Parenting Daredevils

I don't care how well behaved you think your child is, lurking inside of every child is a little daredevil.  Whether it's the staying up past bedtime to read or sneaking into the pantry to eat all the good stuff before the siblings get to it OR sneaking out to meet friends in the middle of the night, dancing in the street or jumping off bridges the daredevil streak it there.  I originally started this blog to write about the ups and downs of raising pre-teen/teen children, but then I quickly found out that wasn't easily done.  Firstly, I realized they should be allowed to recover from embarrassing mistakes with out the world knowing.  After all I wouldn't want all my mishaps documented.  Their brains are so flooded with crazy hormones, they can't think straight.  Secondly, I discovered that other parents of pre-teen/teens are very judgmental, and even catching wind of your little daredevils adventures could warrant them not allowing their child to play with yours.  Pre-teen/teen mishaps are a little more devastating than a third grader being too busy at recess to go inside to potty.  No one makes their kid stop playing with yours because they wet their pants after lunch. But any middle and high school offense of any nature puts your parenting skills in question.  Which is insane, because as parents we are all in this together and should be supportive.  But it doesn't work like that. So in the end I didn't write about the good, bad and ugly of parenting teens.  But I just want to let other moms know, you are not alone. It may seem like little Johnny down the street is so awesome and has his act together, but a lot goes on behind closed doors.  Even the best children can be  unbearable at times.  It's hard to be patient 100% of the time, and it's not realistic to expect to be. Just as your children are growing and learning, you are to.  It's just as exhausting to parent teenagers as it is preschoolers.  And I am discovering parenting adults not to be as exhausting, but emotionally wrenching at times. 

High Horse Mistakes

Well! he's back. I haven't actually seen him with my own eyes, but I got a text while I was at Anderson's spending all his travel money on flowers. Workaholic as he is, he went straight in to work. We argued all weekend because he's too thick and prideful to apologize when he hurts my feelings and thought the entire argument was about his travel policy. I was hurt because I felt like he just wanted to stay away as long as possible. Instead of recognizing/acknowledging my lonely/rejected feelings he took it upon himself to read the travel policy to me just so he could be right. I basically called him a coward (only not so nicely) and told him not to call until he was man enough. All is well that ends well. Looking forward to making up tonight.
I am trying to be supportive of a friend with teenage drama. I usually steer clear of giving out ANY parenting advice. No one in life really wants advice or constructive criticism anyway. We all just want to be understood. I was able to word my thoughts in a way that she could swallow (i think). The only point I wanted to make was that sometimes your kids can have different values and opinions and that doesn't mean they love you any less. And he was probably being a jerk and mean when her emotions came out because he was uncomfortable with her tears. I think one of the hardest part of parenting is when our kids do things that remind us of the parts about ourselves we don't like so much. Watching the boys make the same mistakes their dad makes is hard. Watching them make mistakes and face consequences is hard. Watching them make the same mistakes we tried to forget we made is hard. Next week I'll need someone to remind me of all this because I feel like I'm slipping off my high horse now.

Missing, Weeded, and Moved

On Friday Cole reunited with one of his friends that we're not so thrilled about. I'm sure this kid is a good kid, but the combo of the two of them is not good. They did a camp out at the other kid's house on Friday night. Cole called for a pick up around noon which I thought was odd and then seemed bummed out and sick. I thought he was just tired from the camp out. Sat night the other kids mom calls because she had just found three kayaks hidden at her house under a blanket. The boys had taken someones kayaks and were kayaking in the James river in the dark with no life jackets or paddles. Cole wanted to take the kayaks back on Sat but the other boys didn't---that's why he called for a pick up and was acting weird. Guilt was eating him up. Ara loaded up the boys and kayaks in his truck and knocked on the door of the house where Cole thought the kayaks belonged. Luckily they were cool about it and no police were involved. And I was worried they would play with fire at the camp out, but I guess they were too busy hand paddling 'hot' kayaks up the James. Should I look for the silver ling...they didn't burn down a neighborhood with an illegal bonfire.
Sunday we spent the whole day in the yard. We were up in the yard by 7am. Three wheelbarrow loads of weeds to the woods and one trip to the dump with pruning and now the beds are ready for mulch and some more plants. I think next weekend we are power washing the house. Ara is burnt crispy. He refused to let me put sunscreen on him. Usually he's begging for me to rub his back but not when sunscreen is involved. I kept taking fudgesicles and water breaks. Cole grilled up an amazing lunch for us. He even splashed the buns with vinegar and salt and toasted them on the grill--very gourmet. I made Ara stop at 3pm. I think his sunburn distracted him from any muscle aches he may have had.
Tuesday I finished edging out the back-of-the-house bed because I wanted to redo the walkway off the screen porch. Andrea and Ara ended up helping.
And now I am at Thursday with phase two of the attic on the agenda. I want to move some of the stuff stored in the garage to the attic. But we'll see how energetic I am.....

