Archive for » March, 2010 «

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Thirty Nine!

  • Today, my husband of 2015* plus years turned 39! Happy Birthday, Steve! (That would be one of “The Goods” that I promised.)
  • Tomorrow, my father-in-law will have tests and then on Wednesday, he will have surgery to replace one of his heart’s valves with a pig’s valve. It will go well. I said so.(Not a bad or ugly…a worrisome?)
  • My daughter might not be great at algebra, but she definitely has talent. Tonight, her father told her, “Finish your homework. You can plan your career in the circus later.” She was balancing a spoon on her nose, and she also showed us a new talent she learned in English class (not from the teacher): how to balance her pencil on her upper lip and then catch it in her mouth. (Might be another worrisome one, or a funny one, but a good parent would probably say this is bad. Note, I didn’t say it was bad.)

    Amanda doing her algebra homework.

  • The scratches on the sides of my hubby’s truck after I drove it in the woods. Sorry.(This would be the ugly that I promised you.)
  • The YA book, “The Summer I Got a Life” by Mark Fink is excellent! It was laugh out loud funny, and my oldest daughter thanked me for telling her to read it too. It is a great book.(A good for those of you keeping track who might be wondering.)
  • Potential Ugly: I’m not saying it here because someone will tell someone who does not need to know, and I am not going there again! And even if she did know, I still wouldn’t but this is different because blood is involved and not optional blood. (Oh, I didn’t say cryptic in the title did I? Oh, well, you get it anyway.)
  • Captain Morgan did me in this weekend, and I ended up going home to bed before everyone else even left to go to the bar.(It was good right up until it became ugly, and it was bad well into the next day.)
  • Autumn went to state for her flute duet, and she ended up with a very tough judge, but she still managed a II.(A good/bad mix.)
  • While in Mt. Pleasant, we planned to “just look” at prom dresses. We ended up finding a yellow dress Autumn loved that was 50 percent off at JC Penney’s. (It’s this one), and on top of the 50 percent off, there was a 15 percent customer appreciation discount, so we bought it for $40.50 total.(A good.)
  • Autumn and Amanda also managed to get some great deals at Kohl’s, and we even picked something up for Maxine. Best bargain: Amanda picked up a top she liked for $2.40, and Autumn bought a pair of skinny jeans for $4.40.(A good.)
  • Meanwhile, at home, the hubby was replacing our sump pump because yet another appliance died, and this one is pretty important because if it is not working, sewage could back up into our house (it didn’t, but I’m glad to know now it won’t).(Could have been ugly or bad, but since it is fixed, we will call this good.)
  • *Apparently the algebra-challenged daughter might get her skills from me since the oldest child pointed out to me that I haven’t been married for 20 years. I have, however, been dating him for 20-plus years. We have been married, however, for only 15 plus years.

Category: Choppy Thoughts  Tags: , ,  Comments off

‘I will Punch Her in the Face!’

It started this morning with a pair of pants. One child was wearing pants that the other child claimed to own that used to belong to a third child, and it was a horrible tragedy. Confused? Me too.

It was just the latest battle over clothing among siblings that I am so glad I (mostly) avoided when I was growing up. And I am so tired of having to mediate amongst the various sides. I never know what clothes belong to which child, and I really hate the screaming and tears and threats.

Just this morning, after I made the offending child remove the pants, I heard this:

Owner of the Pants: Where’s my sweatshirt? SHE probably took all my sweatshirts too.

Wearer of Not Her Pants: (Starting to go on a very mean rant)

Mother (that’s me): That’s ENOUGH.

Wearer of Not Her Pants: Mom, I’m going to punch her in the face.

Mother (Still Me): No, you are NOT.

And then I walked into my bedroom where my husband was and repeated that last line while shaking my head.

Father (that is my husband): I told Wearer of Not Her Pants that she could wear them and then you said she couldn’t. That isn’t good parenting.

Mother (still me): I didn’t KNOW you said that. If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have said anything.

And this is a problem in our house in the morning because most of us do everything at loud volume so everyone can hear, but my husband goes to the person and talks quietly and calmly, and I don’t know. So OBVIOUSLY, he should operate at a louder volume, right? Probably won’t be happening.

And so, this morning, I declared an embargo. No ONE can wear any thing that belongs to anyone else no matter what, and (KEY POINT) there can be NO DEALS amongst siblings to enhance trades. All sounded fine with it this morning, but we shall see.

The Owner of the Pants is always very concerned with her belongings but admits to wearing clothes belonging to others without asking. The Wearer of Not Her Pants also fails to ask most of the time but is ready to “punch her in the face” if she discovers anyone wearing her stuff.

And I am hoping the embargo will end the battles, but I have been a mother of three girls for a long time, and I somehow doubt it. If by some miracle they stop arguing about clothing, there will just be a battle about something else.

Play Ball!

The snow is gone in Michigan (for the most part), and the two oldest girls have already started practicing for softball. Their first game is at the end of this month. This time last year, the first game was canceled due to snow.

Wednesday, I sign up the three youngest kids up for Little League. This will be the first year I will have a child too old for Little League. Sniff. Note: I originally wrote “three littlest,” but my kids aren’t so little anymore and technically, Amanda is taller than Autumn, so a revision was called for.

This means that in just a short time, my schedule will grow very crazy as I drive children in various directions to various games. One child (Amanda) will juggle both JV and Little League for a while. She will be on the same team as her younger sister (although she won’t like it), and she will also be on JV with her older sister. The poor girl has NEVER been on a team all by herself except for the All-Star team, and she probably doesn’t think that counts. And then there will be Justin’s games and practices.

So once again, we will have four kids on three teams, which we’ve learned is our limit.

I just hope the start of this season is a lot warmer than the start of last season. I remember snuggling in blankets during a lot of games last year!

Category: Parenting  Tags: , ,  Comments off

Costly Mistake

I just realized today that when I was switching all of my financial information, I neglected to switch the information with my web site hosting, and I lost the hosting to my blog, Fat Man’s Daughter. Everything was deleted, and I didn’t have it backed up. I might find some of it, but I am not sure.

I should have known better!

At this point, I am not going to do anything. I think I am ready for a new blog design, and I might look into that this next week. I also want to rethink what I am doing. Right now, I have about four different blogs, and I have been neglecting all of them. I may try to switch to just one blog with various categories that covers everything. First, though, I have to find a new blog design that I like.

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Juggling Hospital Beds

My mother-in-law is currently hospitalized in Cadillac after unexpected gall bladder surgery last Monday. We had hoped she would be out today, which is her birthday, but she is retaining water, and she might not be released.

On Monday, my father-in-law is scheduled to go to Traverse City for tests before he has heart surgery Tuesday. He is getting a pig valve to replace a faulty heart valve. He had a triple bypass about 19 years ago. He will also be hospitalized for a week or so.

The original plan was that the MIL would take him, stay overnight Monday and Tuesday, and we’d go from there. But if she isn’t out of the hospital, things are going to have to be rearranged.

My husband will also be working out of town next week.

Regardless, it is going to be an interesting time over the next couple weeks. I wish I could do something to make my in-laws feel better and for my husband. He is not himself as he worries about his parents, and I just want a button I can push to make it all better for him and them.

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Category: Life with Linda  Tags: , ,  Comments off