My oldest son was home for a month over Christmas break. One of his chores was of course, driving his siblings the full two miles to the school and the pick them up in the afternoon. Yes it's cruel to force a college student on break to wake up early, but it's also cruel to make me pay his college tuition!
My Christmas present was three full day away from my family (I'm sure they felt it was a present for them too). I was out of the country on a little island where cell service couldn't reach me. I blissfully enjoyed three days in a villa. When my Diet Coke went low, I got into a microscopic acid green machine that had nothing more than a steering wheel and a gas pedal. The car did all that cars were meant to do, it got me from one place to another. Once again, I was driving on the left hand said of the road, but was grateful I wasn't driving my big ML 500 here…the island just wasn't big enough to hold mini-vans and SUV's.
While I scooted around the bumpy, sandy roads in beautiful weather, my son was paralyzed in after school traffic. The day I returned home he knew not to complain about helping with his brothers and sisters. I could tell by the look on their faces the trip wasn't an easy one. The third day back right before Christmas break my son came back with his younger siblings in tow. His face was bright red he threw his car keys across the table and told me,"There isn't enough money in the world to make drive back to that school!"
Christmas came early last year.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Was it because of the dog?
My biggest complaint has been about the disaster of the school's car line. I've felt justified in my anger. If the Christian radio personality signs off each day with a "blessing "for parents going to pick up their children, then millions of others are suffering each day with a form of self-induced whiplash. Push the pedal to the floor now, just to hit the brakes seconds later, to maintain my position in line. Its got the same jerking motion as when we tried to teach my son to drive a stick shift.
Tuesday I got an early Christmas present from a man in a silver sedan with a schnauzer hanging out of the back window. It didn't seem like a gift at first. He cut line, forgoeing the slalom course of dotted lines, so he would be in next in line. Instead of getting right on his bumper and risk the chance of dog drool on my car I tried everything I could to think rationally. Maybe the dog needed to go to the bathroom, or be at the vets, or as usual I just got cut off.
When the race became serious, and we were no longer fighting for inches but instead full car lengths, the man in the sedan waved for me to go in front of him! He knew he cut me off and cared! (Yes, I know it wasn't about me but more likely the safety of his dog.)
Regardless in my fourteen years of driving, this was the first time that someone did the right thing. I was so happy that I out-talked my kids when they got in the car! When the kids finally understood what had happened, the kids came up with a simple, logical explanation. It was because of the dog!
Tuesday I got an early Christmas present from a man in a silver sedan with a schnauzer hanging out of the back window. It didn't seem like a gift at first. He cut line, forgoeing the slalom course of dotted lines, so he would be in next in line. Instead of getting right on his bumper and risk the chance of dog drool on my car I tried everything I could to think rationally. Maybe the dog needed to go to the bathroom, or be at the vets, or as usual I just got cut off.
When the race became serious, and we were no longer fighting for inches but instead full car lengths, the man in the sedan waved for me to go in front of him! He knew he cut me off and cared! (Yes, I know it wasn't about me but more likely the safety of his dog.)
Regardless in my fourteen years of driving, this was the first time that someone did the right thing. I was so happy that I out-talked my kids when they got in the car! When the kids finally understood what had happened, the kids came up with a simple, logical explanation. It was because of the dog!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Making it back to the Real World
After an exciting trip to London and Ireland, how did I think one expensive 11day trip would satisfy my traveling gene for the year. Hey it was bred into me! As I write this now I have no idea where my parents are, only where they were last. They have the advantage of having babysitters for the four children who are left at home. I grew up in a household where I would go to sleep in my footy pajamas snuggling my favorite teddy bear, and wake up in the car the next morning in a different state.
Since no new trips are planned; I've been pouting until now. No new trips planned for me, just my hubby who gets to jet set off to NYC, Houston, California, and last and least Cleveland.