Teenagers may not necessarily be potty trained

Sunday I discovered something terribly gross. I was in the kids bathroom-mistake number 1, grumbling because once again there was laundry piled up behind the bathroom door. So my snarky self is tossing it out the door into the hall and then I see IT. Poo on the floor. Yes Poo. I have three teenagers, who I thought were all potty trained long ago and I am finding poo on the floor. Of course I am not quiet about my discovery and I won't repeat what I said (yelled) but when I came out of the bathroom the only kid home, the guilty one, was standing in their bedroom doorway grimacing. So I asked guilty one if they crapped their pants and got a big snickering grin. Then I see the guilty ones underwear in the trash can...busted! Too much coincidental evidence to squirm out of this one...guilty one cleaned the bathroom floor.

Different Directions

I think today is the perfect day to go out for a Margarita or two. It's dreary, windy and the week needs to end right. Next week is officially spring break, but the kids were off school today. All the good moms in the neighborhood have been looking forward to spring break. Not me. I dread every spring break and summer break. I thrive on routine. I hate the haphazard out of control that school breaks bring. My kids are all in different directions and since my brain is in a fog most of the time I don't know/remember where they are. So it's not that I don't love being with my kids, it's just that I can't keep up. I am definitely throwing another back to school beer bash for my favorite local moms when spring break ends.

Last week I took the car to the car wash....It was $9.00. I must have been living under a rock for the last few years! When did the price skyrocket? Anyway since dh doesn't have a problem with dirty cars and I do...I'm just going to spend the $9.00 a month to have is washed. Problem solved. Getting out the hose, bucket, finding sponges and doing it myself is too much of a pain. I always envisioned a happy family fun moment where we all wash the cars together, throwing sponges and laughing. Then I woke up.

Students

I am really doubting myself. Am I strong enough to handle three student drivers back to back? What have I done to myself? The boys had a dental appointment this morning at 8:10 (another what was I thinking moment) and afterwards they pressured me into stopping at the quickie mart...$20 later and in an insane moment I was being scuttled down the road in the bike lane. The sad thing is we weren't on bikes, we were in the van. I know the alignment isn't out on the van...why does he love the shoulder so freakin much???? The back seat driver was screaming "Holy Jesus, get in the lane!". Student driver said it still wasn't as stressful as driving with his dad. There was a tense moment (more than one) when there were bikers in the bike lane and an oncoming bus in the other lane. I closed my eyes. After he (safely) passed the bikers he went right back in the bike lane. I asked, "What? Are you trying to taunt the bikers?" I just couldn't resist. His turns have improved dramatically so I gave him kudos for that. Back seat driver said I was insane because he took the turn so quickly.
When we finally got to the school and kissed the ground, I signed the boys in and the secretary has them memorized. Jake commented how impressed he was that she knew their names. I said it was all thanks to Cole...she almost fell out of chair laughing. Cole was grinning. So I took advantage of his good mood to remind him to enter the classroom quietly, without announcing himself and shaking every ones hand. He took advantage of me and tried to leverage more computer time for tonight. Then some random kid passed by and Cole did his whole, "Hey, what's up?" handshake routine, and then turned around and smirked at me.

