Tales of Woe

[Guest]

There are just times that I need to just "let things out" to get some "there, there, it's gonna be ok" from friends and family.  Lately, things have been happening that my friends and family are not comfortable with so I get "you're an idiot" more than a "there, there, it's gonna be ok" things.

 

So, I'm starting this thread to get "there, there, it's gonna be ok" pats on the head for those of us who have our own unique Tales of Woe.  Yes, yes, you can tell us we're being idiots, but, rule of the thread is - you have to first give a "there, there, it's gonna be ok" before you tell us we're being idiots.

 

Note, this is not really an Advice thread (although, of course, Advice is always welcome) but more like an "airing out" thread... lighten the load, so to speak.

[Guest]

Okay, I have 3 Tales of Woe to start off with.

 

1.)  We're doing this packing material for raw eggs experiment for my 10-year-old son's Science Experiment.  So we went to get fresh unwashed raw eggs from my friend's farm (will not rot outside of the fridge for 6+ weeks).  While we were there, we looked at all of my friend's chickens (they're for Show and eggs and not for eating) and geese and turkeys and ducks... we came home with a chick in my son's pocket!  My friend had this brooder with a chick that was lame.  She couldn't eat because everytime she pecks the ground she falls over.  My friend mentioned she is going to cull the chick... and magically, it appeared in my son's pocket.  So now I'm hand-feeding this Polish chick with a broken leg... well, we are zoned residential... which means it is illegal for us to have a chicken - even if it is for a pet - because chickens are considered livestock and would require 3 acres of rural residential or agricultural zoning.

 

On top of that, we mailed the raw eggs via USPS all over the US and when I told somebody about it, he said we can't mail raw eggs via USPS without some kind of paperwork... and I'm like, what?  I didn't know that.

 

So, I'm going psychotic with all this unlawful stuff... I confided to my husband and he said... I don't think it's going to be a problem... if Mexicans can cross the border illegally and then go to the government to protest, you can ship raw eggs and raise a chicken...

 

2.)  We watched Brick Mansions over the weekend.  And it started this crazy phase in my 12-year-old to want to do Parkour... ever since he was old enough to climb trees, he's been doing his homework on my roof... jumping off a tree onto the roof and jumping to another tree and onto the fence... etc.  He got really excited doing this when he saw videos of kids pretending to be the Assassin on Assassin's Creed and then he started pretending he's a Ninja, or a Dauntless in Divergent... and now with Brick Mansions.  So, I caved in and signed him up for the local Parkour club... at least then he'll get proper training on climbing roofs... and then I saw the youtube video of a Parkour guy with his knee bone showing through a deep, wide gash....

 

Now, I'm on pins and needles waiting for that first call to pick him up from the ER.... my family, of course, thinks I let my kids run wild... they think - if your kid wants to try out for the local Russian Roulette Club are you gonna let him?

 

3.)  I've been going on FB a lot lately because of my Ward Missionary calling - our announcements are in FB... and so my husband's cousin asked to be my friend and so I accepted - I've never met her, never even talked to her.  I met her siblings.  Anyway, she wrote some really shocking stuff on her wall complete with F words and targetting the father of her children (she left them a while back to live with this other guy)... anyway, it was really nasty and my husband's young nieces are on her friends list... so I posted on it gently reminding her (complete with smileys) that her nieces can see the post... and she replied by calling me nasty names and F words and then called my husband and his brother child molesters!!!

 

My Filipino temper fired up... you don't do that to my husband and get away with it!  I was gonna do some nasty stuff until my husband sat me down and gave me a few imaginary slaps on the cheeks to snap me out of my red haze...

 

Okay... your turn.

[Quin]

Great beeeeeeeeeg hugs to you!

I can help with #2.

AS that kid (who jumped off balconies aiming for Palm trees that were slanted the wrong way, and falling 2 stories i(through bougainvillea) into my mum's roses... Who did cartwheels on adobe fences 12' off the ground (and occasionally slid down them, scraping all the skin off my left side)... Who walked on a broken ankle for 2 weeks before telling my mum...