(Two of my children were born in Ohio so I can't say too much)
I had my dream trip. It didn't turn out like we had planned, but it was definitely memorable. I had always imagined I would never want to return to the U.S., but by the tenth day I was desperately craving some ice and really irked with the lack of lifts (elevators) and curb side cut outs so wheelchairs can cross without climbing Mount Everest or following off of it. My temper did get the best of me, while my husband was trying to shout over the car noise while simultaneously checking my life insurance policy, I dropped off the curb and tried to outrun the famous DoubleDecker Buses in London. (It really would have been a fitting end…me charging off into..well.. there is an old Morrissoy song about being killed by the gigantic red bus) Obnoxious American, I definitely qualified that day.
Now it's hard to go from your favorite pass time traveling, to being tied down to a school regimen.
So now I have been back in the car line at school. There is just no way around it. Luckily, I am on the opposite side of the school this year from the DREAD BUMPER SITTING MANIAC (alias teacher); but that is not enough to satisfy me.
There are others out there that get as frustrated as I do, I have heard them call in for prayer to make it through the twenty minutes of stopping,merging, honking and getting the right kid in your car. Prayer is the best option, leaving your child to be picked up last seems really cruel, at least most days. This morning I was even greeted with a pastry, which I am sure means we will be selling said pastry to the public shortly.
Tonight is even a bigger dilemma! Parent/Teachee Conferences! My husband was going to attend tonight to hear the good (?) the bad and the ugly; but he got called away to stay the day in Atlanta. I told my son I would go but I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't end up in jail. He's 11, he knows I have a vendetta against the school and driving. I will report back tomorrow if I live.
Since no new trips are planned; I've been pouting until now. No new trips planned for me, just my hubby who gets to jet set off to NYC, Houston, California, and last and least Cleveland.
(Two of my children were born in Ohio so I can't say too much)
I had my dream trip. It didn't turn out like we had planned, but it was definitely memorable. I had always imagined I would never want to return to the U.S., but by the tenth day I was desperately craving some ice and really irked with the lack of lifts (elevators) and curb side cut outs so wheelchairs can cross without climbing Mount Everest or following off of it. My temper did get the best of me, while my husband was trying to shout over the car noise while simultaneously checking my life insurance policy, I dropped off the curb and tried to outrun the famous DoubleDecker Buses in London. (It really would have been a fitting end…me charging off into..well.. there is an old Morrissoy song about being killed by the gigantic red bus) Obnoxious American, I definitely qualified that day.
Now it's hard to go from your favorite pass time traveling, to being tied down to a school regimen.
So now I have been back in the car line at school. There is just no way around it. Luckily, I am on the opposite side of the school this year from the DREAD BUMPER SITTING MANIAC (alias teacher); but that is not enough to satisfy me.
There are others out there that get as frustrated as I do, I have heard them call in for prayer to make it through the twenty minutes of stopping,merging, honking and getting the right kid in your car. Prayer is the best option, leaving your child to be picked up last seems really cruel, at least most days. This morning I was even greeted with a pastry, which I am sure means we will be selling said pastry to the public shortly.
Tonight is even a bigger dilemma! Parent/Teachee Conferences! My husband was going to attend tonight to hear the good (?) the bad and the ugly; but he got called away to stay the day in Atlanta. I told my son I would go but I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't end up in jail. He's 11, he knows I have a vendetta against the school and driving. I will report back tomorrow if I live.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Count Down to Ireland...Forget the Blarney Stone
Every book I have read about Ireland talks about the warm welcoming people that you meet there. That is the first page, second page is all about kissing the Blarney Stone. Now being an American and not knowing enough history I believed that the stone gave you the gift of the gab as in gossip. The truth is buried in fact that the Lord from Blarney was fool of baloney, and the Queen wished he would learn the gift of speaking eloquently.
I told my husband that we could skip the Blarney Stone when I found out about the 200 steep steps it takes to get there. My husband still was undaunted in this Irish folklore so imbedded into Irish culture that it would be like a foreigner coming to America and missing the Statue of Liberty. (Disney World takes a close second/ or maybe first can't be sure).
Luckily the debate ended peacefully. My friend who summered in Ireland several years warned me.
