Parents????

Some things I really just don't get. Maybe I'm to old fashioned. LOL. This morning I dropped the kids off at school and here comes a boy, who is in Kindergarten, with a Mohawk hairdo, shaved sides, and the Mohawk is blue. And totally spiked up in the air. WHAT??????????

Is it just me? Now come on, you can not tell me that a 6 year old boy goes up to his parents and asks for that. It has to come from the parent. And then I'm thinking about all the work that goes into this hairdo every morning. I think he spends more time on his hair than I do, or actually his mom does. I'm surprised they even let him be in school like that, and that they don't make him go home and come back with a more normal hairdo.

I get the whole "Freedom of expression" thing, but really..................for a six year old?
So maybe I am old fashioned. I don't buy short shorts for my girls, or mini skirts, Brenna does wear a lot of skirts, but most of them are actually skorts. I also don't see the point of exposing your navel at 6 or 8 years old, so no little tops here either. Sorry, but it has to cover your tummy. LOL.

Bitchy

Yes, I am in a bitchy mood today. I have a cold and can't breathe through my nose AND I'm at work. Why oh why can't they invent some wonder drug for the fricking common cold?

All I want to do is go home, curl up in bed and watch trash TV. I never thought I would actually like the series "Charmed". My girls like to watch it, and now I'm hooked. Go figure, 3 witches who kill demons. Well, I got 3 little witches at my house that can turn into demons very quickly.

As to the worst mother award of the year...yesterday was Brenna's field trip, and I had no clue 1) where she was going, 2) what it was. LOLOL. Lovely husband knew, so I figured that would be enough and they could call him if she got lost.

Tuesday Ten: Things in my shopping cart

1. Diet Coke, I'm addicted, but at least I switched to the caffeine free one.

2. Carrots and Cucumbers: They make a great snack for the kids at school or at home.

3. Wine: For THOSE hard to take moments

4. Lettuce: We usually always have a salad with dinner.

5. Cereal and milk: A must have in my house.

6. Bread: It's usually wheat bread for the lunches.

7. Eggs: They make a quick dinner

8. Frozen brussel sprouts: Sidney's favorite vegetable.

9. Little water bottles and big water bottles.

10. Canned soups: Make a quick snack or dinner eventhough I don't like to do it too often because of the high sodium.

Experiment going on in the bathroom

We will see for how long this will go on. Somebody left an empty small water bottle on the sink. It's been sitting there for 5 days. I refuse to throw it out. Actually this weekend I cleaned around it and it doesn't seem to bother anybody else. Any guesses on how long it'll be there?

Tuesday Ten:Ten Things I Think About While I'm Driving

1. What did I forget to do? Inevitably I will think of some things that I forgot to take care of.

2. Why do these maniacs (that would be my girls) always have to start fighting and yelling while I'm talking on the phone?

3. Why do I have to sit in this grueling L.A. traffic every fricking day?

4. What would I do if I win the lottery? Dreaming about not sitting in traffic and having a huge piece of land somewhere on the coast with a beautiful house............

5. The gas prices went up again????????? It's killing me. Right now I pay $3.43.

6. Thinking about what to do first when I get home.

7. In the morning: Thank god they got to school on time without major fights or scars. LOL

8. Daydreaming, it's the only time I have by myself.

9. How different my life would have turned out if I had stayed in Germany.

10. What to do for vacation this year.

A good day

Yesterday I got a phone call from the school that Sidney was accepted in the Magnet program. Basically it's a Gifted/High Ability Program that takes place at the same school. They have one class set up for just that. Sidney is really excited too and we are very proud.

But.........

then she telling me last night that she hopes she can make it, how much harder it's going to be, how much more she has to work etc.

So I guess in the next couple of month we just need to concentrate on letting her know that she is smart, and that it will also be a lot of fun, since they get to do more. I really hope we can alleviate her fears and get her to enjoy it.

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things I Love About

1. Sidney: She is a mini me and it amazes me everyday. She is very responsible for her age, I love her dark brown eyes and she is a drama queen.LOL

2. Brenna: Mini Paul, but he doesn't want to see it.LOL. If there is trouble, Brenna is usually in it, but she has the biggest heart and has the cutest angelic little face. Very stubborn.