1) God looks out for children, fools, & the blind. I swear. And being a parkour chick before there was parkour (although I was a gymnast) ... We count as all three. I still think the spirit flattened me to that adobe wall and slid me down it like sandpaper. Yep. Partly in payback. But it also -physics aside, when gravity shifted to the left- totally saved my bacon.

2) Some people have high pain tolerance. Those of us who bash ourselves about as much as we did? We just don't hurt the same as other people. I don't know whether it's nerve damage, or a rocking 4th ventricle (the part of your brain that creates endorphins and natural pain killers), or what. But while stuff hurts, it just doesn't hurt us the same.

3) Lessons teach us how to do the stuff we already do SAFELY . Also, they give us a total,stranger to listen to. Not sure why we'll give a total stranger more credence than out mom,,. But it's true. We do. Mom says its stupid, we do it when she's not looking. Stranger says not to do it... We go "Huh. Yeah. I see your point. That would be stupid."

Face. Palm.

4) Bob Marley.

Every little Ting...gonna be alright.

Q

[SpiritDragon]

I have this image of reverend Lovejoy patting Bart on the back saying "there there," but I can't seem to find a video clip to post for you.

 

That being said I am confident all of these things will work themselves out.

[Wingnut]

I don't really know anything about Parkour, but the 45 seconds of reading I just did tell me that Parkour's foundations are in safety.  It's not just "jumping around rooftops" -- it's trained jumping around rooftops.  Doesn't mean that he won't get hurt, but that if he does, it's likely because he's not following his training correctly.  But you know what?  He'll get hurt in any sport he does.

[Guest]

Update on the Tale...

 

The chicken is growing up and now she can peck at the ground while "sitting down", so at least she is getting some nutrients besides the "baby bird formula" from the syringe.

 

Unfortunately, the Parkour kid came home from school with a gash down his back.  I was getting ready to give the no-Parkour-at-school lecture while dabbing the thing with hydrogen peroxide when he told me he got the gash from a screw-head sticking out of the side of the school bus that he caught while grabbing his backpack from the bottom of the seat.

 

Arrrrgggg!  You know what the hard thing about being a parent is?  Just trying to keep these kids in one piece...

[Quin]

Woe is meeeeeeeee. Argh.

I like this thread.

Because I hate court.

Loathe, despise, revile.

Am terrified of, simply gutted by, starkly fear.

It's a completely visceral thing at this point. The shaking, the sobbing, the throwing up, the sleeping 29 hours in one stretch, the 180 resting heartbeat, the sweating, the staring at my phone trying to MAKE myself call my attorney for 4 days, the taste of metal, the cuts in my palms from my fingernails, HATE court.

And I have 2 trials coming up.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Q

[Guest]

Woe is meeeeeeeee. Argh.

I like this thread.

Because I hate court.

Loathe, despise, revile.

Am terrified of, simply gutted by, starkly fear.

It's a completely visceral thing at this point. The shaking, the sobbing, the throwing up, the sleeping 29 hours in one stretch, the 180 resting heartbeat, the sweating, the staring at my phone trying to MAKE myself call my attorney for 4 days, the taste of metal, the cuts in my palms from my fingernails, HATE court.

And I have 2 trials coming up.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Q

 

Oh no!  Sorry to hear you're going through this Quin!

 

I've never been to court - well, okay, I don't count immigration interview, getting married, and traffic court - but I know it can get really hairy... and dicey.

 

Hopefully, these court sessions are just that you got called for jury duty and not the one where you have to face your ex or his attorney!

[xVOWx]

E-hugs for everyone!  All better? No, I'm sorry! Quin, I can understand the feeling of a strong sense of apprehension, though for entirely different reasons. I hope all goes well for you. Anatess, may your sons sense of compassion for the smaller things never leave him. There are too many cruel people in this world. As for FB, well, I can't say much. I have a 'no family' policy when it comes to social networking sites. It's for their protection .