Grumpy, Jumpy, and Lumpy

Now we have the money and the new class is starting up and Andi tells me she doesn't want to do hip hop dance. Ugh... She was such a grumpy bear this morning and last night.
Cole's new alarm clock wasn't successful, but I got him thinking with my "I wonder" technique I read in one of my ADHD books. On the drive to school today I said, "hmmm, I wonder what part in your brain in being so stubborn not letting the ears tell your eyes to open. It's like your ears are hearing it but the brain is blocking the signal for you to wake up". You could see him thinking as I quickly changed the subject and kept rambling on before he could interject and argue. Yesterday he got another after school detention for being tardy 4 days in a row. One of those was for a doctors/ortho appt so I don't think it's fair. He doesn't mind though, probably because it's considered cool to get a tardy detention. Or because it's a forced study hall and he can catch up/get ahead on his homework.
Jake's in the middle of a break up. He's not talking much about it, but is stressed. The other day when his friend got home from the DMV he came over to get Jake. They wanted to go for a walk and 'chill'. I said, "Why, Are you gonna talk about Anna stuff?". They both just grinned. Then I yelled, "Wait, wait...I have something for you". He come back upstairs where I dig a silly key chain out of Ara's dresser and tuck it in his shirt pocket while saying, "Talk towards your pocket. This is NOT a recording device." "Mommmm you are such a dork." "Well, you won't tell me anything and it's driving me crazy. I wanna know what's going on with you".

shiney stainless steel beauties

Over the weekend Ara decided that if he can plunk down money on a new xbox that he can replace our flaky pots and pans. We've probably ingested more than healthy amounts of Teflon over the years. So now our kitchen is decked out with these shiny stainless steel beauties.

Of course mine aren't as attractively displayed. Mine are in the traditional spot of haphazardly thrown near the sink waiting for some attentive person to scrub.

I am toying with the idea of introducing a GFCF diet to the fam. I know, I know. I get on my kicks, always looking for the perfect food solution. Organic, Vegetarian, and now gluten-free-casein-free. Nothing is cast in stone. It's just that Ara has had chronic tummy troubles since I have know him and his ears are always bright red, and chronic sinus problems and a chronic itchy rash. So I'm gonna try it. But it looks like I have to welcome meat back in if I'm taking away bread and cheese. The goal is to stay married, not run him off with my whacked out kitchen experiments. I am a fan of Hillbilly Housewife...well her site is now in the hands of another...still a good site...and her new site is http://frugalabundance.com/ See what happens when I have the day to myself reading, napping and surfing the net.

And I took Megs advice and blasted my music, fell asleep, missed Jake's frantic phone calls and text from school that he was puking and in the nurses office. It was a great nap (3 hours solid) but now has guilt attached because my poor guy had to endure the day feeling terrible. What an unlucky day for him. Oh Well! makes a man out of him...someday he'll be at work feeling pukey and endure that day. Guilt absolved.

HAPPY ST PATTY DAY

I woke up the fighting Irish today. Well, he's not exactly Irish, more like Italian, but he was all spit and vinegar this morning. We made it to school only one hour late today. I am really getting burned out with this everyday. We've seen pcp after pcp, allergist, had all kinds of blood test, counseling, an adhd diagnosis, and now the psych wants to send Cole to a neurology center to address his sleep problems. Any possible college money has gone straight to medical attention these last two years. I'm sick of having appointments every week. I wish Ara could be more of a help, but he's barely holding it together. He can't seem to control himself any better that Cole. I am so sleep deprived that I hurt from head to toe.
I'm really am hooked on this Yiruma. I heard it on Dorshan's old blog and you tubed it and showed Ara, who eventually put a disc together for me. So today I'm gonna blast it and stare at the ceiling all day. It really is beautiful and relaxing.

Angel Food for my Devilish Crew

Well, I did it. I signed up for Angelfood and put in my food order for this month. I spent $123 and will get two meal boxes, plus another 7.5 lbs of meat and a box of fresh veggies and fruit---even a mango comes in it this month! I pick it up on the 21st. I've also been invited to a Pampered Chef party so I can spend all that I saved on food on cooking gadgets...woohoo. Check out www.angelfoodministries.com for a location near you.

Cole now has a 504plan. A legally binding contract with specific classroom accommodations to help "level the playing field" for him. Hopefully the 504 will carry more weight than my ignored emails.

