My Izzy and Livvy

Wordless Wednesday

My Two Beautiful Scottish Terrier Girls

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Pet Peeve Tuesday ~ Sophomoric Adults

     I honestly did not get along with teenagers (especially girls) when I was a teenager.  And, I definitely have no patience for grown people who act like they are still sophomores in high school.  I was always kind of a snob when it came to other kids.  I did not have an desire to be part of the "in crowd."  Mainly because they always seemed to be talking about their friends behind their backs.  

     As we become adults, we believe we are going to leave this kind of social game behind.  No such luck, at least not in my world.  I have been involved in many situations where I must work closely with other adults.  And, there always seems to be at least one that still acts like they are still 16.  

     Now, I'm not saying that I've never talked about someone behind their back.  However, I have never talked about someone I consider a FRIEND behind their back.  I care deeply for my friends and hurt when they hurt.  So, I do not understand this behavior.

    There is one person in particular that I cannot seem to get away from who is horrible about this.  This person will go so far as to speak about a friend's child behind the friend and the child's back.  This person is not very careful about who is around when they are speaking so I don't think they realize how much of their habit has been observed/heard.  

I would love to out said person, but other people I really care about would be hurt deeply if I did.  So, I grit my teeth and walk away before I start throwing punches and leave the rest to karma.  

The Truth Behind Girl Scout Cookie Sales

     It's Girl Scout Cooking time here.  Actually, it's almost over.  My daughter has been a girl scout for 8 years.  For 8 years we have taken orders, sorted cookie boxes, delivered orders, worked cookie booths (ok so we've not done that the last couple years because of swim meets), and made sure all our money was turned in on time.  Everybody loves girl scout cookies.

     Yeah, I just jump for joy when it's cookie time.  There were years when she sold almost 300 boxes and that by no means is not even close to be a record, but have you ever seen 300 boxes in a 1500 square foot house?  You feel like the cookies are swallowing you instead of the other way around.  It can turn into a nightmare.

     And those cookie order forms are enough to make you go blind trying to read them over and over again to make sure you got everyone's order right.  I know people who have sold twice, three times even four times what my daughter's highest count was and bragged about it.

     Ok, you can have the patch, the prizes, the trophy or whatever else comes for selling all those cookies, I am not at all upset we never sold more than we did.  I can't imagine having to deal with that many boxes of cookies.  I don't think I'd want to eat them myself after that.

     The worst part for me has been the changing of bakers.  Our council used to sell from Little Brownie baker.  The last three year's they had a contract with ABC baker.  Not cool!

     

     First of all the names are all wrong.  There's no Samoas, they are Caramel Delights.  There are no Do Si Do's, they are Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies.  Tagalongs are just Peanut Butter Patties.  At least Thin Mints are still called Thin Mints, but they are NOT THE SAME.

     My first disappointment was the Caramel Delights.  They are shaped funky.  They have milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate.  There is way more caramel and way less coconut.  Samoas have always been my favorite, so this really made me petulant.

     Then, there's the Thin mints.  Yes, they are still chocolate crunchy cookies, but  ABC does something weird to them.  They have this soapy aftertaste that just makes eating them not worth it.  My husband still eats them, but when I look at the boxes I want to throw a temper tantrum.

     And, every year there is a new cookie.  This year they are Mango Creme.  I'll be honest I did not even want to try them.  But, try them I did.  When I first started chewing on one, I thought it wasn't near as bad as I had anticipated.  Still nothing I would buy, but getting a free sample wasn't so ..... then the aftertaste set in.  Give me the soapy taste of the thin mints any time.  

     OMG!  It tasted like ground up baby aspirin mixed with expired dried up coconut flakes.  It was so bad.  And, I could not get rid of the taste.  I tried chewing gum and it just made the gum taste like aspirin injected gummy bears.  I tried drinking water and it just made it worse.  I tried drinking soda and it just made it taste like really bad diet soda with more carbonation than syrup.  I really hope I am never starving with only those cookies to sustain me.  If you are ever offered one of these cookies run screaming in the other direction as fast as you can because that person who's offering it to you does not like you and probably wishes you great bodily discomfort.

     Supposedly next year our council is going back to Little Brownie because they've had so many complaints about ABC cookies.  I'm not sure our troop even sold any of the Mango ones.  I hope not.  I know my daughter didn't sell any of them.  Of course I told everyone to stay away from them.

     When all is said and done, I have a feeling this will be our last year dealing with the selling and distribution of Girl Scout Cookies.  There are many things that I will miss about our days with the girl scouts.  Cookie Sales is not one of them.  

A Moment to Change My Life

            When I was a senior in high school I took a class on contemporary literature.  During the course of the class we had the opportunity to choose a book from a given list to read as a topic for an oral report.  I was absent the day the class was given the list and asked to pick their book.  So, when I got the list there were only two books left to choose from.  One was a biography on some baseball player and the other was After the First Death by Robert Cormier.  Since I really had no interest in reading about a baseball player’s life at that point in my life, I went with the Cormier book.