3. Mackie: Mini adult. She talked in full sentences very early and has an amazing vocabulary for her age. She has the cutest mischievous grin, but she is also Miss Attitude.LOL

4. Internet: It enables me to actually have or keep up with friendships I couldn't otherwise. The mommy boards are a great help and outlet for mommy tantrums. LOLOL

5. My car: It's big, it's comfortable, and I feel very safe in it with the kids. (Yes I hate the gas prices though)

6. Our pets: They provide humor and joy every day and teach the kids a lot of things. We actually had Fred longer than Sidney. LOLOLOL

7. Our house: I'm very grateful to own our house, eventhough it's small, but we have a decent backyard which counts for a lot here in California.

8. My sitter: She is absolutely amazing and I have no idea what I would have done without her the last 8 years. She has a huge impact in raising our girls. And she is the one that will take all three of them gladly if we want to go away for a weekend.

9. My cell: Yes, it's horrible, but I don't know what I would do without it. LOLOL. It's my lifeline a lot of times, especially with scheduling the kids.

10. My husband: Yes, he has a temper and so do I and so do the kids. LOLOL, it makes for a loud household. But I love that he cooks very well, and I hardly ever have to cook. And we are not talking about canned stuff here. He makes roasts, stuffed peppers, marinated chicken, grape leaves and bakes from scratch. I hardly cook anymore.

The Future

I'm getting to believe that my kids will either end up pg at 16 and living with their boyfriends, or gang up on us and hold us hostage in our own house, or be alcoholics or drug addicts.

I swear, I don't know how I will survive the teenage years when they are driving me crazy now, with fighting, clothes and attitudes.

Sidney will finish highschool and be a waitress because she doesn't want to go to college. Brenna will need to find a job where she can eat and play soccer. And Mackie has the right attitude for Hollywood. So there........all taken care of.

I will be happily drinking whatever I can find and ask my DR. for a lifelong supply of Xanax.

Yeahhh

we finally bought a new bed and new mattresses. We got a mahogany sleigh bed and I love it. It'll be delivered on Friday. Now we "just" have to paint the room and get new carpet in by then. I'll be daring, Paul doesn't really care about the color, so I picked them out and will get them tonite. Here are the colors, top one will be one bedroom wall, second one the ceiling, bottom one the other walls. I'm tired of white walls and want some color, so we'll see how this comes out. I'm excited about it though.

My project

I'm working on a needlepoint pillow. It's supposed to be a christmas gift for mother in law, or my mother. My plan is to make 2 and they each get one. Hopefully I can do it. You can't really see the colors that well on this picture, but it does look beautiful. Let's hope I have the patience to stick with it. To me it's actually relaxing, I do it at night or on the weekends when I watch TV, and usually Sidney will join me with one of her projects. She is crocheting a scarf and working on a little latch hook kit. I've tried the crocheting with Brenna but she doesn't have the patience yet. She'll do a few stitches before she runs off to do something else.

Hmmm...don't really know how to title this

But let's start with that I have short hair now, yes, I cut it myself last night and it's not even, but it actually doesn't look too bad considering I was pissed when I did it.

I took yesterday off to particpate at our school's bookfair, so I was at the school all morning. And then they had open house from 6-7:30 at night. They were excited because they did a bunch of stuff in their classrooms. Anyway, I told Paul since I was working the bookfair from 6:30-7:30 I wanted to be there at 6 to talk to Sidney's and Brenna's teacher and look at their classrooms and also talk to a first grade teacher that I want for Brenna next year.

So my lovely husband is home on time, but is in a totally shitty mood, stuff happened at work, and he put in an application but heard that he won't be eligible until December. Soooooooo.....totally horrendous mood and just sits there, and tells everybody "I'm not going to the open house, I don't want to be around people." Fine, whatever, but I can't take 3 kids, I have to work the fricking bookfair, that was supposed to be your job. He still doesn't want to go, so of course Brenna and Mackie are upset because I had told Sidney earlier that she could help at the bookfair. So I'm pissed already.

Now it's 5:30 and he gets in his car and takes off. Hello!!! I need to leave at 5:45 to have enough time. Can't really take all 3 with me. 6 comes around, he is not back, so I start walking towards the school with all 3 of them. Halfway up we meet him, (Oh I didn't know you wanted to go this early), so Brenna and Mackie go back with him and Sidney and I go to the school.