I had a spastic Tuesday as Cole verbalized in the morning that he was going to find someplace else to live. Usually his bark is way worse than his bite and I knew I was getting under his skin that morning so I just blew it off. I rolled up at the school at 4:28 to pick him up from his weight training and sat in the parking lot until 5:01. Frantic phone calls went out to Ara and to Jake to see if he had checked in with them. At 5:20 he walked in the door. He had gotten out at 4:25 and walked home. It's about a 2.5-3 mile walk. His bag is roughly 40 pounds...and the weather was cooling off and he was still in his sweaty workout clothes so I guess he had time to cool down (his body and mind) as he rucked it home.

Zero Results

Today was (another) child study regarding Cole. I was prepared, with my divided binder of Cole academic career, letter from psych eval, and points to make. It was a whole hour wasted discussing Cole's page and half of infractions, inability to sit in class, disruptive behavior, etc. When the minutes were passed around and ready for my signature I wanted to read what I was signing, the VP (a different one, not familiar with Cole) became aggravated and kept taking the page from me and pointing where to sign. I said I just wanted to read what I was signing. She said they are only the minutes I've been taking. I said I wanted to add that the behavior contract created by Dockery to be dissolved, contact by Cole's teachers regarding all behavior and immediate consequences, and feed back from teachers that are having success to find what works. We discussed all of these possibilities in the meeting. She said that is not what a child study meeting was for, that all the things we discussed could be put into the 504 plan at the 504 meeting. During today's meeting we had not discussed starting a 504, she wants me to sign minutes of the meeting stating that we are starting a 504 plan. I blew up, and said- so we will not have any plan of action until the end of the year. She said the 504 plan would be in place as soon as the meeting took place. So why the hell did I go to the school today??? A meeting to plan a meeting? In the meantime, Cole is sinking further behind. Oh and they told me that I hadn't informed the school that Cole has ADHD until today. And that the testing shows Jan 28 as the diagnosis date. wtf. I and Dr. Boquist informed Dockery, guidance dept, school psychologist and the school nurse in Oct that Cole had a solid diagnosis of ADHD. The school nurse backed me on this.
Good News. The appraisal for the house came in. Bad News. We have to have the kitchen floor put in by Monday to close on Monday. We haven't even purchased the flooring and Ara can't take time off to do it. So it will be a rush job over the weekend. And hopefully, Home Depot has enough of the flooring in stock.

Snow Day 2

Snow days are meant for sleeping in. Someone please inform Jake and Ara. I usually get up at 5:30 to start my day. At 5:28 Ara runs up the stairs yelling, "Holy Shit, school is closed again today". I respond with a sleepy "Alarms off" command. Then at 5:38 he's yelling up the stairs, "Essential personnel only". "What? Are you staying home?" No he was talking about school personnel and went to work. Then apparently he had signed up our phones (cell and home) for the phone alert message from James City County and at 6:13 the phone rings with a recorded message from the office of the superintendent informing that school is closed due to ice. Then at 6:30 Ara calls to tell me he got his phone alert message about school. At 6:38 Jake comes in to ask what's going on, his alarm is off and the street looks clear. I tell him there is no school. He then tells me his plans for the day which include the Pokemon lyrics and CoD (Call of Duty 4). I have no idea what he is talking about. Later Ara calls to ask me if I got to sleep in. Thankfully we don't have video phone because I silently cussed him out in sign language.

My prediction was right. Cole scored high average and superior with his testing. The only area that brought him down was the vocabulary in the verbal comprehension which he scored average. That surprises me because he is our articulate child who uses $5 word in everyday life. He says things like 'I need a larger assortment of t-shirts'. Not that assortment is a $5 word, but most kids would just say 'I need more t-shirts'. The psych did say that during the testing he was wondering if Cole really had ADD/ADHD because he didn't give up and seem distracted. But after the testing when all three of us were talking the real Cole came out. He laid on the couch, played with his shoes, messed with the blinds, played with his eyelids (was in constant movement). The doc got a kick out of it and just grinned. Taking Cole to any doctor has always been a miserable experience. He can't just sit and wait. He has to explore every cabinet, figure out every instrument, jump off the exam table, crinkle the paper, put on gloves...it's exasperating. He's a little better now, but not much. The psych told me how consequences don't work with ADHD because of how the brain in ADHD physically works. I figured this out long ago, but it makes parenting difficult because the other two think he's never punished. School isn't' working for Cole because they want to dole out consequences for misbehavior and in reality the 'misbehavior' is a symptom of over stimulation or under stimulation. The front end stimulus is greater than the back end stimulus--no impulse control. The neurons that carry messages for impulse control are moving too slow and he doesn't get the message.

