He's blind

I am reading this book on teens (thanks Annie) called "Yes Your Teen is Crazy, Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind" by Michael Bradley. Throughout the book, the author has excerpts from notes he's taken of patients he's seen in his career. There was one about a father and his teenage daughter where no matter what the daughter did, she and the father always fought. He wanted her to respect him, even though she did the things he asked of her, they'd still fight. Turns out, she *liked* the challenge of getting in the last word, and he'd never go for that, so like a child himself, he'd keep arguing with her. It sounds just like my husband and oldest daughter. I read it to him and said, "this sounds like you two"....he said I was full of bull$%!&. So I had Ashley read it (she wasn't in the room when I read it to him), and she said "yep, that's me and dad". My friend came over, she said the same thing. Obviously, my husband has no idea how he acts with the kids. He really doesn't seem to understand when to stop. Our kids are basically good kids who do what they are supposed to. He always finds a reason to argue with them.....therefore, I'm going to assume he's blind.....deaf.....or dumb, because he can't see what he's doing!

Digg'in It!

I have this adorable 9 (almost) month old Maltese puppy. He's one of these dogs that just seems to know when you need love. But he has this one habit that just drives me nuts! No matter where he is, when he wants to lay down, he tries digging himself a hole! He is currently laying under the desk, well, right now he's digging under there, until he finds it suitable to lay down. He'll dig inside what is supposed to be the cat's house (the cat hates it), and lay down in there. He'll dig at our comforter on our bed, until it's just right. He's even dug at my jeans before laying on my lap. I guess he's just lucky he's REALLY cute, or I'd be losing it! Just like kids, dogs are weird!

Ack to Numbers!

I hate numbers....the first time I really remember starting to hate math was my freshman year in high school. Algebra....thanks Mr. Parker for making me hate math. I never understood it and he never would explain it, no matter how many times I asked. I finally just gave up. Now if anyone asks me a question that requires thinking past simple addition, subtraction or multiplication, my brains starts to shut down, it simply doesn't want to deal with it! So today, when I filled in for the receptionist at work (we've been short this week due to illness and vacations), I was a bit worried that I would screw the tally up big time. Luckily, it was a small meetings, and very little product was sold. When I added everything up, I BALANCED! With a whoop of excitement I happily wrote down all my figures and didn't worry about signing my name to it, because I was neither short nor over with the money! How 'bout that! You *can* teach old dogs new tricks!

P.S. My humorous daughter, Ashley, reminded me that a calculator *was* my friend.....and she was right.

Ouch!

I have this really cute suit that I wore to work today. It makes me look shapely, yet thin (I think I look HOT in it!). But along with that, I wore these awesome high heel shoes. They're gorgeous, especially with the suit. Unforunately, I stand when I'm working....I stood from 9:00 until 1:15, when I finally got into my car. By then my feet, legs, and lower back were all screaming in pain! Which in turn made my head throb. What makes us women torture ourselves like that?

Why do they do that?

Is it just me, or is IMing with teenagers becoming more of a problem that it should be? I am seriously thinking of banning it from our home! In one week (this week) I have read conversations between my daughters and others that I'm appalled at (yes, they let me read this!). The first one was between an 8th grade boy and my 7th grade daughter. He was trying to get her to admit she liked a boy that already had a girlfriend. She kept denying it and he kept getting nastier (sp?), using filthier and filthier language and attacking her character. I was truly disgusted by what he said. I told her to block him and she was no longer to talk to him, on the computer OR at school. I also said I was thinking about printing it out and showing his parents. She told him this before blocking him and he sent her an e-mail, apologizing all over the place, begging her to please ask me not to talk to his parents. I am still deciding on that one. Then last night, Ashley (who's a sophomore) asked me to come up to her room to see this exchange. Someone she didn't recognize IM'd her, saying she didn't deserve the guy she is seeing and that she was an "ugly, fat, whore". Then when Ashley asked who it was, they signed off. I suppose it's easier for kids to say what they think when they aren't facing someone in person, but this is getting ridiculous! I'm really ticked off as a parent and hurt that my kids had to be subjected to this! What's a parent to do????

Monday Already?

Isn't weather amazing? I live in Colorado....when we moved here, my oldest daughter (who was going into 4th grade at the time) was pretty sure that we'd have snow year round. But since we don't live at the top of Pike's Peak, but toward the north east part of the state, we don't get snow a lot. If we lived further east, we'd get more snow, and further west, more snow, but where we live, it seems to skip right over us. Watching the weather and of course, the football games yesterday, I see the abundance of snow out east (and I mean the east coast this time!). I sit in Colorado, where it's supposed to be 65 degrees today! Go figure!

Goodbye to Johnny Carson. I am not a late night person, but since he was on when I was younger (and able to stay up later), I remember watching him, and he was funny. He had that dry sense of humor and great comedic timing. He will be missed.

Something to Rant About!