"There is just one thing not to do." she said. "Don't kiss the Blarney Stone."
Puzzled I asked why.
"It's a common saying in Ireland,"she continued. "That the Irish piss on the stone so that the tourists kiss it in the morning."
My husband and I scratched the Blarney Castle off our list.
I told my husband that we could skip the Blarney Stone when I found out about the 200 steep steps it takes to get there. My husband still was undaunted in this Irish folklore so imbedded into Irish culture that it would be like a foreigner coming to America and missing the Statue of Liberty. (Disney World takes a close second/ or maybe first can't be sure).
Luckily the debate ended peacefully. My friend who summered in Ireland several years warned me.
"There is just one thing not to do." she said. "Don't kiss the Blarney Stone."
Puzzled I asked why.
"It's a common saying in Ireland,"she continued. "That the Irish piss on the stone so that the tourists kiss it in the morning."
My husband and I scratched the Blarney Castle off our list.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Kissing the Castle---Who needs the Blarney Stone!
I am in the midst of nursing two sick, one cranky, birds back to health. Did I also mention that I am also helping my HS senior fill out college applications? Oh, yes and a two tweens on two different planets. One husband working his butt off and me? Well I am getting older and its colder so I am hanging on to the hopes of something fun. Okay one of my son's teacher's was arrested for assault that made me happy--she deserved it! Problem is the school still let her teach.
So what do I have to cling to? My trip next spring to Ireland! My best friend went several times to Ireland in college and listening to her it sounds like a place I could move to and call home. Of course I would want to live in a castle with some kind of rodent protector....and an elevator...yes I know I am pushing it, but living in a castle would either give me nightmares and pain from the drafts..or maybe it would be a magic castle where I would turn into a woman of the Manor who found secret passages interlaced with old notes stuffed into walls.
Unfortunately my mom beat me to Dublin...she picks up and just goes places..but was only there for a couple hours. So the next couple months I will be trying to find a route through Ireland with maybe a stop in England. Any hints, suggestions, let me know. Travel guides are great, but hearing the ups and downs of a country from someone who has been is much more informative!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Ban on Soda? ONLY IN NYC...
America's kids are fat. NYC's Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks he knows the reason. Kids consuming too much soda. Bloomberg banned all sodas and other sugared drinks bigger than 16oz from being sold at restaurants, cafeterias, and movies, and fast food places.
I was stunned. Thoughts of the Prohibition era, raced through my mind. Instead of alcohol, police would be checking for 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke, hidden under jackets, jammed into mega purses or covered by blankets and hidden in a stroller.
Yes, I am exaggerating, but to me having the luxury to drink a soda when and where I want is part of the American Dream...for life, liberty, and the freedom to have as much soda as I want.
My love/addiction for this mixture of chemicals and water will probably have my body preserved for 30 years after my death. In fact before I got married my husband promised that no matter what happened to us financially, I would always have Diet Coke to drink. Scary huh?
At this point though, Bloomberg isn't focusing on diet drinks. Bloomberg is more concerned with diet soda's tastier, sugary, syrupy sister, regular soda sold in containers that hold more than16oz.
Raising 3 children I constantly told them the bad side effects of drinking soda;(caffeine, cost of sodas) as I popped the tab on a Diet Coke can, and began drinking. This of course did nothing but make my children want to drink soda more.
My kids were at least six years old before they were allowed to have a couple sips of soda in my house. Sodas were reserved for birthday parties, eating out, and Grandma's house. (There was no way I was going to pass up a weekend get away with my husband over the kids consuming a couple of cans of soda.) Even now, at age 17, 12, and 11, I know my kids generally consume two cans of diet soda a week.
Can those extra ounces of regular soda be the key to America's rising childhood obesity? I doubt it!
This government ban is stepping into a place it doesn't belong. How do they plan on enforcing this ban? Tasting every child's 16 oz cup to make sure it is a diet drink? Would a police officer stand guard over the free refill soda fountain at Chucky Cheese? Is the government willing to give me the extra money it takes to buy three smaller sodas instead of just buying one large drink at the movies?
