A bag of squirrels and mice please

So my post last night was all over the place, frankly I'm sure it made no sense to anyone, including me. I'm sorry about that, I was on a roll in my head then started typing and Dave come in with news from the school meeting...needless to say I lost my train of thought and went on a bit of tangent. None of it making any sense. But to make my point now simple and short, I just think we need to take responsibility as parents to raise well adjusted kids. That's it.

Today I had the Mice Man come to place the poison around and promise me no mice for at least 3 months. We had them come a year ago and haven't seen any signs since then but I'm not waiting for a sign. For anyone who does not know this already, I TOTALLY HATE MICE!!! They scare the shit out of me. I can tell you in the past the sight of a mouse trap could send me into a panic attack. I've gotten much better over the past few years, mostly I put on a brave face so I don't give my daughters the same disease of fear. Still the idea that tiny little rodents could be making their way around my house and eating my cashmere sweaters (this actually happened to me) makes me want to puke in my mouth!

So now we have new poison, new traps and the mouse dude said that only one poison trap was 'active', meaning had been eaten lately. It happens to be the trap near where my sweaters used to be in a plastic bin, the cover must not have been sealed and they nested in there and ATE my sweater! Assholes. But I digress again. So here is where I pose the new issue. We have a squirrel in our overhang roof area (I'm not sure what the technical term for this is) Yesterday morning when I went out to the deck to pick up the plants blown around by the wind the night before I heard scratching above me. I nearly had a heart attack, this sound conquers up only fear of mice for me! So I found Dave had him come investigate and it seems they have found a hole near the edge of the roof and are in the overhang area. Squirrels, we figure, since it was loud and to big sounding for a mouse... This is what prompted my call to the Mouse Dude. But I soon found out that mice we can poison without question, squirrels, we need to call another dude who can set traps. Are squirrels not just more social mice with furry tails and beady eyes. They are bigger yes, and have little to no fear of humans. Mice seem to keep to themselves more not showing their faces very often THANK GOD!!! So why can we kill the shy rodent but we have to trap, the annoying in your face assholes who chewed a hole in my house! I hate them all, mice, squirrels, rodents in general have no purpose as far as I'm concerned except to annoy people and give the mouse dude a job. I paid $200 to have a mouse free house for a guarantee of 3 months, and now I make the call to the squirrel dude and god only knows what crazy fee he will charge to save the fucking squirrel so he can go live in someone else's house!!! GO home to the forest rodents go home.

Weinie anyone???

Recently at a dinner meeting I attended for my husband (us stay at home Mom's don't do dinner meetings very often) I heard a speaker talking about the difference in the workplace with all the generations of people. So mostly how to explain the Gen Y group that is up and coming into the workplace. Most older folks had a negative opinion of the newer staff, some had good stories. ..but in the end all I kept thinking was 'It's the parents fault'. I wanted to scream it out loud whenever anyone complained about how the kids needed praise to even feel worthy, needed to be told ASAP that they were doing a good job. Needed constant gratification so they could continue doing the work. If all these things did not happen they slacked off, did not focus as well and generally did a shitty job. So is it society who raises kids or the parents. Now I know as well as anyone some kids don't have decent parents and rely on the goodness of places like a Boys and Girls Club or extended family or friends family. That's not who I'm talking about here. I'm talking about kids who have parents who still wipe their ass at the ripe old age of ten, then congratulate them on doing a good job. I'm talking about parents who are raising their kids not to be able to think for themselves. Yes the kids are smart, yes they know the inside of a computer better than I ever will, and yes they can download anything off the Internet while iming and facebooking and whatever. But can they have a conversation with a person right in front of them? Have their parents ever told them to toughen up? Deal with it life is tough? Frankly I think we have raised a pile of wienies, who need to be told what a great job they have done when really it's crap. I'm not the most perfect mother but there have been several times that I have told my kids to deal with it, toughen up, life's tough! I don't ever let them think they are perfect or the best. I never tell them they suck, I never tell them they have done a bad job. But I encourage them to do better and work harder. And love them for who they are, very wonderful average kids who are good at heart and good to others and themselves. They don't need me to tell them that it's okay to go poop and they don't even need me to tell them they did a good job. They know it's just a normal activity not to be given a pat on the back. But when they act like assholes I don't give them their way, when they act like angles I give them all the attention they want. Positive = Positive Negative = Negative....seems simple. Let's be parents and let our kids grow up.

