teenagers

All posts tagged teenagers

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.

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!

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 🙂

Things That Do Not Happen Often Enough…

Published October 13, 2014 by Angela

…is all four of my daughters being in the same place at the same time. We all have such busy schedules that we literally have to schedule family time as well.

Girls 10-12-2014 012

Autumn is looking beautiful in West Michigan, and I wish it would stay like this for the whole year.

Looking forward to a busy Monday off from work, thanks to an incompetent dentist and my crown falling off my tooth and out of my mouth yesterday. I really wish I could say this is the first time this ever happened, but it is not 😦

May your Monday be filled with Blessings and Sunshine!

Wolf Lake, Baldwin, Michigan

Wolf Lake, Baldwin, Michigan

When You Are Just Too Tired To Care…

Published October 9, 2014 by Angela

…the big things of yesterday seem like minor things today. I thought I was doing fairly well getting acclimated back to 1st shift working / night time sleeping, but I was especially tired today.

I think the fact that I have errands to run, homework to do, and homeschooling work to assist with, I feel even more tired than I really am. The extra caffeine did not help either; it seems to have added to my overall feeling of tired-exhausted-sleepy-crabby-is-it-bedtime-yet attitude.

Dinner is cooked, and I am trying to not be frustrated by the fact that the last time I made potatoes, the girls complained because I did not make enough. So I made the same potatoes x 2, only to have one of them say “Oh, I did not like them that well.”

Not caring. Too tired to care. After I run my errands, I am hoping a great big bowl of ice cream will help me to care about the fact that I have a very important assignment due by midnight for one of my MBA classes.

Ice cream fixes everything, right?

It’s almost Friday, and that makes me smile 🙂

I Don’t Know Why I Was Even Surprised…

Published October 2, 2014 by Angela

…when I looked in the refrigerator this morning, seeing if someone got into the cookie dough, and it was gone. I had meant to put the package of Nestle Toll House pumpkin spice and white chip cookie dough in my mini refrigerator in my bedroom once I baked the Halloween chocolate chip package and Erin realized there was cookie dough in the refrigerator. I forgot when I left for work yesterday morning. This morning; the whole package had disappeared.

This is why I have a mini refrigerator in my bedroom, as well as the bottom of my entertainment center in my bedroom full of cereal, chips, snacks, etc. When the mood strikes Erin, and she fancies something to eat, she will eat it. She will eat it all. Even though she knows she shouldn’t, and that it upsets me, and it is unhealthy for her; she does it anyway. Such as 24 cookie dough squares. Or 6 cans of slim-fast in one night. Or 8 yogurts in a day. She has randomly cooked full loaves of garlic bread in the middle of the night, so when I go to cook the pasta meal I had planned for dinner; no garlic bread. If she finds chocolate anywhere, she will eat it all. I have had whole bags of chocolate chips disappear, entire cans of Pringles, and a dozen eggs at one time.

If I had a bigger bedroom, I would have a bigger refrigerator. Honestly, if I could get away with putting a lock on my refrigerator and pantry, I would. I am sure someone would consider that child endangerment or cruelty or something else along those lines. Even though she is causing herself issues by binge eating like she does.

Have you had a child, sibling, spouse, partner, friend, or roommate do this? How did you deal with it?

Questioning Life Changes, Does it Never End?

Published September 21, 2014 by Angela

I always seem to have a difficult time making very important decisions; never being able to stop asking myself, “but what if I did …”. The past year has been full of life changes for me. All for the positive, but never without stress and worry. I will be the first to admit that I overthink everything. Every single thing. At 42 years old, with a great career, family life, and good health, I still stress over making decisions.

Sometimes I wish I could be a kid again, when someone else would make the decisions for me. Then I wouldn’t be the one responsible when it didn’t work out. I have made some bad decisions; some real whoppers! But I do always own up to them, hopefully apologizing when necessary, and definitely learning from my bad choices.

I watch my girls go through the very same thing. Struggling to make decisions. I can see the look on their face when they are hoping I can and will give them the answer. But I can’t. There are some decisions that they have to make for themselves, to learn and grow from. Even when I know that there will be crying later. Broken hearts. Anger. I have to let them own that. They have to take that road that they choose and decide for themselves if they made the right decision.

My outlook as of late has been to take a positive from a negative, and focus on that. Now if I could just teach that to my girls 🙂

When You Are Not Happy With Where You Are At In Your Life…

Published June 14, 2014 by Angela

…it is up to you to change it. No one can do it for you. Change can be scary, no matter how old you get and how much life experience you have. You need to do what is going to make you happy. Others may get hurt along the way. If you are making the choices you need to make to live a happy life, the ones who truly love you will not be upset with your decisions.

Sometimes it is nice to get advice and support from others, instead of being the one to give advice and support. Even the strongest people on the outside have a weak spot on the inside.

As another of my girls moves into the “teenage” years (Happy 13th Birthday Erin Elizabeth!), I am really starting to examine where I want my life to go, where I want to end up, and what I need to do to get there.

Sometimes behind every strong woman is no one to give them the support and encouragement they want and need. Feeling like you are really, truly alone of this journey called life can be painful for even the strongest of people.

Little Sleep Today, and Lots of Errands

Published June 12, 2014 by Angela

Today I am going to do the one thing I try to not do with my kids…

…bribe them with something to get them to do what I ask them to.

Oh, who am I kidding? I do this ALL the time! 

I have to get up early to get 16 year old to dentist appointment (that was cancelled on Monday after I had adjusted my sleep and work schedule, of course) and then I have to do homework, take care of the animals, and be at a friends house by 8pm.

So, I am leaving them a note that if they clean the house (to MY standards, not theirs) I will buy them dinner tonight.

1) I will not likely have time to cook

2) There is really nothing in the house to make a decent meal with

3) I am 99% sure my house will be cleaned, when I get up, to my standards

And that, my friends, makes me a happy Mom. I see Subway in my very near future 🙂