She's done lost her mind

I bet most of you are thinking of me right now huh? It feels like it somedays but this time I am talking about Britney Spears. The woman has lost her mind, anyone in America and probably most of the world would agree with that. So, if you or I behaved even remotely like what she has been, wouldn't they have locked us up? I am thinking! Someone has her interest in mind and not just what they can get out of her and called to have her committed for a psych eval. That is a good idea BUT does it really take 8 police officers, 2 helicopters and multiple vehicles?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/31/britney.spears/index.html The circus that surrounds her is beyond ridiculous and doncha think taxpayers money could go towards better things then having half a precinct accompanying one woman?
Nothing really knew at the ole homestead to report. Chick's (and Megs)class is going on a field trip to Washington DC next year. So they are doing a lot of fundraising to help the parents finance it (it is about $1400 per kid). There are 53 kids signed up; it is a big undertaking. She brought home a note Tuesday that they are doing a soup supper and bake sale as one of the first fundraisers so I get to bake away tonight. I wish I had some fabulous new recipe but I am nervous about trying one out for this. I am always open to trying new things but four out of the last six new recipes have been huge failures. ( I did make killer gumbo though I must say) Terrible, nasty, inedible creations that I was embarrassed to admit came from my kitchen. I am second guessing my choices now. I think I will stick with what I know works.
There is another sister breakfast coming soon. It would be fabulous if the two sisters that are going to be honored would send out their lists. The last time someone didn't send out a list, she got an UGLY ceramic rooster with a thong painted on it's butt. I had a lot of fun with it. I am trying to talk Michelle into starting an afternoon out with our teen girls and us once in awhile. I so enjoy the days that we all go out as sisters and I want my girls to have that. Most people have friends and family, mine is all meshed together and that is a wonderful feeling.
I watched a couple more movies ( I keep saying I have too much time) CHILDREN OF MEN (with Clive Owen) and PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO (with Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson). They were both worth watching. Children of Men was supposed to be a great, thought provoking movie. The concept is interesting enough (no baby has been born for 18 years and suddenly, a woman is knocked up), but I really didn't like what they did with it. I thought there was way too much gratuitous violence and the significance of some things was totally ignored. And they killed people they didn't need to just for shock value. Prize Winner was a good movie if you are into nostalga, not a rush right out and buy but if I find it cheap or is given to me, I will be happy. I personally am fascinated with the 50's and the thinking and how far feminism has come. Trying to explain to my 13 year old why only the husband put his name on the mortgage when the wife won the money to put down or why the husband was so angry with her winning was kinda hard. Those are concepts from another time (thankfully) and I laughed to myself when she said "what? that is sooo stupid!! I would NOT accept that".

Today is Monday

I don't care what the calendar says! I have been awake for 2 hours and this is how my day has gone so far... I come into the kitchen to see that Chick decided not to wash the dinner pans from last night, or even put dinner away so there is that mess. Mr dumps an entire gallon of kool aid on the counter (did you know that it will go into your drawers where all your clean kitchen towels, silverware, and wraps are?) so I go into the bathroom to get a towel since all my laundry is caught up finally. Where I find all the towels that someone had left around the toilet that overflowed. LAST NIGHT! I am hearing that song that says 'girl, get back in bed'

Memories

I was making dinner earlier and my 8 year old was watching Hanna Montana. There was an episode that dealt with getting picked last for PE. Boy howdy did that remind me of 7th grade. Let me share the story. See, I sucked at sports (still do). I was really bad and I knew it but no one wants to admit it. All my friends were just as bad so it worked out pretty good. Except one friend, this little beater of her own drum, Shawna. She rocked and everyone wanted her on their team. One day our sadistic gym teacher, Mr. Bowman, let Shawna be a team captain (that right was reserved for the "cool" kids, you know the ones with actual athletic talent) and she chose me first, then some our other friends that never got picked early in any game. As a matter of fact, it was the only time that I wasn't chosen last that I can remember. Anyway, our illustrious paragon of education got mad that Shawna chose her friends over a winning team. When we got spanked but good at whatever game it was, he made her run laps for each point we lost by. Tried to teach her a lesson (which I think was a crappy one BTW) but she told him that she would do it again. That made her my hero for a very long time and I still think it is one of the coolest things ever.

