Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What Really Bugs Me

You know what really bugs me? At least today? Because there are way too many things to mention in just one little post...but what really bugs me is when parents blame your kids for their own kid's irresponsibility.

Case in point - yesterday morning as I was dropping off the kids at school, a fellow mom came up to my window and asked me if Shaggy had her kid's shoes. I'm thinking to myself, "Why would Shaggy have Auhsoj's shoes?" I was a little confused, so she explained that Auhsoj can't seem to find his shoes (the classrooms and hallways at school are carpeted, so each kid is required to have indoor and outdoor shoes). She went looking for the missing shoes and saw a pair on Shaggy's chair at his desk and she thought they belonged to her son. I said, "But the boys aren't even in the same classroom." We called Shaggy over to the van and asked him if he had Auhsoj's shoes. He just looked at me like I was a little wobbly on the brain and said no, he had his own shoes. So Auhsoj's mom wanted to know what size shoe Shaggy wore - turns out it's the same size as her kid - but Shaggy's shoes are brand new - we bought them during Christmas break - and he told Auhsoj's mom that his shoes are brand new and still clean whereas Auhsoj's are older and dirty. And her response? "Well, what's Auhsoj supposed to do?" What is Auhsoj supposed to do?? Find his own stupid shoes. That's what he's supposed to do. I told Auhsoj's mom that I'd look around at home, but I didn't think we had any extra shoes lying around.

So this morning, I overheard two teachers talking, and they said that Auhsoj found his shoes in the boot rack where the boots are kept. And where shoes are not to be kept. Grrrr.

You know what else really bugs me? Other people's kids. Other people's kids who are rude and mean. Not just to my kids, but to every single kid at school. For the past two days I have had the privilege of driving home other people's kids. Other people's kids who are rude and mean. This kid will say things like, "You're nothing but a pile of dirt. You're mud. You eat mud." This is hurtful to other children. When other people's kids are in my care, they adhere to the same rules that my kids adhere to, so I reminded the Mean Kid that, "We only use nice words." And then he tries to twist what he has said, "I didn't mean it like that...you know...Adam was made from dirt, so we're all just dirt." And the things he says to his sister. Goodness. There is sibling bickery and then there is no regard or respect for the opposite sex. This kid scares and worries me.

And I hate having to tell my kids to stay away from certain kids, but I do tell them to stay away from the Mean Kid. Life is hard enough without some little creap trying to knock you down with words.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Pictures

Okay, so Alfred's Mom asked for updated pictures of Thumbelina, and who am I to say no to such a request??

Just before Christmas, Thumbelina got her first ever haircut...first ever since being home in the Great White North and part of the Funny Farm Clan. I kept putting it off because I think long hair is adorable on little girls...except Thumbelina's hair wasn't looking adorable, it was looking messy and scraggly. She had at least 2 haircuts while at the orphange, and I use the term loosely...her first one was pretty much a shave-job and her second one was more of a hack job. But I have since learned that the reason Chinese people shave their babies heads (boys and girls) is because they believe this will help their hair to grow in thicker. Thumbelina has pretty thick hair, so maybe it's true.

Anyway, here she is looking very uncertain:



Some parts of her hair had 3" cut off...other parts had 1/2 - 1" taken off:

Isn't she just beautiful?? I had my hairdresser trim up her bangs, because that bunch of hair always falls down on her forehead and looks messy:

And then she got some curlies put in as well:
I think Mr. Happy better dust off his gun pretty soon:

Saturday, January 10, 2009

New Year's Quiz

It's already the end of the 2nd week of this New Year, but this quiz looked fun.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
My girlfriend and I were trapped on an airplane with irrate and drunken passengers, we were diverted to a couple of different airports and had to spend the night in New Jersey before we were able to get home, due to inclement weather on the eastern seaboard.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't usually make resolutions because I don't usually keep them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin had a surprise baby in August.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My girlfriend's Mother passed away in October. I wasn't close with her Mother, but I'm close with my girlfriend; another friend's baby died after bravely living for 16 days.

5. What countries did you visit?
USA

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Extra money, completely organized home, more patience

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 12 was our one-year Family-versary when Thumbelina joined our family

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Figuring out that I'm allergic to gluten and that maintaining a gluten-free diet cures me of all arthritis pain

9. What was your biggest failure?
Eating gluten at Christmas...like a moth to the flame...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes...nearly breaking my butt when I fell down the stairs...but after that I was much more careful

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Washer & Dryer - it holds 3x the amount of clothes that my old set could handle, and my landry is all caught up. All of it. All.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Zoomer - he's always been a good kid, but after the mission's trip he went on last summer, things changed in a positive way with him

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Somebody's

14. Where did most of your money go?
We were able to pay off quite a chunk of our bank loan from when we bought our new-to-us vehicle and from our trip to China...we should have the balance paid off by June

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Thumbelina taking an interest in potty-training

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I don't know

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Taken the time to just have fun

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Home. With sick kids.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Well, I'm already in love...and I didn't fall out of love...

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Divine Design, Moving Up

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is a useless emotion

24. What was the best book you read?
The Good Earth

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That Tigger truly is really awful on the recorder

26. What did you want and get?
A day at the spa

27. What did you want and not get?
A vacation

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I'm so behind I have no idea what films were new...I did watch The Notebook and loved it

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Oooo, my birthday was fun - Husband took me to the city and I spent my day at the spa with my girlfriend. I was 39. There, I said it. 39. And then we went out to a fabulous steak place.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If my kids could understand the concept of doing homework and not complaining

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Same as 2007

32. What kept you sane?
God

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I only fancy Husband

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
All politicians are crooks and only have their own agenda in mind...the downfall of the economy was something I didn't see coming

35. Who did you miss?
I wish I could see more of my girlfriend in the city

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anybody new this year

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Don't let the immaturity of other's bring you down. Life is too short to try to make everybody happy, and you can only do what you can do.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Irritations

There are quite a few things that irritate me. And it is mostly people and what they do or do not do.

Today is a snow day (yay) and our school has decided to implement a new system, in that most people are given the names of 2 families that they must call if there is ever a cancellation. It starts with the principal who calls two assistants, who call two teachers, who call two families, and it trickles on down the line.

I am not a morning person by any definition of the word, but I do get up by 6:30 every morning. And by get up, I mean sit up in bed and try to read my Bible for 15 minutes with only one eye open. And then I get up and do laundry until it's time to start waking the children. Everybody is up and eating breakfast by 7:20 and we try to start leaving the house for school by 8:10.

So this morning, at 6:30 am, there were no school cancellations reported on the radio. I modified my morning and did some extra reading and lounging, and by 7:00, all the schools were cancelled. Which I'm not sure of the purpose of calling all the families because it's always been the rule that if the public schools are cancelled, our school will be cancelled too, but it is what it is.
I got up and enjoyed my morning coffee in quiet while I e-mailed my girlfriend, and I received my phone call at 7:22 am. So I called the two families on my list. Except the first family didn't answer the phone and there was no answering machine picking up so that I could at least leave a message. I called every 15 minutes for the next hour, and I think I got the mom out of bed. At 8:30 in the morning.

People, if you know it's a snow day, and you know you're going to be getting a phone call about it, PLEASE don't go back to bed until you've at least received your phone call. It's irritating for the caller and makes them feel strapped to the phone.

That's all for today...stay tuned because I'm sure I will have more irritations to share with you.