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All posts for the month October, 2014

The Things Your Own Kids Say – Part 1

Published October 30, 2014 by Angela

Now this is funny. No, I did not laugh about it at the time, but it was so ridiculous I wondered how many times I pulled this crap on my own parents.

So my 10-year-old daughter joined basketball. Last Saturday was her first game, and we had to go buy shorts. So I told her I would get her 2 pairs of shorts. From K-Mart, or Wal-Mart. Well of course, you cannot find sports shorts in October. And this is not my fault; she waited until the last possible minute to even join and stay in basketball. (See my previous posts).

So, K-Mart at 9 am on a Saturday is not pleasant, so on the way to Wal-Mart, I stopped to MC Sports. No problem. $22.00 for one pair of shorts. So she got one pair of shorts (I thought we all might like to eat for the week).

So, after the game Saturday, which they won, she did not bother to take off her uniform. And she fell asleep on the couch for the night with it on. And we dropped off her sister to church the next morning for classes, and she was still wearing it (we were not going out in public, and by age 10, I am done telling my girls to not go out of the house looking a mess). So, at some point Sunday when I finally forced her to take a bath and change her clothes, she tossed those $22.00 shorts somewhere.

Fast-Forward to Monday night, and she is looking for her shorts.

What did she say to me after she was throwing a literal tantrum and I would not let her stress me out?

“Mom, you said you were going to buy me two pairs of shorts.”

What did I say?

“Excuse me? Whether or not I bought you two pairs of shorts does not excuse the fact that you lost the pair you had. Do not blame me because you cannot pick up after yourself!”

2 more hours, and she found them.

In her bedroom.

Under her bed.

Just In The Nick Of Time!

Published October 29, 2014 by Angela

We had pumpkin carving tonight for our Wednesday night church classes (WOW) Worship on Wednesday. This is the only way my girls were likely going to be carving pumpkins. I completely blew this task off last year, and am still being told a couple of them cried because of it. I hardly think so because 1) if they were crying about it, I would remember it, and 2) I am not that mean.

WOW Halloween Celebration 10-29-2014 023

So yeah, I do not like carving pumpkins. I did not really care for it when I was a kid, either. The only thing I dislike more than carving pumpkins is coloring Easter eggs. Yep; I can’t stand doing that either. But in my defense, every single Easter, I have 4 dozen colored eggs sitting in my refrigerator for weeks.

My two favorite holidays, and I dislike the two most popular things about those holidays 🙂

So now that that is over, I hope everyone has a safe, fun-filled Halloween. I am officially down to 1 child trick-or-treating, and since it is supposed to snow here in Michigan, by Friday I will be thinking that it is 1 too many!

The Genetic Lottery…Did You Win It?

Published October 27, 2014 by Angela

Or maybe your children did. You know, those families that are just beautiful. Perfect hair, teeth, faces, bodies. Not that it is a bad thing. Some people win that lottery, some don’t. Some have natural beauty, some have to work a little harder at it.

But what about that other genetic lottery? You know; the illnesses, addictions, diseases, bad behaviors, and all those other things that every person dreads.

I do not look like either of my parents, or any of my 3 siblings. All 4 of my daughters have a strong resemblance to me. No one would ever ask any two or more of us who may be together if we are related. It is that obvious. I do not know where I got my green eyes from, I am the only one in my family with green eyes. I have 2 daughters with blue eyes, one with blue-green-indescribable colored eyes, and one with brown eyes. All of my girls got their eye colors from their father’s side.

What else was I blessed/cursed with? An incurable, genetic bladder disease (IC) that I have been dealing with for over 25 years. Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. I have stopped drinking alcohol because thanks to an alcoholic mother and father, and grandparents on both sides, I cannot just have a couple drinks. Oh, it always starts out as a couple drinks, but it never ends after a couple. A couple of drinks would never again be enough for me. I am unsure if I will get my Grandmother’s dementia, but I know my girls would make sure I had the best treatment possible if and when it got to that point.