Stupid should hurt

This time it is a company. Remember when I told ya'll that my finance company is like freaky fast with processing checks? Well, this month I forgot to mail the thing in ( I usually do everything over the internet) so I went to their website to enroll in the auto debit so I won't do that again after I make my payment online (for which they charge $15, see if I do that again). I was three days late, very naughty I know. SO anyway, it keeps telling me there is a system error and it won't let me enroll, so I email the customer service to ask why, seems to me they would want their money. I got an email back saying there has to be a capital letter, a lowercase letter, a number and it has to be at least 8 characters long, user name and password. Ok, no problem, I go back again and try it, this time it works. I noticed they didn't ask which day I want ot have the withdrawal made so instead of going back through all the pages, I decide to just call customer service. Should take like 2 seconds right? Keep in mind, I am trying to make the payment 15 days earlier then the due date. So after I get through pushing one for English, listening to all the options, I push 0 to talk to a representative. I get Achmed who can barely pronounce the company name and he asks for my account number and tells me I am late. Thanks you, I know that , I made the payment, I have the confirmation number right here. He has to transfer me. Jenny answers and asks for my account number and oh by the way you are late. I have made the payment, I have a confirmation number, I just need help with changing the debit date. Oh, you need x department, I'll transfer you. Susie here, what is your account number please. Thank you, you are late on this month;s payment. I know. Got it. Can I just change the day the auto debit is set for? Oh, well I need to transfer you to customer service. Back to the original menu that asks me to push one for English. I am not kidding you, 20 minutes and not one person could figure out how to help me. Talk about AARRGGHHH

Thoughts

Another young person has thrown their life away. I am saddened to see the death of Heath Ledger especially on the heels of Brad Renfro's. There are many theories why overdoses happen, I personally have never used any illegal substance (unless you count alcohol before I was legal age) so I am not qualified to give my opinion on the matter. That has never stopped me before so I don't know why it would now. The two young men remind me of River Phoenix, and I am sure there are thousands out there that are less well known. It is where I believe Brittney Spears is headed, that girl has done lost her ever loving mind. I think it is truly sad to see such a waste of life when there are thousands of people waiting for just one of the chances they threw away by the fistful.

You know I saw something online earlier, and I am kicking myself for not making note of where I saw it, it said: In the 1940's the biggest complaint of the teaching world was chewing gum in class. Was it really that recently? I mean let's take a look at what a child in a fairly large city would have to deal with in public school 60 years later. You have to pass through a metal detector just to get in the building because of all the guns that are so easily acceptable to irresponsible, egocentric, chickenshits who think nothing of taking as many lives as possible before blowing themselves away. There are drills for lockdown, just like for fire or tornado drills. Then you have to avoid the drug deals going down in the hallways because the staff in charge of supervising the hallways are scared of the kids. They have taken away grading scales in some schools because it applies too much pressure on the children. I was raised with you have to earn grades, if you don't perform, you don't pass. There was extra credit work to help not replace your actual grade. When did it become the adults are scared of the kids and not the other way around. Maybe I am showing my age but I was taught to respect my elders and I am ( I hope) teaching my kids to do the same.
My mom laughs at my trouble with Chick sometimes because she says I used to tell her 'you don't know what it is like in school' (mostly because she never went to high school) and I have been told that too (funny about things coming round and going round). The truth of it is, I don't. Things have changed so much in the 15 years since I graduated. Granted there are some basics that remain the same and probably will till mankind is erased from the earth. There will always be bullies, there will always be 'that girl', there will always be the one that throws all their potential away, the ones that excel. But I never had to worry about some pissed off loser coming to school with a sub machine gun and opening fire. If I got into a fight with some girl over a guy, it wasn't potentially life threatening. If I failed, I failed, my fault, my bad. Not my parents, not the media's, not the school boards for making me say the pledge of allegiance.
It is definitely a different school experience then what I had. When my daughter tells me that I don't know, I hope she explains. And I hope I listen.

More movies

I watched some more movies this weekend. ACCEPTED (with Justin Long) was a cute movie, very predictable but lots of good lines. I love snarky humor. I have found a new favorite movie charactor in Sherman Shraedor from this movie. GOOD LUCK CHUCK was a major disappointment. The previews made it look really funny but it was one of those where that was the only funny parts. And I really didn't appreciate the sex education that I didn't ask for. Although there were a couple of scenes where I tilted my head and went 'is that possible?'. THE NANNY DIARIES was easy to see where it was going but still worth watching. At least I didn't have to chase the kids out of the room to watch it. Speaking of the kids, they watched THE SIMPSONS. Yeah, it is just as dumb as you would think.

Things have been really kinda boring around here. I was telling Mikey last night that my wish list was growing : washer and dryer, double recliner love seat, sleeper sofa, dressers for Mr and Blondie, loft bed for Chick, Wii etc etc. I can totally see where the phrase winter blues comes from. I am ready for some warm weather. Not so warm I have to spend every weekend camping but warm enough I don't have to bundle up to take the trash out.

