Feels Like Monday or Something

It does. I tell ya, I love my kids...I really do but I am ever so sick of them and ready for school to start. Really.

This has been the summer of the little dude, let me tell ya. He is 9 now and in full rebellion against his older siblings. His brothers absolutely do not treat my daughter the same way they treated each other or little dude.

This kid is forever in trouble. One brother will tell him what to do, he'll get halfway through doing it and another brother will come along and either yell at him for doing whatever he's doing that someone else told him to do, or they will give him something ELSE to do so that the original brother comes back and is mad. They have it fixed so that no matter WHAT the kid does, he's going to be yelled at.

Typical sibling stuff, really. The problem lies in the fact that the older kids are so much older and fighting with a nine year old...like they are the same age. Nineteen is a bit old for that...should be some other coping skills, eh?

So, the kid pretty much won't listen to anyone but me and the old man. If we don't say do it, he won't. Or unless I tell little dude who has the authority. They have done this to themselves and the fighting has gotten a little out of hand as of late.

So, I got my seventeen year old on board with things...I do understand their frustration..man, I know little dude isn't an angel, but the attitude that he is giving them is entirely their own fault.

What really really pisses me off is that my nineteen year old expects me to treat little dude in a way that he won't tolerate for a new york minute.

Truth be told, my little dude is tougher than my nineteen year old. He can assuredly take an ass chewing better. That nineteen year old of mine...I still can't say a cross word to him. Hell, I didn't say HALF to him that I wanted to and my voice wasn't raised at ALL and he storms out and decides he's going to walk to work. Well, honey, I let him...I figured that by the time he got done walking five miles, then he'd be cooled off enough.

But the thing now is, he just threw down by acting like that. I told him I was well aware of the problem and he says..well, when little dude starts talking nice to ME, then I'll talk nice to him.... WHAT? Oh hell no. No, we will do things MY way.

God I love this age with the older ones. All of a sudden they think they are manly men and get to make the rules. It drives me nuts when ANYONE...even my own other children, presume to do my job and presume to tell me HOW to do my job. Honey, every single time that will spin me right through the roof, I don't care who ya are.

At nineteen, I should be able to ask for solutions and whatnot. I explained to him several times that I am well aware of what the WHOLE problem is ..and he just wanted to bitch some more. Well, the bitch window was closed and I made that clear. So, I yelled at him...told him I was sick of all the bitching, that he was part of the problem and I was ASKING him to be part of the solution. His response was to announce that he was walking to work. Double standards piss me off and if he thinks for one second that he endeared himself to me by that little trick, he's got another thing coming. Those mild words I used in a little bit sharper tone than usual drove him to that...and he expects me to treat his younger brother much harsher than that.

Fine, I don't need to put more wear and tear on my vehicles for some people that are just going to give me grief and make my life harder. Hey, it's not me that's sweating my ass off on a five mile hike. Boy needs the exercise anyway.

My patience levels have been way exceeded this summer. And this one just picked the wrong time and the wrong person to fight with. Because honey, I will win.

You know, I like being a nice person. I wish I could be a nice person all the time...but the facts of the matter is if you are nice, then there is someone, somewhere..that feels like you are a pushover and tries to take advantage and then they act like little babies when you snap back. They shouldn't poke the bear.

I ALWAYS give a warning before I blow my top. I say...I'm going to blow my top. And still they don't believe you and act all hurt...hmmph. I think it's beer thirty.

Back Online

Whew...this month has sucked! No internet..or reliable internet, that is, until today. Hooray!!!

My mechanical education will encompass drive trains next. I pretty much have the valve train down, now it's on to the clutch and transmission.

Back to the internet deal. There was an electrical storm on the 6th that messed everything up. By being a COLOSSAL pain in the ass....and I mean colossal...they finally came and fixed it.

It was a test. I swore I would be 'nice'..no matter what..because I really am still not sure whose fault it was that I didn't get my stuff fixed sooner. But, I didn't cuss anyone out or get ugly with anyone...probably would have taken longer.

The girl I had yesterday was laughing her arse off, as a matter of fact. I went through the whole spiel and she said she would set me up with an appointment. I informed her that was where she was wrong, what she was going to do instead was patch me through to her supervisor because I had tried the setting appointments and whatnot before. The definition of insanity, don't you know, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It's true. So, we tried something different and her supervisor got a little snarky with me and I rose right on up and he quickly, very quickly, realized that he better just get my stuff fixed.

He wanted to tell me I was going to have to wait for the next appointment. I said, No sir. You are going to have someone out to my house TODAY and they aren't leaving until my stuff works. Period. Nothing else is acceptable. It has been far too long and I've had to call far too often. Then he was all...Oh, are you going to be home in half an hour, the next available appointment is for then. And, he tried to act like it was just that way by accident. Ha! Maybe I was a little ungracious, but I told him it was a good damn thing.