 

Oh, and this thread idea is GENIUS..... just saying. I suppose I should help keep it alive by sharing my own overly dramatic plight. I apologize if it's too sarcastic or long winded for any ones taste, but I have tried to style it to be somewhat entertaining:

 

I guess this is my journal. Something to get me typing every day, even if it is all convoluted nonsense. Why am I doing this now? Well, at this point in my life I hate my job. I used to love it, minus the drama. But now it’s toxic. The sword of Damocles is ever looming over my head. I risk getting fired because my vastly inferior “superiors” don’t like my personality. It doesn’t matter how much I’ve given to the company or my team. It doesn’t matter that when refuse hits the fan I’m constantly reliable. It doesn’t matter that my shenanigans are innocuous. All that matters is they don’t like me, as a person. Mostly because I dare to challenge authority, but not in any truly aggressive manner. No, it’s because I see through the lies. Their lies. Petty people playing petty games. They are incompetent and they know it (and they know I know it). They don’t like that. Not one bit. Like Pol Pot, free thought is threatening to them. So is the belief of equal treatment. And I’ve seen them get rid of other hard working, honest individuals because those people dared to voice how they were sick of being treated like a peon. What was I talking about? Oh yes, the sword of Damocles. That ever looming dread that makes me sick to my stomach. Wait, let’s back up again, why is this blade that threatens my corporate existence threaded so precariously above my head? An office prank. Juvenile but harmless. The kind that people have been pulling around my place of employ since day one. The kind that everyone (but me) still pulls. However, because I was too foolish to accept the warning signs that ’the powers that be’ were gearing up for a witch hunt, their scarlet brand already hot in the waiting fire, I carried on as if nothing was amiss. Now I’m on a ’final warning’. No verbal, no written. I also live in Utah, which means no labor laws (none that actually protect employment, anyway). Slavery never ended in Amerika, it only changed form, but that is another rant entirely. What caused this situation? I’ll get into that story some other time. Oh, and if I come off as bitter it’s because I am. I taste it constantly. Like I just got punched in the mouth and my gums are bleeding. This might turn out to be a good thing. I’ve known for a long time that this place is no good. Every one who has left says the same thing, no matter what job they got it was a markedly superior atmosphere. The (potential) other part of a silver lining: it’s slowly getting me to not only consider what I should be doing with my life, but motivating me to take steps to get there. Even if they are small steps. Like writing again.

P.S.

If they really want to punish me they’ll keep me there, in my own private hell.

[Iggy]

Anatess, when was the last time your son got a tetanus shot? Gouging his back with a metal screw- really needs a shot.

 

When I first worked at a hardware store, it was in the sporting goods. Had to remove all the cards of fish hooks, remove the price stickers, and put new ones on. 18 times I went to the office and had the boss's son remove those stoopid hooks from my hands. In one day no less.

 

The next day I went to the Dr and got a tetanus shot. Dirty fish hooks weren't the only nasty metal I got hurt on. Bulk nails, screws, bolts, galvanized pipe & fittings, brass fittings, etc. 

[Guest]

Whoa, Iggy!  I have just the pat-on-the-back for you... I was just reading carlimac's post about Joseph...

 

You sound like you're going through what Joseph is going through... having the sword over his head for being the good son... he got sold and that event started his awesome journey!

 

So yeah, I'm not saying you should ask to be fired... or sold to some king... but just keep on keeping on and that awesome journey will eventually unfold!

[Guest]

Anatess, when was the last time your son got a tetanus shot? Gouging his back with a metal screw- really needs a shot.

 

When I first worked at a hardware store, it was in the sporting goods. Had to remove all the cards of fish hooks, remove the price stickers, and put new ones on. 18 times I went to the office and had the boss's son remove those stoopid hooks from my hands. In one day no less.