Yesterday I had nothing, well today, I'm ticked!!!! I came out of Wal-Mart, put my stuff in the Durango, grabbed my cart and the cart someone had left in front of my vehicle, when I noticed that there was a small dent and white paint on the front fender of the *D*. Grrrrrrr! This is brand new and my guess, it was mady by a cart that some lazy person didn't put away (like the one left by the *D*). This REALLY ticks me off because 1) the Durgano is only 8 months old) and 2) this happened to my Expedition when I'd had it only 6 days! The sad part is, people are SO stinking lazy they can't walk across the driving lane to put their cart away. That's how far away the cart return was from where I was parked today. And we wonder why people are overweight (as are America's kids these days), because a lot of people are just plain lazy and they aren't teaching their kids a thing! So people, be responsible, be respectful and most of all, quit being so %@#^ lazy!!!

Nothing New

Sheesh, life must be boring right now. I have NOTHING to write about. Nothing interesting anyway. Nothing funny nor ironic has happened. Nothing that makes me want to rant about has happened. Nothing that has made me burst with pride has happened. Guess you'll just have to read about nothing.

How Old Are You?

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

I like work

It was nice going to work today! No husband, no kids, no dogs (and they haven't really given me any problems lately! ). I got to chat with about 50 some women and although I was "working" we had some fun. Women who are losing weight together ROCK!

And the problem being a parent is....

Honestly, I always thought that if I was straightforward with my girls, let them know they could come to me about anything, life would be fairly easy raising them. Boy am I wrong!
Last night (after a perfectly lovely Sunday, something that doesn't happen very often here!), Eric listened in to one of Morgan's phone conversations. He does this quite often....I don't agree with it, although he's gotten some good information this way. Evidently, she told a couple boys she and her friend were going to "sneak out and smoke a ciagrette"....then they talked about "jungle juice". Shortly after he told me this, she came downstairs and asked if Krista could spend the night. You can imagine what happened from there. We confiscated the cigarette, took Krista home, drilled Morgan on the conversation and where she got the cigarette, what she's done before, etc. She swears she was just joking when she said they were going to sneak out, never planned to smoke the cigarette (she wanted to look cool) and she got it from her sister. So I march up to Ashley's room, demand the cigarettes (while HER friend is over), ask where she got them, to which she replied they were a friends. I broke them all in pieces and threw them away, Eric and I gave her the whatfor, the "your sister looks up to you speech" and I gave them both the "don't you remember watching your grandma die last summer?" Anyone who knows us knows Eric's mom died of emphysema last June, and we were all sitting there, in the room, when she passed away. Needless to say, Morgan is grounded from everything but school and basketball....no computer, no phone, no cell phone and no friends. Ashley, since she came clean and handed over the cigarettes, is only my personal housekeeper for the week. I'm SO disappointed in these two. I guess all my reminders of why they shouldn't be doing certain things hasn't sunk in. Boy, am I naive or what? So much for bragging on them these days.

My Nothing Day

Thursday night as Eric and I lay in bed, he says to me "So, tomorrow you have nothing to do?" I laughed at him and said "sure, nothing". So, here's what I did yesterday....pretty much nothing...
I got up and showered, took Ashley to school, went to the coffee shop for chai tea, to Curves to let them know I was transfering to the Eaton one and say goodbye, off to the grocery store, then to the sporting goods store for some last minute gifts for Morgan, back home and cleaned Morgan's room (anyone who knows her knows what a task that was), and then I scrubbed her bathroom (this was sort of a bday gift), while doing that I was catching up on her laundry (3 loads of hers, washed, folded AND put away), then I picked up her bday lunch (sesame chicken) and ran that and cupcakes to school, back home, cleaned the dining room and living room, wrapped her bday presents, picked both dcs up from school, dropped 2 extras off at their houses, picked up a balloon bouquet and her cake, back home, cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher, ran Ashley back to Eaton (wrestling meet), back home, made chicken enchiladas and quacamole, cleaned up that mess just in time for Eric to walk in the door, ran the vacuum and then our guests showed up. Then I had to serve dinner, cake, clean up that, and and bday wrap then finally sat down to play cards. So, there's nothing for you!

It's Morgan's Birthday!

It's true! Thirteen years ago today, I lay in a hospital bed in Lexington, NE wondering what was going to happen. Due to an infection, my water broke, but I wasn't due for another month. By evening, along came Morgan....all 5 lb 8oz of her. Now at 13, she's 1 1/4" taller than me. She's beautiful, she's a talented athlete, she's smart and she has so much engery, watching her makes me tired! As a little one, she was so sweet, she looked up to her big sister (and I'm sure she still does, only she wouldn't admit it), she loved hugs and she never walked anywhere, it was always a dead on run. I'm surprised she's not more of an artist, since she seemed to find anything and everything to write with, including my eyeliner pencils. And she'd write on anything, including our walls, linoleum, kitchen chairs and cabinets, reading books and Eric's senior yearbook. She even wrote on her carpet once when sent to her room for a timeout! But, she made up for those things with her sweet personality and her zest for life! Now at 13, she's trying to figure out who she is. I can tell you this, the girl throws a hard punch and can out play a lot of kids her age in just about any sport. So I'm a proud Mom, what can I say? Anyway, Happy Birthday Morgan, I love you!