So, now all my cable stuff is fixed and I'm a happy customer. The guy that came out and did it was great, too. He was one of those people that are so obviously shy that you are a little scared to talk to them at all...bless his heart. I'm going to write a letter about him...it's only right..I bitched enough to get this done.

Harry Potter...

Saw the fifth movie on the big, big screen, in 3D (well, the last 30 min was) and it was AWESOME. I usually don't recommend movies from books and the last 2 movies I was disappointed in, but this one is a MUST SEE. I love how the director really captured the essence of the book.

I also read the seventh book on Sat. It took me 10 hours..hehe, and it was awesome as well. Ms. Rowling knocked it out of the ballpark!

Here's A Story

Once upon a time, there were two boys. Their names were Cassius and Houston.

Cassius and Houston lived with their father, who soon, found a lady love with 2 boys of her own and they formed a family. The father felt very strongly about the kids being able to see their biological mother, though. Somewhere, the blending process for this particular family went awry.

The lady and man in question were very different and why they thought they could be together, I'll never know.

Anyway, things progressed and the two broke up...but not before bringing two more children into this world. When they split up, the father went to a friend's house, Cassius stayed with the lady and the children, and Houston went to live with his mother.

First we'll tell Houston's story. Houston's mother is a crack whore. Literally. She would sell her soul for crack, ICE??(what the hell is ice?), or meth. Houston got into all of this with his mother. One day Houston was out running wild with some friends, transporting some illegal stuff and they were in an accident. An accident that left Houston near death, laying in a hospital bed with a dislocated hip, several broken ribs and various other injuries. He was one hurting unit. He called his mother. She was too stoned or high to do anything about it. He finally tracked down his father who immediately came to his rescue. But, not before the mother had sobered up enough to get to the hospital and steal half of Houston's pain pills. He now lives with his father and is getting cleaned up.

Cassius got into a little trouble with drugs himself but not along the lines of his brother. You see, the lady friend was straight as an arrow. She didn't smoke, rarely drank, and was very pious. She, however, really believes that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child. This woman NEVER spares the rod. She only spanks, but she is on that very thin thin line between spanking and abuse. So, one day, Cassius mother ...same mother as Houston, came to visit him. She lost some drug paraphernalia during the visit. She and Cassius searched everywhere for this lost thing and didn't find it.

Apparently, one day while moving furniture to vacuum, the lady found it. This would have been two years after it was originally lost. She reportedly lost her mind, got the belt out and started whaling on Cassius and threw him out into the street. She didn't believe that he was clean and sober. She didn't believe that the mother lost it there, although she was very familiar with the mother's history. She didn't believe in him at all.

And, this is the life these kids have had. Cassius is 18 years old and Houston...why, Houston is only 16 years old.

And you know, a sweeter pair of boys I have never met in my life. Honestly. Well, to me...I'm not a female that is after their dad. Cassius always swings me around when I see him and give him a hug. They are both rather shy and god only knows, their education is so limited due to all this bouncing around.

Finally, I think they have a stable life for the first time IN their lives. There is a new woman in the picture and she's cool as hell and really loves them in spite of their problems. She makes me laugh though because she says she thinks there might be some resentment on Cassius' part towards the other lady friend...haha. I think the words he used were..."Hey! You know (M) can kiss my ass right?" I said, "yeah, hon, I know." And he looked at me really hard and he said..."No, you KNOW she can KISS MY ASS, right?" I grinned and said..."Yes, I know...really. I never thought she treated you right."

And the other one...he nearly wet his pants when I invited him over. Houston told me later that it freaked him out that he couldn't imagine why ANYBODY would want him in their house.

You know, I just don't get people. I really don't. There are so very many stories like that...some right close to home, unfortunately...and no matter who it is, I will never get it.

Ages and Stages

I love all the ages and stages of kids, I really do. Something that really kind of fascinates me is the tv programming...how their choices change as they grow, as well as other media..what kinds of video games interest them, what kind of music interests them.

My eldest is wise to me. He usually doesn't let me in on what he's currently listening to at any given time, usually, because he knows I'll be able to get into his head that way.

When they are younger, they are really into shows like Sesame street, Elmo, Teletubbies, Calliou...oh and Max and Ruby..I always loved that one. My daughter did too.

Then, comes the Disney movies..who doesn't love a Disney movie???

Now, it's preteen shows like Hannah Montana...I love that one, too. I just made my daughter watch a video of "Achy Breaky Heart" with the mullet...she was giggling...but man, my memory does still serve, he sure made that mullet work for him...

