girls

All posts tagged girls

One Down, Several More To Go

Published April 4, 2014 by Angela

I am beyond happy that my statistics class is over. It was difficult at times, but I have to say I am beyond pleased with myself on how well I did, and how much I learned and retained! I am now taking a class on Organizational Behavior, which appears to be a lot of paper writing in my very, very near future. I generally tend to enjoy these types of classes, once I get that tedious issue of citing and referencing taken care of. This will be my chance to check out the Perrla software that I purchased, and see if it actually helps me. I kind of messed with it a little bit when I first installed it on my computer, and I can’t say I was thrilled with it, but I will definitely give it the good once-over this weekend so I am comfortable with how to use it.

 

I was looking forward to a weekend of working (really, I was!) but that changed so now I am debating on what projects I want to get started on at home. The weather appears to finally be breaking in West Michigan; it sounds like only 1 day with a chance of snow in the upcoming week. I just hope it is warm enough that my girls can enjoy their spring break and not be stuck in the hosue because it is cold and rainy (and therefore, fighting, arguing, and keeping me awake, while simultaneously destroying the house).

 

Which also means I need to buy double the groceries this week. Ughhh. I don’t know how it is in your area, but here, every single type of grocery product has went up a huge amount in price over the last month. One week, I paid $2.54 for a gallon of milk; 6 days later, the same brand was $3.08 for a gallon. I have noticed at least a $0.50 increase on the majority of things I buy every week. Liquid hand soap that was $3.49 for a large container, is now $3.99. I think I will be stocking up on toilet paper this week if that hasn’t went up yet!

 

So here’s to a great weekend of getting things done, and relaxing in-between, and sunshine and warmth, and a good book to read!

Anyone Else Feel Like This?

Published March 25, 2014 by Angela

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/common-core-parent-facebook-post-indiana-school-181841158.html  

I have been dealing with this common core math teaching issue for a couple years. My 9 year old is doing basic math problems in such a manner that I cannot help her. I literally cannot help her. I have taken numerous math-based college classes, I have 2 college degrees, working on my 3rd, and I cannot help her.

Honestly, it pisses me off a bit. OK, a lot. She is not going to be taught how to write in cursive (other than by me), and she is processing a basic math problem that can be done in a couple steps in 20+ steps.

How exactly are we helping our children’s education? How are they learning to be successful? Much like the father in the above link points out, if anyone tried to do their job by completing math in this manner, they would be fired. No employer wants you doing a 3-step process in 108 steps. 108 steps!

Check out the link, and let me know what kind of ridiculous public school teaching/learning situations you are dealing with!

 

I’m Sorry You Lost Your 11th Pair Of Headphones…

Published March 15, 2014 by Angela

…and No I will not stop to the store to buy you your 12th pair.

How do you lose something that is literally stuck inside 2 orifices in your body? Do you not notice when you suddenly don’t hear the music that was blasting your eardrums a second ago?

You never take them out when I am talking to you, so I was assuming you just never took them out.

I lost a baton once; no one bought me a new one. I lost a pair of roller skates, too. That really sucked, but that was also about the time I quit leaving my stuff in places it didn’t belong. I would suggest you do the same. Honestly, I am thinking the damn headphones are in one of the pockets of those 2 pairs of jeans that you lost. Go figure.

 

For The 10th Time; No, I Do Not Have Your Pants

Published March 11, 2014 by Angela

I am not even sure if I want to know how a 16 year old girl can lose two (count ‘em; 2) pairs of pants.

“Did you check in that overflowing laundry basket that has been sitting on your bedroom floor for the past month?”   Yes, she did.

“Did you check in the two laundry baskets sitting at the top of the stairs that are both full of your girls’ clean laundry I ran for you this weekend?”    Yes, she did.

“Did you check in your sister’s closet, to make sure I didn’t hang them up thinking they were Erin’s pants?”   Yes, she did.

“Did you look under your bed?”   Yes, she did.

“Did you look under your sister’s bed?”    Yes, she did.

“Did you check your sister’s dressers?”    Yes, she did.

“No, I did not put your 2 pairs of jeans in my closet. I cannot wear your clothes, so why would I take your pants when we do not wash our clothes together?”   She doesn’t know.

Now there are certain things that go on in my house without fail, and I will never deviate from this. I absolutely, without a doubt, will not run my laundry with any of my girls’ laundry. Yes, 1-2 times a week, I run my laundry, all by itself. Not only does it save my clothes from being destroyed by the lip-gloss/markers/crayons/candy/gum that seem to get left in their pockets and laundered on a weekly basis, but it also saves me from having to dig my clothes out of their clothes when the laundry is done. My clothes get washed, dried, and taken care of immediately. They seem to be okay living out of laundry baskets, and unless if I feel motivated to put some of their things on hangers, they keep living out of those laundry baskets.