 

The next day I went to the Dr and got a tetanus shot. Dirty fish hooks weren't the only nasty metal I got hurt on. Bulk nails, screws, bolts, galvanized pipe & fittings, brass fittings, etc. 

 

He got the "required by Florida law" tetanus vaccine, so he's good.  Hopefully...

[Iggy]

This was in 1990 when I first went to work for them. The owner was a woman in her 70's. Her son worked there as did her retired from another career husband. Most of my co-workers were female.

 

Each job she gave me, I completed faster than she figured on, so to keep me busy she gave me *Clean It Up* jobs. I loved it. Got to tidy up the displays, aisles, and re-stock. Also made note of serious over-stock. 

 

I wasn't really happy about cleaning the frilly girl aisle aka Fenton ware, imported tea pots, cups and saucers. BUT once I got a 4 footer emptied and started cleaning (actually washing some of it in soapy & clear water, then her Daughter would come and we would re-display it. THAT was fun. I don't like things equally balanced - my furniture at home isn't parallel to the walls - nor are the pictures on the walls balanced out small, large, small - etc.

 

So I gave the Daughter a different view - I also like to use scarves, runners, and other *out of the box* type of things.

 

Worked there for 8 1/2 years - until I wanted to have Sunday & Mondays off after working every weekend. When I said I wanted to go to Church, then she got *stiff-necked* and wouldn't even consider it.

 

So quit there and went to work at the smaller of the local grocery stores, got 1/2 Sunday off, all day Monday and 1/2 day Tuesday off. Plus I got paid more. 

 

About the fish hooks - it wasn't until about 1 1/2 years after being put on insulin injections that I could do it without trembling, sweat running off my face and holding the insulin pen at the 'ready' position from 5 min. to a max of 45 min.  Yet getting those little fish hooks caught in nearly every part of my hands (palms, backs, along with fingers) really didn't upset me - what it did was Annoy me to distraction!

[Iggy]

There are just times that I need to just "let things out" to get some "there, there, it's gonna be ok" from friends and family.  Lately, things have been happening that my friends and family are not comfortable with so I get "you're an idiot" more than a "there, there, it's gonna be ok" things.

My Tale of Woe:

 

Since the first summer we have lived in this very old 'Trailer Park' in our not so old 1993 Double Wide Manufactured Home, I have done my best to have a garden. The first season it was vegetables grown in the front in the plastic totes that I used to move us in. The clear ones I spray painted the outside with a blue that matched the trim of the house. Filled the lower 2/3 with bark rock, then topped off with Steer Blend soil amendment. Steer Blend is just well aged farm manure added to junky soil. It is THE cheapest soil you can get. Perfect for outdoor potting.

 

The slugs, bugs, and neighborhood & stray cats took quite the toll on the vegetables. Plus the plastic totes were not the right pots to use. They got too hot and what the others didn't get to,the sun caused the plants to bolt. Also, the totes being on the ground was just too low for me.

 

So, when we had our handyman put in the handicap ramp, we had him put in a 16" high raised platform for the totes. That helped me, and really added to the look of the front of the house. Planted bulbs, flower starts and seeds. The slugs were easy to deal with, by the time they reached the top of the totes I removed them and tossed them into the street for the crows to eat.

 

There was only one cat that still was persistent - but once the flowers took off and were in bloom, Cat found someplace else for it's bathroom.

 

The plants overwintered beautifully. The pansy's and tulips died off, but the snapdragons became perennials.  I added Dianthus's in front of the platform. 16 1/2 feet of them! They have thrived, and there is no longer 8" between each plant. Though Cat did it's best to pee and poo them to death.

 

The bulbs did not fare well at all. Several cats pee'd and poo'd on and around them. The tulips, day lilies, glads grew, but their leaves were twisted and deformed. The stems shot up, but the bulbs never developed much. The hyacinths were the worst looking. Twisted, curled leaves, straight stems, and then the blooms were scanty, twisted and curled. 