Never get a divorce....

For the sake of your sanity years later never get a divorce, or marry someone who has...

That's about all the advice I have on that one.

Oh except you can have as many divorces as you like as long as you don't have any kids with that person.

So the advice is, Don't have kids with anyone you might later want to divorce.

This does not reflect my personal divorce but one I have absolutly no control over and it's making me mental...

Am I in High School or are you starting High School??

The past few weeks have been NUTS!! Summers over, school has officially started. Last week Lizzy went to a new school, which is french speaking none the less. Kaitlin and Cody both attended from JK to Grade 8 so we saw it as a great opportunity for her to learn a second language. She was all for it until she started...last week was HARD. Very hard. Both Dave and I have struggled with the choice, wondering if it's the right one. But in the end we know it is. Lizzy cried all day everyday for 3 days. Even in her sleep. It made me feel like a 15 year old girl whose boyfriend just broke up with her. I ached all over with sadness. So this morning at 7:15 AM on the day of her 6th birthday when she went on the bus with no tears just smiles I felt such joy I almost cried. Maybe my boyfriend likes me after all...
All the while Baylee started high school yesterday. After an orientation last Thursday which we both attended, and learned how to use a combination lock. She went off with big smiles and looking far too pretty and old for her age. Watching her leave hurt too, but for totally different reasons. I remember all too well how high school is the best of times and the worst of times. I hope she will turn to me when it gets hard and let me at the very least, hug her. She is so guarded, not very affectionate, and tough on the outside. But I know she is a mushy little girl on the inside. So I try to get in, some day I'll figure out how to use that combination lock.
On top of all this two weeks ago one of my closest friends and I had an argument that has I would guess turned into a fight. Long story short, she insulted Baylee's choice of high school by saying that she thought smart kids went to the other school and 'shop' kids go to the school of her choice. I was insulted. Any topic that insults our kids in my opinion is hitting below the belt! So I shot back and was probably not very nice about it! I later sent an apology email, trying to take ownership for my bitchiness and explained it was simply a mother hen's defense of her child. After 9 days and no reply, I even made other unrelated attempts to make contact, I've received the reply. Stating I'm the one who has on several occasions been hurtful with my words and actions (no examples were given I'm to wait for that conversation). Yet not once taking any ownership in her role in the one conversation. I've been asked to wait for her to take time to figure out how to talk to me about her feelings...So really it is me in high school. Will he choose me or the other girl. Am I good enough to be her friend or will I be an outcast from the cool group. Will I make the basketball team or was I not good enough! When the hell did being in my late thirties make me feel so insecure?? So with a positive face I have decided to let it all go. I probably was bitchy to my friend, and maybe even on other occasions, we are a lot a like and not all similarities are our best qualities. But if you hold on to that and wait for the answer well it's too hard. So I let it go, I finished high school 19 years ago and I DON'T want to go back! Good luck Baylee and Bonne fete Lizzy. I love you both.

OMG my son is so cute!

Mackie turned one yesterday and honestly he could not have been cuter!! All day he smiled and look at everyone as if to say, hello I'm the king of the world. It's true he might actually be...he learned to walk just in time for his birthday and will do so on demand if in the right mood. Yesterday he did it for anyone who asked. Gave his signature smile and showed off that dimple all day. He put me in one of the best moods ever. Last night we had our core family for dinner, and added 'Six' Taylor, Baylee's best friend who is here so much we call her Six - meaning she is our Sixth child for those who are falling behind. And Chelsea, Cody's girlfriend. I'm still adjusting to the fact that we have a child who could possibly have a beautiful girlfriend and ask her to dinner and turn out not to be four years old, and on his way to thinking girls are gross. Anyhow, I'm off topic. So after taking cupcakes to the YMCA play care room for all the kids to celebrate his birthday Mackie was ready for more come dinner time. This time I had made chocolate cupcakes with electric blue icing. He spend most of dinner throwing his veggies and meat at me or on the floor wanting to keep his stomach empty for cupcakes! So we gave him a full size cake sang the standard song, which he smiled and posed for the entire song loving every minute! Then after having a good look at the icing he dove in. Eating the icing first of course, and even going for the brown cake with vigor. After a few bites he took most of the cake in his hands and rubbed it together. Looking at it as if to say, if it smells so good and it tastes so good, I'm sure it will make great hair gel! Then without pause he took both hands and applied it to his hair, creating one of the cutest faux hawks I've ever seen! We were all laughing so hard he kept doing it!! After a much needed bath he went to bed without a peep. Then this morning we were woken up to a beautiful smelly bright blue poop! OMG he is still the cutest baby EVER!!