Alcohol Drinks

I am very smart. Smart in the way that just comes easy to me. No clue on where that came from. No, I am not saying anyone in my family is not smart, it was just always easier for me. I am musically inclined, and can play 7 different musical instruments. No one in my family ever played or sang, but I have 2 daughters who are musically inclined.

piano keys

But I worry about what else my daughters may get from me. Will they have addiction issues? Control issues? I have a 13 year old with depression and anger issues, and I wonder how much of that comes from me or her father. You just never know. Just because your parents are a certain way, does not mean you need to grow up and be like them. But you certainly want to be aware of the possible issues that go along with being their child.

So when you look at those people and think to yourself that they must have a perfect life, you need to remember that no one has a perfect life. Many people have issues or illnesses you will never see.  So you may have gotten a couple doozies in the genetics pool, but I bet you got some good ones too!

How Would You Like Me To Reward Your Bad Behavior?

Published October 26, 2014 by Angela

A $75.00 gift card to Amazon?

What?

I was almost speechless, but only for about 2 seconds. My dear 13 year old had an attitude yesterday morning when I told her she needed to get ready to go to her younger sister’s first basketball game. She did not want to go. I explained to her that she needed to go to support her sister, and that her sister would be very upset and hurt to look up in the stands and see everyone there but her. Well, her Dad also, but I think she has pretty much written him off anyhow.

Basketball in hoop

So she was intentionally doing everything in her power to make us late, thinking I would finally give in and just let her stay home. I also was not leaving the house without her, no matter how late we ended up getting to the game.

I think she realized this, as she was at least getting dressed, however slowly. She finally made it to the front door and said “I need to brush my hair.”

“No, you don’t. It looks fine.” More angry-face-crappy-attitude-stomping-of-feet all the way to the car. Did I mention she is 13 years old?

So now I am slowly drinking my coffee, waiting for the 8am mark so I can go get her up to go to her confirmation classes, which she has missed for the last two weeks. I told her yesterday if she did not get up and go to her confirmation classes, and I did not care if she was throwing up all over herself (yeah, I said that. This girl plays the “sick” card like it is her profession), she would not have the laptop left in the mornings to do her homeschooling, and she would spend every evening at the kitchen table with me doing her homework while I do mine.

So here’s to a beautiful Sunday, full of sunshine and Blessings!

Still holding on through the cold weather!

Still holding on through the cold weather!

Planning A Weekend For Yourself…

Published October 25, 2014 by Angela

…is seriously under-rated in my house. At least when it comes to my weekends. This is always a crazy-busy time of year for my girls and I, and it seems as they get older, they become more involved in activities that have me constantly in my vehicle going from one school event to the next. I actually had conflicting things going on today and one of my girls was mad that she did not get to do an activity she wanted to do, and we instead went as a family to watch my 10 year old in her first basketball game.

When they grow up, and if they have children, I am sure they will remember days like this when they are in their vehicles doing the same thing that I did for them. It is all a big circle 🙂

So there are some things coming up in the not-too-near future that I am going to start making reservations for now, that way not only do I have something to look forward to, but I know I will actually take that time that I so desperately need in order to recharge Mom!

Wishing you a sunshine-filled beautiful Autumn weekend!

When Mom Fails In Epic Proportions…

Published October 23, 2014 by Angela

…you make do, right?

So yesterday, I let Erin’s homeschooling teachers know she would not be online. Because she cannot seem to monitor herself, and by the time I got out of work, we had church.

So I left her a note today of what I needed her to do. But my schedule was off, because I was checking in to our other plant, attending meetings, and focused on other things. So at 7:15 am, I realized the laptop my children use was still locked in my bedroom (Yeah, I cannot leave it out, because Erin gets up at random hours in the night to talk to people she shouldn’t). So I called her at 10 am when I finally made it back to my office.