It was really nice, the kids did a lot of cute stuff in the classrooms, I really enjoyed it. Of course halfway through the bookfair Paul shows up with Brenna and Mackie, stays for 10 minutes and leaves.

I get home with Sidney around 8 and he still in a horrible mood and we start arguing, I know, I should know better than start an argument when I know he is in a bad mood already. But of course I couldn't help myself. So things going back and forth,and I accuse him of being selfish and everything has to focus on him etc, luckily all the kids are in bed and don't get to witness the lovely exchange, and he tells me "You are 40 now, and still have long hair. What's up with that? Wanna be younger?"

I got so pissed, and he finally went in the trailer to sleep (good choice buddy) and I went to the bathroom with scissors. Yes, not my most mature decision, but damn it felt good.lololol

School pictures

Sidney's and Brenna's school pictures came back, and I don't really like them that much, but they aren't too bad considering I totally forgot that they were taking pictures on that day. Oh well. On Friday Brenna got an achievement award for "most improved" which made me pretty happy, since she finally seems to get the concept of school, and doesn't treat it as a social event where she has to entertain everybody.

Sidney's project

This is the result of planting cucumber seeds and yellow bean seeds. On the right are the beans and Sidney is totally excited that they are actually growing. The cucumbers are much smaller but they are moving along. She also had her first strawberry from her own plant. All three of the go out every day and check the progress and can't understand why we don't have cucumbers yet. LOL. Sidney also planted cabbage, but I really don't know how they are doing. Aren't they supposed to grow like a round head of cabbage? I have no clue, not an expert gardener here, so far they look like little bushes with just leaves on there. Then we also have Lemon Thyme and Basil. Let's hope everything survives.

Ten things I thought I would never do

1. Have kids. Seriously...in my twenties I thought I would never kids. Look at me now.LOL

2. Say certain sentences like "Mackie don't eat the dog food, the dog is hungry" or "Brenna don't lick your sister"

3. Eat sushi. The thought of raw fish didn't appeal to me. Now I love love love it.

4. Live in America. When I was growing up I certainly didn't picture myself living here and raising a family here. If somebody would have told me that I would have declared them insane.

5. Being a soccer mom. In Germany my dad used to drag me to soccer games and I hated it, I thought it was the most boring thing. Now all 3 girls play soccer and I love watching them, so much that I actually signed up for assistant coach.

6. Give my kids cereal for dinner. LOLOL.

7. Be on antidepressants. This is a touchy subject for me and kind of hard to talk about, since I never thought I would have to deal with this. I should be able to just "snap" out of it, but that certainly doesn't work.

8. Learn a second language fluently (well, kind of). For the first 21 years I only spoke german, granted I had english in school, but I hate to admit it, I wasn't very good.LOL.

9. Be happy to live far away from my mother. Long story....most of you people know what I'm talking about.

10. Be married. Yes....I actually told everybody that I never wanted to get married. And then after I got married for the first time and got divorced after 3 years, I swore never to make that mistake again. yeah well..................

My arm, AGAIN

I finally got the brace, and I'm supposed to wear it as much as possible which turns out to be really annoying, but I guess that's the point. Then I had a lovely nerve conduction test done yesterday. First they measured how my nerves in my left arm react to electro shocks. As if that wasn't bad enough then they switched to needles, not big ones, more like acupuncture, but the worst part was that she then had me move my arm/fingers while the needle was in there. Oh yeah, real pleasant. NOT. They think that it should go away with the brace and physical therarpy. I really really hope so, I would like to have the use of my whole left hand again. I kind of liked it. And I don't want surgery if I can avoid it. So let's hope for the best.

A mom story on the side.

I told my mom about my hand trouble a couple of weeks ago and then told her yesterday that we really didn't want to do much over Easter, we usually have people over and make a big dinner, but this year I don't feel up to it. I don't want to do all that cooking and cleaning only with one good hand. So it's just going to be the 5 of us and we'll make a nice brunch for ourselves.
So her response was " What's wrong with you hand? Did you injure it?"
my response "No, remember I told you my little finger is numb and I don't have much strength in my hand?"
"oh yes...you said something, I thought you injured it now."

And that was it, no -how is your arm doing? or -what does the Dr. say? What's the prognosis? NOTHING! So I didn't even tell her about the nerve test yesterday. What's the point?