I'm Punished

This past weekend was so beautiful, sunny and warm...perfect for a little Spring cleaning, BBQ hanging with the family. However it started off a bit stressful. Friday afternoon while waiting for Baylee to get out of school Lizzy, Mackie and I were sitting in the car. All was well in the world, at least for the moment. Then out of no where Mackie let out one of those blood curtailing screams that as a Mother you just know 'something' has happened. I jumped out of the front seat flew into the back and found Lizzy looking a little sheepish. Mackie was quick to stop when he saw me but he did seem out of sorts. I looked at Lizzy and said, 'what happened?' She refused to answer, turning away and starting to cry herself. ' What did you do I demanded?', finally she said, 'I'm too afraid to tell, you'll be mad at me'. Of course I'll be mad I was thinking in my head but instead I let her know that not telling me the truth would put her in a way worse position than if she told me NOW what happened. Meanwhile Mackie had started to giggle at the sight of his own hand so clearly it wasn't life threating but still, what did Lizzy do?? I gave her a warning let her know that we would not be going to the park with our friends after school as planned, if she did not tell me what happened. At this point I was so annoyed that she wasn't telling me it was driving me crazy. I was in the front seat by now, Baylee hopped in the truck and looked at me then said, 'bad day?' Lizzy was SCREAMING in the back kicking my seat saying 'I want to go' over and over. This as a result of me saying no park! When we got home I took her to her room and told her not to come out until I came to get her. After a breather for both of us she asked to go pee. While in the bathroom I asked her to please tell me what happened, explaining that I can't help Mackie if I don't know what happened, blaa blaa blaa... So since I was expecting her to say she clipped his seat belt, or took his toy I was a bit shocked to hear her say 'I bit him'. She was very sad, sobbing while telling me she bit his finger. Giving me a description with actions bitting her own finger. When I pushed to know if this was the first time she had bit him, no was her answer. It was extrememly hard not to show my shock but I think I handled it well. We discussed why not telling me is just like lying and why bitting is bad! Really I didn't think it needed a discussion. So I gave her two days punishment, no TV or Computer. One day for lying and one day for bitting. We still went to the park, it was nice out and since she couln't watch TV, we had to do something. But I must tell you she spent the entire weekend telling all her siblings, our company, her friends frankly anyone who would listen that she was being punished. For kinda lying and bitting Mackie. But she finished her story every time by saying - 'and I'll never do it again'. And we thought she was perfect!

Wisdom who has it?

Today I took Baylee to the dentist with me for our annual cleaning. Turns out I spent a small fortune on two simple cleanings when I should have just paid the money for laser whitening. At least that's how I see it. While there Baylee had an x-ray to see the status of her up coming wisdom teeth. To give the dentist a chance to see what the future holds - I know what it holds all my spending money!! And no shoes to show for it. So to prepare us for the future we paid for the x-ray to determine if her wisdom teeth will come in early and mess up her naturally straight teeth - there's no chance I want that to happen!! So on the hunt for her wisdom teeth they only found 1. Just 1. Not two on top none on bottom. Simply 1. So less of a chance for crowding later and less expense in having them removed! All big high fives from Mom. But I can't help wondering, did her other three wisdom teeth hold all her wisdom? And if so is it gone? Baylee can be completely dippy, forgetful, slow even. She does extremely well at school but common sense seems to be on a late delivery. I'm just hoping it wasn't with the wisdom teeth.

Pitty Titties

Baylee, my oldest daughter who is now 13 is often plagued by the story of when she was almost two and her Dad and I had her on a trip to the Canary Islands. There were scads of ladies suntanning topless around our hotel pool. Baylee used to use the word 'Titties' to mean 'Kitties'...since there were litters (literally) of stray cats running around our hotel it was priceless watching her run around the pool area screaming 'Mommy Mommy!!! Look at all the pitty *pretty* Titties!!' Good times.