 

I gave up that summer. When I mowed I avoided looking at my poor sick plants. Only the deep velvet red snapdragons seemed to thrive. The multi-colored snapdragons were dwarfed, but NOT twisted.

 

I got so tired of scooping poo and tossing it in the street. Believe me, had I known if there had been a human owner I would have delivered it to them instead!

 

I used moth balls - but when we opened the windows to cool the house down, the aroma nearly killed us.Used 1" mesh chicken wire. After a week, Cat just tucked under it. When I drilled holes in the lip of the pots (transferred all the soil, + new soil to outdoor pots and planters) and used really small wire ties to hold the chix wire down, Cat up-ended two of the planters!

 

Used plastic forks. Insert handle down, and spaced as close as possible around the flowers & bulbs. Took 300 forks! The second day there were forks tossed out of the pots. There was no dirt tossed out, so Cat had to remove them with its mouth!!! 

 

Used cut up sponges soaked in ammonia. Found those out in the lawn and parking area. Must have really ticked off Cat(s)

 

It was cat poo. I have two indoor cats - and I have lived in the woods around here and know Raccoon poo, rat poo, Bob Cat poo, dog poo and Bear poo. This was Cat poo.

 

This season, Husband and I brainstormed what to do. Get traps and catch the cat(s) - then take them to our severely over crowded shelter? Get plastic flowers and add plaster of Paris to some soil and do away with their bathroom? Or, cover with 1/2" mesh deer netting? 

 

Got the netting via WalMart on-line for 19.99$ (Fred Meyer wanted 29.99$ for the same package). Now how to do it? 

 

I wanted to put 1X2's across the house above the planters and staple the netting and have it drape down. Husband suggested we use electrical pipe and 'fence' it in. We are using 3/4" schedule 40 pvc pipe. 5 feet high and open at the top. The netting will be secured to pipe across the top and will overlap in the middle. It will be secured at the bottom to lengths of pipe, so that the pipe will hold it down and that I can lift it to work on the plants. 

 

If Cat gets in, then I will use hooked stakes at the bottom to secure the netting. If Cat gets entangled in the netting, then I have a decision to make at the time. Release Cat or cut the netting, keeping Cat entangled and take it to the Shelter? Or kill Cat. 

 

Now, before I can plant new flowers the soil has to be cleaned. Sweetened. Contacted a very old friend of mine who used to own an Azalea Nursery. Asked him if adding garden lime would do the trick. He told me to use Dolomite. So, have a 25 pound bag of the lime, The empty of flowers pots will get their soil amended, the pots with the bulbs will have that done to them after the bulbs die out. I'll remove the bulbs and over winter them in mulch in the shed, and treat the soil at that time. 

 

Today or tomorrow we will be constructing the 'fence'. Before securing the bottom, will do the lime and plant the pansey's, columbines, thyme and seeds. Some of the pots are outside of the 'fence' area - those I will cover with the netting and use twine to secure it. Also got two flats of lobelia to plant around the huge pots outside of the fence. Cat doesn't bother up-ending plants. 

 

IF this doesn't work and Cat(s) still poo in my pots - I am going to buy what ever is cheapest - rocks or plaster of paris - and put in Plastic flowers - permanently! 

[Guest]

Iggy, your stories are the best!

I have 2 boys here who are expert shooters of nerf guns... They would love the opportunity to do a stake out and hunt for cats! :-)

[Iggy]

Iggy, your stories are the best!

I have 2 boys here who are expert shooters of nerf guns... They would love the opportunity to do a stake out and hunt for cats! :-)

Thank you Anatess.

I would LOVE to have them here. 

 

Our new neighbors have an indoor-outdoor cat. They can't have a litter pan in the house, and they thought I was more than nuts suggesting that they have an outdoor litter pan. I used to do that with my Ex cat. He flat would not use the litter pan if it was in the house, and outside if it rained it ruined it. So we bought a small dog house and put the litter pan in it. 