“Mom, I cannot find the laptop.”

“Yeah, I forgot to put it out this morning.”

So thank goodness for vacation days, because I am off work tomorrow to get her caught up with her homeschooling and going to her live lessons, while I try to get ahead on my college class.

Sometimes You Just Have To Let It Go…

Published October 21, 2014 by Angela

…and I hope to goodness you do not have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the night! If you do, I am sorry beyond apologies.

I can only fight with my girls for so long, before I need to let it go and let them be responsible for the consequences of their actions. Me trying to fix their mistakes will teach them nothing. Even if letting them make those mistakes is something I will pay for later.

And I will.

I always do.

But I cannot expect them to respect themselves for the decisions they make if I do not truly let them make those decisions.

So you want to ignore your homeschooling assignments for the day? Go ahead. But what are you going to do tomorrow? Or the next day? Or on the weekend when I have nothing better to do than to sit next to you in a chair and make sure you get your homeschooling work caught up?

Because I have nothing but time. Nothing but time on the weekends to read books and look over your shoulder while you do 5 days worth of work in two days. And rest assured, I will make sure you do it.

Doing It Old-School, Kind Of…

Published October 20, 2014 by Angela

…Erin was not very happy yesterday with the you-don’t-go-to-confirmation-classes-no-laptop rule. She was literally up about an hour before she asked if she could get on the laptop.

“No.”

2 hours later…”If I clean can I get on the laptop?”

“No.”

The next hour “Can I please get on the laptop, I just want to play my game.”

“No. You didn’t feel good enough to go to class, you should be resting, not playing games.”

What she really wanted to do was talk to her friend whom she had seen the day before, and the only way he could contact her was through the internet. He must have panicked when she was not online all day, because by 8pm, the neighbor kid came over to see Erin. Apparently Erin’s friend talked to the neighbor online, asked him to come over and see what was going on, and the neighbor likely went back and reported that Erin was fine, and I was just being mean 🙂

I found it rather funny and cute at the same time. I mean, when I was growing up, we would use the telephone, or just walk to the neighbors, but we were always sending a friend to go do the talking for us 🙂

I Cannot Believe That Did Not Work…

Published October 19, 2014 by Angela

…now I need to find some other thing as leverage to get my 13 year old to do what she is supposed to.

See, it is Sunday. On Sunday’s, Erin has her confirmation classes at our church from 9:30am-10:30am. Last night she said she wanted up at 7:30am to get in the shower. At 7:30am, she said she didn’t feel good. She never feels good. This has gotten her homeschooled, and out of so many things it is ridiculous. I would admire her determination and ability to outsmart me, except it is me that she is outsmarting.

Just make her get up and go, you say? I would be leaving church right now if that were in any way possible. You cannot force a 13 year old who is taller than you, and weighs more than you, to get dressed, and get in a car. 3 years ago, my next oldest daughter and myself managed to get her into the car to drive her to school. This was after a State Police Officer that I called came over to find out why she would not go to school. He spent 45 minutes telling her the importance of going to school, how she was going to get me in trouble, etc. etc. He said she needs a good ass beating, and as long as you do not leave any marks, you are not acting beyond your boundaries. No, I did not beat her behind, even though she needed it. We got her to the school. She got out of the car in the parking lot, and proceeded to run home. So no, I am not able to just make her go.

What did I threaten her with this morning? No laptop. No getting on the internet and playing any games, or talking to her friends, or watching music videos. It used to always work before. So yes, I have to find out what is the latest “most-important-thing-to-Erin” so I can use it as leverage when she wants to start pulling these stunts again.

On that note, since I was up so early, I got some amazing pictures of the Autumn weather here in West Michigan, and these flowers were my favorite.

Frosted Flowers October 19, 2014

Frosted Flowers October 19, 2014

Hoping your Sunday is a beautiful one, full of Blessings and Happiness!