Normal (sort of) family things...

A little Jase-ism

The beginnings of a text thread between me and my 11 year old.

Me: Hello my little minion, how are you? (I was about to have him do some laundry for me).

Jason: Fine, my big master. (I swear that still makes me laugh!! God I love this kid)

 Just another evening….

Dan’s away and he texts me at 7pm on Sunday night that he’s boarding soon and asks me to find khaki shorts for Jason so they can all go golfing at 8am the next morning. Uh… sure, except I’m not home and this seems just a touch late to make sure he has clothes for the place you’re taking him on Monday morning. (not to mention I’m nearly sure the boy doesn’t have any golf appropriate clothes – he lives in gym shorts). So I get home at about 8:30 and go searching for golf clothes and sure enough no appropriate bottoms – pants or shorts – to be found. Great.

I let my fingers do the walking… er typing… and discover Ta*rget is opened until 10pm – Bless them. At 9:07 Jack and I race out the door, thankful we don’t live in Rawlins where Target wouldn’t be an option… though I guess neither would golf…, get to Target and try on the Large size shorts and they are too tight for Jason so we grab up the extra large, which are going to be too long on him, but whatever. (he’s in the I’m about to grow stage so his middle is a little bigger than normal). And are out of Target inside of 10 minutes.

This morning when he put the shorts on for the first time – I swear they are really Capri pants on the boy. Sigh. I rolled them up a few times and off they went.

 Educational TV

So… Jason and I get back from the store and Tom is watching the movie Dodge ball. I’m pretty sure Jason shouldn’t watch this after about 30 seconds. I don’t care so much about that kind of thing for Tom who’s heading into high school in the fall – but I have him turn it off and he switches it to Avatar and they watch that until it’s time for Jason to go to bed. Dan’s home by this time and puts him to bed. As soon as he’s gone Tom turns Dodge ball back on… whatever, it’s near the end.

We watch the end of the movie and there is a little chemistry between two of the characters and after they win the big prize (sorry if I just ruined the movie for you) the man and woman, Peter and Kate, are sort of flirting with each other in a way that seems pretty clear they are about to finally kiss and head off happily ever after when a new woman, Gwen, emerges from the crowd. Kate is thrilled beyond belief to see Kate and they embrace and passionately kiss… seriously passionately. (this was really fun to watch with my nearly 14 year old son sitting across the way).

Then one of the other men says to Peter “see, I told you she was a lesbian!” And Kate turns around and says “I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual!! And proceeds to go over and kiss Peter just as passionately.

Yup – this was a great little educational program to watch with Tom. Who just looked at me and burst out laughing and went up to bed. What he did behind his closed door – I do not want to contemplate.

A couple of pictures - first, all three boys...

Then Jason in action

Friday's Letters Link Up

Let me first just say - that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!  Genius!


Dear Chic-Fil-A oreo shake – Just because it was 103 degrees as I sat and watched my kids at rugby practice, just because rivers of sweat were streaming down my body, just because I was starving is no reason at all to be beckoning me like a siren beckons a sailor who’s been at sea too long.








Dear back – I am truly tired of you causing me problems. I appreciate stress and extra weight are both contributing factors and I have some control over both of them, but seriously – do you really think you are helping me reduce my stress level by causing me to not be able to bend or twist or lift a damn thing and do you think you are helping me lose weight by not allowing me to even walk on a treadmill? If we could just work together I think everything would be a hell of a lot smoother.





Dear zit on the tip of my nose – Seriously!?! I’ve got a nearly 14 year old just down the hall, please go visit him. That is all.





Dear closet – if you could just magically clean and organize yourself, I would really appreciate it. I would even be willing to add pretty decorations to you if you’d like.





Dear nearly 14 year old – if you could be so kind as to check your teenage attitude at the door from time to time, it would be really helpful. Especially to your father who seems to forget what a good kid you are sometimes. I remain very blessed by who you are as a person and thrilled that you are bigger and stronger than I am as you never cease to grow tired of reminding me. It just means that I never have to lift another remotely heavy thing as long as you are within earshot for the rest of my life. So, really, I’m good with that.



Dear 11 ½ year old – While I am thrilled to pieces by the strides you continue to make in getting more comfortable being out of your parent’s presence, it would make me even happier if you’d get even more comfortable there. I’d really like it if the transition to middle school wasn’t going to be the tear filled nightmare I’m envisioning it to be. That said – I am also thrilled with the person you are turning out to be. And the fact that you want to keep up with your brother and carry heavy things for me too – also totally works for me.

How about a little picture of the children from last week on vacation - aren't they cute!!!

My childen.... sigh.

Hi all!!

I've been on vacation and before that I was getting ready for vacation - I'm back now and can get back to real life.