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.

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.

New Goal: More Eyerolls!

So last night Ara and I are talking about his parenting tactics. He spent hours home with Jake yesterday and took full advantage of lecture time. He used his essay assignment as a platform and they researched and talked about the cost of raising a baby on an entry level job. Apparently that is Ara's main concern...that someone ends up with a baby. In all of this Jake lets it slip that gf is on the pill 'to regulate her period'. hmmm. I won't even go there. Later in the evening I hear him talking to gf that if both of them get jobs paying x amount and work x amount of hours then they could have $54,000 saved up in a year. Apparently I am still paying for food, roof over head, gas and insurance (Not...well maybe the roof and some food). I think Ara's tactic of running numbers backfired. Back to our parenting discussion....He then tells me that he asked Andi if it sounded reasonable that a gf/bf parent call to say they will be home and your child allowed over. He was excited to know that Andi thought this was perfectly reasonable. I, with furrowed brows, questioned that he was consulting his 13 yo for advise versus his 38 yo dw.

Cole and Ara are hitting the paint ball place this weekend. It was the only incentive to get Cole out of bed at 8:30 a.m. to get his IQ tested that day. The doc said he would be able to tell within minutes of testing if Cole has ADHD. Either were testing his frustration tolerance, which is low, or his IQ. He's probably a genius. You know how it feels to be surrounded by idiots--that Cole's life in a nutshell--born into a family of neurotic idiots with insane rules and quirks.

My day began fully armed with a can of Lysol. Jake headed to school today and I sprayed down his entire room with disinfectant, and washed all his bedding. Since his fever ended with explosive diarrhea were not taking any chances. After killing all the germs, I looked down at the carpet....I had thrown confetti on the boys the other day when they were in some video game coma. By threw confetti I mean violently trying to open the hole puncher in a fit of rage. For some reason teens are required to have a hole punch in school these days. I think that is a bit overboard, but I would have to join PTA to get my voice heard. And we know I'm not doing that. Vacuuming turned into dusting. Which turned into an event to get under Andi's skin. I grabbed a sock from the lonely sock bin in the laundry closet, put it on my hand and in my best sock puppet voice said, "Hi, Andi I'm going to dust today!". Parenting teens requires at least one eye roll from some kid a day...otherwise you're not doing something right.

Small Miracles

Jake had a fever that spiked to 103.6 yesterday. We hit it heavy with our arsenal of Tylenol and Advil. Anyone approaching 40 has these lifesavers on her nightstand along with the a giant bottle of tums. It just goes with the territory. Tomorrow was the day to hit urgent care since his fevers started on Sunday. I wasn't too worried because they were sitting at 100-101. Plus I was loving that he was laughing at all my dorky comments and told me he loved me. Even though I knew it was the fever talking. What mom doesn't love her mysterious almost 17 yo to be so nice. Believe me I sucked up every minute of niceness I could get. Actually he is my nice kid. Heaven help us if one of the other two get sick. This morning his temp was 99. Ara is home with him today, and when I called to check Jake is still 99.

By some odd occurrence our dear insomniac was showered and in bed by 8:30 last night. It was 8:45 before the shock of that wore off and Ara and I turned and looked at each other and said, "Is Cole in bed?". That sent us into a spiral of loud whispers to kick out the neighbor boy visiting the sick one and announce lights out. We take advantage of every opportunity to get to bed early if Cole is out early.

For some reason my dh thinks the best plan of attack to deter Jake from sex and drugs is to have him write a paper on each topic. For obvious reasons I don't thinks that going to work. "Oh I'm sorry pressuring peer, I just wrote and essay on teenage sex and I don't think it's a good idea to get naked. We could end up with STD's or a baby!" or "No thanks, I don't want a cigarette. We could burn the woods down or worse yet end up with a live long addiction." Maybe if I still had the strings on my marionette version of a son that would happen. I'm more for open discussions and maybe sharing research, but writing an essay????

