So...what exactly does it mean to "suck the life"out of something?

Yeah, yeah I know this is a favorite expression that men use to describe their vindictive ex-wives or ex-girlfriends who refuse to be fun, adventurous or understanding. It's a guy thing.
But I am pretty sure I have a good understanding of the definition and if the phrase were in the dictionary, CrazyFriend's picture would be next to it.

She has been working overtime for the last few days at "sucking the life" out of everything and it is making me very stressed out and unhappy. I can understand what guys are talking about. Apparently, sucking the life" out of things is one of the few things she does well. Very well.

Usually, I would be very excited about an upcoming trip. I am very good at planning the logistics of a trip and I enjoy the planning almost as much the actual event. So I figured my trip to Florida next week to visit my golf buddy would be fun. I've never been to Florida and I've been looking forward to going there, as well as seeing my golf buddy. But apparently, I have made a few mistakes along the way and right now, I don't even want to go. I think that CrazyFriend has "sucked the life" out of this little 4 day adventure.

I asked her to go with me for two reasons. One was to have some company on the 6 hour drive, and the second was to get her to share expenses with me and basically, cut the cost of the trip in half. Fairly good reasons, right? Okay.

Everything went to hell in a hand basket. CrazyFriend invited Cousin Sally to come along (with out my knowledge_) Now don't get me wrong. I LIKE Cousin Sally... I like her alot (I like her better than CrazyFriend, actually..she is fun and smart and SANE). But the problem was having 3 people going totally changed the logistics of the trip. Totally. We would have to take a different vehicle, we would have to change how we split the finances and we would have to change the accommodations.

Everything changed. But CrazyFriend decided (on her own) that this would be a good opportunity for Cousin Sally to "get away for a little while because it would do her good". Okay. And Cousin Sally called me saying she would be glad to come along and it would be a nice trip.....what was I supposed to say???? (No..I really wanted you to go to Las Vegas with me in December but whatever...." I explained to her the purpose of the trip so there wouldn't be any surprises. "No we are NOT going to the beach or to DisneyWorld or the Kennedy Space Center. We are going to cheer up a very sad and lonely 70 year old lady...)

Then we started looking at hotels in the area, that's when the "life-sucking" really started. I have trouble sleeping. I am up at 2 or 3 in the morning, I watch TV, I will read a little, I will have a snack and I am pretty much up most of the night. CrazyFriend KNOWS this and I have traveled with her so she is well aware of my nocturnal habits. Well, she chose yesterday to start whining about it in her )nails-on-a-blackboard" tone and I was ready to call off the whole trip. She wanted me to get a suite for the three of us. Two beds and a sleeper sofa.That might have been okay for one night. Three nights? No way. And she started with her self=righteous whining. "You are just going to have to figure out a way to sleep. You don't have to turn on the 'idiot-box' (that's her favorite expression when she hates the TV). you can play on your computer (I HATE when she says "play on the computer......" You're the one with the problem. We are fine with it. You're the only one with a problem sharing a room......"

Well, dammit, yes I AM the one with the problem sharing a room and I am NOT going to listen to you bitch when I want to turn on the TV or read my book or take a shower.. Damn I was angry and exhausted and ready to just give up on the whole thing. I think the life had been sucked out of it. SO after an exhausting search on Priceline and every hotel web site and calling locally, I just said. "Look we are getting TWO rooms. Period." She was mad that I wanted to do that. Too bad CrazyFriend. And I booked two rooms at a cheap place rather that the one at a really nice place on the beach that I would have had if the two of us had gone. It is a cheap place but it kept the cost down and I just don't think I want to spend a whole lot of money of this trip. It was getting stupider and stupider.

By the time CrazyFriend left here yesterday (and I had to railroad her out of here, she didn't want to leave and go home to her freeloading boy friend) I was exhausted, unhappy and I had a migraine that I still had this morning when I woke up. I do not feel good about this trip. Usually when I plan a trip, I have the logistics down perfectly. I know where I am going and when and I even know what I am going to wear and where I am going to eat. I feel like I have lost control of this whole thing and I wish I hadn't even asked CrazyFriend to go or have any part in it in the first place.

But I have learned the meaning of "She sucks the life out of everything she touches.."
Look it up in the dictionary.
CrazyFriend's picture will be right there.