 

We lived on 10 acres, so I would dump the 'used' dirt (never used store bought litter) over into the ravine, and fill it with dirt and pine needles. 

 

I also rescued an older cat from an abusive home. This cat would not use dirt/pine needles, outside soft dirt or inside litter. She used pellet stove wood pellets, inside the house. Every few days I would scoop the poo and once every three weeks I burned the urine soaked pellets in the burning barrel.

 

50 pounds of pellets cost 3.95$ and lasted months. Smelled good too, even when Miss Precious just finished using the 'facilities'. Never could get any of my other cats to use the pellets! 

 

The two cats I have now, Brother & Sister - Fred & Ethel Mertz - have to have two litter boxes. One to poo in and one to pee in! AND the boxes have to have hoods! I can use nearly any brand scooping litter. Even that light stuff or the crystals. But they don't like the real perfumy ones. They won't eat if their food is on separate dishes or drink from separate bowls! They patiently take turns eating and drinking. 

 

Love my four legged, furry, 12 year old babies. 

[Guest]

My uncle has 2 Siberian cats - I think they're actually dogs in disguise... they use the human toilet to poo and pee in!  The only thing they don't do is flush...  but, you can't have toilet paper on the dispenser because they like to use toilet paper as a scratching post...

[Mahone]

Virtual hugs for Iggy and Anatess!

 

 

This is actually something you have a little experience in Anatess - quite rare that I get to discuss with someone that has been through the process we're going through.

 

My wife and I got married in December 2011. It was always agreed that we'd move to the US once we were married, as Shannon never had any desire to live in the UK for long. I did negotiate a year in the UK with her though because of my job, so she moved here in December 2011, initially stayed here on a tourist visa, flew back to the US 5 months later where she applied for and obtained a temporary UK work visa to live and work here. She flew back to the UK around September 2012 under this visa.

 

In February 2012, two months after we moved here, my job circumstances changed that meant my services were required for a longer period of time. By May 2013, I felt it was now justified to leave, so we applied for my visa to live and work in the US.

 

This is where all the troubles started. I had fully expected that the process would be quick and smooth like that of the UK visa for my wife, and the absolute maximum length of time that the process should have taken from start to finish was eight months. However, it turns out that only months earlier, Barack Obama had initiated a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants currently living in the US illegally, known as 'deferred action' applications (I-821D). These applications swamped United States Citizenship and Immigration Services with hundreds of thousands of additional applications, and they were given no additional resources to help process these applications, causing massive delays.

 

In December 2013 our application was transferred to a Texas Service Center, where it sat for a further 3 months untouched. Finally, in late March 2014, they approved the application. That isn't the end though, as it then took them a week to send it across to the National Visa Center, where it sat for a further month before we got an application number. We've now waited a further week before we get access to the payment portals and fully expect a further two months for the application go to through the whole NVC process. Then it gets passed onto the US London embassy where we'll likely wait a further two months for my interview, according to recent timescales. So overall, we originally submitted the application in May 2013 and it probably won't be completed until late August 2014, 7 months after we expected and planned to have migrated everything.

 

As a result of this delay, my professional life is in a mess, it's cost us a lot in finances and caused us immense amounts of stress, just not knowing whether it'd be done within a few months or a few years as USCIS didn't give us any correct information regarding timescales throughout the entire process - there is only so long you can carry on telling workplace bosses and family that we simply don't know when we'll be leaving, and not being able to make any plans to do anything, or make any changes in any part of our lives for fear of it clashing with our departure. My wife misses her friends and family immensely, it's not easy being stuck in a foreign country without any knowledge of when you'll be able to go back home.

 

And then to add to all of that, we could have actually filed through the US embassy in London which wasn't affected by the delays - if we had done that, the process would have been over by September 2013. We didn't find that out until afterwards though - hindsight really is 20/20.

 

It's been a really rocky journey and one that I'm glad we won't have to repeat again, as we're both fed up with our lives being on hold for unknown amounts of time.

