Three bags full

Ba-ba black sheep have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.


Well, it wasn't quite wool in our house. It wasn't even close to wool now that I think about it. It was three bags of clothes, toys and various odds and ends out of the kids bedroom.

Their room has been overwhelming them. Somehow all the clothes and toys had gotten to be more than they could handle. They didn't have room for all of it, and were unwilling to get rid of any of it. So instead, I did it for them. On Saturday I went in while they were playing outside. That day I simply picked up trash off the floor. The box they'd been playing with, a paper covered in stickers, and other precious artifacts off the floor.

My daughter came in while I was doing it. She immediately started to cry and screamed for the stuff in the trash bag. In a very soft and understanding voice I told her, "Sure, name the item and I'll pull it straight out for you."

She stomped her foot and said she needed to look thru the bag. I gave a sad shake of my head, and asked her what did I already say. She knew she had lost the argument. I marched the bag out to the dumpster.

On the way home from the baby sitter's today I told the kids that their room had to be cleaned today. I explained, I'll be happy to help once I have the laundry done. I also explained to them that things I picked up would go to Goodwill.

Once we were home I had to bite my tongue a few times. I wanted to bad to remind them. But they have to learn to listen, and apply what is said. Instead I got the huge pile of laundry folded. In small manageable stacks I hand the kids their clothing to put away.

Needless to say, not all the clean clothes made it in to the drawers. My son was the main offender. He lost a few items to the Goodwill bags. Tons of toys went into the bulging white bags. And who knows what else, I really didn't pay much attention. I did make sure to put the towels into the wash; those are mine.

On the way to Goodwill I found myself very upset. Three garbage bags full of stuff! Three big bulging bags! I kept thinking about all the money I've spent on their clothes, and toys. And yet the mess in their room has been stressing me out. It's like a vile creepy stench that has been putting us all on edge. We all felt frustrated by the mess. I feel so terrible. All that money that I wasted. Really, it wasn't that much, but I'm not happy. I've got to learn to be a better steward of the money I've been given. I can't waste it on needless things that stress us out.

I made a decision, the kids each get two pairs of shoes, and that's enough. Anything beyond that spells trouble. They have too much to put away, and too many choices. One every day pair, and one church pair and we're good. This week-end I will clean out their drawers and get them back down to seven items in each category, seven shirts, seven pants, etc. I'll help them, and help me, and be a good steward of the blessings we have.

Skate Town

"I want to go home."
"I can't do this."
"It's too hard!"
"Can we go?"

I barely had my skates laced up before my kids were whining royally. My daughter clung to the wall, and my son was sprawled on the waxed floor. There friends were right there whining with them.

For the past six months they've begged me to take them to skate town. Finally I planned ahead. I even made an event of it, inviting the other single parents from my group. We had close to 20 say they would come. (Only 3 showed.)

But after 3 hours, all of the kids were actually skating. My two remembered how, and tore up the floor. The other kids figured out how to keep their feet underneath them half of the time. It was so amazing to watch them figure it out. They kept on trying, over and over, and slowly the skills come to them. Step with the foot turned out. Glide along the other foot.

I meant to bring my camera, but in the rush to get there on time the camera got left at home. Sorry!

The Inept Tooth Fairy

I nearly got caught this morning. As I was waking my son up today I remembered his lost tooth. I ran out of the bedroom to grab a dollar bill. He was rubbing his eyes, looking off in the distance. I thought I might be able to switch the dollar for the tooth without him noticing.

As I came over to his bed though, he reached for his tooth fairy pillow.

"Mom, the tooth fairy didn't come," he grumbled looking at the pillow.

"Let me see," the idea coming to me. I reached into the pillow and grabbed the tooth. My son never realized the dollar bill was in my other hand. I handed it over to the excited kid and he forgot all about it.

I am always forgetting my Tooth Fairy duties!

He made a bloody mess yesterday when the tooth came out. It was a front top tooth. It was so loose it was sticking out perpendicular to his mouth. As he got in the car, he bonked his mouth. Blood spewed everywhere. He began to wail. I asked him, is your tooth okay? He reached up to his mouth, moving the tooth back to it's normal position. As he moved it, the tooth came out in his hand. The crying immediately stopped. The blood dried on his toothy grin. Once we arrived at Chick-Fil-A he proudly showed the bloody tooth. Everyone laughed because of the dried blood on his face.

The kids are smart!

Today was Parent/Teacher Conference for my kids. It went about how I expected. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn exactly how smart my children are. Mind you, I think they are brilliant no matter what.