Anyhoo, but this year, they are done with make believe of anything really. There better be some reality in their story. They want to watch the Discovery channel, the learning channel. They can't get enough history and science this summer and while it makes me scratch my head as a parent...I do not remember wanting to learn so much during the summer...I am not at all inclined to discourage this thinking or behavior.

As a matter of fact, I think the last three weeks of summer are going to be spent taking some field trips to some cool places that are rather educational too.

It's not like they are just couch potatoes, either. They are forever doing things in the yard..building a fort, collecting different leaves, climbing the trees. My little dude can go WAAAY up the maple tree. I can't bear to watch hardly anymore. My mother vision only allows me to see him tumbling down. He likes to put his camoflage on and climb up and be invisible. It's cool!!!

The older ones have been busy job hunting all summer long with some success finally. Poor kids are pretty discouraged. Seems like it's a lot harder for kids to get jobs these days. It was pretty easy for me...the very first application I put in, I was hired...but a lot more places would hire kids, it seemed back when I was a teenager. It was sixteen years old and these guys are getting told that they couldn't be hired for anything until they are 18. The bigger places like the big retail chains.

Perhaps that's the result of the divorce generation. So many kids must have visitation that it's hard to hire them when they are constantly having to leave. I know that was the case with mine ...and their visitation ALWAYS consistantly fell on the busiest times, when they would be needed the most at their jobs...it sucked.

But, ya know, never will I miss that horrible purple dinosaur, although my kids loved him too..."clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share"..will those words never leave me???

Does anybody remember the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers???? Hahaha!

Too Young to Be This Damn Old

My knee hurts. It really hurts right now. It's swollen and it hurts. Why? How in the hell would I know? I have never had a knee injury, I haven't banged it or anything...the only thing I've done is WALK on it.

Let me tell ya, the stairs are a bit of a bitch today...not that I will have to walk up and down them any less it will just be with ...OWOWOWOW...while I'm doing it.

They still haven't come and fixed the pole...so my internet is STILL working whenever the hell it feels like it. Well, it should be until people come home from work and start bogging the system, right...not enough signal strength ...

Anyway, I'm too damn young to have old lady knee.

Patience

Patience is really, really, really, not one of my virtues. So, it goes to reason that it's tested quite frequently.

As if having half a dozen kids doesn't do it, then you have just the general attitude of any kind of service employee whatsoever. I know fixing crap is a pain, believe you me, but sometimes it's just ridiculous.

My internet service has been a little unreliable lately. I have had three...count them...three technicians out here. The first was an hour and a half late and I was on another errand, so he told my kid it was my computer. I don't think so. The second one, they believed us, but they neglected to make the trouble call to get the problem fixed. The third is due whenever, but I'm making use of this little time to bitch about it..haha!

Anyway, it's been frustrating. Trying to get my air conditioner fixed seems to be along those lines as well. Drives me nuts...people do. That's a whole other story, though.

And, the never ending kid stuff. When you have boys, you just have to know that they are hard on stuff. Saturday was a repair day for the senior chief..again. First, the lawn mower...then my car, then..while he's doing all that, another kid broke my vacuum cleaner. And broke it good, too. Sigh. That's the hidden expense of kids that you don't know about. Man, do they break some stuff.

And, again, patience testers. Hell, anymore, that stuff doesn't even piss me off. It used to..but whatever..It's the whole internet thing that has my panties all in a wad...

Never a Dull Moment

It's been awhile since I've had time to post. Summertime is pretty busy around here. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I am a little tired of the discovery channel. If everybody's problems could be that bad, then the world would be a fine place indeed! I do have myself some science loving kids though!!!

My daughter tells me she's very dissatisfied with her reading material. It's all make-believe she says...she wants some science books, some history books, and some books about real people. Alrighty then!!!!

I met another kid a couple of weekends ago. Well, I've known him, but he was little and we had lost track of him. He was living with his mother and his story was particularly sad. Trust me. But, his Dad saved him from that life and he knows he has other adults with whom he can talk or rely upon.

It took him a day to tell me that it was his mother that got him into all of it. I knew it, because his dad had filled us in when it was happening to him. But, it was good to be a part of the healing process.

My Army boy...He's with 4th Infantry, 1st Brigade, and if I am not mistaken...those are the guys that pulled Saddam out of his hole! HELL YEAH!!!!!! Hey, the mom in me can relax a little big....I know these aren't some green guys. He had enough information to make his grandmother feel better. His grandmother and his aunt drove up to spend some time with him for the fourth of July, isn't that cool? I love my husband's people so very much!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!