            After the First Death is a book that is about a bus full of camp children that gets hijacked by a couple of terrorists.  It’s a very intense book.  I read the bulk of the book in class.  I was 18 and really had no applicable knowledge of terrorists or what they did.   The whole book was a very reality altering experience for me.

            In the book, the girl driving the bus is a teenager.  She takes her responsibility for the small children on the bus seriously.  She really works at trying to solve the problems brought about by the invasion of the terrorists in what she thought was a safe world. 

            As I read the book, the world around me really shifted.  It’s not like I had not dealt with death before.  I’d lost great grandparents.  A close family friend had a very sudden tragic accident when I was still in grade school.  My great aunt, with whom my mom was very close, was murdered by her husband when I was in 8^th grade.  I’d lost numerous pets.  But, none of those rocked my reality the way this book did.

            In psychology class we were told that developmentally, most people do not fully understand mortality until somewhere around age 18.  I remember being told that just a few months before reading this book and thinking, “That’s silly; we all know that people die.”  I will never forget the realization that I had not understood until the moment I read the end of this book.

            There are deaths that happen in the book.  It’s the ending that really got to me.  Without giving away what happens in case anyone wants to read it, it is a punch to the heart and throat constricting.  I could feel myself right there in the story.  I fully understood the thoughts and feelings that were happening with the girl who was the bus driver.  And, I finally understood exactly the concept of my own mortality.  The earth shifted under me and I’ve not been the same since. 

Is there a book that changed things for you or changed the way you see the world?

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An Email from My Son's Teacher

     My son has this amazing imagination.  Ever since he started talking he's told stories.  One was about his dad rolling him down a giant hill in a trash can.  That one he told his sister and I on the way home from  preschool one day.  

      In Kindergarten his class made books of what they wanted for Christmas.  They had to cut out pictures for this project.  My son managed to find a mug of beer in the stack of newspaper ads they were using and cut it out.  His teacher asked him if he wanted beer for Christmas and he said no, it was for his dad because his dad likes to drink a lot of beer.  Ok, then.  Yes, both his parents drink beer, but not so much we'd ask for it for Christmas.  At least that one has some truth to it, unlike the story he told his first grade teacher.

     I was eating my lunch at my desk one day, checking my email when I saw there was an email from my son's first grade teacher.  So, here I am trying to enjoy a very bland lunch, munching on some nondescript sandwich as I open the email and begin to read.  I almost choked from laughter.

     It seems that the teacher had read a story in which the main character had an experience that scared him.  Like all good teachers she was hoping to get her students to make a personal connection to the story so she asked the class if anyone had every had a scary experience.  I'm sure she was expecting episodes of being afraid of monsters in closets and under beds or maybe even fender bender incidents. Ha!

      My son raises his hand and the poor woman called on him.  He proceeded to tell her this lengthy story about the time his family was sound asleep and robbers broke into the house.  They locked the dog in a closet and overtook his dad who had grabbed a baseball bat.  They made all of us go into the garage and tied up his mom and dad and duck taped out mouths.  They then stole our computer and TVs and left us there.  He and his sister could not untie his parents so they had to call 911 to get help with that.

     His teacher was so mortified and scared she felt the need to email me and ask if my son might benefit from sessions with the school counselor.  She wondered if there was anything else she could do for us or if the school community could help in some way.

     I really tried not to laugh and I'm so glad she did not tell me this in person because I am not sure I'd been able to control my laughter and the poor woman was so worried.  No, robbers never broke into our house at night or during the day.  Our dog was never locked in a closet.  Even if robbers had broken in my husband would not have had a baseball bat because it would have been downstairs and there would have been no way to get to it with robbers in the house.  

     I really hope that if robbers did break in and tie me up and duck tape my mouth they would do it some place more comfortable than the garage.  Every computer and television we've ever had has only left the house under our own wishes.  And, 911 has only been dialed from this house the time a teenage boy screeched through the stop sign across the street, slammed into the streetlight in front of our house and knocked it over into our yard.  Which happend  when my son was older than first grade.

     After I recovered and was able to stop choking on my sandwich I composed an email that I really hoped did not convey the hilarity I felt.  His teacher was very understanding and at some point that year we devised a plan to help her know when he was making up stories or telling factual events.  He had to put his finger on his nose when he was telling a story.

     He still tells stories, but so far that's the best one.  

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An Unusual Friday Night

   It's Friday night and I am at home with no intention of leaving.  I have been in my pj's since 6:30 p.m.  This is very rare for me.  We are usually off and running somewhere with something to do.  

   Actually, most weekends we are constantly on the go.  But, this weekend we have only two actual planned things.  A baseball practice that my son and husband have to go to and the dogs have a grooming appointment.  

   It's so nice to know we don't have to rush from one thing to another.  I have been looking forward to this all week.  I had visions of sitting with my computer composing blog post after blog post and scheduling them to be published at various times.

   Well, here I sit with two unfinished blog posts in my files and no idea how I am going to finish either.  Actually, one I've got a vague idea of how I want it to go, but I just don't have the stamina or energy to put into it what is needed.  I really hope I do sometime this weekend.  