Men!

Why in the world would a man wake up his wife, ask if his clothes matched then get mad when she says no???? If he doesn't want to really know if they match, then don't wake up the wife. If he's going to get mad, maybe he should learn what goes together and what doesn't. In any case, if the man is going to wake the wife up, he should at least have the presence of mind to be greatful that she's helping him without having a cow when he finds out (again) that what he's picked out doesn't match!

More Sports?

Seems sports is the hot topic for me these days. Can't help it when one kid is so into them! On the softball front, Morgan is adamant about not playing this summer. So much so, she's e-mail a couple of club volleyball programs to see about getting on a team. They had tryouts last November, but one e-mailed her back saying they may want her in case of an injury to one of their players. We also thought she may be able to attend a few camps this summer and we'd be able to actually GO camping more often! Right now, Morgan's playing basketball at school. She found out yesterday she made the A team. Can't wait to see their first game next Wednesday!
I guess I should be glad that Ashley hasn't played sports since volleyball in 8th grade! She *is* managing the HS wrestling team, but I don't *have* to attend the meets if I don't want to! Keep on singing Ashley, I love to hear you sing!
Oh and Cat, I think you sent me your yucky weather....it's foggy, drizzly and dreary here today!

More Softball Drama

Morgan tells me she's not playing softball. She's mad about the whole thing. The "coach" and I have been exchanging e-mails. I'm wondering if she's just burnt out. The past two years that she and her husband have coached, she's been going to school, working up to 4 part time jobs and last summer she planned their wedding (which was in August, not quite 2 weeks after the World Series). I talked to the recreational director for our town, which is not the same one who screwed things up so badly last year, to see what her plans were. Lucky for me, she's our neighbors daughter and was more than willing to talk! They aren't having tryouts until Feburary, and she'd be more than willing to have our coaches come back to Eaton. I then got a e-mail today from one of the dad's who's daughter was supposed to be on the Flames team (the one that folded), and he's stepping up, saying he'll coach and he's sure he can find 2 more players. So I'm not sure at this point what we'll do. We found out that Morgan can't get on a club volleyball team now, they have tryouts after the school's volleyball season. So maybe next year she can do that and not worry about making a softball team at all. This is the 3rd year in a row we've had too much drama with softball!

What Softball? What Softball?

When I got home today, first thing I did was check my e-mail. I found a note there from Morgan's softball coaches....they are folding the team. They tried to get their own team going this year, because of problems in the past with the towns Recreation department. Unfortunately, we only have 10 girls on the team, we need at least 11, and one of the 10 has suddenly disappeared and her parents have changed their phone numbers and moved, so we don't even know if she's playing. That would bring us down to 9. I'm waiting for the coach to call me back or at least e-mail me. We probably have 2 options, hope like mad that they'll go ahead and coach thru our town again, or hope we can find another team that needs an extra player. Like Eric said, if nothing works out, Morgan can play a lot of golf this year. I would definitely MISS softball. I guess we could find a club volleyball team if all else fails. You'd think I'd be thrilled that softball my not take up our summer, but I'm not.
Oh, Cat, the sun is shining here today, hope you see it soon!

Um, it's Winter?

Yesterday I said it was freezing here.....I was wrong, yesterday was a heat wave! Right now, it's 3 degrees, -7 with the wind chill. And 2 hours ago, when I'm sure it was colder, I was out shoveling our driveway and sidewalks! Brrrrrr! It's still snowing here, luckily it's a light snow. Chester's going to have to wear his sweater when going out today!

Freezing

I'm not sure what just happened, but a blog I was just typing went ahead and published itself, and I was in mid type! Weird! Anyway, it's cold here, really, really cold. I looked like an idiot driving to work today, because I could only find one glove. Morgan had them on and threw them at me yesterday. I found one, I searched the Durango for the other one. I asked Ashley if she could see it when I took her to school. Nope, no glove. I went ahead and wore one, and drove with that hand. When I left work, I looked some more, still no glove. I got in, went to buckle my seat belt and low and behold, there was my other glove, right by the seat belt lock! I think it just appeared there, because I sure didn't see it this morning!

I Made It!

How 'bout that!? I made it up until midnight! Actually, by time I shut all the lights off and locked all the doors, then answered the phone, thanks for calling *after* midnight Morgan, it was almost 12:30! Eric didn't make it, at 11:30 he finally succumbed to his droopy eyes and went to bed. We did manage to watch 2 movies, his Blue Collar DVD and Denzel Washington's Man on Fire. Good movie! So now it's a new year and I'm hoping for another good one. It's a biggie for most of us in the birthday department, Morgan will turn 13 in 2 weeks, I will be 40 in April and Ashley will be 16 in July! Eric ruins it by turning 41 this year! Ha! Ha! Well Happy New Year ya'll!