I heard a story/joke once about a woman at the grocery store with her screaming daughter, demanding every piece of candy and toy imaginable. The woman calmly said things like, "It's okay, Ellen, we're almost finished," and "Hang in there, we're approaching the checkout." A passerby, who witnessed the exchange, stopped the woman outside the store and complimented her on her calm demeanor with her daughter, Ellen. The woman looked at the stranger with a confused look. "No, I'm Ellen," she replied.
It's Friday of Spring Break. The kids have been out of school since last Friday. I started with an optimistic attitude as I was accomplishing so much for the chickens. I've also made a serious dent in the laundry. I cleaned out my car, cleaned up my room, swept the kitchen floor three times, scrubbed the counters, the tub, and read books with my 7 year old. Yet nothing ever seems to get finished. I can't seem to keep the floor swept long enough to mop it. I just walked across it and my sock stuck to it. I hate sticky floors. I've been to Costco twice yet we're out of food. Again. There are paper cups in the downstairs family room along with plastic cups that belong in the kitchen. Quirkle tiles litter the upstairs play room and I just threw away a stack of printouts from whatever struck one of the children from the computer.
All the oldest wants to do is hang out with her friends/boyfriend and she recently informed me she needed a prom dress. I distinctly remember buying her a prom dress last year, paying twice what I paid for my wedding dress (it was rental) and commenting that it could be used again by changing the sash. That's okay, she told me this morning, she could go with Emily and her mom to get a prom dress. I don't have that kind of cash sitting around to hand to her. And Emily's mom is buying Emily another prom dress? I count on Emily's mom to be more strict than me. Emily is the second of 7 children. C'mon!
My 14 year old has accosted me with great ideas that require me to put whatever I am doing on hold and attend to whatever it is she wants to do rightthisminute. You don't EVEN want to see the fallout. Will I buy a pass for Thanksgiving Point? $70 a person and we don't know how long it lasts. $170 for the year and the family. Phhhah! How about can she go dig for Trilobytes? Only $15/hour. Times whoever else wants to go. How about the Late Night with T-Rex? $35. Then she talked her dad into taking her shopping for pioneer trek clothes. Yes, much of it she got at D.I. (second hand) but not all of it. Meanwhile, there is a stack of fabric I bought because they were making trek skirts at young women. At the time, I dropped everything and went to get it. Also bought elastic for the waist. Now she needs elastic for the waist of a skirt she bought at Ross. Do I know where some is? Last I saw it, it was on the pile of fabric I bought for the trek clothes. No, I won't drop everything and go buy more. Even though she believes she needs it rightthisminute. When I summarized her disregard my time and my money, she screamed at me to GO AWAY and she hates me.
Fantastic.
The 12 year old has been absent every single day with his friends. He has a huge state report due on Monday, neglecting to tell me until Friday, today, that he needs to get into the Pioneer library but doesn't know the password. So can he go play? I spent the next half hour looking and inputting different passwords until one finally worked and told him to work on it. But Josh called. He wants to play. No. Arguing and arguing. Just let me go play. Then he picked a fight with his sister. Then a fight with his brother. Then he insisted everybody leave the room where the television is (and the kitchen) so he could do his research on the computer. The laptop. It's portable.
The 7 year old got together with another little boy in the neighborhood and that explains the paper cups in the family room. They also attempted to make snow cones one day when I came home and found them home alone. Earlier that same day I barely walked in his room in time to save the cat from being shoved into a backpack. His friend has also been teaching different words for anatomical parts which he has been passing on to me.
So it's Friday. Scott called and thought it would be a fun idea to take a half day off so we could go take a mini-vacation. We'd find a destination and go for a night, staying in a motel. All 6 of us.
Have fun, dear.
It's Friday of Spring Break. The kids have been out of school since last Friday. I started with an optimistic attitude as I was accomplishing so much for the chickens. I've also made a serious dent in the laundry. I cleaned out my car, cleaned up my room, swept the kitchen floor three times, scrubbed the counters, the tub, and read books with my 7 year old. Yet nothing ever seems to get finished. I can't seem to keep the floor swept long enough to mop it. I just walked across it and my sock stuck to it. I hate sticky floors. I've been to Costco twice yet we're out of food. Again. There are paper cups in the downstairs family room along with plastic cups that belong in the kitchen. Quirkle tiles litter the upstairs play room and I just threw away a stack of printouts from whatever struck one of the children from the computer.
All the oldest wants to do is hang out with her friends/boyfriend and she recently informed me she needed a prom dress. I distinctly remember buying her a prom dress last year, paying twice what I paid for my wedding dress (it was rental) and commenting that it could be used again by changing the sash. That's okay, she told me this morning, she could go with Emily and her mom to get a prom dress. I don't have that kind of cash sitting around to hand to her. And Emily's mom is buying Emily another prom dress? I count on Emily's mom to be more strict than me. Emily is the second of 7 children. C'mon!
My 14 year old has accosted me with great ideas that require me to put whatever I am doing on hold and attend to whatever it is she wants to do rightthisminute. You don't EVEN want to see the fallout. Will I buy a pass for Thanksgiving Point? $70 a person and we don't know how long it lasts. $170 for the year and the family. Phhhah! How about can she go dig for Trilobytes? Only $15/hour. Times whoever else wants to go. How about the Late Night with T-Rex? $35. Then she talked her dad into taking her shopping for pioneer trek clothes. Yes, much of it she got at D.I. (second hand) but not all of it. Meanwhile, there is a stack of fabric I bought because they were making trek skirts at young women. At the time, I dropped everything and went to get it. Also bought elastic for the waist. Now she needs elastic for the waist of a skirt she bought at Ross. Do I know where some is? Last I saw it, it was on the pile of fabric I bought for the trek clothes. No, I won't drop everything and go buy more. Even though she believes she needs it rightthisminute. When I summarized her disregard my time and my money, she screamed at me to GO AWAY and she hates me.
Fantastic.
The 12 year old has been absent every single day with his friends. He has a huge state report due on Monday, neglecting to tell me until Friday, today, that he needs to get into the Pioneer library but doesn't know the password. So can he go play? I spent the next half hour looking and inputting different passwords until one finally worked and told him to work on it. But Josh called. He wants to play. No. Arguing and arguing. Just let me go play. Then he picked a fight with his sister. Then a fight with his brother. Then he insisted everybody leave the room where the television is (and the kitchen) so he could do his research on the computer. The laptop. It's portable.
The 7 year old got together with another little boy in the neighborhood and that explains the paper cups in the family room. They also attempted to make snow cones one day when I came home and found them home alone. Earlier that same day I barely walked in his room in time to save the cat from being shoved into a backpack. His friend has also been teaching different words for anatomical parts which he has been passing on to me.
So it's Friday. Scott called and thought it would be a fun idea to take a half day off so we could go take a mini-vacation. We'd find a destination and go for a night, staying in a motel. All 6 of us.
Have fun, dear.
Been there, done that, don't miss it.
ReplyDeleteJust remind yourself that you will get to the checkout line.
Last year when I bought my daughter her prom dress I told her that it had to last for at least 3 proms. Fine with her, she said. She hates shopping almost as much as I do. (And she's hard to fit.) When the sales lady asked if she wanted to look at shoes, she got a pained look on her face, and said, "NO!"
ReplyDeleteGuess sometimes you just get lucky.
lol, maybe I should start talking to myself at the store.
ReplyDeleteOh thank you. I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one whose life sounds like that!
ReplyDelete