The Merits of Cursing

I just got off the phone from an hour long conversation with the VP of my son's school. Oh, the joy. Apparently Cole decided to be blatantly honest with his Spanish teacher and told her the quiz was bullshit. He was quickly escorted to ACS (called aces-alternative classroom setting). From there he argued with the ACS teacher telling her that Dockery (high school vp) wanted to see him right away to talk to him. (According to Cole) She eventually said, "If you want to see Dockery you can walk out and I'll write the referral". Cole walked out and went to Dockery where he is met with a 2 day after school detention consequence for swearing and getting a referral. I have to admit, I agree with Cole, The Spanish quiz is bullshit. He was absent thurs, fri, and monday, on tuesday asked her for the homework--she told him she would get back to him on the homework, then on weds gives him a quiz on the work that he hasn't learned yet. He tells her that he hasn't learned it yet because he is waiting on her to give him the homework...she tells him to guess at the quiz...thus Cole's accurate but inappropriate response. Favorite points of the conversation were:
1. I said I was confused on her goal with Cole. Were we trying to help him improve his behavior or show him who the boss is? Her response: "I know who I am and I don't need to throw my weight around with kids" mmmm, must have been accused of this before to answer so defensively.
2. We were on speaker phone, and Cole says "I could see in my head you sitting in your office and wanting to talk to me about this". She said "you mean telepathically, I was talking to you telepathically". mmmm, now that is professional. I think Cole meant he could picture her wanting to talk to him about the incident in Spanish.
3. She pointed out that she didn't know if Cole's side of the story was true about Spanish teacher not giving him the homework because she hadn't talked to Spanish teacher yet. I said "If you haven't talked to the Spanish teacher, then I can assume you haven't talked to the ACS teacher as well and if she told him to walk out then you can't punish him for following her directions." She stumbled and said "Point taken"
I don't know if I should be proud of myself for being so savvy with these school administrators or not. Several years of practice has earned me a badge of courage to speak up and think quick. But I do agree that Cole can't curse at people when he disagrees. That won't work on the job with a boss someday. Although I may spend the day looking up sociological studies proving the merits of cussing. So Cole's having a bad day and I am not looking forward to picking him up at two to take him to an appointment with the psychologist that he think talks like a llama. All this from a boy who told me this morning as I dropped him off, "Mom just stop talking, you're coming off stupid." I so wanted to throw his quote back at him when we were all speaker phone. But...that wouldn't have been helpful...gratifying but not helpful. One thing I have learned, Never humiliate your kid in front of school staff....it sends the wrong message. Be respectful, patient, and kind towards your child no matter how wrong their action. Role model the behavior you want your child to use with the school staff. Disagree pleasantly....yada yada yada.

Reasons to Scream

Ara and I stayed up late watching a stupid movie, definately a B movie, called Flannel Pajamas. Sound like a good chick flick, looked like a good chick flick, but both characters made even Ara mad. It was totally not worth staying up late for.
After driving Cole to school, (today he is too sore to walk to the bus stop with his 35 pound backpack from his workout yesterday-eyeroll) Andi and I stopped at 7-11...and for the first time in my life the place was filled with hot guys. One hottie even held the door open for me. I of course, seized the moment to torture Andi as I gushed on and on about the cuties. I repeated sexy at least 17 times until she screamed, "Mom, you're freaking me out." It does me no good to stash chocolate in my desk at work for later. Because I think about it all day until I eat it all. Which I already did. I cracked open my diet pepsi at 8:30...I tried to wait until 10, really I did.
Today is a half day of school...so I am freaking out that the teens will have full reign of the house from 12-3.

How to Have the Perfect Day.

Wake up with a sinus headache. Snarl at boy for telling you to "chill". Shout at girl pretending to be sick to get out of gym once again. Drive her to school wearing slippers. Drop and Break coffee mug in driveway. Jam the paper shredder with junk mail. Decide not to start the To Do list and meet friends for lunch. Stay out until right before husband gets home from work.

Boys & Bathrooms

One of my sons flushes before he's even finished...speed peeing, I guess. And I always holler, "did you wash" and he says, "I flushed" with a mischievous grin on his face. Tonight this whole ordeal brought back a memory. Jake was 5 he decided he was too old to go in the ladies restroom with me and the younger two, so I anxiously waited outside the men's restroom while he went inside. He came out all disgusted and serious. My mind is flashing of something horrible that could have happened to him in there by himself, and I ask what's wrong, holding my breath waiting for his answer. He replies, "That guy didn't even wash his hands, and he KNOWS where his hands have been!" It was all I could do to hold the laughter in because Jake was so serious about it.

Butter Churns and Spaghetti Pie

I found the below recipe in my Cheaper & Better book by Nancy Birnes (which I found at the library for 50 cents)
Country Butter
Here is a clever way to stetch margarine, while at the same time softening and enriching its flavor a bit. My mother tells me that this was one of the many ways people made do with butter during World War II.
1 pound margarine, softened
1 cup corn oil
1 cup buttermilk
Whip ingredients together in food processor or with an electric mixer. Stored in tightly covered container in the refrigerator, this spread will keep for 1 month.
I use canola oil instead of corn oil, and 4 T powdered buttermilk blend with a cup of water instead of fresh. I never have fresh buttermilk in the house. Powdered buttermilk is usually found in baking isle with the canned milk. I saved my 3 pound tub from the last time I bought margarine and this recipe fills it up to the top. I have made it three times already...we have a lot of toast eaters. I think it tastes real close to I can't believe it's not butter and I can control the oil types.
For lunch I transformed spaghetti into a lasagna type pie. We had leftover spaghetti with sauce already on it...so I put it in the bottom of a 9x12. I mixed a container of cottage cheese, a capful of parmesan cheese, a fistful of mozerella and two eggs together and spread it on top, sprinkled more cheese on top and then threw in a 350 oven until lightly browned and bubbly. It was a big hit.

Yesterday we bought a xbox 360 for the family. I personally wanted a Wii. The xbox is not so bad. The boys pooled their money and got a 1 year live gold card and we can also download movies from netflix on it with their gold card. So it's a game, dvd player and netflixs movie thingamajiggy.

We have watched 4 out of six movies this weekend and so far only one was worth the time. I am 17 seconds from snapping Ara's neck in two. It's just one of those days where he is antsy and inconsiderate all at once. Nothing gets under my skin more that him asking me a question and then saying "Huh" when I answer it. He's done that about 8 times today. Don't talk to me if your not going to listen back. Sometimes I think he just needs to fill up the space with his voice. He is trying to be helpful though and for that I am thankful. Without him my kitchen would be a wreck since he has taken over the dishwasher duties and right now he is making lunches for school tomorrow. And yesterday out of nowhere he cleaned the litterbox and emptied the trash upstairs (but there are still no bags in the empty cans).