There are so many other options that make sense than banning 16 oz sodas. Bring back recess, or gym every day during the school year, Talk more about healthy eating during school hours.
The real culprit to childhood obesity is the countless hours kids spend watching television and playing video games. My kids recently got banned for one night from t.v., video games, and computers. After whining for 15 minutes (that has to burn calories too), they all three decided to go outside and play a game. They stayed outside until dark, and only complained when they had to come inside.
Banning anything when it comes to food seems absurd. The government is becoming the Nanny Nation, stepping into a role that the founders of our country probably never even considered. If the government is regulating foods in the interest of out children, shouldn't the next attack be on the go to babysitter of choice..t.v.?
Banning television for 3 hours a day would cause a nation of panicked parents, but it would make America's children healthier.
.
I was stunned. Thoughts of the Prohibition era, raced through my mind. Instead of alcohol, police would be checking for 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke, hidden under jackets, jammed into mega purses or covered by blankets and hidden in a stroller.
Yes, I am exaggerating, but to me having the luxury to drink a soda when and where I want is part of the American Dream...for life, liberty, and the freedom to have as much soda as I want.
My love/addiction for this mixture of chemicals and water will probably have my body preserved for 30 years after my death. In fact before I got married my husband promised that no matter what happened to us financially, I would always have Diet Coke to drink. Scary huh?
At this point though, Bloomberg isn't focusing on diet drinks. Bloomberg is more concerned with diet soda's tastier, sugary, syrupy sister, regular soda sold in containers that hold more than16oz.
Raising 3 children I constantly told them the bad side effects of drinking soda;(caffeine, cost of sodas) as I popped the tab on a Diet Coke can, and began drinking. This of course did nothing but make my children want to drink soda more.
My kids were at least six years old before they were allowed to have a couple sips of soda in my house. Sodas were reserved for birthday parties, eating out, and Grandma's house. (There was no way I was going to pass up a weekend get away with my husband over the kids consuming a couple of cans of soda.) Even now, at age 17, 12, and 11, I know my kids generally consume two cans of diet soda a week.
Can those extra ounces of regular soda be the key to America's rising childhood obesity? I doubt it!
This government ban is stepping into a place it doesn't belong. How do they plan on enforcing this ban? Tasting every child's 16 oz cup to make sure it is a diet drink? Would a police officer stand guard over the free refill soda fountain at Chucky Cheese? Is the government willing to give me the extra money it takes to buy three smaller sodas instead of just buying one large drink at the movies?
There are so many other options that make sense than banning 16 oz sodas. Bring back recess, or gym every day during the school year, Talk more about healthy eating during school hours.
The real culprit to childhood obesity is the countless hours kids spend watching television and playing video games. My kids recently got banned for one night from t.v., video games, and computers. After whining for 15 minutes (that has to burn calories too), they all three decided to go outside and play a game. They stayed outside until dark, and only complained when they had to come inside.
Banning anything when it comes to food seems absurd. The government is becoming the Nanny Nation, stepping into a role that the founders of our country probably never even considered. If the government is regulating foods in the interest of out children, shouldn't the next attack be on the go to babysitter of choice..t.v.?
Banning television for 3 hours a day would cause a nation of panicked parents, but it would make America's children healthier.
.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
An accident occurs!
Accidents happen. I joke about it all the time. Nothing could prepare me for the shock of hearing that my 17 yr-old son, and his 2 siblings were in a wreck. Thank God no one was hurt, just really shaken up...me included. My son's car was hit in the back passenger side door, right where my daughter was sitting.
I was never so glad that my son was driving an SUV! I don't care about the extra gas, or possible complications from my son driving an SUV, the benefits were obvious when I made it to the crash site!
My son's 2002 SUV had a minor dent in the side door. The other driver was not so lucky.
The fact that the accident happened on school grounds, when my son was following "the designated driving lane" bothers me the most. The principal, secretary and staff said they weren't even aware that an accident had occurred.I guess the five floor to ceiling windows are just there to make the school look better.