Ten things I want to do this year.

1. Take our trailer out for a nice weekend by ourselves. No kids, no dogs....nothing. Somewhere remote, where nobody is around. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, so it might be selfish, but hey.....

2. Take Brenna for a weekend to Palm Springs. After Sidney graduated from Kindergarten, we took her, now it's Brenna's turn. Just her....and we'll stay at a nice resort.

3. Get a new bedroom, including new color on the walls. I'm tired of my white walls, I want some color on it, preferably light purple. We'll see how Paul likes that. LOL. And we need a new bed and mattress, I'm looking for a sleigh bed I think.

4. Get my doors inside painted. They are primed already....but that's it.

5. Try to do a weekend away by myself or with a girlfriend. Haven't really done that, but it sounds really good.

6. Have christmas shopping done by December. Yeah right, who am I kidding???lol

7. Be able to get along with my parents while they are out here. My dad is retiring in August and now they are planning to come out for 2 month in November, and leave in January. They will stay in Motel or somewhere else but basically spent every waking moment at our house. I'm dreading it. It's really bad that you don't want your own parents to visit for that long. But unfortunately mom and me clash over so many different things.

8. Take the kids to the beach this summer, yes we live in L.A. but last year I think we went to the beach once.

9. I would love to start working out again, even if it's just walking. I'm so bad when it comes to that.

10. Take a nice vacation with the kids without the constant bickering and fighting.....yes, a woman can dream....

New haircut for Brenna

I got my hair cut on Saturday, so I took Brenna with me. We were finally tired of the screaming matches every morning over brushing her hair. It was almost down to her butt. She was really well behaved at the hairdresser and hardly said a word. I was like



" Who are you, and what did you do with my daughter?"



But it's so much easier to handle now and she actually really likes it. Ialso should mention that we donated her hair to "Locks of Love" for cancer patients, since it was so long. She liked that too, and was proud of it.

About Sidney

This is what I came home to last night. Sidney made this sign and put in on her door. Can you tell she is fed up with her sisters? At least we are still on her good side for now. She is such a little drama queen.

Ten Things I'd like to do if I had more time

Thanks Cat for the list idea.

1. More time alone at my house. I swear, whenever I'm at home, I'm never alone, somebody is always there. I want some peace and quiet.

2. More knitting, crocheting or needlepoint. I love to do these things and I still get some of it done at night watching TV, but I'm ususally to tired. And therefore any project will take me 5 years.

3. My looks, I'd love to leave the house with a styled hairdo and great makeup. Yeah right.......

4. Cook more. Paul is the cook in ther family. I actually cook pretty well too but never get to do it since he is home before me, and on the weekend we BBQ a lot.

5. Read more....yes I already read a lot, but since I love reading so much I would like to have some uninterrupted time, like 2 hours sitting outside in the sun.

6. Spent more time with each child. We do try to make a conscious effort of giving them each time with mom and dad, but I would like to see more of that.

7. I used to do watercolor paintings. I haven't done it in years and would love to pick it up again but I fear if I leave it in the living room one of my highly creative artists will finish it for me.

8. Be even more involved in their school. I did join the PTA, but I would like to have more time to actually spent at school with them.

9. Exercise. OK, let's not kid ourselves. I don't exercise, but I really need to start but never seem to find the time. Yes, I know it's a lame excuse.

10. More gardening, I actually like being outside and planting things and seeing them grow.

A rant and a brag

The rant goes first. We know a couple that have a 3 year old son, they came over this weekend and were all proud that he is pretty much potty trained. Well that's great, except for the fact that he still gets a bottle with formula every night. Supposedly the reasoning behind it is that he doesn't eat right. He only eats french fries, cracker etc. Talk about wrong nutrition here. I told her that at my house the bottle would disappear and I'm sure he wouldn't starve to death, at one point he would be eating what's put in front of him, because I don't think he would starve himself.

Now to the brag part, my kids eat really well, actually to the point that we have to look out that we get some salad at the dinner table, even if I make a huge bowl. They would eat the whole thing. Sidney also doesn't like to eat at school, so most of the time she takes her lunch because she doesn't like pizza her hamburger. Yes, I agree, it's pretty strange for an 8 year old.