REALLY?

I always wonder when I hear a parent that is describing their parenting methods, what is really happening in their house. When they say "I sit Suzy down in her timeout chair and explain to her why she can't poke a pen into her baby brother's eye", is that really what happens? Sometimes I was that calm. It seems like most times I would scream something like "Oh My GOD, what were you thinking, you could have blinded him for life and then you'd be sorry, you'd have to lead him around the rest of his life and you'd know it was all YOUR fault, blah, blah blah..." After I got myself under control I'd say, "Sorry for overreacting but I'm a bit stressed out....but that doesn't mean that what you did was okay. You should still feel incredibly guilty!"

These days I don't do that as much but its probably because the kids behave most of the time. They seem to have an incredibly guilty conscience. I'm not sure why.

A SLIPPERY SLOPE

Everyone wants to be loved. A lot of a person's life is spent trying to do things so others will like and love them. We do favors for our friends. We volunteer in the community. We put on a cheerful face and say hello to strangers. Then in return we expect them to show appreciation. We expect them to think that we are good people. We expect them to like us and say good things about us. What happens when others don't appreciate the wonderful things we are doing? What happens when they reject us? That slippery slope. When we put our happiness in the hands of others, we are more often than not, disappointed.

I think the perfect relationship is one where a person already loves you, then you do nice things for them because you love them. Its perfect because when you wake up grumpy, you don't have to work at making them love you. They just do. They see your grumpy mood and may even try to do something special to make you feel better. The next day you can wake up and go back to being nice without worrying that you've lost their love. In the ideal world this kind of love is waiting at the bottom of that slippery slope.

I'm happy down at the bottom, I gave up trying to go up. I got too many bruises.

COOL CAT DRINKING HIS MORNING CUP OF JOE

By Sarah

9 years old

DON'T YOU JUST HATE BUSYBODIES?

Last week there was one really nice day where the kids were wearing short sleeved shirts and I only had to wear a sweatshirt. It was so great that we took Beau and all went for a walk together. We ended up down by the lake watching the water flow over the dam. There was open water by the dam and where the ice started it was super thin. So, being the kids we are we decided to throw rocks at the ice so it would break off and we could watch the icebergs flow over the dam. We were having a great time but you know how people tell you they felt like they were being watched? Well, I would occasionally glance around because I felt that eyes were upon us. I eventually just figured I was being paranoid.

This week I found out that I wasn't being paranoid! The community newsletter came out. This is what was in it:

"DAM SAFETY Children were observed on the damn weir last week. It appeared that they were throwing stones into the lake. The dam and the surrounding area are off limits to pedestrian traffic. This is a safety and insurance issue. And please refrain from throwing objects in the lake from the dam, the beach or your private dock. Thank you for your cooperation on these issues from your family and your guests."

Just so you know, our lake was formed when the Army Corp of Engineers blocked a creek using earth and on the very edge is what I call the dam - the spillway where the water flows over. We were on the earthen part and I'm not sure how anyone could see that we were being unsafe. We live in a community with a few busybodies who have nothing better to do with their time than to worry about kids throwing rocks into the lake. I like their spelling of dam, maybe they really wanted to put that word in front of the word "children" so it would read "dam_ children"!!

I REALLY CAN'T STAND BUSYBODIES!!

IS EVERYONE REALLY BEAUTIFUL?

I like to surf through blogs quite a bit. Whenever I come acrossed an interesting blog, in my mind's eye, I picture the author as good looking with a wonderful personality. I'm starting to realize that this may be a case of me looking through a pair of rose colored glasses. The real world is filled with normal looking people with a lot of annoying little quirks. Why should the blogging world be any different? Chances are the blogs I am reading are written by people just like me. They are probably battling with a few extra pounds, a messy hairdo and numerous other real life imperfections. Actually, I really don't have any problem with people seeing me. I'm okay with all my "imperfections", its who I am. So with that.....VOILA! Here I am!

CRAZY KIDS

I see that when I scanned these pictures into the computer they came out a little crooked but since I think they are all a bit crazy, it seemed appropriate!

CRAZY ERIN

CRAZY THOMAS

CRAZY TOM

SO SAD

Artist: Sarah 9 years old, February 2006

Our conversation:

Sarah: Mom, do you like my picture?
Me: Yes, it came out great!
Sarah: Do you want to know why she's crying?
Me: Sure, why?
Sarah: Her mom died and she's sad. That's her Dad's hand reaching down to comfort her......or she has a really big pimple, some girls cry about that.

DOES DUST MEAN YOUR HOUSE IS FILTHY?

Last night I was watching wife swap, a show where families exchange wives. The "clean" wife showed up at the "messy" wife's house and remarked how filthy things were. They showed handprints in the dust that had accumulated on the TV. Hmmm. The clean wife was so horrified that she had the house fumigated.

This is a picture of one of the TVs in my house. Aren't there more important things in life than making sure there isn't any dust on your TV? Maybe not, see you later, I've got to go dust.

FUNNY KID THINGS

FUNNY ERIN THING:
On the way to eat at Red Lobster for my birthday, Erin was talking about what kind of car she wants when she gets older. We all know she wants a red Corvette convertible. What we didn't know is that she thinks she will be a responsible driver but she's not sure. I guess she doesn't want to make any promises she can't keep.

FUNNY THOMAS THING:
When Thomas was two years old we were pouring some concrete. We wanted to put his handprints and Erin's footprints on the edge of the pad we were making. He didn't want to do it. At the time we couldn't understand what could be so scarey about that so we forced his little hands to do it through all his screaming and crying. Just recently Thomas told me that he remembered doing it and I asked him why he had been so upset. He said that he thought that he would get stuck in it!! Apparently, we must have traumatized him quite a bit for him to remember something that happened when he was two!

FUNNY SARAH THING:
For my birthday, Sarah bought me a toilet bowl brush. Quite a nice one that has a dolphin picture on it. It is for the beach house. I guess she can't stand looking at the old rusted one that I have there now. Maybe I am more funny than Sarah because I actually was happy with that gift! It even took me awhile to realize that its going to be a funny home video of me opening and admiring a toilet bowl brush!

WHAT'S UP!

I've been neglecting my blog....

We've been busy. Thomas competed in the regional "Math Counts" competition and his team of 4 "mathletes" won first place! They will go on to compete in the state competition where the top four mathletes will go on to the nationals in Arlington, Virginia. He's a bit like me when it comes to competition and has been telling me all along that he is "in it for the math not the competition". Don't get me wrong, he's happy to win but would have been just as happy if he didn't. When you love something like math, its fun to be surrounded by the few other kids who love it too. In a way we both have a part of us that would like the competition part to be over - you know - yeah we won, let's go home!

I've been planning a big camping trip to Disney World and its keeping me pretty busy. I've made a lot of reservations but I still have a bit of stuff to do. Since the kids don't get much time off from school we will have to go in June. I know, HOT! I've survived June and August in Florida before and I can do it again!!!

Lately I have been dealing with a lot of little frustrations and its been getting me down a bit. You know how that goes, nothing big but all those little things add up until you realize that you are walking around with a constant headache! I think a few of them will work out soon so hopefully I will not have to replenish my supply of Advil!

Oh yeah, I turned 42 on tuesday....old, old, old. Part of me doesn't mind getting older but .....