Our Heart Were Racing This Valentines Day

We decided that the pressure of making Valentines Day (or any other holiday) is too much. We exchanged nothing. Except maybe a smooch or two. We started the day with having Jake drive us to Walmart for the weekly grocery list. OMG! STRESSFUL. We put out a distress call to one of our friends, but since no one wakes up as early as us, we were on our own. I think we were both in cardiac stress. We stopped at Lowes before Walmart to pick up window screening and we stalled checking out while our heart rates settled.

Our neighbors invited us over for dinner. A doubling heartracing event. One of their friends fixed Indian food. Our mouths were on fire, but it was delicious. Then towards the end of the evening we discovered that Jake had his gf in while we were out. (He's got himself grounded on Thursday so his movie and dinner plans were cancelled) So now his cell phone was taken away as well.

Scary Freakish Frugal Activity of the Weekend: Veronica has become a chemist, and made her own laundry detergent. Now a 5 gallon bucket of tropical scented gooey slime resides on top of the dryer. We're testing it today. But hey, since 90% of our clothes have come from thrift stores, clearance racks, or hand me downs I'm not out much if I ruin anything. Being conservatively experimental I'm testing it on towels first.

Is it Friday yet?

Guess who pretended her hands were broke this morning so the boys would get their own breakfast and pack their own lunch? Cole asked, "What's wrong with your hands?" I told him I got a manicure on tuesday and didn't want to ruin it. He looked at me like I was a freaking retard, but stepped up to the plate and got out the door in time. We're now averaging 2 days a week of making the bus. Huge improvement. And he is getting up without as much drama.

Andrea decided to be difficult and slow today. Can't win with all three. Jake is talking to me again. Last night no one was happy with his behavior and we all just avoided each other instead of arguing at 9:30 before bed. Actually that's not completely true. We had already argued through text messaging at 8:30 so he knew he was in deep doo-doo by the time he came home. This morning, I told him he wasn't hanging out with friends after school today....so that means he will probably come home late.

Ara called and needed me to locate his PF50 (govn't personnel form) because he got THE CALL today! I haven't heard any details. I'm sure he'll call when he can talk. Last month he applied for a DOE job (dept. of energy). It would be a lateral move (no step increase) but it's in the OSHA field and a break away from the aviation mayhem he's been in for 18 years. So Friday the 13th he goes in to refinance our house and put some more money in our pockets and then today he got a call. Exciting. Now maybe he will calm down.

Sounds a Little Woofy To Me

I'm sitting here stewing. It's 8:12 and Jake is not home. He called me at work and asked if his gf could come over at 5:30...so where the f* are they? He thinks he should be allowed to stay out until 10. That may be negotiable if he ever did his homework. grrr.

Cole and I minced words also. He wanted me to get him water, fix a foot bath and something else stupid, I'm sure. I'm not allowed to speak to him for the rest of the night (totally fine by me) because I pointed out that I saw him tossing the football in the park, and he is 14. He called me an asshole...I pointed out ever so kindly that he's the asshole. I love my ADHD son. *you can blink now, I'm sure your eyes popped out of your head, No parenting advice please, until you've been there done that with an ADHD kid, I don't want to hear it. We are all in counseling*

Ara and I had a minor tiff about dishes. I politely asked him to help me clean up the kitchen and he got all defensive and said that if I had ran the dishwasher on tuesday the kitchen would be clean. Ummm Manicure, hello. And also on tuesday I was holding out because on Monday he told me the the kitchen was all cleaned up...that was the night I quit at 6. It looked like it freaking exploded. But in the end we cleaned it up together while Andrea read her poetry to us.

Andrea and Rocky have left the most pleasant aroma in the house. I think Rocky just crapped half his body weight and Andrea just painted her toes.

Ara is going on and on about interest rates, and I think he is refinancing the house on friday. He only called me twelve time at work to discuss it. I must sheepishly admit I like it better when he calls as Dr Spankenhimer with his pranks. This serious grown up stuff is BORING. Oh and I also just listened as he read me an article about 18 inch speakers, amps, and sub woofers. Favorite quote that I'm stealing "Sounds a little woofy to me". Fun Times