The storm was coming with lots of snow and blowing snow and drifting snow, so Chris decided to take the kids up to Fargo for Thanksgiving weekend Tuesday night. My dad was worried that I would be lonely all weekend. My mom was worried that I would be alone on a holiday. I was thrilled that I could have five days to clean the house and do whatever the heck I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it. It was like I was 18 again and off to college. Except this time, what I wanted to do was clean. (I know. Shocking!)
If you are a parent of a child under 10 (I am also guessing that this type of thing happens if you are a parent at all, regardless of how old your child is). you know how tough it can be to keep your house clean. You clean a room and the kids are in the rest of the house completely destroying it. And then they come into your brand spankin' new clean room and completely trash that. So you could live in a house that is moderately messy, or clean and have the place look like a lego/moonsand/littlest pet shop tornado came through.
I also have this dog issue. Two of them. I mean I have two dogs with a lot of issues. Mostly where and when and how much they relieve themselves. They are both girl dogs and both have a need to "one-up" each other. Lacey started things by....sprinkling upstairs in our tv room. This is the room in the house with the tv, a fireplace, really the coziest, comfiest place in the whole house. And she peed in there. Well, Rosie couldn't stand that, so she peed on top of it. And so on, and so on, and so on..... I've bought special stuff from the pet store that is supposed to cover up the smell so that they are not tempted to re-offend. Doesn't work. Called my friend the professional carpet guy. Cleaned the stain, but the girls are still at it. I wound up putting the baby gate back up, so they can't even get to the room. Until Wednesday night, when I was up there trying to clean and I left the gate open for 2 seconds to get the vacuum....one of them sneeked a leak.
And now today is Sunday. The kids are on their way home and I only have 1 and a half rooms clean. What did I do with all my free time......
That is what I am thankful for. I have had a pretty rough year. If you have been reading/following my blogs you know already. Job loss, divorce, shoe loss, broken toes, dogs messes (read above). But I have the most fantastic friends EVER. There is one family of friends that basically adopted me this weekend. They invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner, they invited me over to a big bonfire Friday night after the Husker game, and they make me laugh non-stop. My next door neighbors, The Welcomers, also invited me over for a Thanksgiving meal (yeah, I ate like a rock star that day) and we've been borrowing/lending movies back and forth all weekend. My friends Katie and Natalie and DeAnna all stopped over this weekend to chit chat, play with makeup, and Katie loaned me her vacuum when mine went kaput.
These are just a few of my friends and this is just one weekend. I've had a lot of friends step up and offer me a hand or a shoulder over this past year, and this is my opportunity to say Thanks. I don't say it enough, and can't show you enough, but the support I have had from my neighbors, my fellow Mary Kay ladies, my high school and college friends, my former co-workers and their family members, and my siblings is unbelievable. And it means more to me than I can say.
People can say this world is in trouble all they like. That people don't care anymore. But I have proof that they do. Just look at my friends. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The F-Word
I have a love/hate relationship with swearing. I don't like hearing swear words around kids and yet I have been known to throw out a well-varied string of foul language while in unexpected pain. My mother goes to church every Sunday but can swear like a sailor while watching high school basketball. (So funny, people around her at the games, noticing how intently she would follow the action, would always ask, "Which player is your son?" And she would say, "None of them, my daughter is the cheerleader.") I actually prefer to listen to edited songs so that I don't hear bad language in my favorite toons, but I know a well-placed swear word can add extra heft when you need to get a point across.
Of course, I don't like it when kids swear. Sure it's funny when a little baby mistakenly says something else when asking for a firetruck. Who doesn't laugh when a toddler runs around with a pirate ship calling it something else? That is funny because it is not on purpose and accidents are funny.
I've always thought that the real reason people swear (and I try to teach my kids this) is because they aren't intelligent enough to come up with a different word. The English language is full of lots and lots of different words that we can use to mean the same thing. We just have to get creative.
Like Spencer. He has been swearing like a truck driver. Without swearing. Just this afternoon, after his brother snatched his gigantic bag of rainbow popcorn out of his hand (leftover birthday treat), just as he was settling in to play another marathon session of Mario, Spencer yells, "Hey! You are such an F-word idiot!!!!"
He didn't specify which f-word. He said literally "you are such an f-word idiot." The f-word could have been...funny, frugal, fantastic, frumpy, flatulent (ooh, that would be a good one), fat, fraternal....you get my point. So, by not swearing, he was using his creative talents to insult his brother in an ambiguous way.
Ambiguous insults. Could be the wave of the future. Could be the answer to world peace. Could be an awesome band name.
Of course, I don't like it when kids swear. Sure it's funny when a little baby mistakenly says something else when asking for a firetruck. Who doesn't laugh when a toddler runs around with a pirate ship calling it something else? That is funny because it is not on purpose and accidents are funny.
I've always thought that the real reason people swear (and I try to teach my kids this) is because they aren't intelligent enough to come up with a different word. The English language is full of lots and lots of different words that we can use to mean the same thing. We just have to get creative.
