said to my niece, who was sitting right beside me and has a good sense of humor, "We should cut her some slack. She's saving her tips to pay for her mother's spleen transplant." My little nephew got all big-eyed and said, "Really?" I assured him I was joking, I don't know the waitress, and I'm pretty sure anyone can live without their spleen, anyway.

My sister, rolling her eyes, said, "As I was saying, before The Gal started yelling about spleens …" Uh-oh. I interrupted her rant with levity. I felt like shouting across the table, ''THAT WAS ME TALKING. THIS IS ME YELLING. NOW YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE." But, because I wanted my niece to have a good 15th birthday, I bit my tongue.

When the check came, I slipped my sister a $20. She just took it as if it was her due. Um, I thought it was nice of me. I was invited, which I thought meant I was their GUEST.

We returned to their house for ice cream and cake. After we sang Happy Birthday and the kids left the room, I took 8 Savings Bonds from my purse. It's November, and every year at this time I give my sister four $50 EE bonds for each of her children. I never committed to doing this, I've never discussed this, but it is pretty frigging nice of me to do. She wordlessly took them and tucked them between the salt and pepper shakers on the kitchen table. I don't expect a party in my honor, but it would be nice if she said "thank you," or at least treated the bonds like what they are -- financial documents, not carryout menus from the local pizza place.

She's the baby of the family. I have always done for her, so I guess I'm in large part responsible for her prodigious sense of entitlement. But she is also 42 years old now, a mother of a teenager and a second grader. I thought that, as she tries to impart values to her kids, she would have matured a bit. I was wrong.

Oh well, I think my niece had a good time. And that is the important thing. Once again, blog, thank for listening to me vent.