I stand corrected again

I earlier said that Bubba missed the honor roll, he didn't. I found this out by reading the front page of the local paper. It is odd, they print the elementary honor rolls but not the jr high or high school. So for clarification purposes, Chick made the A honor roll and Bubba hit the B honor roll and 411 is MAD there isn't one for 2nd grade. She is so competitive, sometimes that is a good thing.

Sweet niblets

This is the picture I have to keep looking at, more and more each day. This is Chick, way back when she liked me and even thought I knew something. Last night she had yet another freak out. I am having trouble with this, I KNOW that she is a teen, her hormones are all over the place, dealing with alot of stuff (I never had to deal with any of it doncha know) yadda yadda yadda. My mom has repeatedly reminded me that I was a horrid teen too. Yet I can't help but feel as if I have failed some crucial part of raising her. It took until I was in my 30's before I would say that my mom and I had a close relationship. That is so not what I want with my daughters. I know that a big part of that is consistancy. I can be consistant, I will be consistantly pissed off when she acts like she did last night.



Here is the ornery twosome. I always manage to snap the shot just a second too early or late. I love seeing them together, they are like peas and carrots :)

grades, maids and more

I have gotten report cards for all the kids for the semester. Chick has made the A honor roll, Bubba was a tenth of a percent from hitting the B, 411 has all exceeding marks (they don't do letters in 2nd grade). Then there was Blondies. While it was way higher then her last one, it was still lower then the others. She was upset by that, we told her that as long as she was doing the best she could do, that was all we wanted. She made a comment about Chick's grades being all A's and she didn't even have one. (I have never had to deal with this kind of thing before so I am hoping that I did ok.) I told her that Chick has always had good grades, that is her best effort. Not everyone's best is the same and as long as she is trying the hardest she can, we are proud of her grades too.

Chick has decided that I want a maid and am making her be it. I have tried to explain to her that EVERYONE has to pitch in more, they are all capable. This is the point where steam starts building behind my ears and the world gets a pinker tint. I am trying to tell her I am the grown up and she is the child because obviously, she has forgotten that somewhere. She has taken it as her job to decide how much chores each person does. I can feel my hair turning gray.

I finally got my rings from Christmas back from being sized, that is what I get for having fat fingers. It takes forever.

I watched some movies over the weekend. 3:10 to Yuma (with Russel Crowe) , it was ok, not really spectacular but not terribly boring either. December Boys (with Daniel Radcliffe), that was Boring. A Good Year (with Russel Crowe again) was ok, nothing to recommend it. All of these movies were supposed to be excellent and none of them made much of an impression. I will be so glad when the writer's strike is over, for godsakes, compromise people!!

Creative mom of the day

There is a woman in Des Moines who found alcohol in her teen son's car. She decided to sell the car as a result.....


The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."


I hope I am never put in that situation but if I am, I really hope I can be as creative.

Do you ever...

Feel completely ineffectual and superfluous? I was feeling like that yesterday, like what the hell is the point? I am not accomplishing anything that amounts to anything. I am not making any great difference. If I disappeared, not a lot of people would notice. It wasn't a good day, between Bubba and Mister taking 7 hours to clean their room, 411 nagging about her birthday, Chick holing up in her room, my house being a pit, the dishes stacking up, the laundry multiplying, my frustration levels were at an all time high. Or close to it. Then I finally got it through the boys' head, they will clean their room. Mikey made dinner for everyone. And I got to watch 3 new episodes of shows I like. ( I am sooo swayed by little things) But the big thing was one of the kids needed me. Really needed me for a few minutes, I helped the mental well being of a person that I am raising. It reminded me of the saying that you see, to the world you may be no one but to someone , you are the world (or something to that effect). It may be a selfish way of looking at the situation, but I felt needed and that is wonderful.

A moment

Today I was reading through the local paper and for some reason I read the obituaries. I usually skip these as I rarely know anyone in them. Today I did though and I found Todd R. Knutson. When I was young and lived in Miserable Belly (Missouri Valley to anyone outside the family) I had a best friend, Brandy Pleas. She had a boyfriend, Troy (remember Shawna?), who had a step-brother named Todd. We hung out and messed around like any early teens would do. After I moved to Colorado, he still called every once in awhile. Those were good times in a time of my life there weren't many.
So today I found his obituary. He was 38, living in Florida. It makes me sad because I remember a goofy, red headed teen who made me laugh.