First of all..... Jason.  He didn't want to go to the camp where Tom is a junior counselor again this year so he elected to stay home as we refused to drive him to his preferred camp - thus having to drive to two different places in opposite directions twice a day for two weeks.  Dan is not traveling this week so he's here with Jason.  Today is the first day he was at home instead of school or camp, and this is the conversation he and I had when I got home from work.

Jason: Mom!  I've blown through my old record.
Me: that's great babe.  What record?
J: of watching TV
M: uh... huh?
J (excitedly): yeah, my record was 8 hours.
M: uh... WHAT?
J: yeah!  today I watched 10 hours in a row. (he was very proud)
M: this is not something to be proud of, child!
J: oh, sorry.
M: Can you guess what I'm going to say now?
J: uh, nope.
M: TURN THE FRIKKIN' TV OFF RIGHT NOW!!!!
J: When can I watch TV again?
M: three days.


Then there's Tom.  We were on a sunset dolphin cruise on vacation and the captain let all the kids "drive" the boat from the 2 year olds up to Jason and a couple of girls about his age (11/12).  He ignored Tom which was just fine with Tom as he's too cool for school these days.  After a while the captain called Tommy up to drive.  He'd waited until he wanted to tell us about some stuff thinking Tom would be able to handle it well enough for a while - which he certainly could.  But as Tommy sauntered (really the only word for it) up to the wheel, the captain said to me "Let me guess... 16?"  And I burst out laughing... uh, no.  He wishes he was 16, he's only 13.  He's awfully broad for 13.  Yes, yes he is.

When we got home - after countless alligator sightings, playing with all manner of wild things - alligators, birds, snakes, turtles, etc, watching dolphins play in the wake of the boat, amazing pools, rays flying around him in the gulf, and countless other things... when asked what his favorite thing about vacation was - without a second's hesitation "when Captain Dwight called me 16."

sigh.


A friend of mine and I decided to get a little more serious about weight loss starting today.  I had a pretty good day, it could have been better but it wasn't too bad at all.  I threw my back out a couple of weeks ago and it's still healing so I can't really exercise more than a leisurely walk at the moment, but that will come soon.

BYOC

It’s time for Drazil’s Bring Your Own Crazy!! We answer 5 questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break.






1. Are you a daily purse switcher, an often purse buyer or a one purse kind of woman? What factors influence your purse buying?



I don’t change every day at all. I do have a little addiction with cute, very small purses. Day to day I usually have a big purse in which I can pack water bottles and snacks or jackets for practices or games. After a while I’ll get board with whatever I’ve been carrying for a while and I’ll switch to something else. I own a few that I’ve never used that I bought because they were cute and I was in a purse kind of mood – but then I haven’t have had the right set of circumstances come up for me to actually use them.



I always change my purse when I’m going out somewhere special – this is where my cute little purses come into play. I am always always always on the hunt for new cute little purses. Sometimes I’ll buy and outfit because I haven’t yet had the chance to use one of my cute little purses.



I am cheap, though, when it comes to purses. I think I once spent $75 on a purse and I LOVE that purse – but it still really bothers me that I spent that much because normally I would never spend more than $25 or $30 for a purse of any size. I can’t imagine ever in a million years spending hundreds of dollars on a bag I put shit in – but that’s just me. Though if I do it will be on something very small and very cute, never on something bigger I’d use every day.



2. What’s your favorite board game?



I like things like the ungame where you are asking and answering questions about stuff.



3. Are you a sore loser who throws fits or a gracious winner? Are you competitive?



In a few things I’m competitive, but in most things I’m not at all. I am competitive in miniature golf, for instance. I don’t bet on things unless I know I’ll win. So, if I ever say to you, I’ll bet you a buck this or that is true, you can be sure I’m completely confident of the answer.



I think I have a big competitive nature buried deep inside me and if it ever got out it could be a scary thing, so I think I’ll keep it buried for now.



4. Tell us something you are afraid of that is a physical item…like spiders, deep water, heights, snakes, thunderstorms, first dates, childbirth, etc.



Bears and alligators. We’re headed to Florida in a couple of weeks and are planning a day trip to the everglades. My wonderful 11 year old has been regaling me with news stories he’s making up about the fights that keep breaking out where we’re going in Florida between bears and alligators. How usually people aren’t killed. He’s such a loving boy.



5. Repeat question: Summarize your week.



it’s been a fine but busy week. Jason had a concert on Wednesday night – that’s two and a half hours I’ll never get back. Tom had his first playoff baseball game and no one played well at all, but his team won so that was good. Tonight I’m going to a friend’s son’s game so she and I can get drunk in the stands. We’ve got soccer, football, and more playoff baseball this weekend as well as a gala for our county’s domestic violence center that my sister happens to be the chair of the board for. She’s been a big ball of stress for the last few weeks, so I’ll be offering her whatever help she may want on Saturday towards that end. Next week is the last week of school and I’m not sure if that’s good or bad – but it is what it is.