Like Spencer. He has been swearing like a truck driver. Without swearing. Just this afternoon, after his brother snatched his gigantic bag of rainbow popcorn out of his hand (leftover birthday treat), just as he was settling in to play another marathon session of Mario, Spencer yells, "Hey! You are such an F-word idiot!!!!"
He didn't specify which f-word. He said literally "you are such an f-word idiot." The f-word could have been...funny, frugal, fantastic, frumpy, flatulent (ooh, that would be a good one), fat, fraternal....you get my point. So, by not swearing, he was using his creative talents to insult his brother in an ambiguous way.
Ambiguous insults. Could be the wave of the future. Could be the answer to world peace. Could be an awesome band name.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Search Button
I don't have a cellphone. I have a land line. I know I'm old school, but I really prefer it this way. We tried having just cellphones when we moved into this house, but I could never find the stupid thing when I needed to make a call. It was usually hidden under a couch cushion, or under the coffee table, or in the laundry basket or someplace weird. And if the ringer was off, fugeddaboutit.
We have three phones connected to our landline. One "corded, really old school, attached to the wall" phone-which will never, ever, ever in a gazillion years get lost. And two cordless phones with a really cool feature, when you press a button on the base of the chargers, the lost phones will beep until you find them. So if you need to call your sister, or follow up on a job interview or call the doctor, you just press the Search Button, and beep, beep, beep, you've found your handset!
I just wish someone could install this feature on everything else in my life that I seem to misplace. Mia had a Thanksgiving project for school that involved 3 components: We were supposed to decorate a paper turkey, print out a picture of our family, and bring in a can of food for a Thanksgiving Food Drive for their school.
The paper turkey was just a picture of a cartoon turkey that we, as a family, were supposed to decorate as a togetherness project. We just never seem to have time together. Mia started to decorate it by herself. Grant pitched in by doing some "improvements." Spencer was glued to his video game. I always seem to have to clean something or pick something up or run an errand or look for something, that I never have time to "collaborate." It needed to be handed in on Friday, which I found out about Friday morning, 5 minutes before we left the house. It wasn't on the kitchen table. It wasn't on the homework table, which has turned into a Lego table. And it wasn't in Mia's backpack. I need a Search Button!
I wanted to print out a picture of our family, but couldn't decide which picture to print out. A picture with the kids and mom. A picture with the kids and dad. Just the kids. I'm not even sure if there is a picture of us all together, but now with the separation/divorce I'm not sure what the definition is of our family anymore. I need a Search Button!
The whole school is doing a Thanksgiving Food Drive for unprivileged families in our community. The goal is to get each kid to donate a can of food for the less fortunate. At the school my children attend, 45% of the kids qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. I think that we might qualify. But I'm too afraid to check. I am a smart and talented person. I have a college degree. I work hard and take great pride in what I can accomplish. I cannot qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. I give to charity. I don't accept it. All I need is a job, not charity. An opportunity to show what I can do. I know that I can make some company a lot of money. I have a billion ideas (a few of them good!) floating around in my head.
A job. A chance. I need a Search Button.
We have three phones connected to our landline. One "corded, really old school, attached to the wall" phone-which will never, ever, ever in a gazillion years get lost. And two cordless phones with a really cool feature, when you press a button on the base of the chargers, the lost phones will beep until you find them. So if you need to call your sister, or follow up on a job interview or call the doctor, you just press the Search Button, and beep, beep, beep, you've found your handset!
I just wish someone could install this feature on everything else in my life that I seem to misplace. Mia had a Thanksgiving project for school that involved 3 components: We were supposed to decorate a paper turkey, print out a picture of our family, and bring in a can of food for a Thanksgiving Food Drive for their school.
The paper turkey was just a picture of a cartoon turkey that we, as a family, were supposed to decorate as a togetherness project. We just never seem to have time together. Mia started to decorate it by herself. Grant pitched in by doing some "improvements." Spencer was glued to his video game. I always seem to have to clean something or pick something up or run an errand or look for something, that I never have time to "collaborate." It needed to be handed in on Friday, which I found out about Friday morning, 5 minutes before we left the house. It wasn't on the kitchen table. It wasn't on the homework table, which has turned into a Lego table. And it wasn't in Mia's backpack. I need a Search Button!
I wanted to print out a picture of our family, but couldn't decide which picture to print out. A picture with the kids and mom. A picture with the kids and dad. Just the kids. I'm not even sure if there is a picture of us all together, but now with the separation/divorce I'm not sure what the definition is of our family anymore. I need a Search Button!
The whole school is doing a Thanksgiving Food Drive for unprivileged families in our community. The goal is to get each kid to donate a can of food for the less fortunate. At the school my children attend, 45% of the kids qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. I think that we might qualify. But I'm too afraid to check. I am a smart and talented person. I have a college degree. I work hard and take great pride in what I can accomplish. I cannot qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. I give to charity. I don't accept it. All I need is a job, not charity. An opportunity to show what I can do. I know that I can make some company a lot of money. I have a billion ideas (a few of them good!) floating around in my head.
A job. A chance. I need a Search Button.
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