Now before you get on me about wasting water; I am not running a pair of jeans and a shirt through the washer and dryer. I am running full loads of clothes; and honestly, my girls could do a full load of clothes every, single day of the week and never get caught up on their laundry.

So what I would really like to ask her is:

“Did you leave your pants at school?” “Did you leave them at a friend’s house?” “Did you leave them at your now-ex-boyfriend’s house?” “Did you leave your pants on the bus?” “Did you give these pants to someone?” “Did you somehow wreck these pants and you don’t want to tell me?” “Did you cut these pants up like you do so many other clothes because you were trying to make something else to wear?” “Why do I have to rush to the store to buy you more pants when I’m not the one who lost them?” “Why is it my responsibility to know where you last took your pants off at!?!”

So, the mystery of the missing pants continues. I have literally been having her ask me those same questions on a daily basis for the last several days. If these pants ever turn up again, I will let you know where they were hiding!

I’m Not Sure Who Made Me More Angry

Published March 9, 2014 by Angela

……..The idiot representing the cable company on the other end of the internet conversation, or whichever child of mine thought they would pull a fast one.

I usually don’t have a problem paying my bills, but when I see my already outrageous cable bill is even higher than its usual ridiculously high price, I start scanning the bill.

Yep; someone wanted to watch something on pay-per-view that was $19.95. So, I grab the remote, and try to change the parental controls. Except this clever child of mine changed the 4-digit pin. So I was locked out from my ability to parental control the crap out of the television. So, I go online to my account, and decide to instant conversation with someone from the cable company ( or as we say here: foreign country that understands limited English). In a moment you will see why I say this.

I swear to goodness they do this!

I swear to goodness they do this!

I ask how to reset my pin that my kids changed. I get told that I cannot change my pin without knowing what the current one is. Now let me just say, I will not name this cable company; except to say that they are the second foulest word in the English language that starts with a C and ends with a T. Got it? O.K. 😀

So by now I am getting angrier by the second, and ask this person (aka Maria) if she is telling me that my kids can buy whatever they want on my cable system and I am unable to do anything about it? I will just cut to the chase here, because this was a really, REALLY long conversation. She sent a signal to my cable box; after I gave her my social security number (she said, Thanks, that matches your account! I said “Why wouldn’t it, it’s my social security number?”) No, I felt no desire to be nice to this person, even if she had the ability at her fingertips to cut my cable, phone, and internet and ruin my night.

After 20+ minutes, I am able to reset my pin and start locking things out. I ask her: “How can I see what this PPV program was?” She says (You are gonna love this!)

“What is the title of it that is on your bill?”

Yeah, I am getting angrier, and meaner. So I ask “Maria”:

“If I knew what the title of it was, why in the world would I possibly be asking you for it?”

By this point, I am not really caring about the $20.00, (not that I ever was, it was just the point of it) and am more concerned that I may have a kid here watching some nasty porno crap and I need to intervene ASAP.

I never did find out what it was, and unless if it pops up on my bill with the title (which it may not since I paid the bill) I may never know. But I do know without a doubt that it will not happen again. I have locked out every single channel, and they will be watching the religious channel as long as the television is on.

True Story!

True Story!

Has someone tried to pull a fast one on you recently?

 

Online School for Homeschool

Published March 6, 2014 by Angela

It’s about that time; I will begin the enrollment process for my homeschooler so she can do 8th grade in an online environment.

I almost feel like I am giving up, passing the buck, putting the responsibility on someone else. Yeah, I probably am. But with everything I have tried for the past 7+ months, I cannot seem to find what is needed to motivate Erin to be excited about learning. She used to love school (before the bullying issues) and she does really well with some of her homeschooling. World History is a breeze; math, not so much. Reading stories and doing book reports? Piece of cake. Science, ehh, she could take it or leave it.

I think something more structured, with a set schedule and hard and fast deadlines will help her stay on pace. Obviously I cannot do anything to reward or punish her enough to make her want to do her work consistently. I realize that homeschooling is generally a more laid back type of learning environment (I mean that in the best way possible), but unfortunately, I have the personality of schedules, time frames, and deadlines. This is still an environment I am trying to adjust to.

Having experience with online learning for numerous years, I do think she will do well with this.

Have you done online learning, and what did you think about it?