   Then, I sat and let the cursor blink for half and hour while I watched this week's episode of Big Bang Theory.  I love that show.  My daughter and I watch it together.  Now, we've got Hoarders on and my brain just seems to keep floating away.  

   I guess knowing that I don't have a swim meet or basketball tournament to go to this weekend has made my brain decide to really take some time off.  It doesn't get to do that very often.  And, next weekend we'll be off to Dekalb, IL (about a 4.5 hour drive) for the last swim meet of the regular swim season.  No more swim meets until summer time.

   Everyone in this house seems to just be wilted, including the dogs.  My husband is lounging on the bed in the bedroom.  My daughter is curled up on the couch under MY blanket.  My son is downstairs on his Xbox.  One dog is stretched across a pillow on the floor.  The other dog is stretched across the part of the blanket my daughter is not using.  And, my eyes keep straying to the clock to see if it's any closer to bed time.  

   So, that's how I'm spending this Friday night.  How about you?

It's the weekend, so it's time to hangout with the weekenders at Yeah Write!

SCCY Singrays At Districts

Wordless Wednesday Brought to you by the SCCY Stingrays!  In other words, pics from the championship meet last weekend.

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Pet Peeve Tuesday - No Parking

    This morning one of my biggest pet peeves was thrust upon me.  I hate it when someone takes MY parking spot at work.  It's not the first, closest spot to the door.  It's actually on the end of the row.  But, it leaves me plenty of room to get my big brief case out of my van without any possibility of hitting another car with it. 

   There are a few people who will take my spot, but most of my co-workers have their own favored spot so pretty much leave mine alone.  However, there is a TA, a tech person from the district office and some unknown person that just recently started squatting in my space.  It makes me grouchy.  I need that consistency to help me get through the day. 

   Please, just find another spot.  There are plenty of them and some that are closer to the door. 

Amazing Adventures in Parenting

       My heart was pounding fiercely in my chest.  I could hear it in my ears.  My stomach felt like someone was twisting it an ringing it out.  I could hardly breathe.  It was hot and humid in the building so I was sweating like crazy.  I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my life.  And, all I was doing was sitting in the bleachers.

     We went to my daughter's district championship swim meet this weekend.  This is her third year on the team so, it was her third year at this meet.  Her events this year were 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay, and 200 freestyle relay.  It was a particularly exciting meet for her because it was only the second time she's swam the 500 and we knew that her freestyle relay had a good chance of making state time.

     I was nervous for her during her 500.  She's been training so hard for this for weeks, working on endurance and her form.  We were counting on her dropping time during the meet.  It's fun to watch a distance swim because it lasts longer than a sprint.  But, it can be nerve wracking when you know how much the results mean to the swimmer and that swimmer is important to you.  She did fantastic!  She kept her pace the whole 20 lengths of the pool and won her heat.  Her time improved by a whole 4 seconds.

     However, it was nothing like watching her 200 relay.  That event just about killed me.  I am not kidding when I describe how I was feeling watching the relay.  My girl swam the second leg of the relay.  They had to improve their time by 1.5 seconds.  I literally could not breath.  I was terrified to watch the time on the score board.  I did not look at that until the anchor swimmer was on her way back to the block.  It would have been very easy for me to lose control of my bladder at that point.

    When the anchor swimmer hit the wall I let out this very loud yelp/squeal/scream that probably sounded like a pig dying.  I almost collapsed.  Really, I am not being dramatic here.  They managed to improve their time by 3 seconds, making state time by over a second.  They also placed 7th in that event. My baby girl is going to state this year with an awesome relay team.

     It means a trip up north.  The place they hold this meet is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live.  But, to watch my girl participate in her favorite thing at a meet she's been working towards for three years is worth it.

     Anyone that misses out on this part of being a parent has no idea how empty is their life.  I can't imagine having lived without this type of experience.  I could never have felt those feelings that strongly for myself.  I can't wait to do it again, for/with both my children.

Marriage Games #2

     My husband has some OCD tendencies.  He is far from being in need of therapy, well at least for that anyway.  But, yet there are those certain situations that he just has to have things a certain way.  I guess maybe we all have our moments, but when those moments provide amusement for others, they leave a person open to torment.

     One of his OCD needs is to have the hymnals and bible in the pew at church spaced equally apart and there be perfect symmetry with all three volumes in the rack.  He CANNOT leave them alone if they are not perfectly situated in front of him.  Which is hilarious considering the state of his desk at work.

     My daughter and I take turns moving them around.  We will push them together, push two together and move the third far apart.  We'll take the bible (which belongs in the middle because it's smaller than the hymnals) and put it on the outside of the hymnals.  Sometimes we even turn one of the books on its side.

     We have started "timing" him to see how long he can go without "fixing" them.  So far his record is about 8 seconds.  My daughter and I have a hard time controlling the giggles during church because we are spending so much time torturing my husband.

     Ok, so not only am I a bad wife for inflicting annoyances on my husband during church, but I'm also a bad mom for being a dreadful role model in church.  But, I consider it my duty to teach my daughter how to vex your husband.  It is a very useful skill that requires careful cultivation.

See What Happens in The Marriage Games #1

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