It must be a conspiracy! Maybe the school paid the driver to slam into my son's car so I would quit airing the school's dirty secrets. Okay even I'll admit this theory is far-fetched...but the thought keeps crossing my mind.
Drive safe BIG cars, and try to avoid the idiot in the car beside you who is texting while talking!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Turning the big 40!
Some trips you don't have to go anywhere. Yes, it sounds crazy but it's true. My husband and I are planning a it trip next spring to England and Ireland. As I looked at the maps and read other people opinions about what place I had to visit, my eldest son came up and gave me a hug.
This trip would happen just a month or two before he graduated High School. My instant thought was should I stay home so I can be with him every last moment before college? The answer was so clear and obvious that it hurt.
My son has already started on his own journey. He is (quickly?) becoming a man.
This trip would happen just a month or two before he graduated High School. My instant thought was should I stay home so I can be with him every last moment before college? The answer was so clear and obvious that it hurt.
My son has already started on his own journey. He is (quickly?) becoming a man.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Dance Moms...Abby's a Pain
My 11 year old daughter is addicted to Dance Moms. I record the show and then, when she bugs me enough we watch the show. I use to enjoy the bickering, the dancing and of course the DRAMA. it finally got to me, made me mad enough to turn off the show and send my daughter out of the room. It was the episode where Paige's foot was broken and Brooke's back was hurting.
Abby kept pushing for Brooke to do her dance even though she was in enough pain to cry and require use of a T.E.N.S unit ( a system often used for chronic pain). Look I live with severe nerve pain that started in my childhood. Pain strong enough that I was willing to amputate the first affected limb. I wouldn't wish this on anyone (okay maybe on one key political figure).
Abby constantly berates Brooke on this and that, saying she doesn't have what it takes to be a professional dancer. If so, why, except for ratings,would you take the chance of having a daughter who grows up to be in chronic pain? So Abby Lee can get her name out? She has Lifetime and her big mouth to do that.
No body can accurately judge how much pain someone is in, let alone what one misstep might cause it to permanently plague her. Sometimes you just can't push through the pain because "every dancer has pain."(Abby Lee) I think the reason these kids cry so much is because their "teacher" is the biggest pain of them all.
What do you think...should Kendall have been allowed back into the studio?
Abby kept pushing for Brooke to do her dance even though she was in enough pain to cry and require use of a T.E.N.S unit ( a system often used for chronic pain). Look I live with severe nerve pain that started in my childhood. Pain strong enough that I was willing to amputate the first affected limb. I wouldn't wish this on anyone (okay maybe on one key political figure).
Abby constantly berates Brooke on this and that, saying she doesn't have what it takes to be a professional dancer. If so, why, except for ratings,would you take the chance of having a daughter who grows up to be in chronic pain? So Abby Lee can get her name out? She has Lifetime and her big mouth to do that.
No body can accurately judge how much pain someone is in, let alone what one misstep might cause it to permanently plague her. Sometimes you just can't push through the pain because "every dancer has pain."(Abby Lee) I think the reason these kids cry so much is because their "teacher" is the biggest pain of them all.
What do you think...should Kendall have been allowed back into the studio?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Kick in the Backside..college time
I have been in a battle against my son's school for so long that I failed to notice the calendar. Yes, I know the date (generally), I just happened to miss the interview with college plastered on this weekend.
Time to look at colleges? How far away is that school? My husband who seems blissful unaware of how this affects ME, just brings it up in simple phone conversation. He wants to leave a day early.
I guess it's a good thing I'm staying home.
My son will make the choices. It's his time to make the decisions.
Did he have to choose colleges that are so far away?
Time to look at colleges? How far away is that school? My husband who seems blissful unaware of how this affects ME, just brings it up in simple phone conversation. He wants to leave a day early.
I guess it's a good thing I'm staying home.
My son will make the choices. It's his time to make the decisions.
Did he have to choose colleges that are so far away?
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