 

Finally got all that off my chest! I like this place!

[Guest]

Virtual hugs for Iggy and Anatess!

 

 

Oh my goodness!  I wish I got to talk to you about it before you filed!  Yes, it's been a nightmare these past few months in the visa process.

 

It's gotten to be worse than when I applied back in the 80's right after the Reagan amnesty.  It was bad then too - even in the US Embassy in the Philippines.  The idiot embassy did not take appointments.  So, submitting an application is like waiting for a Star Wars movie on opening night - you basically pitch a tent by the doors of the embassy the night before... and even then, you'd be lucky if they call your number before the embassy closes the next day...

 

Okay, so this is not intended to be a Bush versus Obama rant... but right after 9/11, Bush reorganized the INS and put it under Homeland Security.  Things got streamlined so much so that my mom applied for Permanent Residence in the US and got her approval in 6 months.  She waited the requisite 5 years, applied for Citizenship, and became an American Citizen 4 months later.  She went through Texas Service Center...

 

Things were hopping along pretty good until sometime after the start of Obama's 2nd term.

[Guest]

Waaaaaaaa!  Gump, the chicken, passed away last night.  I was devastated.  I don't know how I got to care so much for this chicken but I was bawling... I was bawling so much that my son only cried a little bit in his attempt to "stay strong for his mother".

 

Now, I'm feeling guilty... maybe my son needed to be the one to bawl it out to get it out of his system instead of having to suck it in so he can comfort me...

 

Another thing about parenthood - I'm never sure if anything I do is the right one...

[Bini]

Anatess, you come across as a strong woman, and I have no doubt that your boys take after you. What a great kiddo. And, I'm sorry about your wee chick. I have three dogs (and I've had dogs my whole life) but have never experienced a pet loss yet. I'm really dreading it...

[Guest]

I'm missing Bini.  Where is that girl?

 

So, I have an addition to my Tales of Woe...

 

So lately, my boys have discovered that they can actually run around the house shirtless.  They have their friends over and the first thing their friends do is take off their shirts.  Being the only girl in the house, this bugs the hairs out of me.  My husband, of course, has no problem going shirtless himself...

 

So, I tried to make a rule - shirts on.  Unless there's nobody outside our family of 4 that can see you.  I got ignored.  So, one time, there were 4 boys in addition to my 2 that were in the house having lunch - without shirts.  I don't know what possessed me to say - "If you insist on having no shirt on, I'll take off my shirt too - so that's the rule, if your shirts are off, I'll take mine off too!"... that startled all of them to putting their shirts on... and I promptly forgot about it...

 

So then... my learning to be a smart-aleck 12-year-old was hanging out with the neighbor kid and he took his shirt off (I think it has gotten to be an automatic thing for these kids!)... I glared at him - gave him that special look.  He looked at me, realized it was about his shirt and he said - "Go ahead, take your shirt off".  Ooooohhhh.... my temper went from 0 to 60 in one-millionth of a second... good thing I was able to cap it before it blew!  (I have been batting 100 for over a year!).

 

I ran to my husband and my husband says... there are bigger battles - don't fight this one.  AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

 

Okay... I know I shouldn't threaten kids with consequences I can't follow through.  That's like Parenting 101.  And I absolutely failed on this one.  But, this rule is going to be implemented in my house.  I just need to figure out another way to get it done.

 

Kids - 1, Mom - 0.  But not for long!

[Lakumi]

Kids are sneaky human beings, they're like cats or emu. My parents found rather quickly they couldn't outsmart me when I got smarter then them, and I did.

Sometimes kids get smarter then the parents but... I donno that's not too common, certainly gave my parents a harder time that's for sure.

[pam]

I'm missing Bini.  Where is that girl?

 

 

Didn't she write about taking a trip for a few days during May?

[Guest]

Didn't she write about taking a trip for a few days during May?

 

Oh yeah.  I remember her saying that...