My son is in the top reading group in his class. His teacher honestly admits to being pressed to figure out how to challenge him. She's working hard to give him work that will not be too easy. The kid is a pro at slacking off, so he doesn't need any help. To demonstrate, one of his reading scores was a 49, and 50 is average. His score should have been out of this world, but he only put forth half an effort. She says he's even better at math than he is at reading. I didn't realize that.

And my daughter took the same test as her brother (she's a year younger) and get a 72! And her teacher felt that was accurate. Average score for her grade level was around 35, or lower. She was nearly off the chart!

For both of them, their grades don't reflect their potential. My son is not paying attention, fiddling with his pencil, and basically trying to get away with minimal effort. My daughter is busy being Miss Stubborn Pants. She wants to do it her way, and never mind what the teacher said.

Fortunately my son's problem is solvable. He has shown Attention Deficit Disorder tendencies. I'm strongly opposed to Ritalin, and that class of drugs. I did my research, and I've put him on a high dose of Magnesium. The teacher and I have noticed a big improvement. I explained to my son, this will help you pay attention IF you want to. And he hasn't quite figured out if he wants to yet. I've made it easier for him, but it will still take his own self control.

Wish there was something I could get my daughter for back talking, and strong will! Ten cents for each episode of back talking, growling and hissing. (Yes, she really does growl and hiss at me.) I will permit her to question something, but when it becomes a yelling fest I start tallying up her debt. It's put a real curb on the growls and hisses. Though she doesn't growl and hiss at her teacher, she certainly doesn't give her full attention. I took a look at some of her work. She was supposed to draw a pig. My daughter's pig was holding a stick of dynamite, a match, and wearing a sword. Yep, that's my girl, going out at full force!

Flat Stanley

My son is getting ready to participate in a Flat Stanley project. If you aren't familiar with Flat Stanley, let me explain. It's based on a book. A boy wants to go visit the word, and so he gets flattened, and mailed around from place to place. Much cheaper than a plane ticket. So, my son's class is going to make a Flat Stanley, and they need addresses to send him to. If Flat Stanley comes to visit they ask that your provide interesting facts like weather, schools, historical facts etc. Flat Stanley would go with you to school and work, and take pictures to show his trips. If you can find souvenirs to send back with Flat Stanley, that would be great!

So, if you would be willing to host Flat Stanley for a bit, please send me your mailing address.

Paniced again

Last night I was in terrible shape. In the rush of the morning, I forgot to take my anxiety meds. While going thru my divorce, I dealt with alot of panic attacks. My doctor put me on medicine to see me thru. The medicine is addictive, and used long term. Translation, once you're on it, you're on it for at least a year, and pity you if you forget to take your meds.

I've accidentally forgotten my meds before. Most of the time, it's not a big deal. I can feel the difference. But often I can deal with my the elevated level of anxiety just fine. It's elevated because I don't have the meds, not because of anything else. It's kind of fake anxiety. My body is so used to my medication, that it goes bonkers without it.

So yesterday I forgot my meds. And we have a busy, frantic day at work. When I got home I took a partial dose, and made it thru the evening without a panic attack. I also saw our massage therapist yesterday, and that helped. Once I had the kids in bed, I mixed up some essential oils she recommended. She suggested them for a diffuser, but I don't have one. (A diffuser heats the oil, and puts it into the air.) So instead I applied them to my forehead, and other pulse points.

Believe me when they say that Nutmeg and Ylang-Ylang have a hypnotic, sedative power, they mean it. Mixed together, they were powerful. I literally couldn't stand up straight. I was tripping over my feet to get to bed.

Today I picked up a diffuser, so that should work good.

The school quandry

Six days into school. My daughter has already had a detention, and my son's teacher had me in for conference this morning. We are not off to a good start. Or maybe we are. Maybe we've finally got teachers who will get in top of their problems and force them to shape up.

My daughter prefers to talk. Instead of following directions, she wants to give them. Each morning I turn up the stereo to fall blast to get her out of bed. So far it's the only thing I've found that will work day after day. She's getting into trouble at school. She's talking, and distracting other children. She wants to play her own games in the middle of class. And needless to say, that's not going over well.

My son on the other hand, plays with his pencil. Instead of completing his work, he simply stares off into space, his mind racing ahead. He's so busy thinking that he forgets to write. (Had the same problem myself.) He refuses to focus unless he's forced to. His teacher has been happily surprised at how smart he is. When asked what the answer is, he can quickly give it. But told, read the question, and write the answer, he stares off into space. Until someone guides his attention, he let's himself wander.

Today I was at school with them at 7:30 am so I could meet with my son's teacher. Basically I told her, he's going to have to hit rock bottom before this will improve. So we're going to let him fail as quickly as we can so that he'll learn responsibility. And hopefully won't sacrifice too much of the school year in the process. And my daughter meanwhile had to stay after school 30 minutes to serve her time.